This article is about the prominent species of octopus in Splatoon. For the enemy variant found insingle-player modes, seeOctoling (enemy).

For other uses of the term Octoling, seeOctoling (disambiguation).

Octolings, sometimes referred to with the hypocorismOcto^[a], are a species of humanoid cephalopod, acting as theOctarian equivalent ofInklings, that became available as playable characters inSplatoon 2 after beating the downloadable solo campaignOcto Expansion. InSplatoon 3, Octolings are instead playable from the start, just like Inklings.

Background

Like the otherOctarians, Octolings pertain to an evolved species of octopus that came to be after rising sea levels destroyed humanity. The long abandoned human settlement ofAlterna is the birthplace of the species, after psycho-reactive liquid crystals infused with lingering human thoughts and feelings leaked into the ocean surrounding the settlement, unintentionally accelerated the evolution of octopuses and other species of marine life.^[1]

At least 2,000 years before the events ofSplatoon,Turf Wars were established.^[2] 100 years before the events ofSplatoon, theInklings and theOctarians ofInkadia engaged in aGreat Turf War after otherwise having good relations, when rising sea levels caused disputes over the remaining territory. The youngCap'n Cuttlefish and his Inkling comrades were victorious, forcing the Octarians to retreat to desolate areas such asOcto Valley,Octo Canyon, and take up residence underground.^[3]

All playable Octolings from Inkadia began their lives inOctarian domes, eventually becoming soldiers in the Octarian military lead byDJ Octavio. Propaganda kept Octolings fiercely loyal to the Octarian lifestyle, however, during the final boss "Enter the Octobot King!" inSplatoon, the idol duoSquid Sisters performed theCalamari Inkantation to supportAgent 3 during the fight. This performance inspired new feelings within Octoling soldiers that attended, and many began to long for the surface, eventually escaping and assimilating into Inkling culture, hoping to start anew.

Some Octolings, however, namelyMashup, are implied to have families which have lived on the surface prior to the mass assimilation of Octoling soldiers. The Octolings from the Splatlands also seem to not have experienced segregation from Inklings, having instead always coexisted peacefully, withShiver being stated to come from a family that used to supersede Splatsville's traditional festivals for generations.^[4]

Appearance

For a visual overview of character customization options, seePlayer Settings.

Like Inklings, Octolings can switch between a humanoid form and an octopus form.

Their octopus form is slightly different from the onesenemy Octolings have, with two long tentacles, two much smaller ones in front resembling a mustache, and four smaller ones on the underside, along with a pair of eyes resembling that of an Inkling squid's, albeit not connected. Their tentacles have suction cups located on their underside, as opposed to their humanoid form having them on top; their tentacle tips, like the top of their heads, have a darker gradient and a small ring pattern on them.

When splatted, they will fly off in the form of a small ghost, just like Inklings; while their eyes appear white inSplatoon 2, they are yellow inSplatoon 3, resembling those of the ghosts of enemy Octolings. The general UI also shows the difference between player Octolings and Inklings, with features such as the weapon and status indicators, the mini-map, splat messages, and splatted enemy markers replacing the squid icon symbolizing the player with one that depicts an octopus.

Their humanoid forms are similar in appearance to that of Inklings, sharing body and face proportions, skin tones, and eye colors; betweenSplatoon 2 andSplatoon 3, Octolings undergo design changes reflecting their squid counterparts, appearing slightly taller, and having more rounded and less squat faces.

Like Inklings, Octolings have black eye markings with a thicker underline, although not connected in the middle and with sharper corners; feminine Octolings have an additional eyelash on the bottom outer corner of the markings. Their teeth are also differently set, with one sharp fang tooth on the left of the top row, and another one on the bottom right. Unlike the Inklings' pointed ears, Octoling ears are rounded; they also are asymmetrical, with the right one being flat and the left one being indented, each respectively resembling an octopus's fin andsiphon. Contrarily to Inklings' squared fingertips, theirs are instead pointed. Their eyebrows are also different from those of Inklings, being generally rounder and more curved.

Just like Inklings, Octolings are able to choose from a variety of skin tones, hairstyles, and eye colors. As seen inThe Art of Splatoon, they were originally going to have Inkling masks and floppy ears like adumbo octopus.

InSplatoon 2, both male and female Octolings can choose between two hairstyles. The female Octolings' first possible hairstyle, called "Tentacurl", has two thin tentacles in front reaching past the shoulders and two thicker, shorter tentacles in the back, all with curled tips. The second hairstyle, called "Pony", has two tentacles tied back into a ponytail, with the other two as sideburns. The male Octolings' first possible hairstyle, called "Punk", features a mostly shaved style, with one large, curled tentacle and three smaller tentacles lined up along their head to create a mohawk, possibly referencing theOctotrooper tentacle. Their second hairstyle, called "Afro", is a round mass reminiscent of a simplified octopus's mantle. This hairstyle notably molds while wearing headgear.

Splatoon 3 has four newhairstyles, to go along with the previous ones, with them all being available to both styles. The first one, called "Tentatwists", has the front tentacles being twisted in spirals. The second hairstyle, called "Octolocks", is similar to the Tentacurl hairstyle, but with the tentacles growing from the middle of the head instead of the right side, and the back tentacles being conjoined together by a mantle structure. The third hairstyle, called "Fade", is shaven all around, akin to the Punk hairstyle, but with four tentacles curling together towards the center of the head. The final hairstyle, called "Surfcurl", is also similar to Punk, but replaces the mohawk with a much thicker tentacle that has been curled into a spiral, strongly resembling apompadour.

Some non-playable Octolings, likeMarina,Shiver andTao Blu, have special features, such as uniquely colored tentacles, different eye and eyebrow shapes, and infinity symbol-shaped pupils, which look like the ones found in real octopuses.

Like enemy Octolings, many of them also have colored fingertips and toetips, reflecting their ink color (like inMarina's case) or not (like inShiver's); this feature has also been made available for playable Octolings for the first time inSide Order. As seen onMashup from Diss-Pair, they can have a different color on each hand's fingertips. In some pieces of artwork, Octolings who normally have this characteristic are shown without; conversely, playable Octolings were seldom shown having colored fingertips in artwork prior toSide Order's launch.

Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion

TheOcto Expansion DLC story mode introduces the mysterious Octoling characterAgent 8, allowing players to use Octolings in multiplayer for the first time upon its completion. The male version of Agent 8 is also the first appearance of a character which is clearly shown to be a male Octoling in-game.

When the player completes theOcto Expansion, they will be able to change from being an Inkling to an Octoling in the player settings. Playable Octolings have different animations for trying on gear, winning or losing, and for taking photos withamiibo. According to theSquid Research Lab Tumblr, Octolings are more serious than Inklings and have an interest in technology.^[5] For example, instead of aiming with weapons, they will look more closely at them to see how they work, they wave around their phones and look at them more closely, and their icons in battles are not seen smiling. Due to have been defecting from the Octarian army, their animations around Inkopolis Square make them look curious and almost confused.

Their losing animations inSplatoon 2 show that Octolings take defeat worse than Inklings, as they tend to collapse and shake their fists if boys, or cross their arms if girls.^[6] When winning, they usually strike proud poses, as opposed to jumping for joy like Inklings do.

While both types of characters are called "Octolings" in EnglishOcto Expansion material, the Japanese version makes a notable distinction between the player Octoling, called タコtako (the word for "octopus"), and the enemy Octolings, called タコゾネスTakozonesu (portmanteau of タコtako and アマゾネスAmazonesu, "Amazons"). The latter specifically refers to the older-aged, all-female unit that only a select few of the former can become.

Splatoon 3

Octolings appear as playable characters inSplatoon 3. Unlike inSplatoon 2, their animations do not differ from Inklings, and those present inInkopolis Plaza and Inkopolis Square appear to be fully integrated with the surface lifestyle. Furthermore, both the Octoling and Octoling Octopus amiibo appear to speak with proper grammar.^[7]

Gallery

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Trivia

• After unlocking Octolings inSplatoon 2, their default appearance in the Player Menu has them have pink hair, whileInklings have green; prior to this, these colors are used for girl and boy Inklings respectively. The background's animation also adds octopus icons swimming along with the squid ones.
  • In this circumstance, Octolings are shown to have different animations for girls and boys, unlike Inklings, who share animations between genders.
• Attempting to enterOcto Canyon as an Octoling switches the player to their last usedInkling character, which corresponds toAgent 4. The same happens with Inklings entering theDeepsea Metro, as onlyAgent 8 can access it.
• TheSquid vs. Octopus Splatfest was the only way to play as an Octoling inSplatoon 2 without purchasingOcto Expansion. Players would become their team's respective species in battle, but their avatar would remain the same as usual when in Inkopolis Square.
• According to Famitsu'sSplatoon 2 anniversary developer interview^[8], Octolings were revealed to be planned as playable since the start of the game's development; in an older interview^[9], playable Octolings were stated to be considered a possibility even before players started hacking them intoSplatoon, but the development team wanted an explanation for why they were suddenly playable and a reason for players to empathize with them, which led to the creation ofOff the Hook andOcto Expansion.
  • Splatoon 2's art director,Seita Inoue, has stated wanting the Afro to be the default hairstyle for male Octolings and didn't mind if it were the only hairstyle available.^[10]
  • Concept art ofSalmon Run inThe Art of Splatoon 2 depicts Octolings fighting together with Inklings against early versions ofSalmonids, further showing them to be planned as being playable early on.^{[Citation needed]}
• Early models of the playable Octolings have been found as early as theSplatoon 2 Global Testfire, where the male Octolings have a hairstyle close to the finalized Punk, while the female model uses the enemy Octoling hair.^[11] The models were removed from the release version of the game, but entries for the player model type still exist in version 1.0.0.
• In promotional artwork and videos, Octolings are sometimes erroneously shown with physical features pertaining to Inklings. For example, the cover for Weekly Famitsu's September 26, 2024 depicts an Octoling with pointed ears and square fingertips,^[12] and the announcement trailer ofSplatoon 3 shows an Octoling with a Hydra Splatling having Inkling-like teeth.^[13] The latter error was later corrected in other promotional artwork onSplatoon 3's official Japanese website.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	オクトリング Okutoringu	Octoling[b]
Dutch	Octoling	-
French	Octaling	Fromoctarien ("Octarian") and-ling
German	Oktoling	Octoling
Italian	Octoling	-
Russian	Осьмолинг Os'moling	From осьминогos'minog ("octopus") and-ling
Spanish	Octoling	-
Chinese (Simplified)	章鱼 zhāngyú(Mandarin)	Octopus
Chinese (Traditional)	章魚[14] 章魚圈[15] zhāngyú(Mandarin) Zhāngyú quān	Octopus Octopus ring
Korean	문어 Mun-eo	Octopus
Internal	Octoling[16]

Translation notes

References