you: yeah me nei-

me: PSY-ch!

I remember chatting in a discord server (it got deleted without warning) about how splatoon 3’s story as a wrap-up of the octarian storyline sucked because in the first game it addresses the octarians as living in practical exile in deteriorating living areas, the second game shows that octarians could thrive on the surface since things changed and that the reason for staying underground isn’t really true anymore since they could very easily be accepted (also the fact that everyone barely knows of the octarian existence and NEVER looked for them after land expanded again infers purposeful DELETION OF HISTORY by treating them like mythic legend), and Splat 3 tosses their hat in the ring, somehow ending this conflict, by saying: “octavio helped us once, so that means the octarians are just fine despite the fact the majority of their culture IS STILL IN THE GROUND.” YEAH YOU FOUGHT A GENOCIDAL TEDDY BEAR BUT THIS IS LITERALLY FAR FROM OVER. I get that octavio isn’t blameless for holding a grudge against a race that quite literally forgot about his people, but holding onto pride and never looking for other options besides inkopolis land is just stupid, and the inklings for erasing them and never reaching out to help them when land squabbles weren’t an issue anymore makes them asshats too! Everyone sucks! Everything sucks! Yeah i get that over time a lot of octarians will just escape from the underground and thrive on the surface, but going over an arduous journey to escape and become a refugee into a new world isn’t a good solution! Yes someone is happy, but realistically most will get hurt or die on that journey! The best option is diplomatic, which neither side is doing for terrible reasons! The NSS as a peacekeeping faction is fundamentally flawed in that they fought the octarians when they attempted to improve their lives, upon realizing they aren’t just bloodthirsty monsters, didn’t at least try to solve the hundred years long issue. EVEN THE COROIKA COMIC TACKLED THIS.

i got a little heated here. Apologies.

Long story short, i imagine and want to draw a long comic series with a part that reveals that Agent 4 has joined the octarians (their character is a great fit for this, actually) and attempts to create a place to live in the far, desolate desert. While it sucks and is very hard, it will prove that life there will be possible, even though it will be very basic at first. They must tackle the environment, looters confusing them for splatland territory invaders, and other roadblocks like diplomacy and legal troubles. The outer settlements would look like western towns, and there will be a huge emphasis on stained glass. Since these towns are very young, it will look like so, but in the years to come, Octotown (name subject to change) would become another beacon of culture in a new way. This also fits in with Splatoon’s theme of living life despite troubles and how life will continue after war (the Great Turf War and the Nuclear Humanitarian War). It also helped that the Wild West would fit the chaotic theme of Splat 3, and that change can lead to good things.

It was time to upgrade their references anyway

(Yes, I was lazy to draw new references from scratch. But who can blame me?)

Mostly added details for Linn from my SpringFest art with her and changed Eden a little bit

Old references :