#vid squids

I’ve sort-of mentioned the Vid-Squids’ story takes place long before the events of Splatoon 1... about 10 years in fact! As seen with Splatoon 2, we know that inkling society advances quickly, so I imagined the change in culture and technology would be quite drastic even within a decade, making the environment of my story something like a 1980s-equivalent of Inkopolis. (which explains why I’ve been drawing a lot of inspiration from that era haha) 

Since this story was built around how things were in Splatoon 1, it will mostly resemble the environment featured there as opposed to Splatoon 2′s. Specifically, I’ll be keeping 1′s weapons/specials, Inkopolis Plaza as the hub, and most importantly, the original two boy/girl hairstyles (a significant part in the story! I explained the reason a while back in this post on my main blog). Splatoon 2 describes the new hairstyles as “customized”, so I’ll be assuming that the ability to change an inkling’s “hair” was something that became more accessible between 1 and 2, and that their “natural” hairstyles are the ones we had in the first game. I know custom hairstyles were hinted at in the first game since some of the band squids had unique “hair”, but I’ll say it was rare to have overall (especially in the past where my story takes place), and that it was only something that celebrities or wealthy squids could do.

However, to not completely make this irrelevant, Splatoon 2 elements will still be incorporated into the story! This includes things like gear and locations/stages, since I figured those things could have existed before even though they weren’t seen in the first game (bringing back old trends anyone??). Maybe a few other things too, I’m looking forward to what more we’ll find out once it’s released.

So you might be asking, if the environment is that close to Splatoon 1′s, why not make the story happen around that time? Why 10 years before? Well, certain aspects of the story are reliant on it being further in the past, but it also gives myself a time frame in between to work in before Splatoon 1′s events happen. I’ll admit, it’s been a little weird trying to figure out how things would work in Inkopolis without all it’s modern technology, but it's been a fun exercise haha. But! I am also aware that I don’t want this to become a distraction either, so I’m striving to maintain the same feel of the actual game(s) at the same time. 

To elaborate a bit on what the environment of my story is like, inkling society is still like how we’ve always seen it, at the forefront of modernization for its time, and enamored with materialistic pursuits. But here’s where I added in a few details!: 

Though inkling culture is progressing as trends begin to develop, it still maintains a strong sense of tradition, particularly in terms of their image and themselves as a species. The Great Turf War between the squids and octopi had occurred several decades before, but animosity against the Octarians has only increased, with a growing fear that they will some day strike back. As a result, any octopi that may have remained on the surface after the war were gradually chased out, or removed by force. Since then, the squids have kept a vigilant eye to make sure no Octarians are present in society, so none have been seen on the surface for several years. Though the threat of the Octarians isn’t as “real” to younger inklings, it has become ingrained in their society that they are the enemy. But despite this tension, inkling society is thriving more than ever, and there is a sense of comfort and peace with what they have. 

I know that me elaborating on this might come off as strange, as I’ve only shown team shenanigans here and not much about octos (...or anything serious for that matter haha), but this actually plays a large role in the story. Maybe some attentive squids are already making connections with all this! (But just something I wanted to add: With all the octo negativity described here, it makes me super happy that we have an octo popstar in Splatoon 2! What a change!)

Sorry this ended up being really long, but I felt I should explain things before I keep going! Hopefully this all made sense, I wrote most of it in the middle of the night. lol