Charlie: An Enemy Is Just A Friend I Haven't Worn Down Yet!

Taking some nicer group pictures of my merch, for a first try they don’t look too bad!

Really excited to list it up this week!

Dissonant Melody: Part #11

Every once in a while they’re on the same wavelength.

Comic Archive

So. I've Cracked The Code On The Appearance Changes in Side Order.

Wall of photos and such incoming.

After a lot of testing, I've discovered there are 7 different little lights and doodads that are added to Agent 8 via upgrading certain chips, each with a basic 1st tier and and upgraded 2nd tier. The 1st tier of upgrades appear after picking up two of the same chips in that changes pool (ex: 2 Homing Shots chips), with the 2nd tier appearing after picking up five of them (ex: 5 Homing Shot chips). There is no further visual indicators added for maxing chips that go beyond 5, such as Splash Damage or Rush Attack.

Full disclaimer: This is the result of researching a LOT of my own runs, so I can say this is true with about 95% certainty. If I labeled an ability chip in the wrong visual pool, please let me know!

Let's start with the basics - our control group. No Teal upgrades provide any visible changes to Agent 8 (or Pearl-bot for that matter), so I ran an all-teal palette to demonstrate.

First is likely one of the more requested visual changes - the Headset. The 1st tier sports a basic metallic earpiece, with the 2nd adding an antenna and eyepiece that match your primary ink color.

Maxing Splash Damage, Sound Wave Damage, Splash Radius, Special Charge Up, Turf Lucky Chain, Rush Knockback, and Homing Shots all provide the headset!

Next up is Ink Bubbles. The 1st tier shows transparent, slower bubbles flowing in 8's ink tank, with the bubbles being faster and more opaque in the 2nd tier.

Nabbing Poison Ink, Splat Ink Recovery, Ink Saver Sub, Ink Recovery Rate, and Sticky Ink all provide Ink Bubbles.

Following that is the Fins. The 1st tier shows the base shackles being added to 8's boots, with the fins themselves being added for the 2nd tier.

Picking up Run Speed, Swim Speed, Rush Attack, Mobile Ink Recovery, Mobile Special Charge, and Mobile Drone Gauge all provide the Fins.

Now, moving on to the weapon upgrades!

First we have the Muzzle Lights, which appear at the muzzle of most weapons, and the sides of the brush and roller nearest the base. The 1st tier shows a circle and squares circling around the muzzle, with the 2nd tier being more exaggerated, with alternating squares and rectangles forming a hexagon pattern in the center.

These are exclusive to the Ink Damage, Main Damage (Close), and Main Damage (Distant) chips.

Next up is likely the most common visual one can see on their run - the Arrows. The 1st tier shows a circle with three arrows pointing down the weapon, with the 2nd tier adding some blowback markers behind the circle.

These are on a whopping TEN upgrades, being Splatling Barrage, Main Firing Speed, Horizontal Slash Speed, Main Range, Main Piercing, Main Ink Coverage, Rush Ink Coverage, Quick Charge, Shot Spread Reduction, and Ink Saver Main.

Last of the weapon upgrades are the Dots. The 1st tier is 3 large dots and a circle spinning at the bottom of your weapon or around your wrist, with the 2nd tier adding another circle around the dots.

These can be found on the Hindrance Damage, Ink Attack Size, Charge Storage, Moving Ink Speed, Extra Dodge Roll, Brella Cooldown, Knockback, and Explosion Knockback upgrades.

And finally, my favorite little knick-knack, the Shrimp Hook. This little guy appears on your ink tank after picking up 2 matching Luck upgrades (ex: Lucky Bomb Drop, Canned Special Drop, etc), and begins to glow after picking up 5. However, the glowing effect is not visible in the post-game screen. 😔 (I would totally buy one of these if someone made one, btw)

By the way, 7 visual upgrades * 5 chips needed to max each visual is 35 chips, which is just shy of the 36 total chips you can have on one palette, which means, in theory, you could. Have every maxed visual indicator on in one run.

Just a thought. : )

normally this isn't what I post but this has been on my mind for a while.

as a straight person, I can say with 100% honesy, the splatoon fandom does not make me feel unwelcome. "but there's not many canonical straight ships!" ma'am there's not many canonical ships at all.

sure, I wish there was for m x f agent content, but does it matter all that much? no.

pearlina is heavily implied, so what?

acht canonically uses they pronouns, good! we need more enby representation!

just ignore those people who are saying they're unwelcome in the splatoon fandom. they're most likely homophobic and trying to deny it.

saw a clip of this scenario in twt and its been infesting my mind so i had to do a quick doodle

Here comes the boy!  Can you tell which panels I actually spent time on?  Haha.  Sorry that most of this comic is so messy, but otherwise I would never get it all done!  Part 2 of this convo coming soon.   Also, thank you so much for all the lovely comments and hashtags!  They keep me going!  I wish I could respond but Tumblr keeps giving me an error message when I try.  BEGINNING || PREVIOUS || NEXT

Okay, we've got height headcanons, face headcanons...but you know what we need? Name headcanons.

Okay, yes, I know, the ninja already have names. But their names originate from Earth cultures and Earth languages, which, uh, don't exist in Ninjago. Like!! The name 'Lloyd' is Welsh, but Wales isnt a place on the Ninjago map! And 'Zane' is German - but again, Germany doesn't exist in this fictional fantasy world either. How can Zane's name be German if Germany is nowhere on the Ninjago map?

Realistically I know this is because this show has painfully messy worldbuilding and they gave all the main characters simple European names that their young American audience would be able to easily identify and pronounce. BUT I love to overthink things so that's what I'm gonna do.

Logic would dictate that although their names have specific cultural contexts within our world, they have different contexts and origins within the world of the story. Their names would logically have some kind of different meaning in relation to the cultures, languages, and dialects that exist within Ninjago itself.

This is already canon, to some extent. The name 'Nya' already has a canon in-universe origin, with her being named after a legendary Merlopian hero - from this we can assume the name Nyad and its derivative Nya are Merlopian in origin. Which suggests the idea that the same is true for all the other characters as well, we just haven't gotten the chance to get backstories for their names yet. And there is so much untapped potential in exploring what their names could mean in-universe.

Here, I'll start with my own personal headcanons about the subject:

Most names in this series come from 'Classical Ninjargon', the ancient dialect that was spoken in the time of the FSM but gradually evolved into Modern Ninjargon, which is the dialect commonly spoken by the characters to this day. However, a lot of words, terms, and names still rely in some part on their classical roots.

'Kai' isn't really a name, so much as it is a noun. It's commonly used in the names of towns and villages. For example, Jamanakai Village. 'Kai' means 'shelter' - or, more specifically, 'a form of barrier or protection that defends against cold weather.' It's not a very common name to give to children, though, but it appears in the names of villages and settlements all across Ninjago. It seems fitting, considering the kind of person Kai is. His parents gave him that name as a reference to its more specific meaning. Shelter from the cold. During the Serpentine War, Ray and Maya's dreams of starting a family were what gave them comfort and kept them going. Kai wasnt just named as a shelter from the cold, but a shelter from despair as well.

Nya's name has its obvious origins - she was named after Nyad, the storybook hero who befriended whales and defeated Wojira. Nyad was also Merlopian, where her name means 'courage'. Likewise, Nya's name has similar connotations. Of course, Maya hadn't known that meaning when she named her child, as Merlopia was just a myth and its language much the same. She did know of the fairytale, though, and Maya's own mother had told her that story as a child, so she wanted to give her daughter a name that was meaningful in that same way.

'Jay' comes from a regional dialect of Classical Ninjargon that became prevalent in the Sea of Sands. The name itself originates from the term 'jairu', meaning "blessed storm." Some historians speculate the name goes back further than that, with the term 'jairu' originally meaning "Wojira's favor"...but there is much debate about that. Both Jay and Jairu are pretty popular names in the Sea of Sands. Jay was an unexpected but highly valued gift to Ed and Edna, just as a rainstorm is in a desert.

'Cole' was originally the word for earth/dirt, but over the centuries its frequent use in Classical poetry led to it acquiring a myriad of more specific meanings - 'solid foundation', 'stable ground', 'dependable and reliable', 'steady and unshaken amidst conflict', etc. The word itself has a lot of very poetic, very vivid interpretations, and when most people name their children 'cole', thats what they're referencing. But not Lily. No, she knew the name historically meant 'earth', and she wanted his name to be a pun. It was 100% intentional

'Zane' isnt so much a name as it is a colloquial term, from the Birchwood region. Even though the word has Classical roots, it still remains widely used in that region. The word 'zane', a noun, is in reference to the constant, unmelting snowcover that blankets the region year-round. In Classical Ninjargon the term means, "endlessly persevering" - but over time it became repurposed as their term for their endless snow. Dr. Julien always thought the snow was beautiful, and named his son after its remarkable endurance

Lloyd's name has an interesting history to it. In the time of the Stone Wars, when the FSM initially split Ninjago and sealed away the Overlord, the people of that era celebrated the occasion by turning it into a holiday. They called it "belloid", which Classically means "victory over darkness." Eventually a new tradition emerged where children who were born on the holiday were named after it - and so the name "lloyd" came to be. And although the holiday evolved and is now more commonly known as Festival Day (yes, thats a canon holiday), with its history and origins fading out of public awareness, the tradition still persists. But heres the catch: Lloyd wasnt born on that holiday. His dad's reasons for naming him Lloyd were twofold. First, because he made a promise to himself to resist the venom's corruption for the sake of his son, and the name "victory over darkness" served as a testament to that promise. And second, because 'lloyd' sounds like 'lord', and giving his child a pun name sounds exactly like something Garm would do

And of course, since the ninjas' rise to fame, they have inspired some increasingly popular baby names. 'Lloyd' has been the baby name of the year for four years in a row now, which is something the others tease him relentlessly for.

~After reaching the surface~

Eight: Marina? A question is something I have.

Marina: Yeah Eight?

Eight: Inklings carry magnetics.

Marina: ... In Octarian if you could?

Eight: Squidican People are very attractive.

Marina: ...

Marina: Uhm. Could you give an example?

Eight: The Agents 3 and 4 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon have enamoured me with their kindness and battle prowess, as well as their attempts to help me find my way in this new unfamiliar place have made me wish to spend more time with them.

Eight: Much like what had occurred between you and Houzuki Pearl.

Marina: PPFFT! What? No! Me and Pearl Aren't- I mean she is very cute and attractive and her wild nature is truly something to behold, but me and her aren't- we don't- it's-

Marina: We're Friends!

Eight: ... The policy that is Greatest is the one of being Honest.

Marina: I don't know what you mean!

Eight: ... Oh you really don't. Oh my Cod.

Continuing stuff from my Side Order Rewrite, here's Grayscaled Deep Cut!!!

Thoughts on their individual boss fights below:

I don't have much yet, otherwise I'd make a whole post about it, but here's what I have so far

Frye:

Eel Tornado... 2! But they're all skeletal like the Jelletons. They fly more orderly than in the storymode boss fight

REALLY BIG SLASHING STRIKES from her chainsaw. Like the slashes from Mr. Grizz boss fight you have to dodge between

The eels scream and it's a fucked up version of her boss fight music- like how endless bounder and asynchronous... guy are screaming fucked up versions of off the hook songs

Shiver:

Uses toxic mist to slow you down

Maybe does that cool "ah- ah- ah- ah!" she does when she sings and it creates the killer wail to hunt you down. Toxic mist + killer wail combo oof

of course master mega is here again but skeletal like jelletons

Big Man:

So the bucket is gonna act like a tidal wave. yknow that big bucket at water parks? that. you gotta time your movements to get around it and stuff.

The main challenge isn't really combat it's inking fast enough and mobility.

other than that it's just attacking a bunch of big mans. SIMILAR to his boss fight but still different enough.

Instead of flopping around when you reveal him he sort of stands there... menacingly!!!

arena is smaller than OG fight and buckets pour out on the sides. (think it’s a hexagon but each vertice has an inkfall/bucket that you’re kinda fucked if you bump into and also spawns the lil torpedo fishes. Or smaller shadows.

lmk what y'all think!