Octoling (enemy)

"We've got company, bucko. Octolings ahead."

- Cap'n Cuttlefish

Octolings are a variant of Octarians who serve as elite fighters in their army, and the octopus equivalent of an Inkling. They are recurring enemies in Octo Valley, Octo Canyon, the Octo Expansion, and Return of the Mammalians. Certain missions in these modes have Octolings as the only enemies, but they can also appear in other missions.

Appearance and traits
Octolings are the Octarian equivalents of Inklings. Compared to the latter, they have thicker and curlier hair, with beige undersides and four tentacles instead of six (giving them eight "limbs" together with their arms and legs, as opposed to Inklings' ten), suckers above their hair rather than underneath, round ears, purple-circled green eyes without any lines joining them, pointed fingers, and no spots at the ends of their hair. Due to their clothing, their body type looks slightly curvier than the female player's, even though their in-game model is the same.

The Octolings' hair color seems unrelated to their ink, as they have their pre-set hair color regardless of the color set for the mission, and always use magenta ink.

Octolings also have an octopus form, which they can use to swim or hide in ink, but can sometimes be seen using it on dry land. Compared to playable Octolings, their tentacles are curlier and even in length, and they have the same green eyes as their humanoid form.

Like Inklings, they can walk on land in humanoid form as well as swim through their own ink in octopus form, making up a somewhat small but dangerous portion of Octarian forces. They can use various main weapons as well as sub weapons. With no visible target, Octolings wander alone or in small groups and ink nearby surfaces for their convenience. Upon being engaged by the player, they make tactical maneuvers, quickly jumping in and out of their ink while shooting and throwing bombs. The best way to deal with Octolings is to catch them before they can react; once found, they are difficult to escape from, as they follow the player in octopus form and shoot at them in humanoid form.

All enemy Octolings encountered are female, and their Japanese name, タコゾネス (Takozonesu, a portmanteau of "octopus" and "amazons"), further supports this. These Octolings are considered elites compared to the playable Octolings, of which there are also male versions, and not every female Octoling can become a full-fledged soldier.

Elite Octolings


"The Octolings with seaweed on their heads are super tough!"

- Agent 2

While normal Octolings have red hair and are fairly easy to defeat, later missions feature Elite Octolings instead, which are faster, more resilient, and deal more damage. Further separating them from the common Octolings are their darker hair and two long strands of seaweed attached to their heads. In Japanese, they are called デラタコゾネス (Deratakozonesu), with Dera being either an abbreviation for デラックス derakkusu (deluxe) or a Nagoya dialect word meaning "super".

Splatoon


In Splatoon, Octolings use only the Octo Shot and Splat Bombs.

Octolings

 * Mission #8: Octoling Invasion
 * Mission #11: Inkvisible Avenues
 * Mission #14: Octoling Assault
 * Mission #16: Propeller Lift Fortress
 * Mission #20: Octoling Uprising
 * Mission #23: Spongy Observatory
 * Mission #26: Octoling Onslaught

Elite Octolings

 * Mission #16: Propeller Lift Fortress
 * Mission #18: Spinning Spreaders
 * Mission #20: Octoling Uprising
 * Mission #26: Octoling Onslaught

Equipment


After completing Octo Valley, the player is awarded the Octoling Goggles, Octoling Armor, and Octoling Boots, based on the gear worn by the Octolings for use in online battles.

The Octoshot Replica is given to the player by Judd at Level 40, completing the Octoling set.

Splatoon 2


In Splatoon 2, Octolings have a slightly different design of their gear, wearing the Octoling Shades, Neo Octoling Armor, and Neo Octoling Boots. Some Octolings have colored fingertips similar to that of Marina, and Elite Octolings have dark maroon-colored hair instead of black, but otherwise function the same as they did in Splatoon. Octolings in some stages spawn far away from Agent 4 and Super Jump near their location to attack.

In addition to the Octo Shot, the Octolings have Octarian versions of the Hero Blaster, Hero Roller, and Hero Slosher. Their versions are differentiated by being red and black instead of yellow and black.

Octolings

 * Mission #8: Octoling Strike
 * Mission #14: Parking Garage
 * Mission #15: Octoling Assault
 * Mission #20: Propellerland
 * Misison #21: Octolings Ahoy!

Elite Octolings

 * Mission #8: Octoling Strike
 * Mission #15: Octoling Assault
 * Mission #27: Octoling Workout

Octo Expansion
The Octo Expansion introduces the Sanitized Octolings, using all previous weapons, as well as new mains, subs, and specials, including Octarian versions of the Herobrush, Hero Dualies, and Hero Brella. They are also able to use additional subs including Burst Bombs and Autobombs, and can now use specials, including the Inkjet, Tenta Missiles, Sting Ray, Ink Storm, Splat-Bomb Launcher, Ink Armor, and Splashdown. The physical coloration of the Octolings is very different from normal ones. They are shown to have pale greenish skin, dark teal-colored fingertips and blue hair with neon yellow tips. They possess the ability to Super Jump, and in Labyrinth Station they Super Jump from beams on the roof. Enemy Octolings do not use chargers or splatlings.

While both types of characters are called "Octolings" in English material about the Octo Expansion, the Japanese version makes a notable distinction between the player Octoling, called タコ (Tako, "Octopus"), and the enemy Octolings, called タコゾネス (Takozonesu, Octopus-Amazon").

Additionally, Marina of Off the Hook is revealed to be a former Elite Octoling who had defected from the Octarian Army prior to the events of Splatoon 2.

Appearances

 * Fake Plastic Station
 * Far-Out Station
 * Rad Ride Station
 * Labyrinth Station
 * Da Bomb Station
 * Bring It Station
 * Sweet Ride Station
 * Dinky Ink Station
 * Girl Power Station

Equipment
After completing the Octo Expansion, the player is awarded the Octo Shot Replica and the Octoling Shades, Neo Octoling Armor, and Neo Octoling Boots, based on the gear of the Splatoon 2 design Octolings, for use in online battles, if one, two, or three sets of mem cakes are collected, respectively. The Octoleet Goggles can be obtained as gear from Salmon Run.

Splatoon 3


Enemy Octolings return in Splatoon 3, now affected by the Fuzzy Ooze as with other Octarians. Their skin tone is darker than those in previous games, and they now have reddish-brown fur on their hair. They have a new outfit consisting of round goggles with Fuzzy Ooze covering the lenses, a leopard print crop top with a metal breastplate, long bandage-like fingerless gloves, short black leggings, long loose black knee-high socks and boots styled after sea mines. They also wear pink lipstick and a bracelet similar in appearance to their boots on their right hand.

Much like in the previous games, they typically wield the Octo Shot and Splat Bombs. Only in Bet You Mist Us! and After Alterna do they use other weapons, as in Splatoon 2. These weapons include the Splat Roller, Blaster, Slosher, Octobrush, Splat Dualies, and Splat Brella, as well as various sub weapons including Burst Bombs, Curling Bombs, and Autobombs. Exclusively in After Alterna, they use various specials including the Splashdown, Tenta Missiles, Inkjet, Ink Storm, Big Bubbler, and Wave Breaker.

Unlike in Splatoon 2, Enemy Octolings use the standard multiplayer versions of weapons rather than unique Octarian versions of the Hero Weapons, since the Hero Weapons are absent from Return of the Mammalians.

Appearances

 * Stamp 'Em Out
 * Bet You Mist Us!
 * Alterna Space Center Lift
 * After Alterna

Audio

 * [[Media:Enemy Octoling sounds.oga|Enemy Octoling voice clips]]

Quotes
"Squid Research Lab here! See this confident cephalopod? That's an enemy Octoling, and all potential Agent 3s should keep an eye out for them. They can move and attack just like you! The only difference? They have better hair. Good luck taming those good locks!"

- @SplatoonNA on Twitter

Trivia

 * It is shown to be possible to hack an enemy Octoling to be playable in and  games. In Splatoon, the game loads an otherwise unused alternate model supposed to be used by the player, so they can change the Octoling's skin tone, hair color, and see their eyes. In Splatoon 2, the Octoling model used in Octo Canyon has black eye markings instead of Splatoon purple ones, and the hair has movement physics, while it was stiff in Splatoon's models.
 * This is possible because, on a technical level, the "Octoling" models are simply modified female Inkling models with a unique hairstyle; all other rigging and animations are shared. Moreover, the hack makes clear that in-game models of enemy Octolings are not intended to be playable, as their hair clips through a significant number of hats. However, the fact that they have a model specifically meant for this purpose, with unique eyes not seen at all during the single-player game, and their hair is textured and coded to function properly with the "team ink color" system despite the clipping issues, raised suspicion that it was likely that there were plans to make the Octolings playable at some point.
 * Splatoon Octoling models were updated several times throughout updates. Early versions going back to of Splatoon 2 also contained different player model types for Octoling girls and boys and possible hair renders.
 * The model also shows Octolings having small, round ears instead of the pointy ears that Inklings have. However, this round ear model is shared with Inklings wearing gear that covers their ears. This could be because Octolings' ears were not supposed to be visible, thus using the existing model.
 * Because of their similarity to Inklings, if an Octoling touches a Zapfish after its shield has been destroyed, the level is completed as if the player has touched it. However, due to the logistics of this, it can only be performed during Octoling Invasion by prematurely destroying the shield with an Inkzooka.
 * At one point in Splatoon's development, Octolings' footwear looked very similar to the Moto Boots, with three straps on the side and pieces of metal on the end. This was briefly shown in a pre-release trailer for Octo Valley.
 * In Splatoon 2, the only weapon classes that the Octolings do not use are chargers and splatlings, as other Octarians (mainly the Octosniper and Octocommander, respectively) use them instead.
 * It was revealed in a Famitsu interview with the developers that enemy Octolings are slightly older than Agent 8 and the playable Octolings, and only elite female Octolings are able to be these specific Octoling soldiers.
 * In Octo Canyon, if more than one moving Octoling is on screen, one disappears in the same way a player disappears in an online battle after disconnecting.
 * In Octoling Strike, if an Octoling falls in water, it has a similar animation to an Inkling's when they fall in water.
 * The common Octolings are voiced by keity.pop, and the Elite Octolings are voiced by Mari Kikuma. They are otherwise known as Callie and Marie's voice actors, respectively.
 * A wig based on an enemy Octoling's hair and goggles, which can be worn by Mii Gunner, appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as paid DLC.