Octoling (enemy)

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

- Cap'n Cuttlefish

Octolings (Japanese: タコゾネス Takozonesu) are a subspecies 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. Unlike Inklings, they have thicker and curlier hair, with four tentacles instead of six (added with their arms and legs this gives them eight "limbs", as opposed to Inklings' ten), have their suckers above their hair than underneath, beige undersides of their hair, small round ears, purple circled eyes with a dash on the end, pointed fingers, and no spots at the ends of their hair.

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. Their body features seem slightly more mature than female Inklings', though this is a result of their clothing, as the in-game model is the same. 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.

Octoling hair color seems unrelated to their ink, as they have their pre-set hair color regardless of the color set for the mission.

As shown in art of the Octolings in The Art of Splatoon, their eye markings are the same as their playable counterparts, but with a purple tinge at the edge of their 'eyelashes', and they have green eyes, like the other Octarians (even in octopus form, as opposed to the Inklings' eyes, which are grey in squid form, despite the player's chosen eye color).

Like Inklings, Octolings 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, they have a different octopus form, which has curlier tentacles of the same length and Octarian eyes. Their hairstyle is also not available for playable Octolings.

Elite Octolings


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, meaning deluxe or decorated Takozonesu).

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

- Marie

They appear in the missions Octoling Invasion, Inkvisible Avenues, Octoling Assault, Propeller Lift Fortress, Spinning Spreaders, Octoling Uprising, Spongy Observatory, and Octoling Onslaught. The only weapons they use are the Octoshot and Splat Bombs.

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. They appear in the missions Octoling Strike, Parking Garage, Octoling Assault, Propellerland, Octolings Ahoy!, and Octoling Workout.

Marina of Off the Hook is an Octoling and a former member of the Octarian army who has since defected from their forces.

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").

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 with a change similar to that of other Octarians. They now have reddish-brown fur for their hair, wear pink "lipstick", and have a new outfit consisting of new goggles with Fuzzy Ooze covering the lenses, a leopard top, new legwear, and boots styled after sea mines. They only appear in the stages Stamp 'Em Out, Bet You Mist Us!, Alterna Space Center: Lift, and After Alterna.

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

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

 * When an Octoling is splatted, they fly off in the form of a small ghost, just like Inklings. They have a unique octopus ghost for this.
 * Despite having dark red and black tentacles, their ink is purple like other Octarians. The reason for this is unknown.
 * It is 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. These Octolings have purple eye markings with a dash, as opposed to the black markings of Inklings. In Splatoon 2, the Octoling model used in Octo Canyon has black markings with a dark purplish dash instead, and the hair is affected by movement, while it remained stiff in Splatoon's models.
 * This is possible because, on a technical level, the "Octolings" are simply modified female Inkling models with curvier bodies plus unique hair and travel-form models; all other model 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's 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 pointy ears that Inklings have. However, this round ear model is shared between Inklings for when they wear gear that cover their ears. This could be because Octolings' ears were not supposed to be visible, thus using the existing model. Marina's model does not have ears, as she never is shown without her headphones.
 * However, in a Twitter art post released from SplatoonJP, it is revealed that Marina has small, round ears similar to the enemy Octolings’ round ear model, but slightly bigger.
 * 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.
 * Dera, a prefix of DeraTakozonesu, Japanese name of Elite Octoling, is a word of Nagoya dialect.
 * 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.
 * The Octolings' hairstyle bears a resemblance to one commonly seen on female Majins from Dragon Ball Online. Both consist of four tentacles, with two in the front framing the face and two in the back curling up.
 * In Splatoon 2, the only weapon classes that the Octolings don't use are Chargers and Splatlings, as those weapons are used by other Octarians. Mainly, the Octosniper and Octocommander respectively.
 * In Splatoon 2, none of the Octoling gear is available to wear after completing Octo Canyon. This is unlike the first game, where it was acquired after defeating DJ Octavio. This is due to it being obtainable through getting mem cakes in the Octo Expansion.
 * As seen in The Art of Splatoon, Octolings were originally going to have Inkling masks and floppy ears like a dumbo octopus. These ideas were mostly discarded, except for the curly, above-suckered hair and armor, and the rounded ears being reintroduced in Agent 8's design and the design of the playable Octolings.
 * Concept art of Salmon Run show both Inklings and Octolings fighting together against early versions of the Salmonids, suggesting that Octolings were planned to be playable very early on.
 * The playable female Octoling model appears to not be as curvy as the hostile Octoling model.
 * 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 of them disappears in the same way a player disappears in an online battle after disconnecting.
 * In Octoling Strike, if an Octoling falls in water, it will have 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.
 * A wig based on an enemy Octoling's hair and goggles that can be worn by Mii Fighters appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as paid DLC.

Names in other languages
Octopus