Commander Tartar

The Telephone is a character in Octo Expansion.

Appearance
In their telephone form, they appear as an old-timey telephone box. Once Agent 8 has collected all of the 4 thangs, they connect their telephone body to the thangs, transforming themself into a blender. During the final boss battle, they appear as the telephone box with turquoise ooze seeping out, as well as an Octarian tentacle poking out.

Octo Expansion
The Telephone initially appears as an ancient-looking public telephone in the Deepsea Metro. It provides Agent 8 with two items:
 * 1) The CQ-80, a device through which they control which Deepsea Metro to go to next.
 * 2) The CQ Card, which holds the CQ Points used to enter missions and revive if failing.

The Telephone then tells Agent 8 about the Promised Land that awaits them outside of the Deepsea Metro, and informs them that they must collect 4 Thangs in order to return. Upon gathering all 4 Thangs, however, they actually form a massive blender. The Telephone then tries to grind up Agent 8 and Cap'n Cuttlefish into raw materials, only to be stopped by Agent 3, with the Telephone seemingly broken.

During a lengthy escape, the Telephone attacks Cap'n and Agent 3, eventually brainwashing the latter into tying up Cap'n and attacking Agent 8. Their brainwashing is broken when Agent 3 is defeated by Agent 8.

Following the defeat and Agent 8's escape above the surface, a gigantic stone statue emerges. In the hollowed out eye of the statue, the telephone appears and introduces itself as Commander Tartar and declares its intent to eradicate and recreate all life on Earth. The Commander activates a weapon from the statue's mouth; a massive cannon that threatens to destroy the entire world if fully charged.

Agent 8 manages to put a stop to it by inking the entire surface (with the assistance of Marina's Hyperbombs), blocking off the statue's source of power: sunlight. Despite this, the cannon is still able to fire, but is stopped by Pearl's voice-enhanced Killer Wail, with Tartar destroyed along with the statue.

Backstory
Commander Tartar is an AI created by a human scientist referred to only as "the professor" 12,000 years before the events of Splatoon 2. Its purpose was to pass down all of humanity's knowledge to the next capable species. Tartar believed that current society of Inkopolis isn't worthy of obtaining this knowledge. Commander Tartar initially saw hope in the Inklings, but eventually became repulsed by their evolution, needless wars, and fashion obsession. Commander Tartar decided to destroy the existing lifeforms using NILS and start it anew with its own creations, spawned via the biomass it had accumulated from previous test subjects.

Trivia

 * Commander Tartar's name is a reference to tartar sauce, a sauce made using mainly mayonnaise, which may again reference the ooze seeping out of him.
 * There is a similar looking telephone in Octo Canyon hanging to the side of the cabin in Tentakeel Outpost, showing signs of having rust being in a turquoise color.

Names in other languages
CQ-80

CQ Card

Translation notes
