Inkling

Inklings are the primary playable characters in the Wii U game Splatoon. They are the residents of the city Inkopolis, which is the hub of Splatoon. They greatly resemble squids, and can be both male and female. The Inklings' eye color, hair color, and clothing can also be customized by the player.

History

Around 100 years before the events of Splatoon, there was a great Turf War between the Octarians and the Inklings. After losing to the Inklings and a very young Cap'n Cuttlefish, the Octarians left in shame to Octo Valley. In the present day, the Octarians are now fighting back, and you must stop then with the help of Cap'n Cuttlefish.

Appearance

Inklings can transform into a humanoid form and a squid form. Humanoid inklings have pointed eyes, eyes (which have black marking around them, similar to real squids), and colored hair that looks like real squid tentacles. This hair (along with the inkling's ink) color changes randomly with each battle in Turf War and Ranked Battle, and changes to a predetermined color for each Hero Mode level. The known colors that an Inkling can become include: magenta, orange, yellow, green, lime green, cyan, blue, and violet. They also have pointed teeth, again similar to their real life squid counterparts. The squid form looks similar to a cephalopod, only with bright coloring. The squid form's color is the same as the inkling's hair color and it has 2 pronounced tentacles, along with 2 large, connected eyes.

The Player's Inkling's appearance can also be customized. The girl inkling has thinner eyebrows, and has 2 tentacle ponytails hanging to the sides of its head, while the boy inkling has one single ponytail, tied upwards with bands. The inkling's skin and eye color may also be customized from a limited set of tones at the same time as the Inkling's gender. Beyond their bodily appearance, the player may also equip clothing to change their overall stats, along with their weapon set.

Abilities

Both the humanoid, and the squid form of the inkling have special abilities. In humanoid form, Inklings may spread or splatter their team's colored ink (depending on their weapon type). This ink can be used for two different reasons. The ink can be spread on most surfaces, the only surfaces in which ink can not be splattered included green barrel-like objects, glass surfaces, grates, and on black pavement. When the player walks in another team's inks, their movements are slowed down, which makes splattering ink even more useful. Ink can also be splattered or spread on walls. Ink can also be used as an attack or projectile, allowing the player to damage, or temporarily kill enemy players. Squid form allows inklings to swim quickly through ink of their team color, allowing the inkling to move at a faster pace. An inkling in squid form can also jump much higher/farther than an inkling in humanoid form. These 2 abilities allow inklings to travel up walls, through wire fences, and through grates (though they can not pass through striped barriers), allowing the player to reach areas that would not be able to be reached when in humanoid form. While in their own ink, inklings are invisible while staying still, and only generate a few ripples while moving. While in ink and in squid form, the player also regenerates their ink that can be splattered by the humanoid form. If an inkling in squid form is not in solid land with ink, they will be visible, and will also move much slower than a quid form inkling in ink, or a humanoid form inkling.

Inklings, while able to swim in ink, can not swim in water, as when they do, their bodies dissolve for reasons that are not known. Posts by the official American Splatoon Tumblr have referenced that the reason for this may be due to their bodies being made of liquid. This is also supported by a squid form inkling being able to go through grates and wire fences.

Death(s)

Inklings, as far as we know, can be killed in three ways. The first of which is water, which dissolves the inkling once they fall into it. The next is being splattered by the enemy's ink. When killed by enemy ink, an inkling will explode into the enemy's color, while they drop their weapon at the same time. When an inkling falls of a cliff, they will explode into ink as they die, but in this case, they will explode into their ink color. In all three cases of inkling death, a spirit, which looks similar to the inkling's squid form, of the player's team color will float up into the air. After an inkling dies, they will respawn at the team's respawn point (where the inkling first spawns at the beginning of the match) during the online battle modes, and they will respawn at the last checkpoint during hero mode.