Agent 8

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Agent 8
SO Agent 8 Together.png
Female and male Agent 8 in Side Order
Species Octoling
Habitat
Height
Hair color Variable (Splatoon 2, Octo Expansion)
Variable (Side Order)
Eye color Any
Age At least 14 (Splatoon 2)[1]
At least 19 (from Splatoon 3's start)[2]
Gender Any[a]
Pronouns
Relations
Location Deepsea Metro, Inkopolis Square, Order Sector
Shop
HP
Maximum HP
Members
Other forms
Eight redirects here. For other uses, see Eight (disambiguation).
This article is about the video game character nicknamed 'Eight'. For the manga character, see Eight (character).
Applicant 10,008, eh? That's a beakful. I think I'll just call you Agent 8.

Agent 8, also referred to as Number 10,008[4] or Eight, is a playable Octoling and protagonist of the single-player DLC modes Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion and Splatoon 3: Side Order.

Appearance

Female and male Agent 8 seen in the Octo Expansion trailer.

In Splatoon 2, Agent 8 can have a variety of appearances, depending on the player's choice of gender, skin color, eye color, and hairstyle, as well as their current ink color.

In Octo Expansion, their outfit consists of a black leather crop top for females or a slightly longer shirt for males with one long sleeve, a leather skirt for females or pants for males, high-heel boots for females or boots for males, and a type of neon yellow wristband on both their ankles and wrists. They can pick up Armor as well.

In Splatoon 3: Side Order, Agent 8's appearance depends on the player's choice of style, skin color, eye color, eyebrows, and hairstyles between all customization options available for Octolings in Splatoon 3. Their ink color is faded to a beige color by default and they are dressed in a short-sleeved white jumpsuit with matching white knee-high boots, a thin, translucent brace on their left forearm, as well as an earring on their left ear. Additionally, they have differently colored hair and fingertips in a slightly brownish color by default, which glow in the dark. Depending on the color chips placed inside a Palette, ink color, hair base and tips, and fingertips change color in response.

Personality and traits

Despite being mute throughout the game, Agent 8 shows aspects of their personality through subtle means. Agent 8 has a fondness for poetry and writes one for every mem cake collected. Throughout these poems, Agent 8 demonstrates a yearning for life on the surface, participating in Turf Wars, finding a part-time job, and dressing up in fresh clothes. This resolve is shown most strongly in the final area of the Octo Expansion, where failing repeatedly activates a Skip Charge, showing Agent 8 with glowing eyes as they charge through the stage with the Calamari Inkantation motivating them. Their poems also show that they are considerably more compassionate and sympathetic than most other Octolings, wondering if Inklings should be considered foes, wishing that they could all get along, and feeling heartbroken at the fact that their superiors were kidnapping the Zapfish and having to refrain from saving it themself. Agent 8 also wishes to apologize to DJ Octavio for unceremoniously deserting the Octarians in pursuit of Inkopolis, as well as recollecting their old Octarian friends, specifically an Octoling warrior whom Agent 8 remembers fondly, hoping that they do not think badly of their decision.

As a result of listening to the Calamari Inkantation, Agent 8 is a big fan of the Squid Sisters, anxiously planning their greeting to the pair upon reaching the surface every night. Agent 8 seems to have known about Marina's escape to the surface and was glad to hear that she had made it safely, though she never knew her personally before the events of the Octo Expansion. Agent 8 comes to greatly admire Marina, to the point of expressing the notion of wanting to be just like her. Agent 8 was also seen to be somewhat confused by Cap'n Cuttlefish's actions and personality, as seen near the end when they awkwardly glanced at Cuttlefish when he was rapping with Pearl and when he happily accepted being the "hype man" in the battle against Commander Tartar. The official Splatoon 2 relationship chart reveals that Agent 8 has respect for Cap'n Cuttlefish, as they think the elderly should be treated as such. It is also revealed that they think Agent 3 is cool and that Li'l Judd is adorable.[5]

Agent 8, being an Octoling, is apparently disgusted and quite offended at how many squid-themed objects there are in Inkopolis, such as Squid Bumpers, and asks people to consider how Octolings see the world. They love the sea breeze and will go to the shore to feel it even though they cannot swim.

Agent 8 has shown a fondness for both Flow and Craymond. Interestingly, they are also said to enjoy listening to Sheldon rambling, in contrast to various other characters, possibly due to Octarian culture centering around technology and weaponry. They are also stated (in their description for the Chaos vs. Order Splatfest (in which they were on Team Order)) to be obsessed with cleaning, not being able to sleep before every nearby weapon is clean. Sheldon is therefore said to have considered hiring them.[6]

Agent 8's shy nature is seen in Side Order. During one of the reruns of the final boss, various characters try to appeal to Smollusk to let them reconfigure the Palette. Pearl and Marina agreed it was Agent 8's turn to speak to Smollusk, but upon meeting it Agent 8 stays silent, to which Marina comments that she forgot how shy they are.

Agent 8 is shown to be very helpful as they help out Off the Hook on their world tour, with Marina feeling grateful for shouldering a lot of their last-minute load. They also volunteer to be the first test subject on her secret project, which is revealed to be Memverse. Marina also comments on their skill and mentions how "Eight being Eight", the challenge that Memverse provides will be easy for them to clear.

Agent 8 is shown to be fond of their nickname "Eight". Marina mentions in her diary entry that upon using the nickname, they flashed the widest smile in return.

History

Early life

Agent 8 was a trainee in the Octarian army[7] and had a change of heart when they heard the Calamari Inkantation while observing the final battle of Splatoon, etching it into their soul. According to Marina, Octolings that hear the song become discontent with Octarian society and choose to strike out on their own.[b]

Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion

Agent 8 in the Deepsea Metro's Central Station.

In Octo Valley, Agent 8 encountered Cap'n Cuttlefish and Agent 3, where Cuttlefish told Agent 3 to attack Agent 8. The two battled until all three of them were attacked by someone and were knocked into the Deepsea Metro. Agent 8 then lost their memories due to them being extracted via partial sanitization. After teaming up with Cuttlefish and escaping the Abandoned Station, they became a test subject of the metro.

Agent 8's role is to complete various missions in the Deepsea Metro with the premise of reaching the promised land by finding and collecting the four thangs. The missions take place in an area that is supposedly a testing lab, with a multitude of objectives varying from mission to mission. Missions also contain mem cakes which are compressed memories and are given as a reward for completing a mission.

Eventually, after collecting all four thangs, the telephone combines them into, supposedly, a door to the promised land. As Agent 8 and Cuttlefish enter the contraption and it closes behind them, it is revealed to be a trap. Pearl and Marina realize the combined thangs are actually a blender, which the telephone plans to use to smoothie both Agent 8 and Cap'n Cuttlefish into sanitized ink, with Marina only able to activate a distress signal from Agent 8's CQ-80. Smashing through the glass ceiling, Agent 3 comes to the rescue and destroys the blender. They are knocked out after, leaving Cap'n Cuttlefish to stay with Agent 3 while Agent 8 can go on towards escaping the Kamabo Co. facilities with the blueprints provided by Agent 3's employee-model CQ-80. Close to the exit, Agent 8 is forced to defeat a partially sanitized Agent 3, whose mind had been hijacked by the telephone while Agent 8 was escaping.

Once on the surface, Pearl and Marina airlift Cap'n Cuttlefish, Agent 3, and Agent 8 to safety. Agent 8 is the first to notice the rising of the above-ground section of the facility, revealing the NILS Statue with the telephone inside, who re-introduces itself as Commander Tartar as well as its plan to destroy and recreate life on Earth. To stop the statue from charging its weapon, Agent 8 has three minutes to cover it in ink by detonating Marina's prototype Hyperbombs while the Princess Cannon, powered by Pearl's loud voice, destroys the weapon for good. This makes this battle Agent 8's first Turf War.

With the world saved, Agent 8 is finally free.

After Splatoon 2

Agent 8 stays in close contact and befriends Off the Hook. They are invited to join the World Tour and help with the preperations for it as well as Marina's research for Project Memverse, which is meant to help test subjects of Kamabo Co. by getting their memories back. They volunteer to be the first test subject.

Splatoon 3

Agent 8 is a guest on Off the Hook's world tour.

Side Order

Agent 8 and the Pearl Drone in the Order Sector.

In an unexpected turn of events, they find themself in the Order Sector, located in the Memverse, a virtual reality created by Marina. Agent 8 and Pearl, now in a drone form, head into the Spire of Order, where they meet Acht and rescue Marina from a mind-control device created by Order. Afterward, Agent 8, Pearl, Marina, and Acht ascend the Spire together to defeat Order and thwart its plans to assimilate the real world.

After the first defeat of Order, Agent 8 and the others ascend the Spire multiple consecutive times to reconfigure the remaining Palettes in the Control Room, including Eight's Palette.

Palette

SO Icon Eight.png Eight's Palette
S3 Weapon Main Octo Shot Replica 2D Current.png
Octo Shot
S3 Weapon Sub Splat Bomb Flat.png
Splat Bomb
S3 Weapon Special Triple Splashdown.png
Triple Splashdown
SO Icon Smollusk.png
Oh, hiii, Eight! Can you tell I'm behaving myself and doing a good job as boss of the Spire?

I have all the Jelletons here with me, so it doesn't get too wonely. But I still want you and Peawl and Mawina and Acht to come pway sometimes! You'll always have a fwiend in Smollusk!

Most common Tone:
SO Icon color chip type Power.png Power
Second Most common Tone:
SO Icon color chip type Mobility.png Mobility

Note: Eight's Palette is resilient to hacking. Each hack active barring Risky Rewards will reduce the number of Color Chips that can be set into the Palette by 6, to a minimum of 6 with 5 or more hacks active. Also, it is impossible to restart a climb after failing on a floor - one always has to start from 1F - but players gain the ability to skip non-boss floors, which costs Membuxs 100 between 1F and 9F, Membuxs 500 between 11F and 19F, and Membuxs 1000 between 21F and 29F.

Other media

Splatoon manga

Main article: Eight (character)

Agent 8 appears in Chapter 24 of the Splatoon manga as an Octoling boy with red eyes and the Punk hairstyle and wears the Squidlife Headphones, Null Boots Replica, and unique pants and top, and wields a Blaster. He found Goggles, who had previously attempted to land on the Grizzco boat when Super Jumping back and ended up sinking into the water. Agent 8 is shown to have a hand in machinery, like Octolings are said to, and made Goggles a new set of gear for him, a Splattershot and the same ink tank that he has. Due to forgetting his name, Cap'n Cuttlefish refers to him as Agent 8, while Goggles refers to him as Eight. A female Octoling named Seven, wearing the full outfit Agent 8 wears in the game, also appears initially from Eight's flashbacks and is not seen physically until Chapter 26. Two other Octolings, Burns and Ponytail (nicknamed after their hairstyles), appear in Chapter 28 after the NILS Statue is destroyed and are also wearing the full outfit Agent 8 wears in the game. They are all set to be Eight's teammates where they all partake in Turf Wars after reaching Inkopolis.

As Eight and Seven wear the clothes that Agent 8 in the game wears, but without the yellow tags on their wrist and ankle, in the flashbacks taking place before they were taken to the Kamabo Co. facility, it is possible that the clothes Agent 8 wears are what younger Octolings wear. Burns and Ponytail also seem to be lacking the yellow tags when they are rescued.

Splatoon: Squid Kids Comedy Show

Splatoon: Squid Kids Comedy Show also features Agent 8 in CoroCoro's separate August 2018 issue, appearing as an Octoling boy with orange eyes and the Punk hairstyle.

Quotes

Splatoon 3

Side Order's protagonist is Agent 8, a young Octoling last seen on a perilous journey together with Off the Hook. This world of order seems no less dangerous than the last place Eight ended up, but how did Eight get here to begin with?
— @SplatoonNA on Twitter[8]
This is Side Order's protagonist, Agent 8 ("Eight" to their friends). In an unexpected turn of events, this young Octoling finds themselves transported to the Spire of Order.
— @NintendoEurope on Twitter[9]

Gallery

Image linking to the gallery page
View the gallery

Trivia

  • Agent 8 is the only protagonist to:
    • not be a part of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, only being nicknamed by Cap'n Cuttlefish in a similar fashion.
    • exclusively wield non-hero weapons, wielding different sets of main and sub weapons instead while also being unarmed in certain stations and wielding the Octo Shot during the escape phase.
    • be playable in two single-player campaigns (additionally being the only DLC player character).
    • have colored fingertips (only in Side Order), akin to Marina and Acht's.
    • Have a default outfit worn in their respective single-player campaign that is unobtainable in multiplayer, specifically their Octo Expansion get-up.
  • A Splatoon 2 anniversary Famitsu interview with the developers revealed that Agent 8 does not respawn if they get splatted during the escape phases. Failing during the escape and choosing to continue playing simply has the player "go back in time" to when Agent 8 still was alive.[1] This is also hinted in-game:
    • Checkpoints encountered during the escape are flashing red, which is the same animation the checkpoints have in the tests when the player is down to their last respawn (with an exception for the Spinal Phase, as the checkpoints there show the normal animation for unknown reasons).
    • If Agent 8 gets splatted during the escape, characters will shout their name in a worried fashion.
    • If the player chooses to continue, no respawn animation plays and the game cuts back to Agent 8 already standing.
  • When Agent 8's Skip Charge fills up to 100% during the Escape phases, the beginning section of Calamari Inkantation plays.
  • The color of female Agent 8's eyes appears to be inconsistent, as she appears with grey eyes in the key art, promotional art, release art, download card, and Twitter celebration art and with orange eyes in the trailer, amiibo, and website renders.
  • The drawing of Agent 8 that appears when viewing individual mem cakes and when given a prompt to skip escape levels shows them with the lightest skin tone regardless of the one chosen by the player.
  • In The Art of Splatoon 3, Agent 8 was shown to be in an early concept for Splatoon 3's story mode.

Etymology

In research, test subjects are usually named by number, with Agent 8 being the 10,008th registered subject.

The nickname of Agent 8 was given by Cuttlefish due to being shorter to say.

Eight is a nickname derived from "Agent 8".

Names in other languages

RotM clean room label 1.png
Translation needed
Translations needed for the names "10,008" and "Eight". edit
Agent 8
Language Name Meaning
Japan Japanese 8号
Hachi-Gō
Number 8
Netherlands Dutch Agent 8 Agent 8
CanadaFrance French Numéro 8 Number 8
Germany German Nr. 8 Number 8
Italy Italian Numero 8 Number 8
Russia Russian Агент 008
Agent 008
Agent 008
SpainMexico Spanish Agente 8 Agent 8
China Chinese (Simplified) 8号
Bā Hào
Number 8
Hong Kong Chinese (Traditional) 8號
Bā Hào
Number 8
South Korea Korean 8호 No.8
Number 10,008
Language Name Meaning
Japan Japanese No.10008
ichi man hachi
Number 10,008
Netherlands Dutch Nummer 10.008 Number 10,008
CanadaFrance French N°10 008 N°10,008
Germany German Subjekt 10008 Subject 10,008
Italy Italian Numero 10008 Number 10,008
Mexico Spanish (NOA) 10 008 10,008
Spain Spanish (NOE) Número 10008 Number 10,008
Eight
Language Name Meaning
Japan Japanese ハチ
Hachi
Eight
Netherlands Dutch 8 -
CanadaFrance French Huit Eight
Germany German 8 -
Italy Italian Otto Eight
Russia Russian Восьмерка
Vos'myorka
Eight (as the name of the symbol "8")
SpainMexico Spanish Ocho Eight
China Chinese 小八
Xiǎo bā
From 小 ("Little", common nickname prefix) and 八 ("Eight").

Notes

  1. Despite the player choosing Agent 8's gender, the English localization of the 8 March 2018 Nintendo Direct refers to Agent 8 with she/her pronouns, as it only shows the female version of Agent 8.[3]
  2. In the Japanese version, she instead states that they start to wish to live among Inklings.

References