Promotional characters

Conjecture

This article or section involves something that has not been specifically named.
The name(s) presented could be conjectural.
Reason: While the names presented are commonly linked to the designs shown, they are in no way definitive as these are not real characters and only exist for marketing purposes

Promotional characters are the player characters (Inklings and Octolings) often used in promotional material and artwork produced by Nintendo for the Splatoon series. They are also often used for references to Splatoon in other Nintendo games. The designs of these characters are mostly consistent, though skin tone and eye color frequently vary, with eye color typically adjusting to match the ink color.

Splatoon

Render of six of the main eight promotional Inklings

Splatoon 2

Render of the main eight promotional Inklings in Inkopolis Square

The two main promotional Inklings for Splatoon 2 next to the two promotional Octolings

Main promotional characters

Image	Name	Style	Gear	Other names
	Surume	Female Inkling Haircut Legwear 2	King Flip Mesh White King Tank Mint Dakroniks	Alice[Citation needed]
	Cuttlefrsh	Male Inkling Slick Legwear 2	Squidfin Hook Cans Black V-Neck Tee Yellow-Mesh Sneakers	Cuttlefresh
	Kensaki	Male Inkling Hipster Legwear 3	Half-Rim Glasses Hula Punk Shirt Piranha Moccasins
	Kelpshot	Female Inkling Hippie Legwear 3	Hockey Helmet Inkopolis Squaps Jersey Canary Trainers
	Splashley	Male Inkling Topknot Legwear 1	Bucket Hat Matcha Down Jacket Black Dakroniks
	Yari	Male Inkling Buzz-Cut Legwear 3	Takoroka Visor Takoroka Windcrusher Neon Delta Straps
	Kou	Female Inkling Wave Legwear 2	Knitted Hat Shirt with Blue Hoodie Smoky Wingtips
	Tof-U	Female Inkling Double-Bun Legwear 3	Painter's Mask Pink Easy-Stripe Shirt Hunting Boots

Splatoon 3

The main eight promotional player characters of Splatoon 3

Main promotional characters

Image	Name	Style	Gear	Splashtag
	VeronIKA	Feminine Inkling Megalobraid Slit eyebrows Legwear 1	Fake Contacts Tri-Shred Tee Force ReBoots	Third-Gen Ringleader
	Hirooooo	Masculine Octoling Octolocks Classic eyebrows Legwear 1	Ocho OctoPhones Seahorse Shoreliner U Jellys	Inkless Office Drone
	AnemoneNo1	Feminine Inkling Bed Head Slit eyebrows Legwear 1	Retro Framers Manatee Swag Sweat Tenya OctoReds	Southpaw Champ
	kAyOSs	Masculine Octoling Fade Classic eyebrows Legwear 1	Glassless Glasses Apex Sweater BlobMob Flip-Flops	Splatsville's Fashionista
	YARRwhal	Masculine Octoling Surfcurl Legwear 3	Ink-Tinted Goggles Red Battlecrab Shell Turbo Tabi Red	Faithful C-Side SuperFan
	Stephanie	Feminine Inkling Hippie Slit eyebrows Legwear 2 (ripped)	Party Hard Hat Umibozu Home Jersey Skipjack Work Boots	Big-Money Man-o'-Wardrobe Regular
	TakoTruck	Feminine Octoling Tentatwists Classic eyebrows Legwear 2 (ripped)	Winkle Stripe Helm Khaki Ranger Vest Arctic Duck Boots	Clocked-Out Turf Warrior
	C4L4M4R	Masculine Inkling Banger Legwear 1	Ink-Black Flap Cap Button-Clown Shirt Arrow Toesies Blu	Attention-Seeking Bass Dropper

Gallery

➤ View the gallery

Trivia

• Despite being one of the promotional characters of Splatoon 2, Surume's name can be seen in screenshots from official tweets advertising changes to Tricolor Turf War in Splatoon 3, repping VeronIKA's and Stephanie's Splashtags. This seems to be a mistake, as TakoTruck and YARRwhal are replaced in these images.
• The title of a wallpaper featuring a render of VeronIKA, given out for birthdays by Nintendo, refers to them as Agent 3, despite no Hero Gear being worn.
• Some characters of the Splatoon and Splatoon 3: Splatlands manga are based on the promotional characters in their appearances.
  • Bobble Hat's Splatoon manga appearance is based on Mizuho with the exception of her shoes of choice, Purple Sea Slugs, and her main weapon of choice, Slosher.
  • Specs's Splatoon manga appearance is based on Rui with the exception of his shoes of choice, Smoky Wingtips, and his main weapon of choice, Octobrush.
  • Gloves is based on Cuttlefrsh with the exception of his main weapon of choice, Splat Dualies. Cuttlefrsh is also commonly seen with blue eyes, whereas Gloves is exclusively shown with green eyes.
  • Braid is based on VeronIKA.
  • Octophones is based on Hirooooo.
  • Retro is based on AnemoneNo1 with the exception of her main weapon of choice, Dynamo Roller.
  • Glassless is partially based on kAyOSs with the exception of him being an Inkling instead of an Octoling (yet maintaining the same skintone color), his legwear, black leggings, his shoes of choice, Blue Shrimpsiders, and his weapon of choice, Splattershot Pro.
    • Although, in one of the promotional videos, kAyOSs can be seen using Crab Tank, which Splattershot Pro has as its special weapon and which Glassless uses at some point in the manga.
  • Ink-Tinted is based on YARRwhal.
  • Party Hard Hat is based on Stephanie.
  • Shellmet is based on TakoTruck.
  • Flap Cap is based on C4L4M4R, with the exception of C4L4M4R's eye color generally being shown as yellow, whereas Flap Cap's are teal.

Etymology

• Surume comes from the Japanese name of dried shredded squid.
• Cuttlefrsh is a portmanteau of "cuttlefish" and "fresh", missing the "e" in fresh due to the username character limit.
• Kensaki comes from the Japanese name of the swordtip squid, 剣先烏賊 kensaki-ika.
• KelpShot may be a pun on "kelp" and a term such as dead shot or killshot.
• Splashley is a portmanteau of "splash" and the name "Ashley."
• Yari comes from the Japanese name of the spear squid, ヤリイカ yari-ika.
• Kou comes from the Japanese name of the golden cuttlefish, コウイカ kou-ika.
• Tof-U comes from "tofu" and possibly Wii U.
• VeronIKA is a portmanteau of the name "Veronica" and the Japanese word for squid, イカ ika.
  • VeronIKA also has a few alternative French names. MaxENCRE (a portmanteau of the name "Maxence" and the French word for ink, "encre") and CalaMarc (portmanteau of the Spanish word for squid, "calamar," and the name "Marc") are amongst them.
• Hirooooo comes from the name "Hiro". This could be in reference to "hero", as in "Hero Mode" (such as Return of the Mammalians). The number of "o"s in the name results in it having eight letters in total, possibly referencing how octopuses have eight limbs.
• AnemoneNo1 is a pun on "anemone" and the term public enemy number one.
• YARRwhal is a portmanteau of "yarr," an interjection commonly associated with pirates, and "narwhal."
• TakoTruck is a pun on "taco truck" and the Japanese word for octopus, 蛸 tako.
• kAyOSs is derived from "chaos," possibly in reference to the theme of chaos in Splatoon 3, following the victory of Team Chaos in the Chaos vs. Order Splatfest.
• C4L4M4R is a pun of "calamari," the Spanish word for squid, and the name "Lamar," written in leetspeak.

See also

• Promotional gear
• Splatoon commercials