Splatoon Ink Headcanons because I played Splatoon 3 for the first time and now I’m interested:
Inkling and Octoling Ink is diluted in multiplayer matches, as the weapons used in multiplayer matches dilute the Ink they’re firing.
When an Inkling touches Ink that doesn’t match their colour, the different coloured Ink disrupts the already existing Ink in the Inkling’s body and if the new Ink fully overwhelms the existing Ink, the Inkling splats and has to respawn. That’s just how Ink works. Because of this, differently coloured Ink burns to the touch. It’s like acid if it doesn’t match your Ink colour.
It should go without saying that this process is pretty darn painful. The inkling’s body being overwhelmed by another type of Ink that isn’t supposed to be there. So for both safety reasons and to make games more appealing (not many Inklings would be willing to play things like turf wars for fun if it was extremely painful to get shot), the weapons used in multiplayer matches filter and dilute Ink as they fire it.
The diluted Ink can still splat Inklings if they’re covered in it and being splatted definitely hurts, but this diluted Ink doesn’t cause as much pain as the non-diluted stuff and the Inkling’s body has a much easier time clearing it out of their system when they’re out of combat, preventing most long-lasting injuries.
However, the Ink used in Splatoon 1 and 2’s story modes, the Ink used by Agent 8 in the Octo Expansion and the Ink used by New Agent 3, Shiver, Frye and DJ Octavio in Splatoon 3 is not diluted. It’s pure Ink straight from the source with no dilution or filtering because the Story Modes aren’t games, they’re real battles with real consequences.
So Ink in multiplayer matches is diluted and doesn’t cause as much pain when covering or splatting an enemy, while the Ink used in the story modes is undiluted and hurts a lot more to be covered in or splatted by. The Inkling’s body also has a harder time trying to clear out and get rid of undiluted Ink, so the injuries last longer.
There’s also other types of Ink, and they all feel different as well.
Starting with the least dangerous types of Ink and working our way up:
The unique “Ink” that Big Man produces during his boss fight isn’t actually Ink. It’s mucus. Real life Manta Rays have a thin layer of mucus that protects them from disease, infections and being grabbed by predators, and Big Man’s ink is an evolved form of that.
Because the Ink produced by Big Man isn’t actually Ink but can act just like it, it has some slightly different properties.
For one, it can harm and splat any Inkling or Octoling regardless of colour. It’s not Ink, so even if an inkling somehow managed to match the multiple colours of Big Man’s slime, they’d still be harmed because it’s not Ink and their bodies are not designed to handle it in any way.
Big Man’s slime hurts about as much as regular inkling Ink, but the pain sticks around for a while longer as the Inkling’s body has a hard time getting rid of the stuff. Regular Ink may hurt, but at least it’s Ink in the long run and can be quickly flushed out of the body. The same can’t be said about Big Man’s slime. It can eventually be flushed out, but it takes longer than what’s normal.
The mucus given off by Big Man also can’t be used in regular weapons, as it’s too thick and viscous to be properly fired from a gun. We see in Big Man’s boss fight that it can be used in things like bombs, but you can’t load Big Man’s “Ink” into something like a Splattershot and expect it to work.
Like Big Man’s mucus-ink, Salmonid Ink isn’t actually Ink, but rather a type of slime.
Salmonids give off the stuff both through their skin and through their mouths (Fish Sticks, Flipper-Floppers and Stingers spit out this slime to attack, with them all having different mouthpieces to affect the shot. Steelheads also create their bombs using their own saliva).
Also like Big Man’s mucus, Salmonid Slime has its own unique properties.
Just like Big Man’s mucus, Salmonid Slime can harm an Inkling of any colour, even if that inkling is the extra same colour as the slime. It’s a different substance entirely and no Inkling can just deal with the stuff.
Salmonid Slime is also extremely sticky. Like EXTREMELY sticky. And that’s why it’s one of the more dangerous types of “Ink” here. Because if an Inkling gets Salmonid Slime on them, their body has an extremely hard time getting rid of it. It hurts just as much as normal (meaning undiluted) Ink, but it takes FOREVER for that pain to go away because it takes forever for the Inkling’s body to get rid of it. It gets in the body and because of its stickiness, just stays there with the body being unable to flush it out.
This is why Slopsuits are used by Grizzco Employees during Salmon Runs. They don’t completely prevent harm as Salmonid Slime can still get through it, but they do seriously limit the amount of Salmonid Slime that Employees are exposed to.
Touching Salmonid Slime bare-handed seriously hurts and the pain lasts for a LONG time because it’s extremely hard to separate from the body it’s attached to. Touching Salmonid Slime while wearing a Slopsuit still hurts as some slime does get through the protective clothing, but it doesn’t hurt as much and the pain doesn’t last as long as if you’d touched it barehanded.
Salmonid Slime also can’t be used in conventional weapons, which is why salmonids either use melee attacks, bombs or technology that doesn’t involve ink guns. Fish Sticks, Flipper-Floppers and Stingers DO shoot things, but not with guns. They spit out slime and have various mouthpieces that properly weaponize it as it’s being spit out, like Stingers essentially having a sting ray strapped to their mouths. Trying to put salmonid slime in a Splattershot will end in failure.
Fuzzy Ooze is extremely dangerous to Inklings. Just touching the stuff beings rapidly rewriting your biology while removing your sense of self. But I’m not talking about Fuzzy Ooze. Im talking about the ink used by Octarians and Octolings that have been taken over by the stuff. The ink that matches the colours of Fuzzy Ooze. I’m calling it Fuzzy Ink for simplicity.
Fuzzy Ink is a waste product created by Fuzzy Ooze, which is why we see Fuzzy Ink all around Fuzzy Ooze. Because it’s a waste product and not the real thing, it doesn’t have the ability to rewrite biology or create Fuzzy Ooze. It’s basically just a bunch of waste chemicals that the Fuzzy Ooze had to get rid of to stay alive.
However, Fuzzy Ink is EXTREMELY painful to touch because of those exact reasons. It’s a byproduct full of all sorts of toxins and waste that the Fuzzy Ooze had to get rid of, and introducing that stuff to an Inkling’s body will NOT go well. It’s like being coated in acid or set on fire in terms of pain.
However, the Inkling’s body can quickly get rid of this stuff, as it is easily flushed out of the body. Even easier than regular ink. So it’s absolutely agonizing pain that doesn’t last very long.
It also goes without saying by this point that Fuzzy Ink can harm any inkling regardless of colour.
Also, Fuzzy Ink can very easily be loaded into an unmodified gun and fired. We see it be done by Octolings. It’s not too thick or viscous or sticky, actually being a little bit thinner and more watery than regular ink.
Sanitized Ink. DEAR GOD Sanitized Ink.
Sanitized Ink is like if Fuzzy Ink stayed in the body instead of being easily flushed out. Because that’s what it is.
Sanitized Ink was made SPECIFICALLY to remain in the body of whatever it’s exposed to and “sanitize” it. So it definitely hurts. A lot.
Being covered in Sanitized Ink is EXTREMELY painful as the Ink burns through whatever it touching and attempts to break it down and sanitize it just like it was designed to do. It doesn’t just stay in the body for a long time, it briefly SPREADS through the body before the Inkling’s body manages to slow, halt and eventually flush it out.
Sanitized Ink perfectly combines the painfulness of Fuzzy Ink with the long lasting affects of Salmonid Slime, creating an Ink that is MADE to overwhelm and destroy the bodies of Inklings and Octolings.
And the worst part is, there’s two different ways that Sanitized Ink can kill someone. There’s regular splatting done by very quickly overwhelming the targets body like one would do with any other ink, and there’s sanitization, done by slowly adding more and more Sanitized Ink to someone over a long period of time, eventually having the Sanitized Ink completely take over and turning the target into a mindless zombie.
We see this slow sanitization process during Octo Expansion with a half-sanitized Agent 3. The glowing mass of Sanitized Ink on their head is slowly adding Sanitized Ink to Agent 3, sanitizing them without instantly splatting them. This also explains why Agent 3 was un-sanitized when the blob of Sanitized Ink was removed. It was no longer pumping more Sanitized Ink into their body, so Agent 3’s body could flush out the rest after a while of being unconscious.
