How TARTAR Changed in Splatoon 2's English Localization: A linguistic analysis

[@Melalink]

In the Spanish localization, Tartar sounds like a "chavorruco" (an old man talking with young's slang) for look cool with Agent 8. It's something that happens a lot on Mexico, adults triying to act more younger using modern slangs, so was actually very fun to see Tartar be the chavorruco at the beginning and be the old angry man at the end.

[@alphaamoeba]

“global level anthropomorphic civilizations and their ink guns these days.....” “back in my day we only had knuckles, guts, and google”

[@eggsnham.]

Came to the comments to mention this but it seems it's the top comment :P

[@rockincradilyyyy8489]

“Hello, fellow kids”

[@o0DreamCream0o]

@@rockincradilyyyy8489 *cephalopods*

[@Heyn_17]

In the spanish version he uses the "modo jerga juvenil" at its maximum

[@reborn2856]

"the parallel between Tartar and Mr. Grizz is completely absent in the japanese version" *Splatoon 3 comes out*

[@cetadel6597]

And Grizz is not tartar. What a shame, would have been a very cool rug pull.

[@TheSixthPulsar]

Personally I feel like Tartar being petty and nitpicky on exactly why he hated the Inklings and Octarian was showing his reverence of humanity in a way by condemning the current races for things humanity itself can be guilty of. Another aspect of him that I like a lot is him following the Professor's instructions very literally, saying to pass on humanity's knowledge to the next 'worthy race' presumably with no guidelines of what constitutes 'worthy', which leads to Tartar having his own ideas and seeing the current races as 'unworthy'. Great video, a really interesting watch!

[@dailydelphox]

I feel like Tartar does love humanity in the English version, but that's exactly WHY he hates the Inklings. Tartar WANTS humanity to thrive. He wants humanity to be the dominant race. But one problem: Humanity is flawed, and this lead to their destruction. Tartar is designed to PREVENT that though. And the Inklings have already failed to improve on humanity. So his DNA sludge is meant to create "Humans but better." In the Japanese version, this just isn't made all that clear? There's no goal to "improve" on humanity, and therefore no reason for the sludge, not to mention no proper reason to hate the Inklings. He's just a rogue AI.

[@TheTragicFoolBus]

A great theory that I've seen regarding this is that Tartar didn't know what humanity was really like. He was surrounded by scientists and researchers during his creation, and had to be programmed with a scientific mindset in order to enlighten the new generation of sapient life. His only impression of humanity came from these intelligent, logical, and no-nonsense scientists, which is why Inkling society disgusts him so greatly. It's the more laid-back and irresponsible side of humanity he never got to see.

[@CiaranMaxwell]

@@TheTragicFoolBus That was the conclusion I came to on my own. I just now wrote an entire not-essay on this in the comments somewhere. There is one difference, though: I came to the conclusion that inkling society *has* improved on human society. They revere us as gods, remember, and seek to emulate us. Their pettiness and vulgarity is seen as proper behavior, and therefore never taken personally. Where we would feel insulted, they see the only proper response. If they can't come to an agreement, they use turf war to settle the debate. And despite the grumbling and bad sportsmanship in losing, they accept the result and move on without holding a grudge. Their interpersonal relations are already far beyond what we ever achieved.

[@noizepusher7594]

I agree, the contradictions about Inkling society having the same “problems” as humanity still exist in the Japanese version, it’s just less obvious. The turf wars being pointless may seem exclusive to the inklings but a lot of humans participate in sports that at first glance seem to have no practical use.

[@Stephen-Fox]

I also feel it's kind of hard to miss a reverence for humanity when they built their weapon to destroy the current dominant species to resemble an oversized replica of the Statue of David.

[@ardnin]

Another interesting thing about the "robotic-ness" of Katakana is the fact that early, limited displays in old Japanese appliances could often only display Katakana, since the symbols are more simplistic. So it is possible that this might've strengthened the machine-like connotation of Katakana, but since I didn't find any mentions of this though, that's only speculation for now

[@gdlpe05]

thats actually so cool

[@Spletz]

Me who got a B in Japanese Yes. katakana, kanji and hiragana. I too know your magic words

[@ddnava96]

Yeah, I thiught this was gonna be mentioned in the video. Those limited old displays were designed for our letters, which usually fit in a rectangle with very few pixels per letter. The shape of many hiragana letters makes them difficult to be easily readable at low resolutions, but katakana uses simpler shapes and to accommodate to the rectangular shapes they made thinner versions, which is why we have half-width katakana but not half-width hiragana. Also, the dakuten was its own character. This all means that instead of インクリング, we'd see ｲ ﾝ ｸ ﾘ ﾝ ｸ ゛ Do note that ｸ and ゛ are two different characters

[@さゆぬ-x7i]

As a Japanese I can say that’s very likely. Early primitive computers used to print Japanese in all‐katakana and it definitely contributed to the “robotic” connotation.

[@stacy__fakename]

That sounds like about the same reason we associate capital letters with robotic speech, right? Our early displays only had capital letters since that was the most economical way to allocate all the characters you need.

[@JadeJuno]

Honestly, I prefer the start of the NoA version, mainly because the TARTAR IN DA HOUSE" part being zoomed out before zooming in for the rest of the speech just looks better than him starting to speak seriously with the camera so far away, coupled with the music going from the silly "AWEE" music to its more serious/"creepy" version.

[@hnglbanana]

honestly, i think either interpretation of tartar's character makes sense. a tartar that reveres humanity after becoming disgusted by observing inkling society, or a tartar that despises humanity after being abandoned for 10,000 years and seeing no hope in the inklings' future. both feel like equally valid interpretations of the character that emphasise different aspects of their backstory

[@hannahbg1852]

The first interpretation seems to make more sense as he sees humans as Gods and builds a literal giant statue of one.

[@MetaKnight964]

And octarian society

[@josh___something]

I could also see an angle of it corrupting it's original purpose of disseminating human history so the future civilization doesn't follow humanity's failings. After all this time, it chose to observe inkling/octolings and after seeing the same shortcomings, it decided to go the drastic route and REMIX the new civilization, instead of acting as the warning system it was intended as.

[@MrMalix]

Sheesh, I gotta respect you writing an *actual University paper* on this topic. Thats gotta take guts to formally talk about a _funny squid “kid” game_ for school. And you got an A on it too

[@eggs3966]

I don't think they wrote about platoon, just the differences between the English and Japanese languages

[@eldrichhorrornya5933]

@@eggs3966 ​ hey, if i can get away with writing about Onlyfans for college, then Rassicas could probably get away with writing about Splatoon

[@zundeare4066]

imagine being whoever has to read it and getting spoiled

[@kitkatmelon]

@@eldrichhorrornya5933 slay

[@Dukstless]

@@eggs3966 they did, you can clearly see "Commander Tartar" in 0:38, even though it's blurry.

[@sentineluno]

Tbh i feel like both dialogues have different streanghs and if they didn't scrap the thing about tartar seeing humans as gods it would've been great, i like the way they made tartar contemporary speech since it feels like it fits in this world and not a lot is lost beyond that detail that might even have significance for the next game since u know, mamalians and all

[@rassicas]

agreed. i honestly dont think contemporary speech mode is a huge sin, as it works for being weird, but the reverence for humans being lost is what i find most frustrating!

[@dailydelphox]

I think the video got one thing wrong though; That Tartar hates humans. Sure, Tarter seems to hate Inklings for problems humans had too, but isn't Tartar an AI designed to make sure the next dominant race DOESN'T make the same mistakes as humans? Therefore, it makes a lot of sense that Tartar would see humans as flawed, and hate the Inklings for failing to improve on them. Humans ARE flawed. And Tartar wants to fix that. In the English version, Tartar's goal might arguably be a lot deeper. Rather than just being a corrupt AI, he's an AI following his orders in a way that his creator likely didn't expect, resulting in a more complicated character. In the Japanese version, Tartart is just... rogue, and the reason of "You guys play turf wars!" is ultimately not important. The English version does a better job diving into Tartar's motivations.

[@sentineluno]

@@dailydelphox Thank you for putting into words what i couldn't ;w;

[@ThePenguinGod116]

@@dailydelphox I wholeheartedly agree

[@IONATVS]

@@dailydelphox Yes, this. They changed Tartar's motives, but to make them MORE complex and interesting, not less. I like that the Tartar in the NoA localization seems to simultaneously idolize his creators and the noble mission they gave him, but also because of that very mission cannot help but be disgusted by these petty, imperfect creatures that simultaneously fail to live up to his ideal successor to humanity and yet in those imperfections are so very...human. Their every mistake reminds him that Humans weren't the paragons he WANTS to remember them as, and has caused him to lose faith that even with his guidance, no naturally-arising society will ever live up to the "humanity but better" his Creator tasked him to create. If these inklings are--to his mind--even worse than the humans he chooses to remember (a bar presumably set unrealistically high based on his revered creator, not the average humans who destroyed that creator's hopes and dreams), what hope is there to shape them into something BETTER than humans other than by LITERALLY reshaping them into that perfect organism he has always imagined?

[@LJAlex-]

From the English localisation, I read it as Tar Tar was annoyed how the inklings are repeating what seemingly led to the doom of humanity. So he likes humans and wants to see the successor species surpass or at the minimum live up to the humans he holds in high regard

[@MetaKnight964]

And octolings

[@syweb2]

@@MetaKnight964 Please don't copy-paste the same comment into multiple reply sections, it's obnoxious.

[@itsdripnovababy]

I’ve always believed that TarTar looked up to humans in an unnatural way, even if I had never seen the OG Japanese dialogue. I’ve always thought it ironic that he hates inkling society for their love of fashion, fun, and being trendy, as well as octarian society for their militaristic ideals, when humanity is just like that. I just wish they had kept him thinking of humanity as gods of some sort.

[@hannahbg1852]

But they did keep him thinking that humans were Gods..

[@MetaKnight964]

Why do you people overlook the fact tartar hated octolings as well and had nothing good to say about them?

[@hannahbg1852]

@@MetaKnight964 Fr lmao

[@itsdripnovababy]

@@MetaKnight964 Oh no, I'm not overlooking that. One sec, lemme edit my comment.

[@whyisyoutubeshowinghandles]

Personally, I took Tartar's obsession with the Inkling society's fixations(Turf Wars, fashion) to be an ironic thing where he revered humans so much that he didn't realize they had the same flaws Inkling society has

[@MetaKnight964]

Tartar said nothing about turf wars. And you overlooked the hate tartar has for octolings.

[@whyisyoutubeshowinghandles]

@@MetaKnight964 I was just using Turf Wars as an example of something Inklings liked. And yeah, fair point about the octolings.

[@BaronB.BlazikenBaronOfBarons]

An even more ironic thing when taking into account Splatoon 3 where (spoilers): The evolved sea creatures were born from the hopes and aspersions of the last humans, via some weird crystals found in squids.

[@rRekko]

Tartar hates the war over minor genetics diferences and fashion choices. FYI the translation/localization in the west has been overtaken by political activists who believe not only they're morally superior to everyone, but also are adamant about doing god's work, improving and correcting the original script to make it of a higher quality and perfect it. Basically a circle jerk of people only employing others who have the same political views and the same mindset of being allmighty. It's so dumb and i hate it. Lucky i've translated so much manga from japanese to english and spanish i learnt how to tell when english localization teams do this kind of shit, which is almost every single time.

[@PonderousEclectica4383]

@Rekko eid dna tihs tae

[@PeachBobbler]

This is such a breath of fresh air, so often when someone complains about localisations it's just the same old "it's not perfectly accurate >:(" stuff which I find super annoying, of course things are going to change. They're not just translating, they're localising, they have to change cultural stuff as well as translating. But this video was really nuanced and didn't just bash the localised version, it properly criticised it. Really great stuff!

[@RetroNerdyGamer]

I agree with you. Localization is and should be criticized fairly because there's a few things going on there. 1. Things are changed or made into something different so it can either be understood by the target audience or the original intent carried over. (Such as a joke in Japanese being changed to an English joke but that will bring out either the same or similar reaction to the intended audience) 2. Everyone will interpret things differently and thus translation and localizations might not be good to someone while great to someone else. Especially with Japanese (and possibly any asian language using "moon runes" so to speak vs. something like English to Spanish) since that language is very difficult to interpret and generally things could be taken a different way or someone might use one solution to localize while another will use another. A great example to get my point across is the Great Ace Attorney. The official and fan localizations are vastly different. From what I've seen I prefer the official but the fan translation is just as viable. (The reason I really like the official is because when the two main characters are alone they use Japanese honorifics to show they're speaking Japanese, their native language, to each other while when speaking to anyone else they use English or the English honorifics of Mr. Ms, etc but again it's a matter of preference and how to convey things) 3. Things can and WILL be lost in translation or localization. There is no such thing as a perfect translation or localization, and people need to realize localization is NEEDED. I've seen some literal or 1:1 translations and they're horrible. They make no sense, are word soup, and just don't convey anything or flow at all. I know Spanish and English and sometimes I have trouble conveying what I want to say because if I say it literally it'll come off awkward or stiff and my meaning might not be understood. You really needy this sort of thing in everyday life and in media. All in all I don't mind localizations being criticized because maybe there's a different take that could be taken or there might've been a mistake or inconsistency due to a number of factors but just outright bashing them and saying to do literal translations is absolutely unacceptable.

[@NuiYabuko]

The thing is, part of it almost seems like searching for an issue. How many people actually took the monologue as Tartar hating people? Seems like a misinterpretation to me.

[@Gulliblepikmin]

Remember, in an alternate universe the localisers could have called it General Marmite instead.

[@F1areon]

LOL

[@martinhyde3042]

More evil

[@TotherKoala]

he do be salty

[@CorviKid999]

Marmite... but Pa might not.

[@-bemyvalentine-]

I'm in love with the choice of making Tartar's text resemble Spamton's. I really love that character and the entire "suddenly speaking in brackets" thing makes me imagine it as if the brackets were spoken in a different voice and tone from the normal text. Like a machine trying to fill in the gaps in its programming with other audio files it has.

[@pearlscake]

exactly!!! thats exactly how i interpreted it too

[@glassphoenix9095]

i kinda mentally hear dialogue like that like the master from fallout 1 who has like 4 different voices he abruptly switches between ("but it cannot be...this would mean that [all my work] has been for [nothing.]" etc) its a VERY tasty effect

[@lazilylapis676]

You mean that Spampton resembles this characters text right..? Octo expansion came out in 2018

[@glassphoenix9095]

@@lazilylapis676 and this retranslation came out like _this year._ tartar's speech quirk in the 2018 official translation was the outdated slang

[@-bemyvalentine-]

@@glassphoenix9095 Exactly! I love Fallout 1 as well and the way The Master speaks is pretty much what I imagine it as.

[@rassicas]

pinned comment for any corrections, as i often do: -yikes! misspelling at 6:57, coffee is コーヒー not コヒー -butchered the pronunciation of "allegory" a bit as its one of those words i've mostly just seen written and not heard. -seems there's some other typos but whatevs, the Japanese typo I thought was most important to mention I've had a few people ask to read the paper I handed into class. For my own privacy and because I don't trust yall to not plagiarize it for a class or something, I'm not releasing the original paper. trust me, this video is the MUCH better and more in-depth version of the paper anyways. will edit this comment if anything else comes up.

[@gazzol9787]

do you know about the reversed songs in octo expansion? can you somehow translate what the are sayng? like in #19 Bless

[@sneeflesvt]

Hello! There is also a misspelling of "Political" at 5:05. Loved the video! :)

[@oyabin774]

Finally it is here... the Rassicas Splatoon linguistics video! Translating power linguistics can be a hard topic to talk about without over explaining things but you brought up the (most) important points in spoken and written communication and how it's different in JP and ENG Splatoon in a way that was not at all overwhelming! Very excited to see more language comparison stuff on other topics in the splatverse, they're so fun. Great work as always!

[@Mono-ut8zh]

That connection between Tartar and Mr. Grizz wound up *strikingly* prophetic on Nintendo of America's part.

[@sigmatheta9399]

I really do appreciate the NA translation in how they do their best to capture the essence of octo expansion to the best they could. TarTar using slang mixed in with robotic code makes it really sell it to a NA audience. It is a shame some things are lost in translation, but overall I'm pretty content with the stuff the localisation team did.

[@BizzarreProductions]

Rass, I’m wondering if there’s a piece to the puzzle the localizers know that we don’t. Something interesting that you mentioned in a previous video was that the escaped Octarians trusted Tartar because he looked like an octopus. I’m wondering if the contemporary speech mode was intended by NoA to be a “bad Octavio impression” to fool Agent 8 into viewing Tartar as a leader. US players are unlikely to connect an old phone with an octopus face, while a Japanese player would see it right away. Remember, both Agent 8 and Marina seem to view Octavio favorably despite it all, so imitating the Octo peoples’ beloved leader makes a whole heap of sense.

[@F1areon]

I know a lot of the really weird Octavio dialogue in 1 was only in the North American version, but did they keep it for 2? I think they did but idk for sure ...but also oh FUCK it totally didn't even occur to me until now that Contemporary Speech Mode could be read as him trying to copy Octavio to get the Octolings to trust him. oAo

[@BizzarreProductions]

@@F1areon They not only kept it in 2, it's now canon in the Euro version as well and I heard somewhere that the JP team thought the more-bombastic US version was more interesting than their original plans.

[@F1areon]

@@BizzarreProductions I figured they kept it in 2, but couldn't remember for sure, haha. :P I know the US Splatoon localization gets a bad rap but I've noticed the one thing most people tend to agree on is Octavio's dialogue in the US version being WAY more memorable than in the EU or JP versions.

[@Nazgul100]

As someone who doesn't know anything about the nuances of the japanese written language, you did an excellent job explaining this in a way that is easily understood even for someone like me, very well done!

[@whichcache2517]

My guess at the time for why Tartar kept adding weird, out-of-place slang near the beginning of the campaign was because he looked down on the Inklings and Octarians. He lamented how they fought over wars and trivial fashion choices, so I figured that he must not like their slang either. Like he was thinking "Hey, you stupid kids, since you're too dumb to understand proper English(?), how about I throw in a bunch of slang so that you understand what I'm saying."

[@F1areon]

Considering another comment way down below, it could also be because he's trying to copy Octavio's manner of speech to get Agent 8 to see him as trustworthy.

[@WarmLillie]

As brilliant Tartar think he is, just like any device it’s faulty a bit especially the translation part. It hard to translate complex Japanese to silly Inklings and back to simple English.

[@spiritflame8806]

really informative as always! I begrudgingly have to admit I was also one of those unaware of the differences from the originsl script, so this video definitely changed the way I think kamabo operates.

[@lordvaust5830]

I honestly prefer the English speech though. The reference to humans is made pretty clear through the giant human statue and the references to the “professor” among other minor details. On top of that, the superiority complex and other Japanese-specific tones to Tartar’s speech would be hard to implement at all in English, especially in a way that wouldn’t go over the heads of the children they expected to play this game. Contemporary speech mode feels like an intentional joke. Something humorous to fit the tone of Splatoon’s very Hip-Hop, style focused aesthetic to get a few laughs out of the viewers while still getting the point across. Translation is hard, translating a game for a completely different culture that can be understood by all players and not be offensive while still being entertaining; that’s damn near impossible. I think a lot of good points are brought up, and accuracy to source material is always a concern. I don’t think that anything they did in the English version is “wrong” though. Personally, I found it much more on-theme with Splatoon as a whole as it showed some self-aware irony while still taking itself seriously. A tricky balance that was handled excellently as far as I see it.

[@StarshadowMelody]

As annoying as the slang is to me, I adore the constant [ERROR] and [SLANG_NOT_FOUND]. It's completely lacking in subtlety in how it communicates "Buggy AI" and honestly for me that might be a plus.

[@Cruznick06]

It also really fits the visual themes and elements used in the Octo Expansion DLC's stages. They scream 90's nostalgia, using bad slang makes so much sense.

[@disneydork100]

The slang also works storywise, you think he’s just a program, programmed by out of touch adults in a blatant and incredibly shallow attempt to “connect” to the young listener or to appear “cool”. It happens all the time, in stories and in real life, but more often than not it isn’t in a malicious or openly harmful way, so he’s easy to write off as just being comic relief, especially with the whole [ERROR] thing.

[@plaaaant]

The fact that Spamton was a major inspiration for the translation is absolutely incredible and I love you both for it. I also love you for recognizing the fact that one world in Splat3 is called "Alterna" because Nintendo loves to make me shit my pants

[@jakesapir]

It's weird to me that he specifically calls out Turf War in the Japanese version. My impression is that Turf War is a sport mostly played by kids in-universe. It would be like judging humanity for dodgeball.

[@graygrey784]

Could be, if dodgeball also consisted of killing the person who got hit. Yea they are able to respawn, but think of the implications of getting splatted 10 times over. Were it not for the their respawn points, they'd just straight up die for good. Getting splatted isn't like getting hit by a ball, it's like getting blown up by a grenade and having your body get reformed constantly afterwords. This is what Tartar took issue with. They legit kill each other for no reason but because it's fun.

[@theefartman]

@@graygrey784fair but: paintball? paintball is PAINFUL! we also do stuff like boxing or football which results in pretty major injuries at times...

[@arztinil]

interesting that the japanese text still seems to have similar references to human allegories. like ultimately "turf wars" are in part bring about the extinction of humans and humans also caring only about their own desires like consumerism. that all goes along with the irony that tartar still reveres them lol

[@alexandre4432]

Thank you for pointing this out. I myself noticed a few years ago that there were huge differences between the French and the English final dialogues. So I looked into the final dialogue in the other European languages, hoping to find more info about the game's lore thanks to different translations. And I can say that the Europeans dialogues (except the English one of course) are very close to the Japanese one. BUT! While writing (and rewriting) this comment, I noticed something notable. As you mentionned, the Japanese text says that Tartar wants to 'reclaim the world of [his] creators'. This means that he basically wants to 'conquer' the world, with his artificial species, or whatever. But, in the French dialogue, Tartar declares something slightly different, so that it doesn't exactly fit what the Japanese one conveys, as I first thought it did: 'Tout doit être remalaxé afin que les humains récupèrent le monde qui leur est dû !' ('Everything must be mixed (?) so that humans get back the world that belongs to them!') While the Japanese just says that Tartar claims the world of his creators, in whatever state he might get it, with humans or not, the French text directly implies that Tartar can somehow resurrect humans. But this is not the case with the other European translations that, just like the Japanese dialogue, say that Tartar wants the world of humans back. That doesn't mean a world with humans, the 'world of my creators' may just be the way Tartar calls the Earth. So I think the French translators misinterpreted the Japanese text, because other than that there are a few if no differences between the French and the other European versions. Today I finally understand why no one talked about this piece of dialogue that clearly says that Tartar could bring humans back to Earth. I was just taking the French dialogue as my reference, which didn't invalidate what other European translations conveyed. I noted the European dialogues in this document, feel free to see that by yourself and to tell me what you think about this: drive.google.com/file/d/1EgO2f_yVXqlZzClMI5yqod4zBekXVfsl/view?usp=sharing

[@rassicas]

Oh, this is a really interesting difference between the french and other versions!! the idea of tartar being able to literally resurrect humans is a fascinating one, and it would tie into its reverence towards humans... although yeah, like you said, jp and other european translations dont seem to point towards that exactly, just reclaiming the earth for its new lifeform.

[@iris1568]

This is really fascinating to see. Thanks for taking the time to find this all out and retranslate it all. Reading the retranslated lines of the Dissapointed Commander Tartar are even more scary than the official english localisation translation. That one already disturbed me, but the retranslated one shows even more how messed up Commander Tartar has become from his 10.000 years of loneliness

[@beingmegucaissuffering.5326]

About the "are you ready to join something bigger than yourself?" thing, I think it's probably less of an intentional parallel between Mr. Grizz and Tartar and more of an accidental one caused by that turn of phrase being particularly applicable to both situations. In the case of Mr. Grizz, it applies to the toxic workplace culture that he's a parody of. Like in this case it has the connotation of a workplace that's all like 'you're a valued team member!' but really they only pay you peanuts and work you to death kind of thing. It's hard to explain the vibe, but that's what I get from it. In the thing with Tartar, though, he uses it in the LITERAL sense along with the implied figurative one of joining inkopolis society. Tarter literally wants to blend Agent 8 to make them part of something bigger, AKA the primordial ooze. Not that this stops people from thinking that two characters are connect just because they said something similar. I just think it's way more likely that the localization team happened to use the same figure of speech in both places because it happened to be particularly applicable in both rather than intentionally making up a parallel.

[@Getlucky12]

Tartar's "minor genetic differences" line is so great because not only is it so ironic but it shows that Tartar has been left alone for so long that he's completely forgotten a lot of human history, yet still sees them as gods. Also that fan translation is cool, I wish fan translations were more common for Nintendo games, NOA does a pretty good job but it would be nice to see a "direct translation" that includes translators notes for "why this sentence doesn't work in English". Then it's basically like getting 2 scripts for 1 game. Honestly though it's good NOA does change some things when localizing, based on what I've heard if Paper Mario TTYD had a more accurate translation then it would have a lot of transphobia in it.

[@elijahpadilla5083]

Hell, it might not even know human history. As another commenter pointed out, it was designed in a lab and given a goal by scientists, who then all died out. It might only know humanity by our works, not our society or the long, difficult road we took to get where we are. It doesn't have any real reference point to compare Inkling society to, as it likely wasn't programmed with the details of human society, either.

[@Aaaa-gs7ww]

While the transphobia in the original is shitty, I still find completely removing her being trans from the game the way more transphobic thing to do. It would’ve been some of the first trans representation I’d ever have seen and her arc about finding people who accept her in spite of how her family treats her would’ve meant so much to me

[@NuclearRaven13]

I thought it's because Tartar DOES know history and knows about the same thing happing with humans, afterall it's directive is to "pass down knowledge of humans and stop the next sentient race from following the same mistakes"

[@commendedzuez0944]

How is that good that they messed with the translation in TTYD? It's deviates way too much from the source material where Vivian isn't even trans anymore lol. They really should try to stick to the source material more, authors intent is important.

[@shrezinpumking8038]

Are you saying they should've kept the transphobia because an author wanted it to be here?

[@DoodleWill]

I don't know where I first saw the " [ ] "brackets being used for robotic speech but I do know I did see it before Spamton. I want to say the connection might be due to how brackets and others such as braces are used in programming, the connection with robotics are there. Kinda how certain robots speak in binary code. As for TarTar. I always liked the idea of him idolizing humanity so much that he somewhat started to hate the Inklings/Octolings for baring some of humanities flaws. Not being able to come to terms with that and just branding them as a 'lesser lifeforms'. The Japanese text really does convey his dismissal for them being worthy successors.

[@MutedAndReported3032]

OneShot maybe?

[@thefloorisevil]

Having the fan translation make him speak like Spamton is an especially cool choice because Deltarunes Japanese localization did similar in reverse order, They replaced the bracketed text with having him use multiple alphabets at once.

[@F1areon]

Don't forget translating "desu" as "death" or "daisuki" as "die好き"

[@CounteredSnow]

20:00 turns out Nintendo of America's translators are actually the greatest foreshadowers of all time

[@AphidKirby]

I think this was a major improvement by NOA overall honestly, Tartar is a much more interesting character this way, rather than just being someone who hates inklings and wants to bring humans back, it's now someone driven mad by seeing a new species evolve to have the same flaws as humanity!

[@MetaKnight964]

And octolings

[@frogqueen]

Having only played through in English, I honestly took away that he still revered humanity, to the point that he had them on such a pedestal that, like you said, he was blind the humanity having the same failings that he accused the Inklings and Octolings of.

[@ZaiDrizzleDrop]

TarTar is terrifying, and he with the octo expansion showed how deep and scary the lore can get, I actually felt emotional at the end of it, helping agent 8 get to the surface. I hope we get more of that in 3

[@lordfungus12]

im really into the rewritten dialogue for the final boss cutscene!! its very impactful. i feel like tartars personality and intentions were very well captured in the rewrite

[@Jokobub]

[splat3 story spoilers kind of] I never noticed it until you pointed it out, but I honestly really like the added connecting tissue between Mr. Grizz and Commander TarTar, especially with what we know now about Splatoon 3. It links them both to a time long before the Cephasociety, and a level of dissatisfaction with their isolation and longing to return, whether ideologically or for profit.

[@justsomeannoyingredpanda]

19:56 this not intended similarly is much more interesting after beating Splatoon 3 hero mode. Great vid by the way 👍

[@triple3slash5]

In my personal opinion I think TARTAR's EN speech was actually going for something a bit deeper that got lost in writing rather than translation. As Tartar waxes poetic about how cephalokind does pointless things, notice how he speaks with an objective tone, using "minor" and "trivial" without bother for what those things mean to the cephalopods themselves (while also conveniently leaving out the Jellies as a species who perform a truly stunning array of important tasks like tech maintenance and ALSO producing things like music and art but eh this is all for storytelling purposes so ill let em have it). He consistently implies that the conflicts Inklings and Octolings face or cause are pointless because he's looking at it from a position of a bigger picture, and becomes convinced that they're not worthy of humanity's knowledge. I rewatched the cutscene a few times in the past and noticed something: Conflict and individuality are both things that were, and are, extremely important to humanity, one informs the other after all. What matters here is that TARTAR, a clearly hyper-intelligent computer, in both languages but more clearly in EN, doesn't draw the parallel between cephalokind and mankind in their flaws. This, on one hand, could mean that in his devotion to humanity he's chosen to ignore these flaws but his objective and larger-than-life speech on why our cephalopods aren't worthy clearly shows he's actually above that. I think that the implication is that TARTAR actually DOESN'T KNOW what humans are like. He doesn't have the first clue, and that's why he fails to recognize the fact that Inklings and Octolings are actually the closest thing to a sequel to humanity, because as we know from the story of Alterna, Inklings and Octolings emerged from what remains of Alterna and advanced quickly primarily thanks to the humanity element they absorbed via the liquid crystals. TARTAR doesn't recognize this because he has no clue what humans are like. He has examples of what humans looked like and what they created, as he's seen the professor and he has the data left to him, but he's never been able to observe normal human life because he was created as a last resort, the echo of humanity's knowledge, not it's experience. TARTAR finds inklings appalling because he deifies humans as creatures without flaw, when it's flaws that DEFINED creatures. The final hint to this is the implication specifically in EN that TARTAR makes with the line "...the primordial ooze from which the ULTIMATE LIFEFORM will emerge...", essentially confessing that he views humans as flawless, likely lacking information of what really happened to them (or indeed what happened in Alterna but that's a no-brainer). This also hints at a bit of a sad reality that no matter what other species developed on Earth, TARTAR would still be disappointed in them because they aren't the deified idea of humans he's developed for himself. TARTAR isn't remaking humanity, he's making OCs.

[@iblitz95]

One point for the localization: Contemporary Speech Mode. It gives this feeling of being spoken down to, like you’re watching a really cringy PSA. Bonus points for [TARTAR IN DA HOUSE!]; it’s both a nod to DJ Octavio’s opening line and is one last glorious non-sequitur before things get real. It even matches the cutscene shockingly well! The far-out shot, and the music booting up, give a “oh geez, this loser” tone before the whole scene dives into “oh crumbs, this guy’s a nutcase”. In the Japanese version, Tartar introduces itself properly, so there’s less juxtaposition. The rest of the localized scene otherwise fails to adapt Tartar’s frustrated outburst, but that brief intro adds so much to the atmosphere of the scene.

[@screamingmurkrow1720]

As an American, I got the idea he worshiped humans. I mean, he rode in with this giant statue of them, also the “brilliant scientist” part was a giveaway

[@doccorre]

HOLY COW!! YOUR ENGLISH TRANSLATION FELT SO MUCH BETTER! 10/10 job, definitely evoked different (and yet the same?) emotions than the official eng. translation did

[@judemcnab4394]

Honestly I'm quite interested in what all of the chat logs say in Octo Expansion's JP version, they were so fun to read in English so seeing the differences would be interesting imo

[@rassicas]

Check the link in the description, ardnin and I retranslated all the chat logs to make it as close to the Japanese version as we could!

[@judemcnab4394]

@@rassicas Thank you!

[@Devilcakes]

I feel like I haven't seen this reminded too much, but Judd is posed with a human, The Professor, in the sea scroll from Splatoon 1. (Unrelated to Tartar at the moment) And we know he's roughly the size of a chunky Maine Coon irl... and He's roughly the height of an inkling's body so... does this mean Inklings are like... 1 1/2 Maine Coons tall?

[@rassicas]

judds sizing compared to inklings is inconsistent across sunken scrolls and in game unfortunately.

[@aj46l]

@@rassicas I'd have to look at the sunken scrolls/the timeline again, but my best excuse so far is that Judd continued to grow after being unfrozen. Most of the scrolls are from ancient inkling history, and as the picture record advanced (comparing the ancient egyptian-esque art to the black and white photographs for example), Judd grew from a slightly larger than normal cat to a cat the size of a child. Maybe Nintendo will give us a canon size chart/explanation some day ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@F1areon]

@@aj46l Inklings and Octolings ARE meant to be human-sized, afaik; Pearl's height is given as 4'9 and Marina's height is 5'10.

[@PotatoPatatoVonSpudsworth]

As someone studying the art of writing game narratives and dialogue, I honestly ADORE Tartar's criticism of the player's fashion obsession in the localization. It ties you directly to what they're saying, personalizing the speech in a way the original version doesn't. While it may be less accurate to the original writer's intent, it's a better decision from a game-writing standpoint.

[@ninckmane]

NOA is incredibly competent with all their localizations, but it's a shame they sometimes deviate so far from the meaning in the original text and I hope they get a better direction in the next game

[@Spletz]

The NOE and NOA localisations can be a bit funky as well. I live in Australia, so I have NOE (and for some reason it says -AU on the cartridge rather than EU like the rest of my cartridges). Like we have tyres instead of tires, global instead of worldwide (idk why), grip instead of traction and piranha plant pipeway instead of piranha plant slide. It’s weird and idk why, like mum and colour instead of mom and color would make more sense. It’s strange that things can be so different between 2 localisations that are literally the same language. Just thought I’d say that. localisation is weird but they do a good job.

[@popsicIes]

Eh, their BOTW localization could have been better here and there

[@maciakontonasakis379]

In BOTW, there was a line that literally meant the opposite of what the Japanese script

[@dailydelphox]

I think Tartar's motivation is actually clearer in the English version. In Japanese, he hates Inklings for... turf wars...? Why does he love humans so much? It goes unexplained beyond "He's a rogue AI." The English version is more complex though. Tartar was designed to prevent the next dominant race from making the same mistakes humans did, so it makes sense that Tartar would despite PART of humanity. And despite the INKLINGS for failing to IMPROVE on their flaws. And that's WHY he wants to make a new, improved race: He wants to create "Humans but better." Because he DOES love humans, but he was designed to "fix" what was wrong with humans.

[@Spletz]

@@dailydelphox uhh I think that’s a bit obvious, and you also made a few mistakes

[@adamnakamura8003]

19:57 Even if that wasn’t there originally, that was MOST CERTAINLY some foreshadowing! Not spoiling what the final result of said foreshadowing is, but man… if only you knew before Splatoon 3.

[@SilveraLordz]

it's for this reason and the rest of the lore revealed in 3 that I think the English dialogue is better in hindsight

[@someepicnerd7821]

i interpreted tartars speech against the great turf war and obsession of fashion a bit differently. i assumed that tartar was saying he thought the inklings and octolings had the potential to become to dominant species of the world but they continually make the mistakes that humans made that he was made to prevent. it isnt necessarily a disdain for humanity despite them having the same issues, it is the frustration that tartar was so close yet so far from accomplishing his goal.

[@obscurereference4398]

I had a theory that why the hormone corridor (or the intestinal phase in english) was named that was because hormones are used in the body the create emotional or physical changes. When i replayed the escape to marvel at the background and sci-fi environments i noticed that the intestinal phase had those iv bags filled with sanatized ink was on the floor. In one of the rooms i looked up and saw those iv bags suspended by strings, said strings came from a passage and led to one on the other side, my theory is that the iv bags are made on an assembly line. My main theory is that the horimones are the iv bags, backed up by the evidence that the iv bags are supposed to make changes or sanitize. Also with the assembly lines and the fact there are crates behind glass tha the start and end of the intestinal phase i think its purpose is to be an iv bag production and storage facility.

[@jakes7953]

Oh wow holy shit When i think of "stuff i know about the localization changes in splatoon" i mostly think of little holes in the cannon they made on accident/for the sake of comedy (yes im talking about the narwhal) So to hear that my entire perception of the theming of octo expansion is different in the jp version based off just a few lines🤯🤯 I'll be honest, I really like the version of Tartar that exists in my head who hates humans and the analysis I got from that, but it definitely leaves me with mixed feelings about how much they deviated from the original script to get there. Thank you for the amazing content as always Rassicas !!!!!!!

[@Hotdog718]

That greater than yourself line being shared between tartar and grizz feels like it could've been a weird hint at [spoiler] Mr grizz being the final boss is Splatoon 3

[@marcie557]

thank you for the video, it’s well made as always! i personally like the approach NA localization did. the contemporary speech was pretty funny and they captured the off-putting A.I vibe.

[@andreanini27]

Another great video! I am currently taking a course in linguistics and became really interested in it. It's very interesting seeing the changes made to appeal a different audience. You never disappoint👏🏼

[@hoodieddragon]

You know, seeing how TarTar changes by a few sentences is surprisingly interesting. Like don't get me wrong, this is the same genocidal AI who killed potentially thousands of lives, but the reasoning goes way deeper that "I hate the world, so I'll make my own." It gives me some ideas of how TarTar was as a character pass a typical villain and how they may have interacted with the sealife. Another thing I'm sort of worried about it TarTar goal of remaking humanity with the sanitized ink. Would sanitized octarians (and potentially inklings) turn into humans? TarTar said it would use the test subjects as the "seed for humans", meaning if TarTar was successful and wiping out the world for humanity, would they turn their minions into humans and use souls of Octos and inklings to create life (I mean souls aren't easy to make after all). With that in mind, and Splatoon 3 having mammals returning, and OCTATIANS WITH HAIR, does that mean that tin can it returning or an underling following the footsteps of their dead leader because last time I checked Nintendo didn't give any offical happy ending for the Sanitized yet. Overall really cool video, and I'm glad I gave it a watch and learned a little more about my least favorite character (yes I'm that kind of guy). Hope yo see more character analysis in the future!

[@axolotlgab]

I have respect for the Nintendo of America translation team, but I don't think they fully understand that us players really care about the lore, and can get a bit heated when stuff like this is shoved under the rug in exchange for something that may sound better to the audience, especially kids or people who don't care about the lore as much. I really hope that Nintendo recognizes that we really like and care about Splatoon's story, and don't like when huge lore pieces are taken away in something as simple as dialogue translation. The members of the Splatoon Translation Team work their tentacles off making things sound nice while also staying true to the lore, and most of the time they have good workarounds for Japanese puns, pronouns, ect, but I, too, hope that they'll try to not go off of the lore as much as they have been.

[@poppy-spades]

Even as someone who has linguistics (alongside Splatoon) as one of their minor special interests, this video made me realize why it's called "localization" and not "translation". It goes beyond just the language's nuance, but also needs to take cultural context into consideration.

[@gregory.glamrock.g0ghaway563]

as a fan of splatoon since it's release ,, im so happy i stumbled across this video. it's a HUGE. comfort media for me and seeing the speech in the original has made me understand the story even more , as octo expansion is my favorite part of the lore. thank you so much for taking the time and effort to put this wonderful video together. im just genuinely so happy i can understand the lore better now and grasp tartar's intentions more soundly.

[@mrmariofull]

What an absolutely amazing video, I'm always fascinated by the details that either change or get lost within the translation process for video games and stuff (you can probably blame Mother 3 being my favorite game of all time for that.) and the details regarding Tartar's change and the way you articulate them is engrossing! I didn't know about the function that Japanese Pronouns had before I watched this video, and seeing you explain how NOA did their best to translate the implications behind the use of those specific pronouns into English was captivating! This is the first video of yours that i've seen, and do believe me it's not gonna be the last. No wonder you got that A! One thing I find especially fascinating about the differences in the two localization, to me at least, are the Racial Allegories added by the English Translation and it's relation to Commander Tartar. As a POC, It made me really happy to see something like that tackled in a game for kids and felt as though it added a level of depth to Splatoon's World that I was elated to see, but I couldn't help but feel as though there were parts of it that were undercooked or hand-waived. The fact that Inklings canonically couldn't tell the difference between themselves and Octolings is the big one that sticks out in my mind. While well intentioned on the part of NOA, and something I would've genuinely loved to see tackled in Splatoon's universe, it's clear to me now that the concept was never a part of the Original text, which explains why I felt as though it had a lot of potential that wasn't capitalized on and some weird moments that just sort of get sidelined and end up being a disservice towards those narrative themes. The interesting part about all of this is: If Commander Tartar was faithful to the original Japanese translation in the English Localization, it would've added a really good narrative aspect in regards to his hypocrisy and his intentions feeding into a cycle of violence that would bolster a potential racial allegory (Either alongside the NOA's addition, or if said allegories were present in the original text)! It would show just how blind Commander Tartar is to Humanities faults, and that his motivation for genocide is baked in an idealistic image of Humanity that never existed, because the faults that he would see in Octoling & Inkling society would be the exact same ones Humans notoriously had (If we ended up with a Translation where he clearly stated his hatred for Splatoon's Society and revere for Humanity). Not only that but Tartar, unknowingly or otherwise, would simply be feeding into that cycle of prejudice and violence by wiping out everyone and creating his new brand of Humans, the sapient race that he believes is more worthy of life than the ones he sees before him, which would show what happens when someone idealizes the idea of having control of who is worthy of life and who is unworthy, and the inherent cruelty that comes with the idea that "lesser beings" have to be sacrificed for the sake of the "perfect species." At the end of the day, a majority of that is speculative "what if's" on my part, and results in a weird hybrid of the Original Translation, NOA's Localization, and My Own Speculation. Splatoon at it's core was never intended to have racial commentary, and while I appreciate the intentions behind NOA's Localization changes, i'd be a happier person if Splatoon tried to tackle those ideas and concepts at its heart rather than have it added in retrospect. I do believe that concepts like these can and should be tackled in children's media and that it can be done in a way that doesn't talk down to younger audiences. But truthfully, i'm happy that NOA made the decision to add it anyways. It may not be as good as i'd want it, and i'd much rather it've been an intention behind Splatoon's story from the start, I think it at least gives us a springboard for discussion on what could've been. Either way, fantastic work rassicas! You've done a wonderful job at compelling this fellow Nintendo lover, and getting his brain a-thinkin'! 🦑

[@On1onQueen]

Personally I never got the impression Tar Tar hated humanity, and I prefer his NOA dialogue sounding like an ironic condemnation of humans too because its more entertaining and biting, as well as implying Tar Tar isn't AWARE of what humans were like because of how long it's been since their extinction. I'm a massive sucker for characters who idealize a past they don't understand, and that combined with the slang made him a memorable character to me. (And the real world racism allegories in Octo Expansion were cool and memorable to me as well, but I can see how someone else might find them blunt and obnoxious). It's very important to understand the original text though, and I applaud you for spreading these details that help others appreciate the games writing and multiples translations more ^_^

[@Lucky_Dagger]

I definitely saw the english tartar's criticism of inklings as a dramatic irony.

[@siirniighteye]

"This little freak from the game Deltarune" SO TRUE.

[@shrimpchips5853]

I just realized something. Using spamton’s [[Bracket speak]] and interjections of [Hyperlink Blocked.] along with tartar’s contemporary speech mode with occasional [SLANG_NOT_FOUND] would make a divine combination of murderous robot. Someone do this, please

[@shrimpchips5853]

I thought of this literally a minute before you mentioned it. Okay good one: also subscribed.

[@OilFreak]

Unfaithful as it is, I kind of like Tartar's character more in the localization. It's a rare instance in the Splatoon franchise where the main antagonist isn't goofy or silly. He's dead fucking serious.

[@silvercarroll2352]

Personally I never got the feeling Tartar hated humans when playing the expansion. Rather, I felt it became narcissistic and delusional about it’s own goals after millennia of having not accomplished it’s single reason for existing. Because it takes a very narcissistic and delusional being to believe oneself is capable of creating a genetic super race. Anyway, this video is fantastic! Stuff like this always brings forward super interesting lore discussions. Edit: I also wanna add that the whole “you wage war over minor genetic deviations” bit adds to this feeling. One could argue that the deviation between man and inkling is incredibly significant, but it’s very narcissistic of Tartar to condemn an entire race over something it itself is doing (ie: deciding which genetic deviations are worthy or unworthy of life). Which I feel adds to Tartar’s “playing god” vibes.

[@F1areon]

I don't think it hated humans per se; I think it loved them too much and subsequently became blind to the humans' flaws.

[@solo8324]

I feel like the origins and uses of English phrases and words are overlooked when it comes to critiquing localizations. When Tartar is saying, "Are you ready to be a part of something bigger than yourself", there are a lot of things happening. "Promised Land", as a phrase, in English, is loaded with ideas of a perfect land that is freely given to all inhabitants, and Tartar asking if one is ready in such a way is because he is trying to pull the protagonist along and bring him to a utopia (as far as the protagonist can gather), whereas the translation presents Tartar as unsure if the protagonist wants to do anything. This is why one of the options says, "If you put it that way, I'm out!". It's almost terrifyingly noticeable how Tartar is trying to drag the protagonist along like a snake - because he's a machine, he does not fathom how to sound organic. I enjoy the difference in Tartar primarily because Tartar is looking for something that is *better* than humanity, not just humanity. He does not want a replacement, he wants a *successor*, and seeing the same mistakes play before him would, understandably, drive him to madness.

[@maxzapsgamingzepzeap2337]

(Spoilers for anyone who hasn’t played Splatoon 3 yet) - - - - - - - Considering Mr. Grizz ended up being the main villain of Splatoon 3 and was also an echo of the past wanting to reclaim the planet for its previous denizens, I feel like the English writers adding “Are you ready to join something bigger than yourself” might have genuinely been a hint that they had similar goals. Just a theory tho

[@AnachronisticAstronaut]

man theres going to be so many fun to read essay comments

[@pbw_]

This was a very good video. However, after finishing it, I think I prefer the English localization. I’m glad they varied from the Japanese script a little because, at least in my opinion, I think made it a little better. I like the interpretation that he resents he humans, and thus resents inklings for falling into the same mistakes. That he wants to make new life rather than just returning to humans. I think thats way more interesting of a motivation than him revering humans.

[@SquidHominid]

All I can say is, I'm glad that what started as us butting heads over different interpretations of the English text led to. Well, this. One of the best videos I've ever seen on the topic of localization and the critique thereof. Good stuff. :')

[@alisha8099]

Well, i just thought the "obsess over fashion" -line was about the Inklings rampant consumerism, which presumably also led to the extinction of humanity.

[@galaxykitsune]

I saw the video title and I was like “this was a college essay of theirs wasn’t it” and I was right

[@basti1899fürimmer]

How are these videos, entertaining, informative, visually appealing and has nice music all in once. I really love that you are so passionate about this. ♥️

[@CLouJeli4827]

Ok, I almost never comment on any video, but this is just amazing. The absolute dedication to staying faithful to original. It's amazing how much you've put into studying this "silly squid game for kids" and as someone who loves Splatoon lore with all my heart it's always a treat to see your videos. I've learned so much more than I ever had before you started uploading, so as a thanks from us Splatoon nerds, thank you rassicas.

[@willwunsche6940]

I especially liked the line where it says "You wage war over miner genetic variations and you obsess meaningless fashion choices." It's a lot more impactful than and serious than just saying "turf wars" and shows the irony since humans did the exact same thing in real life and the past in Splatoon. An AI being corrupted, disconnected, slowly erroding, and not understanding that is an interesting premise. Where when it does connect with intelligent life again it struggles to see the flaws it has, despite humans having these same flaws and it not comprehending that anymore or being programmed to understand it.

[@theminiyosshi2901]

I honestly never got the idea that Tartar hated humans. Honestly the fact that he tried to murder us is enough for me to understand that he doesn’t like the inkling and octoling kind, and him mentioning that he was made by humans was all I needed to know that he liked his creators

[@tsukihotaru8421]

You did such a good job on this and you definitely need more views. Im bilingual in japanese and english and these differences are kinda a small tick of mine, especially cuz I'm not good with wording out why its so important sometimes (tartar hating and revering humans n all that)this was interesting!

[@StoryTeller796]

I, as someone who has seen these types of villains before, just assumed from ancient evil A.I. vibe from his whole company and from how he talked of the inklings that TarTar did respect Humanity gravely and had an extreme nostalgic bias for seriousness, professionalism and perfection. And yet, the fact that at the end he could've come right and say it at the end is a huge missed opportunity now looking back on things, like I mean that is the one thing he should've went with near the end. Anyway, cool lessons on Asian writing, I could only get bits and pieces of it from documentaries/history lessons focusing on their society though this video really does pull things together. Easy A for your college grade too.

[@TheCosmicCloud]

REALLY cool video! I remember hearing about how Octavio’s speech used different characters before but I didn’t really understand that until now. As far as Tartar, I personally think it’s interesting to combine both interpretations of his character. Directly calling out the faults of humanity is really bold for a Nintendo villain, and I actually think it’s kinda awesome. But having him say he respects the humans while hating the Inklings for the same reasons makes for a strange, hypocritical contradiction that I actually think makes perfect sense for a haywire robot.

[@torinbrown7299]

I got spamton vibes from the faithful remake of tartars speech even before you showed [Everyone’s Favorite Salesman!]

[@UltimateOtakuGirl100]

Comment from the future here. It's actually really interesting that the Mr. Grizz "part of something bigger than yourself" line was a NoA invention. On top of A) Octo Expansion being DLC after the initial release, so the localization team may not have even known that line was going to be part of Tartar ahead of time, and B) Splatoon 3's Big Bad reveal... That's a hell of a coincidence on NoA's part. Accidental brilliance?

[@gundle_dx]

Every time you post a video like this, I start to appreciate Russian localization more and more. Not only is it the closest to the Japanese version, it also has many great adaptations of puns and titles. It is immediately clear that it is made with love.

[@emerson_5]

I don’t know if this is strange praise, but I think you have the perfect voice and delivery for longer-form lore content. Your steadiness and pitch are quite neutral, but not monotone, which makes your work easy to listen too, and more understandable. I suspect everyone who watches your videos agrees. Anyway, thanks for all your hard work for this community!

[@NitroIndigo]

"Something bigger than yourself"? OH MY GOSH! TARTAR AND MR. GRIZZ ARE MEMBERS OF THE SHARING!

[@gdlpe05]

its always a good day when rassicas uploads

[@SophisticatedGoat222]

I find it funny that you took inspiration from Spamton for conveying Tartar's robotic speech in the more accurate translation. Whenever Spamton said [Hyperlink Blocked] in Deltarune, all I could think of is Tartar's [SLANG_NOT_FOUND]. They're very similarly styled running jokes in the characters' dialogue, and it feels like it comes full circle. Additionally, after Splatoon 3, I find it shocking that the whole "part of something bigger than yourself" parallel between Grizz and Tartar was invented by the localization team. Was it unintentional foreshadowing? Did the translation team know something about the early ideas for the plot of Splatoon 3, and chose to sneak that in? No matter what, I'm very glad that exists, as the two entities have such similar plans to each other.

[@maddosshmillore]

Any video about Commander Tartar is a good video!

[@erin6451]

this video is so so good i just beat octo expan and got recommended this video and it makes so much sense cuz tartar seemed very weird to me esp during the end part. tysm for making this video and all your other ones i've gone back and watched now

[@Limomon]

Very good video! Again thank you for carrying the English speaking Splatoon community with your hard work. o7 Something interesting however is that I got exactly what the Japanese text goes for in regards of Tartar's view of humankind, despite never having seen Tartar in any other language other than English. I can see that it is much much more subtle and can be more easily misinterpreted in English though. With this in mind, my theory about Splatoon 3 is backed up a bit more. My idea was that Tartar might come back in Splat 3 as the main antagonist, instead of creating a life form worthy marine animals, he's trying to bring back his beloved humans in a much more direct way. Hence "Return of the Mammalians". Using leftover DNA to create the "Fuzzy Ooze" from which ever kind of mammals Tartar could get his non-existent hands on. Ultimately trying to corrupt sentient marine life to his will. Hence "losing sense of self" part we got from the Mammalians trailer.

[@K-Sha1]

I find this really interesting because of the degree of interpretation this kinda permits. Like with "Fighting in pointless turf wars is all you do, isn't it?!" vs "You wage war over minor genetic deviations. You obsess over trivial fashion choices." To me the english localization sounds less like Tartar being a hypocrite or hating humanity and more Tartar completely misunderstanding inklings. Robots, AIs, and such are characterized a lot in English works as not understanding humans and things that are like them due to how logic driven their thinking is, and at least to me that text gives off that impression moreso. "Waging war over minor genetic deviations" could be Tartar misunderstanding how inklings work, thinking that the different colors in turf wars are part of their genetics rather than inklings being able to change ink colors. Then the actual war part comes off as Tartar thinking that turf wars are actual war instead of just a sport, and the motivation behind them being the different colors. Also, I really like contemporary speech mode. Generaly speaking AI/robot characters doing really odd things in their speech is really funny to me, and contemporary speech mode's excessive slang and instances of [SLANG_NOT_FOUND] really do that well and it's just extremely funny. It's a creative way to show that Tartar is speaking in a robotic manner but also in a friendly manner, and while not fully faithful to the original text my stance on it is generally if it gets the same point across, it doesn't matter, unless there are serious nuances that the english localization skips over. On that note I do hate the allegories to racism all over, especially Pearl's clearly disgusted and shocked reaction to Cuttlefish saying "I see no species". Culturally relevant or not including that kind of rhetoric and references to online wars over it like that just divides people over characters.

[@ripme123l7]

Seeing the actual translation for the TarTar speech actually makes me like TarTar more as a villain. It fills in an empty spot that I couldn’t just piece together. Awesome video as always!

[@thegreendragon5390]

Wow. This is very interesting stuff here. I'd say it more than deserves to be discussed more in the Splatoon fandom. I hope the implications and differences in this video are covered in Chuggaaconroy's Let's Play.

[@ariastroke]

I think that him dismissing the mistakes in human civilization that he sees in inkling culture just goes to further show how highly he thinks of humanity, in a way that's just unrealistically perfect, making it so no species to follow us after would be worthy in his eyes

[@23h59m]

Your videos never disappoint me, Rassicas. Well-made and well researched as always

[@fresh_uwu5506]

Rassicas, you're so amazing! I really love the work you do and I always find your videos super intriguing. Keep doing great things!!!

[@frogmint]

your videos are very entertaining and insightful, thank you for your hard work!

[@wilh3lmmusic]

Honestly I think that Tartar’s comments on the Inklings and Octolings’ flaws also being able to apply to humans in the English is better, as if it got so overcome by its worship of the humans of the past that it forgot about their flaws (in this case, the exact same flaws it’s using as justification to commit multi-species genocide)

[@PinkSneaselGirl]

I agree with your use of brackets to show Tartar's speech as 'strange', as I've used that in my writing at times, tho not necessarily for the same reasons. I've never written robotic characters, but I've had a few speak to others using telepathy. English authors tend to use quotations for normal speech and italics for personal thoughts, so obviously you can't use those. Instead I took inspiration from the Animorphs series, which as far as I can remember is one of the few series that has characters speaking telepathically fairly often(that I've personally read). It's strange to see at first, but it is easy to see through context that this is speech, unspoken and yet directed at others unlike personal thoughts. Speech for those who are unable to speak normally due to having incompatible mouths or no mouths at all.

[@problemsfan4132]

AHJSHAKHDKSA i KNEW tartar's [SLANG_NOT_FOUND] error message reminded me of someone! love the spamton comparison and how its incorporated in the fan translation.

[@problemsfan4132]

hmm... corrupted Ais that lose their minds to isolation... (slowly sips tea) my favorite flavor.