The Mysterious Gang Leader of Piranha Pit

the more u know
/ rassicas
(before anyone asks, i didn't use my sona in this video because it's so short compared to my other vids)
no im not a girl, please refer to me with they/them pronouns only thanks!
Spanish and Catalan subtitles by Lluc Riberax - / llucriberax
sources:
tower records x splatoon 3D exhibit - ikasekai.com/3d/ikaten.html
my tweet where i first translated the bit from the exhibit - rassicas/status/1...
the graffiti artist interview - rassicas.tumblr.com/post/6170...

[@MrMalix]

Its crazy how much lore there is just past a language barrier

[@DWKA_]

I’ll I’ll Yu uh uh c in gum uh I Ik in uh u ugh in u juju ruining u uh uh Mmm uh I’m u bin hbu

[@beondinsane905]

One of main reason I’m learning Japanese

[@frostplays155]

Tartar calls the humans his creators, using the word that's often used when referring to gods

[@chloebutler8438]

1:13 represents the biggest problem with splatoon lore imo. "this piece of info was only made available at a limited time event at one record store in tokyo"

[@cosmo2590]

knowing that the racism parallels in octo expansion were added for flair and werent present in the japanese version somehow makes kyuu and no.9 cooler. like cuttlefish also sympathizes with the octarians and all but he still joined the army, while kyuu just said "nah fuck that" and created an anti inkling supremacy gang lol

[@sylodui]

U mean speciesism

[@cosmo2590]

@@sylodui nah i meant inkling supremacy

[@WarmLillie]

Huh, maybe this explains why we don’t get the color black. It’s a gang color. Just bit of headcannon. Walking in with color black is an indicator that you are a gang or bit of the fuzz.

[@someguy1894]

But we get yellow tho, I think it’s just because black is sorta “hard” to see

[@CreamIc7]

Black would mean white and you know the memes that would be made

[@xanious3759]

@@CreamIc7 we already get white and red in splatfests, but they've never done black. best guess from hacked/custom color videos? game uses desaturated colors and black as "hey this isn't inked yet" pallete wise, if you hack in black ink its actually hard to tell if its inked or just a unpainted surface. So its less of a "hee-hee funny color" problem and more of a "black = unpainted" problem.

[@thesmilyguyguy9799]

Mmm Cool HC

[@willoesd2449]

Interesting I had just begun to start thinking about inkling society outside of the teenage perspective we get and how there's probably a lot more going on behind the scenes that we don't know about.

[@Thesupremeone34]

the fun part is when you think from the perspective of greater society like that the squidbeak splatoon are basically militant terrorists, especially if you assume there is likely an inkling and octonling government. They were probably negotiating the return of the zapfish when these kids just started killing octolings and stole it back.

[@notroy9376]

Honestly my favorite parts of splatoon lore are the small details and characters like this, it just adds so much charn and makes it feel so much more like a real world, alot of games only characters are the ones that show up in game and "THE PEOPLE OF [insert city here]" but this makes the world feel like a real place that's filled with tons of unique people each with their own story and personality, i love it!

[@triggerhappy4199]

E

[@triggerhappy4199]

E

[@mk_squid]

lol I remember seeing that graffiti and counting the limbs and being like "wtf how did they mess up that one"

[@ThunderChanter]

Also worth mentioning as a possibility, we're not seeing the No. 9 gang as it was from back in the day, it could be a new younger leader who took over for the founding leader and is still carrying things on which might explain how they're staying somewhat relevant

[@rassicas]

considering that older inklings lose their ability to produce ink, that is a possibility!

[@mirror1643]

and it could be a genetic mutation to only have 9 limbs so they could be family like many real gangs are family owned

[@ThunderChanter]

@@mirror1643 True! Or even a fake, almost cosplay like set up to play the part.Like rassicas said, its hard to say anything concrete without more stuff from the team, but its still fun to speculate

[@sherbertshortkake6649]

@@rassicas Deja Vu to Koko...

[@thisisasupersayin376]

3:32 Love the fact that the hair of the furthest right Inkling is labeled as "just kinda weird."

[@wistfuloptimist1238]

Considering the Splatoon world from an adult perspective, I wonder how respawn pads work in the daily life of Inkopolis and otherwise? How can Inklings die besides for age? Once you sundry, can you no longer respawn since you have no more ink? When were respawn pads invented and how did they affect the Great Turf War? It’s unrelated, but it’s an interesting question.

[@slavishentity6705]

Respawn pads don't resurrect you, and turf wars are non lethal. They just forcefully super jump you and give you a penalty if you get eliminated, but they do nothing to save your life.

[@NXTangl]

Octo-samurai respawns as part of his fight, so there's something there.

[@nmotschidontwannagivemyrea8932]

I think dying and getting splatted are most likely two entirely separate phenomena. Things that would kill a human would merely splat an Inkling or Octoling, and allow them to respawn at a respawn point, but that doesn't mean there aren't things that can straight up kill them.

[@aedaniammx7559]

Considering what happens to Eight when they’re escaping in OE with no respawn points in sight, Inkling/Octoling “ghosts” seem to be a temporary thing, they’ll fade out if left unattended, but can “respawn” their bodies under the right conditions, and considering a respawn point creates those conditions, they seem like something you’d want to have around in case you trip by the pool or get too rambunctious with a hammer.

[@lilacocto9103]

I LOVE this, an Inkling being sympathetic to the Octarians and their plight and understanding why they stole the Zapfish? It's amazing! I honestly don't like the fact that most of the world of Splatoon we've seen has been from the perspective of the carefree teenage or young Inklings who can't tell an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT race apart from their own.

[@ElToland]

Yep, Splatoon lore has a LOT of potential... most of it wasted, sadly. Nintendo could even make an entire spin off game with all of that.

[@GromitLover2012]

I just realised that no. 9 having 9 limbs could make him an inkling-Octoling hybrid. Don’t know how I‘d feel about that

[@Choco_Pixel]

That's not possible

[@bigiron1311]

@@Choco_Pixel we don’t know that for certain, do we? He could also just have a birth defect of some kind though

[@kaiserhundkek2531]

@@bigiron1311 probably more birth defect. Genetics are weird in this universe.

[@StarshadowMelody]

"Impossible! Hybrid on Piranha Pit! It is they who have been leading the Octarians!" -surprise zeratul ambush from nowhere-

[@prepubertyvoice6792]

Octolings are born from tentacles that grow out the octoling so I'm pretty sure hes just a mutated octarian not a halfie

[@Limomon]

You really carry the Splatoon-world-lovers, like myself, on your back, rassicas. Thank you for all you do! 🙌 🧡

[@jishthefish9716]

It could be pretty cool to see this gang be involved in an dlc for splatoon 3. Could work with the chaos theme to just have the members roam around the city and the player character to meet one of them. Maybe you could work for them.

[@VaskoGames]

This makes me wonder if the other stages have cool lore behind them too!

[@Katie-hj5eb]

So one thing on the gang leader. I don't think they are a octarian. And my reason for this is that if you explore the map you'll find yellow pixel bloopers with their left most tentacle seemingly scrubbed off. If they were an octarian they would have an extra limb to get 9 but the art suggests they lost a limb to get 9 so a squid.

[@rassicas]

didn't notice this myself, great find! ...and the missing limb placement aligns weirdly well with the design i made up!

[@Katie-hj5eb]

@@rassicas Yeah it worked out pretty well and based on the blooper I'd guess the right arm is what they had in mind so wonderful luck! Art looks great too by the way :)

[@ballinimposter682]

I was looking deeper into the graffiti of the octopus with 9 limbs, I found that there is a almost identical graffiti with 8 limbs(pg. 255 of second art book). this means that A) He is a inking and has met Octarians B)He is a octarioan

[@michelecastellotti9172]

Splatoon is that one nintendo franchise that is cute, fun and light enough for kids to enjoy, but has dark enough lore to keep the grown ups in as well. Of course gameplay is top tier so i didn't mention it.

[@AphidKirby]

This is insane I really didn't expect this to go so deep, This is a character with insane potential for a storymode but it just exists completely outside the realm of the games' story, yet still exists, that's fascinating! Really make this feel like a very lived-in world

[@rafeyos3396]

So should this no.9 guy be an octoling wouldn’t that break Nintendo’s consistency with how many arms/tentacles each species has, or does it confirm that mutations in an octoling’s genes can lead to extra limbs?

[@rassicas]

i think this implies limb-related mutations can happen! since the gang was named no.9 because of the leader having 9 limbs, it seems like its something thats not normal. this kind of mutation can happen in real world cephalopods.

[@rafeyos3396]

@@rassicas I hope your right on that, there is other instances of genetic mutation in a few band members throughout the games so a mutation wouldn’t be a stretch. I hope that Nintendo will give us more information about this guy!

[@Javacado15]

I hope we see more adult inklings in the background in splatoon 3

[@iLikeDucks_]

Damn this game even has stage lore

[@bellablossomz]

I didn’t think this stage really had much lore then besides the zapfish being there. This is cool to learn!

[@Javacado15]

Just watched the lore iceberg again and what if ammoses shellendorf is Mr Grizz. He modifies weapons and ammoses designed many weapons as we see in splatoon 1. Maybe he needs power eggs to create a machine or something related to him making something.

[@rassicas]

see my grizzco video!

[@kekifen8812]

The yellow and black color scheme could be them basing it off of the great zapfishes color

[@kero3174]

God I love this fucking map I love to sit on the seats with my friends

[@vincenthall5908]

I’ve been binge watching all your videos tonight and just want to say, thank you for all of the hard work you’ve been doing to spread language-locked lore to english speaking audiences!! I am truly super grateful. I am a huge lore nerd and have slurped up all info from wiki pages, so getting additional info I wouldn’t have otherwise known is just… amazing.

[@BowJish44]

Excellent video as always, and a nice way to round out my night.

[@bwminich]

An interesting tidbit from other Nintendo games: in Pokemon, the word we translate into “Team” in “Team Rocket” (and the other enemy teams) means something closer to gang, or at least can be interpreted that way. So maybe number 9 team would be perceived like the Pokemon “Teams”, either sinister, or at least troublemakers who don’t always operate inside the law.

[@Sporquill]

Chat please like the video! Rassicas dared to ask what nobody else would and THEN translated it to explain it really well!

[@wistfuloptimist1238]

Your channel is primo Splatoon fanfiction fuel. Thank you so much for giving us lore we didn’t even realize existed.

[@Dragonofthefrozeneclipse]

Holy... all that sounds so similar to a comic artist who has a story kinda like that info. Minus the whole piranha pit thing. Not sure if thats a coincidence or something else.

[@Lavamario1]

oh what's the comic about? do you have the name?

[@Spletz]

Just read your about me “I’ve abandoned gender for an encyclopaedic knowledge of splatoon lore” *yes*

[@salty-guardian6121]

I really liked this short video style, I would definitely watch some more short obscure Splatoon lore videos

[@StoryTeller796]

This is a interesting theory, and an interesting potential future Antagonist that we could have. Though, I do doubt he or others like him would be an actual character in Splatoon 3, since they would still have to experiment how to make adult political topics like this kid friendly. And I do mean that there could be other, more minor gangs that could be related to Color 9 since I mean, it just begs possibilities.

[@StoryTeller796]

@@bessieburnet9816 in retrospect, it kind of was.

[@slavishentity6705]

@@bessieburnet9816 Splatoon is a « they can » family friendly franchise. They can do anything and the ratings won't go up as long as it's not too explicit. Other franchises/games/tv shows that « can » include Yo-Kai Watch, Shezow, DELTARUNE and many others that are mostly unpopular or indie and that's why they get away with things, but Splatoon is a huge Nintendo franchise and they still can do whatever they want because the setting is perfect. They have created a world and an atmosphere in which any complains are irrelevant due to many factors, including but not limited to : rejecting humanity, normalizing amorality, and normalizing « anything goes » TL;DR they can do it, don't worry

[@wiwitutsu2175]

@@bessieburnet9816 splatoon exploring racism was just a translation thing

[@ElToland]

As a fan of "Destiny", as well as of "Splatoon" (...and I think I'm the only one, so I kinda feel alone), it blew my mind to know there's also a group related to the number 9 in Splatoon lore. Of course, they're not a group of mysterious, dark matter entities who watch over all life in Splatoon's world and manipulate the events behind the scenes like "The Nine" group in Destiny does xD but it's really cool to see that there are a lot of background stories in Splatoon games almost no one knows, your channel is the most interesting about Splatoon lore I've seen until now, and I can see that you make really big effort by translating and researching all this stuff you talk in your videos, you have my respect.

[@TorchOG]

This is a good video to eat cereal to

[@donny2147]

This is sooo interesting. Great videos! I appreciate the effort you put in all of ‘em

[@chrometheraptor]

This is so cool!!! Tysm for making this video, it’s awesome to see how developed the Splatoon world is! You’re super underrated, your videos deserve every view and more! Also, I love your design for the leader of the gang, it looks amazing! Anyways, you make great videos :)

[@zachsilby4569]

Also the color scheme of the Splatoon 3 storymode seems to be yellow and black, with both of the Sisters and New Agent 3 dressing in yellow and black. Could be important there, we'll see though.

[@lordfungus12]

interesting stuff!! also i really appreciate you taking the time to add subtitles

[@rassicas]

thanks! I've been planning on going back in and subtitling my other videos as well pretty soon here

[@JuanMunzerAsakura]

I think the whole "octopus with 9 arms" Graffiti is supposed to be the main man himself after he lost his arm. take one tentacle off a squid and you get 9. Maybe he dislikes inklings in general because they shunned him after he lost his arm.

[@COlimar788]

Super cool, I never noticed any of this! I love your art of "Kyuu", too.

[@dreamylittleowl727]

I never even noticed that flag… Wow.

[@artsy3944]

This kinda reminds me of Callie’s new black and yellow color scheme in Splatoon 3

[@tattisiti]

I just love all your lore vids. Keep it up👍🏻

[@WarmLillie]

Lord of the Lake sounds like a reference to the Lady of the Lake? Nimueh in King Author.

[@tsu08761e]

A lord of an lake or forest can refer to a guardian animal that protects and guides that area. in the case of splatoon this is still most likely a non sentient animal

[@gamedifficulty_4230]

Yeah, but what about that bucket-wheel excavator though? So majestic

[@kekZoritas]

Piranha Pit is my favorite map! Great video 👏

[@duckytoons7983]

Wow, that is really intresting! I hope we get to know more about this in the future games. 💛🖤💛

[@bittlesthecookieakacaitcat8798]

I bet the number nine gang might be related to grizzco industries

[@MalzenoE7]

Ur lore vids are amazing

[@LandonEmma]

I never actually had seen that flag in piranha pit before! :D

[@Zack-ds9rs]

That's kinda cool how theres gangs in splatoon. They probably have actual turf wars

[@bigiron1311]

That’s so neat I love learning more about this world

[@lucas-fu9yn]

I'm mind blown🤯, you're the best :3

[@king_kaibutsu6839]

I wonder if it ties in to the ink color of Marie and Callie from the splatoon 3 art

[@nerd2814]

Now that I think of it, it could. Black and yellow vs. white and yellow...

[@illkeyLive]

what's strange is Turf Wars happening in gang territory that resents inklings

[@Choco_Pixel]

your art is fresh af

[@royalitzelsalas3208]

Maybe he is just a war vet who simpatices whith the octolings

[@GamingGreen21]

What if the leader was looked down on during his normal life in Inkopolis? The Great Turf War victory was accredited to limb count, so the leader was probably seen as a lesser Inkling for their missing limb. That's another reason they sympathize with the Octarians who have even less limbs and were completely shunned from Inkling society

[@LynnWeiskopf]

My own theory about Mr. Grizz is that he is actually the Professor, but old recordings. My head cannon is that the professor was let out before Judd, probably having escaped, and made the secret scrolls along with some inklings when they were found. Afterwards, they made TarTar, and it had been left behind, either from the professor dying of old age or possible suicide.

[@stickyboy8533]

Thank you for the lore

[@Insert.Oregano]

I started watching this video while playing some splatoon 1, in the shops, and was very surprised to hear the same music come from the video. Too bad it didn't sync up by chance, that would've been soo damn funny

[@TimeLemon]

if you look at just the top part of the 9 limbed octopus, it looks a lot like the great zapfish.

[@pearlscake]

God this is so much like my own OC and i had no idea this even existed

[@MalzenoE7]

And the no 9 art looks great

[@keynanmartinez]

Nintendo real needs to let our more lore in Splatoon 3 that we don't have a answer to.

[@daydreemur6743]

My dyslexia read "the mysterious ladder of piranha pit" LOL

[@boogasmash9997]

Wasn't there black and yellow ink showcased at the end of the Splatoon 3 trailer (the short one with the brush spin) I hope it teases something for Splatoon 3

[@starshaper6729]

is nobody gonna talk abt how at 3:33 one of the inklings is wearing SLICED CUTTLEFISH HAIR????? now i'm wondering about inkling haircuts all over again...

[@Da_FBI]

LETS GO NEW VID

[@hggs4466]

Good to know that there's a character that sympathisers octolings like me

[@bxeee9323]

i really want you to talk about the screams in hero mode and octo expansion

[@kannyorwhatever2029]

what if “The lord of the lake” is a name pun about a fish mafia guy who runs Piranha Pit

[@Prismark]

"color gang" could simply be a pun like biker gang or mafia gang

[@echoooo5383]

Hey! Rasiccas! I was wondering if you could do some more research on agent 4 and such? And if agent 4 and 8 are roommates!

[@JustAnotherHaiku]

I wonder what other hidden lore there is on maps.

[@Cheesecannon25]

The ink in the new years video was black and neon yellow

[@squidkid036]

I think it would be cool if you did a lore video for stage’s similar in style to this video. There are a lot of stages but they probably just have like 1 or 2 facts but it would still be cool maybe you could even do lore for stages from salmon run octo expansion and the 2 hero modes maybe even inkopolis it’s self. Im not saying you need to you decided what videos you make its just an idea I thought of

[@greenboi6640]

No way Nintendo making the Splatoon version of the Chaos Insurgency lets gooooooooooooo

[@hunna-verse]

What if the leader is actually an inkling octoling mix and they’ve got to see both sides of the story and that’s why they feel this way

[@hunna-verse]

And it would explain why he has 9 limbs because squids have 10 and octopi have 8 so it evened out at 9

[@nmotschidontwannagivemyrea8932]

It's also interesting and ironic that this group sympathizes with the Octarians because they're against the exploitation of the Zapfish, even though from what we can see, the Octarian army was exploiting it far more than the Inklings do. From what we see in-game, the Great Zapfish typically just chills wherever it wants to and typically has a big ol' goofy grin on its face, whereas one of the first things DJ Octavio does with it in both games is use it to power his floating war machine/DJ booth, with it sucked inside of said machine before each fight. We have no reason to believe that the Octarians would treat it any better after the fight, even if DJ Octavio had won.

[@BigChumby]

LET'S GOOOOOO

[@sexysoup631]

this video is giving me 999 flashbacks so much that game ruined the number nine for me

[@Choco_Pixel]

oh my cod

[@teresachisholm8753]

DANG! I can just imagen inkling throwing up gang signs now, lol

[@piranhality]

Yea.

[@goomba1000]

Inklings don't really look closely or something to notice small stuff.

[@Gigglenotosaurus]

I realized if you give an inkling the middle finger it wouldn’t know what it meant because it ain’t human. It probably would have its own way of saying “fuck you” lmao.

[@gorilla8966]

Nice

[@AkaOtoko1]

I originally thought the flag was displaying the Japanese hiragana "ね". lol

[@slops9375]

are we gonna ignore the person who zoomed past at 2:45?

[@llueve27]

wait wouldn’t it be 11,955? or did the years just restart after humans all died out

[@rassicas]

there was a period of roughly 10000 years where sea life evolved onto land (we dont have an exact number, for all we know it couldve been 10004 or 10071 years, nothing was sentient enough to keep track of that), and then about 2000 years prior to the events of the games, the mollusk era (M.E) officially began, so their time is analogous to ours now. splatoon 1 was in M.E. 2015, splatoon 2 in M.E 2017, the final splatfest in M.E 2019, etc.

[@antiradiationsnowy1536]

Average egg fan vs Average zapfish enjoyer

[@h.q.5195]

Is there an English translation of the ikasekai exhibition?

[@rassicas]

nope, all there is so far are my few translations of it. (knowing this fanbase, if i want to see it fully translated, id have to do it myself)

[@Patapon210]

I just thought it was squid wu tang clan

[@someguy1894]

I’ll have 2 number 9’s

[@TreeBranchStudios]

So it’s a Splatoon Cult group?

[@rassicas]

maybe "cult" is too strong of a word, but they might be up to something!