One year later - How Splatoon’s special spin-off changed my heart, mind and life

[NOTE: This obviously contains major spoilers surrounding and directly regarding Splatoon 3's Side Order and its main plotlines. Please read this at your own discretion.]

Now, bear with me, I pray you.

I understand that it might be tough to conceptualise that something so seemingly, at least at a surface level, futile and superficial as a DLC for a game could have such a life-changing effect on one’s life, heart, mind and soul. However, this is a kind of a set of mentalities I wish to change about what can be art and what cannot.

While I refer to Side Order, Splatoon’s side-quest spin on a hypothetical, generated ‘perfect’ world, having changed my outlooks, I mean only to say that it did only really largely reinforce ones I already possessed. However, seeing them outlined and ‘outlaid’ in a game like this made them feel all the more ‘real’, and as such, I have found myself with much more a tendency to weave them into my daily life and everyday living since my completion of the game.

Having played the similarly delightful Octo Expansion from the preceding Splatoon 2 game, I was a touch confused to hear what sounded like a ‘floor cleared!’ jingle that could most definitely struggle to match the older game’s such ‘test passed!’ jingle in levels of ‘iconic’.

However, this was not all the game had in store for me. Not by a mile.

What the game had to offer for me further would fill my heart with levels of pride feeling indescribable to me.

How, you may ask?

Side Order’s establishment of its story and themes

Despite being a ‘silly game’ within an arguably even ‘sillier’ game, Side Order is a game that I feel contains some really quite deep messaging about society and how it feels we may, and should, approach life, the world around us, and perhaps how we treat the world we speak of here, not just in its own structural physicalities, but each other, too.

Side Order is a game in which you are introduced to yourself as a familiar protagonist if you’ve played along with the series. While Side Order does differ from its arguable spiritual successor in some pretty key ways, which I may get onto later, it’s notably different in its presentation of the world in which it places you right off of the bat.

While I mean not to compare this too much to 2018’s Splatoon 2 DLC, I feel that it’s only worth touching on the differences to highlight that I really do feel this is a different game, one very much of its own message, even if it’s one on a faintly similar vein.

While the Octo Expansion dumps you into the damp glooms of an abandoned subway station, Side Order instead places you upon your first waking moments in a… utopia? Well, sort of. It’s mysteriously largely shed of colour, yet somehow looks very familiar, but we’ll get to that.

The familiar character beside you as you wake explains her predicament; her best friend is missing. The duo of the two, dubbed Off the Hook as a pop duo throughout the franchise, have been incredibly central in the series up to this point.

Pearl Drone

Pearl, in a quest to find her best friend, climbs the spire before you both with its elevator.

She does this beside you, also wondering how either of you got there, but has taken the shape and form of a robotic drone, for some reason.

In Side Order, it’s uncommon we see her more humanoid, organic squid form; while I feel this could possibly be due to the limitations presented by Pearl being employed as an in-game character on maps for the first time in the entire franchise, I feel there’s something perhaps a touch deeper to be said here about even Pearl being shed somewhat of her more humanoid, organic, perhaps subsequently ‘imperfect’ form.

Alas, once Marina is saved from the clutching claws of an entity called the ‘Overlorder’, you realise that the game, which just felt about finished, is far from over. Such trickery is not atypical of Splatoon’s numerous campaign, single-player story mode entries.

The plot’s own expansion

You quickly discover that you’re actually in the belly of something called the Memverse, a digital plane of existence in which this ’Ordenator’ has run rampant in its motives to carve its visions into this fresh new world, which it seems to perceive a blank slate free of chaos and tangled wires to carry out its operations.

The Memverse, as you learn more of as the game progresses, was created by Marina herself.

Marina explains she began its development as an effort to help those victimised by the events of and surrounding the Octo Expansion, including some akin to the protagonist of which you take the role as a player.

The Order with which it is plagued, though, is born of Marina’s innermost desires and cravings for a ‘World of Perfect Order’; her heart had cried out in overwhelm, and out roared a deep desire for a never-changing world in which she could finally embrace a release from the seemingly ever-chaotic world she found herself in.

Marina being Marina, these feelings were bottled up. As such, the Overlorder was born, as was a portion of the Memverse carved out to be called the ‘Order Sector’.

This is the mysterious, somehow whimsical-feeling environment you find yourself in as Side Order introduces you to the experience.

The elaboration on the ‘Order Sector’

The world upon which you gazed for your first minutes in Side Order is one of an almost complete ‘perfect order’. It’s explained later on in the game that the entity responsible for this ‘cleansing’ is the same one that brainwashed your companion’s pop duo bestie, Marina.

Nevertheless, the Overlorder was born into the Memverse, coming to fruition in conjunction with this ‘Order Sector’ carved of the Memverse. This is an area very much resemblant of the central hub area ‘Inkopolis Square’ from Splatoon 2, albeit sucked almost completely dry of colour, desaturated to the point of looking almost bleak and artificial, in an apparent processing or ‘cleansing’.

Any player who grew familiar with Inkopolis Square within the five years or so it was central to the game’s events (in its employment as the hub area of Splatoon 2) is sure to acknowledge how uncanny it is seeing it dried of its hustle and bustle. Even if you began playing in the third game, though, it’s still perhaps a little off-putting to see a place that looks like it should be so ‘alive’ seeming so jarringly blank.

Side Order’s ‘conclusion’

At long last, after having pushed through immense fight after fight upon each and every elevator floor, you and your freshly formulated crew (featuring Pearl, Marina and another very interesting character you meet towards the beginning, who explains their own background with Marina) finally prevail over the game’s ‘final boss’.

After taking on the Overlorder itself, it becomes clear that regardless of the tight grip it had on the Sector, the chaos, colours and delightful energies of your group would prove more than a match for its painstakingly blank, colourless initiatives.

I don’t wish to delve too deeply into the intricacies with which this is done. This is likely why anyone having played through the game will identify that I’ve hugely simplified the ins and outs of the game, its gameplay loop and its thick storyline and background.

I don’t wish for this to be a complete account of what happens in the story, because, on the off-chance that someone having not played the game stumbles across this article, I don’t want to explain everything the game has in store for them, even if they may not have any intention of playing it right now.

While it is true that the storyline’s further intricacies could further emphasise and back up the points and arguments I’m about to make, I wish only to establish just the main framework of the story here, to the degree I feel is necessitated in setting up my point. My simple outlining of the story and game’s progression here should be just enough for me to spring into what I have to say, even despite my large omissions.

Also, this ‘final fight’ I speak of, as you’ll discover, may be far from it; while it’s pretty central to what I’m about to say, the game seems to be built from the ground up for replayability and overall value in gameplay hours, so you soon discover that many more adventures await beyond this pivotal point in the game’s story.

This final formulation speaks for itself

In these final moments of the game’s first, main run, it becomes clear, as I’ve said, that the writing is on the wall for the rule of Order.

The rendition of Inkopolis Square that has remained sanitised of its vibrant hues up to this point is to slowly be restored of its colours, and each gallon of ink you pound into the face of the Overlorder serves as one further punch into the face of this authoritarian rule of Order that we lost the Memverse’s Inkopolis Square to.

What I feel is notable here, though, is that we didn’t just lose Inkopolis Square. We lost a friend, too.

Marina’s behaviour during her hypnotised state

Marina, in her desperate pleas for a world free of the change in which she felt so submerged and overwhelmed, had been ultimately lost in her free will to the overrule of Order; she felt no real choice but to give in, rather than keep pushing, so she was left only a shadow of her true former self.

Her eyes in her brainwashed state were masked; she was unable to see what she once did in Pearl and Agent 8, and their intervention. Given her dialogue at this point, I believe she may have perceived any interjection from any amount of colour or difference from the world she was now hoping to create as foreign and unsettling, and ultimately, a threat to her World of Perfect Order.

This is not the Marina we’re used to in the franchise, once gleeful for the cute chaos of her captivatingly carefree companion. No; this is one seemingly sanitised of any and all such love for things out of the ordinary, ridden and cleansed of any appreciation for the outlying aspects of her world.

What ‘is’ the Overlorder?

It is arguable, though, that Marina herself isn’t even speaking; the Overlorder is in fact simply speaking through Marina, with its own initiatives, ‘thoughts’ and ‘feelings’. I have observed others take this approach, but to me, this begs the question of what the Overlorder actually is.

To me, an approach something like this one could suggest that the Overlorder isn’t necessarily speaking through Marina, but is an extension of Marina herself.

To elaborate, when it’s explained that the Overlorder was born of Marina’s lust and desire for this never-changing world, I feel that it’s possible the Overlorder is simply an inclination within Marina that grew and grew out of Marina’s own overwhelm, eventually becoming so strong and powerful in her mind that it grew beyond her physical constraints and into embodiment in the Memverse, in which it then ran rampant.

What ‘is’ the Memverse?

For that matter, what ‘is’ Side Order?!?

I’ve always believed Side Order to be representative of an internal battle of Marina’s, on a similar vein, the Overlorder taking the position of Marina’s cravings for order and organisation, and these feelings opposed by the player’s desperation to restore colour into Inkopolis and the world as a whole, as represented by the Memverse.

The Memverse, being a digital world of Marina’s own creation, could in fact be representative of Marina’s own mind, at least in my eyes. The Memverse could be a blank canvas in which Marina’s thoughts, feelings, emotions and expressions were to flow free and uninterrupted of the world’s ‘chaos’ (disorganisation and disruption) and ‘order’ (rule and suppression).

This would be backed up by the fact that the Memverse was supposedly created with the motive of trying to help restore sanitised Octarians and Octolings; Acht, a character also in your group, was indeed sanitised, as not only explained by mentions of them previously in the series (outside of the games), but also demonstrated by their green skin.

I did mention that I wished not to ‘spoil’ Side Order entirely, but I especially do not wish to ‘spoil’ the Octo Expansion; while I am to explain sanitisation, this is not a concept that is really explained at all within the Octo Expansion itself, even if it innately connects to its characters (mainly opponents) and story.

About sanitisation

Sanitisation was a procedure usually forced upon Octarians to ‘sanitise’ them of their free will.

This procedure would, according to Japanese interviews, ‘purge them of life’s energies’ and ultimately leave them without the ebbs and flows of life that made them who they were before.

Those sanitised lacked a pulse. I note that this is much akin to typical ideas surrounding zombies, and those zombified.

As I mentioned, Acht was sanitised.

It was said earlier on in the franchise (again, only outside of the game) that, as was abnormal, Acht’s sanitisation was actually voluntary; they wished to entirely rid themselves of the internal conflicts they so much endured, as an effort to devote themself entirely to the production of their music.

I just want to say here that Acht was, at least in my opinion, an absolutely FANTASTIC character to have included in Side Order; this character and their inclusion really resonates well with me, and presumably those like me, who knew of Acht under a different name from lore explorations outside of the previous games and stories, but never got the chance to meet Acht in-game, since they had never, until Side Order, actually appeared in-game before.

As such, getting a chance to finally meet Acht in-game was beyond fascinating, and it was satisfying to finally establish conversation with a sanitised Octarian, never mind an Octoling of their intelligence, to explore what it really felt like.

Could the Memverse be functional in undoing sanitisation?

Acht, rather adorably, points out amidst the events of Side Order that their conversations about these matters were proof that the Memverse was working in its undoing of their sanitisation process. It was previously touched on, from what I may recall, that sanitisation was regarded permanent and not undoable. Acht’s skin remains green, at least for now, but I think they’d look weird otherwise, and throughout all of Side Order they express free will from the Octarian army, so, in my opinion, they’ve pretty clearly largely recovered from their sanitisation and loss of self.

Largely supportive of the idea that the Memverse was undoing of Acht’s sanitisation could be the state in which we find and see Acht; upon Acht’s introduction, they’re just chilling in an elevator, and throughout the game, they continue to listen to music through their headphones.

Acht’s personality in Side Order is distinct and so absolutely lovable; their sarcastic quips never failed to humour me, especially in response to Pearl and Marina’s somewhat typical lovey-dovey lapses.

However, I feel this is notable, too; if the process of sanitisation is to have shed Acht of their free will and sense of self, surely this individuality and quirkiness in Acht wouldn’t’ve been able to exist had Acht’s sanitisation not been loosened at least somewhat?

Acht listens to their own music

Acht, in the elevator throughout the game, is listening to music through their headphones; we can hear some of what it sounds like, a snare or something similar being audible in the elevator as you, the protagonist, travel floor to floor. It’s clear, then, that Acht has recouped enough individuality at this point to have music tastes and enjoy listening to their own music?

It’s evidently their own (choice of) music that they’re intently listening to, given the headphones; if it were just an elevator theme (as is also present) Acht was listening to, this perhaps wouldn’t be directly suggestive of Acht’s own preferences, but Acht’s consumption of music through the privacy of headphones arguably implies a great deal more that Acht is autonomous enough to have selected this for themself.

Does the Memverse utilise Marina’s own memories of these Octolings to restore them?

This could arguably ‘ink into’ (I’ll get my coat) my earlier hypothesis that perhaps Marina’s Memverse is representative of her innermost thoughts, feelings and recollections.

This could perhaps serve a nod to the preceding DLC’s ‘Mem cakes’, the accompanying poems for which were explorations and descriptions of Agent 8’s own innermost thoughts, feelings and memories, even ones from before they awoke as an amnesiac.

As Agent 8 collected these ‘Mem cakes’ in the previous Expansion, they would recall more of their previous life as an Octarian and explore more of their own thoughts and feelings towards the likes of an Inkopolis they dreamed of getting the chance to explore for themself; these Mem cakes were often materialisations of once lost memories, and upon collecting each, Agent 8 would write an accompanying poem relating to what it was to represent to them.

However, is it not arguable that if the Memverse is built around Marina’s own such thoughts, feelings and memories, this could be a key part of how it is able to restore self into sanitised Octolings like Acht?

It’s described that Marina and Acht had been close before the events of Splatoon 1’s final fight, in which Marina deviated from the Octarian army in a break for freedom. Is Acht’s restoration possible only due to the memories Marina possesses of Acht from when they knew each other before?

Are Marina’s previous feelings for and memories with Acht cast onto them in their presence in the Memverse, thus reanimating them in the Memverse and encouraging the restoration of their former self and (associated) freedoms?

Perhaps, then, the Memverse is not just a canvas for Marina to explore her sense of self, but also a place for Octolings like Acht, who have lost their own senses of self to a lust of destructive order and control over the chaotic ebbs and flows of life itself, to regain their own such feelings, emotions and autonomy.

Since it is presented as a place of consolidation for Marina’s own memories in the collectible items I shan’t spoil nor describe, is the Memverse a tool through which these memories of Marina’s are reflected onto those like Acht, to restore their feelings of self and / or to help them regain such memories and feelings of self of their very own?

Side note - My real life

It has definitely been the case in my life that a friend or two in a voice chat expressing themselves in such a blank, digital canvas has encouraged me to explore my own true self in a similar way, perhaps even subconsciously at some points.

Perhaps the game, then, aims to highlight the importance of having such a canvas to explore oneself, one free of judgement or oppression? This could explain in part why the determination is so high to keep the Memverse free of the overrule of Order, as much as these spaces in the real world should be preserved as private canvases for expression, largely free of judgement or oppression.

Liberal propaganda…? :’))

Given that Splatoon as a game and a franchise is arguably focused around individuality, acceptance and self-expression, possibly. No wonder I love it so much…

Maybe Side Order agrees that our memories and experiences (both ‘good’ and ‘bad’) form us, then?

I just discussed how it could be that the Memverse uses memories to restore these feelings of self for sanitised Octolings like Acht.

By extension, then, maybe there’s something to be said for the importance with which Side Order holds the idea of memories and recollections so close. Maybe there’s the argument here, which aligns to one of my existing views of the world and our lives, that our memories are what make us who we are.

Even though the experiences of both Octolings may not have been amazing during their times in the Octarian army, presumably hence their escapes via the Deepsea Metro, these experiences molded and shifted them into who they are. As such, their memories constitute their current selves. Had it not been for these troubling times for them both, they wouldn’t be the same lovable Marina and Acht today.

Our memories and struggles make us who we are, Side Order thus may suggest.

As such, perhaps living bathing in regret is pointless, or disrespectful of this notion that we’re only as strong as we are today because of what we’ve made it through?

Maybe this is why Side Order seems to hold these memories so close to its narratives. In addition, this could be why the Octo Expansion so iconically did the same, albeit in quite a different fashion.

Side Order’s main messaging

All of this is all well and good. These are mentalities I’ve come to expect and integrate into my own life, through not only months of therapy but years of fighting beforehand.

I have for years lived with the mentality that ‘every scar tells a story’; a mother’s C-section wound isn’t an imperfection or a blemish, it’s a battle wound; they endured hardships to bring a child into the world, to bring life, to prevail, and the scar merely helps tell that story in a more physical form.

Similarly, someone with wrists caked in scars from years of self-despise-driven self-harm feelings has these scars, too, that I feel only tell stories and can serve to remind us what we’ve fought through to be where we are.

Every time my ankle hurts because I’ve accidentally sprained it on the stairs or whatever, I feel stronger for it.

I take the approach that for each and every ounce of pain we may feel, we get stronger for it, not only in our tissues but also in our emotional and mental abilities to deal with these kinds of pain the next time a similar event may occur. For each time you are called an insult, you simply grow stronger from the pain you feel. You trial, you error, you experiment in the face of hurt, growing stronger in knowledge, awareness and ground upon which you stand against the kinds of people who will attempt to tear you down to comfort their own insecurities.

However, there’s something perhaps a little wider that I feel Side Order addresses, and something perhaps a bit more… titular… that I feel it aims to convey, perhaps not just about ourselves, but about the world we live in, too.

Perfection isn’t real

I feel that a key motif in Splatoon 3’s Side Order could be that perfection itself, as a concept, isn’t real. This is a mentality that I, too, have carried for quite some time; I struggle to think of any means of assessing anything at all that lacks at least some degree of subjectivity or personal thought.

Even things that seem so black-and-white or cleanly-cut as death and destruction arguably have other sides of their respective coins, holding different narratives about opportunities for regrowth and room for reconstruction and strength-building should these coins be turned over by the bearers of these assessing a given situation.

Alas, I don’t think the message here is that things should always be ‘turned’ like this to force a ‘positive feeling’ in regards to everything that happens. This certainly isn’t how I feel; I encourage tears and the negative feelings where they’re felt warranted or needed, for I perceive them as necessary not only in truly regulating ourselves naturally, organically and healthily, but also in perceiving any happiness or positivity at all in anything else.

However, I do think a message of Side Order is that one’s idea of ‘perfection’ or an ‘optimal state’ is inevitably going to differ from someone else’s.

An example of balancing ideas of perfection

Let’s use an example.

In managing a business or organisation, it can feel difficult to reach a compromise in which you’re not upsetting someone, somewhere, especially as a business grows and the number of stakeholders increases.

It’s arguably impossible to reach a situation where all stakeholders have their own ‘optimal states’ and ‘ideal’ visions employed and materialised.

Management personnel may wish to construct a new factory, but community members around the area may look on with disdain for the hills that once were, should this factory be built.

Are they any happier should proceeds go to developing the same community and restoring it in other areas? I suppose that may depend on whether this restoration would coincide with the ideas of perfection among these community members.

Side Order’s proposal

Perhaps Side Order, then, suggests that perhaps, instead of this conflict of interest causing fragmentation and tension, these parties could work together to form a compromise.

In blending these buckets of emotions, desires, thoughts and approaches, the two parties could instead work together to form a ‘best of both worlds’; maybe this world of compromise, evaluation and cooperation is a true perfection, if one exists at all?

Perhaps Marina was never actually overwhelmed with chaos as a whole, but instead upset with the levels of conflict and tension in the world that surrounded her. Perhaps her turn to wishing for a ‘world of perfect order’, and the subsequent birth of the Overlorder, came about because Marina didn’t realise that she craved only cooperation and collaboration, instead of the juxtaposing ideas clashing and fighting around her in ways that weren’t nice to be surrounded by?

This would be backed up by the thoughts and feelings surrounding fighting and conflict that Marina expresses inside Side Order’s collectible items, in which Marina anecdotally expresses that fighting and arguing with her pop star companion, while a part of the creative process, is never fun.

Perhaps Marina simply wished for the world to operate much like the two do, in being able to put aside their differences to create something they know will be beautiful in the end in the integration of ideas and approaches from both?

The world is better when we work together

While I don’t think these ideologies Side Order seems to carry in my eyes deem it particularly selfish to pursue one’s own impression of perfection, especially not in ways that don’t seem to impact others, I feel it instead takes the approach that the world is a better place if we instead all blend our ideas of perfection, mixing our preferences like buckets of paint to form new colours with which we can brandish our ideas, thoughts and feelings in our lives and in the world around us.

No matter how much they may differ, argues Side Order, the end result is virtually bound to be beautiful and worthy of leaving a mark on the world, providing the ideas being used and engaged with are themselves accepting of others doing the same and expressing their own ideas.

We’ve already done this; huge, modern cultures are simply mixes or combinations of older ones. Yes, even British or American culture. Wow, who’d’ve guessed?

The Overlorder’s expression of its ideas is harmful to others, though

I feel Side Order may perceive it selfish to pursue these ideas of one’s own perfection, ‘Perfect World’ or optimal state to the detriments of others looking to do the same.

The Overlorder, after all, is not destroyed, only reduced in size (its now much smaller stature akin to the other characters presumably representative of a reduction in power) to a degree that its desires and tendencies are manageable and more equally expressed when compared to those of the other characters in the story.

Perhaps the message here, then, is that ideas should be reduced in power such that they are allowing of other ideas to be incooperated, too.

In the real world, though, some ideas don’t allow at all for the expressions of others, in being critical of concepts like, say, being transgender, so they should be eradicated in favour of a more accepting paint pot of ideas that only clash openly, respectfully and with supportive cohesion.

My approaches to ‘free speech’ as an example of how this could play into the real world

This aligns with my approaches to ‘free speech’.

I feel that ‘freedom of speech’ in recent years has become weaponised by many (cough cough, Elon Musk) as an opportunity to spread ideas harmful in their suppressions of the ideas of others.

Those less ‘progressive’ (and ultimately accepting) as I can bring about a question.

They can often have me presented with what can feel like a paradox; if I am so poised towards acceptance, why am I not accepting of the views of those that don’t agree that, say, being trans, or even gay or lesbian, is okay?

Well, the answer, to me, lies in these ideas and how they’re considered ‘harmful’.

I deem ideas of transphobia and homophobia innately harmful in their suppression of other ideas. I don’t deem it true ‘freedom of speech’ for these ideas to be expressed, because at such a point, the communal aspects that make free speech so are innately compromised if trans, gay or lesbian individuals feel excluded from expressing their own ideas in such spaces.

As such, an environment in which these ideas have such an equal power and are all cooperative in bouncing off of each other is pretty much impossible if these transphobic, homophobic or otherwise discriminatory ideas are mixed into the pot of paint.

Side Order believes in a spectrumised rainbow of all colours

Haha, descriptivism! ‘Spectrumised’ is a word now, because I said so. The unwavering powers I possess! The aforementioned approaches of acceptance can go a long way where you might not expect them to, you know.

Side Order’s final fight against the Overlorder is backed by easily one of my very favourite tracks in the entire Splatoon franchise, both inside and outside of the game.

This is saying something, as I’m sure anyone who knows me closely in the real world will know; I take great enjoyment and satisfaction from informally analysing many Splatoon in-game music tracks, but Spectrum Obligato ~ Ebb & Flow - Out of Order leaves me absolutely gobsmacked, not only in its comically punned title, but also in its amazingly telling composition.

Spectrum Obligato ~ Ebb & Flow is astonishingly cohesive given its incooperation of so many genres, instruments and styles

While I most definitely intend to write an article simply about this very song itself — no, seriously, I feel it easily warrants such dedicated recognition from me — what I’ll touch on for now is not only its critically memorial nature (being a rearrangement of the pop duo’s Ebb & Flow from several years prior) but also its incooperation of so many different instruments and genres.

I’ve always considered Splatoon’s music ‘cross-genre’, in line with much more professional, formal, skilled musical analyses I’ve come across (I believe the content creator’s name was Scruffy or something?), but Spectrum Obligato ~ Ebb & Flow, at least in my eyes, does such a beautiful job of blending together all its various components and styles.

Rather than this perhaps adding more to the bold and brash nature typical of some Splatoon songs, particularly ones that play during Turf Wars (the game’s standard, usually online battles) or combat-focused levels, Spectrum Obligato ~ Ebb & Flow instead seems to use this to express a theme of overall harmony and unity. Spectrum Obligato blends these together more like a ‘smoothie’, if that makes much sense, feeling soft and almost ethereal in its subsequent composition and final product, yet determined in its resulting power and flavour.

Look at me, already going down the rabbit hole; there’s so, so much more to say of this song and its architecture, but the point for now is that this song is one I find symbolic of a certain camaraderie among the characters Side Order involves, alongside and including the protagonist you take the perspective of, and evoking of a certain sense of union and teamwork among the entire overthrowing.

Acht has major influence in Spectrum Obligato ~ Ebb & Flow’s composition - what could this tell us?

In case you’re unfamiliar, all of Splatoon’s songs have a in-game or in-universe artist, band, group or organisation responsible for their creation or composition. In other words, any song in Splatoon, throughout the entire franchise, has a person, a group of people or a band behind it.

An outside-of-game confirmation in yet another developer interview told us that Acht’s former existence under a different name composed the songs and melodies of the Octo Expansion, but Acht spins the decks again in Spectrum Obligato ~ Ebb & Flow; as far as we can tell, Acht may actually be responsible for the entirety of its instrumentation.

There’s something important here, though; remember how Acht was listening to music in the game’s central elevator, and how this was arguably possibly representative of some of Acht’s liberties and newly-recovered feelings of self?

Well, we’ve evolved; Acht is now shown to be producing music in the name of an initiative, one to defeat the rule of the Overlorder no less, and to power Agent 8 through the fight to bring about further liberties in the Memverse.

Has Acht possibly endured the mental conflict I’ve said Side Order could represent of Marina themself?

Acht has, at this point, gone from wishing to sanitise themself to remove their innermost conflicts and tidal waves of emotion, to working alongside them and a team to champion freedom and self-expression, celebrating liberty, freedom of thought and difference, even in the face of the Overlorder Acht works to help defeat.

The Overlorder is never actually killed

As I touched on earlier, perhaps briefly, the Overlorder is never actually killed, stopped, or eliminated, though. Instead, its size is simply reduced to a size much more akin to the game’s other characters.

Perhaps Side Order believes that order itself is okay, perhaps even as an occasional governor to stop chaos from falling out of hand and having the world descend into a painful state of tense anarchy, but a balance must be achieved to stop either side from taking too much charge, and maintain the paint bucket idea I brought up earlier of all ideas involved being able to mix together cohesively to make something beautiful?

The Overlorder is ultimately thwarted in its intentions to sanitise all in its reach of any colour, insisting on a world of perfect order in its initiative it deems the ‘Greyscaling’, but it is left in a manageable, palatable state; perhaps implicitly to work alongside forces of chaos to form a balance.

This ultimately backs up the possible sentiment from earlier that perhaps the world is to benefit from the mixing, conjunction and collaboration of ideas, on the condition that they allow for each other and collaborate, rather than attempting to smother, censor or restrict one another.

The ultimate message

I feel that Side Order has one message, or perhaps one overarching theme, that surrounds and encompasses each and every one of its main, core events, and perhaps even each of the progressions I may have discussed here.

I think I would sum it up as I have tended to over the months; chaos and colour is a necessity.

I feel that Side Order’s main takeaway, perhaps not necessarily one so intricately nested, but one it truly feels it wishes to broadcast far and wide, is that to be chaotic, or to be colourful, or to spread one’s wings in flourishing one’s own ideas and thoughts, is absolutely, critically essential in building a world that can break free of the monochromatic, colour-sucked, imagination-deprived world we’re presented with as Side Order opens.

The representation of Inkopolis Square we are shown throughout the game is not fully sucked of colour. Partial fragments remain, perhaps symbolic of elements of hope that still remain within the World of Perfect Order, despite the Overlorder’s initiative to destroy such speckles of colour with its army, power and influence over the Order Sector.

However, I feel that this showing is a jarring, perhaps even slightly painful reminder of what could happen if we let the world slip and slide into a state where change (the interjection of new ideas) is eradicated, and all that’s left is an almost entirely frozen-still slate on which a tired world of no colour or originality rests.

Such a world would slow as Order’s authoritarian grip would tighten, and would eventually stop to freeze in its place (until, of course, a few nerds have the brilliant idea of going up an elevator to more or less assassinate the individual responsible).

The Overlorder is never actually killed, though, as I mentioned earlier, perhaps as an ode to the aforementioned idea that the world is better if we cohesively combine our ideas to form an equilibrium or equal canvas, upon which we may all paint unrestricted and inclusively.

Chaos and colour is a necessity

I feel, in conclusion of all this, then, that Side Order’s blanket, overall, major sentiment is that chaos and colour is a necessity, and our individuality and ‘colours’ (which, by the way, power us through the entire game by means of ‘colour chips’) must be preserved and protected at any and all costs.

These liberties we possess that allow us to break away from authoritarian rule should be preserved and protected, as they are what stops the world from sliding and slipping into a state of total oppression where creativity cannot reproduce properly, as brought up before in discussion of the colour-cleansed, washed-out Inkopolis Square we are presented with in the game.

How this so very clearly applies to the real world

This is beyond the Splatoon universe, though, I feel. I am fairly confident that these kinds of messages were indeed designed to be received by us as players, at least in some form or another.

That’s because these are issues we’ve faced in our real world before, and the war against authoritarianism or total ordering rule is one we’ve had to wage against powers who’ve felt superior or entitled to total dominance numerous times in the past. And, if you ask me, it’s a war we’re facing now.

Warning. I’m about to talk about Hitler.

I’m about to talk about genocide.

Remember the Inkopolis Square I’ve continued to talk about in that I feel it’s a representation of a colour-sucked world cleansed of any creativity that deviates from a regime? Well, I feel it’s unfair on those who lived (or died in) the horrors of Nazi Germany to compare an in-game digital universe’s environment to a real-world problem that affected the lives of so many in such tragic ways. However, I feel that the sentiments of this colour-depleted Square are closer than you may realise.

Nazi Germany was the opposite of the mixing of ideas we talked about earlier

Nazi Germany was oppressive. It really was.

Was I there? No. However, many historical accounts have, over the years, depicted and described a virtually inescapable amount and abundance of propoganda for the Nazi regime, weaving Hitler’s (and his party’s) ideologies throughout the cities, leaving no room to spare for any amount of freedom or self-expression if that even remotely risked deviance from these guidelines they so harshly let out.

If you were gay, you were prosecuted. If you were black, you were prosecuted. If you were Jewish, you were prosecuted.

If you were disabled or neurodivergent, you were either ‘corrected’ by Nazi-endorsed ‘doctors’ and ‘psychiatrists’, or you were murdered if deemed beyond a point where you could be molded as an individual into a state considered more appropriate for fulfilling a Nazi vision of your life and trajectory.

Without getting too grim for the sake of getting grim, if one’s existence did not comply with the certain regime, it was to be sanitised or forcefully corrected, by any means felt necessary, even if this meant sacrifice.

What Side Order reminds us of

This was the modern epitome of dictatorship and authoritarian rule. Hitler’s plan paved way for a ‘thousand-year’ Nazi rule over the country.

Does all of this feel pretty crap to talk about? Yeah, sure. But I feel it’s important we remind ourselves of what can happen if we let our world be sanitised of freedom and expression in the name of just one individual or just one party’s ideas, just one party’s regime, or just one person’s influence.

Side Order‘s story can remind us that the world is better for collaboration; the world is better for cooperation, and the subsequent creation of an environment where everyone’s ideas have room to breathe, and only ideas accepting of others are allowed inside.

After Hitler’s death, the education of the general public in Germany surrounding the minorities and groups the Nazis had worked to suppress was conducted. This wasn’t education for the sake of complying with any one regime, no; this was alerting the general public to the facts that no, Jews weren’t, in fact, plotting to take over the country and the world by means of sneaking into its organisations, and no, gay people shouldn’t be pushed aside for not fitting in with a regime that discarded their existence as irrelevant and unimportant.

The interjection of ideas for them to be welcomed and accepted once again was to begin.

The mixing of ideas the story emphasises the importance of in action

After Nazi Germany’s fall, a period of political and civic education in Germany began. It was initiated and influenced after 1945 by the Allies, namely Britain, the United States of America, France and the Soviet Union, and aimed to fulfil expectations and goals of ‘denazification’ and re-education.

The Allies’ goal in this program was to substitute all teachers influenced by Nazi ideology in German schools and guarantee that German youth would receive a pro-democracy education.

This right here, though. Do you notice something?

That’s right; external influence. Democracy. The sharing of ideas. A similar mixing of paints in the bucket to the ideal world we discussed earlier.

So, we know pretty universally that this inclusivity and acceptance is the right answer, then? At least, hopefully. The likes of Kanye West hurling around slurs and admirations for Hitler’s work on the dire cesspool that’s come of Twitter since Elon’s ownership of the platform is… confusing.

However, I feel that our general recognition as a population that Nazi Germany was not a good thing goes to show that yeah, no, we don’t think it’s a good idea to let our populations and existences slip into total control and governing in such a manner that everything, anything at all, including harmless means of self-expression, must com ply with one regime or set of societal rules (or be destroyed).

The past is in the past

The past is in the past, though; we cannot undo what has been done, we can only make the very best we can of any given situation. And, to me, this means acknowledging that yeah, this sucked, but we can leverage the power we’ve been granted, that many sacrificed themselves to preserve, to make beautiful things. Together.

It may feel jarring to see a game like Side Order being discussed alongside such tragic historical events, but I feel this may be because Side Order takes a more optimistic, on-looking approach, focusing instead on what can come if we do indeed put our heads together and collaborate to make the world more beautiful in the sharing of our collaborative ideas.

So… what can we do now?

Well, I feel we can acknowledge that we, as a population, are better when we accept ideas that do the same, and bounce off of each other to create beautiful things. That paint bucket I talked about, the hypothetical environment in which all of our ideas can mix together to create something truly gorgeous, can be real, if we let it be so.

Those unwilling to cooperate? We must leave them behind. Some are clearly unwilling to accept that it’s better and healthier for the world.

However, there is always room for change.

I welcome you. Yes, you.

If you’re not accepting

If you’ve somehow made it this far into this article and you’re someone who would reasonably be regarded as transphobic, or homophobic, or racist, or otherwise discriminatory and oppressive of someone just because their ideas are different, may I leave you with this.

If you believe that to be trans is a mental disability, or a delusion, or pretend, may I leave you with this.

We welcome you to join a better world. A world where rather than political rooms and institutions being places of seemingly pointless, circular, cyclical, repetitive debate, things actually get done. A world where rather than the focus being on defeating an opponent, a focus can instead be on coming to a compromise. Reaching a solution best for all.

We welcome you to the paint bucket on conditions, though. You must part ways with these discriminatory views, no matter how ingrained they may feel. The fact that you could at all consider this implies that you’re a person separate from this; you’re capable of change, and not beyond recovery. Seek professional help if it’s needed, and join us in the bucket where paints are mixed.

If you’re already with us

If you’re reading this and you’re not transphobic, homophobic, or otherwise discriminatory in such a manner, I welcome you warmly to the paint bucket.

You’ve already made it, and for that, from the bottom of my divergent heart, I thank you. We may disagree politically, but we agree, at least, that we’re better off as a world if we give others a chance and bounce off of each other. Not to spring into a direction to hurt one another, but instead to fly into a direction that’ll address our world’s problems.

We, as humans, have a theory of mind. This means we understand that we have information others may not, and others have information we may seek. The internet is a natural extension of this, arguably; we came up with a way we could more efficiently share our ideas and bounce off of one another. Here it is. You’re using it to receive my ideas and leverage them. Maybe you’ll take it upon yourself to broadcast your own.

Right now, the top three or four individuals in America have more wealth to their names than the bottom half of American society. Senator Sanders warns us, and rightfully so. This is something we must work together to do something about.

Creativity is reproductive. Remix culture is vital to our progression as a society, in that our abilities to solve real world problems can multiply for each new constructive idea thrown into the mix.

Throw your colours into the bucket

So go on, I encourage you. Think to yourself. Does your idea hurt anyone? No?

Throw it into the mix.

Go on, do it. Because someone may take your idea and critique it, someone may take your idea and adapt it, building upon your vision, but someone could take your idea and change the world with it. And that person could even be you, or someone closer than you realise.

And when we change the world, we can do it in ways that truly benefit all. Including you, and the people in your life you hold closest.

Think about a wishing well

There are places in this world where some throw their ideas, thoughts, wishes and desires into a coin, and throw it into a well, lake or fountain. This is a European tradition thought to have risen from the impression that water was a sign of life, and / or was to be appreciated, perhaps due to its scarcity at the time.

Think about all those ideas united at the bottom of this well. Think about what the money down there could do.

Now think about a piggy bank. Imagine if all the people in your life threw £2 into a piggy bank. Now, imagine if a bunch of those with high income salaries felt like they could be a little generous, and throw in, say, £3 instead.

Imagine how much money this would end up building. A fair bit, right?

But that’s not the point. Imagine what you could do with that money. Think of the food. Think of the transport.

In the nicest way possible, you don’t know that many people. Well, you might. But, relative to your country’s entire population, it’s probably very little.

So now, if you wish, you may take it upon yourself to imagine what would come of every American citizen dropping £2 into a piggy bank. Okay, now think of that food. Think of that potential.

If we approach the world in a manner utilising from each according to their ability, and assigning to each according to their need, we can work to truly support one another, aiding the sharing of ideas as we elevate more real human beings to a more level playing field.

This isn’t about money

This isn’t about money. This isn’t about figures, or numbers, or even really saving up.

This is about people.

This is about the effects we can have as a society if we decide to work together for an outcome we all know is going to be positive for the world at large, even if it doesn’t necessarily seem all that positive for oneself in the moment. Because, if we live like this, willing to sacrifice a bit in the short-term for the long-term gain and growth of our world, we rapidly accelerate the development of solar and renewable energy. If we live like this, we work much more quickly to implement more sustainable solutions for all. Solutions that keep people fed. Solutions that keep peoples’ homes powered. Solutions that keep websites like this one powered.

Solutions that keep people warm, and keep real human beings comfortable and able to access resources they may need.

In some countries, people have cried out in agony, but begged for those nearby not to call an ambulance, for it’s too expensive for them to be able to pay. This is not okay. Where has the focus for the human mind gone? When some people are sat on more money than they could ever possibly reasonably spend in a lifetime, how is it that this can happen?

We need to refocus and recentre. We must refocus on the human mind. The body. The soul.

Happiness. Sadness. Emotions. Mind. Thoughts. Ideas. Creativity. These are the things that will drive us to solve the world’s problems.

We were born to create.

So let’s do it. Together.

Let’s learn from Side Order

Let’s learn from Side Order. But let’s not just learn from Side Order.

The game is beautiful, I will admit.

The game took beliefs I already had; ones that stand by the importance of free self-expression, ones that cherish individuality, ones that accept emotions to let them run free and healthily, and ones that belief there is no true ‘perfection’. Then, it went and solidified them, and applied them to a scenario involving in-universe characters close to my heart.

But this is still a game. It’s a beautiful story, at least in my eyes, but let’s also remember those in the real world who sacrificed their lives, gave up their free time and wished farewell to their families in order to preserve democracy and freedom of expression. Let’s remember those in the likes of Ukraine who continue to do so.

Let’s do what they would’ve wanted. Let’s maximise the freedoms we have to form the paint bucket of collaborative, accepting, inclusive ideas. Let’s make the Side Order vision a reality.

Let’s do it together.

- oreo

I wrote this voluntarily, for the interest of the public, entirely in my free time. You can buy me a coffee if you wish to say thanks if you found this read interesting or useful!