Entry VIII: Finding Selfhood in Hearthomes, or a Splatoon 3 Reflection

[liondrakes]

Greetings, adventurer(s). As some of you may know, or not if you aren’t into Splatoon, yesterday was the end of Grand Festival. Grand Festival was an unforgettable experience for me. Sure, the battling aspect had its highs and lows, but that didn’t matter to me. I don’t get emotional about video games often unless it is something that really grabs me— whether it be the creativity behind the concept, its narrative and themes, its gameplay and lore, what have you. Participating in Grand Festival, and playing Splatoon 3 in general, did exactly that.

So much so, it touched me as an alterhuman as well.

As a fan, it was my first Final Fest. I’ve followed Splatoon since its beginnings, but never got the chance to play the games up until I got my Nintendo Switch Lite. When I did, I was still saving up for games to play and didn’t have enough to really consider getting Nintendo Online. It wasn’t until a year after getting my Switch Lite that I was more financially stable and could afford to do those things. Around this time, Splatoon 3 was gearing up to release in the fall. My girlfriend, a veteran Splatoon player, encouraged me to pick up the game during the Global Testfire for Splatoon 3. I’m not all that good at multiplayer shooters, and more importantly, I was concerned about Splatoon’s usage of motion controls as the main gameplay style. I am visually impaired and experience chronic migraines, so that deterred me the most from trying. However, her passion eventually swayed my opinion. In retrospect, I’m very grateful that she did. Not only was there an accessibility option I can use instead of motion control (stick controls), I had fallen in love with the atmosphere of Splatsville and the Splatlands by extension. There was something about it that always made me feel so warm inside. In the time between the Global Testfire’s closure and the full release of Splatoon 3, I consumed myself with information on the franchise up until Splatoon 3. For days, I binged video essays on the lore of Splatoon (2015) and Splatoon 2 (2017). I asked my girlfriend about her perspective on the series, what she knew about its narrative and characters, and what tips she could give about the multiplayer side of things. Splatoon had swallowed me up whole, and I had no intention on fighting back.

As a fictionfolk, I originally did not feel like I belonged in this world. Part of me still doesn’t, at least not amongst my existing fractures. I had no exomemories of it. I still don’t. I don’t even feel connection to marine life. Yet, everything about Splatsville and the Splatlands felt like home. The music, the people, the environment… it just felt right. Part of me wanted to know if there were ways to study the language of Inkfish without having to rely on total gibberish. Splatoon had became not only one of my favorite gaming franchises, but it became an important influence on me as an individual. I admire the perseverance and spirit of the Inkfish (Inklings and Octolings, in this case), and I see myself in them at times. I am not one of them, however. I don’t feel out of place, but I know I’m not a direct part of this world. I have immense connection to it as a hearthome, but unlike most of my hearthomes, this is not a realm in which a part of me once lived in another reality. It is simply a place that feels like home, that is home in ways that I always struggled to describe yet I have no recollection of existing within it.

Perhaps, it’s because the world of Splatoon is still Earth. The major difference is that it is millions upon millions of years into future. Once humanity went extinct, the DNA of those who died in Alterna spread to the marine life they farmed. The most intelligent of which, Squids and Octopuses, were among the first to evolve upon exposure. I may have no memories tied within this version of Earth, but it is still a version of Earth that I feel at home with. I feel at home with its new inhabitants. I felt such intense emotions upon the ending of Splatoon 3’s run of Splatfests, that I was still listening to the Grand Festival tracks on loop today. I miss being there with everyone— the jellyfish, the Inklings, the Octolings, their idols. All of it felt so unreal. It was beautiful beyond belief. Even so, all good things must come to an end. The Grand Festival may be over, but I still have Splatsville and Splatoon 3 as a whole. But where does that leave me in an alterhuman context?

You see, I’ve wrestled with my feelings on the matter for a year now. I once suspected that I’m a Fuzzy Octoling but ruled out that I didn’t feel like this species at all. For a while, I simply referred to Splatsville and the Splatlands as a hearthome of mine, specifically the only hearthome that I have that I don’t have connection to via species. This past April, I suspected if I had been Inkfish-hearted, especially towards Octolings. I denied it at first, feeling that those feelings were more relative to archetropy. I see being an Inkfish Archetroper as a subset of my “Indomitable Human Spirit” archetrope as both are relative to the beauty of valuing life above all else and persevering in spite of everything. After all, getting into Splatoon helped me appreciate my life more. Its passion for community, change and the timelessness of creating, or making one’s mark in the world, moved me, inspiring me to embody those values into my day-to-day life. Much of it is thanks to the franchise’s characters and themes. It was unexpected but very welcomed. Nonetheless, I came to understand that these feelings towards Inklings and Octolings could be coming from a place of both heartedness and archetropy. Neither were mutually exclusive in this case, to me at least. 

Last, but certainly not the least, I made a decision quite recently. By “quite recently”, I mean literally hours ago in my friend Cain's alterhuman Discord server. I speculated on making a linktype connected to Splatoon, based on how much Splatsville and the Splatlands mean to me. Experiencing Grand Fest left me in a state that I haven’t felt in years with a video game. It goes without saying how significant Splatoon 3 was to me; after sitting with it for a few hours, I decided that I wanted to make this linktype and commit to it because of how much this silly, endearing little game about cephalopod people means to me. I had to think a little logically about what I’d be as a Splatlandian. For this linktype, I knew for sure that I was neither an Inkling nor an Octoling. They are a part of my community, for sure, but they are not my direct community in a species sense. Briefly, I considered being a slightly more anthropomorphic Goldie Salmonid. Semi-draconic in appearance. Perhaps, a dragon-fish? Or maybe a Salmonling? Who knows. I’m also considering being a Lion’s Mane Jellyfish but closer to a humanoid appearance much like Inklings or Octolings. I’m thinking because of our sheer size, we just adapted more to a humanoid form unlike the Jellyfish you’d typically see around the main hubs in Splatoon. I’ll still have to decide on either of the two, so there’s that, but I’m happy that I’m doing this. I’m happy to bring myself closer to the world that I love, even if I had no prior presence to it. Maybe, I can actually have that in another life.

I’m not sure how I will categorize this link. It’s not exactly an aesthetically-based link because I love this world beyond its aesthetics. It’s not a link for fun either, because part of it is based on how much I’ll miss being a part of the culture. They may be doing Splatfest reruns, but that doesn’t change the fact that Grand Festival was the grand finale. It could be a support linktype since it helps maintain my connection to this world and its people. Even so, that also feels too general for what I feel. I suppose my relationship with this world is just a complex one. I have no problem with that. All that matters is the connection itself. That’s enough for me.

A hearthome’s impact on an individual is so fascinating to me. Some are able to become fluent in amazing, intricate languages. Others are able to catalogue detailed memories of their time in these worlds. In the case of Splatsville, and the Splatlands as a whole, I am only able to pull from the source that I love as a fan. My connection with this hearthome may be vastly different compared to my other hearthomes and how I engage with them, but it is as real as all the rest. It is not common for me to have a species of voluntary origin under my belt as a polymorph, but this one feels extra special to me. Not for the fact that it is a linktype, but because of everything I’ve come to love through it and its source. I was nearly brought to tears last night as Grand Festival closed out, listening to the harmonies of the Now or Never Seven. Standing in unity with other festival-goers in the Clam Stadium, I waved my arms as Three Wishes filled my senses. It reminded me of how the Calamari Inkantation changed everything for Octolings in Inkadia, changing their philosophy and actual brain chemistry. I wouldn’t say the live performance of Three Wishes went that far for me, but I do feel like this past weekend was something that I will carry with me in my experience as a gamer and an alterhuman for the rest of my life. I already knew that it would become my favorite song in the franchise when it was first released on Nintendo of America’s YouTube, but witnessing it live (technically) during the final stretch of Grand Festival was incredibly special. I also quite liked Rainbow Color Inktation (Future Ver.), but the lyrics of Three Wishes captured my heart and never let go. They represented everything I adore about Splatoon. Having that performance be my lasting moments in such a one-of-kind event meant everything to me.

I love this weird game. I am proud to incorporate it into my being. I’m still floored by how much it impacted me, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. For those who also have linktypes, or are considering making any, I hope that you too have found a species and a home that makes you feel the way that I do with being a non-Cephalopod Inkfish and a Splatlandian. The places that a simple passion can lead you are awe-inspiring.

Thank you for reading once again.

Best regards from the back porch,
Br'er Lion