#pearl rambles

[pearldrone]

hey guys, this is a post about side order and what we can somewhat gather about it so far. this'll be a long one, so hang tight. i've seen others vaguely talk about these ideas, so i decided to go all-out.

this image is of what i'm going to refer to as the 'landscape of thorns,' which is a 'long-term nuclear waste warning message.' these being used to sway humanity from intruding on highly dangerous sites.

as certain kinds of radiation can stay toxic for thousands of years, a warning of the dangers of this plant were needed. non-linguistic messages were attempted at first by a report from the sandia national laboratories, one of the three development and research laboratories of the department of energy's national nuclear security administration. {DOE, NNSA} the aim of this series of messages were to warn later visitors to any waste site. they recommended that messages include each of the following, gradually increasing complexity.

{much more under the cut.}

"1} Rudimentary information: "Something man-made is here"

2} Cautionary information: "Something man-made is here and it is dangerous"

3} Basic information: Tells what, why, when, where, who, and how

4} Complex information: Highly detailed written records, tables, figures, graphs, maps and diagrams"

the issue with worded messages is that they're unlikely to be comprehensible in thousands of years. considering how much the english language has changed, and will continue to evolve, would those of the future be able to understand what is being said? because of this, symbols were also considered.. but another problem arises with that. no symbol will be universally understood to mean one thing, even something such as the jolly roger. {☠️} using it to warn for risk of sickness, or general harm would serve useless as time passes. especially nowadays, while the jolly rodger still is seen as a danger symbol somewhat, is used more commonly as a cool design thing.. at least in the USA. and again, that's the problem. no symbol is universally known for one thing, no matter what.

i believe it was also a thought to not warn at all, and just leave it there.. but that questions ethics.

eventually, physical markers were explored, giving ideas such as the forbidding blocks, rubble landscape, the landscape of thorns, and a few beyond those. these ideas carry similar characteristics to each other.

from the official trailer.

in 1992-1993, a poll was issued by the zeitschrift für semiotik of tübingen germany, asking the following question:

"how would it be possible to inform our descendants for the next 10,000 years about the storage locations and dangers of radioactive waste?" and received answers such as artificial satellites, atomic priests, and 'ray cats.' i'm going to further talk about ray cats, as i think, considering the themes, it would be a good opportunity for side order to delve deeper into li'l judd, and his current whereabouts or motivations. as it's very vaguely hinted that he owns grizzco industries, and with that presumably dead fish in the trailer, it could be explored. i hope they won't make it weird though, as you know.. the whole thing with mammals has been a bit bizarre..

anyway, it was suggested that a species of cat should be bred that changes colors when exposed to radiation, so essentially a living sign of nuclear threat. as things such as nursery rhymes have been culturally significant in some way for many, many years.. in 2014, the musician 'emperor x' was commissioned by the podcast '99% invisible' to create a song about this idea for an episode about long-term nuclear waste warning messages.

whatever this fucker is. they could be completely done with grizzco, but who knows.

{edit 8/23/23 i've been told it resembles the bake-kujira. the ghost whale which is accompanied by "weird birds or fish."}

giving us the song '10,000-Year Earworm to Discourage Settlement Near Nuclear Waste Repositories {Don't Change Color, Kitty.}' the gist of this track being "if the cat turns bright colors, run!" and was designed to be "so catchy and annoying that it might be handed down from generation to generation over a span of 10,000 years."

so, themes of radiation are very likely to be present. this brings us to our next section, the coral bleaching.

as you may know, healthy coral has beautifully bright colors. this is due to microscopic algae known as zooxanthellae, which lives inside of the algae's polyps. it is also a major source of food, and nutrients. coral bleaching occurs when coral reefs are under stressful conditions, a huge one being climate change, which i will get deeper into that specifically. if the waters it lives in heat up too much, the coral will begin to expel this zooxanthellae.. leaving it completely white, and exposing its bone-like structure.

healthy vs partially bleached coral.

while bleached coral isn't quite dead, the aftermath of said bleaching makes it much more susceptible to disease and malnourishment due to lack of nutrition. if the waters stay too warm for too long, or if the bleaching is too extreme, the coral will die.

images from the official side order trailer, showing us bleached and possibly dead coral.

coral bleaching is an ongoing issue, and efforts have been made to conserve and regrow the coral reefs.. this brings us to a shorter section, but one worthy of a mention.

coral cloning. coral cloning is a phenomenon where a small bit of a healthy coral is cut, and grows into a full piece. it helps when this, sometimes miniscule, piece is placed next to another. this speeds up growth almost rapidly. however, it is not too easy to grow, and this method isn't totally fool-proof. coral requires very certain conditions to flourish, such as not being placed on an open ocean floor, but instead in an already established habitat. also things like water temperature, pH levels, pollution, all can stunt growth. this is a very vast oversimplified explanation, but i believe you get the picture. have you wondered why i am bringing this up? here is why..

am i saying this directly implies cloning? not exactly. it's an interesting thing to note, though, as you might know how octarians {NOT OCTOLINGS!} are born.. via severed tentacle. coral can sometimes be born via severed piece. i'm not going to go into this much more, as it's kind of an out-there comparison. do with that what you will.

continuing on with the radiation and infectious theme, i feel i should mention ultraviolet radiation. the sun produces these UV rays, of course, and they can be good in moderation. if it's too much? it can be absolutely killer. you guessed it, ultraviolet radiation does play a part in warmer waters, which aids in bleaching coral. however, that's not all.. the state of inkopolis square we see in the side order trailer could very well also be due to residue of nuclear radiation from the human society's many wars. before humanity's fall, natural disasters were more prevalent than ever, and we still don't really know what exactly happened besides the massive flood. the sea levels rising was the reason the great turf war, the deadliest war to strike inkadia, even happened. things like oil spills could possibly be going on too, as in some photos, you can see this black liquid.

i'm going to state the obvious and add on that oil spills are incredibly dangerous to marine life, and that includes coral reefs.

remnants of human life have not disappeared from inkadia, or anywhere in this world dominated by marine life. it's not far-fetched to say they could still be affected by anything else left behind, climate wise.

the landscape of thorns has not been built, to my knowledge, but maybe it was here. this could be a rediscovered nuclear plant, who knows. especially as certain kinds of radiation, again, can stay hazardous for upwards of ten-thousand years, and possibly longer. you may have caught that ten-thousand is an important number for multiple reasons, especially with the possibility that this octoling is eight. the human race has been extinct for longer than ten-thousand years by this point, but it's something to remember. but there's still questions.. where do pearl and marina fall now? what is their role? is this an infection only targeting octolings, and other octarians? what's going on with marina? only time will tell, yeah?

there you have it, if you read this far.. definitely tell me what you think. i've still not covered everything in the trailer, so any add-ons would be cool if you have any. this took a while to research and write, so thanks for reading.

sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_bleaching

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-are-taking-extreme-steps-to-help-corals-survive/

https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/everything-you-need-to-know-about-coral-bleaching-and-how-we-can-stop-it

https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/about/media/how-do-oil-spills-affect-coral-reefs.html

https://youtu.be/JENUAv0w8Q4

https://youtu.be/ZiULxLLP32s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_nuclear_waste_warning_messages

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200731-how-to-build-a-nuclear-warning-for-10000-years-time

https://youtu.be/dDIMYAYSGCo

[surfsharky]

Furina will be mine, I'm manifesting it

If she doesn't come home than I pre-farmed for nothing bro ‼️‼️💥💥

[pearlfrye]

splatoon and furbys are my biggest special interests, soo.. i have assigned each idol two 90's furbys under the cut!

{a few of these are based on their past splatfest teams!}

CALLIE - WITCH'S CAT and FLAMINGO!

MARIE - DALMATIAN and FROG!

PEARL - CRYSTAL and CORAL FURBY BABY!

MARINA - WOLF and ANGEL!

SHIVER - BLUE TURTLE and BANDIT!

FRYE - ROOSTER and LIZARD!

BIG MAN - LADYBUG and MINK!

[mysticotta]

Reblog and tag people who don’t know how much positive impact they’ve had on your life.

I’ll go first

@gladburden @hydeomonster @harmonybeats2

[shininglikeyoursmile]

👀👀👀👀👀

Did

Did you miss me?.... 😚😚😚😚😚

[dreaming-of-butterflies]

anyone has good German music recommendations? hehe

[pearldrone]

the body types of the inkfish in splatoon, what's with them?

this post will obviously have vague references to weight, but not in a serious way. warning you regardless though!

the anatomy of inklings and octolings, or the inkfish in general, is something that continues to interest me. this post will be mainly revolving around them. as you know, there are many defining features between the two species. round or pointy ears, a/symmetrical teeth, connective eye masks or a lined eye look, ten or eight tentacles, the list goes on. however, something that stays consistent within either species if that their body types remain the exact same.

the squid sisters and off the hook for reference. as you can see, putting aside obvious differences between the two species and height, their features are identical. this also applies to any player characters. why is this? let's look more into it.

as i'm sure you are aware, beauty standards more than likely play some kind of role in the designs of idols and avatars. real idols and celebrities are really skinny a majority of the time so it makes sense they'd incorporate it into the designs because of this.

that's not all, though. wouldn't that be too easy?

while typical standards of beauty definitely contribute, personally i believe that isn't the only reason.

something important to remember when talking about the anatomy of the octolings and inklings is that they aren't humans, and naturally will not have the same features. anything from their lack of bones, sensitivity to water, {water isn't lethal to them and can only be harmful in staggering amounts} ink assumingly playing a part in their hydration, their lack of actual hair, thin skin, really the only things "human" about them are that they have limbs, {along with fingers and toes} skin, their facial structures, and the fact they can speak.

bigfin reef squid

real squids and octopuses, even cuttlefish, are really low in fat. from what i can gather, octopus and squid have anywhere from one to six grams of fat per a few ounces. going back with what i said earlier, inkfish are not people, and it's highly plausible that they have a different acceptable body fat range than humanity, and can survive and thrive on very little. this, along with the fact that essentially all younger inkfish are very active, i believe play huge roles in their physique. fat also likely stores in them in the same places, as with real cephalopods.

caribbean reef octopus

conclusion,

do beauty standards have a part with appearances in splatoon? i can almost guarantee. though, it's crucial to remember that the way inkfish present anatomically and the way humans do have a large contrast. inkfish are very heavily based on real cephalopods, and the developers of splatoon are very intentional when it comes to character design and referencing what species they're based on, so i'm going to say that it's safe to assume that this is another huge reason for how they look physically.

what do you think? feel free to let me know. this is something that's floated in my mind on and off, but just today i started really thinking about it. thanks for reading.

[surfsharky]

Happy pride month!!

A special blog change for the occasion!!

LETS GO LESBIANS ‼️‼️💥💥

[mysticotta]

Happy birthday to one of the loveliest people I know! I hope you enjoy. (and maybe cry, i did making this)

(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)

[shininglikeyoursmile]

I just turned myself on by thinking about that drabble @summer-blonde wrote about Dark Steve with lactation kink.😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😩😩😩😩😫😫

NOW I AM HORNY !🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵

[batemanofficial]

that smoking in public poll got me thinking. you don't get to waffle about being neutral with these options you gotta choose

i personally like the smell of weed but dislike the smell of cigarette/tobacco smoke, but combing through the notes on that poll indicates that this opinion may be unpopular! idk!

[mysticotta]

@hydeomonster

*baps you with my paws* *baps you with my paws* *baps you with my paws* *baps you with my paws* *baps you with my paws* *baps you with my paws* *baps you with my paws* *baps you with my paws* *baps you with my paws* *baps you with my paws* *baps you with my paws* *baps you with my paws* *baps you with my paws* *baps you with my paws*

[oil-boy]

I had a lot of fun drawing this

I finished scars, went on twitter, saw this and was immediately back in the drawing apps

[pansy-picnics]

I GOT THIS DIALOGUE LAST NIGHT AND IM STILL LOSING MY MIND OVER IT?

[mysticotta]

@sunspriite LOOKIT

I am also your weapon, your sword

[pearldrone]

ever wonder what the good old rainmaker is based on? check this out under the cut for a quick bit of information.

this beautiful thing right here is called the shachihoko. a sea monster with the head of a dragon or tiger with body of a carp within japanese folklore.

male and female bronze shachis atop the matsue castle

the creature was believed to be able to control the clouds and summon rain, as well as hold and swallow "massive amounts of water" in their bellies. they are also known to be protectors for castles within japan in case of a fire. having a male and female pair at the top of the roof. the statues being carved out of wood, and commonly coated in gold, but not always.

so, the splatoon rainmakers are literally rainmakers. while likely common knowledge, i thought it'd be fun to post about its origins.