• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Splatoon 2 introduces Pearl and Marina, Icecream vs. Icrecream Splatfest

Wow, talk about sexualization of young characters. A bit creepy, to be honest.
giphy.gif
 

OryoN

Member
Marina's design is soooo much better than Pearl's it's not even funny. Did they focus test this choice, or took an internal vote? This looks too damn one-sided.

Now Marie Vs Marina... This Marie faithful would have been seriously conflicted. So glad that's not the reality here though. Saved!
 

Kureransu

Member
d379JRD.png


Both these images show that Marina poses with her thumbs tucked to indicate 8 digits vs Pearls 10. This makes sense given that the hand poses are supposed to represent hanging tentacles and that Marina is an octoling.

EDIT: Shes not tucking her right thumb in the first image but still only showing 8 total fingers overall.

ezgif-4-9ad3dd62a5.gif


she has 10 fingers
 

Zeeman

Member
After actually getting a chance to watch the Direct, Marina's design is still top-notch, but Pearl's personality looks like it might be more entertaining, so this could end up closer when all is said and done
 
Based on the Japanese upload (which has slightly better image quality):

  • Pearl is called ヒメ (Hime, "Princess")
  • Marina is called イイダ (Iida, "Yida"?)
  • Marina calls Pearl "senpai", indicating that the older-looking Marina is newer in the Idol space
  • Based on their interactions, Pearl's careless (I previously wrote "bossy" but I'm not sure it's exact) while Marina is acting shy and polite but applied.

Self-quoting to add:
Their japanese catchphrase is "ぬりたく〜る。。。テンタクル!!" Nuritaku~ru... Tentakuru!! Which is an amalgamation of "wanting to paint", "cool", maybe a reference to the special attacks that start with "Mirakuru", and ending with "tentacle".


So I saw this in twitter.

Marina = a type of harbor

Pearl Marina

Pearl Harbor

Someone else interpreted it as Pearl Harbor and Marina Bay.
 

tkscz

Member
Okay, I love Marina but Pearl isn't THAT bad

8287MgR.png


She's not supposed to be conventionally cute. I said this earlier, but she's totally giving me Yolandi Visser from Die Antwoord vibes. She's supposed to be the "brat little sister" type she makes a good contrast to Marina's shyness and elegance

It's her design that's the problem. If the back part of her tenticle hair was a little longer (same style though) then it would look a little better, but as is, doesn't look right.
 

javac

Member
It's her design that's the problem. If the back part of her tenticle hair was a little longer (same style though) then it would look a little better, but as is, doesn't look right.

Kids tend to have shorter hair because it always gets in the way and kids are bad at looking after it, it tends to lead to kids with goofy haircuts and its pretty cute in a silly way.
 

Tom Nook

Member
Interesting Theory:
Pearl could be related to the Marie. Older sister Marie supporting her little sister.
 

jstripes

Banned
Somewhere in the last 3 years Nintendo hired some artists and designers who are actually future-looking, and it shows in Splatoon and ARMS.

I'm really impressed. It's like Sega during the Dreamcast era.

Not to say I dislike Nintendo's usual art, but it's so... "Nintendo".
 
Amazing. I have not really been keeping up with Nintendo games but this is super nice to see.

There was lots of love in the Sun and Moon threads because Nintendo/Game Freak no longer asks if you're a boy or a girl... Simply asking about your style, then using gender neutral ways to reference your "trainer". Nintendo has gone from one of the worst offenders to arguably one of the better in the last 2-3 years.
 

Callego

Member
People defending Pearl because she's supposed to be a brat are missing the point.
People don't like brats. Her design is unappealing and you're basically saying "yeah but it's bad on purpose!" You might be right but that doesn't change the fact that it's an unappealing design.
 

zroid

Banned
I finally had time to watch the Direct, and while I certainly think Marina is an awesome design, I don't really get the hate for Pearl. She's just this punk kid rapper. It's adorable.

I like how the two members of the duo are completely different in Splatoon 2. Callie and Marie had different personalities but other than that they were pretty similar, relatively speaking.
 
People defending Pearl because she's supposed to be a brat are missing the point.
People don't like brats. Her design is unappealing and you're basically saying "yeah but it's bad on purpose!" You might be right but that doesn't change the fact that it's an unappealing design.

To quote Yahtzee, "An intentionally annoying character is still annoying."

I finally had time to watch the Direct, and while I certainly think Marina is an awesome design, I don't really get the hate for Pearl. She's just this punk kid rapper. It's adorable.

Not a unique or interesting enough design and she has the awful luck to be compared to Marina who is just a much better designed character.
 

KingBroly

Banned
Still not sure if Pearl is an Octarian or not

Marina is...but there's definitely a story behind that.

Pearl's design simply doesn't look right to me. The eyebrows, the insane big forehead, the evil-looking brow and eye-color.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Still not sure if Pearl is an Octarian or not

Marina is...but there's definitely a story behind that.

Pearl's design simply doesn't look right to me. The eyebrows, the insane big forehead, the evil-looking brow and eye-color.

maybe she's mix
 

zroid

Banned
To quote Yahtzee, "An intentionally annoying character is still annoying."



Not a unique or interesting enough design and she has the awful luck to be compared to Marina who is just a much better designed character.

Looks pretty unique to me, and I don't find her annoying.

I like how GAF can have endless debates about things which are completely subjective though
 
Looks pretty unique to me, and I don't find her annoying.

I like how GAF can have endless debates about things which are completely subjective though

I mean... it's not completely subjective. Compared to Marie and Calie, Pearl's designs come off uninspired. While it's hard to call such a thing an unbiased fact... it's not exactly subjective either. You can objectively compare the original designs as well as the designs of Pearl versus Marina.
 

phanphare

Banned
I mean... it's not completely subjective. Compared to Marie and Calie, Pearl's designs come off uninspired. While it's hard to call such a thing an unbiased fact... it's not exactly subjective either. You can objectively compare the original designs as well as the designs of Pearl versus Marina.

"uninspired" is not a word I'd use to describe Pearl
 

zroid

Banned
I mean... it's not completely subjective. Compared to Marie and Calie, Pearl's designs come off uninspired. While it's hard to call such a thing an unbiased fact... it's not exactly subjective either. You can objectively compare the original designs as well as the designs of Pearl versus Marina.

It's totes fine that you think that, I just don't see how it's not subjective, haha. "Uninspired" is a pretty meaningless word in objective terms. How do you quantify or evaluate "inspiration"? You can't.
 
Top Bottom