About

Marina Ida is a non-playable character introduced in the video game Splatoon 2, as part of the music group Off The Hook. Her looks and personality have made her a fan-favourite character ever since her initial reveal.

History

In mid-2017, Nintendo released several trailers to promote their incoming game, Splatoon 2. In one of those trailers^[1] (see below, left), posted on the official YouTube account of Nintendo's British branch on July 6th, 2017, the fictional music group Off The Hook makes its debut, taking the role that the Squid Sisters had in the previous game. This group consists of Pearl, a short, white Inkling girl, and Marina, a dark-skinned Octoling girl with green extremities. As of November 2024, this trailer has been seen over3.1 million times, and gained over 47,000 likes. The official Twitter account of Nintendo's American branch posted an official art of the Off The Hook members (see below, right) the same day.

Spread

Marina's appealing character design and gentle, playful personality instantly won over the online audience, making her a popular waifu and the subject of many fan arts, getting traction over all main social media. On Tumblr, a fanart^[2] posted by Colodraws on October 6th, 2017, and depicting Marina as a humanoid wolf in reference to the previous Splatfest, was liked over 7,900 times.

On Newgrounds, an animation^[3] by TwistedGrim posted on December 18th, 2017 was favorited over 1,800 times.

A fanart^[4] posted by Invidiata on Deviantart on September 5th, 2017 was favorited over 2,400 times. The same art, uploaded on pixiv^[5], was liked over 1,400 times and bookmarked over 2,300 times.

Still on DeviantArt, a fanart^[6] posted by NeoArtCorE on February 15th, 2018 was favorited over 3,800 times.

A gijinka fanart^[7] posted on Twitter by Hizake on May 13th, 2021, gained over 20,800 likes and was retweeted over 3,300 times in 3 years.

Marina's attractiveness, and in particular her sex appeal, was a subject of jokes online, especially when put in the context of many other overtly sexy Nintendo-based female characters, and particularly dark-skinned women, having come to existence in the recent years prior.

One popular running gag regarding Off The Hook was that due to Marina's attractiveness, put in contrast to Pearl's goblin energy, the former was by default at an advantage for any given Splatfest. DeviantArt artist RilexLenov made a series of comics centered around that idea, the most popular of which^[8], posted on July 15th, 2017 for their first Splatfest, was favorited over 1,200 times.

Another fanart^[9], posted on DeviantArt by Ducktits on August 2nd, 2017, was favorited over 1,400 times.

Marina was also praised online as one of the first lesbian icons associated with a Nintendo franchise, as multiple hints in Splatoon 2 point to her being in a romantic relationship with Pearl. Their ship, dubbed Pearlina^[10], is still to this day the most popular in the Splatoon fandom.

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External References