| “ | Ay! (Make money! Get fish quick!) Ay! (Big Man in the house!) | „ |
| ~ Big Man’s introduction in “Return of the Mammalians” |
Big Man is a major antagonist in the story mode of Splatoon 3, Return of the Mammalians. He is a member of the idol trio Deep Cut, who host the Anarchy Splatcast and create music but behind the stage, he, Shiver, and Frye loot the human ruins outside of the Splatlands for relics to sell, hoping to use the profits to give to the poor while keeping a few for themselves. This puts him at odds with the new Agent 3 and Squidbeak Splatoon, who trespass on Deep Cut's looting ground of Alterna, making him and his colleagues believe that they plan to steal the treasures for their own gain, including three large pieces of scrap they guard.
In the finale of the game, Big Man and the rest of Deep Cut confront the Squidbeak Splatoon and demand for the scrap to be returned, and are surprised when Agents 1 and 2/ Callie and Marie agree and give them the scrap. Together, they assist in helping Agent 3 to defeat Mr. Grizz and prevent the spread of the Fuzzy Ooze.
Appearance[]
Big Man, as his name suggests, is a large manta ray (despite more closely resembling an eagle ray), towering over his bandmates Shiver and Frye. He is mostly grey in color, with white blotches on his "arms" and pectoral fins which act as legs, a white stripe running from his face to the tip of his tail as well as a flower-like white pattern on his back. He has rectangular pupils and wears a headdress with red details that resembles the mouthparts of an actual manta ray, which he holds in place with a red string above his mouth.
The mask he wears in his introduction resembles an oni mask, except flatter to match his face shape. As Ian BGM he wears a black cap with white Inkling text as well as grayish-blue sunglasses. In his youth, Big Man was smaller in size and had stubbier proportions, wearing a pair of orange headphones and possessing gray freckles on his face.
Personality[]
Despite his menacing size, Big Man is in fact a gentle giant, being significantly less hostile than his bandmates. He's shown to be strong-willed and good natured, complimenting Agent 3 on their efforts when they beat him in each phase but remarking that he trained too hard to lose, as well as trying to comfort them by saying that there'll be no hard feelings if they lose. He also seems to be less keen on violence as, if rematched again, he will state that he's fighting Agent 3 as he doesn't want to upset Shiver and Frye or get yelled at. According to the Nintendo Magazine interview, Big Man was somewhat timid in the past, being intimidated by Frye and Shiver when they asked him to join their band, even believing they wanted to beat him up.
Unfortunately for Big Man, his lack of social tact and timid personality can lead to conflicts with him and his teammates. This is most notable when he goes off to secretly record a charity song with the Squid Sisters, causing Frye and Shiver to beat him up for “betraying” them. Furthermore, he tends to spend a lot of energy curbing his bandmates’ chaotic tendencies, which Pearl notes in the song “Suffer No Fools.” Despite this, he and Deep Cut genuinely care for each other and are shown to overall have a very positive relationship.
While Big Man appears to only speak in "Ay"s, it's shown that in multiple songs, he can in fact speak regular Inkling language. the reason for him speaking in just "Ay"s in-game is unknown, though it’s implied the “Ay”s are his native tongue which he prefers to use.
Biography[]
Background[]
Big Man descends from the Manta family, an aristocratic clan of manta rays as shown by his Sunken Scroll depicting him in a lavish portrait with many expensive foods, and just like Shiver and Frye, he might have 2 siblings according to the family tree doodled onto said Sunken Scroll. Growing up, Big Man became acquaintances with his future bandmates thanks to their clans always getting together, but he only became closer to them after Frye and Shiver approached him in middle school, asking for him to help with instrumentals for their new band Deep cut.
At some point in time, Deep Cut, who were famed for their rowdiness and enthusiasm, take over the Anarchy Splatcast thanks to support from the masses. This causes Deep Cut to decide to give back to Splatsville's citizens by looting the surrounding ruins for artifacts to sell, with majority of the profits being used to support Splatsville financially while keeping little for themselves. Big Man also later inherits ownership of the Manta clan's dance school (and oldest dance school in the region), Manda Ryuu and becomes its head.
Splatoon 3[]
Big Man and his bandmates first appear in the beginning of the game announcing the disappearance of the Great Zapfish, a giant electric catfish which supplies most of Splatsville's electricity similar to Inkopolis. While he and Deep Cut are not present for most of the crater section, after the crater floor collapses and Agent 3, DJ Octavio and Cap'n Cuttlefish fall into the depths below, Big Man, Shiver and Frye are seen watching over the events while wearing their masks.
Big Man reappears at the end of the first stage of Alterna: Future Utopia Island. There, he and his bandmates warn the agents of Squidbeak Splatoon to back off as the ruins are for them to loot only. He later appears in the final stage of the Happiness Research Lab, guarding the final piece of scrap which was creating signals that were mistaken for SOS signals from Cap'n Cuttlefish. Big Man tells Agent 3 that they can't steal the treasure they found, and reluctantly engages in combat to fend them off. During his first phase, he covers himself in ink and hops into a large projection of himself that leaves ink as it travels. Agent 3 is required to splat the projection as it splits, with the projections cover the stage in ink and throw sub-weapons such as bombs and missiles at them, with Octopods emerging from the shadows if a fake one is hit at its smallest size. Eventually, Agent 3 can splat the shadow that Big Man actually is in, stunning him and allowing them to splat him.
Big Man compliments Agent 3 for beating his first phase, but declares that he's trained too hard to lose and like before, covers himself in ink before hopping into a shadow. The second phase is similar, except the attacks become more aggressive and frequent, with certain attacks gaining more range. The number of shadows also increase and some may explode into ink twisters when splatted. Once again, Agent 3 must find the real Big Man and splat him.
Big Man once again remarks that while Agent 3's good, he still can beat them and continues his battle, telling them not to feel bad when they lose. His third phase is identical to his second, except now, 3 platforms are raised from the stage, making dodging more difficult. Big Man also uses more weapons such as Torpedoes and Fizzy Bombs. if splatted for the third time, Big Man is forced out and exhausted, admits defeat before accidentally kicking one of his ink grenades, exploding him into the distance.
With the scrap collected from Deep Cut, Squidbeak Splatoon construct a device capable of shearing away all the Fuzzy Ooze around the space station where Cap'n Cuttlefish is held captive, with the Captain collapsing from either exhaustion or from injury after they use it. Big Man and Deep Cut demand that they return the treasure to them and are shocked when Agent 2/Marie allows them to take it, having used it for its purpose already. They thank Squidbeak Splatoon profusely, begging Marie to employ them and together travel up the space station to where Cuttlefish is. However, when they reach the top they find a seemingly lifeless Cuttlefish, dehydrated of all his ink and the culprit: Mr. Grizz. As the bear takes off into space, he explains his motive of covering the earth in Fuzzy Ooze, leaving Agent 3 to chase after him. Fortunately, Deep Cut are there to assist them, with Shiver and Frye forming a pathway to space using their eels and Master Mega while Big Man gives a space helmet to Agent 3.
Together, during the penultimate phase of Mr. Grizz's battle, Big Man, Deep Cut, the Squid Sisters and DJ Octavio all band together to play the Calamari Inkantation 3MIX, powering up Smallfry with what Cuttlefish describes as "marine life energy", having been revived by the Captain's tears. With the power of Smallfry and DJ Octavio's assistance, Agent 3 destroys the rocket and saves the world, returning back to Earth.
Later on, Big Man and Deep Cut announce the return of the Great Zapfish, albeit with a slightly different appearance. He is also shocked to learn that Agents 1 and 2 are in fact the Squid Sisters after a jellyfish shows him and his colleagues a picture of the famous duo. He and the rest of Deep Cut are currently collaborating with the Squid Sisters to make music and if zoomed in on at their studio, will smile and wave at Agent 3.
Sometime after the events of "Return of the Mammalians", Shiver and Frye find out about Big Man's solo collab with the Squid Sisters as "Ian BGM" and, angry that he's spending more time with other artists and not sharing the profits, jealously beat him up while Big Man tries to explain he just wants to help Inkopolis and Splatlands artists get along. These events are chronicled in the song "Big Betrayal". However, the fact that Big Man himself wrote the instrumental for the song may indicate that his bandmates forgive him, or that he was made to make the background track as a way of apologising. It’s also possible that the events of the song were staged for publicity by the trio.
Trivia[]
- Big Man is the first male idol in all of the Splatoon series, as well as being the first non-humanoid one.
- It is unknown if Big Man can participate in Turf Wars, judging by how he lacks fingers to grip weapons properly, and might not be able to respawn if splatted.
- However, upon splatting him in every phase, he appears to rush back to the center of the stage in a burst of ink, implying that might be his ghost form and he in fact, doesn't need a respawn center to respawn.
- Big Man also mentions playing Salmon Run, which means he could participate in Splat Battles and respawn.
- It is also mentioned in the Nintendo Magazine interview with Deep Cut that despite lacking fingers, Big Man is a talented pianist and was recruited into Deep Cut for his musical skills.
- Furthermore, the Splatoon 3 artbook reveals that his fins are very dextrous and that he can easily use weapons and play instruments with them.
- Big Man also appears to be highly skilled at using weapons as unlike most other idols, he’s mentioned to main three types of weapons instead of one, being Blasters, Sloshers and Brushes.
- The boss battle with Big Man is a reference to the boss battle with Phantamanta in Super Mario Sunshine. Besides having a similar appearance of a splitting sihouette of a manta ray, the color of the ink Big Man leaves is also identical to the electric goop Phantamanta leaves (albeit with Deep Cut's symbol). His title, "The Hype Manta Storm", is also a reference to the mission, "The Manta Storm", where Phantamanta is fought.
- His titles in the Japanese, French, German, and Italian versions also reference the Super Mario Sunshine mission.
- Super Mario Sunshine wasn't playable in Dutch, but Big Man's Dutch title is translated directly from the English mission name in Super Mario Sunshine. Likewise, the Korean and Chinese titles are translated from the Japanese titles as most dialogues were.
- In some Splatcast dialogue, it is mentioned that for some reason, Salmonids don't attack Big Man, which could either be because of his intimidating stature or that the Salmonid mistake him for one of their own as he is a fish.
- Big Man is apparently a Front Roe and C-Sides fan, with much of his compositions taking inspiration from them.
- It is possible that Big Man's ink isn't technically ink but a bizarre sort of poison, which his Sunken Scroll mentions the Manta clan producing.
- Like his bandmates, Big Man represents one of the three poisons of the mind in Buddhist teaching, with his being the Boar poison, symbolising ignorance and confusion. This can be inferred from how his remix of Anarchy Poisons is the Boar Mix.
- Big Man's alias in his collab with the Squid Sisters, Ian BGM is an anagram of his real name. In the different localisations, this alias is changed to be an anagram of Big Man's localised name instead.
- It's revealed in the Splatoon 3 artbook that Big Man's full name is Manta Tarou Kizaemon Munekiyo, but due to its length he just uses the name Big Man.
- However as this is the Japanese localisation, it's likely Big Man's full name in English is different.
- Big Man's singing style and thematics are based off Brazilian culture. Curiously in the Portuguese versions of Splatoon 3, Big Man appears to speak in regular Inkling language, implying that the language he speaks in-game for the other versions of Splatoon 3 is simply the equivalent of Portuguese in the Splatoon universe.
- In one of the Splatcast dialogues, it's revealed that Big Man's father is called Big Dad, implying that "Big" could be a clan name inherited by different members of the Manta clan. Furthermore, he is also the current leader of his clan, adding more duties to his plate.
[]
 Villains
| ||
|
Games Manga | ||