Big Man (Splatoon Character)

About

Big Man is a manta ray character in Spatoon 3 who is one of three members of the band Deep Cut. Alongside Shiver and Frye, Big Man hosts the in-game news show Anarchy Splatcast, and communicates by saying the word "ay." Following the reveal of the character during a Nintendo Direct, he gained major popularity within the fandom and has been a subject of memes and fan art.

Origin

On August 10th, 2022, Splatoon 3 Direct, a 30-minute showcase of the upcoming video game Splatoon 3, premiered.^[1] The showcase introduced The Deep cut, a trio of characters consisting of Shiver, Frye and a manta ray character called Big Man (video shown below; 24:40 mark).

In the game, Big Man, together with bandmates Shiver and Frye, hosts the news show Anarchy Splatcast. The character communicates by saying the word "ay," which is followed by a translation of what he is saying. "Ay" is likely a phonetic clipping of "ray."^[7]

Spread

Immediately following the Splatoon 3 showcase, Big Man inspired memes and fan art on social media. For example, Twitter^[2] user @Hub__Bub posted an If X Has a Million Fans, I'm One of Them meme that received over 5,200 retweets and 20,500 likes in three weeks (shown below, left). Twitter^[3] user @calatarii posted a fan art referencing the You've Been Gnomed meme that gained over 2,400 retweets and 10,700 likes (shown below, center). On August 12th, artist @jasbiscus tweeted^[4] a fan art that received over 2,100 retweets and 10,400 likes (shown below, right).

Team Scissors

On August 27th, 2022, a pre-release Splatfest, a Splatoon in-game event, took place,^[5] with members of The Deep Cut each representing one of three teams, Rock, Paper, and Scissors. Big Man represented Team Scissors, which inspired memes and fan art created in support of the team, and, later, memes about Team Scissors placing last (examples shown below).^[6]

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Various Examples

Search Interest

External References