(Co-written by: Rex Flores) Throughout Splatoon 3’s Splatfests, Shiver has been known to win almost every time with an astounding 8 wins compared to Big Man’s 2 wins and Frye’s singular win. However, the most recent Splatfest had fans convinced that it would be a battle between Big Man and Frye to take the win for this one. In fact, many fans and community members online predicted for Frye’s victory with high levels of confidence. Yet, late in the evening on September 10th PST, Shiver was announced as the winner by Nintendo.
Online Debate and Discussion about Splatfest
On social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube, many Splatoon players, fans, and community members passionately discussed about and debated for their favorite character of the trio, with most of the discussion surrounding the fact that Shiver is known for winning Splatfests, even when the popular opinions online and in the Splatoon community don’t reflect the same popularity results for her.
This has caused mass outrage and frustration towards Nintendo as many Splatoon players speak of their disappointment in seeing Shiver win, despite the over pouring love and support for Frye during this Splatfest. From September 9th-11th (in Japan, 8th-10th for U.S.), Frye fans online have showed their devotion and love for her in order to gather support for her to win this Splatfest! In fact, Big Man supporters and Frye supporters were debating how close the results might be between the two characters as there was not much discussion of Shiver for the Splatfest, unless it was about how she shouldn’t win yet another Splatfest, of course.
Splatfest’s Theme: Best Leader
For the theme of this Splatfest, the question, “Who would be the best leader?” is presented to Splatoon players to choose between Shiver, Frye, and Big Man based on their leadership skills. Because of this, many people believed that Frye was finally going to win her second Splatfest since her first ever win in the Spicy, Sweet, and Sour Splatfest from January 7th to January 9th of this year.
It is well known in the Splatoon community that Frye is not only a great leader, but she is also one of the most difficult bosses that players face in Splatoon 3. She also commands an army of eels and is an eel tamer further displaying her fantastic leadership since they follow her lead. She has great choreography and is well organized since she does most of the talking and directing in the cutscenes for Splatoon 3 story mode gameplay.
Splatfest Lobby and Art of Characters by Splatoon Contestants
During Splatfests, players are able to create drawings of the contestants in a lobby, usually as they wait for a battle to begin as players load in to battle for their chosen team. Between the three competitors for this Splatfest, Frye and Big Man were the most commonly seen drawings across the Splatfest lobbies all around the world, reflecting the popularity of these two characters and supporters passionately fighting for the chance of their chosen character to win this Splatfest. This popularity was also seen all across the internet and on social media platforms as drawings by fans of Frye and Big Man were the most popular on many Splatoon tags and communities online.
What Shiver's Victory Means for the Splatoon 3 Story
With Splatoon 2, Pearl won against Marina in the final Chaos v. Order Splatfest. In Splatoon 1 and 2, we have seen how the winners of each Splatfest impact the actual storyline in the games, which raises the question of what Nintendo will do for Big Man and Frye after Shiver won the last Splatfest for Splatoon 3.
