Commander Tartar is the antagonist of Splatoon 2's Octo Expansion, released in 2018, where he first appears as a seemingly helpful telephone guiding Agent 8 through underground test chambers. The reveal that the polite telephone is actually a genocidal AI gives the ring a lasting dark-comedy edge, and clips of his calls have circulated among Splatoon fans on YouTube, TikTok and Discord ever since. Creators still reuse the sound because a few seconds of that familiar ring instantly signals a calm, sinister authority figure about to deliver bad news.