Borderlands - Borderlands 2 - Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! - Tales from the Borderlands - Borderlands 3 - Tiny Tina's Wonderlands - New Tales From The Borderlands
Fridge pages are Spoilers Off by default, so all spoilers were removed and all entries folderized. Proceed with caution. You Have Been Warned.
Fridge Brilliance
- In Borderlands 3, Tediore was established as being looked down on by the other major corporations and had several jokes made at their expense. So it might seem odd that in the beginning of the game Rhys shows notable fear of Coldwell during their first meeting. But given that Atlas was still recovering from their previous war with Maliwan, it makes sense that the last thing Rhys would want is to start another corporate war.
- Despite being the main antagonist this time around, the game actually shows why Tediore is seen as a laughing stock In-Universe. Although every company had its quirks, the previous corporate militias shown throughout the series (such as Atlas's Crimson Lance and Dahl's Lost Legion) were composed by disciplined and seasoned soldiers that posed a hard enough challenge for the different games' Vault Hunters. However, Tediore soldiers here are shown to be quite incompetent goons that can't even shoot properly and just have enough discipline to be above bandits, but not by much. Couple that with the Tediore weaponry's own quirks, and it's honestly not that much of a surprise that the more disciplined Vladof army was able to slaughter an entire continent of these guys.
- In fact, Tediore’s reputation may also be a reason why their military is rather lackluster. When it comes to those mercenaries willing to join up a corporate army, many of the more professional and competent ones would automatically be turned off by Tediore’s unfavorable reputation in general, made worse by Susan Coldwell’s poor treatment of her underlings in general and the utter incompetence already shown in the military. Thus in order to fill its ranks, this left Tediore being stuck with recruiting soldiers of a lower quality because they were likely too incompetent to be able to join any of the other corporations.
- Throughout the series, Tediore had been advertised as “Guns for the common man.”, Yet in this game its very CEO is openly classist and belittles the likes of Fran. Not to mention Tediore’s military is shown harassing the lower slums of Prometha, who would normally consist of Tediore’s customer base. To some this may come off as the writers overlooking a basic quality of the company in favor of making them more villainous. However, it may also be another factor for Tediore’s unpopularity in-universe. As any basic business common sense can attest to, being openly hostile to your intended customer base is a quick way for any company to gain a sour reputation. But it’s made worse by Tediore’s aforementioned marketing campaign, as it makes them come off as a bunch of hypocrites who try to act like they are more moral than other corporations, while in reality being little better
