History Fridge / Borderlands2

* Why is the med station in Overlook disabled during "The Overlooked: Shields Up"? So you can't abuse it during the fight to defend the beacon.

* Two of the best Slag weapons in the game (if not ''the'' two best) are the Slagga and the Grog Nozzle. They also share another trait: [[InterfaceScrew they screw your screen as if your character got drunk]]. Considering how powerful Slag becomes in [[HarderThanHard Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode]], it's safe to say that, with these weapons, you become DrunkWithPower.

* During the assassination mission at the "Southpaw Steam & Power" level, Handsome Jack makes an offhanded remark of how only six Sirens can exist at any given time, and that he knows of three. Lilith and Maya are obvious, seeing as how he was hunting the former during the quest you hear of this and had a wanted poster of the latter, but anyone who's finished the game knows ''[[TheWoobie exactly]]'' who the third one is.
** On top of that, it's easy for anyone who played the first game and NOT the second (since Jack's revelation comes right after the player reached Sanctuary, roughly a quarter into the game) to assume that the third Siren is Steele, making TheReveal that much better hidden.

* Phaseshift. To a tech savvy person, when Angel is using it in the beginning of the game, they assume that she is simply modulating the phase of a reference signal to open a door, which would make sense. When she uses it again, she is changing the phase of another reference signal to shut down Sanctuary's shields. So there's no reason to assume or suspect that she was a Siren and not an A.I. since she is using tech jargon to do exactly what she says she is doing.

* Angel spends the entire game cutting off her curse words, because her father chides her on language. Therefore, it is entirely and brilliantly fitting for her struggle for freedom that the very last word she utters to Jack is "asshole."

* Angel's commentary when you first reach Sanctuary is inconsistent with what we see. She says it is "slightly less dangerous" than the rest of Pandora, and that it is the "last refuge for murders, thieves, and outcasts." Yet in Sanctuary itself, you mostly encounter peaceful, if desperate, people trying to live their lives free of Hyperion tyranny. With very few exceptions -- one murder case, and a standoff between a group of adventurers over who stole their money -- there's little crime. It isn't until you learn that Angel works for Jack that the reason for this becomes apparent: she's pretty much just reciting Jack's script, and Jack labels [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters everyone opposed to Hyperion as baby-eating psycho bandits]].
* Why doesn't Angel actually know anything about Sanctuary? Because she's only wired into ''Hyperion'' tech, and Sanctuary is a ''Dahl'' ship.
** This also explains why she was able to open that Hyperion Barge for you on the glacier, but needed you to fetch a Hyperion gadget in order to hack the Catch-A-Ride. Perceptive players of the first game may have noticed that Scooter is a former Dahl employee; the Catch-A-Rides are Dahl-tech as well, and she can't interface with them without integrating Hyperion tech.
** Likewise, Sanctuary is a Dahl ship, so, as part of her BigGood façade, Angel needed the Vault Hunters' [[UnwittingPawn unwitting help]] in order to allow Jack to rain hell upon the city/ship when TheReveal is done.
** ''And'' it also explains why the Elite army didn't appear until very late in the game: Jack reserved their best men for the key areas needed to ensure the revival of the Warrior.
** ''And'' explains why Angel had such a difficulty to take control of Sanctuary's tech while the New Pandora Army managed to take Sanctuary by storm with little impunity in ''Commander Lilith and the Fight for Sanctuary''. Sanctuary was originally a Dahl ship, and the New Pandora Army was originally a Dahl regiment, contrasting the tech-oriented Hyperion. They'd know their equipment inside and out.

* It seemed odd, back in ''1'', that the city of Sanctuary was named "Sanctuary" of all things, when it spent the entire game being terrorized by bandits and the Crimson Lance. It's a set up for the sequel, where New Haven, the main city in the first game, has been razed by Hyperion, and [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the heroes find sanctuary in -- you guessed it -- Sanctuary]].

* When in the Caustic Caverns picking up the ApocalypticLog of the Dahl expeditionary mining group, one log has the security chief Booth, outraged upon being continually ordered to "harvest" the friendly and intelligent [[SiliconBasedLife Crystalisks]], threatening the CorruptCorporateExecutive in charge of the mining with the fact that her team has guns, while the miners only have pickaxes. Turns out the executive has a gun, too. When you find the security chief's tombstone, there's a pickaxe stuck in it, [[LastDisrespects a final insult from the executive]]. However, [[LaserGuidedKarma karma]] would catch up to Harchek in the form of Blue the Crystalisk and, judging by the bloodstains, mangled skeleton, and the pickaxe in the eye socket, it's mostly like one of the security personnel did it as a middle finger to the dead Harchek for killing Booth.

* A dark example when you kill Bloodwing. The reason she doesn't drop any loot is because she's not an animal native to Pandora, meaning she's not an ExtremeOmnivore that finds guns delicious.
** Alternatively, you didn't literally kill Bloodwing; Jack did.

* During Tiny Tina's tea party at the climax of her main game's mission chain, one of her comments is, ''"I read the most EXTRAORDINARY thing the other day, Sir Reginald. Something about slag experimentation. I forgot the details."'' Only later does the meaning of the comment become clear: she's reminding Flesh-Stick of the CruelAndUnusualDeath he sold her parents to, which is revealed in the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve level.

* The initials of Ordered Chaos is OC. The initials for overclocking are also OC. When one considers what Anarchy does to Gaige, it could be considered overclocking her.

* Why is Pyro Pete the [[BonusBoss raid boss]] of ''Campaign of Carnage''? Of all of the "badasses" you have to fight, only Pete fights you man to man. Sure, his arena is tricked out to give him an advantage, but he doesn't fight you while augmented in a vehicle like the rest. Pete may be crazy, but he isn't a coward.

** The second song is also subtle foreshadowing, with one of the lyrics being "This ain't no place for a hero/to call home". And in this game, the most clear-cut, unquestionably heroic character ends up getting killed, while his more morally questionable allies all survive and mourn his loss.

** Fittingly, there is only one character who constantly insists that he himself is a hero. [[BigBad Handsome Jack]]. And he meets [[KilledOffForReal the usual end]] for heroes on Pandora.
* ''Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep'':
** Role-playing was originally created for psychological treatment. The DLC is basically all about her complete denial over Roland's death.
** There are subtle hints throughout the DLC campaign that despite dialogue to the contrary, Tina is well aware that Roland is dead. The story mission where you meet up with The White Knight is called "Denial, Anger, Initiative"; Two-fifths of the Five Stages of Grief, interrupted with a gaming term, indicating that Tina isn't ready yet to accept Roland's death.
** The White Knight has you retrieving a sword for him, which has the power to revive the dead.
** Most of the locations in the DLC are named after the stages of loss: the Forest of Tranquility (the time before anything bad has happened), the Immortal Woods (Denial), the Mines of Avarice (Bargaining), Hatred's Shadow (Anger), and the Lair of Infinite Agony (Depression). Deep inside, Tina definitely knows that Roland is gone.
** The jewels that the Queen leaves behind for you to follow her? It isn't until the end that you realize that those jewels are Butt Stallion's ''leavings''.
** Roland as the White Knight: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland The historical Roland]] and his more fantastical depiction in French history presents him as a glorious knight wielding an unbreakable sword. And, appropriately, just like the historical Roland, the "real" Roland is killed in battle and his killer escapes immediate vengeance at his allies' hands.
* In ''A Meat Bicycle Built for Two'', the reason why Krieg says he "has" to kill the random guy walking through the desert? [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge He's wearing a Hyperion engineer helmet.]]
* The reason Gaige has so many references to ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' in her skill trees might be the fact that she's a no-nonsense, peppy teenage girl, and probably would have found the show appealing. [[PeripheryDemographic Not that it says much in the show's case]], but still.

* [=C3n50r807=], found in the "Washburn Refinery" level during ''Captain Scarlett and her Pirate's Booty'', is a loader programmed to detect and censor forms of moral corruption... by having those possessing and/or distributing them violently murdered, and then proclaiming itself morally superior for it. It may have been a failed attempt by Handsome Jack to use his robot army to automate the oppressive censoring of Pandora.
* Krieg doesn't appear with the other Vault Hunters on the train in the intro. The reason: going by his backstory movie, he ''was'' on the train, or at least, hanging on the ''side'' of the train.

* Tiny Tina's parents might have inadvertently given her a chance at the best life they could have. Because of the grenade her mom smuggled in for her escape, Tina is now wildly obsessed with explosives, which led her into contact with the Vault Hunters and eventually Mister Torgue, owner of the largest explosive manufacturers on the planet and FriendToAllChildren. Torgue himself thinks that being nice to kids and treating ladies with respect is the highest level of badassitude, eagerly enjoys Tina's company, sharing her love for ''Bunkers and Badasses'' (to the point of Tina allowing him to become a character in both ''Assault on Dragon Keep'' and ''VideoGame/TinyTinasWonderlands''), as well as being able to give Tina a job where she can legitimately put her skills and love to use. For all the crap Tina had to go through during her early life, it's nice to know there's a chance [[EarnYourHappyEnding she can be truly happy in the end]].
* The Cult of the Vault Challenge might just seem like they used some kickass words in rhyme, but the symbols are hidden so well and in such random and ridiculous places that you are bound to look up at least one of them just to complete one, let alone all of them. The only way to complete the entire achievement, especially the really long ones, is to either search every nook and cranny of the entire game, or collaborate with a bunch of other people. In short, you either become a highly obsessed cultist trying to find all these symbols, or you form your own cult looking for them.

* A Gaige character who specs in Anarchy will find that Vladof weapons are extremely effective due to their high rate of fire. This actually makes canonical sense, because anarchy is the Vladof M.O. They ''live'' to help cause strife and overthrow governments. However they are unable to use the Infinity due to its special feature and Gaige's Anarchy Stacks require reloading after emptying the gun clip.

* In ''Captain Scarlett...'', you get a quest on Oasis from Aubrey Callahan III to destroy her grandmother's old ship so that nobody knows she's related to her grandmother. Except, take a good look at her name, Aubrey Callahan '''III'''. Making her grandmother Aubrey Callahan I, and her heritage obvious. [[FailedASpotCheck She never catches on to this.]]
* Tiny Tina's Psycho mask that she wears on the side of her head. At first it simply look like a trophy. However, taking her behaviour into account, one might see it as a hint that she is halfway between sane and being a Psycho herself. Her encounter with Roland and co. most likely prevented her from completely slipping into the latter.

* The opening song alludes to Pandora being no place for a hero. While this foreshadows the death of Roland as he is the only unquestionably heroic character in the game, it also foreshadows the death of Jack, the only person to directly refer to himself as a hero (Angel refers to the Vault Hunters as heroes, but they never directly acknowledge it).

* You'll notice that in ''Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty'', the Pirates all wield Vladof Weapons, like nearly everyone on Pandora. Why do they carry Vladof weapons? It's a ShoutOut to modern-day pirates in Somalia, who mainly use [=AKMs=] and other former Warsaw Pact equipment. And why does nearly every enemy, from bandits to marshals to Hyperion soldiers carry a Vladof rifle at times? Because [=AK=]s are often shown in media as "bad guy" guns, are cheap, easy to maintain, and both the rifles and ammunition are ridiculously common.

* You'll notice that, in the ''Campaign of Carnage'' DLC, that you can pick up pin-up portraits of Moxxi. These do not show up in your backpack and have no importance to the plot. So why are you collecting them? [[IllBeInMyBunk Rea]][[ADateWithRosiePalms sons.]]
** Additionally, the fact that they have no monetary value is probably justified given that there's really no room for high art in a world like [[CrapsackWorld Pandora]].

* An instance that counts as both brilliance and horror is Tina's characterization. Kids sometimes really talk like that, but only if the overwhelming majority of people they know talked like that around them during their formative years. Given that she lives next to the bandits that include her parents' killer among their number and she is only just growing past the "impressionable" stage, she literally owes every last horrible moment of her life and personality to these guys.

* The music in Sawtooth Cauldron is very frightening, to the point where hearing a gunfight start is actually ''good''. But why choose it for that particular area, and not places like the Eridium Blight, the Fridge or the Bloodshot Stronghold? Well, if you look at the landscape for a while, the place ''somehow'' resembles [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar Vietnam's battlefields]], which were, by all accounts, a very nightmarish and terrifying environment. There are also more Buzzards in there than any other map, and Vietnam was famous for having attack helicopters fill the skies daily. And finally, the big-ass creek section for Brick's flag sidequest has multiple Buzzards coming at you, a very common sight for North Vietnamese soldiers.
** The song includes nods to the Old Haven theme back in ''1''. There's a sidequest that involves you finding in the Cauldron an old treasure belonging to that place. But that isn't the bit of brilliance. It's the bit of foreshadowing that the ''2'' Vault Hunters are there to find a way to enter into a familiar area that the Vault Hunters of ''1'' know very well: the Arid Badlands, now the Arid Nexus, where the Hyperion Info Stockade is located. And like New Haven and Old Haven, Sanctuary and the Arid Nexus have a past-against-the-present relationship.

* Tiny Tina is an explosives prodigy. Her name, "Tiny Tina", is a play on the initials "TNT".

* After the New Pandora Army's invasion, you can find Marcus and Crazy Earl hiding in the same room. They seemed to have traded tips along with their insults while they were stuck together, since in ''Borderlands 3'', Marcus sells Upgrades and Crazy Earl owns a gun-vending machine.
* Why doesn't Haderax drop Seraph crystals or loot? In the other [=DLCs=], the Seraph vendors are hidden in towns that are not near Sanctuary, and their raid bosses are humans (or a human aiding a creature). Haderax is not human and is located close to Sanctuary/Lilith's camp. Tiny Tina's dragons are an exception, but she probably included them in her campaign if she saw the vendor in Torgue's DLC.

* The theme song for both of the Arid Nexus areas has a new segment complementing a remixed fragment of "Welcome to Fyrestone" from ''VideoGame/Borderlands1''. Not only this reflects how we don't get to see how the Arid Badlands look past Piss Wash Gully and the entrance to the Arid Hills, but we also get to play in an area we couldn't play back in the original game (which in this game it's revealed to be called the "Boneyard"), as well as seeing [[DoomedHometown the status of Fyrestone and its surrounding areas]] under the control of [[EvilInc Hyperion]].
* ''Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage'': Piston keeps making a point of how he's [[TheAce the number one]] throughout the entire DLC, however the only thing he's been doing is to keep the player from reaching him. In contrast, Pyro Pete, Motor Momma and Flyboy subject the player to a trial, and actually ''face'' the player without any excuse once said trial is completed. Piston, on the other hand, spent the entirety of the DLC placing obstacle after obstacle and staining the player's name and reputation. And when the time comes to face the player, he hides behind a huge mechanic dinosaur... And once ''that'' is destroyed, he's forced to face the player one-on-one. Contrast Pete again, who just faces you man to man, and eventually becomes the DLC's BonusBoss. Piston truly ''is'' the Ultimate Coward.

* In ''Campaign of Carnage'', Moxxi states that her innuendos are a defense mechanism after making a distasteful joke involving a cannibal literally eating her old girlfriend. In the Pre-Sequel we learn that, when not in public, she reverts to the same Hodunk speak like her children. Since almost all of her interactions have you go out and kill someone, it means that she developed the whole Mad Moxxi facade just so she can cope with the necessity of living on Pandora.

** Ceiling chairs are real things. They're just chairs that are hung from the ceiling, oriented right-side up, like swings.
* Want to make Bloodwing's death even worse? Take a closer look at her collar when you for that Claptrap upgrade chip. [[DeadMansSwitch Notice that little button that chip was covering up before you took it away?]] No, player. Handsome Jack ''wasn't'' the one that detonated Blood's bomb collar. YOU were. Because Handsome Jack loves manipulating Vault Hunters into hurting themselves and each other, almost as much as he loves rubbing their faces in it afterward.

* Combine Maya being asexual, Brother Sophis being older than her and apparently once having a dynamic where he used to call her "child", and the fact [[spoiler: that they were involved]], and it certainly seems like you've got [[spoiler: an older man taking advantage of his younger queer mentee]]. Like he wasn't bad enough already.
* A mild example: In the ''Assault on Dragon Keep'' DLC, Torgue briefly takes over as gatekeeper when he wants to be part of Tiny Tina's game. After a few nonsensical tasks, he's quickly relocated to the stocks and the normal gatekeeper is back. [[spoiler:Said gatekeeper turns out to be the Handsome Sorcerer all along. It would have been pretty awkward to have ''Torgue'' be the Handsome Sorcerer's disguise]].

* Tiny Tina's parents might have inadvertently given her a chance at the best life they could have. Because of the grenade her mom smuggled in for her escape, Tina is now wildly obsessed with explosives, which led her into contact with the Vault Hunters and eventually Mister Torgue, owner of the largest explosive manufacturers on the planet and FriendToAllChildren. Torgue himself thinks that being nice to kids and treating ladies with respect is the highest level of badassitude and eagerly enjoys Tina's company, as well as being able to give Tina a job where she can legitimately put her skills and love to use. For all the crap Tina had to go through during her early life, it's nice to know there's a chance she can be truly happy in the end.

''[[Fridge/Borderlands1 Borderlands]]'' - '''''Borderlands 2''''' - ''[[Fridge/BorderlandsThePreSequel Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!]]'' - ''[[Fridge/TalesFromTheBorderlands Tales from the Borderlands]]'' - ''[[Fridge/Borderlands3 Borderlands 3]]'' - ''[[Fridge/TinyTinasWonderlands Tiny Tina's Wonderlands]]'' - ''[[Fridge/WolfensteinYoungblood Youngblood]]''-]]]]]

''[[Fridge/Borderlands1 Borderlands]]'' - '''''Borderlands 2''''' - ''[[Fridge/BorderlandsThePreSequel Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!]]'' - ''[[Fridge/TalesFromTheBorderlands Tales from the Borderlands]]'' - ''[[Fridge/Borderlands3 Borderlands 3]]'' - ''[[Fridge/TinyTinasWonderlands Tiny Tina's Wonderlands]]''-]]]]]

* A mild example: In the ''Assault on Dragon Keep'' DLC, Torgue briefly takes over as gatekeeper when he wants to be part of Tiny Tina's game. After a few nonsensical tasks, he's quickly relocated to the stocks and the normal gatekeeper is back. [[spoiler:Said gatekeeper turns out to be the Handsome Sorcerer all along. It would have pretty awkward to have ''Torgue'' be the Handsome Sorcerer's disguise]].

* When you defeat Wilhelm, Angel notes that you're stronger than the four Vault Hunters of the first game. At that point in the game, you're likely around Lv. 16-18, which means you have 700-900 HP, the only stat that grows automatically with levels. In ''VideoGame/Borderlands1'', a Lv. 50 character had about the same amount of HP! You're literally more resilient than the first four Vault Hunters!
** Also, comparing the backstory of both generations of Vault Hunters reflects this Roland left the Crimson Lance as a young soldier, while Axton is a seasoned veteran. Lilith taught her Siren powers to herself and was mostly an adventurer, while Maya spent her entire youth training her powers under the guidance of a religious order that had researched Sirens. Mordecai was only traveling around for hunting and looting, while [=Zer0=] is a professional assassin with a long history of jobs. Brick is a BadassNormal brawler, while Krieg is an escaped lab experiment, and Salvador grew up killing bandits on [[DeathWorld Pandora]] and abuses steroids enough to stunt his growth. Even Gaige is a GadgeteerGenius. All the new Vault Hunters are either more experienced or are more suited by nature than the previous ones.

* When in the Caustic Caverns picking up the ApocalypticLog of the Dahl expeditionary mining group, one log has the security chief Booth, outraged upon being continually ordered to "harvest" the friendly and intelligent [[SiliconBasedLife Crystalisks]], threatening the CorruptCorporateExecutive in charge of the mining with the fact that her team has guns, while the miners only have pickaxes. Turns out the executive has a gun, too. When you find the security chief's tombstone, there's a pickaxe stuck in it, a final insult from the executive. However karma would catch up to Harchek in the form of Blue the Crystalisk and judging by the bloodstains, mangled skeleton, and the pickaxe in the eye socket it's mostly like one of the security personnel did it as a middle finger to the dead Harchek for killing Booth.

''[[Fridge/Borderlands1 Borderlands]]'' - '''''Borderlands 2''''' - ''[[Fridge/BorderlandsThePreSequel Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!]]'' - ''[[Fridge/TalesFromTheBorderlands Tales from the Borderlands]]'' - ''[[Fridge/Borderlands3 Borderlands 3]]'' - ''[[Fridge/Borderlands3 Borderlands 3]]'' - ''[[Fridge/TinyTinasWonderlands Tiny Tina's Wonderlands]]''-]]]]]

''[[Fridge/Borderlands1 Borderlands]]'' - '''''Borderlands 2''''' - ''[[Fridge/BorderlandsThePreSequel Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!]]'' - ''[[Fridge/TalesFromTheBorderlands Tales from the Borderlands]]'' - ''[[Fridge/Borderlands3 Borderlands 3]]''-]]]]]

* When briefing the Vault Hunters on the defenses they'll have to overcome to reach her, Angel warns them not to let Lilith into the chamber. Maya players will immediately pick up on the issue with that warning; if it's so dangerous for Lilith to be there, why is it okay for fellow Siren Maya? Because Lilith is a hothead who uses her Siren powers to charge at her enemy. The second she sees Jack, she will try to Phaseblast him. Jack's counting on this, and he's had years to learn how to counter it. Maya uses her Siren powers to fight from range and give herself time to analyze and adjust to changes in the battlefield, so she'd be less likely to put herself where Jack can slap his collar on her, while being more likely to either injure or kill Jack.

* The theme song for both of the Arid Nexus areas has a new segment complementing a remixed fragment of "Welcome to Fyrestone" from ''VideoGame/Borderlands1''. Not only this reflects how we don't get to see how the Arid Badlands look past the entrance to the Arid Hills, but we also get to play in an area we couldn't play back in the original game (which in this game it's revealed to be called the "Boneyard"), as well as seeing [[DoomedHometown the status of Fyrestone and its surrounding areas]] under the control of [[EvilInc Hyperion]].

* The theme song for both of the Arid Nexus areas has a new segment complementing a remixed fragment of "Welcome to Fyrestone" from ''VideoGame/Borderlands1''. Not only this reflects how we don't get to see how the Arid Badlands look past Fyrestone and its surroundings, but we also get to play in an area we couldn't play back in the original game (which in this game it's revealed to be called the "Boneyard"), as well as seeing [[DoomedHometown the status of Fyrestone and its surrounding areas]] under the control of [[EvilInc Hyperion]].

* During the assassination mission at the power plant, Handsome Jack makes an offhanded remark of how only six Sirens can exist at any given time, and that he knows of three. Lilith and Maya are obvious, seeing as how he was hunting the former during the quest you hear of this and had a wanted poster of the latter, but anyone who's finished the game knows ''[[TheWoobie exactly]]'' who the third one is.

** The reason why everyone needs some time to relearn the action skills they brilliantly showcased in the train during the intro? They were just ''thrown out of an exploding train!'' They need time for their bodies to recover and to fix their gear so they can use their abilities.
** And the reason why you start with all your weapons and abilities in [[NewGamePlus True Vault Hunter mode]]? You're a ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin True Vault Hunter]]'' who doesn't let petty things like exploding trains wreck your ability to kick ass.
** Or you've just been concussed to hell and back and need to remember you can do that.

** In "True Vault Hunter mode", you're a "true Vault Hunter"; you've prepared for such an occasion and have a back-up of all your data on-hand and ready to go. The same can apply to your SDU inventory.
* During the assaasination mission at the power plant, Handsome Jack makes an offhanded remark of how only six Sirens can exist at any given time, and that he knows of three. Lilith and Maya are obvious, seeing as how he was hunting the former during the quest you hear of this and had a wanted poster of the latter, but anyone who's finished the game knows ''[[TheWoobie exactly]]'' who the third one is.

* [=C3n50r807=], found in the Washburn Refinery during ''Captain Scarlett and her Pirate's Booty'', is a loader programmed to detect and censor forms of moral corruption... by having those possessing and/or distributing them violently murdered, and then proclaiming itself morally superior for it. It may have been a failed attempt by Handsome Jack to use his robot army to automate the oppressive censoring of Pandora.

** During your quest to find the Hyperion Info Stockade, your path is blocked when a section of a bridge elevates to create a gap you can't cross. Brick recommends you steal some explosives from a rival gang in an area called Sawtooth Cauldron. On reflection, there seem to be some plot holes in this sequence. The Sawtooth leader won't send the elevator down to allow you to reach the top of his tower, so you have to destroy his favorite Buzzard, a ''flying vehicle'', to make him angry enough to send the elevator down. When you steal the charges, they are stolen and deployed using those flying vehicles, begging the question, why doesn't Brick just have his Slabs just pick you up and drop you off at your destination? Very simply, Brick saw an opportunity to have the Vault Hunters, easily one of the strongest forces on the entire planet, wipe out and emasculate a rival faction of bandits for him. In light of later developments in the plot, the Vault Hunters would probably fail to question such a roundabout way of crossing the gap, as long as they were at least on track to kill Jack.
** Alternatively, the Sawtooth Bandits had their own air force of Buzzards, and it'd be too costly men and materiel wise to simply wage an air war over Sawtooth territory. Better to send in a group to sabotage Mortar's buzzard (he could possibly be genuine boss material when flying it, similar to the ''Pre-Sequel''[='=]s RK-5 gunship), break in through the landing pad, and wreck merry hell on their airpower so that the Slabs could send in some buzzards of their own to make off with the explosives.

* The Cult of the Vault Challenge might just seem like they used some kickass words in rhyme, but the symbols are hidden so well and in such random and ridiculous places that you are bound to look up at least one of them just to complete one, let alone all of them. The only way to complete the entire achievement, especially the really long ones (such as the Sanctuary one) is to either search every nook and cranny of the entire game, or collaborate with a bunch of other people. In short, you either become a highly obsessed cultist trying to find all these symbols, or you form your own cult looking for them.
* When you defeat Wilhelm, Angel notes that you're stronger than the four Vault Hunters of the first game. At that point in the game, you're likely around Lv. 16-18, which means you have 700-900 HP, the only stat that grows automatically with levels. In the first ''Borderlands'', a Lv. 50 character had about the same amount of HP! You're literally more resilient than the first four Vault Hunters!

** Alternatively, they become less frustrating to use as their weapon quality and levels get higher. Because Hyperion weapons were designed for elitist snobs, so of course they wouldn't give a crap about common white-quality weapons. They'd invest all of their care into the higher quality goods.

* In ''Captain Scarlett...'', you get a quest on Oasis from Aubrey Callahan III to destroy her grandmother's old ship so that nobody knows she's related to her grandmother. Except, take a good look at her name, Aubrey Callahan '''III'''. Making her grandmother Aubrey Callahan I, and her heritage obvious. She never catches on to this.

* A small one, but largely due to game scaling: The Morningstar gun will sometimes berate you for wasting ammo, saying that there are children who can't afford it. Naturally, children shouldn't be buying ammo anyways but by that point in the game, most ammo cost several hundred dollars. So only the richest of children can afford them anyways. This gets especially hilarious in True Vault Hunter Mode or Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode, where one stack of ammo can equal half or a whole year's salary for an adult.

** Additionally, Mordecai seems to be sniping more for entertainment than effectiveness up to then - in Tundra Express, he's just doing target practice to keep his eye in, and in the Preserve, he's sure Bloodwing can look after herself and is more cautious than genuinely worried. Up until his BerserkButton is pressed, anyway.

* The Golden Gear mini-quest and trip up to Mount Hellsfront is one big shout out to ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', complete with ersatz Ring and Gollum. The quest also involves a particularly long journey, from the very start of the game to the Eridium Blight. It is also full of hazards that can quickly reduce players to "Fight For Your Life" mode, but lacking in any enemies that can be killed to gain a second wind. You can't use fast travel, and an update made it so that entering a vehicle after taking the "ring" fails the mini-quest, so you have to do it the hard way and walk. As such, it is often nightmarishly difficult (unless you're cautious and have a high enough level) to make the trip up the mountain alone, but it's much easier to do it with a companion to help you to your feet when you go down. Just like Sam and Frodo.

* When in the Caustic Caverns picking up the ApocalypticLog of the Dahl expeditionary mining group, one log has the security chief Booth, outraged upon being continually ordered to "harvest" the friendly and intelligent [[SiliconBasedLife crystalisks]], threatening the CorruptCorporateExecutive in charge of the mining with the fact that her team has guns, while the miners only have pickaxes. Turns out the executive has a gun, too. When you find the security chief's tombstone, there's a pickaxe stuck in it, a final insult from the executive. However karma would catch up to Harchek in the form of Blue the Crystalisk and judging by the bloodstains, mangled skeleton, and the pickaxe in the eye socket it's mostly like one of the security personnel did it as a middle finger to the dead Harchek for killing Booth.

* During the "Toil and Trouble" mission in Sawtooth Cauldron, if you killed Mortar on the way up, Brick will wonder why the bandits don't just give up, since you just killed their leader. A rather ironic statement so soon after Roland's death, since the protagonists and the resistance members in Sanctuary also never gave up after that. However, it is Brick who is saying it. Brick was only helping Roland, and was never under his command. As far as he's concerned, he's [[NotInThisForYourRevolution not fighting for his dead leader and his cause]], but to avenge a fallen friend. It goes deeper if you did the quest "Bearer of Bad News" before this, as killing Roland was the last straw, Brick has made it his own personal goal in life to kill Jack; everything else is just a bonus.

** Fittingly, there is only one character who constantly insists that he himself is a hero. [[BigBad Handsome Jack]]. No Points for guessing what happens to him at the end of the game.
* Role-playing was originally created for psychological treatment. Yeah, the ''Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep'' DLC just made a lot more sense since it's all about her complete denial over Roland's death.

** There are subtle hints throughout the DLC campaign that despite dialogue to the contrary, Tina is well aware that Roland is dead. The story mission where you meet up with The White Knight is called "Denial, Anger, Initiative"; Two-fifths of the Five Stages of Grief, interrupted with a gaming term, indicating that Tina isn't ready yet to accept Roland's death. Additionally, The White Knight has you find a sword for him. This sword has the power to revive the dead.
** Take a look at the names of the locations in the DLC, most of them are named after the stages of loss: the Forest of Tranquility (the time before anything bad has happened), the Immortal Woods (Denial), the Mines of Avarice (Bargaining), Hatred's Shadow (Anger), and the Lair of Infinite Agony (Depression). Deep inside, Tina definitely knows that Roland is gone.
* The jewels that the Queen leaves behind for you to follow her? It isn't until the end that you realize that those jewels are Butt Stallion's ''leavings''.

* Roland appears as the White Knight in ''Dragon Keep'' for a good reason. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland The historical Roland]] and his more fantastical depiction in French history present him as a glorious knight wielding an unbreakable sword. And, appropriately, just like the historical Roland, the "real" Roland is killed in battle and his killer escapes immediate vengeance at his allies' hands.

** During your quest to find the Hyperion Info Stockade, your path is blocked when a section of a bridge elevates to create a gap you can't cross. Brick recommends you steal some explosives from a rival gang in an area called Sawtooth Cauldron. On reflection, there seem to be some plot holes in this sequence. The Sawtooth leader won't send the elevator down to allow you to reach the top of his tower, so you have to destroy his favorite Buzzard, a ''flying vehicle'', to make him angry enough to send the elevator down. As well, when you do steal the charges, they are stolen and deployed using those flying vehicles, begging the question, why doesn't Brick just have his Slabs just pick you up and drop you off at your destination? Very simply, Brick saw an opportunity to have the Vault Hunters, easily one of the strongest forces on the entire planet, wipe out and emasculate a rival faction of bandits for him. In light of later developments in the plot, the Vault Hunters would probably fail to question such a roundabout way of crossing the gap, as long as they were at least on track to kill Jack.
** Alternatively, the Sawteeth Bandits had their own air force of Buzzards, and it'd be too costly men and materiel wise to simply wage an air war over Sawteeth territory. Better to send in a group to sabotage Mortar's buzzard (he could possibly be genuine boss material when flying it, similar to the Pre-Sequel's RK-5 gunship), break in through the landing pad, and wreck merry hell on their airpower so that the Slabs could send in some buzzards of their own to make off with the explosives.

* When you defeat Wilhelm, Angel notes that you're stronger than the four Vault Hunters of the first game. At that point in the game, you're likely around Lv. 16-18, which means you have 700-900 HP, the only stat that grows automatically with levels. In the first ''Borderlands'', a Lv. 50 character had about the same amount of HP! You're literally more resilient than the first four Vault Hunters! Comparing the backstory of both generations of Vault Hunters reflects this; Roland left the Crimson Lance as a young soldier, while Axton is a seasoned veteran. Lilith taught her Siren powers to herself and was mostly an adventurer, while Maya spent her entire youth training her powers under the guidance of a religious order that had researched Sirens. Mordecai was only traveling around for hunting and looting, while [=Zer0=] is a professional assassin with a long history of jobs. Brick is a badass normal brawler, while Krieg is an escaped lab experiment, and Salvador grew up killing bandits on [[DeathWorld Pandora]] and abuses steroids enough to stunt his growth. Even Gaige is a GadgeteerGenius. All the new Vault Hunters are either more experienced or are more suited by nature than the previous ones.
* Why are Hyperion weapons a bit difficult and frustrating to use? Simple: You are meant to dislike Hyperion for the most part, and an easy way to do that, gameplay-wise, is to make them produce frustrating weapons. More than that, they aren't ''designed'' as effective weapons. Jack took over Hyperion, and in ECHO logs you can hear a meeting on how to make the Hyperion brand stand out. Jack, given his background as a lowly programmer, knows nothing about firearms or ballistics. He just tells his team to start naming the guns after corporate buzzwords that sound nice but don't really mean anything. Jack didn't care about the guns, he cared about appearances.

* In Oasis, you get a quest from Aubrey Callahan III to destroy her grandmother's old ship so that nobody knows she's related to her grandmother. Except, take a good look at her name, Aubrey Callahan '''III'''. Making her grandmother Aubrey Callahan I, and her heritage obvious. She never catches on to this.

* When Mordecai goes berserk following Bloodwing's death he begins raining bullets down on the enemy that one-shot kill anything they hit with a huge explosion. What gun is he using, and why wasn't he using it before? He's using the Cobra, a monstrously powerful explosive sniper rifle from Borderlands 1, and he hadn't been using it before then because, by its lack of inclusion in the game, it's probably the only one of its model left intact and he didn't want to break or lose it. Tiny Tina later built copies of the gun after seeing what Mordecai was able to do with it, but hasn't built very many, accounting for its extremely low drop rate in the DLC.

* The reason there aren't any more original-model Cobras is that they were manufactured by ''Torgue'' in the first game. Mister Torgue, as the company gunsmith (he designed all those weapons himself after all), is the sort of HotBlooded BoisterousBruiser who would decide that sniping wasn't as badass because it lacked the in-your-face thrill of shotguns... which also explains why his company stopped manufacturing sniper rifles by the second game. He's decided that sniping bores him, so he isn't going to encourage it by building sniper rifles, even if their bullets explode.
* You'll notice that in ''Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty'', the Pirates all wield Vladof Weapons, like nearly everyone on Pandora. Why do they carry Vladof weapons? It's a ShoutOut to modern-day pirates in Somalia, who mainly use [=AKM=]s and other ex-Warsaw Pact equipment. And why does nearly every enemy, from bandits to marshals to Hyperion soldiers carry a Vladof rifle at times? Because [=AK=]s are often shown in media as "bad guy" guns, are cheap, easy to maintain, and both the rifles and amminition are ridiculously common.
* The Vladof corporation are shown fighting Dahl's private army in their advertisement. Given that Hyperion is the main "corporate oppressor" in-game, why Dahl? First off, Vladof loves fast rate of fire and full-auto, while Dahl prefers slow rates and burst fire. And more importantly, Vladof makes assault rifles based on the AK-47 family. Dahl rifles seem to be built off the [=M16=] and its variants. And who was the [=M16=]'s biggest rival again?

** [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Additionally, the fact that they have no monetary value is probably justified given that there's really no room for high art in a world like Pandora]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'', it seemed odd that the city of Sanctuary named "Sanctuary" of all things, when it spends the entire game being terrorized by bandits and Crimson Lance. Because it sets up for the sequel, where New Haven, the main city in the first game, has been subjugated by Hyperion, and [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the heroes find sanctuary in -- you guessed it -- Sanctuary]].

* Moxxi keeps insisting that [[BigBeautifulWoman Ellie]] lose some weight and Ellie resenting her for this, but Moxxi does have [[FreudianExcuse a reason]] - as revealed in ''Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage'', she used to date Motor Momma and later dumped her due to being disturbed by her cannibalism.

* The reason Maya, unlike Lilith and Angel, isn't able to use eridium to enhance herself is actually due to the fact that she wasn't on Pandora or in its orbit when the Destroyer was killed. There's also the simple possibility that Maya never attempted it in the first place because she keeps seeing all the negative side effects of Sirens using eridium.

* During ''The Bane'' sidequest arc, [=McNally=] is a psycho when you battle him, but in his ECHO, he sounds like a regular bandit. But why? Well, if you wielded a fancy unique gun as your primary weapon, that also makes extremely annoying noises whenever you use it, you'd probably go mad from all that irritating screaming. [=McNally=] could've used the gun for several weeks, months or even ''years'' before using his last shreds of sanity to get rid of it, before succumbing to insanity and becoming a psycho. Which also explains why he's got a pair of scissors lodged in his right ear canal and a knife and fork in his left.

** He only offers two unique items, the Lucrative Opportunity and the the Evil Smasher. The former is a special relic that shortens the item respawn timers on vending machines, and the latter is mostly a JokeItem with a small, random chance to suddenly become a LethalJokeItem for one magazine. Only the latter of the two rewards is worth much and only because [[GoodBadBugs a glitch exists]][[note]]long since patched away[[/note]] that [[GameBreaker snaps any difficulty in the game over its knee]][[note]]it really was that powerful -- applied properly, it would let you melt Terramorphous in under a second with an Infinity Pistol, for instance[[/note]]. If played straight, Marcus' quests largely aren't worth the effort. Why? Marcus is TheScrooge. He isn't going to give away good merchandise for free if he can help it.

* During Tiny Tina's RPG campaign, Lilith notices the Dwarves are based on Salvador's appearance and finds it racist. When asked about it, Salvador's only reaction is to find the idea "awesome". It would be logical for an angry midget complexed about his short height to dislike being the inspiration for a group of Dwarves, but on the other hand... what could please more a GunNut BloodKnight than serving as the inspiration for a society of notorious {{Proud Warrior Race Guy}}s who are also commonly associated with gunpowder?

* The name of the company that set up the power grid in Three Horns, Southpaw, is a slang term for a person who is left-handed. When you first reach Three Horns, both Handsome Jack and the Crimson Raiders are going out of their way to hide their true activities from one another. "Let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing."
* The New Pandoran Army managing to take Sanctuary by storm with little impunity in ''Commander Lilith and the Fight for Sanctuary'' makes sense when you remember that it was originally a Dahl ship, and the New Pandoran Army was originally a Dahl regiment. They'd know their equipment inside and out.
* After the New Pandoran invasion, you can find Marcus and Crazy Earl hiding in the same room. They seemed to have traded tips along with their insults while they were stuck together, since in ''Borderlands 3'', Marcus sells Upgrades and Crazy Earl owns a gun-vending machine.

* In Candlerakk's Crag, part of the ''Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt'' downloadable expansion, there is, in the background, the skeleton of what appears to be a skag ''the size of a small island''. It's near the area where the New-U station is, off to the left. Pandora already has a reputation for being a DeathWorld in its current state, but if that thing was actually alive at some point in time, ''how long has Pandora been one?'' Furthermore, what could kill something that size?

* During the "Monster Mash part 3" quest, you have to kill monsters created by Dr. Zed after you bring him parts of Spiderants, Rakk and Skag. This resulted in [[MixAndMatchCritter Skrakk (skag/rakk hybrids)]], and [[BodyHorror Spycho, spiderant/psycho hybrid]]. Watch their bodies when they die. They dissipate into digistruct particles. This means that there's more to digistruct technology than just building vehicles and guns and New-U.

* In ''Campaign of Carnage'', Moxxi states that her innuendos are a defense mechanism after making a distasteful joke involving a cannibal literally eating her old girlfriend. In the Pre-Sequel we learn that, when not in public, she reverts to the same hodunk speak like her children. Since almost all of her interactions have you go out and kill someone, it means that she developed the whole Mad Moxxi facade just so she can cope with the necessity of living on Pandora.

* The sand pirates from the ''Captain Scarlett'' DLC all take shelter within the hulks of derelict ships, all of which look like they were flying through the air and crashed into mountains. The Magnys Lighthouse, in particular, is colossal and possibly the tallest point on Pandora that you can reach. But then it hits you; when the Vault of the Destroyer was opened (or something), it caused a massive climate shift. The desert you're skimming across was originally ''a sea bed'', and just like the Soaring Dragon, those ships crashed into those mountains because the sea instantly dried up.

* A mild example: In the Assault on Dragon Keep DLC, Torgue briefly takes over as gatekeeper when he wants to be part of Tiny Tina's game. After a few nonsensical tasks, he's quickly relocated to the stocks and the normal gatekeeper is back. [[spoiler:Said gatekeeper turns out to be the Handsome Sorcerer all along. It would have pretty awkward to have ''Torgue'' be the Handsome Sorcerer's disguise]].

* Once again, the New-U stations bring up some questions, especially since your enemy, Hyperion, is the corporation in charge of the damn things. Actual questions or theories should go on [[Headscratchers/{{Borderlands 2}} Headscratchers]] or [[WMG/{{Borderlands 2}} WMG]], respectively.
[[/folder]]

* Why doesn't Angel actually know anything about Sanctuary? Because she's only wired into ''Hyperion'' tech, and Sanctuary is a Dahl ship.

''[[Fridge/Borderlands1 Borderlands]]'' - ''[[Fridge/Borderlands2 Borderlands 2]]'' - ''[[Fridge/BorderlandsThePreSequel Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!]]'' - ''[[Fridge/TalesFromTheBorderlands Tales from the Borderlands]]'' - ''[[Fridge/Borderlands3 Borderlands 3]]''-]]]]]

!Per wiki policy, Administrivia/SpoilersOff applies here and all spoilers are unmarked and all entries folderized. Proceed with caution. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.

* Why is the med station in Overlook disabled? So you can't abuse it during the fight to defend the beacon.

* Why is Pete the raid boss of ''Campaign of Carnage''? Of all of the "badasses" you have to fight, only Pete fights you man to man. Sure, his arena is tricked out to give him an advantage, but he doesn't fight you while augmented in a vehicle like the rest. Pete may be crazy, but he isn't a coward.

* Angel's commentary when you first reach Sanctuary is inconsistent with what we see. She says it is "slightly less dangerous" than the rest of Pandora, and that it is the "last refuge for murders, thieves, and outcasts." Yet in Sanctuary itself, you mostly encounter peaceful, if desperate, people trying to live their lives free of Hyperion tyranny. With very few exceptions -- one murder case, and a standoff between a group of adventurers over who stole their money -- there's little crime. It isn't until you learn that Angel works for Jack that the reason for this becomes apparent: she's pretty much just reciting Jack's script, and Jack labels everyone opposed to Hyperion as baby-eating psycho bandits.

* During the Toil and Trouble mission, if you killed Mortar on the way up, Brick will wonder why the bandits don't just give up, since you just killed their leader. A rather ironic statement so soon after Roland's death, since the protagonists and the resistance members in Sanctuary also never gave up after that. However, it is Brick who is saying it. Brick was only helping Roland, and was never under his command. As far as he's concerned, he's not fighting for his dead leader and his cause, but to avenge a fallen friend. It goes deeper if you did the quest Bearer of Bad News before this, as killing Roland was the last straw, Brick has made it his own personal goal in life to kill Jack; everything else is just a bonus.