Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context MythologyGag / TalesFromTheBorderlands

Go To

1* There are several references to previous Borderlands games in Episode 1, such as one of Captain Scarlett's pirates showing up at August's bar and Fiona being able to buy a Steve-themed mask.
2* A skag gets run over by a car. Vaughn, for the first time in the series, actually freaks over having possibly killed it.
3* A Zaford shows up in the Intro, and is promptly sniped by a Bandit with the legendary Jakobs ''Skullmasher'' sniper rifle.
4* In Hollow Point, a billboard for "Engorge" is shown, featuring Mr. Shank, an AffablyEvil, [[TransparentCloset totally-not-gay]] antagonist from the first game's DLC, ''The Secret Armory Of General Knoxx.'' Athena also encoded her messages to the Vault Hunters between ads for the Viagra-like drug.
5* Bewm showed up in Borderlands 2, in the exact some pose that he now is in the World of Curiosities.
6* Nakayama is referenced as being "Killed by Stairs." In ''Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt'', that is also ''exactly'' how he dies-he's all pumped up and ready to fight you, then dies falling down holographic stairs.
7* A Crystalisk appears in the museum. They were important to the backstory of Pandora, as you get to find out in ''Borderlands 2''.
8* The constant use of purple-rarity Jakobs handguns references both players's frequent use of them and Pandora's SpaceWestern theme.
9* The machine gun wielded by Loader Bot is a Hyperion Auto Cannon, which fire on the Vault Hunters several times in ''Borderlands 2''. The Shield is the exact same one wielded by BUL Loaders, well known for being some of the most annoying enemies in the game. And the Rocket Launcher is used by Hyperion's personal HumongousMecha, Saturn, in the same game.
10* Bossanova's hair is similar to that of Salvador, a Vault Hunter from the second game, and Salvador's wanted poster actually makes a cameo.
11* Moxxi speaks in innuendo, her favoured method of communication. The arena looks suspiciously similar to the one featured in "Mr. Torgue's Campaign Of Carnage".
12* At the beginning, Vaughn states that he wishes to buy a Dahl sniper rifle that was featured in the first game.
13* Fiona's wanted poster is similar to the ones for the Vault Hunters in Borderlands 2.
14* Jack's repeated attempts to strangle Rhys references how much he loved strangling people in the second game and the Pre-Sequel.
15* The Penetrating Overcompensator has two. It's a WaveMotionGun, which Hyperion ''loves'' using, most prominently the Eye of Helios in the Pre-Sequel. It's also a talking weapon and makes annoying noises, referencing the infamous Bane SMG and Morningstar sniper rifle (which was also a Hyperion weapon) in the second game.
16* A billboard for Marcus Kincaid shows up in Old Haven, and the ECHO Eye scan of it states that the amount of guns Marcus has sold is [[MemeticMutation 87 bazillion]], as well as mentioning Doctor Zed.
17* In the opening credits of Episode 3, the group are shown playing Bunkers and Badasses, the setting's equivalent of ''D&D'' as shown in the Tiny Tina DLC of Borderlands 2.
18* Mordecai's use of an upgraded Unforgiven Masher is a reference to how that revolver in the first game was ''the'' weapon for many players speccing in the "Gunslinger" skill tree. The new Unforgiven also looks similar to Maggie, which, in turn, was the SpiritualSuccessor to both Masher revolvers and Unforgiven.
19* Sasha's mention of bandits getting massacred by the [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Crimson]] [[BadassArmy Lance]] mercenaries is a major plot point in the first game. The undead bandits are also a nod to "The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned", probably the most famous DLC in the first game, in which Old Haven is overrun by zombies.
20* The frequent swearing in later episodes is a nod to how characters's swear words were always cut off or bleeped out in Borderlands 2. Here? People can swear openly.
21* Rhys mentions that he is mildly afraid of heights This is a reference to the Pre-Sequel's Timothy Lawrence, who suffered from acrophobia.
22* The mushrooms seem to be Cryo Shrooms, which first appeared on Elpis in the Pre-Sequel.
23* Jack mentions that his original team of Vault Hunters on Elpis did not fare as well as the other two groups. This is true. Wilhelm is killed as part of a major boss fight in the storyline and Nisha ''does'' die at the very end of the Lynchwood sidequest arc. Claptrap is, of course, alive and well (if a robot can "live"), as is Athena. Aurelia went to hunt Vaults on other worlds, and the Vault on Eptah was where Axton and Gaige found her. Timothy's fate is still uncertain, but he could have survived, as the (terribly unconvincing) body double in Opportunity that you kill turns out to be a regular Engineer with a voice modulator.
24** As of Borderlands 3, the same could still be said for Aurelia and Timothy as Aurelia was killed by Vault Hunters in her attempt to takeover the Jakob's corporation, and Timothy was stuck in the Handsome Jackpot for 7 years.
25* Jack kept Nisha's Pre-Sequel hat in his personal office as well as the actual Conference Call. As well as that, his purple-rarity Vision handgun is in the case, which was what he used to kill [[spoiler: Roland and Helena Pierce]] with, and what his [[spoiler: decoys]] wield in the final battle.
26* Butt Stallion is present in the dedicated Jack museum. Jack's bullshit mural of him being the Badass who defeated the Destroyer, which can be found in a section of Opportunity in the second game, is another exhibit.
27** The map behind it is the treasure map from the side mission "The Lost Treasure" found in Sawtooth Cauldron in the second game.
28* Hyperion ''hating'' Dahl tech is due to two things. One, Sanctuary was made from the ruins of Dahl's greatest mining ship, and the flying city is where the [[LaResistance Crimson]] [[BadassArmy Raiders]] are based. Two, it's a nice CallBack to the events of the Pre-Sequel, in which the ex-Dahl Lost Legion attacked Helios and killed everyone except Jack.
29* The destroyed evacuation ships from the Pre-Sequel's intro show up as Space Debris.
30* The POV shot of Fiona's hand reaching after the [[spoiler: caravan crashes]] in Episode 1 is a direct HomageShot to the openings of [=BL2=] and TPS, where your Vault Hunter does the same after a similar event.
31* If you use the Echo Eye to scan the [[spoiler: debris of Helios]], and [[spoiler: didn't trust Jack in Episode 2]], then [[spoiler: it's revealed that Jeffrey Blake, from the Robolution DLC and, according to ECHO logs, Jack's assistant, is acting CEO of the Hyperion corporation.]]

Top