| 1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blclean.jpg]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:350:''[[Music/CageTheElephant There ain't no rest for the wicked...]]'']] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | ->''"[[EleventyZillion 87 Bazillion Guns!]]"'' |
| 5 | |
| 6 | ''Borderlands'' is the first game in the ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' series, a SpaceWestern HeroShooter and LooterShooter with RPGElements (or an ActionRPG with [=FPS=] elements, though Gearbox themselves call the game a [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs "Role Playing Shooter"]]) for Platform/Xbox360, Platform/PlayStation3, [[Platform/MicrosoftWindows Windows]], and [[Platform/AppleMacintosh OS X]] developed by Creator/GearboxSoftware -- creators of the ''VideoGame/BrothersInArms'' series and the three expansion packs for the original ''VideoGame/HalfLife''. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | The game concerns [[AnAdventurerIsYou four different adventurers]] who arrive on the desert planet of Pandora seeking the Vault: a legendary alien treasure cache filled with weapons, alien artifacts, and wealth beyond imagining. Initially, it seems like the only thing to worry about will be the scores of bandits that run rampant over the planet; however, the player soon comes into conflict with [[MegaCorp the Atlas corporation]], who have dispatched their elite squad known as the Crimson Lance, led by the ruthless Commandant Steele, to capitalize on the power and riches offered by the Vault. Aided by the mysterious "[[VoiceWithAnInternetConnection Guardian Angel]]", the player sets out into the borderlands of Pandora to battle the Lance and uncover the treasures of the Vault. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | The game's four playable characters are differentiated by not just their appearances, but also their available classes and skills, and consist of: |
| 11 | |
| 12 | * [[JackOfAllStats Roland]], The Soldier. [[DefectorFromDecadence A former member of the Crimson Lance]], the best-equipped mercenary company in the galaxy. [[TheTurretMaster Can drop a Scorpio Turret to provide fire support and shields to provide cover for his allies]]. |
| 13 | * [[TheSmurfettePrinciple Lilith]], [[TouchedByVorlons the Siren]]. A Phasewalker, capable of stepping out of reality to a phased out version of the world, while leaving presents (hint: harm) for her enemies on the way in and out. |
| 14 | * [[GoodOldFisticuffs Brick]], the Berserker. A [[TheBigGuy massive man]] whose UnstoppableRage can allow him to [[GunsAreWorthless punch as hard as any gun]]. [[BloodKnight Loves blood.]] |
| 15 | * [[FriendlySniper Mordecai]], the Hunter. A wandering man whose [[TheBeastMaster pet hawk Bloodwing is his best ally]]. [[ImprobableAimingSkills Won a sharpshooting contest when he was 17 using a revolver, while the other contestants used sniper rifles]]. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | The game has four [[DownloadableContent DLC]] packs developed in the year following the release of the original game, consisting of: |
| 18 | |
| 19 | * ''The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned'': Dr. Ned, [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial who is totally not his twin brother Dr. Zed wearing a fake moustache on top of a surgical mask]], manages to unleash a ZombieApocalypse upon Jakob's Cove. |
| 20 | * ''Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot'': A series of [[MonsterArena Arena]] challenges set by recently-divorced Mad Moxxi. |
| 21 | * ''The Secret Armory of General Knoxx'': A continuation of the main story. Enraged over the loss of the Vault, the decimation of their forces and the death of Steele (though mostly just losing the Vault), the Crimson Lance have decided that the Vault Hunters must die. They send a fresh army of Lance operatives, headed by seasoned General Knoxx, to both take out the Hunters and conquer Pandora for their own. With the help of former Lance Assassin Athena, the Vault Hunters must now fight to destroy the Crimson Lance once and for all, and maybe even get some sweet loot while they're at it. |
| 22 | * ''Claptrap's New Robot Revolution'': Due to the Vault Hunters being a massive drain on the economy, Hyperion hires the Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap to take care of them. Instead, he rallies the Claptraps into rebellion against the humans. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | On April 3, 2019, an UpdatedRerelease launched on Platform/PlayStation4, Platform/XboxOne, and Platform/{{Steam}}, with existing owners of the game on Steam getting the remastered version and the game's DLC for free, even if they didn't own the DLC for the original game. This updated version was eventually released on the Switch as well on May 29, 2020, along with ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'' and ''VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel''. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | ---- |
| 27 | !!Catch-a-Trope! |
| 28 | |
| 29 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 30 | |
| 31 | [[folder:In general]] |
| 32 | * TwentyPercentMoreAwesome: One of the slogans Marcus' vending machines give for the "Torgue" brand guns. |
| 33 | -->'''Marcus:''' Four hundred percent more awesome! Also, Torgue doesn't make their guns out of freaking wood![[note]]A TakeThat to rival gun manufacturer Jakobs[[/note]] |
| 34 | * AbnormalAmmo: Many guns add special effects to their bullets. |
| 35 | ** The most common example is the elemental damage. Weapons with an elemental multiplier can deal either Shock damage, Corrosive damage, Fire damage or Blast (Explosive) damage. |
| 36 | ** One particularly memorable weapon mod appears on shotguns from time to time: ''"Holy crap! It shoots Rockets!"'' |
| 37 | ** There's a Mongol series of rockets, with the text of "Beware the Horde!" [[note]]It's a launcher [[RecursiveAmmo whose ''rockets'' fire rockets]].[[/note]] |
| 38 | ** The Savior weapons send bullets with a spiral trail. If the bullet misses, it comes back to its user for further use. |
| 39 | ** Baron Flynt's "Boom Stick" Shotgun launches a series of 7 rockets. |
| 40 | * AcidAttack: Acid mods are one of the main damage types guns can have. They have a chance to start doing DamageOverTime with every hit, and also do more damage to armored enemies (since the acid burns through the armor). |
| 41 | * AmmunitionBackpack: Certain enemies have ammo tanks which can be blown up (which is good, since these enemies tend to be the insanely powerful ones). |
| 42 | * AnAdventurerIsYou: While there is a lot of variation and hybridization that can occur, each character roughly fits a basic class archetype. Moreover, each of their three skill trees also fits into one of the sub-classifications as well. |
| 43 | ** Brick: The Tank. |
| 44 | *** The Blademaster: The "Brawler" tree, which focuses on turning Brick into a close-combat monster, especially when using Berserk. |
| 45 | *** The Meat Shield: The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Tank"]] skill tree, which focuses on allowing Brick to absorb tons of damage. |
| 46 | *** The Nuker: The "Blaster" tree, which focuses on improving explosive weapons and dishing out damage on large groups of enemies. |
| 47 | ** Lilith: The Status Effect Guy (Girl). |
| 48 | *** The Mezzer: The "Controller" tree, which focuses on weakening enemies while also improving survivability in combat. |
| 49 | *** The Debuffer: The "Elemental" tree, which focuses on inflicting elemental effect damage. |
| 50 | *** The Backstabber: The "Assassin" tree, which focuses on using hit-and-run attacks to eliminate small groups of enemies. |
| 51 | ** Roland: The Jack of All Trades. |
| 52 | *** The [[DamageOverTime DoT]] Master: The "Infantry" tree, which focuses on Roland's proficiency with firearms and his turret's firepower. |
| 53 | *** The Power Re-Generator: The "Support" tree, which focuses on defensive and non-combat support, namely shield and ammo regeneration. |
| 54 | *** The Healer: The "Medic" tree, which focuses on keeping Roland and his teammates alive. |
| 55 | ** Mordecai: The DPS. |
| 56 | *** The Archer: The "Sniper" tree, which focuses on utilizing sniper rifles to pick off enemies at range. |
| 57 | *** The Beastmaster: The "Rogue" tree, which focuses on improving Bloodwing's combat abilities and overall utility. |
| 58 | *** The Scrapper: The "Gunslinger" tree, which focuses on eliminating foes at close-range with a pistol and sword. |
| 59 | * ArtShift: The in-game cutscenes are rendered in the engine, but whenever you enter a DLC's first zone, you get a cutscene that's usually either silhouettes (''Moxxi's Underdome Riot'') or pen drawings (interrupted by a child's chalk drawings several times during ''The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned'''s intro.). |
| 60 | * ArtificialBrilliance: Multiple: |
| 61 | ** Skags and Psychos lead their targets whenever possible, instead of blindly chasing after them. The novelty wears off, but it's effective for such a simple strategy. |
| 62 | ** Lance Troopers will hop to the left or right if you take too long to aim at them. |
| 63 | ** GangUpOnTheHuman is not in effect. Enemy factions (usually bandits and whatever wild animals are nearby) will fight each other unless you give them a reason to join forces against you. |
| 64 | ** Every enemy will shout a warning and assume a stance before engaging you in combat, giving you time to respond. If you heed the warning and leave their territory peacefully, they don't attack. |
| 65 | ** Enemies will also be on high alert if you shoot at them from a distance and miss your target, now knowing you are out there somewhere. |
| 66 | * ArtificialStupidity: The AI for enemy gunmen is simple but serviceable enough on most enemy types. However on enemies that can spawn with a wide variety of weapons, like Lance Infantry, it's easy to notice the AI's limitations since it doesn't take into account what weapon its using at all. This can lead to Badass Infantry with a Matador shotgun, which should be one of the deadliest EliteMooks in the game, running 100 feet away from the player to duck behind a random fence and take useless potshots far, far outside his gun's effective range. |
| 67 | * AttackItsWeakPoint: |
| 68 | ** For human(oid) enemies, it's the [[BoomHeadshot head]]. For skags, you have to shoot their exposed mouth, with a similar PinkMist effect. For spiderants, you have to shoot the abdomen at the rear. Bosses are where things get a bit more complicated, but it's generally pretty obvious; large glowy bits, things that look squishy, etc. |
| 69 | ** The only time you can get the Rider sniper rifle is during the quest where you have to kill the Rakk Hive. The tagline for the weapon says "Careful... you might put someone's eye out." Guess where the weak point is on the Rakk Hive... |
| 70 | ** Before fighting the final boss, you're told that "you just have to know where to hit it." Hint: [[spoiler:Its big, gaping vagina of a mouth, giant clit-eye, and glowing tentacle testicles should clue you in.]] |
| 71 | * AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Leaders invariably have noticeably more health than their mooks. In many cases, this does makes sense (guys like Sledge and Krom, who rose to the top by being the baddest of a bad lot, would naturally be expected to be the toughest of the bunch), but it also applies to characters you wouldn't normally expect to be able to withstand several rockets to the face (such as Baron Flynt and Dr. Ned). |
| 72 | * {{Autosave}}: The game uses autosave both when a player changes areas and when they enter the proximity of a New-U station. |
| 73 | * AwesomeButImpractical: Some of the more esoteric weapons are harder to use than just shooting straight at things. The Eridian weapons probably top the list. |
| 74 | ** Carnage shotguns.[[note]](Holy crap! It shoots rockets!)[[/note]] Despite firing rockets, they have shotgun level accuracy (which is far worse than your average launcher), and the same low projectile velocity that regular rocket launchers have. They also have less splash damage than launchers, and most come at the expense of doing less damage than same-level shotguns. They're somewhat rare to boot, combining the worst of two weapons in an overpriced package. They are, however, handy as {{Disc One Nuke}}s at first, doing more damage than most basic Playthrough 1 guns. |
| 75 | ** [[MoreDakka Vladof]] shotguns are one of the few categories of guns that can even come close to putting out projectiles as fast as [[GameBreaker Anarchy SMGs]]. However their fast rate of fire combined with their small magazines means most characters will need to reload a Vladof assault shotgun every few seconds which, combined with their insanely high recoil during automatic fire, makes them difficult and annoying to use effectively. Sweeper shotguns are Vladof-exclusives that put out even more projectiles than normal Vladof shotguns, but have [[ShortRangeShotgun awful accuracy]] in addition to low magazine capacity and high recoil. |
| 76 | ** The [[Franchise/EvilDead Boomstick]] would be the TropeCodifier for impractical rocket-shooting shotguns, were there such a trope. It literally has no accuracy, being very capable of missing an enemy at point-blank range with one rocket. The one (dubious) advantage it has over Carnage shotguns is that it shoots rockets in six-round bursts, so unless you've invested in something that gives you more ammo, it only gives you one shot. It does work very well, however, on large crowds or targets at point blank, so if you don't have the zombie DLC, then you're likely to only use it on the Destroyer and then forget about it. |
| 77 | ** Shotguns that fire in patterns (i.e.: T.K.'s Wave and other similar shotguns) are pretty hard to get a consistent hit in with until you figure out said pattern. |
| 78 | ** Jakobs rifles at higher levels. Case in point: You got a powerful rifle! SWEET! Problem is, its scope is locked at 1x, or, if you're insanely lucky, at 1.5x. In other words, your bullet velocity is noticeably slower, say, compared to an Atlas rifle, and your scope is less effective at picking off people from a distance, due to a tiny magnification distance. And since most enemies will shrug off a non-critical round and will close the distance between shots, you'll find yourself itching for another sniper rifle. However, once you find Jakob's ultimate offering, the "Brute Bessie", one shot is all you'll need, be it body or head. Six accurate shots will take down even the great Crawmerax. |
| 79 | ** Vehicles in certain areas or at higher levels are basically gigantic death traps that are only useful for getting around certain zones more quickly outside a few quests specifically designed to be completed in a vehicle. Ramming a higher-level badass mook will result in the vehicle exploding (downing the players inside) with said badass losing about 50% health. |
| 80 | ** Sniper rifles with less than 94% accuracy. Even if it does a lot of damage, it won't do you much good if you keep missing due to having such a wide radius when zoomed in with it. Especially painful if it only has a 3-round magazine, and a really long reload animation. |
| 81 | ** Long range weapons in general tend to fit this trope; after all, unless you're Mordecai and investing in the Sniper tree, why bother taking the time to line up a head shot at a distance (that probably won't even kill the target) when you can just unload [[MoreDakka 10+ shots per second]] at point blank range directly into the enemy's head? |
| 82 | ** Most medium ranged weapons such as assault rifles or [=SMGs=], without a zoom of some kind. Iron sights don't seem to work well in this game, so you'll either end up shooting from the hip, or you'll end up using the non-zoom weapons up close, which may not always be a good idea, especially if they have small magazine capacity and long reload time. |
| 83 | ** Rapid fire rocket launchers. Any launcher with a "+500% Fire Rate" will fire off 5 shots in rapid succession. You might think this makes it easier to clear out a crowd of enemies, but you need extremely rapid response and precision to carefully aim the extra shots. On top of that, every time you shoot, you're firing off 5 missiles, eating up your limited ammo in a snap. Contrast to Helix rocket launchers, which fire out 3 spinning rockets per shot. It takes a little getting used to in order to make sure the 3 rockets hit anything (don't aim directly at an enemy; go off to the side a little), but each shot only uses up only 1 rocket in your ammo. |
| 84 | * BeefGate: Attempting to travel through an area with enemies that are of a higher level than you ''will'' result in your immediate and painful death. This is due to the damage system, where, if you're the same level as a enemy, they can be handled with a reasonable amount of effort, whereas if they're a higher level than you, they take less damage (as low as 5% if they are six levels higher) and deal more than they would if they were even. When combined with LevelScaling, it generally means players need to be close enough in level to be effective teammates. |
| 85 | * BerserkButton: Literally with [[MightyGlacier Brick]], whose action skill (single button press) is "Berserk". |
| 86 | * BigNo: Whenever Mordecai dies. |
| 87 | --> ''"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! I '''NEVER''' DIE!!!"'' |
| 88 | * BloodyHilarious: Many deaths from elemental weapons. |
| 89 | * BodyBackupDrive: The player-characters possess immortality through the New-U stations (save checkpoints) they come across. If they do take too much damage and subsequently bleed out, they are simply cloned and deposited back at the last New-U station they passed. For a fee. |
| 90 | * BoomHeadshot: Weapons do insane amounts of damage with headshots [[AttackItsWeakPoint on enemies that are weak to them]]. Mordecai will even reference it directly upon a critical hit sometimes. |
| 91 | * BoringButPractical: Tediore legendary weapons (and their pearlescent, the Avenger) have the very unspectacular effect of ammo regeneration. They're only average in combat, but make great utility weapons. |
| 92 | ** The Tediore 'Bone Shredder' SMG dropped from KingMook Bonehead has practically no unique attributes, it's just guaranteed to spawn with high-quality parts and the double-shot accessory. Nonetheless it's such a good general-purpose gun that it will see most players through the early stages of the storyline, after they leave Fyrestone. |
| 93 | |
| 94 | ** The Soldier's 'Supply Drop' skill is the least flashy final skill but a single point in it practically guarantees the player will never need to waste time buying or fining ammo or grenades. |
| 95 | * BossInMookClothing: If an enemy spawns with a really nice, top tier item (or dare we say two), they can very well become this. [[EliteMooks Badass enemies]] also count, as they're as tough as bosses and yet can randomly spawn in place of any normal enemy. |
| 96 | * BottomlessMagazines: Multiple: |
| 97 | ** The Dahl manufactured, "The Dove" repeater pistol. "Sometimes I forget to reload.". It uses no ammo per shot, unless it has the "Double" accessory, in which cases it uses one bullet per shot. Or if it's actually merged with the Hornet accessory, making its name a Hornet, but still uses no ammo. But it still needs 1 bullet availble to fire. |
| 98 | ** The Tediore legendary rarity weapons invoke through GradualRegeneration of ammo, referenced by their TenuouslyConnectedFlavorText: Such as Equalizer revolvers, with "Unending Firepower". The Avenger, a Pearlescent-rarity combat rifle from the same firm, also has ammo regeneration. |
| 99 | ** The Vladof 'Chopper' machinegun, when used with the magazine boosting skills of a Soldier, can carry more bullets in its magazine than the player's maximum ammo capacity, functionally resulting in a machinegun that will never need to be reloaded. |
| 100 | * BraggingRightsReward: A decent chunk of high level/rare weapons, especially the Pearlescent weapons, are very hard to acquire without killing nigh-impossible bosses or having millions in cash. |
| 101 | * CarFu: |
| 102 | ** Encouraged by the game, to the point that there is an early sidequest whose sole goal is to kill a number of enemies using a Runner (the game's car model). In addition, there is at least one achievement (on the X-Box 360 version) and several in-game challenges involving running enemies over or ramming them. The final one is "Hell On Wheels," granted for killing 1,000 enemies with the vehicle. Problem is, enemy vehicles can do this to you too. |
| 103 | ** Hitting a car with a melee attack will send it flying (to avoid the runners getting stuck on things). |
| 104 | * CelShading: The game is often mistaken as using it due to the heavily stylized comic book inspired graphics style, but the lighting and shading are realistic, not cel. |
| 105 | * CharacterAsHimself: Brick. |
| 106 | * CheckpointStarvation: All of the DLC's only have one Fast Travel station, and it's typically a ways away from the meat of the first map. If you leave while on a mission too far away from the map with the station... have a fun time walking back there. Even if you're overleveled and able to just zip past the respawned opposition, it still takes a while for you to get places. On the other hand, this can be exploited to save time - if you're done in a given area and don't fancy slogging back through the connecting area to turn your missions in, you can just exit back to the main menu and reload your game, putting you right back at the start. |
| 107 | * CheerfulChild: Young Brick, in the introductory sequence, is aww-inducing. Out of the introductory sequence, though... |
| 108 | * CherryTapping: Very possible; for example, if you're feeling suicidal enough to use the melee attacks (Brick's Berserker or stun attacks don't count) or an amazingly underleveled weapon. Or you could just go for the GoombaStomp, which will get you the Achievement/Trophy, [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros "My Brother is an Italian Plumber"]]. |
| 109 | * ChunkySalsaRule: |
| 110 | ** Various enemies feature this. Many animals and most humans can be outright blown up with a good placed explosion. The bandits and midgets in particular. Once Brick gets strong enough, killing them with the basic melee attack is more than enough to make their head explode or shear off an arm or leg. It doesn't even have to be a critical hit either. Even Bruisers and Bad-Ass Psychos can be blown up with a strong enough weapon, but it ''really'' has to be [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill over the top]]. Even the Crimson Lance can die in the gruesome deaths that the elemental effects cause. |
| 111 | ** Mordecai can do this with a sniper rifle if he outlevels an enemy enough, provided he gets a one-shot kill. |
| 112 | * ClusterFBomb: In some videos, [[http://www.gametrailers.com/video/claptrap-behind-borderlands/55554 Clap]][[http://www.gametrailers.com/video/claptrap-behind-borderlands/56814 Trap]]. |
| 113 | * ColorCodedForYourConvenience: |
| 114 | ** Elemental weapons have distinctive color markings on them that represent their element. Shock (good against shields) is blue. Fire (good against fleshy bits) is red. Blast (average against everything except scythids) is yellow. Corrosion (good against armor) is green. There is one weapon that cycles between them, which is orange. |
| 115 | ** Loot is also color coded by rarity. (White=Normal, Green=Uncommon, Blue=Rare, Purple=Very Rare, Orange=Incredibly Rare, Pearl=Obscenely Rare. And to top that off, orange comes in three different shades for just how badass the weapon you just found is). There's also red for healing items. |
| 116 | ** Enemy shields and clothing are coded this way too. Red enemies tend to be fire resistant and use fire attacks, green enemies are corrosion resistant and might spit poison at you, blue enemies are shock resistant and use electrical attacks, and so on. |
| 117 | ** Even the companies themselves have this to a large extent for the color of their guns, such as brown for Jakobs, S&S's yellow, Maliwan's blue, Dahl's green or tan, Tediore's light grey, Hyperion's red, etc. |
| 118 | * ColorCodedItemTiers: The game features EIGHT colors (White, Green, Blue, Purple, Yellow, Orange, Dark Orange, Pearlescent). Up to Dark Orange, those follow the usual pattern of rarity, Pearlescent ones are exclusively easter egg items. |
| 119 | * CombatMedic: Roland, the most support-oriented character, has a skill tree called 'Medic', which helps him heal his allies, but that doesn't mean he's any less capable of fighting. His abilities include turning all of his weapons into {{Healing Shiv}}s, making his turret regenerate the team's health and ammo when close to it, and giving the team a regenerative factor when he kills an enemy. |
| 120 | * ComebackMechanic: The "Second Wind" feature, whereby if you manage to kill an enemy as you're in the throes of death yourself, you gain a small amount of health back, and can continue. The game keeps track of how often you get a second wind. If you end up getting knocked down again and again after each new Second Wind, the timer you have to get your next one shortens more and more. |
| 121 | * CompetingProductPotshot: One of the lines that come from Marcus's gun vending machine is a potshot from Torgue towards rival brand Jakobs[[note]]who, as part of their "Wild West" theming, ''do'' make some parts of their weapons from wood[[/note]]: |
| 122 | --> ''[[TwentyPercentMoreAwesome 400 percent more awesome!]] Also, Torgue doesn't make their guns out of freakin' wood.'' |
| 123 | * ContinuingIsPainful: If you are fighting a boss character and are killed, the boss will fully regain all of its health, meaning all those bullets and grenades you used were wasted. |
| 124 | * CoOpMultiplayer: Tag-along style. The host determines where in the plot the players play in, and also has the character used to scale enemies. If the guest is behind the host in level, he will be up against constant beef gates. If behind in plot, any completed missions will be treated as "ineligible", and won't transfer over to the guest. As such, co-op players should maintain progress parity. |
| 125 | * CrapsackWorld: Although the planet Pandora was originally colonized in the hopes of turning it into a lucrative, prosperous mining settlement, it was found to be an almost completely barren and borderline uninhabitable wasteland -- and that was ''before'' the spring cycle began seven Earth years later and the local wildlife woke up from hibernation. Then, of course, there are the several thousand murderous bandits who prey on the few remaining locals, the extreme scarcity of food, clean water, electricity and medical supplies, and the near-complete lack of anything resembling functioning infrastructure or an effective government. Death is so common that never once do you see an NPC express grief, even when close friends or relatives are killed. And to make matters worse, it's implied in the Secret Armory DLC that the planet Promethia is even worse than Pandora. |
| 126 | * CriticalHit: Scored from hitting an enemy in [[AttackItsWeakpoint a certain point or area on its body]] to inflict much more damage, unlike other games. There are other abilities that give your attacks a chance to do extra damage or have extra effects, as per the trope. |
| 127 | * CriticalHitClass: Critical hits are dependant on where you hit your opponents rather than chance, but the Hunter class has a strong emphasis on accuracy (and thus hitting crit areas). Plus there are builds based around high crit damage. |
| 128 | * CrosshairAware: |
| 129 | ** Thanks to the AI. Sometimes, you are ''just'' taking aim... and they suddenly notice you and run to the next cover or rain bullets upon you. |
| 130 | ** Zombie Island. You can SEE where your transport will land to rescue you. |
| 131 | ** Suddenly... that bandit shooting a Skag is looking at you. |
| 132 | ** A Vault Guardian actually does this to you! They create a beam of light before raining energy beams on you. |
| 133 | * {{Cutscene}}: If you wait a minute on the main menu, you even get an AttractMode movie -- the same one that plays when you create a new character. |
| 134 | * CyberPunk: Downplayed. There are plenty of futuristic guns, cool robots and you're battling a corporate military, but those are the only elements here. |
| 135 | * DamageIncreasingDebuff: Enemies aflicted with a Corrosive elemental effect suffer additional damage from all sources, including subsequent Corrosive effects. |
| 136 | * DamageOverTime: Many weapons that deal elemental damage have a chance of causing damage over time as an added effect. |
| 137 | * DeathIsCheap: Literally. If you die, you'll get resurrected via cloning, for a fee of course; how much it is being a percentage (around 7%) of how much cash you have at the time. If you're broke, it's free. |
| 138 | * DeathWorld: Pandora makes Australia look like a petting zoo. |
| 139 | * DefectorFromDecadence: Roland (Soldier) is a former member of the Crimson Lance. |
| 140 | * DeflectorShields: A device that acts as additional regenerating hit points. |
| 141 | * DeliberatelyDifferentDescription: The Eridian weapons, whose FlavorText, is all in binary, instead of English or in other human language words. Except Eridian Blasters, which are described thusly: |
| 142 | --> "Pew Pew Pew!" |
| 143 | * DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: |
| 144 | ** Some of the randomly generated weapon names can be this. The Fatal Death, Mean Rage, and (bug notwithstanding) Pestilent Plague spring to mind. |
| 145 | ** "I'm gonna squeeze you 'til you bleed blood!" |
| 146 | * DeployableCover: Scorpio turrets have elements of this, but they're mostly for shooting things. |
| 147 | * DesertPunk: The majority of this game features dry, arid deserts filled with rusted out hunks of debris and metal. |
| 148 | * DiscOneNuke: |
| 149 | ** Due to this game's RandomDrop system, it's [[RareRandomDrop extremely rare]], but very possible to find weapons that possess incredible power at a low level requirement, early in the game. If you have a decent amount of luck, you can find a weapon such as a Maliwan [=HellFire=] SMG or Defiler pistol or a S&S Orion Sniper Rifle that will tear the rest of the game apart. |
| 150 | ** There're multiple breeds of weapons that are disproportionately powerful for their item level, which can be incredibly deadly in the right hands: any rapid-fire weapon with a high ignite chance (fire damage seems to be at the very least partially HP-percentage-based, which renders them capable of utterly destroying Badass/boss foes regardless of level), mashers (relatively-accurate and fast-firing shotgun pistols), Anarchy submachine guns (quad-shot), the list goes on. God help your foes if you stumble across the Playthrough 2+ versions... |
| 151 | ** Gearbox gives you one in a sidequest: the Madjack, a revolver that has crazily spinning bullets and a high ricochet chance. But that works to your advantage with distant, powerful targets: a Madjack can take out a Mulciber turret in just a few shots. |
| 152 | ** The Clipper drops from Nine-Toes, who is [[StarterVillain the very first story boss you face]]. It has a very high rate of fire, with a chance to do [[KillItWithFire fire damage]] with every hit. |
| 153 | --->'''Marcus Guns Vending Machine''': ''Get a Maliwan, and light some people on fire!'' |
| 154 | * DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The [[spoiler:FinalBoss, which not only has a giant]] VaginaDentata with an enormous tentacle inside, but also wields several other tentacles with large glowing testicles on it that you shoot until they burst. |
| 155 | * DoctorsDisgracefulDemotion: One of Dr. Zed's recurring lines is about how he lost his medical license. |
| 156 | * DoNotRunWithAGun: Zigzagged. Usually, players cannot fire while running (crosshairs disappear, and taking a shot will just toggle back to walking speed), but this is ignored if firing while airborne, so run-and-gun is possible by bouncing around. |
| 157 | * DoubleEdgedBuff: Berserker characters have the Berserk ability which disables shooting and only allows the short-range attack of punching but gives "resistance to all damage" and RegeneratingHealth, for a time. |
| 158 | * DrivenToSuicide: The imagery of such an act is used for the box art, as can be seen above. Was specifically created for a striking image. |
| 159 | * DumbMuscle: Brick can barely read or write, but has strength that's best described as "rhino-like". |
| 160 | * DynamicLoading: Dynamic Loading Fail is practically guaranteed, at least for the largest areas. |
| 161 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: |
| 162 | ** The original version of the game, as seen in the trailer, was very much this. The final product less so, but it still has several combat mechanics abandoned by its sequels as well as remnants of its original self that separate it from the rest of the series. |
| 163 | ** The plot is sparse with few cutscenes and the overall tone of the base-game is much grimmer. "Old Haven" is the scene of a brutal massacre and wouldn't look out of place in a ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' game. |
| 164 | ** The majority of quests are basic and short, with little-to-no voice-acting. It's not until ''The Secret Armory of General Knoxx'' that quest-givers talk regularly over the ECHO network and the quests themselves are more elaborate. |
| 165 | ** The game does not distinguish between quests that are mandatory and those that are optional in the quest-log, which can lead to a lack of direction. |
| 166 | ** There was a weapon-proficiency system that was dropped in favour of Badass Ranks in the sequels. |
| 167 | ** Revolvers get their own ammo-category, separated from Repeater Pistols. In the sequels they share the same ammo-pool as pistols. |
| 168 | ** You can buy ammo storage-deck upgrades with regular money instead of needing a premium currency like Eridium or Moonstones. |
| 169 | ** FallDamage is in effect and you won't find a single ladder anywhere in the game. |
| 170 | ** The game has healing kits you can store in your inventory for later (in addition to the syringes from the later games). Why these never show up again in the later games is never explained. It's likely because enemies from later games drain your health faster, so taking the time to open your inventory and use one wasn't practical. Later games would have auto-pickup health items, as well as gear and skills that provide healing, making health kits even more redundant. |
| 171 | ** The characters in general have a lot less, well, character than in the later games. The Vault Hunters have few traits other than [[AnAdventurerIsYou being the player characters]], and Mad Moxxi (who only shows up in a DLC) is just a good-looking colosseum announcer, while Marcus narrates the opening and ending cutscenes and gives the players missions... And that's it. Later games would add a lot more CharacterDevelopment, including for the Vault Hunters from this game who returned. |
| 172 | * ElementalPowers: |
| 173 | ** Certain guns' bullets are {{Status Infliction Attack}}s with [[KillItWithFire fire]], [[ShockAndAwe lightning]], acid... or just [[StuffBlowingUp potentially explode.]] |
| 174 | ** Each character has at least one class mod that boosts the damage they deal with one of the four elements. Roland: Shock Trooper. Boosts shock damage. Mordecai: Assassin. Boosts corrosive damage. Brick: Blast Master. Boosts explosive damage. Lilith, being the elemental specialist she is, has three: Tempest, which boosts shock damage, Plaguebearer, which boosts corrosive damage, and Firefly, which boosts fire damage, and makes her (in a way) the incendiary specialist. |
| 175 | * EliteMooks: Multiple, with different tiers: |
| 176 | ** Badasses |
| 177 | ** The NewGamePlus gets '[[OneBadMother BadMuthas]]'. |
| 178 | ** Playthrough 2.5 gets 'Film/{{SuperBad}}s'. |
| 179 | * TheEngineer: Roland's ability allows him to deploy a turret. |
| 180 | * EveryCarIsAPinto: All the available vehicles explode fantastically when reduced to 0 hitpoints. ''Don't'' be standing next to them when that happens. Or in them. |
| 181 | * EverythingFades: Played straight with enemies killed by non-elemental means. Justified with incineration and dissolving when enemies are killed with Fire or Corrosive elemental weapons, respectively. |
| 182 | * EvilLaugh: Or giggles, in the case of the midget mooks in the game. Mordecai and Lilith give off a pretty good one from time to time when you score a critical. Brick ain't the only BloodKnight in this game... |
| 183 | * ExplodingBarrels: Exploding barrels come in four varieties: corrosive, shock, fire and, of course, explosive. |
| 184 | * ExtremeOmnivore: Skags will eat anything, but they vomit back up whatever they can't digest, which is why you find items in the "piles". That's what the in-game tips say, but just about every other kind enemy that tries to eat you also has "piles" laying around their habitat. Rakk are the exception -- they don't have piles, but the Feeder/Bloated/Gravid etc variety have a higher probability of dropping stuff. |
| 185 | * FacelessGoons: Most enemies, whether bandits or Crimson Lance, invariably wear some sort of facemask to conceal their faces. This also applies to almost all of the ''civilians'' living on Pandora as well, including some of the major characters. This saved Gearbox a lot of work by not having to program in facial animation for dialogue. |
| 186 | * FlashStep: Lilith's special ability allows her to step into an alternate dimension (causing an explosion that helps discourage her enemies from attacking), run quickly to her target, pop out with an energetic shockwave that stuns her foes, and then proceed to mow them all down. |
| 187 | * FlavorText: If there's a key item or a Legendary-tier/Boss drop, they ''will'' contain this. |
| 188 | * FlippingTheBird: Mordecai silently flips off Marcus for the Truxican Wrestler comment on the bus. |
| 189 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: On your second visit to Skag Gully, you're [[NoticeThis noticed]] of the existence of an ECHO recording at the beginning of the level. If you play it, it'll trigger a sidequest and play a bunch of gibberish. The portrait on the recordings is that of Sledge, a StarterVillain who you meet roughly at 15% of the game, [[spoiler:and whose death gets you straight into Atlas's radars]]. |
| 190 | * FunWithAcronyms: A very subtle one with the Eridian Cannon, as its description "010011110100110101000111" is a binary-encoded ASCII string for the letters "OMG" (Oh My God). (It makes a sizable explosion, leading to the aforementioned expression.) |
| 191 | * FramingDevice: Marcus telling a story to his young son (although we're never taken out of the action for it). It comes up in all the DLC's except ''Underdome'', with ''Robot Revolution'' being puppet theater. |
| 192 | * GameMod: Gearbox doesn't provide a development kit for fear of breaking what little balance the game has already, but this hasn't stopped people from creating save editors to experiment with: |
| 193 | ** During the early days of the game, it was possible to combine different parts of different manufacturers in order to create some crazy weapons. For example, mixing parts from The Dove (a pistol that never runs out of ammo) with parts from the Hyperion Invader (a pistol that fires its entire magazine when fired while the aim button is held down) to create a pistol that, when you fire it while aiming, ''never stops shooting and never runs out of ammo'' (until you let go of the aim button, anyway.) This, along with other related exploits, has since been patched out (it's now impossible to combine parts from different manufacturers). |
| 194 | ** While mixing parts from different manufacturers have been patched out, this hasn't ruled out parts from the same manufacturer. To use the Dove as an example again, it's possible to add on the Hornet weapon trait from the Dove's manufacturer, and combine it with a prefix from a shotgun and a suffix from a sniper rifle, to create a Shredder Wrath pistol that fires 3 shots with every pull of the trigger, and has a potent Corrosive elemental effect to boot. A level 25 Shredder Wrath can remain your best weapon until level 40. |
| 195 | ** If you ''really'' want to break the game, it's possible to creatively modify "stock" weapons (the weapons your enemies normally use if they don't spawn with a droppable weapon, which players cannot obtain without save file editing) to get weapons with no level requirement that deal damage into the '' millions,'' or even ''negative damage.'' Negative-damage weapons are extremely bizarre; [[LogicBomb they instagib anything but their damage counter reads 0]]... unless you hit something invincible (such as newly-spawned bosses in the Underdome) in which case the gun deals [[{{Cap}} 99999]] damage instead ''and still instantly kills your target.'' A similar method works on shields, rendering your character ''totally invincible'' to everything other than a stock weapon. |
| 196 | ** By way of [[Creator/EpicGames its engine]] [[VideoGame/{{Unreal}} heritage]], it is possible to use [[LevelEditor UnrealEd]] to create custom maps, if you're willing to modify the exe. |
| 197 | * GameplayAllyImmortality: If someone won't shoot at you, you can't shoot at them. They won't even notice. |
| 198 | * GasMaskMooks: |
| 199 | ** Just about every human enemy save bosses wears a mask of some sort, presumably so the developers wouldn't have to animate them speaking their various taunts and cries. |
| 200 | ** The bandits, on closer inspection, are wearing what appear to be some sort of gas mask. |
| 201 | * GogglesDoNothing: Patricia Tannis uses aviator goggles for some reason. |
| 202 | * GoodiesInTheToilets: Toilets can be raided, and they usually contain ammo. |
| 203 | * GoodOldFisticuffs: Brick (Berserker). Can specialize in hand to hand combat. Keep in mind the planet is populated with gun toting road warrior type bandits and assorted monsters. Good thing Brick hits like a train. |
| 204 | * GradualRegeneration: Multiple stats regenerate this way: |
| 205 | ** All shields recharge gradually, the recharge time depending on which shield, some shields have an ''instant'' recharging such as Anshin's "Guerrilla", "Skirmisher" and "Ambush" lines, the "Cracked Sash" unique shield, and the Pearlescent level shields "Omega" from Atlas and "Rose" from Anshin. |
| 206 | ** There are several mechanics that [[RegenerativeHealth regenerate health]], the most important ones being Tediore's shields, ("Healing", "Restorative", "Panacea", and the unique reward "Wee Wee's Super Booster"), Brick's ability "Berserk" where he runs off screaming his health back, Roland and Mordecai's regeneration boosts on kill and use of the Scorpio Turret and Bloodwing, and Lilith's regeneration via Phasewalk. And, of course, the Healing Kits work this way; the Greater ones heal 300 HP over 10 seconds. |
| 207 | * GrailInTheGarbage: Doesn't happen often, but sometimes you can find a really good gun when searching through Dahl's deposits. Or Skag barf. |
| 208 | * GrenadeSpam: The Soldier can throw grenades near constantly if he maximizes his Grenadier and Supply Drop skills since both regenerate his grenade ammo whenever he kills an enemy (Grenadier) or uses his Action Skill (Supply Drop). |
| 209 | * GroinAttack: A viable (in fact, more like necessary) tactic when facing the Crimson Lance if you don't have any Incendiary or Corrosive weapons and can't get a straight shot at their heads, since their groins lack armor. |
| 210 | * GuideDangIt: |
| 211 | ** Some of the scavenger and even some of the regular missions will make you grow to hate the waypoints which can make finding certain mission-related objects confounding to say the least. Further, some missions themselves have really out-of-the-way trigger points: |
| 212 | ** Turns out, the waypoints for scavenger missions are placed ''specifically'' in the ''general area'' the parts can be found in. For example, if the 4 or 5 parts are found scattered about a single bandit encampment, the waypoint will likely be in the center of that encampment. |
| 213 | * GuiltBasedGaming: If you let your character idle around long enough, they will start making snarky comments. |
| 214 | * GunAccessories: Scopes and bayonets and all sorts of other things. And if you want to get technical, the procedural weapon generation means the guns are basically a set of modular parts in various combinations; in other words, everything is an accessory. Considering that different parts can be the difference between a gun shooting fire or shotgun shells or having [[BottomlessMagazines infinite ammo]], this is more than a technicality. |
| 215 | * GunPorn: According to Website/TheOtherWiki entry for Borderlands, the debug menu for the game shows over three million guns (varying in stats) are available in the game. According to the devs, they stopped counting once they hit ''17 million''. Suddenly the commercial touting "87 bazillion guns" doesn't sound so far-fetched. |
| 216 | * TheGunslinger: Every playable character can use guns and has skill trees relating to them, but Mordecai actually gets a skill tree that's called this, specifically with pistols. |
| 217 | * HandCannon: Most of the revolvers would qualify, but mashers -- revolvers that shoot seven or eight rounds per shot -- are the undisputed kings. At level 50 the average masher can exceed 2,000 damage per shot (more than most rocket launchers). And God help your enemies if you get one with the very accurate Jakobs barrel... and a Dahl body with recoil reduction... |
| 218 | * HardModeMook: Psychos become Maniacs in Playthrough 2, then they become Lunatics in Playthrough 2.5 (after beating Playthrough 2 in the main game); Bandit Thugs become Bandit Goons become Bandit Outlaws; Bandit Raiders become Bandit Ravagers become Bandit Desperados and so on... |
| 219 | * HealingShiv: |
| 220 | ** Roland can access "Cauterize", a special ability that makes his weaponry heal allies. The text of the skill states this also works with rockets and grenades. |
| 221 | ---> "Hold still while I heal you..." '''BRAKKA BRAKKA BRAKKA'''. "There, all better." |
| 222 | ** The Transfusion grenade mod. A grenade that ''heals you'' [[LifeDrain by unhealing your enemies]]. |
| 223 | ** There's also a couple of weapons that do the same thing, such as Atlas's "Troll" repeater pistol and its 1HP/s regeneration rate. |
| 224 | * HeroicMime: The game dips in and out of this trope. The player characters can talk, as shown by their taunts and comments on a weapons cache discovery, but when it comes to interacting with other characters in-game or in a cutscene, they never speak. |
| 225 | * HeroicSecondWind: A gameplay mechanic and part of the ''Borderlands'' universe. When your health reaches zero, the message "Fight for your life!" flashes at the screen, and you get a chance to [[TakingYouWithMe take an enemy down with you]] as your vision darkens. If you do manage to kill an enemy before dying yourself, you get resurrected with minimal health and full shields, while the message "Second wind!" flashes. |
| 226 | * HeroicComedicSociopath: Pretty much all of the player characters love dispensing death, but Brick probably takes the cake. |
| 227 | * HighVoltageDeath: When you kill most human enemies with electrical damage, the flesh on their head will be instantly seared off revealing their skull and occasionally one of their eyes will fly out, or a piece of their skull will break off with some of their brain flying out. This is the only game in the series with this effect, as in the later games electrified enemies simply light up like a Christmas tree and disintegrate. |
| 228 | * HulkSpeak: Brick (after running out of ammunition for a gun): "Ammo. GONE!" |
| 229 | * HuntingTheRogue: Both PlayerCharacter Roland, and QuestGiver Athena from the ''The Secret Armory of General Knoxx''[='=]s DLC, are former Crimson Lance soldiers who are chased by this organization. |
| 230 | ** Roland was a former Crimson Lance Engineer (as only Engineers have access to Scorpio Turrets, and Roland deploys one as his Action Skill) who left his squad after his former superiors tried to frame and kill him. He gets to fight against them in both the main game (both in the "Old Haven" level and [[spoiler:after Baron Flynt was killed]]) and the ''Knoxx'' DLC. |
| 231 | ** Athena was a former Crimson Lance Assassin who left after the higher-ups duped her into killing her sister and everyone on her village. She's one of the main story {{Quest Giver}}s of the DLC she appears on, and has as much of a bounty on her head as the Vault Hunters. |
| 232 | * HyperspaceArsenal: |
| 233 | ** As the game starts out, you'll already be able to wear two weapons, equip a shield, a grenade mod, a class mod, carry about 1000 rounds of ammunition for all the different weapon types, three grenades, and carry twelve other items. Every playthrough allows you to find upgrades for your backpack to give about 30 more slots to carry items, and you'll be able to buy ammo storage, which will end up allowing you to hold around three thousand bullets (per weapon type) and 9 grenades. |
| 234 | ** Each character wears a device called a "[[HammerSpace Storage Deck]]", which is basically a dead-end transporter, into which they can dump practically anything. Hence why backpack upgrades are called 'SDU's. (Storage Deck Upgrades) It appears as a metal device with a glowing blue 'beam' across its surface. When playing in multiplayer, it's possible to see a teammate pull something out of it. |
| 235 | * HypocriticalHeartwarming: One of the possible lines bandit goons will shout at you if they see you kill another bandit is "''Hey! No-one shoots my buddy ''but me''!''" |
| 236 | * ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Victims of the bandits can be seen impaled on various objects in some places. |
| 237 | * ImpossibleItemDrop: |
| 238 | ** Considering the millions of guns that [[RandomDrop drop from the enemies]], this game laughs at your concerns for the FridgeLogic it produces. It also manages to justify it -- [[ExtremeOmnivore the local wildlife will eat]] ''[[ExtremeOmnivore anything]]'', but vomits up whatever it can't digest, for you to loot. Further, it manages to justify the finding of good stuff later -- other guys took all the good stuff from the early sections and died later on. |
| 239 | ** Played straight when you smack down an unarmed midget and a rocket launcher bigger than he is flies out in your face. Same goes for skag piles. |
| 240 | * ImpossiblyLowNeckline: |
| 241 | ** The neckline actually isn't that low for Mad Moxxi, but considering the size of her, it's still a surprise she doesn't pop out! |
| 242 | ** Seems to be popular with Sirens as well (Lilith and Steele). |
| 243 | * ImprobableAimingSkills: |
| 244 | ** Axe-wielding bandits will throw their ax at you from 100 yards away and hit you. Every time. |
| 245 | ** Mordecai won a sharpshooting contest with a revolver. His opponents all used sniper rifles. |
| 246 | * ImprobableWeaponUser: Rocket Launcher that fires 3 rockets, that each split into 5 rockets, which all explode into acid? Check. Shotgun that has a spread in the shape of a smiley face? Check. Full-auto sniper rifle? You betcha. |
| 247 | * IAmAHumanitarian: Psychos (''"Just three more steps and I got me dinner"'', ''"Hahahaha!! MORE! More meat for me!!"'', ''"It's time, for my pound of flesh! Hahahahahaha!"''), as well as some normal bandits ("You gonna ''squeal'' before we ''cook'' ya?!") |
| 248 | * IncendiaryExponent: |
| 249 | ** Lilith's Phoenix skill sets her on fire (with mostly beneficial effects...unless you are standing next to an exploding barrel), which makes any nearby enemies acquainted with the ManOnFire trope (with harmful effects). |
| 250 | ** How do you make a shotgun, revolver, automatic pistol, machinegun, or sniper rifle more awesome? Simple - incendiary rounds. |
| 251 | ** Also, Burning Psychos. Cackling insanely and trying to kill you while ON FIRE. It actually gives them immunity to fire damage to boot. |
| 252 | * InfinityPlusOneSword: |
| 253 | ** If you find a gun made by Atlas, it will often serve as your personal Infinity Plus One Sword for a given level range. |
| 254 | ** The weapons go in a set range -- White, Green, Blue, Purple, Yellow (aka Orange), Orange (Aka "Dark Orange"), and "Pearl" (aka "Aqua"). Still, given the right number of mods, the lower tier weapons can be much more powerful. |
| 255 | ** And then there are the boss weapons. It's been suggested that you can kill practically anything with Sledge's Shotgun and enough magazine size bonuses. |
| 256 | ** Legendary Maliwan weapons proc on basically every shot and are thus incredibly powerful, often lasting several levels. The Hellfire SMG and the Defiler revolver are by far the most famous examples of this. In fact, you can literally steamroll an entire playthrough using a low-level Hellfire. |
| 257 | * InsufferableGenius: When Tannis isn't being a scatterbrained {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, she's this. She'll continually mention how she's the intellectual superior of everyone else, bombards her conversations with casual misanthropy, and never truly gives up that haughty air even when she's lost it to dating her voice recorder. |
| 258 | * InsurmountableWaistHighFence: Everywhere. Especially those bollard things your vehicle can't pass between or over. One such obstacle that remains bizarrely unpatched is a large metal palette in a puddle near the bridge in Rust Commons East which a Claptrap lowers for you. Every single person who has ever played Borderlands will have crashed into it at least once, despite the fact that it looks (and was probably intended to be) easily navigable. Might be a joke on the developer's part. |
| 259 | * InUniverseGameClock: Technically, it's the planet having a really bad day/night cycle (in some seasons it's day for three months straight). |
| 260 | * InvulnerableKnuckles: Brick can beat alien monsters, bandits with various head gear, and other things to death with his mostly bare hands[[note]]he has what looks like improvised knuckle dusters made of screws and bolts[[/note]] and not bat an eye. He even regenerates while he does it. To boot, [[ElementalPowers lightning, acid, fire, or explosions]] erupting from Brick's fists when he has an Eridian artifact equipped don't hurt him at all. |
| 261 | * ItemAmplifier: The "Class Mods", which offer boosts to specific stats. |
| 262 | * KillItWithFire: The best way to deal with a lot of enemies. The Maliwan Hellfire submachine guns in particular cause a stacking fire damage-over-time effect with every shot and turn anything that's not fire resistant into a living torch in a few seconds. |
| 263 | -->'''Marcus Guns Vending Machine''': ''Get yourself a Maliwan, and light some people on fire!'' |
| 264 | * KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Eridian weapons: |
| 265 | ** They usually have a short range, long recharge time, and/or slow moving projectiles that effectively blind the person using them. Compared to human weapons, they're little more than a novelty. The icing on the cake? They also force you to move slower. The rocket launcher equivalent is even more useless than regular rocket launchers. They are, however, very useful [[FridgeBrilliance against the Eridians themselves]]. |
| 266 | ** They also have technically unlimited ammo. While they need to recharge after a certain number of fired shots, they will never run out of ammo, which can be helpful if you find yourself in the extremly unlikely situation that you are completely out of ammo for all your guns. |
| 267 | ** The Eridian sniper rifles also have one very useful advantage over their kinetic counterparts: their bullets have no travel time/delay. |
| 268 | * KleptomaniacHero: |
| 269 | ** Really, the point of this game is the [[GunPorn many, many, many]] [[GunPorn guns]] you can loot. {{NPC}}s will occasionally [[LampshadeHanging comment]] on how many things have turned up missing since you've arrived. |
| 270 | --->'''Quest log''': The bandit's dying wish was that his treasure not fall into the hands of the Crimson Lance. You feel duty bound to grant the man's final request by taking it for yourself.\ |
| 271 | '''Random Townsperson:''' Have you seen my gun...? |
| 272 | ** It probably doesn't help that they keep their guns in unlocked boxes stored outside. |
| 273 | * LampshadeHanging: The {{NPC}}s occasionally ask you if you've seen their missing stuff. |
| 274 | * LaughablyEvil: Several of the villains. |
| 275 | * LevelGrinding: A little, but LevelScaling means it isn't very efficient. DLC, however, let you outlevel enemies by doing the DLC before going back to the plot. |
| 276 | * LevelScaling: Within a particular range for each area. Finishing the second playthrough makes the range for everything on par with yours. Notably, the game's level scaling does ''not'' take the [=DLCs=] into account, so if you play them after finishing the main campaign you'll quickly find yourself vastly out-leveling the enemies. You'll likewise be highly over-leveled if you start a 2nd playthrough after finishing all the [=DLCs=]. |
| 277 | * LittleUselessGun: If there's a repeater pistol in the game with no special effect, Not Enuff [[MoreDakka Dakka]], and no elemental enhancement, it feels like this. |
| 278 | * LightningGun: |
| 279 | ** The "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Eridian Lightning]]" fires a {{hitscan}} bolt of pure electricity. |
| 280 | ** Another Eridian weapon, the Thunder Storm, fires orbs of electricity in a buckshot-like pattern. |
| 281 | * LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading: The console versions takes over 30 seconds to load from the main menu to Fyrestone, with similar waiting times every time you travel to a new area. Hardware improvements can reduce these times, but not by much. |
| 282 | * LogoJoke: the [=nVidia=] logo fails to work until a Claptrap [[PercussiveMaintenance whacks it]] a few times. |
| 283 | * LookBothWays: The Skag in the intro gets nailed by Marcus's bus as soon as he walks into the road, spending most of the intro stuck in the front grill. |
| 284 | * LudicrousGibs: |
| 285 | ** Running over a bandit in your vehicle will cause chunks to go flying about 35-40 meters high and rain down for several seconds. And that's not even counting the weapons with explosive or incendiary ammunition... |
| 286 | ** Baron Flynt's Boomstick. [[AwesomeButImpractical It drains on ammo very fast and literally has no accuracy]], but get some zombies within about four feet of you, and they all die. |
| 287 | ** You don't even need explosive ammo to turn someone into gibs; crit significantly weaker enemies with a powerful weapon and watch the chunks fly a good 100ft into the sky. It can sometimes rain meat for 10-15 seconds after a good BoomHeadshot. |
| 288 | * ManOnFire: |
| 289 | ** The Burning Psychos. |
| 290 | ** Anybody hit with incendiary weapons. |
| 291 | ** Flaming Skag. |
| 292 | ** Flaming Spiderants. |
| 293 | * TheMedic: Roland has a skill tree called "Medic", and his main medic skill converts friendly fire damage to health. Yeah, ''he shoots people to life'' (see Healing Shiv above). |
| 294 | * MegaCorp: |
| 295 | ** Every gun manufacturer seems to have spinoff products scattered around the world. Atlas is the current leader, with control of the Echo network and commerce grid, but Dahl's insignia shows up everywhere. Jakobs seems to have a prefab housing division, just for starters... |
| 296 | ** Dahl Corporation seems to have run the mining firm on Pandora, but they had to quickly evacuate once the Crimson Lance rolled in. |
| 297 | ** Jakobs also has a company town built around a lumber mill in the DLC. It harvests wood for their guns. In fact. EVERYTHING is wood. Its Claptraps are wood. Its vending machines are wood. |
| 298 | ** Hyperion, one of the rarer manufacturers, owns everything from the Claptraps to the New-U stations to [[spoiler:the satellite [=4N631=], which the Guardian Angel is apparently transmitting from]]. Atlas is the most famous, but Hyperion keeps Pandora running... |
| 299 | * MoodWhiplash: For the most part the game plays its CrapsackWorld [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]], but once in a while... |
| 300 | * MoreCriminalsThanTargets: Let's just say the raider population outnumbers the non-raider population. It's even been mentioned that the gang Scooter once was a part of had some fights with another gang (revealed in the next game to be the Hodunk and Zaford clans, respectively), so presumably even raiders will get to the point where they have to raid other raiders. |
| 301 | * MoreDakka: |
| 302 | ** Roland can summon a turret to add more firepower. And upgrade it through his skill trees for even MORE dakka, as well as [[ItanoCircus guided missiles]]. And then we get into the guns themselves... |
| 303 | *** His "Metal Storm" skill increases rate of fire and accuracy for a few seconds after killing an enemy. |
| 304 | ** A Double Anarchy (each bullet fires as four) SMG with bonuses to fire speed and magazine size can put ''hundreds'' of rounds downrange in seconds... |
| 305 | ** Vladof guns feature high rates of fire, and usually a large magazine to boot. |
| 306 | --> ''"Vladof! You don't need to be a better shot, you just need to shoot more bullets."'' |
| 307 | ** S&S guns have even bigger magazines than Vladof, but their machine guns tend to fire relatively slowly. |
| 308 | ** "The Meat Grinder" Combat Rifle. It has a skill that increases its fire rate when you kill stuff with it. |
| 309 | * MsFanservice: Mad Moxxi. |
| 310 | * MultiplayerDifficultySpike: The game states quite often in the loading screen messages that playing with other people increases the game's difficulty but also increases the loot quality that drops. |
| 311 | * NewGamePlus: Beat the game, then start a new run of the campaign with tougher enemies and your old guns! |
| 312 | * NoisyGuns: Everything but Eridian weapons and rocket launchers need to be cocked. |
| 313 | * NoKillLikeOverkill: |
| 314 | ** One headshot not enough? How about a sniper rifle that shoots ''six bullets at once''? |
| 315 | ** There's quite a few examples of guns that just love this trope on this page already. |
| 316 | ** Do the sidequests, get some levels, and then go back to Fyrestone on your first playthrough. Gibs galore! |
| 317 | * NonHumanSidekick: The Claptraps. |
| 318 | * NonIndicativeName: Roland is also referred to as the 'Soldier' class, but his damage output is noticeably slower than other characters and he's the closest thing Borderlands has to a team support class thanks to his HealingShiv and ammo resupply skills. |
| 319 | * NoOSHACompliance: We've lost count of all the narrow catwalks with broken or or absent safety rails. |
| 320 | * NoPlotNoProblem: The game certainly took a minimalist approach to storytelling. Most quests are told entirely through text descriptions when you accept them and turn them in, with story quests getting the occasional chunk of spoken dialog. What little plot there is can hardly be called complex. Still, the developers clearly did something right, because the game was popular enough to get four [=DLCs=] and multiple sequels, all of which integrated more plot into them. |
| 321 | * OddNameOut: All but one of Dahl's Legendary weapons are named after threatening animals, with examples including the Hornet repeater, the Anaconda revolver, and the Bulldog shotgun. The exception is the Penetrator sniper rifle. |
| 322 | * OneHitKill: The selling point of Jakobs-brand guns (particularly their Sniper Rifles) |
| 323 | -->'''Marcus:''' "If it took more than one shot, you weren't using a Jakobs!" |
| 324 | * OneManArmy: If you're playing solo. To get the "I Am Become Death" challenge you'll have to kill ten thousand enemies. |
| 325 | * OneWheeledWonder: Claptrap is a roughly half-human-height robot that gets around this way. |
| 326 | * PainfullySlowProjectile: |
| 327 | ** Launchers, some Eridian guns, and occasionally sniper rifles. All guns have a velocity stat (which you can't see), but normally it's short enough range and a fast enough bullet to not matter. |
| 328 | ** Lilith also has a skill that mitigates this, by upping said velocity stat. Which makes a Maliwan Rhino (Elemental rocket launcher that explodes over and over until hitting its target) practically useless because it explodes fewer times before hitting its target when its velocity is increased. |
| 329 | ** [[MeaningfulName "Cold"]] machine pistols have this as their gimmick: they tend to be very powerful, but their bullets take their sweet time hitting the enemy. |
| 330 | ** Stomper rifles trade high damage and generally good stats for lower bullet speed. |
| 331 | * PaletteSwap: You can change your character's colours, so don't be surprised to see two Bricks standing next to each other, one in black and the other wearing bright pink. |
| 332 | * PersonalSpaceInvader: Played straight by 99% of Pandora's wildlife, which just ''loves'' to leap at you in an attempt to gnaw your face off. |
| 333 | * PinkMist: Any headshot with a significantly powerful gun and/or significantly lower-leveled enemy. Special mention goes to the Boomstick, which people often discard after the GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere battle. It may not look like much, but point it at some zombies that get too close to you... and they are reduced to Ludicrous Gibs and BloodyHilarious green mist that put the Masher or a blasting pistol to shame. |
| 334 | * PocketRocketLauncher: Carnage shotguns fire a (usually) high-explosive rocket. |
| 335 | * PostMortemOneLiner: Kill anyone with a Critical hit and your character will happily say one. Also happens after killing a [[EliteMook Badass enemy]]. |
| 336 | * PunchPackingPistol: |
| 337 | ** A repeater pistol can spawn with surprisingly high damage per bullet, even without getting the damage-boosting "Raptor" prefix. |
| 338 | ** The legendary Firehawk pistol is one hell of an example, pun intended. Its elemental multiplier is not the x4 the weapon card says - it's ''x6''. And it's ''always'' guaranteed to proc, so firing repeated shots without as much elemental tech behind them is still a valid tactic that'll roast the target, whatever it may be. |
| 339 | ** "Law" revolvers are meant to be used as this. They don't have quite the power of the regular HandCannon revolver, but they fire fast and typically reload just as quickly. A Tediore Law often isn't up to snuff as a primary weapon, but makes for a formidable sidearm. |
| 340 | * RageHelm: The psychos' masks give off this impression, with the inverted V and the shape of the eyes. |
| 341 | * RandomDrop: Said to be the system for gun drops, though with a supposed over 17 million possibilities, you'll probably be able to find something cool in general. |
| 342 | ** RareRandomDrop: the Pearlescents and Legendaries. |
| 343 | ** RandomlyGeneratedLoot: The game uses a system where its equipment (guns, class mods, shields, grenade mods and, in the sequel, artifacts) is built up from randomly chosen parts which have different traits (although the player can only see this in the stats and the [[GunPorn unique model]] this produces). It also has several manufacturers, who all have their own unique gun textures and special effects. |
| 344 | * RealIsBrown: In the first game, all the deserts and generic badlands and trash piles. As the game progresses, things get more varied, particularly in the Eridian ruins. The "Rust Commons East" and "Trash Coast" levels have lots of green scrub brush, and the final few areas completely break from the previous general color palette, complete with an overgrown ruin and a mountain range in the middle of a snowstorm. |
| 345 | -->'''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQF7GQjTjsM Speaker]]:''' ''Our artists did a lot of research; they found out [[TakeThatMe there's actually some other colors in the palette]].'' |
| 346 | * RecursiveAmmo: The MIRV, Bouncing Betty, and Rain grenade mods, as well as some rare guns. |
| 347 | * RegeneratingShieldStaticHealth: Health can normally only be regenerated by health kits (which eat up precious inventory space) or vials dropped by killed enemies (which is incredibly random and inconsistent). Healing shields and LifeDrain grenades are available, but are relatively rare and entirely random as to whether you'll find a level-appropriate one. Brick gets regenerating health as a base part of his powers, while Lilith and Mordecai can upgrade their powers to regenerate their health by level 11. Roland doesn't get reliable health regeneration until ''level 26'' (his turret can restore health at level 6, but the cooldown is so long that this method is too inconsistent for regular use), and his version is reliant on killing enemies, unlike Brick and Lilith's (which are passive) and Mordecai's (which steals health and thus still works on bosses and solo enemies). |
| 348 | * RespawningEnemies: Even the bosses respawn if you leave the area and return. Sometimes, the enemies will respawn while you're still in the area! This still occurs in the sequel, and the Pre-Sequel. |
| 349 | * RevolversAreJustBetter: |
| 350 | ** The designers certainly seem to think so. Revolver pistols, revolver shotguns, revolver sniper rifles, revolver ''rocket launchers'', in six shot, three shot, two shot, side-gate, cylinder swapping, break-open with speed loaders... almost every gun with under 8 rounds per reload. This may be because revolvers do not eject shells, and would thus be preferred in zero-gravity environments. |
| 351 | ** It's hard not to like a Revolver with the name ''Bloody Justice'' (Unless it does shitty damage or has a ludicrously low ammo count.) or [[SublimeRhyme Raw Law]]. |
| 352 | ** Not just 'up to 8', there is at least one revolver-style shotgun that holds 20. Although the reload animation doesn't seem to be entirely accurate for it. |
| 353 | * RobotBuddy: |
| 354 | ** Claptrap serves as one, while [[http://www.gametrailers.com/video/claptrap-behind-borderlands/55554 these]] [[http://www.gametrailers.com/video/claptrap-behind-borderlands/56814 trailers]] play with it -- do you know a RobotBuddy [[ClusterFBomb that curses so much]]? |
| 355 | ** Do you know a Robot Buddy that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fii-KPEmcMw&feature=player_embedded proposed for a fan]]? ...while hitting on the proposee? |
| 356 | * RocketJump: Rocket launchers don't appear to have enough knockback, but grenades still work. Alternatively, you can get a friend to [[BlownAcrossTheRoom launch]] you using Sledge's shotgun. |
| 357 | * RPGElements: You'll need levels to utilize better equipment and have more health to survive against harder enemies -- plus there's those nifty skill trees. |
| 358 | * RPGsEqualCombat: Played straight. The only ways to obtain XP and level up are killing enemies and completing quests. |
| 359 | * RuleOfFunny: Is there a pop-culture reference, inappropriate joke, or neurosis that can be played for laughs? It goes in the game! |
| 360 | * SarcasmMode: Some of Mordecai's lines when standing still. '''You know, now that you mention it, I DO love to stand around and do nothing!''' |
| 361 | * SchrodingersPlayerCharacter: At the beginning of the game, the four possible player characters (Mordecai the Hunter, Roland the Soldier, Lilith the Siren, and Brick the Berserker) are all riding into town together on a bus. Once you choose which of the four you are playing, you won't see the other three until the finale (unless you are playing multiplayer), but they are all present as comrade [=NPCs=] in the sequel. |
| 362 | * ScreamingWarrior: Brick becomes this whenever he uses his Action Skill, to either annoying or hilarious effect. Also, the various Psychos. |
| 363 | * SelfMadeOrphan: This line, randomly spoken by Psychos upon spotting the player |
| 364 | -->'''Psycho:''' ''You remind me of my mother. [[ImAHumanitarian I ate my mother]].'' |
| 365 | * ShapedLikeItself: Used for the BossSubtitles of the {{Player Character}}s in the opening cutscene for the game: |
| 366 | -->''Brick - As himself'' |
| 367 | * ShockAndAwe: Any use of lightning elemental weapons |
| 368 | --> ''"Maliwan guns shoot more lightning than the next leading competitor!"'' |
| 369 | * ShortRangeLongRangeWeapon: |
| 370 | ** The elephant gun, an otherwise top of the line sniper rifle that lacks any sort of scope, making it useless at the long range you usually use snipers for. |
| 371 | ** Inverted with the Jakobs Striker Shotguns. They have a mod called "Sniper Rifles are for Chumps" that increases accuracy, and if you're lucky enough to find one with a scope, you're likely going to be killing everything with scoped headshots. Too bad it's not exactly the most stable weapon out there, making it hard to actually aim with. |
| 372 | ** The Gamble series of sniper rifles have decreased accuracy, so they aren't very useful at a long range, but they've got a lot of power. In fact, it's impossible to increase the accuracy of a Gamble with [=COMs=], unlike other sniper rifles. |
| 373 | ** You can, of course, use your sniper rifle as a sidearm, especially if it's got a fast rate of fire (i.e. made by Vladof). |
| 374 | * ShortRangeShotgun: |
| 375 | ** Zig-zagged. While there are shotguns that are specifically close-range weapons with pitiful accuracy and a ridiculous spread[[labelnote:list]]Scatterguns, Matadors, Shredders and Sweepers; Carnages also count, as while the spread wouldn't be too bad on a regular shotgun, Carnages fire only one projectile per shot[[/labelnote]], there are also quite a few shotguns that can be created with longer barrels that are more accurate, for a more realistic distance -- some of them even have attached scopes, which can actually be put to use effectively. Interestingly, they're often even more effective in close-range than the really inaccurate ones with higher base damage, since it's easier to put more pellets on a CriticalHit spot. Also, as your shotgun proficiencies increase, it decreases the pellet spread. |
| 376 | ** One example that's almost an exaggeration is Sledge's Shotgun. It's a two-shot shotgun that fires twice in a quick burst, has a range of literally four or five feet, and has a spread only about twenty degrees shy of being able to shoot sideways. Anything in the shot cone vanishes; what isn't disintegrated is [[BlownAcrossTheRoom knocked back a fair distance]]. It's one of the only three guns in the game that can (and will always) have 0.00 accuracy; the other two are [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FieYrFvUFHA The Chopper]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTVYiXIWIRM The Boomstick]], which are both shotguns of a sort -- except the Chopper shoots 18 machinegun rounds per second, and the Boomstick fires rockets. |
| 377 | ** Masher revolvers fire several pellets per round. They tend to be more accurate than your average shotgun. |
| 378 | ** On the extreme other end of the scale is the Legendary Skullmasher. It's a sniper rifle that fires 5 pellets per bullet, close enough to put all of them on someone's head reliably in almost any situation. |
| 379 | * ShoutOut: [[ShoutOut/{{Borderlands}} So very, very many that they have their own page]]. |
| 380 | * SingleBiomePlanet: Pandora looks like an entirely desertic planet littered with trash; it makes the "dark forest" environments of ''The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned'' seem very out of place. |
| 381 | * SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Idealism got shot in the face with a Double Anarchy. Unless you are the Vault Hunters, which in this case means it is looting season and it is time to strike it rich. |
| 382 | * SniperPistol: Both Repeater Pistols and Revolvers can sometimes come equipped with a scope. Even better and more reasonable if it's made by Hyperion (although the company doesn't make revolvers). |
| 383 | * SniperRifle: |
| 384 | ** Oodles of them. Interestingly, none of them are perfectly accurate (with one exception) – when you aim, the scope has a circle in the center showing where the bullet may hit, which gets smaller with higher accuracy ratings (98 or higher is almost pinpoint). There are a few special examples, too: |
| 385 | ** [[MeaningfulName Gamble]] rifles have very poor accuracy for a sniper (often around 88), in exchange for more base damage. |
| 386 | ** The exception mentioned above is the Jakobs Bessie, an ultra-rare Pearlescent sniper. It's the only sniper rifle in the entire game with no spread when scoped in. |
| 387 | ** Two unique sniper rifles always spawn without scopes: the Whitting's Elephant Gun, a pump-action with a ''massive'' damage boost compared to snipers of equal level, and the semi-auto Gearbox Rider, that behaves more like a battle rifle than a sniper. |
| 388 | * SniperScopeSway: All sniper rifles have different amounts of sway as a hidden attribute of sorts: it can be reduced by crouching and certain class skills. |
| 389 | * SpaceCossacks: Roland defected from the Crimson Lance, the elite military arm of the superpowerful and very far-reaching Atlas corporation after his superiors betrayed him. He moved to Pandora in an attempt to fight back against Atlas, which rules the planet with an iron fist. |
| 390 | * SpaceWestern: Lawless deserts overrun by outlaws, scattered outposts of decent people, oppressive but distant rich powers, and glory-seeking treasure hunters. Plus, revolvers, everywhere. |
| 391 | * SpecialAttack: All the PC characters have them and several enemy characters seem to have them as well. |
| 392 | * StatusEffects: Fire is Burn (continuous damage), Corrode is Poison (continuous damage, other attacks do more damage and can spread to nearby enemies), Shock is like Fire but weaker (except against shields), Daze is Slow (though it's so powerful it verges on Paralysis), and Explosion/Blast increases power and does SplashDamage. Most trigger on a CriticalHit. |
| 393 | * StuffBlowingUp: Barrels, Fuel tanks, vehicles, rockets, grenades, any weapon with the Blast element -- quite a few things go boom, but the most memorable example is probably the Rakk Hive. After you kill it, it falls over like any other enemy. A few seconds later, it [[MadeOfExplodium explodes for no apparent reason.]] [[spoiler:If you look closely after it explodes, ''it's still breathing''.]] |
| 394 | * TakingYouWithMe: |
| 395 | ** Psychos will randomly yank out grenades if the player ignores them for too long/they have low health. They're extremely annoying -- they ''will'' put you into Fight For Your Life (see just below) with no one around to shoot and recover, even if you have a shield that doesn't suck. |
| 396 | ** The player can do a version of this. When the character runs out of health, they don't die immediately; instead, they collapse on the spot and have a few seconds while they bleed out, during which they can still fire their equipped weapons (as if they'd been to the ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy, mind you). If the player gets a kill in this time, they regain a small amount of health and can continue on. |
| 397 | * ThemeNaming: A lot of names of deities and places from Myth/ClassicalMythology pop up: |
| 398 | ** The most obvious example would be Pandora itself. |
| 399 | ** The planet Promethea, named after Prometheus, mentioned in the main game and ''The Secret Armory of General Knoxx''. |
| 400 | ** Hyperion and Atlas are the names of two of the Titans in Greek mythology. |
| 401 | * ThickLineAnimation: Used effectively to add to the comic book feel. |
| 402 | * TrickBomb: There are various mods that can be attached to your grenades to turn them into [[StickyBomb sticky bombs]] or Bouncing Betties, make them do fire or lightning or acid damage instead of simply exploding, cause them to throw off cluster bomblets or ''teleport'' to their target... |
| 403 | * UnexpectedGameplayChange: The frantic shooter action sometimes pauses for a jumping puzzle. |
| 404 | * UnusableEnemyEquipment: Normal weapons (most of the time), melee weapons, and shields cannot be collected from enemies. That said, enemies ''will'' drop any non-default equipment or weapons they're using. |
| 405 | * UniversalAmmunition: While there are seperate ammunition categories (sniper rifle, combat rifle, rockets, etc.), the numberable variations within the types still use the same ammo... even if that shotgun variation happens to shoot rockets or [[IncendiaryExponent fire]], and such. Or rockets that explode into fire. |
| 406 | * UpdatedReRelease: ''Borderlands [=GOTY=]: Enhanced'', released shortly before the release of ''Borderlands 3'', is an updated version of the game with subtly improved graphics (including redone high-res textures and improved lighting), a significantly expanded cosmetic character customization system similar to that in the later games, a number of quality of life tweaks for modern systems (such as customizable FOV and anti-aliasing), and some changes to the menus and U.I. that make it slightly closer to that of the later games (such as the inventory now being fully visual instead of a text list, and adding a mini-map to the HUD). |
| 407 | * UsedFuture: There's not much left on Pandora except guns and rusty metal sheets. The inhabitants make do. |
| 408 | * VideoGameCrueltyPotential: The elemental weapons are an example in themselves, burning with acid or fire, or shocking enemies. |
| 409 | * ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption: You shoot anything that gets in your way, which is just about everything. |
| 410 | * ViralUnlockable: The trophy/achievement "And They'll Tell Two Friends", which is earned by playing co-op with either a Gearbox employee or another player who has it. |
| 411 | * WakeUpCallBoss: [[WakeUpCallBoss/{{Borderlands}} Shares a page with the rest of the franchise]]. |
| 412 | * WarpWhistle: The Fast Travel Stations can be used to fast travel to some of the already discovered New-U stations, after you finish a quest to get the system working again. |
| 413 | * WeCanRebuildHim: The New-U stations scattered across Pandora allow players to revive by paying a small fee. |
| 414 | * WelcomeToCorneria: Everything and everyone that can talk has an extremely limited number of lines to tell, be it the protagonists, enemies or vending machines. While listening to the player characters' combat boasts usually remains entertaining for quite some time, having to listen to Marcus' cheap sales pitches ''every single time you access his machines'' might give rise to an irresistable urge to smash your controller into your speakers. |
| 415 | * WorldGoneMad: Pandora is a DeathWorld, its inhabitants are either bandits, psychos or wild fauna out for your blood, and the number one rule to survive is "kill anything that moves and isn't helping you doing the killing". |
| 416 | * WretchedHive: The ''entire planet of Pandora''. |
| 417 | * YourHeadASplode: There's a whole lot of asploding in this game: |
| 418 | ** Tag an enemy in the head with a sniper rifle. Presto! What head? |
| 419 | ** Get a rifle with enough damage and ''your entire freakin' body'' asplode. |
| 420 | ** ...Or just get Brick angry enough to punch a raider to make instant raider puree! |
| 421 | ** Or just get an Explosive Artifact upgrade for your character's special move or a gun that does Explosive element damage. Chances are ''SOMETHING'' on your foes will asplode. |
| 422 | [[/folder]] |
| 423 | |
| 424 | [[folder:Main game]] |
| 425 | * ActionBomb: Psychos can switch their hatchets with a grenade, after which they blow themselves up. |
| 426 | * AirborneMook: Rakks, annoying bird-bat-like creatures that come in swarms, fly around and divebomb you, usually [[ZergRush in packs]]. Thankfully, they (usually) have very low health. |
| 427 | * AllThereInTheManual: Most of the characters back stories are told in the game's guide, like how Krom and Baron Flynt used to be wardens on Pandora before becoming bandit leaders, etc. |
| 428 | * ApocalypticLog: Tannis' set of journals, somewhat. They detail Dahl's abandonment of her project and her PlayedForLaughs SanitySlippage, culminating in the skags picking off her research team. |
| 429 | * AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Rakk Hive, Mothrakk, Skagzilla, [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Helob]], Widowmaker, Rakka[[VideoGame/{{Diablo}} nishu]]. |
| 430 | * AWinnerIsYou: The Guardian says [[spoiler:it will be another 200 years before the Vault opens again, and instead to turn the key in to Tannis for a cash reward. Claptrap turns evil. Roll credits.]] |
| 431 | * AxCrazy: |
| 432 | ** Judging by her personal logs, Dahl Corporation scientist Patricia Tannis is equal parts this and {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, laughing to herself as she fed her colleagues to skags after they died. She even [[CompanionCube dated the recorder]] she used for the logs, though they broke up. |
| 433 | ** Also the majority of the bandits, and at least two of the player characters. |
| 434 | *** The enemies with the label "psycho" pretty much take the cake, though; they went insane with a freakish obsession for the Vault after a Vault key was found in Headstone Mine. |
| 435 | * BerserkButton: Scooter doesn't like it when people blow up, crash, and otherwise wreck his runners, or when they sleep with his mom. |
| 436 | * {{BFS}}: Hanz, one of Baron Flynt's bodyguards, has one. |
| 437 | * TheBaroness: [[spoiler:Commandant Steele]], who even comes with an over-the-top Boer accent. |
| 438 | * BigBad: [[spoiler:The Atlas Corporation, specifically Commandant Steele and her Crimson Lance forces]]. |
| 439 | * BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The Vault Hunters come to Pandora looking for riches, and in the end they end up with only a fraction of their original intents. Sure, they (are somewhat forced to) stop a centuries-old evil, and are probably millionaires just from the loot they've found along the way, but still]]. |
| 440 | * BorderPatrol: If the limits of an area aren't determined by cliffs or walls, then there will be turret towers stopping you from going too far. |
| 441 | * BlackComedyRape: |
| 442 | -->'''Bandit:''' ''Hold on! Rape is such a strong word. I liked to think of it as. Well, uh... you see... Nope! It's rape alright! Carry on!'' |
| 443 | ** Also: |
| 444 | --> '''A Claptrap:''' ''I think you ought to know [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy I'm feeling very depressed]]. A guy finally gets a break from all the shooting and raping. Oh yes, these are desperate men.'' |
| 445 | * BossSubtitles: Even the main characters get one. |
| 446 | ** Mordecai as the "Hunter" |
| 447 | ** Lilith as the "Siren" |
| 448 | ** Roland as the "Soldier" |
| 449 | ** and Brick as [[CharacterAsHimself "Himself!"]] |
| 450 | ** Sledge. [- P.S. YOU GUYS AREN'T FRIENDS. -] |
| 451 | ** Nine-Toes. [[TooMuchInformation Also, he has three balls.]] |
| 452 | ** Baron Flynt. '''[[SmokingIsCool That's medicinal.]]''' It's a reference to Woody Harrelson, who played Larry Flynt in the film, and is known to be a proponent of a certain smokable herb. |
| 453 | ** The player characters have differing ones in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86WpLFOIYjw PC Launch Trailer]]. Brick is "Ballnormous", Roland is "Swashbucklerous", Mordecai is "Suavemaculant", and Lilith is "Hot". |
| 454 | ** [[spoiler:[=CL4P-TP=]. [-INTERPLANETARY NINJA ASSASSIN.-]]] |
| 455 | * BrickJoke: During one of the earliest game missions, T.K. Baha sends you to buy grenades from Marcus's store after rescueing his food because he used all the grenades he had to fish. Later on, when you reach the "Treacher's Landing" area, you'll receive missions that involve fishing in said area at certain spots... using grenades. |
| 456 | * BullfightBoss: Alpha Skag, and especially Skagzilla. they have thick front armor and a charge attack, so jumping out of the way and shooting their backs is the easiest way to defeat them. Corrosive weapons or a critical hit, however, are more efficient. |
| 457 | * CainAndAbel: Jaynis and Taylor Kobb. [[spoiler:Actually subverted, as once Jaynis is killed and Taylor takes control of his town, he proves to be just as bad as his brother]]. |
| 458 | * TheCakeIsALie: [[spoiler:The vault is RealAfterAll, but there's no treasure in it; just SealedEvilInACan.]] |
| 459 | * CargoShip: [[invoked]] As part of her descent into {{Cloudcuckooland}}, [[spoiler:Patricia Tannis dates her voice recorder. She gets into fights with it. And then they decide to remain friends.]] |
| 460 | * TheChewToy: In-universe, Claptraps. The Fyrestone Claptrap notes that the local bandits like to use them for target practice. This eventually came to bite everyone in the ass, as his disgust at the treatment his kind endures provoked the titular Robot Revolution of ''Claptrap's New Robot Revolution''. |
| 461 | * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Patricia Tannis. Her BossSubtitles in ''Claptrap's New Robot Revolution'' comes with a background that has [[VisualPun screws and baseballs]] on it while pausing on her holding a BrainInAJar. |
| 462 | * ContinueYourMissionDammit: The Voice goes ''nuts'' towards the end of the game. |
| 463 | * TheComputerIsALyingBastard: The shield "Wee Wee's Super Booster" has "Very quick Health Regeneration!", while Tediore's Panacea shields have "Quick Health Regeneration!". The "Very" on the former implies that it's even faster than a Panacea, but it's actually exactly the same speed of healing. |
| 464 | * CrazyPrepared: Taylor Kobb apparently [[spoiler:puts armed midgets in storage containers (complete with beds and toilets) in case he has a sudden need to betray someone]]. |
| 465 | * DeadlyDoctor: "Dr." Zed. His first appearance gives him a small cutscene with BossSubtitles for him, pausing before he strikes down on a corpse he is about to chop up. He explicitly states he's lost his license when first meeting him and his medical machines occasionally say in his voice "Who needs a real doctor when you've got my machines and their scary needles?". |
| 466 | * DemotedToExtra: |
| 467 | ** Helena Pierce's role in the story was scaled back a ''lot'' after the game had a drastic visual overhaul. (For starters, she's prominently featured in the pre-comic book style game trailer.) Now, she's just a minor NPC you only meet halfway through the game, doing the occasional quest for. |
| 468 | ** The inverse happened to Patricia Tannis, who wasn't even mentioned at all in the trailer, and features a lot more than Pierce and actively helps you with your quest. |
| 469 | * DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:The FinalBoss is a [[EldritchAbomination giant Cthulhu-like monster]] complete with tentacles, giant gaping [[VaginaDentata maw]], and a massive eye that shoots energy beams. The character is armed with ballistic weapons and maybe some alien weapons you found. And if you're Brick, you can ''literally'' punch it out too. Though {{Justified|Trope}}, since the Guardian Angel tells you it can be hurt because it's not in its own dimension.]] |
| 470 | * DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler:Baron Flynt, leader of Pandora's bandit hordes]]. His death sets up the climax of the main game. |
| 471 | * DudeWheresMyReward: After fighting through an entire world full of nasty monsters, brutal thugs, and vicious soldiers, you finally reach the Vault and find... [[spoiler:another monster. Angel even admits she played you, for the sake of the well-being of the galaxy...]] |
| 472 | * EarlyBirdBoss: Sledge can be this. You must fight him before finishing the first act proper and chances are you won't have found really good guns, or have the best skills available, by the time you have to deal with him, his high health pool and nasty shotgun. |
| 473 | * EarlyBirdCameo: [[spoiler:The Eridians]] show up briefly in an early sidequest at the Dahl Headlands level, but you don't actually learn who or what [[spoiler:they]] are until the finale. |
| 474 | * EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:The vault actually contains this. See DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu above.]] |
| 475 | * TheEngineer: The Crimson Lance Engineers can deploy turrets. |
| 476 | * {{Expy}}: Multiple: |
| 477 | ** The Crimson Lance {{mook}}s look quite a bit like [[Anime/JinRohTheWolfBrigade Protect Gears]] and the [[VideoGame/KillZone Helghast]]. They're also similar to [[VideoGame/{{Fallout}} The Enclave]] -- same cheesy fifties advertisements, same Dangerously TooDumbToLive tendencies, and similar armor. |
| 478 | ** You can get the [[VideoGame/{{Diablo}} Cracked Sash]] off [[VideoGame/{{Diablo}} Rakkinishou]]? |
| 479 | ** There's a [[https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2017/09/07/see-how-much-borderlands-changed-by-reading-our-original-2007-cover-story.aspx Game Informer pre-release article about the game]], which reveals how the characters looked during development. Zed is Roland, Steele is Lilith (who apparently was a male character called the scientist originally), one of the later sub-bosses (Reaver) was Mordecai, and supposedly the badass bruiser model was Brick. |
| 480 | * FetchQuest: |
| 481 | ** The levels "Arid Badlands", "Sledge's Safe House", "The Lost Cave", "New Haven", "Tetanus Warren", "Crazy Earl's Scrapyard", "Krom's Canyon", "Trash Coast", "Old Haven", "Salt Flats" and "Crimson Fastness" feature a mission where you need to fetch a repair kit for a damaged Claptrap. As a reward, you get one or two Storage Deck Upgrades. |
| 482 | ** "Fix'er Upper" requires you to fetch a power unit for the Med Station at Zed's location in Fyrestone. |
| 483 | ** "T.K.'s Food" requires you to retrieve four food bags for T.K. Baha from the Skags, while the mission "T.K.'s Life And Limb" requires you to kill a skag called Scar in Skag Gully and retrieve T.K.'s leg, and "By The Seeds Of Your Pants" requires you to travel back to Skag Gully and collect eight Bladeflower Seeds. |
| 484 | ** "Bone Head's Theft" requires you to kill the titular character and retrieve the Digistruct module he stole from the Catch-A-Ride station. |
| 485 | ** There are several missions that involve getting ECHO recordings, such as "Why Are They Here?" and Patricia Tannis's "Hidden Journals" missions. |
| 486 | ** Other missions require you to collect some form of MacGuffin: "Shock Crystal Harvest" requires you to collect these crystals from the Lost Cave (the reward being a Shock Artifact for your character's ability). |
| 487 | ** And others (the Scavenger missions) require you to collect weapon parts in order to get a weapon as a reward. |
| 488 | * GameplayAndStorySegregation: If the player dies in the tutorial area, before, or immediately after, activating the New-U Station, they're revived and placed at the point where they left the bus, but still get a financial loss and message like they actually used a New-U Station, even though they actually didn't. The New-U station doesn't act as the checkpoint for loading into the game, either. The one inside Fyrestone proper is the first one that does that. |
| 489 | * GiantMook: The Bruiser, a heavily-muscled, shirtless bandit with a mohawk, a surgical mask, and a truckload of health. Their [[EliteMooks Badass]] variant is even bigger, has even more health, wears a mask adorned with SpikesOfVillainy, and has GlowingEyesOfDoom. |
| 490 | * GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: |
| 491 | ** The Bleeder, whatever the hell that thing is supposed to be, there is no indication in the sidequest that you encounter it that it is anything BUT a an ordinary Scythid. |
| 492 | ** One of the challenge achievements for killing [[spoiler:the Guardians]] in the "Dahl Headlands" level is titled "What is this thing?", as if to {{lampshade}} the sheer absurdity of the situation. It's explained by [[spoiler:the Guardian Angel]] afterwards, but still. |
| 493 | ** [[spoiler:The finale. All of it. There isn't a huge vault, but an interdimensional monstrosity]]. |
| 494 | * GladiatorSubquest: |
| 495 | ** The "Circle of Death" series of missions at the "Arid Badlands" level pits you against three waves of powerful Skags. |
| 496 | ** The "Circle of Slaughter" series at the "Rust Commons West" level pits you against three waves of Bandits. |
| 497 | * GlassCannon: [[spoiler:The Eridians]] are extremely powerful, but have very low defense and health. They do, however, have extremely powerful shields. |
| 498 | * HubLevel: |
| 499 | ** The main game has initially the "Arid Badlands", which are connected to six levels: "Skag Gully", "Arid Hills", "Lost Caverns", "Headstone Mine" and finally "Dahl Headlands", as well as the Deathmatch arena "Fyrestone's Collisseum". |
| 500 | ** "New Haven" subverts this: it's the main center of most of the game, where most missions are acquired and the main [=NPCs=] are found, but most of the action happens in the "Rust Commons East" and "Rust Commons West" levels, which, in addition to their several interconnections, are connected to a lot of areas: "West" is connected to "Dahl Headlands", "New Haven", "Crazy Earl's Scrapyard" and "Treacher's Landing", as well as the multiplayer arena "The Cesspool"; and "East" is connected to "Trash Coast", "Krom's Canyon", "Old Haven" and "Salt Flats". |
| 501 | ** Finally, "Salt Flats" is connected to "Rust Commons East", "The Backdoor", "Crimson Enclave" and "The Descent", as well as the multiplayer arena "The Devil's Footstool". |
| 502 | * HulkSpeak: Sledge speaks this way. |
| 503 | * ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice:** The Crimson Lance did the same to the bandits lured to "Old Haven". |
| 504 | ** [[spoiler:The Guardians did the same to Crimson Lance soldiers approaching the Vault]]. |
| 505 | ** [[spoiler:Commander Steele by the EldritchAbomination with a large tentacle. DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything? Even better, the thing impaling her looks like a giant vagina.]] |
| 506 | * KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Commander Steele]]. |
| 507 | * KickTheDog: |
| 508 | ** Very little characterization is given to Krom, one of the bosses, except that he is apparently pretty bad and that he stabbed Crazy Earl twice, so in his pre-fight cutscene he shoots a tiny cowering Claptrap off of a bridge [[ForTheEvulz just to be a dick]]. |
| 509 | ** Additionally, Tannis says about Baron Flynt: "After he left he took the artifact and punched my dog... Which was the last piece of the Key to the Vault. The artifact, not my dog". |
| 510 | * KingMook: |
| 511 | ** Nine-Toes, little more than a stronger bandit. |
| 512 | ** In Tetanus Warren, there is a boss enemy called King Wee Wee, a midget. |
| 513 | * KingOfThieves: Baron Flynt commands an army of thugs comprised of the {{mook}}s and bosses the players fight through over the course of the story. He makes his home base inside of a giant heavily-guarded excavator patrolled by goons in buggies. His unique weapon is the Boom Stick, a rocket-firing shotgun. |
| 514 | * LampshadeHanging: In "New Haven", Scooter tells you his concerns about joyriders taking his Runners and smashing them all to hell. Given how most players probably use them with reckless abandon, he asks if you knew anything about it. |
| 515 | * LawEnforcementInc: The Crimson Lance who work for the Atlas Corp. It's hinted they've gone somewhat rogue, however. |
| 516 | * LeaningOnTheFourthWall: |
| 517 | ** Marcus does this at the beginning of the game as you're getting off the bus, saying that "We'll be doing this again soon enough". |
| 518 | ** Also, the writings in Tannis' cell at "Crimson Fastness" imply the second playthrough as well. |
| 519 | * LightningBruiser: |
| 520 | ** Sledge is deceptively fast for his size, especially since, at first, he seems to use the slow "Bruiser" fighting style. This is especially noticeable if you try to fight him with a scoped weapon (don't aim for the head -- his helmet blocks out all crit damage -- ''unless'' you can reliably hit his red eyeslit) and find that he's always closing the distance to you much quicker than he should. He attacks rather fast, ''especially'' if you back into a corner. |
| 521 | ** Skagzilla -- its huge size compliments all its standard-issue Skag melee attacks quite well. |
| 522 | * MacGuffin: The Vault Keys. |
| 523 | * MacGuffinLocation: The Vault or more specifically [[spoiler:everything that you are told would be in it.]] |
| 524 | * MeaningfulName: Some of the [[spoiler:Eridians]] are called Arch Guardians, and arches are prominent architectural choices in their design. [[spoiler:Even the Vault door is an arch.]] |
| 525 | * MediumBlending: The Guardian Angel's transmissions are comprised of live action footage, albeit with heavy post-processing. |
| 526 | * MenAreTheExpendableGender: There isn't a single human female NPC that you kill anywhere in the main game. |
| 527 | * MisplacedSorrow: You often get this reaction from [=NPCs=] when you break bad news to them. For example, when you tell Scooter that [[spoiler:T.K.]] is dead, he angrily laments that he never returned his tools. |
| 528 | * MoneyForNothing: Money is very critical within the first and second area, but by the time you reach the Dahl Headlands, you will be either selling more than spending or just keep farming for money found in lockers. Even though the money display caps off at $9,999,999, you can still get even more money beyond the display. It's not necessarily a good thing: earn enough cash and you'll trigger an integer overflow, giving you billions of negative dollars until you earn your way out of the supposed debt or die (which resets your wallet to 0). |
| 529 | * MonsterArena: |
| 530 | ** The "Circle of Death" arena in the "Arid Badlands" level. |
| 531 | ** The "Circle of Slaughter" arena in the "Rust Commons West" level. |
| 532 | * MoodWhiplash: For example, in the first game area, there's a friendly blind-and-crippled {{Cloudcuckoolander}} questgiver. Later you're given a quest to go check on the guy. That should be fun, right? Oh, look, he's not in his porch chair. Must be inside his shack, let's go check -- [[spoiler:oh, there he is, hung by his one good leg from a turning ceiling fan, with his neck cut and loads of blood all around]]. |
| 533 | * MookMaker: The Rakk Hive. |
| 534 | * TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: In one of Scooter's quests, he wants you to save Lucky from being killed by bandits so that Scooter can kill him later on for 'ruining his momma's girl parts'. [[spoiler:In ''The Secret Armory of General Knoxx'', he actually gets around to doing so, and threatens to bury you next to him if you don't treat his mom right]]. |
| 535 | -->'''Scooter:''' ''Don't act all surprised, I told you I was gonna do it!'' |
| 536 | * OnlySaneMan: |
| 537 | ** Helena Pierce is the most serious, less snarker of the characters in New Haven. |
| 538 | ** Dr. Zed, to a much lesser degree. |
| 539 | * PermanentlyMissableContent: King Wee Wee's shield didn't respawn in the original version. |
| 540 | * PornStash: The mission "Dumpster Diving for Great Justice" in New Haven has you searching around for something "of great value" to a man that his wife threw away in a rage (read: dirty magazines). Picking them up, they say "Ugh! Some of the pages are stuck together." The guy tells you to not ask when you turn the mission in. Even worse is when he pays you for the job. He says "Don't worry if the money is damp, I just washed my hands." |
| 541 | * PreAsskickingOneLiner: Nine Toes; "You woke the wrong dog." Subverted story-wise, as he's the one who gets his ass kicked; gameplay-wise, it's played straight if you're not careful. |
| 542 | * PrivateMilitaryContractors: The Crimson Lance form Atlas's private army. They're well-trained, heavily armed (with uncommon weapons or higher rarity ones) and they can pose a big threat to you if you're not careful. |
| 543 | * TheReveal: [[spoiler:The Vault isn't an armory of alien weaponry, it's a ''prison'' the Eridians built to keep the Destroyer from destroying the universe.]] |
| 544 | * SelfMadeOrphan: Jed "Reaver" Stokely, the subject of a set of missions between New Haven and Krom's Canyon, [[spoiler:who killed his father after the latter disapproved of him going bandit]]. |
| 545 | * TheStinger: [[spoiler:A Hyperion satellite is discovered. Later, cue [=CL4P-TP=]: Interplanetary Ninja Assassin!]] Later subverted, as [[AndTheAdventureContinues this sets the stage]] for [[spoiler:''Claptrap's New Robot Revolution'']]. |
| 546 | * {{Superboss}}: Crawmerax the Invincible. By far the toughest fight in the game, he's always five levels above you. Unless you're a very skilled player with the right character build or you used the crevice exploit in his arena (or both), he's all but impossible to beat in a solo game. |
| 547 | * ThirdPersonPerson: Sledge, the (not particularly bright) bandit leader, will shout at you in this style as you fight him. ''"Think you can beat Sledge? Nuh uh! Sledge too smart for you!"'' |
| 548 | * ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: Roland is known to say [[FourthWallObserver "Critical, Bitch!"]] |
| 549 | * TieredByName: the game prefixes its upgraded enemies with "Badass", then "Badmutha", and finally "Superbad" as player progresses through levels of NewGamePlus. |
| 550 | * TooMuchInformation: |
| 551 | ** From T.K. Baha: |
| 552 | --> ''"I uh, I hate to send you away, you're great company and all... but I, [[ToiletHumour I gotta go take a dump]]. I gotta take a dump something awful! Something real awful! [[PottyFailure Oh.. never mind... it's gone now]]."'' |
| 553 | ** Nine-Toes: [[spoiler:Also, he has three balls.]] |
| 554 | * TrademarkFavoriteFood: Crazy Earl loves him some Canned Skag Meat. [[BlatantLies He claims it's for his pet Skag.]] |
| 555 | * UniqueItems: |
| 556 | ** The "Wee Wee's Super Booster"[[note]]Unique Pangolin Panacea-type shield that boosts maximum health by +15% and regenerates health very quickly[[/note]] and "The Spy"[[note]]Unique Hyperion SMG with increased accuracy when scoped and a fixed +35% critical hit damage[[/note]] items are tied to a non-respawnable boss (at least in the original version, the ''Enhanced'' version and the ''Remastered'' version made him respawnable). One is a boss drop from King Wee Wee, the other a mission reward for completing the sidequest "King Tossing". |
| 557 | ** "The Meat Grinder"[[note]]Unique Torgue Support Machinegun-type Combat Rifle with extended magazine, high rate of fire and low accuracy[[/note]] is a drop from Jaynis Kobb, a non-respawnable main story mission boss. After he's killed and the mission redeemed to his brother Taylor, [[spoiler:he replaces Taynis as the zone's boss, dropping a different weapon]]. |
| 558 | * UselessUsefulSpell: Shock damage weapons and abilities get a massive bonus against regenerating shields, which sounds like it'd be helpful until you realize that no targets in the entire game have significant shields besides the scarce and feeble Guardians and the players themselves. There's no real reason to engage in player versus player combat in Borderlands, and even if there was the damage output of most quality guns is so extreme the Shock elemental damage bonus is unnecessary to get practically instant player kills. Ironically Shock weapons are much more useful to the enemies than they are to the players, and an enemy that spawns with a shock revolver or rocket launcher can take out most player characters in just a couple shots. |
| 559 | * VaginaDentata: The Rakk Hive. The official strategy guide lampshades this by talking only about the censorship of its mouth in the image. |
| 560 | * VengefulVendingMachine: When you reach "New Haven", you can find Dr. Zed's Claptrap assistant running around all over the place. He stops at the medical vending machine and pounds on it, frustrated that it isn't working. The vending machine works just fine for the player. |
| 561 | * ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption: |
| 562 | ** Lampshaded when the player is requested to find Reaver (a bandit who killed his father shortly before joining up with Krom's crew) -- the player's idea of discipline is blasting his balls off; the mission giver (his uncle) is distraught. |
| 563 | ** Likewise, a bounty quest in "New Haven" has you searching for a woman's husband and son. When you find them, the son has killed the husband and then turns on you. Killing him is your only option. When you turn the bounty in, you explain everything that happened. It's a lot for her to take in, but she understands that killing her son was probably the best course of action for you to take anyway. She also says that she wishes to never hear from you ever again. |
| 564 | * VoiceWithAnInternetConnection: [[spoiler:The Guardian Angel]]. |
| 565 | * WeaponJr: The opening cutscene shows a picture of the {{Player Character}}s as children; [[FriendlySniper Mordecai]] has a slingshot, [[TouchedByVorlons Lilith]] has a bubble wand, [[TheBigGuy Brick]] has a glove, and [[StillWearingTheOldColors Roland]]...has a map (although he does wear an approximation of the armour he wears as an adult). |
| 566 | * WhamEpisode: You wouldn't think that a game with an ExcusePlot would have one, but [[spoiler:after you kill Baron Flynt, the Crimson Lance suddenly invade Pandora with the intent to both conquer it and claim the Vault for their own uses, Tannis is revealed to have a (partially) unwilling asset to them, and Sanctuary, one of the last thriving settlements on Pandora, is forcibly occupied. Oh, and the Eridians turn out to be still alive, and they are ''pissed''.]] |
| 567 | * YourMom: As the special thanks section rolls up during the credits, one of the developers says this for his special thanks. |
| 568 | [[/folder]] |
| 569 | |
| 570 | [[folder:''The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned'']] |
| 571 | * ActionBomb: The Suicide Zombies. |
| 572 | * AirborneMook: Corpse Eaters, annoying crow-bat-like creatures that come in swarms, fly around and divebomb you, usually [[ZergRush in packs]]. Thankfully, they (usually) have very low health. |
| 573 | * AntagonistTitle: [[spoiler:You fight the titular character]] at the end of the DLC. |
| 574 | * ApocalypticLog: Hank Reiss' ECHO recordings detail the events of the zombie outbreak in Jakobs Cove. |
| 575 | * AffablyEvil: Dr. Ned. He just wants to sit in bed with his comfy slippers... and make horrible undead monstrosities. |
| 576 | * BadassPreacher: One of the adventurers who tried to stop the ZombieApocalypse at Jakobs Cove was Father Jackie O'Callahan! He kicked zombie arse with the best of them, but [[spoiler:wound up turned into a wereskag after getting "nicked in the neck" by Hank Reiss]]. |
| 577 | * BodyHorror: |
| 578 | ** The zombies present all over the DLC, including [[spoiler:Zombie T.K. Baha]]. |
| 579 | ** [[spoiler:Undead Ned]], the FinalBoss, [[spoiler:is a mutated version of the deceased Ned, after his fight]]. [[NothingIsScarier There's no explanation about how he was able to transform between his defeat and his appearance]]. |
| 580 | * BorderPatrol: In addition to cliffs and walls, Jakobs Cove and Generally Hospital have turret towers that shoot anybody trying to venture too far. |
| 581 | * BossSubtitles: |
| 582 | ** At the beginning of the DLC: Dr. Ned "(I'M HELPING!)" |
| 583 | ** [[spoiler:Hank Reiss: WERESKAG (Nice Hat!)]] |
| 584 | ** At the end of the DLC: [[spoiler:Dr. Ned ''(turns out he's a bad guy... who knew?)'']] |
| 585 | ** [[spoiler:Undead Ned. ''[[OhCrap HOLY F*#KING SHIT!!!]]'']] |
| 586 | * BreakingTheFourthWall: |
| 587 | ** One of the side-quests given to you by Dr. Ned has him wondering in the description about his status as an NPC and not a villain. [[spoiler:[[TheUnTwist He actually turns out to be the villain]].]] |
| 588 | ** There's a log by a random "adventurer" that's mostly him complaining about the game's guide arrow. Subverted in that it's part of the HUD provided by the Dahl Corporation. |
| 589 | * CannedOrdersOverLoudspeaker: Jakobs during the DLC, at Jakobs Cove. |
| 590 | * ChestMonster: There's a subversion with a somewhat rare Loot Goon zombie who literally carries a red weapon chest on his back. Killing him lets you open it up and take what's inside. |
| 591 | * CreditsGag: [[spoiler:Killing the FinalBoss's first form]] causes fake credits to appear for a few seconds. |
| 592 | * DarkWorld: Dead Haven is Old Haven from the main game after a zombie outbreak. It's equally as hostile, but with Zombie Crimson Lance soldiers instead. YMMV on whether Dead Haven is any safer. |
| 593 | * TheEngineer: The Zombie Crimson Lancers's Engineers can deploy turrets. |
| 594 | * EverythingsDeaderWithZombies: The DLC's main {{mook}}s are zombies. |
| 595 | * {{Expy}}: [[spoiler:Undead Ned]], or more accurately, [[spoiler:the [[PunnyName Nedcromorph]]]], is one of, well, [[spoiler:a [[Franchise/DeadSpace Necromorph]]]]. |
| 596 | * HubLevel: "Jakobs Cove" is connected to every other level in the DLC, except [[spoiler:"The Mill"]], which has a one-way back passage to the area. |
| 597 | * ItWasADarkAndStormyNight: In the opening cutscene, Marcus begins telling the story with this line, which he punctuates with [[CantBelieveISaidThat a weary "Sheesh..."]]. |
| 598 | * LampshadeHanging: A log from a dimwitted zombie hunter in the first DLC is just him getting confused by and whining about the game's guide arrow. |
| 599 | * MadDoctor: Dr. Ned. He's already at it the first time you meet him. |
| 600 | * MadLibsDialogue: Over the tannoy: |
| 601 | --> ''"Thank you valuable Jakobs employee for your continuing patience during this transitional --Zombie Apocalypse.-- Your satisfaction is very important to us and thank you for your continuing commitment to making Jakobs number one in customer satisfaction and accident awareness!"'' |
| 602 | * OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Undead Ned]]. |
| 603 | * OurZombiesAreDifferent: A combination of type F/P. But with a variation on the F type. For one, they don't mind eating the brains of other zombies. |
| 604 | * PermanentlyMissableContent: |
| 605 | ** If you don't get Dr. Ned's gun before you fall in the trapdoor, it's gone when you go back. Presumably you can do a second playthrough, but still, it's easy to miss, but it also isn't a unique weapon. |
| 606 | ** The Jakobs weapon vendor used to only be active after its quest is complete but only until the area is reloaded. That was patched to always be active once the quest was complete. |
| 607 | * PreEndingCredits: At the end, after defeating [[spoiler:Dr. Ned's first form]] the game goes to the credits roll... which are suddenly shredded by [[spoiler:Ned's second form, Undead Ned]], and the player is prompted to [[spoiler:drop off from Ned's building all the way down to a cave where the second phase of the fight begins]]. |
| 608 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: Psycho zombies. If you manage to knock them down ''without'' killing them, when they get up, you better run (or not, since you will ''not'' outrun them). |
| 609 | * SchizoTech: PlayedForLaughs. The Vault Hunters use ''dial-up'' to send an ECHO recording to Jakobs. |
| 610 | --> '''Jakobs Representative:''' ''Transmission commencing on 56K connection. Please wait. ''(a little while later)'' Transmission received. Thank you for using our state of the art interstellar science magician to send your message!'' |
| 611 | * SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: [[spoiler:Subverted]]. Dr. Ned, who is totally not his completely real (and in no way imaginary) brother, Dr. Zed, in a ridiculous moustache disguise. According to Claptrap's Web Series, [[spoiler:this is true]]. |
| 612 | * SupportingTheMonsterLovedOne: Players can meet the zombie of [[spoiler:their old pal TK Baha]]. [[spoiler:TK, being an old blind man with one leg ''before'' he got killed]], can't 'hunt' for his own food, so the player characters bring him brains. However, as the zombie outbreak claimed every living soul in Jakobs Cove, the brains come from other zombies;, while he tends to puke after eating a zombie brain, he otherwise doesn't seem to mind. |
| 613 | * TooMuchInformation: To quote Dr. Ned's Claptrap; ''"Dr. Ned gave me the following awards this year; 'Most effective claptrap in life threatening situations', 'Hardest performer of mid '80s breakdance fighting', 'Master orator', and [[CargoShip 'Best kisser']]."'' Thanks, Claptrap. Thanks. |
| 614 | * TrademarkFavoriteFood: [[spoiler:Zombie T.K. Baha and brains]]. |
| 615 | * UndeadCounterpart: There are zombie variants of the Crimson Lance soldiers in the Dead Haven level. |
| 616 | * WrongGenreSavvy: You can find an audio log by a MilesGloriosus GreatWhiteHunter where he records his intention to fight the zombies by shooting them in the heart. Aiming for the heart ''is'' preferable to aiming for the head when hunting in real life (as the skull of most large animals is ''really'' thick and the brain is quite small as well), but pretty much the dumbest idea ever in a ZombieApocalypse. Then again, bodyshots will drop zombies here (albeit with reduced efficiency compared to headshots). |
| 617 | * ZombiePukeAttack: Defilers use this most prominently, but most of the setting's zombies can every so often. The only zombie that can't is the [[WhoNeedsTheirWholeBody Torso]]. |
| 618 | [[/folder]] |
| 619 | |
| 620 | [[folder:''Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot'']] |
| 621 | * TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:Hanz and Franz, Baron Flynt's henchmen]] are now working under Moxxi as bosses for the challenges. |
| 622 | * CrosshairAware: The effect Dodgeball makes the enemies evade more. |
| 623 | * ExperiencePenalty: Enemies in the underdome provide no experience points, although experience may be obtained by completing challenges. |
| 624 | * KonamiCode: Mad Moxxi's first husband was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DosLOfrn58 a dirtbag and a cheat]]. |
| 625 | * GladiatorSubquest: The DLC has only one mission, with three sub-missions where the player must fight through five rounds composed of five waves of {{mook}}s and previous bosses in the arenas "Hell-Burbia", "The Angelic Ruins" and "The Gully". The three sub-missions follow the "Circle..." challenges in the main game. |
| 626 | * MarathonLevel: Completing the 'Big Tournament' quest requires winning 20 rounds, with 5 waves of enemies per round, in each of the 3 arenas. The player is unable to save his progress through the rounds to come back later, if he resets the game he'll need to restart at round 1, and completing 20 rounds can easily take over 4 hours. To make this mission even more painful enemy HitPoints and damage will slightly increase with each round completed, and by the final rounds you'll be facing enemies who are deadlier than any other generic bad guys in the entire game. Doing 20 rounds as a single player also requires you don't die AT ALL as doing so will immediately boot you back to the Underdome lobby forcing you to restart from round 1. Steam Achievement stats reveal the achievement for completing 'Big Tournament' is one of the rarest among the playerbase. |
| 627 | * MonsterArena: Three arenas where the action takes place: "The Gully", "Angelic Ruins" and "Hell-Burbia". |
| 628 | * RegeneratingHealth: The "naked" Moxxi's Maxim gives regenerating health, at the cost of removing shields. |
| 629 | [[/folder]] |
| 630 | |
| 631 | [[folder:''The Secret Armory of General Knoxx'']] |
| 632 | * AffablyEvil: General Knoxx just wants to finish his job of dealing with you and get out of Pandora as quick as he can. By the time you meet him he [[DrivenToSuicide doesn't even care anymore]]. |
| 633 | * AirborneMook: The Secret Armory introduces Lance Rocketeers who fly around with a JetPack while whittling away at players with burst-fire combat rifles. Badass Rocketeers always wield rocket launchers instead of rifles and their heavy explosive firepower combined with their aerial mobility make them some of the deadliest foes in Borderlands. |
| 634 | * AmazonBrigade: The Lance Assassins are entirely female. |
| 635 | * AntagonistTitle: [[spoiler:You fight the titular character]] at the end of the DLC. |
| 636 | * ApocalypticLog: Knoxx's descent into madness is saved in some ECHO recordings that the player finds in Road's End at the climax of the DLC. |
| 637 | * ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: |
| 638 | ** As said by a Crimson Lance Probe: |
| 639 | --> ''"At Atlas, safety is our primary concern. When near drone, please avoid shooting, cursing, skipping, and/or jump-roping."'' |
| 640 | *** Some of those same probes have corrosive weapons on them. They advertise that they are carrying poison that is very effective against skags, Vault Hunters, and people named "Jason". |
| 641 | * ArtificialStupidity: Some of the flying guardians just fly around, not even noticing you while you're shooting at it. They can get caught up in the area geometry, and later on, just hover in mid-air, allowing players to just casually pick them off at a distance. |
| 642 | * AwesomePersonnelCarrier: The Lancer, being the previously undrivable Crimson Lance vehicles seen in the original game's Crimson Fastness level. |
| 643 | * BathroomStallGraffiti: While not in a bathroom, one quest given to you by Mad Moxxi has you cleaning up graffiti about her. Considering how [[{{Pun}} badly written]] and [[ToiletHumor childish]] said graffiti is, it's either a take on or a ShoutOut to the trope. |
| 644 | -->''Moxxi likes to do it Scaggi style!'' |
| 645 | * BlatantLies: Mr. Shank on Athena's imprisonment: |
| 646 | --> ''"If you're looking for the girl I can assure you she is unharmed. ... Shit! Not that we wouldn't. I mean, we'd totally harm her. I'm thinking of harming her right now."'' |
| 647 | * BlingBlingBang: The Knoxx's Gold pistol. |
| 648 | * BodyHorror: Motorhead, AKA Sledge, fought at the end of the Midget missions, is Sledge revived by Midget scientists, becoming a hideous monstruosity with RegeneratingHealth, but highly vulnerable to flaming and corroding damage. |
| 649 | * BossSubtitles: Of all the introduced characters, only Knoxx is a boss: |
| 650 | ** Scooter: ''GET YOU ONE!'' |
| 651 | ** Moxxi: ''SWF looking 4 STR'' |
| 652 | ** Athena: ''[[NeckSnap Oh snap!]]'' |
| 653 | ** Knoxx: ''Doesn't like Mondays'' |
| 654 | * BrickJoke: In the opening of the main game, Marcus mocks Mordecai for looking like "a Truxican Wrestler". This DLC has a Truxican Wrestler as a rare midget enemy, and yes, he's dressed like Mordecai. |
| 655 | * CallBack: In the introduction where you choose your character, Marcus remarks that Mordecai's appearance reminds him of "a Truxican wrestler moonlighting as a dominatrix". Here, you can find Truxican Wrestler midgets hiding [[ChestMonster inside of lockers]] who may drop Truxican Wrestler class mods for Mordecai which improve his melee abilities. |
| 656 | * CameBackWrong: [[spoiler:Motorhead, a powerful optional boss]], is actually [[spoiler:a (poorly) resurrected Sledge]]. |
| 657 | * CannedOrdersOverLoudspeaker: Atlas, at least in T-Bone Junction, loves to remind everyone of who's in charge of the area. |
| 658 | * CharacterBlog: As promotion of the DLC, General Knoxx had his own [[http://twitter.com/GeneralKnoXX Twitter account]]. |
| 659 | * ChestMonster: Several containers in ''The Secret Armory of General Knoxx'' have midgets hiding inside. |
| 660 | * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: According to his twitter account, General Knoxx is one as well. |
| 661 | --> ''"also met a man named scooter today. asked me if i wanted to catch his ride. almost killed him for coming onto me."'' |
| 662 | * CombatMedic: The DLC adds actual Combat Medics to the Crimson Lance's ranks. They're similar to the engineers, except they put up a device which heals their allies rather than act as a sentry. |
| 663 | * TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: It doesn't matter if you're maxed out at level 69, Crawmerax will always be at least 3 levels higher than you (Because it's 4 levels higher until you reach max level, but its minimum level is 64 and tops out at 72). ''Always''. |
| 664 | %% (ZCE) * DarkActionGirl: The Lance Assassins. |
| 665 | * DeathByMaterialism: [[spoiler:{{Subverted}}]] by the climax. After the timer runs out in the Crimson Armory level, [[spoiler:a cutscene plays where Athena looks in the distance while the Armory explodes, the implication being the {{Player Character}}(s) dead for good. However, the level features a New-U station, the likes of which [[DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist make death mean only a monetary loss]], outside of the Armory]]. |
| 666 | * DeathSeeker: [[spoiler:Knoxx]] by the time you meet him. |
| 667 | * DefectorFromDecadence: |
| 668 | ** Athena, the BigGood of the DLC, is a former operative of the Crimson Lance. |
| 669 | ** [[spoiler:Knoxx]], also a former Crimson Lance member, is about to quit when you meet him, but for different reasons such as [[spoiler:the incompetence of his higher-ups -- according to his journal, one of his superiors is a ''five-year-old'' who sends him macaroni pictures instead of orders]]. |
| 670 | * DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:General Knoxx]] was about to kill himself before [[spoiler:his boss battle]]. |
| 671 | * TheEngineer: |
| 672 | ** Crimson Lance Engineers have a non-elemental turret. |
| 673 | ** Badass-ranked Crimson Lance Soldiers have an elemental turret matching their class (Shock troopers get a turret with a chance to inflict Shock damage, and so on). |
| 674 | * EveryCarIsAPinto: Made funny with the Monster-construction mission; Scooter banters about product recall ''"cus' of people burnin' alive an' shit"''. He also lampshades ripping out the passenger seat to make room for the GIANT NITRO TANK which is probably the reason for the big boom on all runners. |
| 675 | * ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The Crimson Lance's ''Shock'' Troopers, which inflict Shock damage either with their weapons or turrets. |
| 676 | * FakeUltimateMook: The elemental Crimson Lance forces. They aren't any tougher than regular troops, and only use combat rifles, one of the worst gun classes to have elemental effects. To rub salt in the wound, their [[EliteMook Badass]] variants can only take a few shots in their backpacks before they go kaputz and take the soldier along with them. |
| 677 | ** Devastators are MiniMecha that tower over all other Crimson Lance units but are some of the least threatening enemies you'll face, not only in the Secret Armory but the entire game. Their huge ArmCannon actually does negligible damage if it does hit you, which it probably won't since the AI isn't very keen on shooting. Their melee attacks will send you flying back and do some damage but are easy to avoid since Devastators are huge and bad at maneuvering around any obstacles, even something as small as a Soldier's Scorpio Turret. Furthermore it is extremely easy to land CriticalHit headshots on a Devastator pilot, which will leave the Devastator stunned for several seconds and which can easily be strung together indefinitely with almost any gun. To add insult to injury there's only two spots in the entire game where you'll fight more than one Devastator at once and these are also the only spots where they show up accompanied by any other enemy unit types, meaning in the vast majority of Devastator encounters a player can Crit it to death without having to worry about any other enemy interfering. Devastators are essentially just boring, harmless, damage sponges since the only area where they really do exceed other enemies is their number of HitPoints. |
| 678 | ** Lance Assassins have faster movement speed than any other enemy type in the game and are hyped-up by Athena, but are more comic relief than actual threat. Normal Assassins (not the Badass or unique variants) are extremely fragile and a single shotgun shot will probably be enough to kill one charging at you instantly, leaving you to laugh as her corpse harmlessly flies 50 feet past you. Even if a generic Assassin does cut or kick you the damage is low and the biggest drawback is an annoying glowing decal popping on your screen for a moment. The ranged special attacks from Badass or unique, named, assassins are deadlier but they must remain stationary to shoot, removing what is supposedly their most impressive asset. Shoot an assassin with a gun with a decent rate of fire and you'll see it's quite easy to get her stuck in the hit-flinch animation, during which she can't move or attack, until you need to reload. To add to the comedy of it all assassins aren't good at getting around the environment despite, or perhaps because of, their extreme speed. Assassins often get stuck on any of the many crates or other small obstacles that litter most areas leaving them sitting ducks even as they do elaborate acrobatics and an UnnecessaryCombatRoll while stuck in place. The deadliest unique assassin in the Secret Armory, encountered right at the entrance to said Armory, can be rendered utterly impotent if the players walk up the stairs right next to her since the assassins AI is completely incapable of navigating a narrow path like a staircase. |
| 679 | * FetchQuest: |
| 680 | ** Scooter's mission "Boost the Monster" has you collecting three parts for a new car he's developing, the Monster. |
| 681 | ** Marcus's mission "Core Collection" has you killing Crimson Lance soldiers in order to collect their cores. |
| 682 | ** Part of one of T-Bone Junction's mission panel missions, "Power Leech", given to you by Mr. Shank, involves fetching a bomb in Midgetville, at the "Sunken Sea" level, in order to blow up a bandit camp's power siphoning. |
| 683 | ** Scooter's mission "OMG APC" involves you fetching a Lancer Digistruct module and deliver it to him on order to unlock the Lancer as a driveable vehicle. |
| 684 | ** As usual, there's a Claptrap-given mission to find a repair kit and fix Lockdown Palace's Claptrap, with a storage slots module as the reward. |
| 685 | ** Athena's mission "Code Breaker: Time is Bullets" is about getting the codes from the area World's Largest Bullet at the "Sunken Sea" level. |
| 686 | ** "Knoxxed Out", also from Athena, is the usual mission to fetch five ECHO recordings detailing Knoxx's descent into madness. |
| 687 | ** There's a mission at T-Bone Junction given by Dahl Corporation, called "Bugged", about finding a listening device and installing it in an Atlas Communications Tower. |
| 688 | * FlamethrowerBackfire: The Elite Crimson Lance units all have ammo packs on their back and come in electric, acid, and fire varieties. You can shoot it until it explodes (although it'll take quite a bit of damage before blowing up) for more damage. |
| 689 | * GameplayAndStorySegregation: One of the early missions has Scooter telling you that he murdered Lucky Zaford for getting in with his mom, who's revealed here to be Moxxi. However, if you return to Dahl Headlands by way of Fast Travel, you'll find that he's still alive. |
| 690 | * GangBangers: The bandits within the Lockdown Palace take the form of a prison gang. Their Psychos are even called "Bangers". |
| 691 | * GasMaskMooks: The Crimson Lance soldiers are all FacelessGoons whose face is covered by a full-head helmet. |
| 692 | * GeneralFailure: [[spoiler:Admiral Mikey is five years-old, and about as useless as a child with his rank and authority can be. He seems to be completely unaware of what he's even doing, which causes no shortage of frustration for General Knoxx.]] |
| 693 | * GladiatorSubquest: The "Circle of Duty" set of missions pit you against five rounds of Crimson Lance soldiers, each round belonging to a different ranking, going from New Recruit into Cadet, Private, Corporal, Sergeant and finally Medal of Duty. |
| 694 | * HubLevel: Inverted, instead of the usual culprit ("T-Bone Junction", which houses most of the important [=NPCs=] and the only Fast Travel station of the area), there are other two levels officiating as this: "Deep Fathoms" (connected with the "Crimson Tollway", "Crawmerax's Lair", "Moxxi's Red Light" and "Road's End") and "Sunken Sea" (connected with "The Ridgeway", "Lockdown Palace" and "Circle of Duty"). |
| 695 | * HumongousMecha: |
| 696 | ** The Lance's Devastator unit. |
| 697 | ** [[spoiler:General Knoxx]] fights in one during [[spoiler:his boss battle]]. |
| 698 | * ImprobableAge: According to General Knoxx, [[spoiler:the Admiral is a five-year-old]]. |
| 699 | * TheInfiltration: The Circle of Duty opens up [[spoiler:after you defeat General Knoxx himself, giving you a chance to enlist in the Crimson Lance and quickly rise up through the ranks through a series of arena matches. After completing the last match, Zach must politely decline your application to the Crimson Lance since he just learned that you killed their leader]]. |
| 700 | * InfinityPlusOneSword: The DLC adds a new rarity color to replace the glitch-based Pearl weapons. These new Pearlescent ([[ColorCodedForYourConvenience or Aqua]]) weapons and shields are frustratingly rare, incredibly potent, and by the time you get them, there likely won't be much left but the {{Superboss}}, fitting them into the trope nicely. |
| 701 | * LampshadeHanging: When you meet Scooter in the 3rd DLC, he greets you by saying ''"hey guy, and... [[SchrodingersPlayerCharacter maybe girl]]... c'mon in!"'' |
| 702 | * LargeAndInCharge: [[spoiler:General Knoxx, pilot of a HumongousMecha]]. |
| 703 | * LaughablyEvil: [[spoiler:Mr. Shank]]. |
| 704 | * MaleGaze: Lilith's wanted poster. |
| 705 | * MonsterArena: The "Circle of Duty", when it's not used as a Deathmatch arena. |
| 706 | * MoreDakka: "The Chopper". Drops from a Side-Quest Boss. Damage? Between 170 and 260. Accuracy? Not much. Fire rate? 16-17. Red text means it fires all the magazine in one shot (unless you melee). Oh, almost forgot... the magazine holds 536 cartridges. FIVE-HUNDRED THIRTY-SIX CARTRIDGES. And that's WITHOUT any + magazine size skills or class mods. |
| 707 | * TheMunchausen: Master [=McCloud=], the leader of the Crimson Lance forces on Pandora. [[AllThereInTheManual According to the strategy guide and wiki]], he "sees himself as a star-hopping, interplanetary hero" and "will regale anyone with tales of his many exploits" when given the chance. |
| 708 | * MurderInc: The Crimson Lance. |
| 709 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Moxxi has this reaction after the player character succeeds in killing [[spoiler:Mr. Shank]], who was Moxxi's second husband: |
| 710 | --> '''Moxxi:''' ''(distraught)'' ''You killed my second husband. You actually killed him. I know I told you to but... I'm sorry, I need a minute.'' |
| 711 | * {{Nepotism}}: [[spoiler:General Knoxx]] is less than thrilled that he has to take orders from a 5-year-old. Who generally sends him macaroni pictures instead of orders. |
| 712 | * NotCompletelyUseless: The cash box for a tour of the "World's Largest Bullet" at the "Sunken Sea" level deducts eight million dollars from you with no benefits other than an achievement, and it can be used multiple times. However, there is no better money dump to prevent cash overflow, a bug in the game code that triggers if you surpass 2^31 dollars (close to 2,150 billion) and '''zeroes''' your money tally if you die. |
| 713 | * PermanentlyMissableContent: |
| 714 | ** Athena's pistol is only given once. |
| 715 | ** Kyros' Power and Typhoon weapons, as the bosses that drop them no longer respawn after their respective quests are completed. |
| 716 | * PointyHairedBoss: [[spoiler:Admiral Mikey, Knoxx's superior]]. Justified, as [[spoiler:he's '''five-year old boy''']]. |
| 717 | * PoweredArmor: |
| 718 | ** The Devastator is, for all intents and purposes, one. |
| 719 | ** [[spoiler:General Knoxx]] fights you in one. |
| 720 | * PrisonLevel: The Lockdown Palace area, a maximum security prison that Mr. Shank and his gang turned it into their hideout. [[spoiler:Here's where Athena is first found, and not only you get to fight Shank, but also his partner Chaz]]. |
| 721 | * PrivateMilitaryContractors: The Crimson Lance. They're well-trained, heavily armed (with uncommon weapons or higher rarity ones) and they can pose a big threat to you if you're not careful. |
| 722 | * PunchClockVillain: The Crimson Lance soldiers, as well as [[spoiler:General Knoxx]]. |
| 723 | * SeaMine: You can find them on three areas of the DLC, which happen to be driedup seas: "Sunken Sea", "Deep Fathoms" and "Road's End". Approach one or drive a car too close to one and it will explode and kill you. |
| 724 | * ShootTheMedicFirst: The enemy medics, they are the CombatMedic type, and can heal things while shooting you. |
| 725 | * SignedWithAKiss: One of the side quests has the Vault Hunters taking down four of the Crimson Lance's best assassins across several levels (the first at "T-Bone Junction", then "The Ridgeway" and twice in "Road's End"). When returning to the Crimson Tollway level in the namesake area, the Vault Hunters redeem the quest with a message signed by all that includes a kiss from Lilith, one of the game's Vault Hunters. |
| 726 | * {{Superboss}}: Crawmerax the Invincible. By far the toughest fight in the game, he's always five levels above you. Unless you're a very skilled player with the right character build or you used the crevice exploit in his arena (or both), he's all but impossible to beat in a solo game. |
| 727 | * SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: |
| 728 | ** From [[spoiler:General Knoxx's Twitter account]]: [[http://twitter.com/GeneralKnoXX/status/9155471342 "This wasn't me but something happened in T Bone junction that totally wasn't me. (this wasn't me.)"]] Of course, [[spoiler:that first denial is the truth. The second one? Well...]] |
| 729 | ** Also [[DepravedBisexual Mr. Shank]]: |
| 730 | --> '''Mr. Shank:''' ''Chaz is really nice -- hey, I'm not into him. No way.'' |
| 731 | * ThemeNaming: A few of the squad leaders of the Omega Assassins share names with goddesses: Athena, Hera, and Minerva. Vulcana is named after Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. |
| 732 | * UniqueItems: |
| 733 | ** "Chiquito Amigo"[[note]]Unique Tediore Repeater Pistol with extended magazine size and rate of fire but low damage[[/note]] is a mission reward for completing the "Purple Juice!" sidequest. |
| 734 | ** Both the "Kyros's Power"[[note]]Unique Atlas Pump-action SniperRifle that comes with a variable 1x-3x Explosive elemental effect and whose shots inflict [[HealingShiv Transfusion]] damage, healing the user[[/note]] and "Typhoon"[[note]]Unique Dahl SMG whose bullets ricochet and split in two after a certain distance[[/note]] weapons are tied to the non-respawnable sidequest bosses that drop them, namely Commanders Kyros and Typhon. |
| 735 | ** "Athena's Wisdom"[[note]]Unique Hyperion Repeater Pistol with increased accuracy and critical hit damage[[/note]] is the reward for completing the main storyline. |
| 736 | * VisualPun: In real life, a wheel clamp, or "boot", is a device strapped to a vehicle's tire to prevent it from going anywhere. In Mr. Shank's prison, there's a Claptrap imprisoned by a wheel clamp with a literal boot strapped to it, preventing it from getting away. |
| 737 | * WantedPoster: The wanted posters at the start: |
| 738 | -->'''Roland:''' Wanted for desertion and the murder of a Crimson Lance member. Reward: $1,000,000.00\ |
| 739 | '''Lilith:''' Wanted for Conspiracy, Witchcraft, Theft, and Murder. Reward: $1,000,000.00\ |
| 740 | '''Mordecai:''' Wanted for poaching and possession of endangered species. Reward: $1,000,000.00 (Another million for that annoying bird!)\ |
| 741 | '''Brick:''' Wanted for the murder and ''dismemberment of anything that moves.'' Reward: '''''$9,999,999.99''''' |
| 742 | * WeCanRebuildHim: [[spoiler:Sledge's former midget minions]] tried doing this to him. The result was [[spoiler:Motorhead, a near-mindless psychopath with ''a gatling turret for a head''.]] |
| 743 | [[/folder]] |
| 744 | |
| 745 | [[folder:''Claptrap's New Robot Revolution'']] |
| 746 | * ActionBomb: The Mighty Kamikaze Claptraps. |
| 747 | * AIIsACrapshoot: Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap and his revolutionary friends. |
| 748 | * AirborneMook: Rakk-Traps, annoying bird-bat-like creatures that come in swarms, fly around and divebomb you, usually [[ZergRush in packs]]. Thankfully, they (usually) have very low health. |
| 749 | * AndIMustScream: After the first mission, virtually every enemy you fight, with the exception of the D-Fault enemies, is a cyborg monster, and even beg you to [[MercyKill "Please... just let me die..."]] upon being finished off. |
| 750 | * AntagonistTitle: [[spoiler:You fight the titular character]] at the end of the DLC. |
| 751 | * ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Before he started a revolution against humankind, [[spoiler:the Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap]] was programmed to take the Vault Hunters out indirectly - trapping, poisoning, and spreading catty rumours about town. |
| 752 | * TheAssimilator: [[spoiler:The INAC]] to all the non-Claptrap enemies in the Claptrap revolution expansion, who also get the -trap name added to them, such as the Rakk-Trap. The sole exception (aside from the players), is the group of enemies known as the D-fault, who are barely holding them off. |
| 753 | * AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: [[spoiler:Mega Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap]]. |
| 754 | * BlatantLies: |
| 755 | ** Towards the end of the DLC, just before fighting [[spoiler:Knoxx-Trap, Undead Ned-Trap, and Steele-Trap]] for the last time each, each boss arena is surrounded by signs reading such things as "puppies for free", "free treasure", "[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial no evil boss here]]", and so on. |
| 756 | ** [[UnreliableNarrator Marcus']] concluding remarks on Claptrap's Robot Revolution include claiming that "that is how it really happened!" [[note]]Immediately before the final boss fight, Marcus had been shot dead.[[/note]] |
| 757 | * BodyHorror: Most of the regular non-Claptrap enemies after they get [[TheAssimilator converted to cyborg -traps]]. |
| 758 | * BookEnds: The final battle takes place at [[spoiler:Fyrestone's entrance, [[WhereItAllBegan the very point you started in the main game]], fighting the same Claptrap that welcomed you at the beginning of the game]]. |
| 759 | * BossRush: The level "Wayward Pass" has you fighting roboticized versions of [[spoiler:General Knoxx, Undead Dr. Ned and Commandant Steele]]. You even happen along [[spoiler:The Destroyer, only for it turn out to be a cardboard cutout]]. |
| 760 | * CallForward: The DLC drops some hints about what'll happen in the near future in the franchise: |
| 761 | ** The focus on Hyperion, as Hyperion is a major player in both ''VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'' and ''VideoGame/Borderlands2''. |
| 762 | ** Claptrap as the main character and the eventual FinalBoss, as he turns out to be a playable character in ''The Pre-Sequel!'' and [[spoiler:the last surviving Claptrap]] in ''2''. |
| 763 | ** When you reach [[spoiler:the entrance to Fyrestone]], Marcus mentions he's taking you to Eden-6. And both this DLC and ''Knoxx'' also mention Promethea several times. It took nearly 15 years and [[VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel three]] [[VideoGame/Borderlands2 canonical]] [[VideoGame/TalesFromTheBorderlands games]] (and their plethora of story [=DLCs=]), but there's indeed [[VideoGame/Borderlands3 a sequel]] that indeed takes place at Eden-6, and both said game and [[VideoGame/NewTalesFromTheBorderlands another one]] where Promethea also plays a role or becomes the center of the story. |
| 764 | * CannedOrdersOverLoudspeaker: [[spoiler:Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap]] does this in almost every level of the DLC. |
| 765 | * ClippedWingAngel: [[spoiler:Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap]] turns out to be pathetic once [[spoiler:you destroy its HumongousMecha]]. |
| 766 | * CombatSadomasochist: The Hyperion Guard-Traps enjoy the pain you inflict on them. They enthusiastically say lines like "Thank you! May I have another?" when you shoot them. |
| 767 | * ConspicuouslyLightPatch: In the level "Sanders Gorge", all three paths at the beginning are lit with lamps emitting different light colors. [[spoiler:Blue-lit takes you to the power plant where you fight Knoxx-Trap and restore energy to Tartarus Station during an early story mission, while orange-lit will take you straight to the cave where you have to fight Cluck-Trap for a side mission]]. |
| 768 | * {{Cyborg}}: The human enemies have Claptrap parts grafted onto their bodies. |
| 769 | * DeathSeeker: [[spoiler:Knoxx-Trap]], after he gets resurrected as the Claptrap's slave. TWICE. It gets to the point where he not only encourages you to shoot him, but attempts to point out his critical hit location. |
| 770 | * DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: From Blake, Hyperion's representant on Pandora: |
| 771 | --> ''"Operation Trap Claptrap Trap"''[[note]]''"Christ, what a mouthful."''[[/note]] |
| 772 | * DifficultySpike: The Mega Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap is far deadlier than any of the storyline boss fights from the main game or any other DLC; this is especially noticeable due to the BossRush that precedes it. This DifficultySpike is fitting considering the MINAC is practically the FinalBoss of the original Borderlands game. |
| 773 | * DroppedABridgeOnHim: Literally for [[spoiler:Marcus]] at the end -- after being shot twice in the back, you find his legs sticking out from under his own upturned bus. [[UnexplainedRecovery He got better]] (or was just being [[UnreliableNarrator overly dramatic]]). |
| 774 | * ExperimentedInCollege: Part of Patricia Tannis's speech after getting her "Are You From These Parts?" quest, possibly she doesn't intend it as a DoubleEntendre, and just meant scientific experimentation: |
| 775 | --> ''"Hey, you look like you're into experimentation, maybe dabbled a bit in college."'' |
| 776 | * FetchQuest: |
| 777 | ** All of Tannis's quests have you collecting Claptrap parts. It starts with 5 and gets all the way up to ''150''. |
| 778 | ** "Like Shooting Rakk in a Barrel", from the area's mission board, involves you fetching three turret components in order to enable three turrets in order to neutralize a bandit-trap bunker. |
| 779 | ** [="One-UpmanPipp"=] involves you fetching trash and placing it in a food delivery chute. |
| 780 | ** Marcus's "Burnin' Rubber" involves you fetching six wheels at the "Hyperion Dump" level for his bus. |
| 781 | ** As always, there's a mission that involves fixing a Claptrap and a Storage Upgrade. [[spoiler:This time, however, though you get the reward, it's a... [[{{Pun}} Trap]]]]. |
| 782 | ** Marcus's "Taking Stock" involves you venturing into the "Dividing Faults" level and collecting 10 pieces for him. |
| 783 | ** The main story mission "Operation Trap Claptrap Trap, Phase Three: [=TripWIRED=]" has Blake sending you to the Scorched Snake Canyon in order to retrieve the device needed in order to [[spoiler:neutralize INAC]]. |
| 784 | ** Marcus's "Old Spicy" involves you getting into "Scorched Snake Canyon" and retrieving some Skag musk glands and Rakk Hive Ambergris in order to make a cologne. |
| 785 | ** The follow-up mission to "Old Spicy", "Eleven Rakk And Spices", involves you collecting fresh rakk meat and spice plants in Sanders Gorge. |
| 786 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 787 | ** Some of the claptrap logos in the vending machines have the character dressed up as UsefulNotes/CheGuevara. Cue this DLC. |
| 788 | ** At the beginning of the main game, Claptrap complains about the bandits (and later everyone else) treating him bad. Across the main game and the ''Dr. Ned'' and ''Knoxx'' [=DLCs=], the player finds damaged/trapped Claptraps, with a reward for fixing them. This becomes a major plot point for the DLC. |
| 789 | * FunWithAcronyms: The "WIRED" device. The '''W'''ireless '''I'''nformation '''R'''outer '''E'''ncoding '''D'''evice is a [[{{Irony}} wireless]] controller for rebooting the Claptraps. |
| 790 | * GameplayAndStorySegregation: Having ''Claptrap's New Robot Revolution'' installed turns into this for ''every moment that involves a Claptrap up to that point''. You can do missions and receive them from friendly Claptraps even though the very events of the DLC involve [[spoiler:a planet-wide rebellion from every Claptrap in existence]]. |
| 791 | * HeelFaceMindScrew: [[spoiler:INAC]] is defeated by the Vault Hunters by [[spoiler:using the WIRED device in order to undo the advanced programming Hyperion gave him and reverting him back to his original, friendly self]]. |
| 792 | * HubLevel: "Tartarus Station" is connected to every level except [[spoiler:the DLC version of "Arid Badlands"]], which has instead a one-way back passage. |
| 793 | * HumongousMecha: |
| 794 | ** [[spoiler:Knoxx-Trap]] fights in one. |
| 795 | ** [[spoiler:Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap]] has one, too, called [[spoiler:"Mega Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap"]]. |
| 796 | * IMeantToDoThat: [[spoiler:Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap]] invokes this after you [[spoiler:destroy his factory]], claiming that it's all according to a "ridiculously convoluted plan you couldn't possibly understand with your feeble human brain". [[spoiler:Returning to Tartarus Station after completing the mission involves a Claptrap invasion of the Station]]. |
| 797 | * InfernalBackground: The Vault Hunters are introduced to Mr. Blake, head of [[MegaCorp Hyperion's]] Mercenary relations decision. His introductory splash is backed with flames, which when coupled with his pointy hairstyle makes him look like the Devil. However, despite seeming sinister at first, he turns out to be genuinely the nicest person on Pandora. |
| 798 | * KleptomaniacHero: The events of the DLC are set in motion because of the actions of the Vault Hunters after the events of the main game. |
| 799 | * LawEnforcementInc: The DLC shows that Hyperion has a military presence on Pandora, though their sphere of influence (at that point in time, at least) seems to be rather small compared to that of the Lance. |
| 800 | * MoneySpider: The Claptraps have a high drop rate (and mostly drop pretty decent gear that can be re-sold if nothing else) and there's an area that spawns a nearly infinite amount as long you're willing to wait around a few minutes between waves spawning. They also die extremely quick and easy if you have a decent sniper or shotgun. |
| 801 | * MookMaker: The Rakk-Trap Hive at the "Scorched Snake Canyon" level. |
| 802 | * PostFinalBoss: After taking out the viciously difficult [[spoiler:Mega Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap]], you finally get to take on the Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap, which, other than having more health, is no tougher than any of the mook claptraps... though by this point, beating the tar out of it before finally resetting it to factory default is hugely satisfying. |
| 803 | * PoweredArmor: [[spoiler:Knoxx-Trap]] fights you in one. |
| 804 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: [[spoiler:Interplanetary Ninja Assassin]] Claptrap and his revolutionary friends. This extends to all enemy classes after [[spoiler:you kill Hyperion's Super-Bad Soldier in the Hyperion Dump]] during "Are You From These Parts?", the intro mission. |
| 805 | * RobotMe: [[spoiler:What Tannis needs all those Claptrap parts for]]. |
| 806 | * RobotWar: The titular Robot Revolution, or Robolution. |
| 807 | * UnPaused: The claptrapped version of [[spoiler:Commandant Steele]], who died at the end of the main game, finishes the speech [[spoiler:she was giving before being impaled by the {{Giant Space Flea from Nowhere}} {{Final Boss}}.]] |
| 808 | * UndeadCounterpart: There are claptrap-ified versions of the bandits, which are zombies who also underwent a brainwashing process. |
| 809 | * UnfortunateNames: Lampshaded with the WIRED device (which stands for "''[[{{Irony}} Wireless]]'' Information Router Encoding Device"): |
| 810 | --> '''Mr. Blake:''' Hmm... that is an unfortunate acronym for a wireless device. I'll have to speak to marketing... |
| 811 | * UnwillingRoboticisation: The "claptrapped" humans. |
| 812 | * VaginaDentata: The Rakk-Trap Hive. |
| 813 | * WeCanRebuildHim: The rebellious Claptraps manage to resurrect [[spoiler:Commander Steele, General Knoxx, and Dr. Ned]]. |
| 814 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap]]. He wants to free all other Claptraps... by killing all humans. |
| 815 | * WoundedGazelleGambit: There's a damaged Claptrap near the entrance to Dividing Faults that needs to be repaired. Normally these missions give you storage deck space. This time, however, [[spoiler:it's all a ruse, and you get swarmed by these pests, first by the mission giver and then by other Traps. Once you finish them, you redeem the mission near a container located in the area]]. |
| 816 | * WhereItAllBegan: The climax involves the Vault Hunters in a BossRush against the previous three {{big bad}}s in reverse order, and then a final battle at [[spoiler:the Arid Badlands, the starting zone of the main game, against Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap, the very being that welcomed you to the planet in the first place]]. |
| 817 | [[/folder]] |
| 818 | -------- |
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