Gearbox – “We don’t ever try to take political stances when we’re designing”

Nicholson said that, first and foremost, Gearbox “wants to make really cool stuff.”

[-Foxtrot]

Even though I didn't think it was the end of the world, I thought Borderlands 3 really pushed female characters while male ones were pushed to the back.

I mean Lilith, Maya, Ava, Tannis, Ellie, Tyreen, Tina, Lorelei seemed more heavy to the overall story.

Marcus was in his shop as always, Hammerlock and Wainwright were stuck to one planet, Rhys was did all wrong, Scooter was killed off in another game, Brick and Mordecai two ORIGINAL vault hunters were like Tina's henchmen and didn't even go to help Lilith in her fight, Mr Torgue didn't even get to see in person, Typhon DeLeon got a silly ass send off which felt pointless, Troy was the better two of the twins and should have been the final boss in a twist but was killed off first.

I love most of the female characters like Lilith, Maya and Tannis but when you can see favouritism showing and characters like Brick / Mordecai who have been in since the start are pushed to the back it does make you think they could balance them out. Even make Marcus more of a character, get him involved more and HELL...where was Dr Zed?

[rainslacker]

Most of the male characters you mention weren't very big focal points in the other games. I do agree that Rhys was poorly utilized though. Despite the heavy female presense aboard Sanctuary, I was disappointed that Fiona wasn't in the game. Her sister just had a picture on Rhys desk, and there was a vague mention from Zero about one of them disappearing and not wanting to be found....hoping that's a DLC story thing. Probably the most interesting characters in the BL universe, besides handsome Jack, and Rhys was kind of a baffoon, and the whole dudebro Vaughn was stretched to the point of being ridiculous....even by BL standards.

Anyhow, Ava was pointless, and had more agency to the story than your own character, which is back to traditional BL fare. I was hopeful after TPS that maybe they'd fix the problem with the story where you are just an errand boy for these other characters doing things.

I do like Tannis's expanded role though. I wasn't a big fan of hers in the other games, but this one she had a lot of personality. That said, I'm still wondering why the writers are making everyone into a siren. For something that apparently can only have 7 of them in the universe at any one time, they sure do seem to be cropping up everywhere.

The cast from the first game was mostly pretty piss poor in BL3. Lillith was just self-pity and pointless commanding to go somewhere and do something while she argued with Ava. Something they already did in BL2, and the commander Lillith DLC. Tina was her normal self, but seemed to lack much character as they played the hipster teenage girl persona up too much. Mordecai just seemed like a stoner. Brick was about himself, but again, lacked much personality. Kind of like he was bored. Wainwright was a huge cliche, even by Borderlands standards, and his relationship with Hammerlock seemed kind of shallow. Maybe the new DLC will fix that. I was going to mention Dr. Zed, then you finished up with him. nothing but his normal vending machine quips.

Still....they did make the most annoying character a woman. that would be that one AR quest. "I'm under attack, protect me". Had to be the most annoying voice I've ever heard in the history of gaming...and I grew up during the 90's anime game dub hellscape.

[gold_drake]

well, the Sirens have always been a major part of the series, so thats one reason why the focus is on them, Brick and Mordecai didnt have a big role in bdl2 aswell, and they were "just" playable characters without a whole lot of bkstory or direct involvement in the story, since u can play the same game with the the same story with 4 different characters.
Marcus is the first person u talk to in 1 and 2 and also a retailer and the storyteller
Scooter was killed of, thats true, but hemade an impact in that game.
the rest are just npcs who give u missions.

so i wouldnt say that there was favouritism since all of them.played there roles.
i actually missed Gaige and Axton in 3.

[Gameseeker_Frampt]

You claim that it is showing favoritism through the way that Brick, Mordecai, and Marcus were treated yet Moxxi and Tiny Tina were right there with those characters being neglected. I'm really tired of people trying to push their political agenda when criticizing a game. You must have never played Borderlands before - with Commandant Steele as the main villain, Helena Pierce the main NPC opposing the Crimson Lance, and Angel the NPC you talk with the most in the game - if you are upset by the female representation in Borderlands 3.

There were plenty of things wrong with Borderlands 3 yet for some having "more" females than males and a gay couple are the problems and not the lack of bank space, no firing range, poor level design, and unoriginal enemy types.

[-Foxtrot]

Mad Moxxi and Tina were used way more than the others

Axton, Kreig, Salvador...other vault hunters weren’t even present aswell so

[Gameseeker_Frampt]

@-Foxtrot

"Axton, Kreig, Salvador...other vault hunters weren’t even present aswell so"

It's amusing that you cannot even keep your bias out of the response. Gaige also wasn't present but I guess that doesn't matter since it goes against the point you are trying to make. Borderlands 3 had one male and one female returning Vault Hunter as NPCs and somehow desperate people are making that into some sort of pro-female favoritism. Did you even notice that most of the new NPCs are male in Borderlands 3 or does that fact also not matter?

[Spurg]

That is an outright lie.
The goddamn ending had the song "this girl is on fire".
The male characters were useless and there was a huge focus on females and a whole chapter based on the LGBT relationship between Hammerlock and the other guy.

[rainslacker]

He didn't say they don't use political topics, just that they don't try to take political stances. I can't see how they can make a borderlands game without having some kind of thematic references or plot points related to any current political thing going on in the world.

Even Handsome Jack was a kind of politicized characterture. He basically said and did everything that offended people, and didn't care what people thought of it. He was also the personification of corporate greed, and systematic tyrannical power.

[Sono421]

The thing is, I could handle all this feminist garbage being shoved down my throat if it didn't effect the story, but the thing is... I feel like it did.

Why did Lilith choose Ava to be the new leader? Literally all she did was disobey a direct order, which then got her mentor/sister killed (Maya) Then proceeded to whine and complain about it the rest of the game constantly blaming Lilith for what was clearly her fault, then fast forward to the end of the game and for absolutely no reason whatsoever Lilith chooses her to be the new leader, even though she literally did absolutely nothing the entire game.. she didn't prove how useful/mature she was... nothing, just took Maya's powers, that's it. I feel like the writers simply chose her cause "Girl power" ugh such a disappointing sequel, good thing the combat holds up.

[rainslacker]

Yeah, giving Ava the Crimson Raiders seemed really dumb. It's not like she learned or matured any by the end of the game. She wasn't even a vault hunter, just came in after you cleared the way, and only had a marginal role in doing anything worthwhile, which was protecting the others during the continuation scene with a shield.

Tannis would have made more sense, because at least she was smart and proactive in trying to stop the twins from winning. Heck, it would have made more sense to give it to one of the new vault hunter characters, or Brick, because at least Brick had leadership experience with that group of his from BL2.

I think they chose Ava because she's just going to be the next cool character they build up. They didn't do it in the game itself though, so the conclusion fell flat. She wasn't even a very interesting character. Maybe some future DLC will make her better, because Lillith wasn't really that much of a leader either, and then BL2 last DLC at least tried to make her more of a leader, albeit a reluctant one...which she apparently was again in BL3 after she lost her powers.

Sometimes, I think trying to find rhyme or reason within the BL universe is a wasted effort. It has potential, like TPS, which had a great story and gave your character agency to what was going on. And then of course, TFTBL had a superb story. There is a lot of potential within the lore of the world, they just seem to fail at it in the main games. When you really think about it, even BL2, which was great, had the same story failings as the other games. But, Handsome Jack really carried the game on his own. He'll be hard to top, and even his brief retro-story elements in BL3 were better than the main game's plot.

[TheGamez100]

Lol it was obv the feminism was quite high with the bl3 story.

[winter_hill]

I can't believe they actually had the balls to say that with a straight face. Oh sorry.....I meant a non-binary lgbt face.

[BlackIceJoe]

Is this a joke, did Gearbox forget what they said about Claptrap and Fl4k? Then how people were getting banned if they called the robots by a different gender.

[LOOK_AT_THIS_I]

^This. They were making a huge deal over that. To make sure you call a robot “It” rather than him. This type of garbage is really getting old.

At least they stopped using the horrible slur “midget” with the release of Borderlands 3. Lol

[rainslacker]

They said that about clap trap? His personality, and even he seems to have a distinctly male personality. Doesn't he refer to himself as a male, and doesn't he often talk about how he's a ladies man(or robot) through insinuation? He even made a reference to all the ladies on Sanctuary being aboard Claptraps love boat. That female robot he made in BL3 was distinctly female as well, and when completed completely tore him down when he asked if she wanted to be his girlfriend(the term he actually used). Fl4K I can maybe understand, but he also seemed to have a distinctly male personality.

[Banghart]

Hilarious considering they put an antichrist on their front cover throwing up the number 3 (mark of the beast).

The commercial for the game "dont beg for mercy, im not a benevolent God" I dont remember the exact wording but thats the jist of it.

And all of those roses. You think they are there just because they are pretty? They are symbolism from the order of the Rose and Cross secret society. The Rosicrucian's just your everyday fun loving secret society (cult) worshiping the devil and using subversion to try and destroy Christianity and the American Republic.

[gamer7804]

yah the cover itself is a political stance against christianity... at least just be honest about it.

[JokerBoy422]

You couldn't pay me enough to buy into that statement. It's hard to play BL3 and not see PC culture infiltrating the franchise.

[Ddog45]

No thanks.

[Rachel_Alucard]

They can say this all they want, it doesn't change the fact they were clearing pushing their politics into their designs. Female empowerment, gay romances, getting mad over Fl4ks robotic gender, etc. There was clearly someone in charge pushing this and it damn sure wasn't an underling employee. Even BL2 had traces of this but not to the degree shown with BL3. You can't even criticize this crap because people will just call you names and that's how they get away with it everytime.

[CrimsonWing69]

Then why did you do it with Borderlands 3?

Does everyone in that company just lie to people’s faces?

[Smokehouse]

No but they take their cultural activism seriously.

[Brainoid]

To be honest, I didn't really care about the feminism or LGBTQ stuff when playing, I just enjoyed the game and had a great time