#my pick is Ava from borderlands 3

[burnoutbeat]

Name a character more punchable than this nerd!

Matt created an important update. 

[ Matt Bors ]

[sarkyfancypants]

Borderlands: My honest thoughts

Warning/Disclaimer: Long rant and personal opinions from someone who knows a little too much about the games and maybe spoilers.

What can be said that hasn't been said about Borderlands? The gameplay is fine but its story has wasted potential? That the fanbase keeps getting rear-ended by the franchise's creator who can't pay his workers right and suffers a meltdown from getting feedback and critiques? That it's been taking a slow nosedive after BL3 as the characters and plots keep getting dumber, slowly losing its loyal fans?

That third statement may be a bit of an exaggeration but I have heard people feeling exasperated about how many tumbles Borderlands has taken with Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (although that's not directly a Borderlands game, much more of a spinoff) and The New Tales from The Borderlands which nearly drove me into tears from how awful it was...

I'm not counting the movie, that's it's own thing, but I'll just say it is equally as disappointing.

I'm gonna start with a phrase I heard someone say:

"Handsome Jack was the start and the end of Borderlands".

Stay with me.

Borderlands didn't have a proper plot to begin with, and it was until BL2 when things started to pick up and you can't deny Handsome Jack was part of the reason it became the talk of the town.

I'm not saying this just because Jack is my favorite character. It's something that I have heard from many different people who have talked about the franchise in general. Jack was, and still is, highly appraised as "one of the best videogame villains" so far. He set an unexpected standard for the franchise that held up throughout The Pre-Sequel and Tales from The Borderlands, up to his definite end.

When Jack died, the franchise died with him. Dramatically put.

Sure, we still had some more of him in The Handsome Jackpot but that's inconsequential I think.

This is not saying that I want them to bring Handsome Jack back.

I don't want them to bring him back.

I feel that he has served his purpose.

But a much wasted purpose. Here is where my issues begin. At the end of The Pre-Sequel we got the cutscene where the Guardian/Watcher warns the VHs of a war. A war that we yet have to see because nothing of that extremity happened in BL3. Who knows, maybe it'll come in Borderlands 4 and 3 was just the setup.

That scene seemed important, and it coming from The Pre-Sequel, an underappreciated game that talks about Jack's transformation to Handsome Jack, the revelations of his involvement in BL1 and the things that then led to the events of BL2 on forward, almost seemed to indicate something. At least in my point of view.

I don't want them to bring Handsome Jack back, but what I do want is to see a follow-up to the consequences of his actions. That warning of a war almost felt to me like the the things Handsome Jack did triggered something big. His meddling was more significant than what Atlas and Dahl did previously, and it would ultimately justify Zarpedon's urgency to bring him down as she was enlightened by Eridian knowledge and supported/guided by the Guardians.

But after BL3, it was almost as if he was simply swiped under the rug and that was it. People only mention him to say how much of a dick he was but that's all of it. No impact, no shred of importance. Just an underwhelming "he was an asshole".

Maybe I'm looking too hard into this and I don't know if anyone else sees my vision, but it is one of the many missed opportunities from BL3, just the same as my bane which has been Troy draining Tyreen to death and becoming the focus for the rest of the game. The signs were there, it was leading up to that, there was even cut dialogue that implied that! But it was ultimately scrapped and therefore wasted.

Like the cutscene after Maya's death, the scene that would redeem Ava from being an annoying brat to a more grounded person with space for character development.

The fact that Aurelia was presented in the trailer as an ally later to be revealed as a one-dimensional villain we have to kill to progress on the story. That one still pisses me off.

I'm also upset that the awesome characters we played as in BL2 were turned into bland npcs that only showed up in DLCs that serve no purpose, with Maya being the only person to actually show serious development only to become the product of a death made for shock value in an attempt to replicate Roland's death. It's so appalling.

Don't get me wrong, Borderlands 3 is a good game and it holds up because it is really fun to play, but the story has me and many others longing for something better.

Oh by the way, did you know the first Borderlands game had a whole third act scrapped out which showed more of Commodore Steele's involvement, grounding her more as a proper villain/antagonist? Yeah, I'm mad too. Shit was already bad from the start.

I will not talk about New Tales, I refuse to think of it as canon. Someone said the best way to cope about its existence is to imagine that none of it is real and it was an in-uneverse film and all the characters in it are in-uneverse actors.

The franchise seems to be in a dire spot and my hopes for the 4th game which was confirmed to be in development, it is making me nervous and I'm disillusioned.

All I have is whatever made-up content I have for myself to still enjoy this franchise that hurts so much to watch it sink like this.

[frankenjoly]

Omg thanks for tagging me @cursedvibes 🥰

Rule: 5 favourite fics you've written and pass it on to 5 other writers

Leaving out the ficlets to make things easier (but I'm temped to do something similar for them anyway), and choosing one per fandom for this exact same reason (I'm also tempted to pick my 5 faves for each one of my bigger ones)

Finding Ava. Borderlands 3 au that started with "Finding Nemo with Maya as Marlin, Ava as Nemo and Krieg as Dori would be so funny", then I got tempted and spawned my longest longfic to date. You can tell I wanted more development for a big bunch of characters than what the game gave.

Remnants. I fell deep into the timembomb fandom by watching arcane, then spawned a whole-ass missing scene about pining Jinx and identity and the past. My first time ever writing her, too.

Misread. Me and writing ships from a 3rd character's pov is a love that's growing, and my genshin fic with that premise is this one. Aka, jealuc from Barbara's pov, with a sprinkle of self-doubt.

What do you stand for? This is kinda cheating, since it came from an rp solo thread I turned into fic as well, but. Utahime-centric fic based on her finding her own cursed child and having to be the one directly negotiating with Gakuganji to avoid his execution, with insights on her views, gojohime crumbs and a bsd reference (the kid).

Por el amor de este presidente... My first and rn bigger bsd crack fic, in which both Mori and Fukuchi have beef bcs they both want Fukuzawa back, but will ally to crash every single date he has with any other person in the meantime. Everyone's tired of their shenanigans. Also, the title is way better if you know the song it references, it's very iconic.

Also it's a series already, but shout-out to the dnd-ish au, aka jjk+bsd crossover turned fantasy au bcs I'm never not brainrotted by it, and it's only growing.

Tagging (no pressure as always): @oodlyenough @ildi-dragonheart @monday-headache @rhymbic @noirewaves

[aftonfamilyvalues]

Fuck borderlands 3, all my homies hate borderlands 3

for real. i played it once, never touched any of the dlc.

the twins were horrible villains, they tried too hard to make them be zoomer handsome jacks. no one will ever be handsome jack! they werent funny or amusing like jack was and the turning point of being a serious threat was not nearly as significant as jacks. they failed to be cool or interesting in any regard.

ive never been a fan of lilith, ive had a grudge against her since my first playthrough of 2 because i picked zer0. i could not play as zer0, i died at every turn but during that whole fight alongside her she kept killing my enemies whenever i was in fight for your life and drained me financially. that and her trying to kill athena at the end of the presequel and general just not liking her personality... and she of course was everywhere because shes the leader of sanctuary.

they killed maya because of an annoying child no one likes. ava was unable to follow even one fucking order. the game treats her and her backstory like an angsty teen joke and then wonders why no one cares about her like they cared about tiny tina whose personality was fun and backstory was presented with an amount of seriousness and tragedy. ava has absolutely no character development and is then rewarded with siren powers.

the ending sucked. like i legit laughed at this supposedly emotional moment because the music and the situation paired became so comedic.

the only thing i liked was when i learned timothy the doppelganger class from the presequel would be coming back. i still never played the handsome jackpot dlc though. i think we learned hes bisexual though? good for him.

[asuccessfulbusinessman]

So, that was Borderlands 3 - sans the DLC because I only had $13 in my pocket.

When it came out, I saw the thumbnails for a lot of people angry at the story, with Ava as a common scapegoat. But honestly, I only have 2 real gripes with the story. The first is that, when playing as Amara, you don’t feel like a Siren in the story, only in the gameplay. At some level, this has to be expected, but even with the lowered expectations and the belief that she’s in it primarily for the adrenaline, Amara is the weakest of the 3 playable sirens - lacking a “Sup” or “Shut. Up.” - an earworm of a character that sticks with you. The second is that at no fucking point does anyone plan for Troy or Tyreen to just show up, but hey, that’s somewhat excusable.

My complaints come from the gameplay, as it seems like the side content - side quests and collectables, are padding that make an extremely short game both long and boring. Simply put, the sidequests all feel out of place, you’re not doing them for any good reason beyond you being in the area - despite the story telling you ‘no, things are growing ever more urgent with the main story.’ And, more damningly, none of them have the charm that sidequests from Borderlands 1, 2, or the presequel. But that’s not even getting into the effect sidecontent has gameplay wise. You see, I have a theory that this game was made in a way that it would be balanced around just blitzing though the main quest, incase you wanted to switch what vault hunter you were playing mid-way through or something. Every side quest and activity, however, awards EXP. And a lot of side quests and activities reward legendary weapons - so if you go out of your way to do them, you’ll have gear that can tear through the main storyline, and at least 4 levels on it. I went to 6 levels on the main story because I was enjoying fighting enemies at my level so much with the Eridian challenges. Most Damingly is the reward for the Hammerlock Hunts - a Powerful Jakobs legendary that you can only get by doing the hunts, once per character save log. So, a lot of people with either ‘save-edit,’ or basically have to make a new character to get a max level one by ignoring finishing the hunts until mayhem level 10 - whatever those are, I just finished the main story. So, gameplay wise, doing sidecontent punishes you with a more boring experience, as normal mode can’t catch up.

However, story wise, doing the Typhon logs and the Eridian writings immediately when they become available absolutely fucking improves the experience as you can connect dots, and as your eyes open to the details in the story if you - you know - hear them before you’re told them.

Like, the lore is cool - the only problem is the ECHO logs - some of the coolest lore - aren’t fucking tracked in the game - so I either would have to look up their locations or keep scouring the borderlands despite possibly already picking the area clean of ECHO logs.

Also, I wish that after taking over a Crimson Radio I could hear it across the zone and potentially change the channel because they put a lot of work into different stations and would like to hear them all beyond idling next to a jumping puzzle.

OH, RIGHT, THE PLATFORMING.

Fuck the platforming mechanics, the vault tells me to try jumping on everything when there is only one ‘correct’ route the developers made, and so many ‘off map’ secrets almost look like they’d kill you. Not to mention the game is reliant on the fucking minimap for navigation - but it’s too far zoomed in, so I have to keep opening up my full map, let me either disable the minimap (they can’t because the game needs it) or zoom it out so I can see where I’m going!

[hustlerose]

Did you pay borderlands 3? What did you think of it?

i played it! long post incoming i thought the gunplay was cool, all the characters have really fun abilities, and the moment-to-moment action was really snappy

i have mixed feelings on the decision to make legendaries a lot (A LOT) more common. i think it gives you that cool feeling of trying unique weapons and having a powerful build really early on, where in previous games you would only have a full kit of legendaries after some late game grinding. but it also makes all the other guns pointless to even pick up. they might as well not be in the game. and once you’re halfway thru your first playthru, the diminishing returns kick in and legendaries become boring. it’s actually draining to play

i also had some issues with balance. some guns and some build were just OP, to the point where i felt like the game was punishing me for trying to play a build i thought was fun (it was a splash dmg + self healing moze)

also i know i wasnt really there for the writing, but it was soooo bad. i actually liked ava (hot take) but the story felt like a first draft. ive posted about some of my gripes before, so i'll just link that post here. i wanna make a new point here too tho, i didnt care about any of the returning characters. a lot like bl2, half this game was just characters from past games introducing themselves. the difference is, in bl2 the characters were well-written enough to stand on their own. who the fuck is rhys? i dont give a shit about this guy and he’s annoying. vaughn is boring. haha he has no pants! lilith is a cardboard cutout of herself. maya’s motivations make no sense based on her backstory (whyyy is she even on athenas????) tina was barely even in the game. tannis was the best as usual, but writing her as ~weird~ is not character development. it sucks

overall it just didnt feel very rewarding to play. maybe thats cuz i had just poured almost 500 hours into the other bolderlands games and i was getting burned out, idk. it was kinda fun but not enough to keep me coming back. like a 3/10 game, 4 at best

[tinyteenia]

Director's Cut and going forward

So, a week or so ago DLC 6 released, named Director's Cut, implying it's something that the Director decided to put in that was cut from the base game. Which I'm not sure is the case in this DLC, but nevertheless the story parts of the DLC gave us monumental information.

Warning: Spoilers for the Director's Cut DLC and different aspects of BL3's Story below!

During the story bits of the DLC, Ava decides she wants to do a Podcast on Paranormal Murder Mysteries. Luckily for her it seems a string of Mysterious Murders start happening on different Planets around the Galaxy. As more of the Mysteries are solved it's slowly revealed something is making certain people kill themselves and during so it seems at certain times they(people who committed suicide) were tasked on helping the Crimson Raiders or COV(Children of the Vault) in doing their tasks.

The last part of the DLC takes place on Nekrotafeyo in which Ava and the Vault Hunters go into ruins where after several visions of what seems to be a Guardian telling the murdered throughout the DLC that the Calypso Twins and the Crimson Raiders must be guided towards a certain fate. By the end, this Guardian tells Ava and the VH that everything was going according to plan until Lilith landed into Elpis, which the Guardian says shattered fate. It also states that due to this things will only get worse. This Guardian is given the name The Seer(for its ability to see into the future... obviously). Once defeated, it tells Ava the thing she's been seeking; Lilith is still out there and presumably alive.

Unfortunately this is literally all we get about this new revelation about Lilith. But, it is a good one. Though, I am curious how he's alive. I presume once she went into the stratosphere she started to accelerate and then even moreso once she went deeper into space to Elpis. Not to mention she had no Oxygen... At all so her head would've exploded. I'm not a scientist or am an expert on anything, but this is just presumptions, also yes, I know. It's a game about magic ladies and guns coming out of living creatures. But, it's still odd how she survived. But, that is the question... Is she alive?

Is Lilith Alive and when will we see her?

As I said above, it's really hard to believe Lilith actually survived and lived, but let's say she did. What would that mean? That'd mean Phasewalk cannot be transferred to another person. Or that is assumed, presuming she is alive she also still has her Powers. If she is alive, I find it hard to believe she left Elpis. I'd presume she would want to try and contact the crew again. But, she can't for some reason. It's possible she's been captured or she's in a coma, which the second likely is probably the answer since usually if a Siren is captured, word gets around. I'd argue it's impossible to tell exactly where Lilith would be on Elpis. Pre-Sequel didn't show the entire planet and there's probably thousands of miles.

Though, let's say she actually doesn't want to contact the crew... For some reason and she's alive, has her powers... Where is she? Well, it's entirely possible she'll return home to Dionysus, the mentioned-only planet. It seems absolutely nothing is known about it. If it's to be assumed the team will take inspiration for the non-canonical Comics, the Planet looks similar to Pandora, or at least where it's shown in the Comic. Though, it's unlikely. These are honestly the only two ways I see this going because logically if she was alive, she would've contacted someone and assuming its the 2800's, communication tech must've evolved so much it'd be easier than anything. Of course, I theorize the original idea was to keep Lilith dead forever and this is just something they did due to backlash.

Now, where will we see Lilith next? Well, assuming they dropped such a big piece of information I find it very hard to believe they wouldn't try to pick back up on it immediately. However, that is if it's DLC. It's entirely possible Lilith's return will be saved for Borderlands 4 or whichever game is being developed next and it probably the thing they're going for. But, they could pull a Lilith's Fight of Sanctuary and do for the last DLC of the game the search mission for Lilith. Which, frankly, I do feel would be the best move moving into the next Borderlands game. Why? Because it would take away time from the next game's story to find her, assuming all they have to do it find her. Though, my answer changes depending on what they want to do with her. They could pull an Aqua from Kingdom Hearts 3(TL;DR she was corrupted and turned evil) and make her not like her usual self. Which I think would work into the next game's story. Though, I think either could work as a DLC or Main Arc of the next game, it would just be nice to shove the Lilith thing out of the way since they already revealed it in DLC and have already done Universe changing things in DLC.

Though, that is all I have. This isn't really a lore post or anything more-so, let me dump my thoughts and others can see it too kind of thing. If I got anything wrong or you would like to add to it, let me know and feel free to do so. :)

[wolf-mask]

Why Borderlands 3 is Disappointing

Borderlands 3 is a fun game mechanically. I’ve spent almost 6 plus DAYS worth of hours playing the game. I finished every side quest and every collectible. The only thing I haven’t done is collect all the echo logs, but I’ve listened to all of them. The only complaint I have with the game is the story. I’ve ranted to my friend about this and, like they said, 

“it feels like great writers set up a world and cast with a ton of potential and plans laid out, and then halfway through a different team of writers took over and there was 0 communication between the two groups.” 

There was so much potential for Borderlands 3 to be good, but instead it came out “Meh.” and that seems to be what everyone thinks. After watching multiple reviews, there are 4 points of BL3’s story that people pick out as detrimental to the story.

If I’ve forgotten anything, or something sticks out to you that can be explained away by canon, please let me know.

More under the read more

1. The Calypso Twins

I have 2 complaints about the Calypso twins: their unexplained motivations and the writers’ choice of focus.

This is my own personal complaint, but why do the Calypso’s have these motivations? Sure, I get it. Tyreen wants to open the Great Vault because she thinks its her birthright as the daughter of the first vault hunter. But why become a God? I understand the whole wanting to be the most famous person thing but she could’ve just opened the vault to do that, look at Lilith and the other Vault Hunters. So why become a God? How did she come to that conclusion? Why build up an army? Why cause galaxy wide pandemonium when you could just become a Vault Hunter like the current and past playable characters? She even says herself they came to Pandora to be Vault Hunters! So why start a CULT? None of that is really answered by the game. Instead we’re given surface level villains with a surface level backstory. We never find out how their mother died.

The main complaint I’ve seen in these reviews is the story’s focus on the villains. Tyreen is never given screen time. We never learn more about her nor does she undergo any kind of character growth to become a good villain, yet she becomes the Final Boss. Instead, Troy gets most of the character development. Troy is the main focus out of the two villains, he gets the character growth after taking Maya’s powers. Troy is the more compelling villain out of the twins. He starts from the bottom, forced to rely on his sister to live but she sees him as nothing more than a parasite. He’s constantly forced into the background, be a follower, kept under his sister’s heel as she gets what she wants.

After taking Maya’s powers, however, he figures out he doesn’t have to depend on Tyreen. He starts crawling away from Tyreen’s shadow to stand by himself. The cultists start to worship him just as much as Tyreen, he starts hijacking the echo calls, he starts disagreeing with Tyreen’s leadership. The scene in Jakobs mansion makes it seem like Troy is scheming on his own. All of this focus, compounded with Tyreen’s comments during Troy’s boss fight, hints that TROY will become the Final Boss. But instead of having a compelling villain who’s crawled out from under his sister’s shadow, we kill Troy and we’re left with the less interesting villain. If they HAD to go with Tyreen as the main villain, they should’ve given her character growth to make her more compelling. You’d think she’d show some sort of growth after having her brother killed and killing her father, but nothing ever from that. She just stays a one dimensional character throughout the main plot.

2. Maya’s Death

Maya’s death was severely mishandled in Borderlands 3. In the context of the story, Maya had to die eventually, but that doesn’t mean her death couldn’t have been pushed back though. 

Compare Maya’s death in Borderlands 3 to Roland’s death in Borderlands 2. In BL2, Roland’s death had more impact because we spent more time with him (Over half the game to be exact, 11 out of 20 story missions), he spent most of the game guiding the player, and we got to see him interact with other characters as well as see how his death affected other characters.

With Maya we spend less than a fourth of the game with her (4 out of 23 missions. She should’ve been introduced earlier and killed off later), we barely interact with her and we don’t see her interact with any other characters aside from Ava and Lilith. One of the things I loved about BL2 was being able to see the old Vault Hunters interact with each other in Sanctuary. When Maya dies, her funeral is played off as a joke, Lilith is blamed by Ava, and that’s as far as acknowledgement goes. No one besides Ava ever acknowledges Maya’s death. It’s as if her death is totally ignored.

Did Maya have to die though? Yes, but not immediately. When Tyreen drained Lilith, Lilith didn’t die. But when Troy drained Maya, why did she die? She didn’t have to at that moment. Throughout the story, Maya’s powers are an important plot point. Her powers are what allow Troy to experience some independence for the first time in his life. When Troy drained Maya he could’ve just stolen her powers and left her alive. This would have left her the potential for character growth. 

So why did Maya have to die? Because Ava had to become a Siren eventually. I don’t mind Ava, I think she’s fine as a character, but if her purpose was to show how Siren powers are transferred, we already have Tannis for that. They practically shove in Ava to replace Maya as soon as she dies. It’s like taking a child’s favorite toy and shoving a new one in their arms, expecting them to like the new toy immediately. They should’ve let Ava become a Siren later down the line instead. 

3. Ava’s Characterization

As I previously said, I don’t mind Ava. I think she’s an alright character as she is right now. Most people don’t think that though, and I can see why. Ava is directly responsible for Maya’s death. She disobeyed Maya’s directions and came to the Promethea Vault on her own. Due to her disobeying orders, Maya is forced to put Ava’s well being above hers. Ava further escalated the situation, leading to Maya needing to save her. This ends in Maya’s death. 

Instead of taking responsibility for her actions, Ava blames Lilith for Maya’s death and claims that they need to rush in without thinking. And later on she’s praised as being right for the same thought process! When Lilith goes to sacrifice herself, she basically tells Ava she’s right. Not only that, she gives leadership of the Crimson Raiders over to a 13 year old child with no experience who got her mentor killed. At no point is she forced to face the consequences of her actions, she never goes through a character arc. Ava has the potential to be a likable character but her characterization was so botched that most people hate her now. They player should’ve been allowed to slowly learn more about Ava and watch her grow before taking over Maya’s role. Hopefully the DLC that focuses on her will do her better.

4. Ignoring the Player

The BIGGEST sin of BL3 is how it treats the player character. The achievements of the player are constantly undercut and we are consistently ignored by the narrative. 

The whole game made me feel like I was the side character to the Sirens. All the other Borderlands games have focused on the Player as the main character. In BL1 the Vault Hunters killed the Destroyer, in BL2 the six vault hunters defeated the Warrior and defeated Handsome Jack, in TPS those six beat the Sentinel and helped Jack rise to power. In BL3, it feels like none of our achievements matter. As soon as we accomplish one thing, something bigger happens and that needs to be focused on. You got to Tannis after that pain in the ass fight with the Agonizer? Welp looks like Tannis is a Siren and you practically did that shit for nothing! We defeated Tyreen the Destroyer? Welp looks like Elpis is going to crash into Pandora and now Lilith has to go stop that. The only times I really felt like I was making an impact was when I wasn’t doing missions for the Sirens. 

At the end of the game Ava is more acknowledged than the player and given command of an entire army. This should’ve gone to the player! The character who’s busted their ass off to bring the Raiders back from the brink of disbandment, who’s done all the heavy lifting! Hell, before going down to Promethea Lilith asks YOU to take over field operations while she’s powerless. 

But what ticks me off the most is how the narrative ignores the player. Unlike the cut scenes in other Borderlands games, you are ignored. Nearly all of the cut scenes are in third person and you are NOWHERE to be seen. Maya being killed by Troy, Tyreen absorbing Troy and trying to crush the other Sirens, Tyreen killing Typhon, and Lilith’s sacrifice. We’re NEVER seen in those cut scenes. Compare this to the cut scenes in previous games, which are almost always in 1st person and if they aren’t, the 3rd person view is used when the cut scene isn’t important. In BL3, almost all the cut scenes are in 3rd person. The only time the player is acknowledged is when Troy phaselocks the player in the Jakobs Mansion, which makes this issue all the more frustrating.

Conclusion

Borderlands 3 is a graveyard of missed potential. The story could have been so much better than it came out as. I love the game from a gameplay standpoint, it’s so fun to play, but the main story is a drag to get through at this point. I don’t think it’s worth re-playing at this point and I’m going to wait for DLC to come out before playing more of it. Again, if I missed anything or you think something could be can be explained by Canon, please let me know! I have other little nitpicks I might talk about later but for now these are the main things that I think are wrong with the main story of Borderlands 3.

If you’re interested, these videos helped me in pinpointing what felt so wrong about BL3. They’re good videos to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-ws6VRYEDw&t=431s (Tina vs Ava)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO2qmhaRmcc (Main problem with BL3)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lL0fAxjZnc (Wasting Maya)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibOPCU2adkE (Why Borderlands 3 is Disappointing)

[freyholland]

So now that I’ve beaten all the Borderlands games in the series twice through, I think my final fave character tiering has to look something like this:

Tier 1: Tannis, Angel

Tier 2: Athena, Fiona, Aurelia, Felicity

Tier 3: Lilith, Lorelei, Clay, the Calypsos, Moze

Tier 4: Amara, Tina, Gortys, Moxxi, Ava, Claptrap

Untiered/below Tier 4: everyone else

(everyone who is untiered I either don’t like or don’t care enough about to bother categorizing them. Didn’t want to start getting into “how much I hate them” tiers LOL)

And my final ranking for the games overall is:

1. Tales from the Borderlands (kind of in its own category, but it’s by far the best in the series at accomplishing what it’s trying to accomplish)

2. Borderlands 1 (fuck what anybody else says, I like 1 better than 2 or 3!! It breaks the series down to its basic essentials, which is getting jerked around by sirens and sirens-to-be while you run over skags and pick up cool guns. What more do you need?!)

3. Borderlands 2 (liked it better the second time when playing Gaige. I HATED Maya’s playstyle, which made me hate the game the first time around. Gaige’s style I enjoyed much better, though I still find parts of the game annoying. And Angel shouldn’t have died, that was still bullshit)

4. Borderlands 3 (was ranked a lot higher my first time through...second playthrough was unbearable. Honestly the only character who got a good, full character arc was Tannis, which for me saves the game from last place lol. I do love Moze though. She’s a sweetheart and I want her to find happiness)

5. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (even though I love Athena and Aurelia I just can’t take all the Jack. Plus what happens to Felicity makes me viscerally uncomfortable. So :/ )

...now excuse me while I start up a third BL1 playthrough

[pathsbros]

Kids in fiction Rant

Some kids in fiction are done right, but then there's a special groups of kids in fiction that you just hate with a passion. Its okay to have kids in stories, the problem lies in how they're executed.

The kid's arc the the walking dead game was done beautifully. Kids are in a situation were they could die. They aren't immune to death. They realize they have to be tough to survive. The kid's that aren't used to this new lifestyle did ended up dying. When all the danger is out the window, we are reminded they are kids with more personalities instead of following the same crappy child tropes. Kid tropes done right. They are kids that relied on the element of surprise because they can take out an army of adults.

I hate how some kids in fiction are brats just for the sake of it. Ava in borderlands 3 was difficult even to the point were her master died. You'd think a kid that lives in a world were the bad guys will kill you wouldn't try to pick fights with villains.

Then you have Boruto who's difficult just because his dad isn't there. Absence of the parent should not be an excuse for a kid to behave that way. Lets be real, if we talked to our parents the way boruto talked to his, we would be knocked the hell out or grounded on the spot. I get they wanted boruto to be different from Naruto, but there's creative ways of doing it without making the kid of an iconic character look like a shell of their parent. They could've made Boruto more of a boy that wants to be like his dad that isn't there because he heard his dad has done good things for the village. A meeker version of Naruto. Naruto was there in his life until he became Hokage. It's makes more sense for Boruto to feel like he should do better instead of him acting like Naruto was never there at birth. It's a shame that Naruto fallen victim to the common trope of Iconic characters having children that are a letdown. Sophitia from Soul Calibur series had kids who are screw ups and Goku had gohan and goten: one is a side character and goten's relationship with young trunks make the two come off as one character. They're both brats ans thats all their characters do.

Why make every child character a brat? Realism my ass. The most iconic and loved child characters don't have this trope. Alphonse is a child, yet he's an iconic caring robot boy. The powerpuff girls are children, but they love helping others and are willing to learn. Clementine became iconic, and she is caring and strong for her age. Artreus just became iconic with co-operative relationship with Kratos. Shit, Dexter is a boy genius and he's iconic. It's possible and it's not hard to make a child character that isn't overbearing and entitled.

Then the dreaded "they're kids" excuse. So being a kid should be an excuse to be stupid, spoiled, and abusive to the people around you? Hell no. Being a kid should only excuse character feats that are more believable. Being easily taken down by the bad guys because they're kids is a better reason than being stupid and unreasonable because they're a kid. Adult men and women can be unreasonable, childish, spoiled, and abusive. We don't give them excuses, so why should a kid? Kid's being excused and not reprimanded is why there's spoiled assholes today.

I get they're fictional kids, but i worry for those who see this as acceptable behavior. I know fiction doesn't effect real life, but some people are like that in real life. Excusing kids bad behavior with age. Why rant about it when it comes to fictional characters? Because I'm tired of seeing overused trope in fiction. I always have to cross my fingers when a child character comes on screen and hope they're not brats for the sake of it. It's also ironic when viewers act like the bratty child is innocent "because they're a child", even though being a little demon is the opposite of innocent.

For the love of all that is good, if you're going to wright a bratty kid. Give a good reason they are. That someone legit told them it's acceptable behavior to be cruel to those around you.

Rant over.

[mentalmars]

What's the Borderlands 3 Director's Cut?

Gearbox Software and 2K Games announced a second season pass for Borderlands 3. This contains the designer’s cut and the director’s cut. Both DLC packages will bring new and exciting things to the game. While we are currently learning more and more about the Designer’s Cut, Gearbox and 2K are keeping us in the dark regarding the Director’s Cut. This is where the speculation starts. Because if we breakdown what the Designer’s Cut is we might get an image of what the Director’s Cut stands for. The Content Reveals So the Designer’s Cut is actually the 5th DLC for Borderlands 3. And when you look at the content of that package, the main things that you see are things that expand the gameplay. New Skill Trees and a new Game Mode. These are the things that de game(play) designers work on. Things that they wanted to add to the game. This makes you think about DLC6, what do the Directors want to add to the game? When I think about a “Director’s Cut”, I’m drawn to the movie industry. There is commonly used to release a different version of the movie that’s more in line with the director’s original vision. A director of a movie doesn’t always have “final cut” because of the stakeholders. They want to streamline a movie to maximize profit. Which means the director’s original vision gets compromised. If I would translate this to video games, then you see that things get cut because the resources don’t allow for it to be included. The first Borderlands actually had a 3rd act but this got cut and the main antagonist, Commander Steele, didn’t really get to shine. My Director’s Cut With a Director’s Cut, I kinda expect a retelling of the story. So how do you add new quests throughout your game but don’t force your community to go through the whole game again? I was thinking about these jump cuts, just like in a movie when the hero connects all the dots to the movie’s burning question and BAM BAM BAM. Flashbacks showing all the hints you could pick up throughout the movie. What if DLC6 is a series of events that could have happened throughout the main game but are now lined up after each other. This way GBX could go more in-depth in the relation between Maya and Ava. Because Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck only briefly touches on the subject. While in an early Borderlands Show it was mentioned that they would expand on Ava’s storyline. I know Ava is not the most beloved character in the franchise but this could potentially fix Borderlands 3’s story for people. What if characters like Gaige and Krieg were already in the base game. Throughout Promethea, we see these bots that look kinda similar to Deathtrap. Is this the design that Gaige’s classmate stole from her when she created these crime-buster bots? Gearbox could open up a new area on Athenas and dive more into the Siren lore. They could reveal more about the ‘Seventh’. GBX hinted at this if you deciphered all the Eridian logs. Clearly, they are trying to set up something for the next installment of the franchise. Hopefully, during this adventure, we also get some answers to what has become of Lilith. Because during the Borderlands 3 credits you see a drawing of Tannis trying to figure out where Lilith has gone. And when you activate the Vault Key on Sanctuary you see a Firehawk icon pinpointing Elpis. War is Coming At the end of Borderlands the Pre-Sequel we got this big tease where the Watcher mentions that ‘War is Coming’. Gearbox Software completely dropped the ball on this one as Borderlands 3’s story focuses on Sirens and not the war at hand. While Gearbox cannot rewrite the whole game, it would be cool if they acknowledged the event at hand. That way GameRant doesn’t have to write an article about BLTPS not being cannon in the franchise. Vermivorous Jr. the Invincible If you have been playing Borderlands 3 for a while, you might have been trying to wrap your brain around that arena in Ascension Bluff that you cannot access. During the marketing of Borderlands 3, IGN received some exclusive footage from the game. In one of those clips, there is an encounter with a gigantic Varkid. If you are a veteran Borderlands player, you probably remember Vermivorous the Invincible. This was a hidden raid boss in Borderlands 2. In order to summon it, you had to let the small Varkids evolve into their supreme form. This was difficult to do but you were able to get the best rocket launcher in the game from Vermivorous. It would be cool if we could finally access this area, however, I think it would be better served if this area comes available to everyone as a free update. Because currently it just looks like a cut piece of content. Making it an event or do I say a classic raid boss would satisfy the fanbase. Is there something you would like to see in DLC6, the Director’s Cut? – MentalMars

Continue reading on https://mentalmars.com/game-news/whats-the-borderlands-3-directors-cut/

[sarcasticace]

Borderlands 3 thoughts

Cause I need to vent and get this off my chest

SPOILERS!!!

EDIT: i finished game and had time to think about this, even play some endgame stuff/replay the story w/ other VHs. So I made some edits below, but my opinion is pretty much the same.

They fucking killed off Maya, their only ace character, just for Ava’s character development, but they didn’t even DO that right. First off, NO ONE is allowed to mourn for Maya except Ava because Maya belongs to her. Two thirds of the 2nd gen VHs are cut from the game and Zer0 is basically a background character. They don’t say ANYTHING more about Maya than a haiku (or two) that players have to seek them out just to hear. And the people of Sanctuary don’t have anything significant to say for the siren hero who rid Pandora of Handsome Jack (who killed their beloved Roland btw). You can, however, seek them out like Zer0 to hear them say a thing or two which is, admittedly, nice. I missed this the first time around (I heard there was a bug?), but even though it’s a nice touch, they’re short and don’t quite compensate for how they essentially throw Maya away for development (or underdevelopment, in this case) of others. Plus, it’s dependent upon players taking time out of their play-through to speak with all the NPCs instead of playing the game. It’s a blink and you miss it kinda of situation. It just doesn’t compensate for the fact that they all just stand around and SAY NOTHING as Lilith breaks the news and says a few lackluster words. 

Maya is essentially reduced to a piece of character development. This is a character that many players spent hours playing as, completing multiple play-throughs and creating a variety of builds. Like any fictional character to ever exist, she’s important to players for so many different ways. BL3 was her (and her VH teammates’) time to shine just as BL2 was for Roland, Lilith, Mordecai, and Brick. But she’s robbed of that. She has no real important to the plot, only appearing for a third of the game (if even that). We pick her up cause there’s a vault key fragment on her planet and once we’ve got it, she disappears because it’s back to Rhys’ story until it’s time for her to die. She has so little importance outside of what her death does for Ava and Troy.

And speaking of Ava, she’s done just as dirty though, obviously, not nearly as much since she’s not suddenly killed off. The story doesn’t explore Ava’s feelings beyond her initial anger towards Lilith. That anger isn’t necessarily bad. In fact, it’s justified and I hate that Ava is getting so much hate. First off, Ava’s still a child and she’s grieving. Her lashing out makes sense in context and the fact that it’s towards Lilith is fine. Like I said before, Lilith’s words for Maya were rather lackluster. I get she was numb and trying to soldier on, but it felt rather dismissive considering all Maya has done for her in the previous game. So Ava calling her out not only makes sense, but was needed. The fact that none of the adults confronted Lilith made me scratch my head, but that’s not the problem. I mean, it is, but not what I’m getting at. It’s that Lilith becomes the sole focus of Ava’s anger and it doesn’t make sense. Lilith wasn’t down in the Vault. She wanted to be, but Maya talked her out of it because she lost her powers. But do you know who WAS down there, watched Maya die and did nothing (because the game forgets we’re a character)? The VHs! It would’ve made more sense for Ava to be primarily angry towards them, but also not happy at Lilith for being dismissive. But instead of an emotionally charged scene that gets the player interacting with the characters (to an extent), Ava thanks them as if they said something incredibly moving that she needed to hear and hands over Maya’s prized gun as a reward. 

Ava’s not a bad character and she definitely doesn’t deserve the hate she’s been getting, but I’ve also noticed some people don’t recognize or maybe ignore that she’s badly written (like most things in the story). Ava pretty much disappears until it’s time for her to blame Lilith and question her choices until Tannis reprimands her once. Then Ava is suddenly a fully realized character. Arc complete and charging into battle alongside the VHs despite being... what? 11yrs old? Then she’s made Lilith’s successor of Sanctuary for no reason. Why? Tannis and the VHs, who have been doing all the work and not appearing in ANY major cutscenes, are RIGHT THERE! Ava has only JUST gotten Maya’s Siren powers. What about Amara????? Wouldn’t she be a better choice for successor since she’s been a siren for years??? Or Fl4k??? Moze or Zane?? There’s this gap between Ava losing Maya and being given Sanctuary that should’ve been explored because otherwise why fucking kill off Maya and make Ava such a focal character? It’s not that Ava doesn’t deserve this storyline, it’s that she deserves the missing chunk of her arc that progresses to this outcome. 

Now let’s talk about Troy, the other character that Maya was sacrificed to develop. Obviously gaining Maya’s powers changed the dynamic between Troy and Tyreen while also igniting change in Troy’s overall personality and motivation. He started off being in the background, depending on Tyreen and following her plan until he gets a taste of independent power. Next thing we know, he’s down on Eden-6 without Tyreen’s knowledge and phaselocking us in a trap he planned by himself. They foreshadowed the fuck out of him possibly turning on Tyreen or even accidentally killing her, but when the big moment comes, they don’t deliver. Troy dies instead, essentially wasting EVERYTHING they had built up to this point. And I can only assume this was done to subvert expectations? As if that’s been going well whenever somebody tries that. Tyreen, although a cool character in her own right, hadn’t been given anything significant to pick up the slack and fill what Troy took away with his death. And following this point in the story, she’s shoved aside to give Typhon the spotlight when she needed it more to accomplish filling what should’ve been Troy’s role. When Angel died in BL2, there was a noticeable change in Jack’s demeanor. It changed the entire tone of the later half of the game and not to be completely biased, but it was so god damn good. Character deaths are only good when it ignites change to the story and the characters attached to them.... otherwise it’s just lazy shock value. I’m looking at you, Walking Dead. 

In the end, Maya dying doesn’t serve any purpose to the story. It’s used to set up Ava and Troy’s development, but the writers don’t follow through with either of their arcs and the result is just shock value. They should’ve just kept Maya alive. The gameplay is vastly an improvement to the last, but BL3 ruins pretty much says fuck the VHs. It says fuck most borderlands characters, but specifically the VHs from the second game.

[big-meows]

Borderlands 3 final thoughts

disclaimers:

Fuck randy pitchford. I mean, obviously i feel like that goes without saying, yes I bought the game, i like the series and sometimes a bitch just wants to sink 70+ hours into a hyper-violent but ultimately goofy, non-threatening video game in a stressful time, sue me.

to that end, yes I played on easy. I also played solo. 

i play for fun and i dont fuck with build culture or w/e. i picked moze because i know her VA personally, and that was my only deciding factor.

I play on the ps4 so frankly i have no horse in the epic/steam debacle. I dont really care.

i didnt play bl1 but ive played the others.

spoilers. all the spoilers.

Anthony burch deserved better. I cant believe i have to see “at least im not anthony burch” in the year of our lord 2019 but its still happening out there. He deserved better, and this game is proof. maybe bl2 was “memey,” but it had a solid foundation and a great villain. TPS was also good, i think, honestly i only played it once and I dont remember it super well. Tales is the best in the franchise, and yes it counts, shut up. Burch’s absence is felt here. the story is weak, the villains are flat, and everything is written with the energy of a man who thinks everything that comes out of his mouth is fucking hysterical. like, im not even mad at “big dock energy” or the other stupid, already dated goofs, Im mad that every NPC was painful to listen to, or that rhys, arguably one of the most developed characters in the BL universe by virtue of the game he came from, was 90% mustache jokes. All these characters are like the versions that come out of fandom a year later, flanderized and already boiled down to their one token joke and repeated forever and eternity. You just met Lorelei and she seems cool, but man she REALLY NEEDS HER COFFEE AND IT IS HER ONLY DEFINING PERSONALITY TRAIT LOL!!!

Vaughn is The WORST, BRO

i dont think anyone really grows imo. Im particularly irritated by ava, who i very much want to like! but she has like three stock phrases she uses throughout the entire game, so after maya gets evaporated, you go talk to her and shes like “WOW this ship is cool, so much shit to steal!” like, you couldnt program her to sulk or not want to see anyone for a while? come on.

influencers as villains could have been really powerful if it had been introduced gradually, but mostly it was just obnoxious and too on the nose. troy and tyreen were very hollow. you get brief glimpses of humanity in them, but they’re so rare it almost feel like an accident. You get one(?) mention of their childhood before you finally stumble fully into the plot in the last few hours of the game. troy’s “betrayal” could be spotted a mile away despite it being hardly developed. I honestly dont even know if they loved each other or not? Was tyreen hurt by troy’s betrayal and subsequent demise? did troy look up to her and want to be her equal, or did he want out from under her shadow? i dont know. did i miss those echo logs? should the majority of the lore in a game be MISSABLE?

jack tracked well as a villain because you, over time, learned exactly how awful he was beyond “cocky corporate asshole who wants you dead” re: angel being his daughter. the twins are just....flatline obnoxious the whole way through.

sucks to be leda, apparently extremely badass but ultimately an afterthought who lives and dies offscreen only in recollections of the past.

sucks even worse to be fiona. i can tell you right now i wont be fucking with DLC unless it brings back fiona.

hammerlock saved this fucking game, he brings a certain dignity to the table that really helped level the tone after the rhys-katagawa stuff. Eden-6 was actually my favorite section of the game. loved hammerlock, loved jakobs, loved clay, and LOVED the jakobs estate. dunno why?? maybe because that level had me thinking “i could almost pretend im playing bioshock rn”

my GF absolutely hates the new claptrap. she’s right though. a claptrap that experiences emotions outside of “delusional exuberance” isnt actually claptrap

can my boy mordecai catch one single fucking break

is the vault hunter ever actually there? its really distracting how they’re never actually involved in cut scenes.

zer0 was too chatty. kind of kills the air of mystery.

gripes aside, i DID clock like 76 hours as moze, and i will probably continue to fuck around in it post game to clean up some extra stuff. might even start a zane of fl4k. the reviews promised it would be “more borderlands, nothing special” and thats what we got. it came at a time when i needed to remove myself from social media for a few weeks and lose myself in something mindless and violent, and it provided me with exactly that. its not elevated from BL2/TPS at all. the only improvement i can think of off the top of my head is being able to change quest objectives without entering a menu (thank god). it falls short in a series that always kind of had a low bar to begin with. disappointed but not surprised. i knew burch and eddings were both gone and that their absence would be felt. but i wanted to be gay and do crime anyway. so. you know. whatever. i got approximately what i paid for.

[loreweaver-universe]

All right, the end credits are rolling, so here’s my thoughts on Borderlands 3.

Gameplay wise?  It’s more Borderlands, with lots of new tricks, enemy types, and mechanics, the vast majority of which I liked.  The amount of variety mechanically just within a single playable class was a delight; it’s a really great evolution of the systems from 1 and 2.  Bravo to the devs there.

Narratively?  This game was a mess.

It tried to reuse every character it could get its hands on from 1 and 2, and a few from Tales besides, but it only does anything with a handful of them.  Mordecai, Brick, and Tina are in the game for about five minutes, for example.  It also just...sometimes things kind of just...happen?  Everything with Ava feels kind of robotic, like they’re going through the motions of a passing-the-torch story without actually hitting more than a couple of emotional beats.  Ava just kind of takes Maya’s powers from Troy without any fanfare.  Lilith just kind of gives Ava Sanctuary without it feeling earned.  Ava was mostly just kind of there, which is a terrible shame, because there was so much that could have been done with her.

Tyreen was a great villain, mostly, but at the final boss fight things just kind of happened for her, too.  She just fused with the Destroyer--no muss, no fuss, just laid down in its tentacles and came back up part of its face.  How did she do that?  How did she control it?  How did it not just consume her like it supposedly does everything else?  Why was the destroyer so small when it’s apparently a world-ending hunger beast?  I thought for sure we were going to fight a face in the wall again, or maybe a giant behemoth that took up the scenery, because the implication was that this thing was huge.  Instead, it’s not even the biggest monster in the game.

My rant’s getting a little disjointed, so let’s get back to one of the biggest failures of the plot: Brick, Mordecai, and Tina.

Nobody in the universe is tied as strongly to Lilith as Brick and Mordecai.  Those three are the survivors of Borderlands 2, the three who fought to avenge Roland, who have the strongest bond out of any of the Vault Hunters.  And here, these two are literally called the B Team.  At the very least, they should have been part of the crew on Sanctuary, and been involved in talking to Lilith before her final sacrifice.  Instead, they’re just a cameo, unless I missed some sidequests with them.

Speaking of that final sacrifice: what the hell was that?

I’m not disputing having her make it.  It’s a good place, narratively, if that’s what you want to do; the world is ending, and Lilith can stop it, but it may kill her.  One final sacrifice.

My question is, how the hell did she do that?

She just kind of...flew at a falling moon, and did something, and instead of falling, it displayed a giant Firehawk emblem.  Across the entire face of the moon.  I can think of a couple ways to explain it--for example, taking control of the beam pulling Elpis down with her Siren powers and changing what it was doing, because she learned that Sirens can influence Eridian technology directly while Tannis was operating the Machine.  But no explanation is ever even implied.  It just kind of happens.  And the end credits show that Tannis doesn’t think she’s dead?  What?

A lot just kind of happens in this game, but let’s talk about its narrative virtues.  Tyreen is no Handsome Jack, but she was a fun, entertaining villain, and I think she was exactly what this story needed.  Hammerlock’s romance with Jakobs was a breath of fresh air, representationwise, and an inescapably gay romance was a great thing to have included.  Hammerlock himself was delightful and fun, as were quite a few other NPCs.  Typhon DeLeon was a great, fun character.  I really liked how Sanctuary grew more and more populated as we traveled the galaxy, picking up passengers and crew from every stop we made.

And, of course, mechanically?  This game is a dream.  I loved playing it, even when I had gripes with the story.  I’ll be playing more of it on my own--commentating on new content as I play it, of course--and I can’t wait for the DLC, which I’ll likewise be liveblogging.  AND THEY BETTER CONTAIN MY BOY AXTON SOMEWHERE.  For now, though, I’m just going to play; expect my commentary to be rarer, now that I’ve completed the story, but it will be there.

Overall, 8/10.  It’s Borderlands 2 2, and it sort of fails to live up to its predecessor, with the caveat that that is not a low bar to fail.  I’m really happy I have it, and while I have my gripes about it, this is the game I’ve been waiting for for years.  Thank you so much to the fan who bought it for me.  I hope this liveblog has been entertaining for you.

EDIT: It seems I missed Brick and Mordecai in the Devil’s Razor sidequests that I set aside because I was plowing through the story at that point!  Remove part of that point about them being cameos.

[amethyst-wind-uk]

Thoughts on Borderlands 3 after finishing (spoilers)

First off: I liked it overall. I had a ton of fun playing it through. Well worth the money, even if it’s unlikely I pick it up again (not a knock on the game, but I’ve done basically everything I cared about doing in the game already).

Amara is a fun character to play. I love her confidence, and her skill tree is perfectly tailored for me to run my preferred playstyle (I made a melee-focused Amara with lifesteal-on-melee-and-Action-Skills and also health regen. By the end of the game, she literally could not be killed).

For a game I played across two-plus weeks, I think there was only one time I got truly bored, and that was most likely due to being tired. That’s impressive for a shooter, especially when I’m playing.

It was fun to see all the prior Vault Hunters, protagonists, and supporting characters, even if I feel we got short-changed on a few of those who DID appear (*cough*Tina*cough*). Lorelei was a good addition to the supporting cast, and I think Ava COULD be through the next game, if she gets some better writing or a better personality.

Speaking of Ava, it was pretty confusing to see Maya’s faith that she’d be a Siren until near the end of the game, when we got a better idea of how much intention plays a part in Siren power transfers.

I would like a timeline, starting from BL1 and through BL3, of exactly who was a Siren and when. We know Maya had decided to pass her powers on to Ava, which is why she became the newest Siren, and Tannis inherited Angel’s powers, likely by design of Angel again. What has happened to Steele’s abilities, and now Tyreen’s? 

At the start of BL1, the Sirens of the universe were: Steele, Lilith, Maya, Amara, Angel, and Tyreen. 

At the end of BL3, we’ve got: [unknown], Lilith (Gearbox has apparently said there will be no off-screen deaths, so she’s still around), Ava, Amara, Tannis, and [unknown 2].

Hopefully we learn more about Nyriad, and the Siren Sisterhood, across the future Borderlands releases.

Bringing back the Destroyer was a nice touch, given how most people apparently considered it was a subpar final boss in BL1, so they fleshed out exactly WHY that was. It’s a retcon, but a stylish one, so yeah.

Handsome Jack had a vision at the end of the Pre-Sequel, which drove him to find the Warrior. The Warrior was revealed in BL3 to be a deterrent against those seeking to free the Destroyer. Did Jack know that much? If he did, did he care? (He’s also an even worse dad than we thought from BL2)

Gearbox’s take on the Calypsos was brilliant. They started out exactly as cringey as I believe most streamers to act, but developed into Troy being power-hungry and arguably more vicious than Tyreen (I fully believe he’d have killed her during his attempt to phaselock Elpis if he needed to), and Tyreen to demonstrate some good depth after his death, too. Up until that point, Tyreen had been boisterous, and energetic, and playful. After that, she just sounds sad, even when she’s winning and getting what she wants. She might not have liked Troy, but she loved him.

I have a few thoughts on the character rosters and character treatment in BL3, but I think I’m gonna save that for another post.

I’ll finish up by saying that I hope Amara gets a girlfriend by the time she shows up again. She deserves it, and would have no shortage of suitors (especially with all the new female enemies).

[perfectirishgifts]

Here Are The 12 Best New Movies That Hit Netflix This Past Week

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/here-are-the-12-best-new-movies-that-hit-netflix-this-past-week/

Here Are The 12 Best New Movies That Hit Netflix This Past Week

50 First Dates

On Tuesday, dozens of new films hit Netflix NFLX . There are so many great ones to choose from…so where do you start?

Hopefully, this list can help. Here are ten great new movie options to consider on Netflix. And at the end of the article, you can find every new movie that will be added to Netflix throughout December.

50 First Dates (2004)

Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore have proven to be a great on-screen couple. First came The Wedding Singer, and 2014 gave us Blended. But their best effort may have been 50 First Dates, a film in which Sandler’s character falls in love with a woman who has amnesia and can never remember what happened the day before.

A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996)

It seems that much of Martin Lawrence’s work didn’t age well for many people. But I would encourage anyone to go back and give his early work a chance, as movies like A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (which Lawrence wrote and directed) are dark and romantic in a way that might surprise you. The film focuses on Lawrence’s character, Darnell, who is targeted by an obsessive ex-lover.

Chef (2014)

Jon Favreau has of course directed some of the biggest movies of the past decade, including Iron Man and The Lion King. But in 2014, he made and starred in a little-seen movie called Chef that delighted audiences. The film follows a chef who quits his position at a prestigious restaurant and decides to launch his own food truck.

Effie Gray (2014)

Dakota Fanning has never been as prominent of an actress as she was during her early days. But she actually still continues to churn out great performances, including her portrayal as Effie Gray. This biographical film, written by Emma Thompson, follows Gray as she marries distinguished writer John Rusin. But Effie soon starts to feel ill as her husband stifles her at home.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Ah, a classic! To this day, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial might be my favorite Steven Spielberg movie. This is a great pick for anyone who hasn’t seen the 1980s classic sci-fi family movie (or is just looking to rediscover its beauty). The movie centers on an alien that crash-lands on Earth and then befriends a young boy. The boy must then try to help the alien make its way home.

The Jurassic Park Trilogy (1993, 1997, 2001)

I’m sure many of us have seen Jurassic Park. But what about the second and third movie? I recently watched all three myself, and I believe it’s a worthy triple-feature experience. The movies take place in a world where we’ve been able to recreate dinosaurs using prehistoric DNA.

Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

At the time of release, Kung Fu Panda was a welcome departure from the same-old-same-old we had come to expect from animated movies. And the DreamWorks classic kept that energy up for the sequel as well. Kung Fu Panda 2 follows Po as he battles a new villain that threatens the Valley of Peace.

Monster House (2006)

The 2000s were rich with underrated and under-seen animated movies. And that includes Monster House, which was dark and scary in a way that most animated movies these days won’t touch. The film centers on three kids who believe one of the homes in their neighborhood is haunted.

Quigley Down Under (1990)

When I was a kid, I was essentially forced to watch lots of westerns because of my dad. At the time, the genre annoyed me…but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gained a soft spot for westerns. And that includes the great Quigley Down Under, in which an American rifleman travels to Australia for a job. After his employer turns on him and leaves him to die in the outback, the man plots his revenge.

Runaway Bride (1999)

As opposed to the westerns my dad constantly watched, I actually have fond memories of Runaway Bride when it came out in 1999. This classic romance follows a woman named Maggie, who is deemed the “Runaway Bride” after leaving three different men at the altar. A journalist plans to write about her fourth trip down the aisle, but then unexpectedly falls in love with her.

Every New Movie Added to Netflix in December

Available December 1

3 Days to Kill

50 First Dates

A Thin Line Between Love and Hate

Angela’s Christmas Wish

Angels and Demons

Chef

The Da Vinci Code

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Effie Gray

The Happytime Murders

The Holiday Movies That Made Us

Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park III

Kung Fu Panda 2

Little Nicky

The Lost World: Jurassic Park

Monster House

Peppermint

Quigley Down Under

Runaway Bride

Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family

Why Did I Get Married?

Available December 2

Alien Worlds

Fierce

Available December 3

Break

Chico Bon Bon and the Very Berry Holiday

Just Another Christmas

Available December 4

Bhaag Beanie Bhaag

Bombay Rose

Captain Underpants Mega Blissmas

Christmas Crossfire

Leyla Everlasting

MANK

Available December 5

Detention

Mighty Express: A Mighty Christmas

Available December 7

Ava

Manhunt: Deadly Games

Available December 8

Bobbleheads the Movie

AmarElo – É Tudo Pra Ontem

Lovestruck in the City

Spirit Riding Free: Ride Along Adventure

Super Monsters: Santa’s Super Monster Helpers

Triple 9

Available December 9

Ashley Garcia: Genius in Love: Christmas

The Big Show Show: Christmas

Rose Island

The Surgeon’s Cut

Available December 10

Alice in Borderland

Available December 11

A Trash Truck Christmas

Canvas

Giving Voice

The Mess You Leave Behind

The Prom

Available December 14

A California Christmas

Tiny Pretty Things

Available December 15

The Grizzlies

The Professor and the Madman

Available December 16

Anitta: Made in Honorio

BREAK IT ALL: The History of Rock in Latin America

How to Ruin Christmas: The Wedding

Nocturnal Animals

The Ripper

Run On

Vir Das: Outside In – The Lockdown Special

Available December 17

Braven

Available December 18

Guest House

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Sweet Home

Available December 21

The Con is On

Available December 22

After We Collided

Rhyme Time Town Singalongs

Shaun the Sheep: The Farmer’s Llamas

Available December 23

The Midnight Sky

Your Name Engraved Herein

Available December 25

Bridgerton

Available December 26

Asphalt Burning

DNA

The Magic School Bus Rides Again in the Zone

Available December 28

Cops and Robbers

Rango

Available December 30

Best Leftovers Ever!

Equinox

From Hollywood & Entertainment in Perfectirishgifts