unstoppable force (i want to see this tragic character survive and heal) vs immovable object (their death was the most thematic and narratively satisfying resolution possible for their character arc and anything less than death just feels cheap)
I've just noticed Flanksteak has fuckin shark teeth and. Two options here
Filed them down himself (the likelier option probably on brand for the bloodshots, maybe it could be a bandit culture thing to have the sharpest teef in a similar vein to wh40k orks?)
Genetic mutation of some kind (less likely, poses a lot of questions about the xenohumans of borderlands, more than i already have in fact, maybe fuel for my "there are very little if any baseliners left in borderlands" headcanon?)
ohh wait thats a good idea. the sharp points are running trend for the bloodshots, so it makes sense that itd extend to their teeth.
the other clans have their own metal edges, but these spikes are individual to the bloodshots. sawtooths are longer, slabs are more rounded, and the fleshrippers specifically have nails through scrapped car tires. (even though they’re pirates?)
the mutation angle is also really interesting though. and it seems possible, especially with the shape of his mouth being so distinct. his teeth are massive compared to his other concept art.
a good chunk of the bloodshots in my rewrite are formerly baron flynts crew, including flanksteak, which means he could have been in proximity to BL1s vault key when it was unearthed. as a result he became mutated like the rest of sledges men.
or he was just been born with it. ik that being close to eridian nonsense isnt necessary, i just like to make that connection because i am just unfortunately. so BL1 brained.
it could even be a mix of both ideas. the boss has jagged, sharp teeth and that becomes a status symbol for others to follow. who knows.
so much of the bandits combat dialogue just them telling you to fuck off. like yeah man if someone came into my house and started shooting my boys i think id want to kill that guy a little too.
further proof for my whole “the bloodshots used to be baron flynt’s men” theory: they share the same spike motfis with the bandit lords in BL1.
sledge, nine-toes and mad mel, specifically. badass raiders and bruisers also have these spikes, which could possibly make them a rank signifier. (though not all of the bandit lords have them.)
its alr guys you should totally look at my blog im just an angel poster (hiding three essays about borderlands’ treatment of women behind my back) haha yeah dont you like my au.
Blue velvet worm, Euperipatoides rowelli, Peripatopsidae
Euperipatoides rowelli occurs in humid, temperate forests of
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Specimens are rarely found alone, usually forming groups of a few
individuals containing females, males, and juveniles. Laboratory
observations on behavior concluded that these groups present some sort
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Yay thank you for responding to my bandit au ask! Follow up question. Does Nisha surviving change the inter-bandit clan politics at all, especially with the COV trying to get everyone to assimilate? I imagine she wouldn’t play nice, or go down without a fight.
and yes hello I see you on Angel + religious something or other with the bandit clans. If there’s anything more there please elaborate. Angel cults sound interesting as hell, moreso in light of her being alive in this AU. How does she feel about her position as a religious figure?
editing to say that the bloodshots as a whole dont follow marcus. which is something that is canon that i forgot about. flanksteak has an echo rejecting his deal, though theres already the statue up in bloodshot ramparts, so he could only really delay the inevitable.
which is. interesting. it creates an internal conflict that i wasnt thinking of when i originally planned this out. though i need to find out where the line is between flanksteak being willing to work with hyperion and refusing to work with the raiders.
was the damage done by roland that bad? it must have been to make flanksteak that desperate. hm.
Playing the family jewel with Zane and he goes “This youngster named Wainwright says there’s a piece of the Vault key on board” and I am. So confused at the ages of the characters in this game LMAO
planning my rewrite is messy bc i might end up devoting way too much time to people that. dont live longer than one section of the first game. unfortunately i am not normal about BL1s bandit lords.
it has to be said i <3 characters who are victims of circumstances they created for themselves. especially when the bed they made for themselves to lie in is so horribly cruel and punishing that it interrogates the idea that anyone can be truly said to “deserve” anything at all.
it’s hard not to feel sympathy for the devil when he’s exiled from heaven, after all
since ive started my most recent playthrough of the series im just. constantly reminded of how shitty of a hand the bandits got dealt.
starting with dahl dumping thousands of convicts into pandoras penal colonies, as well as establishing civilian settlements like fyrestone. this went on for generations, maybe. long enough for zed to be born and go grey.
atlas shows up, chases off dahl and the planet is put under new, neglectful management. this opens the prisons, and the “unworthy” convicts clash with the “worthy” dahl settlers for resources. violence breaking out is inevitable because violence is the only thing the bandits have.
BL1 VHs come in, killing their way through every camp and mine and settlement they can get into, for no other reason than Bandit Bad and theyre in the way of our money. lets go into their homes and kill them because they would have probably tried to kill us if we hadnt. the first people they meet are settlers, of course theyre going to feel this way.
the only pushback they get is atlas trying to “protect” barons territory because they want the vault key from his men. and it doesn’t stop them from throwing him to the wolves once his value as bait outweighed his value as an asset. atlas sends them after flynt with the false promise of a key fragment, something the VHs have killed for before, so why would this be any different?
the vault key is reformed. destroyer pops out of the vault, cracks open the planet, and then hyperion hits pandora. i dont need to explain hyperion. everyone, if nothing else, has played BL2. more prisons, more exploitation, this time on a scale several times that of dahl or atlas.
but the bandits still dont get the benefit of a doubt, even though they are facing the same dangers that sanctuary does. and worse, seeing as how they dont have a flying city with a bubble around it. once the BL2 VHs touch down, theyre mincemeat. all of a sudden, theyre fighting a war on all fronts.
so they lose their leadership. captain, flanksteak, mortar, nisha in 2. nine-toes, sledge, krom, baron in 1. and they also lose a good half of of their population to boot. so…what can they do that wont get them steamrolled by pandoras benevolent saviors? they unite.
BL3 rolls around and every bandit clan on pandora has been assimilated into the COV because that is the only level of security they have left. except it still isnt safe because now theyre quite literally being eaten and mutated by the ones who are supposed to be protecting them.
and then theyre still being mowed down regardless, because the calypsos dont provide any real kind of safety, they just have a veil of community. which is then lost when the twins die and the world almost gets destroyed by the great vault.
and now the crimson raiders are…leaving, maybe? which might be for the best. maybe what this planet needs it just to be left the hell alone.
theres a questline in BL1 where you cut bandit supplies to force them to rely on marcus’ weapons and when their boss retaliates for murdering his men and destroying his supply line pierce is just. well :/ go kill him then.
yeah guys i think were doing very cool stuff here. really helping the planet.
YOU! Are granted the power to suddenly own ONE video game franchise, and to hire the best people who have ever worked on it (and/or anyone else you want in on it).
What video game franchise are you rescuing–er, acquiring?
Hiiii I remember u sawtooth posting a bit ago and I got so excited <- Sawtooth canyon fan number 1
You saying Brick was a bad bandit leader and asking why the Sawtooths dont just overthrow the Slabs is so fucking real honestly. I've been thinking abt that ever since I first beat this game a year or two back, and thought "Why doesn't Brick care about the bandits he's leading, that's basically his workforce..... Is he stupid", but it does make sense in a way ? Cuz Brick isn't a bandit from Pandora specifically, he's (a vault hunter) from Menoetius, so he doesn't actually know shit Bout crap when it comes to actual bandit hierarchy or grouping. Say what you will abt the moralities of Flanksteak,or the Flynts or any other bandit loed, but they at least care enough about their groups to know they need to keep their numbers up. But I think the other slabs just stick around to him and tolerate his inability to lead because they know the Sawtooths would completely crush them if they didn't. And there's a really important reason for that also:
Brick is not only built like if a muscle came to life and started talking, but he's also (or used to be) a vault hunter. A vault hunter that, Very Specifically, is allied with the crimson raiders, which is built from a bunch of members from the Lance + other vault hunters. They're not trying to start a fight with the maniacs who massacre entire towns worth of bandit camps for one reason or another. They have acquired enough territory to be considered a super-power in comparison to say, Nine toes' group from the first game, whose group was very small and contained to being near Fyrestone. My theory is they're willing to put up with whatever the Slabs do on their side of the territory so long as it's contained There, because they know if they did anything their leader would get a whole other array of problems involved. Which is literally what happens in-game because Brick calls the vault hunter group the second they even remind him of their existence, and they in turn kill a whole bunch of people about it.
Im rambling atp but Bandit politics is interesting and I love how you go about ittttttt
BRICK IS JUST….hes a very frustrating character to me. he’s written as this big dumb himbo character who loves his friends but a lot of the choices he makes in 2 paint him as just being reckless with the lives of his men.
hes stationed the slabs directly in the middle of hyperion territory. their entire point of being is to put a wall of bodies between handsome jack and the rest of pandora, and its been that way for years. and it is not a fight they are winning, the best they’ve managed is a stalemate, which could be quickly overturned if jack used more than 3% of his brain power and razed the place like he did lynchwood and new haven.
but that for some reason isn’t enough to occupy him. he also instigates fights with the sawteeth and lynchwood as well. lynchwood is on the defensive, its not going to go out of its way to start shit with the slabs because its primary purpose is being a source of eridium, not a military base.
the whole deal with the sawtooth clan is even worse, because Brick is still the one picking a fight, with the excuse that the sawtooth have been selling out VHs to jack for money. which 1) WOMP WOMP and 2) further proof he still considers himself a VH and not a bandit. he sends you to cut through sawtooth cauldron and kill dozens of people for explosives. to uh. clear a bridge, if i recall. that can be crossed by buzzard. which the slabs have in abundance. whatever.
all of this to say: yeah, you’re right. he SUCKS as a bandit leader and I think a lot of the slabs are with him out of necessity. because even after being ousted by the rest of the crimson raiders and mostly cutting contact with the BL1 VHs, he still values them as people above the slabs. hell he values the BL2 VHs, total strangers, above the slabs and that was before he even knew they were with the raiders.
the biggest sell for me is his dialogue after you kill mortar. he questions why the sawteeth are still fighting, and calls them stupid for doing so. like he doesnt understand at all.
Another commission I did for @portraitperpetuity !! Such a nice character design, I LOVE the color palette so much heheehe. Thank you so much again for commissioning me !!
im gonna be honest ur posts pose a bit of an Issue for me bc like my rewrite has a plotline that involves lilith doing some shady shit in the name of the greater good and. in the light of the whole settler colonialism thing. is there a way to differentiate her attitude from jack's because i really dont wanna come off as "she's just as bad as him" guy number 172
I STRUGGLE WITH THIS TOO…To me the distinguishing factor is that the raiders don’t act with the same all encompassing anger that jack does. I don’t think there ever could be a true “just as bad as him” argument because he wants and has the means for total annihilation. no bias, no care for the individual, he says himself he wants every man, woman, and child on pandora dead. its his end goal, quite literally nothing matters more than that.
whereas the crimson raiders have tunnel vision in regards to what they want and everything else is just white noise - the bandit casualties are just a byproduct of what they’re convinced they Have To Do, but their deaths are not the underlying goal. these people are violent criminals, so who cares if they die? they were in our way.
the raiders have a scale for who is important and who isn’t, and the scale has some leniency for bandits. (that service = fondness cycle we’ve talked about before.) jack has no scale. it doesn’t matter what can be offered to him or what can be done for him. everyone is the same because everyone is a bandit and so everyone should die. so on and so forth.
the best example i can think of is how lilith handled the children of the firehawk: she uses them as a shield, and tolerates them because of it. this tolerance grows to fondness. she’s flattered by them killing in her name. (its only bandits dying, after all. there’s no real value lost.) and then she intervenes whenever they start burning sanctuary citizens. (people who are decidedly Not Bandits, and deserve her protection.)
jack would have just killed everyone at first glance. the bandits, the settlers, the vault hunters, and everyone else within a five mile radius if he could. lilith, if incentivized, can see the humanity in her enemy. which is something that jack outright refuses to do.
i think comes down to generalized apathy versus abject hatred. someone can be made to care. it is a hell of a lot harder to convince someone to love or even tolerate someone they hate.
It’s weird to me that New-U stations are widely considered non-canon and just something to function as an in-game mechanic, to the point the creators themselves have said that’s how it works. But then you just have the Quick Change stations still there ?? And somehow existing in this awkward ass spot of “technically canon to some degree given the characters acknowledge its existence, but not really” ? And the way it works is a little nebulous to me also.
The advert on the machine implies there may be significant side effects to using the tech (“Injuries / Big feet, loss of eyes and multiple head syndrome”), but you never see anybody who has used it to know if that’s true. The most that anyone says after you use it is Claptrap commenting on your appearance if he’s nearby, and In New Tales when Lor says that he could’ve used one to transition (but that he didn’t because he still needed to figure himself out)…and that’s like the only other time it’s ever brought up to my knowledge. Also who makes these things and then leaves them around. “G⚡️C industries” Gearbox what does that even mean . Gearbox is it another mechanic or is it a canon thing PLEASE ELABORATE ON THE THINGS YOU PUT IN YOUR GAME THE AUTISTICS ARE DYING HERE.
on the bright side me getting sick out of my mind a few days ago completely reset my sleep schedule so 👍. expect more frequent posting. and myb actual writing for once.
the bandit activist leaves my body when it comes to dressing up my VHs, i am just constantly putting them in corporate colors. the themed skins are just cooler to MEE
why is it that i feel like if the cov didnt exist the crimson raiders would probably misidentify a lot of non pandoran people as bandits because the bandit designation is so weirdly arbitrary and bandits on other planets would obviously not behave the same as those on pandora. that is if the orientalised (and therefore homogenized) nature of the bandits wasnt a thing
oh, yeah absolutely. even the pandroan definition of bandit is meaningless because of how much it varies between individuals so the raiders being faced with outside populations would be. something.
thank god maliwan and the cov are color coded because otherwise i think they’d get confused /j
