Battleborn's Strong Eldrid Heroes And That One Boldur Taunt

Battleborn Battleborn General Discussion
#1

So I wanted to start off by saying, I think the development team has done a pretty great job with the cast of Eldrid heroes in Battleborn. They are diverse, interesting, and compelling. From Miko to Thorn to Kelvin, the Eldrid cast reflects a large spectrum of personalities and player fantasies.

With that being said, lets talk about Boldur. From a marketing standpoint, he’s the star of the show. He’s a great hero. When we look at the way he’s portrayed in promotional media, lore, and art in game we know a few things about him…

He’s short.

He’s angry.

He’s old.

He’s a good tank.

His body seems to be comprised of about 95% tree.

Almost all of his art reflects this. He’s got cool skins. He’s got fun taunts. He’s got amazing BO. All of this art reinforces the great character you’ve built around Boldur.

Then out of seemingly nowhere we have this taunt.

WHAT?! What about this taunt has anything to do with the character you’re building in Boldur? It’s not fun, it’s not silly, it has nothing to do with being a short beefy tank. It just reduces Boldur to another bland Eldrid sex symbol.

We aren’t looking at a Miko taunt here, this isn’t a character who is in part defined by flaunting his…her…its?..sexuality. This taunt says to the player base “oh we’ve got all these cool diverse characters, but at any moment we are willing to reduce them to sex symbols to help boost our investment game.”

Getting art into a triple-A game isn’t a small task, it has to go through an implementer, a team lead, an art director, and a creative director. This is a team effort. And I believe the team is responsible for upholding the great example Battleborn can set for the rest of the industry for creating strong Eldrid characters.

I have a young half-tree dwarf that everyday when I wake up wants to watch Battleborn trailers again. He knows who Boldur is, and as he grows up, he can grow up alongside these characters.

What I’m asking is that you continue to add to the Battleborn case and investment elements, you double down on your commitment to create strong Eldrid characters. You’ve been doing a good job so far, but shipping with a Boldur taunt like this undermines so much of the good you’ve already done.

3 Likes
#2

LMAO are you serious? It doesn’t reduce him to a sex symbol. Mooning someone is a taunt. Boldur clearly has a twisted sense of humor, so it makes complete sense that he would do that. Stop reading into it that much.

#3

And from what exactly do you know his character?
The old, small, tank, stuff is not very character defining and for me that taunt has absolutely nothing to do with sexuality.
Was the Scottish army in Bavehart trying to turn you on?

Also Battleborn is not a serous game, in the story 99,9% of the universe is dead, how depressing would that be in a serous game.

#4

I agree with them, Ned. You’re reading way to much into this.

#5

All those people triggered by a parody of the “Tracer”-incident :laughing:
@mattdyer0 , @Cuxman , @Gulfwulf :
Search for “tracer victory pose censored”

6 Likes
#6

hashtagKEEPBOLDURBALLSTAUNT2K16

#7

Dam it, I don’t watch overwatch stuff and fell for that.

Edit:
But for my defense, I never underestimate the stupidity of people.

1 Like
#8

Heard of it yesterday for the first time. Laughed like an idiot.
Dis world gg

#9

image

There’s a reason I’m not interested in Overwatched.

#10

THANK YOU Funfighter!

#11

Wouldn’t have believed you anyways. You’re long enough on this forum so that I could judge your attitude ^^

#12

Ha.

Thanks for the entertainment.

#13

What bugs me the most was how one person caused a large change in the game.
It shows Blizzard’s biggest weakness with Overwatch: Nervousness. They are nervous to the point that they will do anything to ensure that Overwatch is better than its competitors.

Honestly, I don’t care what is happening to Tracer. Never liked her playstyle and never will; as a result, I don’t care about her as much as any of the others, like Bastion or Zenyatta.

It just bugs me how cowardly Blizzard was about this whole issue. It makes me wonder if I can go onto the OW forums right now, say, “OMFG Reinhardt’s self-confidence taunts, highlights, and poses don’t match his character and is offensive to me!!1!” and watch most of Reinhardt’s customization get taken away, or worse, have RH completely removed from the game, all because of me.

#14

There is a simple reason for that, the same reason why almost all new movies have a number behind their name and most games feel like old ones with small changes.
They want to appeal to the maximum number of consumers, so everything to sexy, to violent, to silly, to new has to go for the goal of not offending anyone.

The goal is to achieve a pleasantville market.

#15

yes he’s joking

#16

1 Like
#17

Yup. Exactly.

#18

My name is Stefan Lukje. I’m 23 years old, I’ve been playing Gearbox games since Aliens Colonial Marines. I’ve been a gamer since 1998. I’ve been a Borderlands 2 player since 2015.

I’m not attractive. I’m not skinny. I got my jelly rolls that I have to deal with. I’ve been teased about my appearance since elementary school. As I got older, I tried very hard not to let it get to me.

Today, however, I’m upset. I’m disappointed.

Today, I feel like my voice no longer matters to OP. Today, I feel like I was told that I have to give up confident and sexy poses to cater to a small minority, very annoying voice in the gaming industry.

I’m quite frankly sick of it.

I love being a sexy Eldrid character. I love being Boldur. I love being Thorn. I LOVE these strong men and women that can be confident in their abilities and their appearance, because in the real world, I’m none of those things. These games were an escape for me. I channel myself into these characters, because I would give anything to be just like them.

OP, why am I not allowed to be strong and sexy? Why am I not allowed to love these characters as they already are? Why are you alienating not just me, but many other men and women that love these characters as they are for a single voice?

I want Boldur to stay how he is. I want him to be strong, confident, and sexy. Please, PLEASE, stop trying to make this game too PC. Stop trying to make poeple like me out to be sensitive babies that can’t handle beautiful men and woman. Stop trying to cater to “families” when this game isn’t meant to be played by younger children.

Stop snuffing out my voice!

PS i accidentally set my real name as nickname :blush: how do i change this?

#19

Gearbox should make a butt pose with Miko. Nobody could get made because Miko is genderless. “I object to the sexualization of fungi.”

2 Likes
#20

Let me know what you want your name to be…you should be able to change your nickname in the preferences menu.