Noticing the little things

Borderlands 2 BL2 General Discussion
#9

Zoom was a children’s TV show on PBS in the 70s. The ‘stuffy aristocrat’ who appears is a reference to Downton Abbey, also on PBS (or it could very well be a reference to Upstairs, Downstairs, another 70s PBS show from which the Downton Abbey concept was borrowed).

Mordy is a PBS person., which makes sense given that dialogue between he and Brick in Sanctuary. Mordecai is a much more refined and sophisticated murderer than the crude and vulgar Brick.

This whole thing is a pretty specific reference, because you have to be of a certain age and from a specific country to understand the meaning.

But Mordy’s not the only Vault Hunter who watches PBS, though. In Fake Geek Guy, one of Tina’s questions references Dr. Who, which was on PBS in the US. Kinda seems unfair that Torgue’s geekiness was questioned because he’s a 'big, muscly guy", but Brick’s wasn’t,

There are a ton of Dr. who references in BL2.

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#10

Man, I grew up in the 70s and never heard of that show. Crazy!

#11

PBS isn’t a network, meaning they didn’t all run the same shows at the same time, or even carry the same content at all. Maybe your local PBS station didn’t carry it. You didn’t miss much, really. I wasn’t a big fan, but my little sister liked it - and it was the 70s, so one TV. The one cool thing about Zoom, for me, were those water shoes, which I was totally into making, but never got around to, what with blowing sh*t up, playing with fire, and riding around with my grade school bike gang on my sweet banana bike, playing CHiPs or trailing a mosquito truck in a thick white cloud of DDT.

Here’s another Dr. Who reference, sorta. One of Gaige’s combat quotes is “Exterminate!”, which seems like a Dr. Who reference. But Gaige is a PRP, and her dialogue and customizations are full of punk references - a lot of Sex Pistols references - “Anarchy on Pandora”, etc.

Her “Exterminate!” dialogue isn’t a direct reference to Dr. Who, but a reference to a scene in Sid and Nancy in which Sid and Johnny reference Dr. Who.

#12

[quote=“Perdido, post:11, topic:1181027”]Her “Exterminate!” dialogue isn’t a direct reference to Dr. Who, but a reference to a scene in Sid and Nancy in which Sid and Johnny reference Dr. Who.[/quote]Nice! I wouldn’t have made the Sid Vicious connection.

#13

Well, it was worth a shot :stuck_out_tongue:

#15

I just noticed last night that in Torgue’s DLC. If you look at the matinee(scoreboard) above Tina’s hut, it accurately reflects the current standings of the Vault Hunters competing in the arena.

#16

In BL2 I saw some references to Metal Gear Franchise:

Savages in Hammerlock DLC are screaming Lalilulelo, which mean The Patriots in MGS games.

Zer0 character was inspired by Grey Fox aka Cyborg Ninja. They both are using Stealth and Melee, also 1st codename for Grey Fox was Null which means Zero. Just look at this cutscene in 41:09 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a01GJ74X_R4

Handsome Jack is reference to Big Boss. Their both original name is John, while everybody calls them Jack.

Saturn is Metal Gear. Metal Gear Saturn lol. He is Mech.

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#17

Distorted Socially (Social Distortion), Horrible Religion (Bad Religion), YESFX (NOFX) those are the ones I just remember from the top of my head, there’s probably a few more.

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#18

[quote=“Angelripper, post:17, topic:1181027, full:true”]Distorted Socially (Social Distortion), Horrible Religion (Bad Religion), YESFX (NOFX) those are the ones I just remember from the top of my head, there’s probably a few more.
[/quote]

A Misfit, Clashing Colors, Dead Lincolns, Miss Ramone. There are some others that are more mainstream references - pop/alternative/hip-hop - Angry Machine, Bring the Pain, Ecstatic Tuesdays, Firestarter, Pure Velvet, Snot Stew, Joy Divide.

She totally should have a Bow Wow Wow reference, but there are enough candy-related skins to make that point.

Also, it seemed obvious that there should have been a Holy Hand Grenade in TTAoDK, but I guess Python references in D&D are bad form. There’s one, IIRC, Python reference in TTAoDK - the red text on the Fire Storm. So, if they were going to break the prohibition, they might as well have put the Holy Hand Grenade in there, maybe have it drop from a bunny mini-boss or something.

I’m starting the rumor right now that there’s a secret boss in the Immortal Woods that’s spawned by triggering the Between Two Ferns chairs, the Flaming Skulls button, and some not-yet-discovered third trigger. And that boss will be a vicious bunny who drops the Holy Hand Grenade.

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#19

You know how there are two kinds of yellow ammo crates in Blood’s arena? The standard short square ones? And the smaller upright rectangular ones that have three little shelves in them?

You can melee strike with Rubi/Grog, or even throw a tesla at the upright ones with the shelves in them. They give really strong Moxxi healing, just like an enemy would!

Anywhere on Pandora too! I use the ones at the back of the loot midget room in WEP to tank my way through anrgy midgets. :grinning:

#20

It’s not just ammo crates. You can shoot barrels, skag piles, stalker goo, Bullymong piles, the clay jars in TT, etc.

#21

I’m sure that’s a solid reference, but to be clear null is not the same as zero. There is nowhere the difference is as important as it is in programming. They’re, similar enough for a reference, but only a stretched reference. It’s an important difference for any individual looking to get into programming, though. Just don’t want anybody confused.

#22

It’s a reference to an ITT Tech commercial circa 1986! Do I win something?

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#23

Yes you win a like! :smile:

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#24

I’ll put in on that

#25

Handsome Jack was actually intended to be a parallel to Jack Harkness, whose actor’s name is also John. Or so I hear.

I don’t think there’s as many MGS references as you’re saying.

Interestingly, the “Firehawk” is the name of a legendary Repeater pistol in Borderlands 1 - popular with Lilith players as it causes a lot of DOT effects.

#26

@Scootalewis

Yes maybe there’s not that much references or maybe there are. Those was my own interpretations about how some of characters or things are matching pretty well. As for Jack I think there are some more connections him to Big Boss. Both turned from good to evil. And both was betrayed by their women. But like I said before, this is my own interpretation and how I see those things.

@Darkwind12

Yes in programming language its not the same. But in German language it means zero, as far I know. Also there was already character named zero in MGS, so I guess they used codename null for him in this case.

#27

Scott Kester said that Zero was inspired by Gray Fox, so that’s not just in your head.

Here are a few Metal Gear references that are pretty well known that you forgot to mention:

Zero has a skin called Eyes of the Snake. Geary drops a siren head called Metal Fear that’s looks like Grey Fox, and a commando head called Medic Mantis.

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#28

A little thing I noticed is that you can make an axton look like max pane if you take the grizzled veteran head and the Hawaiian skin.

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#29

I always appreciated how big Midgemong’s map is, much larger than its single quest requires, and with loot to reward those who go searching. Just a little touch that adds to the experience.