Shout Out / Borderlands

The entire game is crammed with them, to the point that it's easier to list which parts of the game aren't Shout Outs. Also, we have nowhere near all of the shout outs, so this page will take a very long time to be finished. A bunch of examples, sorted by reference subject:

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Anime and Manga

• If a player gets more than 9000 kills online, his profile will read "Kills Over 9000".
• "This is not a planet of peace and love."
  • One of the challenges for inflicting damage is "Human Tsunami". In the series, the main character is believed to be so destructive, he's classified as "The Humanoid Typhoon", making him the first human to be registered as a natural disaster.
• The black Runner color-scheme names it "Vehicle X". The black Racer is the X-Racer.
• On Marcus's desk in T-Bone Junction is a soccer-ball-sized tank with a skull emblem on the front.

Television

• Baron Flynt's two musclebound bodyguards are named Hanz and Franz.
• The achievement Truly Outrageous.
• Rebel Claptraps in DLC 4 yell "Hey baby, wanna kill all humans?" and "Exterminate!"
• One mission has you kill Jaynis Kobb. You even find him in Jaynistown.
  • Plus, the Firefly class mod for Lillith, resident supernaturally-powered girl who specializes in close-quarters combat.
• The Misery Machine and anything related to it in The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned. An ECHO had one of the former occupants exclaiming Shaggy's trademark "Zoinks!" - and he has a pet skag named Skaggy.
  • Crazy Earl's little "lap-skag" is called Skrappy. Earl even talks about having to clean up his little "Skrappy-doos."
• In the hospital part of DLC 1, the hospital's name is Generally Hospital. And appearance-wise, the hospital is creepy and kooky, mysterious and spooky.
• The first thing Patricia Tannis says as she walks in during her cutscene is "Atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed!" from the 60's Batman TV show / movie.
• Whitting's Elephant Gun: "Why don't you go shoot yourself an elephant?"
  • "You do and I'll give you such a pinch!"
• The achievement entitled Can't We Get Beyond Thunderdome?
• The orange color palette for the Runners is called "General Flee", complete with a "01" on the side.
  • The Monster's yellow color scheme is called "Road Hazzard." Incidentally, its blue scheme is called ''Night Rider".
• Sledge will occasionally shout "The burning lets you know its working!", a reference to a well-known Head and Shoulders commercial slogan.
• Another commercial slogan reference, this time for Miller Beer, appears when turning in the "Parts is Parts" mission to Tannis in DLC 4.
  It's Filler Time! If you've got the time, she's got the beer ... Filler Beer.
• The end of DLC 3 concludes with a time-based scavenger hunt through Knoxx's secret armory, run by Marcus Kincaid. The name of the game? "Super-Marcus Sweep"
• In the Game of the Year Edition trailer, Claptrap asks Sledge to "West Wing" with him (that is, walk and talk).
• Mega Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap will sometimes say "You Will Be Assimilated. We will add your technological and biological distinctiveness to our own".
• "Damnit Claptrap, I'm a doctor not a mechanic!"
• Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap's habit of calling humans "Fleshbags" may be a reference to Lexx, in which the cannibalistic Giggerota refers to other humans as such. Alternatively, it may be a reference to something else entirely (see the Video Games entry below).
• Mordecai's hood is identical to Scorpius's with the addition of goggles.

Film

• Patricia Tannis says "We'll need a nuclear reactor to generate the One point twenty-one jiggawatts — Oh, hey!"
• When you talk to Mr. Blake in the Robot Revolution DLC, he says that without phase one complete, there can be no phase two or three, and phase four is right out.
• The hidden basement has a leg lamp, a Christmas tree, and a bee bee gun like in A Christmas Story.
  • The Rider: You might put someone's eye out.
• One of the mission descriptions includes the phrase "a wretched hive of scum and villainy."
  • A random Bandit also once shouted "Blast him!"
  • The Lancer vehicle's White/Beige color-palette is called "Stormtrooper".
• Baron Flynt's Shotgun is called a Boomstick.
  • And the description is, of course, "Beyond Groovy".
• One of the quotes upon being revived is, "Only a flesh wound."
• The Dove. "Sometimes, I forget to reload."
• The Torgue Violator ("Your move, creep.") as well as the Torgue Cobra ("I LIKE IT!", a reference to the Cobra Assault Cannon from the movie and the thug who was more than happy to test it out.)
• The S&S Gemini ("Double Whammy")
  • During the quest he appears in, the Player Character has to collect poisoned cigars because "some kid could find them".
• The game even has pure visual shoutouts — the Crimson Lance comes with posters that reference District 9. Considering D9 came out only a few months before the game did, Gearbox was essentially adding in new art assets and shoutouts right up to the last possible moment.
• To Spaceballs:
  • The Ludicrous Speedway
  • Also the Achievement/Trophy "Hot! Too Hot!"
  • The challenge of shooting 25,000 times is titled "Who made that man a gunner?"
  • And its next-highest challenge award: "Keep firing!"
• Every now and then, bandits will shout at the player "I'll take pleasure in gutting you, boy!"
• Chuck Durden, the fighting ring owner. Fittingly, he's the only arena master who pits you against unarmored human enemies.
• The Jakobs Unforgiven revolver and its description "It's a helluva thing..."
• Three boats you have to destroy at one point: the "Righteous Man," the "Great Vengeance", and the "Furious Anger."
  • Not to mention the trophy/achievement for completing the first DLC: Ned's undead, baby, Ned's undead.
• Mad Mel.
  • Before facing him, the player is forewarned that he is a "Lethal Weapon" in any vehicle, and after his defeat Helena is thankful that somebody "with a brave heart" stood up to him.
  • The fact that he's a vehicular combat expert is probably at least a little in reference to Mel Gibson's infamous drunk driving incident. Or maybe he's just a Road Warrior.
• The Pestilent Crux Shotgun has the caption Bring out your Dead!
• The Eridian Lightning has the caption "I feel like I'm gonna break this damn thing"
• The Chiquito Amigo's 'Say "Hello"' caption seems innocuous enough, until you take into accound that Chiquito Amigo translates as 'Little Friend' to which you realise its a subtle reference to Tony Montana's infamous line "Say Hello To My Little Friend!"
• The quote for the Hyperion Invader "BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!" resembles a scene in the movie Reservoir Dogs where hired gun Mr. White, furious at Mr. Blonde's earlier shooting of several hostages, re-enacts the scenario by using his hand as a gun and shouting "BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!"
• "I have you in my eye, Sir" for the Atlas Cyclops sniper rifle is from a line by Dr. Willis warning George III to do as he's told in the the 1994 film The Madness of King George.
• The Bandit-traps sometimes shout "Come with me if you want to die!"
• Another randomly-spouted Claptrap line is "Oil can! Oil can!"
  • Ironically enough, one of the items Rebel Claptraps will randomly drop is, you guessed it, an oil can.
• Steele-Trap says "Kneel before Steele" while fighting her.
• A (falsely) injured rebel Claptrap you can save sings "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do..."
• Skagzilla, a big-ass alien dog called something-zilla that breaths lasers, and Mothrakk.
• The achievement/trophy entitled "There Are Some That Call Me... Tim."
• Another achievement is called Pandora-Dog Millionaire.
• Zombie T.K. Baha talks about all the ways one can cook and serve brains.
• Crazy Earl mentions that Krom "...made me an offer I couldn't refuse."
• During Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, she'll occasionally remark "You- you've earned it..." when she drops party-favors for you.
  • Also during the Underdome Riot, Round 18 is titled "Game over, man. Game over."
• Repair Kits: It's Got What Claptraps Crave!
• Another achievement is titled "You call this archaeology?"
• The Torgue Friendly Fire shotgun has the Flavor Text "Have a nice day." It also fires smiley-face shot patterns.
• Crimson Lance officer Master McCloud is known to have said "Death is the only way out..."
• Mission from the Zombie Island of Dr. Ned: "Night of the Living Ned".
• Moxxi: "Who loves you and who do you love?"
• One of the challenges for buying and selling items is titled "How Much For The Gun?"
• In Claptrap's New Robot Revolution Tannis babbles something about re-routing the Omega 13 to the snooze button.
• Yet another of Tannis' Robolution request is for "parts to ensure the protection grid holds on her device's ecto-containment unit, safeguarding against total protonic reversal, which would be extraordinarily bad."
• The achievement for killing 25 enemies with shock weapons is named 1.21 Gigawatts.
• The legendary pistol Gub and its special weapon effect "Abt Natural" take their names from the misspelled holdup note in Take the Money and Run.

Literature

• Baha spelled backwards is 'Ahab', and T.K. has a fascination with killing a monstrous creature that ate his leg.
• "Now it's time for my pound of flesh!"
• T.K. Baha's late wife's gun, the 'Lady Finger', has "omnia vincint amor"
• In the Purple Juice! mission, the four pumps that must be restored are named Brandybuck Pump, Took Pump, Gamgee Pump, and Underhill Pump.
  • You also fight a unique Spiderant boss named "Helob".
  • In the Zombie Island of Dr. Ned DLC, one of the things Zombie TK can say about brains when you enter his house is "Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew."
  • The Secret Army of General Knoxx DLC takes you to the Pipp Inn.
• There are a large amount of Shout Outs to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. One of the Claptraps you can rescue repeats nearly word-for-word Marvin's speech when he first meets Arthur Dent.
  • Tannis needs you to get parts for her Infinite Improbability Drive in Claptrap's New Robot Revolution.
• Challenge award and achievement "How much for the planet?" references a humorous Star Trek tie-in novel called How Much for Just the Planet? by the late John M. Ford.
• Written on the walls of some of the early houses are the words "turtles all the way down".
• Whitting's Elephant Gun could be based on Ernest Hemingway's "Hills like White Elephants". Evidence of this includes: 1. The gun's name is "Whitting's Elephant Gun", which could reference "Hills like White Elephants" 2. Ernest Hemingway was a noted "Big Game Hunter", which is also the title of the mission where you have to kill Skagzilla, which leads to you acquiring the gun as a reward and 3. The mission is given by a man named Ernest Whitting.
• The mission in DLC 4: "Spa vs. Spa."
• In DLC 3, you are assigned a mission to destroy 5 public surveillance cameras. The mission name? "Big Crimson Brother is Watching!"

Music

• The Dahl Anaconda is "long and strong."
• The mission "Fight For Your Right to Part-E" from DLC 4.
• The trophy "You're On A Boat!" exists purely for this shoutout.
• The Eridian Flaregun from the 3rd DLC has "Smoke on the Water...", making it a double-reference:
  Lyrics: "...some stupid with a flare gun burned the place to the ground..."
• The Tenuously Connected Flavor Text on the Dahl Penetrator reads "Sniper Killer... Qu'est que c'est."
• Early in the game you're assigned the mission "Schemin' That Sabotage"
• Upon leveling up, Roland occasionally remarks "Gettin' better all the time!"
• The Maliwan Hellfire SMG has the Flavor Text: "We don't need no water...", referencing The Roof Is On Fire by Rock Master Scott and The Dynamic Three.
• Sledge comes back wrong in DLC 4 to serve the Robo-lution as Motörhead. He also occasionally drops the ridiculously fast-firing machine gun, 'The Chopper'.

Professional Wrestling

• Your first boss, 9-toes, is introduced in a cutscene which ends with him doing the Crotch Chop.

Videogames

• DLC 3 has 'Road's End', with highway signs like "Road to Hill 30" and "Hell's Highway"
• The Hyperion Butcher, with special effect text "Ahh... fresh meat!"
  • Also Rakkinishu, which has a guaranteed drop: the unique "Cracked Sash" shield mod.
  • One of the Lancer's paint-schemes is called 'Diablo', and yes, it's red.
• Dr. Ned: "Oh come on! Don't act like you've never had to wait for a hand-cranked elevator during a zombie outbreak before!"
• The game opens with the Guardian Angel saying "Would you kindly fix that poor robot?".
  • The audio recorders look a lot like the ones you would find in Rapture, as well.
  • This quest could very well be a reference to the shops found throughout Rapture.
  • Atlas is in control, and it initially seems to be helping you (well, the guns, anyway), but later it's trying to kill you.
  • "Is a Claptrap not entitled to the oil of his brow?..."
• The Circle Of Duty missions in DLC 3; the last mission is even called "Circle of Duty: Medal of Duty"
• House of the Ned in DLC 1.
• The Torgue Twisted Redemption has the caption "Monster Kill!"
  • And even the name "Redemption" sounds similar to "Redeemer," which was Unreal Tournament's BFG.
• Rhino rocket launcher could have not been a Shout-Out... in any other game, that is.
• One of the control schemes you can select is called Angelic.
  • Another one is named Resistant.
  • And the third is Nuked.
• "Earl needs food... Badly"
• When you score a critical hit on a rebel Claptrap, they'll exclaim: "Whoa, System Shock!"
• The overall look of the Crimson Lance is awfully familiar to the Helghast Empire Army
• Roland, on finding a health vial, will occasionally shout "Alright! HEALZ!"
• The Hyperion Nemesis repeater pistol bears the description "There is no escape" — in reference to Nemesis from Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
• The achievement named My Brother is an Italian Plumber — kill an enemy by stomping on its head.
• The red Runner color-scheme names it "Blaster Master".
  • The blue scheme for the Racer names it "Blue Blur".
  • The brown color-palette for the Runners is called "Range Racer".
• The challenge awarded for getting 250 kills with incendiary weapons is named "Toasty!"
• Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap's habit of calling humans "Fleshbags" sounds remarkably similar to "Meatbags", a phrase used by another organic-hating robot.
• The mission "Dumpster Diving For Great Justice."

Tabletop RPG

• The Powered Armor suits used by the Crimson Lance looks an awful lot like Adeptus Astartes Power Armor, also the suits care called 'devastators' which happen to be names of the Adeptus space marines who carried the biggest guns.
  • Once the Crimson Lance start spawning in the Salt Flats, they are surrounded by what look like very thinly disguised Space Marine drop pods.

Memes/Internet Culture

• The Final Boss of the Robo Revolution DLC may sometimes say "Looks like you're writing a suicide note. Would you like some help?" as a shout out to the infamous Microsoft Word mascot helper, Clippy.
• One of the zombies in the first DLC looks awfully similar to a certain kid who likes turtles.
• Explosives Challenge: "Boom Goes The Dynamite"
• A potential self-referential Shout-Out: During Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, if you kill a Bandit with a headshot using Revolvers, the crowd will cheer "Heyooo!" in response.
• Mad Moxxi's first husband is described as a cheat. In the cutscene, he is killed with the Konami Code.

Tarot

• Tarot cards get a shout out when you find T.K. Baha's body in a position almost exactly like The Hanging Man.

Real Life

• The Atlas Patton. ("May God have mercy on my enemies, because I won't" was supposedly said once by General George S. Patton, hence the name. The Other Wiki claims it was also once uttered by Queen Elizabeth the First.)
  • Double reference in that the Patton always spawns as a revolver with a nickel-plated body and an ivory grip, referencing the two revolvers (in the same style) which Patton himself owned.
• The two "Claptrap, Behind the Scenes" miniclips are Shout Outs to the infamous Christian Bale rant.
  • The second one also contains a shout out to the infamous Bill O'Reilly rant, "We're doing it live!"
• When one of the rebel Claptraps die, they might say "I see three... flashing red lights..." Now what does that sound like to you?
• Roland and Axton have an ability called Metal Storm, which is also the name shared by a weapons company.
• Whitting's Elephant Gun: an Elephant Gun is actually a real life type of rifle for hunting big game (e.g. elephants), Skagzilla could easily be classified as such.
• The green Runner palette, "Mean Green", has a strong resemblance to a P40 Warhawk◊.
• In DLC 3, at "Road's End", the player will spot a highway sign reading "Fort Knoxx - 20km". Fort Knox is an actual United States Military post, known for its proximity to the United States Bullion Depository. General Knoxx's unique, highly-valuable pistol ("Knoxx's Gold") is a further reference to this location.
• There’s a location on Pandora known as "Treacher's Landing", which is a possible reference to Arthur Treacher's chain of seafood restaurants.
• You fight a massive Scithid on the "Trashy Knoll".
• Marcus wants you to gather up Skag musk-glands and Rakk-hive ambergris to brew up a "...truly potent cologne." The mission name? "Old Spicy".
• One of the challenges for scoring kills is titled "Your Kung-Fu is Best". This is a reference to Kevin Mitnick, a computer security consultant and author. He was previously a well-known computer hacker and 'phreaker', and prior to his arrest, he left a message on the investigating detective's answering machine, stating "My kung-fu is best!"
  • Another challenge (this one for dealing Shock damage) is titled "Nikola Tesla is a friend of mine."
  • Yet another (for sheer number of enemies killed) is titled "Now I am become Death...", a phrase uttered by J. Robert Oppenheimer.
• One of Brick's skills is called "Sting Like A Bee."
• Captain Sanders' Pandora Fried Rakk.
  • Additionally, Sander's Gorge is a prominent location in the Robot Revolution DLC, and even contains Cluck-Trap — a Claptrap that looks like a chicken. Also, upon entering the gorge for the first time, Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap has this to say:
  More than a few brave men have turned chicken at Sanders Gorge... and even more have made that truly awful joke.

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