Shout Out / Borderlands 3

General

• The game's cover is a parody of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with the Psycho enemy standing in for Jesus and a grenade replacing the Sacred Heart. Whether this offends you as irreverent or sacrilegious or not is another story.
• One of the New-U respawn lines is "Hey you, you're finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right?"
• Another New-U respawn line: "Did we ever tell you the definition of insanity?"
• One of the death quotes for Tinks is "A Noble Spirit Embiggens the Smallest Man"
• One of Marcus' idle chatter lines at his store is "They may look small but they are really just far away."
• One of the Mayhem Modifiers is "Slayer", which causes enemies at low health to start glowing, allowing you to instantly finish them off with a melee attack and causing them to drop health and shield pickups.
• The loading screen tip about FL4K's "Master" skill tree indirectly references the first English theme of Pokémon: The Series.
  Loading screen tip: If you want to be the very best, wholly distinct from those who came before you...
  Pokémon theme: I want to be the very best, like no one ever was...
• Psycho dialogue:
  • The male psycho will occasionally scream "How can she slap!?", a reference to the meme of the same name.
  • Another line has him going "Apply directly to the forehead!!"
• It wouldn't be a Borderlands game if a few dozen barrels worth of dank memes didn't get referenced.
  • One of the challenges is "This is fine." The aforementioned challenge is to set enemies ablaze with incendiary weaponry.
• Achievements
  • One of the achievements, unlocked by getting a perfect score at Marcus' firing range on any difficulty, is called "Good against remotes is one thing." Considering the fact that you're a Vault Hunter, you're also probably pretty good at shooting the living too.
  • Another achievement is called "My Name Is Earl."

Vault Hunters

Amara

Dialogue

• "I dreamt of a butterfly, and I CRUSHED it!"
• When using Phaseflare: Lend me your energy!

Skills/Augments and descriptions

• Brawl
  • Revelation: "A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent."
• Fist Of The Elements
  • Forceful Expression: "A Candle Loses Nothing by Lighting Another Candle"
• Enlightened Force
  • Combo Breaker
  • Heavy Rain
  • Clear The Mind: "Resistance is Futile"
• Amara's version of the psycho mask head obtained after killing Troy is named "Psyren"

FL4K

Dialogue

• "Finally, a worthy opponent. Our battle will be LEGENDARY!"
• "Pocket Rakks!"

Skills/Augments and descriptions

• Trapper
  • Gotta Go Fast
  • Trap Card
• Stalker
  • The Fast And The Furryous
  • Until You Are Dead
• Hunter
  • The Most Dangerous Game

Moze

Dialogue

• "Yeah, I'm thinking I'm back."
• "Thank you, next."

Skills/Augments and descriptions

• Bottomless Mags
  • The Iron Bank
• Shield of Retribution
  • Close the Distance: "Step into my office."
• Mama Bear
  • Never Gonna Give You Up!
  • Limit Break
  • My Little Friend (Say hello). When deploying Iron Cub, she also says "Say Buon Giorno to my tiny amigo!"

Zane

Skills/Augments and descriptions

• Doubled Agent
  • Quick Breather: "I can do this all day"
• Hitman
  • Death Follows Close: "No half-measures"
• Under Cover
  • All-Rounder: "1) Personal space 2) personal space 3) Stay out of my personal space"
  • Nanites or Some Shite
• The Professional
  • Man of Focus, Commitment, and Sheer Will.
• One of the Operative's head customizations is named "Demon Could Weep", and it gives the man obvious resemblance of Dante's hairstyle.

Base Game

• Two mini-bosses, Iosaur: Queen of the Scaleons, and King Bobo the Almighty, are clearly references to Godzilla and King Kong respectively, along with the upcoming Godzilla Versus King Kong film.
• Pain and Terror are rather blatant Expies of Penn & Teller. Pain is even voiced by Penn himself.
• The boss of Meridian Metroplex is Gigamind, a Brain in a Jar Tink who uses a vast array of drones in combat. Much like his inspiration, he makes a grand entrance by walking down a staircase of drones and announcing his presence, and does his best to act the part of a traditional supervillain.
• There's an area in Carnivora called La Cage O' Tinks.
• Buff, who is a clear Expy of Tommy Wiseau, hires the Vault Hunter to help get his movie shown.
• To Rick and Morty: There's a mission that has you seek out two Psychos named Wick and Warty. Wick even moves around by Thinking Up Portals that are colored like Rick does with technology.
• Upon finishing Rhys' quest line of helping to defend the Atlas HQ, he asks the Vault Hunter what he thinks about his moustache. The Hunter can either compliment or insult it. Either way, a dialog box pops up, saying "Rhys will remember that."
• The broken CL4P-TP unit you find in the Jakobs manor is at the bottom of a stairway, while an empty wheelchair sits at the top. Claptrap wonders who would push someone in a wheelchair down a set of stairs.
• One corner of Skywell-27 contains the miniboss Dinklebot, a floating, ball-shaped robot. Defeating him rewards the player with a legendary engram, which can be turned in for a legendary gun... or more likely a common-tier one, referencing Cryptarch Rahool's infamous tendency to give out low-quality rewards. When you turn it into Crazy Earl, he'll even ask if you got it "in a cave or something" in reference to the legendary "Loot Cave."
  • In addition, the challenge for killing Guardian enemies is named "Eyes Up".
• Completing the "Divine Retribution" mission gives you the "Bye, Felicia!" achievement/trophy.
  • Also from Friday, sometimes when you finish a Circle of Slaughter wave Mr. Torgue will shout "THAT WAVE GOT KNOCKED THE F*#!K OUT!"
• In the subway tunnels of Lectra City, you can encounter a very short Enforcer with a pickaxe, who is named Urist.
• The dungeon from "Demon in the Dark" bears several resemblances to Khazad-Dum, ranging from the narrow bridge without handrails to the final boss being a Tink version of the Balrog to the chest in the middle of a room resembling Balin's Tomb. In the latter, you even get to replicate Pippin's moment of knocking a head down a well to alert the enemy of your presence.
• Completing the mission "Childhood's End," involves fixing a water purifier that had a planned-obsolescence chip installed; Tannis simply overrides it and claims "now we can be done with this water chip nonsense." Finding a water chip, a known wear part that was purposely omitted from supplies (and thus expected to fail) was the original overarching goal of Fallout, the origin of the series the Borderlands was initially often compared to.
• In Voracious Canopy in Eden-6, you'll meet a robot enemy with spinning arms that deflect bullets named Maxitrillion. This is a reference to Maximilian, a robot antagonist with the same deflector arms from the 1979 Disney film The Black Hole.
• One of the loading screen tips ends with the line "Reach out and punch face!", likely referencing "Reach out and touch faith" from Depeche Mode's song Personal Jesus.
• The mayhem modifier, Slayer, is a reference to Doom (2016). Enemies that reach low enough health will glow blue and can be melee'd to be killed instantly and drop several health vials and shield boosters, much like 2016's Glory Kill system. The name is a reference to how the demons call the player character the Doom Slayer.
• Killavolt's camera drone he uses to keep track of your slaughter is named "Killa Kam", an alternate moniker of rapper Cam'ron with Xtreme Kool Letterz liberties taken.
• Claptrap gets sucked into a hole when a hull breach happens on Sanctuary III and his butt plugs it up, stabilizing the atmosphere much like Rygel in "Vitas Mortis", though being a robot he's able to keep it up much longer.
  • He also says "My ass... It's full of stars!"

Weapons

• The Maliwan ASMD is a shout out to the eponymous weapon from Unreal, firing a ball that's shot with the other fire's laser^note Though they're inverted in this game. The fact that it always comes with the Shock element also refers to the name it got in all following installments of the Unreal series, the Shock Rifle.
• The Hellwalker shotgun is essentially the Super Shotgun of Doom (2016), named after a track from the game, that when fired here plays an electric guitar chord. When equipped from the floor, the equip animation plays a guitar riff.
• There's also the Torgue Try-Bolt, a Legendary Assault Rifle which shoots three sticky rockets that explode shortly upon impact with an enemy or a surface. It's modelled after the Tri-Bolt gun from Quake Champions.
  • It's Flavor Text is "Do... or do not-bolt", inspired after Yoda's saying "Do, or do not. There is no try.".
• Several weapons manufactured by Vladof have base names that include words like 'Droog', 'Razrez' or 'Moloko'.
• The Impaler shield has the flavor text "Out for a walk, bitch." - a quote taken from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode “No Place Like Home”. The special effect involves spikes.
• There's a secret easter egg Psycho named "One Punch" with an oversized right arm who can instantly down you with a single melee attack. He also happens to drop a legendary shotgun called "One Pump Chump" which deals enough damage to kill almost any non-boss, non-badass enemy in a single shot.
• The ECHO-2 Grenade Mod, which turns your grenades into ECHO-2 devices that explode like a Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Right at the very beginning of the game, Claptrap gives you an ECHO-3 device while mentioning that the ECHO-2 would spontaneously combust and was therefore rebranded as grenades.
• The Fingerbiter, obtained from the mission "On the Blood Path" if you choose to side with Ramsden.

  "I suppose you are wondering about my bandages."

• The Dead Chamber pistol's reload has the Vault Hunter point toward it, referencing a rare reload animation from the Battlefield series. However, its Flavor Text also references The Dark Knight:

  "You're not playing the odds, friend."

• Similar to previous games in the series, there are several Legendary Items that explicitly reference other works with their names and/or Flavor Text, possibly Tenuously Connected Flavor Text, such as:
  • Krakatoa, a unique Maliwan sniper rifle that creates miniature volcanoes when it kills an enemy.
    "Get him angry and he's bound to erupt."
  • Moxxi's Bouncing Pair, a grenade mod that spits out two grenades at once, one incendiary and one shock.
    "Prepare for trouble, and make it double."
  • Red Queen, a grenade mod that sends out a laser wire instead of an explosion.
    "OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!"
  • Bangarang, a Tediore pistol that sprays bullets in all directions when reloaded.
    "To die would be a grand adventure."
  • The Unforgiven, a slow-firing Jakobs pistol with extreme critical damage:
    "It's a helluva thing to kill a man."
  • Jericho, a rocket launcher that fires a missile into the air that splits into 3 cluster bombs that rain down on your enemies:
    "I prefer the weapon you only need to fire once."
  • The Companion is a twofer - It deals fire damage on headshots, mimicking the Firefly perk from Destiny... and has a quote to complete the reference. Similarly to Captain Mal's gun, it's also a revolver-styled pistol that acts more like a semiauto (and visually looks just like Mal’s gun):
    "You can't take the sky from me."
  • Alchemist, an incendiary Torgue assault rifle that deals 10% of its damage as shock damage to the player for each bullet that connects:
    "You can't gain something without giving something in return."
  • Tsunami, a Maliwan shock/corrosive SMG that deals extra elemental damage to enemies:
    "You can't explain that."
  • The Pricker, which shoots homing needles that “supercombine” and explode if enough of them hit the same target.
    "What have they to say now?"
  • The Cocky Bastard, a four-shot sniper that does bonus shock damage on crits.
    "Great, kid."
  • The Freeman, a rocket launcher that follows where the player is pointing.
    "The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world."
  • The Superball, a Maliwan pistol that shoots fireballs that bounce along the floor and have an 8-bit sound when fired.
    "Flower power."
  • It's Piss, a grenade that applies a damage-increasing debuff on enemies that turns them yellow. Its quote, like the weapon's designated boss, is a reference to The Goonies.
    "Hey you guys!"
  • Psycho Stabber, a COV pistol that fires knives and greatly increases melee damage.
    "Fa fa fa fa, fa fa fa fa fa fa..."
  • The Warlord, a Dahl assault rifle with a 30% chance to not lose ammo
    "My gun sings for your blood."
  • Black Hole, a Pangolin shield (according to this game) that, when depleted, has singularity and nova effects.
    "She's gone from suck to blow."

The Handsome Jackpot

• The plot of the DLC — performing a heist on a long-abandoned casino still protected by its old security measures — feels extremely reminiscent of Fallout: New Vegas's "Dead Money" expansion. Fittingly, Moxxi mentions that she'll "wipe the slate clean" within minutes of arrival, a phrase associated with Father Elijah, the villain of that same expansion. Unlike said villain, she keeps good on her word.
• A minor robot character who speaks only one word at a time finishes one of his sentences by yelling "SAD!".
• Freddie the Traitor's boss entrance is inspired by Jean-Claude Van Damme's famous splits.
• The final phase of Jackpot the Jack's Bot is clearly inspired by Iron Man down to the triangle in its chest, and its attacks and other animations are pretty much taken from the superhero.
• One of the Combat challenges, "Kill X Loaders," is titled "You Pass Butter."

Guns, Love, and Tentacles

• The DLC is such a clear love-letter to H. P. Lovecraft's work that it could probably get its own Shout-Out page. Hilarious in Hindsight when you realize that it's the exact thing Lovecraft would despise, featuring an interracial (as much as ethnicity matters in Borderlands) gay wedding and a female, Ambiguously Jewish Deuteragonist.
  • The mission names are all allusions to works in the Cthulhu Mythos, such as At the Mountain of Mayhem and Call of Gythian.
    • The entire climb up Negul Neshai is one long reference At the Mountains of Madness. Both stories feature travelling through a frozen wasteland, discovering ancient ruins, and learning about eldritch monsters. There's even a sidequest where you follow the footsteps of a captain named Dyer, Dyer is the name of the narrator of Madness.
  • The Nibblenomicon is a clear reference to the Necronomicon.
  • You meet at least one cultist that believes he's a fish, a clear reference to The Shadow Over Innsmouth.
• At one point Gaige calls you to talk about a bar patron named Mancomb Seepgood. Mancomb Seepgood is a minor NPC in The Secret of Monkey Island, as well as another way to say the name of the main character Guybrush Threepwood.
• Upon visiting Olmstead Square for the first time, one of the citizens explains that he can't wear a shirt since he breathes through his abs, and wearing a shirt would kill him.
• The Hammerlock Occult Hunt in the Cankerwood has you fight a Prime Wolven called Gmork and can drop a Legendary Maliwan Shotgun called "Nothingness."

Revenge of the Cartels

• The head you get for completing 14 Revenge of the Cartels challenges is called "Hotline Pandora".

Bounty of Blood

• One of the sidequests you can get in Vestige is called "The Quick and the Quickerer."
• One experiment you may notice is a refrigerator with a bloody body next to it.
• The four movie posters you find in the Prestige movie theater are Smugging Saddles, Lonesome Smug, A Fistful of Smuggers, and Tombsmug.
• The Vault Hunters can visit a saurian ranch called Saurdew Valley.
• One of the things Rose can say when you start the fight with her is "It's all over but the crying!" That's the name of a song by The Ink Spots.
• The description for the final area of the DLC is "It's not the ruin, but you can see it from here".
• Guns include
  • The Gargoyle, a pistol that shoots explosive, corrosive blobs along with it's default projectiles.
    "Defender of the night"
  • Complex Root, a Maliwan sniper rifle that leaves additional projectiles along its trajectory of it's first shot that explode on contact.
    "Your Brain is a Creative Computer"

Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck

• One of the optional bosses is a unique yellow Goliath called Spongeboss Bulletpants, who is found living in a pineapple-like meat house. He's covered in bubbles, dual-wields a pair of radioactive bubble-firing pistols, and as his name suggests, soaks up a ton of damage like a sponge. Even his popped-out skull vaguely looks like Gary the snail.
• The mission "It's an Allegory" starts with a small recreation of the Lobby Scene from The Matrix, there's a sidepath that leads to Red and Blue Krieg sitting in a cave staring at shadows on the wall, Blue Krieg doesn't want to leave,l, so you break their lights. Then they walk outside and see the "real" world, and Blue Krieg says "Whoa" multiple times.
• The new Legendaries include:
  • The Faulty Star.
    Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.
  • The Plus Ultra.
    Remember why you started down this path.
  • The Lovable Rogue.
    I know.
  • The Convergence
    "At the summit, you will find yourself united." ^note  A part of a quote by French scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
  • Blood-Starved Beast
    Chaos, or some say Chaosm.
• The moon in Krieg's mind has a Psycho face on it with a rocket in it's eye like the moon in A Trip to the Moon.
• The achievements.
  • The Blast and the Furious
  • Trauma Center
  • Red Wrath and Beyond^note A reference to Bed Bath and Beyond
  • Ye Who Enter

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