The Gun Manufacturers of Borderlands 2

Recently, Gearbox Software released the sequel to their 2009 surprise best-seller, Borderlands.  The franchise takes place on the planet Pandora, a hostile environment filled with deadly predators and roving clans of psychopathic, murderous bandits. One of the unique features it had was the numerous weapons manufacturers the player could chose to by guns from. But the problem was that they all felt the same. This is a problem Gearbox has certainly rectified in the sequel, Borderlands 2. They got rid of a few and gave each one their own unique identity, a sort of in-game branding for each manufacturer. In this post, I'm going to talk a little about the design aspects of four of them: Jakobs, Maliwan, Bandit, and Vladof.


First up: 

Jakobs motto is, "If it took more than one shot, you weren't using a Jakobs." Basically, Jakobs is like the Dirty Harry of Borderlands, making guns that will kill a crazed bandit in a single shot. Design wise, their guns harken back to the Old West, with revolvers and shotguns with wooden grips and huge barrels. Even their logo shows this, seeming as though it wouldn't be out of place hanging over a saloon in the Old West.

Next, the complete other end of the spectrum:

Maliwan is like if Apple decided to make guns instead of laptops. Their all about form meeting function, clean lines, and cutting-edge technology. They have the kind of gun that if it broke, you'd have to take it to one of their stores and only a certified Maliwan technician can fix it and so on. Design wise, Maliwan guns are less like guns and more like works of art. This promo Gearbox made for them says it best:
 

Next up:

Yes, it would seem the bandits of Borderlands found out how to make their own weapons. Their guns look like, well, what you'd expect a gun to look like if it was designed and manufactured by a homicidal psychopath. The guns are jury-rigged, ramshackle affairs held together by tape and hope. The names are even hilariously misspelled, with names like "Pistal" and "Mashine Gun." Again, graphically speaking, the Bandit weapons are intentionally made to look cobbled together using whatever happened to be lying around.

Finally:

Vladof is all about one thing, shooting more bullets than the next leading competitor. The brand is based off of revolution, specifically one of the Russian nature. Even the logo is a throwback to Constructivism, an art style made famous by Soviet propaganda posters. Their whole ideal is about the people rising up and throwing off the shackles of oppression. To do this, they make the fastest shooting guns anywhere as this promo for them demonstrates.

That's it for this week. Next week I'll be looking at the remaining four manufacturers in Borderlands 2: Tediore, Dahl, Torgue, and Hyperion.