Whether it’s video games, movies, TV shows, comic books, or any other brand of entertainment media, there’s almost always been a “dragging effect” when it comes to key “taboo” topics. Specifically, topics or notions that “society itself was dragging its feet on, and thus, these media properties shouldn’t adapt.” Due to this, certain stereotypes in media were born and are still being fought to this day, and one of them has to do with the LGBTQIA+ community and how they’re represented. So, it might come off as a bit of a surprise that one of the biggest praises towards Borderlands 4 is how they treat the community and showcase the characters in their spectrum.
This comes from a Reddit thread where a Transgender player praises Gearbox Software for having one of the main characters you interact with be a non-binary character, and yet, it’s not a “key plot point” of the game. Instead, they mention it and they move on, because in this universe, it’s not an odd thing to encounter at all, nor does anyone feel the need to “call it out or joke about it.”
This got a lot of talk in the comments, with many piggybacking off it and noting how many pieces of media would typically have such a character in the plot, and then make it their “only personality trait” versus having them just “be human” and endure other things while “just so happening” to be gay, Transgender, non-binary, asexual, etc.
As ironic as it sounds, this isn’t something new to Borderlands 4. We touched upon it before the game’s launch that Gearbox Software has done wonders with their characters in the universe regarding them being on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum in one form or another. There are gay characters, bi characters, non-binary characters, and so on, and they’re each treated with respect and fully fleshed out. That’s important because there have been plenty of games, TV shows, movies, comics, etc. that have done things with characters on the spectrum that felt more like a “token” story, just to have them, or were so disrespectful that it did more harm than good.
In contrast, Gearbox Software, for all its faults, has always treated this community with respect and seeks to show off the many great ways that these characters can be represented.
Naturally, there will be people who won’t like the progressiveness that Gearbox is showing, but that’s their problem, as Gearbox is trying to move things forward, and that’s something we should get behind.