I did a frame-by-frame analysis of the Battleborn E3 2015 Trailer because Gearbox Software likes to put some hidden details into their reveal trailers. Usually, I do these types of things in text form but this time I thought it would be a cool idea to create a Battleborn analysis video. Since this is my first time creating one of these, bear with me and enjoy the ride.
Table of contents
The Usual Suspects
We see some familiar faces making their return to the spotlight in this E3 trailer. We quickly get introduced to Battleborn characters like:
- Thorn (Eldrid)
- Oscar Mike (Peacekeeper)
- Montana (Peacekeeper)
- Rath ( Jennerit Empire)
- Miko (Eldrid)
- Reyna (Rogues)
- Marquis (LLC)
- Phoebe (LLC)
- Caldarius (Jennerit Empire)
Cyborg Hawkman
If you look closely you might spot a few new faces during the Battleborn trailer. One of the first new faces we see is described as a “Cyborg Hawkman” on the introduction of the official Battleborn website.
Checking back to some earlier screenshots we have seen this character before but he was never introduced by Gearbox Software. Looking at those images we can see that Hawkmen has been given a reskin. His armor has a different color and now features a star logo on his chest. This design looks like that of Montana & Oscar Mike, placing Hawkmen into the Peacekeeper faction.
Hawkmen is one of the Battleborn characters who is able to fly and carry a big badass gun. In the trailer, he literally makes a smashing impression as he slams into the ground. This kinda looks like the butt slam from Borderlands the Pre-Sequel.
*UPDATE
I found out the name of our Cyborg Hawkman and it is Benedict. There was a Producer from 2K Games who was kind enough to share his current name but also his previous name. Because during the development process of Battleborn, Benedict was called RocketHawk. So we haven’t seen Benedict’s weapon in action yet, but his development name indicates ROCKETS !!!
Badass Shotguns
We have another new badass character just after the Hawkman’s superhero landing. You see Benedict and three other heroes do this group charge. The other characters are Thorn, Reyna, and a mystery man dual-wielding two badass shotguns.
We know that these are shotguns because this character is also hidden in the back during the awesome slo-mo where the camera is moving through 3D space while time is frozen. If you go frame-by-frame, you can see the pellets coming out of his gun. Based on the spread of the projectiles, this is definitely a shotgun.
Gearbox Software is deliberately teasing us with this character because when we reach the end of the trailer, this mystery man is in the character lineup. If you look to the far right, there is a big guy in a brown jacket wielding those badass shotguns. This character design makes me think he is one of the rogues.
*UPDATE
I solved another mystery as I reached out to the development team and showed them my Analysis video of the Battleborn E3 2015 Trailer. They could confirm the development name of this mystery man and stated that he is a Badass indeed. This character was called “Papashotgun” during the development of Battleborn. With this newly acquired info, I went into research mode and did a whole analysis on PapaShotGun.
What is Mellka doing here?
This character reveal was one I didn’t see coming because, during the first gameplay footage of the co-op campaign, the Creative Director Randy Varnell says that Mellka tags along (as an NPC) during this operation.
We also got Mellka on the ground
Randy Varnell
We see Mellka make an appearance during one of the radio communications in that demo mission as she is trying to decrypt the “computer” for access codes. We also see her profile image pop up during that scene and we get a look at her appearance. Mellka has dark skin, a mohawk with a white highlight, and elflike pointy ears.
The initial presentation was set up in a way to let us think Mellka was one of the NPCs in the game that tags along for the story. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case as she also appears in the character lineup just like the guy with the Badass Shotguns
She also makes an appearance in one of the cutscenes where one of the spaceships is taken down and crashes onto the snowy planet’s surface. You barely get a good glimpse of her, but with the power of freeze-framing this icy image, we can clearly see it’s her.
Orendi
Another character Gearbox hasn’t introduced yet is Orendi, a Chaos Witch. We can see this character several times throughout the trailer.
Once running in front of the group and later on during some gameplay footage we loop from Oscar Mike’s perspective and we see Orendi in action on the left side of the screen casting some chaos magic.
Looking at the artwork, you can also spot Orendi on the left side. The first impression I had was that this must be some kind of Voodoo Witch Doctor and when Gearbox released a list with the first 10 Battleborn I knew I was right. The description that was placed by this Battleborn exactly fitted this character.
Orendi – Best described as a chaos witch, Orendi uses her chaos magic to bring unpredictable results to battle and to her enemies.
Orendi Character Description
There’s also some short gameplay footage from Orendi as you can see 4 hands casting magic spells. As the Eldrid faction is described as the magic wielders in the game I think Orendi will be one of them.
A Beast?
This last Battleborn character was really hard to spot because he is easily mistaken for an enemy. This Beast kinda looks similar to the enemies shown throughout the trailer, he’s on the left next to Rath in the featured image above. But one thing that makes it even harder to interpret is that during his first screen appearance, it looks like Montana is shooting at him. However, if you look closely, you see him take no damage like the other enemies where the damage numbers pop up.
Montana is not shooting at this Beast character but he is adjusting his aim to the real enemy were Beastman is also aiming for. In the next cut, you see Rath do his spin attack and once again Beasty doesn’t take damage. You do see some magic markings in front of his shield like he just cast a spell of some kind. Does this mean The Beast is also on the Eldrid faction?
Update
Because of the angle and little gameplay footage showcasing this character, I first thought this was more of a gorilla-like hero. But with the recent hands-on impressions, I learned that ‘ beasty’ is actually a dwarf character. His name is Boldur and he carries a big Axe & Shield, he is indeed part of the Eldrid faction.
Mystery Light Beam
Then there is also this brief shot in the trailer. We look from Caldarius’ perspective based on the design of the weapon. But before we see Caldarius punch this enemy in the face we can spot a beam of light on the stairs in the background.
Who produced this beam? It looks like a magic spell but the characters that I could identify aren’t capable of these moves as far as I know. The Battleborn characters I could identify are Caldarius (point of view), Phoebe (left) & Rath (right). So I looked over their skill set that was presented on Game Informer but nothing matched up. There is something up the stairs in the background, behind the beam of light. It doesn’t really move, although I find this a great spot for a turret this could be a hidden Battleborn character. It’s kinda a wild goose chase at the moment, it could just be a game changer from Phoebe’s skill tree that we haven’t heard about yet.
update
Looking at the new gameplay videos that are part of the first hands-on impressions I spotted some footage where Phoebe teleported from one spot to another. This special ability comes along with a beam of light as she reappears on the battlefield.
Evil Has a Name
Here we see the main villain of Battleborn or at least he is presented in that way. Looking at his location I would guess something is going to happen on the home planet of the Jennerit Empire, Tempest.
The 2K UK social media account was kind enough to share Mr. Evil’s name. The villain in Battleborn is called Rendain.
