As a longtime Borderlands fan, I've often been an apologist for one of their most egregious pop culture contributions: Claptrap. This little robot has shockingly been around for the entirety of the Borderlands saga, meaning that if you've played one Borderlands game, you're very well acquainted with Claptrap. Considering his constant inclusion, he's basically the mascot for the Borderlands series, and probably even Gearbox as a whole.
Well, it's probably time that came to an end. He was amusing at first, maybe even kind of adorable, but as time has rolled on the joke has worn thinner and thinner. After four games (five if you count Tales From The Borderlands), all the blood has been squeezed from this particular stone, and Borderlands 3 makes it clear that it's time to send Claptrap to that big junkyard in the sky.
His Voice Is Annoying! Get it?! HA!
Look, we get it. The joke about Claptrap is that he's annoying, so of course we would have issues tolerating him. But much like Family Guy's constant reoccurring gags, eventually something ceases to be funny. And yes, there's the old comedy adage that you can draw out a unfunny joke for so long that it becomes funny, then stops being funny, and then becomes even funnier once again, but Claptrap's been through that cycle like six or seven times at this point.
Even worse, because whoever's writing this stuff seems to love him, he just keeps getting more and more dialogue, and it's pretty much the same thing every time. Claptrap thinks he's important, he makes fun of you and calls you his minions, he gets captured or beat up, he gives you quests that tend to humiliate him in some fashion, and then he either cries, or he laughs maniacally which is usually then followed by crying. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Sure, the game acknowledges how annoying he is by not only having characters call him out for being a pest, but by having your own characters make fun of him too. However, drawing attention to how lame something is doesn't excuse Gearbox from still putting that lame thing in the game. It's like how games will make fun of how annoying fetch quests or escort missions are, while giving you a fetch quest or a escort mission. You're still doing it, and mocking it doesn't make it any better.
How Do You Fix A Problem Like Claptrap?
Claptrap is an important character, but only because he's been around since the very beginning. Thus, killing him for good would actually be a pretty big event in the Borderlands universe. He's the last of his kind, and you could get some story mileage out of his death. Or, at the very least, it could be built up to seem like an event, and then when it actually happens, no one cares and everyone just moves on like nothing happened. Now that would be a funny gag.
Unfortunately, it does seem like Claptrap does still have some popularity left over, and Gearbox probably profits in some way from Claptrap branded merchandise. He's a recognizable character, and even if he's irritating, he actually has a pretty good design. So maybe one possible fix, if we can't kill him that is, is some kind of reprogramming.
Maybe he could get a new personality, or maybe even multiple personalities that could all argue with each other. Or maybe it could be revealed that a better, more entertaining Claptrap unit actually survived the great Claptrap purge, and he could replace the original. Just for fun, have him be voiced by Nolan North, as it wouldn't be the first time he stepped in to re-voice a machine.
There's even other quirky, robotic options for characters that could fill Claptrap's role. What about Gortys or Loaderbot from Tales From The Borderlands? Both have funny personalities, and likely would have even bigger fanbases than Claptrap ever had.
Hopefully He'll Be Reincarnated As Something Funny
Claptrap is just tiresome, old, and busted at this point. He's obnoxious, he's unlikable, and he's just kind of a drag. Plus, there's the whole controversy involving his previous voice actor, so you'd think Gearbox would want to simply sweep the character under the rug, and forget he ever existed.
It's obvious that Gearbox isn't afraid to lean on what's worked before, but they can't keep repeating the same old mistakes. We know what Gearbox is going for with the character, and it has worked in the past, but it's time to move on.
We loved you once Claptrap, but you haven't aged like a fine wine, you've gone rotten like old cheese. We only hope that when you do bite the big one, you might finally manage to make us smile.