- For other uses, see Claptrap (disambiguation).
Claptrap is a CL4P-TP general purpose robot manufactured by Hyperion. It has been programmed with an overenthusiastic personality, and brags frequently, yet also expresses severe loneliness and cowardice.
Claptrap intro in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, as a playable character
Involvement
Borderlands
When the Vault Hunters leave the bus at the very beginning of Borderlands they are met by Claptrap,[1] who introduces them to Dr. Zed.[2] It later takes them to the Fyrestone gate in the mission Claptrap Rescue, where it is damaged by bandits. The Guardian Angel then says to get a repair kit and perform the first Claptrap rescue.[3] Claptrap later hangs around as an alert system to offer notifications of available missions, both in Fyrestone and later at T-Bone Junction.
Claptrap's New Robot Revolution
- Main article: Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap
Claptrap undergoes a radical shift in programming at some point after the opening of the Vault and is transformed into the Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap. Originally converted to kill off the Vault Hunters by Hyperion, Claptrap broke his programming and started a revolution against all things living, forcing Hyperion to halt him by hiring his targets instead. Eventually, Claptrap was defeated and restored to his original state.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
Claptrap continued to work under Hyperion as a steward bot. Late for a quarterly meeting, Jack demands Claptrap to open a door for him. Claptrap informs Jack of his time as an assassin, which inspires Jack to subsequently reprogram and upgrade Claptrap. The upgrade removes its ability to open doors, but adds a full range of combat programming, as well as a stair-climbing wheel, turning it into the "Fragtrap," one of the character classes in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel.
A post-credits scene reveals Jack betraying Claptrap by shooting it with a Hyperion Pistol and removing its stair-climbing wheel after realizing the unit's redundancy and his Loaders' practicality. Alistair Hammerlock would later find and repair Claptrap, who eventually witnesses Jack's attempt to kill the Borderlands 2 Vault Hunters as an explosion hits the train they were in.
Claptastic Voyage
Helloooo, digitized traveler!
During the Claptastic Voyage DLC of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, the Vault Hunters (including Claptrap itself) enter a simulation of Claptrap's mind, where they encounter Claptrap as "Claptrap's Consciousness," who interacts with them as they navigate its mind. Claptrap's Consciousness proves to be incompetent and leads the Vault Hunters on wild goose chases. Eventually, 5H4D0W-TP, the DLC's main antagonist and a prominent subroutine within itself offers to integrate and destroy those that have wronged Claptrap in the past in retribution. Claptrap's Consciousness refuses and maintains its belief in them, while 5H4D0W-TP is defeated after a fight.
At the end of the Claptastic Voyage story, Jack eliminates the Claptrap product line, destroying all of them except for Fragtrap. Several post-credits scenes regarding it are further elaborated upon:
- Jack shoots it with his wrist-mounted blasters, and dumps it with other wrecked claptraps in Windshear Waste.
- The remains of the Fragtrap coding within Claptrap manage to keep it barely active after 5H4D0W-TP destroys himself to resurrect Claptrap.
- After scaring off the Bullymongs with his Sniper Rifle, Hammerlock finds Claptrap and starts repairing it.
Borderlands 2
Following Hyperion's takeover of Pandora and the destruction of every other Claptrap unit at the hands of Handsome Jack, Claptrap, the last active robot of its product line wished to exact revenge upon Jack, but was unable to do so without its weapons protocols and stair-climbing wheels.
Sometime before the new Vault Hunters' arrival, it was held captive by Captain Flynt and tortured for his amusement.[4] Claptrap escaped by staging a mutiny on The Soaring Dragon before the Southern Shelf flash-freeze.[5]
It finds the new Vault Hunters from the train wreckage outside its place in Windshear Waste, accompanying them and calling them its "minions". They fought their way through Southern Shelf, killing Flynt and his men before stealing a boat and sailing for Three Horns - Divide. In Sanctuary, Claptrap settles in a messy area away from the town center, where it gives several optional missions.
Roland later requests a software upgrade for Claptrap so that Claptrap can deactivate the Competitor Deterrence Field surrounding The Bunker. This is obtained from Bloodwing at the end of the mission Wildlife Preservation. At the start of the mission Where Angels Fear To Tread, the Vault Hunters convince Claptrap to help and find it waiting in Thousand Cuts, spraying graffiti. It deactivates the barrier, allowing the Vault Hunters to proceed while it retreats in cowardice.
In the final story mission, Claptrap helps the Vault Hunters gain access to Hero's Pass. It hacks the door while the Vault Hunters defeat the Loaders sent after them. Claptrap was ready to aid further in the assault on Hero's Pass but is confronted by a massive staircase. With no other way up, Claptrap stays to cry while cloaked.
In the credits, Claptrap rejoices the destruction of Hero's Pass' staircase, presumably wrought of Tiny Tina and Brick.
Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt
Sometime after Handsome Jack's defeat, Claptrap decides to go on a vacation by stowing itself on the H.S.S. Terminus. However, the ship crashes on the primitive continent of Aegrus when Claptrap disengages the ship's autopilot. When the Vault Hunters first encounter Claptrap on Aegrus, it is being worshipped by savages due to its Hyperion manufacture. However, Claptrap accidentally angers the savages when it insults Handsome Jack and needs to be saved. After defending Claptrap from the savages, Claptrap informs the Vault Hunters that Professor Nakayama is trying to clone Handsome Jack and orders the Vault Hunter to destroy Jack's DNA samples.
Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep
When Brick, Lilith and Mordecai were playing Bunkers and Badasses with Tiny Tina, Claptrap appeared in the game as the Grand Wizard, assisting in reaching the Handsome Sorcerer. It also gives them several quests in order to make it more powerful, such as forging it a beard and making it a powerful wand. After the four of them finish their game, Claptrap joins them and the Vault Hunters at Roland's memorial statue. After Tina says her farewell to Roland, Claptrap blurts out "I love you guys" which ruins the heartwarming moment and upsets everyone.
Tales from the Borderlands
During the events of The Vault of the Traveler, if the player has enough money, they can hire the "Mystery Vault Hunter" in the fight against the Traveler, which happens to be Claptrap. The player has to get enough money by warning Felix about the bomb in Zer0 Sum and choosing Felix for the final fight in The Vault of the Traveler. Felix does not join, but gives enough money to hire Claptrap.
Note that the condition of picking Felix can be bypassed if the player edits the game files to give maximum money (over $9,999) before loading the NPC selection stage.
Claptrap is notably much snarkier than usual during the events of the episode and is a general nuisance throughout the battle. However, it does ultimately assist in the fight if chosen. When inside Gortys, Claptrap's attack consists of a clumsy rapid-fire missile strike.
Commander Lilith & The Fight For Sanctuary
Sometime after the defeat of the Traveler, Sanctuary is attacked and when Lilith evacuates the flying city, Claptrap is transported to the Dahl Abandon. There it learns of some crystals in a nearby mine and decides to dub them "BECHO wafers," tasking the Vault Hunters to gather them for it. Believing that the BECHO wafers will make it rich, Claptrap tells Lilith that it doesn't need her or the Crimson Raiders anymore and is going to strike out on its own, to which Lilith reacts with disinterest. As soon as the BECHO wafers are delivered to it, Claptrap suddenly realizes that they are worthless and begs Lilith to allow it back into the Raiders, to which she agrees with the same disinterest as when it left the Raiders moments before.
Claptrap then leaves the Dahl Abandon and takes up residence in The Backburner with the other Crimson Raiders, still carrying the BECHO wafers. In Chief Executive Overlord, Vaughn asks for its opinion on leadership, and expects it to reply with gibberish. Claptrap proceeds to speak, with Vaughn interrupting the nonsense a few moments after, much to Claptrap's dismay.
Appearances
- Borderlands
- Borderlands 2
- Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
- Tales from the Borderlands
- Borderlands 3
- Tiny Tina's Wonderlands
Quotes
- For Claptrap's quotes in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, see Claptrap/Quotes.
- For quotes by generic Claptrap units, see Claptrap (robots)#Quotes.
Notes
- In Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Claptrap exhibits properties different from other Vault Hunters:
- He does not consume oxygen and will not lose health without it. Oz Kits will neither drain nor form an Oxygen Bubble over him in a vacuum.
- He takes increased corrosive damage and reduced incendiary damage.
- He enters Fight For Your Life much faster after health depletion.
Trivia
- "Claptrap" is a word synonymous with drivel or babble, which is intentionally referenced in-game, as all claptraps ramble on and are rarely not speaking.
- Claptrap was born from a random sketch in a low-level assignment made by the JIRA project-management software system [6].
- In the German version, the initial Claptrap introduces itself as "CLP4P-TP", even though the subtitles read "CL4P-TP".
- Claptrap is the only Claptrap that has been designated with an actual name, Claptrap P. Claptrappington [7].
- Claptrap appears as an Easter Egg in Torchlight II. It offers a socketable item called Claptrap's Nut or Claptrap's Bolt.
- Claptrap appears as one of the opponents in TellTale Games' Poker Night at the Inventory 2.
- In bounty rounds, Claptrap bids with its Spike Video Game Awards Best New Character award. If the Borderlands inventory is unlocked, it wears a top hat and has a tuxedo decal. If the Portal inventory is unlocked, its design and paint job reflect the sleek white coloration and general design of Aperture Science's cores and turrets. It also has a (very one-sided) attraction to Portal's GLaDOS.
- Claptrap mentions that all Claptraps are equipped with 8th Generation Emotive Resonators, allowing them to mimic a wide range of emotions.
- Claptrap expresses excruciating pain when its eye is ripped out in Borderlands 2, but later when it is beaten by bandits it states that it cannot feel pain.
- This is contradicted in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. The Claptrap unit featured at the start of states that robots feel pain "in slow-motion with great intensity", and Claptrap may occasionally complain about feeling pain if he takes damage from incendiary, corrosive or shock status effects.
- In Borderlands 2, Claptrap breaks the fourth wall in the mission Claptrap's Secret Stash when it addresses players directly and advises them that they can use the stash to twink their characters.
- Claptrap's color scheme, yellow with a white stripe in the middle, matches that of a green quality Hyperion weapon, while the Jakobs claptrap has a color scheme that matches a purple-quality Jakobs weapon.
- In Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Claptrap shows jealousy when it meets a regular Claptrap during Home Sweet Home, as the other Claptrap doesn't have to fight and just opens doors. Shortly after that, he becomes furious at said Claptrap's sheer inefficiency, more so than any other human Vault Hunters.
- In Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Claptap's combat style is listed as "It's not stupid. It's advanced!". This is the same line said in the TV series Invader Zim when Zim is given Gir, his faulty robot.
- If a new Fragtrap is created, the game will give out 3 warning prompts against playing as Claptrap.
- Claptrap has a brief cameo in Ready Player One. The character Parcival walks past a small booth with Claptrap in it after a big race near the beginning of the film.
- Claptrap, Athena and Timothy Lawrence are the only Vault Hunters from Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel that are currently alive. Wilhelm, Nisha, and Aurelia are killed over the course of Borderlands 2 and Borderlands 3.
- Claptrap's tendency to become a nuisance to everyone resulted in it becoming one of the most hated characters in the entire Borderlands series for in-game characters after the original Borderlands.
- In Borderlands 3, Claptrap's likeness is featured on a cereal box prop. The brand of cereal, "CL4PS4P", appears to be manufactured by Hyperion, as the back of the box features the tagline "For the minion on the go, CL4P-S4P provides hydration as only Hyperion can!"
- The front of the box features a short binary code "010001001", which translates to "D". This is presumably meant as vitamin D, which is commonly infused into real-life cereals.
- While Claptrap repeatedly mentions that the CL4P-TP unit is unable to climb stairs in both Borderlands and Borderlands 2, the CL4P-TP unit in the Claptrap Rescue: The Salt Flats side mission can be seen climbing a small set of stairs when rewarding the character with a red chest. Furthermore, in Borderlands 2, it can be seen, often when waiting for the Vault Hunter to catch up with it, using its suspension system to jump more than high enough to climb stairs.
- Clatrap is available in Fortnite: Battle Royale as a Gaming Legends Series Pet added for the Tiny Tina's Wonderlands crossover promotion, simply called Claptrap.
See Also
External Links
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