Tiny Tina’s New Origin In Borderlands & How It’s Different From The Games

Spoilers are ahead for the Borderlands movie.

Although director Eli Roth’s action-comedy film adaptation of Borderlands uses the bestselling video games as inspiration, the movie takes massive liberties when it comes to Tiny Tina’s origin story. Played by Ariana Greenblatt (Ahsoka), Tiny Tina is one of the most beloved figures in the franchise, making her addition to the Borderlands movie’s cast of characters exciting — at least in theory. Out of the gate, Borderlands landed a dismal Rotten Tomatoes score, debuting with a shocking 0% on the platform. Needless to say, Roth’s film may do more harm than good to its fan-favorite characters.

Unlike other video game adaptations, Borderlands recycles familiar characters but doesn’t graft the plot of the first game onto a cinematic skeleton. Lilith, played by Cate Blanchett, is a bounty hunter who originally hails from the deadly Pandora. In the original game, however, Lilith is one of four Vault Hunters — Lilith’s Siren powers in the Borderlands movie aren’t quite the same as the source material. But Lilith isn’t the only character who was altered for the silver screen. That said, Borderlands differences from the video games are also made manifest in Tiny Tina’s backstory.

Tiny Tina’s Origin In The Borderlands Movie Explained

Tina Is Atlas’ Daughter In The Borderlands Movie

In Roth’s Borderlands movie, Tiny Tina is the daughter of Atlas (Edgar Ramírez) — a character who doesn’t quite have a video game counterpart. Similar to Handsome Jack, Atlas is a powerful corporate magnate who hires Lilith to rescue Tina. On the planet Pandora, Lilith is greeted by the mysterious robot Claptrap (Jack Black), and, together, the duo find Tina. Before Lilith locates Tina, the teenager is kidnapped from a facility by Roland (Kevin Hart), a rogue mercenary, and Krieg (Florian Munteanu), a bandit who serves as Tina’s protector. It becomes clear that Tina has no intention of rejoining Atlas.

When Lilith comes to understand that Atlas wants his daughter back against her will, the red-haired bounty hunter teams up with Roland and Krieg to fight off the Crimson Lance, Atlas’ private army. The Borderlands movie eventually reveals that Tiny Tina was genetically engineered with biological material from the Eridians — an ancient species that once called Pandora home. In true villain fashion, Atlas wants to use Tina’s genetics to open a Vault that contains lost, and incredibly powerful, technology. In Borderlands‘ ending, the crew finally makes it to the Vault — with surprising results.

How Borderlands Changes Tiny Tina’s Video Game Backstory

Tina Was A Test Subject In The Borderlands Games

A demolitions expert who was first introduced in Borderlands 2, Tiny Tina has a much different backstory in the video game series. According to the Gearbox games, Tina and her parents were sold to Hyperion — a weapons and robot manufacturer — and made into test subjects for Handsome Jack’s slag mutation experiments. Ultimately, Tina’s parents died as a result of these tests, but she managed to escape using a grenade she’d stowed in her dress. Free from Hyperion’s abuses, Tiny Tina decides to seek revenge on Flesh-Stick, the “psycho” bandit who sold her family in the Borderlands games.

Related

Seriously, What The Hell Went Wrong With Borderlands?

Although Borderlands is an adaptation of a hugely popular video game, the 2024 movie is proving to be a major flop for a few big reasons.

Why Borderlands Made Tina’s Origin So Different

The Borderlands Movie Tries To Streamline Elements From Multiple Games Into One Story

It’s not really clear why Eli Roth and his co-writers decided to change Tiny Tina’s backstory so drastically for the Borderlands movie. Clearly, the film never intended to adapt its source material in a one-to-one way, preferring instead to make references to the Borderlands video games. In trying to streamline the many elements of Borderlands into a single movie, the project makes Lilith into a more traditional chosen one-style protagonist. That said, other characters from Borderlands movie’s cast, including Tina, are reshaped to fit within the architecture of Lilith’s story.

Borderlands is now playing in theaters nationwide.

Borderlands

3.5

Based on the video game franchise, Borderlands is a sci-fi action-comedy film that follows Cate Blanchett as Lilith, a treasure hunter who returns to her home planet, Pandora, to find a tycoon’s missing daughter. Together with a group of unlikely allies, such as a soldier, a teenaged demolitions expert, a wise-cracking robot, and an eccentric scientist, the group will work together to save the girl – all while learning to deal with each other’s unyielding quirks.

Director

Eli Roth

Release Date

August 9, 2024

Studio(s)

Arad Productions , Picturestart

Distributor(s)

Lionsgate

Writers

Eli Roth , Joe Crombie

Runtime

102 Minutes

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