Winners! Life-Sized Claptrap Competition


Well, this was trickier than I thought. So many good entries…

To the point where, during my first scan, I managed to round it down to 25 possible winners. Yep, this was difficult.

But after much deliberation I made the final call. Congratulations to…


Winner

barticus87

Presenting…

Personal Assistant Mk I (PA-1 or PAL!)

Personal assistant to the infamous CLAPTRAP, the PAL endeavors to fulfill every facet of assistance to CLAPTRAP units. From personal grooming, to social engagements and personal defense. Get yours today!

Image created solely in MS PAINT with the use of sexy fonts, a big-arsed workspace and a lot of copy+paste!

Hope you like it!


But this wouldn’t be a Kotaku competition if I didn’t throw some shout outs to a handful of other entries that came close. The competition was fierce with this one.


Honourable Mentions

Konkybean

Manufactured by Dahl in a rare joint venture with Hyperion, the Trekkits are a 1st generation line of robots originally developed to tackle the issue of Claptraps malfunctioning at seemingly odd places, thus requiring the assistance of Humans and the use of “Repair Kits” to repair them.

An anonymous submission (perhaps from a weary wanderer who became tired of encountering and listening to the whines of said Claptraps) suggested that Repair kits be given full life and autonomy, thereby allowing them to seek out and repair broken-down Claptraps on their own accord.

Dahl Engineers investigated the issue and began designing a new version of the Repair Kit – dubbed the “Trek Kit” – by incorporating mechanical legs that allowed them to travel long distances and reach difficult-to-reach places. Due to space restrictions (and also to minimize cost), the legs are designed to become the primary operating arms during the repair process. Also for the same reasons, the Trekkit is 95% constructed from the very same components that are used in the repair. Essentially – and somewhat gruesomely – the Trekkit dismantles itself in order to repair the Claptrap.

To grant this new creation the intelligence needed to perform these complex tasks, an advanced neural processor was incorporated into the Trekkit’s main frame. Unfortunately, bestowing the Trekkit with the ability to think for itself was Dahl’s biggest mistake in an otherwise Fairly Good Idea (TM).

The initial deployment of Trekkits to Pandora was a resounding success (according to the Fancy Graph by upper Management), but as time went on, it slowly dawned on the Trekkits that to follow their objective – to seek out and repair fallen Claptraps – would result in their own morbid deaths. Although the Trekkits were compelled to follow their deeply intrinsic directives, a growing number had developed a sense of self-preservation so strong that they were able to override the urges to dismantle themselves, much to the dismay of the whining Claptraps that needed their services.

The disgruntled Claptraps reported the issue back to their Hyperion Masters, who in turn reported it to Dahl in a Not-So-Nice way. To rectify the issue and avoid future corporate shenanigans, Dahl sent an army of Technicians to recapture the rogue Trekkits and apply a “Zero Day Dumbing Down” patch over it’s existing software .

Those Trekkits lucky enough to have escaped what is now known as the “Total Recall” event, formed pacts with any Claptraps willing to listen: that they will serve as the Claptrap’s “feet” till the day their batteries run dry, thus finally granting Claptraps the ability to navigate stairs and other obstacles. And in return the Claptraps must keep the Trekkits’ presence safe from Hyperion and Dahl, and will make no demands to be repaired even at the cost of their own life.

Perhaps due to their traumatic past and their life-long servitude to the Claptraps in order to survive, a majority of Trekkits have developed a deeply seated sense of paranoia – and an extremely grumpy and miserable personality to boot. Ironically, some Claptraps and Trekkits have formed powerful bonds, to the point where a Trekkit is willing to dismantle himself for the sake of his friend, or a Claptrap choosing to die of an oil leakage rather than to accept his friend’s willing sacrifice.

Such are the stories told in the shifting sands of the Borderlands.


DanDan

So here is the Zombie-Psycho-Head-Trap (or Zaptrap for short). A product of Doctor Ned’s ingenuity and Claptrap’s incessant whining and want for a minion of his own. I just like the idea of something that has to listen to Claptrap waffle on forever because it can’t die, no matter how much it wants to. The Zaptrap is constantly asking people to kill it and has tried to kill itself numerous times but finds it a difficult feat to accomplish as a) no one really cares and b) it is only a severed head attached to a wheel.


Greenscreener

Ok, here’s my entry for the Claptrap comp…since you evil people made us use a most annoying Microsoft Product (yes even worse than Word) for a most annoying character … then his sidekick has to be based on ‘Microsoft’ and ‘Annoying’ … the answer was obvious …


Lainehart

My entry is a little… cynical?


Eightysixxer

This was more challenging than stairs.


Seriously — the talent level here is astronomical. Thanks to everyone who went to effort of submitting an entry!

Let’s do it again sometime!


The Cheapest NBN 1000 Plans

Looking to bump up your internet connection and save a few bucks? Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Kotaku, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments


7 responses to “Winners! Life-Sized Claptrap Competition”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *