Why Claptrap has a different voice actor in Borderlands 3

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Original voice actor David Eddings is no longer with Gearbox, for starters

Between the Borderlands 3 trailer and the recent Borderlands 3 preview, many Borderlands fans noticed that Claptrap, the series' endearingly annoying robot mascot, sounds slightly different this time around. And no, you're not imagining it - Claptrap does have a different voice actor in Borderlands 3. 

Claptrap is now voiced by Jim Foronda, who also voiced a few characters in all of the previous Borderlands games, as well as Gearbox's Battleborn. The little robot was previously voiced by David Eddings, who was with Gearbox from 2005 through 2017 before he moved to publisher Rooster Teeth Productions. Eddings said on Twitter that he wasn't against reprising his role as Claptrap for Borderlands 3, but to put it mildly, he and Gearbox couldn't agree on a rate.

"For the first time, I insisted on getting paid for my performance and all of a sudden they couldn't afford me," he said. It sounds like Eddings just sort of fell into the role while at Gearbox. I'm assuming his previous position as vice president of business development didn't include "voicing a robot" in its responsibilities. In another tweet, he said he'd done "hundreds of hours of [voiceover] work and not a single additional penny was earned for doing it." 

"Some people will be disappointed, some won't know the difference, some will like it better, and some won't care," Eddings said of the change in actors. "All in all, it doesn't really matter. The real shame is knowing the developers won't be getting their fair share of royalties." 

Nevertheless, Eddings says he'll "continue to do [voiceover] work for fun on games me and my friends make." For example, he's the voice of Joey Drew in Bendy and the Ink Machine, which Rooster Teeth helped publish. 

Eddings' Claptrap is baked into the Borderlands series, but truth be told, Claptrap's robot voice is so heavily modulated that it's hard to tell the difference now that Foronda is up to bat. The one-wheeled bot's writing hasn't changed, that's for sure. 

Luckily, Ashly Burch will return as Tiny Tina in Borderlands 3. 

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.