Gearbox lead wants Borderlands 4 to have less "toilet humor," says the thought of "skibidi toilet" and a gun called "Hawk 2A" in the game makes him want to "cry real tears"

Gearbox narrative director Sam Winkler is keen on cutting back the Borderlands series' notorious "toilet humor" for Borderlands 4.

ICYMI, a new Borderlands 4 trailer debuted during The Game Awards 2024 and revealed all sorts of new weapons, gadgets, and bad guys. The trailer also reignited the conversation around Borderlands 4 generally, resulting in a pretty enlightening conversation between Winkler and some fans on Twitter (thanks, PC Gamer).

One big criticism Borderlands 3 gets is that it's full of, excuse my expression, poop jokes. Anyone remember the turd farming thing?

Anyway, Winkler said in response to a fan who noted the darker tone of the Borderlands 4 trailers that he can't say anything substantial about the content of the game, but reiterated his stance on "toilet humor."

"Not at liberty to talk much about the content of BL4, but I remain firm in my criticism of BL3's overabundance of toilet humor.

"I’m not gonna say there’s no toilets but if the word skibidi ships in the game under my watch I’m gonna cry real tears," Winkler said. "Paul Tassi joked that we were gonna have a gun called Hawk 2A and a fellow dev asked me if it was real and I wanted to put my hand down the sink grinder."

Suffice it to say, don't expect Borderlands 4 to let you "use the poop poop farty 4000 while doing a mission to clean up porta-potties with my companion skibidi toilet," as one fan jokingly suggested.

Meanwhile, the new Borderlands 4 trailer's hidden messages have already been decoded, leaving the community with yet another riddle.