It's been a while! I'm not sure who is still around at this point to read this, as this fandom appears to be slowly dying off, and if the notifications I logged in to see are anything to go by, many people who were active have already packed up and left. Which I can't blame them for! I did unfortunately step away from deviantart for a very long time for a variety of reasons, and I didn't see fit at the time to put someone else in charge of the group, as I hadn't intended to be gone as long as I was.
After some intense reflection and debate with myself, I decided that at this point, Borderlands Fans has pretty much run its course. It's the oldest (and maybe still the largest?) Borderlands fan group on this website, and I've been in an admin capacity for about 11 of the 12 years it's been going. Which is cool! I'm glad I was here to see all of the neat things you guys made, and it was fun being able to organize this group for fans to share content with one another.
Unfortunately, my history with this group has also been pretty unhappy, as I've fallen into and out of multiple abusive friendships and relationships with other people who helped me run this place, and it became increasingly harder and harder to keep coming back to it. Combine that with me mostly moving on from the fandom itself... it's a lot of bad vibes and bad memories haunting a group that wasn't really bringing me joy anymore.
I thought about passing on the mantle to a new admin, but after coming back and viewing the submission backlog, it appears the fandom isn't really even that active--not enough to worry about the group screeching to a halt like a train crash, as I didn't have a single angry DM asking why submissions had expired. I realized that the group is basically already dead anyway, so I came to the conclusion that this should probably be a sign that it's time to close up shop.
SO, that being said, I've shut down all submissions to all folders for the time being, and I intend to leave the group up as an archive of older works for anyone who still wants to look through them. There's always the possibility that I will return and reopen everything if there's any sort of fandom resurgence (let's see how things are for Borderlands 4, haha,) but for now, I think it's time to put this 12 year old group to bed for a bit.
It's been fun! I wish you all the best, and I hope I'll see you around some day.
--Chrys
UPDATE: Because Borderlands 3 was released earlier than expected on Steam, I'm going to move the spoiler content ban lift to June 2020. This should hopefully give Steam users enough time to catch up. The criteria is the same as it is below, so make sure you check that out before you submit Borderlands 3 content.

Now that we've had a couple of DLCs released on top of the main game, I'm going to put a mild spoiler ban on those as well. For now, I'll plan on lifting them at the same time as the base game spoiler ban, just to play it safe.

FOR THE DLCS (Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot AND Guns, Love, and Tentacles):

Allowable Spoilers
Existing/canon character appearances (so long as they have been revealed in the trailers)
New character designs
Boss designs (excluding final boss designs)
Locations

Banned Spoilers
Plot twists
Anything that spoils the ending of the DLC (including final boss designs)

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With the release of Borderlands 3 just around the corner, it’s time to cover an important topic: spoiler content.

After some debate, I’ve decided that I will not be accepting any deviations with content that spoils the story of the game until three months after the Steam release. This means the group will be open to spoiler submissions in July 2020. This is to give those who want to wait for the Steam release a little leeway so they don’t end up getting spoiled during their six month waiting period.

I will allow some minor spoilers, as this is a very long wait for those who are playing on consoles or via the Epic store, but major spoilers will not be allowed.

Allowable Spoilers
Boss designs
Locations

Banned Spoilers
Character deaths (or any sort of major dismemberment)
Plot twists
Content related to the finale of the game

For those who are playing the Steam version and want zero spoilers whatsoever, however, I recommend unwatching the group deviations until you’ve played the game. This can be done by clicking the “Watching” button on the main page and deselecting the deviations checkbox, as seen here:



If anyone has any suggestions or comments, please feel free to let me know down below! I'd be interested in hearing opinions on the waiting period, and if you think it should be shorter or longer, as well as thoughts on what content constitutes as a major or minor spoiler.

Cheers, and happy vault hunting!

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Additional Note:

I myself am going to be playing the Xbox version of the game the moment I receive it, but to reduce the chance of spoilers for myself (in case someone doesn't read this journal, for example, and submits a spoilery piece), I will not be logging into deviantArt to accept submissions to the club until I finish the game. My goal is to finish it in at least 1-2 weeks, circumstances willing, so rest assured your deviation submissions should not expire before I return. The submission expiration timer will remain set at 3 weeks, so try not to fret if you end up going a week or two without being accepted - I will accept your submissions as soon as I return.
Hello travelers!

We're currently holding a contest on the Borderlands Fans discord server! To encourage community togetherness, we're offering a $30 gift card for the gaming service of your choice for the first person to reach the Effervescent rank. How do you do this, you might ask?

When you actively take part in discussions in any channel in our server, you gain EXP. As you gain EXP, you level up. And as you level up, you earn rarity rankings, which appear as roles automatically assigned to you by our very own Loader Bot. Simple, right?

The ranks are as follows:

Common - Level 1
Uncommon - Level 10
Rare - Level 20
Very Rare - Level 30
Legendary - Level 40
Seraph - Level 50
Pearlescent - Level 60
Effervescent - Level 70

The first person (who is not a server moderator) to legitimately reach Effervescent rank will win the gift card!

"What do you mean legitimately?" you might ask. That's simple! If you're caught spamming channels with useless content for the sake of raising your ranking, you will be disqualified and banned from the server. This includes things such as posting the same message repeatedly, sending walls of emojis, or posting excessive gibberish, among other things. Be active, engage with your peers, and don't try to cheat the system. Believe me, if you cheat - Loader Bot will remember that.

Join today and get started earning your rarity ranking!

discord.gg/dsBG9hQ
UPDATE #2: I contacted Discord support and they did a server refresh, which seems to have helped! Just in case, however, I recommend trying to join from the desktop app if able, because it appears to sometimes kick mobile and browser users. Some have been able to join from those platforms, however, so it might still work. If we continue to see people getting kicked, I'll speak with support again.

Here's a new invite link: discord.gg/dsBG9hQ

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UPDATE: Apparently some members have been having issues joining the server and are being booted almost immediately. I'm unsure why this problem is occurring - rest assured, you're not being kicked on purpose! I'm going to do some research to figure out why this is happening, and I will update this journal with further information once I find it.

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We have a Discord server now! Feel free to join us!

discord.gg/rWpjh57

The server has channels for sharing art, looking for new friends to play Borderlands with, and many other things. We hope to see you there!
UPDATE:

I've created a folder specifically for sharing Pairings and Ships! This was a long time coming, as the Multiple Characters folder has been something of a mixed bag with group drawings and ship art.

I did my best to go through the existing deviations in Multiple Characters and filter the ship art into the new folder. This was the criteria I followed:

1. The piece showed two (or more) characters in a clearly romantic situation, such as kissing or holding one another
2. The piece was tagged with shipping terminology (OTP, OT3, "I ship these two," etc.) or used an existing ship name tag (rhack, gayperion, rhyiona, etc.)
3. The piece showcased a canon/canon-ish couple (Janey/Athena, Krieg/Maya, Rhys/Sasha, etc.)

If you see that I've moved a piece you've drawn into the ship folder when it was not meant to be a ship drawing, please let me know and I'll move it back! Consequently, if you are aware of a ship drawing you did that hasn't been moved yet, feel free to bring that up as well so I can move it. I did my best to judge what I thought might be ship drawings vs. platonic drawings, but there's a possibility I might have gotten some wrong.

If you'd like to submit art to this folder, keep in mind that it will follow the same rules as always - no explicit NSFW or fetish content, for example.

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Hi all!

For those who were unaware, Borderlands 3 was announced! There's a teaser and a full trailer so far. Check them out!

Borderlands 3 Teaser: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkHNbs…
Borderlands 3 Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9Gu1P…

Gearbox also announced HD reskins/updates for all three main games! The trailers are below!

Borderlands 1 Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKzMC9…
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWGP4p…

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With the announcement of Borderlands 3, I've gone ahead and created folders for the new Vault Hunters as well as the two villains (since they're supposedly twins, they get a shared folder a la Ned and Zed). The folder names are based on speculation/leaks at the moment, but will be changed if proven incorrect!

Also, slightly related, but Gortys has her own folder too, finally.

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With a new game comes new breath into the life of this club. I'd like to recruit new Contributors! In order to be a Contributor, you need to produce Borderlands-related content fairly regularly and have a track record of submitting to the correct folders as needed. Becoming a Contributor allows you to submit your deviations directly to the club without waiting for an Admin to approve them. Send the group a message if you're interested!

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