It’s Alive is a side mission in Borderlands 3 (BL3). This walkthrough will guide you through all objectives of the It’s Alive Side Quest.
It’s Alive is unlocked when you complete Side Mission “Homeopathological” (which also starts in Desolation’s Edge).
Planet: Nekrotafeyo
Area: Desolation’s Edge
Quest Giver: Sparrow
Requirement: Finished Side Mission “Homeopathological” (also in Desolation’s Edge)
Recommended Level: 30
Reward: Money ($5392) + 7890 XP + Legendary Shield “The Transformer”
Mission Info: Sparrow wants to build a new friend! Be a dear and help out this nice boy.
Objectives:
- Go to Maliwan camp
- Get heavy armor 0/2
- Get oversphere thrusters 0/2
- Get jetpacks 0/2
- Get flash trooper backpacks 0/2
- Get swords 0/2
- Get death lasers 0/2
- Get flamethrowers 0/2
- Obtain acid tank
- Find AI chip
- Return to research center
- Place flash trooper backpack
- Melee it in
- Place acid tank
- Melee it like you mean it
- Turn on power
- Install AI chip
- Kill the abomination
Starting Location: It’s Alive
You can accept this side mission from Sparrow (red robot) in Desolation’s Edge. Only available after doing his previous side mission “Homeopathological”.
Go to Maliwan camp
Sparrow sends us to “borrow” some parts from the Maliwan. Meaning we’ll have to kill some soldiers and pick up parts from their equipment to bring back to Sparrow so he can build a new robot out of it.
Go to the Maliwan Camp is Desolation’s Edge, marked on the map.
Get heavy armor 0/2
This and the next few objectives until “Get Jetpacks” are basically non-existent. Sparrow and Grouse will discuss over the radio what parts they want for their new defense robot. So they’ll argue and keep changing the desired robot part (thus changing the mission objective) until they land on “Get flash trooper backpacks”. So ignore this and the next 2 objectives as they will change within a few seconds.
[Grouse] “Well, Typhon put ME in charge of security, and I say we need a combat bot to protect us! One with heavy armor to deflect our enemies’ assault”
*this objective gets skipped
Get oversphere thrusters 0/2
[Sparrow] “We don’t need a combat bot, we need a cool friend who can fly around and do sweet tricks!”
[Grouse] “Maneuverability IS key for battle, as well as “weet tricks”. How about oversphere thrusters?”
*this objective gets skipped
Get jetpacks 0/2
[Sparrow] “No jetpacks!”
[Grouse] “Quiet. Vault Hunter, acquire some flash trooper backpacks.”
*this objective gets skipped
Get flash trooper backpacks 0/2
Finally Sparrow and Grouse arrive at a common understanding that they want flash trooper backpacks for their new bot.
So we’re going to have to kill all the flash troopers that spawn in the area, as well as the other enemies. Just kill everything. Two of the troopers will leave behind their backpacks, which are blue glowing mission items on the floor. Pick up both of these.
Get swords 0/2
After finding the flash trooper backpacks, Grouse and Sparrow will again argue which part they want next. The swords and the next two objectives (death lasers / flamethrowers) will be skipped again as they settle on the acid tank.
[Grouse] “Give him crazy wrod hands, too! I need swords”
[Sparrow] “Sword hands?! How are we gonna high-five?”
*this objective gets skipped
Get death lasers 0/2
[Grouse] “Agreed. Let’s use oversphere death lasers instead! Pew pew, baby.”
[Sparrow] “No combat bot! My new friend will roast tasty marshmallows for us! Get some flamethrowers!”
*this objective gets skipped
Get flamethrowers 0/2
[Grouse] “Where would we even GET marshmallows? With an acid tank, our new centurion could melt our foes!”
[Sparrow] “I guess that’ll work for cleaning up the lab. Less work for me! Fine, acid tank it is.”
*this objective gets skipped
Obtain acid tank
Finally, Sparrow and Grouse decide on getting an acid tank for their new bot. We have to kill the “Dark Contaminator Heavy” in the next area with enemies. It will drop the acid tank mission item. Pick it up.
Find AI chip
Fast travel back to the Desolation’s Edge fast travel station. The AI chip is right outside the cave entrance. Pick that up.
Return to research center
Go back to Sparrow where he gave you the quest.
Place flash trooper backpack
There’s a broken robot on the floor. A green outline will show up next to it, interact with the green outline to place the trooper backpack.
Melee it in
Hit the Right Stick 
3 times in a row to hammer the backpack into the robot.
Place acid tank
Now we must repeat the same for the acid tank, which you can place by the robot’s head where the green outline shows up.
Melee it like you mean it
And again, melee it 3 times in a row to hammer it into the robot.
Turn on power
Flip the power switch behind the robot. This will power it on, enjoy the lightning show.
Install AI chip
One final touch – insert the AI chip in the robot’s chest – and done is the abomination. All it does is drop acid while making fart noices, not the entertaining defense bot that Sparrow and Grouse were hoping for.
Kill the abomination
It’s a good thing Sparrow and Grouse didn’t decide on Swords, Flamethrowers and Jetpacks. Our new robot friend isn’t exactly functioning as intended and will attack us! Kill this abomination to get your quest reward – a legendary shield called “The Transformer” that voids all shock damage completely. Perfect against bosses such as Killavolt!
This finishes It’s Alive side mission in Borderlands 3.
For all other Side Mission Walkthroughs, check out our complete Borderlands 3 Side Missions Walkthrough.
Leave a Reply