History Series / Fallout2024

It's 2296, and Vault 33 is ([[RunningGag what else?]]) rather an okay place to live. Built near the coast just outside UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, its inhabitants have lived in relative comfort since their ancestors entered the Vault-Tec bomb shelter 219 years ago to escape a global thermonuclear war between the USA and China, while the less fortunate were -- and still are -- [[AfterTheEnd forced to survive in the desolate wasteland outside]].

However, all that is about to change. A sudden crisis forces Lucy (Creator/EllaPurnell), the daughter of the vault's overseer, to leave her safe and sheltered community for the wasteland. In the course of her journey, she crosses paths with many of the wasteland's hardened inhabitants, including Maximus (Creator/AaronMoten), a squire in the knightly order known as the Brotherhood of Steel, and a mysterious bounty hunter known only as "The Ghoul" (Creator/WaltonGoggins), a deformed mutant who witnessed the nuclear war with his own eyes.

* CuttingOffTheBranches: In the first episode, the combination of the ''Prydwen'' bringing Knights to the West Coast and the order to find Wilzig stated by Elder Cleric Quintus to have come from [[spoiler:"the highest clerics in the Commonwealth" serves as an indication that the East Coast Brotherhood survived the events of ''Fallout 4'']], which potentially means that [[spoiler:either the Brotherhood or the Minutemen endings to the game]] are considered canon. This further means that [[spoiler:the Institute is in all likelihood destroyed, but, hand-in-hand with the Minutemen ending possibly occurring, there stands a possibility that the Railroad is still around.]]

** The Enclave is shown to [[JokerImmunity still exist]] despite all of the setbacks done to them from ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' and ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', and are clearly far more than a vestige of their former selves like they were in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' (Which also briefly mentions an outpost in Chicago) by having a fully dedicated research facility and clearly up to ''something'' with fusion technology, but their actual capacity to be a major factor and their overall role in the current timeline beyond Wilzig defecting from said facility is glossed over in the first season.

** Continuing the trend set in ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', "The Ghoul" is easily the best looking of his kind in any ''Fallout'' media. Other than his baldness and lack of nose, he barely has any signs of the radiation-induced decay that most other ghouls have had in the games, with perfectly normal teeth and eyes and skin that looks merely aged and leathery, not outright rotted. According to Nolan, they "hired [[Creator/WaltonGoggins the actor]] for a reason", and as such the typical ghoul characteristics are dialed back so the actor can emote properly through the makeup. Other ghouls look similar, if slightly worse. {{Inverted}} in one case in the final episode: a far more rotted ghoul that barely more than a skeleton with (some) skin appears but barely moves because Moldaver has restrained it to a chair.

** The show loosely adapts the plot of ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' with the young protagonist journeying out into the wastes to find their father. [[spoiler:However James's {{expy}} Hank rather than being a pure good ScienceHero dad, is really an EvilAllAlong CorruptCorporateExecutive of Vault-Tec who killed his own wife along with the entire settlement of Shady Sands and as flashbacks show helped cause that Great War. He becomes the ArchnemesisDad rather than the SacrificialLamb.]]

** Downplayed concerning the Brotherhood of Steel they are morally grey and self-serving in the first two games with only WhiteSheep Elder Lyons and Nolan [=McNamara=]'s brotherhoods from ''Fallout 3'' and ''New Vegas'' being more overtly heroic, especially the former. However even in the earlier games the Brotherhood avoided killing civilians when they could help it, whilst in this series they have no qualms about slaughtering the locals of the Super Duper Mart. It's noted in-universe however that they've lost their way [[spoiler:and Maximus becoming a knight officially by the end hints [[RayOfHopeEnding that they might improve]].]]

** Continuing the trend set in ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', "The Ghoul" is easily the best looking of his kind in any ''Fallout'' media. Other than his baldness and lack of nose, he barely has any signs of the radiation-induced decay that most other ghouls have had in the games, with perfectly normal teeth and eyes and skin that looks merely aged and leathery, not outright rotted. According to Nolan, they "hired [[Creator/WaltonGoggins the actor]] for a reason", and as such the typical ghoul characteristics are dialed back so the actor can emote properly through the makeup. Other ghouls look similar, if slightly worse. A far more rotted ghoul appears in the season 1 finale but barely moves because Moldaver has restrained it to a chair.

* AdaptationalUgliness: The Gulpers depicted in ''Far Harbor'' and ''Fallout 76'' basically resemble giant salamanders that walk on two legs. They're radically redesigned in the show, now resembling grotesquely massive axolotls with frog-like proportions, giving them spindly back legs and oversized heads, and have a maw filled with human fingers. The sixth episode also heavily implies [[spoiler:they're actually ''human'' mutants created through experimentation in Vault 4.]] Given the notable differences, they may be created from a different breed of salamander indigenous to the West Coast that just so happen to share the same name as the East Coast variant.

** While testing out his newly appropriated power armor, Maximus witnesses a vendor beating up another man and promptly intervenes, shoves the culprit into the ground, letting the victim run away. It is only afterwards that he finds out the man was an animal abuser. Maximus diving into impulsive heroic acts without fully assessing the situation first will come back multiple times this season, including one personally dramatic incident in the finale.

** In episode 5, after Lucy asks him about what happened in the last 200 years, [[spoiler:Maximus replies that he was a child when the bombs fell which would not make any sense given his age. She later learns he was a survivor of the bombs that destroyed Shady Sands.]]

** In the first episode Monty doesn't say much at the wedding and evades questions about his sperm count, but also forwardly asks Lucy to show him their new home and is very quick to drop his pants once they're alone. [[spoiler:He's not nervous or embarrassed. As a surface-dwelling raider he'd have no idea what the right answers would be and probably wanted to both end the questions and sleep with her before the killing started]].

** In the first episode, when Vault 32 residents arrive to send a resident to marry Lucy, her father, Vault 33 Overseer Hank [=MacLean=], is suspicious when he meets the Overseer of 32, [[spoiler:Lee Moldaver]]. Initially, it's assumed this is because [[spoiler:Moldaver and the Vault 32 residents are actually raiders in disguise]] and Hank seemingly senses something off about them. However, later it's revealed [[spoiler:during the last episode that all Vault 32 and 33 Overseers are cryogenically frozen Vault-Tec assistants from ''before'' the Great War]]. It's easy to infer that Hank was suspicious because [[spoiler:he doesn't recognize Moldaver as one of his fellow employees, who would have been frozen with him in Vault 31]].

** As Dr. Wilzig, Creator/MichaelEmerson plays a mysteriously knowledgable glasses-wearing character who delivers exposition; walks with a limp; and has a very protective big dog. All of those are traits shared with his character of Harold Finch in ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' (which Jonathan Nolan also produced).
** In the Japanese dub, Creator/MiyukiSawashiro, as Lucy, previously voiced [[spoiler:Xsana]] in ''VideoGame/FistOfTheNorthStarLostParadise'', a videogame based in the post-apocalytpic manga [[Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar of similar name]], who, just like Lucy, [[spoiler:is the daughter of a very powerful man in charge of the organization responsible for the state of things in their respective settings (Vault-Tec and Eden respectively)]]. The sole difference, however is that [[spoiler:while Xsana is the current leader of Eden and a UniversallyBelovedLeader to boot, Lucy, on the other hand, is the daughter of the man responsible for basically destroying civilization, and she starts to hate him when she finds out the truth]].

* CyanidePill: Vault-Tec sold flavored suicide pills for people who couldn't make it into a vault. Lucy stumbles upon the remains of a family who took that option. Wilzig quips it's probably the most humane thing they ever sold. [[spoiler:Wilzig kills himself via one of these pills, and tasks Lucy with delivering just his head to their destination since it contains the MacGuffin he intends to deliver.]]

** Dr. Wilzig gets his foot shot off by the Ghoul and gets a prosthetic leg attached that attaches itself with an integral meat grinder. It doesn't work very well and he keeps bleeding, [[spoiler:committing suicide shortly after]].

* {{Gaslighting}}: In hindsight, Cooper was being gaslit by his wife to thwart his suspicions about the vaults. When he brings up valid concerns about what freedoms people will have in the vaults, she guilts him by bringing up how hard it was for her when he was at war, and accuses him of being insane for putting "trivial" concerns over survival. With the reveal that she ''wants'' the bombs to drop, it's clear that this was all a way to manipulate Cooper.

* HollywoodHacking: [[spoiler:Downplayed. While the traditional hacking minigame does appear as part of an extended sequence, it only allows Norman direct access to the Overseer's terminal, to actually ''break into'' Vault 31, he has to social engineer their Overseer [[TheCon by pretending to be Betty and egg them on about be the mission being compromised to be allowed entry]].]]

* NoZombieCannibals:
** Just like the rest of the ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'' franchise, feral ghouls do not attack other ghouls, feral or otherwise. When Lucy ignorantly releases an entire pack of them locked up at the clinic, they attack the normal humans and no one else.
** Averted by the Ghoul though, who [[MonstrousCannibalism makes "ass jerky" from the corpse]] of another ghoul he has killed.

* HollywoodHacking: [[spoiler:Downplayed. While the traditional hacking minigame does appear as part of an extended sequence, it only allows Norman directly access to the Overseer's terminal, to actually ''break into'' Vault 31, he has to social engineer their Overseer [[TheCon by pretending to be Betty and egg them on about be the mission being compromised to be allowed entry]].]]

The series was originally set for release on April 11, 2024 on [[Creator/PrimeVideo Amazon Prime Video]], but was instead released a day earlier on April 10. Unlike previous high profile Prime Video shows that had a weekly episode release, the entire season was released in one go. [[https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/fallout-renewed-season-2-amazon-1235975879/ A second season was ordered the following week.]]

** Continuing the trend set in ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', "The Ghoul" is easily the best looking of his kind in any ''Fallout'' media. Other than his baldness and lack of nose, he barely has any signs of the radiation-induced decay that most other ghouls have had in the games, with perfectly normal teeth and eyes and skin that looks merely aged and leathery, not outright rotted. According to Nolan, they "hired [[Creator/WaltonGoggins the actor]] for a reason", and as such the typical ghoul characteristics are dialed back so the actor can emote properly through the makeup. Other ghouls look similar, if slightly worse. A far more rotted ghoul appears in the season 1 finale, but barely moves because Moldaver has restrained it to a chair.

** Downplayed concerning the Brotherhood of Steel they are morally grey and self-serving in the first two games with only WhiteSheep Elder Lyons and Nolan [=McNamara=]'s brotherhoods from ''Fallout 3'' and ''New Vegas'' being more overtly heroic, especially the former. However even in the earlier games the Brotherhood avoided killing civilians when they could help it, whilst in this series they have no qualms slaughtering the locals of the Super Duper Mart. It's noted in-universe however that they've lost their way [[spoiler:and Maximus becoming a knight officially by the end hints [[RayOfHopeEnding that they might improve]].]]

** [[spoiler:Maximus accidentally steps on Thaddeus's foot while wearing power armor, with an audible crunch sound. Thaddeus is shown in a later episode removing a bloody, sticky sock to reveal ''bones'' perfortating his skin and his big toe hanging loosely. In another later episode, Thaddeus consumes a "healing elixir" he bought from the Snake Oil Salesman that actually causes his foot to heal itself; Maximus believes that whatever he took turned Thaddeus into a ghoul, leading to him gaining a HealingFactor.]]

* AmbiguousTimePeriod: [[spoiler:It's left vague when exactly the Vault-Tec meeting took place in one pivotal flashback scene, among the only main hints being that Cooper Howard was still at the top of his game and married to Barb. By the time the Great War happened, [[RewatchBonus it's clear on later viewings]] that enough time had passed for Cooper to have both separated from his wife and seen his career prospects go down the drain as a result of falling-out with Vault-Tec. Eagle-eyed fans have pointed out a newspaper in a flashback in Episode 6, but it's too blurry to tell if it's from January 2075 or 2077.]]

* AuthoritySoundsDeep: Brotherhood T-60c power armor has a vocal modulator which produces a deep, booming voice that sounds little like they do when out of it.

** In the Japanese dub, Creator/MiyukiSawashiro, as Lucy, previously voiced [[spoiler:Xsana]] in ''VideoGame/FistOfTheNorthStarLostParadise'', a videogame based in the post-apocalytpic manga [[Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar of similar name]], who, just like Lucy, [[spoiler:is the daughter of a very powerful man in charge of the organization responsible for the state of things in their respective settings (Vault-Tec and Eden respectively)]]. The sole difference, however is that [[spoiler:while Xsana is the current leader of Eden and a UniversallyBelovedLeader to boot, Lucy, on the other hand, is the daughter of the man resposible to basically destroying civilization, and she starts to hate him when she finds out the truth]].

* {{Cliffhanger}}: Lots of story points still not solved after the end of the season. [[spoiler:The Ghoul, Lucy, and Dogmeat start traveling looking for the admin Vault. Maximus is in charge of the ruins of Los Angeles that have gotten endless energy. Norm is left contemplating whether to enter cryogenic sleep indefinitely in Vault 31. Hank is going to New Vegas for reasons unknown, but likely for reasons connected to Robert House.]]

* TheConspiracy: [[spoiler:The "Great Game" referenced in previous titles turns out to be this, the so called "great game of capitalism" winding down to its inevitable end: the largest companies in America divvying up what will remain of humanity after the apocalypse and then kickstarting that apocalypse themselves.]]

** The ''Prydwen'' makes a dynamic entry at the unknown Brotherhood base, escorted by vertibirds, bringing with it Knights in PoweredArmor and a mission based on intel from "the highest clerics in the Commonwealth". The Commonwealth is the main setting of ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' (known pre-War as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts), and the ''Prydwen'' was the Brotherhood's headquarters in the game, where it ''also'' made a dynamic entry.

*** In addition to the above, [[spoiler: The very placement of the new introduced Vaults in LA raises many concerns over their lack of discovery by The Master in ''VideoGame/Fallout1''. The Master had been raiding and collecting Vault Dwellers to make into Super Mutants. Vault 33 is in a major urban center, out in the open with it's door there for anyone to see, unlike 13 and 15. Easily discoverable by scouts. This implies either he never investigated, couldn't break it in like the demonstration Los Angeles Vault, or just by sheer luck never discovered it.]]

** Norm, Lucy's brother, fulfils the AmateurSleuth and puzzle solving aspect of the player character.

* EngineeredHeroics: [[spoiler:In order to make sure someone from Vault 31 ends up leading Vault 33, there's always a crisis around Overseer election time that conveniently appears for them to swoop in and solve, winning the support of the Vault 33 residents. They may or may not also rig the elections, given a 200 year streak is rather improbable, but it ties into the social conditioning that Vault 31 transplants are reliable problem-solvers ("If things look glum, vote 31.").]]

** During the Birthday Party in the intro-scene, one of the party guests asks Cooper Howard if he could give the thumb-pose for a photo since that's what he's famous for, but he refuses. He also describes it's meaning to his daughter when she asks. [[spoiler:It is revealed in another flashback that Howard was a spokesperson for Vault-Tec, and that his thumb-up pose was the basis for the company's iconic "Vault Boy" mascot, where Vault Boy would hold up his thumb. Also, Howard had a major falling out with Vault-Tec after learning the truth behind their plans, so he refuses to be associated with them]].
** Ma June points out the ways that it's obvious that Lucy is a Vault Dweller: good hair, nice teeth, all ten fingers... Later in her journey, Lucy's hair [[WildHair becomes messier]] and [[spoiler:the Ghoul chops off one of her fingers. Though a Mister Handy gives her a new one, it is discolored, becoming a permanent reminder of how much the Wasteland has changed her.]]
** Vaults 31, 32, and 33 are interconnected with each other, the first example of this happening in any ''Fallout'' media. Vaults 32 and 33 swap residents periodically to maintain genetic diversity. Curiously, Vault 31, only ever ''sends'' residents to the other two vaults, and no one from those two vaults has ever visited 31, with those that immigrate from 31 remaining rather tight-lipped about life there. Former Vault 31-resident Steph only states that the one thing she misses from that Vault is that the mashed potatoes tasted better than in 33. [[spoiler:Vault 31 serves as a cryogenics facility for pre-war residents, but nothing more, so it'd be hard to describe what life was like in the vault since former residents were frozen during their stay. And of course food pre-war would have tasted better]].

** The Gulper with what appears to be human-fingers in its mouth. It also has several oddly-human features, such as arms reminiscent of human arms and blue eyes with white sclera. [[spoiler:It turns out that the gulper is in fact the result of the Vault 4 experiments to study mutations on the human body, including those when crossed with animals and creatures]].

** In the first episode Monty doesn't say much at the wedding and evades questions about his sperm count, but also forwardly asks Lucy to show him their new home and is very quick to drop his pants once they're alone. [[spoiler:He's not nervous or embarrassed. As a surface dwelling raider he'd have no idea what the right answers would be and probably wanted to both end the questions and sleep with her before the killing started]].

* TheGoldenRule: Lucy name drops the Golden Rule extensively as part of her aversion to unnecessary violence and it remains a positive part of her character even as its [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] by the harshness of the wasteland and its inhabitants bearing down on her. Most notably, [[spoiler:even after having been sold to have her organs harvested by the Ghoul, she still does right by him and saves his life when she finds him face down in the dirt from withdrawal.]]

** The Ghoul's preferred weapon is a four shot revolver chambered for tiny fin-stabilized explosive rounds that have more in common with artillery than conventional bullets. It's extremely overpowered for squishier targets, routinely leaving baseball-sized holes in unarmored humans... even without exploding.

* HappierHomeMovie: Played with. The official trailer features a melancholy scene of the Ghoul watching a pre-War movie he filmed back when he was human actor Cooper Howard.

** [[spoiler:Shady Sands developed into a borderline pre-War city, with modern buildings, bountiful crops, and running trolleys, but was blasted into a crater by Hank [=MacLean=].]]

* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: [[spoiler:The New California Republic, once a genuine nation state with fully functioning infrastructure and a thousands strong army strong enough to wipe the California and Mojave Brotherhood of Steel off the map, has been reduced to scattered survivor settlements and a single armed outpost. By the end of the series, the last official vestiges of their government, at least in the NCR heartland, are gone.]]

* MachineWorship: The Brotherhood of Steel has far more fanatical religious overtones in their search for pre-War relics compared to games, featuring robed clerics chanting Latin, rituals with incense and holy water, and the desire to hoard even simple technology like toasters.

* MonumentalDamage: Naturally. The pre-War segment of the first episode caps off with the Los Angeles skyline getting lit up by the nuclear devastation of the Great War. When Lucy leaves Vault 33 in the third episode, one of her first sights is the far-off ruins of the Santa Monica pier. The seasonal climax of the eighth episode occurs with a battle between the Brotherhood of Steel and [[spoiler:remnants of the New California Republic]] hold up at the partially collapsed Griffith Observatory.

** At one point, Cooper talks with Barb about retiring to a ranch around Bakersfield, an idea which she shoots down. Bakersfield was previously shown in ''VideoGame/Fallout1'' as the location of Vault 12 which was designed so that its blast door wouldn't shut properly, leading to the ghoulification of its residents and the creation of Necropolis.

* RedScare: [[spoiler:Fear of communism was used during the Pre-war years to demonize anyone who understood that the big companies were planning to instigate the Great War and control the rebuilding of civilization with the Vaults.]]

* WarForFunAndProfit: It's made apparent that Vault-Tec and the other [[MegaCorp Mega Corps]] of the pre-Wasteland world are perpetuating the ongoing conflicts between America and her rivals to line their pockets, from stalling peace talks to smothering a cold-fusion project that could resolve the resource wars in an instant. [[spoiler:Then comes Episode 8, when its revealed they may have had a direct hand in the nuclear apocalypse itself in order to create a world completely free of political regulations that they could endlessly control and profit off of]].

* Ma June points out the ways that it's obvious that Lucy is a Vault Dweller: good hair, nice teeth, all ten fingers... Later in her journey, Lucy's hair [[WildHair becomes messier]] and [[spoiler:the Ghoul chops off one of her fingers. Though a Mister Handy gives her a new one, it is discolored, becoming a permanent reminder of how much the Wasteland has changed her.]]

* BackFromTheBrink: In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', the West Coast Brotherhood of Steel was in bad shape, having just lost a war with the NCR and, in most endings, wiped out by whichever faction The Courier chooses, or becoming petty raiders. The only good ending they get is if they ally with the NCR in their ending. Here, thanks to backup from the Commonwealth chapter and [[spoiler:the NCR capital at Shady Sands having been decimated in the interim]], the Brotherhood is at the very least the largest military force in the region.

* {{Retcon}}: China's status as the other major belligerent in the war (and, by most accounts and WordOfGod in [[https://youtu.be/17EqWDn7gyc?si=b-GpnIviZKnYBHsg&t=5198 an interview with Tim Cain]], the party that launched the first strike due to losing the ground war) goes completely unmentioned in the show despite a number of flashbacks to when this would still be relevant information. It is only stated that America was fighting "the Reds," a downed satellite with CCCP markings points to the Soviet Union (who does exist in the Fallout games but are generally shown to be on friendly terms with the US), and later developments suggest [[spoiler: America was bombed by its own corporations.]]

* {{Retcon}}: China's status as the other major belligerent in the war (and by most accounts and WordOfGod in [[https://youtu.be/17EqWDn7gyc?si=b-GpnIviZKnYBHsg&t=5198 an interview with Tim Cain]], the party that launched the first strike due to losing the ground war) goes completely unmentioned in the show despite a number of flashbacks to when this would still be relevant information. It is only stated that America was fighting "the Reds," a downed satellite with CCCP markings points to the Soviet Union (who does exist in the Fallout games but are generally shown to be on friendly terms with the US), and later developments suggest [[spoiler: America was bombed by its own corporations.]]

* {{Retcon}}: China's status as the other major belligerent in the war (and by most accounts the party that launched the first strike due to losing the ground war) goes completely unmentioned in the show despite a number of flashbacks to when this would still be relevant information. It is only stated that America was fighting "the Reds," a downed satellite with CCCP markings points to the Soviet Union (who does exist in the Fallout games but are generally shown to be on friendly terms with the US), and later developments suggest [[spoiler: America was bombed by its own corporations.]]

** The show also states that [[spoiler:the "Fall of Shady Sands" happened in 2277, the same year as the First Battle for Hoover Dam and four years before the events of ''New Vegas.'' This at a glance seems to contradict the game's events, as numerous characters in that game directly reference Shady Sands as the current, thriving political core of the nation from which Congress and the President operate. [[WordOfGod Both Emil Pagliarulo and Todd Howard]] would later state that ''New Vegas'' remains canon, with Shady Sands being destroyed shortly ''after'' the events of the game, with "Fall" instead being a separate, as of yet unexplained event.]]

* FlashbackBPlot: A good chunk of the first season follows Cooper Howard's acting career in the midst of a RedScare and leading up to the bombs falling, [[spoiler:culminating in TheReveal that his wife was a Vault-Tec employee involved in a CorporateConspiracy to cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and TakeOverTheWorld following the apocalypse.]]

** When Doctor Wilzig [[spoiler:commits suicide by Vault Tec branded CyanidePill]], he describes them as the most humane product Vault-Tec ever produced. He is not exaggerating.

** Vault Tec, the GreaterScopeVillain of the entire franchise, is shown to have several women of color in high positions, like Barb Howard and [[spoiler:Overseer Pearson]].

* CastingGag: As Dr. Wilzig, Creator/MichaelEmerson plays a mysteriously knowledgable glasses-wearing character who delivers exposition; walks with a limp; and has a very protective big dog. All of those are traits shared with his character of Harold Finch in ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' (which Jonathan Nolan also produced).

** When Doctor Wilzig [[spoiler:commits suicide by Vault Tec branded CyanidePill]], he describes them as the most humane product Vault Tec ever produced. He is not exaggerating.

* OutOfFocus: China's status as the other major belligerent in the war (and by most accounts the party that launched the first strike due to losing the ground war) goes completely unmentioned in the show despite a number of flashbacks to when this would still be relevant information. It is only stated that America was fighting "the Reds," a downed satellite with CCCP markings points to the Soviet Union (who does exist in the Fallout games but are generally shown to be on friendly terms with the US), and later developments suggest [[spoiler: America was bombed by its own corporations.]]

* AbortedArc: Vault 33's water chip is revealed to be broken in a nod to the first game's plot but, aside from a short background mention of a water crisis, it plays no further role in the story. Possibly invoked: [[spoiler: [[EngineeredHeroics engineering an easily solvable crisis]] is the go-to strategy for Vault 31tranfers when it's time to get elected as Overseers.]]

* AdaptationalUgliness: The Gulpers depicted in ''Far Harbor'' and ''Fallout 76'' basically resemble giant salamanders that walk on two legs. They're radically redesigned in the show, now resembling grotesquely massive axolotls with frog-like proportions, giving them spindly back legs and oversized heads, and have a maw filled with human fingers. The sixth episode also heavily implies [[spoiler:they're actually ''human'' mutates created through experimentation in Vault 4.]] Given the notable differences, they may be created from a different breed of salamander indigenous to the West Coast that just so happen to share the same name as the East Coast variant.

** The show also states that [[spoiler:the "Fall of Shady Sands" happened in 2277, the same year as the First Battle for Hoover Dam and four years before the events of ''New Vegas.'' This would directly contradict the game's events (especially if the "Fall" in question refers to the nuking, which the chalkboard revealing this doesn't do a great job of indicating) as numerous characters in ''New Vegas'' directly reference Shady Sands as the current, thriving political core of the nation from which Congress and the President operate. Emil Pagliarulo would later state that New Vegas remains canon, and Todd Howard would go on to state that Shady Sands was destroyed shortly after the events of New Vegas, with thr "Fall of Shady Sands" being a separate, as of yet unexplained event.]]

** The show also states that [[spoiler:the "Fall of Shady Sands" happened in 2277, the same year as the First Battle for Hoover Dam and four years before the events of ''New Vegas.'' This would directly contradict the game's events (especially if the "Fall" in question refers to the nuking, which the chalkboard revealing this doesn't do a great job of indicating) as numerous characters in ''New Vegas'' directly reference Shady Sands as the current, thriving political core of the nation from which Congress and the President operate. Emil Pagliarulo has, at least, stated that New Vegas remains canon, though no further elaboration on how these details reconcile or what precisely the "Fall" entails have been provided.]]

It's 2296, and Vault 33 is ([[RunningGag what else?]]) an okay place to live. Built near the coast just outside UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, its inhabitants have lived in relative comfort since their ancestors entered the Vault-Tec bomb shelter 219 years ago to escape a global thermonuclear war between the USA and China, while the less fortunate were -- and still are -- [[AfterTheEnd forced to survive in the desolate wasteland outside]].

* AbortedArc: Vault 33's water chip is revealed to be broken in a nod to the first game's plot but, aside from a short background mention of a water crisis, it plays no further role in the story. Possibly invoked: [[spoiler: [[EngineeredHeroics engineering an easily silvable crisis]] is the go-to strategy for Vault 31tranfers when it's time to get elected as Overseers.]]

* AbortedArc: Vault 33's water chip is revealed to be broken in a nod to the first game's plot but, aside from a short background mention of a water crisis, it plays no further role in the story.