History YMMV / FallOut

* UglyCute: Brahmin, mutated two-headed cows that are one of the only mutated animals that are completely beneign.

* TakeThat: The series as a whole is one to those who idealize the past, and wish they born in a time other than the period they live in now (though it mostly applies to the 1950's in particular).

* ScapegoatCreator: In the Bethesda-era games, expect Todd Howard (and, to a lesser extent, Emil Pagliarulo) to get the bulk of the fandom's bile when complaints are raised about a certain game. While this is admittedly more justified than a lot of other examples since Howard is (more or less) the FaceOfTheBand for Bethesda Softworks and Pagliarulo is the most vocal member of [=BGS'=] writing team, the Bethesda-era Fallouts are still video games made by at ''least'' a hundred different people and both Howard and Pagliarulo are only two people out of the whole production staff.

* HilariousInHindsight: A character in combat armor around the Boneyard Library (''Fallout 1'') wears a pin reading "I'm Christopher and you're meat". Chris Avellone joined production for ''Fallout 2'', and has become the name (aside from ''maybe'' Todd Howard after Bethesda took over, and even then that's a big "maybe") most associated with the franchise.

* MisaimedFandom: Though the Legion burns down towns regularly (inhabitants included) and the Enclave was more or less written as "Futuristic Nazis", both have large fan followings among the Fallout community, partly because many see them as [[WellIntentionedExtremist noble in their end goals]].

* GameBreaker:
** The Sniper perk in the first two games. With high luck, almost every hit will be a critical hit ('''always''' with a Luck of 10!). Combine with shots to the eye and a decently powerful weapon and only the strongest enemies will survive more than one round of combat.
** Jinxed with Luck 10. Your obscene luck (usually) counteracts the negative effects of the perk, but your enemies will constantly be hitting themselves, each other and breaking their guns and limbs on a regular basis. Although this means that the rest of your party become a lot less helpful and much more dangerous to you.
** Some of the special encounters that you come across in the Wasteland in 1 and 2. The crashed Nuka-Cola truck which gives you over 10,000 caps at a high enough Luck level, the Alien Blaster, the Solar Scorcher, the Red Ryder LE BB Gun, the Holy Hand Grenade, the Monument Head and the Star Trek Hypos.
** The ''Mothership Zeta'' DLC is '''made''' of this. After finishing, you end up with a huge amount of super healing stuff, overpowered weapons and ammo for those weapons. Good bye scavenging and weapon maintenance, hello Alien Disintegrator!
*** Finishing ''Operation: Anchorage!'' will unlock a chamber filled to the brim with awesome weaponry, plus two game breaking suits of armor. The Chinese Stealth Suit always gives you 100% stealth (and allows you through a glitch to wear all the clothing you have in your inventory at once, giving multiple armor and stat boosts at once), and the Winterized Power Armor, which never degrades and allows you to circumvent the usual restrictions to wearing Power Armor before completing the required story mission.
** The ''Dead Money'' DLC supplies the Courier with the Holorifle, which is basically a ''[[ShotgunsAreJustBetter shotgun]]'' the size of a grenade rifle that fires devastating {{Hard Light}} "cubes" at your enemies. If you have a high enough Energy Weapons skill and enough Microfusion Cells to spare, than the game might as well just role credits right there.
** ''Fallout 4'' adds in the Legendary system, which is intended to provide buffs for weapons and armor dropped by [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Legendary]] [[EliteMook opponents]]. However, certain buffs on some items become this if the {{Random Number God}} loves you enough. For example, getting a [[MoreDakka Legendary Minigun]] with the ''[[StuffBlowingUp Explosive]]'' effect will turn even the most dangerous DemonicSpiders into mere [[TheGoomba Goombas]] before your might...[[CripplingOverspecialization as long as you have enough ammo, of course]].

** Considering that the Enclave wants nothing less than to commit global genocide as an end in and of itself, this one is particularly baffling to anyone who played the second game.

** ''Fallout 4'' somehow got ''Creator/LyndaCarter'' to record her own songs for the game - and '''all''' [[NotableOriginalMusic are worth a listen to]] (or a few dozen!).

* MainstreamObscurity: The first two games. They're widely considered some of the greatest western role playing games ever made, with a devoted cult following and tons of references in the sequels, many people know about them. Very few people, however, have actually ''played'' them: ''Fallout 1'' had [[https://rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=10604 lifetime sales of 600,000.]] [[https://web.archive.org/web/20010203124200/http://desslock.gamespot.com/archives/200005/20000511.html Fallout 2, slightly less.]] For comparison, ''Fallout: New Vegas'' and ''Fallout 3'' [[https://web.archive.org/web/20151113201845/http://www.polygon.com/2015/11/10/9673936/elder-scrolls-bigger-than-fallout-sales-data-report sold 11.6 million and 12.4 million copies respectively]], while ''Fallout 4'' sold [[https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fallout-4-surpasses-skyrim-to-become-bethesdas-mos/1100-6447621/ more copies than Skyrim in the same time period]] (so more than 20 million).

* BaseBreakingCharacter: [[VideoGame/Fallout3 Liberty Prime]]. Either he's the most CrazyAwesome LargeHam giant robot ever and a standout set-piece that makes the march to the pre-Broken Steel final encounter insanely memorable, or he's emblematic of everything accused of being ''wrong'' with the Bethesda-era Fallouts by removing all the challenge of the final push while gleefully missing the point of the original games' message by being a propaganda spewing, [[NukeEm Nuke-tossing]] middle finger to the anti-establishment and anti-nuke themes. Those who have a more neutral opinion accept Liberty Prime as being a bold-faced parody of such characters, but have complained that the rebuilt version of him in ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' being almost entirely ''un''ironic to be completely groan-worthy as he brings the final push against the Institute to a grinding halt to ''salute a war memorial''.

*** Freaking Fawkes from the same game. A Super Mutant who is actually one of the few nice guys in his species, wields [[GatlingGood a Gatling Laser]] in ranged combat, is a GeniusBruiser with the strength of a PhysicalGod and frequently saves your ass? [[SarcasmMode Yeah, the fandom are]] ''[[SarcasmMode really]]'' [[SarcasmMode going to hate him.]] The fact that he's a reward for being a good guy doesn't hurt, either. It's like Androcles and the Lion -- but this time, the lion has MoreDakka.

** There is not generally much overlap between fans of the Interplay/Obsidian games and fans of the Bethesda games (though exceptions certainly exist), and the disagreements between the two groups can get rather… [[SeriousBusiness vehement]]. It even spills over to Wiki/TVTropes - much of this page's edit history can be summed up as a permanent low-intensity Administrivia/EditWar between ''Fallout 1'', ''2'', and ''New Vegas'' fans and ''Fallout 3'' and ''4'' fans. Best advice is to [[SacredCow only say positive things]] about ''all'' of the games (aside from [[BlackSheep Brotherhood of Steel]], of course) and [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere flee]] if/when the arguments increase in pitch and fervor.

*** Overlords are nothing compared to the Albino Radscorpions, which have almost as much HP as a Super Mutant Behemoth! Their only saving grace is their lack of a long-range attack, so you can get out of dodge by climbing on top of something they can't reach you from. That said, considering their durability and damage potential, running the hell away is a good idea too.

** ''4'' continues the series' trend of showing how much [[BigCreepyCrawlies insects will still hate you]] [[AfterTheEnd after the apocalypse]] with the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Bloodbugs]] - more specifically, the [[EliteMook Infected and Red Widow variants]]. Being that they're literally giant mosquitoes, the damn things are spindly as hell (making it hard to actually hit them), fly around the player incredibly fast, deal dismayingly high amounts of damage, have a ''hell'' of a lot more health than their normal brethren, and [[ZergRush swarm in numbers]]. They also deal high amounts of poison damage to the player and can even ''[[NauseaFuel spit your own blood]]'' [[{{Squick}} back at you]] - causing hefty amounts of {{Interface Screw}} and making it even harder to actually fight them.
** In previous games, [[BigCreepyCrawlies Radscorpions]] were usually difficult enemies, but not really worthy of being called {{Demonic Spiders}} either (the Albino Radscorpions from ''Broken Steel'' and Giant Radscorpions from ''New Vegas'' notwithstanding). The Radscorpions of the Commonwealth? They beg to differ. Not only are they [[LightningBruiser deceptively fast]], Radscorpions are now positively ''huge'' (the average size of a Radscorpion is now that of the ''Giant'' Radscorpions from ''New Vegas!''), can deliver unnervingly high amounts of poison damage, are {{Made of Iron}}, and can even burrow underground so as to avoid your attacks or [[ParanoiaFuel strike out at you to catch you off guard & unawares]]. And finding ''[[FromBadToWorse Deathskull]]'' [[EliteMooks Radscorpions]] makes things particularly...[[ThisIsGonnaSuck "interesting."]]

*** Freaking Fawkes from the same game. A Super Mutant who is actually one of the few nice guys in his species, wields [[GatlingGood a Gatling Laser]] in ranged combat, is a GeniusBruiser with the strength of a PhysicalGod and frequently saves your ass? [[SarcasmMode Yeah, the fandom are]] ''[[SarcasmMode really]]'' [[SarcasmMode going to hate him.]] The fact that he's a reward for being a good guy doesn't hurt, either. It's like Androcles and the Lion - but this time, the lion has MoreDakka.
--_> '''Fawkes:''' ''Too fun!! Ha haaa!''

*** [[CloudCuckoolander No-Bark Noonan]] and [[KnowNothingKnowItAll Mr. Fantastic]] are also both well-beloved, in part since they're pretty much the exact opposite of each other - Noonan is a hilariously crazy settler that surprisingly knows a hell of a lot ''more'' than he logically should, and Fantastic is a hilariously incompetent scientist that surprisingly knows a hell of a lot ''less'' than he logically should.
** The Brotherhood of Steel, for consistently having the best toys (aside from the Enclave.) It certainly doesn't hurt as well that their signature PoweredArmor is the face of the first and third games, and they're the ones who bring Liberty Prime to life. This even reached BreakoutCharacter status with two spinoff games being made about them.
** [[BadassLongcoat The Silver Shroud]] [[ShowWithinAShow character]] (for being one of the largest of the {{Large Ham}}s in the series) and being a hilariously awesome parody of both [[Radio/TheShadow The Shadow]] and [[ComicBook/ThePunisher The Punisher]].
*** [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench Curie]] has also gotten tons of love from the fandom, with many appreciating her {{Adorkable}}/{{The Pollyanna}} personality and endearingly eager {{For Science}} mentality.

* FanficFuel: A common sub-genre of ''Fallout'' fanfiction asks the question of what happened in the parts of the US not seen in the games - What helps is that no game so far has taken place away from the East or West Coasts (except for ''Tactics'' and ''Brotherhood of Steel'', but see below for those), allowing for a lot of interpretation as to the fate of the midlands of the US.
** For a more specific example there's the death of the Lyons family and the East Coast Brotherhood's return to a more "traditionalist" mindset under Elder Maxson, which has led to downright ''juicy'' speculation on what's happened to the Capital Wasteland in the decade between ''3'' and ''4.''
** And, of course, like any good [=RPG=] series, there's the big question: "What happened to ''your'' character [[AndTheAdventureContinues after the story ended?"]]

* EarWorm:
** Galaxy News Radio in ''Fallout 3'' plays only the catchiest ([[SuspiciouslyAproposMusic and most appropriate]]) songs of the first half of the 20th Century--[[ContinuityNod including "Maybe," by The Ink Spots from ''Fallout 1'']].
** He keeps hackin’ and wackin’ and smackin’, He keeps hackin’ and wackin’ and smackin’, He keeps hackin’ and wackin’ and smackin'
** [[Theatre/SouthPacific I'm as]] [[{{Mondegreen}} corny/horny]] [[Theatre/SouthPacific as Kansas is August, I'm as normal as blueberry pie…]]
** I've got spurs that jingle jangle jangle (jingle jangle) as I go riding merrily along (jingle jangle)
** "You had plenty of money in 1922 You let other women make a fool of you. Why don't you do right? Like some other men do…"
** Biiiiiiiiiiiiig irrrrrrrronnnn, big iron!
** And the theme music for the badass ''Fallout 3'' trailer: ''I love those Deeeeeeaaar hearts, and geeeentle people, who live in myyyy hometown…'' Too bad it didn't make it into the soundtrack. Although it ''did'' [[BrickJoke come back]] for ''Fallout 4''.
** ''I'm the kinda guy, that likes to roam around...''
** "I don't want to set the woooorld on fiiiirre…"

* BaseBreakingCharacter: [[VideoGame/Fallout3 Liberty Prime]]. Either he's the most CrazyAwesome LargeHam giant robot ever and a standout set-piece that makes the march to the pre-Broken Steel final encounter insanely memorable, or he's emblematic of everything ''wrong'' with Bethesda-era Fallout as removing all the challenge of the final push while gleefully missing the point of the original games' message by being a propaganda spewing, [[NukeEm Nuke-tossing]] middle finger to the anti-establishment and anti-nuke themes. Those who have a more neutral opinion accept Liberty Prime as being a bold-faced Parody of such characters, but consider the rebuilt version of him in VideoGame/Fallout4 being almost 100% ''unironic'' to be completely groan-worthy as he brings the final push against the Institute to a grinding halt to ''salute a war memorial''.

** There is not generally much overlap between fans of the Interplay/Obsidian games and fans of the Bethesda games (though exceptions exist), and the disagreements between the two groups can get rather… [[SeriousBusiness vehement]]. It even spills over to Wiki/TVTropes - much of this page's edit history can be summed up as a permanent low-intensity Administrivia/EditWar between ''Fallout 1'', ''2'', and ''New Vegas'' fans and ''Fallout 3'' and ''4'' fans. Best advice is to [[SacredCow only say positive things]] about ''all'' of the games (aside from [[BlackSheep Brotherhood of Steel]], of course) and [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere flee]] if/when the arguments increase in pitch and fervor.

** Due to ''Fallout 76's'' announcement that it will NOT be released on steam, this was taken with HUGE backlash. Many people were angry that they would have to download a new client, and others said it was a way of restricting mods.
*** Others are supporting this decision, which has caused even further argument's. Checking the discussions on ''Fallout 4's'' steam discussion page, its a battlefield.

*** Obsidian decided to go above and beyond in ''New Vegas''. Not only is there no dart gun, which was effective against Deathclaws in ''Fallout 3'', but they now come in packs and have titanic damage thresholds, meaning most (as in, everything smaller than the anti-materiel rifle) will only do ScratchDamage. Thankfully, they now can't spawn randomly. You'll know where they are.

** Those stealth suited aliens. Hell, you feel pretty stupid by shooting a mini nuke to a 3 foot tall guy and watching he shoot back at you with his alien rifle just after.

*** Freaking Fawkes from the same game. A Super Mutant who is actually one of the few nice guys in his species, wields [[GatlingGood a Gatling Laser]] in ranged combat, is a GeniusBruiser with the strength of a PhysicalGod and frequently saves your ass? [[SarcasmMode Yeah, the fandom are]] ''[[SarcasmMode really]]'' [[SarcasmMode going to hate him.]]
*** The fact that he's a reward for being a good guy doesn't hurt, either. It's like Androcles and the Lion - but this time, the lion has MoreDakka.
---> '''Fawkes:''' ''Too fun!! Ha haaa!''

** Harold, the ghoulesque mutant. While he shared some {{Foreshadowing}} and backstroy about the BigBad, visiting him isn't mandatory to the plot, but people found him humourous enough to become the only character to show up in every main game until ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', where mobility became a issue.

** ''Mothership Zeta'' DLC. After finishing, you end up with a huge amount of super healing stuff, overpowered weapons and ammo for those weapons. Good bye scavenging and weapon maintenance, hello Alien Desintegrator!
*** Finishing ''Operation: Anchorage'' will unlock a chamber filled to the brim with awesome weaponry, plus two game breaking suits of armor. The Chinese Stealth Suit always gives you 100% stealth (and allows you through a glitch to wear all the clothing you have in your inventory at once, giving multiple armor and stat boosts at once), and the Winterized Power Armor, which never degrades and allows you to circumvent the usual restrictions to wearing Power Armor before completing the required story mission.
** ''Dead Money'' DLC supplies the Courier with the Holorifle, which is basically a ''[[ShotgunsAreJustBetter shotgun]]'' the size of a grenade rifle that fires devastating {{Hard Light}} "cubes" at your enemies. If you have a high enough Energy Weapons skill and enough Microfusion Cells to spare, than the game might as well just role credits right there.

* MainstreamObscurity: The first two games. Widely considered some of the greatest western role playing games ever made, with a devoted cult following and tons of references in the sequels, many people know about them. Very few people, however, have actually ''played'' them: ''Fallout 1'' had [[https://rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=10604 lifetime sales of 600,000.]] [[https://web.archive.org/web/20010203124200/http://desslock.gamespot.com/archives/200005/20000511.html Fallout 2, slightly less.]] For comparison, ''Fallout: New Vegas'' and ''Fallout 3'' [[https://web.archive.org/web/20151113201845/http://www.polygon.com/2015/11/10/9673936/elder-scrolls-bigger-than-fallout-sales-data-report sold 11.6 million and 12.4 million copies respectively]], while ''Fallout 4'' sold [[https://www.gamespot.com/articles/fallout-4-surpasses-skyrim-to-become-bethesdas-mos/1100-6447621/ more copies than Skyrim in the same time period]] (so more than 20 million).

* BaseBreaker: [[VideoGame/Fallout3 Liberty Prime]]. Either he's the most CrazyAwesome LargeHam giant robot ever and a standout set-piece that makes the march to the pre-Broken Steel final encounter insanely memorable, or he's emblematic of everything ''wrong'' with Bethesda-era Fallout as removing all the challenge of the final push while gleefully missing the point of the original games' message by being a propaganda spewing, [[NukeEm Nuke-tossing]] middle finger to the anti-establishment and anti-nuke themes. Those who have a more neutral opinion accept Liberty Prime as being a bold-faced Parody of such characters, but consider the rebuilt version of him in VideoGame/Fallout4 being almost 100% ''unironic'' to be completely groan-worthy as he brings the final push against the Institute to a grinding halt to ''salute a war memorial''.

** [[BadassGrandpa Cassidy]] in ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' for being far and away the most useful companion, especially thanks to his ImprobableAimingSkills. There's a good reason [[GenerationXerox his daughter]] made it into ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''.

* FandomBerserkButton: Accidentally calling the Vault Boy "Pip Boy" or "Fallout Boy".

* SpiritualLicensee: The games made during Bethesda's run (''Fallout 3'', ''Fallout: New Vegas'', and ''Fallout 4'') could easily double as RPG spin-offs of the ''Film/MadMax'' and ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' series. Fittingly enough, some of Bethesda's earliest video games were based on the latter franchise. In fact, ''Fallout 4'' actually plays like a [=well-done=] [[JustForFun/XMeetsY combination]] of ''Fallout'', ''[[Literature/DoAndroidsDreamOfElectricSheep Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?]]'' and ''[[ComicStrip/BuckRogers Buck Rogers]]''.

* ArchivePanic: On the one hand, the series is good at keeping everything contained ''within the games'', with there being no novels and very little in the way of other supplemental material like comics. On the other, the series' 7 ([[CanonDiscontinuity canon]]) games total several hundred hours of content, with DLC packs adding 100+ more. Playing just ''one'' is a large undertaking, and [[https://howlongtobeat.com/ completionist runs]] of all of the games and their DLC can take over 800 hours collectively.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: ''Fallout: New Vegas'', Music/FrankSinatra, NO EXCEPTIONS! (And that's just from the teaser!)
** ''Fallout 4'' somehow got ''Creator/LyndaCarter'' to record her own songs for the game - and '''all''' [[NotableOriginalMusic are worth a listen to]] (or a few dozen!).

** In ''4'', Dogmeat will still be able to fetch items held in locked containers. This means that the Sole Survivor can simply return to Vault 111 with Dogmeat, go to the Overseer's office and ask him to fetch, and he'll bring you back [[DiskOneNuke the Cryolator]]. With him even [[CrowningMomentOfFunny adorably carrying it in his mouth while he follows you around]] and wags his tail.

** Unlike previous games, ''4'' doesn't have [[TalkingIsAFreeAction the rest of the world freeze in place]] when the Sole Survivor converses with other characters. This results in scenes where the Sole Survivor and their companion [[CasualDangerDialogue have deep conversations]] [[FunnyBackgroundEvent while the pieces of a destroyed Vertibird fall to Earth around them]]. However, this doesn't stop the talks with companions (along with other conversations) from being very [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming touching]], [[TearJerker heartbreaking]], interesting, [[HiddenDepths surprisingly deep]], and even ''deliberately'' [[CrowningMomentOfFunny funny]].

* ComplainingAboutPeopleNotLikingTheShow:
** Saying anything negative about ''any game in the series'' (with the exception of [[AcceptableTargets Brotherhood of Steel]]) will usually get you yelled at, and called either a 'stupid Bethesda fanboy' if you complained about the first two games [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg or Tactics]], or a 'stupid NMA troll' if you complained about ''3'' onwards. Notably, the biggest mistake you can make is complain about the graphics in the first two games. ''That'' tends to cue a lecture on the character models being actual clay models.
** Related to the above, mentioning/saying good things about ''[[DorkAge Brotherhood of Steel]]'', as it's the '''one''' game in the entire series that ''everyone'' agrees to hate on.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Surprisingly, somewhere in the middle, though ultimately leaning towards the idealistic end of the spectrum. It ''seems'' at first glance to be strictly on the cynical side. After all, the game drills you constantly with the fact that [[ArcWords war never changes]], and the world [[CrapsackWorld is very much a rotten place to live in the time and place the games take place in]]. However, the games also ''heavily'' emphasize that HopeSpringsEternal. Humanity lifts itself by its bootstraps to rebuild, and individuals rise up to meet the challenge to make the world a better place. In fact, idealism vs. cynicism might very well be the defining theme of the entire series, since the protagonists can be played as either {{Complete Monster}}s or [[BeaconOfHope valiant heroes that bring progress to the wastes and nurture good in all they meet]].

* SpiritualLicensee: The games made during Bethesda's run (''Fallout 3'', ''Fallout: New Vegas'', and ''Fallout 4'') could easily double as RPG spin-offs of the ''Franchise/MadMax'' and ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' series. Fittingly enough, some of Bethesda's earliest video games were based on the latter franchise. In fact, ''Fallout 4'' actually plays like a [=well-done=] [[JustForFun/XMeetsY combination]] of ''Fallout'', ''[[Literature/DoAndroidsDreamOfElectricSheep Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?]]'' and ''[[ComicStrip/BuckRogers Buck Rogers]]''.

** Due to Fallout 76's announcement that it will NOT be released on steam, this was taken with HUGE backlash. Many people were angry that they would have to download a new client, and others said it was a way of restricting mods.
*** Others are supporting this decision, which has caused even further argument's. Checking the discussions on Fallout 4's steam discussion page, its a battlefield.