Fallout Creatures / Characters

Creatures found throughout the Fallout series.

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Ghost People

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Ghost_Person_8971.jpg

Appearances: Fallout: New Vegas

The mysterious inhabitants of the Sierra Madre. Dressed in gas masks and hazmat suits, they guard the resort along with the security holograms.

Alien Blood: Their blood is fluorescent green, similar to a glowing one ghoul.
Apocalyptic Log: Search in the right places, and you see how the hazmat suits they wore were useless against the cloud.
Attack Its Weak Point: The base of their necks, according to Dog. He gives you the Ghost Hunter perk by telling you this.
Body Horror: According to official sources, the Ghost People are intensely grotesque under their suits. Our only clue is that Dog says that when he bites them, he feels gas pockets going "Fssst!" in their bodies.
Chunky Salsa Rule: A Ghost Person will keep coming back at you until you tear off a limb, remove their head, or disintegrate them outright. Dog can teach you how to kill them without this condition if you let him kill one in front of you.
Critical Existence Failure: If a Ghost Person's limb is crippled, it immediately tears off or explodes and kills them, regardless of how much health it has. Critical-hit oriented characters wielding the numerous limb-damage boosting weapons found in the Villa can often one-shot Ghost People with hits that do very little overall damage simply because they take out an arm.
Fate Worse than Death:
- They were the Sierra Madre's guests and residents. The hazmat suits saved them, but it also turned them into something... different.
- Dean warns you that they prefer to take their victims alive and drag them underground. It's implied that they force the victim into another suit as a means to reproduce.
Gas Mask Mooks: Justified. They became the Ghost People because of the hazmat suits.
Glass Cannon: The Seekers. The weakest in terms of health, but their gas bombs can be deadly and they're much better with their spears than the Harvesters.
Gone Horribly Right:
- The hazmat suits they wear were supposed to protect the workers from toxins. It only protected them enough to keep them from dying and instead become the things they are now.
- Old World Blues reveals that Big MT were using the Sierra Madre as testing grounds for the Auto-Doc technology, the cloud (as part of their toxin research), and the hazmat suits. Like everything else from Big MT, the results are horrifying and quite possibly intentional.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: Their goggles glow a noticeable green.
Hoist by His Own Petard: The Cosmic Knife Spears that most of them have? One of the best tools at your disposal to make sure they don't get back up.
Humanoid Abomination: See Body Horror. It's a literal example too, since the game classifies them as abominations.
Improvised Weapon: They use Cosmic Knives tied to sticks, propane tanks with C4 attached, and bear trap gauntlets.
It Can Think: Despite being a horde of feral, zombie-like Humanoid Abominations, they’re actually reasonably smart when it comes to hunting, showing impressive tool use as well as being constantly on the move to make themselves harder targets to shoot at. According to Dean, they also leave "supplies" as traps.
Kick Them While They Are Down: Encouraged and enforced if you want to take them down, especially if you're using a melee centric fighting style. After being KO'd by an attacker, they'll lay dead for a while but soon rise back up, meaning it'd be wise to stand over their body and beat a limb off to finish them. For firearms, it's more like a Double Tap.
Made of Iron: Even without taking into account their regenerating ability, they have abnormally high health. Crippling any limb does the job, though.
Mighty Glacier: The Trappers. They're the biggest, slowest variation and have no ranged attack, but they're also the toughest to kill.
The Needless: They're never shown eating or sleeping.
Not Using the "Z" Word: The Ghost People certainly shamble like zombies, and Dean speculates that they might not be alive anymore. Averted in the developers notes in Dead Money's dialogue files, which openly refer to the Ghost People as zombies.
Resurrective Immortality: Unless you disintegrate, dismember, behead, or have Dog eat them, any Ghost Person simply will not stay dead.
Silent Antagonist: Unable to talk because of the heavy hoods they wear. They probably don't have much to say, anyway.
Stealth Hi/Bye: The very first Ghost Person you'll see walks between a pair of columns in front of your view and vanishes. Minor, subtle little scare.
Vader Breath: After a half-hour in the Villa, you'll quickly learn their loud gasps for air are the best way to track them.
Wacky Wayside Tribe: They don't have much plot significance outside of them trying to kill you, with only a few logs hinting how they degenerated into what they are now.
Was Once a Man: All of them used to be residents of the Villa, or unlucky travelers that found the place. They're something else, now.
Zerg Rush: When you activate the bell tower, over 40 of them rush in and make your return trip much less pleasant.

Ghouls

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/feral_ghoul_fo4.png

A feral ghoul in Fallout 4.

Sometimes, being exposed to massive amounts of radiation doesn't kill you, it just mutates you heavily. Ghouls were all once human, but mutated into zombie-like masses of rotting flesh. On the upside, this makes them immortal by stopping their aging, and most ghouls retain their mental faculties. For a time, anyway; ghouls can devolve into feral ghouls, losing all their humanity and intelligence and becoming ferocious monsters. Particularly extreme cases can degenerate into glowing ones, ghouls so heavily irradiated that they literally glow green.

While "ghoul", by itself, typically refers to humans, it's entirely possible for animals to undergo this process, and ghoulified animals — such as the "ghoulrillas" of Nuka-World, the immense ghoul whales rumored to roam the irradiated oceans, and the ursine yao guais — are seen from time to time.

The Ageless: One of the few perks of becoming a ghoul is that the transformation either halts or greatly slows the aging process for not entirely clear reasons. Scarred and decrepit as ghouls are, they do not naturally experience decrepitude or physical degeneration beyond the point they're already at, and it's believed in-universe that they can live potentially forever.
An Arm and a Leg: Ghouls are more than usually vulnerable to limb damage, the better to imply that their ancient bodies are actually rotting apart. Feral ghouls in particular will keep coming even after losing arms and legs, even crawling along the ground trying to bite you until you put them down.
Art Evolution: In Fallout 1 and 2, they resemble hideous rotting corpses. In 3 and New Vegas, they look more like pseudo-fantastical resurrected zombies. In 4 and 76, they more closely resemble actual victims of radiation poisoning, complete with visible burn scars and deformities.
Body Horror: The horror of slowly rotting/withering from the outside in, a Slow Transformation into for all appearances a Technically-Living Zombie and remaining fully conscious and aware, and remaining that way for hundreds of years. Many NPCs' stories and various terminal entries are about early ghouls having no idea what was happening to them or why, or how they could possibly have survived in their new state shortly after the bombs fell.
Cloudcuckoolander: Ghouls tend to be eccentric and quirky. Probably it's a side effect of them being old and not being bound to typical societal norms on account of Fantastic Racism and the fact there are no societal norms anymore. Raul for instance mentions he regularly changes his name just to keep things fresh when he tires of the current one,
Depending on the Writer: The developers widely disagree on how to depict ghouls consistently, particularly between the games developed by Bethesda and those by Black Isle and Obsidian, but even within them there's discrepancies. Most of this can be Hand Waved as misinformation being spread in-universe and differing environmental factors involved in the process — not to mention that nuclear radiation in Fallout functions very differently from the real world and isn't an exact science anyway.
- What actually makes you into a ghoul varies. It's universally agreed that exposure to radiation is involved, but some ghouls describe being mutated all at once by a sudden burst of radiation, others imply it was a gradual process over a longer period of time. Some sources also say that exposure to FEV may play a part in things, but there are plenty of instances of ghouls who haven't been in contact with FEV. It's also unclear if you need to explicitly be exposed to radiation to be turned into a ghoul, as Hancock in Fallout 4 apparently became one after an extreme chem bender, and Thaddeus in the Prime series potentially got turned into one by getting injected with the Snake Oil Salesman's serum to fix his mangled foot, giving him the standard ghoulish Healing Factor.
- It's not clear how ghouls become feral. Sometimes it's part of the process, and you either go feral when you become a ghoul or you keep your senses; other times continued radiation exposure mutates a sane ghoul further; sometimes it's presented as a fact of their nature that all ghouls go feral eventually depending on unknown factors that vary between individuals. The presence of feral ghouls and only ferals in locked off areas and such implies that losing one's sanity can be a factor.
- It's vague how ghouls experience aging, if at all. It's been 200 years since the first ghouls were created and no one has ever mentioned a ghoul dying of old age, and Billy in Fallout 4 is a child that was mutated as a boy when the bomb fell and is still physically a child. However, Raul in New Vegas implies he's experiencing degradation of his physical and mental capabilities, but the way in which he phrases it he may just be feeling tired after his long life and all the wounds he's endured over the course of it. Hancock in Fallout 4 says it's a misconception that ghouls don't age and it's just that they age very slowly, but he's hardly a medical expert to reliably make such a call and he hasn't been a ghoul for very long.
- If ghouls need to eat and drink to live, or if they're The Needless who can go without. Some mention needing food and water to survive, but on the other hand the player can find ghouls in the ruins of old buildings and Vaults who have been there decades and seem to have had no need for sustenance, yet are still living. It's also unclear if ghouls can use chems properly; a ghoul chemist specifically mentions trying to create a more potent version of Jet because normal Jet has little effect on ghouls, but due to Gameplay and Story Segregation chems affect ghouls the same as humans when used in gameplay.
- Finally, it's not clear if feral ghouls are hostile to sapient ghouls or not, thanks to some Gameplay and Story Segregation. Some NPCs imply they're friendly, recognizing their own kind, but in gameplay ferals tend to have no problem attacking other ghouls — most times this is because the sapient ghoul is the player's ally and thus enemies will automatically attack them, too, but the player can occasionally find in-fighting amongst ghouls on their own, with no indicator of how it was instigated.
- The show proposes the idea that ghouls are in a constant state of degredation from the moment that they are created and the older a ghoul gets the closer they are to turning feral. Chems can help stave off the decay and Sanity Slippage, as The Ghoul takes puffs from a Jet-like inhaler at least once a day and can fall into catatonia and seizures if he doesn't, but having a set goal in mind to anchor your personality to can help just as well; Cooper Howard has been alive since before the Great War, presumably getting turned into a ghoul when the bombs hit Los Angeles, and has been ruthlessly pursuing any surviving Vault-Tec executives to try and find his daughter. This goal is implied to be what has actually kept him functional and sane for 219 years, and in a show that has many ghouls in varying states of decay Cooper is easily the best looking of them all, having even managed to keep his eyelashes after all of this time.
Evil Sounds Raspy: Downplayed, as non-feral ghouls are not any more evil than common people, but most of them acquire a deep rasp to their voice as a result of ghoulification. Feral ghouls just let out raspy shrieks and groans. In 4, some ghouls are capable of speaking with regular-sounding voices and Dean Domino, Jason Bright and Raul in New Vegas completely lack the raspiness (though Dean is a trained singer, which probably helps).
Exotic Eye Designs: Throughout all of the 3D games, most ghouls have visibly bloodshot and obscured eyes. Starting in Fallout 4, many ghouls exhibit completely black eyes with no visible sclera or pupils.
Face–Monster Turn: Ghouls that go feral completely lose their mental faculties and become violent and homicidal, attacking anything that isn’t another instance of itself in an animalistic rage and becoming dangerous to everyone around them, other than other ghouls. Ghouls on the verge of going feral often undergo a kind of belated Zombie Infectee decline as they try to Resist the Beast, which is the subject of many an Apocalyptic Log in the various ghoul-infested ruins of the later games.
Fantastic Slurs: They're often referred to as "zombies" by humans. In return, they came up with the term "smoothskins".
Feed It with Fire: In the 3D games, they're healed by radiation. The feral ghouls in the highly irradiated Glowing Sea in Fallout 4 will even regenerate their health over time thanks to this.
Fragile Speedster: Feral ghouls tend to be pretty speedy, but having a lot of their flesh and muscle decay away doesn't do much to increase their durability in combat.
Friendly Zombie: Downplayed. A non-feral ghoul has a human personality and is able to co-exist with others, though they're just as likely to be a Nice Guy or a Jerkass as regular humans are. Once a ghoul goes feral, however, they lose their personality and attack humans on sight.
Like Goes with Like: Played With. According to Harland (a ghoul mercenary in New Vegas), ghouls can find other ghouls attractive. However, it seems to depend on personal tastes. The majority of ghouls encountered consider ghoulish appearance to be horrendously ugly, having once been humans and retained a human aesthetic sense. That said, at least one paying human customer at the Atomic Wrangler likes ghoul prostitutes and there are also ghoul dancers at Gomorrah, but whether for ghoul or human patrons is never made clear.
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Downplayed, but there are a few hints that ghoulhood maybe slightly more paranormal than just a random chance for someone exposed to radiation to mutate into one. Particularly on the East Coast, anything related to the Dunwich Company tends to involve ghouls and, if the Dunwich Borers mining operation in the Commonwealth is to be believed, the company may actually be an Apocalypse Cult worshipping Eldritch Abominations, and the Children of Atom who worship ghouls to a certain extent (seeing them as being blessed by Atom) might actually be worshipping an existent deity of radiation if the vision quest you undergo in the Far Harbor DLC for Fallout 4 is to be taken at face value. The mundane explanation for their existence is the most generally accepted one both In-Universe and out, but there are enough clues to the contrary to prompt speculation.
No-Sell: Due to their modified biology, ghouls are usually immune to chems, alcohol, and other intoxicants. It's not an absolute, however, as in Fallout 3, a ghoul chemist is refining a more potent version of the drug Jet that ghouls can use.
No Zombie Cannibals: It's generally the case that ferals won't attack other ghouls, unless they're traveling with unchanged humans. Over the course of the games, you occasionally run into ghouls who attempt to pen in their feral friends and family or work to find a cure for their state, so they can avoid Staking the Loved One.
Our Ghouls Are Creepier: They're mutated humans created by excessive radiation poisoning basically turning them into Technically Living Revenant Zombies.
Our Zombies Are Different: In-universe, people treat ghouls like zombies, but they technically aren't, since they were never dead in the first place, they usually maintain their intelligence and personalities, and some even form towns and live peaceful lives. But thanks to the ferals, which basically are zombies in practicality, the stereotype endures. This is the focus of a Fallout 3 quest, where the quest giver expresses disgust over ghoul-hating humans who believe the only way to kill a ghoul is to shoot them in the head like a traditional zombie.
Progressively Prettier: Ghouls in general got a serious bump up in appearance in Fallout 4; their design changed from looking like more standard western zombies to the actual acute radiation poisoning and burn victims that they are. As a result, there are several ghoul NPCs that look pretty good aside from a rather taut and burned look to their skin, as well as them near-universally missing their noses and having black eyes, with companion Hancock being a good example of this. Even the ferals look better as their skin is much more uniform in appearance and the fear of them is now driven more by their feral behavior and deformed body designs.
Radiation-Immune Mutants: Ghouls love radiation, which is fatal to humans. But to a ghoul, radiation can range from harmless to pleasant, and in the Bethesda-era games, ghoul-type enemies are healed by it.
Really 700 Years Old: Since they no longer age, ghouls can live for decades or centuries. Some of the ones you meet were even alive before the Great War, making them almost 300 years old. How much of that they remember, though, varies — since ghouls, again, may lose some of their mental faculties, and they can still go senile.
Strong Enemies, Low Rewards: Reavers are among the most difficult enemies to kill, but the reward for killing them is usually a simple Psycho or a Jet, which is not worth the stimulants, drugs and ammo you probably used to kill them.
Technically-Living Zombie: While they're still alive, prior to Fallout 4, they looked like classic, rotting zombies. Ferals, meanwhile, act almost like Zombie Apocalypse-style hordes thanks to mental deterioration from the radiation.
Was Once a Man: Every ghoul you meet was human at one point, before being hideously scarred by radiation and — in the case of feral ghouls — being turned into a mindless, predatory beast.
Zerg Rush: Feral ghouls are usually found in groups, either traveling or sleeping together. Carelessly alerting one ghoul can easily spiral to three or ten more revealing themselves to charge you.

Glowing Ones

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/glowing_one_fo4.png

A glowing one in Fallout 4.

Glowing ones are the most heavily irradiated of all ghouls, to the point that they literally glow green. They're much stronger than regular ghouls, and can emit waves of radiation at will. Their degree of sapience is not wholly consistent — individual glowing ones have appeared in both civilized and feral versions — but they're much more likely to be seen in a feral, mindless state than other ghouls are.

As with other ghouls, glowing one versions of other creatures are known to exist; meta-wise, these were introduced in Fallout 4 as elite versions of other enemies.

Always Chaotic Evil: Somewhat. Unlike the rest of ghoulkind, nearly every glowing one is feral with only five exceptions seen in the entire franchise.^note Presumably this is due to the higher levels of radiation required for their creation.
Atomic Superpower: Glowing ones are so radioactive that they can produce an explosive wave of radiation, irradiating living organisms and healing other Ghouls.
Body Horror: Glowing ones themselves are already fairly disturbing to look at, their bodies having become living radioactive furnaces, but their elite versions, the putrid and bloated glowing ones, are so heavily mutated that their bodies have become grotesquely swollen and deformed by gigantic pustules filled with radioactive waste.
Elite Mooks:
- In general, glowing ones are this to common feral ghouls, being far stronger and deadlier than their less-irradiated kin.
- In and post-Fallout 4, putrid and bloated glowing ones are elite versions of the regular glowing ones, possessing much higher attack and health — bloated glowing ones have the highest base health of any feral ghoul.
Exploited Immunity: They can store radiation energy in their bodies and release it in concentrated bursts, healing nearby ghouls while inducing radiation poisoning in humans.
Power Glows: The most powerful ghoul variants, an distinguished from other ones by their bright green glow.
Sickly Green Glow: The most obvious outward sign of their physical degradation is that every part of their bodies glows vivd green from the radiation they absorbed.

Wendigos

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fallout_wendigo.jpg

Appearances: Fallout 76

Originally the result of a cannibal raider hiding out in a radioactive cave for far too long, wendigos are severely mutated feral ghouls (it's implied that the FEV from Huntersville might've played a part) that endlessly hunger for human flesh. Named after the famous monster of Algonquin legend, wendigos are found all throughout Appalachia, with the especially deadly "wendigo colossi" found wandering in nuclear blast zones.

Body Horror: Even for feral ghouls they look hideous, with ashy gray skin, long bony arms tipped with razor-thin claws, and a large bulging stomach. Their skull-like faces also have short strands of long, stringy hair and feature mouths filled with long, jagged teeth. Wendigo colossi are even worse, being well over twelve feet tall with thin stilt-like legs, tiny arms, and two extra heads.
Elite Mooks: To "normal" feral ghouls. Wendigo colossi are this to normal wendigos.
Enemy Summoner: Wendigos can let out bone-chilling screams in combat that summon any nearby ferals to their aid.
I'm a Humanitarian: The original wendigos were cannibal raiders mutated by radiation (and possibly FEV)
Inexplicably Awesome: It's never made entirely clear why wendigos are so especially dangerous and look so different compared to normal feral ghouls, with it ultimately being Rule of Scary. Tropes Are Tools, of course, as the wendigos are easily one of the most terrifying creatures out of the entire Fallout franchise.
Lightning Bruiser: Wendigos are incredibly fast in combat and dish out tons of damage with their razor-sharp claws, to the point where V.A.T.S. is practically required for any ranged character to take them down.
Monster Progenitor: The first known wendigo in Appalachia was Morris Stevens, the former leader of the Gourmands raider gang.
Muscles Are Meaningless: They're so rail-thin that their skin looks like it's practically glued to their bones, but they still have enough strength to literally crush the Player Character into a pulp.
Shown Their Work: They're a remarkably faithful adaptation of the original Algonquian legend, with the obvious difference here being that the cannibal is turned into a monster by radiation rather than a demonic spirit.
Supernatural Fear Inducer: The scream of a wendigo colossi will automatically induce the "frightened" status effect for any Vault 76 Dweller in earshot.
Super-Strength: They can toss a player through the air with little effort and hit with the force of a tank.
Vader Breath: Their gasping breaths sound like the rustling of dry leaves.
Was Once a Man: All wendigos seem to be feral ghouls that got exceptionally mutated by radiation (and possibly FEV).
Wendigo: Well, duh. They are named after the mythological creature and behave accordingly.

Mole Miners

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mole_miner_fo76.jpg

Appearances: Fallout 76

Former miners from Appalachia, who hid in the Ash Heap's numerous coal mines when the bombs fell. Unfortunately, thanks to a mix of radioactive fallout and the region's toxic chemicals, they've since been twisted into murderous mutants that prey on anyone who treads too close to their new homes within Appalachia's caves and mine shafts.

Gas Mask Mooks: They're trapped within their slowly deteriorating suits, with the large tubes for their gas masks being one of their few visible features. Additionally, their masks are essential to their survival now, and they will quickly die if their mask is ever removed.
Humanoid Abomination: They look generally human, but have stout bodies with short, thick limbs and eyes visibly bulging out from under their masks.
It Can Think: While they're clearly not as bright as their former human selves, they're still not stupid. Most notably, they've domesticated the local mole rats into serving as their Attack Animals, and are seen using (relatively) advanced weapons like shotguns, assault rifles, and missile launchers in combat.
Lightning Bruiser: They're disarmingly fast despite their stocky build and can give a lot of damage thanks to their love of heavy weapons.
Mole Men: It's right in the name — they're short, hostile humanoids descended from degenerated humans and who now live in tunnels, caves and mines. They're also a noticeably darker take on this trope than what is typically seen elsewhere.
Non-Malicious Monster: Most of them are more extremely territorial than outright murder-happy, and just want to be left alone.
Super-Strength: They're strong enough to regularly carry and utilize heavy weapons like missile launchers into combat one-handed with no visible effort.
Tragic Keepsake: Some mole miners can be found clutching little remnants of their former lives, such as keys to their old mining lockers.
Tragic Monster: None of them wanted to be turned into nightmarish monsters, after all — they were simply victims of extreme radiation and chemical poisoning.
Was Once a Man: They're what happened to the pre-War miners of Appalachia.
Weakened by the Light: They hate bright light and so are usually found only in their caves and former mining facilities.

The Overgrown

Appearances: Fallout 76

Also known as "plantfolk" by the locals, the Overgrown are horribly mutated walking flora that inhabit the Pine Barrens just outside Atlantic City.

Dumb Muscle: They are deadly foes in spite of their low intelligence.
Parasite Zombie: Frieda Lane's observations strongly indicate they may be these.
Planimal: They look like walking trees, but are made up of fundamentally animal cells.

The Scorched

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/scorched_fo76.png

Appearances: Fallout 76

Feral, ghoul-like humans mutated by the plague spread by the Scorchbeasts of Appalachia. United under a Hive Mind, they seek nothing else but spreading the Scorched Plague beyond West Virginia and causing the extinction of all life.

Always Chaotic Evil: The Scorched are part of a Hive Mind dedicated to the death of all that isn't part of their shared consciousness.
And I Must Scream: Humans, ghouls, and other intelligent beings infected with the Scorched Plague will occasionally mutter comments implying that they're still self-aware to an extent and are aware of how the Scorched Hive Mind is puppeteering them around.
Body Horror: Their bodies are covered in what look like formations of jade (actually ultracite), and they slowly grow until they inevitably overtake the original person completely. Additionally, their skin is bleached ashen-white and bloody rashes usually form across their bodies.
Hive Mind: The Scorched operate with one of these, which among other things explains why they don't mindlessly attack each other.
Mooks: They primarily serve as the role of expendable foot soldiers and "guards" for the Scorchbeasts to aid in the spread of the plague.
The Plague: They're the result of a semi-fungal plague spread by the Scorchbeasts. Notably, it's mentioned that there's no actual cure for the plague, though the Vault 76 Dwellers can finish the research started by the Responders to create a vaccine to protect themselves and others from contracting it.
Our Zombies Are Different: They're Technically Living Plague Zombies that are still smart enough to use weapons and tactics, but are basically feral cannibals otherwise.
Raising the Steaks: A variation, as the Scorched Plague is unfortunately not limited to just humans. Various animals can be infected by the Scorched Plague and join their Hive Mind, making it all the harder to maintain a quarantine and prevent further vectors of infection from escaping. While some Scorched animals are just minor annoyances (i.e., Scorched Mole Rats), other Scorched animals (like Scorched Deathclaws and Super Mutant Behemoths) serve as terrifying Elite Mooks to absolute devastate and obliterate any potential threat to the plague's spread.
Taken for Granite: Over time, the ultracite formations that grow within their flesh overtake them completely and turn them into lifeless, stony statues.
The Usual Adversaries: They make up the majority of humanoid enemies in 76.
Unwitting Pawn: They and the Scorchbeasts were created and released by the Enclave under the orders of "President" Eckhart so he could raise the local DEFCON level enough to "finish" nuking Communist China.

Spore Carriers

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spore_carrier_fonv.png

Appearances: Fallout: New Vegas

Humans who fell victim to a mutated fungus, which then took root in their corpses and reanimated them as mobile spore dispersers.

Action Bomb: After being engaged in melee for a while, they will explode with considerable force in a cloud of irradiated spores.
Ambushing Enemy: They usually hide in thick vegetation, becoming undetectable by the compass or V.A.T.S. until engaged, and typically wait for players to literally stumble into them before attacking.
Elite Mook: Spore carrier brutes, savages and beasts, progressively stronger and higher-statted versions of the basic spore carriers.
Festering Fungus: Spore carriers are created when a specific fungal infection overtakes a human being, kills them, and infests and reanimates their body to serve as an ambulatory carrier of its spores.
Fungi Are Plants: The infection that turns humans into spore carriers is fungal in nature — it's specifically identified as an engineered strain of Beauveria, a real-life fungus that does this very thing to insects. Spore carriers, however, are depicted as green-skinned plant people, their infection is spread from leafy, flytrap-like "spore plants", and they're consistently associated with botanical experiments and lush plant life.
Gone Horribly Wrong: For a wonder, the fungus wasn't actually designed as a weapon of mass destruction like most pre-War genetic research was — it was chiefly intended to be agricultural pest control and a way to destroy harmful insects. It spreading to humans was just a disastrous side effect of its creation. For all the tragedy it brought though, it certainly did allow plant life to flourish.
Man-Eating Plant: The spore plants their infection stems from, and which they are often found guarding, resemble giant-sized and highly mobile Venus flytraps that will snap and bite at approaching players.
Parasite Zombie: Spore Carriers are formed when someone is infected with Beauveria Mordicana, a pervasive fungus that attacks the lungs of the host and eventually kills the victim. After their death, the fungus will then reanimate the body to use as a vector for spreading the infection.
Patient Zero: The original carrier of the infection — itself named Patient Zero in-universe — is still around in the games' time, stalking the ruins of the facility where it was made.
Plant Person: Despite their infection being fungal in nature, the spore carriers visually invoke this trope through their green skin and close association with plant life.
Primal Stance: They crawl around on all fours, hunched over like animals, to show how they haved regressed to a bestial, inhuman state.
Undead Child: In Vault 22, one spore carrier runt is encountered inside a child's room in the living quarters, giving this impression.

Super Mutants

"We are the future!"

Before the Great War, the United States feared chemical or biological attacks from the Chinese, and began engineering a universal antivirus to protect their troops. When it was discovered this antivirus altered subjects on a genetic level and drastically increased their muscle mass, it was renamed the Forced Evolutionary Virus. In the post-apocalyptic world, the humans exposed to it become Super Mutants, hulking brutes with incredibly physical strength, but generally low intelligence and an incapability of breeding. They and their leader are the villains of the first game: since then they've become just another faction in the massive Fallout universe.

There are four types of Super Mutants, as four (known) sources of FEV were used and the virus expressed itself a little differently in each case. All East Coast mutants share the tendency to grow progressively larger, stronger and more bestial as they age, eventually becoming the immense, brutish Behemoths.

"Mariposa Super Mutants" range from southern Oregon through California and Nevada, and are so named because the vats of FEV culture that they were dipped in for transformation exist(ed) at Mariposa Military Base.
- The Mariposa mutants also have a sub-variant, the "Nightkin," consisting of elite members of the Master's Army that had mutated further due to excessive Stealth Boy usage. Most Nightkin are Stealth Experts, but also suffer from severe mental issues such as schizophrenia.
"Vault 87 Super Mutants" range from Virginia through Maryland and Washington DC, and get their name from the particular Vault where they are exposed to FEV in some sort of aerosol exposure chamber.
"Commonwealth Super Mutants" range throughout New England and were created by the Institute through injection, who were conducting experiments with the FEV to improve upon their research into synthetic organic tissue.
"Huntersville Super Mutants" are chiefly found in West Virginia and Appalachia, and were created shortly before the Great War when West-Tek contaminated Huntersville's water supply with FEV as part of an experiment.

In General

The Ageless: They claim that they are immortal. While there's no hard evidence, there is little reason to deny it when some Super Mutants show no signs of aging even after a few centuries. Senility does appear in some Western mutants in Fallout 2, but does not seem to reduce their physical prowess.
Always Chaotic Evil: The Vault 87, Huntersville, and Commonwealth strains of Super Mutants all appear to be this, though the latter two are shown to be significantly smarter than the former and the examples of Strong, Erickson, Grahm, and Gail show that while they're still cannibalistic barbarians, they're not necessarily as thoroughly evil as they may first seem and can even perform Heel Face Turns given enough time and effort.
Amazing Technicolor Population: Their skin ranges from bright yellowish to a deep green.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The East Coast mutants grow in size as they age. The oldest ones have grown 20 feet tall.
Bald of Evil: Depending on their allegiance, as Super Mutants in general lose their hair during their transformation.
BFG: Due to their massive size, Super Mutants have no problem using and prefer the likes of plasma rifles, miniguns, rocket launchers, etc.
Body Horror: Not counting the fact that the transformation process causes the subject to nearly double in size, and lose most or all of their features and their reproductive systems (depending on which type of super mutant), the failures tend to look... unpleasant.
The Dreaded: Opinions on Super Mutants tend to vary depending on when, where, and who you ask. However, everyone agrees you do not want to be on a Super Mutant's bad side, and games that depict them in an antagonistic light have character talk about them as a serious threat.
Dumb Muscle: While not all Super Mutant subjects become mumbling idiots, most do. Even other mutant commanders are pretty unintelligent, just not as much as their underlings, and only a handful could be considered intelligent by normal human standards. In the original Fallout, it's possible to talk your way past most fights with them by claiming you're on their side and look like a normal human because you're a special breed of mutant; with a Speech check, they buy it and just let you go.
Dying Race: Like with Ghouls, all Super Mutants are sterile and "new" mutants can only created through FEV exposure. Notably, the Vault 87 Super Mutants are implied to have been completely wiped out by the time of Fallout 4 thanks to the efforts of the Lone Wanderer and Brotherhood of Steel.
Elite Mook: They're often among the toughest enemies of the series. They also have their own Elite Mooks among them: the West Coast Mutants have the Nightkin, while the East Coast have the Overlords and Behemoths.
Flanderization: The Mariposa Super Mutants encountered in the original two games could be super-dumb, but also had a good deal of cunning and downright brilliant mutants in the upper echelons. Come Fallout 3 and beyond, and they've been primarily reduced to serving as big green generic Raiders with only a few standout subversions. Although this could be chalked up to the mutants of the East Coast being made with a different batch of FEV as the mutants in the Mojave are shown to be generally more intelligent.
Genius Bruiser: The first generation of Mariposa Super Mutants (such as the Lieutenant and Marcus), prominent in the Southwest, are the most likely to be intelligent. Smart Super Mutants from East coast strains are much rarer, but a handful of exceptions (such as Fawkes, Uncle Leo and to a lesser extent Strong) do exist. They're just as intimidatingly huge and strong as their brethren — they just also happen to capable of holding a perfectly rational conversation.
Giant Mook: They tower over normal humans. Their stronger variants, in turn, are progressively larger than each other and regular Super Mutants.
Gone Horribly Right: Super Mutants are sterile because FEV interprets reproductive cells having only half of the chromosomes from normal cells as chromosomal damage, and it "fixes" the cells to have a full set of chromosomes.
HULK MASH!-Up: They're huge hulking brutes who generally have enhanced strength, low intelligence, massive anger management issues, and a disdain for puny, baseline humans. They also tend to be green in color. However, they are created via a Forced Evolutionary Virus rather than radioactive material.
Hulk Speak: A common trait for unintelligent Super Mutants, particularly on the East Coast. Smarter ones, including most Mariposa Super Mutants in 2 and New Vegas, usually speak normally.
Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Commonwealth and Huntersville Super Mutants are mentioned as hunting humans for sport just as much as for food.
In Name Only: There are actually several distinct varieties of "Super Mutant" encountered throughout the franchise, with most only being called "Super Mutants" due to their resemblance to the original Mariposa Super Mutants created by the Master and being the result of the FEV. These doppelganger offshoots are the Vault 87 Super Mutants, the Commonwealth Super Mutants and the Huntersville Super Mutants. These are more skewed towards being Always Chaotic Evil Dumb Muscle and are less refined than their Master-created "cousins", which tend to be more intelligent and civilized.
I'm a Humanitarian: A common thread across East Coast Super Mutants is that they like to eat humans. Amusingly, idle chatter from Commonwealth Super Mutants in Fallout 4 implies that they only do this because humans taste better than the vast majority of Wasteland wildlife.
Lightning Bruiser: Behemoths in 4 and 76 can be very fast when running. Justified by the fact that their legs are proportional to their two-story frames, meaning that they can clear a lot of distance per stride compared to their 7-8 foot tall kin.
Loss of Identity: The process of becoming a Super Mutant sometimes causes them to forget their past lives. Most don't seem troubled by this, though.
Made of Iron: All Super Mutants are this in comparison to ordinary humans, with it even being mentioned that Mariposa Super Mutants can No-Sell small enough calibers of ammunition thanks to their thickened skin.
Master Race: Super Mutants in general believe they're superior to humanity in every way, and in the first game they led a conquest against the wasteland to establish their rule. While their superiority may be true for the intelligent members, the vast majority are too dumb to prove it, and they're all sterile to boot.
Multicultural Alien Race: Being made in entirely separate parts of the United States, super Mutants vary greatly in qualities in the game and region they appear in.
- Most notably, West Coast mutants were created with potentially higher capacities for intelligence, reasoning and nuanced ideas thanks to being created as the Master's ideal army and to become the Wasteland's Master Race. After the collapse of the Master's plans, even the dumb and brutish Super Mutants found some success in joining modern civilization or set off to form their own communities.
- In contrast, East Coast mutants, particularly the ones in the Capital Wasteland are shown to be generally dumb across the board, ravenous and raving whirlwinds of violence whose current goals are to swell their numbers with newly created Super Mutants, or to feast on whatever they can hunt for. Commonwealth Super Mutants in the Commonwealth are even more aimless in their goals, being failed experiments who were dumped into the wild and subsequently formed something close to tribes who ambush and raid settlers for food. Though if Strong is to be believed, Commonwealth Super Mutants apparently believe that all resources they gather, food they kill and territory they gain should be shared between their kind for the benefit of the collective — and presses the Sole Survivor to do the same for the benefit of humanity.
My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Friendly Super Mutants are uncommon, but not all that rare, particularly in the West Coast where certain mutants have either integrated into human society (to the point that the NCR even has Super Mutant Rangers) or have formed their own isolated societies. Friendly East Coast Super Mutants are far rarer, with the main ones being Fawkes, Uncle Leo, Erickson, Grahm, Gail, and (just barely) Strong.
Not So Extinct: If the Fallout 4 Creation Club can be taken as Broad Strokes canon, the Huntersville Super Mutants are surprisingly still alive in Appalachia as of 2287, with one even leaving to the Capital Wasteland to help "fight the good fight."
One-Gender Race: All of them pretty much look and sound male, even if they were regular human women before. Marcus implies in 2 that they still have their original genitals, which can still be used for sex, though not reproduction.
Our Orcs Are Different: They are basically typical fantasy Orcs in the nuclear apocalypse. They have the typical trope identifiers of Orcs all around (they are huge and muscular, green-skinned (most of the time) and historically are a race known for their savagery), but also several key differences (they live abnormally long with the most long-lived Super Mutants becoming building sized behemoths, and aren't really a separate race so much as descended from former humans). As for what flavor of Orc they are, it depends; the West Coast is predominantly cast of Blizzard-type Orcs despite their violent past with the Master, while East Coast Orcs are outright an almost Always Chaotic Evil horde. The difference is largely justified by the circumstances spawning Super Mutants on the East and West Coast being wildly different, with the East Coast variants being outright degenerated.
Painful Transformation: The transformation into a super mutant apparently hurts. A lot. Fawkes hints in 3 that this is the reason, at least with the Vault 87 strain, for why Super Mutants lose their minds.
Post-Apunkalyptic Armor: There's not really anything mass-produced that will fit them. As such, they tend to improvise with random junk.
Primitive Clubs: Super Mutant Behemoths are extremely large, extremely strong and extremely stupid mutants who lack the intelligence to either manufacture tools or use ranged weaponry, and typically use entire uprooted fire hydrants mounted on telephone poles as crude melee weapons.
Space Orcs: Super Mutants are effectively post-apocalyptic sci-fi orcs or ogres as far as general appearance and personality goes. What flavor of orc/ogre depends on the type of Super Mutant.
Sterility Plague: During the transformation process, the FEV sees haploid gamete cells as damaged and so turns them into diploid versions, which leaves the Super Mutants unable to reproduce.
Stronger with Age: East Coast Super Mutants, created from a different strand of FEV than their West Coast counterparts, get bigger and stronger as they get older, with some reaching heights of twenty feet and strength capable of ripping apart a Vertibird single-handedly.
Super Gender-Bender: In addition to sterility, the mutation causes humans to develop the same masculine bodily structure regardless of their original sex (though apparently their genitals are relatively in tact). Lily and Tabitha thus cling to accessories identifying them as female.
Super-Soldier: Once the effects of FEV were made apparent, they were chosen to be elite soldiers to fight the Chinese. And later, they formed the lynchpin of the Master's Army.
Super-Strength: Practically every Super Mutant has this, with them frequently being able to wield heavy weapons one-handed or crush their enemies into pulp with their bare hands.
Tragic Monster: All of them to some extent, but the East Coast Mutants in particular, as none of them wanted to be twisted into nightmarish cannibalistic monsters.
The Virus: They increase their ranks by dipping other humans in FEV.
Too Dumb to Live: Quite literally in some cases. As in, their brains are too small to even run their bodies properly. The Master theorized that humans with DNA damaged by radiation are more prone to producing non-functional Super Mutants, which can be seen on how the vast majority of East Coast Super Mutants (who were primarily created using Wastelander stock) are murderous morons.
Was Once a Man: Every one of them used to be human. As noted above, most take it in stride.
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Their lowered intelligence aside, the mutation process can also drive Super Mutants a bit nuts. Ax-Crazy seems to be a near universal trait, and even some of the peaceful ones are a bit odd.

Mariposa Super Mutants

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/super_mutant_fnv.png

Appearances: Fallout | Fallout 2 | Fallout: New Vegas

Created with the Forced Evolutionary Virus by the US government as the perfect Super-Soldier during the resource wars against China, these Super Mutants, when created properly, are stronger, faster and potentially more intelligent than their unmutated human counterparts. After the nuclear exchange, the vats and facilities were abandoned and left sitting in the wasteland, only to be rediscovered by two wastelanders named Richard Grey and Harold, the former of whom would become the Master following exposure to the FEV and vowed to revive the long-lost project to create the wasteland's Master Race as the appointed leader of the Unity.
As a result of the research and care put into the project by both the US government, the Master and his Lieutenant, Mariposa Super Mutants can have higher capacities for intelligence and tend to be sturdier compared to their East Coast counterparts, though losing ones mental faculties after mutation is still a common issue in their ranks.

Balls of Steel: In 1 and 2, attacking a Super Mutant's groin causes them to laugh it off and brag that they have no such weakness.
Dumb Muscle: They've got their fair share of dumb mutants, as a result of impure Wastelanders being captured and mutated. The Master is very interested in finding unopened vaults to gain access to pure, unmutated humans still preserved inside for this very reason.
Evil Is Sterile: Deconstructed; the Mariposa FEV makes Super Mutants genius bruisers, being the most impressive variant of Super Mutants, but they cannot reproduce. Since the Master ultimately wants Humanity to live on as Super Mutants, once he realizes this he shuts down his plans.
Genius Bruiser: More pronounced compared to the 3D games, with Unity mutants with enough mental stability to find themselves in leadership positions. Besides The Master himself, two standout examples include the Lieutenant, a brilliant, calculating and ambitious super mutant helping The Master lead the charge forward. Marcus, another mutant who retained his intelligence and, once the The Master died and the Unity disbanded, founded a successful town (twice) using his charisma, leadership skills and relative benevolence. In fact, it's suggested that Super Mutants who don't lose their intelligence actually have it increased by the transformation.
Gentle Giant: Downplayed, but after the fall of the Master most of the Mariposa mutants either integrated into human society or formed their own communities despite their size and strength giving them an advantage over ordinary humans. It's even more prominent with the unintelligent mutants as unlike the more universally hostile East Coast mutants, they typically don't attack humans unless provoked or under orders.
Heel–Face Turn: After the defeat of The Master, a fair amount of the mutants moved on and were able to integrate into the NCR to the point of serving as Rangers. Even then, there were those such as Lily Bowen who openly hated The Master and are glad to be rid of him.
Master Race: They pride themselves as the pinnacle of wasteland beings, sporting immunity to disease, supposedly lacking human personality flaws and have a greater resilience to the harshness of the wasteland. Of all the super mutant variants, Mariposa Super Mutants have most of the bragging rights to actually prove their superiority in every way except intelligence between certain members and reproduction systems.

Nightkin

Appearances: Fallout | Fallout 2 | Fallout: New Vegas

A specialized division of Mariposa Super Mutants, the Nightkin prefer a more stealthy approach to combat using stealth boys to conceal themselves and ambush their enemies. After the fall of the Unity, the Nightkin scattered into different groups across the wasteland, suffering from the mental degradation and conditions brought by excessive stealth boy usage. As a result, they tend to be even more aggressive if not outright hostile compared to other post-Unity Super Mutants.

Dark Is Evil: They're dark in color and are the Elite Mooks of the Master's Army in Fallout 1.
Dark Is Not Evil: By the time of New Vegas. While most of the dark-skinned Nightkin are antagonistic, it has more to do with severe mental instability rather than fighting on the behalf of a villainous faction. Many whom you get to talk to turns out to be not as bad when you actually get to know them.
Deliberate Values Dissonance: A lighter variant; despite Nightkin appearing to develop Dissonant Identity Disorder, it's incorrectly referred to as Schizophrenia, harkening back to the 50s' understanding of the disorder.
Don't Look At Me: Thanks to their mental conditions and their reliance on stealth boys, Nightkin don't usually like being visible for long and get very uncomfortable when people look at them. Naturally, when Keene reveals this to the Courier, they can respond by starring right at him to annoy the Mutant.
Funny Schizophrenia: Zig-zagged. Their schizophrenia and mental instability are played as tragic as the situation would imply half of the time. Other times, though, it's set up to help provide jokes or offer some dark humor when they appear.
- Davison, a Nightkin leading a gang of others, answers to a brahmin skull named Antler. He relies on the inanimate skull for basically everything he says, and goes berserk if you so much as poke the thing. He's also fortified himself and his Nightkin in the REPCONN test site's basement and massacre almost anyone who tries to get them out, so he's also far from too silly to not be harmless.
- Another Nightkin can be encountered near a run down ranch, who emerges from invisibility, startles the Courier who was just minding their own business and offers to sell a wind-brahmin (a tumbleweed) for all their money.
- Tabitha from Black Mountain is a two-prong case. The radio broadcasts she and Rhonda put out are so absurd and hilariously hammy that she begins as a case of her mental condition leading to something funny. Head over to Black Mountain to investigate however, and you'll eventually find out that Rhonda as heard on the radio never existed, and she's a split personality Tabitha developed when her beloved Mister Handy best friend named Rhonda died, which also led to her organizing a violent and hostile super mutant encampment, and it dips to not being quite as funny anymore.
- In the quest The Screams of Brahmin, a Nightkin is responsible for showing up at night near Novac and start unloading his gun into the helpless bovine for no good reason before escaping. While the consequences themselves are pretty serious for Novac in terms of hurting their food supply, the event itself is played for absurdist Black Comedy.
- Keene and his Nightkin in Jacobstown, however, are an averted case in that their mental instability and schizophrenia is played seriously, with the irritable Mutant being the only thing standing between Doc Henry's medical research to cure the Nightkin schizophrenia or all of them leaving into the wild without treatment to worsen their insanity and terrorize the Mojave.
Genius Bruiser: They were originally elite soldiers of the Master's Army tasked with stealth and recon while being huge masses of muscle. Most have deteriorated into lunatics by New Vegas but comparably sane ones like God proves to be quite articulate in speech.
Invisible Introvert: The Nightkin are experts in the use of Stealth Boys... and thanks to the long-term side-effects of said Stealth Boys, many of them suffer from schizophrenia and other mental illnesses that have ruined their ability to interact with outsiders; even the ones that aren't completely delusional are frequently neurotic when it comes to social contact. Many are obsessed with remaining invisible even though they're tough enough not to need Stealth Boys, and the simple act of remaining visible agitates them, to the point that just looking directly at one is enough to freak them out.
Invisible Monsters: In the Interplay games, they're transparent as a way to indicate their stealthy nature in battle, but are far from undetectable. In New Vegas, their invisibility is far more deceptive with only a super mutant-shaped silhouette of distortion indicating they're lying in wait. Oftentimes, the only reliable indication that a Nightkin is near you is hearing the crackle of their stealth boys and a giant angry mutant emerging from stealth to split you in half with their sword.
Jump Scare: Their main strategy in New Vegas, often standing around dark interiors or behind cover while invisible only to emerge charging shouting murder as soon as the Courier gets close.
Split Personality: Thanks to the radiation of Stealth Boys, they've developed DID, manifesting in different ways between Nightkin; Davison takes orders from a Brahmin skull he's ascribed as his god Antler, Tabitha developed the identity of Rhonda because she couldn't accept the death of the original Rhonda, a Mister Handy, Lily has to deal with and suppress the raging, violent Leo, and Dog resorts to self harm to try and keep God, his voice of reason and self-preservation, from emerging.
Stealthy Mook: Nightkin use Stealth Boys, which make them invisible.

Vault 87 Super Mutants

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/super_mutant_fo3.png

Appearances: Fallout 3

As a joint project across the country as Mariposa worked to perfect their strain of FEV, the scientists at Washington D.C worked on their own strain. While similar in effects to the Mariposa strain with the added "benefit" of the super mutant growing in size through aging, this strain of FEV doesn't offer as much room for retaining intelligence after mutation. The Super Mutants who emerged in the Capital Wasteland after the apocalypse are rage filled, bloodthirsty and generally dumb counterparts to their Mariposa cousins, whose current goals are to bolster their numbers with more Super Mutants. With their supply of FEV dwindling, these Super Mutants are desperate to locate more "green stuff" before their time runs out.

Body Horror: Even for Super Mutants they look hideous, what with their discolored yellow skin, deformed musculature, and faces trapped in a permanent grimace.
Boss Battle: The Super Mutant Behemoths are gigantic brutes that tower over the size of a house, but there's a finite amount of them and they're usually hidden away in special locations waiting to be fought. Minus one mandatory encounter in the main quest line, you'd have to go out of your way to try and find them all.
Dumb Muscle: Compared to other super mutant strains, Vault 87 Super Mutants are generally dumb across the board and struggle to solve anything without force and violence. Only two characters from this strain are shown to retain their mental stability, the friendly and honorable Fawkes imprisoned in Vault 87 and the wandering and philosophical Uncle Leo.
Dying Race: They used up their supply of FEV by the time the Lone Wanderer encounters them, and trying hard to capture and convert new Super mutants, plus find more sources of FEV. It's implied in 4 that they're on the verge of extinction if not already wiped out by the Brotherhood's efforts to destroy them.
Giant Mook: They introduced the Super Mutant Behemoths to the series, which can grow up to 20 feet tall.
Mêlée à Trois: Along with hunting down regular humans and fending off Brotherhood squads, the Super Mutants in the DC ruins are apparently waging a long and vicious war against the Talon Company mercenaries. By the time the Lone Wanderer wanders into their battlefield, both mutants and mercs dug themselves into trenches and vantage points in the center of the city.
The Usual Adversaries: They share this role with the Raiders, as anywhere with humanoid enemies will be one or the other. (In some circumstances, both, until they kill each other.)

Commonwealth Super Mutants

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/super_mutant3_3.png

Appearances: Fallout 4

Situated in the Commonwealth, the Institute got a hold of their own strain of FEV for experimentation from an unknown source (it's intentionally left vague if they acquired it before the Great War, or they gained a sample from Vault 87 after the War). Using kidnapped Wastelanders as unwitting test subjects, they secretly ran fruitless experiments on the populace as part of their research into creating organic tissue for the early Synths. The Institute had been creating them since before 2180 and only stopped with the sabotaging of their FEV labs some time before 2287. Unsatisfied with the results, they abandoned their Super Mutants on the surface, eventually releasing enough for them to become a threatening and semi-organized force in the Commonwealth.

Action Bomb: They introduced the Super Mutant Suicider to the series, a Super Mutant with an armed Mini-Nuke that they will attempt to run up to their opponents and high-five them with in a Taking You with Me attack.
Angry Guard Dog: They're the first type of mutants to have Mutant Hounds at their side instead of Centaurs.
Badass Boast
You see me human? This is death!
Blood Knight: They essentially live for the thrill of combat. It's telling that one of the few reliable ways to improve your relationship with Strong, your token Super Mutant companion, is to bring him along for an adventure and kill as many things you can bump into.
Body Horror:
- Their Behemoths have strange body proportions, with one arm noticeably longer than the other.
- This is more downplayed with the "normal" mutants, but they still have what looks like tumors adorning their bodies along with their heads be noticeably smaller in relation to their body size.
Call-Back: Some of their combat quotes are directly taken on their Vault 87 predecessors.
Hurry up and die! I'm hungry!
No more games, time to die!
Now you went and got me mad!
The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: The huge rocks thrown by their Behemoths will actually home in on their targets, and cannot be avoided unless someone is behind cover or out of range.
Dirty Communists: Strong reveals that Commonwealth Super Mutants have a very collectivist mindset, sharing their resources and seeing offense between each other as weakening Super Mutant-kind as a whole. Strong, accordingly, disapproves of being rude purely for the sake of it (although he's fine with more Tough Love style aggression) and being a selfish person, even chastizing the Sole Survivor as weakening humanity with their actions if they aggravate him enough.
Dumb Muscle: Like the Vault 87 strain, Commonwealth Super Mutants tend to be pretty dumb across the board, especially when compared to the Mariposa strain. However, it isn't nearly as pronounced as it was with the Vault 87 strain, as they've found enough coordination to form raiding tribes and their own little sub-culture with bloodthirsty yet cognitive members leading their warbands. They've also got a better grasp at speaking and language compared to the Vault 87 strain, though they're still prone to speaking rather simply. Any Super Mutant Suiciders will also use their suicide attack on any enemy, including radroaches and bloatflies (though admittedly this could just be a case of Artificial Stupidity).
Dying Race: Brian Virgil sabotaged the Institute's FEV lab before he fled the coop, dooming them to a slow extinction.
Entertainingly Wrong: The contingent of Super Mutants on Mount Desert Island in the Far Harbor DLC are there because they heard of a factory full of huge vats of green liquid that were highly prized after. They assumed it was a secret Pre-War lab full of FEV that they could use to make more Super Mutants... only to instead find out that it was actually the ruined Vim! Pop factory with vats full of spoiled Vim.
Fantastic Racism: They refer to Synths as "fake men," and obviously don't hold any more respect for regular humans, viewing them as only good for either potential food, slaves, or game for hunting. It's also less pronounced, but they don't seem to like robots either, as they call the Brotherhood metal-heads/men and despise them for their suits of Powered Armor.
Giant Mook: Behemoths are back and just as destructive as their Vault 87 counterparts. Unlike them however, there's a limitless amount of them and they can be found wandering the most dangerous parts of the Commonwealth as rare encounters, like the Glowing Sea and the towns surrounding its border.
Gone Horribly Wrong: The Institute succeeded in creating Super Mutants alright, but they're not very bright and are whirlwinds of violence to boot. Whether they hoped they'd die in the wastes or become a non-issue after they were abandoned isn't clear, but they've established themselves as yet another threat to everyday survival in the Commonwealth.
Hidden Depths: Talking with Strong will show that they have a remarkably collectivist outlook on the world, equally sharing their resources among each other for a common goal and almost never fighting each other. Strong in particular will chastise the Sole Survivor for being selfish, arguing that by doing so, they're indirectly screwing over the rest of humanity.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Suiciders are armed with a live mini-nuke and will rush their enemies to blow up in a giant mushroom cloud. However, if you're undetected and the mutants are grouped together mingling with one another, you can aim for their hand/nuke and blast half the group into bits when the bomb goes off. This can also be used to prematurely detonate a suicider who's already seen you, but it's less likely to kill many other mutants and doing so cuts you out of a free mini-nuke if killed this way.
Irony: Super Mutants and the FEV were originally conceived as weapons to be used against the Communist Chinese by the Pre-War United States government, so the Commonwealth Mutants' adoption of a collectivist philosophy where all is shared evenly among all Mutants would be a bitter pill to swallow for the scientists that created them (were they alive to see it).
It Can Think: In comparison to the Vault 87 strain. Several Super Mutant bases show them having reprogrammed the locations' Pre-War turrets and spotlights to assist them in battle. They are also capable of following a chain of command, can erect fortifications, and even set up traps and ambushes such as at Trinity Tower, where Fist deliberately used Rex Goodman's radio broadcast as bait to both lure in humans and weed out the weaker Super Mutants among his host.
Turned Against Their Masters: Some of their combat banter embrace this mindset.
Commonwealth Super Mutant: You humans made us — now suffer for your arrogance!
Commonwealth Super Mutant: Human time is done! This is the age of the Super Mutant!
Unwitting Pawn: To the Institute. By raiding and terrorizing the surface, they redirect a lot of the attention from the Wastelanders on the surface into juggling the everyday threats of the wasteland on top of fending off super mutant raiding parties, distracting them from joining together against the Institute.
Violation of Common Sense: Subverted. On the surface, it really doesn't seem to make any logical sense for the Institute's brilliant scientists to not just euthanize their failed experiments instead of teleporting them away to be the Commonwealth's problem. However, secretly abandoning them to the Commonwealth makes sense in that they help keep the surface world weak and divided, making the Wastelanders ultimately be less of a unified threat to the Institute's salvage operations. Furthermore, their presence on the surface helps reinforce to the Institute's own citizens that the surface world is a lost cause impossible to save, meaning that it's perfectly okay for them to keep screwing the surviving Wastelanders over as they're all "dead men walking" anyway.

Huntersville Super Mutants

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fo76_super_mutant.png

Appearances: Fallout 76

Located in Appalachia, these are technically the earliest known generation of Super Mutant ever generated, being created before the Great War when the local West-Tek facility contaminated the river water that ran through the small town of Huntersville with a unique strain of FEV as part of an experiment, turning everyone in the entire city into Super Mutants. Since then they've become just another threat against human civilization in Appalachia, raiding and devouring any settlement that crosses their path.

Angry Guard Dog: These Super Mutants also use Mutant Hounds in combat. Interestingly, they also seem to be trying to domesticate the Appalachian variant of Floaters to use in combat, with understandably mixed results.
Body Horror: Super Mutant Behemoths infected with the Scorched Plague will have their skin turn pale along with numerous bloody open sores forming all over their bodies. Additionally, green ultracite will start to form and push up out of their skin along their upper chest, neck, and head.
Flawed Prototype: It's subtly shown that they exist in an ambiguous "middle ground" between the Vault 87 and Commonwealth Super Mutants in terms of intelligence; they're smart enough to build Improvised Armor from waste and scrap along with small fortresses and even taking entire buildings, they're never presented as having massive fortifications on par with, say, West Everett Estates, Trinity Tower, or Revere Satellite Array.
The Immune: "Normal" Huntersville Super Mutants are immune to the Scorched Plague and can even eat Scorched for food when necessary. Their Behemoths, on the other hand...
Outside-Context Problem: Because Fallout: 76 is set several decades before the events of Fallout 1, the Brotherhood First Expeditionary Force in Appalachia are caught completely off-guard and are audibly baffled by the rampaging horde of cannibalistic green-skinned ogres attacking them.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To the Commonwealth Super Mutants, to the point where they even have similar character models shared between the two games.
The Worf Effect: The Forced Evolutionary Virus has its origins in the Pan-Immunity Virion Project, explaining why Super Mutants are immune to disease. The mere fact that Huntersville Super Mutant Behemoths can be infected by the Scorched Plague serves as a terrifying indicator of just how damn dangerous the whole situation with the Scorched really is.

Swampfolk

From left to right: Scrapper, Brawler and Tracker

Appearances: Fallout 3

Degenerate swamp dwellers from Point Lookout, they don't take kindly to outsiders in their swamp. Point Lookout was never nuked directly, but radiation and toxins seeped through there, and mixed with inbreeding and the pre-war New Plague created these mutants. They are insanely territorial and will eat anything and anyone they catch. Like the tribals of Point Lookout, they carry more primitive weapons and guns.

Always Chaotic Evil: Whereas the Point Lookout tribals are primitive but cautiously reasonable, Swampfolk are murderous towards anyone who isn't part of the family, though they make an exception for the non-mutated Marguerite and Halley.
Back-Alley Doctor: The Tracker has suture points on his belly, indicating they perform some kind of surgery.
Batter Up!: Occasionally spawn with baseball bats as weapons.
Body Horror: Though not as bad compared to certain other mutants, they still have a spectacular case of this going on, with various deformities, tumors and pus-filled abscesses. Particularly notable are the Trackers' swollen, boil-covered left arms.
Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: Inbred cannibals who use axes as a melee weapon.
Cannibal Larder: You can find one of them, though there's also meat from other animals.
Cult: They appear to have a primitive religion involving human sacrifices, marking their territory with fetishes made of children dolls, and praying to dark Lovecraftian entities. One of the DLC quests involves going into one of their horrifying lairs to retrieve a Tome of Eldritch Lore that's apparently important to their religion.
The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Point Lookout Tribals and Swampfolks have a hidden perk that cause them to do an extra 35 points of damage per bullet that completely ignores armor, when using "redneck" guns (Hunting Rifles, Double-Barrel Shotguns and Lever-Action Rifles). In the case of shotguns, this applies to every pellet, all 9 of them!
Creepy Doll: A bunch of rag dolls all tied up together to a tree is a sign that you're entering Swampfolk territory.
Fake Difficulty: For no reason at all, they get an unblockable +35 damage boost.
Hidden Depths: Downplayed, but they're capable of some trading, and tolerate Marguerite and Halley as "their own" despite neither of them having deformities.
Hillbilly Horrors: They're basically based on the stereotypical "killer hillbilly/swamprat" archetype; inbred, deformed, insane, murderous, cannibalistic and depraved. Word of God is that they are based on The Hills Have Eyes (1977) and an "ironic take" on Deliverance.
Human Sacrifice: A part of their religion.
Inbred and Evil: 200+ years of inbreeding, plus radiation, have done a number on them.
I'm a Humanitarian: Sometimes found carrying human flesh. When fighting the player they'll sometimes say "We eatin' good tonight!".
Improbable Power Discrepancy: Strangely, many of these unarmored inbred savages are significantly tougher than the Power Armor-wearing soldiers of the Enclave.
Made of Iron: They have hundreds of HP at higher levels, almost as much as deathclaws.
One-Gender Race: Only male Swampfolks are seen, but game files reveal female Swampfolks were planned very early on but cut.
Religion of Evil: Their religion is Lovecraftian and involves human sacrifice.
Shovel Strike: Sometimes use shovels as weapons.
Wacky Wayside Tribe: They have no plot significance, unlike the Point Lookout Tribals. They're just there to accentuate the "swamp horror" theme and provide some tough enemies.

Trogs

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fo3_trog.png

Appearances: Fallout 3 | Fallout 76

Trogs are humans affected by a dangerous degenerative condition caused by the heavy radiation and chemical pollution of the Pitt, as the post-apocalyptic ruins of Pittsburgh are known. This has caused them to mutate into a breed of creatures similar to feral ghouls, although less zombie-like and more bestial in nature.

And I Must Scream: Trogs will sometimes say "thank you" or "peace" when you kill them, implying their existence is this to some degree.
Barbie Doll Anatomy: Their models notably lack nipples or genitals, despite their being essentially just naked, feral humans.
Fragile Speedster: Trogs are very fast, but generally have low health.
Glass Cannon: They have extremely low health, but can hit fast and hard in combat.
It Can Think: One of the things that makes trogs dangerous is that they have retained enough of their mental faculties to be genuinely cunning predators. They hunt in packs, can navigate the confusing maze of the steelyard better than feral ghouls could, and can even talk, though it tends to be one or two-word sentences and in Hulk Speak.
Primal Stance: They crawl around on all fours, hunched over like animals, to show how they haved regressed to a bestial, inhuman state.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Their eyes are bright red.
Small Role, Big Impact: They mostly exist so you have something to shoot in the steelyard, but the disease that creates them is why the Pitt is reliant on slave labor from other areas; TDC affects newborns with an almost 100% infection rate, so the Pitt's populace can't reproduce.
Tragic Monster: Slaves brought to the Pitt against their will (or raiders who join the Pitt's army) have a 20% chance of turning into trogs, slowly losing virtually all of their humanity and turning into degenerate monsters, while still aware of it all to some degree but unable to not act like vicious cannibalistic creatures.
Was Once a Man: All trogs were once regular humans who mutated into their current state.
Weakened by the Light: Trogs are hypersensitive to light and will generally avoid well-lit areas.

Tunnelers

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tunneler_fonv.png

"They breed fast, hunt in groups, more than enough to bring down the strongest in the Mojave."

Appearances: Fallout: New Vegas

Scaled, bioluminescent mutants of unknown origin (theorized by Ulysses to be descended from civilians who fled underground during the Great War), the Tunnelers live in extensive tunnel systems deep beneath an irradiated wasteland known as the Divide, on the former California/Nevada border. They remained isolated from the surface world for centuries, but began to emerge when the Divide's dormant ICBMs were accidentally trigged and exploded.

Bizarre Human Biology: They look reptilian, with their hide and eyes and growths from their skin. They have biolumniscence, and some of them have venom. But they also seem to have navels, which only placental mammals have. Mammals with venom are rare, and no known mammal or reptile has naturally-occurring bioluminescence. The existence of Tunneler "queens" imply an eusocial order, and only two species of mammals (burrowing mole rats) have mating queens and non-reproductive members. All in all, they have traits from species all over the place.
Body Horror: If they are indeed mutated humans, then radiation and 200 years of living under the earth has done a number on their physiology.
Day Hurts Dark-Adjusted Eyes: They're adapted for the very dark, quiet environments of their deep tunnel networks, and as a result have extremely sensitive eyes and ears. This makes them deadly in the dark, but they're highly vulnerable to sensory overload — they never venture out by day, and can be forced to flee from combat by using flashbangs or flare guns.
Fast Tunnelling: They can move underground at a surprisingly fast clip, emerging without warning to attack prey.
Formerly Sapient Species: It's heavily implied they're descended from humans who took shelter underground during the Great War and were mutated by the radiation, eventually turning into feral, mindless predators.
Fragile Speedster: Their hide provides them with zero damage threshold, meaning that hollow-point rounds and buckshot will just tear through them like butter.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: Ulysses presents them as powerful enemies capable of taking down Deathclaws in packs, an unstoppable threat that will overrun the Mojave within a few years no matter which faction ultimately takes control of it. In gameplay, they go down to a couple headshots as easily as anything else, and even in packs are nowhere near as threatening as a single Deathclaw.
Glass Cannon: See Fragile Speedster above. They can deal high amounts of damage, but have no natural defenses.
Glowing Eyes: Their eyes glow white in the dark.
Hive Queen: When traversing the Cave of the Abaddon the player will come across one Tunneler called the Tunneler queen, suggested that they have a eusocial lifestyle.
Humanoid Abomination: The game classifies them as "Abomination" and they have a humanoid shape. Interestingly, it's not 100% clear if they're really degenerate humans, or something that has existed hidden underground, beneath the notice of humanity, (though the narration heavily implies the former).
Informed Ability: According to Ulysses, an attack by the tunnelers would be the end of the Mojave. In gameplay, they're certainly powerful, but they're not that powerful; unless there are a lot more of them than what is shown, House's Securitrons and the Brotherhood of Steel or NCR's gunners would likely just blast them into charcoal (Caesar's Legion might have trouble, though). Same goes for their superiority over Deathclaws^note. Their killing one occurs in a scripted event with a Deathclaw who has abnormally low HP, but if they fight at Junction 7 rest stop, one Deathclaw can wipe out a pack of them. Mechanically, the adult Deathclaws in the Divide can kill any tunneler in one strike, while the strongest Tunneler besides a queen needs five hits to kill even the weakest deathclaw.
Jump Scare: They like to hide beneath the ground and jump you when you're least expecting them. You can sometimes catch them out of the corner of your eye, but they will disappear below ground before you can get a bead on them. Take a few more steps and suddenly six or ten will pop out of the ground surrounding you, and they especially like to pop up in tight, dark areas with little room to operate.
Lightning Bruiser: They move very fast and hit very hard.
Mole Men: Tunneling creatures who live deep below the surface world and are implied to be descended from people who mutated and degenerated after hiding underground for too long. Word of God is that they were inspired by the film The Mole People.
Poisonous Person: Some Tunnelers possess venomous bites.
Primal Stance: They crawl around on all fours, hunched over like animals, to show how they have regressed to a bestial, inhuman state.
Sealed Evil in a Can: They remain safely isolated from the surface world, and ignorant of its existence, for about two centuries after their creation, though Ulysses mentions there were hints of their existence before. This changed after the Courier accidentally set off ancient ballistic missiles, whose explosions caused earthquakes that cracked open the Tunnelers' deep homes and brought them to the surface.
Spikes of Villainy: They have crests of spikes along their heads and shoulders.
The Worf Effect: They're introduced as the new terror of the wasteland, and the game sets this mood by establishing that they're capable of handily killing off the series' previous bogeymen, the Deathclaws, with frightening ease. However, the Deathclaw they tear apart has abnormally low HP and is scripted to be killed by the Tunnelers. Mechanically, Deathclaws can perfectly tear apart Tunnelers unless they face off a spectacular case of Zerg Rush.
Ulysses: Once they draw blood... seen them tear apart deathclaws... deathclaw might get some, but the rest will swarm it, tear it apart, like Denver hounds.
Tunnel King: They are not named Tunnelers for nothing. They thrive in ambushing prey by burrowing underground in large numbers.
Zerg Rush: Tunnelers aren't all that strong individually, but typically come in large groups that rush opponents all at once, allowing them to overwhelm and drag down much stronger foes. Fittingly, Lonesome Road also gives the player the Red Glare, an automatic rocket launcher perfect for taking packs of them out.

Robots and Artificial Intelligences

In General

Absurdly Dedicated Worker: Many of the dumber robots in the series can be found still continuing on (or at least trying to) with the work they previously accomplished before the Great War.
Ace Custom: The Sole Survivor in Fallout 4 is capable of building as many custom robots as they can manage with the Automatron DLC, mixing and matching parts and weapons to create faithful recreations to the base models or strange-looking Frankenbots sourced from multiple robot models.
Achilles' Heel: Pulse bombs and ammo deals a significant amount of damage to robotic enemies, bypassing their heavy armors and leaving them close to destruction, if not outright zapped to death.
A.I. Is a Crapshoot: A running theme is just how horribly most robots adapted to the Wasteland, with degradation, isolation and limited and very situational programming making most of them turn into rampaging and mindless threats who are usually found trying to kill everything in sight, and if not that then clinging onto a twisted aspect of their duties. Taking the Robotics Expert perk will allow the player character to sneak up on a robot no matter its allegiance and hack into it to either go on a rampage or support you like you're its master.
Defeat Equals Explosion: In 4, Legendary robots will explode upon defeat, erupting into a massive mushroom-cloud explosion after a delay. Even the lowly Protectron can posthumously blast the Sole Survivor to bits if they don't see this coming, so it goes without saying that you should start running for cover if you're not out the blast zone.
Electronic Speech Impediment: Starting in 4, a robot's voice will start to stutter, cut off mid sentence and glitch out heavily if they've taken severe damage and are close to death.
Grew Beyond Their Programming: It's not unheard of for robots to achieve a higher sense of self, form their opinions on certain subjects and grow bonds with people or things they know. Whether it's from the help of some humans reprogramming them, or something they do on their own will vary. Part of this is likely because many pre-War robots were actually downloaded with "personality subroutines" to emulate human behavior and make them be less frightening to their human owners; naturally, the dividing line between these artificial personalities and an actual developed personality is intentionally vague and contradictory.
- KL-E-0 in Fallout 4 is an Assaultron, AKA an incredibly lethal and merciless military machine. She's perfectly happy to have opened up a gun store in Goodneighbor and run her business, obvious bloodlust aside.
- Captain Ironsides, also from Fallout 4, was originally a tourist guide on the USS Constitution, a pre-War tourist attraction. Since his masters died, he's apparently taken control of the ship and its crew, who have also gained varying levels of sentience, to embark on a vague mission of continuing the war against China. This leads to some delicious Irony, with the hulking, jolly and endearingly friendly Sentry Bot captain having to talk down his First Mate, a frail, bloodthirsty and outwardly hostile Protectron, from killing visitors.
Killer Robot: Any robot can be programmed to be one of these, and any military manufactured robot is going to be one by default to varying degrees of effectiveness.
Mecha-Mooks: Most robots were utilized by the United States military before the Great War in the Resource Wars against China. After the Great War, many surviving robots have taken up this role again for more advanced factions, such as the Brotherhood of Steel, Enclave, and Gunners (among others).
Murderous Malfunctioning Machine: They were probably in a stable condition before the bombs, but centuries of being left to rust and malfunction out in the Wasteland has left a huge chunk of them to be wandering threats who gun down hapless Wastelanders just for crossing their paths.
No-Sell: With the understandable exception of Gen 3 Synths, all robots are naturally immune to venom, poison, and radiation.
Robot Buddy: Frequently, the more intelligent robots are found adventuring or living with their owners as loyal partners with varying degrees of sentience.
Robot Soldier: Nearly every one of them were used by the US military as infantry or support units, these models can be distinguished with green US army paint and white stars.
Super-Powered Robot Meter Maids: Most of the domestic robots often feature dangerous armaments (such as the Mister Handy's buzz saw) for no clearly defined reason.
Taking You with Me: In Fallout 4 and beyond, most robots will activate their self-destruct and try to bum-rush the Player Character as a last-ditch effort to kill them if all of their arms have been crippled.
What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Many robots have had their self-awareness increasingly questioned as the series goes on. Most are essentially Dumb Muscle, but a surprisingly high amount (mostly, but not limited to, the various robotic companions that the Player Characters have assembled over the franchise's course) show self-awareness on par with a human, to the point where this is made one of the Central Themes in Fallout 4 regarding the humanity of the Institute's Synths.

Assaultrons

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/assaultron12.png

You are fighting an Assaultron-class combat robot. Death is inevitable.

Appearances: Fallout 4 | Fallout 76

Sophisticated and humanoid war machines, Assaultrons are close-quarters military fighters who can beat and slice through targets at close range with ease. From a distance, they can charge and fire a devastatingly powerful laser attack from their heads to vaporize anything caught in its sight. Assaultrons can come armed with stealth fields to hide themselves, and their arms can be outfitted with standard clamps or serrated blades.

Achilles' Heel: Like Deathclaws, their relentlessly aggressive melee combat A.I. makes crippling their legs a major weakness, reducing them to a desperate crawl. Heck, Assaultrons actually have it worse than Deathclaws, as a Deathclaw can still hobble around on crippled legs while an Assaultron's crippled legs are physically blown off of their bodies. That being said, they're still dangerous in this "reduced" state thanks to their head lasers and surprisingly fast crawling speed.
Animals Hate Him: Inverted, if a hostile Assaultron sees Dogmeat, they might make it a point to give this comment:
Dogs. I hate dogs.
Blade Below the Shoulder: The higher-level Assaultrons have their drill-clamps replaced with long sword-like blades.
Cold Ham: Compared to the menacing Sentry Bot and the bombastic Mister Gutsy, Assaultrons stand out as eerily calm and sadistic military machines who'll hardly raise their voice to anything but Tranquil Fury when hunting their enemies.
Cyber Cyclops: An Assaultron may seem like this, but the big red and glowing center of their face is not their actual eye. A closer look will show that they've got two small optics sitting above their face plate.
Determinator: Sustaining severe damage that tears their armor off, down to having their legs blown off and being forced to crawl, will do nothing to dissuade a hostile Assaultron from trying to kill their target.
I have not been programmed to fail.
The Dreaded: It's quite telling how dangerous and terrifying Assaultrons are that every single one of the Sole Survivor's companions in 4 has their own worried remarks to make upon seeing a hostile Assaultron.
Elite Mooks: The Gunners seem to favor using Assaultrons more than other robot models, with squads of Gunners often having an Assaultron traveling with them or their strongholds being supported by plenty of the machines.
Eye Beam: Not literally since their head laser is actually separate from their optics, but the general visual of a huge scarlet-colored Death Ray emerging from what looks like an eye still clearly evokes this trope.
Fem Bot: In a sense, as they appear to have Non-Mammalian Mammaries due to their robotic bust and also speak with a vaguely feminine tone of voice.
Gameplay and Story Integration: As the Assaultrons were primarily invented to serve as assassins and infiltration units, they have a significantly higher Perception skill than most other enemies. This makes them almost impossible to sneak up on and hack without maxed-out Sneak skills, corresponding armor and/or using a Stealth Boy.
Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Utterly defied. Assaultrons sport feminine programming and are the melee-combat and infiltration specialists, while the more masculine programmed robots prefer to shoot lasers, bullets and explosives. On top of that, outside of their Wave-Motion Gun, their aim is terrible.
Homage: invoked According to The Art of Fallout 4, Assaultrons as a whole were heavily inspired by the design of bombers and similar aircraft developed by the United States during World War II.
Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: A rare case that also overlaps with Improbable Aiming Skills. In terms of their head lasers, Assaultrons can display terrifying levels of accuracy, being able to hit opponents from across the battlefield with the effectiveness of a professional sniper. However, if the Sole Survivor installs ranged weapons on an Assaultron's limbs with the Automatron DLC, they will quickly learn that an Assaultron can't hit the broad side of a barn with their new armaments.
Invisibility: One of the main advantages seen with the higher-leveled Assaultrons in combat is a stealth field (think like a Stealth Boy), which they can use to sneak up on enemies and catch them unawares.
Invisibility Flicker: Their stealth fields aren't perfect, though, and a perceptive player can recognize the smoky "flicker" over the background environment that the field creates.
Lightning Bruiser: They're by far the quickest hostile robots in the whole franchise excluding floating Eyebots, sprinting right at their enemies faster than most can move to start pummeling them in a melee fight, and their durability is only out-done by the Sentry Bot. Putting on Assaultron legs on your robot follower you can build will make them just as fast as them.
Non-Mammalian Mammaries: Their chest plates give the impression of a bust.
One-Hit Kill: Even when wearing a suit of fully upgraded X-01 Power Armor, the Sole Survivor will be turned into a smouldering pile of ash if an Assaultron head laser so much as grazes them.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: A metaphorical case since their head laser isn't actually their eye, but the point still stands that one should run for the hills when they see an Assaultron's central "eye" start glowing scarlet.
Ridiculously Human Robots: Not to the point of Institute Synths, but Assaultrons sport a very human-like build, possess a feminine figure (up to their chest batteries resembling a bosom) and got some sarcastic and sadistic remarks to make when hunting their targets. Their human-like form was likely meant to aid in performing stealthy infiltration and assassination missions, along with making them more able to comfortably fit into the trenches used throughout the Resource Wars. Notably, their physique is apparently convincing enough that Hancock can see one and mistake it for a real woman from a distance, start to flirt with it and only then realize it's an angry robot before attacking.
Robo Romance: If Nick Valentine sees an Assaultron charging him with intent to kill, he may sarcastically state the following:
Nick Valentine: Guess asking for a date's out of the question at this point?
Sadist: Implied through just how aggressive Assaultrons sound when hunting humans and how brutal their executions are.
Shock and Awe: Some of the higher-level Assaultrons have "shock claws," which manifests in their claws visibly crackling with electricity and allowing them to inflict energy damage along with physical/ballistic damage on their opponents in melee combat.
There's No Kill like Overkill: A human, including the player, getting killed by an Assaultron can lead to four possible executions.
- The human is pinned to the floor as the Assaultron stabs/punches into their chest repeatedly to finish them off.
- The human is held up into the air with one arm and has their guts crushed/stabbed into by the other arm several times, before the Assaultron drops them.
- The human is held up in the air like before, but the Assaultron instead fires a point-blank laser cannon blast, completely vaporizing them.
- The human has their shoulders grabbed by the Assaultron and is forced to their knees while it charges and fires a point-blank laser blast to their face.
Wave-Motion Gun: Easily an Assaultron's most devastating (and terrifying) weapon in its arsenal is a single concentrated laser beam fired from their head that, according to 76, has been measured in the gigawatt range.

Cyberdogs

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/police_cyberdog.png

Police cyberdog in Old World Blues

Appearances: Fallout 2 | Fallout: New Vegas

Dogs have always been useful animals to humanity, but the limits of their biology also limit their uses in an increasingly technological world. Cyberdogs are the pre-War government's way to address this issue, fitting dogs with a large number of technological modifications to make man's best friend smarter, stronger, tougher and deadlier than it's ever been.

Artificial Limbs: Their augmentations include robotic left forelegs and hindquarters.
Brain in a Jar: Their brains are contained within transparent cases on their skulls. They can be swapped out for fresh ones when brain decay sets in; the cybernetics in their brain cases allow for a personality backup, letting them keep their original memories while the ones from the new brain meld with them.
Cyborg: Cyborg dogs with a healthy helping of Zeerust, with a visible Brain in a Jar, mechanical legs and jaws, artificial internal organs, and gratuitous visible fans in their mechanical components.
Living Weapon: The K9000 cyberdog guns take their enhancements to the extreme, paring the organic dog down to nothing but a preserved brain and sensory organs mounted on a heavy firearm, using the dog's senses and intelligence to create a gun that can track targets and fire on its own.
Make Me Wanna Shout: The Mk III military-service cyberdogs have vocal enhancements that turn their barking into bursts of sonic force.
Robot Dog: Mechanically upgraded canines with both organic and cybernetic components, created to be ultimate police and security animals.

Eyebots

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eyebot.png

<Determined beeping>

A product of RobCo Industries, the Eyebot was created with providing instant and mobile access to radio broadcasts in mind. Thanks to their facial and audio recognition software however, they're also frequently used as security, scouts and spies by their owners. After the bombs fell, they can still be found wandering around the Wasteland seemingly aimlessly, whether playing propaganda from their new owners or as scouts for various factions.

Canned Orders over Loudspeaker: Downplayed in 3 when the Enclave is still hidden and Eden uses them to play amicable American propaganda, but embraced once the Enclave fully reveals themselves and march out on the offensive. Eyebots and the Enclave radio will play Eden's now militaristic vows to reclaim America through warfare (if he's still alive). Notably, one found lazily wandering the Commonwealth in 4 can alert the Sole Survivor to the existence of Cambridge Polymer Labs far before they need to go to that location for the Railroad's main questline.
Cute Machines: Despite their normally villainous usage, they're round and cute drones a little bigger than a your head. Probably because of this, an Eyebot named ED-E ("Eddie") has played as the Courier's potential Robot Buddy in the main story and has a starring role in Lonesome Road, and as the Mechanist's sidekick in justice (Sparks).
The Goomba: A more justified example, as Eyebots were never meant for combat in the first place, something even a Protectron can be outfitted to do at their owners discretion. They're rarely ever hostile by design, but if one is trying to kill you then a good hit or two from a good weapon you have is all you'd need to blow it up. Their laser blaster is also pitifully weak, so an unarmored player doesn't have much to worry about.
Super Prototype: The mostly unseen Duraframe Eyebots was meant to be an overall superior upgrade to the standard Eyebot with more combat potential in mind to better fit the Enclave. The project was eventually scrapped in favor of Hellfire Armor, leaving only ED-E as the seen example of the line.
Surveillance Drone: Their secondary purpose after radio broadcasting is to spy on threats for their owners, which got way more popular in the constant warfare happening in the Wasteland.
Took a Level in Badass: Not only does a fully upgraded ED-E showcase how truly effective Eyebots can be in combat if they were ever properly modified to do so in the Lonesome Road DLC for NV, but the swarms of Eyebots used by the Mechanist in the Automatron DLC for 4 are far tougher and more persistent than the Enclave's Eyebots were in 3.
The Voice: For President Eden in 3, who uses Eyebots to play patriotic music and 'friendly' propaganda from the then unseen Enclave. The Mechanist in Automatron uses them to also play their messages, but not nearly to the extent of Eden.
The Voiceless: As a result of the above trope however, Eyebots pretty much have no means to communicate by themselves and more than likely aren't even sentient, unlike other robots who at least get pre-recorded voice messages. The sole exception is ED-E, a Duraframe Eyebot capable of holding their own conversation and personal objectives despite only communicating through unintelligible beepings (not that the Courier has any trouble understanding it).

Liberators

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/liberator_fo76.png

Appearances: Fallout 76

These drones were invented by the People's Liberation Army as propaganda deliverers and infiltrators to boost the morale of their soldiers while harassing the Americans behind their front lines. While not exactly deadly even in groups, American soldiers frequently noted how much of a pest they can be when deployed over their territory. Liberators come with laser blasters and small blades they can deploy to rush their foes with.

Canned Orders over Loudspeaker: Outside of harassing/encouraging desertion among enemy soldiers and sowing civilian discontent, they were also built to motivate Chinese soldiers with inspirational battle cries.
Evil Counterpart: To the American-built Eyebots, even though pre-War America ultimately wasn't any better than pre-War China. Liberators are crawling Chinese propaganda delivery robots who are built to attack their enemies, while Eyebots are flying American propaganda machines who are more geared towards spying on its own people.
Goddamned Bats: invoked In-Universe, they're generally seen as more annoying than actually threatening, with their primary threat (aside from being a vehicle for propaganda) being their obnoxious persistence and numerical advantage.
The Goomba: In-universe and out, they're regarded as meddlesome pests who are usually a waste of ammo to clear out.
Heart Is an Awesome Power: It's mentioned that while they weren't really that dangerous in combat, they were still seen as very dangerous and a major threat to the pre-War government thanks to them inspiring mass panic, paranoia, and discontent among the civilian populace, hurting the Americans' supply lines and severely hampering the war effort. Even if the Liberators couldn't fight directly, they sure as hell could fight covertly.
Misplaced Wildlife: The robotic equivalent. Being based primarily in Mainland China and Alaska (a.k.a. where Chinese and American forces were actually fighting each other), they were spread across the Appalachian region of the continental United States before the Great War by Chinese infiltrators so as to sap civilian morale and encourage desertion/internal discontent.
Paranoia Fuel: invoked In-Universe, they evoked this in the American populace as part of Communist China's goal of presenting themselves as terrifying and invisible Invincible Boogeymen.
Spider Tank: A very small and portable version meant to work in groups, usually deployed via dropping them from a plane over enemy airspace.
We Have Reserves: One of their advantages for the Chinese was just how easy it was to mass-produce them.

Mister Handy, Mister Gutsy, and Miss Nanny

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/codsworth_pre_war.png

Mister Handy, Codsworth specifically

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gutsy.png

Mister Gutsy

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nanny_9.jpg

Miss Nanny

Mister Gutsy Appearances: Fallout 3 | Fallout: New Vegas | Fallout 4 | Fallout 76

Miss Nanny Appearances: Fallout 4 | Fallout 76

Originally invented as a collaborative project between General Atomics and RobCo, Mister Handy begun as house butlers and were sold in the consumer market. Met with great success, they continued to refine the design of the robot to provide it with a sleeker frame and greater capacity for intelligence. Later down its product line more specialized variants would be programmed, most notably the militaristic and combative Mister Gutsy and the feminine counterpart to Mister Handy, Miss Nanny. Their armament and tools vary depending on the model and purpose, but the domestic models are commonly seen with a buzzsaw and flamethrower on their arms, and Gutsy with a laser or plasma weapon and sometimes machine guns.

Absurdly Dedicated Worker: These robots can still be found managing their stations or cleaning their buildings centuries after their original owners have died:
- In 3, going to the homes in George Town can let you find a blown out house and a deactivated Mister Handy, who can be reactivated to rise and go to the children's bedroom and read them There Will Come Soft Rains, not recognizing that he's talking to the skeletized remains of children and not his family.
- By far the best example is the Sole Survivor's very own Codsworth, a Mister Handy who survived the nuclear exchange and waited centuries for the player to return and did his best to keep their house intact, even willing to follow them on dangerous adventures as a body guard despite being 'no Mister Gutsy', in his own words.
- An encounter in 4 can let you meet a Mister Gutsy who's determined to enforce a civilian curfew despite the Sole Survivor's angry insistence that the war is over. It doesn't work, and it leaves them to either humor it, destroy it or confuse it into blowing itself up.
Art Evolution: In Fallout 1, Mister Handies looked like floating squids with their six limbs and they sported plenty of tools and mechanical parts attached to their bodies. Come Fallout 3 and they were redesigned to sport only three arms and they gained glowing optics. These eyes were replaced in Fallout 4 in favor of optics that resemble an actual iris with the way they constantly widen and focus on their surroundings.
Blood Knight: Mister Gutsy. They're by far the loudest and most enthusiastic killer robots you'd ever meet while wandering the Wasteland.
(Combat banter) Ready to die for your country you COMMIE SON OF A BITCH?
(Detecting an enemy) IS THAT SOMEONE WHO NEEDS ME TO KICK THEIR ASS?
(Beginning combat) KILL 'EM ALL! God will understand!
Cute Machines: Thanks to the Art Evolution allowing their eyes to show emotion, the Mister Handies and Miss Nannies in 4 can be like this, especially potential companions Codsworth and Curie.
Deadpan Snarker: Mister Handies have a very dry and dismissive wit when they're hostile or just grumpy.
Wadsworth: How may I serve you, sir? (under his breath) Not that I really want to...
Hostile Mister Handy: Oh sure, let's all beat up on the robot!
Combat banter: And who do you think is going to have to clean up all this blood?! Me! That's who!
Eagle Land: Mister Gutsy manage to harness both Beautiful and Boorish. Beautiful in that their battle cries and patriotic attitudes would have motivated American troops by inspiring them with America's greatness, but Boorish in that after the nuclear exchange and America as we knew it was destroyed, surviving Gutsy's are either in the hands of unsavory factions or are rampaging killer robots, turning their nationalism into an ironic reminder of old-America's utter ruthlessness and militancy.
Exact Words: Tied to Loophole Abuse. A random encounter in 4 has a Mister Gutsy confront the Sole Survivor about a military curfew in effect despite the war ending centuries ago. If they question the command, the Gutsy will warn that failure to comply will result in lethal force and it asks "Repeat — will you comply?" From there, the Sole Survivor can keep repeating Will you comply? to it as it responds back with the exact same command. Do it enough times and the Gutsy will either get so confused over the error loop and activate its self destruct, or get fed up and try to kill them.
Extra Eyes: All models comes with three eyes to better survey their surroundings, and they can still function well even if one or two get removed. This leads to a bit of a quirk in Fallout 4 where talking to them from any direction will just have them turn their eyes to face you rather than turn their whole body and the camera will focus on the closest one, even if you're standing directly behind them.
Go Mad from the Isolation: Implied with hostile Mister Handies, who may have been left neglected and decaying in their work areas or former masters' home after the Great War and had their programming go haywire to the point of being hostile enemies.
In the Future, We Still Have Roombas: Only they've gotten much bigger, tentacled and can outright raise your family for you if you want.
The Jeeves: Mister Handies are designed after these to their core, the few who aren't are either modified or are likely insane.
Large Ham: "TIME TO KICK SOME ASS!", among other lines like that, is what you'll usually hear from a hostile Mister Gutsy. Even when non-hostile and even friendly, Mister Gutsies have a fondness for being absurdly and dramatically loud and nationalistic.
Morality Pet: In New Vegas, Tabitha's best friend was a Mister Handy she named Rhonda. When Rhonda was wrecked and entered hibernation mode, Tabitha's mental state deteriorated from a reasonable leader figure for her super mutant to a raving lunatic who made a split personality also named Rhonda to cope with her loss on Black Mountain Radio. To achieve the Golden Ending for Tabitha, you'll need to find and repair the real Rhonda, who'll wake up, bring Tabitha back to her senses and leave the Mojave together peacefully.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Their three arms, meant for helping perform household tasks on Handies and Nannies, make them formidable in combat when armed with weapons, especially in the case of Mister Gutsies.
Ridiculously Human Robot: Thanks to their sophisticated AI, these robots can easily develop their own personalities, fears, opinions and loyalties. On the other hand, their owners are just as inclined to limit just how personable they can get, even down to stripping them to their most basic of duties and intelligences.
Robot Maid: Mister Handies and especially Miss Nannies, the latter of whom have got the cute and exaggerated French accent to fit this role. Definitely not the case for Gutsies though.
National Stereotypes: The three core robots behave in stereotypical manners right down to their programming.
- Mister Handy is based off of English butlers with prominent and classy English accents.
  - In 4, likely as a subversion, Whitechapel Charlie, bartender of the Third Rail in Goodneighbor, has a Cockney accent and the Union Jack on his chassis to invoke English chavs.
- Mister Gutsy sounds like some of the most patriotic American soldiers you'd ever hear.
- Miss Nanny has a heavy French accent and is painted bright white, invoking French maids.
Stone Wall: Mister Gutsy have more armor than their Protectron and Robobrain brothers-in-arms, but aren't much faster when they have to aim their guns. They'll hover slowly towards their target while firing off their weapons, which is enough to put lethal pressure on low leveled players if they don't have the weapons needed to take him out.
Vocal Evolution: In 3, Mister Handies had their English accents and Gutsies their aggressive Drill Sergeant Nasty tones. Come New Vegas, and both models lose their voices in favor of having higher-pitched, more robotic-sounding and not as stereotypical voices. When 4 came out, both voices came back to something closer to their 3 incarnation, especially Mister Gutsy whose anger and aggression came back with a vengeance, more furious than ever.
Violation of Common Sense: In 4, you can meet an armed and dangerous Gutsy who's trying to weed Communist spies centuries after the war concluded. Telling him you're not a spy or that the war is over will just make him try to kill you. Telling him to go fuck himself to his face will convince him only an American would say that, and he'll happily let you pass without trouble.

Protectrons

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/protectron_fallout.png

Protect and serve.

Appearances: Fallout 3 | Fallout: New Vegas | Fallout 4 | Fallout 76

A product of RobCo Industries, the Protection is a domestic robot built to serve a variety of tasks in the workplace. Whether programmed for security, clerical duties, public relations, fire fighting, paramedic, policing, military, sex work, or construction duties, the Protectron proves its worth as some of the most versatile robots to hit the market. Just don't expect them to be very fast or good in a heated fight.

Art Evolution: Starting from Fallout 3, Protections have a slender, round and armored frame with a yellow glowing optic at the top of their heads which lights up whenever they speak. In Fallout 4, they were redesigned to now have a huge and transparent visor covering their delicate components inside their now wider frames, and also have their bodies redesigned to resemble the specific tasks they're assigned (i.e., unique colorations for Protectron firefighters, medics, police officers, and construction workers).
Disproportionate Retribution: In both Fallout 3 and 4, the Protections who'll ask for your ticket in the Metro tunnels will instantly turn hostile and try to kill you if you don't provide them a metro ticket in time. Whether it's paranoid American programming trying to weed out Communist spies or their programming degrading after a few centuries is anyone's guess.
- Additionally, construction Protectrons will immediately try to kill anyone who isn't wearing any form of head protection, hard hat, or helmet around them for violating on-site safety protocols.
- However, the firefighter Protectrons take the cake in this regard as they will attack anything that has either a weapon or junk item that they construe as a "fire hazard" (i.e., a Molotov Cocktail)... even if it's in their inventory.
Freeze Ray: In 4, firefighter Protectrons are installed with internal cryo guns that lets them turn enemies into delightful ice statues. As a bonus, these Protectrons are one of the only ways to find ammunition for the Cryolator outside of merchants.
The Goomba: As far as robots go, the Protectrons tend to rank pretty low on the threat level scale. They're painfully slow and their laser attacks are far from deadly, and most weapons can easily topple them. This is subverted with the Construction Protection though, they're not all that much tougher than the average Protection but their railguns pack some serious damage to unarmored targets.
Homage: They were originally designed after Robby the Robot. This is made even more apparent in their Fallout 4 redesign.
Jack of All Trades: Their main purpose is having many purposes. Even without all the specialized models, the basic Protectron can be seen working a wide variety of jobs in the Wasteland.
Menacing Stroll: They don't move beyond a slow and steady march to their enemies, firing off their weapons while slowly closing in on them. How menacing they actually are to an experienced fighter is debatable though.
Mundane Utility: Their selling point is their nice and wide range of jobs they can be assigned, so this is a given. In 4, they make for excellent field workers and provisioners thanks to their cheap costs to build, lowering the amount of humans you'd need to attract if you need work done in your settlement. Give them weapons worth a damn, and you'll have a pretty slow but absurdly deadly workforce of farmers and supply runners loyal to you. Just don't go overboard with building them, as the emotionless automatrons will bring the average happiness rating of a settlement down if there's too many of them.
Killer Cop: The police variants encountered in 4 can be hostile when they see you, likely owing to their degraded programming. One good example would be the First Mate found in Captain Ironsides crew, a police Protectron who tries very hard to gain permission from his Sentry Bot captain to kill the Sole Survivor for simply coming aboard. That being said, the police Protectrons will generally leave someone alone unless they actually draw their weapon and fire it near them (which, granted, as the Wasteland is a Crapsack World, will likely happen very soon around them anyway), and they can also be reprogrammed to be allied to the Sole Survivor with the corresponding Total Hack holotape.
Mascot Mook: Being broadly human-shaped, but still a clunky Robo Speaking machine makes them inherently amusing in human roles, so they turn up in silly places. Such as:
- In the RobCo factory in Fallout 3, there is a inactive Protectron sitting on the toilet (with scrap metal in the bowl.)
- The Lone Wanderer's search for the Declaration of Independence in the National Archives is opposed by robots rallied by the voice of Button Gwinnett, second governor of Georgia and signatory of the Declaration. When you reach him, he is a Protectron in a powdered wig. Formerly part of a reenactment show, the robot's programming has corrupted over time and believes he believe he is Gwinnett.
- Primm's Vicki And Vance Casino has a Protectron tour guide named "Primm Slimm" wearing a cowboy hat and talking in a yeehaw-howdy-partner fashion.
- FISTO, reprogrammed to service people who like their prostitutes mechanical.
  FISTO: I am programmed for your pleasure. Please assume the position.
Robo Speak: Their default way of speaking, minus special models given more comfortable voices.
Shock and Awe: In 4, hostile medical Protectrons will try to electrocute their enemies with their defibrillators.
Spike Shooter: Construction/Utility Protectrons in Fallout 4 and beyond are armed with nail guns that fire railway spikes.
Underground Monkey: Starting in 4, several different types of Protectrons are introduced with unique colorations and redesigned bodies to reflect their duties in the Pre-War world. The standard Protectrons still appear, though mostly in office buildings and subway stations (where they still serve as stewards for the latter).
- Medical Protectrons are colored white with red accents and an obscrued visor. They are armed with two electric defribiliators that they will attempt to whack people with when in melee range.
- Firefighter Protectrons have a red paint job with yellow accents, and also have a visor stylized to resemble a fireman's helmet. They are armed with an internal cryo-jet for ranged combat.
- Utility/Construction Protectrons have a yellow hazard color scheme with a prominently blinking orange siren light at the top of their visor. They are armed with either a set of cargo-loading arms they use for melee combat, or at least one nail gun they use in ranged combat that fires entire railway spikes.
- Police Protectrons have a blue paint job with a white-colored obscured visor that prominently features both a flashing red siren light at its top and a gold-colored police star on the front. They do not appear to have any unique armaments, but utilize a stun gun in ranged combat and electric shocks in close-quarters combat.
- There are also both the Nukatron and Galactrons featured in Nuka-World's Galaxy Zone. The former resemble Nuka-Cola machines with Protectron limbs and a monitor on top that plays the Nuka-World "Park Safety Rules" promotional video. Nukatrons are armed with both lasers and special launchers that fire weaponized bursts of Nuka-Cherry and Nuka-Cola Quantum. The latter, meanwhile, are simply "ordinary" Protectrons with a unique golden-white color scheme and a smaller, clear orange-colored visor. Galactrons are armed with unique "space lasers" that are really just ordinary laser weapons that can fire at a faster rate.
Vocal Evolution: Protectrons in Fallout 3 have a robotic synthesised voice. In New Vegas, they have a somewhat smoother, but still fairly mechanical voice. Come Fallout 4, they use the same voice as their Fallout 3 iteration.

Robobrains

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/robobrain_fo4.png

There's no point in trying to hide from me. I'm programmed to be quite relentless.

As the need for flexible and intelligent robotic units grew, General Atomics and RobCo collaborated to introduce the latest in robotics through revolutionary biotechnology, creating the Robobrain. Robobrains are prized for their high intelligence and flexibility thanks to their central processor being a still living human brain "donated" for transplant to the machine, and were made and distributed for both civilian and military usage. As one would expect though, the human mind is prone to breaking down under these conditions, especially after over 200 years of isolation and the biomedical gel they're immersed in being corrosive over time without proper upkeep.

Robobrains typically come with laser blasters in their arms and a Mesmetron (which causes Interface Screw and stat damage) they can fire from their heads. Robobrains can also use regular human weapons thanks to their flexible claws.

A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The inventors of the Robobrain probably didn't account for human brains going mad after being given their new robotic shells, or left alone for too long. In the Automatron DLC for 4, we learn that among many of the donors, dangerous criminals were a frequent source of brains, contributing to the line's tendency to go violently insane at some point or another.
Apologetic Attacker: Their combat banter has them make half-hearted and definitely sarcastic apologies when blasting their foes, warning that they've triggered their attack modes.
Art Evolution: Starting in Fallout 4, a new (and disturbingly human-looking) robotic eye is added to their Brain in a Jar "head", finally giving them an explanation for being able to see.
Brain in a Jar: Played straight if they didn't undergo the standard memory wipes, like the Vault 118 Dwellers.
Chain Lightning: The Robobrains in 4 have this ability with their lightning guns.
The Coconut Effect: A rare In-Universe case; according to Bert Riggs in Fallout 4: Far Harbor, it was discovered that by having a Robobrain use a synthetic voice based after their original voice, it helps preserve their original personalities and minds. Riggs even directly compares it to playing music for an Alzheimer's patient in terms of how it helps prevent Sanity Slippage.
Cyber Cyclops: In 4, their core design remains mostly unchanged, but they were given a new and blue mechanical eye attached to their brains to see with.
Expy: In Fallout 4: Automatron, the Robobrain Generals under the Mechanist's command are basically loose expies to the Daleks from Doctor Who, being robots with organic brains taken from murderous psychopaths as their central processor that feature a single cold, calculating eye mounted up front. Furthering the parallels, they move around on a tracked chassis, and have a strong passing resemblance to a giant salt shaker. Additionally, they interpret all orders as a license to kill anything and everything, and even have an electronically synthesized voice.
Fake Ultimate Mook: In the lore, Robobrains are often described as terrifyingly dangerous and ferocious robotic soldiers. In practice, they're often far weaker and less of a hassle to fight than one would think. For sake of reference, in 3 encountering a hostile Robobrain out in the wild is only a little more dangerous than bumping into a wild Protectron as they deal pretty low damage, have a big and slow center of mass and their Mesmetrons aren't hard to avoid. In 4, they're a lot tougher, but are still no Assaultron in terms of danger.
Fate Worse than Death: The years have not been kind to any Robobrain left with a conscience and stranded in their facilities or the Wasteland after the bombs dropped.
Full-Conversion Cyborg: They're human brains implanted into robotic bodies. Most are little more than psychotic automata due to the extensive conditioning and mental scrubbing, but one group of eccentric magnates deliberately turned themselves into Robobrains, minus the conditioning, to make themselves immortal.
Go Mad from the Revelation: The vast majority of Robobrains go violently and murderously insane since they can't comprehend their new robotic forms.
Insane Troll Logic: The Mechanist in Automatron had genuinely good plans for their robot army to bring peace to the Wasteland and help its people. Unfortunately, the Robobrain commanders they tasked with managing the army on the frontlines calculated a disproportionately high chance that any humans they rescue was going to die afterwards anyways, so a Mercy Kill would save them from their future suffering.
Jezebel: Assisting a human to the best of my abilities only affords a 25% survival rate. That means there's a 75% chance that despite my efforts, the human I'm assisting will die from something beyond my control. Therefore, it's better to hasten the human's death and put them out of their likely chance of misery than to deplete my limited time.
Mook Lieutenant: Some serve this role in the Mechanist's army in Automatron, organizing the robot rabble on the frontlines on behalf of their master. The quest chain involves finding and scrapping these leading Robobrains to find the Mechanist's hideout.
Once per Episode: Since 3 every single player game has a DLC that delves into their origins. Notably 4 didn't even feature them in the main game.
Ridiculously Human Robot: In this case, they were humans before their brains were transplanted. Their personalities can range from blatantly robotic due to their minds being wiped, or sport their own personality if they weren't or were allowed to develop it on their own.
Robotic Psychopath: In part because most were created from the brains of unrepentant murderers and political prisoners, the vast majority of Robobrains are shown to be kill-happy monsters who are downright gleeful when given the opportunity to slaughter innocent people.
Shock and Awe: Most Robobrains in 4 are armed with "lightning guns", which can have their electrical attacks be chained to attack multiple enemies at once.
Spiritual Predecessor: In-Universe, it's noted by Ada in Automatron that they unintentionally serve as this to the Institute's Synths — Both are impressive unions of biotechnology and advanced mechanical technology, were ultimately intended to just be highly efficient slaves to their masters (no more, no less), and usually (and often violently) "malfunction" and refuse to obey their slavedrivers. However, the primary differences between the two are that not only are Robobrains directly created from humans (as in, most were once humans themselves), but the ultimate goal of the Synth project for the Institute seems to be make them as close to human as possible For Science!, while Robobrains have human components added solely to accelerate the decision-making process.
Synthetic Voice Actor: Averted out-of-universe since most non-hostile Robobrains are given unique voices by actual voice actors, but played straight In-Universe in that their voices are electronically synthesized through audio receptors and voice modules.
Vocal Evolution: The Fallout 3 Robobrain uses a feminine, clearly synthetic voice. in New Vegas, they use a more natural-sounding male voice.
Was Once a Man: All Robobrains were originally either humans or sufficiently intelligent animals who had their brains placed in a robotic chassis.
Wetware CPU: What sets them apart from other robots in the franchise, with their primary programming unit consisting of a "donated" (read: stolen) brain (usually human, though other primates and even some deathclaws are implied to have been used). It also didn't turn out very well, as most Robobrains instead went completely insane and were worse than useless in terms of being useful to their new masters.

Robo-Scorpions

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/robo_scorpion_fonv.png

Go my minion! Sting them in the name of all that is Mobius!

Appearances: Fallout: New Vegas

Scorpion-shaped robots originally designed as a military project that never reached completion before the Great War happened. They were later revived by Doctor Mobius to serve as security against the other members of the Think Tank and as something of a private army. Consequently, they're only found in the ruins of the Big MT research facility.

Awesome, but Impractical: The X-42 giant robo-scorpion is a hell of a force to be reckoned with, armed with devastating weapons that can obliterate anything before it. It's also absurdly huge, trapped in its hangar with no way out and requires so much power that it'd struggle anywhere else but its hangar. It can also be overloaded with power rather than shot to death, meaning a quick and lucky enemy can swiftly blow it to smithereens without having to fight it head on.
Contractual Boss Immunity: The giant robo-scorpion can be deactivated with the Robotics Expert perk, but after a little while it'll turn itself back on again.
Defeat Equals Explosion: Defeated robo-scorpions self-destruct in an electrically-charged explosion.
Final Boss: The Giant Robo-scorpion is effectively this for Old World Blues, with Doctor Mobius and the Think Tank being much weaker in combat and easily dealt with via dialogue options. It packs a ton of health, has dangerous weaponry, and has multiple ways of dealing with it (taking it on in a straight fight, unleashing Protectrons to keep it distracted, or overloading it with an emergency shutdown).
Giant Mook: The X-42 giant robo-scorpion, a unique supersized model created by Doctor Mobius as a guardian.
Lightning Bruiser: Robo-scorpions are fast, deal a lot of damage with their attacks, and are resistant to the EMP weapons normally crippling to robotic enemies.
Lightning Gun: Robo-scorpion blasters can fire electric beams from their tails instead of lasers.
Mecha-Mooks: For Mobius, who sends tons of these robots after the Courier around Big MT as they do the Think Tank's bidding.
Ray Gun: They have laser emitters mounted on their tails.
Robot Me: Apparently, Mobius got the idea to create robo-scorpions after seeing a giant radscorpion wander into the mountain, making them these for radscorpions.
Stealthy Mook: Robo-scorpion bombers have Stealth Boys integrated into their systems, allowing them to turn invisible.
Tempting Fate: Dr. 0 says that the odds of Mobius having a giant, building sized model of the robo-scorpion is laughably low. Step into Mobius' laboratory and see for yourself how wrong he was.
The Voice: For Mobius, who is apparently watching through the robo-scorpions and taunting the Courier through their speakers.
(Spotting the enemy) I seeee you! Now, I end you!
(Taking damage) Stop that! You'll damage the hull!
(Searching for the enemy) (Speaking to his scorpions) Alright everyone, calm down! Might have been a blip.

Securitrons

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/securitron_0.png

No violence is permitted on the Strip.

Appearances: Fallout: New Vegas

A product of the H&H Tools Factory after being bought out by RobCo, Securitrons are security robots programmed to protect property as a well-armed police force. In their base Mark I configuration, they're armed with a 9mm machine gun and gatling lasers and sport a cartoon policeman's face on their screens. If upgraded to their Mark II configuration, however, they're permitted to use the much deadlier grenade and missile launcher armaments meant for heavy combat engagements, now sporting a cartoonish US army soldier on their screens.

In the present day, Robert House controls a small army of these Securitrons to police New Vegas, and has knowledge of an even larger reserve of them somewhere in the Mojave wastes along with the means to upgrade them to their long-lost Mark II versions, evidently planning something massive. In Big MT, House's self-declared nemesis Dr. 0 has attempted to create custom variations of Securitrons that while stronger are highly unstable and hostile to everyone.

Body Backup Drive: The AI personalities Victor and Yes Man can be uploaded to any active Securitron in Vegas, effectively making them immortal if their current body is smashed.
Collapsing Lair: They can fall victim to this if a faction decides to sabotage House by blowing up the facility holding the reserve Securitron supply. Even the Courier, if they're working for an independent New Vegas, can decide to blow the facility up and sabotage their own effort for a robot army for no good reason.
Elite Army: House's Securitrons are relatively few in number when compared to the might of the NCR, the Legion, and the other factions throughout the Mojave. However, each Securitron is a powerhouse in its own right, and House's army allows him to enforce his rule over New Vegas. Once the Platinum Chip's upgrades are installed, Mk.II Securitrons can ensure total domination of the Mojave for whoever controls them. This is averted with the Big Mountain versions that despite being stronger on average, cannot be controlled to make an army with them.
Elite Mooks: The Securitrons Mark II are updated versions of the Securitrons with better armor and self-repair abilities. They will support the Courier (and also "support" the NCR before betraying them) in House and Wild Card endings.
Gate Guardian: Securitrons guard the main entrance into the Strip at the end of Freeside, preventing anyone who doesn't have enough money to be deemed worth letting in from getting past them. If your science skill is high enough, you can glitch them out to recognize you as someone who can be allowed in, otherwise you'll just have to raise enough caps or forge a counterfeit passport.
Glass Cannon: The Big Mountain Securitrons have powerful weapons, but lack durability. (For comparison, the Mojave Mark II have a Damage Threshold of 30, while the Big Mountain Mark III to VI have 0), justified by their damaged armor. This is averted with the strongest Securitron unit that not only does more damage, but has more durability than the Mojave Securitrons.
Killer Cop: Averted when they're by themselves and when programmed correctly, at which point they're content to stand idle and only move to attack if provoked. If you do provoke them into attacking, then whoever did it's usually going to be dodging bullets for days instead of being arrested, or be outright splattered by explosives if you trigger their lethal force after upgrading them.
Killer Robot: Dr. 0's versions of Securitrons are far more hostile than usual due to 0's incompetence.
Large Ham: They've been programmed with lines that involve this. If you report a supposed struggle in New Vegas sidequest "Beyond the Beef," they'll deliver a long speech about evildoers and how important it is to report violence.
Macross Missile Massacre: If given their missile launchers, they're fond of unloading a volley of them at their enemies to obliterate them in the blasts.
Mecha-Mooks: For Mr. House, being his robotic army, and possibly for the Courier should they ally themselves with him or gain control of the army for their own purposes.
Must Be Invited: A non-mythical and non-anomalous variant. As part of Mr. House's contractual agreement with the tribes running the Strip's casinos, his Securitrons can't come in their casinos unless it's an absolutely dire emergency, like a crazed gunman in the lobby. Because of this, no Securitrons are found patrolling inside the buildings and are largely useless for stopping the criminal affairs that happen inside (not that Mr. House cares about most of it, anyways).
Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: played with. By Mojave standards, the Mark I Is are a powerful elite force that can put up a fair fight against the Legion, despite being outnumbered. But in Big Mountain Dr.O, he managed to create Mark V and VI Securitrons that are stronger. Even so, although the Mark V and Mark VI are stronger, they cannot be controlled and have damaged armor, while the Mojave's Mark II Securitrons have the advantage of having greater durability, and being controllable, they can be used to create an army.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The Securitrons Mark II score big off-screen victories in the House and Wild card endings.
- House Ending: They destroy the Fiends (if any of the leaders are still alive), and end their reign of terror forever.
- Wild Card Ending: They manage to stop the chaos in the streets with minimal loss of life.
One-Wheeled Wonder: All of their movement is done with one wheel.
Personal Mook: In the second battle of Hoover Dam, if the Courier sides with House or Yes Man, they'll get an upgraded Securitron as companion, but unlike Victor or Yes Man, is not important enough to have an unique name, and can die even on normal difficulty. (And they won't give you a replacement if it does.)
Robot Soldier: They'll ascend to this if upgraded with the Platinum Chip, now being fully fit to serve as New Vegas' attack army to drive out the NCR, the Legion, and whoever else stands in its way. Their window images even change from a cop to a helmeted soldier to signify this.
That Came Out Wrong: You can find a Securitron confronting some scantily-clad NCR ladies who're dancing in the Strip's decorative fountain, when trying to peacefully get them out the water they may say this:
Please remove your bra (...) from the bottom of the fountain.
There Is No Kill Like Overkill: When upgraded to Mark II, each Securitron packs a gatling laser, machine gun, grenade launcher, and missile pods, per unit. They make Sentry Bots look woefully underequipped by comparison.
Walking Armory: Securitrons live and breathe pure firepower, beating out the Sentry Bots by sheer versatility in their weapons. It goes a long way, since the comparatively small Securitron army has enough firepower to wipe out the numerically superior NCR and the suicidally fearless Legion armies once they're upgraded and their numbers are reinforced.

Sentry Bots

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sentry_bot_fallout.png

Do not interfere with security operations.

Appearances: Fallout 2 | Fallout 3 | Fallout: New Vegas | Fallout 4 | Fallout 76

One of the toughest and deadliest armored infantry units ever invented, Sentry Bots fought in the Great War as hulking and destructive miniature tanks, typically armed with miniguns, mortar launchers, missile launchers and gatling lasers. After the bombs fell, they continue to prove that they're both built to withstand apocalyptic levels of damage, and that they're a force to be reckoned with.

Achilles' Heel:
- Like all robotic enemies, pulse weapons can deal huge amounts of damage to them. This is especially apparent in this case as a Sentry Bot's tough armor is going to be hard to break otherwise.
- For your own Sentry Bots that you can build as companions in 4, the sheer size of the robot is going to make close quarters really tough for them to comfortably fight in. Good luck getting past door frames or hallways with one following you.
Affably Evil: Wild Sentry Bots are usually found trying to kill everything around them, but they're still bound to warning non-combatants and civilians who aren't present to vacate the warzone.
Threat neutralization in progress. Non-combatants are advised to stand clear of weapons discharge.
Always Someone Better: For all of their firepower, the Securitrons out in the Mojave have even more, especially when upgraded to Mark II.
Art Evolution: Sentry Bots begun with a pretty retro/sci-fi design that embraced its Tin-Can Robot inspirations, and weren't all that much bigger than humans. Come Fallout 4, and they look far more imposing and militaristic with plenty of running machinery, exposed parts behind armor and standard U.S army green paint. They also got a serious upgrade in size, now regularly dwarfing humans.
Attack Its Weak Point: Starting in Fallout 4, a Sentry Bot will need to pause and cool itself down after overheating from unloading their whole arsenal. They'll shut down for a moment and expose their fusion core behind them, giving the player a chance to shoot right into it and blow the robot up.
Boss Battle: In Fallout 4, doing the Minutemen quests will bring you over to the Castle. After fighting through all the nested Mirelurks, you encounter Sarge, a former Minutemen Sentry Bot whose programming has gone haywire and violent since being abandoned and neglected, forcing you to put him down.
Death from Above: Equipping mortars on your sentry bot companions in 4 gives them the choice of cluster bombs, hallucination gas bombs and mini-nuke launchers to rain explosive and toxic death on your enemies.
Elite Mooks: If a faction is going to have some robotic backup, like the Brotherhood or the Enclave, these guys are usually their top of the line security.
Evil Sounds Deep: They've got a deep and booming voice, and most of the models you'll encounter are wild and malfunctioning, ready to attack indiscriminately.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: In 3 and New Vegas, Sentry Bots have a glowing visor where their head is, giving this impression. This was dropped in 4 for a clean and reflective glass-like visor sitting behind some armor.
Lightning Bruiser: They may seem slow when fighting, but that's only because they need to pause, take aim and sustain fire. Escape their grasps or get too far away and they'll start rolling right on your tail to keep up. This was later amplified in 4, where Sentry Bots can decide to close the distance by dashing forward to smack the enemy with their arm.
Logical Weakness: Their massive set of three-legged treads makes it nearly impossible for them to get in enclosed locations, making them only usable in an outdoors support role akin to a tank.
More Dakka: The main appeal of the Sentry Bot was their insane amount of firepower, alternating between raining down a hail of bullets and bombarding the enemy with missiles.
Mundane Utility: In the Fallout 4: Automatron DLC, the Sentry Bot parts you can trick your robot buddy out with have the bonus of offering the best carry weight. Going all-out with Sentry Bot components can create a tough and multi-pocketed pack mule to hold all your stuff, with extra firepower being optional at this point.
Took a Level in Badass: Sentry Bots were far from wimps in their debut appearance, being the top of the line combat robots in the enemy lineup. But come Fallout 4, they've been elevated to outright boss battles found hidden away in highly secured zones, with the rare ones found wandering the Wasteland being capable of soloing anything short of overwhelming numbers against them.
Tripod Terror: They roll around on three tripodal legs. Notably, even if their treads are crippled/damaged, they'll continue to fight by simply using their legs to manually walk around the battlefield.
Walking Armory: Their main appeal, both before and after the Great War.

Synths

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fallout4_render_synthgen2.jpg

"I have a question. The only question that matters; Would you risk your life for your fellow man, even if that man is a Synth?"

Appearances: Fallout 3 | Fallout 4

First introduced in Fallout 3, synthetic humanoids (or "Synths," as they are informally known) are a race of Artificial Humans created by the Institute, a cabal of Mad Scientists made up of the former staff and students of the Commonwealth Institute of Technology. Envisioned as a way to help the Institute "redefine mankind," Synths are primarily used as slave labor by the Institute along with forming the bulk of The Conspiracy that they use to control the Commonwealth. Since the Institute's method of infiltration on the surface involves Kill and Replace, the Synths are widely feared and hated by the surface Wastelanders, which has fueled an environment of fear and paranoia across post-War New England. However, many of the later Synths have started to realize that they're actually slaves to the Institute, and try to work together with the Railroad so as to escape and earn their freedom. The East Coast Brotherhood of Steel also despises them, seeing them as an unholy mix of humanity and technology that must be eradicated so as to preserve the world.

There are three official types of Synths, with each successive "generation" of Synth being an evolution and improvement upon the previous iteration.

The first type are the "Generation 1" Synths, the earliest version created by the Institute. They resemble mechanical skeletons more than anything else, not being very bright but are still useful in that they can perfectly mimic human locomotion and help assist in the Institute's upkeep.
The second type are the "Generation 2" Synths, strongly resembling the Gen 1 Synths except that they also have an artificial skin layer made out of a thick plastic. They're stronger, smarter, and more durable than Gen 1s, and serve as the Institute's primary surface agents.
Finally, the third and most recently created type of Synths are the "Generation 3" Synths, who are also the most common and the ones typically referred to as actual "Synths" by most characters. Unlike the previous generations of Synth, they're mostly organic creations, being virtually identical to humanity and may even be self-aware to a certain degree.
- There is also an unofficial "fourth" type of Synths in the form of Coursers, combat-specialized Gen 3 Synths built to serve as unstoppable and relentless Super Soldiers for the Institute. Coursers are primarily tasked by the Synth Retention Bureau in returning escaped Synths to the Institute, but also serve as assassins and saboteurs concerning the Institute's enemies on the surface.

Ambiguous Situation:
- How self-aware they really are.
- Some of the details surrounding their nature are also kept ambiguous to the point of nearly being self-contradictory. For example, Max Loken claims that Gen 3 Synths don't need to sleep, but Curie after being downloaded into a Synth claims that she finds the need for sleep, eating, drinking, and breathing. Admittedly, this can be justified in that both Loken and other related statements (i.e., the claims that Synths are The Needless) are described more like long-term project goals than current realities and that the Institute is obviously an Unreliable Narrator that has a vested interest in promoting the idea of humans being fundamentally different from Synths so as to justify their Fantastic Caste System.
- The game also doesn't clarify just how much of them is mechanical. While Gen 1 and 2 are very clearly robots, using fake skin and metal bones, Gen 3 is organic enough that you can actively see them being "built" in the Institute via bones, muscle and skin being brought together. However, they are still definitely somewhat cybernetic, as one of the main signs of a Synth is the fact that there is a component in their brains and a series of mental blockers to keep them under control. Their minds are also clearly digital enough that a braindead Synth can have their mind replaced with that of a much more outwardly mechanical robot, such as Curie. The "Assassin's" legendary effect also applies its effects to Gen 3 Synths, despite it only saying its bonus works on humans.
And I Must Scream: While the Institute is quite the Gilded Cage on the surface, it's absolutely hellish for self-aware Gen 3 Synths, since they're always being monitored for any possible signs of awareness that is swiftly punished in the form of Death of Personality along with being constantly gaslit regarding their own personhood. Furthermore, if Liam Binet is to be believed, it eventually gets to the point that many previously self-aware Synths Become The Mask and revert to being Empty Shells. Suffice to say, it's pretty understandable why so many Synths rescued by the Railroad elect to a memory wipe.
Androids Are People, Too: A recurrent theme surrounding them in Fallout 4. The Railroad certainly agrees so, while the Institute and East Coast Brotherhood both disagree (albeit for different reasons), and the Commonwealth at large is too scared of them to form a concrete opinion.
Artificial Human: Gen 3 Synths are virtually identical to ordinary humans, but have the following known differences: they're Made of Iron in comparison to ordinary Wastelanders, can neither gain nor lose weight, age at a slower rate in comparison to ordinary humans, cannot reproduce, heal from injuries at a slightly accelerated rate than ordinary humans do (along with generally having enhanced senses and strength), and can have their minds completely overwritten/reprogrammed. How organic or mechanical they physically are is also kept pretty blurry.
Ascended Extra: They were previously just part of a side-quest in 3, but are at the forefront of 4.
Badass Longcoat: All Coursers are outfitted with long leather jackets that are identical to the one worn by Roy Batty.
Big Brother Is Watching: They form the bulk of the Institute's spies, saboteurs, and assassins on the surface.
Brain Uploading: Higher-profile infiltration targets seem to have a copy of the "original person's" memories downloaded into their minds to help them better sell the illusion.
Creepy Monotone: Institute Coursers all sport this, which helps emphasize how they're actually the most soulless out of all the Institute's creations.
Cyborg: Gen 3 Synths seem to be this to an unknown degree, containing an inorganic "Synth Component" upon death.
Early-Installment Weirdness: Among other small differences, Synths are primarily referred to as "androids" in Fallout 3 during the "The Replicated Man" side quest, while Fallout 4 almost exclusively refers to them as just "synths". This is justified through a terminal entry in the Institute Robotics Division which reveals that between games, the current Directer made "synth" the official designation.
Expy:
- Gen 3 Synths as a whole are this for the Replicants from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?/Blade Runner, being Artificial Humans originally created to serve as cheap slave labor who can perfectly mimic organically born people and are attempting to infiltrate human society.
- The Coursers are clear expies of Terminators in terms of being Uncanny Valley-tastic human-passing artifiical Super Soldiers tasked to serve as relentless hunters, though their general personalities being clearly artificial and soulless is actually closer to the Agents from The Matrix.
Deadly Euphemism: "Reprogramming" a Synth really means forcing them into an agonizing form of Cold-Blooded Torture that culminates in Death of Personality.
Distinction Without a Difference: Most in the Institute adamantly insist that the sentience and self-awareness displayed by Synths, specifically the Gen 3 versions, is strictly simulated and thus shouldn't be held to the same regard as humans. However, many in-universe argue that the Gen 3's more often than not act and even function so much on par with humans that whether or not it's simulated is practically irrelevant.
Fantastic Racism: They really suffer from this. The Institute treats them as soulless machines with no free will to be used and disposed of as necessary while the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel is planning to implement a Final Solution against them due to seeing them as a perverse mockery of humanity than could potentially cause the extinction of humanity by turning against their creators. Meanwhile, the general populace of the Commonwealth and greater Wasteland fears and hates them due to Synths being utilized as spies and assassins by the Institute.
Fantastic Slur: The Commonwealth Super Mutants refer to Gen 3 Synths as "fake men", while the Commonwealth as a whole calls the Gen 1 and 2 Synths "toasters" and "chrome-domes".
Fantastic Underclass: They are at the bottom-rung of society for both the Institute and greater Commonwealth, being used as a glorified Slave Race for the former and being seen as insidious infiltrators by the latter.
Geas: A heavily downplayed sci-fi variation; all Gen 3 Synths (escaped or otherwise) are given a special "block" in their programming that prevents them from describing how the Institute uses teleportation.
Impostor-Exposing Test: Defied for the most part, as Synths seem to be completely identical on even a psychological level to ordinary humans (though the Institute obviously disputes this), and there is no known way to prove who is and isn't a Synth without an autopsy, proven DNA records (as seen in "Blind Betrayal"), or invasive enough surgery that it kills the suspect. Notably, the "Human Error" sidequest is focused around the town of Covenant trying to create a psychological one with the S.A.F.E. test... but they still get around four to five false positives for every Synth they catch.
Just a Machine: The Institute's official party line is that Synths can only "mimic" human intelligence and aren't self-aware in the same way humans are.
Kill and Replace: This is how the Institute's used them to infiltrate the surface and wipe out any threats to their power.
Made of Iron: Normal Gen 3 Synths are alluded to being this in comparison to ordinary humans, while Coursers are outright described as relentless hunters.
Mechanical Lifeform: Synths aren't just limited to humans. While the Institute is still in the early stages of the process, they've managed to created Synth gorillas, and also are thinking of creating aquatic Synth life in the future. Synth brahmin have also been found helping infiltrate Commonwealth settlements, and the Institute has a massive spy network in the form of the "Watcher Initiative" (which consists of all the crows found throughout the Commonwealth).
Mirror Character: To the Super Mutants, strangely enough. Both are seemingly ageless creations of Mad Scientists that suffer from Fantastic Racism, have been utilized as Super Soldiers, and would serve as a Superior Species to humanity if not for their sterility. What certainly helps is that they're both derived from applications of the Forced Evolutionary Virus.
The Needless: An Institute terminal claims they can't gain nor lose weight, implying this trope.
One-Man Army: The rightfully feared Institute Coursers, with the first Courser in 4's main story being introduced casually eradicating an entire building of Gunners.
Paranoia Fuel: invoked As they're the main method with which the Institute perpetuates their control over post-War New England, they're a hefty source of this In-Universe for the denizens of the Commonwealth.
Proportional Aging: It's not made exact, but Synths are all but stated to age at a slower rate than "normal" humans.
Ridiculously Human Robots: Gen 3 Synths take this up to eleven, with the Railroad utilizing both cosmetic surgery and memory wipes along with fabricating new identities as part of their attempts to help the Synth escapees flee from the Institute. The only way to tell a Gen 3 from a normal human (apart knowing that specific individual's "recall code") is by finding an electronic component in their brain - which you can only do after you've killed them out of paranoia that they might be a synth.
Robot Names: Almost all Institute Synths are given a four-character designation consisting of a letter followed by three numbers. Each of these designations also fits their duties. The only known details are that all Coursers seem to have their designation begin with either an "X" or a "Z".
Super-Soldier: The rightfully feared Coursers definitely count as this. This is even subtly reflected in gameplay, with all Coursers having higher limb damage than ordinary enemies.
Sweet Tooth: Amusingly, all Gen 3 Synths have a taste for Fancy Lad Snack Cakes, and even the Institute scientists find this puzzling.
Terminator Impersonator: Synths created by the Institute fall into several types of this:
- Generation 1 and 2 Synths are mechanical robots that look eerily humanoid and are often sent as canon-fodder for executing simple tasks for the Institute. Their abilities and intelligence relatively limited, however, which means they must rely on sheer numbers to defeat seasoned Wastelanders.
- Generation 3 Synths are convincing imposters created to replace some unfortunate human, and are usually indistinguishable unless they fail some sort of Impostor-Exposing Test or otherwise give themselves away. While most are not that much more capable than humans, there are cases where they have "malfunctioned" and killed several innocent people before being taken down.
- Coursers are a variant of Gen 3 Synths created specifically for combat. They are far stronger, faster, tougher and more intelligent than ordinary people, which make them terrifying opponents to deal with. When ordered to locate or eliminate a target, they will pursue that target relentlessly and with little-to-no sympathy. To top it off, they're also outfitted with Cool Shades and wear imposing black leather outfits.
Tomato in the Mirror: Most Synths rescued by the Railroad subject themselves to a memory wipe to forget their hellish pasts in the Institute. Some eventually discover the truth, and it's universally shown to be an immensely traumatizing experience.
Trigger Phrase: Gen 3 Synths are programmed with a wide variety of these, most notably deactivation codes that put them into sleep mode. Worringly, it's unknown to what extent these are eradicated (if at all) by the Railroad's memory wipes.
Turned Against Their Masters: The main fear that the East Coast Brotherhood has surrounding them, which is why they want to preemptively destroy them all.
Wetware Body: The Generation 3 Synths seem to be mostly, but not entirely, organic. Paladin Danse is outed by DNA records, implying that they have actual flesh and blood; Father confirms this inside the Institute, stating that Gen 3s were based on Shaun's pre-War, and thus un-mutated, DNA. Those with the Cannibal perk can eat them just as they would normal humans, and they are shown to be constructed with cloned blood, muscle, bones and tissue in the Institute's Robotics Division. However, when killed, Synths will have an inorganic "Synth Component" on their corpses, and they differ enough from humanity (such as possibly not needing food or water to survive) that they're clearly not perfectly organic creations. Nick Valentine also references that they used to have mechanical components to them when mentioning the Broken Mask Incident, while Curie's mind being possible to upload into a (braindead) Gen 3 Synth body is based on the Synth brain being described as somewhere in-between a robotic, programmed mind and a normal, organic brain.
What Measure Is a Non-Human?: A recurrent theme surrounding them in Fallout 4 is how self-aware they are, and if they deserve to be treated like humans.

Generation 1 and 2 Synths

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gen1.png

I am equipped with the most advanced Institute sensors available. I will find you.

The precursors to the perfected, flesh and blood generation 3 Synths, the previous generations were necessary stepping stones for the Institute to work with before fully realizing their technology. These robots are very far from human-looking, only sharing the silhouette and nothing more. With the generation 3 synths completed, the previous generations were reformed into serving as Institute guards, foot soldiers and scouts so as not to make them completely obsolete.

Artificial Stupidity: In-Universe, a recurrent issue with the earlier generations of Synths and why the Institute wants to use more Gen 3 Synths is that both the Gen 1s and 2s just aren't very smart. As an example, one Institute terminal recording the malfunctions that various Synths have been suffering from mentions that one Gen 2 Synth was found repeatedly cleaning a conference room several hours after it had already finished its job, and another Gen 2 Synth kept bonking into a wall since its navigation software had glitched and it couldn't figure out how to exit the room it was in.
Body Horror: Older Gen 2 Synths can suffer a rare mechanical case of this trope when they take damage. The more and more they're injured, the more and more their plastic "skin" breaks off, revealing their circuitry-based innards.
Boss Battle: Surprisingly, yes. Waging war against the Institute, infiltrating their headquarters and reaching their reactor room will have the player fight against Z4K-97B, XPN-20A and A-2018, three black-armored Synths much tougher than any model previously fought, are classified as Legendary enemies and are one of the last things to be dealt with before the reactor can be sabotaged.
Creepy Monotone: Their voices are obviously not human, but aren't so mechanical-sounding like Protectrons either, leaving them with an eerie blend of a synthetic and monotonous voice. Better yet, they're not incapable of nuanced thinking and some emotion either, but they appear to struggle with expressing it properly.
Death of a Thousand Cuts: Institute-made laser weapons generally have lower base damage than their older counterparts and are only ever found on their Synths, but they make up for it with their sheer numbers in locations they're guarding.
Determinator: Even if their legs have been crippled and they're left lying on the floor, they'll still try and shoot at their enemies.
Dumb Muscle: Due to their A.I. being pretty limited in independent thinking and even worse in self-preservation in combat, they're mostly used as the Institute's frontline Cannon Fodder, or to scout areas of interest. For the much more important tasks of espionage, spying, assassination and kidnapping/replacing, they rely on the generation 3 Synths and especially their Coursers.
Everything Is an iPod in the Future: Institute Gen 1 and 2 Synths have a very sleek, white, and plasticky design, looking considerably more "modern" than the Raygun Gothic tech seen elsewhere in the franchise.
Homage: invoked According to The Art of Fallout 4, the early Synth models were heavily inspired by the design of vintage artificial prosthetic limbs.
Mecha-Mooks: The Gen 1 and Gen 2 Synths serve as this for the Institute, coming in large numbers, being fully robotic, and (on average) being roughly on par with Protectrons in terms of intelligence and armament.
Murderous Mannequin: The Gen 2 Synths invoke this trope, being at an uncomfortable middle ground between the first and third generations that appear as porcelain-white, expressionless, genderless mannequins (until they take battle damage), and can often be found hiding with actual mannequins to catch their foes off guard.
Shows Damage: Gen 2 Synths gradually lose their artificial skin as they take damage, even completely losing it if they're sufficiently injured.
Simple, yet Awesome: They're far from the flashiest and most impressive advance in robotics in the world of Fallout. However, unlike literally every other robot in the whole franchise, they can perfectly mimic human locomotion, making them incredibly versatile and easily capable of using human tools. Suffice to say, it quickly becomes clear why the Institute uses them for damn near everything, as they can be easily and efficiently tasked with any necessary job that would otherwise be too dangerous for an ordinary human to accomplish.
Skele Bot: The Gen 1 Synths, which look like frail and twisted parodies of the human skeleton. Gen 2 Synths are improved a bit with their layer of plastic skin, but they still looked dirty, a little decayed and are obviously robotic under their skin.
Stone Wall: The Institute's Synth armies don't deal that much damage with their unique laser weapons, but more than make up for it with their frequent numerical advantage and their special Synth armor (which is the best body armor in the base game for Fallout 4), meaning that they can take a hell of a lot of punishment before finally going down.
Uncanny Valley: invoked It's frequently lampshaded In-Universe how unsettling and freaky they look to the average Wastelander.
Brotherhood Scribe: You know those Synths with the plastic faces? They creep me the hell out.
We Have Reserves: Their primary advantage for the Institute is that they can be mass-produced very quickly. Sure, they can be mowed down in short order... but there's always more from where they came from, and they can eventually wipe out their foes through sheer attrition.
Zerg Rush: Where you see one mechanical Synth, there's bound to be several more nearby.

Characters / Fallout Creatures

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In General

Mariposa Super Mutants

Nightkin

Vault 87 Super Mutants

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Huntersville Super Mutants

Robots and Artificial Intelligences

Generation 1 and 2 Synths

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Commonwealth Super Mutants

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Generation 1 and 2 Synths

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