Fallout: Nuka Break is a Fan Film series set in the Fallout Universe. It's made by Wayside Creations, created and written by Zack Frinfrock and co-written by Brian Clevinger of 8-Bit Theater and Atomic Robo fame. Originally just a short film, positive reaction lead to it being revived as a continuing series.The series stars three protagonists: Twig, a dim-witted, overweight Vault Dweller; Scar, a Laser-Rifle-toting former Legion slave; and Ben, an amoral ghoul. Together, they try to survive the Mojave Wasteland, and, in Twig's case, search for the perfect "Nuka Break."Complicating matters, is a bounty put on the trio by Caesar's Legion for freeing Scar and Ben's unscrupulous item-obtaining measures have put them in a tight spot where finding work is difficult.A season 2, which according to Zack will be much wider in scope and ambition, is now in pre-production after a very successfulKickstarter campaign, with Tim Cain, one of the founding fathers of the Fallout series, and Chris Avellone, designer on Fallout 2 and New Vegas, being involved in the creative process. Season 2 has already been filmed and is currently scheduled for release in early 2013.
Fallout: Nuka Break contains the following tropes:
All Hail The Great God Mickey: Ben thinks "By Mennen" is from a hymn, and the trio use it in the same way as "by God". Mennen is the company that makes Gillette razors, among other things.
Art Evolution: There is a noticeable increase in quality between the film and the first episode.
Artifact Title: Or rather its importance and direct relevance to the plot. Twig's desired "Nuka Break" is achieved halfway through the first season, but the trio are still actively trying to find peace and stability while surviving in the Mojave Wasteland.
Action Girl: Scar. In episode 4, she beat the crap out of a slaver merc who tried to disarm her. Even Twig was impressed. Too bad another one shot her in the arm.
Badass: The NCR Veteran Ranger the group runs into is the straightest example so far.
Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad / Bigger Is Better: Vault 10 holds a similar attitude towards fatness. Being fat is considered normal and (comparatively) skinny people such as Twig are bullied and made fun of for their size (or lack thereof).
Big Damn Heroes: By none other than the Mysterious Stranger to Twig in episode 6.
Bolivian Army Ending: At the end of episode 4, Larry ambushes the crew for Leon Swallow, Scar's owner. In the last moments of the episode, one of his men seemingly shoots her in the back (it's actually her arm, so she's okay.
Bounty Hunter: They've run into a few, due to the Legion putting a price on their heads. Luckily for them, the only ones they've encountered so far have been completely incompetent.
It's now pretty clear that the idiot raiders and mercs that came after Scar and company were misinformed. Leon's bounty on Scar was supposed to be 2000 caps, which is more than what the Courier gets paid for the Platinum Chip. Episode 4 ends with Ben's old friend betraying them and getting a team of competent and numerous mercs to capture Scar.
Curb-Stomp Battle: When the NCR Ranger drops the name of an important person from Ben's past, he immediately begins throwing punches. The Ranger deflects them easily and disables Ben in Bullet Time. Then Twig attacks with his Shishkebab, which fares as well as you'd expect, while Scar's smart enough to not jump in. Really, the only reason the group is still alive is because the NCR Ranger wanted to talk.
The Mysterious Stranger versus... a radroach. Overkill at its finest.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Red, in the movie. She shoots one of her teammates in the face. She later shoots Trader Vic when he finds her unconscious at the end of the film.
Scar, too; in the first episode, she puts a gun to Ben's head, and in Episode 2, she slugs Ben for being a Jerk Ass.
Idiot Hero: Played with, Zack Frinfrock said at PAX the only reason why Twig is still alive is a 10 in his Luck stat.
Kleptomaniac Hero: Ben. Besides looting every corpse he finds, Ben thought their Courier job was a scam, stole all the objects and replaced them with "useless crap" which led to them getting kicked out of Goodsprings.
"Woo! Free shit! Woo!"
Let's Get Dangerous: Episode 5 features the trio doing this, with Twig robbing a merchant for a Shishkebab, Scar beating the crap out of the mercs who captured them and Ben deciding the only way the situation they're in is going to end is if they go after Big Bad Leon Swallow, or else the mercs will keep coming.
Mythology Gag: Just about every gun, outfit, and item in the series is a replica of something from Fallout, including Vault Jumpsuits, Laser Rifles, Bottlecap Mines, That Gun, and of course, Nuka Cola.
Of particular note is Scar's Tri-Beam Laser Rifle, which does fire 3 laser beams as in game each time it's fired.
Episode 4 features a very faithful recreation of a Legion Slave camp.
Episode 5 features the Shishkebab and a Nuka Cola Quantum. It also has an internal mythology gag with the return of Red.
The Eastwood shopkeeper remarks that Twig must "have a lead belly" to drink so much irradiated Nuka Cola without getting sick (which happened in the fan film). "Lead Belly" is the name of a gameplay perk that cuts down on the poisoning incurred from eating foods and drinking irradiated liquids (though ironically not Nuka Cola).
Odd Friendship: A chubby Vault-Dweller, a kleptomaniac ghoul, and a badass former slave. We know how Ben and Twig met Scar, but how Ben and Twig ever hooked up as traveling companions is completely unimaginable.
Scenery Gorn: The series uses visual effects to add post-apocalyptic rubble in wide shots, adding a very nice atmospheric effect.
Serial Escalation: Despite being a fan project with limited funding, they got full support from ChrisAvellone at Obsidian, Bethesda has openly supported them, and had two high profile actors (Vic Mignogna and Doug Jones) work on their project.
Ben somehow did this in the original fan film, too: Twig and Scar mention they killed a bunch of bounty hunters, and suddenly Ben's already behind them, running towards the bodies for loot.
The mysterious stranger who saved Twig in episode 6.
"Since I was the smallest, the other kids would make fun of me by stuffing me into small spaces. 'mua ha ha! You can fit into a refrigerator, whereas we cannot!'"
Trash the Set: Not a straight example, but the set Eastwood was filmed in burned down in a recent wildfire[1]◊. Aaron Giles blamed the fiends.
Throw It In: In Episode 6, aired after the set-trashing above, Leon Swallow blows Eastwood to smithereens with a Fat Man.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Ben and Twig, and Ben and Scar. Ben openly admits he's not too crazy about Twig and openly tries to get him killed, yet is completely willing to give him back-up. Scar is routinely offended by Ben's behavior, often calling him out on such things, and he does apologize to her often.
Webcomic Time: An enforced example. Episode 5 was delayed a week because the VFX guys couldn't finish the big fight scene in the episode fast enough. When it turned out extremely well, they openly admitted on Twitter that they rushed to released the first four episodes and currently Nuka Break now airs once every three weeks instead of every two, giving the effects people more time and the actors the ability to do pick up scenes.
What Could Have Been: The last half of season 1 was filmed and then needed to be refilmed when a wildfire destroyed the Eastwood set. Many characters who were given names (like Raz) were intended to have much larger roles in the series... which can't happen now. As a result they truncated their last half of the season to end at episode 6 (the original intent was 9 for a decent length season) with the above mentioned Throw It In as their cliff-hanger for season 2, which will be nothing like the original intention. (They have, however, announced that there will be several survivors from Eastwood, including Mayor Connors.)
is a Fan Film series set in the Fallout Universe. It's made by Wayside Creations, created and written by Zack Frinfrock and co-written by Brian Clevinger of 8-Bit Theater and Atomic Robo fame. Originally just a short film, positive reaction lead to it being revived as a continuing series.The series stars three protagonists: Twig, a dim-witted, overweight Vault Dweller; Scar, a Laser-Rifle-toting former Legion slave; and Ben, an amoral ghoul. Together, they try to survive the Mojave Wasteland, and, in Twig's case, search for the perfect "Nuka Break."Complicating matters, is a bounty put on the trio by Caesar's Legion for freeing Scar and Ben's unscrupulous item-obtaining measures have put them in a tight spot where finding work is difficult.A season 2, which according to Zack will be much wider in scope and ambition, is now in pre-production after a very successful
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