Memetic Mutation / Fallout 76

As soon as the name was revealed, the memes began to fly:

• Fans began joking that this is the 76th entry in the series and asking where are the all other entries, with one of the most popular suggestions being that the Final Pam ruined the missing 71 games. Variants of this meme also applies to other media with high-number titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Wonder Woman 1984.
• Speaking of Cyberpunk 2077, that game's unfinished state at launch, which earned unflattering comparisons to this game, led to the nickname Cyberpunk 76. (The fact that, in the Fallout lore, World War III happens in 2077 certainly didn't help.)
• People started depicting Soldier: 76 with a Borrowed Catchphrase.

  Soldier: 76: We're all Vault Dwellers now.

• Tabasco sauce/Hot sauce. ^Explanation A Reddit user posted that if the game wasn't a Fallout 3 remaster, she'd drink a bottle of Tabasco sauce. She delivered, and Bethesda took notice. Fan art, shirts, and petitions to reference it in-game followed, and it even expanded outside the fandom, with the user in question being nicknamed "hot sauce man/woman" or "Tabasco guy/gal."
• Due to the game being set in West Virginia, fans of semi-famous West Virginians the McElroy Brothers have demanded references either to the brothers themselves or any of their large family of podcasts in the game. The most common McElroy shows that people want to see references to are Monster Factory, since Justin and Griffin played both Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 on that show, and The Adventure Zone: Amnesty, which is about cryptid hunting in rural West Virginia.
• WEST VIRGINIAAAAA. ^Explanation Fans often quote the chorus for Take Me Home, Country Roads, the song used for the game's teaser when talking about the game. Especially this one particular line, which you can expect to see frequently written in all caps.
• "It just works." ^ExplanationAn older meme referencing a quote from Todd Howard when he was describing Fallout 4, this line came back into popularity among critics and players pointing out the numerous bugs in 76.
  • "Sometimes, it doesn't 'just work'." ^ExplanationAnother quote from Todd Howard, deliberately referencing the previous meme as a way of announcing Fallout 76's private beta and acknowledging the notorious bugginess of Bethesda's past games. The fact that the beta was actually just a glorified stress-test for the game's servers and the release version, which came out less than a month later, was just as buggy as ever — if not moreso — led to people mockingly using this attempted apology against Bethesda.
• "16 times the detail." ^ExplanationThis quote from the E3 2018 presentation promised texture improvements. However, it turned out that textures in the final game often show up as low-quality.
• "Truth is... bag was nylon from the start."^ExplanationA twist on Benny's iconic line from the intro to Fallout: New Vegas, referring to how one of the promised goodies that would come with buying the "Power Armor" pre-order deluxe edition of the game would be a survivor's bag made from canvas. Many disappointed buyers quickly discovered upon receiving the Power Armor edition that said bag was, in fact, not made of canvas, but rather cheap nylon.
  • Bethesda's initial response to the uproar over the nylon bags, "we aren't planning on doing anything about it", also quickly became memetic for just how bad of an answer it was.
• LIGHT WOOD LAMINATE. LIGHT WOOD LAMINATE. LIGHT WOOD LAMINATE.^ExplanationBethesda made a half-hearted apology to everyone that bought the Power Armor Edition, who were fully expecting to get a Canvas Bag but getting a Nylon Bag instead, by offering them a free reimbursement of 500 atoms which was the game's premium currency. Not only was this an absurdly low amount of compensation ($5.00 when converted from atoms to real dollars), but, as mocked by the Internet Historian, it was barely enough to buy Light Wood Laminate from the Shop.
• “Tell me lies, Tell me sweet little lies”^ExplanationDue to all the misleading statements and missteps above, this 1987 Fleetwood Mac song shot back into the spotlight with many using it to mock Todd Howard and Bethesda.
• "This is GRRRAAAAAFTON's Mayor!" ^Explanation Following in the infamous footsteps of Preston Garvey, the Grafton Mayor has quickly become notorious for always chiming in through the Pip-Boy to offer one of his daily quests as soon as you step just one foot in the Toxic Valley region. Comparisons between him and Preston's "A settlement needs your help!" arose quickly.
  • The curator at Prickett's Fort has excavated a civil war soldier's remains. He's asked that I give the body a burial in Philippi Battlefield Cemetery. ^Explanation Continuing from above, the most common quest the Grafton Mayor gives you is one where a curator at Prickett's Fort excavated a civil war soldier's remains and asks you to give it a burial at Philippi Battlefield Cemetery. The above quote comes from the Pip-Boy's description for the quest, which became a copypasta in light of the Grafton Mayor's notoriety.
• Bethesda nuking their fanbase^ExplanationThe canon date for the Great War and its nukes fell on October 23rd. And on October 23rd of 2019, Bethesda announced the extremely poorly-received Fallout 1st subscription service. Thus, the news was compared in destructiveness to an actual nuke.
• Outer Worlds advertising^note Multiple internet pundits have commented on how Bethesda's abhorrent Fallout 1st yearly paid subscription service, in terms of presentation, function, and practice, actually serves as effective advertising for The Outer Worlds which came out not long after. To say the internet is milking this for all its worth is putting it mildly.

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