Shout Out / Fallout

The Fallout series is a series overloaded with references. Aside from the obvious Mad Max and 1950's pulp sci-fi influences, almost every special encounter in the games (nearly any Random Encounter that isn't pure combat) is a reference to something, from Star Trek to Monty Python and more.

The series as a whole

• The series' black leather jacket is a direct nod to Max Rockatansky's classic outfit, and specifically the one-sleeved version seen in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.
• Recurring Canine Companion Dogmeat has his origins in A Boy and His Dog and Max's cattle dog companion in, again, The Road Warrior.
• The Red Ryder BB gun, which first appeared in Fallout's Spiritual Predecessor Wasteland (and, much later, its sequel, where it has a chance to "put [an enemy's] eye out"). In later games it's a "Raider" BB gun, or in Fallout: New Vegas the "Abilene Kid" BB gun.
• The series' intelligence-enhancing drug is called Mentats, after the Dune books' "human supercomputers". And also the mint candies.
• There are multiple Doctor Who references throughout the series, including special encounters in the first two games and numerous Wild Wasteland trait encounters in Fallout: New Vegas.
• The Desert Rangers are given multiple mentions during the series (although they're based in Nevada rather than Arizona). Tycho from the first game was one and by New Vegas they've been absorbed into the NCR Rangers.
• Mister Gutsys can occasionally be heard saying lines like "There's nothing I like better than the smell of plasma in the morning!" and "I'm starting to get angry. You would not like me when I'm angry."
• One of the films listed on the Broadway Cinema marquee in Fallout 3 (which later got a radio advertisement on Fallout 76's Pirate Radio station) is named "I Married a Maoist", a reference to a real-life film released in 1950 called The Woman on Pier 13 (test marketed in 1949 under its working title "I Married a Communist").

Fallout

• Special Encounters:
  • A crashed UFO containing a velvet painting of Elvis, referencing the popular tabloid theory that Elvis was abducted by aliens.
  • A blue police box that teleports away when the player comes close.
  • A Godzilla-sized giant footprint with a squashed peasant in the middle.
• The FEV ending (i.e. the bad one) ends with the shot of the hand stretched from the vat of sickly green goo.
• Junktown was visited by a stranger with a shotgun, a dog, and one-sleeved leather jacket.
• If you choose to fight the arduous boss battle against Lou Tenant (voiced by Tony Jay) instead of just self-destructing Mariposa, he will have a pair of robot henchmen fighting alongside him.
• The local Bad Guy Bar in the Hub is called The Maltese Falcon.
• Killing Deputy Kenny in the Hub will have the game proclaim "Oh my god! They killed Kenny! Those bastards!"
• After discovering what Iguana Bob's wares are really made of, they can confront him with the knowledge before shouting to everyone nearby "Prime Choice Selects is made of people!"
• Thieves' Guild leader Loxley is basically one giant reference to Robin Hood — that is, Sir Robin of Locksley.
• The corpse beside the vault opening is named Ed. "You see Ed. Ed's dead, baby, Ed's dead."
• The would-be assassin in Junktown comes into the shop and, before starting to shoot, proclaims: "I've come to kick ass and Chew Bubblegum and I'm all out of gum".

Fallout 2

• Special Encounters:
  • Star Trek references:
    • A crashed Federation shuttle with some dead Red Shirts and a hypo(spray).
    • A giant stone ring (the Guardian of Forever, or Guardian Portal in-engine) that takes the player back in time to before Vault 13's water chip broke (so that you end up being the one who breaks it yourself), as a reference to the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The City on the Edge of Forever''.
  • Monty Python references, specifically Monty Python and the Holy Grail:
    • A group of men in power armor claiming to be King Arthur and his knights, who ask if you've seen the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. A Dummied Out second encounter (restored in the Restoration Project mod) features them fighting (and most likely getting slaughtered by) a vorpal rat (instead of a literal Killer Rabbit, which the game doesn't have a model for). The (literal) Holy Hand Grenade then appears as droppable loot. Like the grenade from the movie, it resembles a globus cruciger (the orb and cross held by priests and kings in portraiture). It has a longer throwing range than a basic frag grenade and deals a hefty 300-500 damage.
    • The player can also find themselves having to cross the Bridge of Death, but first they have to answer the Bridgekeeper's three questions: "What is your name?" "What is your quest?" and then a random question pertaining to fairly obscure Fallout trivia. Failure is punishable by instant Spontaneous Human Combustion, but it's also possible to answer the third question with a question, in which case it's the Bridgekeeper who explodes messily.
  • Among the random wreckage you can find in the middle of the desert: an exploded whale and a bowl of petunias.
  • The "tin woodsman" (really just a man in Enclave power armor that has rusted into immobility and needs to be oiled).
    Tin Man: ...oil can...oil can...
  • "The Unwashed Villagers hunting a spammer" (referencing an occurrence on the Interplay forum, where a Troll called The Grim Reaper continuously harassed a Fallout fan community called the Unwashed Villagers.)
  • A herd of exploding Brahmin out for revenge for all the critters who were clicked until they blew up in Warcraft.
• Vic is a trader. Trader Vic's, as namedropped in "Werewolves of London", is a chain of tiki bar restaurants headquartered in California.
• Among Cassidy's various fourth wall-breaking lines:
  • Wishing that he had a limit break.
  • Wondering if Texas survived the war.
  • Occasionally mentioning that his dad named him after a comic book character, a "mean sonuvabitch." Word of God confirms this is Cassidy from Preacher, though that doesn't really help with the fact that Cassidy is John's last name.
• Marcus, in addition to protesting he is not a merry mutant, knows his Dr. Seuss:
  Marcus: [making an unarmed attack] One fist, two fist, red fist, blue fist.
• Upon recruiting Myron, the player can say "It's 106 miles to Arroyo, we've got a full fusion cell, half a pack of RadAway, it's midnight, and I'm wearing a 50 year old Vault 13 jumpsuit. Let's hit it."
• The game's recruitable robot NPCs include an AI named Skynet and a cyberdog called K-9.
• One of the generic enemy combat taunts is "I'm gonna beat you like a Redheaded Stepchild!"
• Asking Whiskey Bob about the Den will have him remark that you will not find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.
  • One of the responses your character may make while prank calling the Enclave from the Power Plant:
    The Chosen One: Uhh, We're all fine here, how are you?
• Another one to Monty Python: in the Den, a dialogue with diner owner Mom subs out "Spam" for rat:
  Mom: We just have rat-pie, rat-loaf, and spaghetti.
  Chosen One: Uh, could I get something without so much rat in it?
  Mom: You could have the spaghetti. It doesn't have too much rat in it — just the sauce, that's all.
  • A reference to the Church Police sketch: in Redding, if you ask the sheriff how he knew you were a ranger, he tells you that it's tattooed on the back of your neck.
• Gecko features an intelligent mole rat named Brain who talks about taking over the world.
• Gecko is also home to a ghoul named Gordon, who believes that greed, for lack of a better word, is good.
• Wooz the ghoul can introduce you to Tragic: The Garnering, a parody of Magic: The Gathering. In-universe it's treated as a highly addictive drug (although it doesn't actually have any actual benefits or, thankfully, withdrawal penalties).
• The Chosen One can ask Jeremy the ghoul for a "Moss-Covered Three-Handled Family Gredunza" (from the animated adaptation of The Cat in the Hat), which became a running joke around wrestling forums after Chris Jericho named it as one of the 1004 holds he supposedly knew.
• Vault City citizens will occasionally remark that they feel doubleplusgood today.
• A computer inside the Vault City vault will occasionally remark "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."
  • Other things the computer will say include "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that."
• When becoming a pro boxer in New Reno, some of the nicknames you can choose for yourself are the names of characters from Punch-Out!! or G.I. Joe.
  • Characters around New Reno will tell you one of your boxing opponents, Mike 'The Masticator', can bite off your ear and inflict a permanent point of Charisma loss, referencing Mike Tyson's infamous bout with Evander Holyfield (who appears here as "Evan Holyfeld", as does Tyson's ex-wife Robin Givens).
  • Several of the boxing ring names are references to boxing, such as Clubber Lang and Drago, or pro wrestling, like Macho Man.
• The Hubologists are one big Take That! to Scientology.
• The description text of the .44 Magnum revolver includes Harry Callahan's most famous line, asking punks about feeling lucky.
• Some of the Enclave troopers sing "Shines the name, shines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young".
• If you bring Renesco the Rocketman in New Reno the glasses gotten from the sentient radscorpion in Broken Hills, Renesco will thank you, and you'll have an option to say:
  Chosen One: Someday — and that day may never come — I'll call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day accept these glasses as a gift on my daughter's wedding day.
  • You can also ask Renesco about the song "Rocketman" by Elton John.
• The name of the mutant mining town of Broken Hills is fairly obscure: Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior was filmed near the real-world Australian mining town of Broken Hill.
• Frank Horrigan shares his name with Clint Eastwood's character from In the Line of Fire, who was also a Secret Service agent (albeit a heroic one).
• The wanamingos in the Redding mines look very much like a Cephalothorax version of a xenomorph and many characters in-universe mistake them for aliens, but it's possible for the player character to discover that they're another form of FEV-engineered Hybrid Monster, like deathclaws.
• Hakeswell, the Redding miner who cut up a whore for badmouthing his mother, is a direct transplant of Richard Sharpe's recurring antagonist.
• The three leaders of a group of mercenaries carry with them dog tags with the names Tuco, Blondie and Angel Eyes on them.
• After tracking down the location of Chip's spleen in San Francisco to Dr. Wong, he jokes about preparing it with fava beans and a nice chianti.
• In Modoc, the search for little Jonny will have a Heroic Dog named Laddie lead you around the village, including the bottom of a well. Jonny isn't at the bottom of the well, but his BB gun is, as are all the coins that have been tossed down the well over the years. You can collect the coins/wishes for -1 Karma apiece and a Goonies reference:
  The Chosen One: This one, this one right here. This was my dream, my wish. And it didn't come true. So I'm taking it back. I'm taking them all back.
• From the Dummied Out content restored in the Restoration Project mod:
  • Kitsune has mismatched eyes thanks to an eye transplant. When asked about it, she'll say that she feels like she sees the past in one eye and the present in the other.
  • Cat Jules, a man with housecat DNA, is basically a Captain Ersatz of the Cat (played by Danny John-Jules) from Red Dwarf.
  • Asking Dex, the third of the Dummied Out recruitable NPCs what life was like before the end of the war will have him spin an outlandish tale featuring, among other things, Godzilla, Ferris Bueller and the Tarrasque.
  • A talking toaster also appears, as does Lister's line of "Or muffins! We don't like muffins here! We want no muffins, no toast, no teacakes, no buns, baps, baguettes or bagels, no croissants, no crumpets, no pancakes, no potato cakes and no hot-cross buns and DEFINITELY no smeggin' flapjacks!" as a dialogue option for the player.
• The map screen is marked with the serial numbers TK-421 and L5-AA 23. These are references to A New Hope; TK-421 is the name of a stormtrooper with a broken radio who has some prominence, and Level 5, Detention Block AA 23 is Leia's cell.
• When you perform an aimed shot to a child's right arm, you can sometimes receive a critical hit message "The right arm starts to swell, like a balloon".

Fallout 3

• A full list can be found here.
• "The Nuka-Cola Challenge" is, obviously, a reference to the 'Pepsi Challenge' ad campaign.
• Three Dog's style is an Homage/Expy of noted Fifties DJ Wolfman Jack.
• The tree-god Harold in Oasis says of his followers, "They hear me, but they don't really listen, if you know what I mean." That can be seen as a reference to the song "I Talk to the Trees" from the 1969 musical Paint Your Wagon: ''I talk to the trees / But they don't listen to me..."
• Dr. Zimmer's android bodyguard is called Armitage. And the entirety of "The Replicated Man" sidequest is a Homage to Blade Runner.
• One of the game's sidequests has you steal the Declaration of Independence.
• Nuka-Cola Quantum's marketing slogan is "Take the leap...enjoy a Quantum!"
• The main quest "Tranquility Lane" is one huge Homage to Harlan Ellison's I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream.
• This game's version of the .44 Magnum revolver has an attached scope, in reference to Lord Humungus' weapon in The Road Warrior.
  • In general, the Mad Max films are referenced prominently throughout the game. Most notably, the Raiders encountered throughout the Capital Wasteland have their clothing and armor designed to resemble the armor used by the antagonists and bandits of The Road Warrior. Additionally, Little Lamplight being a settlement made up entirely of young children in a post-apocalyptic wasteland is likely a reference to Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.
• Mirelurk Kings are essentially Fallout's version of the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
• The members of the Temple of the Union are all named after members of Abraham Lincoln's executive staff.
• Liberty Prime is a clear Shout-Out to The Iron Giant, complete with the US government trying and utterly failing to destroy it (at least in the main campaign, that is).
• In the Georgetown townhouse, there is a Mr. Handy acting like nothing has happened in the intervening 200 years, and whom will go to the (long dead) children's room and read them the famous poem "There Will Come Soft Rains" (in which nature rolls on after mankind has killed itself in nuclear war). Indeed, the whole house is a reference to Ray Bradbury's story based on the poem (You can read it on this website or this PDF document.)
• The Mysterious Stranger carries a .44 Magnum. The Mark Twain story The Mysterious Stranger has an alt title: No. 44.
• The Dunwich Building is named after The Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft, and has a suitably Lovecraftian atmosphere. The Good Karma ending to the quest "The Dark Heart of Blackhall" (given in the Point Lookout DLC) involves taking a Necronomicon Expy there to be destroyed.
• Doctor Lesko is named after the scientist from the 1970s ant movie Phase IV, and sounds like (and is about as responsible as) Professor Farnsworth.
• Tenpenny Tower is possibly a Shout-Out to Land of the Dead, where a corrupt leader has an elitist refuge against the outside world under threat by zombies (who are significantly smarter than most others think they are).
• In the game's opening, one of the images shown is the head of a statue, lying amongst a pile of rubble. This could be reminiscent of the poem "Ozymandias", as is the general theme of the entire game.
• You find a highly-intelligent Super Mutant named Fawkes in Isolation Cell 5 of a vault that was a secret government installation testing the use of gene and germ therapy on unwilling subjects. Sound familiar?
• Mayor R.J. Macready of Little Lamplight probably takes his name from a character in The Thing (1982).
  • Again in Little Lamplight, a player with 85 Speech can gain entrance by saying "The day I showed up here is going to be the best day of your life. For me, it's a Tuesday."
  • The end of the sidequest "Trouble on the Homefront" contains one to the original Fallout if you resolve the quest in favor of the rebels. Amata, the leader of the rebels and new Overseer, will exile the Lone Wanderer from Vault 101, echoing the ending of the first game. She even uses the same final line as Vault 13's Overseer: "I'm sorry. You're a hero... and you have to leave."
• The houses in Minefield are one big reference to Hideo Kojima's Snatcher. You find a dead body labelled "Gibson", said body is missing his head, which is placed near the body, and searching said body yields a note reading "Search the house!" Searching said house yields items. This is referencing Snatcher's Jean-Jack Gibson, who also ended up decapitated and had the exact same note on him.
• There's a restaurant chain called Dot's Diners.
• When they spot you, Mothership Zeta's Abominations will point their fingers at you and make a really creepy open-mouthed howl, a reference to the 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
• When the game was released, many reviewers pointed out similarities to Philip K. Dick's The Penultimate Truth, including the hero venturing out from an underground vault into an irradiated wasteland and finding out the President of the United States, heard only over loudspeakers, is secretly an artificial intelligence. Not only that, but the game's 50s-inspired Zeerust aesthetic and tragicomic black humor owe a significant debt to the author's work.
• Beneath the Planet of the Apes has some pretty clear influences on the game, what with a ruined subway station that leads to a human settlement and a cult that worships a nuclear bomb.
• During the main questline of Broken Steel, the player encounters a pair of ghouls named Wint and Kidd.
• Help Rosie take over the Republic of Dave during Election Day and she gives you the code to Dave's safe: 1138.

Fallout: New Vegas

Has its own page.

Fallout 4

Has its own page.

Fallout 76

Has its own page.

Fallout: Van Buren

Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel

• Special Encounters:
  • A crashed plane with the remains of Amelia Earhart hanging out of the cockpit.
  • A liquid metal brahmin named the B1000 that spouts Terminator quotes.
  • A bazaar where the party can purchase the Devilthorn Jacket, a reference to the Demonspike Coat from Diablo (and completely unwearable due to having the exact same stat requirements.) The people in the bazaar also spout common MMORPG player lines (in particular from EverQuest.)
  • Two super mutants named the The Brothers Grimm.
  • A building full of people being used as human batteries for a robot overlord.
  • Two bickering factions named the Canadian People's Front and the People's Front of Canada (named after Monty Python's Life of Brian's Judean People's Front and the People's Front of Judea.)
  • A woman named Janet Badall (named after Jane Goodall) trying to open and free a cage full of deathclaws.
  • A group of invisible "Evereddy Bunnies" boasting about how they keep going and going (a reference to the Energizer Bunny.)
  • The Komodo Man (a reference to Steve Irwin).
  • A couple of l33tspeak-speaking people named Ph4tman and L33tleboy (named after the two bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II).
  • The wreckage of Soviet research station Mir.
  • A near Pitch Black area covered in deathclaws, with a man named Riddick offering to lead you out safely.
  • A "Reaver Dance" (a reference to the Riverdance.)
  • A brahmin named Cole surrounded by ghost brahmin, claiming that "I see dead brahmin."
  • The body of Jack Dawson, carrying the Heart of the Ocean and a painting of one of his French girls (which is just a stick figure drawing.)
  • A cameo from Morte from Planescape: Torment.
  • You can come across a group of Super Mutants named the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. All they do is complain about their living conditions. Famine is always complaining how nothing ever grows around the camp. Pestilence is always coughing and tired, saying he's going back to bed. Death is complaining about how nobody ever respects life anymore, and War is contemplating giving peace a chance, and how people complain how he never changes.
    War: War never changes? FUCK YOU! YOU DON'T KNOW ME!
• One of robots' combat taunts is "Hey, baby, wanna kill all da humans?"
• A throwing weapon that is a shiny metal orb with blades and a drill bit sticking out of it is called a "fantasy ball".

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel

• In the city of Los, it's possible to come across a group of men standing around a corpse chanting "His name is Robert Paulson."