Vault Boy Facts
Vault Boy is the happy go lucky , iconic mascot of Vault Tec,
His seemingly innocuous visage is peppered throughout the wastes, a constant reminder
of the Fallout proceeding the nuclear war, that has plagued the wastes for centuries.
But where did the idea for this enigmatic icon, first spring forth?
In our quest for answers we discovered a number of incredibly interesting facts, about the
history and design of the American icon, known simply as Vault Boy.
Of course vault boys most famous use is as the icons for perks or status’s in the games.
In Fallout 2 it was possible to get the reputation status as a Child killer, which as might would
cause you to be quite disliked.
When asked to draw an icon to represent this Fallout artist Brian Menze created this:
The image was never actually used in game and was replaced by a much tamer “Hated”
reputation icon.
Of course when it came time to bring Fallout 3 to the wider market and consoles, even without
offensive art the idea of killing children was far too controversial and the games from
this point on would no longer let you attack a child.
The design of Vault Boy has become iconic, and its as much a part of the Fallout brand
in our universe as he is of the Vault Tec brand in the games, but did you know he's
based on Rich Uncle Pennybags, the mascot for the Monopoly board game?
Confirmed in an Interview with Timothy Cain, the original creator of Fallout, the similarity’s
become obvious when the 2 are placed directly next to each other, especially in the style
of the eye’s and the hair on the side of their heads.
He also seems to draw some inspiration from classic cartoons such as the Adventures of
Tin Tin.
Many gamers over the years have made the mistake of referring to Vault Boy as Pip Boy.
Obviously this is down to the similarity of the 2 names and Vault Boys , prominent use
on the Pip Boy device.
But did you know this case of mistaken identity, is also attributed to the creators of Fallout
Tactics who actually confused the two and called Vault Boy - Pip Boy in game where he
is a recruitable character who speaks in a strange 50’s dialect.
It wasn’t until Fallout 3 that the developers really started to define Vault Boy in the
game, but to make matters just a little more confusing he's still referred to as Pip-Boy
in the games Trademark Legal Documents.
Vault boy was also once known by another official name.
Although he isn’t named directly in the original game, he also appeared in its accompanying
instruction manuals where he was referred to as Vault Man.
The name is only used once in the manual and could even have been a mistake by the writer,
or perhaps at this point he didn’t have an official name, we know when the concept
for Vault Boy was first designed he was simply referred to as the “Skill Guy” by the
artists.
Since then it seems to have been completely abandoned as it was never used in any future
Fallout content or games and Vault Boy became his official name.
Did you know some of the perks depicting Vault Boy draw inspiration from comic books?
Adamantium skeleton is a reference to Wolverine from the X-Men comics and his metal coated
skeleton and claws.
Nerd rage looks like Bruce Banner turning into the Hulk
and the Toughness perk bears a resemblance to DC’s Superman.
Movie references can also be found hidden in the perk artwork such as this image for
the Pitt Fighter perk where Vault Boy is seen wearing armour identical to the character
Blaster from Mad Max – Beyond Thunderdome
and the Cyborg perk in Fallout 3 which is a nod to the T-101 from the Terminator series.
Vault Boys most iconic image is the Thumbs up pose and this image has become the focal
point of many a fans speculation.
One of the most popular theories was that his pose was not a sign of everything being
ok, and that he was actually measuring the size of a nuclear explosion to see if he was
far enough away to be safe.
It became such a popular theory that many gamers actually now believe this to be a fact.
However although this theory is a lot of fun and makes his smile seem much more sinister
it was unfortunately debunked by Fallout 2's lead artist on twitter who said:
“its just a thumbs up, basically saying everything is ok, when it really isn't ..nothing more than that”.
Interestingly Vault Boy also has a female counterpart, Vault Girl.
Although she is far less represented and doesn’t even show up on female vault dwellers pip
boys who like the men have their status represented by Vault Boy.
She’s found as Vault Boys companion in a number of the skill icons but she also replaces
Vault Boy in some if you are playing as a female character, for example as a man you
get the perk Lady Killer, but with a female protagonist it's replaced with Black Widow.
Vault boy has also seen with another male companion in some images who looks exactly
the same accept with Black or Brown hair and a black Vault Boy also appeared briefly in
the "Leaving the Vault" video in Fallout 2 with his hair fashioned into a crew cut.
That’s all the Vault Boy facts we’ve got time for today, but if you know of any more
weird facts relating to Vault Boy or the Fallout games let us know in the comments below.