Fallout has been out for a while now, therefore it’s long past time for me to share my thoughts. Did Bethesda retcon Fallout New Vegas? I’ll be answering this question with my thoughts. This is a general review of the series and a discussion of the “retcon” of Fallout New Vegas and controversy among certain groups of Fallout fans. It does include some discussions of lore from the games and my opinions on the supposed retcon of Fallout. I will follow it up with an in-depth review of each episode.
This is a new medium for the Fallout series, and the latest in a long line of adaptations of video games. Video game adaptations have varying levels of success, from the questionable Street Fighter movie (a guilty pleasure of mine even if it is terrible) to The Last of Us. Fallout has been around for a long time and has millions of fans across the world. Be warned, there will be heavy spoilers ahead in this detailed review. If you’ve not watched yet, firstly, why? Secondly, go do that then come back to me.
Finished Watching? Great!
We all know adaptations can be very hit and miss, especially for established fans. Look at the MCU, the Deadpool movies, DC Universe and the X-Men movies. I’ll never forgive the hours spent in the cinema watching Batman V Superman. Lots of people are called Martha, it’s not that deep. I really wish for a specific amnesia that would just remove that experience from my brain.
Anyway, the point is, when the show was first announced, I was cautiously optimistic about it. I love the Fallout series, if you haven’t already guessed by now. I was excited for this new kind of Fallout story, but there was a risk of it being a disaster.
I’m a huge fan of Cats the Musical, I have been for 20 years. Yet, I still have not been able to bring myself to watch the 2019 CGI movie. I mean, if Andrew Lloyd Webber hated it, what chance did I have? So, I was worried about the same thing happening to Fallout.
Luckily, it didn’t happen. I loved every minute of it, and I firmly believe it fits in nicely to this universe. Now, I am aware of the supposed “retcons” and I don’t agree that they even exist. It’s certainly possible some people are unable to understand the difference between implications and stated facts. I’ll get into this, as it comes up.
The Chalkboard: A Retcon Or Not?
I think some people who are criticising the show don’t seem to have watched it and are simply parroting the same statements they’ve heard elsewhere on the internet. You know, the “Bethesda hates New Vegas and they have completely ruined the story of New Vegas because it says 2277 on the chalkboard.” Apparently, they missed the arrow leading from 2277 to the mushroom cloud, meaning the explosion took place sometime after 2277.
Todd Howard has confirmed that the nuking of Shady Sands took place after the events of New Vegas. Remember that the show takes place in 2296, which is 15 years after New Vegas and 9 years after Fallout 4. A lot can change in such a time frame. A lot can change in a month. Literally every Fallout protagonist drastically changes part of the Wasteland in the space of a few months.
Obviously some of this is open to interpretation by viewers and fans. Guess what? That’s on purpose. Any good storyteller knows to omit certain details and let the audience reach their own conclusions. The NCR were not in great shape after the events of New Vegas, even if they got to keep the Dam. We don’t know exactly when the bombing happened, nor do we know how old our two non-ghoul protagonists are.
Characters and Karma
On to my overall thoughts. As I said, I loved it and have watched it several times since April. The story is interesting, and the three main characters are brilliantly written. I saw someone mention how each of them represents different Karma archetypes from the games, and I wholeheartedly agree with this interpretation.
Lucy being the good karma, Maximus the neutral karma and The Ghoul the evil karma. They each have their own motivations and intentions, and their interactions over the course of the series really work. I love how Lucy is naïve about how the wasteland works and she struggles with how selfish people are. I love how naïve Maximus is about things like sex, clearly the Brotherhood don’t bother teaching their aspirants sex-ed.
The Ghoul is obviously not naïve about anything, but he’s got a couple of centuries of experience on the other two. He’s been through the wringer and around the block a few hundred times. He’s clearly fighting off the feralization process, more successfully than many other ghouls. Sure, he seems to keep a good supply of these ‘vials’ to stave off the process but I think there’s more to it than that. We’ll get into the details later.
NCR and The “Fall Of Shady Sands”
We can see that things haven’t gone well for the NCR, especially once we learn of the fate of Shady Sands. Again, this isn’t a retcon, because NCR was doomed to fail. Caesar thought so, Mr House thought so, Chief Hanlon thought so and Ulysses thought so too. NCR wasn’t this perfect utopia of democracy where everyone was happy and there were no issues. We know this, you can’t avoid hearing how exhausted and war-weary the NCR army is.
“Patrolling the Mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter,” is Fallout’s “I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took an arrow in the knee” meme. Get too close to a large group of troupers and you’ll hear an entire chorus of the line. These soldiers are tired. The NCR bases across the Mojave are not doing well. It’s obvious in New Vegas to almost everyone but the NCR brass, that they have bitten off more than they can chew.
There are issues back home, corruption and bribery from the brahmin barons. Unrest and dissent, because citizens are beginning to chafe under the investments made in the name of holding the Dam. Mr House is so determined to make sure President Kimball survives his visit to the Dam because if he is assassinated, then House will take the blame for NCR losing the territory and NCR citizens will not come and spend their caps.
The Fall of Shady Sands
That means, to my mind, that the “fall” of Shady Sands is pinpointed as the point where political and social issues reached the point where the nation state of NCR began to fail. It really doesn’t matter what happened at the second Battle of Hoover Dam, even if the NCR won that fight, it’s entirely feasible that something happens afterwards that cements the downfall of Shady Sands and the NCR.
Then of course, Hank MacLean comes along and wipes the city from the face of the earth and really cements the end of Shady Sands and NCR. This isn’t a new concept either, and all it takes is a visit to Camp Searchlight in the Mojave. Or Megaton after an evil Lone Wanderer is done with it. Or the Institute once the Sole Survivor is done destroying it. The Courier can literally nuke both NCR and Legion at the end of Lonesome Road.
Vault-Tec – Did They Drop The Bombs?
With that in mind, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that a Vault-Tec junior executive knows how to get his hands on some nuclear weapons. Barb Howard clearly states that Vault-Tec is prepared to drop the bombs themselves. It isn’t enough to confirm that Vault-Tec started the war, but I interpret it as her stating that the company is willing and able to do it.
This means that Vault-Tec must have access to the means to start a nuclear war, so they must have stockpiles somewhere that their higher-ups know how to access and use. It’s clear that Vault-Tec have their own agenda and everything we learn proves that Vault-Tec see themselves as the only suitable leadership for humanity post-War. They want to be in control of everything and anyone who will not fall in line will be removed.
The Big Meeting With Investors
Some people are up in arms about the people present at the big meeting with Barb and Bud. I disagree, we know most of these companies have already got business relationships with Vault-Tec and government and military contracts. Rob-Co tech is used in all the Vaults. Vault-Tec has connections to Big MT, so Frederick Sinclair being present makes sense.
Vault-Tec is using their vaults to test out technology for space travel and colonisation of other planets, so working with REPCONN makes sense too. West-Tek are a big contributor to wartime tech, including the Power Armor and FEV.
Additionally, we know that every experiment they mention took place in one of the Vaults. We know that Mr House has lofty goals in mind, using New Vegas to raise funds and start R&D with a view to launching colony ships into space. Cut and unused content from the cancelled ‘Van Buren’ project suggests the US Government and subsequently the Enclave had the same idea and the real purpose of the Vaults was to test different things to inform this plan.
It’s entirely possible that Vault-Tec took on Project Safehouse in order to secure government funding and support. They have their own agenda entirely which they did not share with the government. We see official instructions from Vault-Tec informing Overseers to only take orders from Vault-Tec and not US military or government personnel.
Vault-Tec absolutely could have been lying to the government and would have control over what systems the Enclave could have access to. They could easily have their own stuff hidden away and kept secret from everyone but the top level executives. That’s part of the interest, some stuff isn’t explicitly told so we have to figure it out ourselves.
Anti-Feral Serum Vials
The other “retcon” I’ve seen is the anti-feral vials that The Ghoul uses and trades Lucy for. When we first see his grave, there are IV bags hanging above it. It’s not clear to me if they are supposed to be this substance, or if it’s just Rad-Away. Rad-Away is labelled clearly in Fallout 4.
There’s no cure or way to prevent ghouls turning feral in the games, so this is the ‘retcon’. It’s similar to the whole issue with Jet, invented post-War by Myron, according to Fallout 2. Fallout 4 mentions Jet existing pre-war. It’s possible that Myron rediscovered how to make it, or improved it. The anti-feral serum, only referred to as ‘vials’ in the show, does prevent the feralization process.
I don’t believe this is a true retcon, because we don’t know how long this substance has existed. The most recent installment of the game, Nuka World, features a story about park workers who became ghouls and eventually turning feral, one by one. Rachel leaves to find a cure, but fails, and kills herself before she becomes feral.
That doesn’t mean that nobody has discovered something that helps since then. Nine years is plenty of time for someone to discover it, especially a ghoul who has had a couple of hundred years to study organic chemistry and ghoul physiology. Maybe it’s been around a little while and hasn’t reached the east coast yet.
What Are Your Thoughts?
That’s my view on the supposed “retcons” that some people are complaining about. Based on what we know from the games, the TV show fits in nicely to my mind and is absolutely compatible with the lore of Fallout New Vegas. They haven’t even indicated which of the four endings is ‘canon’ and they probably won’t. It just bothers me when people keep repeating the same things without really looking at the facts that we can verify from the show, the games and other official sources.
What do you think? Did you enjoy the TV show? Do you think I’m wrong about the ‘retcon’ of Fallout New Vegas? As always, I encourage respectful discussion in the comments. To read more about Fallout New Vegas, I’ve got some articles discussing the story, starting here. To see where I’m getting my information from, I have a series covering the main story on YouTube, here.
