"Analysis of Consumables and Medical References in Fallout Season 1"

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the first season of Fallout.

Summary

The Fallout TV series features important references to the game, exclusive items and a timeline shared with the games. The Stimpaks, present in the games, are essential for healing in the series, reflecting their miraculous effects. RadAway, Plan D and other items from the games play a crucial role in the series' universe.

This article mentions suicide and includes images of injuries portrayed in the TV series Fallout.

Amazon's Fallout TV series is full of references to the games, although it doesn't feature any of their characters or settings, but certain items are exclusive to the adaptation. Fallout is set in the same universe as the game series with which it shares its name. Therefore, the TV series' references to the games are actually a two-way street. Although the Amazon series takes place at the last point in the Fallout timeline so far, all the items and medical advances also exist in the video game canon.

Various members of the Fallout cast find various ways to heal themselves and extend their lives throughout the series, but not all the items found in the Wasteland are intended to heal. The map of the Fallout series is impressively large and, even with all the empty space, the world is full of potions and technology that can save lives in certain circumstances. Of the items that appear in the games and the TV series, their appearance and function are identical as they share the same continuity.

Fallout Season 1 finale explained: What to expect next. The Season 1 finale of Fallout is suitably climactic, bringing many story revelations, twists and teases for Season 2 along with it.

8 Stimpaks from the TV show Fallout were taken directly from the games
Fallout medical devices are essentially a cure-all

In true video game style, the Fallout franchise has a cure-all medical device that does everything from heal broken bones to bring characters back from the brink of death. In reality, the Stimpaks seem a little to good to be true, but due to their roots in the video game branch of the Fallout franchise, their function has to be the same in the show as in the source material. As a result, the Stimpaks are incredibly sought after and prized for the miracle cure that they are.

A Stimpak contains a mixture of various healing and stimulating agents. Its main purpose is to accelerate the body's own regenerative process and the impact is almost immediate. Stimpaks are not only effective when used on humans, as proven by the Ghoul healing version of the Dogmeat canine character from the games. CX404 is very close to death as a result of his fight with the Ghoul in Fallout season 1, episode 2, "The Target". However, after the Ghoul applies a Stimpak to the devastated dog, she is immediately on her feet, completely healed and ready to meet her master.

7 RadAway is also part of the Fallout games
Radiation sickness is a relatively easy solution in the Fallout universe

The presence of huge amounts of radiation is an ongoing health hazard in the Fallout universe due to the lingering effects of the bombs that fell centuries before. Fortunately, a compound called RadAway has been developed to combat the symptoms of radiation sickness, which often include nausea, vomiting and more. RadAway is administered intravenously and actively eliminates radiation from the patient's body. RadAway is quite common in the Fallout games, but is seen less frequently in the TV show. However, Lucy can be seen benefiting from RadAway in the first season of Fallout, episode 5, "The Past".

Unlike RadAway, Rad-X is taken in tablet form rather than administered intravenously.

RadAway also has a preventative counterpart in games, which, by extension, also exists in the world of the show Fallout. Rad-X is taken before an individual expects to be exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. Unlike RadAway, Rad-X is taken in pill form, rather than administered intravenously. Rad-X can be taken in multiple doses and its protective effect is then accumulated. Unlike some other forms of medication in the Fallout tradition, Rad-X poses no risk of addiction.

6 Plan D banana-flavored cyanide capsules
Many have opted for Vault-Tec's nightmare solution for dropping bombs

The reality of the Fallout canon is rather macabre, since the survivors of both the Vaults and the Wasteland are all descendants of those who are rich enough to guarantee their safety or those who are among the unlikely few who survived the initial decades of the post-bombing world. For some, the idea of living through the horrors of a nuclear apocalypse proves too much, and they choose to end their own lives by taking a cyanide capsule that grants the taker the small mercy of tasting like a banana along the way.

Like the Vaults, Plan D was produced by Vault-Tec. The big difference between the two nuclear contingencies is that Plan D was marketed to those who couldn't afford a place in the Vaults. In "The Target", Dr. Siggi Wilzig describes the poison as "The most humane product ever made by Vault-Tec". Earlier in the same episode, Lucy stumbles across the wreckage of a family home, with the remains of its inhabitants sitting around the dining table where a bottle of Plan D was. The dark implication implies a case of family suicide to avoid experiencing what was to come.

5 Ghoul jars are not named in the first season of Fallout
The yellow vials prevent the Ghoul from going wild

The yellow vials in Fallout apparently allow the Ghouls to survive indefinitely, if they manage to get their hands on the mysterious drug regularly. The Ghouls of Fallout are immune to radiation sickness, since their origins lie in experiencing a large dose of it at once. However, despite their accelerated healing factor and the potential to live forever, their unexpected benefits come with a huge downside. The Ghouls not only undergo a severe physical transformation, but eventually become savage and almost zombie-like in their behavior, without regular doses of whatever is in the vials.

Related all 8 factions from Amazon's Fallout Show (and how they compare to the games) Prime Video's Fallout program brings various factions and major characters to life in series, building on the original games to expand the universe.

The vials are not a cure and do not help a Ghoul return to a more human state, but they do prevent them from continuing down the path of physical and mental degradation. The liquid medicine is taken orally, or at least that's how the Ghoul formerly known as Walter Goggins chooses to take it. The vials can be used as currency during exchanges between Ghouls and their medicine brokers.

4 Snip Snip has impressive and unusual medical skills
Mr. Handy robots were not originally designed for medical care

Snip-Snip is a brand of robot known as Mr. Handy, which was manufactured by General Atomics International before Vault-Tec's role in the Fallout apocalypse caused the end of the world. Although not initially designed with medical treatment in mind, Snip Snip has been repurposed to harvest organs, but now also possesses some advanced healing techniques. In the first season of Fallout, episode 4, "The Ghouls", Snip Snip puts a dead finger on Lucy's hand which, although it still looks dead, somehow regains full range of movement and use.

Several Mr. Handy robots appear throughout the games, some of which have been altered for nefarious purposes, such as Snip Snip. Originally, the Mr. Handy robots were intended to be general assistants. In the TV show Fallout, Snip Snip is voiced by Matt Berry, who also plays Sebastian Leslie in the flashbacks. Berry's human character in Fallout sold the likeness of his voice to General Atomics International to serve as the voice of all of Mr. Handy's robots.

Matt Berry does not voice Mr. Handy in the Fallout games, resulting in a slight canonical inaccuracy.

The Salesman mix is not named in Fallout season 1

Following the video game logic of the Fallout franchise, the medicine Thaddeus receives from the Snake Oil Salesman on the TV show heals the extensive wounds on the squire's feet in a matter of seconds. Everything from broken bones to tattered skin is healed with the help of the unnamed elixir. The Salesman mixes up the cocktail of chemicals very quickly and summarizes it as part of a manic speech: "This elixir I invented cures everything. And I mean everything. But I must warn you. The taste? Not great."

Although the initial impact of the elixir is exactly what Thaddeus needs to continue his journey, the Salesman hints at the fact that his patient may feel other effects from the medication going forward. When Thaddeus expresses his concern about the radiation levels at Shady Sands, the Salesman says: "Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore, do you?" The implication is that the elixir has somehow made Thaddeus immune to the effects of radiation exposure, although this is not confirmed.

This scene is in Fallout season 1, episode 7, "The Radio".

2 Bud Askins' rudimentary Robobrain (and his mysterious syringe)
More advanced versions of this same machine exist in the Fallout games

Bud Askins is one of the masterminds behind the Vault-Tec scheme, and while his accomplices survive in their cryogenic pods in Vault 31, Bud's role as Overseer requires his organic brain to survive in a more simplistic form of the Robobrains witnessed in the Fallout games. Bud's brain is used as the robot's processor and, as a result, the Roomba-style machine also has its own personality and memories. Bud's destiny is necessary for him to take care of the rest of "Bud's Buds" and distribute them when necessary to Vaults 32 and 33.

Given that Bud's new form is clearly unhappy with Norm's presence, whatever is in the syringe is probably designed to incapacitate or kill Norm.

When Norm infiltrates Vault 31, Bud Robobrain is trapped and, despite Norm freeing him, the machine tries to attack the newcomer with a syringe, with the plan being declared as "Protocol 53". presence, whatever is in the syringe was probably designed to incapacitate or kill Norm. Regardless, Bud's brain preserved and active for 200 years is an impressive medical achievement. The Robobrains were designed by the same company that built Snip-Snip and the other Mr. Handy robots.

The Robobrains in the Fallout games are much more advanced, with arms and a higher general level of functionality.

1 "Jim's Limbs" leg prosthesis
The replacement legs in Fallout don't look very comfortable

The prosthetics company referenced in episode 2 of the first season of Fallout, "The Target", seems to value function over form. Although Jim's Limbs is a welcome product for those who have lost an important body part, the design of the prosthesis in question seems to have ignored the immense pain it will cause after use. As such, mechanical replacement doesn't seem to be a long-term solution, especially given the blood loss and Dr. Siggi Wilzig's obvious discomfort. It is unclear whether Jim's Limbs also manufactures arm prostheses, as the company's name suggests that legs are not its only target market.

Related The 11 biggest changes Amazon's Fallout Show makes to video games The Fallout show serves as the franchise's newest canonical entry, but it has also returned to change several elements of established lore.

The Target's metal leg is one of the additions to the Fallout universe that makes its debut in the TV show rather than the game series. However, serious damage to specific limbs is also possible in the Fallout games. Injured limbs are often healed in various ways throughout the Bethesda episodes, so the method in the TV show, although original, is probably a reference to the process in the Fallout universe.

The first season of Fallout is available to stream on Prime Video.

Fallout
Based on the video game franchise of the same name, Fallout is a drama series set in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles. The series follows the survivors of the human race in an alternative timeline of the 1950s, where nuclear war has devastated the Earth, generating large irradiated areas and mutated humans who now roam the planet.
Cast: Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell, Kyle MacLachlan, Xelia Mendes-Jones, Aaron Moten
Release date: April 10, 2024
Seasons: 1