I did it once just for fun. I tried lobbing Artillery Smoke Grenades, unfortunately Diamond City is considered off limits. Then I went with Synth Relay Grenades. I had to show the Commonwealth that University Point wasn't a one off thing. Obey or face my wrath.
@@xaphaniac I think he was dressed as a chinese stealth soldier. A serial killer called 'The Red Menace' would make a lot of sense with all the pre-war propaganda.
@@dreamsprayanimation It had its ups and downs definitely, especially if you lived on a ranch with the nearest town being 40 miles away. Nearly everyone was poor save a very rare few who owned business'. This was coming off of post WW2 mind you and times were simpler then. Its peoples own point of view really, my grandparents and mother said they were better times but yeah they also had their downside. If you got snowed in during a winter storm, you prayed you would make it eventually. If you didn't work your fingers nearly to the bone, you were going hungry that day. It all really involved hard work. It was kind of like what some of the settlers in Fallout 4 will say, "you work hard, you eat well for a day."
@@richcuatro5338 they actually had higher on average incomes than the Average for whites, they also had higher 2 parent household rates than whites at the time . Stop being ignorant , math and history show that before blacks were used by democrats as a manufactured underclass fed a victim mentality and given incentives to kick the husband out they were on track to beat the democrats own kids so they made sure" for the next 100 years they'd get the N-Words to vote Democrat "
@@thegreenmage6956 matter of opinion I enjoyed watching it very much and laughed cuz I did the same thing before. If it distracts you that bad put the phone down and just listen
Just a quick critique I thought I'd point out: it isn't 1950's aesthetic. It's retro futurism. It's what people in the 1950's thought the future would look like.
I think the 1950’s aesthetic stayed and didn’t change. My reasoning is because of the extended red scare, the government and propaganda was still pushing and advertising the idea of the “post war” family. A mom, dad, nice little house, kids, pets etc. So the populous just never changed their ideas on the perfect lifestyle.
"Red Scare" was a valid reaction. McCarthy was right. Commies did take over the U.S. in the 1950s. "Long march through the institutions". They killed General Patton ffs.
Bread and circuses + soma (massive alcohol and drug addiction) is all what's left of the shell called the United States. It's an Anarcho-Tyrrany State now. Amazing watching that country fall within my lifetime.
Lol the 'nuclear family' was a Commie concept to break apart the multi-generation capitalist wealth inheritance. Instead of actual extended family living together, everyone was split apart. The 1948 movie Mr Blandings builds his Dreamhouse; "a home for our children, and out children's children!" Now they are tearing apart their creation (nuclear family) and trick you into believing The State is your extended family ("your children belong to the state" paraphrased, most {s}elected officials good this belief).
And Sanctuary Hills is definitely a suburb as well. The houses are fairly small (for modern standards) and it seems as though most ppl in their neighborhood had a personal car of some kind (all nuclear powered ofc). So they were clearly all pretty well off. Plus, in modern Massachusetts, that area itself is pretty expensive to live in and as such tends to cater to upper middle class ppl. Additionally, Nate and Nora got free admission to the local vault specifically because of Nate's service in the military (presumably, paid for by the military). We never learn what rank Nate held in the military (or at least I don't think we do? I could be forgetting something), but clearly he was fairly high up in rank if he was offered the chance to give a speech at the Veteran's Hall.
It was mostly done as a joke but we know Nate served as a "peace keeper" in annexed Canada as a dev jokingly confirmed him to be the power armor soldier standing next to the guy executing the rebel in the Fallout 1 opening
Or he was a highly decorated combat veteran, maybe on the status of Rambo - except being a well-off, well-adjusted Rambo from a victorious army, coming home and being celebrated for being an effective killer for his nation, rather than a failed killer from a failed army.
More like its reminiscent of 1950's syfy paranoia about nuclear war and fallout throws everything in there secret government experiments, mutated wildlife and humans, war ravaged irradiated wasteland aliens and even lovecraftian occult type allusions about ghouls and other otherworldly phenomena robobrains...
Yea I could see the red scare becomming so bad against china that new styles of dress or music were looked at as Commie.. so they jys stuck with the 1950's style and advanced it very little... Conservatism is, by definition, Keeping things the same with very little change.. Fascism is Ultra conservative.. Pre war fall out america was definitly fascist..
I am going to die first, I am in Emergency Services 😂 but I have two stashes of bottle caps if anyone wants them 😂 Edit: 2 stashes of about 300+ bottlecaps
It would be interesting I think to get more before and after explorations for for interiors of a building. See what the pre war citizen saw on the public face and then later explore what was really going on.
The cultural renaissance idea sounds perfect honestly. Explains a lot of the pop culture stuff not directly applicable to the 1950s aesthetic. Take me home Country Roads in West Virginia etc
The very thing happened in our timeline too. But instead of 50s culture, it was ancient roman and greek (The renaisssance era) culture. So the idea of a cultural revival of the 1950s is not unrealistic.
If I remember correctly. Where our timeline and fallout’s timeline spilt is with the creation of the micro processing unit. The fallout universe never made this discovery or was never given adequate time to discover it. And this is why computers and technology resembles the. 1950s. Now this doesn’t necessarily explain the clothing issue, but i believe is has a similar explanation. As we know the Cold War never ended. Meaning people were fearful of communism and communism influencing society. Now let’s look at our timeline. The highest of the Cold War would be around 1950s-1960s. The first twenty years or so. How much did public culture or thought change during that time? It was only in the mid 70s ,when the Cold War started to die down, that we started to see real change. And more so as the Soviet Union collapsed. I believe this is tied to staying conservative. People were conservative because they were scared that change would bring the downfall of America and lose that American identity. With that in mind, Fallout was always in the Cold War till China and America clashed. But this conservative ideology would stay because the fear of communism. Now I don’t believe everyone stuck to the 1950s and 60s attire but that was the most prominent during this times. I’m sure there were low points in the Cold War that lead to changes in society but the majority stayed with this 50s appeal because that was American and always had been. I do apologize if this is a bit hard to read, I’m typing this all out on my phone but hopefully my theory is clear enough to understand.
That's a great explanation I listened to a podcast that for the life of me I can't remember but they said that the change didn't really happen because without the invention of the microprocessor there was no miniaturization of technology meaning if kids wanted to listened to music it was around the home radio they couldn't go listen to music like they did in our world by venturing out and doing there own independent things leading to the counter culture so the culture never progressed past the postwar style because there was no means to
You ignore aliens part of the equation. Aliens what you encounter in Mothership Zeta DLC hasn't happened in our timeline. let alone those victim in abduction tapes. So our time line split way over from 1600s Japan at least.
@@normaaliihminen722 There is a lot of the Zetens that’s we just don’t know. Yes they were presence and the government knew about them. But how did they influence the world, we just truly know. It’s possible they had influence. He also didn’t talk about them in the video. I left them out mainly they word just bring a lot of factor that are just unpredictable. Better if I left them as an observer of the world.
From what I understand one of the main contributing factors for the impedimentation of pop culture in the fallout universe was the transistor not being invented untill The year 2067 instead of 1947 like in our world. The impact of this technological delay was the inability to store and transfer large amounts of information over a short period of time as such pop culture mutated slower and was able to be controlled more tightly by authorities. Thus the government of the fallout universe was able to perpetuate a status quo of glorified Americana culture for 120 years longer than they were able to in our world.
I think they should explore the pre-war world a lot more. I imagine also the nostalgia some people, like ghouls, feel for the old world is kind of like how people sitting among Roman ruins or even earlier back a few hundred years after the Bronze Age collapse wrote romantic epic stories, like the Illiad about the past times. Because yes they were bad, yes society was corrupt and oppressive, but it was better than the lawless wastelands where you live in the ruins of marvels you cannot hope to accomplish given what has happened to humanity. My favourite idea remains a campaign where you start in a secure Enclave compound and venture out into the world to find out what has happened and you can decide to do a number of things, including deciding at the end to burn it all down, or be more constructive like uniting the Enclave with the Brotherhood and deciding to use brute force and firepower to restore order to the world.
Wow I like this a lot. Have people start mythologizing the prewar world. I also would really like to have a chance at siding with the Enclave. Seems strange a game with so much freedom has never really let you side with them in any significant way (Fallout 3 you kind of can).
@@Rad_King, there’s a mod called New California, only problem is it’s a little wacky sometimes, and it starts to break a little bit of lore, but for the most part it’s a must try at least once,
Im down for a reformed ex-raider motive in mid-america with an Extra Terrestrial story involving the Crashed Alien starship from the Mothership Zeta DLC outside of St. Louis (cause thats where I think it landed).
The lack of exploring the old world was one of my biggest disappointments of FO4. I wish we could have spent even just one day on the old world. (Perhaps skippable for those impatient ones.) I get the issues of making a whole pre-war map but maybe a car ride/loading screen to the pre-war stadium to see a baseball game. Or a limited area looking for a job or something. Anything to give us a look at pre-war life.
@@mikoto7693, I’ve actually had this conversation before, ended up making the story more fleshed out than it actually was, they should’ve at least let you explore up until Cambridge, meet the neighbors and get to know the political views of Massachusetts, hell, go to concord and actually give that speech or give support while playing Nora, tat least some sort of soul would make me actually care about the world,
I don't care for head cannon since i prefer to stick with the fact. I do however recall hearing that the fallout world is suppose to reflect how people in 1950s America imagined how the future would look like, just like in Flash Gordon for example. They just superimposed their culture onto the future and that is what we see. Fallout like a homage to that old idea.
This seems to be the principle design choice for the series. The first fallouts didn’t lean so hard on the 50s aesthetic and fallout 4 with the synths was a bit different as well that fit more appropriately with 80s sci-fi themes (think blade runner).
As for your comment about fashion, we do still have a relic of the 1950s in 50-75% of homes. On March 1st, 1954, the US detonated the standing bomb, codenamed Castle Bravo, creating a massive crater and changing the shape of the island. Because of the reverence and the supposed superiority of US power with the atomic bomb, the island was launched into popular culture and now, Bikini Atoll is the inspiration of a swimsuit that leaves a crater at the bottom, and a massive curve at the top 👙
I think the 1950s aesthetic never really wore off in this universe. The fashion kept changing, however, all of the new trends were simply alterations of the already existing elements rather than completely new ones. People, given they had nothing to compare it with, did not realize there was really no progress, so they were fine with it. Especially with the fact that the society itself actually did progress along with technology, it might make sense. Or it might be like that - in the previous centuries, like in the Renaissance or in the Enlightenment, the same aesthetic with a dominant style could last for decades or even centuries. So, our mid-XX - early XXI century concept of inventing entirely new styles and designs basically every decade may sound weird to the people of the Fallout universe who might be fully aware of their world not really changing stylistically for the past 120 years
Yeah, things didn't move as fast in previous centuries as they did in the 20th or 21st. It's actually fascinating to look at the fashion styles of 1790 and 1890 side by side, both are fairly similar with changes in the cuts of dresses and overcoats, and what haircuts or facial hair was considered en vogue. You could get away with wearing a top hat in either century.
@bazzacorps that's what it originally was. But as much as I love 3d fallout, idk how someone at Bethesda just... forgot and decided to make up the story that the culture stayed in the 50's for 120 years, for some reason.
@Stephanie-mv9iy I believe it's called retro futuristic. For example, the cars look like something designed in the 50s but run on mini nuclear reactors(I could be wrong).
I think the world stay in a 50s aesthetic because a lot of our fashion and culture is influenced by other cultures and countries and since there was so much animosity with other countries a lot of they’re potential contributions for fashion, music, technology, etc was limited or blocked completely
@@notquitehuman5097 what? Ya never seen a Llama? They got long curly hair on top of their heads. Put a picture of one a them side by side a douche with a Llama cut and they look about the same. You'd be a fool not to see the resemblance.
One other thing that influences my image of the pre-war American society though, and makes me view it more like a desperate 'facade' of white picket fences and prosperity, is that in addition to the many portrayals of said happiness and prosperity, you really get the sense that there was absolutely *rampant* use of hard drugs. Which makes me imagine almost 'We Happy Few'-like conditions.
I've always seen Fallout as The Norman Rockwell American Dream of the 1950s that has gone horribly wrong. The lore you find shows the Pre-War world wasn't just corrupt...it was evil.
He totally skipped right over the fact that the big split was not just the USSR but that the fallout universe never caught on to the use of the transistor. This was the reason for all the large machinery and line code based computers.
At some point canon did state that they developed a transistor but it was around about 70 years after we did; it just didn’t catch on yet. They never made it to the integrated circuit though.
@@jba2048 70 years? That would have been... 2017, more than enough time for it to completely replace vacuum tubes by the time the bombs dropped, 60 years later.
@@davidolvera1031 maybe they made it but never really used it for much untill it was too late. There are times when technology is made but is not used for anything useful until much later.
@@superdays7933 At no point was it ever stated, anywhere, that the transistor wasn't invented or that it was invented at a later point in time. That is Fanon. The focus on vacuum tube technology was for aesthetic purposes, pure and simple.
I think they have that 60s vibe is cause in that timeline they didn’t invent the micro processor that’s why they have retro computers , they run on vacuum tubes and so do the robots. Pretty interesting love the channel guy.
The reason for the 50s aesthetic is in canon. The transistor was never invented and the Vietnam conflict never happened so hippie culture never became widespread.
2021 is going a whole lot better than 2020 so far, just besides my graduation this year it hasn’t been a very eventful year which is better than all the bad stuff that happened last year
@@Eastsidet03 oh, not really. Besides the whole inflation issue its becoming extremely noticeable how much our leadership is either apathetic to doing what needs to be done or is actively in alliance with each other. Foriegn wise Europe is breaking between east and west, Iran newly elected hardliner is now more hostile to us, Israel now a dividing topic and China is starting to be taken as a more serious rival.
People talk about the great divide being the reason it is all still 50's. Although a return to the past is still believable, all the time do we harken back to the past. The 80's were in love the 50's, we're in love with the 80's now. People still like elements of the previous decades, I still listen to music as far back as the 50's.
@Jessiebeanie if nuclear fusion happens in the near future somebody has to make a car that is just like a 50s concept car. Like the Converga from Fallout
@Joeanniespots and there are still companies that make things with 1950s designs. for example, theres the company smeg which sells fridges designed to look like ones from back then
The reason we keep loving the previous decades is because things keep getting worse every passing decade. Our culture and society decaying from social experiments by radical progressives and demographic change from 3rd world immigration.
In fallout 4 there is a globe in the pre war house and the ocean that was underneath Finland, sweden, and norway was drained. And so was the Mediterranean was drained, it could've been a glitch but I think they tried draining it because something to do with oil
It harkens back to an old idea of damming the Mediterranean sea between the points of Morocco and Spain to create more land for cultivation of crops and such, only issue with that is it would be a disaster for the ecosystem and climate of Europe. Good chance they just expanded that to include Scandinavian countries as well which would also have devastating results
The 1950's never went out of style due to the fact things like the Internet never existed. Microchips were not made until the 2030's so computers are extremely basic, and so are tv's. They instead pursued nuclear technology and so without microchips and PCB's society was stuck in the 1950's, locked in place due to technological retardation.
Despite that, it seems that they still managed to do things like the 1969 moonlanding in the Fallout universe, even with those 1950s technological limitations. I mean, even in our world, late 1960s-early 70s technologies were a more advanced than the late 40-early to mid 50s technologies, whose culture Fallout is based on.
@@gtafan9584 And more once the later 2000's come around. Its shown once or twice that a war on the moon took place against the US and the USSR, and a plan to colonize Mars was in the works. The USSR is already on Mars by 2077, and there are like 20 orbiting space stations. So yeah despite some technological setbacks they have very powerful space programs in the Fallout world.
Great video. In regards to the 50s thing, fallout 1 and 2 were depictions of what people from the 90s thought people from the 50s would think the 2070s version of apocalypse would be like. Bethesda simplified this to 50s apocalypse, but in the future.
I think the 50s revival seems more plausible as when looking at the aesthetic of the original games and the new aesthetics as well, it seems like those who were poorer off and just poorer communities in general had more of a 1980s Mad Max aesthetic while only the upper middle class and rich would be able to indulge in a 50s aesthetic of simplicity at cleanliness. Not to mention that in fallouts 1 and 2, many guns like the p90 and desert eagle exist, guns which don’t represent the 50s aesthetic at all
the Pre war culture of the fallout series was a massive grotesque mutation of the 1950's culture which itself was a decadent culture that hid it all underneath a golly gee freckled faced kid.
It could've lasted, it was too entrenched on social problems to last until the future, but if they were reformed and re arranged, they could last, just like in Fallout. If this was reapplied, markets and capitalism would have to re adapt, but hey, it survived the Cold War, it can survive revitalization
ive heard that that f04 supposedly took place in an alternate timeline where the transistor was never invented, causing electronics to be bigger due to the bulkiness of the vacuum tube
It was invented, just much later. If you look closely at some components (Like military circuit boards I believe) you can see transistors. But they look like something from the 1970's or 80's, when we were moving away from vacuum tubes. Much of the visual aesthetic comes from the American 1950's "World of Tomorrow", then blown up.
First video of this channel that I see. Very surprised to hear an analisis and a discourse very uncommon in the fallout community. I’ll be watching more videos soon, that’s for sure! Nice video!
I just came across this video and lemme say, WOW! This video was absolute! From the pre-war lore to the history leading up the the Great War! Spot on! I've always dreamed of a Fallout game that takes place pre-war, and the end-game would lead to the beginning of the Great War! Just imagine the possible endings.
I like your theory that the Cold War aesthetic is itself a throwback. Personally, I've always thought that culture progressed more slowly in the Fallout setting because of the absence of the transistor. In a world without transistors things like TV boxes, amplifiers, computers and all range of personal electronics would be wholly reliant on fragile vacuum tubes, driving down quality an increasing costs. Rock n roll, the British invasion, Saturday morning cartoons and other hallmarks of late 20th century Americana might have been logistically unfeasible.
Another reason the universe seemed to be stuck in the 50s, is because in the fallout universe, the Integrated Circuit was never invented.. that changes A LOT. Another commenter pointed out that in the lore the culture of the 50s remained the default through the decades..
Dude great video, I looked up "Fallout pre war lore" and the first one was a guy saying "What's up guys this is...!" which didn't strike the right cord with me. Also I am a history major and are you either in college or work somewhere in the humanities? Cuz this video really gave me some professional historian vibes which I really enjoyed, instant sub!
So in some video somewhere about the Fallout timeline, they mention that the reason the timeline splits after WWII and everything is 50’s is because in 1952 in their timeline the nuclear power generator. That we see in cars and everything, was invented. So I believe that because those devices were invented in that time they were accustomed to that and because that device was necessary everywhere the need to change the look for it or houses was never needed.
The futuristic 1950's decor is due, in part, to a few key inventions never coming to pass or happening much later in their timeline vs our own. things like the computer chip and the transistor...
Yeah, and it doesn't comfort that some of the people from Fallout Universe are already supposedly born. Of course I am referring to the Mr. House. His 1st birthday is coming up Edit: Mr. House is already 1 year old
15:10 Keep in mind that all near future sci fi “technically” uses alternate cultural universe concept similar to Fallout. The difference is Fallout uses a “classic” culture that is already divergent from our current timeline so it is more obvious to us, where contemporary works uses current culture as a base and move it forward so it doesn’t look weird - yet. If you want to see what I mean, read sci fi books from the 40s and 50s and see how in some of them culture is not that much different from that era. In fact, Fallout appears to be inspired by some of them directly and what they imagined the future atomic age to look like.
If I remember correctly the small transistor not even the micro transistor I’m talking about circuit board transistor were barely getting made before the Great War erupted at least they solved the miniature reactors and energy cells
@@Gilgamesh97C Well as I remember correctly, from the Cabot's terminal (that dude from F4 with the immortality serum) we can read that the transistors were invented in 2023 or 2032 (I cant remember). Well what about big computers? Big computers doesn't necessarily mean worse as scientists before the War were pretty successful at creating self-aware computers and prognosing analytical machines (PAM). They did have transistors but, as you said, decided not to minituarize things
I would say that since the Fallout time line branches off after WW2 from our own, therefore almost everything that occurred culturally in our time line didn't happen in the Fallout time line. So there was never a civil rights movement and there was no hippie movement and rock music was never invented. The Government may have been far more authoritative in the Fallout time line so the 50's stile and culturally didn't change. In may opinion if you take away what happened in the 60's and 70's in our time line I believe that our own culturally today would reflect the 50's more as well. So I think this is the most realistic explanation for the post war American culture in Fallout.
This is what I was looking for. I was wondering about this too, as I was trying to give my character a cultural and historical background rooted in American culture. I was wondering if anything like the civil rights movement had happened or if Fallout America was just stunted by the additional red scare and so they didn’t have as long to culturally progress because of fear, propaganda, government involvement, etc.
I think the 1950's culture was used for Fallout, because that's the time when everything was promised to us. Flying cars, jetpacks, making the kitchen easy for the housewife. There was the Dick Tracy comic strip that had the color TV, communication wristwatch. Buck Rogers was serialized in the movie theaters. There were really bad sci-fi movies that typically tried to scare folks about aliens. Heck, even Superman and Batman had their own serials in the movie theatres. And it was at the height of the Cold War. This paradox of a Golden Age, but with lots of geo-political conflicts and the threat of aliens, is an interesting concept to explore in a future where everything seems to have gone wrong.
I've always thought that the fallout world more or less got stuck in the 50s rut and never left it. To be honest, its a bit of our modern bias showing when we assume things like clothing and culture HAVE to change constantly. For the vast majority of human history you were likely to dress the same as your grandparents and grandchildren. Sure, for the last 500ish years we have see things changing a bit faster, but our modern rate of cultural change is really a new phenomenon. IMO the fallout world is really just the listed changes away from plausible, without the transistor we arn't going to be seeing modern computers and the massive accelerating force they had on culture, or even the diversification in national media we saw in the 90s. Also, if the cold war had stayed, well, cold for a bit longer, without Nam coming along and throwing a wrench in everything, we might not have seen the counter culture become so relevant and knock the US out of that 50s funk in the first place. The 50s was an undeniably stable feeling (for the middle and upper classes anyway) era, and without a draft to rebel against, without the drug culture and the antiestablishment culture that grew up in resistance to it, I don't think we would have seen that 50s vibe go for a while, and the longer it stayed the more engrained in tradition it would become. Hell, look at our modern world, MOST of the traditions we take part in during our childhood have their roots in that 50s golden age. It only went away in our time line because huge, HUGE numbers of people rebelled against it's over reaches, coupled with tech accelerating culture out from under it. Fuck with either of those factors and 'Merica gonna 'Merica.
Also, its worth mentioning that a big nail in the coffin of the 50s society was like... the whole civil rights movement n shit... So I would NOT go around assuming an America vibing like its 53 is all fine and cool about race n such... My money would be on jim crow being the norm right up until they needed black bodies to fight the Chinese. If racism is gone in the fallout world post-war, I'd chalk that up to racist assholes aiming their shit at the Chinese now more than America somehow fixing its problems without changing.
Perhaps it would be helpful to note that the Fallout timeline is divergent from our own. In the Fallout timeline, the transistor is not developed until later in history. This one item can change not only the prevailing technology, but even the culture. Much of the world of Fallout, both prewar and even into 2286 is largely dependent upon vacuum tubes as the highest level of technology, aside from the Institute. This partial stagnation could have had an effect on how fashion and culture which could largely have had an "if it isn't broken, don't fix it" type of mentality. Even as you mentioned, some types of fashion seen today go back decades (or more). It isn't unreasonable to think that the Fallout timeline would do something similar.
My lore is super spotty in comparison to videos like this, but imo the 1950's aesthetic continued, rather than being reintroduced, because the transistor was never invented, mircoprocessors did not exist, and the technological advancements were in analogue rather than digital. This would have been the cornerstone to the retro futurism aesthetic of the 1950's and how technology naturally progressed after WWII and the Cold War.
I like to think that in the fallout timeline, Everything that has advanced for us, didn’t for them and vise versa. Like how their technology has greatly improved while our weapons and cars havent, But in fallout Technology has barely advanced but cars and weapons are very different, How our culture changed, theirs didn’t, How the USSR dissolved for us, it didn’t for them. Thats my head canon
I don't know much about weapons, but cars have greatly improved between the 1950s and 2020s, cars in the 1950s were slower, heavier, larger, had worse gas mileage, and were far less safe, adding a nuclear engine as they do in the Fallout universe does not offer any real benefit over gas, electric or hydrogen engines that exist in 2021 and are far less safe than anything roadworthy in 2021 IRL. There are many technologies that advanced faster in Fallout lore, and technology that doesn't exist today (but still could, given that Fallout's pre-war era ends in 2076, not the 1950s), personal computers on par with those found in the 1980s existed in the 1960s... but never advanced farther than that. Lore about the Fallout world from the 1960s-2040s is pretty sparse so we don't know how much of their advanced tech existed "before" it could exist in the real world. Keep in mind that a lot of the technology in Fallout is intentionally implausible or unsafe.
I think that the aesthetic was stuck because of how they were developing technologically, and that the media wasn't changing their formats and styles. Typically, the media controlls whats in and out
Keep in mind that the media did not have the same influence back in the days as it has now. So, culture were something that came more from strong traditions than from media. Media was only responsible for endorsing it, as it was run by people that had the same culture and way of life.
> the creators Black Isle or Bethesda, you mean? As I'm fairly certain if we were to take a semantic approach, Fallout, without retcons made by later editions, was somewhat "slower" in certain technological advancements. House is credited for the invention of the Transistor in 2033, for example. Atomic fusion and militarization stagnated culture, but also consider that when Black Isle created the franchise, they never really had access to the wide plethora of music and pop culture properties as Bethesda did later on. Consider this: Frank Sinatra, the Ink Spots, Dean Martin, these people all existed in later dates than baseline Fallout. Dead Money showed us that an actual performer for a pre war casino, the Sierra Madre, matched the style and aesthetics of icons from the 1950s. It either didn't change or slowly stretched the actual birthdates of celebrities to a later date, thus explaining why Dean Domino's "dated" sensibilities and fashion. It lines up with Black Isle's original conception of Fallout. In that, the game exists in a world that works with different rules in regards to physics, technology, biology, etc.
I’d love to see the intro scene of fallout 4 extended to at least an hour or two of gameplay, walk to concord to buy some food, then drive/ walk to work. Then come back to concord to get your wife a gift, or something like that, then come back home like the game continues after you play play with Shawn. (If you don’t play with Shawn, the game never begins)
You’d like to see a more expanded prewar world? Bethesda put a lot of time and effort into creating prewar assets for the whole prewar thing to only be 10 minutes long.
They should make a new fallout series called fallout prewar or pre war fallout, and in the game you are in the ending of the war and when the nukes are about to drop but you enlisted for the war and fight or something like that, it would be so cool
Honestly I agree, I love fallout 4's prologue but it could've been longer like 3's. It would help the player get better invested into the story of the game and sympathize more with the character's family [like how in 3 your given time to bond with your dad and the rest of the vault]
The transistor was not invented in 1947 in the fallout universe. Our universe went digital and they stayed analog. Technology was focused on harnessing power like fusion, not scaling and minitarizing technology for consumerism.
Agree to the last but there was a meglo capitalism esque complex, given the few major giant companies and industrialists like house; all kinda like monopolies
You know to be honest that there's one question I always wondered about the fallout universe is what was life like in the southern us and I don't mean Texas or Florida true southern States like Alabama Georgia South Carolina because this is something that the fallout universe is never touched upon and I don't care what anyone says fallout 76 and West Virginia does not count as southern culture
@@Rad_King actually yeah New Orleans would be a good idea but to be honest nothing in Texas I've both lived in and visited the state it doesn't have that southern feel to me I'm actually from North Georgia but currently living in Savannah but if a fallout game was to be based in the south I would suggest Atlanta there's so much in the city and surrounding out skirts that could be explored in a fallout universe for one the CDC world of Coca-Cola the Georgia aquarium Stone mountain Atlanta is the home to one of the biggest airports in the US and just a general Outlook of what life was like just south of the Mason-Dixon
@@Rad_King PS just now remembered Atlanta's got a pretty big film industry believe me I know I've worked in it there's a lot of possibilities just look up some more information about the city and tell me if it wouldn't fit in a fallout game
I have never given much thought to a fallout Atlanta but it seems like it could be a cool location. Ever thought about doing some fan fiction based in Atlanta?
@@Rad_King man I wouldn't know how to begin writing a fanfic never done anything like that before I've been playing fallout since the first one came out back in the '90s and I've just been in love with the series ever since there's actually a lot of places that be good for the game that are really underestimated Atlanta's just my favorite because there's so much that would fit perfectly it'd be a funny new way how to tell a story I just don't want to see the next follow up and get wasted on a location we've already seen a thousand times we've seen games based in New York Miami Houston Dallas Los Angeles Las Vegas San Francisco and Boston paint a time for a change a new location that nobody would have ever thought about because these places that I mentioned they're getting old and there's nothing new to them we've seen them a thousand times and yes if it seems like I'm a little passionate about this it's because I am it's an idea that me and my brother has been coming up with for the last three years
I want a fallout game that takes place days after the nuclear attacks, like if you were at work or out shopping and got knocked out by falling rubble or something. That would be cool!
How about a Fallout game set in New Vegas or maybe the Pitt, but on the day of the Great War and the following days, in order to study how human society degraded in cities that weren't directly hit by the nukes. That would be a great idea!
I want a fallout game where you play months to days before the Great War and experience how life was during those times. Then whoever is the protagonist goes into a vault and emerge years later to see how the what’s going on in the world at that point.
@@gtafan9584 That would be wild. It’d be like a game version of the classic British Cold War TV movie “Threads”. If you haven’t seen it, I urge you to do so. Just be warned, it’s bone-chilling.
Who remembers the descriptions from FO1 that directly said some magazine bins were once full of adult magazines? The prewar world had public, sidewalk accessible porn mags, for anyone to buy. If Timmy had $15 bucks he could buy some titty pictures if a cop or his parents weren't looking. The buildings also had statues looking alot like atlas holding up the world on most buildings that faced the roadways. The fallout pre-war society must have been...an interesting one.
The revival of past music, fashion, and culture has been going on for centuries... Look at the 60's styles and music! It happened again in the 80's! So it was a reboot of the past that everyone wanted when times were simple! Love the ideas you put in thanks!!
From what I remember the Fallout world differs from ours because they didn't invent the transistor. Which has made everything very inefficient. That was the reason for the 1950' aesthetic and energy shortage which in the end resulted in war.
Me: vibing to cool Fallout lore
Background: Unimaginable Diamond City massacre
We may need some lore on why he did that, You never know.
I did it once just for fun. I tried lobbing Artillery Smoke Grenades, unfortunately Diamond City is considered off limits. Then I went with Synth Relay Grenades. I had to show the Commonwealth that University Point wasn't a one off thing. Obey or face my wrath.
@@xaphaniac I think he was dressed as a chinese stealth soldier.
A serial killer called 'The Red Menace' would make a lot of sense with all the pre-war propaganda.
It's a bit distracting. Would prefer more peaceful gameplay but if it's just me, I'd rather let other people enjoy it
Swear he cut down Valentine like twenty times
From the Lore, the 1950s culture never waivered and was prevalent through the years. Its part of the reason I was drawn to fallout in the first place.
Yeah, even my late mother and grandparents said, "they were better times, a lot more simpler."
@@sunayocarissime5309 They weren't tho.
@@dreamsprayanimation It had its ups and downs definitely, especially if you lived on a ranch with the nearest town being 40 miles away. Nearly everyone was poor save a very rare few who owned business'. This was coming off of post WW2 mind you and times were simpler then. Its peoples own point of view really, my grandparents and mother said they were better times but yeah they also had their downside. If you got snowed in during a winter storm, you prayed you would make it eventually. If you didn't work your fingers nearly to the bone, you were going hungry that day. It all really involved hard work. It was kind of like what some of the settlers in Fallout 4 will say, "you work hard, you eat well for a day."
@@sunayocarissime5309 or if you were Black in America
@@richcuatro5338 they actually had higher on average incomes than the Average for whites, they also had higher 2 parent household rates than whites at the time .
Stop being ignorant , math and history show that before blacks were used by democrats as a manufactured underclass fed a victim mentality and given incentives to kick the husband out they were on track to beat the democrats own kids so they made sure" for the next 100 years they'd get the N-Words to vote Democrat "
History lesson as he massacres the the commonwealth. A man of true culture and prestige.
Do as I say, not as I do.
@@Rad_King It distracts horribly from the voice-over, it's a terrible and low-effort video to play over the decent script.
@@thegreenmage6956 matter of opinion I enjoyed watching it very much and laughed cuz I did the same thing before. If it distracts you that bad put the phone down and just listen
Nice pfp
@@thegreenmage6956 facts
Just a quick critique I thought I'd point out: it isn't 1950's aesthetic. It's retro futurism. It's what people in the 1950's thought the future would look like.
Atomic mid Century
*atompubk*
Actually, that would just be 1950s futurism. Retrofuturism is when people in 1998 extrapolate what people in 1950 might think 2077 would be like.
@@geofff.3343 didn't you say that already somewhere on here
@@AtomicMama42 It's a distinct possibility.
I think the 1950’s aesthetic stayed and didn’t change. My reasoning is because of the extended red scare, the government and propaganda was still pushing and advertising the idea of the “post war” family. A mom, dad, nice little house, kids, pets etc.
So the populous just never changed their ideas on the perfect lifestyle.
The aesthetic was nice. The technology was nice. It would be nice to have that back. But with modern ways of thinking not the 1950s thinking
"Red Scare" was a valid reaction. McCarthy was right. Commies did take over the U.S. in the 1950s. "Long march through the institutions". They killed General Patton ffs.
The 1960 election was stolen for JFK but when he didn't play ball...
Bread and circuses + soma (massive alcohol and drug addiction) is all what's left of the shell called the United States. It's an Anarcho-Tyrrany State now.
Amazing watching that country fall within my lifetime.
Lol the 'nuclear family' was a Commie concept to break apart the multi-generation capitalist wealth inheritance. Instead of actual extended family living together, everyone was split apart. The 1948 movie Mr Blandings builds his Dreamhouse; "a home for our children, and out children's children!"
Now they are tearing apart their creation (nuclear family) and trick you into believing The State is your extended family ("your children belong to the state" paraphrased, most {s}elected officials good this belief).
And Sanctuary Hills is definitely a suburb as well. The houses are fairly small (for modern standards) and it seems as though most ppl in their neighborhood had a personal car of some kind (all nuclear powered ofc). So they were clearly all pretty well off. Plus, in modern Massachusetts, that area itself is pretty expensive to live in and as such tends to cater to upper middle class ppl.
Additionally, Nate and Nora got free admission to the local vault specifically because of Nate's service in the military (presumably, paid for by the military). We never learn what rank Nate held in the military (or at least I don't think we do? I could be forgetting something), but clearly he was fairly high up in rank if he was offered the chance to give a speech at the Veteran's Hall.
Nate left as an ssg, according to the fallout Bible, as well as various dlc's.
I thought he was a general
@@Jump-n-smashhow tf he is like in his 30s
It was mostly done as a joke but we know Nate served as a "peace keeper" in annexed Canada as a dev jokingly confirmed him to be the power armor soldier standing next to the guy executing the rebel in the Fallout 1 opening
Or he was a highly decorated combat veteran, maybe on the status of Rambo - except being a well-off, well-adjusted Rambo from a victorious army, coming home and being celebrated for being an effective killer for his nation, rather than a failed killer from a failed army.
I imagine that the Fallout Univers is like what if the Jetsons society was destroyed by nuclear war.
Heh, that actually fits pretty well
I mean they do live high above the clouds.
Jetsons society. Never happened *cocks gun*
There's a theory that the Flintstones is set after the Jetsons society experienced an apocalypse event.
That's a pretty good example!
I think it’s more presented that the 50s culture never went away.
More like its reminiscent of 1950's syfy paranoia about nuclear war and fallout throws everything in there secret government experiments, mutated wildlife and humans, war ravaged irradiated wasteland aliens and even lovecraftian occult type allusions about ghouls and other otherworldly phenomena robobrains...
Yea I could see the red scare becomming so bad against china that new styles of dress or music were looked at as Commie.. so they jys stuck with the 1950's style and advanced it very little... Conservatism is, by definition, Keeping things the same with very little change.. Fascism is Ultra conservative.. Pre war fall out america was definitly fascist..
@@HighFalutinTootin It's not "paranoia" if it's justified.
in many ways, it sounds like we're slowly following the path of the Pre-War Fallout world.
Time to stock up on Salisbury steaks?
@@Rad_King and buffout
@@AnEverydayGamer I'd rather just get to Zion Valley and stock up on prickly pears and banana yucca's. They take care of both thirst and hunger. =)
My idea is to go to vault 87, I hear it's a good place of you want to live for life!
I am going to die first, I am in Emergency Services 😂 but I have two stashes of bottle caps if anyone wants them 😂
Edit: 2 stashes of about 300+ bottlecaps
Honestly a pre war game, or a game that has a large portion dedicated to the pre war era would be so amazing
It would be interesting I think to get more before and after explorations for for interiors of a building.
See what the pre war citizen saw on the public face and then later explore what was really going on.
@@MediumRareOpinions That be so cool.
Well fo3 expansion pack Anchorage is close to it
We are kind of getting that in the tv series
The cultural renaissance idea sounds perfect honestly. Explains a lot of the pop culture stuff not directly applicable to the 1950s aesthetic. Take me home Country Roads in West Virginia etc
The very thing happened in our timeline too. But instead of 50s culture, it was ancient roman and greek (The renaisssance era) culture. So the idea of a cultural revival of the 1950s is not unrealistic.
The Tool Undertow posters in Fallout 2
If I remember correctly. Where our timeline and fallout’s timeline spilt is with the creation of the micro processing unit. The fallout universe never made this discovery or was never given adequate time to discover it. And this is why computers and technology resembles the. 1950s.
Now this doesn’t necessarily explain the clothing issue, but i believe is has a similar explanation. As we know the Cold War never ended. Meaning people were fearful of communism and communism influencing society. Now let’s look at our timeline. The highest of the Cold War would be around 1950s-1960s. The first twenty years or so. How much did public culture or thought change during that time? It was only in the mid 70s ,when the Cold War started to die down, that we started to see real change. And more so as the Soviet Union collapsed. I believe this is tied to staying conservative. People were conservative because they were scared that change would bring the downfall of America and lose that American identity.
With that in mind, Fallout was always in the Cold War till China and America clashed. But this conservative ideology would stay because the fear of communism. Now I don’t believe everyone stuck to the 1950s and 60s attire but that was the most prominent during this times. I’m sure there were low points in the Cold War that lead to changes in society but the majority stayed with this 50s appeal because that was American and always had been.
I do apologize if this is a bit hard to read, I’m typing this all out on my phone but hopefully my theory is clear enough to understand.
It was invented in the 2060's thats why personal computers and other more advanced thing exist.
That's a great explanation I listened to a podcast that for the life of me I can't remember but they said that the change didn't really happen because without the invention of the microprocessor there was no miniaturization of technology meaning if kids wanted to listened to music it was around the home radio they couldn't go listen to music like they did in our world by venturing out and doing there own independent things leading to the counter culture so the culture never progressed past the postwar style because there was no means to
You ignore aliens part of the equation. Aliens what you encounter in Mothership Zeta DLC hasn't happened in our timeline. let alone those victim in abduction tapes. So our time line split way over from 1600s Japan at least.
@@normaaliihminen722 There is a lot of the Zetens that’s we just don’t know. Yes they were presence and the government knew about them. But how did they influence the world, we just truly know. It’s possible they had influence. He also didn’t talk about them in the video.
I left them out mainly they word just bring a lot of factor that are just unpredictable. Better if I left them as an observer of the world.
I'm pretty sure this is canon, I was gonna comment this same thing
You are the only person I know who does lore videos set to what looks like a Genocide run of the game, lmao.
From what I understand one of the main contributing factors for the impedimentation of pop culture in the fallout universe was the transistor not being invented untill The year 2067 instead of 1947 like in our world. The impact of this technological delay was the inability to store and transfer large amounts of information over a short period of time as such pop culture mutated slower and was able to be controlled more tightly by authorities. Thus the government of the fallout universe was able to perpetuate a status quo of glorified Americana culture for 120 years longer than they were able to in our world.
This channel is great!!!
Hey thanks!
@@Rad_King why dont you post anymore
This is like covid government taking advantage of citizens
I think they should explore the pre-war world a lot more. I imagine also the nostalgia some people, like ghouls, feel for the old world is kind of like how people sitting among Roman ruins or even earlier back a few hundred years after the Bronze Age collapse wrote romantic epic stories, like the Illiad about the past times. Because yes they were bad, yes society was corrupt and oppressive, but it was better than the lawless wastelands where you live in the ruins of marvels you cannot hope to accomplish given what has happened to humanity. My favourite idea remains a campaign where you start in a secure Enclave compound and venture out into the world to find out what has happened and you can decide to do a number of things, including deciding at the end to burn it all down, or be more constructive like uniting the Enclave with the Brotherhood and deciding to use brute force and firepower to restore order to the world.
Wow I like this a lot. Have people start mythologizing the prewar world.
I also would really like to have a chance at siding with the Enclave. Seems strange a game with so much freedom has never really let you side with them in any significant way (Fallout 3 you kind of can).
@@Rad_King, there’s a mod called New California, only problem is it’s a little wacky sometimes, and it starts to break a little bit of lore, but for the most part it’s a must try at least once,
Im down for a reformed ex-raider motive in mid-america with an Extra Terrestrial story involving the Crashed Alien starship from the Mothership Zeta DLC outside of St. Louis (cause thats where I think it landed).
The lack of exploring the old world was one of my biggest disappointments of FO4. I wish we could have spent even just one day on the old world. (Perhaps skippable for those impatient ones.) I get the issues of making a whole pre-war map but maybe a car ride/loading screen to the pre-war stadium to see a baseball game. Or a limited area looking for a job or something. Anything to give us a look at pre-war life.
@@mikoto7693, I’ve actually had this conversation before, ended up making the story more fleshed out than it actually was, they should’ve at least let you explore up until Cambridge, meet the neighbors and get to know the political views of Massachusetts, hell, go to concord and actually give that speech or give support while playing Nora, tat least some sort of soul would make me actually care about the world,
I don't care for head cannon since i prefer to stick with the fact. I do however recall hearing that the fallout world is suppose to reflect how people in 1950s America imagined how the future would look like, just like in Flash Gordon for example. They just superimposed their culture onto the future and that is what we see. Fallout like a homage to that old idea.
This seems to be the principle design choice for the series. The first fallouts didn’t lean so hard on the 50s aesthetic and fallout 4 with the synths was a bit different as well that fit more appropriately with 80s sci-fi themes (think blade runner).
@@Rad_King Weren't the synths developed by the institute after the Great War?
As for your comment about fashion, we do still have a relic of the 1950s in 50-75% of homes.
On March 1st, 1954, the US detonated the standing bomb, codenamed Castle Bravo, creating a massive crater and changing the shape of the island. Because of the reverence and the supposed superiority of US power with the atomic bomb, the island was launched into popular culture and now, Bikini Atoll is the inspiration of a swimsuit that leaves a crater at the bottom, and a massive curve at the top 👙
Really? I heard that the name was chosen because "as the bombs affected the world, so too would the swimsuit affect men."
@@Bubben246 Partially destroying them and saturating them in deadly radiation? Makes sense.
I think the 1950s aesthetic never really wore off in this universe. The fashion kept changing, however, all of the new trends were simply alterations of the already existing elements rather than completely new ones. People, given they had nothing to compare it with, did not realize there was really no progress, so they were fine with it. Especially with the fact that the society itself actually did progress along with technology, it might make sense.
Or it might be like that - in the previous centuries, like in the Renaissance or in the Enlightenment, the same aesthetic with a dominant style could last for decades or even centuries. So, our mid-XX - early XXI century concept of inventing entirely new styles and designs basically every decade may sound weird to the people of the Fallout universe who might be fully aware of their world not really changing stylistically for the past 120 years
Yeah, things didn't move as fast in previous centuries as they did in the 20th or 21st. It's actually fascinating to look at the fashion styles of 1790 and 1890 side by side, both are fairly similar with changes in the cuts of dresses and overcoats, and what haircuts or facial hair was considered en vogue. You could get away with wearing a top hat in either century.
@@Blakbox92 yeah, that’s what I’m talking about
From my understanding, it's supposed to be what people in the 50s thought the future would look like
@bazzacorps that's what it originally was. But as much as I love 3d fallout, idk how someone at Bethesda just... forgot and decided to make up the story that the culture stayed in the 50's for 120 years, for some reason.
@Stephanie-mv9iy I believe it's called retro futuristic. For example, the cars look like something designed in the 50s but run on mini nuclear reactors(I could be wrong).
I think the world stay in a 50s aesthetic because a lot of our fashion and culture is influenced by other cultures and countries and since there was so much animosity with other countries a lot of they’re potential contributions for fashion, music, technology, etc was limited or blocked completely
Good. Can't stand seeing these dumbasses in their tight boy leggings and Llama haircuts.
@@skinnernephi665 Llama haircuts?
@@notquitehuman5097 what? Ya never seen a Llama? They got long curly hair on top of their heads. Put a picture of one a them side by side a douche with a Llama cut and they look about the same. You'd be a fool not to see the resemblance.
@@skinnernephi665 Take your meds please
One other thing that influences my image of the pre-war American society though, and makes me view it more like a desperate 'facade' of white picket fences and prosperity, is that in addition to the many portrayals of said happiness and prosperity, you really get the sense that there was absolutely *rampant* use of hard drugs. Which makes me imagine almost 'We Happy Few'-like conditions.
I've always seen Fallout as The Norman Rockwell American Dream of the 1950s that has gone horribly wrong. The lore you find shows the Pre-War world wasn't just corrupt...it was evil.
He totally skipped right over the fact that the big split was not just the USSR but that the fallout universe never caught on to the use of the transistor. This was the reason for all the large machinery and line code based computers.
At some point canon did state that they developed a transistor but it was around about 70 years after we did; it just didn’t catch on yet. They never made it to the integrated circuit though.
@@jba2048 70 years? That would have been... 2017, more than enough time for it to completely replace vacuum tubes by the time the bombs dropped, 60 years later.
@@davidolvera1031 maybe they made it but never really used it for much untill it was too late. There are times when technology is made but is not used for anything useful until much later.
@@superdays7933 At no point was it ever stated, anywhere, that the transistor wasn't invented or that it was invented at a later point in time. That is Fanon. The focus on vacuum tube technology was for aesthetic purposes, pure and simple.
@redsindu New variation on already existing technology, not new new technology.
I think they have that 60s vibe is cause in that timeline they didn’t invent the micro processor that’s why they have retro computers , they run on vacuum tubes and so do the robots. Pretty interesting love the channel guy.
The reason for the 50s aesthetic is in canon. The transistor was never invented and the Vietnam conflict never happened so hippie culture never became widespread.
The non invention of the transistor is just a fan theory, check out my fallout misconceptions video.
@Matthew I think that the Vitenam war still happened in the Fallout universe, as I remember it being referenced in Fallout: Tactics.
@@gtafan9584
Tactics is not cannon. But it may have been referring to the Korean War.
Hippie culture did exist
@@williamisraelgomararias5737
I said not widespread.
Many people ignore the social commentary of Fallout in favor of aethtics
Hey, this sounds like Dec 2020!
Honestly, I would trade some of their problems for some of ours!
@Old Acc fr
2021 is going a whole lot better than 2020 so far, just besides my graduation this year it hasn’t been a very eventful year which is better than all the bad stuff that happened last year
@@Eastsidet03 oh, not really. Besides the whole inflation issue its becoming extremely noticeable how much our leadership is either apathetic to doing what needs to be done or is actively in alliance with each other. Foriegn wise Europe is breaking between east and west, Iran newly elected hardliner is now more hostile to us, Israel now a dividing topic and China is starting to be taken as a more serious rival.
@@Xo-3130 Hmmmm yeah but im saying 2021 has been good for me not the whole world I’m aware that those negative things are happening
People talk about the great divide being the reason it is all still 50's. Although a return to the past is still believable, all the time do we harken back to the past. The 80's were in love the 50's, we're in love with the 80's now. People still like elements of the previous decades, I still listen to music as far back as the 50's.
@Jessiebeanie if nuclear fusion happens in the near future somebody has to make a car that is just like a 50s concept car. Like the Converga from Fallout
Plus anything that can be fusion powered have a 50s retro futuristic aesthetic
@Joeanniespots and there are still companies that make things with 1950s designs. for example, theres the company smeg which sells fridges designed to look like ones from back then
The reason we keep loving the previous decades is because things keep getting worse every passing decade. Our culture and society decaying from social experiments by radical progressives and demographic change from 3rd world immigration.
In fallout 4 there is a globe in the pre war house and the ocean that was underneath Finland, sweden, and norway was drained. And so was the Mediterranean was drained, it could've been a glitch but I think they tried draining it because something to do with oil
It's in 76 as well, I saw a globe in the vault
It harkens back to an old idea of damming the Mediterranean sea between the points of Morocco and Spain to create more land for cultivation of crops and such, only issue with that is it would be a disaster for the ecosystem and climate of Europe. Good chance they just expanded that to include Scandinavian countries as well which would also have devastating results
I think the maps in the game are just lazy, as all of them are just modern maps, which doesn’t seem likely.
The 1950's never went out of style due to the fact things like the Internet never existed. Microchips were not made until the 2030's so computers are extremely basic, and so are tv's. They instead pursued nuclear technology and so without microchips and PCB's society was stuck in the 1950's, locked in place due to technological retardation.
Despite that, it seems that they still managed to do things like the 1969 moonlanding in the Fallout universe, even with those 1950s technological limitations. I mean, even in our world, late 1960s-early 70s technologies were a more advanced than the late 40-early to mid 50s technologies, whose culture Fallout is based on.
@@gtafan9584 And more once the later 2000's come around. Its shown once or twice that a war on the moon took place against the US and the USSR, and a plan to colonize Mars was in the works. The USSR is already on Mars by 2077, and there are like 20 orbiting space stations. So yeah despite some technological setbacks they have very powerful space programs in the Fallout world.
@Stellvia Hoenheim ur mom lol
"Technological retardation" lmao
2 years later and it's kinda terrifying how similar our timelines line up, not in when things fall apart, but how.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who has taken a knife and ran around Micheal myers style on whole settlements
10:22 that kinda looks like a Wolfenstein reference
I can definitely see it. There seems to be some overlap between the two in that regard.
0:41 that also made me feel pain don't worry
Honestly I’ve been playing fallout since I got fallout three when it launched. Completely agree whit your reasoning for the 50s era themed universe.
Great video. In regards to the 50s thing, fallout 1 and 2 were depictions of what people from the 90s thought people from the 50s would think the 2070s version of apocalypse would be like. Bethesda simplified this to 50s apocalypse, but in the future.
I think the 50s revival seems more plausible as when looking at the aesthetic of the original games and the new aesthetics as well, it seems like those who were poorer off and just poorer communities in general had more of a 1980s Mad Max aesthetic while only the upper middle class and rich would be able to indulge in a 50s aesthetic of simplicity at cleanliness. Not to mention that in fallouts 1 and 2, many guns like the p90 and desert eagle exist, guns which don’t represent the 50s aesthetic at all
the Pre war culture of the fallout series was a massive grotesque mutation of the 1950's culture which itself was a decadent culture that hid it all underneath a golly gee freckled faced kid.
It could've lasted, it was too entrenched on social problems to last until the future, but if they were reformed and re arranged, they could last, just like in Fallout. If this was reapplied, markets and capitalism would have to re adapt, but hey, it survived the Cold War, it can survive revitalization
>decadent culture
Sure
ive heard that that f04 supposedly took place in an alternate timeline where the transistor was never invented, causing electronics to be bigger due to the bulkiness of the vacuum tube
It was invented, just much later. If you look closely at some components (Like military circuit boards I believe) you can see transistors. But they look like something from the 1970's or 80's, when we were moving away from vacuum tubes.
Much of the visual aesthetic comes from the American 1950's "World of Tomorrow", then blown up.
Great, as always. Loved the rampage as a counterpoint to how calm you sound
Evry time i'am drunk i find myself on his channel
Your head canon for Fallout's 50s aesthetic is EXACTLY my own!
First video of this channel that I see. Very surprised to hear an analisis and a discourse very uncommon in the fallout community. I’ll be watching more videos soon, that’s for sure! Nice video!
I just came across this video and lemme say, WOW! This video was absolute! From the pre-war lore to the history leading up the the Great War! Spot on!
I've always dreamed of a Fallout game that takes place pre-war, and the end-game would lead to the beginning of the Great War! Just imagine the possible endings.
I like your theory that the Cold War aesthetic is itself a throwback. Personally, I've always thought that culture progressed more slowly in the Fallout setting because of the absence of the transistor. In a world without transistors things like TV boxes, amplifiers, computers and all range of personal electronics would be wholly reliant on fragile vacuum tubes, driving down quality an increasing costs. Rock n roll, the British invasion, Saturday morning cartoons and other hallmarks of late 20th century Americana might have been logistically unfeasible.
I don't even like Fallout, but here I am, binging your videos. Well done on the presentation.
As an old soul I love the prewar time and aesthetics
I thought i had exhausted the pool or fallout lore channels, then this beautiful channel pops up! 100% subbed.
Another reason the universe seemed to be stuck in the 50s, is because in the fallout universe, the Integrated Circuit was never invented.. that changes A LOT. Another commenter pointed out that in the lore the culture of the 50s remained the default through the decades..
RadKing in the audio: Calmly explaining American life in Fallout 4
RadKing in the video: Viciously murdering Diamond City
Dude great video, I looked up "Fallout pre war lore" and the first one was a guy saying "What's up guys this is...!" which didn't strike the right cord with me. Also I am a history major and are you either in college or work somewhere in the humanities? Cuz this video really gave me some professional historian vibes which I really enjoyed, instant sub!
Hey thanks! I am actually in the sciences but have always enjoyed history! How much school do you have left?
It’s called actually having taste, love this comment my dude 🎉
Currently working on a campaign for a fallout TTRPG and this was super useful. Thank you!
great to see this content back up n runnin!
Thanks! I have been itching to get back for some time
So in some video somewhere about the Fallout timeline, they mention that the reason the timeline splits after WWII and everything is 50’s is because in 1952 in their timeline the nuclear power generator. That we see in cars and everything, was invented. So I believe that because those devices were invented in that time they were accustomed to that and because that device was necessary everywhere the need to change the look for it or houses was never needed.
The futuristic 1950's decor is due, in part, to a few key inventions never coming to pass or happening much later in their timeline vs our own. things like the computer chip and the transistor...
I listen to this and sounds like this could be our history before long.
If you look at what’s going on in the world now and what happened in pre-world fallout the similarities start to become scary😮
Yeah, and it doesn't comfort that some of the people from Fallout Universe are already supposedly born. Of course I am referring to the Mr. House. His 1st birthday is coming up
Edit: Mr. House is already 1 year old
What similarities?
15:10 Keep in mind that all near future sci fi “technically” uses alternate cultural universe concept similar to Fallout. The difference is Fallout uses a “classic” culture that is already divergent from our current timeline so it is more obvious to us, where contemporary works uses current culture as a base and move it forward so it doesn’t look weird - yet.
If you want to see what I mean, read sci fi books from the 40s and 50s and see how in some of them culture is not that much different from that era. In fact, Fallout appears to be inspired by some of them directly and what they imagined the future atomic age to look like.
Well in a world where Miniaturization never became the norm it’s normal to see that things would have stay relatively the same
If I remember correctly the small transistor not even the micro transistor I’m talking about circuit board transistor were barely getting made before the Great War erupted at least they solved the miniature reactors and energy cells
@@Gilgamesh97C Well as I remember correctly, from the Cabot's terminal (that dude from F4 with the immortality serum) we can read that the transistors were invented in 2023 or 2032 (I cant remember). Well what about big computers? Big computers doesn't necessarily mean worse as scientists before the War were pretty successful at creating self-aware computers and prognosing analytical machines (PAM). They did have transistors but, as you said, decided not to minituarize things
15:25 Style persists while fashion fades.
The >>> TRANSISTOR
Fallout is a alternate reality to our own. It’s basically a what if video games that has been doing its own thing.
I would say that since the Fallout time line branches off after WW2 from our own, therefore almost everything that occurred culturally in our time line didn't happen in the Fallout time line.
So there was never a civil rights movement and there was no hippie movement and rock music was never invented. The Government may have been far more authoritative in the Fallout time line so the 50's stile and culturally didn't change. In may opinion if you take away what happened in the 60's and 70's in our time line I believe that our own culturally today would reflect the 50's more as well. So I think this is the most realistic explanation for the post war American culture in Fallout.
This is what I was looking for. I was wondering about this too, as I was trying to give my character a cultural and historical background rooted in American culture. I was wondering if anything like the civil rights movement had happened or if Fallout America was just stunted by the additional red scare and so they didn’t have as long to culturally progress because of fear, propaganda, government involvement, etc.
There are rock songs in the fallout 4 radio. And those songs canonically existed.
I think the 1950's culture was used for Fallout, because that's the time when everything was promised to us. Flying cars, jetpacks, making the kitchen easy for the housewife. There was the Dick Tracy comic strip that had the color TV, communication wristwatch. Buck Rogers was serialized in the movie theaters. There were really bad sci-fi movies that typically tried to scare folks about aliens. Heck, even Superman and Batman had their own serials in the movie theatres. And it was at the height of the Cold War. This paradox of a Golden Age, but with lots of geo-political conflicts and the threat of aliens, is an interesting concept to explore in a future where everything seems to have gone wrong.
I've always thought that the fallout world more or less got stuck in the 50s rut and never left it. To be honest, its a bit of our modern bias showing when we assume things like clothing and culture HAVE to change constantly. For the vast majority of human history you were likely to dress the same as your grandparents and grandchildren. Sure, for the last 500ish years we have see things changing a bit faster, but our modern rate of cultural change is really a new phenomenon. IMO the fallout world is really just the listed changes away from plausible, without the transistor we arn't going to be seeing modern computers and the massive accelerating force they had on culture, or even the diversification in national media we saw in the 90s. Also, if the cold war had stayed, well, cold for a bit longer, without Nam coming along and throwing a wrench in everything, we might not have seen the counter culture become so relevant and knock the US out of that 50s funk in the first place.
The 50s was an undeniably stable feeling (for the middle and upper classes anyway) era, and without a draft to rebel against, without the drug culture and the antiestablishment culture that grew up in resistance to it, I don't think we would have seen that 50s vibe go for a while, and the longer it stayed the more engrained in tradition it would become. Hell, look at our modern world, MOST of the traditions we take part in during our childhood have their roots in that 50s golden age. It only went away in our time line because huge, HUGE numbers of people rebelled against it's over reaches, coupled with tech accelerating culture out from under it. Fuck with either of those factors and 'Merica gonna 'Merica.
Also, its worth mentioning that a big nail in the coffin of the 50s society was like... the whole civil rights movement n shit... So I would NOT go around assuming an America vibing like its 53 is all fine and cool about race n such... My money would be on jim crow being the norm right up until they needed black bodies to fight the Chinese. If racism is gone in the fallout world post-war, I'd chalk that up to racist assholes aiming their shit at the Chinese now more than America somehow fixing its problems without changing.
I'm enjoying that you are using Fallout 3 ambient music
Perhaps it would be helpful to note that the Fallout timeline is divergent from our own. In the Fallout timeline, the transistor is not developed until later in history. This one item can change not only the prevailing technology, but even the culture. Much of the world of Fallout, both prewar and even into 2286 is largely dependent upon vacuum tubes as the highest level of technology, aside from the Institute. This partial stagnation could have had an effect on how fashion and culture which could largely have had an "if it isn't broken, don't fix it" type of mentality. Even as you mentioned, some types of fashion seen today go back decades (or more). It isn't unreasonable to think that the Fallout timeline would do something similar.
6:19 damn. What did he do to your vault dweller??
My lore is super spotty in comparison to videos like this, but imo the 1950's aesthetic continued, rather than being reintroduced, because the transistor was never invented, mircoprocessors did not exist, and the technological advancements were in analogue rather than digital. This would have been the cornerstone to the retro futurism aesthetic of the 1950's and how technology naturally progressed after WWII and the Cold War.
I’d love to see an updated pre war video with some of the TV show info in it.
There’s a ton of lore about why the world was stuck in the 50’s
I don't know how this channel isn't bigger
Thanks man! Stick around.
I like to think that in the fallout timeline, Everything that has advanced for us, didn’t for them and vise versa. Like how their technology has greatly improved while our weapons and cars havent, But in fallout Technology has barely advanced but cars and weapons are very different, How our culture changed, theirs didn’t, How the USSR dissolved for us, it didn’t for them. Thats my head canon
I don't know much about weapons, but cars have greatly improved between the 1950s and 2020s, cars in the 1950s were slower, heavier, larger, had worse gas mileage, and were far less safe, adding a nuclear engine as they do in the Fallout universe does not offer any real benefit over gas, electric or hydrogen engines that exist in 2021 and are far less safe than anything roadworthy in 2021 IRL.
There are many technologies that advanced faster in Fallout lore, and technology that doesn't exist today (but still could, given that Fallout's pre-war era ends in 2076, not the 1950s), personal computers on par with those found in the 1980s existed in the 1960s... but never advanced farther than that. Lore about the Fallout world from the 1960s-2040s is pretty sparse so we don't know how much of their advanced tech existed "before" it could exist in the real world.
Keep in mind that a lot of the technology in Fallout is intentionally implausible or unsafe.
Dawg I’m listening to this at work n thought homie was talking about the real world I was shitting my pants lmfao fucking auto play got me
I think that the aesthetic was stuck because of how they were developing technologically, and that the media wasn't changing their formats and styles. Typically, the media controlls whats in and out
Keep in mind that the media did not have the same influence back in the days as it has now. So, culture were something that came more from strong traditions than from media. Media was only responsible for endorsing it, as it was run by people that had the same culture and way of life.
@@1Capybara24 very true. it’s still very interesting nonetheless
@@shawty1564 yeah
Wow im learning so even as a OG player very wild video brotha
The gas was somehow only slightly less affordable
> the creators
Black Isle or Bethesda, you mean?
As I'm fairly certain if we were to take a semantic approach, Fallout, without retcons made by later editions, was somewhat "slower" in certain technological advancements. House is credited for the invention of the Transistor in 2033, for example. Atomic fusion and militarization stagnated culture, but also consider that when Black Isle created the franchise, they never really had access to the wide plethora of music and pop culture properties as Bethesda did later on. Consider this: Frank Sinatra, the Ink Spots, Dean Martin, these people all existed in later dates than baseline Fallout. Dead Money showed us that an actual performer for a pre war casino, the Sierra Madre, matched the style and aesthetics of icons from the 1950s. It either didn't change or slowly stretched the actual birthdates of celebrities to a later date, thus explaining why Dean Domino's "dated" sensibilities and fashion. It lines up with Black Isle's original conception of Fallout. In that, the game exists in a world that works with different rules in regards to physics, technology, biology, etc.
I’d love to see the intro scene of fallout 4 extended to at least an hour or two of gameplay, walk to concord to buy some food, then drive/ walk to work. Then come back to concord to get your wife a gift, or something like that, then come back home like the game continues after you play play with Shawn. (If you don’t play with Shawn, the game never begins)
You’d like to see a more expanded prewar world? Bethesda put a lot of time and effort into creating prewar assets for the whole prewar thing to only be 10 minutes long.
RadKing they should have extended it., I would rather wait a couple of years more for the game to have a longer story, unlike a lot of rushed games
They should make a new fallout series called fallout prewar or pre war fallout, and in the game you are in the ending of the war and when the nukes are about to drop but you enlisted for the war and fight or something like that, it would be so cool
Honestly I agree, I love fallout 4's prologue but it could've been longer like 3's. It would help the player get better invested into the story of the game and sympathize more with the character's family [like how in 3 your given time to bond with your dad and the rest of the vault]
@@santicheeks1106 they should make it a mode on fallout 5 (like in the main menu it says like play fallout 5 and play fallout 2077 or something)
8:30 lmao how he stabbed the mannequin I hate them too bro
The transistor was not invented in 1947 in the fallout universe. Our universe went digital and they stayed analog. Technology was focused on harnessing power like fusion, not scaling and minitarizing technology for consumerism.
Agree to the last but there was a meglo capitalism esque complex, given the few major giant companies and industrialists like house; all kinda like monopolies
The mention of a plague and rampant quarantine nationwide is very eye-opening.
You know to be honest that there's one question I always wondered about the fallout universe is what was life like in the southern us and I don't mean Texas or Florida true southern States like Alabama Georgia South Carolina because this is something that the fallout universe is never touched upon and I don't care what anyone says fallout 76 and West Virginia does not count as southern culture
I really like the idea of a New Orleans or Texas based Fallout
@@Rad_King actually yeah New Orleans would be a good idea but to be honest nothing in Texas I've both lived in and visited the state it doesn't have that southern feel to me I'm actually from North Georgia but currently living in Savannah but if a fallout game was to be based in the south I would suggest Atlanta there's so much in the city and surrounding out skirts that could be explored in a fallout universe for one the CDC world of Coca-Cola the Georgia aquarium Stone mountain Atlanta is the home to one of the biggest airports in the US and just a general Outlook of what life was like just south of the Mason-Dixon
@@Rad_King PS just now remembered Atlanta's got a pretty big film industry believe me I know I've worked in it there's a lot of possibilities just look up some more information about the city and tell me if it wouldn't fit in a fallout game
I have never given much thought to a fallout Atlanta but it seems like it could be a cool location. Ever thought about doing some fan fiction based in Atlanta?
@@Rad_King man I wouldn't know how to begin writing a fanfic never done anything like that before I've been playing fallout since the first one came out back in the '90s and I've just been in love with the series ever since there's actually a lot of places that be good for the game that are really underestimated Atlanta's just my favorite because there's so much that would fit perfectly it'd be a funny new way how to tell a story I just don't want to see the next follow up and get wasted on a location we've already seen a thousand times we've seen games based in New York Miami Houston Dallas Los Angeles Las Vegas San Francisco and Boston paint a time for a change a new location that nobody would have ever thought about because these places that I mentioned they're getting old and there's nothing new to them we've seen them a thousand times and yes if it seems like I'm a little passionate about this it's because I am it's an idea that me and my brother has been coming up with for the last three years
Nice video essay. I like how you chose a not very talked about subject!
It is pretty scary how much this reflects our current world.
Bro the fuckin slaughter happening in the background has me in stitches.
I want a fallout game that takes place days after the nuclear attacks, like if you were at work or out shopping and got knocked out by falling rubble or something. That would be cool!
It would be a very short game lol as soon as you went outside you'd pretty much be dead due to radiation
There are a lot of people that would like a game that starts with the Great War. Would be truly post apocalyptic.
How about a Fallout game set in New Vegas or maybe the Pitt, but on the day of the Great War and the following days, in order to study how human society degraded in cities that weren't directly hit by the nukes. That would be a great idea!
I want a fallout game where you play months to days before the Great War and experience how life was during those times. Then whoever is the protagonist goes into a vault and emerge years later to see how the what’s going on in the world at that point.
@@gtafan9584 That would be wild. It’d be like a game version of the classic British Cold War TV movie “Threads”. If you haven’t seen it, I urge you to do so. Just be warned, it’s bone-chilling.
The academic aspect of this video is stunning. 📜
A better world without tiktok xD
Maybe Tik Tok started the Great War?
@@Rad_King omg imagine 😂 they don't wanna get banned in the US so they start a civil war or something haha
Treppo yeah
RadKing then china stated the great war
A better world without social media
Bro wth is going on in the background footage lmfao it’s just murder XD I love it
Who remembers the descriptions from FO1 that directly said some magazine bins were once full of adult magazines? The prewar world had public, sidewalk accessible porn mags, for anyone to buy. If Timmy had $15 bucks he could buy some titty pictures if a cop or his parents weren't looking.
The buildings also had statues looking alot like atlas holding up the world on most buildings that faced the roadways. The fallout pre-war society must have been...an interesting one.
It's funny seeing a game that wasn't initially made to be taken ultra seriously, develop over the years...
This guy should at least have 430,000 subs
Such a specific number. But I wouldn’t say no! Glad you enjoy the content.
You create excellent content man- thoroughly researched and presented concisely; no BS needed. Yourself and Synonymous. You guys walk in the glow
Fallout its literally inspired in the atom punk retro futurism
Listening to this is 2021 is a little too eerie
Fallout 5 should be the day the bombs fell
Interesting idea. How would you make that work?
Lame asf. Should be like fallout New Vegas where your character is a wastelander.
The revival of past music, fashion, and culture has been going on for centuries... Look at the 60's styles and music! It happened again in the 80's! So it was a reboot of the past that everyone wanted when times were simple! Love the ideas you put in thanks!!
From what I remember the Fallout world differs from ours because they didn't invent the transistor. Which has made everything very inefficient. That was the reason for the 1950' aesthetic and energy shortage which in the end resulted in war.
Exactly, and no one ever takes that into account. Though the scrap electronics texture on fo3 has one, Occam‘s razor.
Cathy straight jacked out of the matrix.