Toxic Waste

Toxic waste in Fallout games comes typically in two varieties. It will either act as an impassable barrier (like near the Fallout 1 Gun Runners fortress), or, it will hinder the player's movement (like in the Fallout 2 Toxic Caves area). If the player steps on the latter without Rubber Boots a number of times, he or she is in for a surprise!

As a piece of setting, the toxic waste in the Fallout games is very non-descript, it's green and it's gooey, probably because proper pulp toxic waste is generally non-descript gooey stuff. Toxic Waste would often be heavily irradiated, such as in the Toxic Waste Dump special encounter in Fallout 2, but sometimes it'd be totally harmless. The Gun Runners lived pretty much in the middle of toxic waste for a long time, for all we know.

The liquid version of FEV used for dipping in the Military Base looks a lot like non-descript toxic waste. It's a bit more shiny, though.