Arlen Glass

Arlen Glass is a ghoul living in The Slog in 2287.

Background
Cofounder of Wilson Atomatoys, Arlen was the lead toy designer until October 21, 2077. He worked tirelessly alongside his friend George Wilson to make toys to help children dream and to imagine a better future. It was their passion that they pursued for the next 35 years, often at the expense of time spent with their families. Their flagship product, the Giddyup Buttercup (created by Arlen), became a smash hit on the market, eventually bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue per year, in spite of its excessive price tag ($16,000 per unit).

However, as the years went by, the pressure on both of their families only increased. Arlen neglected his wife and daughter for years, focusing on his work as much as possible, while George missed his son's birthdays, graduation and his wife's funeral. He brought on Marc Wilson as vice president in a bid to reconnect and eventually abdicated his position as company president to him in late 2077, believing that Marc grew into the toy business, despite initial reservations. His son, turned bitter by years of parental neglect, immediately turned his back on his father's legacy. Sales forecasts for the fourth quarter of 2077 indicated that sales of the Giddyup Buttercup would decline in from $122,000,000 to $110,000,000, a year-over-year loss of 17%. They cited brand stagnation and market saturation at the current price point as reasons for the continuing decline. While Arlen reacted to the news with incredulity, he immediately set about finding new ways to enhance the brand's appeal. These included collectible variants (e.g. mythical horses), alternative markets for boys, Premium Princess lines, as well as promotional tie-ins with Hubris, Nuka-Cola and Vault-Tec. Marc, on the other hand, had other ideas.

The new president made a bid for the secretive SCYTHE Program initiated by the United States government to bolster their wartime production by converting part of the Atomatoys factory into an ordnance production facility. His application was accepted on September 1st, despite doubts by some of the Pentagon staff, as the Atomatoys factory exceeded the requirements specified for the project. Colonel Thomas Nelson, director of the SCYTHE Program, scheduled a visit in person while Wilson and Nathaniel Hawke set about converting three of the five assembly lines for military production of land mines. The first phase of the conversion was completed by October 15, a week ahead of schedule, with production scheduled to begin on November 1.

Arlen was kept out of the loop. He tinkered with leg servos and new paint schemes (missing his daughter's recital), while none of the executives returned his calls or moved forward with his licensing proposals. By October 20, Arlen was desperate to make any sort of headway on his projects, to have something to show at the board meeting. He did not expect to see a representative of the military at the meeting, much less hear about the values of the company being betrayed in favor of patching its budget by manufacturing weapons for the Army. Forty-five minutes into the board meeting, Arlen exploded and had to be removed from the premises by security. He tried in vain to enter and talk to Marc Wilson to dissuade him from the course he chose, but only succeeded in being removed several more times and forcing security to notify the police. The CEO fired him immediately. His dismissal was a shock to all employees of the company, who considered him to be the heart and soul of the place.

Arlen made one last bid to try and convince Marc to change his mind on the morning of October 23, 2077. He left his Cambridge apartment and made his way to the Wilson Atomatoys headquarters. Although he was promptly removed, he managed to convince the security guard to deliver his final plea to Marc, who promptly threw it in the trash. When the bombs started dropping, Arlen tried to make his way back to his family in Cambridge, but when he came home, he only found a massive, irradiated crater. Traumatized, he lay among the ruins, wanting nothing but to die and join his family. Instead, he survived, and the radiation from the crater turned him into a ghoul. He kept on going, using his talents as a toymaker and expert engineer to get by, always haunted by the memory of his family and especially young Marlene, lost without so much as a goodbye. His focus on toys and technology helped him stay sane for over two hundred years, eventually settling down at the Slog, helping out the ghoul farmers with his expertise and trying to put one more Giddyup Buttercup together, for old times' sake and to perhaps gift it to a child in the wasteland. Although a wrench and a tool is far cry from the high-tech facilities he once had at his disposal, he keeps on going.

Quests

 * Giddyup 'n Go: Arlen asks the Sole Survivor to travel to the Wilson Atomatoys factory and recover spare parts for a project he is working on. If asked for a reward, he'll offer a base payment of 150 caps and can be pushed into offering 225 or 300 caps with some speech checks. A third reward speech check, if passed, will give a Wilson Atomatoys ID card, used in the quest.
 * Defend The Slog: Arlen can be killed and usually ends up in this state during and after this radiant quest.

Other interactions

 * If one takes Marlene's holotape from Arlen's office at Atomatoys HQ, a new dialogue option will be unlocked that allows the Sole Survivor to give him the tape and caps will be given as a reward, as well as a unique version of the Giddyup Buttercup toy called Buttercup toy.
 * If the player character has already visited the Atomatoys HQ (but is not carrying the parts) they can simply tell Arlen where to find the parts he needs. Arlen will then give caps and will leave a completed Giddyup Buttercup toy sometime later.

Effects of the player's actions

 * Once Arlen is given Marlene's holotape, he will leave the Slog and wander the Commonwealth. Wiseman will thank the Sole Survivor, as he doesn't know what the Sole Survivor did, but will mention that Arlen finally made peace with his past and left.
 * A completed Giddyup Buttercup along with Arlen's note can be found on Arlen's workshop counter. The note says, "For a child who needs it. -Arlen Glass." It is currently unknown if this will spawn anywhere else, although it most likely appears at a random location.  Two possible locations are just southwest of the Boston mayoral shelter and on a hill north of Coastal cottage.
 * Arlen can still occasionally be seen at the Cambridge crater.

Appearances
Arlen Glass appears only in Fallout 4.

Bugs
If the initial interaction with him is interrupted, it may cause him to no longer speak with the Sole Survivor, but just say "Hmmm..." to any attempt at conversation, making it impossible to start his quest. Killing and resurrecting with use of the console does not fix this.
 * This can be fixed with the console command.

Behind the scenes
Arlen Glass may be a reference to the real world toy designer Marvin Glass.