Liberty Prime

Liberty Prime is a U.S. Army pacification robot. He is put back into service by the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel after they find him in the basement of The Citadel. (This is, presumably, the "technological marvel" mentioned in the Brotherhood's faction profile, and the unknown super weapon referenced in one of the newspaper cuttings that appears in the game.) He was originally designed to aid American troops in the liberation of Alaska from communist China. However, he was not completed on schedule, and America was forced to fight a long bloody battle using their other secret weapon, the more successful and reasonably-scaled Power Armor. Liberty Prime would finally be completed by the Brotherhood of Steel in 2277, upon which the massive robot led a Brotherhood attack against the Enclave at the Jefferson Memorial, ironically mistaking the Enclave troops for a Chinese invasion army and spouting anti-Communist propaganda statements throughout the battle.

He requires a massive amount of power to operate, as the Brotherhood of Steel was long unable to power him properly even with the advanced tech discovered inside the Pentagon. His large backpack holds a seemingly inexhaustible supply of Mini Nukes, which he can remove and hurl at enemies like a quarterback throwing a pass. He is also equipped with twin head-mounted lasers. His massive size and strength count as weapons too: he is endowed with strength befitting a forty foot tall robot, and can rip anything in his path to shreds... if he doesn't step on it first. He also appears to have an Energy Shield, as he can sustain massive amounts of damage and short out energy barrier fields by forcefully walking into them. Finally, to inspire his allies and demoralize foes, he constantly spouts anti-Communist phrases (like most of the servitor/combat robots in the game, he seems unaware that any time has passed between 2077 and the present).

Through the computer terminal at the foot of the Liberty Prime, it is revealed that the project was commissioned by General Constantine Chase, and is a joint effort between the U.S. Army, General Atomics, and RobCo.

It would be a difficult proposition, at best, for the player character to get through the gauntlet of Enclave troops, Power Armors, and (armed) VTOL aircraft without the fire support of the giant robot, and it is impossible for the player to proceed further towards the Jefferson Memorial after the Enclave secures it (without exploiting glitches in the program), as the area is closed off by several sets of otherwise impenetrable force-fields that only Liberty Prime can neutralize.

Visual Appearance
Liberty Prime is a massive, forty foot tall robot stored in the basement below the Citadel. It is humanoid in shape, and somewhat resembles The Iron Giant, but possesses the head (and laser vision) of Gort from the 1951 version of The Day The Earth Stood Still. He is armed with experimental portable nuclear devices on his back which are the beta to the mini nuke and an energy drainer in his armor which lets you get through the plasma barriers

Appearances
Liberty Prime appears only in Fallout 3. He is first seen in the lab underneath the Citadel, in his inactive state. During the events of Take it Back!, the Brotherhood of Steel (with the cooperation of Dr. Madison Li) manages to reactivate the robot, who then proceeds to clear the way for Lyons' Pride to the Jefferson Memorial, where he remains until the end of the game. Despite the sense of urgency imparted to the player to protect him in this mission, Liberty Prime appears to be indestructible and entirely capable of defeating the Enclave all by himself with little or no help from the player.

Trivia

 * Liberty Prime's name is a possible reference to Optimus Prime, of Transformers fame, as their voices sound remarkably similar, and Optimus Prime's most common motto is "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings", similar to Liberty's patriotic battle cries of pro-Democracy. Liberty Prime's battle dialogue is often quite humorous, even given the desperate circumstances. For example, while shooting down multiple Enclave Vertibirds like a human would swat at flies, Prime declares in his booming voice that "Death is a preferable alternative to Communism!"


 * According to an interview in 1UP Emil Pagliarulo denied any intentional relation between Liberty Prime and Optimus Prime; it's a completely made up name, created long before the 2007 movie made Optimus Prime a 'famous' name again. Pagliarulo admitted he could have made the reference subconsciously, as he sometimes is known to do.


 * Liberty Prime shares some aesthetic similarities with Gort, a robot from the classic 1950s sci-fi film, The Day the Earth Stood Still, particularly his head (which also fires lasers, like Gort's).


 * It is possible to listen to him speak before he's fully on-line. At his feet in the Citadel lab there is a terminal and accessing this terminal allows you to run a voice test.


 * The nukes he throws, despite being quite a bit larger than the Mini Nuke, have the same blast. This may be because Bethesda wanted to limit the amount of damage he could do to the player, or due to relatively antiquated technology compared to the mini-nukes.


 * When being removed from the Citadel basement via crane, if the player goes outside, he/she can see Liberty Prime's gargantuan leg colliding with the Citadel wall due to the inept guard operating the crane.


 * Liberty Prime is not the first giant robot that Bethesda Softworks has created as a major plot element: The brass golem Numidium has featured prominently in The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, and its successor Akulakhan was also featured prominently in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Similarly, the ending to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion also has a giant humanoid (Mehrunes Dagon).


 * The American Soldiers in the Operation: Anchorage DLC also use some of the quotes from Liberty Prime.

Bugs
It is possible that Liberty Prime will have path issues on the first large bridge you cross, and get "stuck" requiring you to reload a save. Sometimes these path issues can be resolved by destroying the junked cars on the bridge, or by fast-traveling to the Citadel (only an option if you are out of combat). If he gets stuck behind a car simply blowing it up will work; however there is a possibility an Enclave Vertibird will crash in his path, in which case nothing but a MIRV will budge it. Sadly this makes all Brotherhood forces except Sentinel Lyon hostile towards you.

Also Liberty Prime will sometimes simply not move from his starting location.

The player can make Liberty Prime hostile to themselves by shooting at it for a while, but can freeze if too much damage is done, possibly because of the disruption to its routine.

Quotes
Liberty Prime has many quotes including:


 * "COMMUNISM IS A LIE."
 * "DEATH IS A PREFERABLE ALTERNATIVE TO COMMUNISM."
 * "COMMUNISM IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF FAILURE."
 * "CHAIRMAN CHENG WILL FAIL...CHINA WILL FALL!"
 * "VOICE MODULE ONLINE... AUDIO FUNCTIONALITY TEST... INITIALIZED. DESIGNATION: LIBERTY PRIME. MISSION: THE LIBERATION OF ANCHORAGE, ALASKA. PRIMARY TARGETS: ANY AND ALL RED CHINESE INVADERS. EMERGENCY COMMUNIST ACQUISITION DIRECTIVE: IMMEDIATE SELF-DESTRUCT. BETTER DEAD THAN RED!!"
 * "FREEDOM... IS THE SOVEREIGN RIGHT OF EVERY AMERICAN."
 * "EMBRACE DEMOCRACY, OR YOU WILL BE ERADICATED."
 * "DEMOCRACY IS NON-NEGOTIABLE."
 * "ENGAGING RED CHINESE AGGRESSORS."
 * "ANCHORAGE WILL BE LIBERATED."
 * "COMMENCING TACTICAL ASSESSMENT: RED CHINESE THREAT DETECTED."
 * "COMMUNISTS DETECTED ON AMERICAN SOIL. LETHAL FORCE ENGAGED."
 * "COMMUNISM IS A TEMPORARY SETBACK ON THE ROAD TO FREEDOM."
 * "OBSTRUCTION DETECTED. COMPOSITION: TITANIUM ALLOY SUPPLEMENTED BY PHOTONIC RESONANCE BARRIER. PROBABILITY OF MISSION HINDRANCE... ZERO PERCENT !!"
 * "INITIATING DIRECTIVE #7395: DESTROY ALL COMMUNISTS!"
 * "THE LAST DOMINO FALLS HERE!"
 * "DEMOCRACY IS TRUTH! COMMUNISM IS DEATH!"
 * "RED CHINESE VICTORY: IMPOSSIBLE!"
 * "AMERICA WILL NEVER FALL TO COMMUNIST INVASION!"
 * "ALASKA'S LIBERATION IS IMMINENT!"
 * "OBSTRUCTION DETECTED. COMPOSITION: TITANIUM ALLOY SUPPLEMENTED BY ENHANCED PHOTONIC RESONANCE BARRIER. ESTABLISHED STRATAGEM INADEQUATE!  REVISED STRATAGEM:  INITIATE PHOTONIC RESONANCE OVERCHARGE."