One Man, and a Crate of Puppets

Penny Arcade is a webcomic written by Jerry Holkins (aka Tycho Brahe) and illustrated by Mike Krahulik (aka John Gabriel). It focuses mainly on video games, the video game industry, and gamer sub-culture. The webcomics are accompanied by a weblog.

In July 2008, a special series of Penny Arcade comics co-created with Fallout 3 lead designer Emil Pagliarulo was launched at the official Fallout 3 website. It follows the life of the sole inhabitant of Vault 77 and his crate of puppets and is updated every Wednesday. The first strip also shows Vault 43 and Vault 69.

Story
In the beginning of the comic, the protagonist discovered that he was the only living person in Vault 77, accompanied only by a crate of puppets, as part of the Vault Experiment. During the first months, the Vault Dweller went through the initial panic and depression caused by being locked alone in a Vault. He didn't actually open the puppet crate until one year, three months and twelve days after the lock-up. After apparently developing a multiple personality disorder (his second personality being in the form of a "talking" Vault Boy puppet), he opened the vault to find himself confronted by a 747 sized radscorpion, to which he quickly closed the vault.

After taking some time "to sleep on it," the Vault 77 Dweller was successful in leaving the Vault, riding a giant ant he named Mr. Pinch. In regards to the outside world, he was rather positive, noting while it was hot for December he wasn't really a snow person. He has run into a mysterious Ghoul that has only one arm and wears a vault suit without a seen number.

He is later seen captured by two Slavers and warns them not to mess with his puppet as he is crazy and has "killed before". One of the two slavers contemplates whether to make him a slave or if he should serve as food, the second remarks that he is pretty hungry. He killed the first slaver, Bob, and tracked the second one to the slaver's base where for the first time he called the nickname The Puppet Man. In the end the narrator concludes that Vault 77 was a bad idea ; it is unknown what happened to the puppet man but the bloodstained puppet can be found in a hidden area of Rockopolis.

In Game Reference
In the Slaver Barracks at Paradise Falls there is a Vault 77 Jumpsuit & holotape ('Burn The Goddamn Jumpsuit') on a set of shelves hidden behind the stairs. The holotape says "Like I told ya man, I don't know where it fuckin' came from. But it freaks the boys out. Some story from a while back, 'bout a stranger with no name. Just...get rid of the damn thing. Ain't no good gonna come from keeping it around. Besides. If it is..his. Maybe he'll come back for it. Comprende?".

Also in several vault records all of the scenarios featured in the comic appear such as the man alone with puppets and where women outnumber men 1000 to 1.

Characters

 * Puppet Man
 * Vault Boy puppet
 * Other puppets: The King, Grandma, Reverend Hound
 * A giant radscorpion
 * Mr. Pinch, a giant ant
 * An unnamed ghoul
 * Slavers, including Bob.