Giddyup Buttercup (Fallout 3)

Giddyup Buttercup was the name of a robotic toy horse manufactured by Wilson Automatoys before the Great War.

Touted as the "ultimate in equestrian robotics", it was a toy aimed at a target audience of little girls and cost $16,000. A marketing poster featuring the horse is copyrighted 2042, suggesting the toy was sold at least in that year. In Mothership Zeta, a single Giddyup Buttercup is located just above the location of the smaller Buttercup Toy in Engineering Core, whilst the Research Lab of the ship is filled with hundreds of robotic horses. It is implied that the aliens would use these toys to take over the world.

Location
One of the Buttercup Toys in Mothership Zeta can be found on the bottom floor of the Engineering Core, after the Lone Wanderer has destroyed the three generators. It is located next to the makeshift bed where Toshiro Kago usually sits. Above Toshiro on the shelf next to the stairs is a life-size Giddyup Buttercup, which you cannot pick up. A second Buttercup Toy is also in the Engineering Core, on the table next to the pre-war bed near the broken teleporter. The table is always there but the toy only gets placed on it when the bed appears. A third can be found on the shelf above the unique Atomic Pulverizer behind a lock (75 Science skill) in the Weapons Lab. A fourth can be found inside the Research Lab. Find the room with full-size buttercups on giant shelves. From the top lookout, looking over the shelves/rows of life-size Buttercups, you can see a small toy-size buttercup near the top shelf. Shoot it off and then go retrieve it or jump and grab at the right moment.

When the player character goes through the Cargo Hold to the Research Lab on Mothership Zeta, they will find hundreds of these stacked all over. From the large number of full-sized Giddyup Buttercups on Mothership Zeta, it is plausible that these were constructed by the aliens. The presence of one such Giddyup Buttercup -- surrounded by five dead "test subjects" -- implies that these seemingly harmless toys serve a far more sinister purpose.

If Paulson, Elliot Tercorien, or Somah are taken to the Buttercups in the Research Lab, they will make several uneasy comments about them.

Alien Captive Recorded Log 21 features Sally being taken to the recording room and noticing a Giddyup Buttercup. The aliens are described as being excited, either by her recognition of it, or by her happy reaction. All of this suggests that the Giddyup Buttercup robots were to be deployed as the aliens' own version of the Trojan Horse in a covert prelude to alien invasion.

Appearances
A large number of Giddyup Buttercups, along with its toy variant, appear in the Mothership Zeta add-on within the Research Lab. An advertising poster of it is featured on Fallout 3 loading screens, and the poster also occurs in numerous buildings in the game.