 | For an overview of the topic, see Mister Handy. |
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“How may I serve you mistress?”
The McClellan Mister Handy is a robot found in the McClellan Family Townhome in Fallout 3.
Gameplay
Before the Great War, this particular Mister Handy unit served as the personal assistant for the McClellan family, and will still perform commands based on this programming, such as walking the dog and going grocery shopping. The player character can activate these commands via the terminal next to the robot.
Statistics
| Name (Form ID) | Statistics | Behavior | Abilities | Items | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McClellan Mister Handy 00033581 |
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Commands
The Mr. Handy can be controlled via the terminal, the options being:
- Deactivate Unit: This recalls the Mister Handy to its base.
- Walk Muffy: This will instruct the Mister Handy to walk the family's dog, Muffy. The Mister Handy will travel outside, find the dog's body, and try to convince it to stand up. If the player character approaches the dog, however, the robot will turn hostile.
- Pick up Grocery Order: This option directs the Mister Handy to the nearby grocery shop where it will stop at the door and return home.
- Read Children Bedtime Poem: This instructs the Mister Handy to go to the children's room and begin reciting a poem. After reciting a poem, it will return to the pad and deactivate.
- Home Security Mode: Sets the unit to patrol mode, searching out any enemies outside.
Poem
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
and swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
And frogs in the pool singing at night,
and wild plum trees in tremulous white;
Robins will wear their feathery fire,
whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
And not one will know of the war, not one,
will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
if mankind perished utterly;
And Spring herself when she woke at dawn,
would scarcely know that we were gone.
Behind the scenes
- This location is a reference to Ray Bradbury's short story "There Will Come Soft Rains," about a robotic house in Allendale, California that still works after a nuclear war, not knowing that its owners have perished in the atomic blast. The poem that the Mister Handy recites is "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Sara Teasdale, a post-apocalyptic poem.[Pub 1]
- Joel Burgess explained the background of the location and all the references to Ray Bradbury, including the name of the family, the address, dog, and the poem the robot reads.[Dev 1][Dev 2]
References
Publications
Developer Statements
- ↑ Fallout 3 Official Game Guide Game of the Year Edition pp. 428-429: "14.06: TOWNHOME (MCCLELLAN HOUSEHOLD): At the west side of the alley and gardens linking the two north-south streets is a townhome with an unlocked door. Inside, take the Lying, Congressional Style book on the table, and check the kitchen for food in the fridge. Nearby is a kid's bunk-bed room. Check upstairs for a queen-sized bed . Head under the stairs, and locate the deactivated Mister Handy. Using the terminal, you can request that he attempt the following chores: "Walk Muffy" - He heads outside to look for the mangy animal, and is usually destroyed by roving Super Mutants, "Pick Up Grocery Order" - He exits to the grocery, and is destroyed by Super Mutants, "Read Children Bedtime Poem" - He heads to the bunk-bed room, and reads the following to the two tiny skeletons: "There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, And swallows circling with their shimmering sound; And frogs in the pool singing at night, And wild plum trees in tremulous white; Robins will wear their feathery fire, Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire; And not one will know of the war, not one, Will care at last when it is done. Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, If mankind perished utterly; And Spring herself when she woke at dawn, Would scarcely know that we were gone." This is a poem by Sara Teasdale (1919). Also used in the Ray Bradbury short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains" (from the Martian Chronicles). "Home Security Mode" - He heads outside to check for undesirables and is shot by Super Mutants . If all Super Mutants are defeated, he makes his rounds and waits near the home."
(Fallout 3 Official Game Guide/Tour of the Capital Wasteland)
- ↑ Joel Burgess: "So, example: I think the easter egg I'm most proud of is the McClellan house in Fallout 3. I won't detail it in full here, but it's a location full of references to Ray Bradbury, and a specific story in the Martian Chronicles. Only one living thing makes an appearance in the [Bradbury] story: a wild dog (though a family dog in later versions), which had been slowly dying from radiation poisoning. It makes its way back to the house only to die; its corpse is then swiftly removed by the house's automated cleaning robots."
(Joel Burgess on Twitter) - ↑ Joel Burgess: "If you know the source material, the name of the family, the address, the dead dog, the poem the robot reads... all big nods to Bradbury. The house itself basically mirrors Bradbury's story. It's a glaringly obvious homage if you get the reference."
(Joel Burgess on Twitter)
