Vault Boy is the corporate mascot of the Vault-Tec Corporation, appearing in their adverts, manuals, products, holotape games and training films. His female counterpart is Vault Girl.[1]
Background
Vault Boy is a registered trademark of the Vault-Tec Corporation and is used widely throughout game guides and manuals, sometimes referred to as "Vault-Man".[Pub 1][Pub 2] In the years before the war, RobCo and Vault-Tec forged a corporate alliance, the Vault-Boy mascot appearing on RobCo Pip-Boy personal computers.[2]
Vault Boy often appears in cross-promotions with other corporate products, such as with the Nuka Tapper holotape game, and was also to appear in some issues of the "Hell's Chain Gang" comic of Hubris Comics.[3]
Game use
In the Fallout games, Vault Boy is used to provide a representation of almost all stats (perks, traits, skills, etc.) and items in later games available to the player character, being a generic representation of one's actions and survival, and also appearing in achievements and trophies for Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4 and Fallout 76.
He also appears in a Vault-Tec commercial on TV in the Fallout intro, in the "Leaving The Vault" Vault-Tec's video in Fallout 2, the What makes you SPECIAL public information video series in Fallout 4, and the You Will Emerge! educational film series in Fallout 76. He also appears as an actual person in a special encounter in Fallout Tactics, and in Shop-Tec interface in Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel.
Media
Appearances
Vault Boy appears in all Fallout games.
Behind the scenes
- The character is referred to as both Vault Boy and Pip Boy.[Dev 1] For the design, Tim Cain stated that Leonard Boyarsky asked "T Ray Isaac to draw something like Mr. Moneybags in Monopoly."[Dev 2] Boyarsky described the design, as his "idea/design for the “Vault Boy” and the “cards” (as I called them) showing him doing all the different things in humorous ways. By the way, he’s not the Pip Boy, the Pip Boy is the little guy on your Pip Boy interface. The Vault Boy was supposed to evoke the feel of Monopoly cards, and the Pip Boy was based on the Bob’s Big Boy mascot."[Dev 3] Cain stated that "PipBoy is the yellow and red caped character who appears on the pipboy device."[Dev 4] Tramell Ray Isaac noted that the thumbs up is "basically saying everything is ok, when it really isn't ..nothing more than that."[Dev 5]
- Brian Menze was responsible for Vault Boy images in Fallout 2 and Fallout: New Vegas.[Dev 6]
- Fallout Tactics Vault Boys were drawn by Ed Orman.[Dev 1]
- In other media
- He appeared in the 2002 action-adventure third-person shooter video game Run Like Hell: Hunt or Be Hunted (a game that was also made by Interplay), on candy bars called "PIP Boy Protein Bars™," with the Vault Boy Buffout addiction image on them.
- A Vault Boy bobblehead appears in id Software's RAGE, whose story is set in a post-apocalyptic world similar to Fallout.
- In Doom (2016), Vault Boy appears in the game as a part of the UAC's line of Marineguy toys, known, fittingly, as "Vault Guy."
- In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018), Vault Boy appears as a DLC Mii costume for the Mii Gunner, wielding an Alien Blaster.
- A Vault Boy puppet appears in One Man, and a Crate of Puppets.
- Vault Boy is featured in Minecraft: Fallout Edition.[4]
Full Galleries
Comparisons
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Videos
References
- ↑ Fallout 4 loading screens: "While Vault-Tec's Vault Boy is generally identified as the company's mascot, he is often joined (or replaced) by his equally popular female counterpart, Vault Girl."
- ↑ Fallout 4 loading screens: "In the years before the war, RobCo and Vault-Tec forged a powerful corporate alliance. Residents of Vault-Tec's Vaults would each be provided with a RobCo Pip-Boy personal computer, a device which made extensive use of the popular "Vault Boy" mascot."
- ↑ Hubris Comics terminal entries; Hubris Comics receptionist terminal, Press Release
- ↑ Vault Boy Fallout Minecraft Mash-Up
- ↑ Vault Dweller's Survival Guide p. 19: "Above the character card (with the trademarked Vault-Man) are your character skills."
- ↑ Vault Dweller's Survival Guide p. 58: "Above the character card (with the trademarked Vault-Man) are your character skills. If you have any spare skill points (any number above 000), then you can spend them on this screen to improve your skills (see Experience, page 5—21 for more information)."
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ed Orman: "If there's one thing that most people remember about Fallout, it's the Pipboy character. he's always so darned cheery. I get to do a bunch of new Pipboys for the game, and my favorite so far has to be the one for the special damage effect of "immobile." here's the little chap, arms and legs missing, blood spurting comically from the stumps, and he still wears that happy, devil-may-care grin. Bless him."
ign.com (Archived) - ↑ Killzig: "Tim: who's idea was pip boy ?"
Tim Cain: "Ah vault boy. All I remember is Leonard telling T Ray Isaac to draw something like Mr. Moneybags in Monopoly."
duckandcover.cx (Archived) - ↑ Leonard Boyarsky/Fallout Developers Profile
- ↑ Tim Cain: "p.s. Many people seem to think this is the PipBoy, but this is the FalloutBoy character. The PipBoy is the yellow and red caped character who appears on the pipboy device."
duckandcover.cx (Archived) - ↑ Tramell Ray Isaac @PS_TRay: "@Dirty_Camaro its just a thumbs up, basically saying everything is ok, when it really isn't ..nothing more than that."
(Tramell Ray Isaac @PS_TRay, Twitter.com) - ↑ Brian Menze/Inside the Vault