Movies & TVFalloutFallout show creators decided on their own to faithfully replicate the iconic power armor: ‘Bethesda didn’t know what we were doing’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Movies & TVFalloutFallout show creators decided on their own to faithfully replicate the iconic power armor: ‘Bethesda didn’t know what we were doing’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Prime TV)
A couple added features aside, theFallout show’s power armor is remarkably faithful to the suits found in the Fallout games: big, clumsy, ridiculous. They could’ve wound up looking very different, though, because according to Fallout show production designer Howard Cummings, Bethesda never insisted on adherence to the games.
“They didn’t say, ‘You have to do the game,'” said Cummings in an interview with PC Gamer this week. “They never said that. They said, ‘Show us what you think it should be.'”
Cummings didn’t know much about the Fallout games when he started working on the show, but after reading the script and researching the series, he says he “just loved it” and decided, “We have to try to recreate it as best we can.” Knowing the power armor would be his biggest task, it was the first thing he and prop masters Michael Jortner and Peter Gelfman started work on. That was a slight problem.
“It was so early on, Bethesda didn’t know what we were doing quite yet, so they weren’t sharing assets with me,” said Cummings. When they later showed Todd Howard and other producers what they’d been working on, the response was, “Oh, you’re doing the game,” he recalled.
Working with Bethesda was the opposite of some other production experiences he’s had, where the source material’s owner insisted on approving each and every detail. “I started turning to them, instead of the other way around,” said Cummings, because he knew fans were “going to analyze the heck out of” the show.
It’s probably a good thing Bethesda wasn’t breathing down his neck, because it sounds like the power armor was a hard enough project without any extra red tape. Generally, prop designers will put someone in a green or blue suit and stick pieces of sci-fi armor to them to create a reference for CG artists, says Cummings, but in this case, executive producer Jonathan Nolan “really felt it had to be a functioning suit.”
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At least four full power armor suits were produced, Cummings recalls, though not all of them were wearable. A “clam shell suit” was made for the scene in which Maximus climbs in and it closes around him. We’re seeing a practical effect when the suit opens, but it couldn’t actually be closed with a person inside—at least not without crushing them—so that bit is CG. Another suit was made not to be worn, but to be used as a “doll” that they smashed into things.
(Image credit: Prime TV)
Part of the reason Cummings wanted to produce the suits early was to give the performers time to get used to them.
“The stunt guys have to rehearse in it, and it will look like shit if they don’t have time to rehearse in it,” he recalls saying while seeking a signature for the (presumably quite large) check to fund the armor’s fabrication. “And the stunt guy, named [Adam] Shippey, he could break dance in it.”
Besides the thrusters, the show adds an opening faceplate to the power armor, which is used a couple times to reveal the identity of the suit’s wearer. Otherwise, it’s the same stupid, clunky diving-suit-thing we see in the games. Adaptations are sometimes criticized for being too literal, but I can’t imagine the power armor looking any other way.
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The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in April
The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in April
Fallout season 2 filming delayed due to massive LA fires
Fallout season 2 filming delayed due to massive LA fires
LatestToday’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12See more latest►
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Today’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12
Today’s Wordle answer for Sunday, January 12
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Most Popular
Today’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11
The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in April
Lords of the Fallen publisher embraces fear of the DEI boogeyman, says it will not include ‘any social or political agendas’ in its games
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney says tech leaders are ‘pretending to be Republicans’ to gain favor with Trump, skirt antitrust laws, and ultimately ‘rip off consumers and crush competitors’
If you’re trying to convince me your ‘companionship’ robot is ‘lifelike’, maybe don’t rip her face off in the demo video
Square Enix launches new anti-harassment policy to protect its employees and partners from abusive fans
The Sims begins its 25th anniversary celebration next week with a Behind The Sims episode of news and announcements
Path of Exile 2 numberlord spends 16 straight days killing rare monsters to prove that a stat that makes loot better makes better loot
Palestinian developer raises more than $200,000 to make Dreams on a Pillow, a game about the horrors of the 1948 Nakba
Piranha Games will lay off employees after Mechwarrior 5: Clans ‘performed below projections’
Marvel Rivals’ latest update quietly killed the game’s burgeoning mod scene
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