Seven of Fallout’s most Iconic and Insane Brands.
Fallout: an absolute legend within the gaming world. A game where, if you want to see the fate of democracy, all you need to do is look out the window. Its iconic capitalist post-apocalyptic hellscape has captured the hearts of thousands worldwide, creating lifelong fans since the first installment. Just as important to its vibe of nuclear radiation and misery as its ghouls and super mutants are the brands that led the world to its sorry state of affairs. I’ll be going through and detailing seven of the most influential and insane among them.
7. Vim! Pop Incorporated
We’ll start things off soft with one of the soft-drink companies that did its best to avoid the predatory business practices of the famed Nuka-Cola; Vim! A far harbor favorite. Vim!, made from a combination of Maine spring water and other secret ingredients, restores more health than your standard Nuka-Cola, and without any rad poisoning. The company itself was already a sinking ship before the war, with irresponsible business practices contributing to its economic hardships, for example, the Vim! Ambassador program in which they handed out free samples to potential new customers in Vim! Branded power armor.
6. General Atomics International
General Atomics–Â Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It’s a play on the real-world company General Electric, although a real-world General Atomics also exists, though without the focus on atomic-powered robots. That’s right, General Atomics was a robotics company responsible for creating the beloved Mister Handy, a floating, six-armed robot that can be equipped with a buzz saw, flamethrower, plasma casters, or even miniguns. Gnarly, right? Despite their aggressive capabilities, Mister Handy (Or alternative models like Miss Nanny and Mister Orderly) could be found in corporate offices or even personal domiciles.
5. Poseidon Energy
In the world of Fallout, just like ours, energy is in high demand, and the business of energy means big bucks. Poseidon Energy wasn’t interested in just one kind of energy production; rather, they wanted to build a powerful monopoly on energy itself. One could consider Poseidon Energy as a multitude of business operations in one coat: gasoline, Nuclear, and, most notably in my opinion, Solar. One of their biggest projects was a renewable energy source known as HELIOS One, a solar energy plant with enough power to fuel the entire New Vegas strip, but more importantly, the ability to fire the top-secret orbital laser known as ARCHIMEDES II.
4. Sunset Sasprarilla Company
Sometimes, when you’re strolling through the Mojave Wasteland, you need something to quench your thirst that cartons of dirty water just can’t. That’s when you reach for Sunset Sasprarilla, “The most popular drink in the West!” Unlike other drinks like Vim! Sunset Sasprarilla was an actual competitor to Nuka-Cola, with Nuka-Cola even releasing a flavor (Nuka-Cola West) meant to directly compete with Sunset Sasprarilla. One of the main draws to Sunset Sasprarilla was its special Blue Star bottle caps.
People spread rumours that once you collect enough of the star bottle caps that you’d receive a grand prize for your troubles, which the company heavily leaned into. Of course, like most companies within the world of Fallout, they weren’t without their own controversy; some customers reported extreme side effects like digital numbness, organ rupturing, anxiety, kidney damage, and more.
3. RobCo Industries
In Fallout, no other robotics company stacks up to the absolute ruthlessness of RobCo Industries, founded by the infamous Robert House. In only a few years, they were on even terms with even the largest of companies like Poseidon Energy. RobCo had multiple monopolies thanks to their incredibly aggressive business practices, including but not limited to the total buy-outs of other tech companies that were still growing or that they felt threatened by, to the complete automation of work, leading to the eventual automation riots.
The only robotics company able to compete with them was General Atomics International, but even then, GAI did not have the political power that RobCo did. Most important was their partnership with another tech company, leading to beloved everyday products like the Pip-boy.
2. Nuka-Cola
As far as soft drinks go, there’s really no beating the all-time classic of Nuka-Cola. From Capital wasteland all the way through to the Mojave and even the Commonwealth, you’re sure to find someone sipping on that swee,t sweet Nuka-Cola. Before the war, Nuka-Cola was the number one soda brand in possibly the entire world, even having an entire amusement park dedicated to just the soda.
They had a wide variety of flavors, some developed in-house, but most aggressively taken from smaller soda manufacturers through brutal business tactics. They did everything in their power to shut down any would-be competitor, steal their recipe, and act as though it were their own. Though the soda was delicious, it too has side effects of its own, as any seasoned Fallout player knows. A single bottle of classic Nuka-Cola will give the player 3-5 points of rad poisoning, showing the side effects of its questionable contents.
1. Vault-Tec
Without Vault-Tec, there would be no Fallout. Among all brands listed here, Vault-Tec is by far the most important. They created the Vaults that allowed humanity to survive the nuclear winter after the bombs dropped; the bombs they were responsible for dropping. That’s right, the entire state of the world within Fallout was manufactured by Vault-Tec in an attempt to force their brand dominance. They figured, if they wanted to sell these Vaults they created, they would need to give people a reason to use them. And it worked.
Those who could afford it, or were forced, moved into the Vaults and found themselves at the absolute mercy of Vault-Tec. Within the Vaults, the residents were made into human test subjects at the hands of their Overseer, the ones responsible for their supposed safety. The experiments were different for each Vault; some were benign and had the kinds of amenities any populace would need to survive for generations, and others were completely bonkers, like Vault 112, which contained a perfect simulation that the overseer used to murder the virtual inhabitants before wiping their memories and murdering them again, over and over and over.
