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[isaackuo]

Are we just going to ignore the positioning of that wine bottle in front of Maximus?

Well, it's just, for some guys - not me - uh, but for some guys, you know, when they make it move, it gets all big and hard like a pimple and then it pops. And they say it can happen to anybody but it's still, it's, it's gross.

Fallout "The Trap"

Bonus:

[isaackuo]

FALLOUT SPOILERS

so we all agree this was gay right?

fellas is it gay to keep the zombified corpse of your “best friend” tied up for 20 years and to hold her hand as you pass away

[isaackuo]

Also, let's not forget how Lucy dead cold lies to The Ghoul's face, saying that she "lost" the head.

Now, The Ghoul is smart enough to tell that she's hiding something. Given how important the head is, she's not going to "just" lose it.

But when he notices the Gulper dropping, he drops the issue. He thinks he figured out what Lucy was hiding.

The truth is, though, that Lucy didn't really "lose" the head, because she had a tracker. That's what she was really hiding from The Ghoul. And she didn't lose her nerve no matter what.

Also, Lucy is incredibly brave. She was smart enough to realize that she had a chance to rifle through Ma June's ledger for info on Lee Moldaver, but she felt an obligation to help the person who showed genuine concern for her safety.

The thing is ... she's not stupid. She can hear what's going on out there. She knows that if she steps out that door ... she's gonna die. Like ... she hasn't got a chance. So she can either stick to her mission and try to save her dad, or ... she can do what she feels is right. Even though it almost certainly means she's gonna die. Like ... right away.

That's how brave she was.

But why? Why was Lucy so brave? Why did she decide to do what she decided to do?

I strongly suspect she was inspired by a Cooper Howard movie. Maybe a movie similar to High Noon, where the hero does the right thing even though he's got no chance. I'll bet she honestly couldn't figure out what the correct choice was, so she let a Cooper Howard movie make the decision for her.

As for her spiel about deescalation ... Lucy was smart. If she just started shooting, she'd be dead right away just like everyone else shooting at The Ghoul. She had to at least try something different.

But hey, check out Ella's performance. Lucy is absolutely terrified, while trying to show a brave face. Lucy knew it was dangerous up here, but she didn't KNOW know until right then and there. She could have absolutely lost it.

i don't think enough people appreciate Lucy for the freak she is. like she's all smiles and deescalation talk but when it comes down to it she'll behead a man and think of sticking a tracker up his nose. girl is as pragmatic as they come. she might be naive, might have lived in a society that is so conflict averse its laughable, but she is a survivor who's just never had to rise to the occasion. This girl will literally bite and chew her way out of captivity, with enough strength to keep to true to who she is (not only not killing Cooper in Ep4, but HELPING HIM SURVIVE)

She's not a fumbling idiot, she has a backbone made of steel. As her worldview comes crumbling down around her, again and again, she holds true to her core believes and adapts them to her changing perspective of the world.

She IS Lucy my babygirl, my complex beloved, containing multitudes

[isaackuo]

Imagine not loving Maximus. Cringe fail king. Never makes the right decisions. Quite literally Lucy’s night in shining armor. Doesn’t know what sex is. Stole his power armor from an asshole. Cannot use his power armor properly.

His loser boy personality has captivated me

[isaackuo]

Fallout tracking skills

The Ghoul: I'm skilled in all sorts of tracking techniques, but no person can match a good dog.

Lucy: I have the foresight to install a tracking device but I'm also smart enough to not tell you about it if you try to torture me or use me as bait or whatever.

Thaddeus: Oh, I know! We can use radiation to track the target. I'm sure that will work out.

Max: Uh, I can follow visible footsteps in the sand?

[isaackuo]

I think it's confirmed by the scene where Lucy passes out and Maximus treats her with RadAway. It's the same sort of bag and yellow color fluid. Maximus called it RadAway, and it has a label with "RadAway" on it.

Those are RadAways! He's locked himself in a coffin, pumping himself full of RadAway so he doesn't go feral! It's unofficial but so logical!

Me nerding out at The Ghoul's introductory scene in Fallout.

[isaackuo]

Man. It really bites seeing Maximus (from the Fallout series) be so heavily overlooked by the fandom, when he is such a well-written character. Bar none, he's one of the best fictional examples I have ever seen of someone raised in a high-control group.

The Brotherhood of Steel, in their entirety, are given all the classic traits of a cult or HCG. They boast about having these grandiose ideals, all of which revolve around controlling other people's behavior. They use those same ideals to justify abusing lower-ranking members, implying all the while that it serves some greater good. And despite their supposedly rigorous beliefs, they're happy to turn a blind eye to unsanctioned abuse - because it serves the same purpose of keeping people "in their place".

Then we're introduced to Maximus - a young man who has made the mistake of taking those ideals seriously, but due to the environment he's been trapped in, was never taught how to act on them in a real and meaningful way. And in the process of figuring that out, he fucks up. (He fucks up a lot, because the Brotherhood wouldn't dare teach him anything that might help him function without their support.) But he genuinely wants to do the right thing, and we see that come through time and again as he slowly learns how to be his own person.

And yet, even with all that growth under his belt, getting away from the group isn't that simple. Because, like any high control group worth its salt, the Brotherhood doesn't want you to leave. Sure, they'll threaten to kick you out (or in this case, kill you) - because it keeps you in line. But they'd much rather have you under their thumb, so he still has to deal with the threat of getting sucked back in.

As a cult survivor, I rarely see people like me depicted accurately in the media. We're almost always either scheming sadists or helpless barefoot victims - you rarely see a nuanced depiction of how a regular person, with both good intentions and the skills needed to get away, can still end up trapped in that kind of group. Maximus is an incredible example of how that can play out, and I hope more people come to appreciate both him as a character and how well that dynamic was handled.

[isaackuo]

FWIW, Cooper Howard does have a lot of very sweet romantic moments, but you know that that relationship is doomed to failure (you can deduce it's doomed from almost the start of the very first scene, so this isn't really a spoiler).

So, he's got a really nice romance, but the order of the flashbacks is such that we know it doesn't work out. It sort of takes a bit of the bitter edge off when we find out why.

Still, as you watch the show you won't know whether or not this has left Cooper too bitter to love again, or what. I won't say whether or not the first season even addresses that issue, to avoid spoilers.

Okay y'all, I am a Tumblr old and I have been burned by Tumblr before. Tell it to me straight.

Is Lucy and Cooper an actual potential possibility on Fallout? or is Tumblr doing the Tumblr thing again and convincing me something is a thing that is not supported in the media?

Because like the edits, gifsets, fanart and headcanons look great and if it is real I would be interested in watching it but if I'm being fooled again by Tumblr ship goggles I want to know ahead of time.

[isaackuo]

[isaackuo]

[isaackuo]

The Acolyte (2024)

[isaackuo]

Moldaver and Maximus

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Moldaver basically knew NOTHING about Maximus other than ... like, "He must be different, because he isn't trying to attack me."

I mean, obviously Moldaver isn't surprised to see Lucy and Hank aren't still in the room. And even if she doesn't know why Rose has been shot, but it's not surprising and there's plenty of obvious possibilities.

But there's something about this Brotherhood grunt which strikes her as different. Something that makes her feel like he's someone she can talk to and reason with.

[isaackuo]

"There was only one problem with it."

So, The Ghoul says there's only one flaw with the armor he wore - a weakness in the welding just below the chest plate.

HE WAS LYING

Okay, so people are confused why Cooper didn't simply shoot Maximus in the weak spot when they fought. But there's two things:

Before shooting that knight in the weak spot, he loaded an armor piercing round into his gun. During his fight in Filly, he was loaded with explosive rounds. Presumably, those rounds wouldn't penetrate the armor.

Cooper was LYING when he said there was just one problem. He does what it takes to survive, so he deceived the enemy into thinking he'd go after that chest plate. However, during the ensuing fight, he goes after whatever works.

Indeed, during the fight in Filly, Cooper exploited a different flaw to defeat Maximus. It's a bit hard to see precisely what's going on in the hallway fight, but I think he goes after the same weak spot at least once during that fight.

[isaackuo]

[isaackuo]

So, there's a lot of USians around who are very clearly fucking fed up with their political choices this election cycle, and planning to sit it out.

And I get it! What's the point of voting if there's no one to vote for?

The thing is, I'm Australian. In Australia, voting is compulsory. We don't get to sit out our elections, and I'll be real honest with you - we don't exactly get better choices than you lot. So how do you vote if there's no one to vote for? You find someone to vote against. And there's always someone to vote against.

Now, we have the pleasure of preferential voting in Australia - We get to rank every candidate from 1 to X, and I'll tell you, there's something so cathartic about putting the biggest bastard of the lot at the very bottom of your preferences. I understand that USians don't get that option - you get to mark one person, and that's it.

That means that you get one shot, so aim it at the biggest bastard of the lot. The candidate you most utterly detest. Put your vote in the worst possible place for them. Don't even think about who that vote's going towards, that's not the point. Remember, every vote is a vote against someone. Make sure you fuck up that someone's election day!

[isaackuo]

Maximus (thinks about the question) [...]

Maximus: Bear. No ... no, yeah. Bear.

[isaackuo]

I think he walked up and almost immediately saw she was ready to do it. He intervened because:

He needed Hank alive (and also scared) for his purposes (of finding the head of Vault-Tec and ... uhh ... doing the same thing that Lucy was about to, for the same reason but getting at the root cause).

He wanted to save Lucy from the anguish.

Do y'all think Cooper saw Lucy aiming a gun at her father and waited to see if she could do it, but when she obviously couldn't he decided he'd just do it for her? Or do we think he walked up and shot immediately?