#i wish there were hancock/Gage interactions in the game

[maxs-hot-takes]

Coming out of my art block to draw a tiny bit of my favorite rare pair

[guardianofmemes]

fallout 4 companions best to worst

with funny images at the start of each character review! DLC companions included! also BIG TIME SPOILERS FOR FALLOUT 4 OKAY 3 2 1 GOOOO!

1. nick valentine - clockwork PI 

positives: he’s a robot detective who loves neon and smokes even though he has no lungs you know he’s a man who appreciates aesthetic.

negatives: none

2. old longfellow - old salty 

positive: grandpa time. he's perfect. this man is everyone's rough and tumble but supportive grandfather. he's a rough block of wood, well worn and with a sense of humor, drinking habits, great dialogue, fantastic personality and can follow you around, he never outwears his welcome. he can even follow you around the commonwealth. rivals nick valentine for best companion to me.negative: i can't really think of ANY.

3. codsworth - lovable orb 

positives: truly a stalwart companion, never abandons you, waited 2 centuries for the player character. it made me upset you couldn't romance them, the character who truly had a connection with you. they're fantastic and the top 3 was a REALLY close call.

negatives: cannot romance, wHY TODD YOU COWARD

4. preston garvey - minutemen general 

positive:  i can't even bring myself to post a jokey image for him he's just that good. god his character is good. he's a broken man, but he still doesn't stop helping others, or giving up hope. he's truly a good person, but not unrealistic. he has his limits, and can bend and break. and unlike other companions strangely, he DOES have more loyalty breaking points than the others, like if you side with raiders he will shoot you on sight. unless you deviate from the carefully curated quest paths in which case aaaaaaa also his backstory good, and i like how he faces his inner demons, altho i wish he'd just take the mantle of general. he honestly deserves it.

DOWNSIDES: ANOTHER SETTLEMENT NEEdS OUR HELP. making any companion a never ending, radiant quest hub, is a BAD FECKIN IDEA BOYO. BUCKO ITS A BAD IDEA. as a result of him being a radiant quest hub, its the onbly thing people know about him, care about, and experience while in game, because before and after every character interaction is something about his radiant quest hub quests. also romancing him feels HORRIBLE just like mac cready.

5. john maccready - ratface 

positives:  Positives, I like snarky mercs. And he had real Scout vibes.Honestly if you forget he existed in any other fallout games, on his own he's a decent companion. I like having him around, he's like that coworker of yours who keeps stealing office supplies but he always has spare smokes if you ask. honestly maccready is like if you dipped piper in the FEV. he's just a better version of her.  she's too heavy handed i'm sorry

negative:  again bethesda's bad design about being afraid of upsetting consumers. because once you finish his personal quest, spoilers getting the cure for his infant son's sickness, he should IMMEDAITELY RETURN TO HIS SON. WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE MAC AND CHEESE. GO RAISE YOUR SON. also romancing him just feels dirty and manipulative. this MAN IS CLEARLY STILL GREIVING FOR HIS DEAD WIFE!!!  most of the romance paths honestly feel dirty and manipulative to me, like you're taking advantage of their friendship and trust in you

6. Ada - actual wife 

positives: i love robots and this is like if curie didn't suck and wasn't born sexy yesterday. she has a character arc and is cool and has personality and also she's made of different robot parts when she starts out and that's cool. her story is good and even her generic lines are charming.

negatives: after the mechanist dlc is over she has no more unique cool things to say, and its sad they didn't prepare enough dialogue for her

7. john danse - paladin pants 

positives: danse is a trooper, he's a boot boy yeah. in literal apocalypse land tho, understandable. also he is loyal to his team and anyone he considers his friends. once he spoilers is exiled from the brotherhood for being a synth and loses his way he does lose some of his hangups, becomes a more thoughtful person. his character arc is good, i like how he ends up.

negatives: holy fuck my cat just jumped in my lap he's like my way or the highway haha. anyways back to pants paladin. like i said he has some hangups, aka his racism from living in the brotherhood, a proto-fascist military cult. but honestly this doesn't make him a bad character, and he does get better from it. i'm gonna be real here the only negative about him is again, THE ROMANCE PATH. IT FEELS SO NEGATIVE AND DIRTY AND MANIPULATIVE. like i see people say he's a bad character but no he's just a bad person. and even then, he does learn and adapt.you can have characters who aren't good people in your stories

8. piper - waifu bait 

positive:  extra extra read all about it, the tracer of fallout 4 not totally a bad thing tho, she's just.obviously the companion you're supposed to like the most.

negative:  her quirkiness has its charms but it can be KINDA much sometimes. also she’s obvious waifu bait. however in the end she's really more a person i'd want to argue with as a friend and hang just chill around she's pushy tho and i don't like being railroaded into certain quests or storybeats.

9. dog - dog 

positive: dog is dog

negative: is not robot detective or butler, but is still good

10. deacon - MY EYES!!! 

positives: charming spy man, so deep in the weeds he doesn't even know his own past or even if he's a synth. that's quirky and cute. he also has that very obvious spy charm of, his disguise is just him wearing clothes. iits funny like superman putting glasses on.

negatives: honestly he's just kinda bland. he's such a mystery wrapped in an enigma locked in a puzzlebox owned by that demon guy with the needles in his head, that there's nothing to know about him. really i can't figure him out. or get to know him.then again some of that is due to trust issues. i mean neat character trait but there's not much for me to consume here.

11. john hancock - anarcho beef jerky 

positive:  he's a pretty free wheeling kinda dude and i like that, he stands up against bad authority, to an extent, and that's where some of my issues crop up

negative:  it could also be blamed on shitty bethesda afraid you wouldn't do certain content if it locked you out of your favorite companions, but he'll stand with you through allying with the institute, the brotherhood, anyone. also his anarchist leadership style has resulted in a lot of issues for his community he doesn't seem keen on fixing or reflecting on anytime soon. also constant substance abuse and he'll encourage you to take on the party hardy lifestyle tooi just look at freeside i mean goodneighbor i mean freeside and i think "man you're supposed to be the king i mean the mayor you should do better". ripoff of the king i'm gonna rip off the bandaid tbh, not even as cool as the king. the king really looked out for freesiders while hancock kinda just... meanders about the place. being mayor with no authority on purpose just makes you, a guy who kills people sometimes.

12. automatron - build-a-bear workshop BUT WITH GUN 

positive: there's a few distinct personality modules and voice actors for the automatron companions, each one is enjoyable, i liked them, and they were all different from each other. i consider them like mini companions. plus being able to build your very own custom robots with any parts you want is the most epic part of this companion.

negative: the dialogue for the voice actor packs is pretty limited, like pretty limited. not a lot to hear before they loop. i'd have to say these are more neutral than even X6-88 for me

13. X6-88: oh that uniquely named courser that showed up as i destroyed the institute, wait he was a companion??? 

positives:

okay negatives time

negatives:for real tho he's just uh, again kind of a Nothing character. not as disappointing as Strong tho. As an institute courser he's just... well he just Is. he exists. doesn't really question his nature tho, or consider what life would be like outside the institute... its like if Danse had no character arc at all and spoilers just stayed in the brotherhood like a good proto-fascist feudalistic power armored boot boy. he feels like a quota like todd howard walked in the design room and said "we need an institute companion" and then the designers said "... fuck. we're almost done with the game's story okay lets cook something up". i'd have to say he's perfectly average. he's like the bland guy from the wendys commercials about how spicy their chicken is

14. porter gage - why do i keep stepping on this rake 

positives: his armor looks cool, and his voice actor is good. i like that a raider character is portrayed by a sneaky advisor type instead of just a chest beating tough guy on chems. porter is an interesting take, and his motivations and methods are interesting.

negatives: his motivations don't make sense though. he's seen over and over in his life that raiders simply are unsustainable and don't work, always breaking apart. yet he... still wants to be a raider, and advise raider gangs? it doesn't make sense. also if you buddy up with him preston will hate you, and you have to eliminate your OWN settlements in the commonwealth. sorry porter but i'm not willing to make that kind of sacrifice at all. he's alright as a character but not really deep. having a backstory doesn't mean you're deep, that's Bethesda Deep™. Bad, no. Die now with the rest of nuka world, gage.

15. strong - fallout 3 was a mistake 

positives: non-human companion, i like that. super mutants are always cool

negatives: lumpy and misshappen as fuck oh god he's like a slab of moldy ribs. also his character? what character? he's just a bog standard super mutant, not even a cool one from the west coast. he's just an orc, a raider painted green with half a brain and a penchant for eating people. he doesn't change or evolve, he's just. he's a Nothing character.

16. curie - born french yesterday 

positives:  so i guess i should start with the positives since that's a trend in this list now. positives! robot, and one that's both aware of how the world's dead but wants to learn, and make it better. i always like robots, and well. uh. robot. i'm out of positives now.

negatives: she is the living embodiment of th e born sexy yesterday trope. profoundly naive, yet unimaginably wise. and spoilers once she gets a SEXAYYYYY human bod from a braindead synth, her naive nature is played up even further as WHAT EEZ DIS STRANGE FEELING UWU I FEEL HORMONE AND LUUUV its bad, its bad its bad. french maid plus nurse wrapped into one, with the mind of a child, aka its the born sexy yesterday trope. and you can only fuc once she's out of the robot body and this makes betheseda COWARDS. LET ME HAVE MY ROBOTS.

17. cait - drug

positive:

negative: commit go away from my game. rude, not fun to be around, substance abuse storyline is NOT handled well. also in boston the one irish character is all fucked up come on man.

[atombombbagel]

Ahhhh these make me feel sad for Nate. Can you do a third version where Nate can be happy too and everyone is friends? 🐣

Okay! So this is another Alternate Ending (we’ll call it ALT 3) to the Nate Drama! 

PART 1ALTERNATE ENDING 1ALTERNATE ENDING 2

Sole was a little frightened by the way Nate might react to thenews. She was leaving him, for good. Nate smiled as Sole appeared in his sightsand she returned the look with a polite smile. Sole looked down at the groundfor a moment, she didn’t want to hurt him, but she also couldn’t lie to himabout how she felt. It wouldn’t be fair on either of them, or the [companion] shewas currently dating. The whole situation was complicated.

“You’re back, I know this was a lot to take in,” Nateacknowledged, wrapping his arms around Sole in a brief hug. Sole smiled with uncertainty at him. “Are you alright?” he asked in concern and Sole shook her head.

“Nate… I can’t be with you,” Sole admitted, her gaze fallingback to the ground. She felt ashamed that she couldn’t look him in the eye asshe spoke. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. She was surprised when Nate reached forwardand gently rubbed her arm.

“I understand. I’ve heard a lot about what you’ve done aroundthe Commonwealth.” He smiled at her. “You’ve changed and that’s okay.”

“I don’t… you’re okay with this?” Sole stepped back in confusion.This definitely wasn’t how she was expecting things to go. Nate looked behindSole, noticing the [companion] standing behind her.

“Is this?” Sole nodded. “If Sole’s fallen in love with you, thenyou must be great and she trusts you.” He reached out his hand. “Nice to meetyou,” he said with a smile plastered on his face.

Cait: Caitwas shocked with how nice Nate was being with Sole. She for a fact would feelangry and betrayed if she was in Nate’s shoes. Cait looked from Sole to Nate. Whatwas he playing at? Surely he was pulling their leg? She cocked an eyebrow.

“What’s yer game?” Cait asked tiltingher head. Nate chuckled and smiled at Cait. He looked genuine but Cait couldn’tshake off the bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“No game.” He shrugged. “I just want Sole to behappy.” Cait finally reached forward and shook his hand. That was awfully niceof him but she still wasn’t buying it. “I’m happy for you Sole, truly,” he said,looking back over at Sole.

“Thank you,” Sole replied with a smile. She reachedover and squeezed Cait’s hand.

“I hope we can remain friends.” Nate turned towardsCait. “It was nice to meet you,” he finished before turning around. Cait wasstill in a state of shock. She turned to look at Sole, her hand still firmly inSole’s.

“Did he just give us his blessin’?” Cait askedslack-jawed and Sole nodded.

“Yeah, he did.”

Curie: “Itis a pleasure,” Curie enunciated, reaching for Nate’s hand and shaking it. “I’veheard so much about you monsieur,” she added. Nate beamed from ear to ear.

“Good things I hope,” Nate said witha laugh. His eyes softened as he looked at the two of them. Sole wrapped an armaround Curie. “I’m so happy you found someone to love you.” Sole blushed, lookingdown. Curie and Sole were both glad Nate felt this way about their relationship,that he was accepting. Sole wrapped her arms around Nate’s neck, giving him a quicksqueeze before she pulled away and pecked his cheek.

“Thank you for understanding,” Solewhispered and Nate smiled. “I hope you stick around and get to know her, she’swonderful.” Curie heard Sole and blushed, looking away. She couldn’t wait to getto know Nate and hear all the wonderful stories he’d shared with Sole. Solelooked back and beamed at Curie in admiration.

“I’d like that, a lot,” Nate said.

“Oh!” Curie exclaimed in excitement. “Weshould all go out for a nice meal!”

Danse: “PaladinDanse-” Danse clasped Nate’s hand and shook it firmly, looking over at Sole ashe did so. This is what people did right? When they met their girlfriend’s ex? Hedidn’t know, he hadn’t been in this situation before but he remained polite inany case. “You can just call me Danse, sir.” He shook his head. “Nate.” He’dmessed up their first interaction, hadn’t he? He turned to Sole who was giggling.

“That’s quite a handshake,” Natejoked, laughing lightly and Danse smiled. “Anyhow,” Nate started, “its nice tomeet the man who’s been looking after Sole.” Danse’s cheeks turned red.

“It’s an honour too. Sole is quitethe woman,” Danse wrapped his arm around Sole’s shoulder, squeezing her lightly.“She’s helped me through a lot recently.”

“That’s Sole for you, always thehelper.” Nate smiled at Sole, “I’m happy for the two of you. And don’t worry, Iwon’t get in your way,” he paused. “It was good to see you Sole, I wish you twoall the best.” Sole reached forward and hugged him.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “You too.”

Deacon:Deacon was unsure whether he should shake Nate’s hand or not. Would it be rudenot to? He wasn’t suited for situations like this. Sole looked over at Deacon,nudging his arm with her elbow.

“John Smith,” Deacon said shaking hishand and Sole shook her head. What? He didn’t know if he could trust him yet.What if all this was just a ploy to get to know him and share his secrets withhis enemies. He couldn’t risk it.

“This is Deacon,” Sole corrected herboyfriend, rolling her eyes. “He’s nervous.”

“I completely understand. Can’t be easyliving in these times. Hell, I found it difficult so far,” Nate admitted, andDeacon nodded. He agreed fully with what Nate was saying. “I’ve heard what yourorganisation has done for Sole, she deserves someone like you.”

If only he knew the full story. Deacon thought to himself.

“He treats you right?” Nate asked andSole nodded. “Then don’t let me stop you guys.” He was happy that Sole hadfound someone as great as Deacon was. They deserved to be happy.

Gage:Gage wasn’t sure if Nate was being all that sincere. Surely he didn’t want his wifedating and sleeping with a raider. A murderer. A scoundrel. But the smile onNate’s face didn’t budge for a second, even as he looked Gage up and down,taking in his appearance. Nick withdrew his hand, rubbing it on his shirt. Was henervous? Gage laughed, he supposed he could be a little intimidating.

“The names Gage,” he said with aquick nod. He possessively grabbed Sole’s hand and laced their fingers together.Sole was the first good thing to happen to him in a while and he wasn’t goingto let Nate swan in and steal her from him.

“Great to meet you Gage,” Nate said,and Gage grunted. He didn’t mean to come off so rude but he couldn’t help it. “Okay,well I hope we can all get along.” he turned to Sole. “Because I want Sole inmy life, strictly as friends. You have my word on that.” Gage nodded.

“Alright.” Gage finally held out hishand and Nate shook it. “Good to meet you.”

Hancock:Nate was shocked when he saw Hancock’s face. He still couldn’t get used to thethings in this new world he’d found himself in, but if Sole was happy, then hewas happy. Hancock was happy to shake Nate’s hand, in fact, he couldn’t believehow pleasant and good-natured Nate was being.

“Mayor Hancock.” He couldn’t help butfeel nervous at the fact that Nate, a perfect looking smooth-skin had waltzedback in to Sole’s life. The thought of her leaving him for Nate, ate away atthe already paranoid feeling in his gut. Sole could sense how he was feeling.

“He’s helped me through a lot,”

“I’ve heard. Its no wonder you two fellin love,” He paused. “I couldn’t be happier that you’re with such a man. He canlook after you like I never could.” Hancock couldn’t stop a grin from formingon his face.

“You really know how to flatter a man!”Hancock mused, patting Nate’s back. “I’m buying you a drink.”

MacCready:MacCready couldn’t help but feel insecure as he looked up at the older man,well-dressed man. He was a better match for Sole, not like him. An ex-mercenarytype with a foul mouth, whereas Nate was excruciatingly good-natured and nice. Fu-fudge him.

“Robert,” MacCready said, feeling asthough using his first name would be a little more formal in this situation. Heshook his head, it didn’t make him feel any more confident.

“It’s a pleasure,” Nate expressed,shaking MacCready’s hand with a beaming smile stretched across his face. MacCreadyscoffed. Could he be more charming? “Sole really knows how to pick ‘em.”

What did he mean by that? RJ thought.

“I’ve heard great things fromCodsworth,” he paused, “and I’ve also heard how great the two of you aretogether.” He looked over at Sole. “You have my blessing completely. I won’tstay in your hair anyhow.” He nodded as he began to walk away.

“Wont you stay for a while?” MacCreadycalled after him. “I’m sure you and Sole have some catching up to do.”

Maxson:Nate was a little uneasy in front of Maxson. He was bigger and taller than himand the look on his face was quite intimidating. Maxson cocked an eyebrow. He didn’treally shake hands with anyone, but he supposed he could make an exception forthe man who used to hold Sole’s heart. Who was he kidding he couldn’t.

“Elder Maxson, Brotherhood of Steel,”He said formally, and Sole raised her eyebrows. She hadn’t expected him to answerwith such hostility. He nodded, and Nate got the idea and put his hand down byhis side.

“But you can totally call him Arthur,”Sole added, crossing her arms over her chest. Maxson looked over at her andsighed.

“Wow, you’ve done well for yourselfbagging him,” Nate mused and Sole laughed.

“Yeah.” She looked up at Maxson. “Ireally did.” She unfolded her arms and reached over to lace her fingers withMaxson’s. He smiled at the gesture.

“I’m happy for you Sole.” Maxsonplanned on being the kind of man that Sole needed and with confidence fromNate, he was sure he could achieve that.

Nick:Nate was a little surprised that Sole had decided to shack up with a synth,especially one like Nick Valentine but he’d also heard great things about theCommonwealth’s favourite detective.

“It’s an honour,” Nick smiled with anod before he took Nate’s hand with his metal one, shaking it lightly. Hedropped his hand back to his side. He wasn’t all that confident meeting Sole’sfirst love especially looking the way he did but Sole flashed him a reassuring smileand gently rubbed his arm with her hand.

“I’ve heard many great stories aboutthe adventures you’ve been on,” Nate declared. He was proud of all the cases Nickand Sole had solved together and it was an added bonus that they’d fallen inlove in the process. He smiled at the thought.

“As have I,” Nick replied with achuckle. Sole was glad to see them getting along. Maybe they could all be goodfriends.

Piper: “Oh!And you’re the amazing writer that publishes the paper!” Nick exclaimed as heshook Piper’s hand. She nodded with a smile, turning a dark shade of red. Shewas glad someone had noticed the effort she put into writing every newaddition.

“Aw- uh -  thanks I don’t know what to say,” Piperstuttered hiding her face in her left palm. He couldn’t believe how sweet andflattering he was being, she could see why Sole had fallen for him way backwhen.

“It’s glad to see Sole is well takencare of by you,” he winked at Piper and she hid further into her hand makingSole laugh. He’d always been a bit of a flirt. He turned back to Sole. “Friends?”he asked and Sole nodded.

“Always. Thanks Nate.”

Preston: Prestonwas ecstatic to meet the man that Sole often spoke of. He’d heard great thingsabout his service in the war and the dedication he had towards Sole and littleShaun. He had no doubt that the three of them would get on like a house onfire.

“Preston Garvey,” He announced with abright smile, gripping Nate’s hand in a firm but friendly handshake. Natesmiled back. “I’m with the Minutemen, Sole here has been a true and firmbeliever in our cause and I couldn’t be happier to have met her.” Prestonreached his arm around Sole and gave her a quick squeeze. She looked down as hercheeks burned a rosy pink.

“That’s wonderful news,” Nate raisedhis eyebrows. “I had no idea the effect she’d had. I hope you wouldn’t mind if Ijoined up?”

“It would be great to have you on ourside.” Preston couldn’t believe his ears. As if the past couple of months couldn’tget any better. “I’ll show you around.”

X6-88:X6 couldn’t believe he was meeting the father of Shaun, the other half of hisleader. He was excited, although he didn’t show it on his face. He reachedforward and energetically shook Nate’s hand. He never thought he’d see the day.

“Meeting the other parent of Father.”X6 couldn’t believe it and he couldn’t be happier. “It’s an honour sir,” heshook Nate’s hand. “I also understand if you want me out of the picture. Soleis your wife after all.”

“That isn’t the case at all. If Sole hadmoved on and is happy,” he sighed. “Then I’m happy too.” He looked over atSole, noticing the smile on her face as she looked over at X6. “As long as you treather right.”

“I plan on doing so sir.” X6 glancedover at Sole. “I love her more than anything.”

“That’s all I needed to hear. I wishyou all the best.”