#the followers of the apocalypse

[courier-nix]

I headcannon that Julie gets the hair gel for her hair from the Kings

[delafiseaseses]

So, from the poll I did Tapper is very obscure (only a quarter of voters knew him) so let's do a deep dive into this King.

Now, this is a 'deep dive' so we am gonna be goin' on for quite a bit 'ere. Here's a courtesy read more.

Firstly where is Tapper? Well, here's a camera angle leaving the area with the Kings School of Impersonation.

Facing northwest from the Freeside blue bus door, down the street to a field.

Even at this range it might be hard to see Tapper, his dark clothes blend in with the night... I probably should've waited for the day to get these shots, oh well. T' compensate I've placed a red rectangle around Tapper.

And here's the brown-haired King up close, next to the Water Pump saying his ambient line "The pump is property of The King. You'll need to pay if you want a drink."

Initiating Dialogue with Tapper

Initiating dialogue he reiterates this fact to you. "The King controls the water pump. If you want water, you need to pay like everyone else."

An' y'am given 4 options "Why charge for water?" "How much for a drink?" and "Can I buy bottled water?" (the 4th option is just a 'Time for me to go') We will do these options in descending order because that makes sense.

"Why charge for water?"

"If we let everyone run amok, the damn NCR would shut us down. Gotta have some way to regulate usage."

Now, this line isn't nessercerily a contradiction of anything anyone else says, but it is unusual. Nobody else ever references the idea that the NCR would 'shut down' the pump if it was free. In fact, let's get into this a bit deeper.

The Origins of the Water Pump Aside

Let's briefly talk about the origins of the water pump. It started as a Followers of the Apocalypse project as Julie Farkas says this "With the help of Bill Ronte, we were able to install a water pump just west of here, but the Kings quickly took control of the pump."

She also says "Bill Ronte installed that pump a few years ago, back when he was sober. It was a major improvement for the community. But lately The Kings have started charging locals to use it - and NCR squatters twice as much. That'll come to no good."

Julie's perspective on the reason for this control of the pump is part of her explanation of The Kings. I won't include the part of their origin, but she says this "They've done a lot of good for the community - but that seems to be changing. The flood of NCR squatters has been an affront to them. I guess that explains the situation with the water pump. Usually The King wouldn't let his crew bully folks around like that."

Now Julie specifically says she guessed the reason she gave for why The Kings are doing what they're doing. If Tapper is telling the truth here, it's possible he charges "Squatters" extra out of a misplaced sense of retribution. Which is fucked up, don't get me wrong, but its a reasonin' that makes some sense.

It sort of falls apart when you remember that Old Bill Ronte himself is a New Californian as Dixon the chem dealer explicitly says "Those fools are from NCR. I love seeing those squatters in agony. We were doing just fine before those shits came here and made a mess of things. We don't need NCR eggheads wandering around confusing things." (he's talkin' about both Bill Ronte and Jacob Hoff here).

Now we don't know if Tapper is being honest and somebody from the NCR came and told The Kings to quit it with the free water, if Tapper is lying as justification for the takeover and the charging for water pump use to people he dislikes. Or if it is a mixture of the two. I don't 'ave any definitive answers 'ere. Water licenses are a thing, but that's mostly for the water of Lake Mead, which the NCR has claimed is theirs due to managing the pipes.

"How much for a drink?"

"Just a few caps for a good long swig." 10 caps specifically, and his "Don't get wise. We charge per use, so make that first drink worth the caps." Tapper isn't kidding there.

It was orange of 'no crime' when I started taking this sip, but as you can see its instantly red again. Still, keep the key held down and you can get as much water as you need.

We don't know if that's Local rate, NCR rate or a rate that applies only to people travellin' the area.

For completeness here's Tapper's "Never Mind" dialogue.

"Anything else you want?" Not a very interesting line, for a not very interesting option.

"Can I buy bottled water?"

"Sure thing." and the trade menu opens. Tapper right now has 12 Purified Water and 128 caps. He also has some 10mm cases which are free to grab if you want them for some reason.

And when I said 'Time for me to go.' Tapper, as a Yuri Lowenthal character, said:

"Later." I'm sure some of you can hear this image. Hahahaa. Antony's voice misplaced in other characters as is normal.

So we're done?

So we're done, right? We exhausted Tapper's dialogue, we're done with this?

No, actually, we're not done at all. This is Fallout New Vegas and this is a character I'm highlightin', of course there's more.

You know High Times? The one for Julie Farkas where you help 'Old' Bill Ronte and Jacob Hoff deal with their addictions? We mentioned Bill's connection to the origin of the pump. Well, during the quest connected to the two Julie says this about Bill Ronte when we ask about him for that quest

"Old Bill Ronte is an exceptionally skilled machinist. He could fix the problems we've been having with Freeside's water pump, if he sobered up."

An explicit reference to the water pump is made with Bill Ronte. Not the only one as I told you in the origin of the pump (I could get screenshots of those two, but I can't be arsed).

After dealing with Bill Ronte and Jacob Hoff we go back to Tapper. I should point out that this door near where Bill sits leads fairly close to Tapper's pump, just a little detail. He migfht've lived here back when he and the Followers installed the pump too.

Anyway, after finishin' High Times we return to Tapper and he has new dialogue.

The Reward

"Hey, you helped out Bill Ronte so the Followers worked out a deal for you to drink free." Tapper only mentions Bill because what happens to Jacob Hoff don't matter to this. I find it interestin' that the Followers apparently leveraged this deal for us, Julie doesn't mention this at all. I'm not sure if this means water prices will be better now in exchange for the help of Bill, but at least the pump won't break and leave Freeside waterless anytime soon.

Also that replaces his greeting, so any time you talk to Tapper he will reiterate this fact.

And, indeed, from then on drinking at the pump isn't 'stealing' and there's no way to give Tapper 10 caps for it.

Of course... the Atomic Wrangler and Mick and Ralph's both 'ave sinks that can provide one with clean water for free and are in places that're more convenient to reach, but its a nice sentiment at least, hey?

Conclusion

So, that's Tapper. He's a small character, it's very possible you never noticed he existed, but now you know him. I think the game is made more interesting by his existence.

[spooky-donut-ghost-house]

I-

This is a joke.... Right....? RIGHT?!

How THE FUCK can you not tell Gloria is black?! And why the fuck did you put whitewash in quotations?! And what do you mean "Before you start controversies"?! Motherfucker you caused the controversy! You whitewashed an obvious black woman! Shes not white-passing! Shes black! Jesus fucking Christ!

Also "she's hot now and wasn't before" honey just say you are racist and go

And "She had clear skin and eyes in my game just like everyone else's vanilla!" Sweetie that means your game is having a white face bug and your games facegen data needs fixed what the fuck is wrong with you?! "I was quite surprised that she was black in the GECK!! 😱😱😱" Well yk if you had your facegen data be normal you would know she was always black you dumbfuck

[fairyouth]

is he……… you know…….. a “friend of the followers”?

[steelcirclecosplay]

[xxplastic-cubexx]

i would like to draw him more i think..

[kondz1u]

This one I dedicate to the Arcade fans (and Polish people), I hope I didn't fuck this up 〣( ºΔº )〣

Based on a discussion under @iceagebaby 's post, in which we concluded that he'd be the type of dad to stand in Auchan with a biedronka's plastic bag.

[sacreblugh]

here you go gannon gays

[letalis-psyche]

Drew Arcade… Peace and love on planet eartf….. He’s wearing gloves. and his prescription is so high his glasses get a little magnified

[sewerdraws]

Apocalypse AU Sniperspy (My spy Niko and @slobber-teeth's Lawry

Something something the inescapable soothing sensation of being glued to the first human presence you've encountered in months.

[clonebrainrot]

Redoing this poll as I goofed by not including the followers of the apocalypse.

[delafiseaseses]

Want to hear about somethin' oddly specific that weirdly strikes me as interesting? The first 2 lines of Pacer's patient record

"First Name: Pacer Last Name: Would not give/Doesn't know"

It implies The Followers believe everyone must have a last name. That is unusual, right? Like, we're 204 years after the bombs fell. Why would everyone in Freeside have a last name?

In fact, let's look at every Freeside character who ain't in the Followers or explicitly an NCR Citizen for a second. Single names will be red and first name last name will be blue (cases I consider unusual will be purple and we will go over them after the list). Mostly alphabetical.

Caleb McCaffery, Dixon, Roy, Wayne and Farris, Francine and James Garret, Genaro, Grecks, Hadrian, The King, Max and Stacey, Mick and Ralph, Mister Soren, Old Ben, Orris, Pacer, Rotface, Santiago, Sergio and Tapper.

The Unusual cases.

Hadrian. Might not be a Freeside local, but... I'm gonna put him in red.

The King, 100% not his birthname, but certainly isn't a first and last name deal. He's the one unusual case I have no clue on.

Mister Soren. The 'Mister' implies it's a last name with a probable first name, but I don't even think this bloke's a Freeside Local anyway.

Old Ben. Y'know, I'm gonna actually put Ben in the red camp, the 'Old' is clearly just a descriptor.

Rotface. Should probably be red. There's no indication of Rotface's past or when he became a Ghoul. For all we know he could've been a pre-war man with really mean parents

Santiago. Probably red, but he says "I do the Santiago act to get out of paying for services every once in a while." which makes it unclear if Santiago is his real name or he picked it out because it flows well for his 'act'.

Tapper. I'm putting him in red. Either it's a nickname or he's a funny man. "Hey, King, can I run the water pump?" feels like nominative determinism.

So that's... 18 single-names and 3 first name and last name Locals (all 3 being Atomic Wrangler people, weirdly). Almost all the first name and last name people in Freeside are of the NCR or Followers.

I dunno, I just find it weird that The Followers would be assumin' last names rather than people just becoming mononymous. It seems like the Locals for the most part don't care about last names and it don't feel like that'd be unusual. There's always been characters with single names in Fallout, afterall.

[frumentariae]

he's my funny honey 💖🤓

based on another leyendecker piece

[steelcirclecosplay]

[angrycheesegirl]

I wish companions could've interacted in Fallout: New Vegas because the dynamic between Veronica and Arcade would have been great. Arcade is a grown-ass, near-middle age man; he avoids social interaction with new people because he can never shut the fuck up about his past, he spends his time working on Barrel Cactus Stimpaks because getting laid just isn't worth it anymore. And now all of a sudden he's looking after this extremely hyper young lesbian whose entire life has been traumatic event after traumatic event. I think by sheer force of will Arcade would end up being the only decent father figure Veronica has ever had, even if he doesn't recognize it. It's not my place to say, but I can imagine him opening up to her about his connection to the Enclave, how he's grappled with that his whole life. Perhaps he could help comfort her after she's banished from the Brotherhood, how she is not responsible for those the Brotherhood killed over her. Help welcome her into the Followers for real, creating a new life for her that need not involve her past any more than she wants.

I dunno I just have a lot of thoughts on this.