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In every mainline Fallout game except for New Vegas, players can earn the loyalty of a dog known as “Dogmeat.” As part of the main quest of Fallout 4, Dogmeat assists in tracking down the antagonist, even if the player has never encountered him before. When you leave Kellogg’s home, Nick simply starts talking about Dogmeat as if he’s a known quantity.

Perhaps related to this quirk of the world, Dogmeat is first named in this game when the clairvoyant Mama Murphy recognizes him and addresses him by name. The game’s UI calls him “DOG” until he is recognized by Valentine or Murphy. It seems clear that this german shepherd is somehow an independent agent with a good reputation, or something.

Dogmeat does not have a loyalty quest associated with him, which is how the player would earn the other companions’ perks. However, upon finding Astoundingly Awesome Tales #9 within the Institute, Dogmeat becomes more resistant to damage. While this isn’t coherent or conclusive evidence of Dogmeat being a synth, it’s plainly prompting the audience to consider that idea. In light of these factors, his origins have been fiercely debated among the community.

The skeptics and “hard sci-fi” fans out there would have you believe that he’s merely a famous stray dog who solves crimes. But I believe there's something more remarkable at work.

There's a section in the Fallout 2 instruction book called the Vault Dweller's Memoirs, where the player character of the first game recounts what canonically happened. Due to Fallout’s famously terrible companion AI, if you travelled to Mariposa with Dogmeat, he would consistently run into the force fields and get vaporized. So, in the Memoirs, we learn that this is exactly what became of Dogmeat Prime, in canon. He loyally sprinted into a wall of solid light, and disappeared. What if our buddy simply awoke in a new, confusing place?

In Fallout 2, Dogmeat must be found at the Cafe of Broken Dreams, which is explicitly a liminal space. It appears randomly to travellers in the desert. The NPCs within are frozen in time, such as a young version of President Tandi, who mentions that Ian went to “the Abbey,” an area cut from the game. To gain Dogmeat’s trust, the Chosen One must equip the Vault Dweller’s V-13 jumpsuit, which Dogmeat recognizes as belonging to his dead master. You can also attack him to spawn Mad Max, who claims ownership of the dog. Max fits the description of Dogmeat's original owner given in Fallout.

There’s also the “puppies” perk in Fallout 3, which enables you to restore Dogmeat, in the event of his death. “Dogmeat’s puppy” inherits his base and ref ids. In other words, they ARE the same NPC, just renamed. So, the way this actually articulates is that whenever Dogmeat dies in combat, you can find him waiting for you back at Vault 101. In practice, it’s almost Bombadilian.

Lastly, please consider the following developer context.

In June of 2021, the dog who performed Dogmeat’s motion capture and voice for Fallout 4 passed away. A statue of her was placed outside of every Vault in the China-exclusive sequel to Fallout Shelter. She still watches over each player.

River's owner, developer Joel Burgess, honored her in a brief thread about her involvement in the game, and shared much about his thought process and design goals while leading the character’s development. The Dogmeat project changed course early on, after Mr. Joel saw a new member of the art team gathering references of snarling German Shepherds. This motivated him to bring River into the studio, so the artists and developers could spend time with her.

He wanted to steer the team away from viewing Dogmeat as a weapon, and towards viewing him as a friend. Everything special about Dogmeat was inspired by River. For example, whenever you travel with Dogmeat, he’s constantly running ahead of you to scout for danger, then turning to wait for you. This was inspired by River’s consistent behavior on long walks. The only way they were able to motivate River to bark for recordings was by separating her from Joel while he waited in the next room. Reading the thread, it’s very clear that he hoped Dogmeat would make players feel safe, encouraging them to explore, and to wonder. In his closing thoughts, he said the following:

-Joel Burgess

Mr. Joel felt it was important to express that the ambiguity of Dogmeat’s origin in Fallout 4 was deliberately built into his presentation. He also felt it was important that you know Dogmeat loves you. Dogmeat was designed, on every level, to reflect the audience’s inspirations, and to empower their curiosity.

The true lore of Dogmeat is a rorschach test. The only “right” answer is to pursue whatever captures your imagination.

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arcade definitely researched lgbt history after he realized he was not so straight so I feel like he would be able to recognize the flag.

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wasteland miku

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dala and 0 host the worst hangout ever

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Look this parallel is obviously 10000% on purpose it’s not my fault.

(Props to Carlos for humoring me when I text him out of the blue about FNV)

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Fallout 3 advertisements adorned the Metro Center in Washington, DC, circa October 2008. Of course, someone was "offended" and wrote a letter to the editor (Washington Post)... Ruining Our Metro Ride (washingtonpost.com)

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some fallout product adverts

no clue why i made these i think the capitalism possessed me

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Fallout four themed blinkies made by yours truly because the autism won💥💥 i realized way too late i can only include ten images in one post so the railroad, institute, and brotherhood of steel ones will be in a reblog or two

GENERIC

DIAMOND CITY

MINUTEMEN

explodes and dies PLEASE REBLOG AND INCLUDE CREDIT IF YOU USE THESE!!

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I didn’t post this apparently

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“oh, I live in a desert and-”

“wow that must be so terrible” “deserts are so ugly” “I would never want to live in a wasteland like that” “it’s just empty nothingness”

wishing 10,000 exploding hammers upon you

behold New Mexico

[ID 1: tall, snowcapped rocky mountains rising above a plain filled with desert scrub

ID 2: brightly colored banded cliff walls of several mesas climbing their way into mountains

ID 3: a desert prairie

ID 4: colorful hoodoos against a twilight sky

ID 5: white sand dunes as far as the eye can see

ID 6: a collection of hoodoos against a stormy sky at sunset

ID 7: a juniper tree standing with a cliff wall in the background

ID 8: several juniper trees on a rocky landscape]

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NO MATTER WHERE I HIDE MY DONUT FRYER NICK ALWAYS FINDS IT AND USES IT

I'M SO SICK OF HIM

HOW?!!?!?

NICK. NICK STOP MAKING DONUTS PLEASE NICK WE NEED TO BREAK INTO THE INSTITUTE AND GET MY SON NICK PLEA

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Happily married, financially stable, 750 credit score, and became a home owner at the age of 18. God is good 🏡

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Fallout 4 Gothic

You wake up cold. Your son is missing. You return to your home. Is it your home? Yes, of course it is.

You stumble across a town. Covenant? Everything is clean. The townsfolk smile at you. Their smiles stay. You begin to wonder if their faces are stuck like that. You hear faint static. The static increases the harder you look at them. You feel an uneasy sense of dread. They ask you to stay for dinner. You decline and turn to leave.The door won’t open.

Your arm is severed by a deathclaw. You fight back the pain and sleep on a dirty mattress. You awake to find your arm reattached. Your fingers do not feel like your own.

Everywhere are skeletons. Sometimes you hear rattling behind you. You turn and out of the corner of your eye a skeletal hand moves. You don’t mention it to your companion. They already know.

You take a sip of nuka cola. Still carbonated. Hasn’t it been 200 years? Your geiger counter begins to scream. You decide not to drink anymore.

The same songs play over again on the radio. The radio dj is almost always crying. Part of you wonders if he really exists. Most of you doesn’t want to know.

You found your son. At least you think you have. You wish you hadn’t.

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the ripperrrrrrrrr

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Today is the only day you can Reblog this

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FALLOUT 3 [9/?]