Aside from a few extra features, the Fallout series’ power armor closely resembles its gaming counterpart. However, it could have a completely different look – according to production designer Howard Cummings, Bethesda never insisted on its exact resemblance to the games.
“They didn’t say, ‘You have to play the game.’ They never said this. They said, “Show us what you think it should be.”
Cummings didn’t know much about the Fallout games when he started working on the series, but after reading the script and studying the series, he just loved it and the team decided to recreate everything as faithfully as possible.
“It was very early, Bethesda didn’t know what we were doing yet, so they didn’t share assets with me.” When they later showed Todd Howard and other producers what they were working on, the response was, “Oh, you’re making a game.”
Working with Bethesda was the opposite of his production experience, where the owner of the source material insisted on coordinating every detail. “I started reaching out to them instead of the other way around,” says Cummings, who knew game fans would be picky.
The power armor was first modeled by concept artist Thang Le, and the designs were sent to a company called Legacy Effects, which made many famous on-screen armor sets, including the Iron Man suits for the Marvel films.
Howard Cummings also explained changes in the use and structure of the Pip Boy, a device that characters in the games and the Fallout series wear on their arms. According to him, it was necessary to reduce the size of these devices compared to how large they are in games.
“So I talked to Todd Howard about it, I said, ‘Did you know we’re shrinking the Pip-Boy?’ And he said, “Pip-Boy is great in the game because you have to play with its screen. Pip-Boy should be smaller.” And then we had Ella Purnell, a frail girl with tiny wrists.”
Bethesda wanted the Pip-Boy to actually work. That’s why the decorators built a telephone into it.
“So when they use it you see it, it’s not replaced in post-production, we actually did it all.”
Sources: PC Gamer, GamesRadar
