The official Fallout account on Prime has just shared a new season teaser, and the scene is nothing less than… disordered. The tweet expressed: ‘This season on Fallout… don’t forget to strap in, honey.’ Pretty straight forward. But what about the responses? They have a whole variety of moods like the very wasteland. The reactions went from uncontainable excitement, to anger, to those who simply want the whole series now. A typical moment of a gamer occurred here.
What is going on? The first season of the Fallout TV series turned out to be a terrific triumph, it managed to portray the vault-dwellers, ghouls, and the Brotherhood of Steel live without any unpleasantness in a very remarkable way. Now, with the second season confirmed, the hype is really on. However, there are some who do not wish to ride the hype wave. The commented section of the tweet has transformed into a battlefield of arguments that merely show how passionate and, let’s be frank, divided the Fallout player base really is.
The initial cohort is the one who can no longer wait. Comments like ‘Just release every episode now you pricks’ by user Fight_Expert and ‘I need more fucking episodes now!!!’ by KyleFknCrane really convey the essence of the impatience. It is indeed a big annoyance the weekly release schedule. A user going by the name of CWFallout has even made a very reasonable request: ‘All I’m saying is it would probably be in Primes best interests not to release episode 2 on Christmas eve! Just Saying…,’ And this is indeed very true, who would want to get into a post-apocalyptic drama when there is holiday cookies likely to be eaten?
Another point is that some people are putting the show under criticism for its pacing and writing. A user calling himself FishEggsOrourke made a rather harsh remark, saying: ‘I sincerely hope that at some point there will be a scene that does not finish exactly as you would expect it to. Everything is so telegraphed and predictable so far.’ That was really a nasty thing to say. And another user going with the name of RealSaylaMass came up with a statement: ‘Beautiful! We are going to see a retelling of the dark-age of Bethesda, one of the best-executed games through the years.’ This is one of the major worries for the longtime players that the show might interfere with the established lore from the games like New Vegas which many consider as the zenith of Fallout storytelling.
Nonetheless, the scenario is not that clear cut. A dispute over which Fallout game is the best has been ignited the user called tdawgsmitty (who apparently posted a picture of their game collection) thus, resulting in a whole thread of discussion. A classic never-ending argument. One ‘hysterical_j,’ said: ‘Fallout 4 is my favorite. I liked 1, 3 and New Vegas a lot too.’ But then another user, NikolaiOpinion, was talking about the lore consistency probably implying one user jeffro_boy who was trying to unravel the Enclave and Brotherhood’s spread across the wasteland. It is deep nerd stuff and it’s happening right under a season 2 teaser. Peak Fallout community.
And it is just impossible to have a gaming conversation without at least a touch of pure toxicity. User wrldddoftoast was in a heated argument with another user which ultimately led to ‘Eat your slop, cattle.’ In another case the user CrotchetyMan77 was calling for a boycott of Bethesda and the show, which invoked a very short yet brutally demanding response from Scares_R_Us: ‘Who cares a fuck 😭.’ It’s raw, it’s unfiltered, and it’s also tiring and amusing at the same time, which is a little bit like the nature of Twitter gaming.
Amidst the chaos, there are still tiny sparks of hope. The user BeigeRhombulus was very succinct: ‘I am wholly entertained’ with a funny gif. And MrDunetrader was right on target: ‘And now we are waiting for toxic comments incoming… 👀.’ They were definitely not wrong.
Well, the question is what does it all signify for Fallout season 2? The teaser did its job and gave people something to talk about, some even yelling and others discussing. The ‘buckle up, buttercup’ notice sounds less like a tagline for the show and more like a dirty mirror reflecting the fans’ reaction. Amazon and the producers are fully aware of the commitment of the audience and that their opinion is important. The first season turned a good number of skeptics around by hitting the right tone, dark humor, and the brutal world perfectly. Season 2 is where it will get complicated. They will need to keep the new fans happy while at the same time not alienating the core players who have a PlayStation or Xbox and have spent years in this universe.
