VGFacts

Grognak the Barbarian is an obvious reference to "The Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian", which most of you probably already knew. What's lesser known is the cover of the Grognak comic "In the Lair of the Virgin Eater" resembles the cover of the Conan issue "Lair of the Ice Worm" and is likely a direct reference to it.

On top of all this, Grognak on the cover also looks remarkably similar to the Barbarian class image from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Notably the axe-heads, folds in the clothing, hand positions, and most of the body pose are almost exactly the same.

Another one, for FO3:

Just outside of Big Town, there is a utility pole in the exact center of the game map with a unique plate that reads "TES-04."


This is a reference to Bethesda's "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion", and the placing of this pole in the map center likely suggests a reference to The Elder Scrolls IV's most notable landmark, the White Gold Tower, which is considered to be the central point of the continent of Tamriel and the Imperial Empire of the TES games.

Sally from the Mothership Zeta DLC makes references to Captain Cosmos, which has several quotes showing classic Star Trek references, such as "All systems normal, Captain!" and "Captain on the bridge!"

She also mentions a female 2nd officer named "Stella Skyfire." The quote is "Stella Skyfire reporting for duty! She's Captain Cosmos' second in command, at least for the first few episodes..."
This is in reference to Star Trek:ToS' original unused pilot episode "The Cage", in which Captain Pike had a female lieutenant who was second-in-command whom was simply referred as "Number One." NBC rejected this pilot and requested a new pilot episode, stating it was "too cerebral, too intellectual, and too slow with not enough action". In the new pilot, Captain Pike and the female lieutenant were replaced with Kirk and Spock, ultimately making her role as "Number One" last for only one episode.




Another noteworthy thing is the poster for Captain Cosmos in the Hubris Comics building in FO3 states it aired on Thursdays at 8:00 PM EST, possibly reference to Star Trek:ToS in which the shows first season aired every Thursday at 8:30 PM EST.

Another Fallout 3, behind the scenes stuff;
http://youtu.be/yH4dkTFpA08?t=7m42s

The Super-Duper Mart and the first Wasteland Survival Guide quest that accompanies it is likely thought up after an electrical storm knocked power out for 8-10+ hours across the Bethesda area. Todd Howard and several others staff members went to a local Supermarket, using an iPhone to light their way across the pitch-dark aisles and essentially began to brainstorm ideas from that experience.

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http://youtu.be/kmsR4DZp5OA?t=5m26s

When creating the gun-system for Fallout 3, one of their first tests was taking a bow and arrow from Oblivion and making it a Bow and Arrow "gun." It shot rapid-fire arrows and was apparently not satisfactory, so the new gun-system for the game was built up from scratch.

FO3;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdCj_qV488c

In the 2008 E3 trailer for the game, a Vault-Tec commercial is played and advertises a phone number that can be actually be called near the end.
Calling the 1-888-4VAULT-TEC number will get you an automated message saying:
"Thank you for calling Vault-Tec, your first choice in post-nuclear survival! We're sorry, but due to unexpectedly high call volume, all representatives are currently busy. Please, stay on the line and someone will be with you as soon as possible. There are [[101 million]] callers in front of you. Estimated wait time is [[78,643 hours]]. Thank you for calling Vault-Tec! Have a wonderful day!"

Fo1,2, and NV:
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/.223_pistol_(Fallout)
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/That_Gun

The .223 Pistol in Fallout and Fallout 2 is modelled after Rick Deckard's handgun from the movie Blade Runner.



The gun appears again in New Vegas, named as "That Gun." According to Joshua Sawyer, the reason it was named that is because many players referred to it as "That Gun from Fallout and Fallout 2."

Wow, I actually knew that one. I guess I just forgot to submit it. Fun fact, the pistol was made from a Steyr-Mannlicher Model SL rifle action and a Charter Arms Bulldog revolver.

So here's an overall one about the cars in the games;
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Chryslus_Motors
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Corvega
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Highwayman
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Wrecked_Highwayman
http://madmax.wikia.com/wiki/V8_Intercep...ad_Warrior
http://web.archive.org/web/2011031718383...0816212177

The in-game prewar company called "Chryslus Motors" is a reference to the real-world company Chrysler Motors. They produce two car models; The Corvega and Highwayman.
The Corvega brandname is a combination of two Chevrolet cars, the Corvair and the Vega.

The Highwayman is likely another nod to the post-apocalyptic Mad Max movies. The Chosen One from Fallout 2 can obtain a drivable Highwayman, with a blower sticking out of the car's hood, and was originally going to have two-fuel tanks in the trunk, much like Mad Max's V8 Interceptor from Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.

In New Vegas, a Wrecked Highwayman can be found half submerged in mud. Upon finding it, two background songs from Fallout 2 ("My Chrysalis Highwayman" or "Gold Slouch") will play, and the trunk is filled with Energy ammunition, making it a nod towards the Highwayman in Fallout 2, which used Energy ammo as a fuel source. The original idea for this encounter came from J.E. Sawyer, who originally planned it for the cancelled Van Buren game, which would have included the Tanker FOB in the trunk from Fallout 2.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Masticator
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Evan_Holyfeld
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Player%27s_ear
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evander_Hol...e_Tyson_II

In New Reno, there is a Boxing Arena which the player can participate in Boxing matches. Two NPCs that the player can fight, Evan Holyfeld and Mike "The Masticator", are a reference to the infamous boxing match between Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson in which Mike Tyson bit and tore a chunk of Holyfield's ear.
Evan Holyfeld's dialogue alludes to this as well and if the player fights and loses to Mike "The Masticator", there is a chance the player will be holding a unique item - their own ear, alongside with a permanent -1 to their Charisma stat.

http://youtu.be/WkBNKa2KXZE?t=50s - Fallout 1 intro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ScUjHWUL34 - from Simpson's Episode 113 (Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy)

The intro movie to Fallout 1 is shown playing on a television with the label "Radiation King." The name comes from the Simpson's episode "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy", in which it shows a television with the same name that Homer Simpson watched from as a boy.
In Fallout 3, Radiation King becomes an established pre-war company, along with with an accessible store-building, that has televisions, radios and jukeboxes on display there with the brand names on them.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Radiation_King_(location)
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Radiation_King_(company)

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhiteStar
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_3_...creational -- Pinball machine should be on the bottom of this section.



Pinball machines found in Pilgrim's Landing from Fallout 3's "Point Lookout" DLC, as well as one in Jacobstown Lodge from Fallout: New Vegas, which has very worn out art/wording, with only "White Star" being legible.
"White Star" is a reference to the White Star Board System, which is an arcade system board used for several pinball games designed by Sega Pinball and their successor, Stern Pinball, between 1995 and 2004.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Arefu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arefu
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Lucy_West
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Westenra
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Blood_Ties
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/The_Family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omega_Man

The village of Arefu is an actual real-world place inside of Romania, most well known for its proximity to the former castle of Vlad III, who is also known as "Dracula" and "Vlad the Impaler." It is also the main stage for the questline "Blood Ties", which deals with a group of cannibals who believe themselves to be vampires. One of the NPCs involved with the questline, Lucy West, is likely based off of Lucy Westenra, a character from Bram Stoker's Dracula.

The group of vampires call themselves "The Family", a reference to the 1971 Charlton Heston film The Omega Man, featuring a nocturnal breed of pale, vampyric mutants that live underground, referring to themselves as "The Family." Lastly, the password to open a locked-door containing one of the quest-line NPCs is "Vespertilio," which is a genus of the bat family.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Vault_92
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/A_Wonderful_Guy
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/John_Malleus
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Richard_Rubin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Rubin
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Gordie_Sumner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sting_(musician)

Vault 92 holds a number of musical and sound-related references;
The Overseer of Vault 92 is named "Richard Rubin", who is likely named after music producer Rick Rubin.
"Zoe Hammerstein" gets her name from Broadway lyricist and songwriter Oscar Hammerstein II, who helped make on of the songs played on the GNR Radio station named "I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy."
"Gordon Sumner" is actually the real-name of the musician known as Sting.
Finally, "Professor John Malleus" is named after the one of the three auditory ossicles, (small bones located in the middle ear) which transmit sounds from the air to the inner ear. The Malleus is the "hammer" in the set of "hammer, anvil, and stirrup," so named after their shapes.

Halloween's coming eventually, so may as well jump right on this as soon as I can. (Also, it's post #13!)

http://youtu.be/4-BIoctD9ek?t=1m57s
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Toy_knife#...the_scenes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_...franchise)

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Pint-Sized...the_scenes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_(franchise)
http://youtu.be/AA-si45HDmo?t=45s
http://youtu.be/ELF1DCf1ChA?t=3m42s - Video is NSFW, but time placement should skip over it.
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Krivbeknih

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Dunwich_Bu...the_scenes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dunwich_Horror
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Jaime_Pala...the_scenes
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Krivbeknih...the_scenes
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Obadiah_Bl...the_scenes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft

Fallout 3 has references to several horror stories/movies. In the Point Lookout DLC, a unique knife called the "Toy Knife" can be found alongside a Hockey Mask, referencing Jason Voorhees from the movie series Friday the 13th.

Another slasher flick reference is found in vanilla Fallout 3 and in Point Lookout, the first being in a simulation called Tranquility Lane, in which the player can don a clown mask as a kid and begin a killing-spree within the simulation. The second time the mask pops up is in Point Lookout, which is found on top of a skeleton in a tub inside a motel room, which itself is adorned with skeletons and blood splattering. This is a reference to Michael Myers from the Halloween movie series, and more specifically his first kill where he wore a clown suit and mask doing so as a kid.

H.P. Lovecraft references appears in vanilla Fallout 3, with the inclusion of the Dunwich Building. The story told through the building via Audio Logs and the apparent obelisk near the end references the Cthulhu Mythos, more specifically the story called The Dunwich Horror, which the very building is named after. The player can also hear the word "Alhazred" from the Obelisk alongside with one of the last audio logs, which refers to the fictional author of the Necronomicon, who is named Alhazred. The narrative is extended even further with the inclusion of the Point Lookout DLC, which includes an actual quest line involving a tome named The Krivbeknih and the owner of the book, Obadiah Blackhall. The Krivbeknih is in reference to the number of various books/tomes and artifacts featured predominately in Lovecraftian stories, and the Blackhall family is another reference to The Dunwich Horror, namely that of the Wheatley Family, as well as a possible reference to the central family in The Lurker at the Threshold, which involves an aristocratic man that inherits his family's dark legacies.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Those!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047573/

The fire-ant centered quest called "Those!" is referencing the 1954 Sci-fi film called Them!, which is about ants that were mutated by atomic tests in New Mexico, which in turn made them gigantic and wreck havoc on civilization.

Fallout 2:

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Crashed_whale
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Daisies

There is a special encounter in which a player can come across a whale's corpse in the middle of the desert, called "Crashed Whale." The description on the whale itself says "This whale appears to have fallen from a great height", and next to the whale's corpse is a box containing a flower pot of daisies.
This is a reference to the book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, in which a pair of nuclear missiles were transformed mid-air by an Infinite Improbability Drive, turning them into a sperm whale and a bowl of petunias.