Fallout 4: Perfecting the Human Synth

Fallout's aesthetic lends a lot from 1950's design with a special gloss of post-apocalyptic
sci-fi.
What always interested me is how the Synths fit into all this?
They aren't just simply Atomic Age robots.
How did Bethesda fair with the challenge of creating humanoid androids in Fallout's signature
pulp-sci-fi world?
I love this image.
It shows something that was clearly meant to appear human, but when you peal back the
outer layer, it only vaguely resembles a human.
There's vague signs of a human skeletal structure, but for the most part these designs are completely
unique.
Where a human would have fat and muscle holding the skin up above the skull, this synth has
a wireframe, further solidifying it's forgery.
When the artists at Bethesda were tasked with coming up with designs for androids that were
antiquated, but at the same time futuristic, they channeled vintage artificial prosthetic
limbs.
They also just generally took influence from medical technology from the post war era.
That's where you get this eggshell white color.
Add this mint background for an extra special 50s effect.
There's some mint in the structure too.
The inside resembles a simple car engine with copper colored tubing laid out in shapes much
like human organs.
The outer layer looks like a vintage mannequin or a WWII parachute crash test dummy.
You can see it especially well in the different sections and the chest cavity.
The skeletal structure that runs through the whole body is the only part that looks relatively
modern.
For metal that thin, it must be pretty rigid.
With ALL of these different inspirations in mind, it's clear that they successfully threw
together everything they could from the era to create a new android style that fits their
complex world beautifully.
I think it's safe to assume that the look of the Synth's is also the product of popular
culture.
The obvious connection could be made to the Terminator.
These days, I see a HUGE similarity between the Gen 3 Synths in Fallout 4 and the Hosts
in the HBO series everyone's talking about right now, Westworld.
Specifically how they're built.
You have the giant automated arms, the big needles, the white colored bones and muscle
building onto themselves, the giant ring, the position of the body IN the giant ring.
Series creator Jonathan Nolan sights video games as a HUGE inspiration for the look and
feel of Westworld, and how characters would react inside of a world with no consequence.
He name dropped Red Dead Redemption, Skyrim, Bioshock and GTA V as direct influences.
BUT NO FALLOUT!
Fallout was NEVER mentioned in ANY interview.
What gives?
Personally, I believe Fallout 4 was a major inspiration for a lot of the imagery we see
here.
The way the synths are built looks almost identical to how the robots are built in Westworld.
The show was being developed around the same time the game came out.
It's possible this part of the show wasn't being developed until after the game came
out in November of 2015.
But, what if Fallout really wasn't an inspiration for Westworld?
What if the two just drew the same conclusions based on android technology in the real world
or elsewhere in popular culture?
Maybe they got some ideas from iRobot?
Which in turn took ideas from that weird Bjork video in 1997 (*loud whisper* AND LOOKS BETTER
TO BE PERFECTLY HONEST).
We can go even FURTHER.
The 1995 Ghost in the Shell movie opens with a title sequence that is similar to Westworld,
and the way the body is initially structured bares a resemblance to the Gen 2 Synths.
Again, we're seeing an Android colored with pure white skin while being put together.
WHAT ABOUT the 1993 PC game SYNDICATE, which uses the SAME sort of ring contraption.
How could it be a coincidence that ALL THREE IPs came up with the SAME ring thing?
There's actually an answer for this, and you might have already beat me too it.
Come on, you KNOW you've seen this before.
If you don't know the name of the work, you at least know the name of the classic artist
that created it.
Did it come to mind yet?
Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man.
The Italian name is Le proporzioni del corpo umano secondo Vitruvio, translated to "The
proportions of the human body according to Vitruvius."
It doesn't get any more original than this.
While Da Vinci drew the piece in 1490 and created the iconic visual we all know, Vitruvius
came up with the concept somewhere between 30 and 15 BC.
Beat that, Syndicate.
Vitruvious was an architect who based his works off of the human figure.
He determined that the ideal body should be eight heads tall.
That's a little taller than the average man and super humans are like 9 heads tall.
Vitruvious also used geometry to describe this perfect human.
Da Vinci took this teaching and visualized it.
And THAT'S how us humans came up with the idea of the perfect human in THIS pose, in
THIS circle thingy.
Naturally, when you're creating an android you'd probably want it to resemble the perfect
human.
To get those proportions just right, it sits in the ring in this pose, in this circle thingy.
WOW BET YOU DIDN'T THINK YOU'D GET AN ART HISTORY LESSON IN THIS VIDEO DID YA?
Bethesda was met with a challenge.
Many people in the past have depicted androids in one form or another, which is a challenge
in itself.
But what was unique about Bethesda's challenge was that it had to fit into the post-war,
atomic age, retro-future, pulp sci-fi world of Fallout.
Creating the perfect human as a robot in this setting using the limitations of the world,
I think they did a pretty damn good job...
SO WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK about the look of the Synths in Fallout 4?
Maybe you think they could have gone a little more sci-fi with it?
Maybe a little creepier?
LEAVE IT in the comments below and if you liked this video make sure you let us know
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Fallout 4: Perfecting the Human Synth - The ART!

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