Who Is Fallout's Vault Boy: The Iconic Character & Huge TV Show Twist, Explained

Contains spoilers for "Fallout" Season 1, Episode 3

As Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) finds out firsthand, the vast majority of people seem to scoff at or outright hate Vault dwellers on Prime Studios' "Fallout." Even then, the level of vitriol Cooper "The Ghoul" Howard (played by a near-unrecognizable Walton Goggins) shows toward them stands out. In Episode 3, he seems to relish making Lucy suffer, and it's not hard to guess that he harbors an excessive dislike of Vault folks even before he takes a moment to shoot at a billboard featuring Vault-Tec's mascot, Vault Boy. 

It turns out there's a pretty good reason for the Ghoul's dislike of Vault Boy, as he knows the mascot all too well: it's him. As the end of "Fallout" Episode 3 reveals, Cooper's wife Barb (Frances Turner) worked for Vault-Tec, and at her behest, he accepted an advertisement gig as a Vault-Tec spokesman in the show's pre-apocalyptic timeline. His very first photo shoot makes it extremely clear that he's the first version of the Vault Boy mascot, complete with the Vault jumpsuit and the manic smile. Cooper even improvises the character's iconic thumbs-up gesture on the spot. 

Cooper's relationship with Vault-Tec has clearly soured to the point that he fires on sight at the corporate character he helped create, but "Fallout" fans might have a warmer relationship with Vault Boy. The mascot is an omnipresent figure in in-game brochures, posters, video clips, and other Vault-Tec material. As such, even the most casual "Fallout" player is so familiar with him that it can be pretty to see Goggins — a man known for portraying morally corrupt characters like "Justified's" Boyd Crowder and "The Shield's" Shane Vendrell — contort his face into the mascot's familiar toothy grin and flash that famous thumbs-up.

It might not be immediately obvious, but "Fallout" actually telegraphs Cooper Howard's connection to Vault Boy in the early moments of Episode 1. As it turns out, Vault Boy's thumbs-up has a deeper meaning than we typically ascribe to the gesture. It references the Cold War-era belief that a person is at a safe distance from a nuclear explosion as long as the mushroom cloud is smaller than their thumb. 

After his birthday party performance in the series premiere, Cooper and his daughter, Janey (Teagan Howard), briefly discuss this technique. Almost immediately, they find out first-hand what happens when the rule of thumb fails and the bombs start exploding everywhere around them. This is the kind of Easter egg that's virtually uncatchable during the first viewing since it requires knowing Vault Boy's connection to the thumb trick. During repeat viewings, however, fans may find themselves nodding in admiration at the attention to detail series creator Jonathan Nolan and company have infused "Fallout" with. This is the kind of stuff that might earn a show a place among the very best post-apocalypse TV series alongside other shows like "The Last of Us."