Bethesda
Prime Video’s ‘Fallout’ confirms the grim truth about Vault Boy’s classic thumbs-up pose
Many think that Vault Boy’s classic pose with his thumb out is a positive cheer, but the ‘Fallout’ series on Prime Video reminded us of the truth behind it.
‘Fallout’ is without a doubt one of the biggest phenomena on Prime Video this year. The series, which adapts the popular video game franchise by Bethesda Softworks, simplifies and explains some of the elements of its world so that newcomers aren’t completely lost while watching. One of them has to do with all the iconography around Vault-Tec, the company behind the huge fallout shelters. Its image has as its protagonist a blonde boy cartoon which we usually find raising his thumb up. However, this gesture has a deeper meaning linked to the threat of nuclear bombs.
Why does Vault Boy in ‘Fallout’ give a thumbs-up?
Vault Boy makes the thumbs-up gesture not as a sign of approval, but rather as imitating a military tactic that was transferred to citizens in the face of the danger of nuclear warfare: If you put your fist in front of you and raise your thumb, your finger serves as an indicator of the level of danger you are in when a nuclear bomb explodes within view.
If the radioactive mushroom cloud does not exceed the size of your thumb, it means that you are out of immediate danger and should start moving away. However, if it looks bigger, you are sadly within lethal range, and there’s not much you can do other than seek immediate shelter . The explanation comes from one of the opening moments of the first episode of the series. Cooper Howard, played by Walton Goggins, teaches this little trick to his daughter after the commotion he hears on television about the imminent danger of a barrage of missiles. What he didn’t know at the time he taught it to her is that she would put it into practice in a real situation just minutes later.