After 16 Years, Fallout's Twisted Vault 77 Survivor Is Officially Back (& Deadlier Than Ever)

Summary Fallout's Puppet Man returns as a major force in the wasteland, as Penny Arcade revisits its tie-in comic character.

Created in 2008, the Puppet Man's Vault 77 is a canon Fallout location with in-game references in Fallout 3.

Since the comic and TV show both share game continuity, it's possible the Puppet Man could appear on the small screen sometime soon.

'The Right Hand of The King' is a MATURE comic which uses language not suitable for all readers.

As Fallout's Amazon adaptation brings new attention to the franchise, longtime fans will be thrilled to know that Vault 77's terrifying survivor is back in the spotlight. While the Fallout franchise has many heroic Vault dwellers, others are the most terrifying characters around. That's the case for the lone survivor of Vault 77, aka the Puppet Man.

In 2008, games studio Bethesda reached out to webcomic Penny Arcade, offering the chance to tell the in-canon story of Vault 77. Written by Jerry Holkins and drawn by Mike Krahulik, the resulting comic tells the story of the experimental Vault 77 - a nuclear bunker that was home to a single man and a crate full of puppets. While fans thought they knew how this story ends, they were wrong.

Surprisingly for a location introduced outside the games, the Puppet Man's vault is a canonical Fallout location, with in-game objects and references present in Fallout 3. Since the TV show is also game canon, the Puppet Man was always possible as some kind of cameo appearance. However, fans had assumed that the obscure location and character had been forgotten by everyone but hardcore fans. Now, in a shock return, the Puppet Man is back in a new comic story.

The comic, embedded below, uses language not suitable for all readers. Readers can skip to the next section for further coverage.

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One of Fallout's darkest characters, the Puppet Man is still alive and at large in the wasteland - will TV fans get to meet him?

Fallout's Vault 77 Survivor Returns in New Penny Arcade Comic

The Puppet Man Is Now a Force Within the Wasteland

On April 17, Penny Arcade published a new entry in the Puppet Man story, titled 'The Right Hand of The King.' In the new comic, it's revealed that the Puppet Man is now a major force in the wasteland. Not only does the Vault 77 survivor now own a gigantic fortress, but other survivors are forced to go to him to access vital water. But who is the Puppet Man, and why should fans be excited about his return?

As well as Penny Arcade's webcomic, the Puppet Man is referenced in Fallout 3 and appears as the image for the Magic: The Gathering - Fallout card 'Fraying Sanity,' with art by Jason Kang (above.)

Vault 77 Explained - The Origin of the Puppet Man

Fallout's Tie-In Comic Created One of Its Most Twisted Characters

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As any Fallout fan knows, the wasteland is dotted with a series of nuclear bunkers constructed by Vault-Tec. Sold as a safe haven from nuclear war, the bunkers are actually a mass psychological experiment. Each bunker has some extreme condition in place (save for a few control bunkers), with Vault-Tec observing how those trapped inside react to their unique situations. For example, Vault 29 separates children from their parents, Vault 101 is subject to authoritarian rule, and Vault 95 includes an endless supply of narcotics.

While some vaults are intended for longterm social observation, others are far more direct experiments. Vault 92 uses white noise to psychologically torture its inhabitants, Vault 11 demands a yearly human sacrifice, and Vault 43 (also from the Penny Arcade comic) locks 30 people in with a panther. However, Vault 77 is particularly weird, as it contains only a single inhabitant, locked in for years with a crate of puppets.

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Holkins and Krahulik's comic follows the mental breakdown of the inhabitant of Vault 77, as his isolation gradually leads him to see the puppets as real people. The Puppet Man builds an imaginary community with the puppets, ruled over by 'The King' and 'Reverend Hound.' However, a year and a half into the experiment, the survivor begins hearing a puppet of the series' mascot Vault Boy talking to him. 'Vault Boy' kills the king, then persuades the Puppet Man to break out of the vault, becoming the latest vault dweller to journey out into the wastelands.

The iconic mascot of the Fallout series, Vault Boy is a parody of '50s propaganda films. Fans speculated that Vault Boy's default 'thumbs up' pose is actually a reference to a technique for checking whether one is in the fallout radius of a nuclear explosion. While this theory was dismissed by the game's creative team, Amazon's Fallout retcons it at the correct explanation for Vault Boy's pose.

While the Puppet Man is initially terrified by the mutated wasteland monsters outside, he eventually makes a life for himself, as the Vault Boy puppet allows him to unleash his repressed rage. The original comic ends with the Puppet Man killing a settlement of raiders, having apparently lost himself to the corrupting Vault Boy persona. The full comic can be read on Bethesda's website, and again contains language not suitable for all readers.

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Penny Arcade's Mike Krahulik teases more adventures for Vault 77's murderous survivor...

Fallout's Vault 77 Survivor Returns

Penny Arcade Brings Back Puppet Man Following the Show's Success

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Now, it turns out that what seemed like the gory end of the Puppet Man's story was actually just the beginning. Sixteen years after the end of the original story, Penny Arcade has shared a new installment, showing the Puppet Man and his Vault Boy puppet now in the position of powerful warlords. Since the comic and TV show are both canon to the Fallout games, this means fans could still encounter the Puppet Man out in the wastelands.

While this is just a brief visit to this Fallout 3-connected character, there is the potential for more. In a blog post alongside the comic, artist Mike Krahulik confirms that Penny Arcade may revisit the Puppet Man for further adventures, stating:

With people talking about Fallout now that would never have previously talked about Fallout, it's a great time to direct you to Bethesda's Vault 77 Page, which catalogs the origins of the entity known in the wasteland as The Puppet Man. There's also a lot of other text on the page, what your fifth grade teacher Mrs. Prang might have called a "primary source," which serves to situate the entire affair in that place and time. Bethesda was fully down to clown; it's a canonical vault, with item and holotape support. Seemed like it might be fun to go back. Maybe I can trick Gabe into doing more? I'll try my hand at it.

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Chances just went up for the Puppet Man's appearance in future games or even the Amazon adaptation...

The Saga of Vault 77 Isn't Over

A New Vault Story Is Always Cause for Celebration for Fallout Fans

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The various vaults have long been one of the Fallout games' most intriguing aspects. The contained nature of the vaults means that in the games, each has the potential to act as a self-contained short story, with players exploring the vault space and learning its story through found text and environmental storytelling. Some of these vaults end up spilling out into the larger wasteland - Vault 34 (a claustrophobic vault stocked with a vast armory of weapons) led to the faction known as the Boomers, while the ghoul settlement Necropolis came out of Vault 12, where inhabitants were deliberately irradiated to study the physiological effects.

"Like I told you man. I don't ******* know where it came from, but it freaks the boys out. Some story from a while back about a stranger with no name. Just get rid of the damn thing. Ain't no good gonna come from keeping it around. Besides, if it is... his. Maybe he'll come back for it. Comprende?" – Fallout 3 Holotape Referencing a 'Vault 77' Jumpsuit

Every new vault is a new short story set in the Fallout universe, contributing to the monstrous ways that Vault-Tec used the threat of nuclear war to torture and warp innocent people. It's always fun for Fallout fans to discover a new vault they didn't know about, and Penny Arcade's tie-in comic is a hidden treasure for fans who have seen everything the games have to offer. With Penny Arcade confirming that Vault 77's Puppet Man is not just still out there but now a powerful force in the wasteland, chances just went up for the character's appearance in future games or even the Amazon adaptation.

Source: Penny Arcade (1, 2), Bethesda