Michael Robinson

	For other characters named Michael, see Michael.

Michael "Mike" Robinson was a resident of Vault 3 prior to its invasion by the Fiends.

Background[]

Note: The summary below uses a number of terminal entries which are not used in-game, alongside ones which are. Unused terminal entries will be marked by the icon in the reference.

Michael was a staunch isolationist who was opposed to the idea of opening the Vault to the surface in fear of mutants, aliens, murderous gangs, or anything else on the surface that could endanger the Vault. Because of this, he wholly opposed the plans to open the Vault door, which were championed by his friend George Stault as well as Michelle Dallian, who had taken lead of a committee intended to handle all of the Vault's external affairs with the approval of the incumbent overseer Lincoln Davis. George was intending to replace Lincoln, and would open the Vault door if allowed to become overseer. As a result, Michael decided the only way he could protect the Vault was to announce his own run for overseer, contesting George (to whom he made clear the competition was nothing personal).^[1]

Despite support from many similarly-concerned Vault dwellers, who labelled themselves the Isolationists, Michael lost the election to George, most likely because of a water leakage issue in the Vault which was forcing the Vault to enact water rationing; George and Lincoln had promised that opening up to the surface would let them trade for necessary resources to fix their damaged systems, while Michael could offer nothing. George also attributed his success to an endorsement from Lincoln.^[2][3]

Once the plan to open the Vault door became set in stone, Michelle announced she would form several teams dedicated to trading, scouting, and the like, but none would carry weapons, nor would there be a dedicated security team for the Vault, since she felt the Vault should not seem "belligerent" to outsiders.^[4] Michael completely disagreed with her plan, believing it to be too idealistic given how little they knew about the post-nuclear world. Instead, he suggested that, rather than let people come and go from the Vault as Michelle proposed, the Vault door should only be opened when teams were sent out and came back.^[5] His suggestion was completely ignored. Desperate, he tried to convince Michelle that the teams should at least take weapons with them to protect themselves, but even this was not considered.^[6]

Michael himself could do nothing about the way things were going, as all of his supporters had left, seemingly convinced by the opposing side.^[7] Meanwhile, all of the Vault's weapons had been placed into two submerged storerooms in the living quarters. Whether or not this was intentional at first, Michelle and George decided to keep it that way, since it would prevent Michael from getting his hands on the weapons and cause an incident to prevent the Vault from opening (as they believed he would do).^[8]

Once the doors were opened to trade with the surface, Vault 3 enjoyed some initial success, enough to soon restart operating at full capacity. Even Michael had to admit that the outside was not nearly as bad as he expected, having set foot outside himself. However, he was still adamant about protecting the Vault, arguing that they should post guards and lock the door, especially since everyone had noticed the "strange helmeted freaks" lurking outside and getting closer to the Vault every day.^[9] He was once again ignored, the end result being that the Fiends (the freaks in question) took advantage of the Vault's open door policy to invade and massacre its residents.

Notes[]

Michael shared a room in the living quarters with Nara Robinson. This, together with their common last name, would suggest that he was a family member of both Nara and her daughter Laura, though their specific relationship is left unclear.

Appearances[]

Michael Robinson is mentioned only in Fallout: New Vegas.

References[]