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For the Fallout 2 location, see Great Wanamingo Mine. |
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This is an overview article, listing content appearing in multiple Fallout media. For information specific to a given game or TV series, consult the table on the right. |
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“A Wanamingo's just the single orneriest critter there is. Tall as two men, stronger than a bull brahmin, and with flappin' suckers instead of arms. Can't be hurt with guns, neither. S'posedly, injuns called 'em up for revenge on the white-man for what the war did. I don't put much stock in that, though.”— Marge LeBarge about the Wanamingo
Wanamingos, also referred to as aliens or alien things,[1] are a variety of mutant creatures.
Background[]
A West Coast wanamingo
Wanamingos are strange mutated creatures of an undetermined origins that emerged in Appalachia in the early 22nd century and in New California in the first half of the 23rd century.
Since then, many theories have emerged about their origins: That they were a previously unknown lifeform endemic to the region before the Great War, genetically engineered weapons, and even invading species from another planet, which resulted in them being called "aliens" by some wastelanders.[2] Some speculated that they were supernatural creatures, called down by native tribes to punish white people for the nuclear holocaust, and impervious to gunfire.[3]
Biology[]
The wanamingo is a fleshy, stout creature with strange proportions. It has a short torso connected to two legs and two arms or tentacles, as well as and a very large head with an equally large mouth, containing many needle-like teeth. Other anatomical details vary between the East Coast and West Coast varieties of the creature.
A given population of wanamingos has one queen which lays all the eggs that wanamingos then hatch from.
Variants[]
West Coast wanamingo[]
Gameplay article: Fallout 2
These creatures, found in North California, have shiny, dark skin. Their body is covered in slime and has no identifiable eyes or even a neck, starting with a large mouth lined with razor-sharp teeth, somewhere between four and fourteen inches long, and ending in a stubby, rounded rear. Their most noticeable feature are the large, flapping tentacles they use during an attack to seize prey, lined with suction-feelers or suckers.
East Coast wanamingo[]
Gameplay article: Fallout 76
These wanamingos, found in Appalachia, have leathery, fleshy skin. They have a short torso connected to stocky arms and legs and a very large head with an equally large mouth, containing many needle-like teeth. Instead of tentacle-like, wavy arms, they have arms with claws. They appear to stand on its legs in a plantigrade manner, rather than the digitigrade fashion as their West Coast counterparts. They also have spines that run along the top of their heads.
Wanamingo queen[]
Gameplay article: Fallout 2
The unique gray-silver creature is the source of the wanamingos, laying eggs within the complex to perpetuate her kind. One such queen was found in the Great Wanamingo Mine in Redding.
Wanamingo egg[]
Gameplay article: Fallout 2
Wanamingos are hatched from these eggs laid by the queen.
Appearances[]
Live wanamingos appear only in Fallout 2. A wanamingo plushie was added to Fallout 76 with the update One Wasteland For All, and a dead specimen can be found in the Skyline Valley Public Test Server.
Concept art of wanamingos by Adam Adamowicz was created for Fallout 3 but they did not appear in the final version of the game.
Behind the scenes[]
- A running joke in Fallout 2 is that the Chosen One can't really spell wanamingo properly. They call them want-a-mongol, wanna-mingle, and wana-whatchamacallit on several occasions. Chris Avellone also didn't spell it correctly, spelling it with a double n (i.e. wannamingo instead of wanamingo).
- Judging by the notation used in WORLDMAP.TXT, wanamingos/aliens were originally tied to the cut EPA location or its even earlier draft, the Earth Protection Agency. The horrifically toxic lake was explicitly mentioned as being a catalyst for mutations, including floaters and centaurs. The finished game has several tables prefixed
EPA_, which include encounters with deathclaws, floaters, centaurs, and aliens. - Chris Avellone did not like the idea of wanamingos, and described them in the Fallout Bible as the results of a pre-War (or possibly Enclave) FEV experiment, intended to genetically engineer creatures that could be unleashed in enemy territory, with an unusually long (but not indefinite) lifespan. The wanamingos encountered in New California somehow escaped confinement, and made lairs in the dark places of the wasteland. Furthermore, they were equipped with a genetic "dead man's switch" to keep them from breeding excessively. Their genetic clock would stop around 2246 (or five years after they encountered by the Chosen One), or earlier for older generations, and the Chosen One's cleansing of the Great Wanamingo Mine would have also destroyed their largest nest in the wastes. While Avellone noted this was a personal decision, he noted that as far as the Black Isle continuity was concerned, they were already dead and "their irradiated shells are scattered along the floor of abandoned mines throughout northern California where they make nice crunching noises when you step on them."[Non-game 1][Non-game 2]
- Regardless of Avellone's creative preferences, living wanamingos have not appeared directly in any game since. Concept drawings of a mutant wanamingo were created by Adam Adamowicz for Fallout 3, shown in The Art of Fallout 3. Years later, a wanamingo plushie was added to Fallout 76 based on Adamowicz's design, rather than their Fallout 2 appearance.
- The wanamingo appearance is very similar to the heads of H.R. Giger xenomorphs of the Alien series. They are also referred to as "aliens" outside Redding.
- It is unknown how they came to be known as "wanamingos" in Appalachia, given that in Fallout 2 they were named after the Great Wanamingo Mine, over a century after the events of Fallout 76.
Gallery[]
Fallout 2[]
Fallout 3[]
Fallout 3 concept art by Adam Adamowicz
Fallout 76[]
Location of the wanamingo corpse, Vault 63 organics sector
Plushie Wanamingo, introduced in the One Wasteland for All update
References[]
- ↑ OBJ DUDE.MSG (Fallout 2): "{1485}{}{A count of alien things slain by your hand.}"
- ↑ The Chosen One: "{139}{}{Hear any interesting rumors?}"
Athabaska Dick: "{146}{}{Well, not much lately except about them goll-dang Wanamingos.}"
The Chosen One: "{147}{}{Want-a-mongols? What the heck is that?}"
Athabaska Dick: "{158}{}{You're tellin' me you ain't never heard of the Wanamingos?}"
The Chosen One: "{160}{}{Nope, never heard of anything like that. Tell me about them.}"
Athabaska Dick: "{165}{}{Well, some say they were here before the A-bombs, H-bombs, and all-what-else hit. Others say they were jean-eti-cally injuneered as weapons. An' then there's some what says that they're from a whole differ'nt planet. }"
The Chosen One: "{166}{}{What are *they*? Who cares where they came from, just tell me what *they* are.}"
Athabaska Dick: "{168}{}{Well, I don't rightly know what they are 'zactly. But I kin tell you this: they shut down the Wanamingo Mine just west of town a few years back.}"
The Chosen One: "{169}{}{The Wanamingo mine?}"
Athabaska Dick: "{171}{}{Yup. And the Great Wanamingo was the richest strike in these here parts, too. But now, nobody'll go near it. Heck, you could even buy it from Ascorti if you wanted to. But nobody will.}"
The Chosen One: "{173}{}{I could buy it? Is it worth anything?}"
Athabaska Dick: "{176}{}{Well, not right now it ain't. Haven't you heard anything I've said? It's filled with them damn Wanamingos. But if'n someone was to clean the place out - well that'd be a brahmin of a differ'nt color. Heck, you wouldn't even have to kill all of 'em.}"
(Athabaska Dick's dialogue) - ↑ The Chosen One: "{170}{}{What's a Wanamingo?}"
Marge LeBarge: "{177}{}{A Wanamingo's just the single orneriest critter there is. Tall as two men, stronger than a bull brahmin, and with flappin' suckers instead of arms. Can't be hurt with guns, neither. S'posedly, injuns called 'em up for revenge on the white-man for what the war did. I don't put much stock in that, though.}"
(Marge LeBarge's dialogue)
Non-game
- ↑ Chris Avellone, Fallout Bible 0: "The wannamingos are a result of FEV virus experiments, but they are now becoming sterile. They are not aliens, but word is they were designed as FEV-tailored weapons for waging war on other countries... and they got loose. They do live a long time, but they were dying out at the time of Fallout 2. They have only been sighted in the F2 area and nowhere else in the wastelands.
The eggs you see in Fallout 2 are the last generation of Wannamingoes to exist in the wasteland; the young Wannamingoes seen in F2 will perish in five years, and their parents a few years before that - an internal genetic clock will simply stop ticking, and they'll fall over dead. The Wannamingoes are a vicious mutant breed that had their moment in the sun, and now their sun has set.
To put the tombstone on their extinction, the largest known nest of Wannamingoes were wiped out when the Great Wannamingo mine was reclaimed by Redding with the help of a traveling tribal. The mother was killed, and the last remaining eggs were hunted down, stepped on, and then the remains were examined by local scientists and doctors who came to the extinction conclusions mentioned above.
Again, Wannamingoes are not aliens – they are a curious mutant or genetically-designed fighting machine that has only been able to find a home in the cold, dark places of the wastes.
It is possible that the wannamingoes were old Enclave experiments (or even experiments from before the Great War), and if this is true, then it's likely their genetic/biological deadman's switch was purposely engineered to keep them from breeding past a certain generation.
As a final note, this is strictly a personal decision on my part. If you want them to live for fan fiction, pen-and-paper role-playing campaign purposes, or for your own peace of mind, feel free to have some of them survive the stopping of their genetic clock – in the Black Isle universe, however, the little buggers are already dead and their irradiated shells are scattered along the floor of abandoned mines throughout northern California where they make nice crunching noises when you step on them. " - ↑ Chris Avellone, Fallout Bible 2: "Sorry about the error on the Wannamingoes and sterility – I had forgotten about the mother and the eggs in Redding. In any event, to clarify, the eggs you see in Fallout 2 are the last generation of Wannamingoes to exist in the wasteland; the young Wannamingoes seen in F2 will perish in five years, and their parents a few years before that - an internal genetic clock will simply stop ticking, and they'll fall over dead. The Wannamingoes are a vicious mutant breed that had their moment in the sun, and now their sun has set. To put the tombstone on their extinction, the largest known nest of Wannamingoes were wiped out when the Great Wannamingo mine was reclaimed by Redding with the help of a traveling tribal. The mother was killed, and the last remaining eggs were hunted down, stepped on, and then the remains were examined by local scientists and doctors who came to the extinction conclusions mentioned above. Again, Wannamingoes are not aliens – they are a curious mutant or genetically-designed fighting machine that has only been able to find a home in the cold, dark places of the wastes.
It is possible that the wannamingoes were old Enclave experiments (or even experiments from before the Great War), and if this is true, then it's likely their genetic/biological deadman’s switch was purposely engineered to keep them from breeding past a certain generation. As a final note, this is strictly a personal decision on my part. If you want them to live for fan fiction, pen-and-paper role-playing campaign purposes, or for your own peace of mind, feel free to have some of them survive the stopping of their genetic clock – in the Black Isle universe, however, the little buggers are already dead and their irradiated shells are scattered along the floor of abandoned mines throughout northern California where they make nice crunching noises when you step on them."
(Fallout Bible 2)
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