Fallout Season 2's New Power Armor Explained

Okey dokey! This article contains spoilers through "Fallout" season 2, episode 7.

"Fallout" is an interesting video game adaptation in that it mainly centers on original characters as part of a wholly original story. Sure, season 2 has brought in characters and locations from "Fallout: New Vegas" and continues to take place in the same world as the original games, but it's not a one to one adaptation. Because of this, the series has been able to focus more on expanding the established "Fallout" lore by revealing what life was like before its setting became a nuclear wasteland. It's even examined aspects of "Fallout" history that've only been briefly touched on in the past, including how the Deathclaws factored into the Sino-American War and the annexation of Canada.

The fact that the show serves as a sorta sequel to the "Fallout" games has also led to it setting up a new status quo for the Mojave Wasteland in its present — one in which Shady Sands has been nuked, Freeside has been overrun with Deathclaws, and the New California Republic is in shambles. Fans of the "Fallout" games have taken issue with this and the way it seemingly deflates the happier endings of "Fallout 3" and "New Vegas," but it all feels appropriate for the property's overall lore.

Case in point: The penultimate episode of "Fallout" season 2 sees The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) leading Maximus (Aaron Moten) and Thaddeus (Johnny Pemberton) to an abandoned NCR weapons cache housing, among other things, some NCR-branded Power Armor with a very cool helmet. The armor even inspires cheers from the citizens of Freeside when they see it, and it's no mystery why: This might just be the coolest Power Armor in the franchise, and it's unlike any that fans have seen before.

Time for a history lesson! Power Armor was developed long before the nuclear apocalypse occurred in the world of "Fallout," as the U.S. government tasked contractors like West Tek to develop them for combat. So far as the post-apocalyptic landscape goes, however, Power Armor suits are mostly manufactured by the West Coast branch of the Brotherhood of Steel and the shadowy, villainous organization known as the Enclave.

According to "Fallout: New Vegas," it's not believed that the New California Republic had the capacity to produce its own Power Armor suits back when it was fully up and running. Instead, it used salvaged suits that weren't mechanized. So, where does the armor that Maximus wears come from then? Well, given that the "Fallout" TV show takes place well after the events of "New Vegas," it's possible the NCR simply figured out how to develop and manufacture Power Armor sometime after that game. After all, it was a decidedly large faction with a whole industrial complex behind it, complete with its own R&D department.

Curiously, we only see a single NCR-branded suit in the aforementioned weapons cache, so it could merely be a prototype. Still, it's important to remember that while the NCR may be all but gone by the time the series takes place, the reaction of the people of Freeside suggests it's still very much alive in their hearts. So, who knows — perhaps we've yet to see the last of this particular faction in the "Fallout" universe.

"Fallout" season 2 will conclude when its final episode hits Prime Video on February 3, 2026.