The Fallout TV show made a big mushroomed-sized bang when it debuted a brand new Power Armor into the world's lore in season 2, but not only was its appearance a standout moment in the streaming series, franchise steward Todd Howard thinks it might be the coolest Power Armor variant Bethesda's ever worked on.
The New California Republic Power Armor is a pretty big deal since it's the first time we've seen the suit in Fallout canon – it hadn't yet appeared in any of the games when the episode aired – not to mention how it recontextualizes the NCR as a major player in the post-apocalypse.
Bethesda Game Studios lead and frequent Fallout game director Todd Howard recalls that the idea for a new Power Armor variant popped up in the early phases of making the show's second season, per an interview with IGN. "I sort of said, 'Hey, every game we do a new cool Power Armor. We're doing Deathclaws. What do we think about this like NCR Deathclaw-killer armor?' So we worked on that together," Howard says.
"I'd seen it in sketches, and then going to set and seeing it in person, like, this is the most badass Power Armor I think we've ever done," he adds, before saying it's "awesome" that the NCR Power Armor managed to stomp its way into Fallout 76 recently.
The video game version of the armor is slightly more divisive, however. You can only grab the NCR suit via a Fallout 76 DLC bundle that costs $30/£27 and includes mostly cosmetics, not to mention the fact that its inclusion in a prequel game doesn't really make sense considering... urm... the NCR didn't exist yet.
