Prime Video’s Fallout featured a major, infamous figure from Fallout: New Vegas. The mustachioed leader of RobCo present for Barb Howard’s secret meeting was none other than the billionaire industrialist Mr. Robert House. With the show heading to the wasteland’s Sin City in season two, we might see the once powerful New Vegas ruler (or at least his brain) once again. But he might not be the only iconic denizen of the Strip still living there. We might also see a beloved video game character we would never say “no” to meeting again: Yes Man.
Who is this super positive, upbeat, hilarious fan-favorite AI robot voiced by Dave Foley? Here’s everything to know about a friendly and funny figure who can never turn us down.
Who Is Fallout: New Vegas‘ Yes Man?
Mr. House amassed his fortune thanks to his advanced robotics and software company. He then maintained order and kept power in New Vegas thanks in part to his fleet of Securitron robots. The heavily armed, single-wheeled machines served as his own private army. Fallout: New Vegas opens with an associate of Mr. House stealing the Platinum Chip, an upgrade that would greatly enhance the effectiveness of Securitrons.
The thief behind the subterfuge was Benny, head of the Mr. House-aligned tribe and casino operators known as “The Chairmen.” Benny (voiced by the late Matthew Perry) was already in possession of something that once belonged to Mr. House. That object was vital to Benny’s attempts to take control of New Vegas.
The Chairmen leader had reprogrammed a damaged Securitron robot with a unique AI program. Benny’s right hand man/robot was known as Yes Man, and with good reason. Its comprehensive new programming (with one fatal oversight) made it impossible to refuse any commands or withhold any information asked of it. Yes Man’s compliant nature is the reason it alerted Benny to the Mr. House’s pending covert plans of the Platinum Chip. It also helped ruin its owner.
What Happened to Yes Man in Fallout: New Vegas?
Benny’s ultimate scheme to take control of New Vegas was going to include uploading Yes Man into Mr. House’s mainframe. First, he had to steal the Platinum Chip from the Courier, the delivery person gamers play as in Fallout: New Vegas. Benny’s associates left the delivery person for dead, but the Courier returned to New Vegas. There, Yes Man couldn’t refuse to answer the Courier’s questions about his owner or Mr. House. It was programmed to serve anyone and everyone.
Fallout: New Vegas provides players with many decisions, and they can change when and how gamers interact with Yes Man initially. Ultimately Yes Man becomes their sidekick as Benny is either captured, killed, or set free.
One available storyline sees the Courier work with Yes Man to free the city from the three main forces vying to control it. In that alternate ending the Courier acts on their own behalf, using Yes Man to secure the Hoover Dam and New Vegas. In one version of that ending the Securitrons don’t get an upgrade and chaos comes to the Strip. The one that includes them getting the Platinum Chip upgrade results in them maintaining order and peace in Sin City.
Yes Man ends the game by undergoing a small personality change Benny really should have thought of. It makes Yes Man only follow the Courier’s commands.
Does Yes Man Die in Fallout: New Vegas?
Yes Man is an artificial intelligence program. If someone or something destroys the robot or machine he possesses he simply pops up in another one. Yes Man’s sunny persona and smiling face can appear in any Securitron, his usual form. (Sometimes when he respawns its hard to find his new Securitron body. The Platinum Chip does not change his personality and programming if/when uploaded to Mr. House’s operating system.)
The only way Yes Man can truly “die” in the game is if he’s destroyed by a laser or plasma weapon. Prime Video’s Fallout doesn’t have to treat that as canon. And why would it when fans would love nothing more than to see Yes Man appear on the show?
Why Is Yes Man Such a Beloved Fallout Video Game Character?
Yes Man offers players advice and insight, but that’s not why players adore him. It’s how he does it. His can-do/must-do attitude makes for an always charming, consistently hilarious sidekick who is brought to life by the great Dave Foley. Yes Man, along with his biting, insightful commentary, is a whole lot of fun in a franchise that makes a dystopian wasteland a place worth wandering.
If you know Dave Foley, it’s not hard to understand what makes the character so memorable. Whether you’ve played Fallout: New Vegas for a thousand hours or are just learning about it right now, you can hear Foley saying, “This is going to be great! I’m going to help you accomplish so much, whether I want to or not!”
What we want is for Prime Video’s Fallout to say “yes” to bringing Yes Man to the show. With a character this good how could it even think about saying “no” to that?
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist who loves Dave Foley and always will because of Newsradio. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.