Fallout's Pip-Boys are sensible items to make into collectibles: they're iconic, wearable if you want, but would also look cool on a shelf. The Pip-Boy that came with the $120 Fallout 4 collector's edition, however, was a rather bulky (even by Vault-Tec standards) and cheap-feeling plastic toy that left us wanting.
Perhaps you just can't do Fallout's wrist-puters justice at that price, because The Wand Company's new $200 TV show Pip-Boy replica looks a lot cooler.
Wand Company CEO Chris Barnardo recently met with Tested's Adam Savage and Norman Chan (see the video embedded above) to show off the replica and compare it to the actual Pip-Boy prop used by Lucy in the TV show, as well as to his company's Fallout 76 Pip-Boy kit and the Fallout 4 collectible.
The $200 die-cast metal and ABS plastic TV show Pip-Boy replica that can be preordered from Bethesda's store is bigger than the TV prop, but that's because the prop was designed specifically to fit the arm of actor Ella Purnell. The replica is designed to accept larger arms, and also includes padding—Purnell wore the prop over her sleeve—but compared to the Fallout 4 collectible, which was designed so that a phone could be stuck in it, the replica is downright slim.
It's got a decent set of features, too: The built-in screen can be manually or automatically cycled through Pip-Boy animations, and can also be used as a digital clock with an alarm function. "When the alarm rings it'll be the bombs dropping," says Barnardo.
It also includes a radio tuner, audio clips from the show's radio station, and the finish looks decent—there's some nice texture and detail to it. The cleverest bit of design is that they've used a cable that sticks out of the side of the prop as a charging cable that can be plugged into the back of the stand.
One slightly disappointing note if this is your kind of collectible: Orders placed now aren't expected to ship until February of next year.
Funnily, it turns out that the TV prop is actually more like the Fallout 4 model in one way: It's designed to hold an iPhone to use as its screen. The phone is so snugly fitted that Barnardo isn't sure how they got it out to charge it during the making of the show. (Did they use the Fallout 4 Pip-Boy app, I wonder?)
I should've asked when I talked to the Fallout show's production designer a few weeks ago, but we wound up on the equally interesting topic of how they built the wearable power armor.
