Aside from a few additional features, the "Fallout" show's power armor is surprisingly faithful to the suits in the "Fallout" games. This is because, according to Howard Cummings, the production designer of the "Fallout" show, Bethesda did not insist on being faithful to the game.

"They didn't say, 'Recreate the game,'" Cummings said. They didn't say that. They said, 'Show us what you think it should be.'"

Cummings did not know much about the "Fallout" games when he started working on the show, but after reading the script and researching the series, "I just loved it," he said, and decided, "I had to try to recreate it as best I could. He knew that power armor would be the biggest job, so that was the first thing he, props master Michael Jortner, and Peter Gelfman got to work on. That was a bit of a problem.

"It was very early, so Bethesda didn't know what we were doing yet. He later recalled that when he showed Todd Howard and other producers what they were working on, their response was, "Oh, you're working on a game."

Working with Bethesda was the opposite of his experience with other productions. "Because I knew that the fans would analyze the show 'thoroughly,'" he said.

Perhaps it was a good thing Bethesda wasn't breathing down his neck. Typically, prop designers stick parts of sci-fi armor on a person in a green or blue suit to create a reference for CG artists, but in this case, executive producer Jonathan Nolan "felt strongly that it had to be a functioning suit," Cummings says.

The power armor was initially modeled by concept artist Tan Le, whose designs were sent to a company called Legacy Effects.

Cummings recalls that at least four full power armor suits were produced. For the scene where Maximus climbs in, a "shell suit" was built to close around him. We see the practical effect of the suit when it opens, but that part is CG because you can't actually close it with a person inside, at least not without crushing the person. Another suit was made not to be worn, but to be used as a "puppet" to smash into things.

However, other suits could be worn by stunt performers or actors. The wearer could also manipulate his hands, but only to the extent that he could pick up something for a moment; anything that needed to be carried had to be secured to the suit. This may explain why power armor users were only shown holding guns a few times in Season 1.

One of the reasons Cummings wanted to make the suits early was to give the performers time to get used to them.

"The stuntmen had to rehearse in the suits, and if they didn't have time to rehearse, they would look like crap," he recalled saying when asked to sign a (probably rather large) check to finance the production of Armor.

"A stuntman named Adam Sippy could wear it and break-dance with it."

Some of the suits we see are clearly animated, as when Maximus uses his Iron Man-like hand thrusters (a power armor feature invented for the show) in his fight with Philly in episode 2. But there was also some real stunt work going on there. For the scene where Maximus appears climbing down the wall of the transport crate, they hired Jamie Stanley, an actual jetpack pilot, to perform the maneuver. He could not actually wear a full power armor suit while jet-packing, but he did wear part of it as a reference for the animators.

In addition to the thrusters, the program adds an opening faceplate to the powered armor, which is used several times to reveal the identity of the suit wearer. Otherwise, it is the same stupid, clunky diving suit you see in the game. Adaptations are sometimes criticized for being too literal, but I can't imagine power armor looking any other way.