Power to the people! The masses will be heard and seize the means of production. Even if that production is in a post-apocalyptic world filled with NPC thieves and something called a Sheepsquatch. The world of Fallout 76 is one of wacky wonder in the wilds of West Virginia, so bugs making things more interesting isn’t anything new. After all, this is Fallout we’re talking about. However, one new bug featuring a propaganda-spouting communism robot is leaving an impression on players. And fliers. Lots of fliers. Maybe too many fliers.
Added in the recent, limit-time Red Shift promotion on the Fallout 76 premium store, the Communist Collectron is a bot that collects scrap and weapons for players while they’re off on adventures. This skin that players can purchase with real money–and Atoms, the game’s somewhat earnable premium currency–fits the player’s normal Collectron with this Mao Zedong-approved look which comes along with unique voice lines. Upon exiting his terminal, comrade Collectron will go about his dutiful work of smashing the bourgeoisie and collecting items for the player over time.
However, our robot ally also has a bad habit of stuffing his terminal and the player’s inventory with communism propaganda fliers. A lot of them. And sometimes only fliers. A thread on Reddit in which an unsatisfied customer bought the skin says “I get that it’s a joke item and overall I enjoy the bot and his sayings, but I spent 500 atoms on it which is the same price as the regular Collectron which actually finds useful junk and items. The propaganda poster just takes up space in the bin and I have to remove and immediately drop them. Please, please, please remove it from the possible loot pool.”
Hmm. Sounds an awful lot like radical, anti-communism rhetoric to me.
In fairness, I can confirm that our metal comrade is, indeed, more interested in bringing back propaganda than actually filling my coffers with anything of use. Upon buying and building the Collectron last night I watched in abject horror as it struggled to find its way out of my CAMP, got stuck on a wall, then returned with a stack of fliers. Nothing else, just fliers.
No word from Bethesda on if this is an actual bug or an actually hilarious joke. Either way, I’m amused and glad to have a fellow brother of the cause in my Appalachian, communist adventures. Even a metal brother. After all, it’s the post-apocalypse and pickings are slim.
