Just realized how disturbing Higgs Village truly is.

[Valden21]

Going through OWB earlier today, I noticed that Higgs Village is a truly scary place. It's not what happened there. It's not the fact that there's a mini-Deathclaw in there. No, what makes the place so scary is the fact that every house is exactly the same. The interior decorations may differ from house to house, but everything else about them is identical, from the number and placement of windows to the paint job. I thought that FO3's Tranquility Lane gave out Camazots vibes, but Higgs Village has got Tranquility Lane beat.

[talgaby]

Never visit Eastern Europe then; the most common housing, panel blocks, would scare you to death.

[hulmey676]

Yes I concur, very creepy. Those robotic scientists must've been glad the nuclear apocalypse came; they do seem too awfully happy when speaking to them.

[Vassago Rain]

Originally posted by BirdMan:

Yes I concur, very creepy. Those robotic scientists must've been glad the nuclear apocalypse came; they do seem too awfully happy when speaking to them.

Because they've been lobotomized and reprogrammed. Old world blues isn't a ZOMG! SO RANDUMB AND FUNNY! echs dee adventure.

[Facetable]

Originally posted by Vassago Rain:

Because they've been lobotomized and reprogrammed. Old world blues isn't a ZOMG! SO RANDUMB AND FUNNY! echs dee adventure.

Thank you for this

The jokes/references in OWB are something that I do appreciate, but I think that people often overlook Big Mt. for the nightmare that it is due to the humor

Higgs village is actually incredibly creepy when you realize that the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up stuff you see in each house is from the work of the the Think Tank BEFORE they were lobotomized. The leftovers of the Gabe experiments in Borous’ basement, the knife-ridden House picture and destroyed securitron in in 0’s, Dala’s teddy bear collection (that one isn’t quite as ♥♥♥♥♥♥ as the others) even 8’s radio collection is somewhat disturbing when considering the possibility of him having worked on the Little Yangtze collars.

[Bansheebutt]

I'm guessing OP's ideal housing is a McMansion.

[Valden21]

Originally posted by Bansheebot:

I'm guessing OP's ideal housing is a McMansion.

I'm guessing you've never read A Wrinkle in Time. If you have, you'l understand why Higgs Village gives off such a strong Camazots vibe. Absolute conformity is soul-crushingly scary for many people, and everything about Higgs Village screams "Conformity!".

[Bansheebutt]

Again, It's a house.

The attachment of so much significance to outward presentation is something that twilight zone episodes are made of.

[Valden21]

Originally posted by Bansheebot:

Again, It's a house.

The attachment of so much significance to outward presentation is something that twilight zone episodes are made of.

Why do I bother? Clearly, you don't get understand why absolute conformity is scary.

[Bansheebutt]

No, I don't relate to the need for building a clown house, nor do I consider a tacky, gauche exterior to be a symbol of my individuality.
Especially when it comes to making realistic, affordable homes for the lower and middle classes, like the many I've lived in throughout my years.

If your "soul" is represented by something as materialistic as the exterior of your tacky house, you didn't have much of one to begin with.

Also you literally dismissed the interiors of the homes being different despite the interior being the actual intimate space of a home, so what exactly are you on about "conformity"?

[Jess]

you need allah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ala9nF0VrQ

[just.nuke.em]

Originally posted by Valden21:

No, what makes the place so scary is the fact that every house is exactly the same.

Given the atomic punk nature of the FO universe, and the fact that most aesthetic things are stuck in the post WWII, it is pretty much just a copy of the Levittown phenomenon that created suburban america in the 50's and 60's (mass produced similar housing structures). This is still very much in effect today. You can easily roll into neighborhoods and tell what year they were built just based on the fact that they all used the same design.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levittown

[Scythia]

Originally posted by just.nuke.em:

Originally posted by Valden21:

No, what makes the place so scary is the fact that every house is exactly the same.

Given the atomic punk nature of the FO universe, and the fact that most aesthetic things are stuck in the post WWII, it is pretty much just a copy of the Levittown phenomenon that created suburban america in the 50's and 60's (mass produced similar housing structures). This is still very much in effect today. You can easily roll into neighborhoods and tell what year they were built just based on the fact that they all used the same design.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levittown

This. A nearby town to me has entire streets of houses built in this timeframe that are all identical save what colour the owners have painted them or what lawn junk they have. Low cost purpose-built housing (like the kind one would expect in a government funded science/industrial research center) is built identically to save time and money. Using one design is a choice made for efficiency.

Also, keep in mind, the Higgs Village houses weren't intended to be where the researchers would spend the rest of their lives. Compare to a facility like Los Alamos, where researchers may stay for years, but eventually they move on to other projects and their own more personal living arrangements. During the early days, the Los Alamos scientists probably stayed in barracks style buildings that were even less expressive than the Higgs Village houses.

There are, in the real world, entire buildings where people live in identically shaped spaces and have only the number on a door and whatever decorations they choose to differentiate their space from their neighbours': Apartment buildings. People live in those just fine. What's 'soul crushing' about the events of Higgs Village and its occupants isn't conformity, it's isolation, survivors' guilt, untreated mental illness, and some of the most potent cognitive dissonance possible.