this post was submitted on 01 Feb 2026
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Here's a list of tons of leftist movies.
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What is your stance on the NCR? I figured them to neoliberal imperialists, and I don't personally like them. But I'd like to hear your opinion.
The NCR ingame is repeating the mistakes of old bourgeois democracies and is bound to turn out like they did. It was a good critique of our Western democracies, an investigation of how good intentions might still send a growing community down that path and how the contradictions of the system begin to emerge.
The NCR in the show is a flawed construction because of the things @XiaCobolt@hexbear.net describes and the issues I describe in my linked comment. Sorry about the spoilers from both of us. It is revealed early, but still.
moment for me
I simp for the desert ranger Armor (especially the Survivalists variant, forgive me mama) however, so the scene in season 2 episode 7 was a real
My thoughts
So laying the cards on the table, since the first Fallout my favorite faction has been the Followers of the Apocalypse. They're pretty much the best faction. The unambiguously best ending in Fallout New Vegas for them is the NCR ending. Even in Yes Man they get overwhelmed with causalities from the routine violence that occurs under a Yes Man regimen. So I started hold my nose and backing them.But the more I thought about it I felt the NCR was the best ending of the 4, because Yes Man as an ending is only good IF the courier is some benevolent super-intelligent and charismatic dictator who hangs around enforcing the peace. And if you're engaging in that sort of magical headcanon-ing why can't an idolized War Hero Courier go back to the NCR and try to change things by any any means necessary? Electoral politics, military coup or revolution.
It's not great man theory, in the way Lenin wasn't a great man, but the right person at the right time could steer that new proletariat upset at Water Merchants and Brahmin Barons, win over the soldiers disillusioned by imperial misadventure and build something better.
I don't think the NCR as it is, is good, it's recreating capitalism right on top of the ruins of capitalism. But it's a good foundation for something better, unlike pretty much every major faction in the games (BoS, Unity, Caesar's Legion, Enclave, Institute, House etc). They're creating food, fresh water and industry needed to build a new society. Fertile ground for a socialist society to spring board off. Also in Fallout 2 and New Vegas a lot of the folk in the NCR are just genuinely decent folk trying to help and make do, their beaucrats and leaders suck, but the scientists, doctors, rangers, soldiers etc are all pretty decent.
And in any match up with NCR and the Legion, I back the NCR. Lenin came up with Revolutionary Defeatism during WW1 and it was the absolutely correct assessment for that moment. However a generation later socialists across the world had to struggle with the fight against fascism, where revolutionary defeatism was not up to the task. Bourgeois democracies had to be supported against fascism albeit momentarily to deal with the crisis. (there's something here too about how the western left has had to make the enemies of the American empire comparable to Nazis to justified foreign intervention, but Caesar's legions are actually fascistic and evil).
Also as a trans person I think the NCR is one of the few places I might if I was thrust into the setting have a chance of finding someone who can synthesis estrogen for me (which is probably the Followers but they've got more time to do that if they're not dealing with causalities).
I need someone IRL to talk about New Vegas it seems. It's been on my mind a lot recently for some reason. This mirrors the conversation I had with @Cowbee@lemmy.ml about the game.
The ending of New Vegas is where it becomes clear that, while the writers are politically conscious and better than most of their colleagues, they're still not "based" for lack of a better descriptor. Either that or the theme of "Old World Blues" they worked with constrained them.
The Yes Man ending for New Vegas has always bothered me, because the communities seem to be completely lacking for governance and leadership. It's all The Courier and once the courier goes, so does the organisation. Despite all the work you can do to make disparate communities stronger and self-sufficient, despite how you can tie them together and make them work together - Or at least create a ludonarrative sense of connection - It's all just you. I wish there was an ending that focused more on organizing an independent Vegas or creating a new faction within the NCR that could function as a launching ground for a post-post-apocalyptic spartacist group. That could be such an interesting setting too! Imagine playing in the wake of a failed leftist coup. Imagine "Auf auf zum kampf" getting the Bella Ciao treatment. Imagine what could be told in a fallout game set in a Weimar-style-NCR.
Bingo. Yes Man is kept less as an actual ending and more as a failsafe, despite playing best to the themes of rejecting failed old-war systems and creating something new!
I always end up going for either House or NCR ending, depending on my mood.
I still like independent thematically, and for the freedom it has, but it really depends on character.
Definitely agree with everything you said. It feels like there should have been an ending that was like New Vegas Commune or something. Something ambitious and better if at risk of failure.