The always-smiling, thumbs-up-giving Vault Boy from Fallout is one of the most iconic images in gaming. His happy demeanor is in stark contrast to the apocalyptic world in which his face is plastered, a world where nuclear war has turned the Earth into a living hellscape.

As it turns out, we may have been looking at the image wrong for all these years. As pointed out on Reddit, Fallout's Vault Boy might not be giving us a cheerful thumbs-up at all, but rather might be checking to see how close he is to a nuclear explosion and the dangerous radiation it would bring.

Apparently, if you see a nuclear explosion on the horizon, holding out your thumb at arms length could help you gauge whether or not you were in danger of being exposed to nuclear fallout. If your thumb covers up the explosion, you are probably far enough away to avoid any negative side effects (but you should probably still run for your life, anyway). If, however, your thumb doesn't cover up the explosion, that means you are in the danger zone and need to get out of Dodge fast.

It sounds crazy, but if you look closely at the image, there is even more evidence to support the idea. Vault Boy isn't winking, he's closing one eye so he can tell whether or not his thumb covers up the explosion. Look closer and you'll see that there is even a bright light on one half of the character's body. That could very well be the light coming from a distant nuclear detonation.

Though Bethesda has never confirmed that this is indeed what Vault Boy is doing in the image, it's hard to look at the image any other way once you put the pieces together. Whether Vault Boy is simply giving us a thumbs-up or making sure he isn't about to die a nuclear fallout-induced death, Fallout's mascot continues to be one of the most enduring images in gaming. With Fallout 4 on the horizon, that likely won't change anytime soon.

Fallout 4 releases on Nov. 10 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. You can check out the all the game's perks here.

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