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The team behind Fallout 4 must like robots. Maybe they saw how Lucasfilm could do no wrong with the droids in their TV shows and movies and decided they’d give it a try too. Of course, there’s Codsworth and Curie, but also the eccentric arms dealer KL-E-0 in Goodneighbor. You’ve also got the farm-running robots of Graygarden and the crew of the USS Constitution.
Then there’s General Atomics Galleria.
One look into the history of these pre-War companies will tell you that most of them were terrible at their jobs. And their incompetence often had fatal consequences for either their employees or customer base.
General Atomics International was a hit-and-miss company, with the Galleria being one of their biggest blunders. It’s over two centuries overdue for a remodel and a tuneup. Don’t expect any compensation from the board for doing the dirty work, but there are other incentives for taking on the job.
Recommendations
- Come here sooner rather than later
- High Charisma or Charisma boosting clothes or chems
- Power Armor (For increased carrying capacity)
- Save often to avoid ruining part of the Galleria
Notable Loot
- Lead (Weights, barbells, Curlbars, and dumbbells)
- Plastic (Bowling balls and bowling pins)
- Oil
- Aluminum
- Suprathaw Antifreeze
- Anti Freeze Bottle
- Coolant
- Pre-War money
Location
General Atomics Galleria is slightly southeast of Tenpines Bluff, a settlement you’ll go to for The First Step quest for the Minutemen.
Welcome To General Atomics Galleria
Approach General Atomics Galleria and Greeter the Mister Handy robot will, well, greet you. He’ll state that you must be their new supervisor. Play along or don’t, as it doesn’t matter.
You can ask for some background info on the place and find out that General Atomics Galleria is run entirely by robots. The Director Management System coordinates the efforts of all the bots here, while a human supervisor is supposed to be on-site only to ensure everything goes smoothly.
Greeter informs you that the shopping center is closed to the general public until a new human supervisor is found but still offers to let you in for a look around. With that, the miscellaneous quest Galleria will begin.
But first, let’s check this place out, shall we? Just remember to save often. Trust me.
General Atomics Galleria has a total of 7 stores to browse.
Madden’s Gym
Run by Danny and Mack, Madden’s gym is your usual pre-War boxing gym with plenty of weights to go around. It’s surprisingly messy for a place consisting only of robots.
Mack will enthusiastically encourage you to get in the ring for a round with The Champ. If you do so, The Champ will turn hostile and attack you. If you fight back using anything other than your fists or boxing gloves, Danny and Mack will go hostile as well (If you have a companion with you, they can destroy The Champ with weapons, and Danny and Mack won’t care).
If you (Or your companion) defeats The Champ, Mack will declare you the new champion, though this doesn’t do anything for you. The fight with The Champ is the least consequential confrontation here. Regardless of how you resolve the quest, The Champ always goes down for the count.
The real highlight of Madden’s gym (And the quest overall) is all the lead you can farm here. It’s why I suggested bringing along a suit of Power Armor because you’ll be lugging around 1000+ pounds.
Lead is necessary for crafting Mentats, ammo at the ammunition plant, and a couple of armor mods like Lead Lined and Pneumatics. You’re going to want to strip this gym clean before resolving the quest and leaving. You’ll see why soon.
You obviously can’t haul all this stuff back home in one go, but you still need to claim it and store it for safekeeping. Use one of the mailboxes or trashcans lying around as a container for the job. If you try to make multiple trips back and forth collecting all the weights, The Champ, Danny, and Mack will turn hostile.
That’s all for Madden’s gym, for now, so let’s check out the other stores.
General Atomics Outlet
General Atomics outlet seems like a store focused on selling GA’s trademark Mister Handy and Mister Gutsy robots. That would be useful, except all of the units are faulty.
Speak with Sprocket and ask for a tour, to which he will gladly oblige. He will show you the Mister Handy units first, three of which are active but immediately shut down. Following this, he will demonstrate the one active Mister Gutsy who will attack you. If you go to General Atomics Galleria as soon as possible, as I suggested, you may want to avoid this tour. Dealing with a Misty Gutsy at a low level will be a nightmare.
There are a lot of handy crafting components in the outlet, but most are marked as stolen until you resolve the quest. You can pick an Expert lock to get inside the workroom behind the counter to get some goodies not marked as stolen. If you can’t open Expert locks yet, wait until after resolving the quest, and you can use the workroom key in the register.
The outlet is primarily an excellent early-game source of oil, aluminum, and fiberglass, with Mister Handy fuel canisters and aluminum canisters lying around. There’s also a coolant bottle and an antifreeze bottle on the shelves for some acid.
Anyone up for a bite to eat? I hear Mister Handy units make a mean deathclaw omelet.
Handy Eats
Waitron and Cook Handy are the proprietors of Handy Eats, and Waitron will enthusiastically offer to serve you. There’s one open booth with the rest filled with so-called customers.
Sit down at the booth, and Waitron will ask how you would like for Waitron to serve you. Your options are char-broiled, diced, or mashed. Now, if you know anything about Mister Handy in Fallout 4, you know these options coincidentally coincide with Mister Handy’s attack patterns (Flamethrower and buzzsaw). Yeah, it turns out Handy Eats takes the phrase serving you quite literally.
You can pass a Speech check to convince Waitron that you’re no longer hungry and dash out of there forgo the dining. Take note of Cook Handy’s work area, as he has excellent junk items like cooking oil, an oven mitt, and a hot plate. We can’t obtain them now, however, without making him hostile.
You can find a random gun and energy weapon ammunition type on the floor near Waitron on your way out. Aside from that, there’s not much loot to speak of in here.
Back Alley Bowling
Bowling is something of an acquired taste of a pastime, but in a post-apocalyptic world, any still-existing sport will do.
Step right up to Back Alley Bowling, and you can play a game for the low price of five thousand dollars. That’s not an exaggeration. Speak with Tenpin at the counter, and that’s how much they’re charging. If you have 5000 pre-War money in your inventory, you can pay the fee and be allowed inside. If not, you’ll need to do some smooth-talking.
While speaking with Tenpin, select the caps option to ask if he will take bottle caps instead. He will reject the notion, but it opens up a Speech check to ask if you can look around. If you pass it, he, and the other Mister Handy units Strike, Split, and Kingpin will not turn hostile. If you fail this Speech check and try to explore the bowling alley before resolving the quest, they will attack you.
Back Alley Bowling is the primary reason I suggest you visit General Atomics Galleria sooner rather than later. In the late game, you’ll have more plastic than you know what to do with, but in the early game, not so much.
Back Alley Bowling has 39 bowling balls, each worth seven plastic. There are also 37 bowling pins, with two plastic each (Getting all 37 can be annoying, though). Alternatively, you can use these bowling balls to have some fun with The Striker.
There are a couple of Nuka-Cola machines scattered around the alley. Check them out for any bottles of Nuka-Cola, Cherry, or Quantum. If you don’t have an early game Charisma outfit yet, there’s usually a set of summer shorts in the lockers to the left of the lanes.
Head for the door on the bottom right side of the lanes to explore the back of the alley. There’s a bottle of Suprathaw Antifreeze hidden behind a silver container in this first room.
Kingpin and a steamer trunk and tool case with random leveled loot are in the back. Once you finish looting the room, move on to the next one, which appears to have been the supervisor’s office. Hack the Advanced terminal and read the 7/26/77 entry to obtain the DMS Galleria Override password.
From here, you can head upstairs to meet Strike at the bar or change the tunes on the jukebox. Don’t forget to loot the explosives box behind the stairs.
In the hall next to Strike’s bar, there’s a ladder you can use to access the roofs of the stores in the Galleria. A skeleton with some chems is on the roof of Madden’s, and another on top of Fallon’s has a random weapon, ammo, and potentially a fusion core. There are some caps and a cap stash on top of Slocum’s Joe.
That’s about every you can do in Back Alley Bowling. Let’s get some new clothes to commemorate the visit to General Atomics Galleria.
Fallon’s department store
Not to be confused with Fallon’s department stores near Milton General Hospital or in Concord, or Fallon’s basement in Diamond City, a Mister Handy named Reg manages Fallon’s department store in General Atomics Galleria. And this poor fellow seems a little on edge and has little interest in having any customers.
You can speak with him about the state of the store, and he will tell you how it’s taken him years to get everything placed perfectly. He will also tell you not to touch anything. If you take anything from the store, Reg will turn hostile. And yes, that includes items not marked as stolen.
As you would expect from a department store, Fallon’s primarily stocks clothing items. It makes it another great place to get some early game Charisma-boosting gear. But that will have to wait.
Maybe a freshly-baked cannoli will cool Reg’s circuits. Luckily for us, there’s a bakery next door.
Pinelli’s Bakery
Run by Crisp and Torte, Pinelli’s Bakery is your average, ordinary baked goods store.
That’s if you consider the employee behind the counter going through a perpetual existential crisis as ordinary. If Squidward existed in the Fallout universe, it would be as Crisp.
Unlike the other robots in General Atomics Galleria, Crisp and Torte don’t seem to have any murderous inclinations. I suppose it’s because they’re too tired of life to bother. Maybe existential crises are good things.
There are numerous bakery tickets scattered around the store and outside that you can collect. None match the numbers that Crisp calls out, so this is only for show. You can say hello to Torte in the kitchen if you want, but he only yells at you that the kitchen is employees-only.
It looks like we’ll be waiting in line here for a while. What do you say we get ourselves a cup of joe to keep us awake while we wait?
Slocum’s Joe
As soon as you enter Slocum’s Joe, you’ll notice a shimmering visual effect. It looks like we’ve got ourselves a gas leak. Ask the bartender Bean about it, and he will confirm that there is indeed a gas leak inside. He put in a request to get it fixed.
About 50 years ago.
But anyway, Slocum’s Joe is a coffee joint, so how about that cup of joe? If you accept Bean’s offer, the store will unsurprisingly burst into flames, after which Bean turns hostile. Be reasonable here, Bean. A 1/5 rating on Grubhub is well-warranted if your store blows up while I’m in here.
We’ve explored every store in General Atomics Galleria and may or may not have had to destroy every robot we’ve come across. I say now is a perfect time to visit The Director.
Dealing With The Director
Use the lift in the center of the complex to reach the office of The Director, which turns out to be a Mister Gutsy in full-fledged drill sergeant mode.
There’s a skeleton with a Galleria Supervisor’s Password to the left of The Director. If you can’t hack Advanced terminals yet, you can use this to access the computer in the bowling alley. If you read the terminal entries, you’ll know that The Director murdered this poor soul. Let’s try to avoid sharing the same fate.
Speak with The Director, and he will demand to know why you’re here before asking if you’re the supervisor and to see some ID. From this point, you have three options to resolve this quest.
Show The Director “Your” ID
You aren’t the official supervisor of General Atomics Galleria and thus cannot show The Director your ID. You can, however, show him someone’s ID and pretend to be him. After all, he’s been dead for 200 years, so I’m sure he won’t mind. And yes, you can use this option even if you play as a female Sole Survivor.
Read the supervisor’s terminal in the bowling alley, and you’ll discover that a man named Mr. Kincaid was named as the new supervisor for General Atomics Galleria back when the world still existed. You can find Mr. Kincaid’s ID in his office at the General Atomics factory in South Boston.
It’s hidden underneath a folder on his desk and requires you to pick his Expert-locked door. If you don’t have the lockpicking abilities yet, grab Cait from The Combat Zone to do it for you.
The biggest problem with this option lies in the fact that the General Atomics factory is a hike and a half from General Atomics Galleria. If you’re doing this at a low level, you’ll have to wade through lots of hostile territories to get there. If you have the Automatron DLC installed and have progressed through the questline, the factory is filled with the Mechanist’s robots, making for a tough fight.
And if you’re doing this quest at a higher level, the other two options are less time-consuming. As a result, this is a pretty redundant option unless you stumble upon the factory before coming to the Galleria.
Pass A Speech Check
If you pass a medium or hard Speech check, the Director will initiate the Grand Re-Opening protocols. Doing so will update the firmware of every robot inside the Galleria and complete the quest. He will also give you some pre-War money as a promotional prize for a raffle that will never happen.
If you’re having trouble passing either of the checks, wear a Charisma-boosting outfit before trying, guzzle a bottle of beer, and use some Grape Mentats and Day Tripper to give you an edge.
Use The DMS Galleria Override Password
If you checked out the computer in the supervisor’s office in the bowling alley, you should’ve acquired the DMS Galleria Override Password. Once obtained, you’ll be able to access the terminal behind The Director. You will have the options to initiate the Grand Re-Opening protocols yourself, as well as initiate shutdowns or self-destruct sequences of all robots inside the Galleria.
The self-destruct sequence only works on active robots, so maybe destroy The Director before trying this, but I recommend saving and then watching the self-destruct command play out. It makes for quite the fireworks display.
If you fail to appease or convince The Director, both he and the patrolling Mister Gutsy below will turn hostile. I strongly recommend you not try your hand at this method. While higher levels will have no issue taking out Misty Gutsy enemies, there are a lot of cars in the Galleria. And these cars will blow up in the ensuing firefight. Even at a high level, there’s a strong chance that the explosions will kill you.
If you want the experience, you can kill The Director and other Misty Gutsy. What’s important is for the Mister Handy units at the Galleria to remain functional for the Grand Re-Opening.
General Atomics Galleria: Grand Re-Opening
After the Grand Re-Opening protocols are active, you will notice a change in the Galleria. The robots down below no longer have unintentional homicidal tendencies, and nearly every item once marked as stolen is now free for the taking.
Most of the stores will now also have functioning vendors. Danny in the gym will sell you a small number of chems. If you get inside the gym’s office and hack the terminal, you can initiate a Manager’s sale to receive a 25% discount.
Sprocket at the outlet will sell general goods and crafting components. The Waitron at Handy Eats will have an actual menu of food items for sale. Reg will sell clothing items and crafting materials, and Crisp will sell some baked goods. And Bean will sell coffee pots, cups, flamer fuel, and sweet rolls.
Now is the time to begin the glorious looting tour of the Galleria. Start with the gym since it’s the most important. Remember how I told you to loot all the weights before you finish the quest and leave? The Director, if left alive, is busy barking orders at the robots below to clean up their stores.
Once you fast-travel from the Galleria and back again, they will be. Handy Eats will no longer have skeletons at the booth, and the gym won’t have loose weights on the floor. After these weights disappear, you cannot loot them, which means significantly less lead for you.
Before the cleanup, you can get 316 units worth of lead. After the cleanup, this figure drops to 230. It’s not like Mister Handy units will be pumping iron, so you might as well take the weights. Pick the gym clean, then store the items inside one of the containers outside and make back and forth trips until you’ve brought it all home.
After you’re finishing looting every store, you can put the Galleria in your rearview and continue your adventures in the Commonwealth.
FAQs
Question: Can you manage the Galleria after the Grand Re-Opening?
Answer: Unfortunately, no. The title of the supervisor is all for show. Once you loot the stores for goodies, there’s little reason to return here.
Question: Why don’t the Misty Gutsy guards talk?
Answer: They do, but a bug in the game prevents them from having audio. You can turn on subtitles to see their dialogue and the differences after the Galleria re-opens.
Question: Can you play a game of bowling after the re-opening?fa
Answer: No, you can’t. If I can shoot some hoops in ancient GTA San Andreas, surely Bethesda can allow for some sports minigames in modern-day Fallout. Pretty please, Bethesda?
General Atomics Galleria Guide: Conclusion
I must admit that I am pretty disappointed with how barebones the Galleria is. Don’t get me wrong; I didn’t expect Bethesda to go full-blown Mall Complex Management Simulator, but they could’ve done something.
I do like how Waitron requires that you actually sit down in the booth before he serves you, but there’s no reason to come back here after looting the place. Factions like the Minutemen are all about bringing back civility, law, and pre-War ways to the Commonwealth. What’s more pre-War than a shopping complex?
If you visit the Galleria after completing the quest, you will run into scavengers huddled around any of the destroyed/inactive robots, but that’s it. There’s no way to monetize the Galleria in any way. And it’s not as if it would be impossible. In Skyrim, your spouses open up shops, and you take a cut of the profit. Surely that wouldn’t be hard to do here?
I also would’ve liked it if there were a unique clothing set if you completed the quest, like a Galleria manager shirt and slacks. It’s not a big deal, I know, but I think that even the little stuff matters and can add a lot to the experience. The Galleria is a big lot of wasted opportunity.
But what can you do, am I right? Hopefully, Bethesda will learn from their mistakes when we finally get the next main installment of the Fallout franchise. In the meantime, there’s still plenty of the Commonwealth that needs exploring. Don’t let me keep you.