a classic case of the amount of % of people that care for a left hand version is to few to justify all the extra costs of doing two versions of a limited prop.

Wow. I've been playing Ocarina of Time recently, and I literally just realized that Link is left-handed. I'm a lefty too, and it never occurred to me...You know, the ironic thing is that the Pip-Boy 3000 from Fallout 3 and New Vegas was more left-hand friendly due to what they consider to be a design oversight.

Is the inside of the Pip Boy conical or just a cylinder?

If it is the latter, it won't matter in that sense.

Are the peripherals on the Pip Boy (thumb wheel, buttons) actually functional or are they just for looks?

If it is the latter, it won't matter in that sense.


And honestly, using a touchscreen is really easy with my left hand and I'm right handed. I don't see how it would be any different for left handed people needing to use their right hand.

And I just want to say that Jimi Hendrix was left handed, and when he learned to play the guitar, he orignally took a right handed setup and turned the guitar upside down. Just sayin'.

So because I'm part of a smaller population that uses a different predominant hand I should just svck it up and deal with it? No. That is unacceptable. Just because there are big and tall people it doesn't mean they should have to svck it up and wear skin tight A&F clothes or fit into really tiny shoes. If you don't ask, you don't get things changed.

And if you read it, I'm also asking about in-game features. Why can't the main character use a left-handed Pipboy? Oh I forgot. Because only "10% of the world's population is left handed" I guess that 10% must have died in the nuclear explosion in the game.

I'm usually the first guy to jump on any cause for lefty consideration, but I really can't be too bothered about this. I've never seen an example of a right-arm Pipboy in the Fallout world, so I would assume they only come for the left arm. It's not like you need a lot of dexterity for any of the Pipboy functions--I find I can peck at a touchscreen with either hand just fine.

As an aside, I'm really surprised at how many people want to actually wear the plastic Pipboy while they play. If you want to use the second-screen companion app, that's your prerogative (personally I think the in-game Pipboy would be more convenient that futzing around with my phone), but the plastic armband? I have to believe that after 5 minutes, people will realize that it's gimmicky and uncomfortable, especially if you're resting your wrist on your desk, or on your lap if you're using a gamepad.

It's clearly, but not overwhelmingly, conical going by photos of it. If you have skinny arms, you might be able to wear it on your right arm.

That said, I agree with you. Using a touch screen is just as easy with my right hand as it is my left hand (I'm a lefty too). Add to that, you won't ever need to pull off an important task with this thing that requires strict precision. It's essentially a toy. I'm fine with just a right handed version.

Like most left-handers I would agree at how dextrous you may or may not have to be in using something with your right hand. In this world we typically become accustomed to doing so and even become quite ambidextrous because of it. That's not the point. It's the lack of option. A reflected/reversed molding wouldn't cost much for production, and as gimmicky as the toy may be for gameplay, people also buy these CE items for cosplay purposes. If I'm going to wear something on my wrist, I'd prefer on the wrist I typically wear an item versus the agitation of something new on a wrist I typically don't wear anything on.

And let's be honest here people. I'm not demanding they make one. I asked some simple questions. If you don't like the questions I asked, I really don't care. I have every right to ask them. If they choose to respond. That's their choice. But that is why these forums are here. In hopes that maybe they will see this and either respond or consider making changes. It doesn't hurt anyone to ask, and I lose nothing if they respond and tell me no.

This shows how little you know about logistics, to be frank. Sure, the mold itself doesn't cost too much to make, but consider this:

When you implement a variant like this, you have to then track and decide at what point your production line will split off to create the variant, and you need to track how many of the variant you're making (after you decide how many you should make). Now, once the variant is created, you need to track it at all times to ensure that it goes to where it's needed (after decided where it should go). After all, you don't want to ship 80% of a variant to a single location by mistake (keep in mind, that in some cases, you may want to ship that amount - you have to figure out how much is appropriate to ship to a location).

The whole process of creating left handed pip boys is a ton more complex than simply building the mold. EDIT: and this is without even considering the resources needed to make sure retailers are correctly offering the option and tracking how many are ordered. Then, you get to restocking (potentially)...I could go on go and to be honest.

It's probably a good thing we don't live in the stone age any more and logistics software helps make these decisions simpler by allowing the definition of percentages of shipments to be logged at one location versus another. The cost of production of the item is going to be extremely low. The minimal amount of labor it would take to make the decisions of shipping logistics versus the amount of profit made from an additional market being sold do not compare. The latter far outweighs the former.

Having a left handed pip-boy would probably convince me to get the pip-boy edition, but it isn't a deal breaker. Hell I'm ambidextrous now thanks to the education system anyway (early years teachers did not believe in lefties and this forced use of the right hand).

It would be nice to be able to wear the pip boy on the right wrist in game however, and this has nothing to do with the dexterity required of the right hand. It has everything to do with the required dexterity of the left hand/arm. The pip boy is rather large, and since it's made with vacuum-tube tech it is probably fairly heavy, this would put a drag on your dominant hand and be a major detriment in not only combat but also everyday tasks. BUT doing that would open a major can of worms, because if you choose to have a lefty character you need to be able to shoot left handed/left eyed as well. Hell just because you're a lefty doesn't mean you'll shoot left either, that has more to do with eye dominance if you have a good teacher. I shoot left because I am one of the rare left eye/arm/leg dominant people, so it works, but I can see why Beth wouldn't want to devote the massive amount of resources required. Admittedly I was kind of irked when I found out Link had become a right hander in more recent games though lol

I'm left-handed and I see it like this: If 100 people want Pip-boys, chances are 11-8 of them will atleast be left-handed, however the Pip-Boy is designed for a right-handed user. Should we design and sell one for a minority?

What about people with no hands then?

Strawman level is maxed.

I'm sorry; I just can't help you as it turns out.

Even with mass-produced items like a gaming mouse, you see very few lefty versions--usually the best we can get is a symmetrical/ambidextrous one. In the case of the Pipboy collectible, the manufacturing volume will be considerably lower than typical consumer goods.

Let's make some guesses and do a little math. I'm guessing they maybe make 10,000 collector's editions. The tooling for the injection moulded parts will be perhaps $20,000 to $50,000, so that contributes $2 to $5 to the manufacturing cost of each Pipboy. The left-handed version will require a complete new set of moulds, so that's another $20,000 to $50,000. Now, if they only sell one lefty for every 10 righties, then they're only going to make 1000 left-handed collector's editions. suddenly, that $5 Pipboy costs them $50 to make. Do they sell the lefty collector's edition for $50 more than the regular one?

I just don't see how the numbers would make sense--double the tooling cost for an additional 10% of the market that would even consider buying the alternate version.

I really do appreciate everyone's personal opinion as you are all entitled to it, just as I am. It doesn't change the fact that I'm still asking.

Im sure the designers of the pip-boy took this into consideration. Its just a sleeve you slide your phone into and load up the app on the phone to show the pip-boy in all its glory.. Im sure just like the apple products.. it will enable you to choose a left handed display as well. The programming is what you hoping for will be in place or lefties.. Since its a apple/android app.. I'm very sure they will have this feature available.

The app isn't really the issue--it most likely will rotate up based on the orientation of the phone like most do, or if not you could put your phone in the other way.

The Pipboy itself has a "right side up", so you either put it on your right wrist upside down, or backwards (since the inside looks narrower at the wrist end, this is probably not possible). Wearing it upside-down probably angles the phone screen the wrong way, and has the bulkier top end towards your body rather than away from it. Though a bit awkward, it might still be usable in this position, since the dials and buttons on the top corner of the Pipboy don't actually function.

Don't compare a limited special edition with clothes...

And ingame? You can't make the main character left handed... That would mean to much work and redesign... It's not simple to make the PC left handed...

It doesn't matter honestly. The dials and knobs don't do anything, they are just for show, so you can put the pip boy on whatever arm you like. it's just a glorified phone case.

and on the matter of the PC being left handed, there have never been any examples of a pip-boy on someone's right arm in fallout that i've seen, so maybe vault-tec just didn't make a left-handed model.

~909 left-handed pip boys to keep the 1 lefty to 10 righties ratio

Regardless, your point is absolutely correct: not only does producing left-handed pip boys costs more labor and resources invested in the production process, but doing so also decreases the profit margin per right-handed pip boy, assuming they keep the price the same for both versions.

Unless you don't have a right arm, I don't see the point in making a left handed version.