Perhaps the best way to explain why the United States of 2077 perished in atomic fire is to simply review the vaults they left behind... sadistic experimental time capsules that put greed for power above their responsibility to the future.
Even today, there are still unexplored vaults that have remained dormant for over two hundred years...
So I suppose I should address the elephant in the room... where is the yellow trim? I hate painting yellow... so I just skipped it! One day I think I'll go back and apply a gold metalic to the trim instead of yellow and that will be enough... for now... they'll just have to make do with their all-blue jumpers!
The models I have for Vault Dwellers at the moment is pretty limited, so I painted a "Nate" with a Laser-Musket arm, a "Nora"... and then took a PVC Nora, sliced off her head and 10MM pistol and replaced with a resin laser rifle and Flight Helmet. The laser rifle is a big large and ungainly but I like it enough and I didn't have another option at the time.
I could have used more flight suit BOS figures for Vault Dwellers, but I chose to use them for my Gearhead Gang members instead. With a dog and Mr. Handy it's easy to flesh out a small gang of Vault Dwellers to explore the wastes anyways!
In terms of storytelling, obviously the Vaults as social experiments provide an endless source for horror, fun, and dungeon crawling... but a big part of me wishes that one or more of the Fallout games explored a sincere attempt to rebuild by a Vault. Basically... I wish the newer Fallouts had more "Vault City" and (a little) less "Gaaarrrrryyyyyy?!!"