Six nobodies are about to step into the spotlight and reload all the action. - Dropout.tv description
Never Stop Blowing Up is the twenty-second season of Dimension 20. It premiered on June 26, 2024.
Helpful Links[]
★ FAQ ★
Synopsis[]
Welcome to Dimension 20: Never Stop Blowing Up-an explosive, high-octane, action-packed thrill-ride unlike anything you've ever seen! When nobodies Russell Feeld (Ally Beardsley), Wendell Morris (Ify Nwadiwe), Paula Donvalson (Isabella Roland), Usha Rao (Rekha Shankar), Liv Skyler (Alex Song-Xia), and Andy 'Dang' Litefoot (Jacob Wysocki) are pulled into the world's greatest action movie, they must navigate dangerous villains, helpful allies, and absolute goons (Brennan Lee Mulligan) to save the day and make it back to the real world.
Setting[]
Never Stop Blowing Up is set in the real city of Lake Elsinore, California until the players are transported into the fictional movie Never Stop Blowing Up, This 1980s action movie world functions similarly to the concept of the movie Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
The in-universe movie Never Stop Blowing Up mostly takes place in Los Angeles, California, serving as an homage to popular LA action films like Die Hard, The Terminator (and its sequels), and the Fast and Furious franchise. It is a shared cinematic universe where various different movie franchises all exist in the same world. The in-universe avatars are riffs on action movie tropes or characters like John McClane, James Bond, Kingpin, Dominic Toretto, femme fatales like Natasha Romanoff in Black Widow or Lorraine Broughton in Atomic Blonde, and brilliant and nerdy hackers seen in Mission Impossible or Jason Bourne.
Visuals and Production[]
This season features a title sequence utilizing real actors, who are not the players, portraying the over-the-top version of the players' in-universe movie avatars. This is the first time a season's title sequence has utilized actors, rather than graphics, animation, or still photography montages.
This season, like most recent seasons, features graphics and animations projected onto the dome of the setting or important action moments. Each time the dice "explode" mechanically, Game Master (GM) Brennan Lee Mulligan hits an explosion animation, which grows bigger for every higher die that "explodes." Never Stop Blowing Up does not feature physical battle sets, but uses props from the GM for the players, similar to A Court of Fey and Flowers. This season also features cuts to animated storyboards of the in-movie action. This marks the first time Dimension 20 has used in-episode extended animated sequences.
Despite Brennan's own commentary in the past that he rarely dresses thematically for episodes or seasons, this season Brennan wears clothes that play on costumes seen in a traditional action movie. He starts off the season in a shirt and tie, then a clean white shirt, leather jacket and fingerless gloves, and eventually into an outfit befitting a long action sequence that gets more destroyed, dirtied, and bloodied over time, with corresponding makeup to match. This has been seen before in the dome by Dungeon Master Aabria Iyengar during Burrow's End, as her makeup also evolves over the course of the season.
Never Stop Blowing Up was shot in Fall 2023.
System[]
This season utilizes a modified homebrewed version of the Kids on Bikes system. Each in-movie player character begins the season rolling a d4 in nine skills: Weapons, Brawl, Hot, Drive, Stunts, Wits, Tech, Tough, and Sneak. Once the character's dice "blow up" by rolling the highest number on that die, the player then rolls that skill with the next highest value dice (i.e., after rolling a four on a d4, rolling that skill with a d6 moving forward). Players have additional skills unique to their character.
If players fails at a dice roll, they take a "turbo token." These tokens can be spent towards succeeding on an otherwise failed roll, leveling up the player's character individually or spending towards attributes and skills shared by the whole group. Starting in And That's Whirred Up, these tokens disappear before the next episode, but can be banked towards different personal or group skills.
Player characters have three "injury levels," and can become injured by failing a Tough check by 5 or more. A player who is superficially injured looks scuffed up in a cool way, but experiences no disadvantages. At the second level, they are severely injured, and all turbo token costs are doubled. The third level is the adrenaline level, where the player gains 10 turbo tokens and has one last chance to save their life. If a player who is already at the third injury level would be injured a fourth time, they are incapacitated or killed, depending on their attacker's goal. Players may heal injury levels by seeking medical attention, resting, or by using a skill.
Months after the show, a comprehensive (and free) Never Stop Blowing Up guide was added to the Dropout store - Brennan not included.
Characters[]
Player Characters[]
Amazing/Awesome Action Heroes[]
- Paula Donvalson as Jack Manhattan, played by Isabella Roland
- Liv Skyler as Kingskin, played by Alex Song-Xia
- Andy ‘Dang’ Litefoot as Greg Stocks, played by Jacob Wysocki
- Wendell Morris as Vic Ethanol, played by Ify Nwadiwe
- Russell Feeld as Jennifer Drips, played by Ally Beardsley
- Usha Rao as G13, played by Rekha Shankar
NPCs[]
Major NPCs[]
Supporting NPCs[]
Minor NPCs[]
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Major Antagonists[]
Minor Antagonists[]
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Items[]
Macguffins[]
- The Sticks of Dynamite
- Carter Haldwell's Keycard
- The Shadow Falcon Protocol
- The Bullet Casings
- Carter Haldwell's Severred Finger
- The Brick of Cocaine
- The Deck of Cards
- Damian Bane's Dogtags
- Bilson Menthols
- Superbomb
Other Items[]
Locations[]
Episodes[]
- Episode 1: Be Kind, Rewind
- Episode 2: And That's Whirred Up
- Episode 3: The Deluxe Royale
- Episode 4: Under the Night Sun
- Episode 5: Double Death Doggy Style
- Episode 6: Meet the Santangelos
- Episode 7: Dang Dang Revolution
- Episode 8: The Wings that Flap in the Night
- Episode 9: Without Our Siblings
- Episode 10: Superbomb
Trailer[]
Trivia[]
- It was first announced in the Dropout 5th Anniversary video.[2]
- The narrator voice in the trailer was SungWon Cho.[1]
- Brennan did this season as an homage to his wife, player Isabella Roland, as action comedies are her favorite movie genre.[3]
- Never Stop Blowing Up is Dimension 20's third season using some form of the Kids on Bikes system, after Misfits and Magic and Mentopolis. This season, like Mentopolis, features homebrewed aspects in addition to the KoB system.
- Never Stop Blowing Up is Dimension 20's third setting somewhere in the modern-day United States, after Unsleeping City and Tiny Heist.
- VHS Tapes featuring the season's first episode were distributed to the cast and a few select others.[4]
- This marks the first distributed physical screener for Dimension 20.
- The end credits theme for Never Stop Blowing Up is "Maniamaster," from the EP Disco Diver by Lupus Nocte. It can also be heard during the "Next Time On" preview at the end of The Deluxe Royale.
- Dropout previously used this song during Game Changer season 6 episode 7, "Beat the Buzzer".[5]
- The title sequence theme for Never Stop Blowing Up is "Hardcore Future" from the album Retro Land by ABSounds.
- The opening credits sequence was made by Whirlybird Video.[6][7]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Google Docs. Official Dimension 20: Never Stop Blowing Up FAQ.
- ↑ YouTube. Sep 26, 2023. @dropout: Dropout's 5th Anniversary (and What's Coming Next) at 3:31.
- ↑ Instagram. June 26, 2024. @iz_ball: "…Brennan says he did this season as an homage to me…"
- ↑ Twitter. July 12, 2024. @IfyNwadiwe: "Holy shit." and [picture].
- ↑ Dropout.tv. "Game Changer", "Beat the Buzzer".
- ↑ LinkedIn. June 26, 2024. User dropouttv: "…We were fortunate to work with Whirlybird Video on this amazing intro!'
- ↑ Dropout Newsletter. July 01, 2024. "[The opening sequence] was made by Tony Wilson, Harris Porter, and all the good folks at Whirlybird Video…"