It’s an exciting summer at Dropout, with Emmy buzz, new instant-hit shows like Thousandaires and Smartypants, comedy specials, and more. And now? A new season of Dimension 20, Never Stop Blowing Up, just *dripping* in summer blockbuster verve! Dimension 20 is jumping into a new genre, action comedy, via a mysterious VHS tape that Jumanjis the cast into an action thriller.
Cast members Ally Beardsley, Izzy Roland, Jacob Wysocki, Alex Song-Xia, Ify Nwadiwe, and Rekha Shankar, playing some of the most chaotic characters yet, are diving into the world of Lake Elsinore, California, with such out-of-the-gate strength that you can’t help but be pulled to the edge of your seat. There’s a ton of energy in just this first episode alone, and it’s clear this season is going to be another incredible success from the team at Dropout!
This new season of the tabletop roleplaying game actual play show uses a homebrewed system eponymously named “Never Stop Blowing Up”, based in part on the Kids on Bikes/Kids on Brooms system that was used in previous seasons of the show. This new system covers all the actiony things the characters might be doing in a blockbuster movie, and the system interestingly starts each skill at the lowest level. Critical success (i.e. rolling the maximum number on the die) causes the skill to level up in dice value (d4 to d6 to d8 to d10 to d12 to d20), allowing the characters to improve their skills as they get more experience in-world. This new system is certainly going to be a critical feature in this series, as the cast fumbles their way through their newly assumed action personas.
Like every season, it is obvious how much care Mulligan and his cast put into this show. This time, though, Mulligan planned this season as a love letter to his wife Izzy Roland, who adores action comedies. Roland and Mulligan are much loved by fans, and their involvement in projects together across Dropout attracts tons of attention. It is exciting to see what Mulligan creates for Roland and what the rest of the cast crafts in response this season.
In addition, there are, I suspect, several production design elements we are yet to see that were created for this season. If the glimpses we have seen in this first episode are any indication, then there are a bunch of exciting surprises coming from the art team. Of particular note are the storyboard-esque scene animations from season artist Cait May, which are an incredibly neat way to show the action in a season that doesn’t have battle maps.
Never Stop Blowing Up is already shaping up to be a romp through the action comedy genre. Even just the first episode is already delivering on the promise of an action-packed season full of twists and turns. I can’t wait to see what the cast has in store for us next! Not to mention the incredibly hot glimpses we’ve gotten of Brennan’s costumes this season…
The first episode of Dimension 20: Never Stop Blowing Up, as well as the first episode of the companion series Adventuring Party, is available to stream on Dropout. All previous seasons of Dimension 20 and Adventuring Party are available to stream on Dropout, with select seasons and episodes available to stream free on YouTube.
