Dean Domino, also known as Mr. Yesterday and the King of Swing,[1] is a famous pre-War lounge singer and con artist, now ghoulified and trapped in the Sierra Madre Villa in 2281. He is one of the major characters in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Dead Money.
Background[]
Pre-War[]
Pre-War poster promoting Dean Domino's performance.
Domino and his orchestra gave performances across the United States and Europe (including Paris,[2] and had a particularly bad experience in Madrid),[3] including the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. His signature song would be "Saw Her Yesterday".
He was invited to perform at the Sierra Madre, but there he quickly found himself in the shadow of the casino's founder, Frederick Sinclair. While Domino was quite irritated by this, it was the fact that Sinclair, despite suffering several quite severe financial losses throughout the 2070s, still maintained an unwavering optimistic and easy-going attitude that especially triggered his ire. Soon, Domino found himself consumed with jealousy and he became single-mindedly determined to put Sinclair "in his place" by taking everything from him that he held dear.[4] He enlisted the help of his former lover Vera Keyes, a starlet who had caught Sinclair's eye. Domino introduced them to each other as part of his plan to break into the casino vault, where he would take whatever it was that Sinclair had there that was so important.
Domino would also convince Sinclair to allow him to oversee the construction of the Sierra Madre's Villa. Domino would be known as "Mr. Yesterday" among the crew, making himself affable and likable to the workers by supplying them with chems, money, and other prohibited contraband that was near impossible to obtain on the casino's grounds. This was to allow for the severe disregard for safety within the Villa's construction; by cutting corners at every possible opportunity—substituting materials with cheaper, less efficient ones—and siphoning the difference from the projected and actual costs into his own personal accounts. This inevitably led to many incidents of structural failure within the Villa, such as a patio collapse in Salida del Sol, all of which were covered up extensively: medical records were deleted, witnesses paid off, and the whole affair was protected legally.[5] Any problems were scrutinized by Domino to ensure that he was turning a profit,[6] all with the help of the corrupt Villa staff.
However, Keyes got cold feet, so in order to ensure her continued cooperation, Domino began to blackmail her with evidence of a Med-X and Super Stimpak addiction, unaware that her addictions were a result of her being terminally ill.
His final gig was to be at the Tampico, but that all changed when the bombs dropped; the security holograms activated and the Gala Event turned into a massacre.
Post-War[]
Domino survived the apocalypse, during which he began to undergo ghoulification. He stubbornly refused to let go of the Sierra Madre's treasure, having become obsessed with it, and so spent the next two hundred years evading and mapping out the casino's security system, while plotting his grand heist, oblivious to the fact that Sinclair had long since discovered Domino's plan and prepared a trap within the casino vault. However, he was captured by Dog, fitted with an explosive collar, and forced to work for Father Elijah in breaking into the casino (and already managed to trigger the Gala event at least once for him).[7] Although his ability to obtain the treasure may have diminished with this development, his lust for it most certainly has not. Nor did his desire for freedom: Dean has killed several victims Elijah tried to use to crack the Sierra Madre, in order to examine the workings of their collars and figure out a way to remove his own.[8]
Needing a replacement for Keyes' part of his plan, Domino finally found an opportunity when Christine Royce was captured by Dog and brought to the Sierra Madre. While she was still out cold, he dragged her to the Villa's clinic and placed her in an Auto-Doc, which he programmed to perform surgery on her vocal cords, altering her voice to sound like Keyes', so she could at some point be used to unlock the vault. It was something of a leap in the dark on his part, as he actually held some doubt towards Royce making the intended recovery from the procedure.
Personality and abilities[]
Domino is a quick thinker, and is quite skilled with guns, specifically pistols, having spent some of his free time back in the pre-War days at the shooting range, and uses a knife for a sidearm.[9] He is very paranoid, setting up many booby traps and hiding several 'secret stashes' throughout the Villa.
Dean has a rather fragile ego, and is very vengeful towards anyone who bruises it, making sure they meet dire consequences down the line. Expressing irritation, aggression, or contempt will earn his ire, as well as challenging his sense of self importance, as he will double cross able partners simply because he perceives their competence a personal insult.[10] His voice has been unaltered by ghoulification; it remains clear as opposed to gravelly like other ghouls.
Interactions with the player character[]
Interactions overview[]
| Interactions | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
This character is essential. Essential characters cannot be killed. Curtain Call at the Tampico | |
 |
This character is a permanent companion. They grant the Unclean Living perk. | |
 |
This character is involved in quests. | |
Quests[]
- Find Collar 14: Dean Domino: The player character has to find and recruit Dean in the Residential District. Once met, Dean will try to negotiate in a position of power, threatening the Courier with an explosive underneath their chair.
- Dean will eventually demand that the Courier follow his orders, with three dialogue responses possible: a Barter 50 check, agreeing to cooperate, or refusing to cooperate. Either succeeding at the Barter check or refusing to cooperate will lock the player into a path that causes Dean to hate them, which negatively affects his outcome at the end of the storyline. Agreeing to cooperate will make him like the Courier.
- Strike Up the Band: Escort Dean to Puesta del Sol south for him to connect a circuit. Once there, Dean will refuse to stay without protection, and the player character must either threaten to break Dean's legs to make him stay, or turn on two friendly holograms to protect him.
- Threatening Dean will also make him hate the Courier, even if one agreed to cooperate with him in the previous quest.
- Curtain Call at the Tampico: The player character has to confront Dean in the Sierra Madre Casino & Resort in the Tampico and can choose to either let him go free or kill him.
- If the Courier has stayed on good terms with Dean (cooperating with him during the first meeting and activating the holograms for him during Strike Up the Band), he will try to help them navigate the Tampico and readily assist them in the Vault robbery plan.
- Heist of the Centuries: If Dean survived Curtain Call at the Tampico, he will assist the player by deactivating the speakers in the Sierra Madre vault during the last fight with Elijah.
Effects of player's actions[]
- There are two instances in which Dean Domino will hate the Courier (listed above) and will have unique dialogue then and throughout Dead Money expressing that. If one talks down to and/or threatens Domino in these instances, it will affect his fate at the end of the main quest and make keeping him alive impossible.
- If the player character had obtained Dean Domino's blackmail evidence before talking to him during Curtain Call at the Tampico, he can be further asked about his relationship with Vera and Sinclair. Dean is only willing to elaborate if he is on good terms with the player character.
Other interactions[]
- Dean can make Sierra Madre martinis, and can give the Courier the Sierra Madre Martini perk with the correct dialogue choices.
- Low-intelligence characters (3 or below), upon first meeting Dean, will have several options to say nothing more than questioning sounds, like "Hnh?" and "Ummmm.", which achieves nothing but frustrating Dean.
- Dean is the only companion besides Boone who allows one to take his clothes. If his unique clothes are taken and he is dismissed as a companion, he will automatically equip a Dead Money jumpsuit, even though it was nowhere present in his inventory.
Companion comments[]
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- He has unique idle dialogue for locations around the Sierra Madre:
| Dean Domino's comments | |
|---|---|
| Location | Comment |
| The gate near the entrance to the residential district, if the player already unlocked it | Oh, looks like you already forced the gate. Now, everybody and their mother can walk right in, thanks. |
| Medical district | What are we doing here? We're not going to find a doctor on call at this hour, trust me. |
| Medical district | Place is haunted, got ghosts walking in it. |
| Villa clinic | Watch for Hologram security, not as nice as the lady at the fountain, trust me. |
| Villa clinic, room with the assassin suit | There's a picture, a bunch of headless saps all waiting for the pearly gates. Whoever did this... messed up. |
| Any Auto-Doc in the Villa clinic | Sinclair's little surgery carts. Kept them around for his lady friend. |
| Auto-Docs that line the corridor of the Villa clinic | What, you need surgery done? Let's get out of here... those speakers on the wall are making my nerves do a dance. |
| A broken catwalk in Salida del Sol South | Guess we're going the long way around. |
| Villa police station | The police station... Ghost People love this place, no idea why. Might be the Holograms nearby. |
| Salida del Sol, Campanas del Sol bell tower | I'm not one for church, but there's a bell tower to the north that has a nice view of the Sierra Madre. Well, did, anyway. |
Endings[]
| # | Slide | Voice-over narration | In-game condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Dean Domino, entertainer, singer... thief... had his last show on the Sierra Madre stage. The heist he spent over two hundred years planning fell apart, just as the first, by underestimating his partner's strength. Not long after the Courier left the Villa, the lights in the theater shut off, one by one. Only Dean's Hologram remained on stage, singing silently to an empty room. Still... as consumed as he had been with its riches and ruin, the Sierra Madre had held him captive long ago. |
Dean is dead. |
| 2 | |
Dean Domino, entertainer, singer... thief... explored the Sierra Madre not long after he was rescued by the Courier. Once he left the theater, the Sierra Madre recognized him as a guest, and many doors opened to him. He had to admit, it had been built to last. During his search, he came across the final records of Vera and Sinclair, and realized what happened the night the bombs fell. He felt strangely sad for a moment, and he had no idea why. Shrugging it off, his mind turned instead to where the Courier had come from. Vegas still survived, out there in the Mojave. Its sights, sounds... and casinos, ripe for the taking. So giving the Sierra Madre one last nod and a wink, he set off beyond the Cloud to begin again. |
Dean is alive. |
Inventory[]
| Apparel | Weapon | Other items | On death |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dean's tuxedo Dean's glasses Explosive collar Dead Money jumpsuit (after Gala event if tuxedo is removed) |
Dean's 9mm pistol |
Notes[]
- Dean's Hit Points regenerate slowly over time, similar to Mean Sonofabitch and God.
- Dean is the only Dead Money companion that has a default weapon, as both Christine, as well as Dog and God, are unarmed when they are first encountered. He has infinite companion ammo for his pistol.
- Posters of Dean appear in the Mojave Wasteland such as in The King's room and one's room at the Lucky 38, and on loading screens in abandoned casinos, advertising a planned appearance by the singer.
- The Dean Domino song "Saw Her Yesterday" is simply "Something's Gotta Give" when the player character plays the rehearsal recording on the projector in the Tampico.
- When crouching, he makes a similar comment as Raul about how it's "hell on his knees." When he is smoking and crouching, he won't bend his knees all the way.
- When both Dean and Christine are not companions, they can initiate dialogue with each other (or at least to the extent that Christine can), and Dean will comment on her muteness by saying "You're not much for conversation, are you?" Likewise, Dean may engage God in conversation at the Villa fountain where God expresses his disdain for the ghoul for not leaving the Sierra Madre when he had the chance.
- Though Dean says that he has learned how to use a knife, he does not have Melee as a tagged skill.
- Dean smokes frequently. When found, he has a lit cigar in his room, and as a companion will frequently smoke a cigarette.
- Despite how much he talks of wishing to stay away from ghost people, his apartment in the Residential District is brightly lit up with Christmas lights pointing directly to it.
- Dean has hair in the icon for the Assemble Your Crew achievement/trophy but does not in-game.
- Despite not having ears to hold them up, Dean is able to wear sunglasses.
Notable quotes[]
- "Get up without my permission, I'll blast your ass so far through your head, it'll turn the moon cherry pie red."
- "Used to open in Paris. Paris. Now this."
- "You sure came a long way to rob this place. Guess greed is in the blood."
- "Great, a moron - just what I need."
- "Christ, if that collar blows, I don't know if you'd know the difference, you'd probably still keep walking around with that dumb, blank look."
- "Ah, aren't the trees lovely this time of year, all blooming and green..."
- "He's not dead... it's a trick. Get an axe.
" - "Getting real tired of tourist season. No offense, but you guys are really lowering the bar"
Appearances[]
Dean Domino appears in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Dead Money, and is mentioned in Fallout: New Vegas and its add-on Lonesome Road.[11] He is also name-dropped in a memo in Fallout 76.
Behind the scenes[]
- Dean Domino is an amalgamation of Dean Martin, an Italian-American singer/actor/comedian, and Fats Domino, an American rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. The Dean Domino poster resembles those of Fats Domino.
- Originally, Dean was named Freddy Nines, as per Chris Avellone's 2012 GDC presentation.
- When asked about the nature of the ghost people, Dean will attempt to quote (though incorrectly both times) the famous exchange between Hamlet and Horatio: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
- If the player character has Wild Wasteland, Dean will reference Army of Darkness when he kills a ghost person for the first time, saying "he's not dead, it's a trick. Get an axe."
Cut content[]
Ghoul Dean with hair, concept art from Chris Avellone's GDC 2012 presentation
- In concept art, Dean is depicted with a mustache and hair (as resembling his pre-War appearance). He lacks both in-game.
- Unused script variables in Dean's dialogue quest suggest that he was originally intended to have more optional dialogue about the Villa and his role there.
- Finding the torn journal, the stained page, or the journal in Salida del Sol would increment NVDLC01DeanDialogue.iVillaConstruction to 1, which would make it possible to ask Dean about the Villa's poor construction. No such dialogue exists.
- Reading the entry "Chat" on one of the security terminals in Puesta del Sol south would increment NVDLC01DeanDialogue.iDeanWorkRecords to 1, which would make it possible to ask Dean about his mention in the entry, presumably about how he was profiting off of the Villa's poor construction. Likewise, there is no dialogue corresponding to this.
Bugs[]
If you kill Dean on a set of stairs, his body might glitch out of the map. [verified]-
Sometimes, when Dean is knocked unconscious, he may never wake up until you restart a save, or enter a new area. [verified] - Right after killing Dean on the stairs, a message might come up and say: "Dean is dead" over and over even after clicking Ok.[verified]
- If Dean is talked to while he is still marked as "hostile", it will remove the hostile tag, making the quest unable to be completed.[verified]
- Dean's tuxedo will show as equipped on Dean's unconscious body upon first entering the Sierra Madre lobby from the Villa even if it was taken from him by the player character and automatically replaced with a Dead Money jumpsuit.[verified]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Pre-War Dean Domino poster
- ↑ Dean Domino: "Used to open in Paris. Paris. Now this."
(Dean Domino's dialogue) - ↑ Dean Domino: "Hold it together, Dean, you've been in worse jams. Like Madrid. Christ - Madrid. {Tries to calm himself down in the middle of being pinned down.}"
(Dean Domino's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "What was your problem with Sinclair?"
Dean Domino: "Problem? All high-and-mighty. Lording it over everyone. Acting so self-righteous, like nothing could touch him. He was the one with the problem. Never got mad at anything. Nothing seemed to shake him. Even after... his life kept getting dragged through the dirt. Always kept looking for the bright, shining future in everything. So... I decided to take everything from him."
(Dean Domino's dialogue) - ↑ Salida del Sol terminal entries; terminal, Personal Log
- ↑ Puesta del Sol terminal entries; terminal, More Explosives
- ↑ 546.14Hz ULF radio signal: "Waiting for the fireworks. Just like last time."
- ↑ Dean Domino: "There's a picture, a bunch of headless saps all waiting for the pearly gates. Whoever did this... messed up."
(Dean Domino's dialogue) Note: NVDLC01DeanDialogueClinicBark - ↑ The Courier: "What weapons are you skilled with?"
Dean Domino: "Not one for fighting if we can avoid it. Still, wasn't bad at the pistol range and over the years, I've learned how to handle a knife... ...and explosives a bit. A bit. Made a lot of mistakes along the way. Still have my fingers, though."
(Dean Domino's dialogue) - ↑ Passing all the Barter skill checks in his dialogues will turn him hostile when encountered in the Tampico.
- ↑ Wastewater treatment plant terminal entries; Jackie's computer, Earthquakes Part 2
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