No escape, no control: A Severance' keyboard is coming soon

Now available to order, this "Severance" imspired keyboard ditches the Escape key because leaving was never an option.

The MDR Dasher is a compact mechanical keyboard from Atomic Keyboard — not Apple — and the makers say it is inspired by the vintage Data General Dasher terminals featured in the Macrodata Refinement department, but it's instantly recognizable as coming from the Apple TV+ hit show "Severance." It uses a 70 percent layout with a built-in trackball, deep blue housing, and rounded keycaps that match the eerie aesthetics of the series.

But its most striking feature is what it leaves out — Escape, Control, and Option keys are all missing. That design choice feels intentional.

In "Severance", workers on the severed floor are neurologically divided from their outside selves. They have no memory of the world beyond Lumon during work hours, and no awareness of their jobs outside them.

Retro computer with a blue screen and white casing, accompanied by a blue and gray keyboard with circular controls and directional arrows.

MDR Dasher Keyboard

The missing Escape key is a clever visual metaphor for the show's unsettling premise — you can't leave what you don't even remember entering. It also works as a critique of modern work culture, where employees can feel trapped in roles or systems with no clear way out.

Despite its ominous inspiration, the MDR Dasher is fully functional. It connects via USB-C and works with macOS, Windows & Linux. Atomic Keyboard says both your "Innie and Outie" can enjoy it, whether you're formatting spreadsheets or refining macrodata.

"Severance", a critically acclaimed sci-fi thriller on Apple TV+, explores the dark side of work-life balance. Employees at Lumon Industries undergo a surgical procedure to split their consciousness, creating "Innies" who work and "Outies" who live outside with no job memories.

The keyboard is currently in a limited pre-launch phase. Atomic is taking sign-ups for early access and updates on the upcoming group buy.

Pricing hasn't been announced, but interest is already building among Severance fans and collectors of unique mechanical keyboards.

The MDR Dasher keyboard is an independently made replica from Atomic Keyboard. While Apple did create a fictional "Lumon Terminal Pro" as part of a marketing tie-in, the real-world keyboard isn't officially endorsed or licensed by Apple.

5 Comments

rezwits 18 Years · 869 comments

About 2 weeks ago

Does it have the trackball or not?

mpantone 19 Years · 2419 comments

rezwits said:

Does it have the trackball or not?

Re-read the article. It actually covers this in the last sentence of the second paragraph: "
It uses a 70 percent layout with a built-in trackball, deep blue housing, and rounded keycaps that match the eerie aesthetics of the series."

1 Like · 0 Dislikes

randominternetperson 9 Years · 3198 comments

I don't understand this product.

Without Command/Ctrl/Windows/alt/option keys it's essentially useless. Also having the trackball buttons above the trackball? Who would actually (try to) use this keyboard?

randominternetperson said:

I don't understand this product.

Without Command/Ctrl/Windows/alt/option keys it's essentially useless. Also having the trackball buttons above the trackball? Who would actually (try to) use this keyboard?

I agree with you: you don't understand this product.

It's a collectible/gag gift, not an actual product designed for real world usage in an office. It's basically a piece of fiction brought to life. But it's still not designed to be functional -- just like the ones in the television series don't actually do anything. They're not real peripherals plugged into real computers running a real company. Severance is fake. In the same way if you buy a replica sword modeled after one from Final Fantasy, it's not really meant to slay beasts with. It's just a toy.

As for trackballs with buttons above them, the most famous one of all -- Logitech Trackman -- is designed like this. If you are manipulating the trackball with your thumb or palm of your hand, the natural position of your fingertips will be above the trackball. Note that this is different than trackballs that are designed to be manipulated by the fingertips (such as old PC notebooks from about twenty years ago). Your whole hand can be used to manipulate tools.

As for who might try to use this, probably the ones who buy it although some of them will probably leave them in the box unopened hoping they will increase in value over time. Not sure how great of a strategy that is, buying Class B shares of Berkshire-Hathaway sounds like a better investment but oh well, not my money.

That said, it apparently is recognized as a peripheral when you plug it into a computer. That means it could be used in situations where physical ctrl, esc, option keys aren't required or could be remapped to other keys (such as in gaming).

Just remember that the stuff you see in media is often fake. Those EKGs you see in hospital dramas? They aren't recording anyone's heartbeat. That's why you don't understand this product.

Best of luck.

SiTime New User · 79 comments

randominternetperson said:

I don't understand this product.

Without Command/Ctrl/Windows/alt/option keys it's essentially useless. Also having the trackball buttons above the trackball? Who would actually (try to) use this keyboard?

The people that will buy this keyboard will want it to be as impractically-accurate to the TV series version as possible. This is exactly what they want. They want the lack of CTRL. They want no CTRL. Having CTRL would 100% defeat the purpose of this product.

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