Monyreak Oum ( ; June 22, 1981 – February 1, 2015) was an American web-based

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games ...

and writer. Oum attracted attention within the gaming community after releasing an animated video in 2007, titled ''Haloid'', where characters from the ''

Halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...

'' and ''

Metroid is an action-adventure game franchise created by Nintendo. The player controls the bounty hunter Samus Aran, who protects the galaxy from Space Pirates and other malevolent forces and their attempts to harness the power of the parasitic ...

'' video game franchises fight against each other'','' which went viral. In October of the same year, he released a follow-up, ''Dead Fantasy''. Oum began working for

Rooster Teeth Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC is an American digital media company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2003 by Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey, Jason Saldaña, Gus Sorola, and Joel Heyman, Rooster Teeth is a subsidiary of W ...

, serving as the lead animator for '' Red vs. Blue'', and creating the original animated series ''

RWBY ''RWBY'' (pronounced "Ruby") is an American anime-influenced computer-animated web series created by Monty Oum for Rooster Teeth. It is set in the fictional world of Remnant, where young people train to become warriors (called "Huntsmen" and " ...

''. Oum had a severe

allergic Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic der ...

reaction and fell into a coma in January 2015. He died on February 1, 2015, in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

Early life

Sheena and Monty Oum at PAX Prime 2014 (15157153681)

Oum was born in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

in 1981. He was of

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand ...

n, Vietnamese, Chinese, and

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

heritage. He had four older brothers (including Neath, who took over voicing RWBY character Lie Ren after Oum's death) and two older sisters. As a teenager, he was a student at

New Urban Arts New Urban Arts is a nonprofit arts organization that provides after school arts mentoring and studio space for high school students and emerging artists in Providence, Rhode Island. In 2017, students at New Urban Arts came primarily from four Prov ...

, a community art studio for high school students in Providence.

Career

Independent work

Oum dropped out of high school and began putting together fan videos as early as 2002. In January 2007, he discovered some reverse engineering techniques online that allowed him to extract models from ''

Halo 2 ''Halo 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox console. ''Halo 2'' is the second installment in the ''Halo'' franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclaimed '' ...

'' and, utilizing assets from ''

Super Smash Bros. Melee ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' is a 2001 crossover fighting video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. It is the second installment in the ''Super Smash Bros.'' series. It features characters from Nintendo ...

'', created the "ultimate showdown" between a

SPARTAN Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta refe ...

(''

'') and

Samus Aran is a fictional character and the playable protagonist of the video game series ''Metroid'' by Nintendo. She was created by Japanese video game designer Makoto Kano. She was introduced as a player character in the original 1986 video game ''Me ...

(''

'') in ''Haloid'', a portmanteau of their respective franchises. The videos garnered a significant number of views online. Later in 2007, Oum produced a series called "Dead Fantasy" in which characters from ''

Final Fantasy is a Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science fantasy role-playing video games. The ...

'' and ''Dead or Alive'' fight.

Industry work

Two months after the premiere of ''Haloid'', many gaming companies sought Oum,Solomon, Dan
"The Full Monty"
(July 19, 2013), ''Austin Chronicle'' and he was eventually hired by

Midway Games Midway Games Inc., known previously as Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known as simply Midway, was an American video game developer and publisher. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', '' Rampage'', '' Spy Hunter'' ...

as a combat designer. In 2008 he was hired by

Namco Bandai Games is a Japanese multinational video game publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and ...

as a combat designer and animator for ''

Afro Samurai is a Japanese ''seinen'' ''dōjinshi'' manga series written and illustrated by manga artist Takashi Okazaki. It was originally serialized irregularly in the avant-garde ''dōjinshi'' manga magazine '' Nou Nou Hau'' from November 1998 to Se ...

''. The brief experience in the gaming industry frustrated Oum, and in 2009, he met Rooster Teeth co-founder

Burnie Burns Michael Justin "Burnie" Burns (born January 18, 1973) is an American writer, actor, producer, comedian, host, and director previously based in Austin, Texas. He is a co-founder, former chief executive officer, and former chief creative offic ...

at a panel during

San Diego Comic-Con International San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is c ...

and the two discussed the possibility of Monty working for the company. It wasn't until PAX East 2010 that it was announced that Oum had been hired as an animator for the company's long-running web series ''Red vs. Blue''. His next work, the animated series ''

'', featured highly involved and fantastical combat sequences between super-powered characters that garnered a following online. ''RWBY'' was a commercial success for Rooster Teeth, and critical reviews highlighted the high quality of its animated fight scenes. Two seasons of the show were produced, with a third in production at the time of Oum's death in early 2015. The show has now run for eight seasons, with a ninth in production.

Death

On January 22, 2015, Oum had an unspecified severe allergic reaction during a "simple medical procedure". On January 30, Rooster Teeth co-founder

stated that Oum was "in critical care and it is not known if he will recover". A donation page was set up for the medical expenses on

GoFundMe GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the be ...

, which received over $210,000. On February 1, 2015, at 4:34 PM, Oum reportedly died as a result of said allergic reaction. He was 33 years old.

Filmography

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oum, Monty 1981 births 2015 deaths Accidental deaths in Texas Actors from Providence, Rhode Island Animators from Rhode Island American directors American animated film directors American male screenwriters American male voice actors American male web series actors 21st-century American male actors American people of Cambodian descent American people of Chinese descent American people of Japanese descent American artists of Vietnamese descent American people of Vietnamese descent Animators from Texas Artists from Austin, Texas Artists from Providence, Rhode Island Respiratory disease deaths in Texas Deaths from anaphylaxis Male actors from Austin, Texas Rooster Teeth people RWBY Writers from Austin, Texas Writers from Providence, Rhode Island Screenwriters from Rhode Island Screenwriters from Texas