Rooster Teeth animator, ‘RWBY’ creator Monty Oum dies at 33

Rooster Teeth chief executive Matt Hullum said on the Rooster Teeth website that Oum, who was hired in 2010 to work on the flagship show “Red vs. Blue,” died after falling into a coma. Oum was director of animation at Rooster Teeth and created the anime-style series “RWBY.”

Oum had an allergic reaction during a medical procedure, according to the post. A GoFundMe campaign had been set up for Oum’s medical care and as of Monday afternoon had raised $195,088. Oum is survived by his wife, Sheena, his father and siblings.

Monty Oum, director of animation at Rooster Teeth Productions and creator of the animated series “RWBY,” died on Sunday.

In the post, Hullum thanked Rooster Teeth fans for their support of the campaign. He wrote, “As for honoring Monty, we will do that in our own way. In lieu of flowers or gifts, we ask that you simply do something creative. Use your imagination to make the world a better place in any way that you can. If you know Monty like we do, then you know he would certainly be doing that if he were able to.”

“RWBY” ran for two seasons, 28 episodes, after debuting at the company’s RTX convention in 2013 and became a hit, inspiring cosplay and even a video game. In a blog post he wrote for the website Creative Bloq, Oum explained the inspiration for the visuals in the show and how he pitched it to his co-workers. “I came up with a concept for an entirely new type of show, one that would meld the Eastern philosophies and visual style of anime with more Western sensibilities and traditions of folklore. … All they wanted to know was if it would have a bunch of crazy action scenes with wildly elaborate fight choreography. That was an easy ‘yes’ for me.”

Oum also had a personal website, montyoum.net, where he wrote evocatively about the death of his mother in 2012.

The company put out an emotional short edition of its news show, “The Know,” in honor of Oum, saying it would not be releasing any of its regularly scheduled videos on Monday.