Inside A Fantastical Mind
Tom Mu Yon was one of the Greats. Unfortunately, he did not have the opportunity to see himself reach the final climax of his grand masterpiece. But what he accomplished whilst on Earth, was inspire his plethoric bunch of antsy followers. He believed that if you keep pushing yourself mentally, physically, and emotionally; you can make your imaginations and dreams come to life. His greatest enemy was not Death, but the inanimate Master of Time because time was the one aspect he could not change.
We know there are sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour, twenty-four hours in a day and seven days in a week and much more things about time which will be deemed irrelevant at this moment. What remains unknown to us all, is the day time stops for us, individually. If there was a final message he would want to send to the hearts of his over-supportive fans, it would be to use every drop of time you are given to obtain your happiness by doing what you love with as much passion you can give to it.
It is impossible to know 100% how another living entity thinks and feels, but maybe with some audacity, we can try to see how Tom lived.
Tom Mu Yon was born on June 22, 1981 in the capital city of Rhode Island, Providence, in the U.S. What was once the "Beehive of Industry" to little Tom was rebranded as "the Creative Capital." A name fit for the origin of a shining star in the world of art.
His family lineage traces back to a Cambodian, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Japanese decent. As expansive his past was, Tom never cared what ethnicity he was nor did he care who was around him when he was a young boy. In elementary school, he did not have a lot of friends, but four guardians who watched over him.
The first was Ruby Rose who projected her name in her choice of style. Everything was red. Her backpack, her scarlet hair, her clothes, and pretty much everything she had. She was the same age as Tom in elementary school. They met when a group of bullies attacked Tom and Ruby was there to kick their butts. She was the joy of his life due to her high levels of excitement and rambunctious swagger in every activity she participated in. In both Tom and Ruby's past time, they would go to the local arcade to play Dance Dance Revolution, but regardless where they were, they loved to have fun and dance their time away. Aside from her being happy most of the time, she can be serious at certain times, especially when she's sees injustice. After rescuing Tom, she swore to always protect Tom from harm's way.
Next, Tom met Weiss Schnee who wore a lot of white. Her hair was smoother than silk, and glimmered white, like light and pure snow. Her physical appearance was almost flawless as one would expect from the daughter and heir to Providence's most economically driven corporation. As rich and snobbish usually go hand-in-hand, Weiss was a rebellious child who spoke very little about her family and progressively created her own sense of morals as she grew up. Weiss and Ruby did not get along with each other at first, but by hanging out with Tom more and more; their relationship as friends molded a bond strong enough to withstand all the elements of nature. Tom first encountered Weiss after dropping Ruby home one day and a gang almost beat Tom to a pulp if it wasn't for the nearby presence of Weiss. Like Ruby, she made a verbal agreement to help Tom if he was ever in danger and in return Tom would be her friend. She may be three years older than Tom and Ruby, but she didn't really have any friends her age until she met Blake and Ruby's older sister.
Contrasting Weiss' character, Tom met yet another girl named Blake Belladona who wore all black almost like an emo person or a goth, but with more radiance emitting from her inner self. Interestingly, Tom and Blake did not cross paths by Tom's unlucky destiny of being bullied, but by their common taste in novels. Blake could be described as a very reserved girl, even in her younger years of elementary school. Tom engaged in conversation with her about a book they were coincidently reading at the same time, encouraging Blake to crawl out of her comfort zone. At minuscule moments, she even let out a few jokes and puns. When Blake met Tom's other friends, she was very shy and did not like Weiss to the point where Blake insulted her because of how corrupted and rotten the corporation Weiss' father owned was. As introvert as she was, she was evidently a very candor character when it came to the truth. As Tom and Blake grew closer, Blake revealed her secret about being "different" than others, but Tom told her that it's okay to be "different" and from that day on she became one of Tom's best friends.
The last person Tom met of his childhood friends was Ruby's older half-sister, Yang Xiao Long. She reflected the colour of yellow in her clothing choice and her sunny, blonde hair expressed her personality very thoroughly. She was very high-spirited in comparison to Ruby, but Yang carried a lot more confidence and loved to be carefree despite being the elder sister. Her poise and sense of humour in any situation was what allowed her to conquer the obstacles put in her way. Yang first saw Tom getting pummeled by four teenage guys while she was driving on her way back from beating up a bunch of dudes at a club for messing with her. She viewed the situation with Tom as another opportunity of fun, so she grabbed that chance. As Yang demolished and embarrassed the four adolescent boys, Tom admired her ferocity and composure since she was smiling while dropping them to the floor. After exhaling out a sigh of enjoyment, she instantaneously winked at Tom and left before he could thank her. Technically, Tom met Yang first, but didn't know her at the time. After Ruby introduced her older sister to Tom did Tom actually become acquainted with her and he had the chance to finally thank her. Tom occasionally saw Yang, but most of the time it was when she was throwing a ridiculously, awesome party where Tom and his friends were invited to.
As years passed, Tom and his crew of friends grew older, their unity as brother and sisters flourished as well.
Unluckily, since Weiss, Blake, and Yang were three years older than Tom, he began to see them less frequently after they graduated to high school because they were always busy. For the best part, Tom still had Ruby to hang out with, but little did Tom know at the time was that Ruby decided to go to a different high school than Tom because it specialized in what she loved.
After Tom and Ruby graduated, Ruby told Tom about going to a high school dedicated to what she was pursuing to be. Tom's heart could not handle any more bad news about his friends, but this newly discovered update shattered his heart. As the first year of high school approached, he lost contact with Ruby since she moved away.
With no friends in high school, Tom decided to drop out of high school to embark on an adventure he didn't know would be one at that time.
Approximately five years after dropping out of school, he found a new form of reverse engineering techniques online. Using a "Master Chief" from the video game series Halo and the character "Samus Aran" from the Metroid series and the video game Super Smash Bros. Melee, he created an intense and well-made fight scene between the two warriors. Tom titled his ground-breaking, earth-shattering video, Haloid because of its fusion between Halo and Metroid.
As Haloid was met with great response, Tom grew closer to his childhood hobby of dancing to extremely fast music to be free sometimes and play some DDR for fun.
Following Haloid in the same year, in October, Tom in his first self-made video series, Dead Fantasy. Viewers to this day, still adore these early pieces of Tom's life as they mark an unforgettable achievement to him and his career.
Surprisingly, a couple months later, Tom was hired by the video game company, Midway Games as a Combat Designer.
Afterwards, Tom was hired by Namco Bandai Games as a Combat Designer and Animator for Afro Samurai, a video game based off the manga series carrying the same name.
Tom was on a hot streak of luck! His life of bullying was far, far behind him and his popularity had risen to great heights. His success had been shimmering like a diamond capturing the spotlight of its stage.
In 2009, Tom also created two spin-off music videos of the Dead Fantasy series by portraying the main characters dancing to Mariah Carey's 2009 hit single, "Obsessed" and in the second video was the same characters raving to the single, "Gee", which was sung by the Korean-pop girl group, Girls' Generation. It was around this time Tom felt a little reminiscent of his memories dancing with his old friend, Ruby.
An even bigger event which spontaneously happened in Tom's favour was where Rooster Teeth co-founder, Michael "Burnie" Burns, saw a rare gem sitting on a mantle during a panel at San Diego Comic-Con International. As Mr. Burns approached Tom with his light stubble and eyes on his prize, Tom's eyes flashed with excitement and anticipation as their gazes attracted one another like magnets. The two talked for hours about a partnership which changed Tom's life forever.
In 2010, at PAX East 2010, Tom Mu Yon was officially announced as Rooster Teeth's character animator and choreographer making him a huge asset to the company.
For the next 5-6 years, Tom's life was jam-packed with pandemonium and great masses of screaming fan-girls…and fan-guys of course.
With Rooster Teeth as Tom's arsenal of palettes and paint, Tom began his artwork for Rooster Teeth by leading the animation team for Rooster Teeth's most reputed series, Red vs. Blue, from seasons eight to ten. Tirelessly, he worked night and day, 24/7, on all his projects. He poured his imagination and emotion into every tiny inch of art he crafted. Everyone at Rooster Teeth recognized his hard efforts and it was evident at the Producers Guild of America where Red vs. Blue was nominated for Outstanding Digital Series.
During Tom's work on RvB, his memory kept recollecting his childhood because that was his happiest moments in life and his passion and drive that led him to where he was, was all because of his four friends, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang. It was through these memories that reminded Tom of who made him the person he currently was. And thusly, RWBY was created. His past had become his present for the future.
In 2012, Tom was announced as the creator and lead animator of his latest and most popular series, RWBY. It was mainly unbeknownst to all how he came up with RWBY and it may remain a mystery. So lost in his labours invested into his own series, he began grinding more than ever, finding less and less time to dance or join a Rooster Teeth Podcast.
One member who became quite close to Tom was also a member of Rooster Teeth, cosplayer, animator, and spouse to Tom, Sheena Duquette. She truly loved and supported Tom 200% with all his projects.
With numerous ideas and thoughts running around Tom's head, he kept sculpting and persevering to create the culminating of his life's work. Including his friends and family, Tom's determination was never-ending and everything was well, until the unexpected beginning of 2015 in January.
On January 21, 2015, Tom was hospitalized following a severe allergic reaction during a routine medical procedure that left him in a coma. Rooster Teeth, co-founder, Burnie Burns stated that Tom 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; the goal of $50,000 was reached within three hours, with the fundraiser reaching $100,000 in four hours, and $150,000 within 24 hours.
On February 1, 2015 at 4:34 PM, Tom sadly passed away as a result of the allergic reaction. He was not in pain in his final moments; but in his last waking moments, I believe he felt like his guardians were still watching over him and keeping him safe. And he was happy to introduce his guardians to the hearts of his fans worldwide, so that what was once his guardians, were everyone's as well. Who knows what goes on Inside A Fantastical Mind?
Monty Oum was one of the many unique people who are rare to society because in our hearts we still have a burning light or spark which Monty ignited in all of us. As long as we all carry the mighty torch of imagination and start or continue doing what we love, that flame that Monty flicked on in our souls will always be kindled with his presence. It was truly an honour to be one of the many whose hearts who have been touched by Monty Oum.
"We love you, Monty." Said his friends, family, and fans.