Dillon Gu
- “My goal has always been to inspire others to create cool things, and I honestly believe that the only way to do that is to push myself to constantly improve.”
| Fan | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Dillon Gu |
| Alias(es): | dillongoo |
| Type: | Animator |
| Fandoms: | Minecraft, Pokémon, Overwatch, My Hero Academia, One Punch Man, Kimetsu no Yaiba, Avatar: The Last Airbender, others |
| Communities: | Dillcord / thegoostation |
| Other: | |
| URL: | YouTube Twitch |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Dillon Gu, known online by the screen name DillonGoo, is an American animator. He is best known for his popular fight scene fan animations—often ones incorporating anthropomorphic cats and comedy—which have amassed millions of views on YouTube.
Overview
Gu has been a fan and follower of the animator Monty Oum since he was a teenager.[1] The channel currently known as dillongoo joined YouTube on 1 March 2012, with the Minecraft fight animation "Drunken Boxing" uploaded on 12 July of that same year. From there, he released several more popular Minecraft animations, most notably "Gods Don't Bleed" (2012), and the League of Legends cinematic "Ionia: The Blood Moon" (2013).
After Oum's unexpected death on 1 February 2015, Gu created the concept piece "Project MONTY" (2015) "in tribute to Oum's unique style of animation and fight choreography, highlighting similar transforming weapons and intensive combat. His work was noticed by one of the lead animators of RWBY, Shane Newville. From there, Gu's work was spread throughout the RWBY team, and he eventually was picked up by the Rooster Teeth Animation Department to work on Volume 3"[2] as a freelance animator. At RTX 2015, Newville hosted a panel on animation, with Gu as a co-panelist.[2]
After the production of RWBY Volume 3, Gu continued working independently on his own projects. His departure from Rooster Teeth despite his obvious talent and his continued association with Shane Newville have been a subject of RWBY fans' speculation regarding the controversy known as Lettergate.[3]
Gu released his first Overwatch fanimation, "Mei of the Game", on 4 July 2016. This was followed by several Overwatch projects, notably the Katsuwatch (Overwatch but with Cats) series—including "Bastet Rises" (2019), an official short created at the behest of Blizzard Entertainment—and the UNLEASHED series, through March 2019. His My Hero Academia, One Punch Man, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, and Avatar: The Last Airbender fighting shorts have also been very popular, with "Demon Slayer CATS" (2019) becoming Gu's second most popular video to date, having accumulated over 14 million views after just one year.
Gu created official tutorials for Blender, the free and open-source software (FOSS) used in his animations. His original animation "Katsu Cats", made with Kelley Yu and Shane Newville, won the 2016 Suzanne Award for Best Animation.[4]
As of 12 May 2021, his main YouTube channel, dillongoo, has nearly 870 thousand subscribers, and his videos have over 100 million views collectively.
Fan Animation
Minecraft
- "Drunken Boxing" (2012)
- "Minecraft Chess in Real Life" (2012)
- "Gods Don't Bleed" (2012)
- "Sylender Man" (2012) - Slender Man mythos
- "The Danu Talisman"
- "Beat Boxing" (2013)
- "Gods Don't Die" (2014)
- "Trident UNLEASHED" (2018)
Overwatch
- "Mei of the Game" (2016)
- Katsuwatch (Overwatch but with Cats) (2017-2019)
- UNLEASHED Animated Series (2017 - 2019)
My Hero Academia
- "My Hero Academia CATS" (2018)
- My Hero Academia CATS (1/2) - "Saving Lemillion" (2020)
- My Hero Academia CATS (2/2) - "Infinite 100%" (2020)
One Punch Man
- "ONE PUNCH CAT - 'Saitameow' the Hero" (2019)
- "ONE PUNCH CAT 2 - 'Garou' the Wolf" (2019)
Other
- "Ionia: The Blood Moon" (2013) - League of Legends
- "Project Legendary" (2016) - Pokémon
- "If Game of Thrones was a KIDS show (opening) - "March of Thrones" Song and Animation" (2017) - Game of Thrones
- "Santa UNLEASHED - 'The First Jedi'" (Christmas 2017) - Star Wars
- "Wraith Goes to the Store" (2019) - Apex Legends
- "Demon Slayer CATS" (2019) - Kimetsu no Yaiba
- "Aang vs Korra FIGHT - Avatar: The Last CATbender" (2021) - Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra
Fan Following: Dillon and the Goos
Gu has taken to referring to his fans and viewers as "goos", though only time can tell if the cutesy nickname will stick for goo-d. He is an enthusiastic participant in, and supporter of, fan creations.
"If any of you make food or art in the shape of my characters, please tag me on Twitter—I love seeing this stuff."[1]
Gu hosts a YouTube channel and Discord channel for a community self-taught and aspiring independent animators.
References
- ^ a b Gu, Dillon. [dillongoo]. 23 Sep 2020. "don't judge me". YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3izNgcyEKIY
- ^ a b RWBY Wiki at Wikia. "Dillon Gu". (Accessed 12 May 2021.)
- ^ misterblank42. This might be a bit of a long one. posted to Tumblr on 9 May 2020.
- ^ HandWiki. Suzanne Award. (Accessed 12 May 2021.)