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Remembering Doom

CrashBash

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It brings me great sorrow to announce to the BitBuilt community (along with any others who are sent this post) that Jason, better known as @Doom, has passed away. This information came early yesterday morning from one of his close friends, Len-Rod. I hope his passing was as painless and peaceful as possible.

For those of use who have been part of our community or the BitBuilt discord (or other modding-related discord servers), you've undoubtedly interacted with Doom. Whether a casual discussion or times of joy, he has long been endeared by all of us.

For those who didn't get the opportunity to interact with him, know that Doom has lived and shared the modding spirit for over 2 decades. He has long been a part of BitBuilt, the BenHeck forums, and many others (ranging even to a community that modded Hockey games I've heard?) Seeing everyone's creations, documenting them, and, above all, spending time with like-minded people in his hobbies was undoubtedly what he loved to do.

Doom leaving us comes as a hard blow to many of us on a personal level, especially following the passing of @Postman last September. I pray we're not tested by another loss so soon.

Please, use this thread as a place to share your memories of Doom. Whether it's a few kind words, pictures of him and his projects, or stories - everything is welcome.

The BitBuilt logo has been updated to bear his avatar in remembrance, likely "reverting back" at some point in the upcoming months.
 

Wesk

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Doom was the first person within this community that made me feel like I was on the right path with my designs. Having no real experience with electronics design, in my early days here I felt like my designs were mostly just derivative of others work and weren't overly creative.

That was until Doom hit me up to feature my Aran Wii portable on his Portablesofdoom website.

This was a huge boon to my confidence, if someone that's been around the block as long as Doom had been in this scene liked and wanted to feature my portable design I must be doing something right.

His encouragement led to where we are/I am today, and there's a good chance had he never given me the confidence boost to continue pursuing this hobby we may never have gotten things like the Ashida or a massive repository of 3D scans.

Through his kindness and support he fostered community growth whether he knew it or not.

Rest in peace Jason.
 

GingerOfOz

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Doom was always a very funny guy, both in person and online.

At MGC 2019, he bought a Waluigi figurine for $10 in the vendor hall and brought it to me have it signed. This was before I was any sort of niche internet micro-celebrity, he just did it because "You're the Waluigi guy, so I need you to sign it". Later, I ran into him in the bathroom, and he very stoically informed me that it wasn't time for the glory hole yet, and that I should come back later.

Doom was one of the people who was kind and patient with me when I was a somewhat obnoxious 16 year old getting into the hobby. For the last 7 years, he's been periodically sending me Waluigi memes and compliments about my projects at random. I'm going to miss those messages quite a bit.

Rest in peace, Doom.
 

Pacal

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I am one of the quietest members here even after so many years of being part of this community and I would like to say something.

I personally did not know Doom and I never had any interaction with him but I always remember seeing him trying to help people with their projects, answering questions and giving advice. He was a very active member in this community and it is very sad to know that he will no longer be with us.

You will always be part of this community.
Rest in peace Doom.
 

ShockSlayer

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Doom was undoubtedly one of the best people I knew. He was one of the few people in the community that was around before even I was, so he witnessed my journey from "annoying BenHeck forum user with nothing but drive" to, well - whatever I am now. We got along because he was so chill, and no matter however I was fucking up at the time, he was always cool with me. We shared a lot of old favorites, but the standout was that we both really loved Link's Awakening.

There were multiple times when I was adrift, and not tied to any community in particular. Times where I had lost basically everyone and everything I actually cared about. But in those times, I still had doom. Back in pre-BitBuilt 2015, when I was still pretending I could get streaming up and going, he would come hang out in my twitch chat, and try to get me to come to MGC. He was very persistent, and in 2016, we all managed to finally go, as basically the first BitBuilt meetup.

When I arrived at the room, he ran up to me, hugged me, and then immediately ran out of the room. I didn't even know it was him. That's who he was, I guess. He was always about the memes; in fact he 3D printed a little keychain thing for me that's just a lenny face with "nice meme" on it. I've had it on my keyring for years, and will continue to keep it there.

The thing is, he wasn't just friends with me - he was friends with everyone important to me. His passing has also greatly impacted many people from the CC community; several of them have also met him at MGC, and he was active anywhere I was. They loved him too, and while I can't easily summarize all of what they've said, I can say that many tears have been shed in his memory.

I wish I had more time with him. There were several things I was planning in my next project specifically just for us; references, ideas, and all sorts of little things that I was excited to finally be able to get done and show him - things that have been in the pipeline since I started. And I hate that he won't be able to see any of it; he deserved as much love as I could muster and then some.

I have been glad to see how much of a positive impact he's had on everyone. He absolutely was a light, and I am very thankful to have the time that I did with him.
 

Y2K

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Doom's contributions to this community and many others will not go unappreciated. I may not have known him more than others here, but his impact on my life and others is substantial. I'm very glad I can say that I was able to be a part of his modding journey, printing him out shells for a NOAC build he was going to make, which he absolutely LOVED. Even in his final months, he never stopped doing what he was passionate about, whether that be modding, attending conventions, making others laugh with his unique sense of humor, or whatever else, despite his health challenges in recent years.

His presence will be greatly missed. Our day to day here and our meetups at MGC will never be the same without him there. Wherever he may be, I hope he's able to watch us continue our growth as a community and see us reach new heights of success & progress. I know he'd love nothing more for each and every one of us to achieve success in all our goals and aspirations as a community.

I'd like to thank everyone here who has spent their time remembering Doom & recalling their experiences with him, theres been some very touching words said, and it makes me sad that I didn't get more of a chance to engage with him.

We'll miss you buddy. We will never forget you.
 

cy

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Doom was a man who bought smiles to so many faces in the community with each and every post he made. I always knew when I saw a post or a response from Doom that it was going to be clever and I found myself laughing consistently at the jokes he cracked. I didn't personally know doom all too well, although I did want to get to know him better.

One fond memory I have of Doom involves a silly thing I was doing where I would intentionally leave a portable on my space bar in the BitBuilt discord. Doing so with the #general channel active made it look like I was always typing. People had amusing reactions to it so I just left it going. Eventually Doom put me into the #burnt-pizza channel as a joke which is a channel intended for the staff team to confront someone after they did something wrong. Obviously what I did was innocent enough, and I would've listened if I was warned, but Doom did this as a means of "joke banning" me from the Discord for a short period of time. I was able to get it reversed after talking with @Y2K , but it was still hilarious to me that one of the staff members figured out a funnier joke response to the joke I was pulling.

This and my fond memories of seeing his dad jokes, memes, and sometimes absurd (in a good way) comments, will always be how I look back at Doom as a member. He was a positive ray of sunshine through and through. He deserved better, and I honestly don't know if we deserved him. I'm glad we all got to know him.

May you Rest in peace Doom. What you did for this community will be remembered for as long as this community stands.
 
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Hi—I'm new here, but wallydawg (as we knew him) is no stranger to me.

CrashBash alluded to this in the OP: Jason was a longtime contributor to the modding scene for the EA Sports NHL games on PC. Back in the day, 20-25 years ago, textures for goalie equipment were absolutely tiny by today's standards and the models were minimally detailed. The amount of artistry required to capture rolls, stitches, embroidered logos, and accurate colors for a goalie pad in an indexed 8-bit, 64x128 image, in a way that didn't turn to complete sludge when applied to the model, was immense. Jason was one of the first to get it right and do it well, and he contributed to the scene through multiple sites—Double Minor Downloads, Thunderpuck, thebreakaway.net, and others—through at least 2013, well after things had slowed down due to EA's decision to stop releasing the games on Windows.

I reconnected with him on Discord early last year, and for a couple months I didn't even know it, until I made a reference to something from those days and he responded with another reference—and then he reconnected me to another Discord server where a bunch of us internet hockey friends had taken refuge. For the last year and change I can't say I haven't enjoyed the ability to share injokes with him across two completely separate communities. (I absolutely have and have no shame.)

At the same time I learned about his contributions to this other world we shared, the world of console modding, and was so immensely proud of him for being able to share his light with more than just us hockey nerds. Most of us never got to meet him in person; for about a decade we had annual meetups in London, Ontario for a weekend of hockey and getting drunk in motel rooms playing Risk, and he was never able to make it up. Judging from the stories you've shared and stories yet to come we absolutely missed out.

Our communities together share a new emptiness that will be impossible to fill, but with love, respect, dedication to craft, and an unhealthy amount of Simpsons memes, we can carry his light forward. We'll hang his Gem City Aviators jersey in the ethereal rafters.
 

Aurelio

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Doom was the kind of guy who was able to befriend everyone. Back when BitBuilt launched and I joined we immediately started memeing like we have known each others for years. That's just what he used to do, with everyone.

He was a great guy and he will be missed. Rest in piece Jason, I promise I will release AureliOS one day, with a slice of pizza in place of the A, as you wanted ❤
 

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It's hard to say what others haven't already and what isn't abundantly clear. Doom was just an amazing person. No matter if you only knew him for a day or a decade, if you talked with him daily or annually, he was always there to give actual advice or post dank memes. Usually the memes, to be fair, but some humor is often sorely needed. He was one of the constants who had been there since before some new members may have even been born, and was welcoming of everyone while being unapologetically himself. There's a Doom shaped hole in the community and many of our hearts, but his memory will live on in all us who were fortunate enough to know him.
 

fibbef

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I regret that I never met doom in person (a fact that is regretfully true between me and every other member of the modding community), but Jason had this uncanny ability to make me feel like we were best friends. Reading through these other tributes, I can tell I was not alone. Part of his ability to do this was that he has absolutely no ego to bruise, despite his longevity in the community. He never flaunted his seniority, and in fact wore it as a joke, often alluding to his old age. (I think we figured out you're only 6 months older than me, mate!)

He inherited the PortablesOfDoom website shortly before I met him on the Bacteria forums. There he chose the handle "tohackamoddingbird", which I thought was terribly clever, but in true doom fashion, it was just a meme. He admitted it was just something he came up with so he wouldn't get in trouble for promoting another modding website on the Bac forums. When that board's doors closed, he went back to being portablesofdoom, and eventually just doom. Which, the more I think of it, the funnier I think it is: the dichotomy of having a nickname invoking destruction and despair, given to the sweetest, friendliest person this community knows.

Doom always knew that his time on this earth was short, but made the most of it. Whether this secretly broke his heart, we may never know. To his Internet friends, he always joked away his condition, memeing about needing a wheelchair at MGC and (as previously mentioned) greatly exaggerating his age. My favorite joke he made was during one of his hospital visits, he told a nurse, "I've been in here for just about everything except teenage pregnancy." In fact, when my wife and I welcomed our third child, one of the first persons I wanted to tell (aside from family) was doom. "I missed the teenage part by about 20 years, but I got one up on you."

He once reached out to me suggesting we collaborate on a portable N64. I shamefully declined due to my insecurities, a regret I'll carry with me for a very long time. However, he honored me by working on a famiclone console from 3D models I designed. Whether he finished the project or not, I'm not sure.

What I can joyfully say about Jason in memoriam is that he is a man who knew no enemies. Rest in peace. I miss you, my friend.
 
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Doom was I guy I didn't know well like everyone else. However in every interaction I had with him in shanks server, he would put a smile on my face. He always seemed like a genuine soul and good guy to be around.

I haven't logged into my forum account in years but after hearing the news poitref I wanted to some how pay my respects.

Take care everyone and thank you Doom for being the man you were.
 

Stitches

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Doom was a legend. It was his sense of humour that got me to be less robotic in my staff dealings and just have fun. He's one of the few people who could truly catch me off guard with no warning. Oldmate's ability to just be friends with everyone and joke like they'd known each other for years was and still is an inspiration to me. I wish I could have made it up to MGC one year to meet him (and everyone else of course), but I just never had the dollarydoos to cross that damn Pacific ocean. Speaking of dollarydoos, Doom was the first person to tell me that joke was funny. I think I'll carry on using it, keep a spark of him glowing as it were.

Sleep well friend
 
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Gonna miss Jason. He'd just posted a dank King of the Hill meme in the group chat the day he passed.

He had a long battle with his health as you know, but he was strong enough that it did not define our interactions at all. You can't really appreciate how difficult this is to accomplish, until you've had some major health scare. In 2016 when I had severe health challenges, remembering Jason helped give me strength, because it is very tempting, when people ask "How are you doing?" to respond with whatever you've got going on. But you have to be careful because that will cause everyone to see you that way.
Jason was very strong.

The first year we went to MGC (2008 I think) or around then, he made printed nametags for everyone with their forum avatars. Gabe still has some of those I think. We saw each other pretty much every year after that.

Rest easy man.
 

Nold

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Oh man.. i barely knew him but as far as i can tell he was a great guy, with so much love for this community, the hobby and the people.. i first met him 2019 at MGC and was glad to meet him again this year... i'm sure we did a photo back then, too but couldn't find it..

We'll miss you
doom_and_nold.jpg
 
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In the time since I've first interacted with Doom he has been nothing but a kind member who only had good to say. He is such a cultural aspect of this community. He was always friendly to everyone including me even though I seem like such a pain. I can't believe he's passed on now. Blessings of the Lord be with you, I will always appreciate your gestures towards me and the impact you've had on many lives.
 

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Many of you might know me from the Benheck forums or possibly the Midwest Gaming Classic if you attended prior to 2020/21 (i've missed the last 2 years). Jason was one of a few guys who's been around even longer than me, and he was far more active in the portable and gaming scene than i have been in years. He joined the benheck forums as Wallydawg april of 2004 and i joined towards the end of may that year. I was the 33rd member to join, he was the 10th. I'm not sure who's idea it originally was, but It was largely Jason that orchestrated all of the benheck forum group related activities at MGC up until the last few years when all the bitbuilt guys kinda took up the reins and had more cool stuff to show off than us old guys lol. I dont think we would have become so much of a fixture at the show if it werent for him. The first meetup and event space was in 2006 or 07 iirc.. He was an amazing person and a true friend. I'm proud to have known him and glad I got to spend what time i did with him at MGC and our other benheck buddy get togethers. It makes me really happy to know How loved Jason was by this community and others. If i get a chance later I'll probably post a link to this thread on the benheck forum, for any former members who happen across it in the future.
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cheese

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Doom was amazing, no matter what was going on or how he was feeling, he always had a smile on his face. It was contagious too. I can't say I've met anyone else who was able to so consistently bring happiness (and memes) to anyone they met. Regardless of if he knew them for 20 seconds or 20 years, he brought an energy that you just had to smile.

In the second year I went to MGC, he greeted me with a box full of cheese pieces he 3D printed. He just went out and made it happen, unprompted, no questions asked. I still have them, in fact, I pulled them out the night I heard the news, and they're still sitting on my desk right now.

We're all gonna miss you dude. Sleep well.
 

Viilmo

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Doom and me didnt interact much, but damn was it nice to have him in conversations. No matter what would be going on he would always drop by and lighten the mood. His jokes like others here have said were on another level.
I never went to MGC, I never could and probably never will. I never could meet the legend himself there and thats something I will regret.
Doom was and will be remembered as an incredible person that was always there with the memes and birb&cat pics.
I dont know how I didnt know about his health problems. Im gonna miss him alot.

Please keep posting storys about him and what he did
 
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