“Dogman was the Imposter”- A Dog(man)’s Journey, Retirement and Next Steps

Most players announce their retirements via a “Twitlonger,” a plug-in designed for sharing long format letters via Twitter. However, most players do not have the same flair for the dramatic as Dusttin “Dogman” Bowerman.

After teasing fans all off-season, Dogman has finally revealed his plans for the future. The announcement, via his Twitter and Instagram accounts, features a fully produced video instead of a statement.

The video is effectively a retirement announcement for the popular and controversial flex support. However, in true Dogman fashion- he is not going quietly into the night. While he is leaving the Overwatch League and will not play in the 2021 season, this dog has some new tricks up his sleeve.

After a bittersweet send off to the “Dogman” persona, Mr. Bowerman reassured his fans that he will still be around. Five days a week in fact, on his new esports talk show set to launch in the coming weeks.

The OWL community has at times been largely divided in opinions toward Dogman. However, the flavor he added to the league is undeniable.

A Grain of Salt

Mr. Bowerman cited in his video that part of his decision to retire was based on a lack of enjoyment. Statistically, this makes a lot of sense. Dogman in 2020 only experienced tranquility 84 times; much lower than the 409 Zenyatta ultimates he popped in 2019.

Consistency is key in any Overwatch League player, and Dogman certainly showed that in his early season hijinks. Since his promotion to the Atlanta Reign, Dogman followed a remarkably interesting pattern. Toward the beginning of each season he has played in, he has gotten a terrible haircut on a live broadcast. In April 2019, he received his notorious “bowl cut” on the Watchpoint desk, to the delight and horror of fans. In March of 2020 he continued the trend, allowing his Atlanta teammates to shave his head while he streamed. Averaging his early season wins, accounting for games played and divided by noise complaints- 55% is the prime “haircut” win percentage. The increased severity of the haircuts shows a projection that the 2021 haircut would be too terrifying to predict.

Never one to shy away from taking shots, the Reign’s first game against the Paris Eternal in 2019 was memorable for Dogman. Despite a strong showing in their first two OWL games, Paris suffered a heartbreaking loss to a strong Atlanta Reign. During this historic game, Dogman tied with Daniel “Dafran” Francesca for the most final blows on the opening map. An impressive feat for a flex support. According to records, nothing else of note happened during the game, certainly not between maps 3 and 4.

A Dogman Needs a Dog

Photo provided by Dusttin Bowerman

In June of 2020 Dogman adopted his dog, named “Ana.” Ana also happened to have been his highest OWL career healing output hero at the time. This increased his healing per ten minutes for the season from 43,131 in pre-dog games to 43,930 for games post-dog. Dogman needed roughly 73,000 per ten minutes in healing over 1.5 seasons to unlock the dog achievement. Accounting for the upward trend due to the buff, Dogman’s next dog could have been projected for the 2023 season. The dog would have been named Baptiste.

As it stands, Dogman and his dog are moving forward on their journey. Rather, Dusttin Bowerman and his dog are moving forward. “Dogman” is being left behind.

There is certain to be a lot of speculation and conversation around his decision to leave competitive Overwatch. Perhaps it is best to let the new talk show host do the talking.

Dogman was the Imposter

You touched on why you decided to leave competitive Overwatch, can you get deeper into that decision for your fans?

DB: “My heart wasn’t in it anymore. Season 2 I felt like every loss killed me a little inside and I took it super hard. From the result of the match to what fans said about me- I took too much of it too seriously. And when I finally learned to take it less seriously, my drive and motivation to keep playing competitive Overwatch died with it. Maybe it’ll come back some day but for now I have new passions and things I’m truly excited about.”

You said in your video that “Dogman was the imposter.” Will you elaborate on your word choice, and why you feel it’s necessary to move forward as “Dusttin” and leave “Dogman” behind?

DB: “I feel like for me to really be myself it’s time for a name change. I’ve always been Dusttin Bowerman, but I could kind of hide behind the persona of Dogman. From now on I can be myself and will keep true to myself without hiding anything.”

Why should people who didn’t like Dogman give Dusttin a chance?

DB: “I feel like Dogman was a character I played to a bit of an extreme, kind of thriving off ‘in-the-moment’ crazy things that I said, and (somewhat) regretted later. I may say some crazy things, usually out of pure passion. But outside of games and when I’m calmer, I usually don’t say insane and crazy things. I was more or less pushing it too hard on Dogman, trying too hard. Dusttin will 100% just be who I am and not be this edgy try hard character that I played.”

Introducing: The Dusttin Bowerman Show

Logo used with permission from The Dusttin Bowerman Show

On the subject of things Dusttin is “truly excited about,” the video ended announcing his next career move. “The Dusttin Bowerman Show” will be a weekday talk show covering a wide range of esports-related topics. The show will feature up to the minute content, guests, co-hosts and of course huge doses of personality.

Mr. Bowerman is rebranding his YouTube channel to The Dusttin Bowerman Show, so fans should have no trouble finding it. The Dusttin Bowerman Show will run Monday through Friday at 3PM Pacific, on DBS.

The channel is not actually called “DBS”, but it should be. 

Questions? You can message Rhiannon on Twitter @Psyryn_OG and ask away.

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