Animator vs. Animation
Animated web series
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Animator vs. Animation (AvA) is an American animated web series created by Alan Becker.[2][3][4] The original animation was first published on Newgrounds on June 3, 2006,[5] with a sequel following five months later.[3] Almost every installment is animated in either Adobe Animate or Blender, with live-action scenes also being incorporated into the series, starting with the fourth episode.
| Animator vs. Animation | |
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| Genre | |
| Created by | Alan Becker |
| Written by |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 12 |
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| Running time | 2:6:38/2 hours, 6 minutes, and 38 seconds[1] (as of episodes 1-12) |
| Original release | |
| Network | Newgrounds |
| Release | June 3, 2006 – October 2, 2014 |
| Network | Atom.com |
| Release | November 4, 2006 – October 4, 2010 |
| Network | YouTube |
| Release | September 12, 2007 – present |
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The premise of the web series is a stick figure attempting to escape the animation program in which it was created, either by using the built-in animation tools or through sheer brute force.[6] The series contains almost no spoken dialogue.[7]
Known for its unique concept and high-quality animation, it became an immediate internet hit, receiving 4.78 stars on Newgrounds[8] and 80 million views on YouTube.[9] The fourth installment gained almost 5 million views on YouTube within a month.[10]
A Kickstarter campaign for a reboot episode of the series was created on July 10, 2013,[6][11] reaching their $10,000 funding goal on August 9, 2013. The episode was released on October 2, 2014.
Multiple browser game adaptations of the series have been created, including one in 2006 titled Animator vs. Animation Game: SE, developed by Charles Yeh.[3]
Characters
Humans
- "The Animator" (a self-insert of Alan Becker): The titular character. He was initially an antagonist who showed disdain towards his creations, before redeeming himself and showing more care to them after learning that one of them (The Second Coming) was sentient and could talk through text.
Artificial stick figures
Four hollow-headed stick figures all created by the Animator at different points in the story.
- H4CK3R (formerly victim) [sic]: A black, later dull gray stick figure created in June 3, 2006 by the Animator. He debuted in "Animator vs. Animation" before seemingly being killed off in the same episode.[12] Nearly seventeen years later, he was revealed to have narrowly escaped the computer after being recreated and tortured by his creator countless times throughout 2006 and 2007, being marooned alongside fellow stick figure Mitsi and founding a technology company called Rocket Corp alongside her. Once Mitsi was killed by what appeared to be The Dark Lord, victim decided to avenge her death over the coming years with the help of four mercenaries. He later tricks the Animator into changing his name to H4CK3R, granting him tech-based reality-warping abilities before teaming up with The Dark Lord.
- NO ONE (formerly The Chosen One (TCO)): A black stick figure, originally almost identical in appearance to victim, created in 2007 by the Animator.[13] He has several superpowers, including fire-breathing, laser vision, superhuman strength, and creating ice, among others. He debuted in "Animator vs. Animation II" as a villain and was presumed dead after the next episode before reappearing at the end of "The Virus", having redeemed himself to defeat The Dark Lord. In "Animator vs. Animation 12", H4CK3R downgrades The Chosen One by changing his name to NO ONE.
- The Dark Lord (TDL): A red stick figure, created by the Animator in 2011,[a] programmed solely with the mission of destroying The Chosen One. He[14] debuted in "Animator vs. Animation III". He was presumed dead in the same episode, only to reappear in "The Flashback" as a villain seeking to spread havoc across the internet with his army of computer viruses. He was killed by The Second Coming in "The Showdown", but was revealed in "Hacker" to have been resurrected by his minions, the ViraBots, reprising his role as an antagonist by teaming up with H4CK3R.
- The Second Coming (TSC): He is an orange stick figure accidentally created by the Animator in 2014 and the leader of the Stick Gang. In almost all animations he appears in, The Second Coming is depicted as being a completely normal stick figure, much like the other figures he meets the same episode in which he is introduced, albeit with far more honed fighting abilities. However, he has hidden powers and capabilities that make him one of the most potent figures currently introduced in the series. These powers include telekinesis, flight, laser vision, extremely powerful strength, and regeneration. These abilities have only surfaced temporarily through vague means. He can also talk through text, but only when inside Adobe Animate.
Fighting Stick Figures
A group of four solid-headed stick figures consisting of Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green was introduced in 2014. Residing on sticksfight.com, they escaped with the help of The Second Coming before each being terminated by the Animator, then subsequently revived. They were later killed by The Dark Lord during "The Showdown", only to be revived again by The Second Coming.
- Red: A red stick figure that loves animals. He is reckless and most impulsive of the Stick Gang.
- Blue: A cyan stick figure that likes farming and brewing potions. He's been described as a "hippie" and has an addiction to nether wart in the Animation vs. Minecraft spin-off.
- Yellow: A yellow stick figure that likes computer programming. In "The Box" he is kidnapped by victim's company, Rocket Corp, so they could learn how to manifest the Animator in the Outernet.
- Green: A lime stick figure who likes music and is The Second Coming's best friend. He is arrogant and, as karma, suffers the most out of the Stick Gang.
Mercenaries
A group of four stick figures with unique designs and fighting styles. Excluding Ballista, the mercenaries lack official names and are only being referred to with community-created nicknames.
- "Agent": A thin, dark gray stick figure of above average height who wears sunglasses. He has a solid white head with a dark gray outline, identical to his body, and possesses a toolbar that gives him the powers of an animator. Despite being grouped as part of the mercenaries, the episode "Victim" reveals he is victim's full-time employee, security guard and best friend who watched victim's lover Mitsi die at The Chosen One's hands and wants to avenge her death. It was revealed in a Q&A that his non-canon production name is G.U.I..
- "Hazard": A pictogram portrayed as uncommitted and comical, but also loyal to victim. He has control over any and all pictogram signs, allowing him to use electrokinesis; clone himself; or summon an atomic bomb, among many other powers. His non-canon production name is Sign.
- "Primal": A tall, brown stick figure (similar to stick figure drawings by cavemen) that embodies a wild and untamed nature, often acting on immediate instinct and raw power while having a stronger, more powerful form. His non-canon production name is Lasco, after the cave system he was based on.
- Ballista: A pixelated stick figure that can shapeshift and is short-tempered. He's a crossover character from the 2003 animation Stick Figure vs Door. His non-canon production name is EZToon, after the animation program he was created in.
Others
- ViraBots: The Dark Lord's minions, a species of computer viruses that take the form of robotic spiders. The majority of them are killed by The Second Coming in "The Showdown", but "Hacker" reveals that a few of them have survived and have resurrected The Dark Lord.
- Mitsi: Victim's first friend and lover, and the co-founder of Rocket Corp. She helped Victim overcome his trauma caused by the Animator's abuse of him. She is killed by what appears to be The Chosen One in "Victim", which motivates Victim and Agent into avenging her death. Victim, as H4CK3R, later teams up with The Dark Lord under the promise to resurrect her.
Episodes
Season 1 (2006–14)
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Original release date | ||||||||
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| 1 | 1 | "Animator vs. Animation" | Alan Becker | June 3, 2006 | ||||||||
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Animator Alan Becker creates a black stick figure in Macromedia Flash (now known as Adobe Animate), naming it "victim", after which the stick figure comes to life. Alan immediately engages in combat with Victim, and within Flash they fight with the tools of the program itself. Alan eventually closes Flash, seemingly erasing Victim and the project file in the process. | ||||||||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Animator vs. Animation 2" | Alan Becker | March 15, 2007 | ||||||||
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Alan creates another stick figure, this time naming it "The Chosen One", making the stick figure even more powerful based on in-universe rules established by a discussion between Alan and an AIM friend. This time, The Chosen One jumps onto Alan's desktop and starts destroying his desktop applications and files, his powers making him harder to destroy. Before the computer is shut down, The Chosen One is recognised as a virus by Alan's antivirus software, Avast, and is swiftly captured. This allows the animator to force The Chosen One to work as a pop-up blocker. | ||||||||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Animator vs. Animation 3" | Alan Becker | October 11, 2010 | ||||||||
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Years after becoming Alan's ad blocker, The Chosen One comes across a way to escape. Despite Alan's attempts to stop him, The Chosen One frees himself and starts destroying applications on the PC like he did before. While The Chosen One is distracted, Alan quickly draws a red stick figure, names it "The Dark Lord", and sends him to fight The Chosen One, who defeats him and convinces him to join his side. The two team up to terminate Alan's computer by creating a vortex that sucks everything up and explodes, crashing the desktop in the process. | ||||||||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Animator vs. Animation 4" | Alan Becker | October 2, 2014 | ||||||||
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Three years later, Alan is animating an orange stick figure whilst chatting with a friend online about the events of the previous episode. While Alan is away from the computer for a bit, the orange stick figure comes alive and finds a website where he meets and befriends a group of four other stick figures. When Alan returns, he immediately goes to delete the four stick figures and realizes that the orange stick figure is called The Second Coming, described by Task Manager as "The Chosen One's Return". Unable to be deleted, The Second Coming sends Alan a message that says: "You ended my friends. Now I will end you." After a long battle on Alan's phone and computer, The Second Coming destroys Alan's cursor and creates his own animations to further the destruction. After Alan deletes the animations, The Second Coming begs for mercy. Impressed by The Second Coming's animation skills, Alan spares him and refreshes the website to bring the other stick figures back. The two agree on a deal that The Second Coming and his friends can live as long as he teaches animation to Alan and does not break his computer. | ||||||||||||
| Compilation | ||||||||||||
| – | – | "Animator vs Animation Season 1" | Alan Becker | July 20, 2024 | ||||||||
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A compilation of the first four episodes reuploaded together, with adjustments made to the first three episodes to fill widescreen 16:9 aspect ratios. Sound effects were also replaced with higher quality versions of the originals. | ||||||||||||
Season 2 (2018–20)
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Original release date | ||||||||
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| 5 | 1 | "The Virus" | Alan Becker | August 19, 2018 | ||||||||
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One day, as Alan and The Second Coming are animating together, a computer virus program named "ViraBot" appears to infect the computer. As Alan and The Second Coming try to remove it, a red, four-legged spider-like creature emerges from the program's icon, seemingly able to disintagrate anything. Even as The Second Coming gets his friends, everyone's attempts to destroy the ViraBot fail. Before ViraBot can end The Second Coming, a portal is opened and The Chosen One, revealed to still be alive, comes out to challenge the ViraBot. | ||||||||||||
| 6 | 2 | "The Chosen One's Return" | Alan Becker | October 28, 2018 | ||||||||
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The Chosen One and the ViraBot battle, with the former proving himself immune to the latter's deletion powers. Despite struggling, The Chosen One eventually manages to destroy the ViraBot. As the Stick Gang (The Second Coming and his four friends) bows down to The Chosen One in respect and gratitude, The Chosen One creates a second portal and leaves the computer. Hesitant at first, the Stick Gang follows him. | ||||||||||||
| 7 | 3 | "The Flashback" | Alan Becker | March 12, 2019 | ||||||||
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In a flashback, it is shown that at the end of "Animator vs. Animation 3", The Chosen One and The Dark Lord escaped Alan's computer before it was destroyed. The two start terrorizing the Internet and various websites, although The Chosen One appears to feel off about doing so more and more as time goes on. Years later, in a digital world called the Outernet, The Dark Lord invents the ViraBot. After failing to prevent him from launching it, The Chosen One goes to save the person it was sent to, despite finding out that this person is his creator Alan. Back in the present day, The Chosen One and the Stick Gang travel across the portal to the Outernet. | ||||||||||||
| 8 | 4 | "The Showdown" | Alan Becker | October 24, 2020 | ||||||||
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Back in the Outernet, The Chosen One tracks down The Dark Lord and engages him in an intense battle. As The Dark Lord starts getting the upper hand, electronics-knowing Yellow (one of The Second Coming's stick figure friends) hacks his computer to summon Alan's cursor so he could assist The Chosen One, forcing The Dark Lord to send out an army of ViraBots to defeat his opponents. After deleting Alan's cursor, The Dark Lord picks off The Second Coming's friends one by one before horribly injuring The Second Coming himself. In an unexpected display of power greater than either The Chosen One's or The Dark Lord's, The Second Coming suddenly gains superpowers, destroys the ViraBots, and kills The Dark Lord in a giant mountain explosion. After using The Dark Lord's computer to revive his friends and Alan's cursor, he passes out. The Second Coming wakes up with no recollection of having such powers, leaving The Chosen One as the only character alive that knows about them. The Stick Gang returns to the computer. | ||||||||||||
| Compilation | ||||||||||||
| – | – | "Animator vs. Animation Season 2" | Alan Becker | December 5, 2020 | ||||||||
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A compilation of episodes 5-8, with edits made to fix continuity errors and alter the soundtrack. | ||||||||||||
Season 3 (2023–)
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 1 | "Wanted" | Alan Becker | April 29, 2023 | |
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The Chosen One is pursued by four mercenaries and, recalling what he witnessed last episode, seeks out The Second Coming for help. Although The Chosen One is unable to restore The Second Coming’s memories or activate his dormant abilities, he nevertheless brings him to the Outernet to defeat the mercenaries. The Second Coming, having brought a pencil from Alan's computer, starts drawing animations to defend himself and The Chosen One, but is ultimately defeated by the mercenary leader, Agent. The remaining members of the Stick Gang witness the pair being transported away by the mercenaries, who deliver them to an organization called Rocket Corp where they are imprisoned, with The Chosen One placed inside a white containment box. There, the mercenaries report to their leader, a Gray stick figure who is later revealed to be Victim. | |||||
| 10 | 2 | "The Box" | Alan Becker | November 4, 2023 | |
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Red, Yellow, Green and Blue attempt to locate Rocket Corp and eventually stow away on a transport truck to reach its facility, where The Second Coming is taken for experimentation so researchers can study his drawing-based abilities. Inside the building, Victim enters the containment box to torture and interrogate The Chosen One about Alan’s whereabouts, and when he refuses to answer, Victim initiates a memory scan. The scan inadvertently exposes The Second Coming’s powers to everyone present—including The Second Coming himself, who is returned to his cell as the process continues. As the memory reveals how Yellow previously summoned Alan’s cursor, the organization identifies his location and Agent soon abducts him from the facility’s parking lot. | |||||
| 11 | 3 | "Victim" | Alan Becker | December 14, 2024 | |
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In a flashback set right after the events of the first "Animator vs. Animation", Victim is shown to have been repeatedly drawn, tortured and killed by Alan across a span of nine months. While Alan is away from his laptop, Victim constructs a rocket to escape the PC and witnesses a woman called Grace create a stick figure called Mitsi and upload her animation onto Newgrounds. Victim's rocket follows Mitsi's "green life particles" into the Outernet, where she manifests into existence as a living being. The two quickly grow close, sharing a romantic relationship, and establish Rocket Corp. Agent is hired as a security guard and becomes their close friend. On the company’s fourth anniversary in 2011, numerous stick figures abruptly vanish in the Outernet—including Mitsi and Agent—after being transported to the Newgrounds website, the site of one of The Chosen One and The Dark Lord’s many destructive rampages. Agent watches as Mitsi is killed in a fireball blast during the chaos, with The Chosen One hovering above the aftermath, and shares the bad news to Victim after finding a portal to the Outernet. Seven years later, Victim witnesses footage of The Chosen One alongside Alan’s cursor and concludes that the two are working together, unaware of the full context of them fighting The Dark Lord. | |||||
| 12 | 4 | "Hacker" | Alan Becker & Skim | ||
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While The Second Coming tries meditating in hopes of unlocking his hidden powers, Agent uses a memory scanner on Yellow to learn how he summoned Alan’s cursor, inadvertently revealing that The Second Coming is capable of resurrecting the dead. While Agent and Victim leave to find The Dark Lord's former hideout and take The Chosen One with them, the remaining Stick Gang members infiltrate Rocket Corp's headquarters and defeat the other three mercenaries. Meanwhile, Agent replicates Yellow’s summoning method and manipulates Alan into renaming Victim as H4CK3R, granting him tech-based reality-warping abilities. Newly empowered, H4CK3R strips The Chosen One of his abilities by renaming him into NO ONE and forces his way onto Alan’s computer, where they fight. After Alan unplugs his computer, The Dark Lord—revealed to have been resurrected by his ViraBots—approaches Victim and offers an alliance, claiming he can "resurrect" Mitsi. | |||||
Development and history
Becker was inspired by many popular animations and stories, such as Duck Amuck and the 1959 animated version of Harold and the Purple Crayon. Many other Flash games, such as Cursor Thief on Newgrounds, also gave him the spark to create the animation.[15] Approximately three months after starting the animation, Becker posted it to Newgrounds. The next day, the animation received second place for the entire day.[8] Becker began receiving numerous emails and instant messages from website owners who wanted to host the animation on their websites, with one of the websites even offering $75, provided they received exclusive rights to the animation. Becker declined after reading an email above from Steven Lerner, the owner of Albino Blacksheep.[15][16]
AtomFilms offered to fund the making of a sequel, which was released on November 4, 2006.[17][15] Becker used his real AIM username in the animation, which made him unable to use the service without his desktop screen being flooded by hundreds of fans who attempted to message him online. Becker began uploading the videos to YouTube, manually reporting clones of the videos using YouTube's copyright report system, but it reportedly took several years. Becker uploaded "Animator vs. Animation 3" onto Atom.com on October 4, 2010, intending for it to be the final episode. He then went on to study animation at the Columbus College of Art and Design and tried to get an internship at Pixar but was rejected.[15] Becker launched a Kickstarter campaign for the funding of Animator vs. Animation 4 after being motivated by his teacher's words and encouragement to keep going. The campaign launched on July 10, 2013, and the $10,000 funding goal was reached on August 9, 2013.[15] On October 2, 2014, "Animator vs. Animation 4" was released onto YouTube. It reportedly gained almost five million views on YouTube within a month.[10]
eBaum's World controversy
"Animator vs. Animation" was uploaded to eBaum's World without Becker's permission and proper credit.[18] Legal action was threatened against eBaum's World under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.[18][19] eBaum's World later contacted Becker, offering him $250 as compensation and pressuring Becker into a false testimonial. Becker later retracted the statement and officially requested that eBaum's World remove the animation and testimonial from the website.[15][18]
Other media
Game adaptations
In 2006, a browser game adaptation titled Animator vs. Animation Game: SE was released for Adobe Flash Player, developed by Charles Yeh.[3]
On March 26, 2025, a Kickstarter campaign was launched for Animation VERSUS, a fighting game slated for release in June 2028. The game is being developed with the help of Muno, who created a Rivals of Aether mod featuring characters from the series.[20][21][22]
Spin-offs
The series has had multiple spin-offs, under the Animation vs. label, with some of them gaining more views than the original series itself.[citation needed]
A spinoff called "Animation vs. Minecraft" was uploaded on December 14, 2015. The video briefly had the title of the most popular Minecraft video on the internet for a month.[23] It later became A full-blown series, alternating between slice-of-life and serialized storytelling, debuted on November 17, 2017. Its fourteenth episode briefly became the most popular Minecraft video on the internet,[24] and it remains Becker's most popular video.
Another spinoff, "Animation vs. YouTube", featured cameo appearances from numerous YouTubers, including PewDiePie and Markiplier.[25][26] Actual Shorts are shorts formatted for YouTube Shorts, with the name referencing the fact that most episodes in the Animation vs. Minecraft "Shorts" series are too long to be considered shorts, with running times of up to thirty minutes.[27][7]
Other miscellaneous spin-offs include:
- Animation vs. League of Legends
- Animation vs. Pokémon
- Animation vs. Super Mario Bros
- Animation vs. Arcade Games
- Animation vs. Education (edutainment series comprising multiple episodes)
Reception
The series has gained a generally positive reception.[28]
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Animation | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Webby Awards | "People's Voice" Award | "Animator vs. Animation II" | Won | [11][29] |
| 2014 | Cleveland International Film Festival | "Best of Ohio" Award | "Animator vs. Animation IV" | Nominated | [30] |
| 2024 | Independent Media Initiative | unknown | "Animation vs. Math" | Won | [31] |
See also
Notes
- While this character's debut episode was released on Atom.com in 2010, Becker confirmed in "The Flashback" that the events took place on October 2, 2011, the day the episode was officially uploaded to YouTube.