| Alt Name: | AvA |
| Creator: | Alan Becker |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Runtime: | 3-17 minutes |
| Company: | Atom.com (Season 1, Episode 2) |
| Last Aired: | present |
Animator vs. Animation is a 2D animated web series created by Alan Becker.[1] [2] [3] The original animation was first published on Newgrounds on June 3, 2006, with a sequel following 5 months later. All the installations were animated in Adobe Animate.
The premise of the web-series is a stick figure attempting to escape the animation program they were created in, whether that be through using the built-in animation tools or through sheer brute force.[4] The series contains no spoken dialogue[5] (excluding the 4th episode).
Known for its unique concept and exceptional animation, it became an immediate internet hit, receiving 4.78 stars and almost 3 million views for the original animation on Newgrounds. The 4th installation gained almost 5 million views on YouTube within a month.[6]
A kickstarter for the 4th installation of the series was created July 10, 2013,[7] reaching their $10,000 funding goal on August 9, 2013. The episode released on October 2, 2014.
A flash game adaption of the series was created in 2006 named 'Animator vs. Animation Game: SE' (SE presumably standing for 'Special Edition'), being developed by Charles Yeh.
Noogai (the animator) creates a stick figure in Adobe Flash (now known as Adobe Animate), naming it 'victim'. The stick figure comes to life, beginning to wreak havoc on the animator's animation software, proceeding to also clone themselves by using the software's library tool and using Flash's built in tools (eg. brush, pen, etc).
Noogai eventually manages to click out of Adobe Flash, deleting the project file in the process.
Presumably a few months later, Noogai tries again to create a stick figure, this time naming it 'The Chosen One', making them even more powerful. Again, The Chosen One comes to life, this time making it to Noogai's desktop and destroying Noogai's desktop applications and files, all while Noogai is attempting to message a friend on AIM for help, before The Chosen One 'kills' AIM.
Before they could shut down the computer, The Chosen One is recognised as a virus by Noogai's antivirus software, Avast, and is immediately and swiftly captured. Later, it is revealed that The Chosen One is being used as a pop-up locker by Noogai.
Five years after the events of the previous installment, The Chosen One is still an ad blocker used by Noogai.[8] Longing for freedom, he sees a website about Stick Figure Slavery where he could be free, but Noogai swiftly stops his chances. However, he manages to manipulate Noogai's cursor, making the cursor click on the option to free him and he immediately begins destroying Noogai's computer. While The Chosen One fights Clippy in Microsoft Word,[9] Noogai quickly draws a red stick figure called The Dark Lord, coding it with the mission of destroying The Chosen One. The fight becomes more destructive as The Dark Lord manages to convince several desktop applications such as Firefox or Windows Movie Maker to help him defeat The Chosen One, however they are defeated easily.
As the battle rages on, The Chosen One and The Dark Lord comes to the realisation that Noogai doesn’t care about them at all, only focusing on his Solitaire match as if they didn’t exist. So, in a final attempt to stop Noogai, the two team up to destroy his computer, creating a vortex and crashing his desktop, ending the episode.
Around 4 years after the previous episode, Noogai is animating an orange stick figure whilst chatting with a friend through direct messages about the events of the previous episode.
The series has also had multiple spinoffs,[10] with some of them gaining more views than the original series itself.
A notable spinoff called 'Animation vs. Minecraft
Another notable spinoff is 'Animation vs. YouTube
'Actual Shorts' are shorts formatted for YouTube Shorts, with the name mocking the fact that the 'Animation vs. Minecraft Shorts' are on-average a duration of 20 minutes.
Becker was inspired by many popular animations and stories such as Duck Amuck and the animated version of Harold and the Purple Crayon. Many other flash games on Newgrounds also gave him the spark to create the animation.[12] Approximately 3 months after beginning animation, Becker posted the animation to Newgrounds. The next day, the animation received second place for the entire day.[13]
Becker began receiving many emails and instant messages from website owners that wanted to host the animation on their website, with one of the websites even offering $75 as long as they received exclusive rights to the animation. Becker declined after reading a email above from Steven Lerner, owner of Albino Blacksheep.
See main article: articles. 'Animator vs. Animation' was put onto eBaum's World, without Becker's permission and with no credit.[14] Legal action was threatened against eBaum's World under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.
eBaum's World later contacted Becker, offering him $250 as compensation and pressuring Becker into a fake testimonial. Becker later retracted the statement, and officially asked eBaum's World to pull the animation and the testimonial off the website.
AtomFilms offered to fund the making of 'Animator vs Animation 2', and it released on November 4, 2006. Becker used his real AIM username in the animation, which caused him unable to use AIM without being spammed constantly by fans who messaged him online.
Becker began uploading the videos on YouTube, reporting reuploaded copies of the video using YouTube's copyright report system, but it reportedly took a few years.
Becker uploaded 'Animator vs. Animation 3' onto Atom.com (and later, YouTube and Newgrounds) on October 4, 2010, intending for it to be the finale to the trilogy. Becker then went to study animation at Columbia College of Arts and Design, with the goal of getting hired at Pixar.
Becker launched a kickstarter for the funding of Animator vs. Animation 4 after being motivated by his teacher's words and encouragement to keep going. The kickstarter launched on July 10, 2013 and the $10,000 funding goal was reached on August 9, 2013.
On October 2, 2014, 'Animator vs. Animation 4' was released onto YouTube. It reportedly gained almost 5 million views on YouTube within a month. Becker began creating spinoffs of the series, such as the popular 'Animation vs. Minecraft'.
| Year | Award | Category | Animation | Result | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Webby Awards | 'People's Voice' Award | 'Animator vs. Animation 2' | [15] | ||
| 2014 | Cleveland International Film Festival | 'Best of Ohio' Award | 'Animator vs. Animation 4' | Unknown | [16] | |
| 2024 | Independent Mediaintiative | 'Unknown' | 'Animation vs. Math' | [17] |