Animator vs. Animation (AvA) is an American animated web series created by Alan Becker. The original animation was first published on Newgrounds on June 3, 2006, with a sequel following five months later. 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.

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. The series contains almost no spoken dialogue.

Known for its unique concept and high-quality animation, it became an immediate internet hit, receiving 4.78 stars on Newgrounds and 80 million views on YouTube. The fourth installment gained almost 5 million views on YouTube within a month.

A Kickstarter campaign for a reboot episode of the series was created on July 10, 2013, reaching their $10,000 funding goal on August 9, 2013. The episode was released on October 2, 2014.

Two game adaptations have been created or are in development for the series. In 2006, Charles Yeh developed a browser game titled Animator vs. Animation Game: SE. On March 26, 2025, Animation VERSUS, a fighting game, was successfully funded on Kickstarter, which is currently in development.

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.

  • victim [sic] (later named H4CK3R): A black, later dark gray stick figure created on June 3, 2006 by the Animator, who was cruelly tortured for amusement by the Animator until he successfully escaped the computer, but was left deeply traumatized. He is characterized by resourcefulness, enabling his escape by secretly engineering a rocket, and once freed, he leveraged this skill in co-founding a technology company called Rocket Corp with his newly-met friend, Mitsi. After her sudden death, he became driven to avenge her. Once he tricked the Animator in renaming him to H4CK3R, he is granted technological abilities, such as data manipulation.
  • The Chosen One (TCO) (later named NO ONE): A black stick figure, originally almost identical in appearance to victim, created on March 15, 2007 by the Animator. His powers include pyrokinesis, ice manipulation, laser vision and enhanced strength, although they are lost after he is renamed to NO ONE by H4CK3R. After collaborating with The Dark Lord against the Animator and escaping the computer, he initially followed him in his violent rampages across the internet, until he began mellow out in AVM0 and later disagreed with the release of ViraBot, a malicious virus created by The Dark Lord, rendering them enemies again.
  • The Dark Lord (TDL): A bright red stick figure, created by the Animator on October 2, 2011, programmed solely with the mission of destroying The Chosen One. He possesses flight and pyrokinesis abilities, which are later enhanced after partially merging with the ViraBot virus. He is an aggressive and sadistic thrill-seeker, deriving enjoyment from committing acts of violence and destruction. He has also shown cunning and ingenuity when creating the ViraBot virus, to cause chaos across the internet.
  • The Second Coming (TSC) (also known as Orange): An orange stick figure accidentally created by the Animator on October 2, 2014, who has an innate talent for art and animation. He assumes leadership over his group of friends, the Fighting Stick Figures, and collectively they are known as the Colour Gang. Initially, he differed little from them aside from his distinctive head shape, until he is revealed to possess latent abilities such as telekinesis, flight, laser vision, resurrection, etc.

Fighting Stick Figures

A group of four solid-headed stick figures consisting of Red, Blue, Yellow, and Green were introduced on October 2, 2014. They originally resided on a website called sticksfight.com, until meeting The Second Coming who introduced them to the world outside.

  • Red: A red stick figure that loves animals and is proficient in close-quarters combat. He is reckless and the most impulsive of the Stick Gang.
  • Blue: A cyan stick figure who is knowledgeable in farming, cooking, and brewing potions. Due to his pacifist nature, 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 skilled in engineering and programming. He is characterized as the technically-inclined of the group.
  • Green: A lime stick figure who has musical talent. He is quick at learning and often flaunts his skills. As a result of his arrogance, he tends to be picked on by his friends, or punished by the narrative with karmic consequences.

Mercenaries

A group of four stick figures with unique designs and fighting styles, who work under victim's orders. 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 allows him to use animation tools. His non-canon production name is G.U.I..
  • "Hazard": A pictogram portrayed as nonchalant and comical. He has control over any pictogram sign, whose meaning or symbol he can utilize for various attacks. His non-canon production name is Sign.
  • "Primal": A tall, brown stick figure in the style of a cave drawing that acts on immediate instinct and raw power. He can manifest primitive weapons such as a spear or a bow and arrow. His non-canon production name is Lasco.
  • Ballista: A short pixelated stick figure that can shapeshift and is short-tempered. He's a crossover character from an animation made in 2003, The Door won't Open, Let's Break It(ドアが開かないぶち破ろう, Doa ga akanai buchi yaburou). His non-canon production name is EZToon, named after the animation program he was created in.

Others

  • ViraBots: A computer virus created by The Dark Lord that takes the form of red robotic spiders. Much like their creator, they are aggressive and hostile.
  • Mitsi: A white graphic figure in a grey dress with dark hair, who was victim's first friend, and the co-founder of Rocket Corp. She is kind-hearted, having helped victim overcome his trauma.
  • Corn Dog Guy: A brown stick figure, who is an opportunistic businessman that runs a corn dog stand in the Outernet. He is exclusive to the Actual Shorts series, but makes a small cameo later in Animator vs. Animation.

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesOriginally released
First releasedLast released
14June3,2006(2006-06-03)October2,2014(2014-10-02)
24August19,2018(2018-08-19)October24,2020(2020-10-24)
35April29,2023(2023-04-29)TBA

Season 1 (2006–14)

No. overallNo. in seriesTitleDirected byOriginal release date
11"Animator vs. Animation"Alan BeckerJune3,2006(2006-06-03)
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.
22"Animator vs. Animation 2"Alan BeckerMarch15,2007(2007-03-15)
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.
33"Animator vs. Animation 3"Alan BeckerOctober11,2010(2010-10-11)
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.
44"Animator vs. Animation 4"Alan BeckerOctober2,2014(2014-10-02)
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 BeckerJuly20,2024(2024-07-20)
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. overallNo. in seriesTitleDirected byOriginal release date
51"The Virus"Alan BeckerAugust19,2018(2018-08-19)
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 disintegrate 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.
62"The Chosen One's Return"Alan BeckerOctober28,2018(2018-10-28)
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 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.
73"The Flashback"Alan BeckerMarch12,2019(2019-03-12)
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.
84"The Showdown"Alan BeckerOctober24,2020(2020-10-24)
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 BeckerDecember5,2020(2020-12-05)
A compilation of episodes 5-8, with edits made to fix continuity errors and alter the soundtrack.

Season 3 (2023–)

No. overallNo. in seriesTitleDirected byOriginal release date
91"Wanted"Alan BeckerApril29,2023(2023-04-29)
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.
102"The Box"Alan BeckerNovember4,2023(2023-11-04)
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.
113"Victim"Alan BeckerDecember14,2024(2024-12-14)
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 made out of Flash 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. When victim is forcefully shifted into the Outernet, he loses his black color and turns gray in the process. 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 on October 21, 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.
124"Hacker"Alan Becker & SkimSeptember13,2025(2025-09-13)
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. During the fight, H4CK3R deletes and destroys all of Alan's personal files, memories, and art, which forces him to unplug his computer, leaving H4CK3R in a lifeless void. When H4CK3R is alone, The Dark Lord—revealed to have been resurrected by his ViraBots—approaches H4CK3R and offers an alliance, claiming he can "resurrect" Mitsi. Although hesitant at first, H4CK3R accepts the alliance.
135"The Machine"Alan Becker & SkimMay30,2026(2026-05-30)
Red, Green, and Blue rescue Yellow and disguise themselves as Rocket Corp workers after The Dark Lord, H4CK3R, and Agent return to Rocket Corp with NO ONE following the formation of their alliance. H4CK3R scans The Second Coming's memories and learns that his resurrection power is inactive, then constructs a dome using fragments of the room to harness The Second Coming's abilities and revive Mitsi and the civilians who died in 2011. Although Mitsi is physically restored, she lacks emotion, and H4CK3R's attempt to access her mind is blocked by a ViraBot barrier. Viewing her final memory, he discovers that The Dark Lord caused her death and confronts him, leading to a battle across Rocket Corp headquarters. While the Fighting Stick Figures attempt to free The Second Coming, the Mercenaries capture them. The Dark Lord defeats H4CK3R by cutting him in half with two Virablades, but before disintegrating, H4CK3R breaks Mitsi's barrier with an electrical shock, restoring her sentience. The Machine revives H4CK3R in an emotionless state, after which The Dark Lord seals the room and, alongside the revived H4CK3R, kills the Rocket Corp employees, including Agent, who are subsequently resurrected as robotic figures. When The Second Coming fails to escape due to H4CK3R's interference, Hazard throws a nuclear bomb at The Dark Lord while the Fighting Stick Figures, Mercenaries, NO ONE, and Mitsi take cover to protect themselves. The Dark Lord survives by shielding the Machine, the revived workers, and Agent with H4CK3R's powers, then uses the wreckage to construct a massive structure around the Machine and continue his plan, while Mitsi recovers The Second Coming's pencil from the ruins.

Development and history

Becker was born in Dublin, Ohio on May 18, 1989. He graduated from Scioto High School in 2007, and attended Columbus College of Art and Design, graduating in 2013.

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. His first official animation, titled Pink Army, was posted on Newgrounds in 2006. Becker created his YouTube channel on the 24th of July that same year. Approximately three months after starting the animation, Becker posted it to Newgrounds. The next day, the animation received second place for the entire day. 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.

AtomFilms offered to fund the making of a sequel, which was released on November 4, 2006. 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 twice, with Becker seeking offers from smaller companies. 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. On October 2, 2014, "Animator vs. Animation 4" was released onto YouTube. It reportedly gained almost five million views on YouTube within a month.

eBaum's World controversy

"Animator vs. Animation" was uploaded to eBaum's World without Becker's permission and proper credit. 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 false testimonial. Becker later retracted the statement and officially requested that eBaum's World remove the animation and testimonial from the website.

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. On March 26, 2025, a Kickstarter campaign was launched for Animation VERSUS, a fighting game. The project's goal of $130,000 was reached in 5 hours. The game is currently in development with the help of Muno, who created a Rivals of Aether mod featuring characters from the series.

Spin-offs

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. 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, and it remains Becker's most popular video.

Another spinoff, "Animation vs. YouTube", featured cameo appearances from numerous YouTubers, including PewDiePie and Markiplier. 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.

Other miscellaneous spin-offs include:

Reception

The series has gained a generally positive reception.

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryAnimationResultRef
2007Webby Awards"People's Voice" Award"Animator vs. Animation II"Won
2014Cleveland International Film Festival"Best of Ohio" Award"Animator vs. Animation IV"Nominated
2024Independent Media Initiativeunknown"Animation vs. Math"Won

See also

Notes

External links