Animator vs. Animation

thumb|The "victim" brands a bow-and-arrow.
Animator vs. Animation is a popular Adobe Flash animation on the Newgrounds Flash Portal. It was submitted by Alan Becker on 3 June 2006 and features a flash animator battling stick figures that he created in Flash. The flash has received over 1 million views since then. It is often praised for its unique style.
==Synopsis==
The movie starts with a close-up on an animator drawing a stick figure. He names the movie clip "victim", selects the clip with a box, and starts spinning the box around. The stick runs out when a weight smashes the bottom of the upturned box, and proceeds to grab the mouse, which carries him to the left end of the flash applet. The stick then throws icons at the mouse. The mouse turns into a lasso, grabs the stick, and flings it around, until the stick breaks free and builds a bow-and-arrow. At this time, the animator is drawing a gun, which then attempts to shoot the stick, but to no avail. The stick squirts the ink drop at the gun, blowing it up. The gun's explosion splits open the frame control window and begins to drop frame icons, which the mouse reflects at the stick. It blocks all the frames with a stretched-out eraser button, then draws a slide to the other side of the applet. As the stick runs to the other side, the animator draws a cannon to shoot the frames at the stick, which he also deflects.
The animator seems to be losing, as on the other side, the stick has pulled out the library and begun to make copies of himself. His last resort is deleting the stick's listing in the open library, which it scratches out in the options box that has been brought up. The stick's clones take motion tween icons and use them as hammers against the mouse. The fight is desperately one-sided at this point, as the mouse is bashed all over the place, until one stick grabs the lasso that was left over and ropes the mouse. The animator finds the X button and strains to reach it. This pauses the action and brings up the standard "unsaved new file" box. The animator clicks no, which ends the movie.
160px|thumb|The battle does physical damage to the Flash applet, as seen in this screenshot.
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==eBaum's World controversy==
Soon after Animator vs. Animation had been submitted to Newgrounds, Eric Bauman of the notorious eBaum's World website reportedly offered Alan $1250 to host the flash animation. He claimed he had been initially offered $250 to gain rights to the animation and another $1000 when he won a contest on the website, which he is convinced was rigged. Alan accepted the $250, but claimed he sent it back because he was forced to sign a contract over AIM, without his parent's permission. He never accepted the $1000. Alan later gave a letter of apology to Albino Blacksheep.
"Hello, I am the author of Animator vs. Animation... I feel so ashamed, and the world is ashamed of me. I fell into eBaum's trap. I gave them fuel to fight back. With their constant persuasion and offers for money, they made me write a quote saying that everything was fine. Of course everything was fine for me, because I had the money they had given me. What can you expect, I was dead poor before, I have no experience with business. The quote says they contacted me before they posted my animation on their website, however I did not give them permission to put it on."
The ordeal has been parodied many times in BBS posts or by flash artists, for example SunChipsClock's Gardening With SunChips. Most parodies accuse Alan of "selling out" which he denies; he needed to accept the money because his family is poor.
==Reception and Legacy==
This original movie was well received on Newgrounds and elsewhere. It spawned very popular sequels, plus a number of parodies/copies.
==Sequels==
A sequel was made to the flash, Animator vs. Animation II, and was uploaded to AtomFilms on November 11, 2006. The movie features more intense action than the first, and sees the animator and stick figure fighting outside the flash applet. The movie was made available on Newgrounds on the 15 of March 2007.
In October 2010, Animator Vs Animation 3 was released on atom.com. It's also the only movie where the stick figure wins, and seems to end the series in the process.
==External links==
*Portal entry for Animator vs. Animation
**Animator vs. Animation II on AtomFilms
*noogai's original commentary on the controversy
*An updated thread by noogai on the controversy
Category:Flash cartoons