Animash

### Common themes

extreme manipulation of footage, fabricated storylines, crossovers, romance, Pop Music

### Related terms

Non/Disney

An **Animash** (derived from **animation**, **animal**, and **mashup**) is a type of fanvid which solely uses animated content, and focuses primarily on non-anthropomorphic or lightly anthropomorphic animal characters, typically from 2D animated films. Animashes often utilize two or more disparate sources of imagery. A person who creates Animashes is known as an **Animasher**.

Many of the most popular sources of footage are Disney films; however, there are also a variety of popular sources from other companies.

There has been some debate as to whether a video using only one source qualifies as an Animash, as well as whether videos which contain some live-action and/or video game footage do. The general consensus is that videos with one source do, ones with live-action footage do not, and ones with game footage are in a grey area. Using photographs of real-world locations and objects as backgrounds and props is typically allowed.

## Stylistic themes

Animashes are often effect-heavy creations, and PMVs, Candy editing, and Multi-Editor Projects are all quite common. Fanart is rarely incorporated. Many Animashes are story-heavy, and many take place in some form of alternate universe; masking and careful selection of clips are frequently used to fabricate new plotlines and create crossovers.

In Animashes which are not specifically based on canon events, the characters included in the edited video are often selected via criteria such as age, appearance, and expressiveness. Characters may be placed into entirely new situations, and a character's personality, relationships, and abilities often vary wildly even among one editors' videos. This practice has been likened to treating the characters as if they are actors.

Characters may have their appearances slightly modified for various reasons - for instance, wings may be added in order to portray a character as an angel. Characters who look similar to one another may be portrayed as being the same individual (such as using Tramp's son Scamp to portray Tramp's own younger years); conversely, clips of one character may be used to create multiple similar-looking characters.

Many Animash videos involve romance in some way; due to this, Animashes and Non/Disney videos are sometimes described as "those weird videos about obscure Disney pairings". Vent edits are also common.

## Common sources

There has been some debate as to which sources are acceptable to use for Animash videos. Opinions vary on whether all animation is acceptable, or if only certain works may be used (such as movies, or works within a particular range of art styles). Those who believe only certain animated works are valid Animash sources may or may not agree on which works those are, but often prefer to stick to ones within a particular range of art styles/themes, in the hopes that any differences between art styles will be small enough to not be particularly jarring when these sources are used together.

The following are the most commonly agreed-upon sources for Animash footage:

* 101 Dalmatians and its sequel
* All Dogs Go To Heaven and its sequels
* The Aristocats
* Balto and its sequels
* Bambi and its sequel
* Brother Bear and its sequel
* Felidae
* The Fox and the Hound and its sequel
* Lady and the Tramp and its sequel
* The Lion King (and its sequels)
* Oliver and Company
* Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

Less common, but still somewhat notable sources include:

* The Land Before Time and its sequels
* The Last Unicorn
* Gay Purr-ee
* The Rescuers and its sequel
* The Great Mouse Detective
* Alpha and Omega
* Rio and its sequel
* Happy Feet and its sequel
* One Stormy Night
* Wolf Children
* Ginga Nagareboshi Gin/Ginga Densetsu Weed
* Leafie, a Hen Into the Wild
* The Lion Guard
* Sonic X (Cosmo the Seedrian Only)
* The Black Stallion and its sequel
* Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors (Flora Only)

## Community

Many members of the Animash community are quite young, but people of all ages are welcome.

Animashers sometimes use characters as **personas** - characters which are heavily associated with the editors themselves, and may or may not represent them in their videos. They may also use their personas as their profile pictures, or even include their persona's name as part of their username. Some personas are canon characters who the animasher happens to be fond of. Others are created by the animasher via selecting a canon character and altering their appearance in some way, such as changing their coloration and/or adding details such as hair tufts and tattoos. Personas may even be constructed using the body parts of several different characters, such as using the body of Pongo (101 Dalmatians), but replacing his tail with that of Jenna (Balto) and his ears with Tramp's (Lady and the Tramp); such constructed (or "Frankensteined") characters are often depicted using still images rather than being fully animated, to avoid having to extensively modify numerous frames of animation.

To make the editing process much easier, Animashers often release compilations of pre-masked footage, placed onto green-screens, as masking packs, or release individual masked clips. These may be found on their channels alongside their other videos, or be posted somewhere else. They may or may not ask editors who use their masked footage to give them credit for their efforts, as the masking process can be quite tedious.

## Demographics

Many Animash creators and viewers alike are children, but individuals of all ages are present. Some young Animashers (and a few older ones) also make Pony Music Videos, videos made using Littlest Pet Shop figures or other toys, and/or Animal Jam Music Videos; the former two are especially popular, to the point that rules for collaborative projects within the Animash community often specifically include stipulations that participants not include toys or My Little Pony footage, even when one or both of those are already disallowed by other rules. Many of the older editors hold some level of nostalgia for the sources used, or are generally fond of animation as a medium. Some Animashers are also animators, amateur or otherwise. There is also some overlap with the furry fandom.

Due to the infinite number of things which significantly elaborate editing can engineer, as well as the mild popularity of the movie Felidae (which contains graphic violence, and a sex scene) as a source, Animashes can include a wide variety of what is generally considered mature content. Videos often include warnings about such content when applicable, but if it is mild, the creator may forget to do so. Unmarked mature content is more common in older videos.

## History

The history of Animashing is unclear, but such videos have been made since at least 2007, and became somewhat popular during the early 2010s; this popularity has since waned somewhat, although many Animashers remain. As time went on, the edits became more and more elaborate, with raw editing becoming less and less popular over time as Animashers gained the capacity to create other types of videos due to increased experience and the rise of more versatile editing tools.

## Further reading

Animash has its own wiki, which can be found here.

## References

1. ↑ https://fanlore.org/wiki/Animash
2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLEoTNwLADc
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mHfJQHL5\_k