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Alan Becker | |
|---|---|
| Born | Alan Becker Dublin, Ohio, U.S. |
| Education | Columbus College of Art and Design |
| Occupations | |
| Children | 1 |
| YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Genres | |
| Subscribers | 31.7 million |
| Views | 8.74 billion |
| Last updated: October 15, 2025 | |
Alan Becker is an American online animator, YouTuber and artist best known for creating the Animator vs. Animation web series and the spin-off Animation vs. franchise, in particular the web series Animation vs. Minecraft Shorts.
Early life and education
[edit]Becker was born in Dublin, Ohio. He graduated from Scioto High School in 2007, and attended Columbus College of Art and Design,[1] graduating in 2013.[2]
When he was growing up, Becker experimented with pixel art on his family's computer in 2001.[3] Two of Becker's favorite animated short films were the 1953 Looney Tunes short Duck Amuck and the 1959 adaptation of Harold and the Purple Crayon, both of which contained animated characters using their surroundings to draw things out, which would become major inspirations for his later works.[3] Becker received his first laptop in 2005, an Acer TravelMate, which he used to begin animating using Macromedia Flash (currently known as Adobe Animate).[citation needed] 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.[4]
Career
[edit]On June 3, 2006, at the age of 17, Becker posted the animation Animator vs. Animation on Newgrounds, where it quickly went viral and led to it being re-uploaded on various media websites.[2] Shortly after, an unnamed company offered him $75 for "exclusive rights" to "Animator vs Animation", but he decided against it, heeding the advice of Steven Lerner, owner of Albino Blacksheep.[3] Later, he discovered that his animation had been uploaded to the website eBaum's World without permission. After Steven Lerner used this as evidence in a legal battle against eBaum's World, Becker accepted a $250 payment for use of the animation. However, following a change of heart, he claimed to have returned the money and had the animation removed.[3] On May 14, 2007, Alan Becker posted Animator vs. Animation on YouTube.[5]
In June 2007, Atom Films paid Becker more than $10,000 to be able to post the animation on Atom Films’ website.[6] Atom Films persuaded and funded Becker to create a sequel after the success of his first animation, resulting in the creation of Animator vs. Animation 2.[citation needed] According to the Wall Street Journal, Alan Becker’s Animation vs. Animator 2 has won a Webby Award.[6] In 2007, then 14-year-old Charles Yeh offered to create an online game based on the animation, and Becker agreed to collaborate with him.[7]
Becker continued releasing animations, animation tutorials, and further spin-offs of the Animator vs. Animation series.[2] Becker announced a Kickstarter for a card game based on his animations, which was released in May 2018.[8][9]
On June 24, 2023, Becker released an animation called “Animation vs. Math”. As of November 5, 2025, the animation has over 95 million views.[10] Becker has since released several other STEM-related animations including "Animation vs. Physics", "Animation vs. Geometry" and "Animation vs. Coding".[4] Oxford University mathematician Tom Crawford has created an analysis video for both "Animation vs. Math" and "Animation vs. Geometry".[11][12]
On March 26, 2025, Becker announced another Kickstarter for an upcoming fighting game titled "Animation VERSUS", with a release date set for June 2028.[13][14]
Awards
[edit]In 2007, Animator vs. Animation 2 won a "People's Choice" Webby Award.[2][15][16]
In 2024, Becker received the IMI Award and $50,000 from the Independent Media Initiative (IMI) for his work on "Animation vs. Math".[17]
Filmography
[edit]| Year | Video | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Pink Army | Alan Becker's first published animation to Newgrounds. |
| 2006 | Animator vs. Animation Season 1 (ep. 1–4) | The Origin story of Victim, The Chosen One, The Dark Lord and the Stick Gang consisting of Red, Yellow, Green, Blue and The Second Coming. |
| Animator vs. Animation | The Origin story of Victim. | |
| Animator vs. Animation 2 | Won a "People's Choice" Webby Award and The Origin story of The Chosen One. | |
| 2010 | Animator vs. Animation 3 | The Origin story of The Dark Lord. |
| 2014 | Animator vs. Animation 4 | The Origin story of the Stick Gang. |
| 2015 | Animation vs. Minecraft (original) | The Stick Gang discovers Minecraft and fights Herborine who processes Red. |
| 2017 | Animation vs. YouTube | The Stick Gang discovers and fights YouTube. |
| Animation vs. Minecraft Shorts Season 1 (ep. 1–14) | The first Season Animation vs. Minecraft Shorts. | |
| 2018 | Animator vs. Animation Season 2 (ep. 5–8) | Started out as a miniseries called Animator vs. Animation Shorts. It was compiled into one entry in 2020 before being retroactively renamed to Season 2 in 2023. |
| The Virus - Animator vs. Animation 5 | The Stick Gang fights One of The Dark Lord's very first virus bot. | |
| The Chosen One's Return - Animator vs. Animation 6 | The Chosen One Return's and destroys the virus bot. | |
| Animation vs. League of Legends | The Stick Gang discovers and fights League of Legends. | |
| 2019 | The Flashback - Animator vs. Animation 7 | How The Chosen One and The Dark Lord became enemies and The Origin story of the virus bots. |
| Animation vs. Pokémon | The Stick Gang discovers and fights Pokémon. | |
| Blue's New Superpower | A fundraiser for the organization Team Trees. Where The Stick Gang Plants a lot of Trees. | |
| Animation vs. Super Mario Bros | The Stick Gang discovers and fights Super Mario Bros. | |
| 2020 | Animation vs. Minecraft Shorts Season 2 (ep. 15–19) | The second Season Animation vs. Minecraft Shorts. |
| Animation vs. Minecraft Shorts Season 3 (ep. 20–30) | The third Season Animation vs. Minecraft Shorts. | |
| The Showdown - Animator vs. Animation 8 | Something inside of The Second Coming awakens and destroys The Dark Lord alongside with his minions, the virus bots. | |
| 2021 | Animation vs. Arcade Games | The Stick Gang discovers, plays and fights Arcade Games. |
| Animation vs. Trash | A fundraiser for the organization Team Seas. Where The Stick Gang cleans up the oceans. | |
| 2022 | Actual Shorts | The only animations on Alan's channel that are posted as YouTube Shorts, as opposed to full-length videos. |
| 2023 | Animator vs. Animation Season 3 | Similarly to Season 2, it was originally titled "Animator vs. Animation VI" (not to be confused with The Chosen One's Return) before being renamed to Season 3. |
| Animation vs. Minecraft Shorts Season 4 (ep. 31–36) | The fourth Season Animation vs. Minecraft Shorts. | |
| Wanted - Animation vs. Animation 9 | Victim's mercenaries capture The chosen one and The second coming. | |
| Animation vs. Math | The start of Alan's Animation vs. Education series. Where The second coming learns Math. | |
| Animation vs. Physics | The Second Coming learns Physics. | |
| The Box - Animator vs. Animation 10 | Victim torture's The chosen one. | |
| 2024 | Animation vs. Geometry | The Second Coming learns Geometry. |
| Influencer Arc | Involved Vlog-like videos created in-universe by Green and uploaded to a separate YouTube channel. | |
| Victim - Animator vs. Animation 11 | How Victim escapes the animator's laptop back in 2007. | |
| 2025 | Animation vs. Coding | Yellow learns Computer programming. |
| Animation vs. Addiction | Blue fight's a Addiction and The Second Coming helps by teaching him to meditate. | |
| App Staff | The Stick Gang mess around with the block Staff and use apps instead. | |
| Speedrun Competition | The Stick Gang Speed runs Minecraft. | |
| Mercenary Tryouts | The Origins of Victim's mercenaries. | |
| Beta - Animation vs. Minecraft Shorts Ep 0 | The Chosen One and The Dark Lord discovers Minecraft long before the creation of the Stick Gang. | |
| Animation vs. Water | A fundraiser for the organization Team Water. Where The Stick Gang gives everyone drinking water. | |
| Hacker - Animator vs. Animation 12 | Victim change his name H4CK3R, terrorise the animator's Personal computer and teams up with The Dark Lord to reive his lover, Mitsi. | |
| Hardcore Manhunt - Animation vs. Minecraft Shorts Ep 37 | The Stick Gang's Minecraft World becomes a Hardcore one. |
References
[edit]- ^ animation_magazine (October 19, 2010). "Animated People: Alan Becker". Retrieved December 14, 2024.
- ^ a b c d Noblit, Jennifer. "Becker shooting for 4th 'Animator vs. Animation' installment". Dublin Villager.
- ^ a b c d Becker, Alan (June 3, 2016). "The Story of Animator vs. Animation – 10th Anniversary".
- ^ a b "Alan Becker". YouTube. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
- ^ Alan Becker (May 14, 2007). Animator vs. Animation (original). Retrieved March 27, 2025 – via YouTube.
- ^ a b Schechner, Sam (June 22, 2007). "The Joy of Sticks". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
- ^ "Animator vs. Animation Game". ALAN BECKER. November 20, 2018. Archived from the original on February 27, 2019. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ^ "Animator vs Animation, The Official Card Game". Kickstarter. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
- ^ "Animator vs Animation". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
- ^ Alan Becker (June 24, 2023). Animation vs. Math. Retrieved March 27, 2025 – via YouTube.
- ^ Lang, Jamie (August 7, 2023). "The Math Checks Out In Alan Becker's Viral Short 'Animation Vs. Math'". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
- ^ tomrocksmaths (July 5, 2024). "Oxford University Mathematician REACTS to "Animation vs. Geometry"". TOM ROCKS MATHS. Retrieved December 27, 2024.
- ^ Alan Becker (March 26, 2025). Animation VERSUS! - Reveal Trailer - Kickstarter. Retrieved March 27, 2025 – via YouTube.
- ^ Cichacki, Shaun (March 26, 2025). "'Animation Versus' Is the Creation of Alan Becker, the Creative Genius Behind 'Animator vs Animation', and It Blew Past Its Kickstarter Goal". VICE. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
- ^ Noblit, Jenniferddd. "Becker shooting for 4th 'Animator vs. Animation' installment". Dublin Villager.
- ^ "First-Ever Webby Film & Video Awards Unveil Nominees for "Oscars of the Internet" | The Webby Awards". www.webbyawards.com. Retrieved August 14, 2024.
- ^ "Alan Becker". IMI. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
External links
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