Webupon

Stick of Death

Stickmen have been popular with web animators since the year dot.  It could be something to do with the fact that they are easy to draw and to animate but others prefer to think it is because stick men have their own unique ‘everyman’ qualities that the bulk of humanity can relate to, whatever their age, gender or nationality.  So, kind of a Charlie Chaplin for the Internet generation in a way.  Here, the stickman has a got at grand theft auto with startling results for his own personal health and safety. 

A Nice Day to Die

The stickman has always fought.  They fight, they fight, they fight…. Enough!  In terms of violence, they may be from the Itchy and Scratchy school of Internet animation, but these stickmen live for no other reason than to fight to the death.  Although you may not be keen on violence on the TV, this is on the Internet so it doesn’t really count.  Relentless, bloodthirsty and savage stuff.  Bloody marvelous.  The stick lines are not quite as fluid as in future outings, but this has some wonderful moments.

A Nice Day to Die 2

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.  When something is popular, a sequel is a must.  Unlike the movies, though, where sequels are never better than the first outing (OK, Godfather and Star Trek aside) with the stickman it just keeps on getting better.  Upping the anti is the theme here, with the desire to show that what was done in the first installment can be equaled and bettered in the second.  And oh boy, this one delivers.  Long before the stickman turned on his creator, he was forced to fight amongst himself.  As it were.  In a variety of scenarios, they fight, they fight – no, I am going to stop right now.

Alpha Soldiers Part One

They talk!  Just like the movies went from the silent era to that of the talkies, so it has to happen with the stickman.  This guy has a voice, a name and even a face.  What’s more, this short even has something resembling a plot and the main character even has a back story.  The year is 2029 two years after an apocalyptic event (which created zombie stickmen – yay!) and the remnants of humanity live deep underground.  One of them, as soldier is given a choice by his Governor.  If you want to see what he chooses you will have to watch…

Alpha Soldiers Part Two

If you were disappointed with Part One because of its lack of bloodthirsty action, you will forgive it when you see its sequel.  Back on the surface a stickgirl soldier (yes, you read it right, she even has female ‘bits’) helps a wounded comrade in to a church.  They are quickly surrounded by the zombie stickmen.  Meanwhile, down in the bunker a new Alpha Soldier is dispatched with a human soldier to blow up a plant where the mutants have been storing bodies.  A misguided attempt to humanize the stickman?  You decide!

Battlefield

For many, Alpha Soldiers could be seen as too much of a departure from the desired mindlessness of stickman culture.  So, be warned.  This stickman flash animation contains absolutely no plot but exceedingly large amounts of excessive and mindless violence.  Not one stickman but a whole host goes on a murderous rampage which leaves the place spattered and splattered with blood and gore.  This is quite possibly the bloodiest stickman outing to date.  No voices, no faces, and absolutely no plot whatsoever.  Almost perfect.

Killing Arena

Machine guns, bazookas and very large spikes (to name just a few of the implements of death and destruction featured here) come together to form an almost complete scenario of obliteration, annihilation, devastation and demolition.  You may, if you have an untrained eye, be thinking that all these stickmen movies are the same.  That is like telling a gangster movie aficionado that Goodfellas and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels are virtually identical.  Stickman sacrilege indeed!

Warzone

Do you like your violence random and mindless?  Well, if you do, this is for you.  The stickmen this time mobilize with armored weaponry, including tanks and helicopters.  Modern warfare can be brutal and our brace stickmen are not spared when it comes to a variety of grisly, gross and downright gruesome deaths.  Somewhat shorter than your average stickman movie, this does not hold back.  There is a deleted scene at the end which is also well worth watching.

Animator Vs Animation

This is one of the most popular stickman animations on the internet and it was something of a departure.  Instead of stickmen beating the brown stuff out of each other, here the stickman is in open revolt against his creator.  Will he escape the confines of his window bound environment?  In order to do this he has to self-replicate and, as rioters throughout the world will testify, one’s own environment must sometimes be destroyed in the process.

Animator Vs Animation II

He’s back and this time it’s personal.  When the animator creates a new stickman he makes a cardinal mistake.  Do not call it ‘The Chosen One’.  When this happens the stickman very quickly escapes the confines of the graphics application and reaches the Windows desktop.  Can nothing – not even Mozilla Firefox, stop him?

All screenshots by author

I would like to dedicate this article to my friend and fellow online author,  thestickman