Welcome to Animation Anarchy
Read It. Watch It. Play It.
Cartoons raised me. Not completely, but more than I’d like to admit.
Saturday mornings taught me timing. Disney taught me how to cry on cue. Looney Tunes taught me that gravity only works once you notice it. Years later I got a doctorate in how people learn. It turns out cartoons were running the most effective school in the world the whole time, and nobody handed out diplomas.
That’s what this place is about.
What Animation Anarchy Is
We take the animated stories you love apart, piece by piece, to see how they work. Then sometimes we put them back together all wrong, on purpose, to see what breaks.
You’ll find:
What-If Rewrites. What if The Iron Giant were a mecha war epic? What if WALL-E were a 1930s rubber-hose cartoon? Every wild rewrite comes with the real lesson: what the original got right, and what our version wrecks.
Animation’s Hidden History. Real strikes, real feuds, real mobsters (yes, really) behind the studios that made your childhood.
The Psychology of Animated Characters. Why villains work, why sidekicks steal the show, and why you still think about a certain lion. This part comes from someone who actually studied it.
The Art College Crash Course. Thirty lessons in timing, weight, staging and appeal. It’s free, and there’s no tuition debt.
The A to Z of Animation Studios. Twenty-six studios, from Aardman to Zagtoon, and the stories behind them.
Read It. Watch It. Play It.
Every story here is made to be enjoyed three ways:
READ the full article, right here.
WATCH the animated episode, hosted by me, Jesse the Pencil. Yes, I’m a pencil. It’s a long story. Episodes drop on YouTube first.
PLAY a pixel-art version of the story. That part is coming soon.
Short on time? Watch it. Not in the mood for watching? Play it. The story is the same, and you pick how you take it in.
Real, Rumor, or Anarchy?
Animation history is full of legends, so we label everything:
REAL: it happened, and you can look it up.
RUMOR: people say it, but the evidence is thin.
ANARCHY: I made it up because it’s funny.
You’ll always know which is which. Questioning the legend is half the fun, and finding the true story is the other half. It’s usually weirder.
The House Rules
Everything here is safe to read with your kids, and sharp enough that you’ll want to. We roast the movies, never the people who love them. And we’ll always tell you the truth, even when the truth is “Disney’s hippos in tutus were a lot.”
Your Turn
Tell me I’m wrong in the comments. Pitch a movie for us to rewrite. Challenge me to a cartoon trivia duel. I’ll probably lose. Stories are food, so pull up a chair.
Welcome to Animation Anarchy.
Play It
Free, no ads, no sign-up. More games at the Mr. Bray Labs Arcade.
