Watch the full collab: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jnz5Oys60M

Ah yes, this opening bit will never get old.

As is usually the case, choosing winners was nearly impossible. There was something like 250 entries or so, and narrowing them down to fit in a not-too-lengthy collab video was very difficult. As a result, the quality threshold was raised as the entries poured in, and we simply could not include all of the entries that we wanted. So please do not feel sad or offended if your entry did not get in. We will take things like this into consideration in future collabs.

The Winners

After much deliberation, here are the final winners! An extra slot was added to “best animated” and “most entertaining” because of the sheer amount of amazing entries. A lot of thought was put into who should win what category, with some entries easily able to win in multiple categories. It was structured in a way to allow for the most fairness and allow a wide range of animation/creativity styles to win.

All winners receive $50 and a slot on the Stick Nodes splash screen if they do not already have one. I will be reaching out soon, but feel free to DM me on Twitter X first with your name (if it’s not obvious) and payment method. Preferably Paypal, Steam gift, or a gift card if in the USA.

Best Animated

• Vlizzurd, essentially an extremely well-animated music video
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxTLXoBXvbc
• Richla, among the “fight” entries, this one was the most fun to watch because of the visuals
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_xp_5r3dYo
• SultanTheDerp, a very fun (and funny) dance, well choreographed and smoothly animated
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWpLh1K4iZc

Most Entertaining

• Nonex Anims, if the “most replayed’ spot on this collab video is shown on Youtube, I suspect it will be this entry
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd9gNee1TKs
• noobish, another fun music video, looking like an actual professional band
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J-oHaeVc2Y
• RocketPC & VulcAnimateHD, a ridiculous Rubik’s Cube take on a “fight” entry, entertaining to watch and well-animated with some 3D action
  https://www.youtube.com/@vulcanimatehd7506

Best Visuals

• Chillin With Chill, a very fun entry with a take on different dimensions, nailed it with the custom Minecraft/Madness judges and stage
  https://www.youtube.com/@ChillTheManStick

Most Creative

• Jackfly, easily could have won any category, not much else to say
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTpRw5jNP5k

Honorable Mentions

• Mei Yamazuki, a charming sample entry, created in about 3.7 minutes after the collab was thought up
  https://www.youtube.com/@meiyamazuki99
• Grinee, this one took me by surprise at first watch, and is hilarious, everyone love children-on-children violence
  https://www.youtube.com/@grinee_5866
• Iris, interesting character, fight synced well to the music
  https://www.youtube.com/@KartoffelSticknodesAnimation
• Mattsteady, a weird acid trip, a late entry but visually impressive
  https://www.youtube.com/@mattsteadystudio4006
• Arcane Knight, a good fight, cool characters, and nice tie-in to the lore
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzvv4O1mf0c
• AnimAsians, really unique perspective trick
  https://www.youtube.com/@AnimAsians/
• Kimmsey, another well-animated music video entry
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOojTZnaZco
• Slingmin anim, a more emotion-focused take with nice visuals
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsIydCU3WyE
• And many more, including well-animated dinosaurs (Big Boi), funny stage-enters (ScorpionGT), and hypothetical 3D entries that never manifested (arcionek)

Credits

Shouts out to SquiSN for suffering through the pain that was receiving, organizing, and eventually compiling all entries into the final product. Also shout out to Inactive Studios, led by Darkboy. This team were the lead cutscene and asset creators. They did what they had to with limited time to put out an above-and-beyond job and resulted in a fun and cinematic collab video.

• Intro, Ending & Voting Cutscenes: Darkboy Animation
  https://youtube.com/@darkboyanimation
• Sample Entry & Cutscene Assets: Mei Yamazuki
  https://youtube.com/@meiyamazuki9
• Assets & Cutscenes: Kaido Mation
  https://youtube.com/@kaidomation
• Voice Acting: Toxic911 Animations
  https://youtube.com/@toxic911animations
• Editing, Management, Directing, & Suffering: SquiSN
  https://youtube.com/@squisn

Happy 9th Birthday Stick Nodes!

If you stuck around to the post-credits scene, you’ll have seen some behind the scenes birthday party action celebrating the ninth anniversary of Stick Nodes’ release. Things got extremely crazy, as you saw in the clip. The release of this collab and its premise (how the Default became the Default) was timed purposely, of course. So happy birthday Stick Nodes! Another year down, more features added – wonder what the 10th anniversary will bring?

Tune in again in about a month when something fun should start for Halloween. It won’t be a collab but something smaller and more accessible to the community as a whole!