Alan Becker Animation - Tumblr Posts

Chosen vs. Second body posture

I’m no behavioural psychologist or anything, but I do like appreciating the little details that Alan Becker put into the characterization of each stick figure.

These details lead to pretty consistent assumption of each stick’s personalities in ava fandom.

For instance, Chosen is often portrayed as silent, reserved and serious. He doesn’t do smiles, have hard time understanding jokes (or lacking social skills) and is very quick to respond to danger.

Second, on the other hand, is quite innocent (can one go as far as to say he’s naïve?), kind and open-minded. He makes friends easily, knows how to have fun, prefers communication over fights and loves warm hugs. Plus he is very creative in arts and music, which basically makes him very emotionally intelligent.

How do we get these impressions from their posture?

Well there are plenty of differences, so this post is just going to go for the obvious.

Chosen often stands with his legs apart and shoulders back. When taking this posture, he takes a firm stance on the ground and is hard to shake. This posture is primarily used to assert dominance and show power. People who frequently adopt this, like soldiers, tend to be stern and less agreeable.

Second likes standing with one leg slightly lifted from the ground. This stance is less stable, indicating that his opinion can be more easily swayed. People adopt this stance when they are tentative and not sure of themselves, like children in the presence of parents.

How they stand casually:

How they prepare for a fight:

How they land a fall:

How they fall: (notice even when falling Chosen chose to take a more recoverable position, whereas Second fell sprawling on the ground, showing more visible flusters even though he is also a somewhat trained fighter.)

How they act surprised (when others are present):

Some more differences: Chosen legs far apart and shoulders back and Second less assertive in general even during fights.

But, here are a couple of not-so-usual moments for both:

And my favourite picture of them meeting for the first time just shows their differences beautifully:

Some would say using this picture didn’t do Second justice because the whole thing surprised him more than Chosen.

However, if their position were to swap, we could safely assume that Second would not take such an aggressive stance and ignore their bow completely and Chosen would not act as visibly surprised, could we not?

Anyways, just want to share my thoughts on this.