Xiao Xiao

Before countless stick figure animations...there was only Xiao Xiao.

Xiao Xiao is a flash series created by Zhu Zhiqiang, a Chinese animator. The movies consist of stick figures fighting each other in choreographed scenes. There's not much else to it; people beating the crap out of each other is it's only highlight. And what a highlight it is.

The series has sadly been discontinued since 2002. Zhiqiang was last heard to be animating advertisements for Chinese companies, but very little is known whether he's still involved in it or not.

Tropes used in Xiao Xiao include:

• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: The first installment had one of the fighters make a clone of himself. He still lost.
• Crowning Moment of Awesome: All of Xiao Xiao 3. All of it. When it first came out, there was nothing else like it, not even the previous installments. It was face-melting.
• First-Person Shooter: The fourth installment.
• Hit Stop: Third episode contains the first one of them in the series.
• Genre Popularizer: Those countless fighting flash movies? You have Zhiqiang to thank for that.
• Good Colors, Evil Colors: The main villain is purple.
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience: In Xiao Xiao 3, he's black until he prepares to fight the hero, at which point he becomes purple.
• Made of Iron: At least some of the stick figures must be this.
• Shout-Out: It's very blatant that the series was inspired by kung-fu films and The Matrix.
• Stick Figure Animation: The Trope Codifier.
• Verb This