About

That_One_Animator or Animator_Student_Gang is an amateur animator known for his high quality The Legend of Zelda animations featuring Princess Zelda as she appears in the Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom video games. That_One_Animator began posting content on TikTok in January 2024 and gained a significant following over the next year-plus, gaining notable attention between July and August 2025 as they started documenting their progress developing Zelda animations. In August 2025, some viewers began pushing That_One_Animator to "turn to the dark side" and start creating lewd, adult animations due to the quality of their work, with some claiming That_One_Animator could be the next Derpixon. In mid-August 2025, That_One_Animator announced that he would not make such animations. Some believe that That_One_Animator is the alt account of animator VentiFree, who made similar animations and disappeared from social media shortly before That_One_Animator appeared. This theory is unconfirmed.

History

On January 14th, 2024, @animator_student_gang, also known as That One Animator, posted his first video on TikTok,^[1] garnering roughly 3,300 views in a year and a half. The video's caption reads, "Im posting random stuff of what its like go to an art school in NY. Also raised in MS my whole life so its kind of weird living here. Starting now to see if i can get into pixar. Yay."

Daily Animation Progress Videos

On July 3rd, 2025, That One Animator posted the first in his series of videos documenting the progress of his animations to TikTok,^[2] garnering over 1.3 million views in a month.

On July 4th, he posted video two to TikTok,^[3] featuring an animation of Zelda from The Legend of Zelda, garnering over 11 million views in a month. The video inspired numerous comments joking and suggesting that That One Animator would eventually begin creating lewd animations.

That One Animator continued the series daily, each Zelda animation gaining millions of likes and many comments about them switching to the "dark side" by evolving to do adult animations. The comment "Just remember Derpixon started innocent" was continually posted under the videos.

One of the most viral examples was posted to TikTok^[4] on August 7th, showing Zelda making several facial animations, garnering over 23.5 million views in three weeks.

On August 11th, 2025, TikToker^[5] @medialibrarian posted an edit showcasing the types of comments and reactions That One Animator received on their Zelda animations, garnering over 2 million views in two weeks.

On August 16th, That One Animator posted an animation to TikTok^[6] that acts as an announcement that he will not be making lewd content. In the animation, Link saves Zelda from Ganon and a horde of green, featureless people meant to represent the viewers, urging him to make lewd animations, with Link visibly shown struggling against promises of money. The video gained over 21 million views in under two weeks.

That One Animator continued the series in the following weeks, which remained popular. For example, on August 24th, 2025, he posted "Day 38" to TikTok,^[7] garnering over 1.3 million views in five days.

Online Presence

Dark Side vs. Light Side / Derpixon Memes

Between July and August 2025, That One Animator inspired numerous memes online as they were pushed to make lewd animations, many of which reference adult animator Derpixon.

For example, on August 15th, YouTuber^[10] TheAnimeMen posted a skit about That_One_Animator, garnering over 8.7 million views in two weeks.

On August 16th, 2025, TikToker^[8] @colincartoons posted an animation about every animator's struggle to choose between SFW and NSFW work, writing in the description, "That_One_Animator the day of reckoning is upon us," garnering over 1.3 million views in two weeks.

On August 17th, YouTubers^[11] TheAnimeMen posted a follow-up to their skit about That_One_Animator's decision to choose the light side, garnering over 2.7 million views in roughly two weeks.

That One Animator Is VentiFree Theory

On August 18th, 2025, TikToker^[9] @jae_riddle posted a video theorizing that That One Animator is the alt account for now-deleted animator @VentiFree, garnering over 567,000 views in 11 days. In the video, he shows that VentiFree opened their account with a video explaining that they were going to "do what That One Animator wouldn't," receiving support from Derpixon. The theory is unconfirmed and entirely speculative.

Search Interest

External References