diff --git a/animation/simple_animations.py b/animation/simple_animations.py
index 77af467e..47e16a0f 100644
--- a/animation/simple_animations.py
+++ b/animation/simple_animations.py
@@ -491,16 +491,14 @@ class AnimationGroup(Animation):
         "rate_func" : None
     }
     def __init__(self, *sub_anims, **kwargs):
-        digest_config(self, kwargs, locals())
         sub_anims = filter (lambda x : not(x.empty), sub_anims)
+        digest_config(self, locals())
+        self.update_config(**kwargs) # Handles propagation to self.sub_anims
+
         if len(sub_anims) == 0:
             self.empty = True
             self.run_time = 0
         else:
-            for anim in sub_anims:
-                # If AnimationGroup is called with any configuration,
-                # it is propagated to the sub_animations
-                anim.update_config(**kwargs)
             self.run_time = max([a.run_time for a in sub_anims])
         everything = Mobject(*[a.mobject for a in sub_anims])
         Animation.__init__(self, everything, **kwargs)
@@ -513,6 +511,14 @@ class AnimationGroup(Animation):
         for anim in self.sub_anims:
             anim.clean_up(*args, **kwargs)
 
+    def update_config(self, **kwargs):
+        Animation.update_config(self, **kwargs)
+        
+        # If AnimationGroup is called with any configuration,
+        # it is propagated to the sub_animations
+        for anim in self.sub_anims:
+            anim.update_config(**kwargs)
+
 class EmptyAnimation(Animation):
     CONFIG = {
         "run_time" : 0,