6 ms·
We spoke to the man making viral Lego-style AI videos for Iran
- dtagames 6mo agoThey didn't include the latest and best one, a terrific rap video that got the producer banned from YouTube. A press website posted this archive copy: https://youtu.be/5G9DNx7xIIc?si=XxIep3pySW7ZS8zb https://youtu.be/5G9DNx7xIIc?si=XxIep3pySW7ZS8zb
- genxy 6mo agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G9DNx7xIIc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G9DNx7xIIc share link wouldn't load
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- hsuduebc2 6mo agoWhy did he get banned?
- drekipus 6mo ago[flagged]
- oa335 6mo ago“Violent content” according to their twitter account. https://x.com/ExplosiveMediaa/status/2042388973729763746 https://x.com/ExplosiveMediaa/status/2042388973729763746
- Barbing 6mo agoNever would have found that. Poked around, interesting: "In response to your completely valid request, and in line with the boycott of the US dollar, we have closed our USDT wallet. Please use Bitcoin or Solana instead." https://xcancel.com/ExplosiveMediaa/status/2041944286330040695 https://xcancel.com/ExplosiveMediaa/status/20419442863300406...
- davidw 6mo ago[flagged]
- deaux 6mo agoAll of the lyrics that reference it are talking about the country, the government and its president. If them being pictured as making a financial trade with the US president is an "anti-semitic trope", it becomes impossible to satirize these real-world events. Is there a different real trope that I missed?
- crooked-v 6mo ago"The Jews are secretly running things to the detriment of the common person" has been a right-wing conspiracy theory for a long time, going well before even the invention of modern politics. With that said, I think the video, looked at as a propaganda piece, threads the needle about as well as possible - it sticks strictly to referring to Israel as a country, but also just as importantly frames Trump as the primary actor rather than taking direction from Israel.
- fiddeert 6mo ago[flagged]
- deaux 6mo agoEquating the government and its president to Jews in general is a massive disservice, and truly antisemitic, towards the hundreds of thousands of Jews[0] who directly oppose them. The video showed the former. I realize that the second part of your comment means you're not doing so, but the person saying that the video at that timestamp showed an anti-semitic trope, was doing so. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J_Street https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J_Street https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Voice_for_Peace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Voice_for_Peace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IfNotNow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IfNotNow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Now https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Now https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_Together_(movement) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_Together_(movement) Among dozens of other smaller groups.
- aaron695 6mo ago[dead]
- abdusco 6mo agoThanks for sharing. That shit slaps :clap:
- jjtwixman 6mo agoDamn that shit slaps. The lyrics are actually not even that incorrect, the Epstein Regime is fucked, it's crazy how happy Americans are to humiliate themselves in front of the world and die for their paedophile regime and for Israel.
- oa335 6mo agoNon-paywalled link: https://archive.is/Rocgc https://archive.is/Rocgc
- hsuduebc2 6mo agoThe worst part is that, in their most famous video linked above, they are not even telling blatant lies for once. The author was practically handed material for that video on a silver platter. That is quite disturbing.
- jmann99999 6mo agoHas anyone figured out what AI tool the "Mr. Explosive" team is using to make these? I find the quality of the LEGO animation to be really good. I have made stop-motion LEGO videos in the past, and this is impressive. Thanks for any insight.
- anal_reactor 6mo agoI'm also curious about this
- nickthegreek 6mo agoI’ve been wondering this as well. Could it be seedance 2?
- fragmede 6mo agoIf you have the backing off a government, I'd think ComfyUI on a seriously beefy computer would be the ideal choice so you're not reliant on a foreign company. Plus if they're getting help from the CCP, they'll have access to video generation models out of China. If the question is "could a dedicated teenager in America create a clap back video", I think the answer is no, but I not gonna bet against this hypothetical teenage either.
- jmann99999 6mo agoI'll give ComfyUi a try. I love that idea. Thanks!
- crimshawz 6mo ago[dead]
- drnick1 6mo agoIt's quite clear in view of recent events that the mullahs aren't interested in negotiating for the good of their people. It is obvious to anyone that if Iran put all the resources they poured into secret nuclear facilities and missiles into economic development, infrastructure, and education, Iran would be in a completely different place today. Sadly, the regime's primary objective is self-preservation, and the only language it understands is violence.
- dottjt 6mo agoThis comment is completely ignorant of at least the past 80+ years of Middle East history.
- kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 6mo agoThis comment is completely devoid of refuting evidence.
- stavros 6mo ago> It is obvious to anyone that if Iran put all the resources they poured into secret nuclear facilities and missiles into economic development, infrastructure, and education, Iran would be in a completely different place today Funny, I was just thinking that about the US.
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- ChrisArchitect 6mo agoPreviously: The team behind a pro-Iran, Lego-themed viral-video campaign https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47661065 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47661065
- vvpan 6mo agoI know, I know, this is not the platform. But however I dislike the war (which sounds across-the-board unpopular except with Republican senators) having love for a regime that massacres protestors by the thousands is cruel and perverse.
- deaux 6mo ago> (which sounds across-the-board unpopular except with Republican senators) Having love for a regime that massacres school children by the hundreds sounds cruel and perverse, and 40% [0] of the US still approves of that regime. Guess 40% of the US is just as cruel and perverse as this person, in other words it's barely worth mentioning given how common it is. [0] https://www.aol.com/articles/donald-trumps-current-approval-rating-120215395.html https://www.aol.com/articles/donald-trumps-current-approval-...
- bigbinary 6mo agoIf you are American, we are also ruled by a regime that kills thousands of innocents in the name of whatever our president feels like
- culi 6mo agoUS prisoners per capita: 715 Iran prisoners per capita: 226 Particularly interesting to me is how prisoners in Iran have the right to vote while prisoners in the US can have their vote taken away.
- dingaling 6mo agoAnnual executions per capita, 2024 and 2025, excluding the Iranian protests: USA: 1 in 12 million; 1 in 8.6 million Iran: 1 in 97,000; 1 in 62,000
- culi 6mo agoGood point but I don't understand how you're calculating those numbers. For example there were 1,639 people executed in 2025 for a population of 93.1 million
- georgeburdell 6mo agoIt’s really bizarre to me that, even before the war, the mainstream western media ignored the 30k protesters getting massacred in January. They have been using kid gloves with the Iranian regime for some time, like this article exemplifies.
- SV_BubbleTime 6mo agoHow much control does China have on what comes across your screen do you think? I suspect it is not none.
- Barbing 6mo ago(not parent) Something's been bothering me, and it's how little control our leadership has over what comes across their screens. 1 - We've read the reputable reporting on the troll farms. 2 - We haven't seen reporting that the problem is fixed. 3 - We know our politicians are on social media. Presumably, every single day, American politicians see at least one post from someone pretending to be their constituent. How are they avoiding conscious, if not subconscious, influence?
- SV_BubbleTime 6mo agoSo, partially by not reading or caring about constituents. At least not the ones that call and bitch, the ones that donate get great care. Then we’re back to square one… leaving ActBlue’s foreign donation allegations out for a moment… how much of soft power (China, US, or otherwise) is from campaign contributions, direct or a degree removed?
- 6yyyyyy 6mo agoThe protests and killings were extremely widely reported at the time.
- fragmede 6mo agoWithout access to the Internet from the Iranian people, the media reach was limited. It was not widely reported.
- abernard1 6mo agoMost likely motivational media for their new child recruits: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/04/iran-recruitment-of-child-soldiers-as-young-as-12-amounts-to-a-war-crime/ https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/04/iran-recruitm...
- deaux 6mo agoA lot of comments talking about the Iranian regime. The videos I've seen say nothing positive about the Iranian regime, all they do is rightfully criticize the US regime that carried out an assault out on Iran, which as expected has led to nothing but more suffering for the Iranians, without improving their lives. That the Iranian regime killed thousands of protestors says nothing about both the legitimacy and the effects of the attack on Iran, and believing otherwise is caused by being raised on US propaganda. If you truly care about the Iranian people, you'd be agreeing with these videos, because the attack has only made their lives worse. And this was completely expected, look at how the last two times of the US attacking a country in the Middle East went.
- drnick1 6mo agoWhile civilian casualties are unavoidable in any conflict, the idea here is that if the regime falls, the face of the Middle East will completely change. Just look at Iran pre-1979 and imagine what it would be today had the theocracy not mercilessly oppressed the population for half a century. Perhaps this creator should use AI to generate a video of the IRGC killing an estimated 30,000 of their own people[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Iran_massacres https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Iran_massacres
- lolcopedope 6mo ago[dead]
- roflfaghagfag 6mo ago[flagged]
- ozozozd 6mo agoOne might wonder what helped the theocracy take over the pre-1979 Iran. One need not wonder. Your first guess is correct!
- mentalfist 6mo agoThere is a certain leap between "civilian casualties are unavoidable" and "a civilization Is going to be destroyed and sent back to the stone age through war crimes"
- shubhamjain 6mo agoThe article sounds like the author is visibly upset why these videos are being shared, which are mere “propaganda” to them. “Slop”, “factually inaccurate”, “Iran, the most repressive country for press freedom.” “We spoke” is doing a more than necessary work here. Maybe just ask a few things and wrote what we had decided to write. My problem isn’t with those claims, which are true, but setting a narrative where a single country is exploiting social media for propaganda while clearly ignoring the crimes of much worse actors here.
- Johnny_Bonk 6mo agoDay after day, reality seems less and less real… when I was a kid I didn’t think war would include LEGO style psyops videos…
- culi 6mo agoYou should look at how the US overthrew Guatemala's first elected leader. A self-proclaimed capitalist was labelled a "communist" by even the NYTimes because they wanted the banana companies to pay some minimal taxes. NYTimes has since admitted to their close partnership with the CIA in its coverage but, crucially, it has never apologized for it. It's sad to see the modern panic over "fake news" as if it's a new phenomenon. Rather, this feels to me like the "boomerang theory" in action https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_boomerang https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_boomerang
- b00ty4breakfast 6mo agocondemning the US != condoning the Iranian regime. This is not rocket appliance, you guys; saying it's wrong to murder cat burglars while they eat dinner with their kids is not an endorsement of burglary (especially when the murder is about collecting life insurance rather than stopping burglary)
- warabe 6mo agoWhy is this flagged?
- explicate2 6mo agoProbably because it’s attracting tons of low-quality comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47736254 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47736254 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47736315 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47736315 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47736046 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47736046 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47736038 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47736038
- jjtwixman 6mo agoThat's probably not why actually. The usage of AI for propaganda in this way is objectively HN-related. But it's making the paedophile/Epstein regime of America look bad so the MAGA base are flagging it.