Iranian Lego AI video creators attribute their spread to ‘heart’

Donald Trump has spun The final rescue of a downed pilot Which was his fighter plane Destroyed behind the Iranian border Like wow. But the story is very different in one of several AI-generated Lego videos produced by Iranian content creation group Explosive Media in the weeks after the United States and Israel began dropping bombs on the country. In Explosive Media’s music video about how things work, the US military is a joke Losing many planes and helicoptersAnd spending “$100 million just to save one person.”

Video footage of Lego planes exploding into $100 bills and gold coins reinforces the idea that the United States is wasting taxpayer money only to be outdone by Iranian forces. The AI-generated accompanying lyrics send a clear message about Iran’s willingness to do it again If and when the United States will strike next.

Explosive Media’s content is clearly viewed as propaganda. But the simplicity of its messages helped turn the group’s videos into a viral phenomenon. The videos are being shared online, and people — many of them within the United States — are praising them on the road They insult Trump He urged viewers to remember that Before this war startsThe Trump administration has been busy belittling the president Relations with Jeffrey Epstein. On TikTok, unofficial video uploads have sparked thousands of comments from people cheering Explosive Media on and saying their videos and surprisingly catchy AI songs are more informative than what Western outlets are publishing.

By exploiting public disdain for Trump and his peers, groups like Explosive Media are helping Iran win the war of ideas and perceptions fueled by memes. While the White House has tried to present itself as having a deep understanding of how online discourse is shaped, it appears as if the Iranians have outmaneuvered Trump.

Explosive Media’s official YouTube and Instagram pages were recently removed, and YouTube says their videos have been infringed. Platform policies Regarding spam, deceptive practices and scams. But it is not difficult to find short videos produced by the organization using artificial intelligence criticizing the US and Israeli attacks on Iran. Even if you’re not familiar with war news, you’ve probably seen some of Explosive Media’s work while scrolling through X or TikTok. The way Explosive Media has been publishing new videos almost every day that openly comment on recent events — Despite the internet outage – Makes the group look like a large group connected to it Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps“Content creation machine. This would make the group an extension of the same government organization that turned Iran into an authoritarian theocracy in which Political opposition has been violently suppressed.

But when I recently spoke with a member of the group via a Telegram channel linked to multiple explosive video accounts, they claimed to be a team of about 10 people operating independently of Iranian state media. Explosive Media claims that they see maintaining their independence and connecting with Generation Z (their peers) as important elements of achieving their larger goals. The actor stressed that using Lego’s aesthetics to spread their message was a key part of building a global audience.

“Lego is a universal language,” the Explosive Media member said. “It conveys messages easily, it’s playful, it doesn’t require extreme realism, and yet it can include amazing detail.”

Explosive Media’s latest videos lean toward dark and silly comedy as they depict the presidents of the United States and Israel as emotional miniature characters. In oneTrump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are nervously drafting a ceasefire request while Satan sits next to them with a smile on his face. Post-sarcasm Whatever is going on is in Trump’s hands He took a beat to compare the children who were killed by them The American raid on a primary school in Minab and Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, the video turns into a montage recreating a number of recent successful attacks by the Iranian military. Another video He is Addressed directly to Pete Hegsethand uses an AI-generated audio track Very similar to Macklemore Ironically Multiple scandalous allegations About the current Minister of Defense Having a drinking problem and Sexually assaulting women that were directed against him.

It’s immediately clear that Explosive Media’s animations are made using artificial intelligence. But their content seems different from most Internet pollution eruptedAnd not just because The war is unpopular. Each video tells a cohesive story with clearly defined characters whose (general) visual consistency helps you follow their narrative arcs even if you’re not watching with the sound on. Explosive Media maintains a running list of potential concepts that could be turned into videos, but each project begins with a script that is used to create AI footage and an accompanying song before being stitched together using post-production software.

The Explosive Media member I spoke to explained that they use generative AI “as a tool to present facts in a compelling way and break through the walls of censorship” which has negatively impacted the way people see Iranians. For the group, there is not much difference between the AI ​​generation and any other type of technology that “can be used for good or evil,” and they see their videos as prime examples of how dynamic Iranian storytelling is.

“Western audiences have, for years, been fed distorted views of our nation by the mainstream media,” the actor told me, referring to the idea that Iran is a backward and uneducated country. “When we release these cartoons, Western viewers are initially surprised that such work comes from Iran. That’s when misconceptions start to shift – and that’s exactly what we’re aiming for.”

Explosive Media’s content is more polished and, frankly, more interesting to watch than any of their other content White house trolling shit or The mediocre videos that Trump posts regularly On his social feeds. But they are all reflections of the way people use AI-generated content to shape online discourse about serious real-world events. Part of what makes Explosive Media’s videos seem so resonant is the fact that, in addition to mocking the United States and its allies, they implore you to see Iranians as people with a keen sense of humor who are fighting against foreign threats to their nation.

By contrast, the White House has been using AI “memes” that are shared through official channels Punch on its residents and Highlighting its strict policies. When Trump posted a video of himself using a fighter jet to dispose of waste No pretend kingsHouse Speaker Mike Johnson insisted that the president was merely “using sarcasm to make a point.” The goal appears to be to dehumanize Trump’s critics, which is one of the main reasons why meme content in the United States is different from what comes out of Iran.

When I asked if Explosive Media saw their content as a conversation with the White House’s social media posts, the representative said they “don’t compare (themselves) to those childish pieces” because “hands stained with the blood of innocents cannot create work that touches hearts.”

Not only are Explosive Media’s memes more compelling, they highlight the bigger problems the White House has ever been communicating about this war. US messaging about why it was attacking Iran and how much devastation the war was really causing has been incredibly muddled. When trump he insisted to CBS last month That the United States and Israel Bombing Iran It was “pretty much perfect,” he lied. Same day Trump said in a separate speech The United States “will not retreat until the enemy is completely and decisively defeated,” adding that the war “can continue further.”

Since then, the conflict has raged, Trump has threatened The entire Iranian civilization is dying, and A fragile ceasefire It is said Violated by Israeli forces. The White House’s lack of transparency throughout the war made it impossible to take anything government officials like Hegseth said seriously. Hegseth I have repeatedly exaggerated the effectiveness US operations against Iran Pentagon He was accused Significant underreporting of military deaths and injuries.

As much as the explosive media is trying to speak to ordinary people who may not think of themselves as directly connected to U.S. involvement in this war, the group also sees its current popularity as a teachable moment that larger, more established media organizations should pay close attention to. The group’s representative insisted that the lesson here is that established news organizations have a duty to “allow the world to hear the voice of the people” — especially those young people fighting for their lives.

But there are other things to take away from Explosive Media as it catapults itself into the spotlight with new-generation AI. The group and others like it craft polished propaganda pieces designed to speak directly to people outside Iran (where… Lego movie has never been shown theatrically) using a familiar and accessible visual language. The fun and creativity of videos has made them exactly the type of content that thrives on social media platforms. It makes the US government’s dirty attempts to control online narratives about this war seem hackneyed at best.