Iranian team Explosive Media makes viral AI Lego videos about the war

While a real war unfolds in the skies over Iran, the information war is being fought in Lego bricks. Explosive Media, an Iranian team of content creators, is putting out viral AI-animated videos that rack up millions of views across the internet, and its authors say the secret of their success is simple: "soul."

Since the US and Israel began bombing Iran, Explosive Media has methodically turned war news into sarcastic musical clips in a Lego aesthetic. One of its latest videos picks apart an episode the American side considers a major victory: the rescue of a downed pilot from Iranian territory. President Trump called the operation a success. Explosive Media painted a fundamentally different picture, and it went viral.

In their version of events, the American military is a comedy of failures: several aircraft and helicopters lost, all to save one single person. "They spent a hundred million dollars to save one guy," says the voiceover. Lego fighter jets explode on screen and scatter hundred-dollar bills and gold coins. The political message comes in a format that is both childlike and extremely sharp.

Explosive Media is not a random viral account but an organized team that has established a steady stream of content over a few weeks of conflict. Each video is made with generative AI tools and built on the signature Lego visuals. The choice of format is no accident: plastic bricks neutralize the brutality of war and make it accessible and easy to share for a global audience, yet they keep the sharp political sting.

The authors themselves attribute the virality of their work not to clever algorithms or deliberate provocation but to "heart," a sincere engagement with what is happening. According to them, the videos come from genuinely experiencing the events, not from a calculation to press the audience's sore spots. That is a notable claim amid widespread debate about Iranian propaganda and disinformation.

Technically, the Explosive Media story illustrates a new reality: generative AI lets a small team create visually rich animations without a professional studio or a large budget. What once took specialists months now comes together in days. The Lego style also lowers the bar for realism: viewers accept the artificiality of the image up front, so technical imperfections read as part of the style rather than a flaw.

The Explosive Media phenomenon fits a broader trend: AI is becoming a tool of political communication in active conflict zones around the world. States and non-state actors are adopting generative models to produce propaganda, counter-propaganda and satire, and the line between these genres is growing increasingly blurred. That is especially true when the team behind the videos names "heart" as its main secret.

Explosive Media's videos work precisely because they exist in several registers at once. For some, they are honest war satire. For others, propaganda in a cute wrapper. For still others, just funny Lego videos worth forwarding to friends. This ambiguity drives the viral reach: every viewer finds something different in the frame.

The Iranian team's story is a clear example of how generative AI lowers the barrier to entry into big-league political games. Now all it takes is a small team with "heart" and access to neural networks.