Pro-Iran Explosive Media trolls Trump with AI-generated Lego cartoons

While the Trump administration has been posting memes that intercut war footage with movie clips that appeal to a narrow audience of loyal followers, Explosive Media’s Lego videos have reached a much broader audience in the US—some of whom clearly liked what they saw. “We’ve committed ourselves to learning more every day about American people and culture,” the Explosive Media team member tells WIRED. “In this process, Americans themselves have been helping us—and that support and guidance continues. They share impactful tips and ideas with us.” Explosive Media began in 2025 as a YouTube channel featuring political commentary delivered by a young Iranian man. The content never gained traction, with most videos racking up only a couple hundred views. But all that changed in February, when the group began posting Lego-inspired videos, with the team scripting, producing, and editing each video using AI tools. (The group would not reveal which AI tools it was using.) The videos quickly took hold on platforms like TikTok, X, and Instagram. “People are disengaging from some of the real conflict content and looking for something that can distill what’s happening quickly and in a language and tone that they understand and that’s what those Lego videos are doing,” Moustafa Ayad, a researcher with the Institute of Strategic Dialogue who has closely tracked the online content being shared by Iranian groups during the war, tells WIRED. “They’re making it easily accessible to understand the conflict from Iran’s point of view, and it’s hitting on points of disaffection in the United States at the same time. It’s working on two fronts.” Iran has previously used Lego-style videos in war propaganda. Back in 2024, according to Ayad, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps shared links to a Lego video, and during the Twelve-Day War in 2025, Iranian state media proclaimed victory over Israel in another Lego video.