This is a Lego set with a difference.
A Native American chief rides his horse across a moonlit barren landscape. The animated video moves quickly between various victims of the U.S. government, from black Americans in chains to survivors of Iraq’s infamous Abu Ghraib prison complex.
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The background music then picks up tempo and cuts to footage of Iranian soldiers affixing large banners to missiles. “For the stolen black people,” says the first. The next phrase is “For the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”
“In memory of the victims of Iran Air Flight 655,” another said, referring to the airliner crashed by a U.S. missile in 1988, killing all 290 people on board. “In memory of Rachel Corrie’s freedom struggle,” it continues, referring to the American activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza Strip in 2003. Victims of American war and abuse in Afghanistan, Vietnam, and Iraq, as well as the “children of Epstein Island,” all receive similar messages that are affixed to missiles that are subsequently launched. The video ends with giant statues of U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu collapsing and the words “ONE VENGEANCE FOR ALL” in bold white all caps.
The March 29 video is one of many released by Explosive Media, one of several Iran-based groups using Lego figures and bricks, familiar to households around the world, to script viral social media trends and strengthen the narrative of Iran in the midst of a war with the United States and Israel.
The video, which depicts multiple victims of US aggression and domestic crimes, has been viewed almost 150,000 times on X. Explosive Media’s YouTube account was recently deleted by the Google-owned video sharing platform.
But the Tehran-based group, which uses custom lyrics and rap beats to mock Trump, often using the US president’s own words to accuse him of being hypocritical and pandering to Israeli interests rather than the US, is not giving up.
A representative from Explosive Media told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity that the YouTube channel was shut down for inciting violence, and that he was confident that the Lego-style block animation was not violent at all.
“It was frustrating, but not surprising. This story is not new,” he said. “We know all too well how the West shrouds the truth in silence and seeks to silence every voice that speaks it.”
deep symbolism
The videos range from dark stories that reflect deeply on Shiite Muslim history to upbeat rap-style music videos, all animated by Lego-like brick figures and environments.
A spokesperson for Explosive Media said the green and red in the animation are symbolic, interpreting the tradition of green representing Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, and the fight for justice against oppression. Red symbolizes the oppressor.
“This is actually one of our team’s favorite animations, especially when the helmets are placed on the missiles and drones, it was really cool,” he said.
Other videos show Trump’s supporters using phrases such as “Epstein’s regime” and “losers” and wearing brick red hats with MAGA (Make America Great Again) on them, depicting Trump’s promises to keep the U.S. out of new wars and helping ordinary working-class Americans, and then using the president’s own words to accuse him of betraying his pledge and instead prioritizing Israel’s demands.
“LOSER is one of our best works,” said a group spokesperson. Trump often calls his opponents that. “So we turned it around and showed him that he was the biggest loser in the end.”
Figures like Trampescu are sometimes depicted holding small dolls.
Another video aimed at addressing the Lebanese people, saying Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) will not leave the Lebanese people behind, was released after a brutal riot in which more than 100 bombs were dropped in 10 minutes.
The team creating these videos is made up of 10 people, all between the ages of 19 and 25.
And they apparently have access to the internet, including US-owned social media platforms, which the Iranian government has blocked most Iranians from accessing since the start of the war.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, a spokesperson for Explosive Media acknowledged that its clients include Iranian state media, but said the group itself is independent.
“We produce high-quality media content, so it’s no surprise that various local media outlets (including some national media outlets) sometimes purchase our work for broadcast,” he said. “In reality, we create the content first, and if the quality is good enough, media organizations choose to buy content from us. In this way, our independence is fully maintained.”
break through the noise
Explosive Media is not alone. Other creators have created similar Lego-themed videos, including PersiaBoi and Southern Punk. The trend has spread beyond Iran to Pakistan, with local creators such as Pakistan’s Nuqta Media creating their own versions ahead of the first round of Iran-US negotiations in Islamabad on April 11.
Fashi Zaka, an Islamabad-based social commentator, said the brilliance of the Lego-style video lies in how it tackles multiple subjects within the global intelligence narrative that has been directed against Iran for decades, courtesy of Western media.
“These videos are a way to break through the information highways that are typically laid down in times of war,” Zaka said.
Zaka said the video, which highlighted flaws in US domestic politics such as the Epstein file, was indeed “smart.”
“They’re just calling it the ‘Epstein regime’ and they’re choosing to bring up the internal rifts again. And they’re using things like election MAGA metaphors and subservience to Israeli interests, so it looks like they’re having fun doing it, but it’s really, really clever,” he said.
There is also a deeper level of symbolism that Zaka points out. He noted that on the day the war began, the United States bombed the Minab Girls’ School, killing more than 160 Iranian girls.
“The war began with Iran’s atrocities against children,” so the use of Lego, a brand and look that parents and children around the world recognize, means “everything comes together like this.”
“Say bad things”
Mark Owen-Jones, a professor of media analysis at Northwestern University in Qatar, said Iran’s efforts to win the narrative war are an important part of its strategy because it knows it cannot win militarily.
“Their best bet for success is to get public opinion on their side and put pressure on the US to stop,” he told Al Jazeera. “And the communication game in this day and age is one where this kind of troll propaganda, this kind of ‘self-righteous bickering’ propaganda, wins.”
He said the Lego-style video’s carefully chosen themes would have resonated even more if it hadn’t come from Iran, a country Western viewers have been distrustful of for decades.
Zaka argued that the undiplomatic tone and cruel messages in the Iranian video are in many ways reflective of Donald Trump’s own communication style.
“At the end of the day, the Iranian Lego video is very good,” Jones said. “They’re actually well thought out. There’s a lot of detail in there. There’s actually a story. Whereas American propaganda, you know, is just a blast of Hollywood movies ripping up propaganda.”
