This image is so old I had it on my mp3 player, when I was a kid. (Don't ask why, we'll both just cringe) He just has very thick legs, so he can do all the cool parkouring, I imagined him doing, while sitting in the backseat of my parents car, listening to Nightwish and Subway To Sally.

…man, this post is bringing back some memories.

Here's a source from 2004: https://www.deviantart.com/nimrais/art/Watching-You-7066378

[–] AVincentInSpace@pawb.social 12 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Judging by the amount of crustiness on this image I'm more tempted to say it's a compression artifact. AI models don't generally apply this much JPEG and I can't think of a reason why someone would do so after the fact

[–] HatchetHaro@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 10 months ago (2 children)

the text is compressed too.

i believe the base image is ai generated, then text is added on top, then it is lightly fried in jpeg for a nice crispy texture.

[–] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That image is decades old, I recall it from my middle school years (right around 2000). When I saw it I recognised it immediately and another user also noted they recognise it so I don't think we're mistaken.

[–] TheRealLinga@sh.itjust.works 4 points 10 months ago

Isn't it funny how collectively we have become so used to ai pics already that we are seeing ai where ai could not be?

Late 90's/early 2000's were some crazy times! Wish I could do back and experience it all again!

[–] AVincentInSpace@pawb.social 2 points 10 months ago

nvm you might be right