Im Not Sorry

I’m not sorry

Heart. Lungs. Liver. Nerves.

I’ve been seeing some people claim that the new summer Luigi render looks AI-generated. Even though, IIRC, Nintendo is against AI. Like…wtf.

Even if you don't trust Nintendo to keep their promise, I can say with confidence that the Luigi image definitely isn't A.I generated. Here's of an example of something generated using a fairly high quality AI program:

Often AI pictures will involve lots of motion (sometimes needless motion) to cover up the tell-tale signs of being computer generated. If the hands and the face show no direct signs of AI (let's pretend that the difference in the way Samurai-Mario's eyes are shaded is a stylistic choice), it helps to look at the clothes to see if they are coherent. Look at that armor. Yikes. The shoulder pads are built completely differently. The chest plate has a vague and unintelligible pattern. There are three swords for some reason, and if you look closely at the cloth around his hips he has three thigh guards as well. Everything arranged in a way that you can't tell how the armor is layered. There's patterns of water and air and fire all smashed together in a nonsensical way, completely void of care and intention. It's meant to look cool for a half-second of internet scrolling, but if you look any longer than that the image completely falls apart.

Now let's look at the Nintendo cover:

Though it has the glossy smoothness you often see in AI, everything else holds up. The background and the foreground don't ever accidentally blend together. The textures of Luigi's drink, shirt, hat, skin, and mustache are distinct and make sense. You can see care put into the details: the way the ice cream changes color as it sinks into the drink, the vague impression of Luigi's thumb visible through the cup, the tiny water droplets of condensation outside the cup that stand out from the soda bubbles inside the cup, the way the stitching of the L on Luigi's cap is made of a different material than the green felt of the rest of his cap... Not only are there are a lot of details, but every detail makes sense! Luigi's eyes and ears look normal, his clothing pattern is simple, comprehensive, and consistent, but the thing that makes me most certain that the cover is artist-made is Luigi's hands:

AI art of The Mario Brothers will usually put them in gloves, since almost all existing images fed into the algorithm shows Mario and Luigi wearing gloves. But the magazine cover not only shows Luigi without gloves, not only do his hands look good and match the lighting, casting a shadow on his shirt and reflecting a slight hint of red onto the drink in his hand, but the artist added very very vague impressions of fingernails for those who care enough to look extra closely!

So while I will never fault anyone for being suspicious of the promises of a big company, I don't see any signs Nintendo hasn't held to its word regarding AI.

I need to see more Paranoid in the Pristine Cut pretty please 🥺

"nobody is judging you" wrong, my mother is seemingly always judging every single stranger she sees