Toy Robot’s Guyver: Dark Hero Blu-Ray is AI Slop
It’s not often I spend full price on a new release, be it game, movie, or book. eBay is my best friend for all things physical. But I love Guyver: Dark Hero so much that when new label Toy Robot announced a blu-ray release packed with new special features and a new cut of the film, I bought it the day pre-orders went live.
I should have remembered that it’s 2026, where even simple pleasures often turn out to be a betrayal.
I had the whole blog planned, and even started writing it. I was going to go over the history of the film, of the Guyver franchise, talk about the plot, what I liked about the original film, and then do a review of the new stuff. Then I watched it. Within five minutes, I thought: “Huh. This looks weird.” Within ten minutes, I thought: “No, don’t tell me this is AI.” And within fifteen minutes, I was contemplating whether I should jump off a building or throw myself into a wood-chipper. After only moments of research, sure enough, I found a video of director Steven Wang talking about using an AI program to “enhance” this blu-ray release.
Sigh.
Toy Robot’s version contains two cuts of the film—the original from 1994, and an “enhanced” re-cut with new footage and new special effects. This new cut was run through an AI filter, giving everything that ugly, artificial, glossy look that is synonymous with AI filters. You can especially tell when looking at faces, which have been so smoothed out that magazine cover editors would think they’ve got a bit too far, and text, which looks like somebody came to your house and taped the words directly to your TV screen.
Blu-ray.com forum user seamus11 has a great post comparing a still from the original film on streaming services and the same shot from the blu-ray, and it’s night and day. The screenshot shows the character Cori, and the AI “upscaled” version changes her facial features so much that she looks like a different person. It’s also morphed the right side of her glasses into her face and changed the color of her lipstick and hair. Speaking of her hair, it looks like a homogeneous blob on top of her head, not unlike Lego hair. How can anyone look and this and say that its an improvement or that the film hasn’t changed? That’s what Wang claims in that interview, that the film itself “hasn’t changed.”
It’s not clear if both cuts were put through this AI filter. Wang says in that interview that the original version of the film is also included for those that don’t want this new cut, but then he says that was upscaled to 2K, so who knows? I didn’t bother watching that version because as soon as I realized what was going on, I stopped watching and returned the whole thing.
Oh, and if this situation wasn’t bad enough, Wang re-released the original Guyver film a couple of years ago. Not only did that get a 4K release, which Dark Hero hasn’t, but he didn’t use AI on that release at all.
Who Can You Trust?
If there’s any silver lining in this, its that the AI filter seems to be the decision of Steve Wang, not Toy Robot. I suppose they’re letting directors, or producers, or whoever is in charge of the final cut, decide if they’re going to use AI or not, so its not something that’s being mandated by the label. I don't think that's much of a consolation prize, though.
There was a similar problem with Criterion, who allowed David Lynch to release an AI filtered version of Inland Empire in 2023, and Shout Factory who likewise allowed Nick Park to use a similar “feature” with a 4K re-release of Wallace & Gromit in 2024. Yes, David Lynch and Nick Park both signed off on their own movies getting AI slopified. Never meet your heroes.
The problem with studios allowing individuals to make these decisions is that we’ll have no idea what movies have been ruined by AI going forward. Not until after we buy them, or at least until after reviews come out. That’s why I appreciate Hooded Horse’s approach so much. They’re a game publisher, not a film label, but it still applies. They don’t allow any AI use in the production of games they’ve signed on to publish. That’s a policy they have made clear to developers and consumers alike, so we know for a fact their games weren’t made with AI. I can’t find a single film studio or boutique label that’s made a similar declaration.
It’s pretty pathetic that we can’t even rely on old films to not be tainted by AI, but that’s where we’re at now. Maybe once the AI bubble pops these companies will come to their senses. Maybe by then physical media will fully be dead. It’s hard to be optimistic about the future when things are so bad right now.
Thing of the Whenever
I don’t know, watch the original release of Guyver on VHS or DVD. They haven’t figured out how to AI slopify already released physical media. Yet.
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