OpenTube

Heart-Man: An Internet Mystery

Virtual Carbon

379,606 views

About a year ago, I stumbled upon an image that piqued my curiosity. What started as a simple internet mystery turned into a deep search for where this mysterious image came from. Join me as I dive into the story behind Heart-man.

Special Thanks to
‪@THEtuburo‬
‪@blameitonjorge‬
‪@JustHappyBurger‬

Support the Channel: Patreon: virtualcarbon
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X: https://x.com/virtualcarbon
Instagram: Instagram: virtual.c_

Music:

Polar Nights - Beyond The Rainbow
‪@LUX-AmbientMusic‬The Joker
Brendon Moeller - Nebulosity
Farrell Wooten - Dolphins
‪@Odd_Behavior‬Translucent Heart
DEX 1200 - My Sleeping Giant
‪@LUX-AmbientMusic‬The Edge
‪@Odd_Behavior‬Droplet Soup
Blade Runner OST - Blade Runner Blues

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Intro
01:34 Intrigue
04:09 A man named Docpile
08:16 A closer look
09:48 A fashion icon
11:30 Analysis
16:00 A Trip to Tokyo
19:25 A new lead
25:43 Outro

20 Comments

@VirtualCarbon Creator 1 year ago Pinned

Mystery has been solved! Heart-man, turned out to be Annie Hickman, a performance artist featured in the Dec 1982 issue of Ryuko Tsushin. Shoutout to Water Bucket for solving it: https://note.com/good_eel394/n/ne7057e0c0aa1

@0Cocoron0 2 years ago

Gee...knowing a man like ILoveYuta was out there doing what he did dressed in his funny but lovable costume. It, kinda makes me want to cry. It makes me happy seeing someone be like that. We need you back, now more than ever.

@Blueoriontiger 2 years ago

8:02

There are people known as "doujin music hoarders", and they are basically people who look for rare indie music from Japan. They intentionally buy up CDs as a collector, and "gatekeep" on purpose to drive their price up and to keep them hidden from the public/available.

Docpile may be doing something similar, it is definitely not because he doesn't have access to the magazine. It's for the clicks/feed/attention, not genuine history preservation.

@sarahb8695 2 years ago

"Some find them cute, some find them unsettling and some find them curious" yes to all of the above

@mamedaruma-f2d 2 years ago (edited)

Hello, I am a Japanese who was introduced to you by The tubro channel and was looking forward to this video.
I was trying to identify the company name of the truck with the "S" on the right side of the Kabuki-za photo and the sushi restaurant heartman was at, but unfortunately without success: ......
I had never heard of the second heartman before. It seems that he was not related to the first heartman, but I salute you for finding out facts that I had not been able to find out!

@chloestorm19946 2 years ago

gatekeeping photographs from a free source is INSANEEE ... how big must your damage be in order to do that, oh my god

@absolute98765-b 2 years ago

When I saw the first screen cap I instantly assumed Japan was involved

@JoshS0112 2 years ago

I just love how docpile is acting all holier than thou and pulling that "artistic integrity" bullshit or whatever, when all he did was take pictures from a magazine that was someone else's hard work, posted it and essentially took credit. But then he wants to gatekeep the source that he took from. I think his whole project is pretty cool tbh, but his attitude is garbage.

@Lowkeynumb 2 years ago

I do love how blameitonjorge just shows up in all these internet mysteries and lost media videos

@samwatson-tayler2805 2 years ago

Oh so this guy gets to wear fake Valentine's Day hearts he's cute and fascinating, but when i dress up in a suit made of real human hearts i'm a "serial killer"? Completely unfair.

@caseycole6551 2 years ago

I DEFY YOU HEART MAN!!!!!!!!

@itryen7632 2 years ago

HEART MAN!
BRAIN MAN!
LIVER MAN!
LUNGS MAN!
With our powers combined, we make...
MAN MAN!

@spindleclown 2 years ago

Docpile sucks tbh; they claim to be an archivist, but really all they're doing is stealing others' work and not crediting them. Not to mention that, by removing the credits and refusing to give them to anyone who asks, they're actually contributing to media being lost. Here's hoping this mystery can be solved.

@ZackGolden-yd5wc 2 years ago

He looks like a stand. His user must be nearby

@mathieuleader8601 2 years ago

I always thought Heartman would be a great mascot for a PSA about blood donation or keeping good nutrition to keep a healthy heart.

@TDK_wav 2 years ago

The dude who did the magazine scans is just full of it tbh. "I am dedicated to not revealing information because of [insert bull "artistic" reason here]"

@johnray854 2 years ago

0:04 no I have not

@residentofheavenonearth 2 years ago

man, that dogpile guy sucks. art deserves to be shared especially if you're going to steal from a source you didn't make and then refuse to give any credit.

@emilfilms 2 years ago

Everybody asking "who is heart man?" "Where is heart man?"... But nobody ever asks "how is heart man?"

@ninin117 1 year ago

bro i HATE gatekeepers like that. wanting to be cool and mysterious is one thing, but withholding info that's unimportant to you but important to someone else for the sole purpose of 'maintaining your image' is an asshole move. telling someone the magazine you got a picture from will not ruin your dark mysterious vibe. you just know he's pretentious about vintage fashion as well