This is a Carousel guest piece by artist Bobby Mars
Several prominent anon figures of the online right have recently revealed their faces. Bronze Age Pervert, Delicious Tacos, and Sol Brah, among others, joined the ranks of the facefags, those who dare to post their visage online. Why take this moment to shed years of carefully constructed anonymity in one fell swoop?
Most importantly, note that these anon personas are, as I say, constructed. They’re not particularly well protected—BAP has long been identified as Costin Alamariu, for instance. The function of anonymity for these figures, once they reach a certain level of notoriety, is not so much to protect them from retribution as to amplify their mystique.
The hidden anonymous figure, the voice from the shadows, is a prominent archetype in western culture. It signals a deliberate and prophetic truth—even more so, a hidden truth. The voice of such a figure is one of esoteric revelation, as they reveal something hidden and forbidden, transgressive to normal culture. The Marquis de Sade is perhaps the most scandalous example, delving into the utmost reaches of transgression through several anonymous personas. The list of pseudonymous writers is endless. They took serious risks with their writing, of course, and anonymity mitigated this to an extent, but it also enhanced their persona. It said, ‘what I have to share is dangerous and forbidden.’
This is strongly attractive. Consider the western obsession with superheroes—a crucial aspect of their identity is their mystery, their true identity only revealed to those closest to them, often only at a critical moment. Superman’s anonymity is carefully constructed to protect himself and those around him; he only reveals his true identity to Lois Lane, in the comic series, when he proposes marriage. The revelation comes at the critical point necessary to culminate their relationship.
But, for a real life public figure, mystery is not infinitely sustainable. At some point, the secret must be revealed. The initiate must be brought into the fold via the ritual unveiling of knowledge. It brings the followers closer in their devotion. Note that both the BAP and Delicious Tacos face/body reveals shortly coincided with appearances on Red Scare… there’s more than handsomeness behind this, the unveiling led to new intrigue and interest around them.
The main risk of the face reveal, of course, is that if the archetypal power of their imagery (aka their handsomeness, gravitas, the way they carry themselves, the quality of their visage, etc etc) does not match or exceed the power of their mystery, the revelation will fail and crush them. Twitch streamer Dream is a notable example—his face reveal was merciless, his followers (especially the women) crucified him for looking like a little boy.
This isn’t so much to do with objective standards of beauty as it is to do with matching iconographic, archetypal standards more in line with myth and legend, pagan histories, that fit the anon persona. Costin looks like BAP, he looks like every bit the provocateur one expected. One of his first face reveal photos, a closely cropped out of focus selfie wearing what looks like a Romanian army helmet with a skull and crossbones painted on it, eyes wide open, fit his provocative sensibilities. His simultaneous reveal as a sort of outsider scholar, publicly publishing his scandalous doctoral thesis, only confirms and exceeds what his anon followers have long held, that this is a brilliant man working outside the established intellectual systems, pranking and provoking them with his transgressive ideas. Delicious Tacos posted his washboard abs; he looks like a dude who fucks, alright. Tacos being hot only gives color to his particular blend of sexualized misanthropy. Sol Brah posted a selfie that could practically double as physiognomic analysis; anons carefully analyzed his sharp jawline, eye color, hairline, confirming that his healthy physical specimen matches his messianic guise.
The preponderance of these anon face reveals at this present moment has more to do with the natural evolution of this generation of anon posters than it does with any cultural specificity. There’s an ebb and flow to culture in each generation, and this current crop of posters has reached the point where the next stage can only be reached via revelation. Western culture being highly visual (right now exceedingly so), it is essential that this revelation takes the form of an image, an icon. All three of these examples saw opportunity to capitalize on their well crafted anonymity, to turn myth into revelation, and struck while the iron is hot.
Anons must take great care, however, that their visual iconographies match or exceed the anon visage they’ve created. Otherwise, the risk is great and they will fail. The mystery must be exceeded by the magnanimity of its truth, or at least the appearance of such.
They are not anonymous who take names.