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[–]The-Altered-Flying-K 758 points759 points  (15 children)

Oh, you’re a villain alright, just not a super one!

[–]CanadianLemur 154 points155 points  (3 children)

Lol I was waiting for it to change into Megamind's face too

[–]whoami4546 26 points27 points  (0 children)

I was hoping the same!

[–]richh00 21 points22 points  (0 children)


[–]ujustrnot 1 point2 points  (0 children)


[–]Mergeagerge 45 points46 points  (5 children)


[–]TheZerothLaw 19 points20 points  (3 children)

angry Tighten noises

[–]basecheetah1 13 points14 points  (2 children)

tHerE iS nO qUEen oF enGlaND

[–]jackehunter8535 7 points8 points  (1 child)

There is no Easter bunny

[–]RenatoIguana 7 points8 points  (0 children)

There is no Santa Claus

[–]pleasedontsmashme 4 points5 points  (0 children)


[–]kitolz 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Fun fact:

Villain was derived from the word villein which means villager.

City dwellers used the word derisively so it basically got equated with being evil.

[–]bucketz00 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Killing when you're barring!

[–]Spartan98789 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I came here to comment this, great minds

[–]CroneKills 2 points3 points  (0 children)

*Mega minds

[–]duuval123 2846 points2847 points  (119 children)

Literally the future. RIP fireworks

[–]shaybovine[🍰] 1021 points1022 points  (71 children)

Problem in the future, is when they are armed.

[–]brownbananaoverhere 426 points427 points  (17 children)

American National Anthem playing.. (BIG SCREEEEECH THROUGH SPEAKERS) “Thank you all for attending Mysterio’s firework show! Now give up all your money.”

[–]o2000 180 points181 points  (16 children)

In the future, muggers will just use a drone with a gun and a credit card reader attached.

[–]MyNameCannotBeSpoken 89 points90 points  (5 children)

That sounds like a patentable invention

[–]tunersr 19 points20 points  (4 children)

Starts with tablets at stadium seats to put in your order. Drones with card readers deliver and take payment.

Concession drones. Patent pending.



Corporation and drones are not liable if fly ball or puck hits drone allowing for potential drone rotors blades causing bodily injury or death.

[–]phiednate 19 points20 points  (3 children)

Not worried. Atleast in Portland, the tweakers are never gonna have the eye hand coordination to operate a drone.

When we get to the level of Futurama mini robots with guns I will worry.

[–]KushiroJuan 7 points8 points  (2 children)

Futurama is and always will be my favorite bedtime show.

Although its kinda sad how i have it memorized.

[–]zthig 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Join us at /r/futuramasleepers. There are literally dozens of us

[–]KushiroJuan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To shreds to say?

[–]stressbelly 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nah people would just steal it and have a free gun lol

[–]rchase 65 points66 points  (24 children)

And much much smaller. In Diamond Age way back in 1995 Neal Stephenson described clouding swarms of nano-drones that separated one enclave from another and basically, instead of being armed, if you tried to pass through unauthorized, billions of them would just clump onto you and as you breathed, would fill your lungs and kill you slowly from within.

[–]dean_the_machine 24 points25 points  (18 children)

Fascinating and absolutely terrifying.

[–]EventuallyScratch54 20 points21 points  (17 children)

this is one of the most terrifying videos about AI I’ve seen on YouTube

[–]hipstarjudas 13 points14 points  (3 children)

Not sure on the original source, but this is the full video. Adds a little drama to the end there.

[–]Gasman77 7 points8 points  (2 children)

I believe Michael Crichton wrote about it too in his novel "Prey," which creeped me out in the same way Richard Preston's "The Hot Zone" did years earlier. Which is scarier, a mutant highly contagious virus gone rogue or nanobots invisible to the naked eye?

[–]sockpuppets 2 points3 points  (0 children)

2019: They just hand you a vape pen.

[–]vampyire 3 points4 points  (1 child)


[–]agatgfnb 11 points12 points  (0 children)


[–]Upvotes_poo_comments 5 points6 points  (1 child)

And what a wonderful sound they make! Ah, the future is sooo bright!


[–]dotheSAFETYsplat 4 points5 points  (0 children)

holy shit. it's a horror movie for sure.

[–]4skinphenom69 42 points43 points  (6 children)

But fireworks go BOOM

[–]k0d3r3d 17 points18 points  (1 child)

Instead of boom you get buzzzzzzzzzz

[–]sfbayboy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Right?! I wonder how these sound live

[–]HomicidalBabies 2 points3 points  (0 children)

i like thing go boom

[–]Feet13 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Right? And these are just gonna get better and better....

[–]Tru-Queer 10 points11 points  (0 children)

They’ll still have to install speakers that play fake explosion sounds otherwise it’s just not the same.

[–]kaqpe 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Where is my hover board?

[–]100snugglingpuppies 18 points19 points  (6 children)

How about you have a drone show and I'll have a firework show and we'll see which one the people enjoy more

Oh, they'll be happening in the same place at the same time

[–]CasaMofo 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Isn't this what Disney is doing at EPCOT?

[–]Phaedrug 9 points10 points  (2 children)

Firework production uses really nasty chemicals, so that might not be a bad thing.

[–]whoareyouagain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

RIP fireworks

"That's okay." -My dog

[–]Darnitol1 635 points636 points  (67 children)

It will be cool the first time someone puts on a fireworks show and then right in the middle of it, they have drone appear to be a firework explosion and then start doing this. The people on the ground will be gasping in astonishment.

[–]TONKAHANAH 216 points217 points  (26 children)

I was kinda just wondering "how long before Disney Makes this part of their nightly firework show?"

I doubt they'll replace fire works entirely but if they could, Disney would probably save a metric butt ton on fireworks.. You see how many they fire off.. DAILY?!

Either way, I'd imagine Disney or other theme parks will take advantage of this tech for parades and shows sooner or later and likely to be some of the first, assuming they're not doing it already

[–]cgello 106 points107 points  (11 children)

Even if they spend $10M on drones, they'd probably break even within a year because they spend $40k per day on fireworks.

[–]TONKAHANAH 79 points80 points  (10 children)

According to a quick lazy Google search, Disney spends $50k a day on fireworks. That's just for one park, and they fire them off every damn day, and that probably does not include special events and holidays.

That's over 18 mil a year. That's 8 million a year they'd save on one park which is probably chump change to them but still.

I wonder what the cost of maintence on these drones would really be by comparisons.

[–]ivanoski-007 28 points29 points  (5 children)

I wonder who their supplier is, that's a sweet contract

[–]Rebel197702 33 points34 points  (3 children)

Actually, I think Disney just started using some drone tech in their new Epcot nighttime show, Epcot Forever! I haven’t seen the show yet, but I wanna catch it before it’s gone since it’s a temporary show while they work on something bigger.

[–]TONKAHANAH 8 points9 points  (2 children)

I just looked up the show and it seems they're currently using drones more as remote control light up kites. But yeah I'd be really surprised if Disney doesn't make use of this Tech in the next 5 years. Hell I'd be surprised if they didn't have it next year

[–]athenaminerva 2 points3 points  (1 child)

The kites are actually just attached to jet skis. I was right next to the water on the first night of the new show. I bet Disney won't use drones because of how much it rains in Florida. Fireworks can usually be shot off during the rain.

[–]TONKAHANAH 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You'd think Disney could afford drones that work in the rain.. Suppose the wind is probably a bigger issue than rain

[–]peeehhh 7 points8 points  (3 children)

Starbright Holiday Light Show They had a drone light show with Intel drones 2 years ago at Disney Springs.

[–]ImGrumps 2 points3 points  (2 children)

They didn't see ROI on the show so that's why it didn't come back.

Had people come and spent more money before or after they would have had it again.

[–]peeehhh 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Similar thing happened with a local touristy town. Fireworks every Friday during the Summer to attract more local people to shop and dine. All it really did was keep people who actually were doing these things away. Mainly it seemed to attract trashy parents with their bratty kids that in no way were patronizing the boutique stores and nicer restaurants. Went a couple times and said enough when someone’s brat kept hitting me to move and the parents found it amusing when I’d been there well before the show started and they arrived just after start.

[–]freddyfreak1999 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Interestingly Disney worked with Intel for a Christmas drone show at Disney Springs a number of years ago. drone show link.

Disney’s nighttime spectaculars (as they call them) are rumored to cost $40,000-$60,000 a performance. Disney has, currently, 4 fireworks shows or shows with firework components in Florida alone, not counting the parks in Cali, Hong Kong, Japan, Shanghai, and Paris. In addition Disney’s cruise ships also do fireworks shows. Disney currently has 4 ships with three more on the way, I believe in the next 5 years. That’s a lot of fireworks.

[–]arbitrary-fan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Years ago Disney lobbied to have DisneyWorld a no-fly zone - they didn't want commercial aircraft flying over their parks which would ruin the immersive experience. Turns out that drones were part of that - and they looked to reverse their position real quick.

[–]SamCarter_SGC 70 points71 points  (32 children)

These are meant to replace fireworks shows due to noise traumatizing vets and pets.

[–]Darnitol1 32 points33 points  (7 children)

I would think they've got to be insanely expensive, but after a few years it probably comes out ahead since the drones are reusable.

[–]knetmos 21 points22 points  (5 children)

guessing wildly i would imagine the main cost factor currently is programming the Show, not buying the drones.

[–]tyrannomachy 12 points13 points  (2 children)

I'd guess the software tools for this would be similar to 3D animation/simulation software, just more specialized. So not too expensive or hard to use. I think the drones are mostly using a swarm strategy to decide what they each need to do, rather than all of them following a set program. The show program would only need to constrain the shape of the overall swarm over time. Or something like that.

[–]knetmos 2 points3 points  (1 child)

i think having them change formation without collisions is a pretty complex problem

[–]flyinghiiiiiiigh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Each drone probably has some sort of self awareness - think about self driving cars and apply that technology here.

[–]BitttBurger 1 point2 points  (0 children)


Pretty sure it has something to do with the several tons of explosives not being necessary anymore, as well.

[–]fontizmo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You’re basically describing the future of Disney fireworks shows. They’ve already tested with some smaller drone shows in Disney World. There’s a brand new nighttime spectacular coming in 2021 so maybe we’ll see some real shit ✨

[–]GoblinGregory 476 points477 points  (18 children)

Avengers level threat?

[–]BadKuchiKopi 162 points163 points  (9 children)

Spider-Man has entered the chat

[–]bazingaguy723 78 points79 points  (8 children)

Sony has entered the chat

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[–]bl-999 43 points44 points  (7 children)

Spider-Man has entered the chat

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[–]Tru-Queer 11 points12 points  (3 children)

He had no head, arms, or legs. This is how he led a nation. 😢

[–]Tonestar111 4 points5 points  (2 children)

Tom Holland has entered the chat

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[–]r0xx0m 3 points4 points  (1 child)

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[–]o5mfiHTNsH748KVq 15 points16 points  (5 children)

Considering one day these will be weapons, I’d say maximum.

[–]GoblinGregory 7 points8 points  (4 children)

We already have weaponized drones...

[–]o5mfiHTNsH748KVq 2 points3 points  (3 children)

I don’t believe we’re weaponizing swarm mechanics paired with computer vision yet are we?

[–]Tru-Queer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Threat level Midnight

[–]ustbota 1 point2 points  (0 children)

ergh you beat me to it

[–]Atxsalomon 234 points235 points  (13 children)

If (about to crash)




[–]thehonestcake 76 points77 points  (0 children)

The perfect code doesn't exi.....

[–]Thisisbananasm8 57 points58 points  (9 children)

if (poor)


get rich


[–]McSHUR1KEN 285 points286 points  (35 children)

Fun Fact: 60-90 different 3D coordinates (let's average it to 75) fed into just one drone for a single second. No two drones' coordinates would match, so that's:

1,500 drones × 75 coordinates per second × 40 second video = 4,500,000

4.5 million different and unique coordinates in the code of the drones' management system in just 40 seconds. Ah, science.

[–]SuruchiSushi 53 points54 points  (15 children)

How do you know it’s not like in a marching band, where you have one dot and then you just have to get to your next dot within a certain time? Instead of feeding 75 coordinates in a second it could just be get from this point to that point in 3 seconds and the drone program will calculate the velocity vector to carry out that command.

[–]Tooslowtoohappy 8 points9 points  (2 children)

The problem would them become about collision between two drones moving. You would also have to program a way to keep them synced and a way to avoid collision. This would get pretty complicated fast.

[–]SuruchiSushi 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I explained this better in a reply to a comment above but I’ll try and summarize as best I can. The coordinate assigned to each drone are design to ensure they won’t collide even when traveling large distances. If there is a special case where two drones would collide, it would be very easy to add a subset to slightly alter the pathways. If you watch a professional marching band, you would see that most of the time, the marchers are taking straight pathways from coordinate to coordinate. The show is designed to allow this to happened without any marchers crashing into each other even across large distances. These drones are basically a three dimensional version of that.

[–]Daniel_Vijay 16 points17 points  (10 children)

But this doesn't account for collisions

[–]SuruchiSushi 24 points25 points  (9 children)

But the coordinates would be programmed to avoid collisions. If there were to be a collision, just add like a little subset to avoid. So maybe instead of going from point A to B in 3 sec, go from point A to subset C and then B. The programmers/program are smart enough to assign the coordinates in an efficient and intelligent enough way to avoid as many collisions as possible. Again, I’m using marching band as an example (if you couldn’t tell, I march aha). If you watch a professional marching band and follow one person around, you’ll see that most of their pathways are generally straight lines and no one collides with each other. These drones are basically a three dimensional marching band.

[–]Darhty 41 points42 points  (9 children)

Somehow it sounds innefficient.

[–]virgo911 53 points54 points  (1 child)

Doubt it... most likely all connected to one central brain at some point that can be used to create shapes/ colors and it automatically gives each drone a path

[–]alt170alt95alt170 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Dunno why you were downvoted. Obviously nobody is manually coding the coords of each drone any more than a 3d model is created by manually inputting vertex coords.

[–]alt170alt95alt170 21 points22 points  (3 children)

A standard desktop CPU performs billions of computations per second.

[–]SpellingIsAhful 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Ya, but that's just the coordinates. nothing. To do with actually telling drones to do anything.

[–]alt170alt95alt170 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Yes but it give perspective on how meaningless and irrelevant '75 coordinates per second' is.

[–]k_r_oscuro 4 points5 points  (0 children)

They surely do it with key frames, like in 3D animation. In 3D, each figure is made of polygons which in turn are made up of points and sides. Each point has it's coordinates in space.

Simplified: You make a figure, say a hexagon, and set it to a key frame - a locked position in space. Then 20 frames later, you turn the same hexagon into a circle. and set another key. Then the computer morphs the positions of each point in the in-between frames. It's done the same way with more complex figures, and there are features like collision avoidance to keep it from getting messy.

[–]sauerkrautsoda 128 points129 points  (12 children)

We have the technology to do that yet don't use the blinker when changing lanes and turning.

[–]James_Fucking_Holden 28 points29 points  (5 children)

The people who do this are smart. Any moron can get a license with enough retries.

[–]summertimeinthelbc 1 point2 points  (0 children)

imo this vid is proof that automated cars will work

[–]Keyboardtyper57 28 points29 points  (15 children)


[–]saulsa_ 55 points56 points  (4 children)

Coding and algorithms.

[–]hamburgerstake 28 points29 points  (1 child)


[–]RonaldDumbsfield 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Al Gore does not have rhythm

[–]jimlockers 8 points9 points  (0 children)

They used coding and algorithms to keep the drones from crashing

[–]MANINIMO 18 points19 points  (6 children)

1500 skillfully choreographed drone operators

[–]GoX14 21 points22 points  (1 child)

Or one skillful drone operator who has 3,000 hands.

[–]BerossusZ 13 points14 points  (0 children)

This is most likely the real answer

[–]Wascally-Wabbeeto 2 points3 points  (0 children)

And, if I’m not mistaken, they are ALL operated by women.

[–]ashjac2401 56 points57 points  (7 children)


[–]dudajames6 6 points7 points  (0 children)

When ever I see a globe I have to look to see! Wild how often they are missed

[–]Mr_Wildcard_ 29 points30 points  (2 children)

Now that's an Avenger Level Threat

[–]butternippls 12 points13 points  (1 child)

4 real. Imagine 100 thousand of those with lil guns attaches raining down lil fireballs. The end is near my friends.

[–]titoxtian 59 points60 points  (1 child)

Don't be fooled by Misterio...

[–]vrox21 14 points15 points  (9 children)

Can someone with knowledge in physics explain to me how it works that the draft created by one drone doesn't upset the drone above, next, under it? Sorry english isn't my first language hopefully you understand what I mean. Thanks

[–]comment_redacted 18 points19 points  (0 children)

These are low speed drones, so if there’s a vortex or eddy currents created around them it is going to be small. I’m sure the drones not only are fed travel coordinates but also know the coordinates of all the drones around them. They’re probably programmed to stay a safe distance from one another at all times.

[–]Daniel_Vijay 3 points4 points  (4 children)

I'm guessing a 6 axis accelerometer and a PI loop

[–]NouberNou 8 points9 points  (1 child)

The drone knows where it is because it knows where it isn't...

[–]pasteII 9 points10 points  (1 child)

man, Badger and Skinny had to do all this?

[–]thatguyworks 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Skinny Pete. Bro-est bro of the whole series.

[–]txbluelacy 6 points7 points  (1 child)

In other news, I’ve taken up the hobby of building EMPs in my garage

[–]icemann0 6 points7 points  (6 children)

Now imagine them weaponized with small shape charges and facial recognition looking for YOU.


[–]Voltswagon120V 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Shhh...Hong Kong has it rough enough already.

[–]Haltus_Kain 1 point2 points  (4 children)

Declassified (old/outdated) drone swarm footage:



We're already there.

[–]farm_sauce 10 points11 points  (3 children)

Disney gonna get way cooler very soon

[–]FunBrians 3 points4 points  (2 children)

They have already done this at Disney, with intel drones as well

[–]2sweet4me 3 points4 points  (1 child)

Yup at Disney Springs. That was probably 2 or 3 years ago now and they haven't brought it back to my knowledge. It was pretty cool.

[–]MarvelAtTheSky 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I saw it live at Disney Springs that year. It was cool and impressive, but the drone formations took much longer than this video makes it appear. My guess is this video was sped up twice it’s normal speed. I feel really fortunate now to have seen it, I didn’t realize it was a one year event.

[–]Iputmayoonpphole 6 points7 points  (0 children)


[–]cookthyme 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Programable fireworks

[–]spad3x 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Mysterio's shtick in Far From Home doesn't seem too far off after this

[–]omegasector13 6 points7 points  (2 children)

Seams like a lot of time and effort they should have been focusing more on their 7nm chips

[–]ImaginarySuccess 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Different teams for different projects.

[–]CTaco25 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Now this is an avengers level threat

[–]Hey-I-Read-It 1 point2 points  (2 children)

didn't the winter south korean olympics do that first?

[–]burnSMACKER 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cool Intel advertisement

[–]KashmireCourier 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They did this at the Scout World Jamboree, it was cool as shit to watch

[–]laughinggas 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Where do you even begin with the programming.


It is impossible that this technology has not been weaponized already.

[–]Clitorally_Retarded 1 point2 points  (0 children)

but then.....what's the point?

[–]notrobertpaulsonyes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's actually kinda scary

[–]freelanceredditor 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I don’t know. This doesn’t look as exciting as fireworks. It just looks like 90’s tv graphics. Like the first time you meet q on TNG

[–]Saltyy-Mercy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A little bit of wind should clear that right up

[–]lodobol 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The next Olympic opening in Japan is going to be amazing

[–]Pedropms 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What do you think about advertisement using this technology?

[–]bolthie 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m totally down with these light drones replacing fireworks.

[–]Evalion022 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Better than fireworks

[–]Hexum311add 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I really want to see this in person and HEAR it in person. I bet it’s loud.

[–]Haltus_Kain 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Skip to 2:23


Weaponized version, so these are probably packing a lot more weight than a flying LED, so the advertisement version is probably a tad quieter, but you get the gist.

[–]jca2u 2 points3 points  (1 child)

They left New Zealand off the globe

[–]ha2oh 3 points4 points  (9 children)

Can we do this with new years instead of firework please please?

[–]pixiedust717 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Whose drones are these? What event was this for?

[–]hamburgerstake 2 points3 points  (2 children)

I'm gonna bet they belong to Intel, 50th anniversary of something.

[–]Voltswagon120V 1 point2 points  (1 child)

anniversary of something

Intel's a good guess...

[–]hamburgerstake 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I thought it was older than that

[–]Z1ndabad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yh but where can I get one of those.

[–]dottyparker 0 points1 point  (1 child)

It's all fun and games until we accidentally summon an evil space villain who doesn't take kindly to our Disney display.

[–]iboby 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Soon movies could be done in the sky with thousands of tiny drones

[–]PaperxCollective 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We've made contact and they seem to like break-dancing. Get the cardboard! ( Herbie hancock - Rock it starts playing)

[–]BigAl-007 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh yeah, Project Blue Beam will happen for sure on day.

[–]gringochilenoo 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Why do I find this terrifying?

[–]Christafaaa 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Just imagine a swarm of those with weapons coming after you... Judgment Day.

[–]danolovescomedy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

UFOs are gonna need to put more effort if they want to stay relevant past 2050

[–]kindle139 0 points1 point  (2 children)

How has no one yet been assassinated with a flying drone? This seems like it would be really easy to do.

[–]Mattson 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Thousands have been killed by flying drones.

[–]Scrappy_Kitty 0 points1 point  (2 children)

God, imagine the military implications to this...