LiterallyWho, who was actually known as LiterallyWho, gained fame for their achievements in LiterallyWhat.
A supposed video game “leaker” has come under fire after their true identity was exposed. Midori, also known as “MbKKssTBhz5,” has spent the past couple of years pretending to be an insider, primarily promoting Atlus and their Persona franchise.
This franchise has been infested by Westerners who find it sexist and offensive, yet they continue to claim to be devoted fans of the Persona series while demanding LGBT representation.
Midori has spent the past two years posting alleged leaks about new and upcoming games with varying degrees of accuracy. It’s likely that Midori either recycles information from sources like 4Chan or has connections to Atlus’ Western branch.
Regardless of their true source, Midori built up a reputation for being somewhat credible after leaking information about Persona 5 Tactica DLC, Persona 3 Remake’s “The Answer” being sold as standalone DLC, and a Sonic battle royale party game.
Recently, however, the account began making bolder claims, such as Kingdom Hearts 4 still being several years off after Geoff Keighley confirmed it wouldn’t be at Summer Game Fest, and sharing codenames for several secret Nintendo projects, including the next Splatoon game.
Over the two year spree, Midori regularly proclaimed themselves to be a Japanese woman, “she” had effortlessly built up this persona of an exciting female leaker engaged with a predominantly male audience of westerners, Midori also operated their own Discord server and deliberately wrote in broken English to sell the ruse.
This led some fans obsessed with Japanese games to develop a parasocial relationship with Midori, to the point of trying to calculate her age and asking for her number. This behavior is reminiscent of the PC piracy scene, where figures like “FitGirl” and “EMPRESS” present themselves as women to gain followers and donations.
Liberals often discuss the “wage gap” and women’s underrepresentation, yet they overlook the fact that many women dominate social media platforms like Twitter and Twitch. They often gain engagement and followers by flaunting their bodies, without needing to showcase much personality.
The illusion of female hackers and leakers can be quite alluring to some. However, this facade quickly unraveled when a Pastebin document compiled evidence linking Midori to an individual known as MysticDistance.
Midori did not deny being the same person as MysticDistance. In a lengthy Twitter thread, they explained that they shared information that others had provided to them and wanted to report on Atlus and Sega without any connections to their previous online persona.
They claimed they did not intend to fool people into thinking they were an employee or catfish anyone when they created the persona, but this is completely untrue. For the past two years, they pretended to be a Japanese woman using broken English to appear authentic. By doing so, they built a significant following by posting hit-and-miss rumors and leaks sourced from elsewhere for clout and monetary gain.
Their alternate persona, MysticDistance, is actually an American man and a huge Persona fan on Twitter. His old leaks revolved around Super Smash Bros., and he was notably the one who pushed the “Grinch Leak.”
The Grinch Leak suggested that characters such as Banjo & Kazooie, Shadow the Hedgehog, Isaac from Golden Sun, Geno from Super Mario RPG, Ken Masters from Street Fighter, and Mach Rider would be featured in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate upon its release.
This leak surfaced two months before the game’s launch, but none of these characters were included, except for Banjo & Kazooie, who joined the roster as paid DLC about a year later.
The leak seemed authentic because it featured a mural with numerous fan-favorite characters and included an unreleased image of the Grinch from the upcoming Grinch movie at the time, which gave the leak its name.
MysticDistance faced significant backlash for promoting this false leak and went into hiding. They then adopted the persona of an Asian woman leaking “insider information.” It was eventually revealed that this was the same individual who had misled the entire Smash community years earlier.
This isn’t the first time a man attempted to catfish the broader online community by pretending to be Asian women. For instance, in 2021, the online influencer known as “Luulubuu” deactivated their Twitter account around the end of August.
With 76.1k followers and 11.6k posts since joining in October 2016, Lulu, as they called themselves, built their online presence through shitposting, gaming discussions, and occasional mental health and uplifting posts. Through their fame, they operated a now-deleted Patreon, managed to get a Twitter verified checkmark when that still held significance, and allegedly worked for indie studio Aggro Crab Games and as a community manager for Neon White.
Noticing a trend here? Men pretending to be Asian women often run some sort of Discord channel, presumably full of men, or organize crowdfunding platforms like Patreon for donations.
Their strong ties to their fanbase, combined with their popularity and the wholesome, cutesy, pink-haired gamer “waifu” persona they projected, always seemed to sweeten whatever opportunities came their way. However, by the end of August, a few loose threads in Lulu’s carefully woven tapestry of lies began to unravel.
Dozens came forward with allegations of bullying, unfinished work commissions, sexual harassment, and exploitation for free labor. Luulubuu relied on others to do their work. One of the sites affected was TheGamer, where Lulu was paid to create memes for their social media channels.
Eventually, it was revealed that Luulubuu was one of many personas, including doomgee and groovyad, all operated by a Spanish man. “Luulubuu” issued an “apology,” and that marked the end of the controversy as they simply walked away with god knows how much money from gullible simps.
Another incident centers around “TinaFate1,” who deceived a lesbian minor into a relationship by posing as an Asian woman.
It was later revealed that their real name is David, and they pretended to be a woman to gain social notoriety, similar to Luulubuu’s actions as an aspiring artist. Despite these circumstances, TinaFate1 continues to create artwork and remains active.
So, it turns out people are reveling in the exposure of Midori as a fraudulent leaker from the past, who happens to be a man. His name now joins the growing list of individuals who’ve misrepresented themselves as women on the internet to gain attention and money, alongside creeps, perverts, and pedophiles.
Midori’s history of leaks has been unreliable, especially given his involvement in the infamous “Grinch Leak” for Super Smash Bros Ultimate, which damaged his credibility to the point of having to make a new persona.
Furthermore, his practice of posing as a woman online while interacting with audiences across different platforms, mostly recycling news and information from others to boost credibility and popularity, has irreparably tarnished his reputation. It’s safe to say that Midori won’t be releasing any more leaks in the future, though it’s only a matter of time before this deranged fucker comes back as somebody else.
