The culture around Aziz Shavershian, known online as Zyzz, is the subject of a new documentary. (Supplied: Stan)
For a certain generation of Australian men, the path to the gym began with a photograph of a shirtless young man from Sydney.
His videos were brash, his poses were deliberately ridiculous, and at times he said deliberately provocative and offensive things to garner attention.
His catchphrases spread through bodybuilding forums, YouTube and social media, and some are now resurfacing as a new documentary hits our screens about one of Australia's earliest social media celebrities.
Aziz Shavershian had the muscles, the tan, the hair and the confidence, and he is the subject of Stan's new film, Poster Boy: Becoming Zyzz.
Zyzz was one of Australia's earliest social media celebrities. (Supplied: Stan)
But for all this renewed attention, Aziz won't hear or see it, having died in Thailand at just 22 years of age in 2011.
Fifteen years after his death, Aziz, known by his online moniker Zyzz, has become part of a new wave of online content celebrating an earlier era of gym and rave culture.
But it also comes at a time when a new generation is encouraged to pursue physical perfection through so-called looksmaxxing by a slightly amorphous online world of male influencers pushing misogyny broadly referred to as the manosphere.
While it's a bit of fun for some, the social media trend known as looksmaxxing can have major impacts on young men's physical and mental health.
It is a strange moment to watch for his older brother, Said Shavershian, also known as ChestBrah.
He said the culture around young men's bodies and masculinity now looks very different from the one he and Aziz helped create.
"What me and Aziz always preached was: 'We're all going to make it,'" he said.
"It's a message of just that, 'Hey man, if I made it, so can you.' And that was what we're always about, just uplifting the little guy and uplifting anyone to be the master of their destiny."
Andrew and Tristan Tate are now among the world's most recognisable figures in the online manosphere, building enormous audiences around a highly performative version of masculinity, wealth and status.
