EP 038 · 85 MIN V6.1 EDITS BETTER THAN V7
Midjourney v7: Secret Playground of Chaos & Weird + Overhauled Editor
The short version
Episode 38 is a live deep dive into Midjourney's returning --weird parameter and its newly unified Editor. Rory and Drew stack weird with chaos to mine style references, then test the combined Editor's Smart Select, Layers and Retexture tools on a shoe-swap edit, finding V6.1 renders it more coherently than V7. They also spotlight Weavy and Flora, two node-based workflow tools built on Gemini 2.0, for iterating product shots and multi-character scenes.
Key takeaways
- 01
Personalization changes how wild --weird gets: with a profile on, weird stays close to your style; turn it off for real variety.
- 02
Weird has diminishing returns past about 1500 (max 3000): Rory finds 1-10 useful for subtle variation and only goes past 100 to mine ideas.
- 03
Stack chaos and weird, then run /describe on the wildest results to reverse-engineer what Midjourney 'thinks' the prompt looks like — a fast way to mine style references.
- 04
Generate all your sref-random rolls inside one folder: it keeps the keepers organized instead of scattered across a cluttered default feed.
- 05
For a product edit needing coherence, try V6.1 before V7: Rory's shoe-swap test looked more consistent and less 'broken' in 6.1.
- 06
The Editor's Layers panel can't rotate or adjust opacity on a pasted image yet — plan to nudge things in Photoshop first, then retexture to blend.
- 07
Tight aspect ratios can wreck anatomy in edited product shots: widening from a close crop to 9:16 fixed warped legs in Rory's shoe test.
Receipts · said on the record
“I think weird 1 through 10 is where I live with it for certain things. … There's diminishing returns. I've always found up to about 1500, it's good. And then after that, it doesn't get any weirder.”
“V6.1 did so much better with this in the Editor feature. And then this was V7. V7 is like way too much. … V6.1 is just more coherent to sort of like the idea that I was going with.”
“That's where having the little rotate feature could be nice. I don't need opacity or anything else, just a rotate feature for something.”
“S-Ref's to me like the best thing that Mid Journey has. It's so good, so much better than most of the other tools.”
“Then you had ChatGPT dropping their image gen update … and then you had that, right? Like just the expected instant reaction from people that probably put in a few prompts, didn't get what they want, right?”
“Their pockets are deep. They're working on stuff, they're gonna be fine. Photoshop's not going anywhere for the foreseeable future.”
Chapters
- 0:00:00 Why Are We Recording at Sunrise?
- 0:01:28 Weird Mode Returns: What’s Changed
- 0:03:19 How the Weird Parameter Actually Works
- 0:05:23 Prompt Testing: Weird from 0 to 3000
- 0:07:17 Personalization On vs Off
- 0:10:03 Weird, Faces, and Color Variance
- 0:13:08 Style Lock + Weird for Discovery
- 0:13:50 Prompting “Ancient Warrior” at Different Settings
- 0:16:01 Stacking Chaos + Weird
- 0:19:34 Reverse Engineering Midjourney’s Output
- 0:21:51 SRF Code Exploration & Folder Tips
- 0:28:35 New Editor UI + Layering Limitations
- 0:31:42 Smart Select & Retexture Testing
- 0:39:51 Swapping Objects in Product Shots
- 0:45:58 Aspect Ratios + Prompting for Product vs Lifestyle
- 0:50:47 Mood Board Retexture Results
- 0:52:26 Editor Recap & Use Cases
- 0:54:07 Q4 Quality Renders Incoming
- 0:55:24 Super S-Ref Tease
- 0:57:36 Dreaming of a Better S-Ref Library
- 0:58:17 Prompt Accuracy + Creative Mode?
- 1:00:51 Midjourney Video Model Timeline
- 1:03:22 Midjourney vs Photoshop
- 1:07:06 Multi-tool Burnout + Workflow Solutions
- 1:09:43 Tool Spotlight: Flora & Weevy
- 1:13:39 Visual Workflows, Patchwork, and Focus
- 1:17:27 Cohesive Storytelling in AI Art
- 1:21:17 Midjourney Education Gaps
- 1:22:06 Why AI Images Are Back in Style
- 1:23:29 The Battle for Tool Consolidation
- 1:24:55 Final Thoughts & The Tsunami of Updates
Questions this episode answers
Is Midjourney's --weird parameter still worth using after V7 brought it back?
Yes. Rory calls --weird 1-10 useful for everyday variation and pushes it to 100-1000 purely to explore what Midjourney can produce, though he finds diminishing returns above roughly 1500 out of its 0-3000 range.
Should I edit product shots in Midjourney V7 or V6.1?
For editing and retexture work specifically, Rory found V6.1 more coherent than V7 in a live shoe-swap test — V7 over-rendered the scene while V6.1 stayed truer to the prompt. He suggests trying the older model if a V7 edit looks broken.
What can Midjourney's new unified Editor do?
It combines Edit, Retexture, Smart Select and Layers in one panel, now available on every paid tier instead of being locked to the top plan. Rory likes Smart Select for isolating and swapping objects, but says Layers can't yet rotate or adjust the opacity of a pasted image.
What are Weavy and Flora, and why does Fast Hours like them?
Both are node-based, cloud AI workflow canvases. Weavy pairs many third-party models (Flux, Kling, Runway, Gemini) in a ComfyUI-like builder without the hardware demands, while Flora leans on Gemini 2.0 for multi-image blending. Rory uses them to iterate product shots and keep multiple characters consistent across a storyboard.
Why did Midjourney V7 get backlash at launch?
Drew calls it a 'perfect storm': V7 landed after a long wait right as ChatGPT's image-gen update dropped, so people expecting an instant one-shot result judged a genuinely new architecture before learning how its parameters had changed.
Show notes
Fast Hours Podcast Ep. 38—Midjourney v7: Secret Playground of Chaos & Weird + Overhauled Editor (with Drew Brucker & Rory Flynn)
In this episode, Drew and Rory dive headfirst into the unhinged world of Midjourney’s weirdest features—literally. They crank up --weird, mash it with --chaos, and see what kind of beautiful monstrosities the AI spits out. Spoiler: it gets funky.
They also explore the newly overhauled Editor, layering images like they're playing Photoshop on hard mode…with no rotate button. There’s confusion, breakthroughs, and the haunting realization that we may never fully understand the UI.
Come for the deep dives, stay for the self-inflicted pain of testing every slider combo known to mankind.
You'll learn: → When to use Weird and Chaos (and when not to) → How the new Editor, Smart Select, and layering really perform → Tricks for image editing, texture blending, and prompt precision → Why V6.1 might still be the unsung hero of editing → S-Ref folders, image-to-video workflows, and UI frustration → The rumors behind Super S-Refs, Creative Mode, and V8
⏱️ Midjourney Fast Hour: 00:00 – Why Are We Recording at Sunrise? 01:28 – Weird Mode Returns: What’s Changed 03:19 – How the Weird Parameter Actually Works 05:23 – Prompt Testing: Weird from 0 to 3000 07:17 – Personalization On vs Off 10:03 – Weird, Faces, and Color Variance 13:08 – Style Lock + Weird for Discovery 13:50 – Prompting “Ancient Warrior” at Different Settings 16:01 – Stacking Chaos + Weird 19:34 – Reverse Engineering Midjourney’s Output 21:51 – SRF Code Exploration & Folder Tips 28:35 – New Editor UI + Layering Limitations 31:42 – Smart Select & Retexture Testing 39:51 – Swapping Objects in Product Shots 45:58 – Aspect Ratios + Prompting for Product vs Lifestyle 50:47 – Mood Board Retexture Results 52:26 – Editor Recap & Use Cases 54:07 – Q4 Quality Renders Incoming 55:24 – Super S-Ref Tease 57:36 – Dreaming of a Better S-Ref Library 58:17 – Prompt Accuracy + Creative Mode? 01:00:51 – Midjourney Video Model Timeline 01:03:22 – Midjourney vs Photoshop 01:07:06 – Multi-tool Burnout + Workflow Solutions 01:09:43 – Tool Spotlight: Flora & Weevy 01:13:39 – Visual Workflows, Patchwork, and Focus 01:17:27 – Cohesive Storytelling in AI Art 01:21:17 – Midjourney Education Gaps 01:22:06 – Why AI Images Are Back in Style 01:23:29 – The Battle for Tool Consolidation 01:24:55 – Final Thoughts & The Tsunami of Updates
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