“Life in plastic, it’s fantastic,” Barbie crooned. Just how fantastic? It seems everyone on the internet is finding out by hopping on an AI trend that turns people into action figures, box art, accessories and all.
The craze picked up after OpenAI launched its new image generator, powered by GPT-40, immediately attracting scores of users eager to experiment. Creating a toy version of yourself or anyone else (that includes pets, yup), works like this: Upload a photo, add a text prompt describing your ideal action figure, and voila — you’re boxed and ready for toy store shelves (or, more likely, Instagram).
Plenty of the action figures flooding social media represent everyday people curious to see how they look miniatured and in plastic form. But, unsurprisingly in these politicized charged times, people have found a new avenue for biting social commentary — uploading AI-generated figurines of everyone from President Trump, Elon Musk, Vladimir Putin, Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders to categories of people like “eco-left protester,” “pro-life doctor,” “Liverpool fan.”
Athletes, tech executives, historical figures are getting turned into action figures, as are characters from pop culture — a Seinfeld fan account on X has posted figures of Jerry (white sneakers and puffy pirate shirt included), Elaine, George, Kramer, Newman and J. Peterman.
Brands including Mac Cosmetics and have jumped on the trend too, and on LinkedIn, action figures have become a cheeky new way to promote professional strengths.
The action figures follow another viral trend that followed the launch of the ChatGPT image generator. It saw users creating images in the style of Japanese anime house Studio Ghbli, and uploading them online.
How to Make Your Own AI Action Figure
Once you’re logged in to ChapGPT, upload a photo of yourself in the chatbox. If it’s just a headshot, ChatGPT will add a body. For more accuracy, try a full-body shot.
Add a prompt. More details mean a more customized figure. A commenter on the Instagram account chatgpttricks shared the below detail template that can be tweaked according to your action figure vision. You can, for example, add items that reflect your personality and interests (a basketball, a guitar, a yoga mat, books, gardening tools).
Prompt (just ask gpt to extract the text from the image): A picture of a collectible action figure titled “[FIGURE NAME]” in a sealed plastic blister pack on a cardboard backing. The figure is posed confidently inside the transparent plastic shell, surrounded by three accessories that reflect their personality or career. The character is wearing [OUTFIT DESCRIPTION] and has a [FACIAL EXPRESSION] expression. The packaging features a [COLOR SCHEME OR PATTERN] background with bold letters at the top displaying the name “[FIGURE NAME]” and the subtitle “ACTION FIGURE” beneath it. The visual style is playful, minimal, and toy-like, with smooth surfaces and soft lighting that mimics the look of real plastic.
Note that it will take the tool a couple of minutes to generate your action figure. I made one of my cat Jet, who’s already an action figure in real life.