Quick Think #1: LinkedIn Action Figures and the Copy-Paste Spiral

Quick Thinks are my rapid-fire notes on creativity, culture, and machines, depending on what's happening this week. Enjoy, and don't take it too seriously.

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A few weeks ago, a strange and delightful trend swept across LinkedIn: AI-generated action figures of... ourselves. People used ChatGPT and image tools to create toybox-style packaging mockups with their own name, stats, superpowers. Marketers. Founders. Designers. Suddenly, everyone was a collectible.

It started off playfully. Endearingly, even. You could feel how much fun people were having seeing themselves as the hero for once. Not through a filtered lens of office politics, but through childlike self-celebration. Senior execs, often so bogged down under the weight of corporate-speak, were posting images of toys with unselfconscious glee: “look, it’s me!”

Then came the backlash. “This is lame.” “It’s cringey.” “Everyone’s doing it. Cookie-cutter nonsense.”

Whenever there's a trend people enjoy, you can bet a camp of contrarians will follow, who take great pride in telling you the latest wholesome trend is far beneath them.

But this misses the point. Somewhere between those two poles - the cheerleaders and the eye-rollers - is the actual lesson.

Because this wasn’t really about action figures. It was about agency. People got a taste of what it feels like to use AI to create something fun, polished, and personal. To see themselves reflected back as the star. To imagine, in some small way, what it means to play with identity and narrative using new tools.

That’s the good stuff. But yes, it got tired, fast. Because in the AI age, everyone can make something. But not everyone will make something interesting. The first few who came up with the action figure concept? Genius. The hundreds who followed without variation? Forgettable.

This is what we’re going to see, again and again: the creative edge belongs to those who start the trend, not those who merely prompt after the fact. In a world where anyone can press “generate,” it’s the idea that matters most.

Creativity, taste, timing. These are the new differentiators. Not the tools. Not the trick. Not the template. So make your action figure. Post it proudly. Just be the one designing the box next time, if you can. I cover this idea in slightly more detail in my post below, if you like this topic.