Weekend Entertainment Guide 4/18/25
ChatGPT action figures express Mercury-Neptune conjunction in Aries
Make a picture of a 3D action figure toy, named "PARANOID SUBSTACK BLOGGER" Make it look like it's being displayed in a transparent plastic package, blister packaging model. The figure is a 38-year-old white woman with medium build. Her style is casual but clean. She has shaggy blonde hair extending almost to her shoulders. On the top of the packaging there is a large writing: "PARANOID SUBSTACK BLOGGER" in white text then below it "THERE'S JUST NOT ENOUGH CRAZY ON THE INTERNET YET.” Dressed in a navy blue hoodie, a white t-shirt, baggy blue jeans with cuffs, and slippers. Also add some supporting items for the job next to the figure, like a silver laptop computer and a white mug with dark brown coffee in it. The packaging design is minimalist, cardboard color, cute toy style sold in stores. The style is cartoonish, cute but still neat, also put Substack logo in the top right corner.
I am so glad Mercury is finally out of Pisces. The last day Mercury was in Pisces this go-round was Tuesday, April 15, 2025. That afternoon, I realized there was no point in trying to pin down a financial transaction or catch up on emails with Mercury at 29° Pisces — the pinnacle of fuzzy and flaky thinking. I decided to just lie down and stretch for a while.
At least by then we had already experienced the last Mercury-Neptune conjunction in Pisces in the lifetime of anyone now living. This year, we had three hits of Mercury conjunct Neptune due to Mercury Retrograde: March 2, 2025, at 28°57’ Pisces; March 29, 2025, at 29°59’ Pisces; and April 16, 2025, at 0°38’ Aries.
The next two Mercury-Neptune conjunctions will take place on April 16, 2026, at 2°47’ Aries and April 11, 2027, at 4°45’ Aries. They’ll then be solidly in Aries for several years after that.
The first Mercury-Neptune conjunction in Aries in the lifetime of anyone now living was the one two days ago on April 16, 2025. It makes a lot of sense that the collective’s attention was then drawn toward using ChatGPT to make images of personalized action figures. Mercury, you type in your name and other words describing yourself; Neptune, you add a photo of yourself and receive a stylized image as the output; Aries, the whole thing is a reflection of your individual identity. Examples are shown in a New York Times story on the phenomenon — non-paywalled link here.
I was tempted to participate myself, but then I thought about it more. You have to be careful with your personal information on the internet because not everyone has your best interests at heart. Occasionally there will be a fun survey or game going around on Facebook asking for things like the name of the street you grew up on. Interestingly enough, the questions turn out to be the same sort of questions asked as security questions on various websites, so you get tricked into publicly posting your answers to common security questions.
Common versions of the ChatGPT action figure prompt ask you to put in your name as well as a photo of yourself, as shown in this example from Reddit:
Make a picture of a 3D action figure toy, named "YOUR-NAME-HERE" Make it look like it's being displayed in a transparent plastic package, blister packaging model. The figure is as in the photo, [GENDER/HIS/HER/THEIR] style is very [DEFINE EVERYTHING ABOUT HAIR/FACE/ETC]. On the top of the packaging there is a large writing: "[NAME-AGAIN]" in white text then below it "[TITLE]” Dressed in [CLOTHING/ACCESSORIES]. Also add some supporting items for the job next to the figure, like [ALL-THE-THINGS]. The packaging design is minimalist, cardboard colour, cute toy style sold in stores. The style is cartoonish, cute but still neat, also put [BRAND] logo in the top right corner
As with the security question games, I think it is similarly within the realm of possibility that whoever is behind ChatGPT could use the action figure meme to make a collection of names paired with photos for some inappropriate purpose. For example, if you were photographed attending a protest, authorities could potentially match that photo with the name and photo you uploaded to ChatGPT for the action figure meme and then come after you.
All of that said, there are also versions of the ChatGPT action figure meme that don’t represent a specific living person, and I think those more generic figures are a relatively safe way to have fun. One example of that approach is the set produced by The Libertarian Catholic caricaturing leaders and adherents of various Christian denominations, like the “Woke Methodist Minister” with a rainbow stole and the “Catholic Instagram Mom” with a growing family. The “Crunchy Orthodox Man” accessorized with farmer’s market food items definitely reminds me of Rod Dreher, but it’s done in a way that doesn’t violate anyone’s privacy. Likewise, the “Paranoid Substack Blogger” I made earlier in this post might remind people of me, but it doesn’t put me in a database.
ChatGPT was introduced to the world on November 30, 2022, time unknown, by San Francisco-based OpenAI, according to Wikipedia. It incarnated with Mercury in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces, which I think makes sense for its blathery output — like a college student throwing together a paper at the last minute, it puts out a lot of words without really saying anything significant. This also makes sense for ChatGPT getting attention at the time of the recent Mercury-Neptune conjunction, as it’s common for people or entities with a natal aspect between two planets to become prominent when transiting aspects between the same two planets occur.
At this point, the pileup of celestial bodies late in Pisces is down to just Venus, Saturn, and the North Node. All the activity there over the past couple of months definitely stimulated ChatGPT’s natal Jupiter and Neptune late in Pisces, though.
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