Retro Avatar Week

[Maxie Zeus]

Avatars: You gotta love 'em. Making and putting up your own; admiring the ones other people put up. Some of us love them so much we keep changing them over and over. And some of us love and keep the same one forever. So how did YOUR love affair with avatars start out?

For the next 10 days (Sept. 7 - 16) we'll be holding "Retro Avatar Week" here on the AniGen board, during which we invite you to put up the VERY FIRST AVATAR you had here at Toonzone. So go ahead and pull it out and dust it off, and show it off once again. There will even be something resembling a contest! Here's what to do:

1. First, you don't HAVE to participate if you don't want to--no one's holding a gun to your head. But if you want to make sure people know it's your original avatar, just post a note to this thread. Bonus points if you describe the avatar, where you found it, and why you like it and why you chose it.

2. Next Friday (the 14th) we'll lock the thread; contest is over. At that point anyone on the boards (participant or not) will get to vote on the three avatars you liked the best. To do, send an email here (tzmovieclub@yahoo.com) listing the posters in this thread who you think have the three best avatars:
* Give the best avatar 3 votes.
* Give the second best avatar 2 votes.
* Give the third best avatar 1 vote.
Voting closes on the night of Sunday, Sept. 16.

3. I will then tally up the ballots and announce the winners and the honorable mentions. NOTE: I will be participating, but since I'm the official score-keeper, I'm going to rule myself ineligible. So don't bother voting for my avatar, folks, it'll just be a wasted vote.

For this to work, you have to leave your retro avatar UP and UNCHANGED for the week. This doesn't mean you have to pull up the old avatar immediately, but if you want to participate, put it up sometime this week, make a post to this thread, and leave it up at least until Monday.

If you have any questions, you can post them to this thread also.

Retro Avatar Week replaces the Movie Club for this week. TZ Movie Club may (and then again, may not) return next week.

[Clayface]

Well, this one's an easy one for me! I've never bothereed to change my avatar. So, there ya go - look to left on your screen, an you see my original (and current) avatar.

I'm not gonna bother to describe it, since everyone here's seen it, and I won't be changing any time soon. Where did I find it? I think I pulled it off of the official site, if I remember correctly. Why do I like it? Well, just look at it! It's soooo cool (IMO). This has always been one of my favorite images of Clayface - probably because I remember the first time I ever saw it so clearly - it just blew me away. And I also remember sitting in my g/f's dorm room with a bunch of our friends, and I finally talked a bunch of them to watch Batman that day - this was the episode that came on, and I remember the audible gasps from people in the room during this scene - this episode won over many of my friends and made them become regular watchers of the show. So, I picked it in part because of the memories attached to it. Also, it embodies both Batman's and Clayface's characters so well - the brutality that Clayface can resort to, and the never-give-up, fighting attitude of Batman. With all this going for it, how could I NOT choose it?

[Colin]

Here's my retro avatar... it's the same avatar I've been using since the beginning of this version of the board =)

Where'd it come from... I found a pic with plucky in it somewhere on the web, I cropped it down and it came into being. The original pic had Plucky sitting down in front of Buster and Babs. at the time I just wanted an avatar and figured since I have a history with Plucky (when we first started the WBC, actually I've been using the handle of Plucky since the days of the Tiny Toon Empire back on Prodigy back in the very early 1990s); so I stuck with my history and kept Plucky. No huge spectacular story... just that...

[Mr. Obsession]

I'm in the same situation as Clayface, I've still got the same avatar and I see no reason to change it.

Anywho, my avatar...

Well (for those who don’t know) it’s Guybrush Threepwood, hero of the Monkey Island series of games. The MI series is also where my custom title “Mighty Pirate” comes from. And the avatar itself comes from the third game in the series, which is also my favorite in the series.

I must also give thanks to Bird_Boy who was kind enough to resize the pic (which came from some artwork I “borrowed” from a LucasArts website) for me to use as an avatar.

[optimal321]

Well, mine has remained unchanged too, and i owe it to Bird_Boy. I chose this pic because it's the best pic of Optimal Optimus out there. It's a close-up on his head, which really allows you to see his face and all his features. And i really just like his expression. Such a heroic, Maximal expression. So that's my story!

[joker]

well here is my first avatar of the man him self, the joker. its a pretty cool picuter i think, its joker with the laughing fish, kinda hard to tell since the picture was resized. i got it from batman:defender of gotham. when they did an article on bronze age joker, with a detailed history and cool pictures. so there it s:D

[Joker85]

THis is such a cool idea!!!!!!!:D :cool: I have been looking for a reason to drag out my old avatar. Well, this is it! The very first avatar I had on toonzone, and in a way, it is also my favorite. This particular avatar is from Batman: DarkVictory #8. I was reading that comic and saw it and thought it was just a really cool picture! I scanned it and was going to print it out when I found out through a thread I posted how to make avatars. So I resized it and used this one. I thought that this was a very unique pictureof Mr.J. Tim Sale's art is amazing! I love how he draws all of the characters.Well, thats my story. Again Maxie, this is such a cool idea!!!!!!:)

[Nightflower]

Here's my original one, that wasn't very hard, lol

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Have you guys had any problems "borrowing" avatars from other sites? Do you ask permission, or just save the pic and upload it into your profile?

I personally haven't had problems, but I've used pics that are either inconsequential or my friend's. I imagine you shouldn't get into too much hot water for swiping small pics, but you never know...

[Nightflower]

Originally posted by Leaping Larry Jojo
Have you guys had any problems "borrowing" avatars from other sites? Do you ask permission, or just save the pic and upload it into your profile?

I personally haven't had problems, but I've used pics that are either inconsequential or my friend's. I imagine you shouldn't get into too much hot water for swiping small pics, but you never know...

Well, I've always drawn mine, so no problem with that :D I think, however, if you were to use someone's art, you should definitely ask permission. Other than that.... I don't think that should be a problem.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Originally posted by Nightflower


Well, I've always drawn mine, so no problem with that :D I think, however, if you were to use someone's art, you should definitely ask permission. Other than that.... I don't think that should be a problem.

I meant like screenshots or official art like Mr. Obsession's, where you can't contact the artist. I guess you contact the webmaster, as being slapped by a big company doesn't seem very appealing to me.

[Lachesis]

Can newbies join in on this?

Anyway, my current avatar is A-ko the shadow girl from Revolutionary Girl Utena. She's part of a little triumvirate of characters who act like a Greek chorus for the show, commenting on various plots or just being completely random. Since that's essentially what WE do, I thought it fit pretty nicely. I do have pics of the other shadow girls that I'll rotate in eventually.

Image was clipped from a gallery site that encouraged borrowing for personal wallpapers. I figure an avatar isn't that far removed. . .

[batboy2001]

I am game, first let me tell you how I got my name. I was a big Batman fan, still am and I was getting my first email address so I put in batman at such and such, it was already taken, so I thought why not batboy and since it was the year 2000 I aded that. I got this avy from Bird Boy, I told him I wanted a BB one, he gave me three and before I even asked him I was thinking of getting one that looks just like the one he made for me. You know how he kinda seems to fly at you.

[Singin' Stray Cat]

Here's yet another person who's only had one avatar - mainly because I'm relatively new here. But enough about me, here's the story!

It started out as one of many drawings I did of Rita from Animaniacs. This particular drawing was then scanned, cropped, and enhanced with Adobe Photoshop. That's the short version - as usual, I messed around with the image for hours at a time until finally settling on the avatar you now see on your left.

I'm not sure exactly why I chose Rita. She's not even really my favorite character - I like Wakko, Pinky, Brain, and even Slappy much better. But I think Rita comes closest to describing the actual me. I really do like to sing (although usually I only do it in church or in the car when a favorite song comes on :D ). Our family golden retriever, who shares the room with the computer I'm using, is sweet as anything, but about as smart as - well - Runt :) Being in college sometimes makes me feel a bit "out-on-my-ownish," even though I'm still at home.

Maybe I chose Rita because I like cats. Maybe it's because most of the other Animaniacs avatars are of the Warner sibs (nothing wrong with that at all, especially the Wakko ones! :D ) and I just wanted to be a little different. Maybe it's all of the above. Who knows?

Anyway, good luck to all - I can't wait to see who wins!!

[Calhoun07]

Mine is Captain Calhoun Mackinzie from the Star Trek New Frontier novels. I chose him for what I think would be obvious reasons! I got it off a cover of one of the New Frontier books and I liked it cuz he's one of my all time fav Star Trek characters. It was supposed to be my avatar forever, but then I saw others changing theres so I developed a case of wanderlust and began to change mine with some regularity. Now it's back for retro week!

[BourgeoisBuffoon]

My first avatar is also my retro one! :D

It is Calvin's (from Calvin and Hobbes) greatest (in my opinion) snow sculpture, Bourgeois Buffoon. It's very avant-garde! It's also one of his more well known ones in C&H fandom....which is why I chose it. It's going to be my forever avatar....because I like it, and I do not know how to change it to another... ;)

[TuffyCatt]

Well, I'm another one of the people who has only had one avatar. But, I guess I'll go ahead and tell you the short story that goes along with it. :)

This is a pic of my cat Tuffy, which is where my name comes from. When I was registering, I was having a total creative mental block, so I couldn't think of anything better than to name myself after my cat. And since my name comes from my cat, what better to have an avatar made from than a picture of my cat!! :D Anyway, this isn't the best picture of him, I personally think that he is much cuter than the picture makes him look. Some people have commented that the glowing eyes make him look creepy...oh well! :rolleyes:

By the way...kudos to all the people who have drawn their own avatars. They look awesome!! Can't wait to see who wins! Good luck everybody! :)

[Kylewayne]

Well, this was my first avatar of Catwoman from her comic series. I chose Catwoman as my avatar because she is my all time favorite female villainous. my best friend's brother got me hooked on the comics and the Batman animated series. She is just as dark and mysterious as Batman at time. She knows how to use her body to get want she wants and whom for that matter. I chose this particular avatar to be my first because it shows her *itch side and her attitude as well. :p If I remember correctly I found this pic while browsing at catwoman's unofficial site at Catwoman Pictures situated at http://www.u.arizona.edu/~cbrack/catwoman.html (http://)

[Bird Boy]

Ok..here's mine...*ahem* *steps up to the podium and begins to speak*

I didn't really choose this avatar. The very nice board member, Flash, made it for me. It was originally small at first, but I found the original pic and enlarged it. It's still very cool looking to me.

I'll be voting for a "Best avatar" in a few mins I suppose! :)

-BB

[Calhoun07]

Isn't it ironic, doncha think, that the avatar maker himself had his first avatar made by somebody else?

[Nightflower]

You drew it, Singin' Stray? It's very well-done! IMO, you shouldn't have used the lens flare, because it is the most overused tool of Photoshop.

Well, let's see....like most of my art, I scanned in the line art and colored it with Photoshop. The tattoo is actually not a star, but a flower...and it's supposed to be my online persona. That's about all I can think of ^_^'

[Singin' Stray Cat]

Originally posted by Nightflower
You drew it, Singin' Stray? It's very well-done! IMO, you shouldn't have used the lens flare, because it is the most overused tool of Photoshop.

Hmm...you're probably right, but for some reason I just didn't like the look of it without the lens flare...on the *other* other hand, at least I could have given it a blue tint or somethin' ...

:eek: Oh no! I'm doing the off-topic thing again! Quick, somebody else enter the Retro Avatar Week!

[Vigo Sprax]

Well, like others, this is my original avatar and I've never bothered or wanted to change it. The character itself is the monkey from the animated Clerks series, episode 3, when Jay & Silent Bob teach the monkey how to smoke. The monkey is also blamed for infecting the block of stores with the deadly Motaba virus (True culprit? Discreeto Burritos!). The image was taken from one of the menus of the ROM features on the DVD.

[Jowy Blight]

Well, this is my first avatar, it's Young Master McDohl from the game, GensoSuikoden 1.

I used this as my first because it was my favriote video game, the story, and character's were wonderful. I can't remember where I had found it though, I think a friend of mine might of e-mailed me a bigger picture of it and I used the head of it. Anyway, I kinda think this one was kind of the best I had.

[Govan]

Well, like some other people, this is my first avatar, so...

This guy is Rock Howard, from the SNK fighting game Garou: Mark of the Wolves. He's the son of Geese Howard, one of the long-standing villains of the series.

In the avatar's original form, it begins with the picture on the left. Then Rock becomes startled, closes his eyes and bows his head a little, cracks a smile, then turns his head sharply to the left as his entire eyeballs flash solid red. Then his hair "catches up" to his body movement and rests backwards, and his eyes return to normal. However, the iris remains its usual red, whereas the rest of the eye returns to white. Then it fades to black.

But when I tried to post the GIF file, it was too big, so I chopped it down to just the starting image of his head. Oh well :( Good luck to everyone by the way! This contest was a great idea.

[James]

Mine was a lazy - yet IMO effective - shot of the Joker from ROTJ. Quite a famous image, but I love the red eyes glowing from within the shadows - it was the moment I had been waiting for when I first watched the film.... the unveiling of the most loopy mastermind of them all....

yeah, you know who. Whatsiface. Yeah, the one with the hair...

[The Dork Knight]

This was my first avatar. It was given to me by Laugh4me. It's Nasty Canasta from Drip -A- Long Daffy I belive.

[Mr. Eye]

This is so cool! I didn't think this would actually happen. When I proposed this, I had no idea everybody else would like it. Well this was my first avatar. It's pretty self-explanatory. It's the logo for the Ghostbusters movie.

Mr. Eye

[Crazy8s]

I just wish someone would tell me how to put up one of the danged things!! How do you get an avitar up there? HELP the old girl, please!

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Well, you click on the Control Panel and go to Edit Options. Scroll down a bit and you'll see something called "Change Avatar" which you can click on. On that screen, you will be given an option to upload a pic to be your avatar. They have to be small, though you can ask a moderator to resize a pic you want as your avatar.

Or, you can just ask a moderator to help you through Private Mail.

[Maxie Zeus]

Originally posted by Bird_Boy

I'll be voting for a "Best avatar" in a few mins I suppose! :)

Don't vote until next weekend! We need to give people a chance to discover this thread, change their avatar to the first one, and then leave them up!

(That's a general reminder, not aimed at you BB ;))

Anyway, mine is of the man himself. BTAS' own version of "King Tut," as the creators admit: Maxie Zeus. This is "widescreen Maxie," which I took from the WF ep guide. I chose Maxie as my screen name because he really fits what I suspect is my personality: Improbable self-grandeur completely demolished by unwitting self-parody. Just check out my BTAS episode guide to see what I mean.

[The Mad Hatter]

Okay, I'm not really participating... I can't find my original avatar, actually. To tell the truth, I was never entirely satisfied with it. I was hoping to find a bit more whimsical shot of Jervis to better fit my personality, but I couldn't find one so I had to go for a semi-menacing shot. My current avatar is technically "retro," though... :p

Anyway, I chose The Mad Hatter because I love the imagination of the Carroll books, and I loved his representation in B:TAS. His origin episode, "Mad as a Hatter," always tugged on my heartstrings, and his voice by the late, great Roddy McDowall was absolutely perfect.

[DerekPowers]

well, here's my first avatar.....i only had two. i liked this one actually and i was getting sick of my new (well still old) one w/ just derek power's eye. hehe, after this contest is over hopefully i can find a brand spanking new avatar that is better than my first 2....yeah, these retro avatars are looking good, and getting new life breathed into them....ah the good old days....eh hem, well, the good old few months ago.....peace...

[Dee]

well... I've never changed the avatar once I figured out how to use it.

This is the very awesome Agent Elle from the MIB Men In Black Animated Series. She's cool... and (I'll say it for the 97th time) I manage to resemble the character.

Im a huge MIB fan so it had to be a MIB avatar and I like this one because it's simple, and has Elle's flair. The blue thing in the background is an Alien at a desk (if you wonder) and this is a shot from the opening episode for Season 4 where Elle is waiting for Zeeltor, who is to replace her in the lab so she can be a field agent. Shortly after this shot... Some agents have a problem with the soon-to-be agent X and she has her first run-in with that awful alien (you can tell Im not an X fan) hehe.


Again... I love this Av to death because it's simple and heck, MIB gals ROCK!

[Zebi]

My avatar is from a scene in the first episode of MiB: The Series, "The Long Goodbye Syndrome." Jay had shot a Skraaldian, which marked him for death. He was pretty glum throughout the episode about his impending death - and here we have Elle flirting with Kay, suggesting that she'd make a good replacement! :D Poor guy...

Kay is my favourite agent, and this screenshot was too cute to resist using as my first avatar.

[Dee]

Kay ALWAYS is a stylin' MIB

[The Clown Prince]

Figured I would join the fun here. This is my first and only avatar. For awhile now I've been thinking of changing it to a really cool face shot of Optimus Prime, but I like this one too much. I remember when I first posted my avatar. I posted it WAY too big and it caused quite the stir. A lot of people liked it, but alas I was told to shrink it and I got some help in doing that. As the caption below my avatar says, I'm an 80's cartoon freak!

The Clown Prince

[Dee]

There should be an 80's cartoon TV channel. They got channels for nothing but crud and its time we get some 80s! im dying to see Jem again!

[Frozen]

Well, it feels good to have my first avatar back - I only changed it two weeks ago, so it has that nice 'comfortable' feel to it - like old slippers!

Well, the story of my avatar is fairly predictable. I've been a big animated Mr Freeze fan since seeing him in B:TAS (please, don't mention Batman and Robin..!), so I styled my whole board 'theme' on him (Freeze avatar, sky-blue text, the 'Frozen' name - which, incidently, I picked because I was convinced somebody would already have Mr Freeze. As far as I now know, they didn't, but I like 'Frozen' anyway!).

My original tag was 'Bitter genius...', but I changed that because I'm neither a genius, nor bitter (I am, so I'm told, very sweet, apparently..!) The tag line became 'Dork in ice..." for about an hour (loooong story!), and then I changed it to "Loving husband...", which refers both to Mr Freeze's rationale, and my own lovely wife.

So, there you have it, that's my truth, tell me yours...

[Firefly]

This is my first Avatar this and (many others) were created by the great Bird_Boy I have like 15 or something. This is of course Firefly up close this picture always remined me of a Foot solider from Teenage Mutent Ninja Turtles The Movie but anyway I don't really like this picture my favriote one is Firefly hacking away at Batmans grapple with his fire sword.


P.S. I would like to thank Bird_Boy for all those avatars he made for me Thanks BB:)

[Split56]

This is my first and current avatar. It's Tapion.

[Maxie Zeus]

Retro Avatar week is still in going on. But I'm unsticking it to keep the top of the board uncluttered for the next few days. Please continue to post in it if you desire, and we'll keep bumping it around in the meantime.

[Bird Boy]

BUMP

I thought you might liked this bumped maxie... :)

-BB

[Singin' Stray Cat]

bump! Yeah...it's getting closer to the time to vote for the winner, isn't it?

[The Dork Knight]

I will be changing my avatar early. due to TTTP's Patriotic avatar week.

[Bird Boy]

k, BUMP again....hehe

it's a shame this thread had to be crapped upon because of this incident..

-BB

[Maxie Zeus]

Okay, Retro Avatar Week is over.

As our own (admittedly not very large) gesture of defiance, I refuse to let this week's tragedy end this contest. My thanks to all of you who participated in it, and who continued to leave your avatar up and unchanged.

My thanks and respect also go to those who changed their avatars to participate in the the Patriotic Avatar event on the other boards. I would like to encourage all of our members here on these boards to join that event, come the new week, in demonstrating our resolve, our pride, and our unity in the face of this week's horrors.

To vote in the avatar contest, send an email to this address (tzmovieclub@yahoo.com), giving 3 votes to the avatar displayed in this thread that you think is the best; 2 votes to your second choice, and 1 vote to your third. I will tally votes and share them on Monday. (You have until Sunday night to send in your votes.) All TZ members, including those who did not participate, are welcome to vote.

And remember, since I am tallying the votes, I am ruling myself ineligible; don't vote for me. (Gawd, haven't you always wanted to hear a potential political candidate say just that? :D)

My thanks to all who participated. Every one of these avatars, I think, looks simply grand.

[Maxie Zeus]

I'll bump this after unsticking it, just so people will remember that it was here. But since the contest is closed, it will stay locked.