Your avatar: What is the story behind it?

[Swordlady]

One of the first things I notice about a user on any forum is the avatar they use. I was wondering: Why did you pick your avatar, and is there a story behind it?

In all of the fora I've participated in, I almost always used a picture of myself in some kind of swordswoman getup. Gotta live up to my chosen Net alias. I've been in a "Star Wars" kick as of late, which is why I've been breaking out the lightsaber shots. The ORIGINAL "Star Wars" Trilogy was one of my first exposures to swordfighting of some kind when I was a child, and is one of the biggest reasons why I became fascinated with swords. Not to mention my not-so-secret ambition to become a Jedi Knight.

Anyway...here is a better shot of my current avatar. I'm holding a pair of Lightech sabers, and enhanced the glow effects (those sabers did actually light up) with Photoshop:

 

[Lisa]

Mine is from the short movie "The Christmas Caper" which can be found as an add on in the DVD Madagascar.

His name is Mr. Chew and he is a horribly misunderstood puppy. I fell in love with him when I saw the movie and my dear friend, Mr. OnlyAnEgg, made me the avatar upon my request.

He seems to scare the bejesus out of everyone, and for that reason alone, has been the longest lasting Avatar I have ever had. Don't think I will be getting rid of him anytime soon.

 

[Kacey]

My avatar is my class patch. I taught TKD for 15 years before finally designing a patch and paying to have the embroidery done.

 

[Kreth]

I tend to change mine when I get tired of the old one, or simply find a pic I like better. Some recent ones on MT: the dragon from my sleeve (tattoo), me in Gene Simmons make-up (complete with fake blood), and the current pic of my eye, which has no special significance. I was just playing around with the cam on my Treo.

 

[HKphooey]

Loved Hong Kong Phooey as a kid and I figured it had a martial arts theme to it. I added some of the patches of the styles I train in to show I have no specific allegiance to one art. And it also shows a less serious side of me.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

My avatar is a picture of me training at a Shinto Shrine in Japan that is devoted to the martial arts. Here is a better picture:

Brian R. VanCise
www.instinctiveresponsetraining.com

 

[Old Fat Kenpoka]

My Avatar is the patch my school used from the mid 1960's through the mid 1980's. The patch maker went out of business and no more patches were available. As of 1993, I knew of only 2 other old-timers from my school who had one of these patches.

In 2002 I needed to buy some new Gi pants. I went to the local Martial Arts supply store. In one corner of their patch counter I saw my school patch. They said it was the last one they had. I bought it.

The text lines are "Kenpo Karate", "USNKA" = United States National Karate Association, and the Chinese characters for "Open Hand".

 

[matt.m]

Oh gee. I love the game Street Fighter II, I was close to graduating high school when the game came out in 91-92. Ken was my favorite character on the game.

I used to love doing spin kicks, in the orginal that move was his power move.

 

[Ceicei]

My avatar used to be a character (Red) from a computer game. Now, I had recently passed my 2nd brown belt test, and Rick Wade kindly sent me a GIF of the belt. I am using the belt as my avatar for now.

- Ceicei

 

[Grenadier]

No real significance. Really!

Just a picture that a rather interesting artist made by taking a picture of the old Sunbeam Bread girl, and using Photoshop to remove that piece of bread, and replace it with big ol' hairy spider.

When I first saw this photo, I didn't know whether to be fascinated at this unusual image, or to force myself to stop chuckling. After all, what child would be that gleefully chomping at an arachnid of that size? It's just one of those things that look so out of place, that you can't help but stare.

BTW, the name of the file is "yum.jpg."

 

[Lisa]

No real significance. Really!

Just a picture that a rather interesting artist made by taking a picture of the old Sunbeam Bread girl, and using Photoshop to remove that piece of bread, and replace it with big ol' hairy spider.

When I first saw this photo, I didn't know whether to be fascinated at this unusual image, or to force myself to stop chuckling. After all, what child would be that gleefully chomping at an arachnid of that size? It's just one of those things that look so out of place, that you can't help but stare.

BTW, the name of the file is "yum.jpg."

Grenadier,

Your avatar, by far, is the most freaky one on MT. I really try and avert my eyes when I read your posts...but...but... I just can't help but look and that feeling of ....OMG...eewww...comes over me evertime...AAAAHHHHH!

 

[Flying Crane]

My Avatar is Leon, from the 1980s flick Bladerunner, with Harrison Ford. Leon is one of several androids gone AWOL, wreaking havoc on a futuristic Earth (Los Angeles, actually). Harrison Ford is a bounty hunter, tracking down the androids and "retiring" them.

The photo is from a scene where Leon is about to smash in Harrison Ford's skull, but just before he can do it he is shot by another android, who has fallen in love with Ford.

I just liked the movie, so I grabbed up the Avatar from the stock photos on Martialtalk.

A bunch of people have said that it creeps them out.

 

[terryl965]

Well mine is my wonderful wife and three great boys of ours. I'm just proud of the family so I use pics. of them mostly or students from my school.
Terry

 

[bluemtn]

My very first avatar on here is the one the site provides- that was so long ago, that I couldn't tell you which one it was. Like Kreth, I just like to play around and find images. More recently, I briefly had one of my dog, one of me, I had a few penguins on here (one I got when I wanted one from veggietales- still couldn't find a veg, though), and I've had a bunny with pancakes on it's head. This one I have now, I was doing a search on "funny avatars" and ran across this one.

 

[bluemtn]

No real significance. Really!

Just a picture that a rather interesting artist made by taking a picture of the old Sunbeam Bread girl, and using Photoshop to remove that piece of bread, and replace it with big ol' hairy spider.

When I first saw this photo, I didn't know whether to be fascinated at this unusual image, or to force myself to stop chuckling. After all, what child would be that gleefully chomping at an arachnid of that size? It's just one of those things that look so out of place, that you can't help but stare.

BTW, the name of the file is "yum.jpg."

I always wondered what was up with that! I kept asking myself, "why on earth is that girl eating a spider, and she's enjoying it?"

I was thinking of asking you about it, but never got around to it.

 

[bydand]

Mine is my 4 year old son pretending to train like Daddy. I took a few with the digital camera and this one was so darn cute that I had to run it through Photoshop and make an avatar out of it.

Thinking I may change it to one of all my boys. 2 have started their own training now and the other 2 are chomping at the bit to be old enough to try their hand at the MA's.

 

[stone_dragone]

My current school patch.

 

[celtic_crippler]

Self explanatory

 

[tradrockrat]

Mines a shot I took in Joshua Tree on a climbing trip a few years ago. I'm a big fan of traditional rock climbing - or "trad" climbing and my first internet name was tradrockrat - I use it for all of my name needs but it doesn't really make a lot of sense on a MA forum, so I put a pic up of a rock to help others figure it out.

 

[Zoran]

Mine is actually a mozilla from dmoz.org that I created some time ago for martial arts category (http://dmoz.org/Sports/Martial_Arts/) and gave it to the project to use.

Sort of a play on Z-Rex.

Here is a montage that I use for my profile there.