How long have you had the same avatar?

I personally used to go through avatars pretty regularly on this site. Below are all the avatars I used in the period between September 2011 and July 2013. I always looked for something I could keep as a regular avatar but at the end of the day none of them felt right. I thought I finally had something with Lichtenstein's Half Face with Collar and I was able to slightly tweak it for Halloween and Christmas but after that I eventually got tired of looking at it and wanted something new.

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However, in July of 2013, after the hype of E3 and the "next gen" consoles had died down I came to the realization that Nintendo had the best games coming out that year and their future was looking much more interesting. I decided it was time for a new avatar, but this time I was in the mood for something Nintendo related. Not only that, but I wanted something that I could easily tweak so that I could slightly modify it if I got bored but still keep the core image the same. I also wanted it to be orange because orange is an awesome color. With Pokemon X and Y coming soon I decided I would look for an awesome Charizard picture since he is the best Pokeman and ended up finding this snazzy looking one on Society Six by David Thomas. Depending on how you define "same avatar" I have been using the same one for either one year or less than a month.

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So how long have you duders used the same avatar? How often do you change it and why?

A little over four years. I made the change once, because what I had was just a shot from a Shaun of the Dead poster. Don't get me wrong, I love Shaun of the Dead, but I wanted something more personal - something only I had. I was a little concerned people would forget who I was when I changed, and the community was a little more tight-knit back then, so I made a little blog announcing it even. I don't think I'll ever make a jarring change to this one. But I have thought about updating it with more better art. It looks fine as an avatar, but up close it's pretty rough.

The site says I uploaded my current avatar on Feb 26 2009, so over five years now. Before that I had a Guybrush Threepwood avatar. I would post it here but with over 1800 images in my gallery it would take forever to find. People know me by my avatar so I'm reluctant to change it.

I think I've used three avatars since I started using gamespot forums in 2005 or 2006. Used to be a Rockstar Games logo, then I don't remember what the second one was. It seems that gamespot has reset me to the default avatar at some point. Now I use a picture of me taken shortly before my grandfather's funeral. I guess on some other sites I use a similar one taken of me shortly before a friend's wedding but the angles and the lighting aren't as good.

for-ev-er.

I get bored of my avatars pretty quickly so they don't usually last me long, maybe 6 months at most.

I used to go through avatars on a regular basis, but then I was charmed by AJ's wonderful smile.

Since I first joined GB in 2009.

Since about this time last year :-(

Around a year now. :(

I've had Lou Reed ever since I've been on here. It's just a cool dude. I use a picture of Peter Kropotkin on another couple of sites for similar reasons, he just looks bitchin'. Plus on the rare occasions someone goes "hey, that's Kropotkin!" it makes me feel warm inside.

Actually I may have used my favourite Muppet, Floyd Pepper, on here as an av for a while.

EDIT: No, I checked, Lou Reed is it.

The ones I've used here have only been 4 over the course of all the years I've been here. Which is a surprisingly small amount since I probably would have had a new one every month in previous places. Or maybe I've just found avatars for myself to be less important to change all that much. But whatever, aside from the skull I have now (it's from a photo I've taken), I've only used these three;

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As to why I change, probably for the same reason I decide to cut my hair. It's one of those things that you see and go; "Man, fuck this haircut." But until that point I don't actually give it too much thought.

I've had a couple but the vast majority of the time I've used the Rainbow Dash salute one, so almost for three years I guess.

Never changed it. People shouldn't change them

I've had mine since I made my account back in 2011. I didn't start posting a lot here till a year later. Although I've kept the same avatar (Sinatratar), I've made slight variations on occasion.

I uploaded this avatar October 2009. So that long.

August 2008. I briefly switched to a Dave tribute one when he left but promptly switched back.

A few months now, I cycle between different Kirby pictures.

Think I've changed mine once since 2009 or 2010.

since the website started.

Used to have the album art for Slough Feg's "Traveller" as an avatar for a couple of years.

Changed it to an image of Megadeth's mascot, Vic Rattlehead, and kept it for a while longer (with an added Santa hat for Christmas)

My newest one I changed during Rorie's "Puppy Chat" live show, my dog, and it's been that since. Don't see myself changing it anytime soon, especially since he recently passed away, so now it's kind of my tribute to him on my favorite website.

Since day 1 I joined here.

Since the beginning of this year I believe. I rocked a different Felicia avatar (with much, much less boobage) for a while before this though. Think I had that one for a few years, maybe. I'm not even sure to be honest.

I've just been using the default. I know it's kinda lame but nothing seems as cool as a bomb with a devilish grin on it's face.

@darthorange: Nintendo coming out with the best games.. Charizard the best Pokemon..

so many fallacies in this thread

I may or may not have been born with my avatar.

I think slight changes are okay (like adding hats or whatnot), but it gets confusing when people change their avatar to something completely different.

I think it's been around 2 years now.

Yup

I quote...

http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/fattony12000/blog/fatbomb-follow-your-bliss/102132/#comments-block

@development said:

I may have asked you this before, but is your avatar pic Peter Greene's character from "The Mask?" If not, it's uncanny.

Also, nice heartfelt post. Also, Google+ told me it's your birthday, so: happy birthday!

I can't recall if you've ever asked me that before, to my knowledge only @snide has ever paid enough attention to me to bother asking that question. My apologies to you if I'm not remembering your asking that selfsame question.

In all actuality it's a crop I made of a portrait of Max Oppenheimer, as painted in watercolours by Egon Schiele in 1910. Yeah, I'm keeping this web shit fresh since day. Whilst we're all here and sharing the very deepest of secrets about our avatars, here's A Brief History of Mine:

The 2nd of October, 2006

I bought the mighty Xbox Live Vision camera, primarily for use with Uno and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas, but also for the purposes of taking a sick snap of a real world object for use as my Gamerpic (that was/is the shitty term for them, wasn't it?). I will provide a high quality 1080p screencap of the aforementioned Gamerpic®™© later this very day.

The somethingth of June, 2010

My first post upon the boards of Giant Bomb dot com, an act which heralded the introduction of a never-before-seen image for use as my digital webitar:

Some time last year? 2012?

The hottest and latest revision of my avatar, details of which you can read up above, right there in that first bit. Yeah, there. Even though you're down here reading this right now, there's pretty much nothing for you here. So. Yeah.

I played through Red Alert 3 last autumn or winter, I think. Whenever that was, I changed it from my previous avatar, which I'd had since I played Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

The way the new image galleries work makes it really hard to go back and check when I uploaded my current Johnny Mnemonic avatar. I'd guess it was about this time last year. I know that when I signed up on this site I used a Persona 2 avatar, I don't remember if I used any others inbetween.

As for why I changed it, I was just really happy to see the resurgence of the virtual reality craze of the mid 90's.

A few days. I get tired of my avatars relatively quickly, and I had my last one for a little over a year (new record for me, I believe), so it had to go.

I'll probably stick with the Freddy theme from now on, though.

I first started using this avatar on Giant Bomb in January of 2013, though I did switch it for a brief period for Mega Blastoise last year. I think I'll keep this one from now on, only putting on the Santa hat during holidays.

Since I've joined a few years ago, I've always used the Dance Commander. When Ryan passed, I changed it to him.

About a couple of weeks ago, I noticed another GB forum member using the same Dance Commander image as their avatar. It's probably a big coincidence, but I'm not sure how to feel cuz that's always been my avatar. Silly, I know...

A year or so, and I will probably change it when good shots of the new Kamen Rider come out. Gaim is cool but none of them look great.

I've been using this for probably two years? I only ever had one other mainstay avatar (I'd post it for reference, but the image insert feature for past images has a broken-ass loading time) before, but this one is cute and now I've kinda adopted it everywhere, including my phone and desktop wallpaper.

It's been a while.

I think I have used the same avatar since the beginning.

I've had two avatars I've used I think for the majority of my time here.

I've used this NHL 94 one for a couple years and prior to that I used the U2 Rattle and Hum album cover. Although, I've gotten in to the habit of always looking to change it, but then change my mind.

I've had this one since 2012. Before that I had an image of Ulquiorra from Bleach which was what I had when I joined in 2010.

Just over a year now. It's from a QOTSA video, and I like it a lot still. It's not a super obvious reference which I like.

Before that I had a black and white pic that I made years ago and Homme when I first joined.

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Just added Christmas hats now and then. Otherwise I see no reason to change from the Cyborg Ninja.

Over 9,000

About 7-8 months now?

Not counting the Santa-hatified holiday version, I haven't changed mine since I joined the site.

Ever since I first joined, whenever that was. It was around the time this site was first made.

I've been using the same avatar since the site launched back in 2008.

I've only had four or five in the past few years.

This thread made me realize it was time to change my picture of Ryan which I had for a year now. This is my original avatar.

I've used this one for 3 or so years, I have multiple versions that are festive for some holidays.