What's behind your Avatar?

[Silas (son of Silas)]

I've been a member of various forums for years, but the very first one I joined was a forum for fans of British horror films that I stumbled upon whilst stuck in bed with a bad back watching And now the Screaming Starts. One of the characters was called Silas the wood cutter and he says the line "My name is Silas, son of Silas" So that's the name I chose and it stuck.

The photo in the avatar really is me. I took it with my camera phone then tweaked it on the PC to be a little more suitable for a horror forum.

The name and the photo have stuck, so now I'm Silas on boating forums, a Whisky (no 'e' despite what the blasted spell check thinks, I'm British) forum, an MG owners forum, a pre-war car owners forum, a welding forum the list goes on...

So... the point of this thread is for you to maybe tell the story (if there is one) behind your online name and avatar, or maybe how/why you chose it. For those more daring maybe reveal who the 'real person' is behind the identity? Anyone willing to 'step up?'

Behind the creepy green photo and the odd name, my real name is Iain and I really look like this:
 

[Malenko]

name comes from Dean Malenko the wrassler' not Milenko the homoclown rapper from ICP.  My avatar picture changes on the regular, right now its Jago from KI2 because Im working on my KI2MAME, it used to be the red ring'ed xbox360 elite and before that I think it was my nephews playing my UMK3 machine

[Mauzy]

"Mauzy" is my last name (actually pronounced Mo-Zay). As for my avatar, it changes every few months. At one point I had a screen grab of my name and online status (only one person noticed something was weird), but that wouldn't match the new theme. My current is a character in the style of the Fallout 3 art. The pic is from the FalloutWiki.

[drventure]

I just settled on Dr Venture because

1) the show is cool (though it's gotten particularly odd this season)
2) The music is done by JG Thirlwell, otherwise know as Clint Ruin, etc etc and the man behind "Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel"....
     ....Halo Flaming Lead.... Great song!
3) that montage skull rocks
4) he can get away with wearing a full on 70's jumpsuit


I'd considered a variety of steampunk-esque nom de plumes, and almost went with "Dr Thadeus Pennywhistle and his "The Electro-Transformative Perceptuo-Emulatron", but decided the better of it and chose "The No18 Arqadium" instead.

[Ond]

My original avatar was taken from a scene in A Scanner Darkly, it's actually Robert Downey Jr in the image playing a real oddball in that film.  I'm big fan of the author of the book the film is based on (Philip K Dick) and of hacked and modded gizmos, PCs, electronics and retro stuff (see Brazil, Blade Runner other similar Sci-Fi films featuring resurrected or retro hardware for examples of that).

no longer used:



I'm messing with some new renderings based on my face which will form my new avatar (WIP).  Ond is simply a phonetic abbreviation nickname of my real name (Andre).

I'm a keen movie buff and have a moderate collection including Brit horror - mainly Hammer stuff.  Fav female vampires - Ingrid Pitt and Yutte Stensgaard (who else could compete with those two???  )

[Ed_McCarron]

A gray background.

[protokatie]

As far as where I got my avatar:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/37-Mailbag-Showdown
As far as the person who is behind it? You don't want to know, the less you know the better!! 

[drventure]

@protokatie

You could tell us, but you'd have to kill us? 

[RayB]

My nick is my nick.
My pic is "Albert" a Garfield rip-off I created in my teens.

[thatitalian]

The revolution is coming...

more to come on that one... 

[DaOld Man]

My Avatar is Benny B. Benny B was a cartoon maintenance man that I created when I got my first job as an industrial electrician. I modeled him after a mechanic I worked with who had a pointy nose and wore a little beeny type cap with a bib. (This was late 70's)
Benny B later became a sprite that I made for my commodore 64. I had a menu of games for the 64. Benny B' s sprite would move across the menu screen. The menu was aptly named "Benny B's Arcade".
I also based my first mame cabinet build on Benny B. It also was named "Benny B's Arcade."
About DaOld Man behind Benny B? Just another soul trying to make it through this maze called life.

[EightBySix]

Benny B later became a sprite that I made for my commodore 64.

Hands up who used to colour in graph paper to calculate the DATA statements for c64 sprites?

My avatar relates to the size of my shed workshop, that I work in. As for the hat, well who wouldn't want a pacman hat?

[Silas (son of Silas)]

My avatar relates to the size of my shed workshop, that I work in.

8x6... You just have to be based in the UK with those dimensions. I have to build in the house, and my house is only 21 bricks wide. Our American cousins don't know how good they've got it when it comes to space!

[Ginsu Victim]

My avatar is Roland Deschain, Stephen King's "Gunslinger" from the Dark Tower series (also featured in Marvel's Dark Tower series). The image is taken from the short story "Little Sisters of Eluria".

As for my name, it comes from a game of Quake I was playing with a friend modem-to-modem. I had a rocket launcher, he had an axe. He also had a faster computer than me, so that when he comes into the room, I start firing rockets which slows my system down enough for him to simply walk up and hack me to death with his axe.

I changed my name in-game to Ginsu Victim as a symbol of my shame, and it has stuck ever since. Ginsu Victim has the supposed "real name" of Jim Vincent, but my real name depends on who you ask.

[Hoopz]

As for my name, it comes from a game of Quake I was playing with a friend modem-to-modem. I had a rocket launcher, he had an axe. He also had a faster computer than me, so that when he comes into the room, I start firing rockets which slows my system down enough for him to simply walk up and hack me to death with his axe.

Dial up or null modem?  I remember lugging my pc, monitor, etc around so we could use a null modem to play.  Good times.

[Ginsu Victim]

Dial-up

[ChadTower]

I scraped out my initials with a mouse in MS Paint.  No more to it than that.

[drventure]

Yeah, but you got that scratchy "seven" vibe going....

[Ginsu Victim]

Yeah, but you got that scratchy "seven" vibe going....

And you've got a head in a box, so you too.

[Ginsu Victim]

You've actually kept the current one for quite a while, compared to how much you used to change them.

[LLUncoolJ]

I'm a Star Wars dork and I think the pic is hilarious. The name, if your can't figure it out, is a mash of the rapper LL Cool J, me being a dork (uncool) and the initial of first name (J). Although between you and me, I am actually super cool.

[RayB]

Hands up who used to colour in graph paper to calculate the DATA statements for c64 sprites?

*hand raised*

[Malenko]

I lifted mine from some dude here that went out in a blaze of dada glory.

If you'd like a history of my avatars on this forum, they may be found here:

http://www.subdural.com/~pbjim/avatar/

which one? I dont remember

[Level42]

Mine is a nixie tube. These tubes were used to display numbers (mostly) before LED's had arrived. They have been in production in the USSR very long because....well we all know why. I've got a box of them and am planning to build a clock out of them....once I get all my cabs restored....

Originally this GIF showed all numbers but Patrick was kind enough to mod it to only show the 4 and the 2.

Which of course refers to my nick Level 42, which is the name of my favorite band, not a certain level in a certain game as some may think.

The name of the band was first 88 (after a certain bus-line in London) , but there already was a band with that name. So they wanted 42, which is of course from the book The Hitchhiker's Guid To The Galaxy. In this book (which makes fun of the whole SF genre) there is a big computer that has only one purpose and that is to find out the meaning of life. In the end, the answer turns out to be 42.

They thought just 42 was too short as a band name, so they added "Level" to it.

[Fordman]

I work at Ford Motor Company and I believe in what we make and do every day!

Occasionally I take a ripping here on BYOAC, but its all good natured and I consider the sources from whom I'm getting ripped from!!

 

Fordman

[Level42]

Hey I think it's cool when someone is proud of his product and the company he works with. It's getting rare.

I've got a Ford.






A Fiesta (for the wife ). Like this, same color but then with 4 doors:

Bought it new about 8 years ago. Will drive it until it falls apart !

[wp34]

Hey I think it's cool when someone is proud of his product and the company he works with. It's getting rare.

I agree.  People are so cynical these days.  Particularly in corporate America.  Very refreshing.

Oh and ah... some of my best friends drive Fords.   

[Ummon]

As far as the person who is behind it? You don't want to know, the less you know the better!!  

Katie's just being a girl.....


Ginsu, why did you post the vid? I've never seen that movie, but I would've figured some similar relation....

As for the hat, well who wouldn't want a pacman hat?

Dude, that's not a hat. That's freakin helmet. Not that there's anything wrong with that....

...The Hitchhiker's Guid To The Galaxy. In this book (which makes fun of the whole Sci-Fi genre)

Fixed.


My username is google-worthy. I've rarely had an avatar, but the current one is described at the end of this post.

[hypernova]

Had a bunch of South Park guinea creatures, and a Chrono Trigger one before that.  Now it's my favorite scene from Dragonball Z, where the young Gohan single-handedly (literally) eliminates Cell.

[Ginsu Victim]

Ginsu, why did you post the vid? I've never seen that movie, but I would've figured some similar relation....

It's fourteen years old. I'm not posting a spoiler warning for a movie you should've already seen. Plus, right below the video it says "Se7en End Scene," so there's your warning.

[protokatie]

Hands up who used to colour in graph paper to calculate the DATA statements for c64 sprites?

*hand raised*

Seconded! I also had a C128D which had a sprite editor built in that made it much easier than using Data/Read/Poke for sets of 3 bytes to set one single line for one single sprite...

[AtomSmasher]

My real name is Adam and I used to have a few really geeky friends who liked to call each other by their online nick, so I came up with AtomSmasher in the hope that they would call me Atom.....they then started calling me Smasher.  I decided to keep the name regardless.

As for my avatar, it's from one of the funniest tv shows that ever was.

[hypernova]

[Ummon]

Ginsu, why did you post the vid? I've never seen that movie, but I would've figured some similar relation....

It's fourteen years old. I'm not posting a spoiler warning for a movie you should've already seen. Plus, right below the video it says "Se7en End Scene," so there's your warning.

No no, I've eschewed seeing it. I just thought it might be a little nsfw. Don't bother me none.

[gavkiwi]

mine is simple, I am from New Zealand, and my first name is Gavin, Gav for short

ppl from New Zealand are commonly known as 'kiwis' in various parts of the world, but rarely known as that here (in the US), kiwi is commonly thought of as a fuzzy little brown fruit or something added to juices for extra flavor lol

[ChadTower]

I just thought it might be a little nsfw. Don't bother me none.

Eschew with your mouth closed, please.  You're grossing people out.

[HaRuMaN]

CT's behind my current avatar...   

[Blanka]

Some friend wanted to MSN with me, and I needed a HOTMAIL account for it. I did not want to enter all the crap needed, so he gave me his spare Hotmail account. It had the name Blanka in it. Never had a clue who Blanka was. Until I started maming and played SF. So in a gamers forum, I decided to use the name Blanka as the screen name, and have a Blanka image as avatar. 

[ChadTower]

CT's behind my current avatar...   

Hey!

I don't start that many threads.   

[Vamp RN]

My name is derived from a "Nursing Satisfaction Survey" I had to take a few years back.  The entire test was multiple choice.  One of the questions was, "How often do you work night shift?"  One of the answers (the one I choose) was, "I carpool with Dracula."  Since then I have always gone by Vamp RN on for any online stuff I do.  I worked very hard to get my RN license and I am very proud of it.  As far as my avatar goes it's my avatar from X-Box live.  I made it look as much like me as I could, only the fatness bar won't go over far enough.   

[ark_ader]

I didn't really know where mine came from until a kind person from our BYOAC ( I was going to say member - but it didn't sound right) midst asked.

Its from a short firm called smile.



So watch it with the lights on.

Fear is for the weak......

[Epyx]

Hands up who used to colour in graph paper to calculate the DATA statements for c64 sprites?
*hand raised*

+1

Also and obvious to many is my avatar and online name since the BBS days is Epyx, a C64 game company.  They weren't my favourite (although I liked them) but as a teen the name just sounded cool and it has stuck ever since.

Plus "The Thinker" statue modified to show him holding a joystick was pure win at the time...

[Ed_McCarron]

CT's behind my current avatar...   

Hey!

I don't start that many threads.   

He just finishes them.

[Ummon]

CT's behind my current avatar...  

Hey!

I don't start that many threads.  

He just finishes them.

Off...   (He and I are in good company that way.)

Also and obvious to many is my avatar and online name since the BBS days is Epyx, a C64 game company.

Really?  I thought it was some anime or late-model console kiddie thing, especially given the pink-toned avatar that looks like a nike ad. Wowsers.

Some friend wanted to MSN with me, and I needed a HOTMAIL account for it. I did not want to enter all the crap needed, so he gave me his spare Hotmail account. It had the name Blanka in it. Never had a clue who Blanka was. Until I started maming and played SF. So in a gamers forum, I decided to use the name Blanka as the screen name, and have a Blanka image as avatar.  

.....   Really?  I thought you were some butch ---smurfette--- in Germany or something. (Oh gawd, ahm dyin! I'm not shitting you, though.)

[Level42]

Hands up who used to colour in graph paper to calculate the DATA statements for c64 sprites?
*hand raised*

+1

I had Atari 8 bit machines, we had software to do player-missile graphics as sprites were called on those machines.

[Level42]

Epyx, a C64 game company.

They weren't a "C64 game company". They released game for all popular platforms at the time. Temple of Apshai was available on TRS-80, AppleII and Atari 400/800 long before it was release on Vic-20 and C64.
Jumpman was developped for the Atari machines.

Loads of ports were made to other systems. For some strange reason there never was a port of Impossible Mission to the Atari 8 bit machines, but it was ported to the 7800.

The best game they ever made was for the hardware platform they (co)developped: The Atari Lynx. The game ? Chip's Challenge. One of the best games ever on any platform, but the Lynx version plays best IMHO.

Anyway, they were a cool company.

[Expressline99]

Hands up who used to colour in graph paper to calculate the DATA statements for c64 sprites?
*hand raised*

+1

+1 also on the sprites but I also had to make my own graph paper...(somehow I never bought any.)

Avatar...well I'm a sick Bas****!

 

[Epyx]

They weren't a "C64 game company". They released game for all popular platforms at the time. Temple of Apshai was available on TRS-80, AppleII and Atari 400/800 long before it was release on Vic-20 and C64.
Jumpman was developped for the Atari machines.

They WERE a C64 game company...just not ONLY a C64 gaming company. Their most successful platform was the C64.  My statement was factual...of course they developed for other platforms.

Temple of Apshai was one of my favourite games, although my favourite Epyx game was Gateway to Apshai...my first C64 game on a cartridge that I bought with the system...I also owned a Lynx.

Really?  I thought it was some anime or late-model console kiddie thing, especially given the pink-toned avatar that looks like a nike ad. Wowsers.

Sorry didn't realize you were in your late teens.

EDITED in case your response was tongue in cheek...but in all seriousness, they did exist and this was their logo and yes it has a tint of the pink but whatever...I like it I also happen to still enjoy Anime at age 37...its something I enjoy with my daughter, whether its Robotech or Death Note im a big kid at heart. 

I also like consoles but computers are/were my first/current favourites.  I like gaming in general...whether arcade/pen and paper/console (kiddie)/computer

[ChadTower]

Ed, man, you set me up for an Ummon shot!  What the hell was that?

 

[Epyx]

There

[CheffoJeffo]

Really?  I thought it was some anime or late-model console kiddie thing, especially given the pink-toned avatar that looks like a nike ad. Wowsers.

Sorry didn't realize you were in your late teens.

YMMD.

 

[HaRuMaN]

Helps to see that logo full size (and not squished vertically):

[HaRuMaN]

Really?  I thought it was some anime or late-model console kiddie thing, especially given the pink-toned avatar that looks like a nike ad. Wowsers.

Sorry didn't realize you were in your late teens.

Zing! 

[Zero_Hour]

They WERE a C64 game company...just not ONLY a C64 gaming company. Their most successful platform was the C64.  My statement was factual...of course they developed for other platforms.

Epyx was also much-loved by the C-64 crowd for the development of the FastLoad cartridge, which made the painfully slow 1541 floppy drive ALMOST tolerable. Their Joystick was pretty decent as well.

As for the original topic - My avatar is from the first i am 8-bit art show, a piece called "Duck Hunter S. Thompson". Since I'm a fan of video games and Thompson's writing, it seemed like a good fit.
My alias of Zero_Hour has been with me since I started playing Quake in grad school. There is absolutely no story behind it other than I liked the sound of it.

[Epyx]

Epyx was also much-loved by the C-64 crowd for the development of the FastLoad cartridge, which made the painfully slow 1541 floppy drive ALMOST tolerable. Their Joystick was pretty decent as well.

I still have my original Fastload cart and your right ALMOST tolerable

My avatar is from the first i am 8-bit art show, a piece called "Duck Hunter S. Thompson". Since I'm a fan of video games and Thompson's writing

[RayB]

I was also going to chide Ummon for losing a bit of retro gamer street cred with his response, but I'm pretty sure he was just being sarcastic.
 

[DaOld Man]

Helps to see that logo full size (and not squished vertically):

That kinda looks like he's playing with something else.

[Epyx]

That kinda looks like he's playing with something else.

Aye a golden shaft
 

[Expressline99]

I loved/love my C64 and TRS-80...and vic-20...and original pong console... I think I have temple of apshai on cassette somewhere still.
Perhaps, even on cart.


Epyx great avatar.

[Ummon]

Ed, man, you set me up for an Ummon shot!  What the hell was that?

 

E-hehn-hehn-hehn-hehn-hehn-hehn.....Yeaaahhh. Gooood tiiiimes.


Epyx: no, I was serious, dude. I also sometimes suffer from glancing at something and not picking out its details due to what it seems to be. It does help to see it at a larger size.

RayB: alas, I didn't earn that credit, man. I wasn't hot on consoles, and computers were a bunch of work. I actually did do a {ADMITTEDLY VERY MINOR} coding project in Computer Intro! on my Odyssey2 in fifth or sixth grade. I think it worked....but it was so much 'work', I stopped there and went outside an played.

[Ed_McCarron]

Ed, man, you set me up for an Ummon shot!  What the hell was that?

 

Sorry, I just lobbed the softball.  Not my fault someone actually hit it. 

[Knave Jack]

My avatar is a picture of one of the kittens at christmas. He was seriously not amused with the bow, but it made a great picture.
My wife breeds cats, so we have a never ending supply of "CUTE!" pictures. I liked that this was more annoyance than cuteness.
I will start cycling avatars as soon as I find something I like better.
As for the nick, its simply the name I use when I play a game on line. Its easy to remember, and has nothing in common with my real name. Its nice to be someone else once in a while.
KJ

[Ummon]

Breed kittens??  Dude, give 'em space and a little food and they breed quite fine on their own.

[Knave Jack]

Weeeeel, that is true, but you dont want them breeding with each other. You run into some real problems with inbreeding. Not to mention we dont want a continuous supply of kittens. The economy is a bit too tight to be able to sell too many of them. It is nice to have them around the house though. Fun to watch them play.

[Ryglore]

My name is actually a name of a character I created when I was playing the RuneQuest RPG is used to play when I was younger. It pretty much stuck as a user name when I started playing online games and needed a unique player name. So there's that.

As for the avatar picture, it's an vectored cartoon drawing (Some how it unintentionally looks like myself) which I drew freehand and then rendered in Illustrator. Before that I used this:



It's a screen capture of Master-D's head exploding at the end of Bionic Commando: REarmed.

[danny_galaga]

A gray background.

My real name is Adam and I used to have a few really geeky friends who liked to call each other by their online nick, so I came up with AtomSmasher in the hope that they would call me Atom.....they then started calling me Smasher.  I decided to keep the name regardless.

As for my avatar, it's from one of the funniest tv shows that ever was.

Monty Python?

Ark, i was wondering about your avatar. I thought it must be a Chris Cunningham thing. Creepy.

I've had this avatar the longest. A friend found it for me when i became a postman a couple of years ago...

[dieseldogpi]

Figured I'd chime in.  The screen name is from my dog, Felix, he's an english mastiff and weighs about 200lbs, some friends have called him diesel dog on occasion. The pi comes from the fact that I used to work as a private investigator for a short time before I was a CPA.  The avatar comes from the fact that I am now a CPA. 

Oh and Atomsmasher...big fan of your avatar, crack up every time I see it.  Miss that show.

[DashRendar]

My avatar is a picture of Dash Rendar, a character from the Star Wars expanded universe (ie, from the books and games, not movies).

Dash Rendar was a Corellian smuggler and freelancer. He was an ace Imperial pilot of the Imperial Academy until the Rendar family was banished from the galaxy by Emperor Palpatine due to a freighter accident. Captain of the Outrider, Rendar eventually joined the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Battle of Hoth. He would assist the Alliance in deposing Black Sun, acting as Luke Skywalker's bodyguard and a spy, until his apparent "death" during the Battle of Falleen's Fist.

So he was a non-mainstream Han Solo-type character.  In the books, he played a big part in a lot of key struggles against the Empire.

I chose the name a little over 10 years ago, when I was working in a modding community of the Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance game.  (I created 3D models of almost all of the smuggler ships and had them available for download to be flown in X-Wing Alliance).  All of the main characters were already taken, so my identity on our forums, internet play, etc was Dash Rendar.

I think my avatar is from a Star Wars card set that had each of the characters.

[RobbyMac]

It's Howard the Duck... from the comic (No NOT the movie) back in the day.
Twas my first online handle back in the days of 300 baud acoustic modems and BBS's.

I look almost exactly like himm except I don't have a bill, I don't wear a hat or white golves, I don't have a blue suit (and when I do I wear pants with it) and I'm alot taller.

[Ummon]

Weeeeel, that is true, but you dont want them breeding with each other. You run into some real problems with inbreeding. Not to mention we dont want a continuous supply of kittens. The economy is a bit too tight to be able to sell too many of them. It is nice to have them around the house though. Fun to watch them play.

Mmm, I lvoes kitties. As long as they're not mine.

The avatar comes from the fact that I am now a CPA.  

.....maybe it's a little visually gratuitous......

[CheffoJeffo]

Mmm, I lvoes kitties. As long as they're not mine.

Did you mean "loves" ?

[Bones]

Me. 

[Frigo]

The name was a nickname that I've had since high school. My buddy and I were driving home from somewhere one afternoon (probably a movie), and we were flipping through the radio stations and came across a smooth jazz station. Without missing a beat, my buddy started acting like this uber-sleazy guy who called me Frigo. The name stuck after that.

The avatar is from a webtoon called "Rejected." It's supposedly about this cartoonist who submitted some animation for "The Learning Channel" but his work was turned down. The cartoons get progressively stranger and stranger until... well... check it out (EDIT: May be NSFW):



Anyway, I always seemed to identify with the picture in my avatar. So there you go.

[ChadTower]

My avatar is a picture of Dash Rendar, a character from the Star Wars expanded universe (ie, from the books and games, not movies).

I've read 95% of the books and have never heard of Dash Rendar.  Must just be the games.   

[Ryglore]

My avatar is a picture of Dash Rendar, a character from the Star Wars expanded universe (ie, from the books and games, not movies).

I've read 95% of the books and have never heard of Dash Rendar.  Must just be the games.   

Did you read Shadows of the Empire? Take place between Empire and Jedi, ha. Dash is a key player in that book, and the main character of the N64 game of the same name. 

[ChadTower]

Did you read Shadows of the Empire? Take place between Empire and Jedi, ha. Dash is a key player in that book, and the main character of the N64 game of the same name.  

I did.  Read that when it first came out, though, and the events are pretty isolated.  I'll have a peek at it when I get home.  Didn't play through that N64 game.  

All I seem to remember off the top of my head from that particular book is the showdown between Vader and Xizor.

[Ryglore]

Actually now that I think of it. The way Shadows was set up was that the book, N64 game and comics were all telling different sections of the story.

from wiki:

The main story is told by the novel written by Steve Perry, the comic series by Dark Horse, and the Nintendo 64/PC game. Each is designed to tell one part of the overall story; the story is complete only when all three venues are explored. The novel tells the overall story, focusing on the main characters. The comic book series focuses on bounty hunter Boba Fett's battle to keep possession of the frozen Han Solo. The video game allows players to control new character Dash Rendar, whose adventures in the game weave in and out of the overall storyline. All the while, a battle for the life of Luke Skywalker takes place between Darth Vader and Prince Xizor, as each tries to please Emperor Palpatine.

Anyway, I'll let everyone get back on topic.

[ChadTower]

Well that would certainly explain why I don't recognize the name. 

Never could find time to both read the books and finish the games.

[Ummon]

The avatar is from a webtoon called "Rejected." It's supposedly about this cartoonist who submitted some animation for "The Learning Channel" but his work was turned down. The cartoons get progressively stranger and stranger until... well... check it out (EDIT: May be NSFW)

....that's gotta be a ---smurfing--- joke. At some level, jesus.

[DashRendar]

Well that would certainly explain why I don't recognize the name. 

Never could find time to both read the books and finish the games.

Dash Rendar appearances:   

    * "All the Extras" - Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook
    * Star Wars: Holostar
    * Rebel Dawn
    * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns (Appears only in non-storyline event)
    * Galaxy of Fear: The Doomsday Ship
    * Lando Calrissian: Idiot's Array (Mentioned only)
    * Star Wars: X-wing Alliance
    * Shadows of the Empire video game
    * Shadows of the Empire novel (First appearance)
    * Shadows of the Empire comic
    * Shadows of the Empire Kenner Special
    * Shadows of the Empire Galoob Micro-Machines Mini-Comic
    * Shadows of the Empire AMT/ERTL Model Kit Mini-Comic
    * Shadows of the Empire: Evolution
    * "Or Die Trying" - Star Wars Insider 75 (Mentioned only)

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dash_Rendar

[DaOld Man]

 

[Frigo]

The avatar is from a webtoon called "Rejected." It's supposedly about this cartoonist who submitted some animation for "The Learning Channel" but his work was turned down. The cartoons get progressively stranger and stranger until... well... check it out (EDIT: May be NSFW)

....that's gotta be a ---smurfing--- joke. At some level, jesus.

Haha, yeah, I believe it is a joke. Still, it makes me smile whenever I'm feeling down.

[ChadTower]

Dash Rendar appearances: 

That actually makes sense.  Only two of those appear to be real novels.  The synopsis of one of them says he was only briefly mentioned.  The other is one I didn't pay a ton of attention to when I read it years ago because it was mostly a vehicle for the game that released along with it.  I never got into the comics, games, or anything other than the novels.  I'm only a passing fan of the movies if I'm honest about it.

[DashRendar]

Yep.  Like I was saying, I was part of a modding community for the X-Wing Alliance game about a decade ago.

Had to find an identity/avatar that wasn't taken, and thought Dash sounded cool.  Around that time is when the Shadows of the Empire game came out, so it seemed like a good fit.   

[Namco]

Somewhere around 2000 I was really into Tekken, Soul Calibur, and Ridge Racer. At the time my buddy, with whom I would spend hours playing Tekken Tag, wanted me to get on IRC so we could chat while I was at work. Well my online persona was "gamehulk" back then, an 8-character compound word that I thought sounded cool back in 1996 to use as my email, but seemed way too lame to use on hardcore IRC channels. Since I was so into those Namco games Tekken, Soul Calibur, and Ridge Racer, and I absolutely LOVED Namco's early arcade classics and was reliving the experience in this new application called MAME, I decided to call myself Namco.

As for the avatar, it's part of an image from Starcraft 2. I clipped it from the Blizzcon 2009 promotional website. I change avatars every so often. I may change it back to the "Made By Namco" avatar I had before, the secret easter egg in Pac-Man.

[NIVO]

a cat.

[garnerb350]

My avatar is a illustration from an artist by the name of Travis Pitts. The name of it is called "Mission of Madness 6"... But if you look closely...its justa representation of Pac-Man. Pac-Man and Adventure (Atari 2600) were the first "video games" I  played growing up (back in 80-81) and what introduced me into Arcades, gaming etc. When i first started using this avatar, somebody here on the forum asked me if i knew the story of this illustration. He/She showed it to me & when i read it, I couldnt stop laughing. I was blown away by it's "awesome-ness". Since then I've alway kept it.


In 1976, Cosmonaut Nikolai Peckmann was sent alone to an orbiting space station for what would be called Mission Six- to study the radiation levels and strange circumstances that killed all four crewmen of the last research mission.
By the third day, Peckmann's broken transmissions were coming back to ground control filled with increasing paranoia and delusion. He claimed that the spirits of the dead cosmonauts were coming to claim him, and that he had to keep moving to evade them. He shouted that if he could capture consume these spirits himself while he still had strength, he could move to the next level of consciousness...Truly the rantings of an insane man.
Indeed, video recovered later would show Peckmann running around the confined but maze-like station, downing emergency sedatives like a madman....pausing in a corner momentarily, only to throw back vitamin pills and give chase to his invisible demons.
He had exhausted the entire cargo of vitamins, pills, and fresh fruit well ahead of schedule. There was no way another crew could be assembled to rescue him before he starved. After one rather violently garbled transmission, the static cleared and the last live image on record is that of Peckmann's empty, wilted spacesuit on the cabin floor.
It was determined that another mission to recover any remains or gather any more research would be a waste of the people's money, and the station was allowed to drift out of orbit and into space- a failure never to be mentioned again. It was ordered and assumed that all video and paper evidence had been destroyed.

..then, at the dawn of the eighties, a fledgling arcade game company called NAMCO would stumble across the transcripts of these events, and the rest -as they say- is history.

As for the name, its the usual last name , first inital...350 is the engine in my 72 Chevelle I drove back in highschool.

[MaineEvent]

Mine represents how I feel about my monitor that I can't seem to fix completely..... Lately I have been hijacking my bedroom LCD, throwing on top of the useless cold black monitor and connecting it using the VGA on the PCB *sigh*



I feel like if I just pry out the old monitor and replace it with an LCD it will ruin the classic 80's feel (I honestly love my woodgrain tak-paper paneling)

[jukingeo]

I didn't really know where mine came from until a kind person from our BYOAC ( I was going to say member - but it didn't sound right) midst asked.

Its from a short firm called smile.



So watch it with the lights on.

Fear is for the weak......

Way cool!  Nice find! As I said in my other thread, this would be something great to add to a haunt for Halloween.

It's better with the lights OFF!

Geo