Are you "Comfortable" with your avatar?

I despise child AVs as much as the next person who despises them... O.o

... but lets keep that discussion in its thread, and not this one.

This thread was about feeling comfort in OUR OWN avatars, not about how we feel about other people's avatars.

Unrelated topic discussion is that way ------------------------------------------>

Typically, I just walk away from ugly. But for some reason, the tone of the response I got just made me have to respond. I've been online since the late 80s. I have seen exactly what they are saying. I just hate it when 'those in the know' try to shut down newbies in that manner.



Typical in this type of forum ... landmines, I mean.

And I'm sorry for the hijack of the thread.

My avatar is short and on the chubby side, and I'm very happy with that. It feels much more "real" and comfortable to me instead of having an avatar that looks like a barbie doll or a supermodel.

One thing I've not really settled on yet is any sort of style. I'm wavering at the moment between diesel-dyke and punk-chick.

Suggest punk. Diesel dyke is kinda trucked out donchathink? Punk's always good. Dont be too anti-bod. Short and chubby can be sexy and sassy - unless youre a beach ball.

My avi is something of a joke, if not the latest iteration of a running gag I've spanned for quite some time. Maschinen Gavenkrantz is pretty much, for lack of a better term, a Mecha Musume "Trap", just like Panzer Len Kagamine (custom avatar model I had commissioned for Unreal Tournament 2004; Already released) and Karl-Gerat Boy (custom avatar/NPC/ragdoll model I'm currently having commissioned for Garry's Mod 10; Still not finished).

Maschinen uses the Bridget (Guilty Gear) body shape, face, and hair to give that look that makes peeps go o.O . The outfit is primarily a Serafuku and Buruma (respectively, Japanese schoolgirl class uniform shirt and PE shorts...that look too much like underwear to be shorts) over a long-sleeved leotard for maximum lulz and o.O-inducement. To fulfill the Mecha Musume qualification, he has ION mecha leg parts replacing his lower legs and, because it's not Mecha Musume without weapons, Maschinen carries a DE256 Minigun with him (which I had to reposition as the massive 6-barreled rotary machine gun was just so huge).

At the moment, my avi's pretty much complete asides from the lack of World War II-styled Mecha Musume leg parts (Ex: The Tiger-I Girl as seen in this pic--http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/613/1196353986123cc6.jpg). I'm still surprised that peeps have been able to figure out that Maschinen is male despite not everyone I know being a gaming addict and so far, my avi's been a success which I'm happy with. XD

I know it might seem that way to you, but it's not. We're actually a very open bunch. But when we say something along the lines of "please don't go down that road", it is not us trying to be exclusionary. It is battle-worn-and-scarred veterans just trying to warn you that the topic you are invoking is extremely inflammatory, it *will* explode, and that you and everyone else around here *will* get flambéed. So if you see a bunch of us here with scorched skin, singed hair, and missing eyebrows asking - no, begging - you to *please* don't strike that match, you should take notice.

I'll try this one more time. Your intent isn't at question. As I said in one of my earlier posts, I've been on the interwebz since the late 80s, well before most of the general public had even heard of it - and while many here were still in diapers. I know how these things work. I'm not saying you (general 'you') ARE exclusionary. I'm saying that by posting that sort of thing, the message that noobs get is that you are exlusionary and they aren't welcome. My comment was very generic and answered the question that was just a few posts above me very specifically and simply. I wasn't the only one to post about child avs, but mine was the most recent. So someone responded to my post saying, 'don't go there'. My point is, had I been a noob who didn't know how things worked, I may have taken the post personally and felt that I was being excluded or singled out. You (general 'you', again) may in fact be a very open bunch. But the noob that message could have been posted to, and other noobs who read it and didn't post because of it, don't think so.

And the next thing you know, you will have had a long lingering death by cancer wished upon you, and public requests will have been made that others should not quote you so that those who had you on ignore would not have to see what you posted.

Pep (How *dare* you offer your opinion in a response in Residents Answers; what do you think the name of the forum means? )

I didn't say you did; I did say not to talk about it here *because* it's been argued to death.

Fair enough; try searching "ageplay". It's a rat-hole subject, a bit outside the focus of this thread. I'd hate to see it spiral down into another sinkhole where people who will never reconcile argue endlessly, get personal, and generally ruin the thread for polite, amusing conversation. I'm sure that wasn't your intention.

My reply to your post was intended as a word to the wise, nothing more.

And I should have said "please".

Hey Pep, you know how you are?


Well ...




Don't be that way!

Thanks Lear . . .

Pep ( . . . but even my mother has given up trying to get me to take advice. )

..well, that, and it is prudent to run away if I start to sneeze, especially in the powder magazine. <.<

Why worry about whether newbies see us as exclusionary when they have to wade through crap like this?

I like that I look good in anything. heh.

I'm pretty sure my point was made. Unfortunately, the responses have been as expected. I'll be sure to remember the next time I have a question to go read the wiki. I'm pretty sure I have the intelligence to just figure it out. Since you're all such a helpful bunch and all.

Your opthalmologist called.

Pep (You desperately need your prescription changed.)

No wonder you can't fix your own sink. Your depth perception is all shot. =^-^=