# (Mis)identify someone else's SDMB avatar **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 21, 2023, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129 "2023-02-21T10:23:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/1 "2023-02-21T10:23:59Z")
Select one or two fellow Dopers who use an avatar on this site—the more obscure the image, the better. **_(No picking yourself!)_** Then show off your smarts by identifying the subject of the image. Or alternatively, come up with a humorous misinterpretation of it. - @Frodo uses an image of Frodo Baggins from _J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I_, a 1990 role-playing computer game by Interplay. This I know because I used to play the game incessantly, though it was too difficult for my seventh-grade self, and I never succeeded in making it out of the Shire. - @Northern_Piper is clearly a green sperm whale receiving acupuncture. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/2 "2023-02-21T18:10:52Z")
For a long time I thought @ParallelLines’ avatar was that of a campfire, but it’s actually the face of some hideous frog-like creature with Yosemite Sam eyebrows. > **[@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parallellines/summary)** > > Long-time (@ 20 years) lurker on the Straightdope and boards, who was once honored by having Dex respond to a suggestion of a topic for Cecil (which sadly never happened). > Lawful Neutral, Fiscally Responsible, Social liberal, bel… ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/3 "2023-02-21T19:36:23Z")
Hell, I thought it was a 'bot from, “Futurama.” ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/4 "2023-02-21T21:53:51Z")
Heh. I have mentioned what/who it is in a couple of threads, most recently the Cat Avatar one I believe, but it is certainly somewhat obscure. I’ll give a hint if you don’t want to look up other threads: the eyebrows are actual flame! My favorite identified avatars are of course, @Johnny_Bravo, although it could be some weird triangle torso alien from Planet HairGel9. My next semi-obscure identification would be @silenus, with their OotS “Thing in Darkness”. My favorite mis-identified avatar is @Northern_Piper, although I belong to the mutant hummingbird/mosquito hybrid faction. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/5 "2023-02-21T22:22:25Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > @Frodo uses an image of Frodo Baggins from _J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I_, a 1990 role-playing computer game by Interplay. This I know because I used to play the game incessantly, though it was too difficult for my seventh-grade self, and I never succeeded in making it out of the Shire. Exactly!, it was the first thing that came to mind when avatars were enabled, I played the game incessantly too, but I was 15, (and reading LOTR more or less at the same time). I had trouble moving pass Rivendel, but because you needed the game manual (I had adquired the game through thorougly argentinian means and thus did not have the manual) to see what they were saying when they asked “Are you going to carry the ring Y/N?”, and didn’t know I had to press “Y”. (the game just said “read paragraph xx in page xy”) I finally solved the puzzle by pressing each key in sucession until the game let me continue the Quest, thankfully the Y letter is before the N in QUERTY keyboards. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/6 "2023-02-21T22:34:16Z")
@solost’s avatar is clearly the sign from a men’s room door, but cropped. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2023, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/7 "2023-02-21T22:38:25Z")
@rat_avatar’s avatar is very clearly a rat hiding behind a spherical cow. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2023, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/8 "2023-02-22T00:59:22Z")
I appreciate @Shoeless’ avatar, which is the cover from Joe Jackson’s _Look Sharp_ album. You have to both know the album and know who Shoeless Joe Jackson is to understand the significance. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2023, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/9 "2023-02-22T06:28:45Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > My next semi-obscure identification would be @silenus, with their OotS “Thing in Darkness”. No, @silenus’s avatar is a piece of salmon sushi roll. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2023, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/10 "2023-02-22T07:01:59Z")
I always think @DavidNRockies has an avatar of a stack of pancakes. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2023, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/11 "2023-02-22T10:38:01Z")
@Smapti’s avatar is clearly a photo of Pete Buttigieg during his “wild years”. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2023, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/12 "2023-02-22T14:18:32Z")
Oh, oG. Now I want pancakes. If the roads weren’t so icy and the weather so bad (you know what I’m talking about), I’d throw FlapJack in the car and head for IHOP. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/13 "2023-02-23T13:25:32Z")
How about all the avatars that are actually famous people? Sometimes it’s hard to tell since they are so small, but off the top of my head I think I’ve identified: @Whack-a-Mole = Hunter S. Thompson? @Lucas_Jackson = Paul Newman in ‘Cool Hand Luke’ @Euphonious_Polemic = Richard Feynman @slicedalone = Sly Stallone (nice pun handle) @Gyrate = Vincent Van Gogh’s skeleton @nelliebly = the avatar is familiar, can’t quite place the name though… ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/14 "2023-02-23T13:28:49Z")
> [@solost](#): > > @Whack-a-Mole = Hunter S. Thompson? Can confirm it’s Hunter S. Thompson, one of my friends in Facebook has the same avatar and I always get confused when I see @Whack-a-Mole’s posts: “What’s Horacio doing in the Straight Dope?” ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/15 "2023-02-23T14:29:56Z")
> [@solost](#): > > @Gyrate = Vincent Van Gogh’s skeleton Well, not _his_ skeleton. Just one he painted. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/16 "2023-02-23T14:31:14Z")
Eh, close enough. I imagine he painted it with his own mortality in mind (self-portrait of the artist as a skeleton?). ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/17 "2023-02-23T14:33:56Z")
It’s a student piece, and a bit of a joke on his part. Drawing skeletons was standard art practice (and still is - my daughter’s doing them in her art classes now). The cigarette, however, is not. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/18 "2023-02-23T14:37:01Z")
Skeletons are fun to draw. I’m a bit of an artist, and I drew my share of skeletons just for fun as a kid. Grim Reapers were my specialty. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/19 "2023-02-23T15:26:59Z")
I’ve always loved that movie mostly because of his character. I like the anti-hero - The Hustler, Taxi Driver… Hmmm, maybe I’ll start a thread. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129/20 "2023-02-23T15:27:48Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > No, @silenus’s avatar is a piece of salmon sushi roll. I always thought it was Schleprock. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-identify-someone-elses-sdmb-avatar/980129.md?page=2)