Well, it's been a while since this thread was updated, but I don't think I ever mentioned how or why I pick what avatars I use, and I change them once a year. (Just changed mine today, in fact.) I usually try to find something that not only shows some things I like, but is some kind of a mashup, so it captures the spirit of fan editing.
In late 2011/2012, I showed an illustration of
Bill & Ted coming out of the phone booth and being surrounded by Daleks.
In 2013, I used an image of Merlin from Disney's
Sword in the Stone as he instructs his apprentice Wart on how to use a lightsaber.
In 2014, I used a Photoshopped image of Sam Beckett of
Quantum Leap fame hanging out with the Seventh Doctor from
Doctor Who.
In 2015, I used a fan-created poster for
The Force Awakens.
This year is the 50th anniversary of both
The Monkees and
Star Trek. I looked for some weird image that would combine the two, but I couldn't find any. So instead I used this Photoshopped image done by a brilliant artist I know from another forum. It's a picture of the final album before the official group breakup, aptly titled
Changes, at which point only Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz were still part of the group. However, there were still unsued Mike Nesmith songs in the can, and the cover image was actually taken from a picture that originally included Mike.
The forum user re-inserted Mike into the picture, and then she created a new track listing with Mike songs to make a better album. She also altered the back cover and the track listing accordingly. Then she burned the playlist to a CD, she printed out a hard copy of the images to make a CD case (that feels like a record cover), and she has this (and other edited albums) sitting on her shelf.
If that doesn't encapsulate the spirit of fan editing, I don't know what does.
Here's the original cover for comparison purposes: