ELI5: BadassBuddy.com

Welcome to BadassBuddy.com - at one time a fun part of online social culture, well before social media started rotting brains. BadassBuddy was (and apparently still is) home to thousands of custom-illustrated "buddy icons" that people used with AOL Instant Messenger - aka "AIM."

So what's a buddy icon? Picture a tiny 48x48 pixel animation - a little looping GIF - parked right next to the other functional buttons in the chat window. You'd pick one to sum up your whole personality in a square emoji with a subtitle: your sense of humor, your favorite band, or your questionable taste in cartoon mayhem.

Like avatars today, these icons gave you an identity when chatting with your buddies, back when you could sign on, have a fun conversation, and then sign off and go touch grass again - without the constant bombardment of DM alerts vibrating your pocket.

Below are two examples - Toast Buddy and Waterski - of what a BadassBuddy icon looked like in the AIM chat window on your buddy's computer.

Our collection of custom buddy icons was drawn by a handful of brilliant young artists (who are now super old), and these guys truly defined the anti-hero character featured in the BadassBuddy artwork. You can learn more about Team Badass below.

Ready to dig in? Browse the Buddy Icon Museum, or play Bad Memory Buddy and Slip'n'Slide.

AOL and AIM are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. BadassBuddy.com is an independent nostalgia project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by AOL or its owners. All product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners.