Geez, everyone changed their avatar, didn't they? (Including me, that is.)
For me, the avatar changes how I see them physically, but not my impression of them. Does that make sense?
For example: Darth Flatus (wherever he is). I visualized him as his avatar at the time, but in my mind he was still that weird green haired clown thing because that was his avatar when I first started posting. It's sort of like getting a new hair cut; you look different, but you don't seem different.