We've had 48 'Shop Contests this year, and now comes your 49th—our annual roundup of the best exploitables to kick off the new year with a buttload of callbacks to the old one.
The 10 source images for this roundup were chosen because they fit a number of criteria, including how many entries we got for them, the exploitability of the image, and their lifespan as callback jokes after their original contest.
Unlike past years, I'm not going to require you to use two or more of these exploitables in an image. I just want to see funny, so if there was a joke you didn't make with any of these 10 images, and you're kicking yourself for it still, consider this a second chance.
Furthermore, if there is another exploitable not in this list that you wish to use, I'm all for that, too. My only requirement there is that you pair it with one from the list below. This is supposed to be a celebration of our 10 best subjects, and the 'Shoppers who copped overall No. 1 in the week they were used.
So here you go. The links provided in each citation are, in order, the exploitable, the original contest (so you can see what others did and not copy it) and the roundup of the best finalists.
Source Image: The Bungie Boy Band. (Hands Down, Feb. 24. Overall No. 1 arniejolt.)
Source Image: Henry Gribbohm and his dreadlocked banana. (Rasta Banana, May 5. Overall No. 1 Rokeden.)
Source Image: Tracey and Jimmy De Santa from Grand Theft Auto V. (Grand Theft A-Hole, July 14. Overall No. 1 Homeless_Zombie.)
Source Image: Psyduck Kid. (Psyduck Kid, Aug. 18. Overall No. 1 Stuky.)
Source Image: Bickering The Sims couple. (Unhappy Family, Aug. 25. Overall No. 1 FAHtastic.)
Source Image: Jarod, aka NWBZPWNER. (Make 'Shop, Not Warcraft, Nov. 10. Overall No. 1 adrianssons.)
Source Image: Joey Chiu, first guy to buy a PS4 in the U.S. (Mister First, Nov. 17. Overall No. 1 SupremeEvan.)
Source Images: Lionel Messi, Kyrie Irving and Adrian Peterson. (The Sportsbros, Nov. 24. Overall No. 1 Ginger Snap and halfbeast.)
Source Image: English teen scammed by picture of Xbox One. (A Picture Worth $735, Dec. 8. Overall No. 1 Docherty.)
Source Image: The "Nintendo Transceiver Companion." ('Shop Talk, Dec. 22. Overall No. 1 QCSRK.)
While most of you are smart enough to figure out how to upload images, here are some simple steps to take for those less familiar with the practice.
1. Create your 'Shop and save it to your desktop.
2. Go to the bottom of this post and click "Discuss."
3. This brings up a comment window. Click the icon that looks like a picture.
4. This brings up another window called "Insert Image." Click "Choose file" if you're uploading your 'shop from your desktop
5. Alternatively, you can upload the 'Shop to a free image hosting service. I suggest imgur. Then paste the image's URL into the field that says "Image URL." Note: this must be the URL of the image itself, not the page where it is displayed. That means the URL ends in .jpg, .gif, .png, whatever.
6. Add editorial commentary and hit submit and your image will load. If it doesn't, upload the image to imgur and paste the image URL as a comment. I promise I will look at it.
7. Large-size images may not upload properly, though we have seen some big-ass animated .gifs upwards of 5 MB. If you're still having trouble uploading the image, try to keep its longest dimension (horizontal or vertical) under 1000 pixels, or the whole thing under 2 MB.
Alright! Have at it. Thanks very much for your participation.
To contact the author of this post, write to owen@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @owengood.