Jesus...I'm observant tonight...-.-;; I think it was all that soda... That'd explain the reason why I found this odd bug.
I was talking to myself on AIM, and I received my icon on one screen name, but the other never received one. I realized this, and talked to myself for 5 or 10 minutes (Yes, I am mentally stable...*twitches*) and still...no icon. I went and checked, and yes, I have an icon for both screen names. Is it a cloaning error by chance?
By the way, it was on the screen name I mentioned was getting the timeouts that wouldn't let it's icon be sent. (in the other post)
Your buddy icon is dependent on the AIM servers to be transfered and presented. One time my friend wanted to show me his new icon and it wouldn't load. His old one kept coming up. 3 days later it finally showed up.
Yeah those buddy icons can kinda be tricky, I think that direct connecting helps speed it up though, although this might just be coincidence. Maybe they transfer from IP->IP instead of IP->AOL->IP? I'll have to look into this a little more to be sure...*breaks out the packet sniffer*
Another thing to check that ive noticed. Because I have done the same thing, talking to myself to see my buddy Icon.
Is that the screen name has to be on your list for you to recieve the buddy icon. When I did it before, on one list, I had my other screenname, and i started the conversation with this name. But on my other list, I didnt have the first name. And my buddy Icon only showed up for one of them. Right after I added the other name to my list, The Icon showed up almost right away.
That'd explain the reason why I found this odd bug. 
