It's cute...and it's also amazing how much emotion this one smiley conveys. It goes from happiness to shock to devastation to despair to loss of consciousness, all in a matter of seconds. Also, I love its flappy little arms.
Beware borgs. This emoticon is a warning to all of us. And it's visually appealing and shows us the transformation of a normal gremlin into a cyborg without all the R-rated graphics usually involved in borg infestations.
And this is a reference to Arthur C. Clarke's wellknown book- although not very many people seem to have read it these days. You gotta love literary allusions...
One of the symbols that precisely describes the online AIO community(especially of the past). Insanity, creativity, the legacy of Azheim, Jared, hawkeye and Eiram, WoF... and fond memories.