Not necessarily the top photos of the year, nor the most heart-wrenching or emotional images, but a collection of photographs that are just so 2018. From Gritty the Philadelphia Flyers mascot to Fortnite tournaments, from the airplane taken for a tragic joyride at Sea-Tac Airport to a caravan of thousands journeying through Mexico to the United States, from the mandarin duck to Knickers the steer, and much more. This is 2018.
The Most 2018 Photos Ever
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The "I don't feel so good" meme, based on a pivotal moment in the movie Avengers: Infinity War, was all over the internet this year, with celebrities and well-known characters made to fade away into nothingness before the eyes of helpless witnesses. #
Ostariyanov / Shutterstock, The Atlantic -
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An electronic sign reads "There is no threat" in Oahu, Hawaii, after a false emergency alert said that a ballistic missile was headed for Hawaii, in this January 13, 2018, photo obtained from social media. #
Jhune Liwanag, @sighpoutshrug on Instagram / Social Media / Reuters -
This photo was posted to Instagram by Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, on February 7, 2018, with the caption: "Last pic of Starman in Roadster enroute to Mars orbit and then the Asteroid Belt." The sports car was launched into space aboard the Falcon Heavy rocket built by SpaceX as a dummy payload for its first test launch. After the final burn, astronomers determined that the Tesla won't quite reach the asteroid belt, but will now be in an orbit around the sun that will take 18.8 months to complete, crossing Mars's orbit twice per Tesla orbit. #
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From left, the author Ta-Nehisi Coates, with the Black Panther stars Lupita Nyong'o and Chadwick Boseman, at the Apollo Theater in New York City on February 27, 2018. The event, presented by the Apollo Theater, The Atlantic, and Afropunk, was titled Black Panther in Conversation. The movie grossed more than $700 million, becoming the top movie in the U.S. in 2018, and earned $1.3 billion worldwide, coming in at No. 2 (behind Avengers: Infinity War). #
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Chloe Kim of the United States reacts to her first run score during the Snowboard Ladies' Halfpipe Final on day four of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Phoenix Snow Park on February 13, 2018, in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Kim won the Olympic gold medal in the event. #
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"Mad" Mike Hughes, a "flat-Earther," launches himself in his homemade rocket near Amboy, California, on March 24, 2018. The self-taught rocket scientist who believes the Earth is flat propelled himself about 1,875 feet into the air before a hard landing in the Mojave Desert that left him injured. #
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The viral internet sensation Mason Ramsey, a.k.a. the Walmart Yodeling Boy, (left), and Justin Bieber pose for a selfie backstage during the 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, California, on April 13, 2018. #
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One of several drones used at the Dolce & Gabbana show to fly new handbags from the company’s fall/winter collection down the runway during Milan Fashion Week, on February 25, 2018 #
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Grimes (right) and her boyfriend (Elon Musk, center) attend the "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & the Catholic Imagination" Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018, in New York City. The fellow attendee Alexandra Parker ascends the stairs at left. #
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A worker checks the fans on miners at the cryptocurrency-farming operation Bitfarms, in Farnham, Quebec, Canada, on February 2, 2018. Reuters reports that cryptocurrency-mining operations looking for large facilities with cheap energy are driving a "surge in demand for space to build data centers that 'mine' digital currencies, offering potential new revenue streams for Canadian forestry firms looking to find uses for space in mills no longer used for production due to declining demand for certain traditional industry products." #
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Members of Japan's idol group, Virtual Currency Girls, wearing cryptocurrency-themed masks, perform in their debut stage event in Tokyo, Japan, on January 12, 2018. The group sang songs extolling the virtues of decentralized digital currencies such as bitcoin, including "The Moon, Cryptocurrencies, and Me." #
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Young women ride shared electric scooters in Santa Monica, California, on July 13, 2018. Cities across the U.S. are grappling with the growing trend of electric scooters that users can unlock with a smartphone app. Scooter start-ups, including Bird and Lime, allow riders to park them anywhere that doesn't block pedestrian walkways, but residents in some cities, including Los Angeles, say that the scooters often litter sidewalks and can pose a danger to pedestrians. #
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A Los Angeles Police Department officer waits to tell people riding electric scooters that the scooters are no longer allowed on the beachfront bike path on August 4, 2018, in Venice, California. #
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Melania Trump, the U.S. first lady, climbs into her motorcade vehicle wearing a Zara-designed jacket with the phrase "I Really Don't Care. Do U?" on the back as she returns to Washington, D.C., from a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border area in Texas, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on June 21, 2018. The phrase, written on a coat worn on a trip to visit immigrant families in detention, sparked wild speculation. A spokesperson for the first lady stated that there was no overt message being sent, that it was "just a coat," while her husband, President Trump, tweeted that it referred to the "fake news media." Melania, months later, explained to ABC's Tom Llamas that she wore it "for the people and for the left-wing media who are criticizing me. And I want to show them that I don’t care." #
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A raccoon scurries up the side of the UBS Plaza building in St. Paul, Minnesota, on June 12, 2018. The raccoon made it to the roof eventually, was safely trapped, and was returned to the wild in an undisclosed location. #
Evan Frost / MPR News / Social Media / Reuters -
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This July 2, 2018, photo, released by Tham Luang Rescue Operation Center, shows 12 boys and their soccer coach as they were found in a partially flooded cave, in Mae Sai, Chiang Rai, during a rescue operation. Desperate parents led a prayer ceremony outside the flooded cave in northern Thailand, where the 12 children and their coach were trapped for 17 days. More than 10,000 people were mobilized in the rescue effort, and the world watched as all of those trapped were brought out safely. #
Tham Luang Rescue Operation Center via AP -
"Ninja" (Tyler Blevins, left) and "Marshmello" (Christopher Comstock) compete in the Epic Games Fortnite E3 Tournament at the Banc of California Stadium on June 12, 2018, in Los Angeles, California. #
Christian Petersen / Getty -
In this August 11, 2018, file photo and long-exposure photo, smoke and an orange glow from a stolen airplane that crashed are seen on Ketron Island in Washington State, as viewed from near Steilacoom, Washington. Authorities say that a Seattle airport ground-crew worker who stole an empty commercial airplane had apparently searched online for flight-instruction videos before he took off on a dizzying ride that soon crashed into a small island. The FBI announced on November 9, 2018, that it was concluding the investigation into the August 10 incident after determining that Richard Russell, 28, of Sumner, Washington, acted alone. #
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It's been a Gritty year. The Philadelphia Flyers mascot, Gritty, takes to the ice during the first intermission of the Flyers' preseason NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, on September 24, 2018, in Philadelphia. Gritty was introduced in September, and the mascot was soon embraced not only by Flyers fans, but by Philadelphians, left-wing political groups, and others. #
Tom Mihalek / AP -
British Prime Minister Theresa May dances as she walks onstage to deliver her leader's speech during the final day of the Conservative Party Conference at the International Convention Center on October 3, 2018, in Birmingham, England. #
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In this photograph taken on November 10, 2018, Akihiko Kondo poses next to a hologram of the Japanese virtual-reality singer Hatsune Miku at his apartment in Tokyo, one week after marrying her. Kondo, who is an administrator at a school, married the Japanese virtual-reality singer in early November of 2018. The bride is a computer animation with anime eyes and long aquamarine pigtails who performs for adoring fans as a virtual-reality character. #
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This frame-grab from video provided by WPLG-TV shows FBI agents covering a van after the tarp fell off as it was transported from Plantation, Florida, on October 26, 2018. Federal agents and police officers were examining it in connection with package bombs that were sent to high-profile critics of President Donald Trump. The van, belonging to the bombing suspect, Cesar Sayoc, has multiple stickers on the windows depicting American flags, pro-Trump slogans, conspiracy theories, anti-media messages, and anti-left messages. #
WPLG-TV via AP -
The performer Kanye West shows President Donald Trump a photograph of a hydrogen plane during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday, October 11, 2018, in Washington, D.C. The bizarre, wide-ranging discussion lasted for 20 minutes, and ended with West hugging the president. #
Evan Vucci / AP -
The Central Park mandarin duck walks in New York City on December 5, 2018. In the weeks since it appeared in Central Park, the duck has become a much-photographed celebrity. #
Seth Wenig / AP -
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Russian President Vladimir Putin receives a warm smile from at least one world leader. From left: Melania Trump, the first lady; President Donald Trump; German Chancellor Angela Merkel; French President Emmanuel Macron; and Brigitte Macron, the French president's wife, react as Russian President Vladimir Putin (front center) arrives at a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on November 11, 2018, part of commemorations marking the 100th anniversary of the armistice ending World War I. #
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Sotheby's employees pose with "Love Is in the Bin" by the British artist Banksy during a media preview at Sotheby's auction house on October 12, 2018, in London, England. During Sotheby's Contemporary Art Sale on October 5, the Banksy artwork "Girl With Balloon" shredded through the bottom of the frame as it was sold. With Banksy being responsible for the shredding, the buyer has agreed to proceed with the sale and it is now titled "Love Is in the Bin" and said to be worth more than the £1.04 million ($1.3 million USD) paid. #
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A shaggy, brown, and possibly pregnant mother bear known as 409 Beadnose, crowned on October 9 as the fattest bear of 2018, is seen on the bank of Brooks River in Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve on September 30, 2018. #
U.S. National Park Service / Reuters -
Thousands of migrants, part of a caravan traveling from Central America en route to the United States, walk on the road that links Ciudad Hidalgo with Tapachula, Mexico, on November 2, 2018. #
Carlos Garcia Rawlins / Reuters -
Embers fall from burning palms and the sun is obscured by smoke as flames close in on a house during the Woolsey Fire on November 9, 2018, in Malibu, California. About 75,000 homes were evacuated in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties due to two fires in the region. #
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Knickers the steer, in a paddock with a cow herd in Lake Preston, Australia, is seen in this image made from video taken on November 15, 2018. Knickers, an enormous steer in the state of Western Australia who has avoided the slaughterhouse by being too big, became a media sensation late in the year (prompting many to leap forth to explain the difference between "cow" and "steer"). The huge animal stands six-foot-four at the shoulder (194 cm), and is believed to be the tallest steer in Australia. #
Channel 7's Today Tonight via AP
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