diff --git a/e2e/imaging/avatar-endpoint.spec.ts b/e2e/imaging/avatar-endpoint.spec.ts
index 16a8e875..17ca9d9a 100644
--- a/e2e/imaging/avatar-endpoint.spec.ts
+++ b/e2e/imaging/avatar-endpoint.spec.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 import { expect, test } from "@playwright/test";
-import { avatarPath, countBytes, looksLikeImage } from "./imaging-target";
+import {
+	avatarPath,
+	countBytes,
+	fetchThroughEdge,
+	getThroughEdge,
+	looksLikeImage,
+} from "./imaging-target";
 
 // Endpoints exercised here are identical whether the CMS is reached directly
 // or through the edge proxy, so this spec runs unchanged in the deploy gate and
@@ -17,7 +23,8 @@ const IMAGE_SOURCES = new Set([
 test("renders an animated APNG for a figure with an effect", async ({
 	request,
 }) => {
-	const response = await request.get(
+	const response = await getThroughEdge(
+		request,
 		avatarPath({ img_format: "apng", effect: "14" }),
 	);
 	expect(response.status()).toBe(200);
@@ -35,7 +42,10 @@ test("renders an animated APNG for a figure with an effect", async ({
 test("serves a static PNG when no animation is requested", async ({
 	request,
 }) => {
-	const response = await request.get(avatarPath({ img_format: "png" }));
+	const response = await getThroughEdge(
+		request,
+		avatarPath({ img_format: "png" }),
+	);
 	expect(response.status()).toBe(200);
 	expect(response.headers()["content-type"]).toContain("image/png");
 	const body = await response.body();
@@ -45,7 +55,10 @@ test("serves a static PNG when no animation is requested", async ({
 test("advertises a cacheable response and a known render source", async ({
 	request,
 }) => {
-	const response = await request.get(avatarPath({ img_format: "png" }));
+	const response = await getThroughEdge(
+		request,
+		avatarPath({ img_format: "png" }),
+	);
 	expect(response.status()).toBe(200);
 
 	const source = response.headers()["x-imager-source"];
@@ -63,14 +76,21 @@ test("advertises a cacheable response and a known render source", async ({
 });
 
 test("answers conditional requests with 304", async ({ request }) => {
-	const first = await request.get(avatarPath({ img_format: "png" }));
+	const first = await getThroughEdge(
+		request,
+		avatarPath({ img_format: "png" }),
+	);
 	expect(first.status()).toBe(200);
 	const etag = first.headers()["etag"];
 	expect(etag).toBeTruthy();
 
-	const second = await request.get(avatarPath({ img_format: "png" }), {
-		headers: { "if-none-match": etag as string },
-	});
+	const second = await getThroughEdge(
+		request,
+		avatarPath({ img_format: "png" }),
+		{
+			headers: { "if-none-match": etag as string },
+		},
+	);
 	expect(second.status()).toBe(304);
 	expect(second.headers()["etag"]).toBe(etag);
 });
@@ -78,7 +98,10 @@ test("answers conditional requests with 304", async ({ request }) => {
 test("serves the rendered avatar behind permissive CORS", async ({
 	request,
 }) => {
-	const response = await request.get(avatarPath({ img_format: "png" }));
+	const response = await getThroughEdge(
+		request,
+		avatarPath({ img_format: "png" }),
+	);
 	expect(response.status()).toBe(200);
 	expect(response.headers()["access-control-allow-origin"]).toBe("*");
 });
@@ -86,7 +109,9 @@ test("serves the rendered avatar behind permissive CORS", async ({
 test("preflight requests advertise GET and revalidation", async ({
 	request,
 }) => {
-	const response = await request.fetch(avatarPath(), { method: "OPTIONS" });
+	const response = await fetchThroughEdge(request, avatarPath(), {
+		method: "OPTIONS",
+	});
 	expect(response.status()).toBe(204);
 	expect(response.headers()["access-control-allow-origin"]).toBe("*");
 	expect(response.headers()["access-control-allow-methods"]).toContain("GET");
@@ -113,7 +138,10 @@ test.describe("rejects malformed figures", () => {
 
 	for (const { name, query } of cases) {
 		test(name, async ({ request }) => {
-			const response = await request.get(`/api/imaging/avatar${query}`);
+			const response = await getThroughEdge(
+				request,
+				`/api/imaging/avatar${query}`,
+			);
 			expect(response.status()).toBe(400);
 		});
 	}
@@ -131,7 +159,7 @@ test("collapses a burst of concurrent requests for one figure", async ({
 		head_direction: "1",
 	});
 	const responses = await Promise.all(
-		Array.from({ length: 6 }, () => request.get(path)),
+		Array.from({ length: 6 }, () => getThroughEdge(request, path)),
 	);
 	for (const response of responses) {
 		expect(response.status()).toBe(200);
@@ -143,14 +171,14 @@ test("collapses a burst of concurrent requests for one figure", async ({
 test("the badge endpoint serves an image and revalidates", async ({
 	request,
 }) => {
-	const first = await request.get("/api/imaging/badge?code=ADM");
+	const first = await getThroughEdge(request, "/api/imaging/badge?code=ADM");
 	expect(first.status()).toBe(200);
 	expect(first.headers()["content-type"]).toContain("image/");
 	expect(first.headers()["access-control-allow-origin"]).toBe("*");
 	const etag = first.headers()["etag"];
 	expect(etag).toBeTruthy();
 
-	const second = await request.get("/api/imaging/badge?code=ADM", {
+	const second = await getThroughEdge(request, "/api/imaging/badge?code=ADM", {
 		headers: { "if-none-match": etag as string },
 	});
 	expect(second.status()).toBe(304);
@@ -159,7 +187,8 @@ test("the badge endpoint serves an image and revalidates", async ({
 test("the badge endpoint can resolve from a local source", async ({
 	request,
 }) => {
-	const response = await request.get(
+	const response = await getThroughEdge(
+		request,
 		"/api/imaging/badge?code=ADM&source=local",
 	);
 	expect(response.status()).toBe(200);
@@ -177,16 +206,23 @@ test.describe("rejects malformed badge codes", () => {
 
 	for (const { name, query } of cases) {
 		test(name, async ({ request }) => {
-			const response = await request.get(`/api/imaging/badge${query}`);
+			const response = await getThroughEdge(
+				request,
+				`/api/imaging/badge${query}`,
+			);
 			expect(response.status()).toBe(400);
 		});
 	}
 });
 
 test("the badge preflight advertises GET", async ({ request }) => {
-	const response = await request.fetch("/api/imaging/badge?code=ADM", {
-		method: "OPTIONS",
-	});
+	const response = await fetchThroughEdge(
+		request,
+		"/api/imaging/badge?code=ADM",
+		{
+			method: "OPTIONS",
+		},
+	);
 	expect(response.status()).toBe(204);
 	expect(response.headers()["access-control-allow-methods"]).toContain("GET");
 });
diff --git a/e2e/imaging/imaging-target.ts b/e2e/imaging/imaging-target.ts
index afe04a5a..82443c81 100644
--- a/e2e/imaging/imaging-target.ts
+++ b/e2e/imaging/imaging-target.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import type { APIRequestContext, APIResponse } from "@playwright/test";
+
 /**
  * Where the imaging specs are pointed.
  *
@@ -12,6 +14,56 @@
  */
 export const IS_EDGE = process.env.IMAGING_EDGE === "1";
 
+/**
+ * Failures that mean "the request never reached the app".
+ *
+ * Cloudflare answers the 520-527 family when its own handshake to the origin
+ * fails, and gateways add 502/503/504. Retrying those is not papering over a
+ * bug: the assertion under test is about the CMS, and a 525 says nothing about
+ * it. A genuinely broken edge still exhausts the retries and fails the test.
+ */
+const TRANSIENT_EDGE_STATUSES = new Set([
+	502, 503, 504, 520, 521, 522, 523, 524, 525, 526, 527,
+]);
+const EDGE_RETRY_ATTEMPTS = 3;
+const EDGE_RETRY_DELAY_MS = 500;
+
+async function withEdgeRetry(
+	send: () => Promise<APIResponse>,
+): Promise<APIResponse> {
+	let response = await send();
+	for (
+		let attempt = 1;
+		attempt < EDGE_RETRY_ATTEMPTS &&
+		TRANSIENT_EDGE_STATUSES.has(response.status());
+		attempt += 1
+	) {
+		await new Promise((resolve) =>
+			setTimeout(resolve, EDGE_RETRY_DELAY_MS * attempt),
+		);
+		response = await send();
+	}
+	return response;
+}
+
+/** GET that survives a transient edge/transport failure. */
+export function getThroughEdge(
+	request: APIRequestContext,
+	url: string,
+	options: Parameters<APIRequestContext["get"]>[1] = {},
+): Promise<APIResponse> {
+	return withEdgeRetry(() => request.get(url, options));
+}
+
+/** POST/OPTIONS/… counterpart of `getThroughEdge`. */
+export function fetchThroughEdge(
+	request: APIRequestContext,
+	url: string,
+	options: Parameters<APIRequestContext["fetch"]>[1] = {},
+): Promise<APIResponse> {
+	return withEdgeRetry(() => request.fetch(url, options));
+}
+
 // The exact figure that regressed in production: the game client appends a
 // trailing `.<n>` segment that the renderer ignores, but the previous
 // validation regex rejected with a 400.
diff --git a/e2e/imaging/public-routing.spec.ts b/e2e/imaging/public-routing.spec.ts
index cc28e379..ddaf1a55 100644
--- a/e2e/imaging/public-routing.spec.ts
+++ b/e2e/imaging/public-routing.spec.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { expect, test } from "@playwright/test";
 import {
 	avatarPath,
+	getThroughEdge,
 	IMAGER_PATH,
 	IS_EDGE,
 	looksLikeImage,
@@ -17,7 +18,10 @@ test.skip(
 );
 
 test("the edge serves the imager endpoint as an image", async ({ request }) => {
-	const response = await request.get(IMAGER_PATH({ img_format: "png" }));
+	const response = await getThroughEdge(
+		request,
+		IMAGER_PATH({ img_format: "png" }),
+	);
 	expect(response.status()).toBe(200);
 	expect(response.headers()["content-type"]).toContain("image/");
 	expect(looksLikeImage(await response.body())).toBe(true);
@@ -26,14 +30,17 @@ test("the edge serves the imager endpoint as an image", async ({ request }) => {
 test("the CMS avatar endpoint is reachable through the edge", async ({
 	request,
 }) => {
-	const response = await request.get(avatarPath({ img_format: "png" }));
+	const response = await getThroughEdge(
+		request,
+		avatarPath({ img_format: "png" }),
+	);
 	expect(response.status()).toBe(200);
 	expect(response.headers()["content-type"]).toContain("image/");
 	expect(looksLikeImage(await response.body())).toBe(true);
 });
 
 test("the edge does not shadow the CMS badge endpoint", async ({ request }) => {
-	const response = await request.get("/api/imaging/badge?code=ADM");
+	const response = await getThroughEdge(request, "/api/imaging/badge?code=ADM");
 	expect(response.status()).toBe(200);
 	expect(response.headers()["content-type"]).toContain("image/");
 });