Apatee

At this point I was wishing for a surprise double elimination. Amanda and Turk are a clear cut below the rest and have skated by making the same mistakes for far too long.

Tiffer seems to be all but a lock for the finale right now, barring some crazy skull pick late in the season. He's quickly pulling ahead of the rest of the competition. JP was on borrowed time, but this wasn't his week to go home. Turk's canvas has to walk around with one of the ugliest tattoos I have seen on this show on full display the rest of his life. The other ones can be covered by everyday clothing at least. Hope that canvas likes turtlenecks.

Really disappointed with the finalist tattoos, might be the worst of the season finalist so far. None of them really jumped out to me. Though I think Josh was the strongest over the course of the season, I believe Juan's tattoo deserved the win in the end. Josh's was just crazy messy and hard to follow. Roly got pushed past his expiration in the competition and it showed. Of the coaches, I really liked both of Steve's and DJ's tattoos. Though I was rooting for him, Anthony's snake wasn't up to par and his head tattoo didn't have the same appeal as the others. Wouldn't have minded Steve winning, but DJ earned his victory for sure. Next season...lets hope there's some good artist, because Clean Vs Christian feels played out and lame.

Really would have liked to see Deanna in the finale. Without the restrictions of the regular competition, I think she could've done something really cool. After that shark last week and this butchering, Roly should've been packing. I feel like we've seen everything we're going to get out of him at this point. "Portraits have been always been a atrocity in the Ink Master house. Today we're looking for that to change". - Nunez looked like he was struggling not to laugh on that one.

Hate that they made a huge tattoo irrelevant to the finale yet again. It's ridiculous to have someone put forth that amount of work/effort for it not to matter in the end. I thought Basilica's color piece was gorgeous, sucks it was for naught because the show has to have a twitter vote. While Katie had the best live tattoo, I found their back pieces very underwhelming. Overly bold and messy, while also being uninteresting/safe designs. Good to see Old Town as a winner. Bubba's hard work (paired with DJ's talent) really paid off. They were actually in the competition for a good while, so hats off to them.

I think Cleen is a great artist, but the favoritism he gets from the judges (especially from Nunez) is is annoying and has been apparent for some time. Aaron was substantially outdone by Katie and Cleen's wasn't the best of the day either. Black Cobra got robbed. They should have just invited more vet teams and had that be the season lineup; opposed to having new artist being used as fodder for more famous names. Gripes aside, I thought Marvin did a pretty cool tattoo this week.

The scientist tattoo was the best by far imo. Given that it was a head tattoo makes it even more impressive. I didn't feel there was anything special about Old Town's astronaut and it didn't exactly meet the new school style. I don't feel it would have won if another team did it. Glad to Boneface own up to the tattoo being terrible, it's annoying when the artist try to defend their obviously botched work. Pretty apparent that Hobo wasn't on the level of the competition and it was a mistake choosing him as a partner.

Really dislike when the show does challenges like these. Insanely low amount of time for what was required. Six hours for a color realism composition challenge with huge battle scenes? I don't know why anyone would volunteer for this show when challenges are designed for the artists to give crap tattoos. It's no wonder some of the canvases were having trouble sitting through it. I guess they have to get material for Ink Master: Redemption somewhere. Also, they returning veteran artist should be booted if they end up in the bottom on their first day back. The advantage of coming into the competition late is too much for them not to get punished heavily for screwing up. The new artist have almost no chance to win with the way things are set up.

Wish they would stop letting people do huge tattoos for the finale and not having them matter. Looking at the Kelly's chest piece, I liked both her tattoos the least of the three, but the time she spent doing it shouldn't be for nothing. Both final tattoos were a lot better than I was expecting. Gian's was gorgeous. Ryan's had a lot of cool tricks and was impressive given her style preferences. Liked the rainbow reflections she put in the chrome, cool detail to include. Would've have minded either winning, but happy for Ryan that she got it.

No dud artist in the finale, should be good. I really wish it was open canvas though (and preferably a back piece). New school hotrods, a watercolor coral reef, and a traditional ship. Really lame for what should be the masterwork tattoos of the season. If Kelly was doing something colorful, Ryan a detailed black and grey, and Gian something with crazy linework, it would've been such a strong finale.

They picked a weird time for the teams to suddenly matter. The people who run this show really have no idea what they're doing. Nate got a freebie week because he got picked by Peck at the beginning of the season. In the top five, worst artist/tattoo should go home. The gimmick challenges should be over this late in the competition. I found Nikki to be heavily annoying, but I wouldn't have minded her moving on. Kelly's new school and portraits are top tier, but I think Nikki's shown a wider range in the challenges. Given how this show generally does things, she wont be allowed to incorporate either if she makes the finale and that makes me a little nervous. Not as concerning as Ryan having to do full color though. I found it funny how the girls listened to Nunez's advice and the tattoo completely bombed. Maybe Kevin was on to something. Also, looking through Nate's shop portfolio, holy crap. The difference in the work is night and day.

Maybe over time Kevin's would fade, but as of right now, I'd say his was a lot better than Nikki's. If they did blind judging, she probably would've went home. Oh well. Ever since Kevin pissed off Nunez, he was never gonna get too far. I wonder if Nikki would've done a better portrait if she didn't listen to Nunez and added some color.

Have they ever done a filler episode because of someone leaving the competition before? It's possible I'm forgetting, but I don't remember them padding the season for Josh or Kyle's sudden disqualifications. Maybe Spike came down on them after the last time it happened, who knows. I found it funny how no one on Nunez's team seemed happy about being on it. Other than that, throwaway episode.

Sketchy leaving is really lame. Not that he was gonna win or anything, but I'd rather the artist get eliminated by their work than other issues. Wouldn't this reduce their scheduled run by one episode? I'd imagine Spike being pissed at these type of things happening. Palm tattoos in general are bit lame to me. Small surface area where images don't last. No real standouts. Kevin needs to put a outline already. I'd definitely say he's been better than Nate, but he might get sent home before for him because of his decisions. The top three clearly seem to be Nikki, Ryan, and Gian. Kelly is the outlier; she has a chance to upset one of them for sure.

Ryan's tattoo was a clear winner, with Nikki was a definite second. Really cool designs and great execution. I get that people like Kelly (me too), but I don't think the judges have an agenda against her. Her tattoo was pretty crappy this week and she deserved to be at the bottom. Hopefully the OCD isn't a huge issue as the challenges get tougher and she's back on top next week. I'm ready for Nunez to vote for Kevin's elimination every week from here on out. As soon as that water dilemma happened, the signs aligned that he was gonna gun to get him out. Props to him for calling Nunez out. This late in the competition, unless you've been cranking out tattoo of the days repeatedly, you go home if you botch one that badly. Eric might be a better artist than Kevin, but that's a shitty thing to say to a contestant because you like someone else better. My hate for Nunez has been rekindled again.

I was surprised to find out the "toy in a chocolate ball" concept was outlawed so long ago. If I remember correctly, Nestle used this concept with the "Wonderball" chocolate and it came with toys inside for a period before switching to candy. This was sometime in the 90's and there was no protective shell coating, the toy was sitting in a ball of chocolate you could bite into. They were in a good number of stores, wonder how Nestle snuck past the law prohibiting them.

I'm not a fan of head tattoos, but most of them were surprisingly good in quality. Was expecting a few more disasters when they announced the challenge. Mike has been really weak, especially the last few outings. For sure the right decision. Churned out three bad tats in a row. Wouldn't mind Sketchy going home soon if he keeps cruising. Hate the contestants that churn out routine work and play the middle ground. I think Ryan is emerging more every week as the front runner of the competition, so long she doesn't stumble over a color challenge. Her designs and application are crazy clean for a young artist, reminiscent of Anthony last year.

Tough week for the women alliance. Gia's elimination is a tricky one, as she has struggled technically every week. She had the easiest tattoo this week and it still wasn't great. Cute face though. If someone's report card can prevent a future canvas from getting a botched tattoo, I'm all for it. That being said, Mike definitely had the worst one of the day. That thing was hideous. I would've sent him home, though I'm not too upset at their decision. Gian was the clear winner in my mind. Surprised they liked Ryan's so much. The figure was really well done, but it was really dark and used a ton of white highlights. The eyes especially were weird, it looked like she didn't have pupils. It's going to age pretty badly. Nikki's constant arguing is going to get her or her friends sent home. It's no secret if you get on Nunez's bad side, he's gonna try and send you packing. The girls need to ditch her or get her to tone it down a bit.

Weak tattoos this week. I didn't particularly like any of them, flash challenge or elimination. Thank god Tito's finally gone. They justified keeping him in that early elimination by his report card, but he was consistently terrible. Think Nikki's on the verge of being turned on by the girls. Giving an attitude and hard canvases to your allies? Good strategy. Kelly got screwed twice this episode and still had a great attitude. Future contestants should take note. I would hate to be on Nunez's team. Better do what he says or your getting blasted at critiques. Kevin's tattoo wasn't as bad as Chris made it out to be. Guess he should've done some Japanese water to appease him. Kevin's on the Nunez shit-list now, will probably be gone soon. I can't help but stare at Ryan every episode. Her appearance just fascinates me, she doesn't even look like she should be a real person. She looks like a graphic novel character brought to life.

The battle of sexes dynamic is really wearing thin. The fact this is even a narrative is a testament of how utterly bad the "teams" concept has failed this season. Why draft sides if you're not going to enforce them until it's the stage of competition where everyone is looking out for themselves? Ink Master has a special way of always screwing these things up. Hopefully the gender battle truncates a bit as the competition shrinks. Gia might be making an exit soon, maybe it'll calm down when she splits. I think Nikki's vendetta against Bone-Face isn't especially specific to him. She (and to a lesser extent, Gia) have routinely dogged other artist in the house, commonly calling them out at critiques and pleading for their elimination. In a short amount of time, two of their targets (Dave, Servoine) have been eliminated. Bone-Face was skating on thin ice this week and perhaps got lucky that Matt botched his tattoo. He just knows how to push her buttons in retaliation, which probably isn't too hard to do. If he gets eliminated, I'm sure she'll go after the next guy (probably Gian now). With Ryan (and some of the guys) in her and Gia's back pocket, they hold a lot of influence in the competition and there's likely going to be continuing power struggles week after week.

Gian and Ryan's tape portraits were really impressive. When I first heard the challenge, I thought it was gonna be another week of disasters, but most of them were surprisingly good. Nikki is in contention for the nastiest contestant so far. Holy hell. What Boneface said was a bit over the line, but I have to admit it made me laugh because of his blunt honesty. On the other hand, Kelly seems like a complete sweetheart though. Hope she does well. In the elimination, I would've put Nate in the bottom over Boneface. Not that his was great either, but Nate's looked like a empty sweatsuit floating in space. I was worried Matt was gonna skate by with all the drama about the two formerly mentioned. Glad he was the one sent home, his was just a nondescript blob. Gia's idea was cool, but was super sloppy. She's inked outside of lines a few times now, the time restraints seem to be getting to her.

It's always been a problem, have you not read these boards? People hate the douche bag attitudes this show portrays. You seem to have a bone to pick with men, as your post consistently bash the men in the show (or men in general).

Worst flash challenge ever. I like that they mix it up with different methods, but this one was absolute stupidity. Maybe if they had more time it could have worked. Giving them a few hours to work with that? I don't know what they were thinking. Most of them looked like elementary school drawings, some worse. In the elimination, I'm surprised they chose Nikki (who's starting to annoy me a ton) over Kelly. That wolf was one of the best tattoos of the season thus far. It was a little odd they both had the same color palette though. I personally would've sent Tito home if they were going by report cards, he's done nothing so far. At least Sirvone had a win.

I'm not exactly happy with Grace winning, but I wish her the best of luck. More than likely, Simon's gonna milk her career and that "My Name" song dry quickly before throwing her to the side. At least she'll have some money for her future. Highlight of the night was definitely BJC's reaction to his elimination, I don't think he's as humble as the video packages want you to believe lol. The Clairvoyant's finishing second was a surprise. Thought Dorenbos would've edged them, they weren't exactly charismatic.

My rankings on the night (strictly on performances): 10. Linkin Bridge - Bad song choice. Unremarkable and dull. 9. Brain Crum - Another bad song choice. I liked his first two performances, since then it's been downhill. 8. Sal - Wish he would "sing" the song more. He's good at his shtick though. 7. Clairvoyants - There magic is solid, but I hate their presentation. Feels really stiff and cheesy. 6. John Dorenbos - Seen variations of this trick 1000 times, but he's always fun to watch. Wouldn't be upset if he won. 5. Grace - I don't hate her like most people and thought she did well. The show is pimping her amazingly hard though and that's annoying. She's like a 95% favorite to take it at this point. 4. Viktor - His juggling isn't amazing by any means, but I loved his set and he always puts on a show. 3. Tape Face - After dwindling as of late, he returned to form. Really entertaining and funny. 2. Laura Brenton - Of the vocalist, she's the most talented by a mile imo. One of the few acts I thought came to win it. 1. Sofie Dossi - I would be happy if she won, though she really has no chance. She changed her act yet again, which deserves some praise. She went from contortionist to acrobat and does both well.