Inkmaster0345
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Posts posted by Inkmaster0345
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9 hours ago, azshadowwalker said:
Well, I didn't have Kruseman pegged as a winner. I totally thought it was Matt vs Chris, and was pulling for Matt. I would have to look more closely and rewatch to see if that's anomalous, though.
True. Kruseman was not obvious. And Jason pulled an upset over Cleen. But Steve, Joey, and Scott were all obvious winners in my mind. Season one was a little different since the finale had a different format
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On a totally unrelated note, I really hope this show decides to move off of the master canvas idea for the finale. It's not a good way of determining a winner. Given a lot of time and full creative license, it's almost impossible to see enough differences in quality to crown a justifiable winner---with the exception of Jason vs Cleen (when Cleen totally blew it), the favorite going into the finale has always won--there's no drama to it. I would like to see them move back to the format they used way back in season one: the finalists do 2 tattoos, one of which they have creative freedom on and the other is something they are told to do, just like the other challenges. In this way they are forced to go head to head with one another on a similar subject matter, and they also get to show off and wow the audience with their own original piece. Given the strength of this field, it's unlikely to believe that any one master canvas will stand above the rest. If you give any of the final 5 a master canvas, all of them are going to hit it out of the park, and the judges favorite (Cleen) will end up winning regardless. I'd rather see them issue the contestants a direct challenge and have them battle it out, that way the final reveal can at least be partially apples to apples instead of comparing 2 totally different tattoos.
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Interesting episode. I like the fact that the challenge was something totally new, but the judging was unusual. What's the point in doing the tattoo at all if the teams get to pick which artist is going up for elimination? Are we supposed to believe that, had the tattoos not turned out well, the judges would have decided which artists would have been up for elimination? Seems like they were dead set on the teams choosing the artist from the beginning.
I have no problem with the artists volunteering for the showdown. Say what you want about Cleen, but it's actually one of the things I like about him. This is a tattoo competition and he's willing to put his neck on the line and tattoo anytime, anyplace, and against anyone.
Didn't love either showdown tattoo. Michael's eagle was definitely tough and well done, but it just didn't have a wow factor to me. If you only have 6 hours to work with, i'd like to see you go smaller and put in some bells and whistles rather than a large, but plain eagle. I love Jesse's creature tattoos, I would even go as far as to say that it was my favorite part of season 2. This just wasn't my favorite showing from him. As the judges said, he had a pale canvas and could've done a bright and dynamic creature. His creature was creative, but it was a little dark and didn't have the feeling of fun and playfulness that most of Jesse's designs have. I have to wonder how much not being able to conceptualize a creature beforehand on paper hurt his creative process.
As a funny little note: the guys who weren't involved in the showdown probably had the easiest day in the history of ink master. Hell, all James and Matti did was shade a single tattoo.
Super awesome final 5.
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Just some fun little observations (the "standings", if you will)
Remaining Artists: Cleen, Sausage, James, Jesse, Jime, Anthony, Christian, Matti.
Flash Challenge Wins:
Cleen: 3
Sausage: 1
James: 0
Jesse: 0
Jime: 0
Anthony: 1
Christian 3
Matti: 1
Elimination Wins:
Cleen: 3
Sausage: 1
James: 0
Jesse: 0
Jime: 0
Anthony: 1
Christian: 1
Matti: 0
"Up for elimination" appearances
Cleen: 3
Sausage: 1
James: 0
Jesse: 0
Jime: 3
Anthony: 1
Christian: 0
Matti:1
Notes: Cleen leads all current artists in Elimination wins (3) and is tied for flash challenge wins (3). Jime and Cleen have the most "up for elimination" appearances of the remaining artists (3). Christian is one of the original competitors but has never been up for elimination. MJ is the only eliminated artist who won an elimination challenge (2). None of the past 5 introduced artists have won an elimination challenge, and they only combine for one win total (Matti-flash challenge).
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Another reason I want Sausage gone is so that he and Matti can stop obsessing over each other. Matti weirded out by him saying he wanted to stay and compete Sausage, as if he's the only one that mattered. And the previews for the next episode started with him talking about competing against Sausage. Makes one wonder if Matti has a picture of Sausage above his bed at home.
The Matti/Sausage dynamic has been weird to me this entire season. If you go back and watch season 4, 90% of the animosity towards sausage is coming from Scott Marshall. Matti spent most of the season just shaking his head in agreement while Scott was the one throwing all of the punches (well actually Kyle Dunbar was throwing the punches, but you get the point lol). This makes me think that either there was more of a rivalry between Sausage and Matti in season 4 than we were shown, or the drama between them now is largely fabricated and set up. I'm inclined to think the latter, as the show wasn't nearly so dramatic and cliche in seasons 1-4 as it is now, IMO.
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This episode fell pretty short to me, I've been looking forward to James's return for weeks, and yet when it finally comes time for James to throw down a sick japanese tattoo, he inks a giant green blob on someone's arm.........what? If you look at his portfolio of Japanese tattoos, theres 100+ that are better than what he did.
Nunez finally got the kill shot on MJ. I'll say it right now, if the tattoos were judged blindly, Sausage would have gone home, but because Nunez knows Sausage is one of the best in the competition, he threw him a bone. It's the same bone that St Marq, Matti, and Sarah were all given during their first screw up...apparently all of the veterans get one.
I also have a major complaint with the canvases. Sausage's canvas was cast for one reason and one reason only: to send someone home. 6 of the canvases were perfect, Sausage's was totally whack and Jime's had a large scar. Normally I'm a fan of varying canvases, because it increases the importance of winning the flash challenges and getting the skull pick. But cmon--dark skin, difficult placement, old age, that's one thing. But a canvas that wants a tattoo on his ribs and has lost 200+ pounds? That's an absolute cheap shot.
Hoping for better from James going forward. Christian, Sausage, Cleen, and Anthony are the odds on favorites to win at this point. Wouldn't be surprised at all if they make the final 4.
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Good episode. Was excited to see Sarah come back, when she's at her best she's thrown down some of the best tattoos in the history of the show. I was disappointed she decided to do surrealism instead of general portraits or maybe fantasy characters, which is what I always remember her for.
Does anybody else not agree with some of the judges critiques this season.....like at all? In the flash challenge, MJ's and Christian's truck looked pretty darn cool, and it was actually framed with rocks, unlike Anthony and Matti's landscape which was just made inside of an oval...doesn't exactly scream composition when you draw a hard edge to your design instead of making it end naturally with the space provided. Sausage and Jime deserved to get slammed for it being so small, but Oliver said that he couldn't see the skull element, which I thought was pretty obvious to see.
MJ and Anthony had the two best tattoos and it wasn't even close, I thought the tattoos in general were actually much better than the judges made them out to be. Every artist except for alex actually produced a very respectable looking face, which in most seasons is enough to put you in the top right off the bat. It's easy to say that some of the veterans aren't bringing it, but you have to remember that they're being compared against other former finalists, not the same scrub cannon fodder that they've beaten down in the past.
With Jesse and James (s/o team rocket) being the next to enter the fray, you can almost guarantee that the artists have wacky cartoon/Japanese challenges coming their way, which in my opinion make for much better formats than some of the recent challenges. I wonder what formats the show will pull out once all of the veterans have returned and no one is picking the challenges anymore. It could make for some better competition as the challenges won't be so specific (venetian masks, cartoon dinosaurs, hotrods).
Not sure about the pecking order now that Alex and Marc are gone. It's much more of a free for all at this point. My gut is telling me that Matti/Jime might go soon
Also, just a random observation, but Anthony did the same carved/indented lines this week that he did back on his venetian mask. It's a very clean and neat little trick, will be interesting to see if he pulls it out again/if anyone on the show will ever notice.
Cheers
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Knew Picasso was going home the second that he had his ridiculous little speech with Alex. Picasso probably has some of the best artistic vision of anyone ever to compete on the show, unfortunately it just doesn't transfer for the poor guy. I have no doubt he'll be a successful artist in some way shape or form during his time, but I'm not sure it'll be through tattoos.
I'll echo what everyone else has said about the format of the show. The veterans are at a complete advantage, not only because they get to pick the challenge, not only because some of them are entering 1/3 or halfway into the competition, but because the judges have labeled them as "untouchable" before their needle even hits skin. In a normal season, when a good artist that has been at the top consistently occasionally drops the ball, they are still safe because the judges say something along the lines of "we know what you're capable of, this just wasn't your day, so you're in the bottom" but there's never really a threat that they'll go home, and the audience knows it. The problem with this season is that all of the veterans are being given the benefit of the doubt for their past work, which is obviously unfair because the newbies don't have that to fall back on. If a newbie screws up, it's because they aren't very good. If a veteran screws up, it's just a forgivable slap on the back.
Not a huge fan of Matti. Thought he was overrated in season 4 and even though he had some wins, I believe Halo should've made the finale instead. Not sure how far he'll go, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's one of the first veterans to bite the dust.
Meghan, Christian, and Anthony are clearly the only newbies that will be able to stick around with the veterans for the long haul. All things considered, Alex isn't a bad tattoo artist and would probably make it to 7-8th place in a normal season, but given the circumstances of this season I just don't think he's long for this world. I'll make a bold prediction and guess that next episode will be the first in which a veteran goes home (most likely SM), after that it will be Alex, and then that's when the real fun begins. Sarah, Matti, Sausage, Jime, James, and Cleen are all finalists (no disrespect to Jesse who does amazing work as well), and Anthony, Christian and Meghan are all very skilled. It's going to be an absolute dogfight and there's going to be some very, very good artists going home with a 6th or 7th place medal
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I'd like to jump on the bandwagon of people commenting on the apparent talent pool of this seasons competitors. I'm no tattoo expert, but as far as I can tell the level of talent this year is considerably lower than in seasons past. Especially in the earlier seasons, when I watched this show and was amazed at some of the tattoos that artists were able to produce. This season there have been very few tattoos that have knocked my socks off or truly wowed me. Also, there is no outright top dog this season. While parody is typically good in a competition, that's not the case when the parody is a result of everyone hovering around the line of slightly-above-average. Artists in previous seasons such as Scott, Sausage, Joey Hamilton, Cleen, etc virtually went their entire seasons without ever being called down, whereas this year, even "top dog" artists such as Craig and Matt and Kruseman have each been in the bottom multiple times. If you look the top 3 finishers of the previous 5 seasons, I believe that you could firmly make a case that 10-12 out of the 15 of them would win this season's contest absolutely running away. In my honest opinion, Chris and Matt are the only two artists from this season that would even have a shot at making one of the top 3s from the previous 5 seasons. Looking forward to better in the future
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Pretty vanilla episode. Craig (one of the best) won and Big Ceeze (one of the worst) went home. This typically happens around the midseason mark, as there is a pretty clear gap between the top dogs and the field and it takes a few episodes to clear out the obvious lesser artists.
Not sure how I felt about the trash polka style. It's cool that they decided to do something new that's never appeared in previous seasons, but I'm not sure such a unique style lends itself well aesthetically to the audience. Craig and Erik definitely managed to pull out the best tattoos.
A bit of a snoozer. The schism between Matt/Craig and Chris/Dave/Tyler could be interesting down the road. But for now there are still a few too many weaker artists hanging around to reasonably see one of the top dogs going down soon--regardless of getting a bad canvas or not.
I want to see this season heat up. With St. Marq gone the drama in the house decreased a lot this week. Time for people to stop playing nice and turn up the heat.
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For many reasons that people already touched on, I didn't care for this episode at all. The challenge was weird from the very beginning and honestly I didn't think that any of the tattoos looked very good or even realistic. The crocodile skin that won looked, as St. Marq put it, "like f-ed up cobblestone". The judges didn't really seem knowledgeable in their critiques and I agree with Tyler that while the focus of the day was texture, the challenge was to transform your canvas into an animal, and I don't think anyone could look at the winning canvas's scattered spots and go "oh yeah that's crocodile skin".
No flash challenge was lame. The flash challenges, while not always super relevant, are a great way for the contestants to showcase their overall artistic talent, and it results in the skull pick which is one of my favorite aspects of the show.
I get that the big twist this season is the master/apprentice dynamic, but I'm tired of the forced teamwork. Save teamwork for the flash challenges. When it comes to the elimination tattoo, I wanna see each artist throw down individually and compete against the field (no more "head to head" elimination tattoos either, which are irrelevant since the worst tattoo of the field goes home anyways).
St. Marq is finally gone. What a total creep. The guy is world class when it comes to his style of no-outline black and grey, but he clearly had nothing else. His elimination reminded me of Craig's elimination in his original season, when he was eliminated for not knowing how to do black and grey despite clearly not being the worst artist there. People tried to draw comparisons between SM and Josh as Ink Master villains. The difference is that while Josh always acted cocky and ran his mouth, he backed it up with countless wins. SM had a couple of nice tattoos early but once the judges figured out that was all he could do it was quickly downhill from there.
Craig, Kruseman or Matt is going to win the title. Chris, Erik, Dave and Katie will go far but fall short. Look for Marisa, Tyler, Big Ceeze and Duffy to fall soon. Those are my predictions, anyways.
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S07.E11: Head in the Game
in Ink Master
Nice episode. I thought that both challenges were unique and displayed high levels of skill and creativity. As much as I dislike Christian, I've never been a huge fan of Matti's either. His stuff just doesn't really impress me, whether it was back in season 4 or in this season. Matti is very good, but he's a clear step below ink master's best (Joey, Tommy, Cleen, Scott, etc), I don't even think he's as good as Sausage, whom he was lucky to beat 1v1 earlier this season.
The final 4 is understandably incredibly difficult to predict this year. Clean definitely has to be the favorite given his history. Anthony has multiple wins under his belt and his only trip to the bottom was a human canvas jury decision that the judges disagreed with. Christian is very good but is probably the weakest of the bunch. James is a real wild card to me. There's a somewhat symbolic aspect to a season 1 returnee coming back to win the most competitive season of ink master ever, but it's just so hard to predict because the dude has hardly done anything since being back. He did a japanese dragon that received 1/3 first place votes, he did an evil wing which won, he shaded a clipper ship, and he did a coverup with japanese style flowers that received 1/3 first place votes. If i had to take a stab at it, I would say (1-4) Cleen, Anthony, James, Christian. I'm pretty confident with Cleen and Christian but could see James and Anthony switching places.
Also, just as a random aside: I am sick and tired of seeing female composite/profile tattoos. There have been more tattoos of a female face posing for a picture this season than I care to count. I understand that it's a very popular image that allows for a lot of opportunity/creativity, but damn has it been beaten into the ground this season. I hope they ban creepy/evil symbolic female from the master canvasses in the finale. I still can't get over the fact that Matti and Scott Marshall, given the opportunity to do anything in the entire world in the season 4 finale, did basically the exact same evil female tattoo.