S07.E06: Under Pressure

[thewhiteowl]

Bonds are tested and new alliances are formed during an intense Flash Challenge; a veteran joins the New Artist Alliance to take down a common enemy.

 

 

[azshadowwalker]

Yep. I totally remember why I disliked pretentious, loud-mouthed Sarah Miller. Just like Marq, she should have been booted for doing such shitty work on the challenge she designed. You can't even fix that dark mess. As awful as Marq is, at least he was not trying to prove how much smarter he was than everyone else by designing a challenge that needed 10 minutes to explain.

I didn't really mind Alex's tattoo, but he didn’t stand a chance. Three returnees and he has been in the bottom multiple times. No question that he was gone.

I did like Megan Jean slapping down the "how dare you" pearl clutching about her dislike for the competition. I just don't understand why she is on the show. Heather Sin didn't have the opportunity to see the show before she went on and decided she hated the format. Megan Jean doesn’t have the same excuse.

Still loving Anthony.

[qtpye]

Megan Jean's tattoo was stunning and Anthony was great.  Sarah's was disappointing.  I don't understand why the veteran's seem to fuck up challenges that are custom designed to their strengths?  I would happily boot all the veterans off at this point.

[MuMuGuy]

The Flash Challenge in this episode might've been the most one-sided contest ever in Ink Master history. Anthony and Matti had the only good design, the rest were either ugly or lazy designs *cough* Sausage! I definitely agree with Megan Jean having the best tattoo, I just wish she didn't have her little meltdown on stage.

 

This would've been a good episode for a double elimination. Alex did need to go home because he has been consistently in the bottom, but they should've sent either Cleen or Sarah home as well. Cleen's tattoo looks more like a burn victim or someone with a really bad rash than someone transforming into a werewolf. Sarah's tattoo is just messy and unreadable and the weird Japanese sunburst effect was only made it laughable.

 

 

Yep. I totally remember why I disliked pretentious, loud-mouthed Sarah Miller. Just like Marq, she should have been booted for doing such shitty work on the challenge she designed. You can't even fix that dark mess. As awful as Marq is, at least he was not trying to prove how much smarter he was than everyone else by designing a challenge that needed 10 minutes to explain.
 

 

Yeah, I have to agree with you on Sarah. I wish I didn't vouch for her in the Redemption thread, because the real Sarah Miller showed up to play in the main show. Her challenge was just her way of showing off like you said and her tattoo last night is horrible. Worse of all, based on the previews, she is STILL letting people get in her head based on how Cleen is clearly getting to her. One would think that she'd be better prepared after seeing how Kay Cutta toyed with her in Season 2.

[azshadowwalker]

Anthony's "tattoo fraud" comment was the best part of the episode.

As for defending Sarah, everyone makes mistakes. ;)

[candall]

The explanation for surrealism was pretty muddy.  (I thought about it and I would have said, "a standard image, except it has to include an element that's crazy or impossible in real life.")

 

But then the clients started being perfectly specific--"I want a woman's face morphing into a wolf"--and the guys were still whinging.  It makes me wonder how many of them depend on being able to google up a page full of sample images to help them with their final drawing.  You're on your own designing a surrealistic effect.

 

Woman wearing a Davy Crockett-style foxhead hat = not surreal.

 

I hated for Megan-Jean to have a mini-breakdown in front of the judges, but I get how she's overwhelmed by doing good work every week and then getting slammed for it.  The distance/full view of that Medusa truck was pretty damn impressive (except the face seemed to be wearing a clown nose.)  The rocky cave walls read perfectly well from a distance and were some complicated shit for just "framing."  There were half a dozen snakes at different depths and bearing different faces, for crying out loud.  Plus, she seemed to be doing all the heavy lifting.  Grrl cannot catch a break.

 

Until this one.  No one else came within a mile--which must be what it takes to score some praise if you're MJ.

 

P.S.  I don't see how Jime new-schooling up that image "in his usual style" with a couple of goofy snaggle toofs would have been any improvement.

[Apocalypse Cow]

I definitely think that Nunez's treatment of her in the past episodes, coupled with the "he-man" attitudes of everyone in the competition, have made MJ question why she is there.  She's being slammed by her "friends/allies" for being friendly with Kleen, when really it's not impacted the competition AT ALL. And I'm not sure why Nunez hates her so much. I rarely see a tattoo that I want but Megan's tonight was one that I would love to have.

 

Sarah's sucked by it wasn't the worst by far.  I think it will fade okay, and had it not had the weird stripes, it would have been okay.

[psychoticstate]

My head hurt from Sarah's explanation of surrealism.  Huh?  After that though, I did have to laugh at how confused everyone but Megan, Anthony and maybe Christian seemed to be.  

 

With Alex going down with 3 veterans I think we all knew who would go home.  This definitely wasn't Cleen's forte but his work is generally more precise and skilled than Alex's.  Sarah should not have been there but again, the veterans are showing how they can't even sweep their own challenges.  

 

I understand Megan's outburst but that usually does not bode well on IM.  Her tattoo was very pretty though.

 

Really liked Anthony's as well.  He's my fave; I hope he makes it to the finale.

[AlliePK]

Sarah's will need some time to lighten up, then it can be reworked a little to make it a little better.  But the sunburst was completely unnecessary and distracting from the design, which, if she had actually taken into account the canvas' darker skin, would have been kind of nice.  But as usual, Sarah overthinks it.

 

As for Megan Jean's moment:  I think she's tired of doing good work for little praise, having Nunez dumping all over her, the stupid and pointless alliances, and now her relationship with Cleen causing her "allies" to doubt her and even turn on her a little.  I'd lose it, too, but probably in private.  Of course, they did ask her what was going on with her.

 

God, Megan's tattoo was BEAUTIFUL!  And it nailed surrealism right on the head.  I think Matti should have been in the bottom because his tattoo, while clean and well done, failed to meet the challenge.  Jime's was really sad.  Anthony's was very nice.  My favorites in the competition at the moment are Megan Jean, Anthony, and until the old version comes flying out full force like Zuul from Sigourney Weaver, Sarah.

Edited April 6, 2016 by AlliePK

[Inkmaster0345]

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

[niklj]

Interesting that Megan Jean already has experience with tattoo reality shows, since she was on the rip-off show Tattoo Titans: http://www.inkedmag.com/artists/megan-jean-morris/Wonder how this one is so different to make her want to quit. I guess maybe she didn't have weird alliance members who would constantly monitor her associations like some creepy overprotective dads or jealous boyfriends.

 

Happy to see Sarah back, still think she wuz robbed.

 

It also occurred to me that I don't think there have been no guest judges (or guests period) yet this season. That's weird... correct me if I'm wrong.

Edited April 7, 2016 by niklj

[hkit]

Interesting that Megan Jean already has experience with tattoo reality shows, since she was on the rip-off show Tattoo Titans: http://www.inkedmag.com/artists/megan-jean-morris/Wonder how this one is so different to make her want to quit. I guess maybe she didn't have weird alliance members who would constantly monitor her associations like some creepy overprotective dads or jealous boyfriends.

 

I think you hit the nail on the head, re: weird dynamics from the alliance. I didn't get the impression from her meltdown that it was the format, the cameras, or even constant competition that wore her down. Poor girl is getting slammed from every angle. Her work is being harshly judged with no usable feedback to improve (seriously, I thought her Venetian mask was fucking gorgeous, and I would have chosen it for the winner, but for no apparent reason, she was in the bottom). As you point out, her "alliance" is crazy as fuck (don't get me started on the need for an alliance on this show, because I can't even). Even the Cleen situation, she seems to have a bit of a school girl crush on him, and I haven't gotten the impression that he returns the sentiment, although I'm sure he'd be happy to hook up. She had a very physically demanding flash challenge, which it appears, she did the bulk of the work. I'm sore after pressure washing my deck - her back and shoulders were probably on fire. I can only imagine how tired she was by that point, both physically and emotionally. 

[AlliePK]

 

Interesting that Megan Jean already has experience with tattoo reality shows, since she was on the rip-off show Tattoo Titans

Tattoo Titans, if I recall correctly, was a one shot show, kind of a tattoo version of "Chopped".  The format was 4 tattooers whittled down to the week's Titan

[JoyousSpring]

I definitely think that Nunez's treatment of her in the past episodes, coupled with the "he-man" attitudes of everyone in the competition, have made MJ question why she is there.  She's being slammed by her "friends/allies" for being friendly with Kleen, when really it's not impacted the competition AT ALL. And I'm not sure why Nunez hates her so much. I rarely see a tattoo that I want but Megan's tonight was one that I would love to have.

 

The judges, especially Nunez, seem to hate women. This is especially clear when you read the text of the complaint against them. I'm surprised they're allowed to continue with their misogyny. They're begging for another sexual harassment suit.

[azshadowwalker]

I wonder why people who Megan Jean had an agreement with to get out the returnees might be concerned when she starts to cozy up to one of them, particularly a very mouthy one like Cleen.

In general, I hate alliances on this show. The show obviously wants them, though, or the skull assignments wouldn't happen. In that sense, I get them. I get them even more when the returnees do shitty tattoo after shitty tattoo, but only one of them has been sent packing. I absolutely see why the stronger new artists would want to band together. I also get why they would jettison someone who said she was in on it, then started with the puppy dog eyes at Cleen. If you're going to ally with a returnee, I would go with Matti or Sausage, who obviously have rifts with other returnees. Even with their concern, Anthony made sure Megan Jean got a decent client and tattoo to work on. He mentioned that he would take care of the people he needed to, then Matti could do whatever he wanted. If MJ is that brittle, maybe the competition isn't for her.

[PepperMonkey]

I keep forgetting to watch this show. I'm just totally not into this season.

 

I know everyone else has said it so I'm beating the proverbial dead horse, but it pisses me off the way veterans are coming in. I mean, they'll have one coming back the week or so before the finals, right? Without having to be tested by fire as the rest of these guys who have been here since day one, have done.

 

I would have been fine with redemption veterans vs newbies IF they had all started on an even playing field. Of the few episodes I have watched, I'm rooting for Anthony. I like MJ's work, too, but I don't know if she'll hang in, by her choice.

 

I think I'll just keep coming back here to read who won, who went home and who fucked up someone's skin permanently.

[psychoticstate]

I think you hit the nail on the head, re: weird dynamics from the alliance. I didn't get the impression from her meltdown that it was the format, the cameras, or even constant competition that wore her down. Poor girl is getting slammed from every angle. Her work is being harshly judged with no usable feedback to improve (seriously, I thought her Venetian mask was fucking gorgeous, and I would have chosen it for the winner, but for no apparent reason, she was in the bottom). As you point out, her "alliance" is crazy as fuck (don't get me started on the need for an alliance on this show, because I can't even). Even the Cleen situation, she seems to have a bit of a school girl crush on him, and I haven't gotten the impression that he returns the sentiment, although I'm sure he'd be happy to hook up. She had a very physically demanding flash challenge, which it appears, she did the bulk of the work. I'm sore after pressure washing my deck - her back and shoulders were probably on fire. I can only imagine how tired she was by that point, both physically and emotionally. 

 

Maybe Megan was feeling the pressure too of being the only female until Sarah showed up.  And Sarah doesn't strike me as a girl's girl, who would buddy around with other women (at least on the show.) 

 

It can only help Cleen to be friendly with Megan, regardless of any motive(s).  The rookies are naturally going to gun for the veterans; the veterans are going to aim to clear the rookies out.  (Although if they were smart maybe the vets would try to knock out the other vets to make the playing field a bit easier for them)  That said, if Cleen is friendly with Megan, he's guaranteed a good skull pick if she's choosing.  And if she's distracted by her crush or feelings or whatever for him, she may not be pushing as hard to win.  

 

The judges, especially Nunez, seem to hate women. This is especially clear when you read the text of the complaint against them. I'm surprised they're allowed to continue with their misogyny. They're begging for another sexual harassment suit.

 

Please tell me you're not including Dave on this.  I think he seems very fair with all inktestants.  

 

It's very clear who Nunez doesn't like though.

[halkatla]

I wouldn´t include Oliver in it either, he seems to champion women who deserve it.

[Kromm]

The judges, especially Nunez, seem to hate women. This is especially clear when you read the text of the complaint against them. I'm surprised they're allowed to continue with their misogyny. They're begging for another sexual harassment suit.

Nunez has proven this over and over again, hasn't he?

 

Toothpick Man occasionally defends a woman. Occasionally. But he gives in to Nunez more than enough too.

[AlliePK]

Oliver has no issue with women tattooers.  He has taken on women as apprentices.  

[akr]

Oliver has no issue with women tattooers.  He has taken on women as apprentices.

So long as they know their place, I guess. Would he ever have worked for one?

Edited April 20, 2016 by akr