S08.E06: Sticky Situation

[thewhiteowl]

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A conflicted Team Peck fights for control of the game in a Flash Challenge testing contrast. One Artist turns the tables on the girls’ alliance. The battle continues for 100K and the title of Ink Master.

[zxy556575]

This is the part where I'm brought low and have to admit how much I liked the flash challenge, after bitching about them for so long. Some of these folks could have a career as collage artists. I'm glad they went with portraits rather than something more abstract like heaven and hell. What's wrong with Boneface doing a self-portrait, Nikki, and how exactly is that lazy? His had more of a fine art gallery feel to it. Ryan's piece pretty much looked like her, too.

Didn't everyone sketch out their design on the plexiglass first? Gian taping his to the back was smart: "Gian, you magical motherfucker!"

Hey, artists? STOP BITCHING ABOUT THE SKULL PICKS! Time after time, they work up a hypocritical snootful of anger that someone dared give them a difficult request. Then they turn around and do the exact same shit when it's their turn. Bugger off.

I think I dislike Nikki as much as any asshole who's ever been on this show. What a douche.

Edited September 28, 2016 by lordonia

[Lemons]

Nikki is nasty.  Why does she hate Boneface so much and why are the judges allowing these personal insults to fly around at the judging?  

All of the women are sounding like petty, hateful,  screeching hags and they are making women tattooers look bad.  They need to start being more professional.

[niklj]

Those were some good flash challenge results. I'm still astounded that Ryan only has 4 years of experience of tattooing--she's amazing.

Matt was definitely the right person to leave tonight, glad he didn't fly under the radar. I can't believe he spent 6 hours on that little moon and squiggle.

Boneface crossed the line by making his attacks personal. Melted ice cream and flaming meatball haha

[Honey]

What Boneface said to Nikki was really ugly, but he kinda has a point, there is no way that girl looks 24.

[Charlesman]

Hilarious that Ryan got so nasty about the canvas she was assigned, then wins best tattoo of the day. No reason to complain about skull picks, that's the game, and if you get one you hate and win with it, then you're the idiot for complaining about it in the first place. 

 

I couldn't believe Nikki is only 24. So I typed 'Nikki Simpson' into Google. The #1 autocomplete search suggestion was 'Nikki Simpson Ink Master Age'. Guess I wasn't alone. Would love to see the search engine spike for that query over the last day. 

Oh, and boneface's comet was terrible. It looked like it was dented inward, instead of round and coming out from the flames. It made no sense. Guy doesn't know how to shade a sphere. Plus some of the flame came over the edge in the design, making it look like it was on top and the comet was a hole in the sky. 

[Apatee]

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.

[qtpye]

The flash challenge was some of the best work I have ever seen on this show.  Some of these people are good artists, though it does not always show up in their tattoos.

Ryan has such pretty hair.  She has a lavender shade of grey, which is actually supposed to be a color really hard to maintain.   That said, I really do not love her throat tattoos.  It feels like those roses are choking her.

[SunshineSquid]

Im wondering if Nikki was on some sort of medication that made her swell when she was on the show. I looked at her twitter and she has lost weight, and her face looks younger. But let's face it the 80's/90's metal chick facade she sports would make almost anyone think she lived through it the first time. It's just a dated look. 

Edited September 28, 2016 by SunshineSquid

[TattleTeeny]

I realize that just last week, I ranted about how I don't care about these non-tattoo-related flash challenges but I really found this one to be pretty cool. Some of the work looked like wood!

Also, I acknowledge that Boneface is an ass for dragging Nikki's looks into a debate (typical sexist asshole move) but I can't see mid-20s when I when I look at her either.

That said, during the flash challenge, everyone seemed more or less chill with each other. Makes me wonder about this battle of the sexes.

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All of the women are sounding like petty, hateful,  screeching hags and they are making women tattooers look bad.  They need to start being more professional.

I agree about being more professional. But they're not making anyone other then themselves look bad. Maybe the show but not an entire gender in the field.

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empty sweatsuit floating in space.

Ahahhahahaaaaaa! I just laughed out loud! Reminds me of Dr. Seuss's "pale green pants with nobody inside them."

Edited September 28, 2016 by TattleTeeny

[zoltana]

13 hours ago, lordonia said:

This is the part where I'm brought low and have to admit how much I liked the flash challenge, after bitching about them for so long. Some of these folks could have a career as collage artists. I'm glad they went with portraits rather than something more abstract like heaven and hell. What's wrong with Boneface doing a self-portrait, Nikki, and how exactly is that lazy? His had more of a fine art gallery feel to it. Ryan's piece pretty much looked like her, too.

Didn't everyone sketch out their design on the plexiglass first? Gian taping his to the back was smart: "Gian, you magical motherfucker!"

Hey, artists? STOP BITCHING ABOUT THE SKULL PICKS! Time after time, they work up a hypocritical snootful of anger that someone dared give them a difficult request. Then they turn around and do the exact same shit when it's their turn. Bugger off.

I think I dislike Nikki as much as any asshole who's ever been on this show. What a douche.

100 times yes to all of this!  If you look at Ryan's gallery of work from her shop, most of the females in her tattoos bear a resemblance to her.  She has a beautiful face, so I can see why she would, but it does deflate the bitchy comment that Nikki made.  

Nikki is working my last nerve.  Everything is SO unfair and SO against the girls, waaaahhhh.  It was uncalled for (personal attacks are childish), but I admit to giggling a little when Boneface called her out on being an old looking 24 year old.  I had to look at her profile because I was thinking there's no way she's 24.  

Skull picks!  'That's not fair!'  'Why are you gunning for me?'  'We're on a team together!'  Ummm, wake up.  You may be on teams, but you are battling against each other at this stage.  That whole argument about giving the easiest ones to the best artists was garbage.  I want to see her give out the skulls.  The easiest will go the women and the rest will go to the people who are irritating her.  The women are losing my support for girl power.  Be strong and let your talent speak.  Stop whinging because the boys are giving you hard stuff.  Gosh, they must be anti-feminists because they're not treating the women like princesses.  Did no one go into this realizing that hey, this is basically a game show.  It's not about "friendship" (thanks BB Paul), it's about doing your best and strategy.  Ugh!  Ok, rant over.

[Lemons]

11 hours ago, niklj said:

 

Boneface crossed the line by making his attacks personal. Melted ice cream and flaming meatball haha

Nikki screaming at him that he's not an artist is very personal, it's not something that artists usually do to each other.  Nikki is harsh and deserved that comment, I think it shut her up for a minute anyway.

[Inkmaster0345]

Weird flash challenge concept but incredible execution. This is why I occasionally like the non-tattoo related flash challenges, because so many of these people are genuinely incredible artists beyond just doing tattoos. 

Personal theory: the reason we're seeing so many non-tattoo flash challenges this season (and in recent seasons) is due to the divide in talent among the top and bottom artists on the show. If the flash challenges were tattoos, that would increase the probability that one of the best tattooers would win, get the skull pick, get a good canvas, and then do a great tattoo. By avoiding tattoo flash challenges, it increases the chances that a "bad" tattooer wins which adds some variability and makes it harder for the good tattooers who would otherwise dominate. Think back to season 3 when Halo, Matti, Scott, and Sausage won every single challenge (flash and elimination), the dominance was so complete that it's honestly hard to remember anybody else from that season. 

The bickering is old. The women on this season seem to be especially loud, but some of the men are unreasonably butt-hurt about it as well. An important side note: I once watched a periscope with Jason Clay Dunn (he holds one after every new episode) where he said that an average tattoo-critique/elimination takes about 10 hours on site to film.  Keep in mind when you watch these stupid 2 minute "confrontations" that those 2 minutes are being pulled from around 10 hours of material. There's so much going on (or not going on) that we don't see. The people producing and editing these shows are professionals and it's totally possible that the drama is largely fabricated or exaggerated. Hell, my family gets along incredibly well. But if you filmed us for 10 hours a day and then pieced together the worst 2 minutes you could probably make us seem pretty nasty too. 

IMO all of the space tattoos were pretty bad. The top two were a very average astronaut portrait and a solid space scene that was overall nice but had terrible rings around one of the planets. Still waiting for more stylistic challenges instead of being assigned a common subject.

Matt went home--who cares. Was bound to happen eventually.

Tito or Kevin up next week

[TattleTeeny]

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Nikki screaming at him that he's not an artist is very personal, it's not something that artists usually do to each other.  Nikki is harsh and deserved that comment, I think it shut her up for a minute anyway.

She is harsh (and what my grandma would call a "pill," haha!). But her comment was germane the argument at hand; his was a diversion tactic that makes him look not only petty and sexist, but also as if he's lacking confidence in his own stance by tossing in something that has 0 to do with tattooing. Not saying he is those things, or that I'm above doing them (or agreeing with him in this case). Just that it's not really helpful or intelligent if your goal is to make a point. But maybe that wasn't his goal.

Edited September 28, 2016 by TattleTeeny

[Kelda Feegle]

Loved the flash challenge results!

Boneface went all kindergarten with the insult.

An astronaut in a onesie?

Settle down Nikki and up your game Gia.

[staphdude]

If Boneface is going to be called out for sexism then I have to also say that the depth of Nikki's disdain may indicate some racism. There I said it and I'm not ashamed. 

[azshadowwalker]

22 hours ago, Lemons said:

Nikki is nasty.  Why does she hate Boneface so much and why are the judges allowing these personal insults to fly around at the judging?  

All of the women are sounding like petty, hateful,  screeching hags and they are making women tattooers look bad.  They need to start being more professional.

Hateful screeching hags? If I wanted to hit every misogynistic note in the world, I don't know if I could have done quite as well as that sentence. Dudes have been yelling and insulting the work of the others since this show started. I don't remember people attacking their looks, though. 

Ryan talked her canvas out of what she asked for due to time constraints. It was meant to screw her, but these dudes failed again. Hahaha. 

I did like the extra scene of Gia, Ryan and random dude making fun of the other dudes' paranoia. 

Tito is not good in this format. He may be awesome in his shop, but I don't see it on the show. 

[Lemons]

5 minutes ago, staphdude said:

If Boneface is going to be called out for sexism then I have to also say that the depth of Nikki's disdain may indicate some racism. There I said it and I'm not ashamed. 

Unless I missed something, Nikki has made it a point to pick apart Boneface's work every single time for no apparent reason.  She's almost in a rage because she "doesn't think he belongs in the competition."  

You just don't look an artist in the eye and say "you're not an artist."  It's a low blow and extremely hurtful.  Boneface reacted with his own low blow.  He shouldn't have said it but she was so brutal that he fought back.  It's one thing to say, oh your tattoo sucks, it's another thing to say, you aren't an artist, you have no legitimacy. 

[thewhiteowl]

If you have an issue with a post, report it, don't engage and continue to spread it. Thanks.

[TattleTeeny]

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If Boneface is going to be called out for sexism then I have to also say that the depth of Nikki's disdain may indicate some racism. There I said it and I'm not ashamed. 

I really saw no evidence of that. 

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You just don't look an artist in the eye and say "you're not an artist."  It's a low blow and extremely hurtful.  Boneface reacted with his own low blow.  He shouldn't have said it but she was so brutal that he fought back.  It's one thing to say, oh your tattoo sucks, it's another thing to say, you aren't an artist, you have no legitimacy. 

While I have no idea on what she's basing that opinion, the label of artist has tons to do with being a tattooist. How old one looks does not at all (and I didn't say he is a sexist, just alluded to that fact that looking older than one's age is a comment often tossed at women as an attempt to devalue them). And all of it is probably hurtful so that's a wash; Boneface's remark was basically an avoidance technique not too far from a playground taunt, and not a very clever one. I don't really care what they say to one another (though I wish we'd see less of it and more work) but I can't pretend he was making a valid point in the confines of the discussion. He made himself look stupid. 

[Julie Firestone]

On 9/28/2016 at 0:35 AM, Lemons said:

All of the women are sounding like petty, hateful,  screeching hags and they are making women tattooers look bad.  They need to start being more professional.

"All of the women?" I don't think Kelly Doty has been bad at all, and certainly not petty, hateful, or screeching. As I've seen it, Nikki has been a pill but a solid tattooer, Gia has been an underachieving complainer, Ryan has been a rockstar tattooer who is playing the game, and Kelly has just been a rockstar period. I'm all for the girls' alliance, but it's annoying when Nikki and Gia then turn around and complain about the guys banding together against them. There's nothing wrong with playing the game, on either side.

That being said, Boneface's comment had nothing to do with the competition and was just over the line.

[AlliePK]

I'm not understanding why when women engage in the same behavior as men, they are somehow thought of as "worse" for it.  Nikki needs to grow up and gain some perspective, as does Gia.  Ryan has the ability to rise above the tougher skull picks.  She complains, but no more than the men do.  And Kelly has engaged in little to no complaining about anything, as Kelly is wont to do.  She just does her thing.

[staphdude]

7 hours ago, TattleTeeny said:

I really saw no evidence of that. 

While I have no idea on what she's basing that opinion, the label of artist has tons to do with being a tattooist. How old one looks does not at all (and I didn't say he is a sexist, just alluded to that fact that looking older than one's age is a comment often tossed at women as an attempt to devalue them). And all of it is probably hurtful so that's a wash; Boneface's remark was basically an avoidance technique not too far from a playground taunt, and not a very clever one. I don't really care what they say to one another (though I wish we'd see less of it and more work) but I can't pretend he was making a valid point in the confines of the discussion. He made himself look stupid. 

Not discounting the sexism which was rather transparent but incessant focus on Boneface and how he doesn't deserve to be in the competition smacks of something other than artistic snobery. 

[TattleTeeny]

Oh, agree. It's just that there are lots of somethings aside from racism that fall outside the category of artistic snobbery. Maybe he is a bad artist, or maybe he's just a dick. Or she's just an unpleasant person in general (she seems to be, regardless of whatever's up her ass about Boneface). Maybe all of the above!

Edited September 30, 2016 by TattleTeeny

[SunshineSquid]

4 hours ago, AlliePK said:

I'm not understanding why when women engage in the same behavior as men, they are somehow thought of as "worse" for it.  Nikki needs to grow up and gain some perspective, as does Gia.  Ryan has the ability to rise above the tougher skull picks.  She complains, but no more than the men do.  And Kelly has engaged in little to no complaining about anything, as Kelly is wont to do.  She just does her thing.

I would also go as far as saying Kelly looked annoyed by Nikki when she kept interrupting her. Kelly seems like a hard person to annoy.

[zxy556575]

Boneface had been marginalized and discounted from the second episode when his team excluded him from contributing to the joint piece. His portfolio doesn't blow me away, but he is quite competent and has been doing this for 17 years. I have to wonder why the grudge right off the bat against the guy.

Here are Nikki's and Boneface's elimination tattoos. I think Nikki's are better from a design perspective, but genuinely don't see what he's done artistically that's sent her into the hate stratosphere. I also thought his packing tape portrait was one of the top results.

Edited September 30, 2016 by lordonia

[Lemons]

8 hours ago, Julie Firestone said:

"All of the women?" I don't think Kelly Doty has been bad at all, and certainly not petty, hateful, or screeching.

You're right, Kelly hasn't been bad.  A lot of people think that men are better at tattooing than women.  The women on this show don't need to give these people any ammunition, so that they can say, "see, women aren't equipped to be in the tattoo field."  They need to be way more professional.

[zxy556575]

My fingers are crossed for a Kelly win. I love her work and, from what we've seen, she's remained poised and calm.

Good lord. It's a pretty low bar when the highest compliment for a contestant on this show is that they haven't started personal vendettas or screamed insults at each other.

[Apatee]

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. 

Edited September 30, 2016 by Apatee

[psychoticstate]

21 hours ago, AlliePK said:

I'm not understanding why when women engage in the same behavior as men, they are somehow thought of as "worse" for it.  Nikki needs to grow up and gain some perspective, as does Gia.  Ryan has the ability to rise above the tougher skull picks.  She complains, but no more than the men do.  And Kelly has engaged in little to no complaining about anything, as Kelly is wont to do.  She just does her thing.

I agree with this.  Jerky behavior is jerky behavior whether it's coming from a man or woman.  And inktestants have long engaged in jerky behavior. 

I think several of the artists, who happened to be female, looked bad by suggesting that the best artists be given easier canvases.  Seriously?  You're going to get offended because you're given a hard canvas?  What if all the canvases were difficult?  I agree with the head shaking over the perception that the better artists, at least according to the inktestants, are given an easier path to the finish.  That's crap.  It makes more sense to knock the stronger artists out as early as you can.

I really, REALLY dislike how Nikki (and anyone else) puts their two cents in while the judges are judging.  Look, you will have your time to express your opinion when you vote as a group who to send down.  Otherwise, zip it.  This is why the opposing team should not be present if they aren't going to be instructed to shut it.  I'm not saying this is the case but Gia could have tattooed total ass on her canvas and it appears that Nikki still would have gone after Boneface.  Have your alliance but I don't want the judges or show to give her remarks or opinions any credence if it's going after someone for a personal reason rather than legitimacy of the artwork.  Oh, who am I kidding?  This is Ink Master.

I still think Boneface's peacock tattoo was beautiful. 

At this point I don't really like any of the women except Kelly.  And a lot of the men are running together in my mind.

I love Dave.  I miss Josh. 

[thewhiteowl]

I love Dave, too. I also love missing Josh and hope to continue. Hee.

The men in past season were called all shades of asshole for their behavior so I'm okay with calling out the women who are behaving the exact same way.  Just keep it away from misogynistic slurs and it's fine. The women can be assholes just as easy. 

Boneface puzzles me. His work is pretty good, not terrible and the peacock was stellar. I wonder why he gets so little credit. 

[AlliePK]

8 minutes ago, thewhiteowl said:

I love Dave, too. I also love missing Josh and hope to continue. Hee.

The men in past season were called all shades of asshole for their behavior so I'm okay with calling out the women who are behaving the exact same way.  Just keep it away from misogynistic slurs and it's fine. The women can be assholes just as easy. 

Boneface puzzles me. His work is pretty good, not terrible and the peacock was stellar. I wonder why he gets so little credit. 

As long as we're calling all the assholes assholes, I'm fine with it. 

Boneface is a fine tattooer.  He has had some glitches here and there, but over all is competent and has been in the game longer than Nikki.  She needs to stake a seat.  I am still liking Ryan, and I LOVE Kelly Doty - always have.  Not sure what's going on with Nate Beavers.  He's having a rough go and he's a really good tattooer.  Sometimes, watching the elimination tattoos, I get nostalgic for when I tattooed.  I try to think what I would do.  I know I wouldn't flip out over any of the canvases.  I would find a way to make it work.

[Charlesman]

While the added criticism from the peanut gallery comes off as petty and personal instead of professional, Dave, Nunez, and Peck have invited it in the past, so I'm OK with it. I like that the 3 judges have the confidence of their opinion to be able to back them up and say why they're doing what they're doing and why they came to their decision.

Plus, we got Nunez to shut them up with that "if you can't stay inside the lines, you're going to go home" line earlier, when someone started with personal criticism instead of honest critique.

[zxy556575]

On 9/28/2016 at 2:16 PM, Inkmaster0345 said:

Tito or Kevin up next week.

Wiki tells me that of the remaining contestants, Tito, Kevin and Gia are tied for lowest with 2 bottom finishes and no wins.

I'm not gonna call Tito's shop and shout invective at him or anything, but it's vexing that he's still there. He should have been gone for the Medusa or the tree of life. He's also been an arrogant schmuck. Let's remind ourselves of this guy's mediocre output, Nikki.

Edited September 30, 2016 by lordonia