S08.E13: Heavy Lifting

[zxy556575]

Oh, Nikki. Rubbing two brain cells together isn't her strong suit. She's messed up every one of her skull picks in some way. I'm usually kind of oblivious to clothing but her black ripped looking top is so ugly and she wears it so much. THIS CLOSE to getting rid of her tonight! Her portrait was by far the worst to me.

Over all seasons, so many tattoos of children have made them look years older and this was no different. I preferred Gian's portrait over Nate's because it was softer but both were very nice and looked exactly like the subject.

Quit your bitching, Ryan.

Edited November 16, 2016 by lordonia

[niklj]

Next time Nikki should just give her skull pick to people who actually know what they're doing with it. Painful.

The judging in this episode was B.S. (Nate's interpretation I thought was horrendous) but I don't know why I haven't started expecting that by now.

Brick challenge was lame.

Edited November 16, 2016 by niklj

[Muffyn]

Did Kevin go home?  My VCR cut off the end.

[niklj]

Just now, Muffyn said:

Did Kevin go home?  My VCR cut off the end.

Yes, along with one of the funniest send-offs: "Maybe mine won't look as good in a few months but Nikki's canvas will always have a tattoo of some poor unknown child."

[303420]

28 minutes ago, Muffyn said:

Did Kevin go home?  My VCR cut off the end.

That's precious. I mean that with the greatest of affection.

I watched Flash Gordon on VHS the other day, but I wouldn't know where to begin recording from the TV.

On topic: I agree with Ryan that the judges inadequately critiqued Kevin's plastic hair. Kelly is my favorite. 

I miss Josh.

[hkit]

How awesome is Kelly? She may not be the most talented left, but she knows how to play the game. And not to mention, is actually a pleasant person. I loved how she stood up for herself with her "don't ever question my integrity" then moved on. See reality tv contestants: this is how you do it. 

For the tattoos, I was meh on all of them. Toddler portraits sort of creep me out, and none of these changed my mind. 

Guest judge was only 37 based on his comments. He has done some hard living in those years. 

[qtpye]

8 hours ago, lordonia said:

Oh, Nikki. Rubbing two brain cells together isn't her strong suit. She's messed up every one of her skull picks in some way. I'm usually kind of oblivious to clothing but her black ripped looking top is so ugly and she wears it so much. THIS CLOSE to getting rid of her tonight! Her portrait was by far the worst to m

Does the woman instruct a mountain lion to strategically shred all her blouses?  Her styling is making her look like a poor man's Elvira.

I do like Kelly as well.

[Apatee]

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.

[Muffyn]

7 hours ago, 303420 said:

That's precious. I mean that with the greatest of affection.

I watched Flash Gordon on VHS the other day, but I wouldn't know where to begin recording from the TV.

On topic: I agree with Ryan that the judges inadequately critiqued Kevin's plastic hair. Kelly is my favorite. 

I miss Josh.

Um, so I meant to type DVR but I typed VCR.  Because letters?  Exhaustion?  My brain in Trump's America?  The soul sucking effect of Nikki yet again posturing and pouting at the same time? 

Now I have to find a clip  of Kevin talking about "some poor unknown child" just to hear the exact tone of the snark.  Dayum!  That's the way to go out!

I am so very tired of Nikki.    

[psychoticstate]

Good God, do Nikki and Ryan EVER stop complaining?  Jeebus.  The judges already made their call so why the eff is Ryan complaining that she got a harsher critique?  

I would say this for any inktestant but if you can't/won't do color, you should not be Ink Master.

Still not caring much who wins but out of the remaining group, give it to Kelly.  While her style may not be my fave, her work is consistently good and she doesn't bitch and moan about everything.  

Dave continues to be the most intelligent and sensible judge on the stage. 

While we knew Kevin would eventually be sent home for disregarding Nunez' advice, I have to admit that I love that he did disregard Nunez' advice. 

I love Dave.

I miss Josh.

[zxy556575]

14 minutes ago, psychoticstate said:

While we knew Kevin would eventually be sent home for disregarding Nunez' advice, I have to admit that I love that he did disregard Nunez' advice. 

That's been my favorite part of the entire season! Kevin hears Nunez's advice as "blah de bloop, yadda, clickety clack."

[qtpye]

I was hoping to see an episode where Kevin would disregard Nunez's advice about Japanese dragons, just see Nunez's head explode.

[AlliePK]

12 hours ago, niklj said:

Yes, along with one of the funniest send-offs: "Maybe mine won't look as good in a few months but Nikki's canvas will always have a tattoo of some poor unknown child."

That was GOLDEN!  Nikki had the worst tattoo, by far.  It was far more inaccurate than Kevin's.  They seemed to have forgotten that they were judging accuracy and not longevity.

[belligerent]

Kevin's gay? Did he mention that earlier in the season or was this the only time other than last week's clip show where he said the word "gay" but in a context that could have been referring to anyone?

Also, Nate and Gian's kid didn't look like a toddler.

I think Nikki's tattoo could reasonably be said to resemble that kid considering in a few years, he'll be older. Kevin gave somebody a tattoo of a smarmy leprechaun with a rapidly disappearing face.

I think Nate's was creepy.

[303420]

11 hours ago, Muffyn said:

Um, so I meant to type DVR but I typed VCR.  Because letters?  Exhaustion?  My brain in Trump's America?  The soul sucking effect of Nikki yet again posturing and pouting at the same time? 

Damn, I'm disappointed.

I really did watch Flash Gordon on VHS a couple of weeks ago.

10 hours ago, psychoticstate said:

I love Dave.

I miss Josh.

*Sigh.* Yeah.

[PepperMonkey]

Is anyone in touch with Josh on social media? If so, I hope you let him know how we namecheck him every week. I will never not miss him.

I knew that no matter what happened, Kevin was going home. Nunez basically wrote him off when he realized he's not going to change his style because Nunez wants him to. Had to laugh when Oliver, Nunez, guest judge were standing there talking about how no one was going to beat Nikki and Nikki is Nunez's horse. Then they all had to admit her portrait was terrible. Nikki will make it to the finals, though, or Nunez will quit. Which scares me for Kelly.

Ryan's officially on my last nerve with the complaining and the fact that she refuses to do colour. Completely agree with psychotic that if anyone but Ryan had been mostly refusing to do colour all season, they would have been told "you can't be an inkmaster if you're only a black and gray artist." And, she uses white in her black and gray which I thought was a no-no? I seem to remember - was it Craig? - who used white in his black and gray (because he is primarly a colour artist) and they told him it's not about white, it's about getting the different shades of gray by diluting black ink. I swear I remember that. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Nate's out next week.

Nikki's was much worse that Kevin's, but even if they were blind judging, they would have known that was Kevin's work. Kevin loves colour. Nikki's was a stronger tat, I guess, but it totally did not look like either that child or an actual human. Whoever said zombie baby had it pegged.

Still Team Kelly. I'll be Team Kelly even if she leaves. Hillary and Kelly till I die.

[zxy556575]

6 hours ago, belligerent said:

I think Nate's was creepy.

The photo was creepy! Not the child but the ridiculous hat and whoever told him to make a jaunty face.

[Rancide]

I think the judges on this show, minus Dave, have a vocabulary of ~500 words.  If I hear "apples to apples" or "checkers" or "chess" again one more time, I may scream.  Nunez, in particular, is waaaay too dumb to spend as much time talking about "strategy" as he likes to do.  I don't think he could strategize himself out of a locked room.

Kevin was obviously going home.  He doesn't do what Nunez tells him to.  The only reason he made it this far is because Sketchy quit, and despite what the judges say about how this is Peck v. Nunez and talking about how one person's team is going dominate, it's REALLY OBVIOUS that all they've been doing is taking turns eliminating one person from one team and one person from another all season so that the teams are always kept equal.  Once Sketchy quit and put team Nunez down one man, it just bought Kevin some time, but nothing else.  Now Team Nunez is down one man, so next week it will have to be Nate or Gian to go.  /yawn.  Why doesn't this show focus more on tattoos, less on yelling and acting like a heinous human being and ridiculous game-playing nonsense?

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

The photo was creepy! Not the child but the ridiculous hat and whoever told him to make a jaunty face.

I am still laughing at "jaunty face."

[azshadowwalker]

We hear very little of the actual critique. No problem with Ryan commenting on something she actually experienced in its entirety.

Nate talking shit? The dude who brags about being intentionally mediocre while permanently marking people? I would never get work done by someone who admits giving people less than his best work just because. (Although, I suspect that might be an excuse to cover the fact that he's mediocre in this setting.)

[qtpye]

Nikk's canvas wanted a tattoo of her kid and came out with a portrait of Tammy Faye Baker.

[Sugar]

Tim Hendricks (guest judge) is super talented, so I was disappointed when they showed clips of his portfolio and they chose really generic pieces to highlight. He was also on Miami Ink with Nunez.

I say this as a fan of Ryan's work - the double standards are so completely unfair. Other artists have been penalized for only doing 1 style, but Ryan hasn't had any criticism for staying in her wheelhouse. And yes, the judges have straight up said that there shouldn't be any white in black and grey tats except for tiny highlights (they said it to Craig, and pretty sure there was another instance). Ryan's whole shtick is to use a shit ton of white to make her blacks look darker - what gives?Kelly's style is new school, but she's adapted to every challenge. Ryan keeps doing the same (well-done) style every week.

I'm so disappointed that the women on this show have given me nothing to root for. They're talented artists, no doubt about it, but I really hate Ryan and Nikki's constant complaining. Oh no, someone is gunning for me because I got a bad skull pick. Have you not seen the show? They're not gunning for you, they're literally just doing as they are told! Oh boo-hoo, the boys are unfair to us. Um yea, you guys ostracized everyone else when you declared yourselves an all girl alliance. Even Kelly is starting to get on my nerves with her girl power shtick. Look, you can support your fellow women without putting down the men. If they're talented (and they are), they don't need you to put down the competition to make them look better. Let the work speak for itself. Call out BS when it's aimed at you, but I really can't recall an exchange where one of the men were blatantly sexist or disrespectful to one of the women WITHOUT being provoked. Actually, before the girls started disregarding the given teams and declared their own team, the men were pretty good about giving props where they were due. And I say all this as a woman who wants other women to succeed - I'm a feminist but I find these women hard to root for.

Kelly is the least offensive, and most versatile in my eyes (she's got a killer portfolio), so I will reluctantly cheer her on, even though I like Gian better as a person/competitor.

Edited November 18, 2016 by Sugar

[PepperMonkey]

I like Gian a lot, too. I won't be sad if he wins.

Was just hoping for a female winner at some point. IMHO, Kelly is the most deserving based on her work on the show, her portfolio and her qualities as a human being.

I still think one of the girls is going home before the finale. I firmly believe it will be Gian and whoever the other two are. I can't see Oliver and Nunez letting it be an all female finale, even if they are setting it up for the first female winner.

[halkatla]

Nothing but Ryan, Gian and Kelly in the finals would be fair.

Edited November 20, 2016 by halkatla

[zxy556575]

4 hours ago, halkatla said:

Nothing but Ryan, Gian and Kelly in the finals would fair.

Gian's the only one who's never been in the bottom. He's quiet and doesn't get a lot of screen time, but I don't remember him being an ass, either.

Nikki and Ryan have 2 bottom placements and Kelly and Nate have 3. I'd love to see Kelly kill it but I'm afraid she's on the bubble.

The only thing that would irk me is Nikki being one of the finalists, just because of her sullen, loudmouthed attitude.

[thewhiteowl]

Unless Ryan has been sneaky about it, she can't do color and that is a huge weakness. Nikki has been consistently good but only a few really stellar tats. Kelly has had a few dogs and Nikki has had at least one really bad one. Gian has been the best overall IMO. As much as I would like a female to win, I don't want her to win just because she is female. She has to be the best and earn it. I don't think these women have done so. JMO. 

[Sile]

Gian has been one of my favorites ever since the packing tape flash challenge, but he secured my heart when he admitted that portraits were his Achilles tendon...

Edited November 20, 2016 by Sile

[azshadowwalker]

I am just fine with any of these women winning. Not like dudes haven't won more than once vs supposedly "superior" competition. I would argue it happened just last season, when Christian should have won over both Anthony and Cleen. Cleen's first loss? Kruseman winning over Matt and Chris?

I'm also not terribly impressed by these dudes. Not like any of them are spectacular and a loss would be a travesty. I can't remember a single tattoo by any of them. I don't find any of them particularly special.

And , no, I don't care if Ryan never does a color tattoo. Do what looks good. Gian can't do portraits, apparently. Not sure why that admission is laudable, but Ryan saying she does black and grey is "weak". Don't care about Nikki's "attitude", either. I am just fine with a woman who fights back, especially for other women. Besides, if the argument is really about talent, being likable doesn't matter. The  judges seem to think she's the strongest contender for Nuñez, for whatever reason. So, I don't see her attitude mattering to them, either. I am sure they are used to it, anyway, since we have seen contestants speak out at judging before. 

 I also would love to see women who support other women be rewarded. We might not live in the fucked up world we do if more women put women first.

Edited November 21, 2016 by azshadowwalker

[Sugar]

13 hours ago, azshadowwalker said:

And , no, I don't care if Ryan never does a color tattoo. Do what looks good.

This is a show about being the best all-around tattoo artist, not being the best in one style. Ryan's awesome at what she does, but if she can't do colour, then she shouldn't still be here. This isn't a showcase; it's a competition that rewards versatility. I love Ryan's portfolio, but she hasn't shown herself to be as strong all-around as Kelly.

My problem with Nikki's attitude is that based on the edit (and that's all I can speak to), she came in with a chip on her shoulder. And I get that when you're a woman in a male-dominated industry, you may have had negative experiences that have given you that chip, but it's not fair for ANYONE to make generalizations and assume that they're always going to be treated poorly because of their gender/race/size/religion/looks, etc. Right off the bat, she was overly aggressive about putting people down, which is what drew fire from everyone else.

My issue with the women this year, is that they were put on teams. Stupid or not, that was the premise of the show. And sure, decide to support someone based on their anatomy if you want - that's your prerogative - but don't be shocked and defensive when the people ON YOUR TEAM feel betrayed by you. I'd be pissed if my teammate was blatantly supporting someone on another team and ignoring me, or straight up calling me out. Leaving gender out of it, to me that's just a shitty thing to do, and that's why I'm not impressed with the whole "girl power" routine.

If this weren't a season based on teams, I'd feel very differently, and I'd probably think it was rad as hell that the girls were coming together.