S08.E16: Peck vs Nunez

[thewhiteowl]

Finale

[Fex]

Agghhhh! That opening.... I don't even know. So hard to look at, and yet I couldn't look away. Another reason to love Dave.

There was no way a man was winning this season. So as soon as Kelly was out, I knew Ryan would win. I liked Kelly's live tattoo more than Ryan's.

Wouldn't you be disappointed if you got a big ol tattoo for the Ink Master finale and it wasn't even shown?

[Wandering Snark]

Haven't chimed in even though this is one of my favorite shows... so, some comments.

That suspension by Dave was badass, especially as he started swinging above the crowd. Whoa.

Live tattoos, I think Kelley went into Catch-22 land with her subject choice. When it came to a tie Dave couldn't pick the one that was OF HIM and will get crap still for not picking Kelly. She kinda shot herself in the foot knowing that there would be a tie coming down to hers in Dave's hands, it was a good looking tattoo but yeah. I think Ryan was hte deserving winner here hers was jawdropping with the amount of detail work and the overall finished product was stunning.

Nothing makes a statement quite like wearing half a wookie pelt as Kevin did.

Nikki actually looked a bit more her age without the Elvira look haircut. I'm not sure if it was an improvement though with that eye makeup and glittery hair etc. she kinda looked a bit 90's porn star, maybe an homage to Ryan's 'back in time' tattoo? 

My point with these shows has always been you quit you're not allowed in the finale/reunion so I hated they let the very aptly named 'Sketchy' back and blew his horn so much. Dude quit. Cya!!

I'm pissed we didn't at least get to see Kelly's chest piece, she deserved to at least have her look seen.

I've never seen a watercolor skull before... while Ryan's could have been a Van Halen or ZZ Top album cover pic. I feel she deserved to win.

[zxy556575]

I really liked all the live tattoos and was happy that the finalists got a chance to shine in their preferred style. Of the two chest pieces, I liked Gian's better but that's just personal preference. They were both great, technically and artistically.

Bummed that we never saw Kelly's piece but hopefully it will be on Spike tomorrow. She seemed to have the biggest crowd of fans there so I hope that was some consolation for her.

Overall it was a ridiculous, filler-ful finale, as usual. I have zero interest in hearing from the rejected contestants so they can shutty. The critiques from the judges were especially bland and meaningless -- it might as well have been me up there: "Uh. Nice tattoo. Looks like something you would have done. You're my girl!"

[niklj]

Yay congrats to Ryan, who I was rooting for since day 1. Hard to believe she's only been doing this for four years! And cherry on top: team Peck won! Even when Chris tried to nitpick both hers and Gian's tattoos. Deserving winner, period. Glad they threw out that report card nonsense at the end.

Wanted to see Kelly's piece so bad. The idea of a Twitter vote didn't make sense--people were going to vote for their favorite artist no matter what the tattoo looked like (and you couldn't even really see them!)

Also I thought Japanese was in Gian's wheelhouse which is why Kelly/Ryan/Gian were asking their fans online to vote for that for him as it was his strength. Why did Oliver think otherwise?

Heard enough from Sketchy for a lifetime and I loved how awkward he was during the credits. No one wanted to talk to him (or Nate) so he pretty much started walking off the stage.

And I loved Nikki's point: they weren't some nefarious alliance, they were actually FRIENDS. Glad everything turned out well for them.

Not a terrible season. Surprised they didn't tease next season.

[qtpye]

It looked like Kevin and Sketchy were trying to imply that there was script from the beginning that a woman would win this season, no matter what.  I love it when Nikki called him out on it by saying that they could have beaten all the females in the alliance, if they had better tattooing skills.  I love that way that shut down a lot of the "Waaa, they were always going to pick a girl, whining".

Yes, the judges have their favorites, but even they will not award ink master to someone that does not have the skills or does not follow direction.

A good example was Kleen Rock was a favorite in his season and was set to win the finale.  Kleen decided to ignore the rule that he had to do photo realism and the judges were forced to give the win to Jason Dunn, because he did the New School style required of him.

That being said congratulations to Kelly, Gian, and Ryan...all three of them should be proud of themselves.

[Nutjob]

What didn't make sense about the guys' whining was the fact that they were the majority. Essentially, they were whining because the group with a lot fewer people in it were able to band together and take them down because... reasons? The dudes weren't making any sense to me at all.

 

I'm glad Ryan won, even though I was pulling for Kelly.

[SunshineSquid]

Dave hanging from the hooks was a weird way to start the show. Do you just ooze blood after that? What about his back tattoos? Would they scar and look different after that? Did anyone else get an eyeful of crotch on Ryan's canvass? Eventually they put up graphics, but before that I could tell she rejects waxing. All these questions, none about our contestants.

It seemed like Kelly had the audience vote. (she was also my favorite) She seemed pretty destroyed to lose. My theory is they wanted an attractive Ink Master. (I do think Ryan is very talented) But I'm sure potential advertisers would prefer a PYT in their Charger.

[holly4755]

OK, I have been looking for more and Navarro on suspensions. So he does not have body modification, it is jsut hooks in his skin, he has done it front  or back. And this is a fairly recent thing,s only going back 10 years at the most. It hurts, then endomorphins get releases . I can't believe the hooks just don't rip out of the skin, but it doesn't. I can't believe he was just talking during this.   I think this is too much for me to absorb. Never  going to watch a show called hanging around.

[zxy556575]

Here's Kelly's chest piece. I could nitpick some minor things but it's a solid American Traditional.

Edited December 7, 2016 by lordonia

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

Wouldn't you be disappointed if you got a big ol tattoo for the Ink Master finale and it wasn't even shown?

Oh my god, I didn't even think of this until your comment! I wanted to see!

Man, I wish I was Ryan's doppelgänger. Or, I want Kelly's hair--that was fabulous.

When the hell is this show going to work out the sound issues in its finales? Every single time!

Edited December 7, 2016 by TattleTeeny

[Wandering Snark]

6 hours ago, lordonia said:

Here's Kelly's chest piece. I could nitpick some minor things but it's a solid American Traditional.

Wow, nice work and certainly "out of her wheelhouse" (a phrased I'd like to see banned btw). I particularly like how she worked around the nipples with excellent placement of the mermaids. Chest pieces always have that question of how to work in the "blank" nipple areas, and sometimes its just looks odd and becomes the only thing you see. We've seen them done badly on the show before. Nipples.

EDIT: Nicely done Spike... they have the 7 hour tattoos mislabeled. *eye roll* There were three and they got two wrong! C'mon man!

Edited December 8, 2016 by Wandering Snark

[candall]

Well, LOL, knowing there was a solid 20 minutes before anything happened, I wasn't paying much attention to Dave swinging around and NOW I find out he was doing A Man Called Horse??  Wait, I'll be right back . . .

Okay, so that was hardcore.

But here's my big question:  I thought the live tattoo styles were pre-determined by internet vote?  Why is Peck fawning all over Gian for "going that extra step and proving he could do a Japanese challenge instead of sticking with his wheelhouse"?  And why is Dave picking Gian over Kelly because "I've seen this style from you before"?  If neither of them had a choice, why is the style a determining factor, let alone the ultimate criteria??  What am I missing?

(Ryan got megapoints from me for all the time she spent training to bone up on an unfamiliar technique.)

So anyway, IMO Kelly got flat out robbed when they picked Gian's green Japanese polka-dot gobbledy goo with the unfinished/"negative spaces."  (Whether something's "finished" seems like a valid consideration, and saying the other person might throw in some additional stuff if she had more time isn't really responsive.)  What was that, anyway?  I saw claws.

Ryan deserved the win--too bad we had to wait 16 episodes to see her work in her style of choice, because that black & grey piece was beautiful.

 

(Technical question:  why did the woman's whole leg around the Japanese tattoo look like bruised raw meat?  Ouch.)

Edited December 7, 2016 by candall

[Apatee]

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.

Edited December 7, 2016 by Apatee

[LaChavalina]

2 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

Wow, nice work and certainly "out of her wheelhouse" (a phrased I'd like to see banned btw). I particularly like how she worked around the nipples with excellent placement of the mermaids. Chest pieces always have that question of how to work in the "blank" nipple areas, and sometimes its just looks odd and becomes the only thing you see. We've seen them done badly on the show before.

That guy has so many nipples now. It's almost nipples on nipples.

[cpcathy]

I'm going to be saying "nipples on nipples" for the rest of the afternoon now.

[Diane Mars]

1 hour ago, candall said:

(Technical question:  why did the woman's whole leg around the Japanese tattoo look like bruised raw meat?  Ouch.)

That was the "not totally well cleaned up" ink on the skin :) But yes, the mixture was really a kind of mimicking bruises !

[TattleTeeny]

There was a moment there toward the end that it looked like Gian was annihilating that chick's leg. Not saying he was, because I don't know what technique is needed for what--all I know is I have never seen my tattoo guy do that, and that I said "yikes!" out loud!

[Wandering Snark]

I think he was hurrying to get shading in so it was broad strokes? But yeah he was really going to town. (Nowhere near the woman's nipples though. *grins*)

3 hours ago, LaChavalina said:

That guy has so many nipples now. It's almost nipples on nipples.

I edited in an extra nipple mention for you.

Also re: Gian's 'muddy' tattoo, he I'd imagine kind of got screwed on the twitter vote because he simply hadn't cleaned the ink residue off his tattoo when the cameras came to him live for the vote. The girls had taken the squirt bottle and rinsed/cleaned the blood and extra ink from theirs. When cleared off it was pretty clear that the 'negative' areas were planned but the finished/unfinished has been an issue in fnals before and Dave didn't want them to go there again.

Edited December 8, 2016 by Wandering Snark

[belligerent]

Why is sketchy on the finale and why do they keep talking to him? his opinion literally does not matter at all about anything and nobody wants to hear him talk out of his ass. please go away forever.

i figured ryan would be the winner since her lack of experience was never mentioned the way nikki's was, even though she hasn't been tattooing that much longer. i'm fine with her winning but i think i would have liked a kelly win a bit more. annoyed that kelly was not top 2, although i didn't like any of the final tattoos since they were all styles of tattoo and subject matter i'm not super into.

[Fex]

7 hours ago, candall said:

But here's my big question:  I thought the live tattoo styles were pre-determined by internet vote?  Why is Peck fawning all over Gian for "going that extra step and proving he could do a Japanese challenge instead of sticking with his wheelhouse"?  And why is Dave picking Gian over Kelly because "I've seen this style from you before"?  If neither of them had a choice, why is the style a determining factor, let alone the ultimate criteria??  What am I missing?

This really bugged me, too! Normally I think Dave is the voice of reason when it comes to judging, but in this case he didn't make sense to me. Maybe he truly preferred Gian's but didn't want to criticize his own face. Or preferred Kelly's but didn't want to choose his own face, and end up being a subject every year.

[Charlesman]

Part of me wonders why the live voting ends when you've barely seen the tattoos. What are people voting on other than popularity? They weren't even wiped clean and the voting was finished. 

But part of me knows it's fixed. I mean, the judges know who's going to win the chest piece. They know the eventual winner. If that's the audience pick, they pick the runner up. If the real winner isn't the audience choice, they put them through. Kelly's chest piece wasn't the winning tattoo. So she didn't get through. Dave's rationalization is nonsense and irrelevant. She wasn't going to go through so he just said something to end it. 

[psychoticstate]

I hate how they take one inktestant out of the running before we even see the chest pieces.  What's the point?  Why not let the winner of the public vote get $10K or something?  As soon as they announced Ryan got the first spot, I knew she was going to win.  No way were they going to put Ryan and Kelly against each other.

As much as I love there being a female Ink Master, I thought Gian's final tattoo was better than Ryan's.  Don't hate me but I agree with Nunez - - you could tell what Gian's was much more clearly and I thought his watercolor was beautiful.  Ryan's - - eh.  

Whatever.  This show may have jumped the shark for me.  

[thewhiteowl]

I rarely agree with the chosen winner, Scott was the only other time I did but Ryan really impressed me with her dedication to learning a new style. As well as her stunning live piece. So I'm happy. Gian did very well but art is subjective and I just liked Ryan's better. 

[Rancide]

Did NOT need to see Dave hanging around like that.  Judges continue to hate New School.  Shut up, Sketchy.  /yawn

[GreyBunny]

10 hours ago, candall said:

Gian's green Japanese polka-dot gobbledy goo

It looks like an ugly popcorn bag to me.  I had to examine it for a while in the link upthread to even see anything resembling a dragon.  It still looks like an ugly popcorn bag.

So Dave comes swinging in with hooks through his back because he thinks the show is all about him.  Ugh.

I fast-forwarded through the flashbacks and chatter, I don't care what the booted contestants have to say, and most of the judges comments were useless too. Just show the tats and announce the winner.  

Edited December 8, 2016 by GreyBunny

[TaraS1]

I wish they would either stop doing the finale in front of a live audience or tell them to shut the fuck up while the judges are giving their critiques.

One of the best final threes they've had, IMO.  I was rooting for Kelly, wouldn't have been disappointed if it had been Gian, but happy for Ryan.

[candall]

5 hours ago, GreyBunny said:

I fast-forwarded through the flashbacks and chatter, I don't care what the booted contestants have to say, and most of the judges comments were useless too. Just show the tats and announce the winner.

It is pretty ironic that the big extended finale extravaganza is where you have to grit your teeth and endure if you want payoff/closure after the long process of winnowing the competitors.  Surely there aren't a lot of people excited about all the filler segments and the eliminees grinding out "It wasn't my time to go."  (Although I thought it was interesting that Puerto Rico could have a wall-to-wall power outage.)  It must be the unique opportunity to observe these rascals in the wild, without benefit of reshoots and editing, and the very good odds of an embarrassing faux pas somewhere along the line. 

I didn't begrudge them all the Live Finale! hype when it included the reveal of the three most(?) talented artists finally showing us their best work, with benefit of sleep, familiar equipment, time to plan and work, and choice of style and subject.  Now, it seems like a lot of crap to wade through just to see who was best able to overcome ANOTHER show-imposed apples & oranges handicap.

 

Speaking of effort to payoff ratio, does Dave hang by his pierced flesh and swing around somewhere on a regular basis?  Does the Navarro home have hooks and pulleys?

[Demented Daisy]

7 hours ago, GreyBunny said:

I had to examine it for a while in the link upthread to even see anything resembling a dragon.

That's a dragon?  

I turned it off after Kelly was eliminated.  I thought she should have stayed because I couldn't tell what Gian's tattoo was even supposed to be.  Now I see it could be some sort of elephant/dragon hybrid.  Yeah, I still would have given it to Kelly.

[Honey]

I thought Gian's live tat was an elephant.  It has a trunk like an elephant.  Whatever, I hated it anyway.  From a distance, no one will know what it is.  Was his chest piece a true watercolor?  It didn't look like it to my, admittedly, untrained eye.

I love Kelly, but I didn't really like her live tat.  Who wants to go through life with DN tattooed on their thigh? She could have done so much better. I didn't like her chest piece at all.  Mermaids are supposed to be pretty, hers weren't, they were fat and the faces were ugly.  I hated the ship too.

Ryan's black and grey live tat was gorgeous.

It looked like the live audience was much smaller this year.  Maybe they thought they cold control them better if they cut it down a bit.

Ryan overcame 2 obstacles to win.  She doesn't do new school and she doesn't do color.  At least Gian was familiar with color.  So, I'm glad Ryan won.

CN is a douche.

[WookieeCookieez]

On 12/6/2016 at 9:17 PM, Wandering Snark said:

Quote

 

Nothing makes a statement quite like wearing half a wookie pelt as Kevin did.

Nikki actually looked a bit more her age without the Elvira look haircut. I'm not sure if it was an improvement though with that eye makeup and glittery hair etc. she kinda looked a bit 90's porn star, maybe an homage to Ryan's 'back in time' tattoo? 

 

Wandering Snark, I was trying not to look too closely at Kevin's ensemble for fear I'd recognize someone I know.

I thought Nikki looked like Melanie Griffith. To an alarming degree. Once I noticed the resemblance, I couldn't look directly at her (only partially due to the side boob she was sporting).

[WookieeCookieez]

I can't figure out how to type into boxes when I am quoting. Feel like a caveman trying to navigate this technology.

Anyhow, I was confused my Gian's Japanese tattoo. He captured the essence of what I except with Japanese and his work looked pretty darn good. It had a trunk and tusks like an elephant, but the claws seemed out of place. Perhaps more than the "negative space" polka dots. Couldn't tell if he was inspired more by Dumbo's pink elephant vision or a Heffalump on crack. 

[qtpye]

Quote

Nothing makes a statement quite like wearing half a wookie pelt as Kevin did.

If you are going to kill Chewbacca, at least have the decency to wear him like a normal coat, why the hell was it half on/half off?  Does he think he is Kim Kardashian?

I have accepted that it is Oliver's right to not wear a shirt.  However, it amuses me to no end that he has the same collection of blazers my mother used to wear to work in 1988.

[SherriAnt]

7 hours ago, Demented Daisy said:

I had to examine it for a while in the link upthread to even see anything resembling a dragon.

I thought it was a weird Asian inspired elephant!

Also, anyone else think Oliver was googling at Ryan tonight? She is gorgeous.

[Del Boca Vista]

I really thought at first the dragon was some kind of Christmas tree with stars! It was very hard to figure out. 

[belligerent]

11 hours ago, Honey said:

Who wants to go through life with DN tattooed on their thigh?

at least two people on this show have. (one of them may not have been a thigh tat but this wasn't the first dave)

[hatchetgirl]

Gian'a color palette for the live tattoo was way off.  that green... my eyes! 

I think Kelly's chest piece was tight! I don't even like traditional but super nice!   they definitely wanted a "pretty" inkmaster.

[aussieinsydney]

Congrats to Ryan. I was pulling for her to win since day one. She's got some great skills for an artist that has only been tattooing for four years.  

I would have been equally happy for Kelly to have made top two, but her chest piece would have paled in comparison to Ryan's piece.

10 hours ago, Del Boca Vista said:

I really thought at first the dragon was some kind of Christmas tree with stars! It was very hard to figure out. 

I kept seeing the Grinch for some stupid reason! I don't know why though LOL.

[qtpye]

Looking at Gian's live tattoo must be what it is like to trip on LSD...it's an elephant, Grinch, Christmas tree, bear, dragon, people eater with polka dots?

[Diane Mars]

I KNEW that Gian's dragon reminded me something, lol !

May I introduce you to one on my lighters ?

Edited December 9, 2016 by Diane Mars
Spelling. What else ? (#tryingToBeCreative)

[Etta Place]

I like Gian, and generally I liked his tattooing, but that dragon looked like it was done by Dr. Seuss. 

[belligerent]

I still don't understand how that was a dragon. I was pretty sure it was an elephant. If it was an elephant, it's an interesting elephant, like if somebody was like "i want an elephant but i want it done in the style of a japanese dragon," i would totally think that's a cool idea....but if it's really supposed to be a dragon, wtf????

[thewhiteowl]

We dubbed it "Gian's dragglephant".

[Wandering Snark]

Some cool pics of the women of inkmaster together for a photoshoot. Love the individual pics especially of Kelly.

[Kathira]

18 hours ago, Wandering Snark said:

Some cool pics of the women of inkmaster together for a photoshoot. Love the individual pics especially of Kelly.

Very nice. What strikes me is that in these pictures, Kelly doesn't look anywhere near as Amazonian as she did standing next to Gian in the finale. It's either a trick of perspective, or Gian is really short. (Or both.)

[hatchetgirl]

Kelly is just beautiful in those prints! 

And Gian IS very short.