S09.E05: War and Ink

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Shops lose compusure during a grueling Elimination Tattoo.

Edited June 29, 2017 by ElectricBoogaloo

[2727]

As much as the show, challenges, judges, tattoos and contestants all chap my hide, I'm even more annoyed that they took a week off.

Edited July 12, 2017 by 2727

[Charlesman]

The Pearl Harbor scene was really badass. I wish we saw more of it. Judges were right, everything else ranged from woefully meh to full-on crap. 

Edited July 12, 2017 by Charlesman

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I don't always agree with the judges but this week I totally agree with them - the Pearl Harbor tattoo by Old Town was the only one that was obviously not terrible. I don't mean that as an insult either. It was a beautiful tattoo with lots of detail and gorgeous color, and it deserved to win. But all of the other tattoos had problems and it was just a matter of choosing the worst of the worst.

Think Before You Ink's was really bad. There were three hands showing in this tattoo and not one of them looked anatomically correct. The green, yellow, orange, and black swirls in the background made it look like the apocalypse was upon them. The face of the guy in the Roman helmet looked unusually long, so much so that I was imagining that if he took that helmet off, the neighbors would have nicknamed him Horseface. Loved that one of the judges pointed out that the other guy's helmet was a samurai helmet so he was from the wrong continent.

Technical issues aside, this team's major problem is that they don't listen. They always think that they've done the best tattoo of the day and anyone who disagrees with them, including the judges, is just stupid. If you're going to make choices to do things incorrectly, you need to be able to defend them well. Being told that the samurai helmet did not belong in a tattoo with a Roman battle should not elicit a response of "We wanted to make things different."

I didn't know whether to laugh or roll my eyes when Dtat had a hissyfit because someone else pointed out that he didn't do a damn thing in the flash challenge. Dude, he's not lying so attacking him for telling the truth just makes you seem delusional. Then he tried to defend himself by saying that he CHOSE not to tattoo in the flash challenge. If you're admitting that, then how can you possibly get upset that someone pointed it out? These two jokers do not understand linear logic. "I'm proud of the fact that we get eliminated with a tattoo that we're proud of." Really, dude? Another sign of their delusion: Made Rich thinks that the reason they were in the bottom so many times was because of the other artists. Uh, no. The judges clearly would have put them in the bottom regardless of the jury of peers.

I know that the judges have a lot of things to take into consideration (how well each tattoo fulfilled the challenge as well as the technical aspects of the tattoo) but in this case what it came own to for me was: which one of the bottom three tattoos would I not be upset about having on my skin? I would much rather have Pinz & Needlez' tattoo than the other bottom two tattoos. No, they it didn't look like a battle scene. No, it didn't fulfill the composition challenge. But it was way less jacked up than Think Before You Ink's and it wasn't a block of green like the Classic Trilogy tattoo.

The other teams had anatomy issues too. There was something about the warrior woman's leg/hips that were off on Artistic Skin Design's tattoo. The judges mentioned that the hands of the Vikings in the foreground and the background f Black Spade's tattoo were about the same size, but what I noticed is that the hand of the guy in the background looked like a giant lobster claw. The guy in the foreground had no pupils in his eyes. He just had white holes in his helmet. Everything about their tattoo just looked soft and fuzzy. Dave pointed out that Unkindness Art had the lion's paws off to the side which made it look less fierce. I think they chose to draw the paws that way because it was easier to draw the front of one paw and the bottom of the other paw flat/sideways rather than at a real attack angle. Other than that, I thought their tattoo was better than most this week. Did Allegory Arts' tattoo count as a battle? House of Monkey's George Washington tattoo definitely didn't count as a battle and they were told so. Lalo really annoys me. He is acting like such a know it all. They are not a team at all. It was obvious from his touchdown Jesus sign during judging that he would throw Picasso under the bus in a heartbeat.

[Apatee]

Really dislike when the show does challenges like these. Insanely low amount of time for what was required.  Six hours for a color realism composition challenge with huge battle scenes? I don't know why anyone would volunteer for this show when challenges are designed for the artists to give crap tattoos. It's no wonder some of the canvases were having trouble sitting through it. I guess they have to get material for Ink Master: Redemption somewhere. 

Also, they returning veteran artist should be booted if they end up in the bottom on their first day back. The advantage of coming into the competition late is too much for them not to get punished heavily for screwing up. The new artist have almost no chance to win with the way things are set up.

[Inkmaster0345]

39 minutes ago, Apatee said:

Really dislike when the show does challenges like these. Insanely low amount of time for what was required.  Six hours for a color realism composition challenge with huge battle scenes? I don't know why anyone would volunteer for this show when challenges are designed for the artists to give crap tattoos.

The challenges this season have been ridiculously specific for the most part. I guess some people don't want to see the same challenges over and over again but I am really missing the classic challenges like portrait day, japanese, american traditional, pin-up, etc. I would much rather give the artists something that is easily doable in 6 hours and get good-great tattoos with the worst going home than to give them something incredibly complicated and then have 3-4 garbage tattoos to choose from. 

The pearl harbor tattoo was incredible. I still don't think any of these current teams have what it takes to win, which makes me think that it will be one of the returning teams yet to appear that will eventually take it. Of the teams competiting right now, I'd say Team Bubba is the best with Team Alabama, Team Cuddles, and Team Doom Kitten all being more or less in the mix.  

Boneface coming back next week will be a snooze...but it's nothing but hard hitters after that. Christian (should have won), Cleen (x2 runner up and arguably the most dominant competitor ever), Matt (finalist) and Katie (did really well) and then Tommy who's an absolute legend. I almost feel bad for some of the lower teams right now knowing what's coming up for them. It's going to be a bloodbath watching them try to keep up. 

All in all I think we're almost done with the boring part of the season. The cannon fodder is starting to thin and the big boys will soon be making their appearances. 

Last thought: A TATTOO FLASH CHALLENGE! Wow! What a concept! I'm sure they'll be back for fingerpainting next week though. 

[Iguana]

No problem with the winners or losers this time. Pearl harbour was beautiful and could easily have been the best tattoo of the day even if the others had been of similar quality. Which, by a factor of infinity, they most certainly weren't. Am the rest had major problems of one kind or another but it was time for think before you ink to go home. They were unwilling to admit their tats had any issues and stood little chance of getting better and even less chance of winning. 

[sourpickles]

Loved this subject matter, thought many of the tats were very well done, esp. since the show is clearly going to stick with the difficult canvas route.  Couldn't stand Made Rich on his first go, couldn't (can't?) stand him now.  Wish Lalo would fall in a hole, though I did like Picasso his first appearance.  However, not sure he's totally there.  He seems....off.  Right people went home.  This episode gave me a glimmer that we might be getting into something good.  Hell of a concept, the war piece.  I agree the time constraints are a getting ridiculous.  We're here to see good work, not crib sheets.  And I'm tired beyond of asshole skins.  Enough.  I wonder how much coaching there is, since Redemption has more or less turned into a bar brawl.  I was checking yesterday and I think the final tally of artists this season is 36.  THIRTY SIX. 

[zxy556575]

At least one of the (unfair) veteran teams went home.

I wish Spike would upload include the flash challenge tattoos in their online gallery. I enjoy nitpicking at my leisure, with zoom.

The attacking lion from Unkindness looks like he's doing a Broadway dance number with his front legs off to the side. Classic Trilogy's redheaded guy with the battle ax would have been nice if it wasn't for that bizarre solid green that overpowered the entire tattoo. If they wanted the guys to be fighting on a grass hillside, make the green look like blades of, you know.

The losing tattoo wasn't so bad that the canvas will be embarrassed to have it. We've seen a lot jankier.

[cpcathy]

The one tattoo looked like two guys fighting on a golf course.

[sourpickles]

53 minutes ago, cpcathy said:

The one tattoo looked like two guys fighting on a golf course

That made me laugh all day.  You are not wrong!