S10.E01: Pick Your Side

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Quote

In the season 10 premiere, three of the most skilled Ink Master return for a new challenge, but instead of battling alone they'll coach teams of the nation's top tattoo artists.

And so it begins.  Hi Dave!  We've missed you!

[hookedontv]

I'm really happy to see that Ink Master is starting up again! But am I the only one who wishes the show would go back to basics? And by basics I mean individual tattoo artists who haven't been on before, don't know each other, and no team challenges...

Of course it's always a pleasure to welcome back Dave, Chris & Oliver!

[Diane Mars]

Preview :

 

ETA : It seems that we'll get gooood tattoos ! Yay !

Edited January 9, 2018 by Diane Mars

[MuMuGuy]

What were Oliver and friends thinking choosing that as the #1 tattoo? It looked like a bearded dude with D-cup breasts!

Edited January 10, 2018 by MuMuGuy

[sourpickles]

I've been out for a while for tv in general, but I am so excited for this season and frankly, enjoying watching this right now..........I didn't think I'd like the three masters all in all, but I've changed my mind.  Looks to be some great artists/teams this season.....hmmm, IM redeeming?

[sourpickles]

Well. I think I can live with this season.  Looks like a good one.  So far.  We will see........

[2727]

Ca caw, motherfuckers! So happy to have this show back.

Dude who said he wanted to prove himself by doing something not his normal style -- wtf? Blind judging. I think he did get through in the first round, though.

Nice that Steve's abrasive personality came back to bite him.

[azshadowwalker]

The blind judging gaffe had me laughing. Anthony representing Tucson had me warm and fuzzy. The previews had me excited. Yay! My favorite show is back and didn't disappoint. 

I like this three team thing much better than Peck v Nuñez. It's much more fair. I liked the guys having to sell themselves to the artists. I love that the masters will actually compete in the finale. And I am so happy to have my IM friends to talk to again. 

[Charlesman]

I liked that this episode was wall to wall art and critique, with minimal trash talking. 

My early favorite is team DJ, he got the top 3 artists in the first challenge, and all looked good, plus Sparks, who impressed me most out of the the Angels season. 

 

BTW, no mention of anything about Angels... Didn't tie it in at all. I wish there had been an explanation of who got in that way and how they won. I could have used a reminder about them. 

[qtpye]

It is so refreshing to have this show start off with high quality beautiful tattoos instead of the usual crapfest.  The beautiful crane and the Buddha with the flower were absolutely breath taking.

I looooove  Anthony!  His cool mellow personality really lets him rise above the petty stupidness that is often seen on this show.  It really might give this season a touch of class.  I am picking DJ for the win, though.

4 hours ago, 2727 said:

Ca caw, motherfuckers! So happy to have this show back.

Dude who said he wanted to prove himself by doing something not his normal style -- wtf? Blind judging. I think he did get through in the first round, though.

Nice that Steve's abrasive personality came back to bite him.

I really wish there was a way I could work Ca caw Mother fuckers!, naturally into a conversation without looking crazy...it really was an awesome moment, because we finally had a traditional eagle with the correct type of beak.  It only took a hundred seasons!

[azshadowwalker]

I recognized Daniel, the newbie from San Francisco, who got in from Angels. He's with Anthony. Can't say that I recognized anyone else. For some reason, I thought those winners would be guaranteed to get on a team, and the others would have to fight for their spots. I also expected some lucky losers from Angels, like Ed Hardy's son. Wrong on both counts. 

[Charlesman]

6 hours ago, azshadowwalker said:

I also expected some lucky losers from Angels, like Ed Hardy's son. Wrong on both counts. 

Me too, but, without a recap of who's who from Angels, I wasn't sure if any of the Angels-almosts were in. 

[azshadowwalker]

The woman with the long red braids who chose DJ in the first round is from Angels, too. There's a recap of sorts if you go through Ink Master's Twitter. It notes who is from Angels, but you have to look at each tweet. 

[2727]

I think two of the Angels winners were in the eliminated group.

5 minutes ago, azshadowwalker said:

The woman with the long red braids who chose DJ in the first round is from Angels, too.

I loved her! Beautiful work and seems even tempered and nice. She has an M name ... Melinda, Melissa? The wiki article isn't up yet and that's what I generally use to check. The Spike site is ass.

[Diane Mars]

In the eliminated group, there was the long brown hair girl who, if I'm not mistaken, was competing against his brother in the IM Angels EP Finale.

[sourpickles]

21 minutes ago, 2727 said:

loved her! Beautiful work and seems even tempered and nice. She has an M name ... Melinda, Melissa? The wiki article isn't up yet and that's what I generally use to check. The Spike site is ass.

Loved her too...in fact, there were very few artists that pissed me off from the get go, and I can live with that.  And yes, the Spike site is, indeed, assy (is that a word?) The only one I've found that is worse is SyFy.  I hate that site.  Spike better redeem quick, since they are showing Friends and stuff on the manly channel!  I like Steve though, maybe cause I've seen him so much, and I adore Anthony.  I'm still out on Tambe though.......BUT I'm beyond thrilled with how this season has started, this really was the end for me, ONE MORE SEASON I said, and I'm done.  Well played IM.

I tried so hard to watch Angels, and I just could not.  I don't know if it was the format or the hosts or what, but I could not get into it, which is a dang shame.

[azshadowwalker]

3 hours ago, 2727 said:

I think two of the Angels winners were in the eliminated group.

I loved her! Beautiful work and seems even tempered and nice. She has an M name ... Melinda, Melissa? The wiki article isn't up yet and that's what I generally use to check. The Spike site is ass.

Deanna Smith is her name. I had to go look again. And, to answer another question, some of the Angels winners were eliminated. At least one or two of the eliminated women won the Angel face-off. 

[Evagirl]

Am I the only one who thinks the background music is too frigging loud?!! I have to use cc 'cause some dimwit producer thinks the loud music adds drama or some other nonsense. It ticks me off that I have to read what someone is saying because the music drowns out a lot of words.

[sourpickles]

12 minutes ago, azshadowwalker said:

Deanna Smith is her name.

I think it was her, but one of the gals gave me a vibe of Carly, was it, who won Best Ink.  Weird, because DJ was on that too, but there was a familiarity with some of the artists I couldn't quite put my finger on......

[azshadowwalker]

1 hour ago, sourpickles said:

I think it was her, but one of the gals gave me a vibe of Carly, was it, who won Best Ink.  Weird, because DJ was on that too, but there was a familiarity with some of the artists I couldn't quite put my finger on......

Maybe he got another one later, but this was the first woman he got. She was #3 tattoo. 

https://mobile.twitter.com/inkmaster/status/942907350406520832

[sourpickles]

There are some REALLY good artists on this season.  And if we are lucky, not too much drama.....I'm actually really excited for the first time in a long while.  I thought the whole masters thing would be yet another gimmick, but I was pleasantly surprised.  Stoked for next week......

[TVbitch]

Is there a list of which ones were the Ink Master Angels winners and why did they not even mention that? I couldn't recognize any of them cuz my memory is for shit (um, and/or I was drinking). And weren't the winners: "Guaranteed a spot on Ink Master 10!" If I was them and it turned into being in the semi-finals and getting eliminated day one, I might be a little pissed.  I thought Ink Master Angels would be the "gimmick" for this season but then BAM the whole team thing. Looks like we are in for some good tattooing though, and the exchange between Dave and Steve when he wasn't getting chosen: "Steve do you have anything to say?" "No" "Great. Steve has nothing to say." was awesomeness. 

[Bridget]

14 hours ago, sourpickles said:

Loved her too...in fact, there were very few artists that pissed me off from the get go, and I can live with that.  And yes, the Spike site is, indeed, assy (is that a word?) The only one I've found that is worse is SyFy.  I hate that site.  Spike better redeem quick, since they are showing Friends and stuff on the manly channel!  I like Steve though, maybe cause I've seen him so much, and I adore Anthony.  I'm still out on Tambe though.......BUT I'm beyond thrilled with how this season has started, this really was the end for me, ONE MORE SEASON I said, and I'm done.  Well played IM.

I tried so hard to watch Angels, and I just could not.  I don't know if it was the format or the hosts or what, but I could not get into it, which is a dang shame.

I'm with you. I still forced myself to finish the season, hoping it would get better. I was wrong.

The hosting was clunky, the rules were different or changed in some episodes and Gia missed almost all of the season due to her medical issues. I especially couldn't stand Kelly Doty's (who I think is a doll) shouting to the artists to "Stop tattooing!" It was all kinds of hard to watch. The ladies didn't come across as natural hosts (struggled to explain things clearly & succinctly) and seemed like they were straight up acting or reading awkwardly off of hard to read cue cards.

After the winners being "guaranteed a spot on season 10", yet still having to compete on the season premiere, and some not getting onto a team, I would be livid if I won an Angel Face Off. I suspect there will not be a season 2 of the Angels.

[speac]

On 1/9/2018 at 9:31 PM, MuMuGuy said:

What were Oliver and friends thinking choosing that as the #1 tattoo? It looked like a bearded dude with D-cup breasts!

I thought it was a bearded lady-in keeping with the location they were tattooing.

[azshadowwalker]

12 hours ago, Bridget said:

 I suspect there will not be a season 2 of the Angels.

It's already been announced. Gia won't be there, but the other three will. They're just women who know how to tattoo. They will improve with practice. And Kelly's head thing is divisive (lol), but lots of people love it. I may not, but Twitter people adore it, for the most part. 

[Bridget]

11 minutes ago, azshadowwalker said:

It's already been announced. Gia won't be there, but the other three will. They're just women who know how to tattoo. They will improve with practice. And Kelly's head thing is divisive (lol), but lots of people love it. I may not, but Twitter people adore it, for the most part. 

Thanks for the update! I know Gia is a cancer survivor, but I wonder if she's got something else going on now? We don't need to know, but I do hope she ends up healthy and well on the other side of it.

I think it's more of Kelly's voice that I find grating when she shouts: "that's it! stop tattooing!" along with her irksome arm/hand motions. I actually mute the TV when it's time for her to do that, and I really do love her! 

It wouldn't shock me if InkMaster probably trademarked Dave Navarro's "Time's up, no more ink!", so the writers for the Angels had to come up with something. Here's hoping they will have a different format for season 2 and include all of the Angels equally. 

[Charlesman]

I've pieced together that 3 Angels winners are on teams: Deanna, Sparks, and Daniel, the young guy from San Francisco. Two Angels contestants were cut: Tim from Atlanta, and Rachel from Pittsburgh, the woman who used "too much white".

 

 

I thought it was odd that the top 3 all picked the same team. Have they ever seen the show before? It was just on "Peck vs Nunez" that, sure, you're on a team "together", but, you'll frequently be competing against your own team when you place on the bottom. The second and third picks should have seriously considered jumping elsewhere. 

[2727]

20 minutes ago, Charlesman said:

I thought it was odd that the top 3 all picked the same team. Have they ever seen the show before? It was just on "Peck vs Nunez" that, sure, you're on a team "together", but, you'll frequently be competing against your own team when you place on the bottom. The second and third picks should have seriously considered jumping elsewhere. 

Good point. I don't recall anybody mentioning that as part of their strategy; they mainly chose the mentor they admired or identified with the most.

We'll see if each coach's personality style trickles down to their teams -- artistic individualism vs focused calm vs pugnacious strutting.

[Inkmaster0345]

Hello to all of the IM posting usuals, nice to be back! 

Like many others, I have to agree that my general impression of the first episode was overwhelmingly positive. There seems to be a lot of talent in the group with a good mix of older/established tattoo artists and young artists with legit talent (not the typical young gun cannon fodder). The format of the show also seems much smoother. Peck vs. Nunez was the most similar competition we've had in terms of format, but that one felt ill-conceived and clunky whereas this one seems better thought out. 

On 1/11/2018 at 4:38 PM, Charlesman said:

I thought it was odd that the top 3 all picked the same team. Have they ever seen the show before? It was just on "Peck vs Nunez" that, sure, you're on a team "together", but, you'll frequently be competing against your own team when you place on the bottom. The second and third picks should have seriously considered jumping elsewhere. 

 

This is pretty much my biggest question about how this season will function. The main reason I disliked Peck vs. Nunez is the artists spent the first 6ish weeks competing against their own teammates instead of team vs team. I hope they adopt more of the Survivor/Top Chef format where teams compete against one another with the weakest performer on the losing team going home. That would lend itself much better to being a team competition. 

Down the road, I'm wondering how big the finale will be. Dave said something to the effect of "Coaches will get more power in the finale for each finalist from their team" but in the usual 3 person finale, there's a high likelihood that one of the teams will be totally wiped out by then, and it will end of being one coach with 2 contestants vs another coach with 1. We'll see how that works itself out I suppose. 

Early on I'm rooting for the redhead (really enjoyed her tattoos and attitude) and the "homeschooled" newbie (there's something endearing about someone being able to look in a camera and be proud about being a little on the weird side). 

Looking forward to a great season! 

[hookedontv]

On 1/10/2018 at 3:37 AM, qtpye said:

I really wish there was a way I could work Ca caw Mother fuckers!, naturally into a conversation without looking crazy..

I'm giving myself one week to do so. It's that awesome. 

[Charlesman]

11 hours ago, Inkmaster0345 said:

 

Down the road, I'm wondering how big the finale will be. Dave said something to the effect of "Coaches will get more power in the finale for each finalist from their team" but in the usual 3 person finale, there's a high likelihood that one of the teams will be totally wiped out by then, and it will end of being one coach with 2 contestants vs another coach with 1. We'll see how that works itself out I suppose. 

 I think I heard Dave differently... That the coaches would also compete against each other in the finale and they would get to "call one shot" for each contestant that got that far. For example, if Steve gets 2 into the finale and DJ gets 1, maybe Steve could pick style and subject matter, and DJ location. But it seemed to me that the coaches would also be tattooing in a side competition. 

[azshadowwalker]

That makes sense @Charlesman. I honestly didn't know what Dave meant, but that's probably how it will work. 

[sourpickles]

This is a bit OT, but if anyone on here has DirecTV or any real idea about what the fudge is going on....I woke up this weekend and Spike TV channel was totally gone, in its place now is Paramount channel.  I am not real happy, because it seems to show Friends, Two and a Half Men, and COPS, and that appears to be it.  I still see IM on my guide, thank god, but are they going to have to shop for a new home after this season or what?  And no more old season reruns on Tuesdays!  DirecTV didn't give me any warning, like they did before they yanked my Chiller channel (which also pissed me off because there went my Face Off reruns), and now I'm paranoid about losing Ink Master as well.  I had a real rough last six months of last year so I wasn't commenting all that much and I missed a lot, most of Project Runway, a good chunk of Angels, and all of Top Chef thus far (first time in a LONG time), so I'm trying to get back on track and I'm afraid I may have missed something about the channel change.  Any help would be appreciated, since if I have to end up watching online I'll have warning.  Thanks in advance fellow Ink Master fans!

[Charlesman]

2 hours ago, sourpickles said:

This is a bit OT, but if anyone on here has DirecTV or any real idea about what the fudge is going on....I woke up this weekend and Spike TV channel was totally gone, in its place now is Paramount channel.  I am not real happy, because it seems to show Friends, Two and a Half Men, and COPS, and that appears to be it.  I still see IM on my guide, thank god, but are they going to have to shop for a new home after this season or what?  And no more old season reruns on Tuesdays!  DirecTV didn't give me any warning, like they did before they yanked my Chiller channel (which also pissed me off because there went my Face Off reruns), and now I'm paranoid about losing Ink Master as well.  I had a real rough last six months of last year so I wasn't commenting all that much and I missed a lot, most of Project Runway, a good chunk of Angels, and all of Top Chef thus far (first time in a LONG time), so I'm trying to get back on track and I'm afraid I may have missed something about the channel change.  Any help would be appreciated, since if I have to end up watching online I'll have warning.  Thanks in advance fellow Ink Master fans!

 

Spike TV renamed itself The Paramount Network. Nothing to worry about, they just changed their name. Same company, same people running it. They are re-branding to focus on more than just "bro" shows. But IM is still one of their biggest shows and isn't going anywhere.

 

(Dave actually mentioned in the live finale last season that season 10 would be on what would be named the Paramount Network, but, the name change wasn't official until after season 10 started)

 

Edit: Here's some insider industry news coverage of the name change and the thinking behind it. While there are a lot of lame reruns now, expect in a few months for them to roll out a lot of new original shows that attempt to broaden the network's appeal. Key quote: "Talking about Paramount Network’s demo target, “we’re trying or reach men and women 18-49,” Kay said. “Spike is very male, sometimes 80 percent. … We don’t want the Spike audience to go away, we want to bring Spike viewers with us. "

Edited January 16, 2018 by Charlesman

[sourpickles]

14 minutes ago, Charlesman said:

(Dave actually mentioned in the live finale last season that season 10 would be on what would be named the Paramount Network, but, the name change wasn't official until after season 10 started)

Whew!  I must have missed that.  In fact, I know I did, since I don't think I caught the whole finale.  I'd have to check the date, but something may have come up that day.  Story of my life.  Thanks so much for helping me get what was going on, because I was worried there.  And hot damn, I'm still in their demographic!!!  Thanks again!

[azshadowwalker]

I have three years to remain in the demo, @sourpickles. Holding on... 

[sourpickles]

2 hours ago, azshadowwalker said:

I have three years to remain in the demo, @sourpickles. Holding on... 

I have I have eight and half, and if any of the shows I love and have loved are still on by then, I'll take a demographic hit and raise a "who knew?". 

[Kelda Feegle]

So far so good, still find Steve annoying but the fun snark between the coaches was nifty and seemed good humoured.

I just couldn't with Angels but I do find it odd that their selection process wasn't mentioned in IM.

I'm already outta the demographic :-o

[Charlesman]

On 1/14/2018 at 7:39 AM, Charlesman said:

On 1/13/2018 at 8:19 PM, Inkmaster0345 said:

 

Down the road, I'm wondering how big the finale will be. Dave said something to the effect of "Coaches will get more power in the finale for each finalist from their team" but in the usual 3 person finale, there's a high likelihood that one of the teams will be totally wiped out by then, and it will end of being one coach with 2 contestants vs another coach with 1. We'll see how that works itself out I suppose. 

 I think I heard Dave differently... That the coaches would also compete against each other in the finale and they would get to "call one shot" for each contestant that got that far. For example, if Steve gets 2 into the finale and DJ gets 1, maybe Steve could pick style and subject matter, and DJ location. But it seemed to me that the coaches would also be tattooing in a side competition. 

 

Sounds like this was correct from what I heard in episode 2. The three coaches will also tattoo in the finale, for a $100,000 prize, in the Master Faceoff. For each contestant they send to the IM Season 10 finale, each master will get to call a shot in that Master Faceoff.

[Jal]

On 1/9/2018 at 10:31 PM, MuMuGuy said:

What were Oliver and friends thinking choosing that as the #1 tattoo? It looked like a bearded dude with D-cup breasts!

I thought it was very interesting and kinda cool.

I'm enjoying all the team captains in their interactions but I find DJ a little too much sometimes. Good thing he's an amazing tattooer.

I think it's strange that the top 3 people would choose the same captain. I think it's a bad move, strategically speaking.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Jal