S11.E15: Prelude to a Bloodbath

[thewhiteowl]

Cleen and Christian are one step closer to settling the score.

[dstann]

Not that much to say about the episode.

- I was happy with the judging and agree with their decisions.

- Really happy that the contestants get to do 2 tattoos in the finale and the coaches only 1.  I was annoyed last season when the coaches did 2 tattoos and the contestants only one as it made the show more about the coaches when they didn't have to fight every week to stay in the game,

[psychoticstate]

Well, that pretty much went as expected.  Tiffer and Teej were shoe-ins and it came down to Tony or Tim.  Either is a good choice in  my book.  I do wish the judges critiqued the tattoos blind though because sometimes it seems they have clear favorites and those people get a pass. 

Anyhow, I think Teej is probably the most versatile artist left but his attitude is rank.  I felt like he was attempting to sabotage Tim rather than trying to take out one of Cleen's players and get Tim to the finale with him.  Maybe it was the editing.

I do hope that Team Cleen wins because I find Christian absolutely insufferable and I cannot stand the way he throws his own players under the bus.

[TVbitch]

Does the contestant winner affect which coach wins, or is it judged seperately? It would be weird to have a conestant win but not their coach. Each contestant is doing a solo tattoo and a tattoo with their coach, right? So will the duo tattoo facter into both coach and contestant judging?  More importantly, why do I fucking care!

[dstann]

30 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

Does the contestant winner affect which coach wins, or is it judged seperately? It would be weird to have a conestant win but not their coach. Each contestant is doing a solo tattoo and a tattoo with their coach, right? So will the duo tattoo facter into both coach and contestant judging?  More importantly, why do I fucking care!

I think the tag team tattoo only counts for the contestant as otherwise it is a bit unbalanced as Cleen would have done 2 tattoos to Christian's  1. 

 

4 hours ago, psychoticstate said:

Anyhow, I think Teej is probably the most versatile artist left but his attitude is rank.  I felt like he was attempting to sabotage Tim rather than trying to take out one of Cleen's players and get Tim to the finale with him.  Maybe it was the editing.

I think lately Teej has been getting a bit of the bad guy edit as he is shown to make negative comments during other peoples tattoo critique.  Like in the last episode asking if the highlights were on the right parts of the face.  Could be that he is not going to win.

[psychoticstate]

3 hours ago, dstann said:

 

 

I think lately Teej has been getting a bit of the bad guy edit as he is shown to make negative comments during other peoples tattoo critique.  Like in the last episode asking if the highlights were on the right parts of the face.  Could be that he is not going to win.

That really pisses me off, whether it's Teej or anyone else.  The inktestants should STFU when the judging is going on.  They should have zero say in the critique unless they are specifically asked.  Teej has done it the last few episodes.  Amanda was guilty of it as well.  Funny how when Cleen criticized Teej's work, Teej got super extra about it.  As they say, he can dish it out but he sure can't take it.  Kind of like his coach. 

[Inkmaster0345]

Did then send everyone home in the correct order? I don't think so. Did they get the top 3 in the finale? I'd say yeah.

 

I'll go Tiffer, Teej, Tony. Cleen over Christian. 

 

Tiffer seems to have been the anointed one this season. Good edit and high praise from the judges throughout. About 3/4 of the way through the season Christian and the show tried to press the "Tiffer is struggling" story. I never really bought it and always felt he was the best (and felt like the judges thought so too). 

Teej can do some great work but so much of his greatness comes from his portraiture. He would be a deserving winner, but I think he comes up short. 

Tony is solid and I actually think he would have a great chance of making it deep in just about any season of Ink Master. I can't think of a single tattoo outside the leopard that was bad. However, he doesn't have the same ceiling that Tiffer or Teej do in my opinion. He'll do something great, I just don't think it will be good enough. 

Cleen should beat Christian. I would be absolutely shocked if Ink Master sent their de facto mascot home (for the 4th time) without a title. Part of me has always felt that this setup was an excuse to parade Cleen around on stage and finally give him the win Ink Master clearly believes he deserves. We'll see.

 

Assuming Ink Master carries on (I think they should be able to squeeze out another 2-3 seasons at least) I hope we've seen the last of the coach seasons. It's a format that results in fewer tattoos for the viewer and arguably biased judging to keep the teams even. 

[hookedontv]

2 hours ago, Inkmaster0345 said:

Assuming Ink Master carries on (I think they should be able to squeeze out another 2-3 seasons at least) I hope we've seen the last of the coach seasons. It's a format that results in fewer tattoos for the viewer and arguably biased judging to keep the teams even. 

Yes. I’d like to see the original format, without coaches. And, let’s not resurrect former contestants. New artists please, who don’t know each other, and no one has any pre-existing drama. 

Anyone else agree? 

[Suzn]

11 hours ago, hookedontv said:

Yes. I’d like to see the original format, without coaches. And, let’s not resurrect former contestants. New artists please, who don’t know each other, and no one has any pre-existing drama. 

Anyone else agree? 

Completely!  I only watch to see artistry and skill and I'm sick of the rivalry bullshit.

The judges can just blow Cleen, give him the win and get him the fuck off my screen.

[hookedontv]

2 hours ago, Suzn said:

Completely!  I only watch to see artistry and skill and I'm sick of the rivalry bullshit.

I always fast forward thru the bitching and trash talking! 

[psychoticstate]

On ‎12‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 11:30 PM, hookedontv said:

Yes. I’d like to see the original format, without coaches. And, let’s not resurrect former contestants. New artists please, who don’t know each other, and no one has any pre-existing drama. 

Anyone else agree? 

I actually liked when they had guest judges in the earlier seasons.  The majority of the time, the guest judges were fair - - they didn't know the inktestants or have any bias.

I really do wish there was a way for the judges to critique the tattoos without knowing who did the work.   Seems like that would be the fairest way to judge.  And oh yeah -  - judge based on the freaking challenge.  If you don't meet the challenge, you are gone (unless others don't meet the challenge, then all who don't go to the bottom.)  Sometimes I feel that not meeting the challenge is more egregious than the unfinished tattoos.  

[Inkmaster0345]

3 hours ago, psychoticstate said:

I actually liked when they had guest judges in the earlier seasons.  The majority of the time, the guest judges were fair - - they didn't know the inktestants or have any bias.

1

Guests in general made the show great. Remember flash challenges when they gave tattoos to prisoners and when they designed tattoos for an NFL player with the winner actually giving him the tattoo? Those are such great ideas and gave the show an element its been missing for a while now. 

[2727]

Guest judges were the best! It was amusing how often they disagreed with the regular panel because they had no history with the artists and their criteria was actually based on a single tattoo on a single day. Like, a guest judge might have pushed for Tiffer to leave based on his lion.

If I'm honest, I sometimes waffle on that. Losing one of the top artists because of an off day means the overall talent on the show is lower and less interesting to me as a viewer. 

I'm still salty about Chris getting booted the way he did, but nevertheless looking forward to seeing careful, accomplished artwork in the finale. Will the coaches produce better tattoos than their supposed mentees? 

[psychoticstate]

1 hour ago, 2727 said:

Guest judges were the best! It was amusing how often they disagreed with the regular panel because they had no history with the artists and their criteria was actually based on a single tattoo on a single day. Like, a guest judge might have pushed for Tiffer to leave based on his lion.

If I'm honest, I sometimes waffle on that. Losing one of the top artists because of an off day means the overall talent on the show is lower and less interesting to me as a viewer. 

I'm still salty about Chris getting booted the way he did, but nevertheless looking forward to seeing careful, accomplished artwork in the finale. Will the coaches produce better tattoos than their supposed mentees? 

I think the judges need to be very specific about whether they will base their critiques and criteria on just the tattoo of the moment or the inktestant's body of work overall.  I do agree that anyone can have an off day and there are additional factors on IM - - not being able to say yes or no to the canvas, a canvas that won't sit still or taps out, the time limitations, the other team standing over your shoulder and throwing barbs, etc. - - so you definitely hate to see a clearly talented artist go home over one tattoo early or midway through the competition.  Of course, by the time we get to the end, that's likely going to happen. 

[belligerent]

I didn't think Tim was going to beat Teej or Tiffer but I personally think he should be in the final three over Tony based on art skills alone. I know this is a tattoo competition and not an art contest, but I still have no idea what Tony's specialty is when it comes to tattoo design or why he's specifically in the top three. I never really noticed his work at any point in time as being standout, whether in a good way or a bad way. I would have been more interested in seeing what Tim would have done on that final back piece than Tony, Cleen, and Christian combined.