S12.E01: The Ink Will Speak For Itself

[thewhiteowl]

The artists arrive ready to battle for themselves only to discover they will be in teams by gender.

[Emkat]

I think it is so odd to have a "Male vs. Female" thing.  Seems very dated and weird. I don't like it.

[slaterain]

I just hate the manufactured misogynistic drama. So many obnoxious comments about how women can't tattoo etc and the majority came from one guy - who should have been in the bottom and had to tattoo again IMO. I don't necessarily mind the women vs men - Ink Angels just proves how badass some women tattooers are. I just hate the producer driven smack talk. I want to see kickass tattoos and have them respect their fellow artists. 

[Kelda Feegle]

Oh urkkkkk.

I usually hate the themes anyway but this is fkn awful.

As so many of us do - I want to see good tattoos, I do not care who does them, their colour, religion, gender, favourite food - none of that matters to me.

Show me the ink!

Next season might as well be cat lovers vs dog lovers or folders vs scrunchers, ffs.

That said - Pon needs to stfu asap. Of the three for elimination I think the judges made the right call.

[2727]

I thought the three team tattoos weren't bad for a first episode; no real stinkers at least. The ship with the dumb symbols on the sail was the worst for me from a design standpoint.

A couple of really obnoxious personalities, as usual, and of course the mellow guy gets sent home. Even if he overreached a bit with the number of elements, the design still should have been doable in six hours. The scraggly cloud outline was the worst part.

If their reactions weren't edited in, all three guys in the bottom were "Ah, fuck!" about having to do a pinup and/or American Traditional. If that's how they really feel, they had NO BUSINESS applying for this show. I'm sick of the constant bitching and excuses about having to tattoo different styles. Sick of it, I say!

The team aspect made it so nobody really stood out to me as being a particularly gifted artist. 

[Wandering Snark]

I've got an idea for a theme: Gather the best tattooers you can find and have them face off by tattooing!! It would be brilliant! *eyeroll* Survivor has been caught up in/hindered by their desperate need to have a theme and I hate that Inkmaster has given us this unwieldy theme for this season as well. It's only meant to play up the shit I don't care about and don't want to see... the "drama"! I hate everyone on the guys team especially that guy who somehow escaped being on the bottom this week. He's taken the "theme" as a call to let his misogynistic flag fly as much as possible... "Want to clean up our mess, you should be good at that." Etc.

This sucks. If you REALLY don't care who does the tattoo if it's done well then why do you need to divide the teams by gender... because you obviously care.

[Etta Place]

I don’t know, I feel like this division which should be unnecessary gives a chance for the maximum number of women to stay around and show what they can do instead of being a small minority who are mostly driven out in the first few episodes. 

[2727]

15 minutes ago, Etta Place said:

I feel like this division which should be unnecessary gives a chance for the maximum number of women to stay around ...

Good point. The producers always make sure the teams stay even.

[azshadowwalker]

Of course they kept King Dipshit around. I mean, we just had an entire season based on being an asshole. It's the Ink Master Way. 

[Princess Sparkle]

I usually don’t scream “Producer Intervention” too hard on what the contestants choose (i certainly have in the past with what the Judges choose) but I call shenanigans on Pon not being one of the bottom three. When the guys team was talking, damn near every guy named him as the reason that third tattoo failed. But then all of a sudden, he’s not one of the three down there and they’re blaming PERSONALITY on the one guy we’ve barely seen talk? I call bullshit. Producers just didn’t want him going home first. 

Also, Nunez, fuck off with your “Women’s team by a hair”. Their tattoos were better by a mile and he knows it. 

[LaLaLaLa]

I thought I'd give this season a chance so I watched this first episode. This show is DONE and has been done. It used to be great (seasons 1-5) when it was about showcasing talent and tattoos. Sure, there was some drama but the majority of the TV time was watching artists and their craft.

The only reason to watch the show over the past few years was bringing back guys like Cleen Rock One.

Male vs Female?? Please. That has essentially been the theme for the last several years. This show has turned into a feminist soap opera. Girl Power...men are bad...women are stronk and independent, which is nearly every TV show over the past 20-30 years.

Producers did a great job tanking a once great show.

Oh, to the handful of female contestants that whine about "being treated equally", "so tough being a woman in the industry", "just want a fair shake"...please. If you'd stop dressing like street walkers, you might realize that you're treated differently. But you won't do that because you know there is money in playing the victim and using sexuality to gain more power in the industry. So don't whine about being treated like a sex object when you're the ones doing it.

Edited June 14, 2019 by LaLaLaLa
Added content

[Princess Sparkle]

How the contestants dress has literally nothing to do with how well they can tattoo or how they're treated - it certainly didn't affect Pon yelling at all of the women to clean his station, it's not the reason this show has had exactly one female winner over 12 seasons, and in literally the first episode of this show EVER, we had contestants denigrating Heather and Lea assuming they'd be the first to leave. Look at how Sarah was treated in Season 2.

Is "Men vs Women" gimmicky? Yeah, it is. But is it coming from nowhere? Absolutely not, and even from this show I think it's coming from a very real place.

[LaLaLaLa]

16 hours ago, Princess Sparkle said:

Look at how Sarah was treated in Season 2.

Sarah started off slowly, acted a bit crazy (maybe producer driven), and came on strong around mid-season. She is legitimately super-talented. She earned respect as she performed better. I don't recall how she dressed in season 2 but I don't think she dressed provocatively (I could be wrong...maybe she changed her look for the finale). She did push the sexy look after her early Ink Master success. I have contemplated getting ink from Sarah. Her wait list was around 18+ months when I checked in a couple years ago. 

16 hours ago, 17wheatthins said:

Basic respect isn’t earned through choice of clothing. 

uhh...okay

Edited June 15, 2019 by LaLaLaLa
Added content

[LaLaLaLa]

On 6/14/2019 at 3:27 AM, Princess Sparkle said:

Also, Nunez, fuck off with your “Women’s team by a hair”. Their tattoos were better by a mile and he knows it. 

As much as I hate the concept of male vs female teams, you're absolutely right about this. The women's tattoos were superior and aesthetically pleasing.

5 hours ago, 17wheatthins said:

This is not a fashion or styling competition, it’s a tattoo competition. 

No, it's not but in every industry (even tattoos, although "exotic dancing" is one of the exceptions) people are judged by how they dress.

[thewhiteowl]

If the battle of the sexes spills over to this board, warnings and bans will follow. Be civil or be gone. 

[Kelda Feegle]

On 6/14/2019 at 4:10 PM, LaLaLaLa said:

Oh, to the handful of female contestants that whine about "being treated equally", "so tough being a woman in the industry", "just want a fair shake"...please. If you'd stop dressing like street walkers, you might realize that you're treated differently. But you won't do that because you know there is money in playing the victim and using sexuality to gain more power in the industry. So don't whine about being treated like a sex object when you're the ones doing it.

We don't judge the men on their clothing, nor should we judge the women on theirs.  And that is where I will stop on this part.

[NEOhio]

I do judge the men on their clothing.  I wanted Cleen Rock to put a shirt with sleeves on.  Some of them do not put together a look that screams competent artistic professional.   Both male and female tattoo artists tend to favor going with a "look" that lets you know they're not a bank teller. Heavily tattooed people sometimes show more skin than is normally seen.  Whatever.  It says nothing about their character other than they like tattoos.  

[Kelda Feegle]

What I was trying to say, and not clearly, was more about judging them as a group.

Personally I hated the singlets of Cleen and adored the suits of Joey Hamilton or the shirt and tie look of Sausage.

What I certainly would not do is suggest that their outfits are relevant to their skills.