Thursday, February 10, 2011

The Sternum Quandary of Unnecessary Analysis

First things first, a tattoo MUST mean something. To you. It doesn't have so be specific, the idea can be vague. But dear god, the excuse should never be,"Ummm.. I dunno! It just looked cool/pretty!".
That said, lately I've been fixing to get a design set for a tattoo on my sternum (yeah, the spot between your boobies). I'm currently stuck between two very different ideas: a Shoggoth from Lovecraftian fiction, or the Saiyan crest. They each stand for very different sides of myself. Now for some background.


Saiyans: Your crash course!

Basically this design


Yeah, I'm talking about the steroid-riddled monkeys from Dragonball Z. My hate for monkeys aside, the Saiyan race is a huge source of proverbial inspiration concerning all things physical. Known as the biggest badasses in the galaxy, Saiyans lived to fight and overcome deadly situations. They were taught to show no fear or pain, and take whatever they want. The Saiyan crest was on all of their flags, as well as the armor of their king. On me, it would remind me to stick to my ambitions, do what I want, and not pussy out so quick on my morning runs (lame in comparison). I also plan on getting into some form of self-defense class before starting college, rendering it even more relevant.

please don't kill me   


And then there's our friend the Shoggoth.
This one's harder to get a solid design for, mostly since a shoggoth is an amorphous, horrific blob of eyes, mouths, and tentacles. And lots of win. We all know I like my Lovecraft, but enough to get a tattoo? We shall see.

I thought this was a great design. Only on paper and styled a bit more simple.  
As the tales go, Shoggoths began as servants of the old ones, they built their cities and guarded them through the eons. At some point they grew brains and rebelled, attempting to start their own society modeled after that of their masters. When encountered by humans in Lovecraft's stories, they cause madness and destruction.
I'm a little messed up, or at least the things I'm into can be. And since shoggoths can be any shape, they are the logical symbol of choice to represent my stranger side. Fun fact: if anyone reads Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, there is a monster that bursts from Johnny's wall that I have always wanted to get a tattoo of. However, I faced a similar issue of how to do it, as this thing is also a sort of horrific amoeba. It occurred to me that this monster may have been a shoggoth the whole time, or at least modeled to look like one, since Jhonen Vasquez is also into H.P. Lovecraft's stuff. Seriously, do a google image search of shoggoth, and they're basically the same thing.

lawl  
I don't have to get the shoggoth tattooed on my sternum, though. It just seems like the most simplistic area. I'll have a good several months to decide, due to my mandatory wait between the time I get an idea for a tattoo, and the time I actually have it done.

2 comments:

  1. Well I understand your logic behind the Saiyan tattoo. But this means you can't give me shit if I ever get a sailor moon tattoo. :P
    Ha, maybe we can get them at the same time as a friendship thing. But I have too many tattoo ideas!
    And if you end up doing the shoggoth, definitely have a sit down with your artist and decide how to make it NOT look like a blob of undistinguishable blah, like a certain someone's cartoon space blob. *cough* I support it if you can make it look awesome.

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  2. Why on earth would I give you shit for a Sailor Moon tattoo? That would be awesome! And Sailor Moon involves so many different symbols the possibilities are endless.

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