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Tattoos are stupid.
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2026
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Unpopular Opinion
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I haven't really studied the specific tattoos you're talking about but I think you're massively overestimating the cost and vastly underestimating just how many tattoo artists worldwide can crank out the same tattoo based on a picture.
Just for some comparison pricing. My wife's cat paw print tattoo (with fancy shading though still only black ink) took about an hour and cost under $100.
My other friend's full sleeve tattoo, extremely complex and about ten colors (more color means more time and more money) he said took about 70 hours and cost under $6k. When you break it down that's under $80 an hour, which is not insane money. Especially since they've got studio rent, ink cost, needle cost, any employee cost, equipment, etc. Not to mention they're not always fully booked unless extremely skilled or extremely cheap (at least around me).
My other friend's full yakuza-esque back tattoo he wouldn't commit to telling a price but was under $10k he said and several months of work (on and off).
Tattoo artists all over the place also have books of popular designs that you can flip through. That's probably why you're seeing so many of the same, not because it's a couple tattoo shops but rather all the shops everywhere just know people like those and keep the pattern handy.
I considered getting a tattoo at one point, a small quake 1 logo. I lost interest, anything over $50 bucks is too rich for my blood. 10k? I've only had less than half that in savings / disposable income in one year throughout my entire life.
If anyone asks me if I have any tats IRL, my go to response is: "You don't put bumper stickers on this Ferrari!"
Not really, that's what an old friend of mine used to say =D