From Flickr.

Yup , another D&D character falls prey to bad decisions and malicious dungeon masters…

(Archer tattoo from RateMyInk.com; no artist info available)

via roblfc1892.deviantart.com

Borgnine, my Dwarf character in Jonathan Becker's Thursday-night B/X Dungeons & Dragons game, died last night after four gaming sessions by drowning in the bowels of White Plume Mountain, while attempting to recover the magical artifact Whelm, a trident giving the bearer certain powers of Poseidon.

Oh, and this tattoo of a "Warhammer Dwarf" on deviantARTist roblfc1892's calf is pretty badass, too… (artist credited as "my friend". boo.)

From what I can tell, all of the collectors pictured below have three things in common: they like fish, they feel some connection to the concept of "survival", and they are nerdy enough to get a big tattoo of a living fossil.

This beauty adorns Mary McCarthy (no artist info available). Photo from The Love Lab, which seems to be a fish science website. How awesome is it that they have a "tattoos" section?

Arne Kuilman's piece (by Jan-Paul of Admiraal Tattoo in Amsterdam) is a nice balance of realistic and stylized. He's got some great shots in various stages of tattooage, as well as some cool source images in his flickr photostream. Lots of info about coelacanths in his captions, too. I didn't know, for instance, that the coelacanth's typical "headstand" is about 30 degrees.

Flickr member kittenhiccups says the real story behind her coelacanth (no artist info available) has to do with "evolution, beauty, horror, life, death, defying expectations, surviving
against all odds, my own phobias, and a bunch of symbolic stuff that
means more to me than I can say," but if you ask, the answer you're more likely to get
is, "I just think they're cool, I guess."

Hans Rueffert (contestant on the first season of The Next Food Network Star!) chronicles his tattoo experience on his blog. His coelacanth tells the story of his victorious battle with stomach cancer (extra nerd points because the numbers within the scales spell out "cancer" numerically). Tattoo by Deano, no shop or location info listed; based on original artwork by Richard Kirk.

I never pass up an opportunity to plug the geek-licious tattoos on Carl Zimmer's Sciece Tattoo Emporium, and this coelacanth tattoo (by Craig Cooley, currently tattooing at Stingray Body Art in Boston, MA) on Vicki Rosenswieg's abdomen is certainly plug-worthy. Here's an in-progress shot, as well.

Rusty Piton's "mysterious coelacanth", by Alex Higgens at the Tattoo Factory in Chicago, IL.

Flickr member pczoide gave me the idea for this post by adding his Japanese koi-inspired coelacanth to my Dinosaur Tattoos pool. More shots of this tattoo in progress and after later sessions in his "Finding Nemo" set. I can't wait to see this one completed; I think it will be my favorite one! Tattoo by Davi Duarte at Estúdio Muito Além de Tatuagem in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

via www.flickr.com

Tardis tattoos by Boris the Russian at South
Tacoma Tattoo in Lakewood, WA.

The artist didn’t understand why I wanted it “upside-down”. Uhhhh….’cause it’s for ME!

via trollop23.livejournal.com

I hadn’t seen the cover of Incredible Hulk #49 before. Love to see the nerdy mash-up tattoos!

Thanks to trollop23 for sending in via email!

UPDATE: I’ve been informed that this tattoo was inked by Scott Veldhoen at Eternal Image Tattoos in Alberta, Canada. Nice work, Scott! (Lots of good stuff on his site, especially this nerdy gem.)

From ModBlog’s coverage of Tattoo Hollywood (No artist attribution).

Dali-inspired AT-AT by Paul at Old School Tattoo in Bellingham, Washington.

Really, this excellent piece by Paul at Old School Tattoo in Bellingham, Washington had me at “AT-AT,” but this collector’s idea to make it unique by incorporating elements of Salvador Dali’s recurring spindly-legged elephants is pretty awesome.

The Elephants, by Salvador Dali, c. 1948

Quoth Dali, “I am painting pictures which make me die for joy, I am creating with an absolute naturalness, without the slightest aesthetic concern, I am making things that inspire me with a profound emotion and I am trying to paint them honestly.”

If you say so…

via ModBlog

Necronomicon tattoo by Jesse Smith

So creepy how she smiles as her eyes bleed/melt, with Cthulhu looming in the background.

Although The Necronomicon is a fictional book created by Lovecraft, many authors since have referenced it in their work.

Lovecraft approved, believing such common allusions built up “a background of evil verisimilitude.” Many readers have believed it to be a real work, with booksellers and librarians receiving many requests for it; pranksters have listed it in rare book catalogues, and a student smuggled a card for it into the Yale University Library’s card catalog. (Wikipedia)

All I know is that this is one of the most impressive tattoos I’ve ever seen. More views here, here, and here.

This one’s for Dark Slope.