brass knuckle implants

January 13, 2006 7:35 AM

So by 2006, tattoos and piercings are so mainstream that it's hard for a genuine bad-ass to stand out anymore. While some options still exist, for my money nothing beats embedding a set of brass knuckles directly under your skin.
posted by jonson (79 comments total)

Looks phothshoppy. The incision is like nothing I've seen, bright red and extremely small. Also, the discomfort from the all the nerves in her chest would probably driver her crazy. Not to mention, anchoring that so it wouldn't move would be non-trivial and involve some serious surgery.

Hoax I say.
posted by skallas at 7:45 AM on January 13, 2006

They're silicon, not actualy brass.
posted by delmoi at 7:46 AM on January 13, 2006

Doesnt BMEzine do hoaxes every year? Like the twin with the third arm.
posted by skallas at 7:49 AM on January 13, 2006

its silicone, so it's not entirely out of the question that it's real, although a hoax is possible. She'll probably have it removed later if it's real.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 7:51 AM on January 13, 2006

That's just kind of ugly, not impressive.
posted by 517 at 7:52 AM on January 13, 2006

Not being tattooed is the new tattooed.
posted by unSane at 7:52 AM on January 13, 2006

Badass, meet dumbass.
posted by squirrel at 7:53 AM on January 13, 2006

Every time I see someone with lots of tattoos, especially a girl, I get really sad. Like the person has been tricked, and is still very lonely.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 7:56 AM on January 13, 2006

If you want to be a real bad ass you have to get your car and house keys implanted in your chest.
posted by 517 at 7:57 AM on January 13, 2006

Amputation is the next wave. You don't really need two of all that stuff, so why not express your individuality by having some of it cut off?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 7:57 AM on January 13, 2006

.
posted by PenguinBukkake at 7:57 AM on January 13, 2006

Fake. Fakety. Fake. Fake.
posted by C.Batt at 7:58 AM on January 13, 2006

I have no idea why she would do that; she was much better looking as a brunette, but you just have to try to fit in these days, I suppose.
posted by NinjaPirate at 7:59 AM on January 13, 2006

Body modification on the female sternum/cleavage area is gilding the lily. Why bother?
posted by Scoo at 7:59 AM on January 13, 2006

The guy who runs bme is a member here - I can't remember his username. Maybe he'll weigh in about the brass knuckles.
posted by iconomy at 8:00 AM on January 13, 2006

Amputation? That shit is for pussies.

Badasses do self-lobotomies.
posted by billysumday at 8:00 AM on January 13, 2006

Amputation is the next wave.

Apotemnophilia -- see "A New Way to Be Mad" Carl Elliot. December 2000. The Atlantic Monthly. Volume 286, No. 6; page 72-84
posted by eddydamascene at 8:28 AM on January 13, 2006

This is clearly a fake coming from bmezine.

Amputation is the next wave. You don't really need two of all that stuff, so why not express your individuality by having some of it cut off?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 9:57 AM CST on January 13

It's already going!
posted by dios at 8:30 AM on January 13, 2006

Iconomy: The guy who runs bme is a member here - I can't remember his username.

glider
posted by devbrain at 8:31 AM on January 13, 2006

or how about trepanation while we're at it?
posted by lyam at 8:32 AM on January 13, 2006

People who need to stand out on the outside are almost always boring on the inside.
posted by HTuttle at 8:33 AM on January 13, 2006

It is far too difficult to establish one's individuality through independent thought, behavior, and actions. It is much easier to try to literally stamp something on oneself to announce that one is different.
posted by flarbuse at 8:33 AM on January 13, 2006

Billysunday: Amputation? That shit is for pussies. Badasses do self-lobotomies.

You're not far off...

Self-trepanation

In a chapter of his book, Eccentric Lives & Peculiar Notions, John Michell describes a British group which advocates self-trepanation, that is, the drilling of a hole in the skull to allow the brain access to more space and oxygen.

According to Michell, the Dutch doctor Bart Huges (sometimes written as "Bart Hughes") pioneered the idea of trepanation. Huges' 1962 monograph, Homo Sapiens Correctus, is cited by most advocates of self-trepanation. Among other arguments, he contends that since children have a higher state of consciousness, and children's skulls are not fully closed, that one can return to an earlier, childlike state of consciousness by self-trepanation. Further, by allowing the brain to freely pulsate, Huges argues that a number of benefits will accrue.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 8:35 AM on January 13, 2006

It could be real. Joe Amato, the piercer referenced, has been known to do some pretty strange work (eyelid piercing) -- and implants do exist in other shapes (stars, hearts).
posted by Jairus at 8:36 AM on January 13, 2006

Is the brass knuckles a straightedge symbol. The kitchen in my band's practice space was decorated "camp" style with teen magazine posters and the dudes from Good Charlotte both had the brass knuckle symbol somewhere on there person.

Also, it never fails that a large segment of Metafilter thinks they understand why everyone gets tattoos.
posted by drezdn at 8:37 AM on January 13, 2006

it never fails that a large segment of Metafilter thinks they understand why everyone gets tattoos.

It's amazing how conservative the userbase is here, in some areas.
posted by Jairus at 8:38 AM on January 13, 2006

I think we're at the point where not having any body modification is more countercultural than having it.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 8:39 AM on January 13, 2006

iconomy: "The guy who runs bme is a member here - I can't remember his username. Maybe he'll weigh in about the brass knuckles."

Yup, goes by glider, and calls us poor benighted unmodified folk 'plainskins', a term that really stuck in my mind for some reason.
posted by jack_mo at 8:39 AM on January 13, 2006

Why is this an FPP?
posted by OmieWise at 8:40 AM on January 13, 2006

Is that like 'Danskins', jack_mo?

As for this FPP, seriously, we're getting more and more Fark-like every day. And that's not a good thing.
posted by FormlessOne at 8:42 AM on January 13, 2006

Yup, goes by glider, and calls us poor benighted unmodified folk 'plainskins', a term that really stuck in my mind for some reason.

After a half-dozen threads with posters talking about about how he and everyone on his site is mentally ill, I understand his aggression.
posted by Jairus at 8:42 AM on January 13, 2006

I find tattoos, piercings and scarification (for the most part) to be a wonderful artform and always enjoy seeing well done pieces.

Having said that, I've never been a fan of subdermal jewerly for some reason. It's never looked good to me. I think it's the way the skin stretches out and distorts that turns me off. Seen some stuff like this done on the head, with spikes that can be screwed in. Which was quite cool, if somewhat different from this.

Also quite surprised by the "shock! horror!" views expressed by mefites in the first link.

A lot of opinions that are (and are going to be) expressed in this thread are exactly the same ones that were used by the previous generations to describe tattoos. (And rock and roll.) "Kids today..."

And yes, I have tattoos.
posted by slimepuppy at 8:46 AM on January 13, 2006

I am/was a BME member and my ugly mugg is on the site somewhere.

Hers will be silicon and a shape like that will squish up real good and so be able to fit in a small incision.

Incedentally; I'm booked in for ptfe implants in my chest from my preferred body mod people (Holier Than Thou, Manchester). When I told my mates I was getting implants in my chest they all assumed I meant breast implants.

The youth of today...
posted by 13twelve at 8:48 AM on January 13, 2006

Also, it never fails that a large segment of Metafilter thinks they understand why everyone gets tattoos.

I went back and re-read all the comments, and I saw none that indicated such a thought. Perhaps you're imagining it?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 9:00 AM on January 13, 2006

Its pictures like this, and people like her, willing to take something to the next level that remind me how beautiful life can be.
posted by Kwantsar at 9:01 AM on January 13, 2006

i dont really understand body mods like this. when you take out the artistic nature it just looks ridiculous (to me), and i cant fathom ever wanting to stitch something under my skin that isnt supposed to be there. i would always worry about my body rejecting it. although its easier for me to look at this than say someone getting suspended. (and yes i have a friend that is really into this and ive gone to watch.)

although i do respect whatever anyone wants to do. i will just stick to covering myself with tattoos. i see our bodies as a blank canvas that im more than willing a talented artist to 'paint' on, and more than that i feel honored to have such nice work done on me.


Every time I see someone with lots of tattoos, especially a girl, I get really sad. Like the person has been tricked, and is still very lonely.

being a girl with lots of tattoos, let me assure you.. i love my tattoos more every day, and ive got a wonderful life. its shallow to assume that everyone gets tattooed to be accepted in some society.
posted by trishthedish at 9:04 AM on January 13, 2006

Jairus: "After a half-dozen threads with posters talking about about how he and everyone on his site is mentally ill, I understand his aggression."

Oh, for sure, he caught a lot of unnecessary flack in that last thread - I was joking about the 'poor benighted' bit, I just liked that the body modification set had a term for the unmodified.

Personally I'm into the new wave ultra-subtle avant-garde BM scene - I have a small piercing in my left ear, which both deftly satirises mainstream adoption of BM practice and questions the unceasing quest for novelty among the BM community via the knowing re-positioning of a 'minor' modification as 'extreme'. I'm thinking of taking this to the next level by removing the ring and allowing the hole to heal, in a time-based 'de-modification' performance ritual resulting in my eventual self-identification as a 'neo-plainskin'. (An action made all the richer by the fact that I have plastic staples in my lungs after a rather unpleasant blebectomy 'n' pleurodesis operation - unseeable internal body modification is truly hardcore.)

FormlessOne: "Is that like 'Danskins', jack_mo?"

Er, I have no idea what a danskin might be. Sounds unpleasant.
posted by jack_mo at 9:13 AM on January 13, 2006

See, I thought this was going to be about embedding brass knuckles in your hands, which would be, you know, maybe a useful place for them.
posted by Gamblor at 9:14 AM on January 13, 2006

I love me a tattooed woman too. Well, metaphorically. After all, we all know mostly undressed is sexier than totally undressed. A woman with a full sleeve or two can never be totally undressed.....

I hope you recognize how that reaction is 100% projection, Mr Helms. Fucked-up and pathetic people come in all shapes and sizes, with an without adornment.
posted by phearlez at 9:14 AM on January 13, 2006

(Wow, I'm so impressed by the Mefites who are showing off their virile noncomformity by assuming that people who behave slightly differently from them in nonharmful ways are obviously stupid! I wish to have sex with them.)
posted by kyrademon at 9:15 AM on January 13, 2006

Don't let kyrademon's sarcasm turn you off. I'll still have sex with all of you.
posted by Gamblor at 9:17 AM on January 13, 2006

Perhaps you're imagining it?

It would have been more accurate to me to say that much of Metafilter (and the general public) makes assumptions about people who have tattoos.

For example:

Every time I see someone with lots of tattoos, especially a girl, I get really sad. Like the person has been tricked, and is still very lonely.
posted by drezdn at 9:18 AM on January 13, 2006

I have tattoos. I have no tattoos that are visible when I'm dressed, because I didn't feel like explaining them, or having people I don't know touch me or talk to me about them, really. Mine are a personal record of particular milestones/events.

I have friends that do body mod stuff. I'm not into it it, and some of it creeps me out...but hey...your body, you do with it what you want. (The suspension guys...I know some of them, I can't go to their shows, it's just too damn creepy for me. I mean, I love them when they have their feet on the ground, and we're all swapping stories or whatnot...but when the show starts, I have to leave. *shudder*)

My first instinct was to think this was a hoax, just because that implant is so jarring on that girl, but after a little digging, I'm not so sure. It's certainly feasible, although I wouldn't recommend doing anything like that outside of an actual surgical center.
posted by dejah420 at 9:21 AM on January 13, 2006

To project my own prejudices:
Every time I see someone with lots of tattoos children, especially a girl, I get really sad. Like the person has been tricked, and is still very lonely.

Hey, this is fun!
posted by slimepuppy at 9:22 AM on January 13, 2006

After all, we all know mostly undressed is sexier than totally undressed

Communist. I don't mind tatoos, but I can sort of see your point about body mods and other body grooming making the naked body seem like just another outfit, which ruins the quality of revelation that makes nakedness so neat. If that makes the slightest bit of sense.

I wish to have sex with them

Sorry, I'm spoken for. And you could never afford me.
posted by jonmc at 9:23 AM on January 13, 2006

The guy who runs bme is a member here - I can't remember his username. Maybe he'll weigh in about the brass knuckles.
posted by iconomy at 8:00 AM PST on January 13

Don't forget to ask about his car and the size of his penis; he's quite obsessed with both.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 9:25 AM on January 13, 2006

Every time I see someone with lots of tattoos reading MetaFilter, especially a girl, I get really sad. Like the person has been tricked, and is still very lonely.
posted by Gamblor at 9:30 AM on January 13, 2006

for those who haven't noticed, glider is also the author of the linked post.
posted by arialblack at 9:38 AM on January 13, 2006

being a girl with lots of tattoos, let me assure you.. i love my tattoos more every day, and ive got a wonderful life. its shallow to assume that everyone gets tattooed to be accepted in some society.

As another heavily tattooed female, I just want to echo this sentiment. I don't give two shits in a biscuit what everyone or anyone else thinks about them, they are for me, and only me.
posted by Meredith at 9:42 AM on January 13, 2006

Every time I see someone with lots of tattoos, especially a girl, I get really sad. Like the person has been tricked, and is still very lonely.

Tats ceased being bad-ass when 21 year old suburban girls started doing it in the '80s.
posted by scheptech at 9:44 AM on January 13, 2006

Tats ceased being bad-ass when 21 year old suburban girls started doing it in the '80s.
posted by scheptech at 9:44 AM PST on January 13 [!]

I feel sorry for the person who gets tattooed to become a bad-ass.
posted by slimepuppy at 9:46 AM on January 13, 2006

Every time I see someone with lots of tattoos reading MetaFilter, especially a girl, I get really sad. Like the person has been tricked, and is still very lonely.
posted by Jairus at 9:49 AM on January 13, 2006

Everyone be more like what I think is normal! Cluck, cluck.


Brass knucks under the skin are stupid at best, but we all gotta do something while we wait for the apocalypse.
posted by Divine_Wino at 9:56 AM on January 13, 2006

Don't forget to ask about his car and the size of his penis; he's quite obsessed with both.
Why Optimus Chyme - what kinda car does Glider drive? Not sure why but now you mention it, I'm quite curious!
posted by 13twelve at 9:58 AM on January 13, 2006

Every time I see someone with lots of tattoos reading MetaFilter watching a Kevin Smith movie, especially a girl, I get really sad. Like the person has been tricked, and is still very lonely.

Wasn't there a cartoon that claimed the subtext of every tattoo is "ask me about my parents divorce"?
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:02 AM on January 13, 2006

At first I thought the link would lead to someone with brass knuckles actually, you know, implanted where brass knuckles would do some good. That might be useful, though it would probably be hell to get through airport security.

I really don't have an opinion on the body mod stuff. I figure that, whether I find it visually appealing it or not, every person has the right to do to their own body what they like. I've got nothing against tattoos, but I've never been able to think of anything that I want permanently etched onto my body.
posted by jzb at 10:03 AM on January 13, 2006

Neat. Implants aren't my thing, but neat anyway.

Two years ago I "took the plunge" and got my left ear pierced (as part of a "oh my god i'm turning 30..." thing). Read BME and various piercing sites for a month, read up on procedures, recommendations, etc. Finally had it done at Atomic Tattoo in Austin, where I had a 14ga CBR put in.

It's my little bit of "rage against the machine", but yet I can take it out if I never need to for job purposes, etc. I had a great time writing up a story about "my first piercing" for BME.
posted by mrbill at 10:15 AM on January 13, 2006

Looks like a cute wittle HelloKitty pawprint to me.
posted by fish tick at 10:27 AM on January 13, 2006

"Welcome to Jamaica Have a Nice Day!"

Mefi makes me remember bad funny things.
posted by bardic at 11:15 AM on January 13, 2006

Finally had it done at Atomic Tattoo in Austin, where I had a 14ga CBR put in.

Must've hurt like hell to have a CBR punched into your earlobe.
posted by scratch at 11:23 AM on January 13, 2006

trishthedish mentioned 'suspension' - what's funny is that my high school art teacher was doing that decades ago, except that he didn't have the trendy tats & piercings to go along with it. Google for 'stelarc' and you'll find some of his more modern stuff.

I'm just amused by the current crop of Net-Gen-X'ers that think it's new & 'extreme.'

:-)
posted by drstein at 11:36 AM on January 13, 2006

I don't give two shits in a biscuit

I could care less about the body mods, but that's the best expression I've heard all week.

Also, can I get two shits and a biscuit surgically implanted in my chest?
posted by BuffaloBandit at 11:44 AM on January 13, 2006

Do people really get tattoos to be "badass"? Or weird, or counterculture, or to fit in, or to be "cool"? I know I didn't. I don't think anyone who knows me thinks I'm the first to jump on any cutting-edge trend. I remember it exactly; I was 19 and I saw a girl about my age with a tattoo on her ankle and I thought "Oh, cool, no one cares about that anymore, maybe I'll get one." Six years later, after researching and finding something I wanted and hanging on to it for a while to make sure I REALLY wanted it (tattoos are forever and all that) I finally got one. By then it was just no big deal, and if I had thought I was getting it to be badass, I would have been awfully disappointed.

Yeah, I got another one, and a belly button piercing, and now I'm done. Maybe it's because I'm 35; maybe it's because my tattoo artist died in that nightlub fire in Rhode Island (you know, the one Whitesnake was playing at) and I'd like to keep the ones I have as a memorial (corny as that may sound); maybe it's because I'm not willing to inflict pointless pain on myself now that I'm starting to ache when I get up in the morning, I don't know. But it sure ain't because it used to be all stickin' it to the man and now it's not. Sheesh. All I know is I loved them when I got them, I love them now, and I don't much care if people used to think I was counterculture and now just think I'm a wannabe.

Oh, and on-topic - hey, whatever floats yer boat. I personally think the implants look weird and I'd never do it because I don't like what it looks like. But if you like how it looks and how it makes you feel, go for it. Who cares what anyone else thinks.

And "don't give two shits in a biscuit" is my new favorite phrase. I'll be shamelessly stealing that and using it until my boy is tired of it.
posted by jennaratrix at 12:08 PM on January 13, 2006

Um, that'd be Great White, not Whitesnake. Sorry, I get my 80s hair bands with "White" in the name confused.
posted by jennaratrix at 12:28 PM on January 13, 2006

I was expecting perhaps a subdermal set of brass knuckles on the knuckles, and was wondering how people would type with them and how it would damage the skin if they punched with them. I had a witty sentence to go with it, then everyone would laugh, there would be applause. My name would be put up in lights on the front page. It would have been great. But no, that will not happen now, no laughs, no applause, no marquee for me. Thanks a lot.
posted by TwelveTwo at 1:15 PM on January 13, 2006

god, that looks awful.

Do people really get tattoos to be "badass"? Or weird, or counterculture, or to fit in, or to be "cool"?

well, as the original post says, anyone trying to be "badass" or counterculture these days would hardly get a tattoo - but some people still do have a desire to stand out as "badass", and so have moved on to other things. Consider the quote from the implantee:

"Just knowing the amount of pain I coudl handle, and being a part of something so taboo....it was great!"

It sure sounds like part of her motivation was counterculture coolness. And she achieved it, too, really - she wants the older generation to say stuff like "god that looks awful"... And while I think I love green hair & docs /etc aesthetically, it's true it did seem like my parents generation "didn't get it" at the time, and if the president had had a mohawk or whatever, it probably wouldn't have seemed as interesting... I certainly never considered myself outwardly seeking to be "taboo" but generational styles probably are partly due to teenagers wanting to bond with each other and simultaneously differentiate themselves from the already established.
posted by mdn at 1:55 PM on January 13, 2006

Also, it never fails that a large segment of Metafilter thinks they understand why everyone gets tattoos.

Actually, HTuttle was the only person who made such a statement, and considering that he sits somewhere between Dios and ParisParamus, I wouldn't exactly say his opinion is indicative of anything around here.
posted by duende at 2:47 PM on January 13, 2006

Let's see...

Tattoos.. Check!
Tattoos that show... Check!
Piercings... Check!
Genital Piercings... Check!
Amputation... Check!

Am I cool yet?... Trick Question!
Asking if you are cool means you aren't cool, yet!

(I have all of the above)
posted by Balisong at 6:05 PM on January 13, 2006

People are relentlessly weird but usually funny.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:03 PM on January 13, 2006

[warning: lots and lots of self-links ahead. please ignore if this bothers you].
Everytime I see a thread about tattoos or body modifications in mefi I am surprised by how judgemental a few people are about what others choose to do with their own bodies. I recently updated my site with photos of the last international tattoo convention in SP, and one of the things that was interesting to me was the diversity
of people who have tattoos. Some had implants too. As for the comment about sad and lonely tattooed women, I think my friends would disagree. One more thing: the strangest looking freaks I have photographed are actually some of the sweetest people I have ever met in my life. Bonus link: Jun Matsui's tattoos.
posted by ig at 7:25 PM on January 13, 2006

Err, I'm not sure about being obsessed with the size of my penis? But to answer your question 13twelve, here are some of my cars.

I'm surprised to see this post as a FPP here today given that this did the boingboing, Fark, and blogspace rounds when it was posted a month ago...
posted by glider at 7:44 PM on January 13, 2006

You're not the only one.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:49 PM on January 13, 2006

You know, I'm not a big fan of cars. In fact, I hate the fucking things. But that's a seriously hip automobile collection. If more cars were like those I might not dislike them so much.
posted by Jawn at 10:57 PM on January 13, 2006

I've seen lots of pretty awesome tattoos, but our perception of what is and is not awesome changes. Drastically.

If 10 year olds were allowed to have tattoos, they'd probably have a batman logo on their chests. (I know I would...) We say to ourselves, "ah, that's why children must wait until they are adults before they make a permanent decision like that", but who's to say the things you're into at age 18 or 25 or 35 are any more mature than those at age 10?

You might think a dragon or some kanji or hebrew looks cool and beautiful now, but you will probably change your mind in the future, and you will not be able to change your body. It's like buying this season's fashionable hat, then supergluing it to your head, forever.
posted by hoverboards don't work on water at 3:55 AM on January 14, 2006

but who's to say the things you're into at age 18 or 25 or 35 are any more mature than those at age 10?...It's like buying this season's fashionable hat, then supergluing it to your head, forever.

only if you buy hats because everyone else is, though. That's one thing I really like about tattoos - it allows you to connect to previous instantiations of your self. We do change, and yet we stay the same - and a little mark you put on your body to express 'who you are' is still there, even when 'you' has become something rather different. The tattoo I have from when I was 19 is a link back to how I thought then, who I was then, and in a sense I find new layers of meaning in it over the years (that sounds too pretentious - I just mean I reconnect to it from new angles). I only wish I'd had it done by a higher quality artist.
posted by mdn at 9:00 AM on January 14, 2006

My Bartman "eat my shorts" tatoo has held up well and gotten me laid on several occasions.
posted by bardic at 12:21 PM on January 14, 2006

Well said mdn.
posted by drezdn at 12:57 PM on January 14, 2006

i'd be most worried about getting punched in the chest and it getting messed up some how.

and full sleeves on a girl is super hot.
posted by teishu at 11:34 PM on January 14, 2006

i am drinking on the internet fulfilling my role as badass rebel sensitive tribal warrior monk
posted by Optimus Chyme at 3:39 PM on January 15, 2006