Skip to content


Vote for Matt’s Cybernetic Arm!

tl;drVote For Matt’s Tattoo here! You might win $500

Some of the best geeky tattoos are the ones that people create by meshing different aspects of their geeky pursuits together into something original and unique. The tattoo you see above isn’t instantly recognizable as being pulled from any specific part of the geek canon. It’s actually inspired by a combination of Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic, The Force Unleashed, Ghost in the Shell, the earlier works of William Gibson’s Sprawl Trilogy (my personal favorite too), and the video for All Is Full of Love by Björk. Matt took these different geeky things and put together his geeky armor tattoo with the help of Mat Kerfen on armor design and Douglas J at High Rollers Tattoo Studio on ink. In addition to the geek bits, Matt explains that it also represents “a strange and deeply philosophic discussion about the breaks in our armor that show our real selves.”

A pretty awesome tattoo, right? But the post doesn’t end there! Along with the tattoo pic, I got an email from Matt that says “I’m gonna pull a dirty trick here and even paraphrase Razor and Blade from Hackers saying that I need more than a media icon such as yourself, I need an army, a digital army. Geek/gamers of the world unite!” Why does he need your support? No, there’s no oil tanker with a virus that’s about to kill a bajillion whales (they’re all safe thanks to the Sea Shepherd). Well Matt’s geeky ink is entered in a tattoo contest for a local Philadelphia radio station, Radio 104.5. So kind readers of Geeky Tattoos, Hack the Planet! errr Vote For Matt’s Tattoo! It’s easy and doesn’t involve any roller blades or even using dirty payphones. Ha, like you could even find a payphone anymore. Need some incentive other than the warm feeling of helping a fellow geek out? One lucky random person that votes will win $500. That could pay for a really sweet tattoo. Oh and you can vote every 24 hours.

Disclaimer: Yes, if your geeky tattoo is a) awesome, b) in a contest, and c) you ask nicely and offer to buy me a beer when I’m in your town I’ll totally post a call for votes for you.

Posted in Anime & Manga, Books, Computers, Star Wars, Tattoos.

Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , .


12 Responses

Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.

  1. Matt says

    Thank you so much. This is more than I could have ever hoped. I really appreciate it and I definitely owe you that beer (or five).

  2. Jimmy d says

    All i can say is wow, i love the art work and the concept is a real winner. if i could vote a million times i would.

  3. Robert says

    This is pretty sick. what made you chose your shoulder instead of the elbow? isnt his omni tool on the forearm?

    • Matt says

      I wasn't going to quite so literal of a Mass Effect translation as that, although the more I get used to it, the more I can see the influences of Shepard's armor in the work. I've kinda always just had some strange affinity for the shoulder/arm armor thing. It just makes me feel a bit like a superhero, I guess.

  4. Matt says

    So, I just wanted to post an update. Sadly, I did not win the tattoo contest. But, life goes on.

    I did want to say thank you to Ed in particular and offer my gratitude and appreciation (and beers, can't forget the beers) to everyone who voted for me and shared/reblog/retweeted/ or whatever else to help spread the word. Ultimately, the goal was to get recognition for the very talented artists that contributed to this wonderful piece of art and I do believe that was accomplised. Thank you to everyone.

    Hack the planet.

  5. Chris says

    This sleeve is epic… WOW!!!!

  6. Andrew says

    This is a great tattoo, excellent even, however, was the vote to keep this as the last tattoo posted on this website?

    • Ali says

      I think ed's at SXSW

  7. 80s Dude says

    I realize this has nothing to do with it, but this tattoo reminds me of Robocop. But it is seriously one of my favourite tattoos, other than my own, of course.

    Great job with the design, and execution. And kudos to the artist . Awesome work, all around.

  8. Robert says

    Its been like 3 weeks and no updates on this website :( saddening

  9. Ninja Girl Rachel says

    one of the top 5 tattoos I’ve ever seen. amazing work and amazing taste, matt!!!

  10. Warmonger says

    That is one badass cybernetic tattoo, dude. I absolutely love it!