Few things go together quite as well as obsessive devotion to a television show and the decision to get something permanently imprinted on your skin. So it’s hardly surprising that there are so many cult TV tattoos out there. That’s why, to give ourselves a bit of a challenge, we’ve only rounded up the ones that truly spoke to us – for better or for worse. We’ve also omitted the gobs of sci-fi show ink (Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica), because they’re utterly ubiquitous, and honestly, the stuff we did find was pretty predictable. (Anyone regretting those “The truth is out there” tatts yet?) And since there are so many incredible animated series tattoos (The Simpsons, South Park), and we’d seen most of them everywhere, we left those out, too. With those caveats, your roundup of epic cult TV tattoos is after the jump.
1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Okay, we love this show, too, so we’re not going to rag on your decision to give it all the real estate on your back. And we will second Great White Snark in commending you on placing Giles front and center. We only wonder why Buffy A) seems poised to stake Giles and B) appears to be wearing her bra outside her shirt.
2. Glee This is exactly what it looks like: three teenage girls with Glee tattoos on the insides of their lips. These had better be temporary, or Mom is gonna be pissed.
[via]
3. Twin Peaks The pie, the coffee, the blue rose, the show’s two best characters, the feverish red background — yeah, this one has all the bases covered.
[via]
4. Golden Girls There are a number of wonderful tattoos devoted to TV’s favorite old ladies, and many of them are prettier and more intricate than this one (although, to be fair, it looks like it was photographed just after it was done, when the skin was still irritated). But can we appreciate, for a moment, the brilliant idea of putting Rose, Dorothy, Blanche, and Sophia on Mt. Rushmore?
5. Lost These are actually two different tattoos, juxtaposed because, though they were once in love (and then got back together in the afterlife, even though it’s totally obvious that Nadia is his soul mate), Sayid is probably the best Lost character to have adorning your limb for eternity, while Shannon may well be the worst.
6. Mystery Science Theater 3000 As both B-movie and cult, low-budget comedy fans, we have to protest this showing up on Ugliest Tattoos. We’re guessing this lady has nerdy dudes lining up around the block.
7. Strangers with Candy There is so much right about this Jerri Blank tattoo, we don’t even know where to start.
[via]
8. True Blood This is one you may want to cover up for a job interview…
[via]
9. Arrested Development We’re not sure how a never-nude would feel about adorning a stranger’s skin.
[via]
10. Dexter And the award for creepiest cult TV tattoo goes to… To be honest, what’s most surprising is how many similar Dexter tattoos there are out there.
[via]