Get inked at the Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention

Have troubled tattoo TV shows like “Tattoo Nightmares,” “Tattoo Rescue,” and “America’s Worst Tattoo” scared off legions of potential tattooees?

Not in the least, says Troy Timpel, a Philly tattoo artist and promoter of this weekend’s Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention.

“A lot of people that got bad tattoos now realize their options in fixing them,” Timpel says. “People make poor choices in artists and they get these tattoos big, but they can be fixed and still be beautiful.”

For those who want to embrace the bad ink, stars of “Tattoo Nightmares” and the rest will be at the convention. But not everyone has a horror story — the crews from “Ink Master,” “Black Ink Crew,” “Best Ink” and more will be there, too.

Let’s face it: Tattoo parlors have replaced Jersey as reality TV’s location du jour.

“The TV shows allow people to see the quality of tattooing that can be done,” says Timpel, owner of Philadelphia Eddie’s at 621 S. Fourth St. “The public didn’t quite understand tattoos and what could be done but seeing there fantastic artists on TV gives the public an idea of the potential for tattooing.”

It’s all at the Pennsylvania Convention Center Friday through Sunday. In addition to the television celebs, there will be sideshow artists,- including Olde City Sideshow and Jersey’s Gisella Rose, aka, the Human Pincushion, as well as burlesque performers, aerial artists and more. As for tattoos, more than 900 artists will be on hand to service the expected 20,000 attendees. There are also after-parties Friday and Saturday at the nearby Trocadero and Sunday at the Barbary in Fishtown.

Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention

Friday to Sunday

Pennsylvania Convention Center

1101 Arch St.

$22/$45 for all three days

215-423-4780