"And, it took those damn brow ridges off the Romulans and made them look like Romulans again. I can forgive a movie that does that for an awful lot of other meddling. "
Good lord! Seriously? Damnit! This movie just jumped up 10,000 notches without my even seeing it (does that count? i know I'm not allowed to have an opinion without seeing it yet). I can't believe they actually did it. I heard about the tatoos, and I could see that happening (just look at how fast they have become a part of our culture, notice we have no brow ridges, though ) Man, I'm going to have to drag my sorry butt out to the theatre soon I guess.
Yes, I was *very* pleased with this.
I wouldn't worry too much about the tatoos. They may or may not be popular in Nero's "current" timeline Romulan, culture; I don't think we get enough to know. Without giving much away, these guys are basically roughnecks in space. Seeing them covered in common tatoos is like sailing out to a deepwater oil rig and finding all the workers there sharing common tatoos.
There is a quick scene of Romulans on Romulus, and I don't think they had tatoos. But I'm not sure. I don't remember them being present, but I wasn't looking for that at the time. I'll have to watch again.
And, as you say, that sort of cultural thing shifts easily from generation to generation, so even if Romulus was covered with taoos it doesn't bother me as much as the brow ridges. Growing new bone matter is a might harder to explain.
-S'Cipio