Underrated: Tatianna Butler

A new occasional series, Underrated is not intended to be about judging decisions - if it was, we could probably run a post about every single woman who's ever competed! Instead, we aim to (re)focus on women who we think do not enjoy the prominence they deserve in the collective female muscle consciousness - someone a new recruit to the female muscle lovin' world would not necessarily come across.

UNDERRATED?



Less than 30 pics on GwM, and no more than a five-page thread on the forum whose first rule is... and the majority of those pages are taken up with more recent, post-retirement pics (more about that later). It's highly unlikely - as it is with all of the women we feature on Underrated - that you would underrate her if you know her, but with that kind of coverage, then it's also unlikely you have come across Tatianna unless you're old enough to remember her from her turn of the millennium pomp.



She was of that era when the line-ups at the USAs and the Nationals read like a list of all-time favourites compiled by some 40-something muscle head (like me). Sarah Dunlap, Heather Policky, Bonnie Priest, Gina Davis, Colette Nelson, Michelle Tuggle, Lora Ottenad, Sherry Smith... I could go on. She competed with distinction against all of them, she totally looked the part, but ultimately Tatianna - despite a couple of top 6 finishes - never placed high enough to win her pro card and compete at the very highest level. After a (thankfully) brief (and unsuccessful) dalliance with the Figure division, she would only ever get out her posing suits again for paying clients. She went "under the radar" as I believe they say on the dark side.

CAREER



If she was competing now and at her 2001-2002 peak, I'd say she would have won just about all of the IFBB shows so far in 2018, with only the Toronto Pro a possible exception. However, in her time she was just one of a thunderous cohort of soon-to-be greats and others, like her, who would have been greats in another decade.



From Baltimore, we first find her competing locally at the Eastern USA Championships in 1996 as a "novice". Four years later she is at the Atlantic States Championships earning her only class and Overall win.The year after that, at her first national level show - the NPC USAs - she makes the Heavyweight top 6, and then at the North Americans places 4th behind Lisa Aukland, Colette Nelson and Carmen Brady.



Though she undoubtedly looked great in 2001, her peak, I would say, came in 2002 at the NPC Nationals. In a Heavyweight division packed with some of the best female muscle ever (not only compared to today but also any other day) Tatianna placed 4th, a 5'9" ripped ebony Amazon showing off her genetic gifts and exceptional development in all their glistening pumped glory. In the judges' opinions, she was bettered on the day only by Sherry Smith, Alley Miesch-Nie and Overall winner Sarah Dunlap. She never reached such competitive heights again - placing 13th at the Nationals in 2003, and the less said about the return as a Figure competitor in 2005 the better.



If you haven't noticed already though, it's time to point out that as well as being a 5'9" ebony Amazon, Tatianna was (and still is, more about this later), an absolutely gorgeous woman. This muscle + beauty combo was then, as now, much in demand on the schmotography circuit, and while it's not easy to find contest pics of Tatianna, she did more than her fair share of glamour work. WPW/Ray Martin (as always) got in earlier than most, much of their work with her done while she was very much in her voluptuous (and quite frankly f***ing ginormous) off-season shape.



There was work with Physique Art (remember them?!) and others that showcased Tatianna in pretty much a "mainstream" glamour kind of way - a model who just happened to have massive muscles! Awefilms, on the other hand, tended to use her as an "action girl", beating up unfortunate/fortunate (depending on your point of view) male weaklings in mini-movies "Sista Paine" and "Gladiatrix FemMuscle Action".



She was also memorably (in my house) shot by Ivana Ford (again, remember her?!) and perhaps most memorably of all by Bill Dobbins, wearing nothing but some sand.

APPRECIATION



The day after the muscle worship episode of Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends aired, I overheard four women in my office discussing the show, and particularly the Female Bodybuilders it featured. "Yuk!" was pretty much the capsule review - Louis spends most of his time talking to Maria Calo and her (short-lived) husband, you may recall. I expected nothing less, I'd been bitterly disappointed not so much by the portrayal of the world I was so fascinated by, but more the choice of subjects. They could have had Yaz Boyum, but instead we got Maria, and the fans Louis spoke to... embarrassing. But then one of the women says, "except Tatianna" and to my delight they all agreed. She was "lovely" they said, "such a sweet person", "so girly", "yes, very feminine".



And it wasn't just on British TV that Tatianna got noticed. She was a regular on those US chat shows that used to feature FBBs from time to time in a kind of "all woman" pro-female muscle way (those were the days, eh?!). Hardly surprising then that Dobbins selected Tatianna (not, note, Maria Calo) to represent his work on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno when doing publicity for his (racy) book Modern Amazons.



She was - on top of being an outstanding amateur Bodybuilder at a time when future legends were all over the NPC - an articulate, funny, stunningly beautiful, strong woman. And whatever "it" is that makes some muscle women capable of reaching out towards the mainstream and not being mocked, she had that in spades as well.




NOW



As you can see, she has still got most of those qualities today. She's still hot, one forum poster says. She's just not big anymore. Oh really?! That bicep is an illusion, is it?

Watch that (mostly cringeworthy) Louis Theroux episode in full here, or just the "Meets Fans of Female Bodybuilders" segment here. I haven't turned up any of the Jay Leno footage, so if you know where it can be found then please do get in touch.

Underrated will return.

Underrated: Juanita Blaino

A new occasional series, Underrated is not intended to be about judging decisions - if it was, we could probably run a post about every single woman who's ever competed! Instead, we aim to (re)focus on women who we think do not enjoy the prominence they deserve in the collective female muscle consciousness - someone a new recruit to the female muscle lovin' world would not necessarily come across.

UNDERRATED?



If you know her, it's highly unlikely you would underrate her. The combination of size and sexy Juanita brought to the stage made her one of the outstanding competitive Female Bodybuilders of the first part of this decade. And that's not just my opinion - this "powerful goddess of muscle" is none other than Margie Martin's all-time favourite, and few would disagree with her that it's high time Juanita rose again.



The fact that she's become so (relatively) unknown so quickly since her retirement is largely down to Juanita herself. She's retired most effectively! Like, say, her more famous admirer or - as another example - Iris Kyle, Juanita has social media but unlike them she hardly ever posts. When she does, it's hardly ever a picture of herself, and on those rare occasions when it is, it's hardly ever a current picture of herself.



Consequently, the well of "new" Juanita material dried up almost as soon as she stopped competing in 2014. With nothing new to add, her forum threads and GWM page have largely stagnated, kept alive only by rumour and occasional "look what I found when I was cleaning out my hard drive" images from Juanita's pomp.

CAREER


Juanita Malone, pre-1994

The period of her career for which she is known runs from 2010 to 2014. However, and this has only recently, thanks to some serious FBB archaeology by a well-known forum poster, come to light, Juanita Malone (as she was then) can be found competing in the early 90s, and at the NPC USAs in 1994 she shared the stage with (among other Heavyweights) Annie Rivieccio, Rozann Keyser, and Suzan Kaminga.


Nationals, 2010

After a break of some 15 or so years, she returned to competition in 2010, lining up at the Masters Nationals, the North Americans (in the 35+ Masters class), and the Nationals, where she was the Heavyweight runner-up to Amber Defrancesco.



Champion - Nationals, 2012

Two years later and Juanita was back at the Nationals, and this time there was no denying her. After winning the Heavyweight class, she saw off Kira Neuman and Rene Marven in the posedown to be crowned Overall champion, and new IFBB pro.



Olympia, 2013

On her pro debut in Chicago the following year she placed 2nd (to Mmmmonique Jones), and though she failed to place in Tampa a month later, those runner's-up qualifying points were enough (just) to get her to her one and only Olympia. There (in possibly her best ever shape and in a posing suit that bordered dangerously - and thrillingly - close to a thong) she placed above Mmmmonique - 6th out of 12. It took legends to beat her, and only Kyle, Popa, Laszewski, Oriquen and Brezovac did.



This period also brought us the majority of the non-contest Juanita material we can still enjoy today. She worked with HerBiceps, briefly - but gloriously - with Female Muscle Clips, and most memorably with Muscle Angels. As we look back now we can see that even then there were signs that Juanita was not 100% happy at putting herself out there (as they say), with much of the Muscle Angels' material listed not under her name but the alias "Massive Muscle". Nevertheless, this moniker seemed completely appropriate to me. I had fallen massively for Juanita's muscles, and I wasn't alone.



The following March (2014), FMS readers voted her into the top 30 of our inaugural Hot and Hard 100 poll. As the 2014 contest season got under way, she seemed a serious contender, and my female muscle notebook of the time reveals I was as excited about seeing Juanita again as I was about seeing anyone. Had her time come?


Tampa, 2014

2014. however, didn't quite live up to the promise of her debut pro season. 4th this time in Chicago, she did better in Tampa than she had done the previous year, but 7th there was nowhere near enough. The last ever Ms Olympia took place without her.

APPRECIATION



First of all, and make no mistake about this, Juanita was (and may well still be) massive. You really only get a true sense of her overwhelming scale when you see her next to other, undeniably huge, women. As well as being a bit taller than both Iris and Mmmmonique, Juanita (at the very least) matches both of them for sheer arm size. Imagine her strength! a 2015 forum poster gasps. I do - and I imagine it is incredible. Chicago crims restrained by Officer Blaino, don't, I imagine, ever forget it!


Chicago, 2014

Most importantly though, Juanita simply "oozed sex appeal", and while this does come across in photos, you really have to see her move on stage to fully understand just how sexy she was, and what a huge influence she was on Margie Martin. Even if Juanita was never quite as aggressively, in-yer-face sexy as her most decorated devotee, the more that Margie took from Juanita's playbook, the more successful she became.



My favourite clips of hers would have to be the first set she did with Muscle Angels as "Massive Muscle" - hotel room setting, small white bikini, just flexing hard and slow while the camera catches all her ripples and striations in close-up detail. Perhaps even more thrilling though was Female Muscle Clips' shooting of Juanita in dress and heels. 30 minutes which, if you are lucky enough to enjoy, stay with you long after.

NOW?

Rumours only. Still a big and beautiful girl, apparently, but not planning to come back - at least not as a Bodybuilder. According to one forum poster, Juanita told him in an email that she's "downsizing in the near future", a decision that, in his words is "more personal than political". She said she's "tired of not being able to buy regular clothes", he continues, "tired of carrying so much weight around". The muscle mass is that serious! That was last October, and nothing since then suggests Juanita's return is imminent - whatever size she is going to be if she does indeed return to competition.

I do believe that last bit about serious muscle mass though...

Enjoy!

Underrated: Robin Parker

A new occasional series, Underrated is not intended to be about judging decisions - if it was, we could probably run a post about every single woman who's ever competed! Instead, we aim to (re)focus on women who we think do not enjoy the prominence they deserve in the collective female muscle consciousness - someone a new recruit to the female muscle lovin' world would not necessarily come across.

Thanks to BM for today's suggestion, a woman he calls "an absolute legend".

UNDERRATED?



Search for Robin on the major fansites and you will find her. She has a page/thread on both, and on Girls with Muscle in particular, there is no little appreciation among the comments. She was "a great FBB" who "had an outstanding physique". She was "a pioneer in the sport", "mature muscle at its best", "phenomenal", "exceptional", "so stunning and built". Several fans say Robin was one of their all-time favorites".



Praise indeed. Stories from those who were lucky enough to meet her in her pomp recall "her mass and vascularity", and "her beauty". Another (much more confessional) sessioner recalls her being "by far the sexiest, most delicious, and most tantalizing woman I ever saw. She should be giving lessons to every sessionette. She knew just what to do and how to do it, and was the perfect mix of muscle size, strength, facial beauty and personality. She just oooozzzed sex from every pore of her body."



So, Robin was (and probably still is) rated by some, but for a woman who first picked up weights in 1985 then finally hung up her posing suit in 2006, there is precious little really quality material available, and most of it is from the last few years of her career.

CAREER



From training at home with "basic equipment" to becoming the Masters Nationals champion took her just four years, and the following year (1990), she appeared at her first open national level show - the Jr USAs. She finished 2nd behind Chris Bongiovanni in her Heavyweight class at the USAs in 1995, and was 2nd again (this time behind Lora Ottenad) five years later in 2000. In all she competed at national level eight times, and on five of those occasions made the top 5 in her class.



These days, that wouldn't be much of a record to boast of, but to put it into perspective, let's look, for example, at the 2004 Nationals, where Robin is generally considered to have been at something like her beefiest, even though, for once, she was among the Light-heavyweights. Including Robin, there were 20 women the class, and among those who placed below her on the day we find names such as Alicia St. Germaine, Gayle Frankie, Norma Nieves, Star Blaylock, Sondra Faas, Angie Salvagno, Heather Lee, and Debbie Bramwell. Only Dena Westerfield, Kim Perez, Elena Sieple and Cynthia Gonzalez (I know! WHO???!!!) placed above her. She competed among such quality line-ups throughout her entire career.




The year after that 2004 Nationals (her third), she finally won her pro card with her second Overall Masters Nationals win, and a year later she made her one and only pro appearance at the 2006 Europa Supershow. I could go on about the quality of that line-up, but I'll let you check it out for yourself. She placed a creditable 15th (better than a handful of legendary names) then thundered off the stage for the very last time.

APPRECIATION



As mentioned before, most of what we have got to go on regarding Robin was shot in the last few years of her FBBing contest life, the results of her twenty previous years of lifting only too evident in her thick, mature physique. That kind of size plus definition will do it for me every time, and when - as with Robin - a bucketload of ropey veinage is also on offer, it's not hard to see why she got such glowing reviews as a session provider. What that body must have been like to touch is quite beyond my level of comprehension, but to gaze at her and try to imagine is a game worth playing!



What does survive from her earlier amateur years reveals that physique-wise she was just as ripped (and only a tad less thick), and just as exciting. Facially the toll of those twenty years had not been paid so fully when she posed for WPW/Ray Martin, and her admittedly unconventional but undeniably alluring beauty shines through.



I always enjoyed those sensational legs, her chest, her arms, and her lush dark hair and deep dark eyes. Her smile too I always thought was a winner, and not long after I made my first virtual female muscle lovin' friend online, he shared Robin and Christa Bauch's (rightly) famous 2-4-1 Ray Martin video with me. I didn't watch much else for a month. It's freely available in its entirety these days - part 1 here. Not the best quality, but it doesn't have to be when Robin first strolls into shot, legs encased in sheer fishnets, ordering Christa away in her basso profundo voice... Turns out this clip (and the other four parts) still has the power to make me swoon all over the place.

NOW?

At the time of writing, FMS hasn't managed to turn anything up about Robin, unfortunately. We hope she and her family are well, and that she is still watching Real Time with Bill Maher. We hope, in fact we expect that, now well into her 60s, Robin is still the same great advert for the female muscle lifestyle that she always was.

So, you lovely readers, who do you think should be next on Underrated?