#or another contestant on Drag Race doing a confessional and explaining her look for this week's challenge

[downtherabbitholewithlucy]

Behind the ✨stage-LEWK✨ with Wes Borland

[ugliecc]

WOLVERINA

Category is... Glamour, Filth, Horror

Finaly an end to Dragula simalong! I will give little description to each look, and under “Read more” I’ll share my thought about season 3 (spoiler alert!).

Glamour - this look is little joke from me. In Sims Drag Race community this rococo dress was probably first famous overused dress. Literally, in every season someone wore it xD So I wanted to create my take on it! Also, about glamour category, I always imagined Wolverina doing look inspired by historic fashion, so it fits this category well!

Filth - that was very hard category, especially if I didn’t want to repeat anything from previous seasons. At first I was thinking about something religious, but then I realised that... well, kids can be very filthy. So here Wolverina acts like spoiled brat that covered her cute dress in mud/shit, smashed her friend who looked prettier than her and at the end she pissed herself, because during play she simply forgot she needed to go to the bathroom... Yes, she did that on stage.

Horror - for that I would glady do something much better, but time and my creative energy didn’t let me do this. So I decided to use look I prepared oryginaly for Sims Drag Race 4 - this was supposed to be my “prehistoric horror” look. Fortunatelly it was changed for just horror. But I kept pngs and waited for the opportunity to use them!

So that’s it! Finally I finished this simalong. I’m sorry it took me so long :( Now, if you want to know what I thought about season 3 of Dragula, read more - but I warn you, SPOILERS AHEAD, so read only if you watched the show (or for your own responsibility :P).

*

When I saw trailer of this season, I was really excited. From the begining I was rooting for Evah and Landon, Hollow also was interesting artist for me. I wasn’t big fan of Violencia’s and Mad’s looks - I predicted them as early out (I was right about V., Mad lasted longer, but she was bottom a lot, so I wasn’t wrong so much).

After episode 1 I wasn’t big fan of Priscilla and Dollya attitude, even tho I really liked their artistry. With time Priscilla started to grow on me... until she started to shit on Dollya near the end :( But at the end they explained everything and overall I think they’re both amazing queens and their arguments weren’t as painful to watch as all the drama from RPDR s11 xD

I was really sad when Evah was eliminated, but she still went far, so I’m very proud of her! She’s my big inspiration for Wolverina’s drag and I really liked her more after watchning her in the show. I know some people considered her as boring, but for me she’s like someone I could talk to irl.

At the end I was quite satisfied with top 3, hoping for Landon to win. But in each finale floor show category I saw another winner. For Glamour Priscilla was the best, I loved her look so much - one of my favourites from all Dragula seasons. Filth was Landon’s - Priscilla was close to winning this one, but imo her performance was too similar to Biqtch from season 2 (and not so extreme), while Landon showed something from different perspective, that wasn’t shown by other contestants in previous seasons. And for the Horror Dollya had my favourite look - she was so beautiful! That was def her best look from all during the season.

And the winner was announced - and I’m so happy for who won! But this season was not only the finale, of course. It was my favourite season of all 3. I know in some parts it looked more like RPDR (workroom, confessionals, reunion), but I don’t mind it - I think most changes were for better. I just hope, that we won’t have to wait so long for season 4!

[pessimisticpleasure]

I was rooting for you All Stars 3! We were all rooting for you!

All Stars 3 done fucked up drag (again).

I said last year that the formula of contestants eliminating each other simply doesn’t work on Drag Race. Unless you go full on Survivor with reality TV wherein it is established from the beginning that likeable people cannot win on personality alone and manipulation and strategic alliances are what are rewarded in the game you cannot suddenly switch. Drag Race for the most part is a show which rewards hard work, charm, and track record and the reason the fans detest the queens eliminating other queens formula is because after a number of seasons where that was consistent suddenly it isn’t anymore. I’m all for a change but a shows basic premise and rules should show consistency and after the shambles that was the eliminations last year it’s baffling that they would try to stick to it instead of holding their hands up and saying ‘fine, that didn’t work, we hear you’. Once again, a year later, this stupid idea has ruined yet another season.

I’m actually not mad that Trixie won because while I’m not a big fan of hers I definitely saw a fight in her (*cough*which Alaska didn’t have*cough*) and clearly since her season her confidence has skyrocketed. What pisses me off is that Shangela deserved to come second AT LEAST - despite her already prevalent career she works hard, she is incredibly likeable, and she had an excellent record - which by the way is what everyone harped on that they were judging by all season. I really don’t blame Kennedy before anyone comes for me, I view her almost like Roxxxy last season in that it’s not her fault she was there and of course she was going to fight for her place.

The thing that irritates me most is that Rupaul was visibly shocked by their decision indicating that is not what would have happened if he was judging but it’s his fucking show! Surely, theoretically, Rupaul could intervene and say ‘sorry, you’ve negated your decision making powers by making a dumb decision’. In the end, it is Rupaul and the producers of the show who this ‘twist’ is reflecting badly on and Rupaul should be careful because a reality show about drag is a very niche market and if you turn the fans who have been loyal for years off with what they view as consistently poor decisions, it is Rupaul’s career which could take a hit, not the contestants.

I’d like to really stress that I do not blame the queens for voting who they did - it’s a difficult decision to put on people who are understandably bitter that it isn’t them or just wanted to be a contestant not to decide the fates of others and they don’t deserve hate for doing what they were told to do. It’s a bad formula which should have been tanked after it was badly recieved in the last All Stars not taken to an even more polarising extreme.

The decision I’m arguably more annoyed about than the finale was Aja. When she was announced as a contestant, I raised my eyebrows because she had, to my mind, not been away enough time to blossom into what she needed to be. I had her pegged as either a first or second week elimination. Holy fuck, was I wrong, because Aja blew me away, mostly with what felt like a great attitude and really funny confessional pieces (even if she was dressed like a toddler sorry not sorry). When she was first eliminated I kind of understood (although personally I hated Bebe’s outfit and thought she should have been in the bottom but whatever) but it was her not being brought back after slaying the girl band challenge which really annoyed me because she did better than that weeks top two and she would have been a great addition to the final weeks. Surely allowing the girls to bring someone back is even more ridiculous than allowing them to eliminate each other because they’ll either do what DeLa did and bring someone back simply because they feel guilty or they’d bring back someone who they saw as weak competition so they can beat them quickly.

Honestly, even without the elimination drama, this season felt really lacklustre. From when they announced the queens I wasn’t excited by the lineup and without naming names there were a couple I really disliked in the bunch (but they were eliminated second and third so who cares). Also importantly, we just had an All Stars. Time needs to be longer between them so you can ensure the best people get on it and this really felt like the people they would have called if the ones from last year hadn’t been able to make it and that showed in the quality (the politics of why they needed to do another one because of the network has been explained to me but I still think it’s stupid). I think a good way to judge a season can be by the Snatch Game and I can’t remember who anyone played (apart from Trixie, eesh). I also can’t remember any runways, or lip sync songs, or being blown away by anyone in a challenge. Drag Race tends to have the good moments stick out but this season looking back I can only see the bad which really speaks to the overall mediocre quality.

I was also really confused by Bebe’s presence on the show. In theory, having the winner of the ‘lost season’ should have been great and made the other queens kind of step up to meet her level but Bebe to my mind kind of coasted through on being glamorous and not as bad in challenges as other people and somehow achieved a really good track record despite seeming kind of like a filler. I think the fact that she hadn’t watched Drag Race since leaving was a huge disadvantage to her because she was clearly unfamiliar with what the show had grown into and what the fans might want to see from her and I really don’t think she’s succeeded with endearing herself to a whole new generation of fans. I love that people thought she was a mole the whole way through (as if they have the foresight to spearhead a conspiracy like that) and then were just like ‘oh no she was just a bit shit’.

Lastly I feel the need to address DeLa. Her self-elimination was probably the moment of the season I was the most shocked by - and disappointed. She didn’t actually leave a huge impression on me in season 6 mostly because that was such a high quality group that individual merits were sometimes lost (I regularly forget that she won the first challenge that season) but I do remember Maggie Smith (best All Stars performance ever, fight me) and also that Darienne should have gone home before her. However I really liked her this season although I will say occasionally she was in the top to my mind without deserving to be there - the week she self-eliminated I thought she was good but not great and her place really should have been Trixie’s. Would she have won if she stayed? With the judging panel and the fact that track record seemed to matter a lot less than it usually does, who knows, maybe the next season of Buzzfeed Unsolved can investigate for us. Does it negate the winner because she could have - no because it seems on the stupid side of saintly. Does it kind of taint the season that the frontrunner bowed out without finishing? Definitely yes.

All Stars badly needs a break now and attention should be focused back onto the original show to ensure that is of high quality and produces some new stars who could theoretically be on an All Stars in the future. I’ve really enjoyed the past two seasons of the show because a) compared to season seven anything is good and b) because both shocked me with their fourth place queens. Chi Chi and Trinity were amazing and the areas which both of them excelled in shocked me and that sort of outsider snatching the competition is something that All Stars will never be able to deliver because we know the queens so I’m hoping to see that again in season 10 starting next week. I also find it a lot more exciting to get the know fresh queens and see what they can give because they are the ones trying to build a solid fanbase and a really great, worldwide career for themselves whereas All Stars for the most part have that already and it’s about just getting more.

I swear if I’m here next year talking about this again it may actually kill me...

[quarantineandchillthings]

RuPauls DragRace

Rupaul’s Drag Race has been one of the shows that I have continually watched throughout the whole of isolation. We were lucky enough to have 4 different seasons of Drag Race this year. Season 12 of the original Rupaul's Drag Race, Secret Celebrity Drag Race, All Stars 5, and Canada’s Drag Race (which RuPaul did not judge but she was a part of). All these Drag Race episodes have been so fun to watch and I have thoroughly enjoyed every season. Today I'll focus on season 12 of the original show as I think it was my favourite, as well as the most controversial. 

Leading up to season 12, I was a bit skeptical about how good it would be, firstly because the previous two seasons had been only average (in my opinion) and there had also been a long gap between season 11 and 12. This season however, did not disappoint. The cast was absolutely amazing (apart from one), with some being my new favourites of the entire series. This season also had some stellar guest judges like Nicki Minaj in the very first episode, however my favourite judge of the season had to be Leslie Jones. She was hysterical and acted exactly like I, as well as many fans I can assume, would have acted being on the main stage. This season gave us some iconic moments such as, Widow Von Du’s rap in the first episode, Jackie Cox as Lisa Rinna and Gigi Goode as Maria the robot in Snatch game, Jaida Essence Hall in the presidential debate and many many many iconic untucked moments. My top three favourite queens of this season would have to be Jaida Essence Hall, Crystal Methyd and Heidi n Closet. Jaida really excelled throughout most of the competition and she really gave us some amazing runways as well as hilarious moments in the challenges. I loved Crystal because of her quirkiness, she was not a front runner at the start of the competition but she definitely improved throughout, which I feel is what the competition is really about. Although she didn't win, what she did for the makeover challenge was absolutely amazing and one of my favs from the whole series. Heidi was just hysterical throughout the whole show, her confessionals just made the show so much funnier and she gave us some great one-liners. I agreed with most of this season's critiques and eliminations, although I would've loved Heidi to have stayed a week longer and wish Sherry Pie had left earlier. 

This season gave us a lot of juicy drama. You can’t speak about season 12 without mentioning the Brita Filter vs Aiden Zhane rivalry. Brita seemed to have it out for Aiden from the start. I honestly felt quite bad for Aiden because all the queens seemed to really come for her for being different, although in saying this she probably was one of my least favourite from the season. Brita was also one of my least favourites, she was too confident because she was from New York, even though that means nothing when participating in this competition. Heidi sticking up for Aiden in untucked was legendary and her iconic line “At the end of the day it doesnt f******g matter” was EVERYTHING. Another big moment in untucked was in the snatch game episode when front runners Jackie Cox, Gigi Goode and Sherry Pie had a lot to say to the queens who had not done well in the challenge. The top queens felt like their fellow queens should have been more prepared as snatch game occurs every season. I agree with this statement, and sometimes am confused when queens are not prepared; however, I also see Widow Von Du and the other queens in the bottom’s frustration because not everyone is good at improvisation. The top queens seemed to be on their “high horse” and I think that's what made them speak out, when really nothing needed to be said. Another stand out moment from untucked was Jan pressing the shade button whenever drama was starting. 

Favourite moments from the season 

- The first rap challenge was so entertaining, Widow Von Du and Heidi n Closet’s verses were my favourite!

- Jaida Essence Hall’s sports inspired couture runway. 

- The whole of Madonna the Rusical was amazing, Gigi Goodes performance was excellent and Jan’s reaction to not winning the challenge was hilarious, although I do understand her frustration.

- The “look over there” moment from Jaida Essence Hall’s presidential debate.

- The top 3 lip syncing from their homes. The creativity that the queens showed for their at home lip syncs were incredible, they really took advantage of an unfortunate situation. 

- Heidi n Closets outburst in untucked. It was absolutely hilarious but also completely necessary. 

- Widow Von Du vs Gigi Goode ‘Starships’ lip sync 

- Heidi n Closet vs Jackie Cox ‘Kill the Lights’ lip sync

This season had to deal with editing out disqualified queen Sherry Pie after being accused of being a sexual predator and catfishing online. As these allegations came out after the filming of the show, there was talk about having to reshoot the entire season or edit her out as much as possible. With this being such a serious issue I think the editors did a great job. I understand why people would have wanted the season to reshoot as someone more deserving could have taken her place as she did make it to the top 4. If they did do this however, it would discredit all the hard work the queens had done the first time round. The way the editors cut her out in the first few episodes had me forgetting that she was actually a part of the show. It was only later on, when there were less contestants, that I felt they could have edited her out a bit more. I do understand that showing her performances were crucial when it came to the end critiques, and if this is the reason she was more visible in the last few episodes then I am ok with it. We hardly ever saw her runways or confessionals, and when we did it was only for context. I also appreciated that before every episode of the normal episode as well as untucked episode there was a disclaimer explaining that she had been disqualified as well as explaining that out of respect for the other queens that the season would proceed to air the episodes filmed. 

Where to follow the fierce queens of season 12:

Dahlia Sin - 

https://www.instagram.com/dahlia_sin/?hl=en

https://twitter.com/Dahlia_Sin

Rock M. Sakura - 

https://www.instagram.com/rockmsakura/?hl=en

https://twitter.com/RockMSakura

Nicky Doll - 

https://www.instagram.com/thenickydoll/?hl=en

https://twitter.com/thenickydoll

Aiden Zhane -

https://www.instagram.com/aiden_zhane/?hl=en

https://twitter.com/Aiden_Zhane

Brita Filter - 

https://www.instagram.com/thebritafilter/?hl=en

Widow Von Du - 

https://www.instagram.com/thewidowvondu/?hl=en

https://twitter.com/TheWidowVonDu

Jan -

 https://www.instagram.com/janjanjan/?hl=en

Heidi N Closet - 

https://www.instagram.com/heidincloset/?hl=en

https://twitter.com/HeidiNCloset

Jackie Cox - 

https://www.instagram.com/jackiecoxnyc/?hl=en

https://twitter.com/JackieCoxNYC

Crystal Methyd - 

https://www.instagram.com/crystalmethyd/?hl=en

https://twitter.com/CrystalMethyd

Gigi Goode - 

https://www.instagram.com/thegigigoode/?hl=en

https://twitter.com/thegigigoode

Jaida Essence Hall - 

https://www.instagram.com/jaidaehall/?hl=en

https://twitter.com/jaidaehall