#AntonioRUVIEWS | RuPaul's Drag Race S9E1

[Antonio 27,723]

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 9 has finally graced our TV screens and here is my review of the premiere episode!

Part One - Entrances

The first queen to enter the Werkroom was one I actually didn't like from the promo videos - Peppermint. And honestly I really loved her entrance look, her personality also shone through and suddenly she became one of my favorite queens on season 9. 

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Queen Valentina entered next and I loved her from the very beginning, her red glamour look was GORGEOUS, the wig, the dress, the flowers in her hair, the necklace, makeup, it was all so polished especially considering she's fairly new to the drag world, props on making a great first impression.

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Eureka's entrance lewk was nothing special, one of the least impressive ones actually, but she's so sweet and kind so I'll give it a pass, I can't wait to see what she'll serve us this season.

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Charlie Hides is an incredible queen and that's a fact, she's experienced and ready for the season, I LOVED her entrance look, her sense of humor is everything, she was my favorite from the promo interviews, and still remains one of my favorites in the season right now.

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Farrah Moan - whore. I LOVE her, she's so sweet and adorable yet fiercer than most queens walking down the catwalk, her entrance look was nice, nothing spectacular, but I'll set high expectations for her.

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Next up to walk into the werkroom is probably one of the most unique queens in drag race herstory, Sasha Velour. Her artistry and style may not be everyone's cup of tea, but nobody can argue that she's extremely talented, in my opinion her drag is beautiful and simply ahead of time for most of these queens.

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Alexis Michelle was my least favorite judging from the entrance looks. Her makeup was HORRIBLE, highlight and contour in all the wrong places, the contact lenses didn't fit at ALL, the wig looked stuck onto her head and the outfit was just meh, I'm hoping the good sis can deliver to fix this first impression.

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Shea Couleé had a cute entrance look, I love her personality, hopefully she'll deliver to stand out more.

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Trinity Taylor, at least from my first impression, seemed extremely selfish and judgmental, she can serve great face and body but I just hope she won't be so in her own head for the season.

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Kimora Blac is so FIERCE. Everything about her look was ON POINT, the hair, the makeup, the padding, the outfit, she's one of my favorite runway girls.

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Jaymes Mansfield is a cute girl, I don't know why she's so widely hated all of the sudden, villain edit incoming. But her entrance look was cute, I hope she won't serve the same look over and over again because I can already see it happening.

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Nina Bonina Brown. I-. Shook. Wig flew to venus.

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And for once I do agree with Trinity Taylor, Aja's makeup is really rough around the edges, I feel like she needs to paint differently because this look doesn't really look..... Good on her, but nevertheless she had one of the best entrance looks.

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slay Ronnie  

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Entrance Looks Ranked

1- Sasha Velour

2- Nina Bonina Brown
3- Kimora Blac
4- Valentina
5- Peppermint
6- Farrah Moan
7- Aja
8- Charlie Hides
9- Trinity Taylor
10- Jaymes Mansfield
11- Shea Couleé
12- Eureka
13- Alexis Michelle

 

Part Two - Hometown Looks

In this category the queens were asked to bring a look to the runway that in their opinion, represents best their hometown, and there were a few hits, but most of the looks, I have to admit, were a miss.

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Both Peppermint and Aja brought Lady Liberty to the runway, to represent NYC of course, and neither of the looks was a standout in my opinion, although I prefer Aja's look as it was more sheek and polished

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Valentina represented California with a....... Look. In my opinion it had nothing to do with Cali, I'd get it if she wore this to represent Texas or Oklahoma. In terms of the look, it's great, but as representation of ha hometown it'll have to be a boot.

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Now Eureka tore me down, I loved her look, and I loved how she made fun of her hometown with that look, it was semi brave in my opinion.

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Charlie Hides dressed as a..... Nun, to represent........ Boston? Choices. Also that tear-away was a flop btw.

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I'll judge Kimora Blac and Farrah Moan's looks together since in my opinion they were pretty much identical. When I think of Las Vegas I don't think of what these girls wore, they could've gone ALL THE WAY with it, burlesque, feathers, gigantic wings, their looks were "tame". Nevertheless Farrah's looks was superior.

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Sasha Velour came out with a rather, all over the place look to represent NYC, but she somehow brought all the pieces and props together, Michelle Visage is shook.

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Alexis Michelle was yet again - bad on the runway, the writings on the swimsuit? were so tiny and looked like they were rushed, nothing was polished, and the same issue with the face and hair is still there.

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Shea Couleé was probably my favorite humor wise, her look to represent Chicago with the hot dogs, the description she gave, I'm living for ha.

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Trinity Taylor's look to represent Orlando was surprisingly good! Until she turned around and we saw the anal? sun that was on the back of her outfit

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Jaymes Mansfield was cute, nothing outstanding but not really bad as well

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Nina Bonina Brown SERVED with her peachy look, everything was on point, the makeup, the blending on the peach into her face to make a snapchat filter come alive, the dress, the jewelry, what's new?

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 So this wasn't the most outstanding runway ever, but it had a few highlights.

 

Hometown Looks Ranked

1- Nina Bonina Brown

2- Eureka
3- Shea Couleé
4- Sasha Velour
5- Farrah Moan
6- Aja
7- Trinity Taylor
8- Charlie Hides
9- Valentina
10- Peppermint
11- Kimora Blac
12- Jaymes Mansfield
13- Alexis Michelle

 

Part Three - Lady Gaga Themed Runway

For the second part of the runway, the queens were asked to bring their best Lady Gaga looks to the runway, and this was one HELL of a runway, almost every single look was amazing, picking my favorite was an extremely difficult decision.

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Peppermint walked out first wearing Gaga's look for the 2016 GRAMMYs red carpet, and she nailed it from head to toe. The only critique I have, and the only one Gaga had as well were the hoop earrings which were unnecessary in my opinion.

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Valentina was up next wearing Gaga's red carpet look for the 2011 CFDA awards, the look was great, the personality was great, Gaga's commentary was great. Nothing else to say really.

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Eureka stepped out wearing an identical replica of the black and white straps dress from the Telephone music video, Gaga was very impressed with this look as well, if I were Raja or Raven this would be a shoot.

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Charlie Hides had one HELL of a look, representing the BRIT awards red carpet of 2010, she NAILED the look, everything about it, but will it be enough to pull her out of the mess that was her last runway?  

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Farrah Moan came out wearing the big oversized Alejandro cross cape and it looked sort of a mess, but her makeup and the construction of the outfit were so good and polished that I have to give it a pass, just like Gaga said: I was expecting more.

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Sasha Velour came out wearing an absolutely stunning replica of Gaga's Applause look. It was so beautiful and well constructed and painted, I was left completely speechless.

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Alexis Michelle's look was great, a step up for her, but I still hate the way she paints, she needs highlights. The padding was a little off but overall the look is a pass.

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Shea Couleé's look was the least similar to the actual look, she wanted to recreate the living dress and it looked like a big mess, everything about this look was a little off, I think she could've picked an easier look to recreate, this was too much of a challenge.

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Trinity Taylor's countess look SLAYED. It was simply PERFECT! The wig, makeup, blood, dress, everything was nearly identical to the original with little twists that made it her own. Stunning.

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Kimora Blac was alright, I like that she picked an "on the go" look rather than a red carpet one but she didn't execute it well enough so I could look at it and see Gaga. It was still a great look though.

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Now Jaymes Mansfield served the Vogue cover with the purple dress and big hair, and although the hair was a little off I LOVED the personality he added into this look, instantly made it one of my favorites.

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Nina Bonina Brown yet again slayed the runway, burned it, with her VMAs 2009 look, talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing etc.

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Aja SERVED on this runway, one of my favorite looks from this one, that dress fit her so well and looked really incredible, Gaga was shook too.

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This was one of my favorite runways in RPDR history, so many incredible looks.

 

Lady Gaga Looks Ranked

1- Aja

2- Eureka
3- Sasha Velour
4- Peppermint
5- Charlie Hides
6- Nina Bonina Brown
7- Jaymes Mansfield
8- Trinity Taylor
9- Farrah Moan
10- Valentina
11- Alexis Michelle
12- Shea Couleé
13- Kimora Blac

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Nina Bonina Brown ended up winning the first challenge, with Eureka and Sasha Velour placing in the top 3 with her, and that's fair since all of them served on both runways, here are the original results vs. my preferred results.

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Original Results

WINNER
Nina Bonina Brown

RUNNER-UPS
Sasha Velour
Eureka

SAFE
Aja
Peppermint
Charlie Hides
Jaymes Mansfield
Trinity Taylor
Farrah Moan
Valentina
Alexis Michelle
Shea Couleé
Kimora Blac

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My Preference

WINNER
Sasha Velour

RUNNER-UPS
Eureka
Nina Bonina Brown

SAFE
Aja
Peppermint
Charlie Hides
Jaymes Mansfield
Trinity Taylor
Farrah Moan
Valentina
Alexis Michelle
Shea Couleé
Kimora Blac

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At the end of the episode RuPaul confirmed that there will be a queen coming back for another season, which we don't know currently, my prediction is Cynthia Lee Fontaine.

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Favorite Queens as of Episode One

1- Sasha Velour

2- Nina Bonina Brown
3- Farrah Moan
4- Aja
5- Eureka
6- Charlie Hides
7- Peppermint
8- Shea Couleé
9- Valentina
10- Kimora Blac
11- Jaymes Mansfield
12- Trinity Taylor
13- Alexis Michelle

[Antonio 27,723]

from the Drag Race discussion thread:

@Melt Away @Rebel Heart @dancergaga @KaanBTW @RAMROD @Fantiner @Logan @Kim Kardashian @thierryrreiht @Gaga Goddess @Auro @Alaska @GagaOopsy @gagzus @Ibo @mic @DXPE @Sunny @hausofkc @Letmelivemylife @Versace

[Phoenix 17,395]

Love this ruview! Very detailed! I planned to do a similar thing on another forum, hopefully I find time for it.

[Antonio 27,723]

1 hour ago, Phoenix said:

Love this ruview! Very detailed! I planned to do a similar thing on another forum, hopefully I find time for it.

thank you! I'm planning to do one of these for every episode

[Letmelivemylife 8,715]

Omg Farrah Moan isn't your favorite queen?!? I'm so offended lol just kidding. I wanna freakin adopt her lol. So adorable 

[Antonio 27,723]

1 hour ago, Letmelivemylife said:

Omg Farrah Moan isn't your favorite queen?!? I'm so offended lol just kidding. I wanna freakin adopt her lol. So adorable 

I love Farrah! She's in my top 3  

[Letmelivemylife 8,715]

2 minutes ago, Antonio said:

I love Farrah! She's in my top 3  

Lol my bio mom is staying with me for a week so we were watching drag race last night and she still refuses to believe that Farrah isn't biologically female haha. I asked her why she thought that and apparently Farrah has too many feminine curves lol. It's like "ok mom think what you wanna think hahaha

[Bayonetta 9,844]

Good analysis 

[Bayonetta 9,844]

But so far Sasha is fave  

[Antonio 27,723]

1 hour ago, Heterophobia said:

Good analysis 

its not an analysis  

[DERPGA 386]

Trinity Taylor is giving me 'Jessica Lange as Lady Gaga as The Countess' 

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#TeamCharlieHides 

 

[Antonio 27,723]

1 hour ago, DERPGA said:

Trinity Taylor is giving me 'Jessica Lange as Lady Gaga as The Countess' 

  Reveal hidden contents

#TeamCharlieHides 

 

people on Tumblr are hating on Charlie and accusing ha of being racist......? Go educate them  

[Fantina 3,106]

I would love to create something like this!!!It would be awesome!!! 

[Panchecco 17,238]

I'm deeply in love with Sasha, there is a lot of talent this season but she just shines the brightest, which is also why I'm confident she's in the top3 and I want her to win 100%

I loved every single look of hers in this episode, the NYC one is probably my favourite, but as regards the Applause look I would have loved to see lashes on her eyes and maybe a different headpiece instead of the black cap  (to make the look slightly different from Gaga's - I loved the corset and the white veil)

Nina Bonina got me shook because when I watched the trailer I thought it was Kimora the one wearing the pink version of the 2009 VMAs McQueen. She was amazing this episode and she deserved the win BUT I'm not totally sure how I feel about her. Her make-up/paiting skills seem too rough/not polished for me but I think she has an insane crativity and if her execution isn't the best I'll still admit that her visions and ideas are amazing. (I don't think it's right to constantly compare queens but for example her promo look to me looked very similar to Acid Betty alien aesthetic and I think Acid Betty was actually way more clean and polished in her lines even when she was doing crazy looks on the runways)

Other highlights from this episodes: all Aja's looks (+ I love her personality and aesthetic), Valentina's beauty, Shea's aesthetic (I didn't expect her to be so polished and her sense of fashion to be so on point) and Eureka's personality (and I'm actually very impressed with her looks - she doesn't do what every other big girl does in terms of fashion and I'm here for it)

I'm a bit disappointed in Peppermint's looks (the lace of the Bowie wig was so bad - even though the look was amazing on her - and I didn't really like the Statue of Liberty look in fact Aja's was much better imo) and Alexis' hometown look (it seemed incomplete or rushed, the idea was sweet though)

My 14th queen guess is Jasmine Masters

 

[Antonio 27,723]

2 hours ago, Panchecco said:

My 14th queen guess is Jasmine Masters

 

from what I could catch, the queen was short and petite, that's why I'm thinking it's Cynthia