Chad: Sasha! You're a designer, a cartoonist, an illustrator, a magazine editor -- I'm not sure how you describe yourself and what scene you consider yourself in, but my impression is that you're on the avant garde of drag, largely active in the Brooklyn scene, is that right? How do you approach and respond to the Drag Race -- as a fanboy? As a critic? Eager to be on the show yourself? All of the above?

Sasha: I'm definitely in the weirder art-meets-horror-meets-fashion-meets-club-kid part of the drag spectrum... but one of the things I care most about is that drag keeps getting more and more varied. I think Drag Race is a wonderful show, but its focus is purposefully kind of narrow when it comes to the world of drag. And that's okay. For me, the question isn't "does Drag Race do a good job of representing the drag world?" (because it can't possibly... it's a brilliant and fun tv show) but rather "how else are we going to represent ourselves". It's our job to create new platforms to showcase different/weirder/queerer types of drag. And maybe, in response, the show will evolve, too. So my short answer is that I LOVE DRAG RACE. It's fun, it's informative, it makes the careers of so many new talents.... but we need more! Other! Different!

Chad: Cool, I think that's a really smart and productive approach to the show. It evokes such strong and varied responses in its fans, and I wanted to get a feel for your thoughts on it as a place to start off our discussion.

Sasha: Awesome! Yes! I know a lot of people who are really critical of the show... there's definitely a place for that, too :)

Chad: I'm someone who also, clearly, loves the show, even if I find myself criticizing aspects of it every week.

Sasha: I'm ultimately the same. I think we have to celebrate it for what it is, not expect it to be something different!

Chad: Regardless of my feelings about the production of the show, its diversity and representation, what keeps me drawing every episode is my unabiding love for these queens.

Sasha: I feel like one of the show's greatest strengths is that it helps us as audience members fall in love with these weirdo geniuses! I feel really attached to these queens I’ve never met!!

Chad: This week's "merchandising" challenge was pretty brilliant, and a fabulous callback to season 5's perfume challenge. I love seeing these queens' creativity at work.

Sasha: I think some of the most exciting Drag Race challenges are ones where the queens have to be creative from start to finish because we get a better sense of what they are going to be like outside of the show, how their minds work.

Chad: And truly, for a successful Drag Race queen, merchandising is FUNDAMENTAL!I think the whole point of this challenge was seeing the queens display some cunning and self awareness, figuring out how to capitalize on their image and cater to their fans. But were there any remotely marketable products, or were all the queens basically just orienting their items to make a good commercial?

Sasha: In the end, it wasn't really about the items (because none of them are REALLY marketable, aside from being gag gifts), it was about humorous videos.... and it really wasn’t surprising that Alaska, Katya, and Alyssa put together the most successful videos, because they are the three that have already successfully used videos to brand themselves as queens.

Chad: Right, you can't discount the ease and comfort that those three queens must have in front of the camera! I thought Katya's was an absurd masterpiece, and I'm so glad she completely ignored the criticism of her product in the workroom. It's gratifying to see her operating with a grounded sense of confidence this season -- she seems to be in a much healthier and less frantic place this time around!