''Super Drags'' is a Brazilian adult animated

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

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series created by Anderson Mahanski, Fernando Mendonça and Paulo Lescaut for

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

. Produced by Combo Estúdio, the series follows the adventures of Donizete, Patrick, and Ralph, three friends working in a department store who are also

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part of ...

superheroes: Scarlet Carmesim, Lemon Chiffon, and Safira Cyan, the Super Drags responsible for protecting the LGBT community. and they need to combat with the homophobic villain Lady Elza. The series has an English dub featuring the voices of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, VH1 (season 9–14) and, beginning with the f ...

'' contestants

Trixie Mattel Brian Michael Firkus (born August 23, 1989), better known by the stage name Trixie Mattel, is an American drag queen, television personality, and singer-songwriter originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is known for her exaggerated, high-camp ...

Ginger Minj Joshua Allen Eads, stage name Ginger Minj (born September 11, 1984), an American drag queen, actor, singer-songwriter, and reality television personality. After achieving recognition for placing as the runner-up on the seventh season of the real ...

, Willam, and

Shangela Chantize Darius Jeremy Pierce, better known as Shangela Laquifa Wadley or mononymously as Shangela (born November 22, 1980), is an American drag queen, reality television personality and actor best known for competing on ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. S ...

Cancellation

Five episodes were released on November 9, 2018. The following month, Netflix cancelled the series after one season.

Cast and characters

Episodes

Season 1 (2018)

Production

LGBTQ representation

A year after Castlevania began streaming, ''Super Drags'' was added to Netflix. The show focuses on Donizete, Patrick, and Ralph, three gay friends working in a department store, who are also

superheroes, named Scarlet Carmesim, Lemon Chiffon, and Safira Cyan are the Super Drags, and are responsible for protecting the LGBTQ community. On December 30, 2020, Donnie Lopez published an article on ''

Black Girl Nerds Jamie Broadnax (born 24 April 1980) is a film critic, podcaster and writer, known for founding and being editor-in-chief and CEO of the Black Girl Nerds community. Biography Broadnax, who has a master's degree in Film and Marketing, and starte ...

'', lamenting the lack of an "animated gay Latino male superhero being the lead of his own show," saying that while there has been an increase in the number of "LGBT+ folks being presented on family animated superhero shows," this has mainly focused on lesbian and bisexual characters, without "gay male Latino/Hispanic superhero animated leads." Lopez added that maintaining, popularizing, and creating gay characters can start to assuage harmful attitudes, noting that shows seldom "give gay male POC characters the title roles" in

children's animation This is a list of children's animated television series (including web television, internet television series); that is, animated programs originally targeted towards audiences aged 12 and under in mind. This list does not include Japanese, Chine ...

, leading them to perpetrate the idea that "gay male characters cannot be standalone titular characters." Even so, he gives the example of

Aqualad Aqualad is the name of two fictional comic book superheroes appearing in media published by DC Entertainment. The first Aqualad, Garth, debuted in February 1960 in ''Adventure Comics'' #269 and was created by writer Robert Bernstein and artist ...

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of ''

Young Justice Young Justice is a fictional DC Comics superhero team consisting of teenaged heroes. The team was formed in 1998 when DC's usual teen hero group, the Teen Titans, had become adults and changed their name to the Titans. Like the original ''Teen ...

'' who is a bisexual Black man, while qualifying this by saying that Aqualad is "not the principal character of the show" and noting that while ''Super Drags'' did make gay men the protagonists, it "reinforced negative stereotypes" and hoped that the "lack of gay representation" in these animations could be remedies in the future.

Marketing and release

The first trailer was released on October 19, 2018. A Halloween special short video entitled "Gag! Gross, but I love it" ("''Credo Que Delícia''", in the original version) was released on October 31, 2018 on the series' official

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page. The music video "Highlight", performed by

Pabllo Vittar Phabullo Rodrigues da Silva (born 1 November 1993), known professionally as Pabllo Vittar (), is a Brazilian drag queen and singer. Life and career 1993–2016: Early life Born in São Luís, Phabullo is a dizygotic twin and has an older sis ...

, which features main characters of the series, was released on November 7, 2018. The first season, consisting of five episodes, was officially released on November 9, 2018.

Reception

Decider Decider is both a real word and a "Bushism". It may refer to: * ''Decider'' (website), a pop culture website operated by the ''New York Post'' *'' Bill Maher: The Decider'', a stand-up comedy special * Decider (Turing machine), a Turing machine th ...

gave the show a positive review while noting that "We can’t deny we were hoping the humor here would be sharper." Charles Puilliam-Moore of

Io9 ''io9'' is part of Gizmodo media since 2015, and it began as blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The site initially focused on the subjects of science fiction, fantasy, futurism, science, technology and related areas but over the years has ...

praised the show for its political commentary and condemnation of homophobia, while criticizing some of the raunchier aspects of its humor as a weak part of the show. S.E. Fleenor wrote a positive review for

SyFy Wire Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

, calling it "an outrageous, adults-only, gay romp filled with sardonic condemnations of the rampant erasure and destruction of queer people told through harrowing exploits, hypersexual superpowers, and hilariously floppy cartoon bulges."

Controversy

Before its release, the series was the subject of controversy. In July 2018, the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics issued an official statement, claiming that the series could be harmful for children. However, Netflix has stated that the series is only meant for adult audiences, subsequently releasing a red-band trailer with a

TV-MA The TV Parental Guidelines are a television content rating system in the United States that was first proposed on December 19, 1996, by the United States Congress, the television industry and the Federal Communications Commission, federal commun ...

rating displayed throughout. Also, another video was released, where Champagne, one of the series' characters, warns viewers that even though the series is animated, it contains adult content and is only for people over the age of 16.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2010s Brazilian adult animated television series 2010s LGBT-related comedy television series 2018 Brazilian television series debuts 2018 Brazilian television series endings Animation controversies in television Brazilian adult animated action television series Brazilian adult animated comedy television series Brazilian adult animated superhero television series Brazilian flash animated television series Brazilian LGBT-related television shows Drag (clothing) television shows LGBT-related animated series LGBT-related controversies in animation LGBT-related controversies in television Animated television series by Netflix Portuguese-language Netflix original programming Obscenity controversies in animation Obscenity controversies in television Rating controversies in television Superhero comedy television series Television controversies in Brazil LGBT-related superhero television shows