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| Raquel 2013 Playmate of the Year |
As you might well know, I put Raquel at a lowly #9 on my year-end rankings last year. I obviously caught some heat for this, and I considered her strong fan base when I put together my ranking and rating for Miss April. Many commented that there was little chance that eight other ladies were better in 2012 than Miss Pomplun.
Although I'm always a bit apprehensive about changing my ratings in retrospect, if I were to evaluate her again, I'd probably put Raquel a bit higher than I did, especially since viewing some more of her glamor material. Raquel does have some nice size and is bold and graceful in front of the camera, and she does seem to be a decently deserving PMOY.
You all know my opinion about Miss Pomplun. I definitely preferred Shelby Chesnes, and was almost sure she would win after popular support for her mounted. However, as with Jaclyn Swedberg's PMOY win the year before, I would say that Raquel deserves this. She might not be PMOY material in any year, but given 2012's inconsistency and lack of true star power (same as with 2011's wobbly class), I'd have to agree with fans here.
As always, it's a travesty to see PMOY's given less and less of a chance to showcase their talents in encore performances each season. 2013 is by far the most shockingly meager of them all, with a pathetic six-photo set that looks dismally overproduced. Photo number 4 (posted above) is the one out of the lot that would really force my hand in changing my PMOY vote, but not quite.
Still, a hearty congrats to Raquel!
