#I want mile and apo to move on

[fromperdition4]

This has probably been pointed out before but…

Kinn didn’t technically save Porsche in this scene

Like, he saw Mes raise his gun and sprung into action to try to save Porsche—

But he doesn’t actually get there in time. The bullet grazes Porsche’s arm just after Kinn put his hand on his waist and before he started pulling him away.

What Kinn does manage to do, though, is duck his head down to be right on level with the path of the bullet:

So yeah - Kinn’s still being super heroic here, doing his best to protect Porsche even though he’s the one paying to be protected - but the actual reason either of them survived this scene was pure luck 😂

[gunsatthaphan]

~ Monthly BL Breakdown: December 2024 ~ 

🎆 Happy New Year!!! 🎉

Hey everyone! This will be my last breakdown as I have decided to discontinue the tradition. Making compilation posts requires a lot of work and dedication and unfortunately the engagement is not big enough for me to have the motivation to keep going. Thank you to those who have liked and reblogged and said nice things, I appreciate that very much!! 🧡 I will continue to run my blog as usual so I will remain available for asks about anything (as long as they're nice) and I will continue to post updates here and there. Thank you 🧡

Disclaimer: ALL shows can be streamed here or here, as well as on Youtube and other platforms. For more info on where to watch what, check out this post! 

As always feel free to add stuff! -> previous breakdowns

What came out this month? (green = seen/currently watching)

🌟 Addicted Heroin Special Episode - December 1st (Thailand)

🌟 Tokimeki Bomb - December 1st (Japan)

🌟 Hidden - December 3rd (Thailand)

🌟 You Want Some? - December 5th (South Korea)

🌟 Be Moon - December 6th (China)

🌟 Eyes on You - December 11th (Hong Kong)

🌟 ThamePo: Heart that Skips a Beat - December 13th (Thailand) ✅

🌟 The Renovation - December 14th (Thailand)

🌟 Only For Fans - December 15th (South Korea)

🌟 Eternal Butler - December 20th (Taiwan)

🌟 Gangster And His Boyfriend - December 21st (South Korea)

🌟 The Way Home - December 24th (China)

🌟 Sangmin Dinneaw - December 29th (Thailand)

Monthly Likes / Dislikes

❣️ - ø 👎🏻 - ø

New series & movie announcements

🎥 Lost on the River (starring JudoFluke) - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 I'm Not Wrong - Date TBA (South Korea)

🎥 Love Destiny from Hell - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Concealed and Blended - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 City of the Sun - Date TBA (China)

🎥 Secret Relationship - Date TBA (South Korea)

🎥 Love and Punishment - Coming March 2025 (Taiwan)

🎥 Desire - Date TBA (China)

Other news from the BL world

❗️ The winners of GMMTV's BL contest Y-Find have been announced. A total of 4 submitted plots by Thai fans will be adapted into series. The winning titles are My Lovely Pet, Who Killed My Boo?, Lost Time and รักนี้พอดีเป็นของพระรอง. Further production steps have not been disclosed by the company.

❗️ The Japanese BL I Became the Lead in a BL Drama is getting a sequel. The title as well as a premiere date have not been announced.

❗️ The Japanese lgbt dating reality show The Boyfriend is getting a second season. Further details are unknown.

❗️ Former Be On Cloud actor Barcode Tinnasit has joined GMMTV.

❗️ In a public statement, the writer of the novel Pit Babe, which was adapted into a series in 2023, announced that they have removed the Omegaverse elements from the sequel as it no longer complies with their beliefs and principles. These changes will be carried into the upcoming series adaption by Change 2561 in 2025.

❗️ The yearly Y Entertainment Awards were held on December 1st. The following BL actors/productions won:

Last Twilight: Best BL of the Year

Aof Noppharnach: Best BL director of the Year

Pooh Krittin: BL Prince of the Year

Pit Babe: Best Production of the Year

"Re-Move On" by GeminiFourth: Best OST of the Year (My Love Mixup)

Up Poompat: Best BL Lead Actor of the Year

❗️ WETV released their 2025 lineup on December 5th. The following BL productions were announced:

Shine (sequel to ManSuang, starring Mile P. and Apo N.)

Love of Silom (starring Up P. and Poom P.)

Top Form (adaption of the manga Dakaichi, starring Smart C. and Boom R.)

Knock Out (starring Gunner N. and Nice B.)

Me and Who (collaboration with Domundi, starring Big T. and Park A.)

Upcoming series & movies for January:

👉🏻 The Boy Next World - January 5th (Thailand)

👉🏻 Ossan's Love Thailand - January 6th (Thailand)

👉🏻 When It Rains It Pours - January 9th (Japan)

👉🏻 Idolfactory 2025 lineup event - January 12th (Thailand)

👉🏻 Impression of Youth - January 15th (Taiwan)

[discluded]

Mile teased Apo while they were shooting the climatic scene of Man Suang with a dance move and Apo almost broke character and got scolded by Pond while Mile ran off. Apo didn't want Mile to get scolded 😂

Apo: "I was standing directly opposite him, and I happened to meet his eyes, and he did this to me"

Woody: "Okay, pretend you're there, stand here"

Apo: (meeting Mile's eyes)

Mile: '"nobody, nobody but you" in my head 🎶 pointing at Po' 👏👏👉

Apo: "Laughed at the end"

Apo: "When I'm done, P'Woody, you know, when the camera is filming me, I'm in a serious mode and character, and then when I'm in his face, I see this "dancing pose," in my In the back of my head, I was like "I screwed up" and I was like that...the camera was on me. After the scene. I was scolded by P'Pond he was like "Hey~ you come here", but P'Mile just walked away and ran somewhere."

Apo: "I just said good good kub, because I don't want him to be scolded"

Mile said that it was 3/4 days ago, during the shooting of the movie, the scene was very serious, it was the climax of the movie, and then he made Po laugh, and Po burst into laughter after finishing the performance

(translation)

Mile replied to one of the fan edits of this scene

If you're unfamiliar with the kpop second gen classics, it's a reference to this song:

my ridiculous babies 😂

[talkingbl]

Thai BL Companies: A Brief Guide

My guide to the major Thai BL companies for the BL newbie. I've not included defunct companies (Nadao Bangkok, Studio Wabi Sabi), companies that produce BLs but don't sign actors or companies I'm not as familiar with (Copy A Bangkok, Dee Hup House, iQiyi).

Be On Cloud (BOC)

Production Value: A- | Talent: B+ | Story Variety: C | Writing: B

Notable Series: KinnPorsche (2022), The Hidden Character (2023 Reality TV Series), Dead Friend Forever (2023), 4Minutes (2024)

Notable Actors: Apo Nattawin, Bas Asavapatr, Bible Wichapas, Fuaiz Thanawat, Jes Jespipat, Mile Phakphum

My Thoughts: As a heads up, I did not finish Dead Friend Forever ("DFF"), so please take this into account when reading my thoughts below.

BOC is the place to go for decently high production values, heavier themes, and acting that's a slight cut above the rest. BOC will bring lots of action and sex, with stories that tend to explore the more base sides of humanity.

The company's flagship series, KinnPorsche, is often cited as a good starting point into Thai BL for the average joe, however, I actually think 4Minutes is a better starting point as it takes all of the better qualities of BOC and leaves out the camp you get with KinnPorsche, which I believe is more of an acquired taste for folks who are new to Thai BL. I also think that KinnPorsche, while decent for a first production for a company, has lots of questionable directing/acting/and even writing choices that are largely eliminated in 4Minutes.

To me, the biggest issue for BOC from an artistic standpoint is the way some of their series tend to meander for awhile before getting to the point. KinnPorsche suffers from this in the middle of the series, and DFF also has this problem after the first 2 or 3 episodes. 4Minutes has sort of the opposite problem where it moves a little too quickly because of its short 8-episode run. Still, BOC's storytelling is made more interesting because of the subject matter of its series (KinnPorsche's mafia-bodyguard trope, DFF's...whatever the fuck they were doing in that scary ass show..., 4Minutes' psychological-sci-fi thriller elements).

Business-wise, BOC is a bit controversial to say the least. Their talent pool has been a bit of a mess what with Build Jakapan being forced out after being outed as the worst type of asshole and Barcode Tinnasit leaving for somewhat mysterious reasons, some of the company's key writers and producers turning out to be on a constant power trip, and even controversies surrounding the talent that haven't even had their first roles yet.

Additionally, their promotion tactics have likewise been polarizing. While they don't go full-throttle with their shipped-pair promotions, they do put on these elaborate events complete with fansigns, meet and greets, actor performances, etc. At first, it was a little flimsy (KinnPorsche cast humping the air and singing offkey in front of thousands of people), but I do think it's improving (4Minutes cast actually getting into character to perform songs (still offkey) like a stage musical of sorts, instead of singing/dancing as themselves). So, if you're wanting to get into Thai BL fandom culture, I'd say BOC has more opportunities for you to be part of that community in a way that doesn't ship you straight into delulu land.

Lastly, while I think BOC has a bright future ahead given the success of literally everything they do, I feel like a lot will ride on if they're able to keep Jes Jespipat (who was a known actor in the Thai lakorn scene before joining BOC) and attract more big-name talent. Barcode jumping over to GMMTV after alluding that he didn't want to be signed to a company again after leaving BOC is a bit of a bad look to me and I can imagine other industry talent is keeping an eye on things like that.

Change2561 (Change)

Production Value: C | Talent: C | Story Variety: B- | Writing: C

Notable Series: PitBabe (2023), This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans (2024)

Notable Actors: Nut Supanut, Pavel Naret, Pooh Krittin, Pon Thanapon, Sailub Hemmawich

My Thoughts: Before you read the below, I've only watched about half of PitBabe and clips of This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans ("TLDHLB"), so many of my thoughts are colored by brief experiences.

Change is one of the newer companies to pop up on the Thai Queer Love scene. So far, their productions have been received relatively well and their upcoming series have garnered overwhelming support. Because Change is so new and both of their leading BL productions are so different, it's difficult to really point in the direction of a true identity. That said, there is an inkling that Change will be more of a novel adaptation company rather than an original content company. Additionally, Change has adapted/is adapting books that have hooks to them (Pitbabe with the omegaverse theme, their upcoming series The Most Beautiful Count and its strong identity/politics themes, etc.).

I can't really recommend a series for Change since I haven't finished the ones I've started from the company. I do think that Pitbabe is much riskier than TLDHLB, given that it does have an omegaverse element and it switches the typical seme/uke dynamic on its head.

Artistically, Change's direction looks promising, but I do warn that, likely because the company is so new, the talent pool is a bit shallow (same few actors star in each series) and the production quality varies drastically from work to work.

Business-wise, Change seems to be doing the typical Thai BL promotion tactics of fansigns, brand events, and social media fanservice, with their pairs having slightly more distance between them than shipped pairs from other companies.

Overall, I think if Change delivers on the lineup it announced in 2024, it has the potential to shake up the top players in the industry.

Domundi/Mandee (DMD)

Production Value: B+ | Talent: C | Story Variety: B | Writing: C

Notable Series: Why R U? (2020), Cutie Pie (2022), DMD Friendship The Reality (2023-, Reality TV Series), Bed Friend (2023), Your Sky (2024)

Notable Actors: Kong Kongpob, Max Kornthas, Nat Natasit, Nunew Chawarin, Thomas Teetut, Zee Pruk

My Thoughts: Warning that I have never finished a DMD show lmao (but Your Sky looks promising).

Ah, DMD...the long-touted GMMTV dethroner. DMD is a go-to for slice-of-life series that have NC elements but not at the level of BOC. Most of the series produced at DMD are straight up romantic comedies with no other themes explored at all. But within the romantic comedy genre, DMD series explore many common romance tropes (Cutie Pie with arranged marriage trope, Bed Friend with enemies to lovers trope, Your Sky with fake dating trope, etc.). Even with its upcoming series like The Next Prince and Love Upon A Time, we're getting a european royalty AU and period piece. It's truly like if AO3 had its own BL production company.

The company's flagship series is probably Cutie Pie. Though some might argue Why R U? put DMD/Mandee on the map (a la SOTUS and GMMTV). But, really, Cutie Pie was like the 2gether of DMD. It launched the company and its shipped pair, ZeeNunew, into the GMMTV-competitor conversation. That said, Your Sky is the best show I've seen from DMD and it's not even finished yet lol.

Artistically, DMD suffers from incoherent storytelling and mid-acting syndrome. Like Cutie Pie started off okay but I couldn't move past the terribly uninspired acting and all over the place plot. That said, a lot of their actors fit perfectly into established character tropes (tall/older confident and masculine seme/top, shorter/younger shy and feminine uke/bottom), which I think is a huge draw for lots of people. This is not something that affects my viewing experience, however, so I don't count this as a plus.

Business-wise DMD is a shipper's paradise. A lot of the shipped pairs act like real couples even outside of their shows, with some even being suspected of actually dating. They have all the typical shipped pair events but combine it with content out of the ass of the actors flirting, etc. DMD actors seem to have a much more international reach than, say, Idol Factory actors. While both have similar outreach in Asia, I think DMD tries to get their actors and works in western markets, which is a huge plus for western BL newbies. Additionally, DMD actors tend to not really be actors... I mean, they act, but most of them actually want to sing (and some can). This means that shipped couple birthday events are just concerts, fansigns are just concerts, extra video content is just music videos, etc. So, you will not run out of opportunities to see your favorite actors in the flesh in a manner that's (arguably) worth the money if you go down the DMD actor stan rabbithole.

Still, DMD is slightly controversial with allegations of sexism from its actors (stemming from a video released some years ago) and inappropriate pairings. With the rising conversations surrounding age gaps in pairings lately, DMD has come under fire for MaxNat in particular. For those who don't know, Max and Nat have been paired together since Nat was 17 (Max was 26 at that time). Though they were first paired before joining DMD, so most of their critics don't call out DMD for that. Still, some feel that even though Nat is now 22, DMD is wrong for keeping him in a pair with an actor 9 years his senior. The conversation is similar with ZeeNunew. Zee has been under particular scrutiny because of a comment he made about wanting to be paired with Nunew since Nunew first joined DMD at age 19 (Zee would've been 28 at the time).

Personally, I think DMD can't be blamed from MaxNat's pairing before they joined DMD. I also don't think it was necessarily wrong to keep them paired after they joined since, by then, Nat was a grown man. While MaxNat are not my cup of tea, at this point, Nat is 22, and I'm not in the business of trying to tell a grown man what to do with his career. Same with ZeeNunew. I like Nunew a lot and feel he is one of the most talented singers who also acts in BLs. But I never felt like he was showing signs of being exploited. At this point, as long as Nat and Nunew feel safe, that's all that matters to me. Additionally, new DMD pairings do not have these problems, so it's hard for me to call it a company issue.

Ultimately, DMD will likely continue to be successful for as long as ZeeNunew have stans lmao. But, on a serious note, I think the smartest thing this company ever did was DMD Friendship The Reality because it was a great way to introduce fans to new acting talent, build fanbases for the shipped pairs that came out of the show, and get money in the process. Now, ZeeNunew and MaxNat have pairs like ThomasKong and KengNamping who have skyrocketed in popularity to pass the torch to.

GMMTV

Production Value: B- | Talent: B+ | Story Variety: A | Writing: B-

Notable Series: SOTUS (2016), The Gifted (2018), Dark Blue Kiss (2019), Theory of Love (2019), 2gether (2020), A Tale of a Thousand Stars (2021), Not Me (2021), Bad Buddy (2021), My School President (2022), Only Friends (2023), High School Frenemy (2024)

Notable Actors: Barcode Tinnasit, Est Supha, First Kanaphan, Fourth Nattawat, Gun Atthaphan, Inn Sarin, Jennie Panhan, Krist Perawat, Mark Pakin, Mix Sahaphap, Nani Hirunkit, Ohm Pawat, Perth Thanapon, Sky Wongravee, Tay Tawan, Tu Tontawan, William Jakarapatr, Win Metawin

My Thoughts: GMMTV is probably the most prolific production company in Thailand when it comes to producing BL series. They have the most series, the most actors, the most events, the most money, etc. The company's identity is rooted in the schoolboy BL. Regardless of if we're talking high school boys or university men, get used to Thai uniforms if you're going to watch damn near any GMMTV BL produced before 2021, thanks to the SOTUS effect. It's not until the company enters the BL stratosphere in 2020 that we start getting a significant uptick in BLs that don't revolve around doing everything in a school building except learning.

Beyond the school settings, GMMTV is known for romantic comedies, slice of life stories, camp elements, terrible audio quality, empty sets, and 'we definitely shot this on a $2 budget' aesthetics. In fact, it wasn't until about 2021 that GMMTV production quality shot up after the explosion in popularity of 2gether. Suddenly, post-2020, Never Let Me Go was being shot in 4K, ThamePo had boom mics that worked and not just wireless mics that brushed up against the actors' clothes and picked up every sound but the actors' voices, and Sky Wongravee was signing to this broke ass company!!! And at this point, GMMTV's identity is less in its art and more in its business.

But first, the art. GMMTV, by far, has the most variety in its BL lineup. And while they don't push the envelope as much as, say, BOC, they're starting to add in mature themes at a reasonable pace. GMMTV's talent pool has shifted dramatically with so many basement dwellers leaving and very well-known actors signing (Sky, Barcode, Boun, Prem, etc.). This means that while you will occasionally see some of the most struggle acting you've ever seen from Dunk Natachai (love u, Dunk), you will see some of the most moving performances from your Gun Atthaphans. It's honestly a somewhat strange thing to experience in real-time.

Additionally, GMMTV's stories are largely adaptations of popular Thai and Japanese works (think SOTUS, Cherry Magic TH, etc.). But occasionally you will get original series that hit just right (Moonlight Chicken).

Artistically, the biggest issues with GMMTV include the weakest actors getting the most work and the most interesting stories, the inconsistent production quality, the clear favoritism, the focus on money over art, the way many of the most popular pairs clearly hate kissing boys lmfao, and, most starkly, the episode 5 drop off.

The episode 5 drop off is a series KILLER. What this refers to is how GMMTV series are almost always good, sometimes even GREAT for the first 4ish episodes. But by the time episode 5/6 comes around (or whenever the couple actually gets together in the series), we go from really good storytelling to leaning on the shittiest cliches you can imagine, the characters becoming straight up stupid, or random things happening for literally no reason with no context at all and a resolution that comes out of actual nowhere. Like there will legit be episodes of a series where one of our leading men gets shot or hit by a car or whatever, his boyfriend is like super scared and worried he's going to die and it's this big traumatic event. No less than 15 minutes later and it's like nothing happened. The shooting/car accident was literally just there to artificially raise the stakes and waste your damn time. This happens in almost EVERY GMMTV BL. Either that or the characters fake-out kiss like 30 times after they get together until there's 2 minutes left in the season finale when they finally kiss.

Regarding the other points, for example, the company treats Gen 2 (in particular, JoongDunk, PondPhuwin, ForceBook) like they are untouchable gods despite most of the talent residing with the pillars, company-switchers, het series actors, and even Gen 3 actors. Don't get me wrong, I understand those 3 pairs are stan attractors, but I feel like GMMTV is not taken super seriously as a company because the actors in these pairs get like 2-3 series per year while some of the company's best actors don't see the light of day.

Business-wise, if you're a kpop or jpop fan or otherwise into idol culture, GMMTV is probably the most comfortable transition for you. GMMTV treats its "artists" like idols (complete with "triple threat" allegations (LMFAO)); every actor getting their own song that they also struggle to dance to; every pair getting their own official mascot, logo, fandom name, and lightstick; concerts; shipped pair reality shows; etc. Hell, even the non-BL pairs get some of these things so long as they look good together and have chemistry (looking at you, Sky-Nani imina). It's like a fanservice paradise over there (except it's not billed as the pairs are actually dating, but that they're all in the will they-won't they, phi-nong, more than friends but less than lovers, stage). And if you pay close enough attention to the GMMTV pairs, you will notice common trends of how they interact/promote that will quickly unravel any delulu thoughts that you might have at the outset of seeing them together.

But to me, the best parts about GMMTV's business strategy, however, are their international focus and the novelty in their company promotions.

As for their international focus, most of their content is freely available on YouTube and subbed in English. Many of their artists are bilingual. And they're starting to produce events overseas at a high clip (e.g., TayNew recently in Rome, JimmySea in LA last year, GMMTV Fan Fest 2025 in Japan, etc.).

Novelty-wise, they've got several things going for them. They're the ones that started the annual lineup shows where they drop trailers for series coming out in the next year, have performances from their in-house T-Pop groups, and interview the casts and crews of upcoming series. They also have unique events like GMMTV Starlympics (if you're a kpop fan, it's like ISAC but only one company's idols participate against each other and there's musical performances), and GMMTV Company Outing (which is their annual company trip and isn't officially televised, but the artists and their managers always upload videos in real time of the shenanigans that occur at these outings). GMMTV even spearheaded the shipped-pair variety show content mill with mainstay pairs getting their own shows themed after either the actors' names (think EarthMix Space) or their interests (think TayNew Meal Date). These are all pioneering promotional tactics that make GMMTV series and shipped pairs even more entertaining.

Besides the money-making genius at GMMTV, however, there have been so many scandals with this company's actors it's hard to keep track. Everything from misogyny allegations, to homophobia, to people criticizing them for largely platforming straight-presenting (?) actors over out actors, to racism, to abuse (Pawin Thanik, Foei Pattara), to inappropriate behavior with children (think Prom Teepakron), etc.

Despite the scandals above, GMMTV is going nowhere. Having so many artists signed to one company, content where there's something for everyone, and an international focus with a parasocial lens is helping GMMTV maintain its status as the premier producer of BL content in Thailand.

Idol Factory (IDF)

Production Value: A- | Talent: B- | Story Variety: B- | Writing: B

Notable Series: Secret Crush on You (2022), GAP (2022), The Sign (2024)

Notable Actors: Babe Tanatat, Becky Rebecca, Freen Sarocha

My Thoughts: Disclaimer: I've only watched Secret Crush on You (SCOY) from Idol Factory.

IDF is the first company to be spearheaded by a former BL actor (Saint Suppapong). It's a newer company with an uncertain identity as of yet (though, I'd say that they're wanting to be known as an all-things queer love (QL) company rather than one focused on BLs or het dramas).

I don't have much to say about IDF artistically except that it's being well-received by BL audiences. Most of the people who like their dramas like the chemistry between the shipped pairs as well as how seriously the company takes queer stories. At IDF, you'll not only find BLs and GLs, but also stories involving trans characters seeking acceptance (see SCOY), for example.

Business-wise, there's a risk here. While the pairs in these shows are lauded for their chemistry, there's not a lot of variety and some pairs have been entrenched in controversy regarding their offscreen activities. Personally, I don't agree with all the folks making a big deal out of some of the actors dating each other in heterosexual relationships. I just hope it doesn't affect IDF's ability to thrive as a company since they're one of the few taking real chances in their content. Additionally, it's not lost on me that more of their stans hate the fact that the actors are in straight relationships than the fact that Billy Patchanon (leading man in The Sign and SCOY) unabashedly said the n-word...

I think that if IDF can expand its talent pool, it'll continue to find success in the BL world.

Jinloe

Production Value: F | Talent: C | Story Variety: D | Writing: F

Notable Series: Hit, Bite, Love (2023), Addicted Heroin TH (2024)

Notable Actors: August Vachiravit, Jur Vasin, Newyear Nawaphat

My Thoughts: Didn't watch Hit, Bite, Love (HBL) (actually dropped the trailer like 2 seconds in lmao) nor did I have any interest in Addicted Heroin TH (though I've seen many clips on the internet).

Jinloe should probably close and all its actors sign to Tia51. Their company identity is making people as uncomfortable as humanly possible by casting children to do questionable things on TV. I don't think that company is a safe place for kids and I think the content they produce is targeted toward...a specific kind of reprehensible person. If you want to see what I mean, just take a gander at the MDL pages for HBL and Addicted Heroin TH.

I can't really speak on their art because I don't watch their shows.

Business-wise, they seem to make dumb decision after dumb decision. From casting a 15 year old to play the love interest of a 27 year old, to NC scenes involving minors, to not even attempting to build out their repertoire of dramas, this company has no vision nor any direction. They're trying to market NewyearJur as a shipped pair with music videos together and social media posts (since those two are the only ones who seemingly have age-appropriate interactions in Jinloe series), but it's all failing miserably since: 1) people familiar with Jinloe's shady business run when they see that name; 2) neither Jur nor Newyear are particularly talented in a sea of similarly-aged actors actually showing potential; and 3) neither Jur nor Newyear have the clout of others in their age range since they started with Jinloe (as opposed to, say, Mick Metas at GMMTV who got clout from being related to Win Metawin).

Jinloe will probably be the next company to close but I also don't doubt that creeps will keep them open.

MeMindY

Production Value: D | Talent: C | Story Variety: D- | Writing: D

Notable Series: Love By Chance (2018), TharnType (2019), Don't Say No (2021), Love In The Air (2022), Love Sea (2024)

Notable Actors: Boss Chaikamon, Fort Thitipong, Noeul Nuttarat, Peat Wasuthorn

My Thoughts: MeMindY is known for its CEO (?), Mame. Anyone who is familiar with Mame's work knows they're going to get dicey romance stories often centering around university students with at least one scene of romanticized abuse for good measure. Now, I do think the abuse stuff is changing (Love In The Air (LITA) didn't really have any of that), but I can understand why MeMindY has that reputation. Either way, every MeMindY show will have engineering/med school/architecture/some other type of professional school students, actors folks consider conventionally attractive, reluctant bottoms that don't know they're gay, somewhat aggressive tops who are always physically bigger than the bottoms, strict heteronormative dynamics, and sometimes literally insane plot elements (like the Tor plotline that came up in TharnType (TTTS))...

Artistically, MeMindY needs to take a step away from university BLs. While TTTS and LITA kept my interest for a bit, I do think Don't Say No (DSN) felt a bit stale. But I'd say it's likely because DSN didn't have the best acting and its episodic structure made it difficult for me to connect with the underlying story. Particularly, the episodic structure in DSN didn't work as well as it does in GMMTV's ThamePo. Still, I appreciate the fact that MeMindY picks actors that do not seem bothered at all about kissing and portraying sex with other men. It's what makes MeMindY series more dynamic than series from other companies despite the laundry list of issues they tend to have.

Business-wise, MeMindY leans HEAVILY into the shipped-pair dynamic. It's less commercial than GMMTV and, these days, less 'we're actually dating' than DMD, but somehow it comes off as just as in-your-face as DMD and GMMTV. I'd even say that I consider MeMindY a peer company to DMD and GMMTV based on the popularity of its shipped pairs alone. Like MewGulf (RIP), BossNoeul, and FortPeat are all booked and busy. MewGulf did for Mew Suppasit and Gulf Kanawut what BrightWin did for Bright Vachirawit and Win Metawin. Mew and Gulf never have to act in BLs ever again to have success and can solely focus on their het careers and terrible singing. I'd even go as far as to say MewGulf is often considered the blueprint for what a shipped couple can be with folks (not me--zonzons leave me alone) often comparing ZeeNunew and the like to MewGulf. BossNoeul is similar to a JoongDunk/PondPhuwin level of noteriety without nearly the same level of dramas to their name, which speaks volumes.

Because MeMindY can produce 1-2 series per year with the same 4 actors and have people shipping them to the high heavens, I think we can consider it an established company that will continue to thrive barring bankruptcy lol.

Open Label

Production Value: C- | Talent: B | Story Variety: -- | Writing: B

Notable Series: Century of Love (2024)

Notable Actors: Daou Pittaya, Offroad Kantapon

My Thoughts: Open Label is the new company on the block. From my understanding, Daou and Offroad actually formed the company themselves (a la YinWar with YWPB or Saint with IDF). Open Label does not have an established identity because they've produced approximately one show. BUT, they did tell us about DaouOffroad's new series The Wicked Game, which looks to be a bodyguard romance that takes on some of the more mature themes we typically see at BOC.

Artistically, all I can say is that they're off to a great start with story selection. Century of Love (COL) was a good first entry as it has a fantasy/supernatural element that blends Thai folklore and religious practices with its romance. There's also the level of comfortability and chemistry between its key actors (Daou and Offroad) that is hard to come by. Hopefully as the company produces more successful series, budgets can increase and they can attract even more talent.

Business-wise, there is no business. There is only DaouOffroad and a slew of pretty faces we have yet to see in anything. This is a good starting point for any company, however, so we shall see how things continue to progress from here.

Ultimately, I'm optimistic that Open Label will see success.

Tia51

Production Value: C- | Talent: C+ | Story Variety: D | Writing: C-

Notable Series: My Universe (2023), LoveSick 2024 (2024)

Notable Actors: Almond Poomsuwan, Bew Busaya, Krit Ngamtanakijja, NJ Deeprompt, Progress Passawich, Shane Thanatpong, Sky Phasith, Toto Thayawat, Yeepun Purichaya

My Thoughts: I've only watched LoveSick 2024.

Tia51 is not exactly new but, from what I know, they've only produced 2 series. Because of this, they don't have an identity yet.

Artistically, so far, so good. It's definitely interesting to have one of your first series be a remake of an iconic series, and it seems to have been a genius decision by the folks over at Tia51. But, because the flagship series is a remake, the only thing to discuss artistically is the talent pool. The directing in Love Sick 2024 was, at times, very inspired. The actors were nearly all rookies and a good 75% of the cast were under 18 at the time of filming--2 things which do come through quite a bit in the finished product. Still, I found that the lead role was very strong, all things considered, and the changes made from the original to this remake seemingly made a lot of sense. Going forward, it's really just about staying at this level of quality or better.

Now, out of all the companies in this space, Tia51 is the only one I have personal experience with when it comes to the business/fan side of things. While in Thailand, I stumbled upon the premiere of LoveSick 2024. While the event itself could've used a little more logistics planning (though part of the problem here is that my Thai isn't very advanced so I had a little more difficulty getting around the venue), it was overall pretty well-organized, which left a good impression on me.

Additionally, the actors are all hella clouted in Thailand (from my understanding, many of the actors cast in the show actually had fanbases through things like music and social media prior to being cast), which adds to the business potential of Tia51. It also helps that, from my experience meeting the crew and cast, they are all very charismatic and are quickly learning how to be good entertainers. Because of this, I think the business of Tia51 has potential to expand. They just need to not waste Progress's acting talent, Chok and Toto's singing talent, and the rest of the cast's social media clout in order to succeed. This means picking tasteful stories to tell and actually nurturing their musical talent in a natural way (unlike GMMTV platforming non-singers).

Conclusion

If you're coming from western media, I'd say the best place to start is either BOC (they have the more serious vibes you get in western media with few quirks) or GMMTV (they're the most accessible).

If you're coming from eastern media (particularly kpop), GMMTV is probably the best place to start, closely followed by DMD. The fandom experience that is a huge part of kpop, is very similar here. In fact, for kpop fans, it might even be helpful to think of the BL companies in kpop company terms. GMMTV/DMD/BOC = SM Entertainment/JYP Entertainment/YG Entertainment, respectively. MeMindY & IDF are like the smaller companies that still have popular groups like WakeOne and KQ Entertainment.

If you're coming from other BL industries (Taiwan, Japan, Korea), I'd say start with Change or DMD for Taiwan and Tia51 or BOC for Korea. If you're coming from Japanese BL, I don't know what to tell you because jbl stans almost always think jbl is superior to everything else and won't given anything else a chance. Plus, production quality-wise, jbl productions are very dissimilar to Thai productions in almost every conceivable way lmao so I can't really make any good comparisons.

[matan4il]

Cute little Mileapo things from their flight back from Paris. First of all, this is their luggage, Apo's is marked with hands emoji, Mile's with the heart one:

Apo loaded most of the suitcases on, including Mile's (maybe because Mile has been feeling under the weather during this trip), but when he wanted to load his black one, the biggest of the bunch, Mile still wouldn't let him:

This is what I mean when I say that I love how they both take care of each other.

As far as I can tell, it was only Mileapo and Gift flying back together (and an Indonesian fan who was there has now confirmed this). Keep that in mind when I share this pic:

It looks like that's Mile's suitcase with a pride sticker on it. IF it's not, the only other options for who it may belong to are Apo and Gift. It's unlikely to be Apo's since he brought with him two big suitcases for this trip, he wouldn't need an extra small one. I... do not think Gift walks around with a pride sticker on any of her belongings, she just doesn't seem the type. So yeah, I tend to think this is Mile's. Our man walking around with a pride sticker on his luggage just makes me so happy and proud of him!

Update after Mileapo had landed in Bangkok, as they and Gift are seen carrying their own luggage, it confirms that the suitcase with the pride sticker on it is Mile's. Here they are, Apo carrying his big red and black suitcases, and Mile carrying the big black one in his left hand (right side of pic) and the one with the rainbow pride sticker (in his right hand, with the smaller bag on top):

And from the side:

Lastly, Mile shared pics today from lunch at a restaurant on Sep 27. I wrote here that Apo's pic (posted Sep 29) showed he was at the same place as Mile and the gang (despite people initially thinking Apo spent that whole day separate from Mile). Here's that pic:

Today, Mile shared a matching pic of him sitting in the same spot:

Notice that other than one glass with a drink, everything else is just a part of the set up and decoration of this restaurant's table (yes, including the lemon). I mentioned in the above linked post already that the table where the whole group actually ate lunch is different to the one where Apo's pic was taken:

So either the whole group moved (which I believe to be less likely) or at some point, Mile and Apo went over to the other table at the end of the restaurant's tables area to take pics with a nicer background, and then they took each other's pic in the same spot. Maybe they even sat there a bit on their own before returning to the group.

During lunch itself, it seems like they shared their food, Mile's fork has a piece of the dish that's in the plate in front of Apo (you can recognize him by the jeans shirt he was wearing in the above pic under his blazer):

And since from this pic it's clear that Apo was sitting right across from Mile, I think it's also likely that it was Apo who took this beautiful photo, proving once more he's the best Mile photographer:

(for more of my Mileapo/Kinnporsche nonsense, click here)

[nattaphum]

Mileapo x Srichand live [19.09.2023] - highlights ✨

*all translations without links are google translations from thai tweets*

Mileapo flirty eyes at the beginning of the live just to warm up the atmosphere ahahah

They played a game where they had to put each other’s IG posts in chronological order

Mile got them all wrong except one lmao. He said it was difficult because Apo never posts according to the timeline; he updates his posts randomly (okay but that’s true jadjdkd)

The set of photos below is the one arranged by Mile, the one on top is the set in the correct chronological order

It was very cute when Apo described all the pics and when he arrived to the pic from China, he said: “here, i didn’t go with p’Mile” because all the others were moments he has shared with him 🥹

When it was Apo’s turn to arrange the pics, he got the order perfectly right like a real greenyrose

Apo's comment: i've been paying attention to pmile's life

OKAY

Quiz from the host

Host: tell what the number 525600 represents

Apo: *answers fast because he feels he knows the answer* the time you take to walk from the earth to the moon.

Mile: the number of minutes in a year

*Spoiler: mile’s answer is correct*

Mile: *makes fun of Apo because he invented walking to the moon*

Apo: *laughs* you make me feel dumb

Mile: naaah, you have good imagination

(he makes fun of him but always protects him <3)

Smoothiegate part 5 😂 (prev)

Apo said that one of Mile’s secrets he’d like to know is: "Do you think I like coffee or smoothies?" (Ahaakskhsh such a teaser)

Mile: suppose you could go back in time and solve any answer. Someone would ask again what drink Po likes most in life. Po would answer…..

Apo: I like smoothies 😃

Mile: *bitter* Okay… Okay… Okay…….

LMAOOOO

The host asks them the same question:

To Mile: If you could switch bodies with Apo for one day, what would you do?

Mile: i would post on every social media that i love coffee

(HE WON’T STOP WILL HE AKSKSL)

To Apo: If you could switch bodies with Mile for one day, what would you do?

Apo: I would take off my shirt and flex my muscles in the mirror.. he’s so handsome

APO PLSSSSSSS

They both got scared lol

The host asked them to role play as each other

Apo: if Mile likes something, he then comes and gives it to me and tells me, do you want it? He likes to share

:)

Then they both started doing an impression of the other and they were sooo chaotic.. apo was moving really slow while mile started running around while eating 😂

Mile then offered his mooncake to apo proving that what apo had just said it’s true ❤️

Silly dance time :D

Apo after finishing dancing: when i was dancing i thought i was BTS

(lmaoooo what 🤣)

By the end of the live:

Apo: Where are we going?

Mile: We’re going to France, right?

Apo: Yes yes yes

Mile: for Dior and Business of Fashion

YAAAAY. The date is september 26 btw;)

[ahdriking]

Mansuang Review:

Mansuang was amazing. I was particularly impressed by Apo's performance as Khem, which was emotional and complex and deeply moving. His story was riveting to me. I personally love characters with trauma in their backgrounds, who have been beaten down by the world into a certain way of thinking and behaving, and Apo captured that experience gracefully and expertly. There is palpable pain in his performance of the darkest moments. I will say that they could have expanded upon his character development a lot more. It would have been nice to have a bit more emotional nuance in his journey towards self-love and acceptance, but I definitely didn't feel unsatisfied by where his narrative ended up. The movie was already juggling so much they clearly just didn't have the time to dedicate to expanding upon the nitty gritty aspects of his healing.

I will say that I am honestly kinda surprised this didn't have any romance in it at all, because there is such a good foundation for it that it feels like they wasted? Like, Khem feeling that no one cares about him except for his body could have been the gateway to Chatra demonstrating care and affection for him outside of sex, proving that he's capable of being loved for who he is. That jumps out at me. That might have been an opportunity for them also to have expanded on Chatra's character, and given him more presence and personality. Khem is a protector, that's clear in the way he treats Wan, but he so often has to sacrifice himself in that role that it would have been devastatingly effective if Chatra had had an opportunity to take care of him in some way instead.

I loved the *bad touch* backstory, for whumping reasons, but it did leave me a little confused. Why did Khem have to have sex with those people? Was it because he's ambitious enough that he'll sell himself to advance his position? Was it because someone was forcing him to, like a boss or person in power? Was it because he felt he had no choice, or was protecting Wan from something? I just wish we could have gotten to know him better, because we get to see the impact of the trauma but we don't really get to understand it, and that leaves me wondering. It felt like, during the dance scene where Khem goes off script, that he did that as an attempt at seduction, because seduction is what he knows and what he expects. He's used to trading in on his beauty and sex appeal to get what he wants. That suggests so many characteristics to me that just... don't quite exist in the rest of the story. And there's no real conclusion to it other than Khem, at the end of the story, choosing to be a dancer because he's at peace with his place in society. Again, lots and lots of opportunities were built up that just didn't quite manage to hit a home run.

Mile did a fucking fantastic job with what he was given, but I was a little disappointed with his role in the story. I felt like the relationship between him and Khem was half-done and underdeveloped, but it had so much potential! He put in an absolutely solid performance, and knocked the emotional scenes out of the park, but I couldn't help but feel like he wasn't given the chance to really shine.

Tong killed it. Killed it fucking dead. That man has the screen presence of a King, which surprised the fuck out of me cos I thought he was a character actor based on his performance in KinnPorsche. But no, this guy has range. I was very impressed.

Bas did a great job playing a racist sad boy. RIP Wan.

In conclusion: a flawed movie, but still so enjoyable and so, so worth watching. I cannot fucking wait for Shine, I hope that it delivers in some of the areas Mansuang wasn't able to.

[swordswoman97]

Post-Canon Pirates Headcanons

-The isles immediately outside the ice wall are pretty ravaged by corruption for about a fifty mile perimeter. Beyond that is a perimeter of uninhabited islands, any people who might have lived there in the past had long since fled for fear of the corruption spreading outwards. Due to this it takes several weeks sailing past where the ice wall once stood to actually reach inhabited land.

-The areas outside the ice wall meanwhile don't realize anything was beyond the corruption, they assumed the corruption just swallowed everything in that area. Needless to say it creates quite a stir when people claiming to be from the area inside the corruption start showing up.

-Owen keeps traveling with Luanne but also starts working with Gabriel to try to fill in any gaps/correct any misinformation in the history books.

-Scott explores for a bit before settling down on one of the uninhabited islands beyond the ice wall and setting up another animal sanctuary, though the island also ends up slowly growing into a town with many of the pirates who go explore beyond the ice wall using it as a sort of home base away from the faction isles.

-Scott cuts all ties he has to his parents, he ends up tossing his coat since it was a gift from his mother and getting a new wardrobe and changes his last name from Denholm to Smajor. He's also very careful to time his visits back to the faction isle to visit Acho's grave to ensure he doesn't run into his parents. He has no desire to confront his parents, they're not worth it and they won't listen to anything he has to say anyway. The other pirates do their best meanwhile to ensure the Denholm parents never find out where Scott went.

-Alongside working to undo the petrifiction, Apo and Graecie also help lead the charge to put the faction isles back together following the cultists killing over half the townsfolk and a large portion of the recruits.

-Apo also takes on the extra work of working with any pirates who don't go beyond the ice wall but don't stay on the faction isles plus any new pirates recruited after Iris's defeat to try to track down the moving island so they can recover Hook.

-CPK helps bring in a lot more new recruits and some new townsfolk, his main goal is recruiting more Kites but he does still frequently send along pirates that, while interested in the factions, aren't entirely sure the Kites are the right choice for them.

-The bounty guild kind of falls apart without Saffrie. There's no one really ready to step into her role and thus it ends up falling apart.

-I'm stealing @minecraftrelatedrandomness headcanon that Ros helps Kyle turn the temple into a museum honoring those who who were petrified by Iris. Afterwards Kyle decides to finally focus on his music rather than pleasing his dead dad and Ros goes to help Scott run his animal sanctuary.

-Sausage takes Jellie with him on his interdimensional travels at first though later entrusts her care to Graecie and Apo, both because he doesn't want her getting hurt while he's out on his adventures and because if/when they manage to unpetrify Scar he wants Jellie to be there when he wakes up.

-The faction leaders track down the families of any of the petrified that have them and tell them what happened. It's a job no one enjoys but someone has to do it.

-I like to believe they manage to figure out how to undo the petrification, and when they do the first person Apo and Graecie bring back is Marnie, though they work to get everyone back as quickly as they can.

[bubbipond]

Ranting this late in the day should be a crime but I am exhausted by the people in the BL/GL community.

Have any of you seen those videos on YouTube that are like basically talking about the persons least favorite pairings? I just watched one where they said force and book look too similar to play love interest. I’m sorry but the way that is insanely racist and just not true??? Then I saw in the comment section of a different one people saying that Phuwin should stop acting in bl’s because he obviously dislikes kissing men. Then the rest of the videos are just really bullying these actors. Listen, I’m all for criticism, but these videos aren’t constructive. Normally they are just mean and vile.

There are pairings that I don’t love so I don’t watch them. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Kinnporsche but I promise you I do not go around saying mean things about Mile or Apo. But let me address the ones that I just find extremely rude.

Number one Force and Book look nothing alike. I have never had an issue telling them apart because they have such vastly different features. I think a lot of criticism for them stems from their original series being super annoying and Books character irritating a lot of people. That wasn’t a Force and Book problem that was a writing problem. There is a long history of racism in Asian communities. Where a very popular joke is you can’t tell them apart. I’ve heard it in real life, in the K-pop scene, in anime and dramas, and now in BL, I guess. Now don’t get me wrong, there are actors who I feel would play brothers amazingly because of similarities. But Force and Book are not one of them., at least not in the case of being “almost twins” like this person was saying.

Moving onto the Phuwin comment, I think this one is so stupid because he does not have to take BL jobs. Actors stop doing these all the time. Pairings dissolve and new ones come around all the time. Also pairings dissolve and the actors stop doing BL’s as a whole. We have seen it countless times. so if he really didn’t want to have to have intimate scenes with a man, he definitely does not have to. Now let me say, I do understand the critique about the way he kisses but I don’t agree with it being just blatantly because he is kissing a guy. If you watched him in the non-BL series he has been in, where he has had a partner who is a woman, you would know that’s just how Phuwin kisses. If you were really trying to give good criticism, that has to be paired with you paying attention. If you watch how he talks and how his mouth moves, whether he’s in a show or talking in real life, his mouth movements when he kisses makes sense. Also keep in mind, and this is not a slight at him, but he has very skinny lips. So when he’s kissing Pond whose lips aren’t big, but they’re bigger than his obviously it’s not going to look like he’s doing as much. But to try and low-key say that he has some repressed homophobia because you don’t enjoy his acting is weird. Also keep in mind, and I’ve joked about this before, this pairing almost always end up playing characters where Ponds character is seemingly more into the relationship than Phuwins characters. Not that his characters don’t care, but it’s almost always pond being the character that has an egregious amount of affection for Phuwins character.

I honestly don’t normally watch videos like these, but I clicked on it just because they were discussing a lot of popular pairings. and in my head, I was just like oh you’re doing this for views. There is no way this is for any other reason when every pairing you have chosen to talk about are highly popular pairings. You mean to tell me out of all the ones do you want to talk about the ones with the biggest fan bases and I’m supposed to believe that you aren’t just trying to get views on your page?

This is coming from somebody who doesn’t even particularly love half of the pairings this person discussed. But something I have noticed is that in a fandom/world of media dealing with oppressed peoples, there is bigger critique than in its counterparts. Because not only are these shows about a group of people who have long been suppressed due to sexuality, but it’s also about a group of people who have history of racism against their cultures. It is okay for a series to not be the most expressive and beautiful and extravagant series on earth. It is okay for things to be mediocre at best. Because even the LGBTQ+ community have very very boring stories. That does not make the stories unworthy of being told. We are allowed as a community and as queer people to have media the same way as everyone else. But instead, we get these very dismissive and low-key weird and social relationships in media.

Okay thank you for coming to another TEDTalk…I hate a lot of you and a lot of you are weirdos. (:

[cornyonmains]

Do you guys remember how RTD ran Torchwood into the ground trying to force everyone to like Eve Myles as much as he did?

This is literally what has happened with 4 Minutes. Someone with a lot of creative control hyper-fixated on Ton Kla's character and nobody was there to reel that back in.

I think the show got scared of how fans were going to receive Bible with a new scene partner, and they fell back to what was safe, a standard BL couple operating within the confines of established tropes and aesthetics.

This was a mistake, because what I truly think bought BOC out of this world success with KP was their willingness to lean into an attractive ship that defied a lot of aesthetic conventions with Mile and Apo. They had the chance to that again with Bible and Jes, who are an incredibly striking pair, and they wussed out because they thought fans were going to be mad about *checks notes* Bible taking it from an absolute smoke show.

The most popular ship that has ever existed on the face of this earth is Destiel. One is a clinically depressed middle aged man who looks like an incredibly attractive extra from Roadhouse, and the other is a clinically depressed middle aged angel that looks like a fed from a porno and talks like he ate sand for most of his formative years. BOC needs to give its audience more credit. People flocked to KP because it was different. They should have let 4 Minutes be different. These days, it's not hard to find explicit QL dramas operating within the binary. Now that they've seen what kind of money that shit pulls, there's whores in every house. I really feel like people are coming to BOC because they want something new, and I hope they acknowledge that with their next project.

What 4 Minutes could have been versus what it turned out to be is kind of disappointing. As much as I love Sammon's stuff, I have to be honest. I never hold a writer or a studio to a standard they can't reasonably meet, and I think BOC and Sammon is capable of much better than we got with 4 Minutes. The last episode could change my mind, but I don't think it will. Things have moved too fast. This project needed more episodes than it got.

[minorfamilysupremacy]

Wanna weigh in on the pond x mile drama?

I know you probably don't won't to even think about boc or pond more than you have to but I literally love reading your rants and opinions.

every time i get an ask i have to guess before i open it as to whether this is a bible stan coming to take a swing at me for being a SWERF or if i just have to reset the Days Since Last Stupid Fucking Bullshit counter to 0

pond, my good bitch, you're in your 30s at least. you want to hobnob with celebrities and thai politicians, and you use your IG as a teen girl's confessional, except a teen girl might have the sense god gave a rock to activate her privacy settings. the divorce between you and mile was already pathetic enough -- what, did mile get bored of his kept boy and move on to greener pastures and leave you to swoop in to rescue poor pitiful apo, or was a friendship entirely based on being obnoxiously out-of-touch rich assholes only able to make transactional connections no longer sustainable due to the fact that neither of you would know a genuine emotion if it hit you in the face? -- but god only fucking knows what the hell he's talking about in this post in terms of mending friendships. him and mile? mile and apo? some strangers he's never met in his life but feels the usual need to speak authoritatively about because he's the smartest man in thailand and thus an expert on all matters? (pause for my more hateful anons to point out i, too, am doing exactly that, although i would promptly counter that i am some dipshit on the internet and not someone larping as mr hotshot CEO bringing thai culture to the unwashed masses of the world.)

dude is both exhausting and fucking embarrassing as hell. pond, from the bottom of my random-dipshit-on-the-internet heart, log off and stop fucking posting.

[prettysweetprettysweet]

guys. i've got something to tell you and it's so important....it's so important. but first a recap:

- news that mileapo are coming to Paris, arriving at the same time as @fulltimehabibti and i. ranya texts me the news, all of a sudden i, who has not thought about kinnporsche in a good long while, am utterly consumed by the idea of seeing them with my own eyeballs and confirming they are real human beings. my thoughts return to this constantly throughout the day. i do not want to speak to them or have them notice me! i just want to perceive them.

- our hotel is right next to the Dior Gallery and mileapo are here for the Dior show. the next day, we tap out of our day for a tiny 30 minute break, walking past the Dior Gallery to our hotel. we discover on our way back out that mileapo had been posing with fans only 7 minutes prior at the exact location that we were standing when we discovered this.

- ranya goes to the Dior show and sees them, takes great videos and photos. I literally could not go because of work deadlines. i think, perhaps having reached a neutral point, that there might be another opportunity soon but probably the universe has orchestrated a series of misses to humble me.

- I discover that I had booked our Louvre tickets for the wrong day. we can no longer go for our late evening ticket. during the exact window we were meant to be at the Louvre, mileapo end up there. i am heartbroken but i've made peace with the fact that i won't see them and i'm just glad Ranya got to see them

-today. we are all over, the Rodin museum, pointedly to a few stores looking for certain items, we end up walking by the Galeries Lafayette. ranya asks 'have you ever gone in?' and sort of with a light where-the-wind-takes-us attitude ('yeah lets go in im in the mood to look at stuff') we wander into the galleries and spend about an hour perusing the floors when ranya asks, 'do you want to get bubble tea at this shop?' we head leisurely to the nearest exit.

-we walk out one of the exit doors and me and ranya see him at the same time. i am thrown off because he looks so different in person but i know something is happening. stopped dead in our tracks, ranya says two words: 'that's pond.'

-literally dead in our tracks. we are four feet away from pond who has just stepped out of a van and is waiting patiently. we know something is about to happen and we don't move. mile and apo quickly pile out of the van with huge smiles on their faces. for about a minute they collect themselves, turn, and walk right past us to enter the gallery. five feet away from us, no one in between us. we were not noticed.

a city of 2 million people, an area of 104 km, a full day of activities and our steady stream of minute decisions led entirely by ranya's instincts thoughts and questions, brings us straight to the feet of mile and apo. the probability of that happening is absolutely insane. the previous misses, the way we (mostly me) were obsessing about it, the absolute perfect timing, exiting through that door, us noticing pond despite the hundreds of bodies around us.

i snapped a photo as they walked away bc i couldn't live with myself if i didn't have proof that this insane luck befell ranya who is blessed and god's favorite (i entertain no delusions that i had any hand in this, if anything i was a disability her guardian spirits had to work around).

as i told ranya, i believe in god now. also, this moment was so perfect and absolute that i think im immune to celebrity culture now. i could see al pacino on the streets tomorrow and i wouldn't be phased. i think i also might be ready to die

[discluded]

👀 did Srichand drop Mile?

omg I saw this and went to look and am going to reply REALLY quickly now because if I don't and someone else notices, I wouldn't be surprised if things escalate between the toxic solos

My consultant-type opinion (which is not a fact!) of this is: I think Mile's contract with Srichand ended.

The announcement about MileApo's ambassadorship was released circa August 28, 2022, which would imply, given some things, that it started in September 2022. The last post the Brand Twitter made featuring Mile was October 1, 2023. They retweeted some fan photos of people buying the sunscreen with Mile's picture attached, but that can be taken as engaging with people who liked their products. A 13 month contract is - to be fair - kind of weird, but this might also have to do with the uncertainty of the Man Suang release date. Since Man Suang would be released late August, it would make sense to extend the contract by a month to cover it.

I think three different contracts were signed: one with Apo, one with Mile, and one with BOC in collaboration with Man Suang (a historical Thai movie where Thai makeup would be featured). Bill, who is the Chief Marketing(?) Officer of Srichand still has the Man Suang promo slot on his header that includes Mile.

So you might be wondering, if Mile (and BOC) have a good relationship with Srichand, why might the contract end?

The other possibility turning in my head is that all of them had signed a contract that would cover until the end of 2023 BUT, drumroll, Mile got a significantly more lucrative offer.

And what offer would that be? What other makeup/beauty brand is he now a friend-of that could easily afford to buy out the rest of Mile's contract with another company, and probably Srichand wouldn't begrudge Mile for, since business is business?

Hopefully you guessed it.

From fan reports, the Guerlain store in Bangkok had sold out of the perfume scent Mile endorsed the most, and likely moved other product from fans who didn't like the scent but wanted to support him by buying another perfume. Mile endorsed the L'Art & La Matière, where 100mL is between $285-380 USD. These brands do not drop their prices for the Asian market*, and even conservatively estimating that he sold like 100 bottles of 100mL perfume and no other residuals like the Guerlain lip stick or the 200mL sizes, that's about ~$33k USD in product. Comparatively, for the first Srichand live they did, MA moved about $112k USD in product, which we can only attribute half the value of to Mile... $62k. Howevr, that took selling ~8000 units of makeup, (4000 attributed to Mile here, let's just say.)

If selling 200 units (~$66k USD) of product grosses more than selling 4000 units of product ($62k), I think both Guerlain and Srichand can see eye to eye on the value each would get from buying out the rest of Mile's contract. (Another way to add up to ~$65k+, 100 units of 100mL perfume at the $285-380 range, 150 units of perfume at the $110 range, 100 units of meteorites - Guerlain's best selling highlighter, 200 units of their $40 lipstick that Mile promoted - 550 units vs. 4000 units of product to make the same amount of money)

If anything, the weird 13 month length was likely negotiated to accommodate the release of Man Suang with MileApo marketing push to move product associated with their joint ambassadorship AND the release of the movie (their last Srichand live was Sept 19). It would be weird if Mile's face appeared on the movie makeup stuff but he wasn't appearing in the lives.

I think Mile still likely has a friendly relationship with Srichand as a company, it's just that business is business, and I'm sure whatever happened, if it was an extension or a contract buy-out Srichand likely got more than a sweet deal out of the relationship they had.

again, just my opinion. I could be wrong. But I doubt it was any sort of bad-blood reason that Mile got dropped for. The business case speaks for itself.

*luxury brands actually often have a luxury brand price increase in Asian markets. US brands are usually the most affordable in the US, and European brands most affordable in Europe due to import taxes the companies have to pay to ship product.

** also the other possibility is that they're focused on promoting the translucent powder now, which Apo is attached to but Mile is not...

[halliescomut]

My Beautiful Man and the Plight of Celebrity....

I've been watching My Beautiful Man, and while it's kind of not for me as far as the romance aspect, at least in the first 2 seasons. The movie I actually enjoyed quite a bit, likely because my issue with the series was the CONSTANT misunderstanding between Kiyoi and Hira. I've very much enjoyed the films commentary on celebrity and fan culture. Once we get into season two and the film, Kiyoi is now like a full-fledged celebrity, and we are also given insight into Anna, his colleague and coworker.

We see sort of the struggle between following artistic passions versus what will raise an actor's status with Kiyoi auditioning for stage roles, while his manager encourages him to pursue TV dramas. I think it's easy to forget sometimes that actors come into these careers for love of the art and not in the pursuit of fame or fortune. Which I think is a conversation that doesn't often happen. Even if you are well-versed or aware in audtioning politics and all of that, it's not always as simple as it seems to get the roles that you want, especially as a newer actor like Kiyoi, talent aside. And many management agencies focus more on public perception and popularity rather than an actors skill or talent.

The 'fandom' problem that we've seen so often in real life is shown here as well, with fans being on set, showing up on location and being disruptive. It's nothing as extreme as we may have seen in real life, but it very actively reminds me of fans showing up at airports and being invasive and disruptive in those spaces. We've sadly seen an unfortunate level of these situations happening and moving beyond being simply overwhelming and intrusive to 'fans' putting hands on people, which is not okay. And while there are occasions where fans are invited, some companies announce their departure and even set up an area for fans to say goodbye, we've seen things happen when actors are travelling for personal vacations, and just essentially are off the clock and should not be disturbed. (Also, I'm clearly not talking about those that just happen to run into these people, I'm talking about those that are purposely turning up places they know they will be.) It's a conversation that's been addressed by many in fandom, but I've not seen much in the way of real change, likely because those who are doing these things don't feel they're doing anything wrong (What? I can't be in a public place?) or simply don't care (I'm allowed to because I know them and love them).

And the unfortunate thing that is actively touched on in the show is the lack of agency that celebrities really have when it comes to fandoms. When there's fan backlash over dating rumors, it's generally not allowable for a celebrity to respond "It's not your business, fuck off." When fans cross boundaries it's difficult for celebrities to respond without risking alienating fans. In some cases you will have people who are at a level where they don't have as much concern for reprise, from either fans or management, like Jung Kook's response to people sending food to his residence. He has a level of influence that brings him more autonomy than newer idols or celebrities would have. On that same note, when 'fans' met Mile and Apo at the airport (while they were traveling for personal and not professional reasons) and put their hands on them, he could not respond as many people would ("What the fuck is wrong with you??"), but instead had to simply smile and play along. And there's a difference in some ways, since in one case you are face to face versus over a livestream, but it's still addressing boundary crossing.

But moving to the more extreme, what I would call sasaeng or stalker level of everything shown through the movie. We first encounter the fans of Kiyoi and Anna and they're presented as mostly cool if a little extreme. The Kiyoi-fans shunning of Hira is more in relation to him behaving so different from how they do, and it's honestly not unreasonable for Hira to gain the nickname 'suspicious man'. But in general it's an amiable atmosphere. The introduction of Anna's fan is where things really do become suspicious and more than a little creepy. I posted a little throw away here about how I specifically found it disturbing that he kept describing Anna as 'pure'. And the reason I found it so off-putting is because that type of language speaks to an unhealthy level of obsession and is an indicator that his 'affection' for her has requirements. But these are things that she has no awareness of. He has placed her on a pedestal in his own mind, and should she fall it sets up a situation where she could be in real danger. Because of the dating rumors that begin to go around her 'purity' comes into question and he instead turns his wrath to Kiyoi as the one who 'defiled' her in his mind. And hilarity aside of him tying him up with red ribbon tied in bows instead of knots, he presents a very real physical threat, and because of his obsession would not see himself as the villain at all because he is simply defending Anna.

Now, in the story we know that the villain will be vanquished and that our intrepid Hira will get his happily ever after with Kiyoi, because this is a love story and that's part of the agreement. But real life situations have existed for as long as specifically visual media have existed of fans going too far and causing harm to the 'objects of their affection'. The point that always comes to mind for me because of my age is Selena, who died at the hands of not just a fan, but someone she truly thought was a friend and that she trusted. It's these stories that lead me to be extremely nervous to see fans approaching celebrities when they shouldn't be. The video of the recent encounter involving Jackson Wang when he was out with his parents for dinner literally makes my blood run cold because that is a person that got close enough to cause real physical harm if that was their goal. It seemingly wasn't, but we can't ever know people's intentions. And it becomes incredibly unfortunate for any type of fan because as the few begin to violate these boundaries set by both society and these celebrities, they will have to institute more and more safeguards for their own privacy and wellbeing. It's pretty well known that Jackson is an incredibly friendly guy and often happy to chat with fans that he encounters in public when he has the time, but these types of intrusions when he's clearly on private time are probably going to put an end to that.

But I was particularly impressed with how these different aspects of celebrity were handled in the film. It's made clear that the fans are a consideration, but not always a priority (which is as it should be) and that can be possible to have a happy medium. While we don't truly get to see fan reaction for the reveal of Anna and Hiriya, we do have the privilege of both of them coming to the realization that they don't have to make their 'celebrity' the center of their world, and also that they don't have to sacrifice their careers in order to be with the one they love. Now it's of course very much different for them as a straight couple than it would potentially be for Kiyoi and Hira, but that's not quite as much a of a concern for them. To me it looks like all they might want is to be able to be known or out to the select few around them, not to the whole world. Hira doesn't want to announce to the world that he loves Kiyoi, he simply wants to stand next to him when he can. Personally I would predict that their future holds something more akin to Hira accompanying Kiyoi to private industry get-togethers and not to public appearances. People would know of their professional relationship, but not have interest in their private one. Also realistically, because of his age here, it would be quite a while before we would see fans or media speculate or comment on Kiyoi's single status, meaning that if they did ever choose to make their relationship known they would be very comfortable and stable in that relationship.

IDK, this was quite the ramble, I don't know how interesting anyone will find it, but if you read this far I appreciate it.

I wish I had enjoyed the show more, but sometimes it's just not your bag, but I will say that overall it's a very well made and well acted drama, and I very much appreciate the time and effort that went into it. Please enjoy this picture of Riku and Kusei being cutie patooties

[matan4il]

I'll start my daily Mileapo silliness with these adorable pics from the HOWE awards yesterday. It's the way Mile is smiling at Apo's cuteness, while Apo is seemingly doing that mini heart for the fans, but then he stares up at Mile, not down at them.

I know there's a whole debate about whether Apo sat in Mile's lap as they left the venue. Here's the vid:

I find it hard to believe 'coz:

they're in public, and they know the fans sometimes film them in the van after an event.

if you compare the level of Apo's head before he moves back and after, it's more or less the same? So I think the height difference between him and Mile that made people think Apo is sitting on him is just about skewed perspective.

That said... I DO think it's interesting, telling and way too intimate for just co-workers that Apo IS all up in Mile's personal space, probably pressed up against his legs, enough that he needed to lift up a bit in order to get into his seat, rather than just lean back. Even if Apo wanted to talk to someone, he could have leaned a bit without completely invading Mile's space. If Apo wanted to grab something, he could have asked Mile to pass it to him. He didn't, because they're both comfy with this, because it's their space anyway.

Afterwards, Mile gave us 3 fruity likes:

I don't think I need to say anything about why the first is fruity. With the second, I think the focus is more on Apo than Mile, so it's cute:

And then the last is all Apo. Mile isn't even hiding, he's just full on telling us that he's all about his boy...

Apo also had a fruity moment! Someone made an edit that compared how Apo is gatekeeping Mile's chest more since he declared himself a Romsaithong.

I'm less convinced that Apo covering Mile up is about that, but what's cute is that Apo was intrigued by the caption. This person had several edits they tagged Apo in, but he only cared to watch the fruity one...

And then he was also kinda fruity on IG. Of all the fans he could have re-shared a story from about his EMV success, he chose the one where they added a gif of a kitten (Apo) playing guitar (Mile)... Am I reaching? Maybe. But if that gif made me smile instantly, I doubt Apo saw it and didn't think of this symbolic Mileapo combo, too. ;)

In today's news, Apo seems to have started rehearsals for the Man Suang tour...

Mile was maybe in Kalasin, with his mom...

Which reminds me... she was being a supportive mom AND mom in law yesterday:

(for more of my daily Mileapo/Kinnporsche, click here)

[nattaphum]

Man Suang press conference [08/08/2023] - part 2

- FOCUS ON: CRITICISM, MISTAKES AND ANTIS -

Criticism and mistakes

Pond: Running a business as a family, I now understand, doesn't always work as intended. Many fans had warned me about this, and even though I do things with love, I have to admit that it led to pain. I couldn't manage everything and take care of the matters properly. Looking back, I realize I shouldn't have been so public about it. I'm someone who always strives to move forward, but after that phase, I acknowledge that I've gained valuable lessons from it. I recognize what I missed, and I embrace that.

One thing I am certain I didn't go wrong with is sincerely loving everyone during that time. I made efforts to shield everyone to the best of my abilities. Now i know that each individual needs to evolve in their unique way.

Pain was experienced by everyone due to that situation, and I've grown from it. I'm prepared to carry on in this industry, having grown in professionalism.

The love within my family remains strong, but i have to choose carefully who to love and manage it well. I still hold the mindset of familial love, but when it comes to business, I intend to operate more professionally.

As for the fans, I deeply apologize for not looking after them as well as I should have. My responsibilities include not only conceptualization but also production and numerous other aspects. This operational aspect has hindered our success and left fans disappointed. We are actively striving to enhance our performance and make improvements and trying to change. Thanks to that problem, that make us improve into the future.

We are grateful for the fans and own them. We must treat them better.

On negative comments

Mile: I don’t care about those. I don’t focus on negative things. Like if a mosquito bites, i don’t slap it. Just let it go and go do something else.

Apo: but i saw that you slapped it *laughs* (lmao apoo)

___

Q: we heard you got death threats.

Apo: in my veiw, i have already lived fully worthy. so com'on, i'm not afraid

Mile: *panicks* ahsjsjk

——

Apo: We want fans to believe in what we believe, on the way we walk, the happiness that we've sent. I can tell that we don't feel anything at all about those negative comments. We don't even care. Then we really move forward in order to send happiness to everyone, to every place we’ve gone.

Q: don’t you feel sensitive?

Apo: *shakes head*

Q: that's good. Better focus on the result of work.

Apo : yes *nods his head*

——

Apo: “Love yourselves a lot. We will take good care of ourselves.” ❤️

Translations by urmysuninnightt, sugarcheenee and jaei524

[Mileapo’s cut with eng subs here]