#My favorite GMMTV with The Eclipse

[singularityinthemirror]

I just finished Never Let Me Go, and I will say about this series is that Palm is the best boyfriend ever. Nobody can compete with him. Neung is one lucky man.

[gunsatthaphan]

how it started // how it's going

[khaopybara]

happy stubborn kitten day!

[lunabug2004]

Watching Reactions to The Eclipse is Such a Gamble

Ya'll know this, I've said it multiple times now, but I love to watch reactions to my favorite shows. One of these shows is The Eclipse. But, I swear it's always a gamble watching someone react to it. Fair warning: I hate Thua, so... yeah, this will be biased. These are some trends I've noticed (& they kinda build on each other):

Sometimes, they don't like Akk, even as the show goes on, and he's my favorite so that always sucks.

Sometimes, they don't ever fully understand the manipulation Akk was under. Like, they constantly make comments about Akk's character development regressing or stuff like that. Idk how, but some people just never pick up on the amount of pressure Akk was under, and it's sad.

Sometimes, they don't understand the mental health parts of the show. Like how Ayan was only "protecting" Akk for so long bc he was literally in the worst mental state. Ayan saw the same signs in Akk that he saw in Dika, and he was terrified their stories would end the same way. Ayan still wanted the truth to come out, he was just trying to find a safer way for Akk! He was not just protecting Akk because they were dating, either! Idk how people come to these conclusions... oh wait, yes I do, it's bc of Thua >:(

Sometimes, when that one scene of episode 11 goes down, they completely side with Thua. Now, this could be because they don't realize the outing part of things, or because they don't realize why Thua went about things the complete wrong way. But, it's annoying nonetheless.

Sometimes, they completely change their tune about Teacher Chadok. I don't care about his tragic backstory! He manipulated a kid so much he considered unaliving himself, and you're telling me that just because he has a tragic gay backstory, he deserves to be forgiven??? Absolutely not!

And I'll stop here. I could say more but I think it's already too much 😂

[heretherebedork]

I have missed the way Kan looks at Thua so much. The love and the worship and the passion and everything comes from him and the way he slowly learned to accept not just his love for Thua but himself and that they could love each other and I cannot wait to see them again.

[forkaround]

My dash is a little dry. I'm looking to follow people into QLs. anyone into QLs who is also Asian reblog this post.

[firstkanaphans]

Safe House, Season 4: FK moments you might have missed (Day 5)

Before I dive into the FK-specific moments from this episode, I want to briefly address the fallout from Foei and White’s comments the night before. Their apology is still available on YouTube in its entirety, which is ironic considering they removed the actual incident, so now it just looks like they’re apologizing for nothing. You can read a full translation of the apology here.

I also paid extra close attention to both First and Khaotung’s interactions with Foei and White in the aftermath because I’ve seen some people say that Khao in particular acted annoyed by them, but in all honesty, I couldn’t tell a difference. Neither First nor Khaotung gave any indication that they were upset by what happened. This is not meant to excuse what Foei did or even to suggest that there wasn’t animosity lingering under the surface, but they kept it civil in the house and I don’t think it serves anyone well to insinuate that Khaotung was on some sort of revenge quest when he was actually super chill and professional. 

But now, hopefully, I am done talking about Foei and White forever.

First was in an exceptionally good mood this morning and was up almost as soon as the wake-up call went off. He tried to wake Khaotung to no avail.

He eventually gives up and goes to help Fourth wake the rest of the house instead. (Please check out this gif set of Fourth’s attempts to wake some of the younger boys because it’s one of my favorite things on this website.) And although we don't get to see Fourth try to wake Khaotung, he does come back into the room and complain to First, “P’Khaotung won’t wake up.” To which First responds, “He won't wake up? Fine. I’ll do it naa.” And then instead of actually trying to wake him up, he just crawls back into bed with him 😂

The morning challenge involved the contestants trying to catch a piece of toast in their mouths. First was down an arm, so Khaotung worked the toaster for him during several of his attempts. This also led to one of my all-time favorite Safe House moments:

The fact that Khao just takes it. Out of his bestie’s mouth. Without question. Insanity.

The afternoon session opens with Khaotung making coffee. First is teasing him for saying a bad word, which Khao swears he didn’t say. You can watch the video and read a full translation of that clip here.

I’d always assumed Khao was making the coffee for himself, but he put the cup in front of First’s place at the lunch table and then they both drank out of it. You know. Just bestie things.

After that, there was another pool challenge that First couldn’t participate in. He still did his best to have fun, though.

That night during dinner, they are given desserts with flowers in them. Khaotung and First both spend the entire meal trying to secretly stick them on each other.

(via)

After dinner, everyone plays “Never Have I Ever” while waiting for production to set up their next challenge. Whenever someone loses, they have to do push-ups. This was Khao’s attempt.

And the aftermath:

Later that same night is when the infamous pillow-sniffing happens. First and Khao are sitting on the couch together. Khao gets up and, without missing a beat, First reaches for the pillow he had been holding and sniffs it.

Fourth is immediately like “bro, you good?” and although we can’t actually hear them, I can only assume that First tries to justify his actions in some way because the next thing you know, Fourth is sniffing the pillow too. You can watch the full video here.

I know people say “there’s no heterosexual explanation for this” about things that do, in fact, have a heterosexual explanation, but this is gay AF. Like? First, honey. Stand up.

Almost a whole hour of the evening session is just the cast watching The Eclipse on an iPad. (Really, GMMTV? An iPad? There was no way for you to cast it onto an actual TV?) At one point, First gets up and smacks Khaotung with a pillow over something Aye did. You can watch it here. I tried to gif it, but it looks overly violent in gif form because First knocks over a picture frame and everyone freaks out.

And then finally, our two favorite besties get into another squabble during the evening interviews. Khaotung playfully pushes First and First says, “Everyone, please take note that I am not usually the one who teases him.” Then Khao pulls him off screen.

Sorry this got so long. They were extra gay today.

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: The Eclipse OGMMTVC Rewatch to Reexamine "Genre BLs," Along With a Critical Take on Branded Ships

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. Today, I take a look at my very first GMMTV series that I ever watched, The Eclipse, to examine its prowess as a "genre" BL, and to take a critical stab at the branded ship model vis à vis a successful narrative.]

HELLO. Due to BIG SUMMER LIFE (!!!) (WOW -- work trips, work changes, new projects, the regular family stuff, so much travel!), I've been a couple months delayed on getting some words down on my recent rewatch of The Eclipse for my Old GMMTV Challenge project, but I'm glad to take some time now to talk about this show.

I'm at a point in the project where my syllabus (pasted at the bottom of this post) will take me into the territory of many shows that I've already watched since starting my Thai BL journey in the fall of 2022, shows that I watched while they were airing, such as Moonlight Chicken, Bed Friend, Be My Favorite, and others. (I will be offering short, non-rewatch notes on some of these shows as I go along in the chronology.) The Eclipse is one of these.

I wanted to specifically give The Eclipse a full rewatch for a couple of reasons, the biggest one being very personal, in that The Eclipse was my very first ever-EVER GMMTV series (!!!). And, the only Thai BL I had watched, in the late summer and fall of 2022, prior to The Eclipse was KinnPorsche.

So! At the time of my watching The Eclipse in 2022, I had nooooo idea who First Kanaphan or Khaotung Thanawat were; I didn't know about the existence of branded ships in Thai BLs yet; I didn't know about the prevalence and regularity of side couples in Thai BLs, as VegasPete had been my first exposure to that; I didn't effing know about the fabulousity that is Neo Trai, none of it.

I simply just watched the show on the recommendation of a dear mutual. And, fuck, man, I totally had expected WAY more salacious material in The Eclipse coming off of KinnPorsche! At first, I was like, Thailand is WILDIN', and then it was just the GMMTV-PG FirstKhao smooches, which was fine, they were great, ha! I wasn't disappointed, but lmao, that was my mindset and understanding of my very brief introduction to Thai BLs at that very moment -- I thought it was all guns and butts and mafiosos and pool sex.

Besides rewatching The Eclipse with my now-very-experienced Thai BL glasses on to fix ALL of those past assumptions, I also wanted to rewatch the show in the understanding that filmmaker and former politician, Golf Tanwarin (the first transgender member of parliament in Thailand's House of Representatives) was addressing homophobia and leveraging their screenplay to talk about themes of stifling conformation in Thai society vis à vis the fictional environment of the Suppalo boys school. I want to demarcate this moment as an important one: at this point of my syllabus, the late summer and fall of 2022, the Thai BL landscape exists still mostly within the no-homophobia bubble, with only a handful of shows (He's Coming To Me, Secret Crush On You, etc.) stepping out of that bubble to grab the theme of homophobia and really wrangle with it frontally by way of familial and social acceptance.

However, I have to admit something as I write this review. During this recent rewatch, I had the benefit not just of my past historical chronological viewing of old shows behind me to judge The Eclipse's success as a show and as a messenger of deeper themes past straightforward romance; but I also had the benefit of foresight into the future, seeing how First and Khao served as a branded couple again in Only Friends, a series that, I believe, flopped in its narrative end due to the show prioritizing happy endings for its branded couples, rather than taking the time and the risks to break the branded ships up (or, at least, rock their foundations) to offer sophisticated social commentary on casual sex, as the initial marketing for Only Friends had initially promised.

In other words, I had critical glasses on for FirstKhao's performance, not necessarily for the actors themselves (well, kinda, lemme be for real), but I also wanted to understand better how The Eclipse centered THEM as an IT, a tangible IT, the branded ship, either against and/or vis à vis Golf's underlying critical messaging on social conformity and homophobia.

Unfortunately, through that critical lens, what I gained out of this rewatch of The Eclipse is a confirmed judgement that the common Thai BL structure of very much CENTERING a branded ship, especially emanating out of GMMTV, the central home for branded ships in Thailand, will almost CERTAINLY render a show attempting to make higher messages a weaker one in the end.

I found myself FULLY enjoying The Eclipse out of the FirstKhao sequences. When I first watched The Eclipse in 2022, I was a Thua hater, and I engaged for the very first time with @respectthepetty and others on subsequent defenses of Thua's outing of Akk and Ayan in the context of Akk and Ayan acting like loose-cannon-dillholes themselves. (This was a fabulous intro to my engaging with others on Tumblr, by the way, and I remember this discourse fondly!)

This time around, with the blessing of hindsight, I fully appreciated Louis Thanawin's FANTASTIC performance at the end of the series, as an overly frustrated and overwhelmed student wrangling with his sexuality, his attraction to Kan, and watching Kan's own struggles with his own sexuality, along with dealing with an overbearing stepfather -- and all of that happening while he was watching the hypocrisy of Akk slowly warming to Ayan, while Akk simultaneously punished The World Remembers gang. Louis, as Thua, fucking nailed it, and was an utter cutie at the end with Kan (including in Our Skyy 2, swoon). And forget about Neo Trai: Neo as Kan was one of the best performances I've seen of Neo's, as a student struggling literally to the second to manage his outward displays of automatic attraction to Thua for the sake of maintaining a façade of "order" for the Suppalo environment.

How does all of this impact my thoughts on FirstKhao as a branded ship, and AkkAyan as a fictional couple in The Eclipse?

There was so much great commentary on mental health, on social pressures and conformity, and on the reliance of history to contextualize and engage in suppression, in this show. The show hit hard and impactfully on these themes. As I just mentioned, the story of Thua was a welcome inclusion of the various ways in which homophobia impacted the Suppalo environment on micro- and macro-levels. The story of Dika is also gutting, and I appreciated The Eclipse for never turning an eye away from Ayan's continued suffering at losing his uncle so traumatically. (I also understand that there was quite a lot of conservative protest against The Eclipse in Thailand, and that the show being shortened by two episodes may have been related to this, along with the show airing during ongoing student protests.)

Unfortunately, I believe The Eclipse tripped on itself when it stepped away from these themes to move to more lighthearted moments with AkkAyan. I think the centering of this ship led to a number of key unfulfilled narrative moments, including a key factual skip later in the series, when Ayan indicates to Akk that Akk had made a promise to reveal his work against The World Remembers, a promise that did not have prior reference in earlier episodes.

This isn't to say that a budding couple can't have sweet moments. And we saw a tremendous amount of trauma coming from both Akk and Ayan, with Ayan's ongoing anger at Suppalo, and Akk's fear of rejection for his and his family's financial state, leading him to embody Suppalo's culture of suppression for the sake of his own survival at the school. These very-deeply messed-up fictional boys absolutely deserved and needed love.

But I found myself taking the most notes on this show when I felt the tones of previous scenes of protest, trauma, or attack were juxtaposed against getting Akk and Ayan together for a subsequent scene, especially later in the series, when their flirtation continued to grow. I felt this particularly during the outdoor Twitter scene in the bleachers, when Akk and Ayan were using tweets as a means of finding out who was running the counterprotest Twitter account, which was placed right after a particularly brutal attack against The World Remembers. I needed to flip my emotional attention back to a practiced GMMTV routine of watching a ship continue to warm up to each other for memorable and meme-able moments, and I found that juxtaposition jarring.

As opposed to Not Me, GMMTV's first "genre" BL that played with a sandbox outside of romance, The Eclipse was on steadier feet. While Not Me really tried to play around de-centering a shipped pair in OffGun, it truly stumbled in rushing back to inject romance throughout the storyline, particularly with DanYok taking up unexpected and discordant room (ACAB, YOK). And outside of GMMTV, we've seen many "genre" BLs actually work really well, most notably to that point in 2022, the crime-driven Manner of Death (MaxTul, my beloved), which balanced a developing romance with a legitimately interesting and unwinding mystery, all with a sharp and solid screenplay that didn't stray from its intended purpose. (Maybe I'm getting my hopes up too soon, but we're seeing "genre" BL doing well right now with 4 Minutes, and GMMTV has another, riskier, "genre" BL coming up in its crime-driven series, Kidnap.)

GMMTV, however, demands something economically from its shows, a sellable final product that can be transmogrified into fan meetings, branded items, and most of all, enduring and memorable legacies for the branded ships that center most of its BLs. At the time of The Eclipse's airing, both First and Khao had been previously paired with others (First with Gawin Caskey in Not Me; Khao with Podd Suphakorn in Tonhon Chonlotee), and the sao wais had been eagerly awaiting the debut of FirstKhao, and were fed nicely.

I can't say, quantifiably, if the majority of the global Thai BL fandom, or even the majority of the GMMTV fandom, are sao wais who only watch GMMTV shows for branded ships and guaranteed happy endings between shipped actors that only partner with the same person over and over again. I also believe that at this moment in time (in 2024), that we may be seeing differences in preferences emanating from fandoms based in Thailand, China, elsewhere in Asia, and globally, particularly in Europe and North and South America, between fans that will willingly support branded ships through very bad narrative shows, versus fans that prefer well-scripted shows above all else.

I think, after the economic earthquake that was the airing of 2gether in 2020, that GMMTV made a hard-turn decision to prioritize series that centered repeating branded ships above all other kinds of investment in other shows, including excellent screenplays.

I say this not to bemoan the opportunity for Thai filmmakers to have economic success. If these shows are making coin for Thai creatives -- maybe even the kind of coin that will allow these creatives to have more artistic freedom in their futures -- then I cannot begrudge that at all, and I wish these artists economic success.

But from a critical viewpoint of artistically narrative success, I'd argue that the last truly great narrative show of GMMTV's portfolio is 2021-22's Bad Buddy, featuring a branded ship in OhmNanon that I'm sure the network wanted to use again, one that both Nanon Korapat and Ohm Pawat knew they didn't want to repeat. Since then, while we've had a small amount of storytelling gems out of GMMTV like Moonlight Chicken, Cherry Magic Thailand, and Cooking Crush, most of what's come out of that studio has been mediocre for the past few years, with some aching stumbles having been had in shows like 23.5, Wandee Goodday, and My Love Mix-Up Thailand, which is airing now.

A major complaint across social media right now about My Love Mix-Up Thailand, centering Gemini Norawit and Fourth Nattawat, is that the show rushes to create meme-able moments between them, which is more in line with GMMTV's bottom line of engagement first. My Love Mix-Up/Kieta Hatsukoi is an utterly beloved Japanese manga and dorama. While G4 fans are drumming up the level of social media engagement that GMMTV judges "success" on, many other general BL fans have been left disappointed by the show's pulling back from honoring certain moments of hilarity and connection with the original Japanese source material (how could Fourth NOT go into the trash can?!).

I posit that it was 2gether's 2020 airing that encouraged GMMTV to make the pivot from investing in well-crafted screenplays, and taking risks to split ships up -- as the network did with Tay Tawan in 2019's 3 Will Be Free -- to center the branded ships.

And I think 2022's The Eclipse is an excellent example of the result of this decision-making: that while The Eclipse's core ideas within its screenplay were admirable, and much of the acting and romance outside of the branded ship were great to watch, that the show's needing to leave the central path of the narrative central story to spotlight the FirstKhao ship to create engagement-worthy moments ultimately took power away from the show and its message.

Only Friends -- a late-2023 show that initially marketed itself on breaking up ships and celebrating casual sex -- came back around in the end to scold any of us fans that wanted to see the ships sink. The dynamic between First and Khao in Only Friends was incredibly similar to their dynamic in The Eclipse: First acting as a tough-guy character who couldn't help being simp-ly swept away by an overpowering character played by Khao. I'm afraid the same will be repeated again in Jojo Tichakorn's next show, The Heart Killers, and I'd like to be proven wrong there, but.

It's incredible for me to reflect on what I know now about The Eclipse, and how this otherwise-excellent show was, in my eyes, economically impacted by the casting decision to prioritize a branded ship over the narrative cohesiveness of a screenplay. GMMTV has only committed even more to this path since The Eclipse's airing.

For the sake of excellent actors like First, and especially Khao: I hope they can have the future opportunity to spread their wings and act with other actors (as the very extreme majority of actors in entertainment get to enjoy), to shake off the economic prioritizing of branded ships in order to access better screenplays and stories. They deserve it, as hard-working creatives, and I'll certainly support them outside of the branded ship model, one that I believe is showing artistic wear and tear as more branded ship shows keep narratively sinking.

[Alright! So, where am I on the OGMMTV list? I've actually already finished the next show on my list, GAP The Series, this summer, and I hope I can pen that review in short order to get this series back on some kind of timely track.

HOWEVER, HEH HEH, that's actually going to be a bit difficult for me as, per the recommendation of a couple of BL elders, I am backtracking chronologically and tackling 2022's The Miracle of Teddy Bear, Thailand's first queer primetime, broadcast channel-level lakorn, which consists of 16 90-minute episodes, which, woof. Despite its hefty length, I am terribly excited to watch a show (a lakorn, EEEE!) out of the usual Thai BL bubble, one that I understand has been potentially misunderstood and/or mis-marketed to BL fandoms over the years. For the sake of its primetime airing alone, it holds an important place on the OGMMTVC syllabus. And I can't wait to take a crack at a Thai major channel's first attempt to make queer content and BL-genre-influenced content a primetime offering.

This means that, once again, My School President has been held at a delay, but I will get to MSP soon, I SWEAR! (And....oops. I'm thiiiiiinking that I might watch My Love Mix-Up after MSP at literal warp speed, literally 1.5x, to do another piece on branded ships vis à vis G4 and Au Kornprom in 2022 vs. 2024. We'll see. I may not wanna do that to myself, but... but! For science?!?! Maybe.)

Here's the updated OGMMTVC syllabus for your perusal. ONWARDS!

1) The Love of Siam (2007) (movie) (review here) 2) My Bromance (2014) (movie) (review here) 3) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 4) Gay OK Bangkok Season 1 (2016) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 5) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 6) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 7) Gay OK Bangkok Season 2 (2017) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 8) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 9) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 10) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 11) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 12) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 13) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 14) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 15) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 16) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (OffGun BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (no review) 17) Theory of Love (2019) (review here) 18) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (a non-BL and an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content in non-BLs) (review here) 19) Dew the Movie (2019) (review here) 20) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) (review here) (and notes on my UWMA rewatch here)

21) 2gether (2020) and Still 2gether (2020) (review here) 22) I Told Sunset About You (2020) (review here) 23) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) (review here) 24) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (review here) 25) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 26) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (re-review here) 27) Lovely Writer (2021) (review here) 28) Last Twilight in Phuket (2021) (the mini-special before IPYTM) (review here) 29) I Promised You the Moon (2021) (review here) 30) Not Me (2021-2022) (review here)

31) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 32) 55:15 Never Too Late (2021-2022) (not a BL, but a GMMTV drama that features a macro BL storyline about shipper culture and the BL industry) (review here) 33) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch (Links to the BBS OGMMTVC Meta Series are here: preamble here, part 1, part 2, part 3a, part 3b, and part 4) 34) Secret Crush On You (2022) (review here) 35) The Miracle of Teddy Bear (2022) (watching) 36) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here)  37) KinnPorsche (2022) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For the Sake of Re-Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist (part 1 and part 2) 38) Honorable Mention: War of Y (2022) (for the sake of an attempt to provide meta BL commentary within a BL in the modern BL era), with a complementary watch of Aam Anusorn’s documentary, BL: Broken Fantasy (2020) (thoughts here) 39) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 40) The Eclipse OGMMTVC Rewatch to Reexamine "Genre BLs," Along With a Critical Take on Branded Ships

41) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) (review coming) 42) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 43) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 44) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) 45) La Pluie (2023) (review coming) 46) Be My Favorite (2023) (tag here) (I’m including this for BMF’s sophisticated commentary on Krist’s career past as a BL icon) 47) Wedding Plan (2023) (Recommended as an important trajectory in the course of MAME’s work and influence from TharnType) 48) Only Friends (2023) (tag here) (not technically a BL, but it certainly became one in the end) 49) Last Twilight (2023-24) (tag here) (on the list as Thailand’s first major BL to center disability, successfully or otherwise) 50) Cherry Magic Thailand (2023-24) (tag here) (on the list as the first major Japanese-to-Thai drama adaptation, featuring the comeback of TayNew)

51) Ossan’s Love Returns (2024) (adding for the EarthMix cameo and the eventual Thai remake) 52) Dead Friend Forever (2024) (thoughts here) 53) 23.5 (2024) (GMMTV’s first GL) (thoughts here)]

[lurkingshan]

New as a director/writer has always been hit or miss (mostly miss) for me. In terms of Gmmtv directors, I personally like Jojo the best. His shows have a unique style, vision and clear queer voice that I like. Of course I haven’t loved all his narrative choices but he always has something to say and pulls excellent performances out of actors (which is usually the sign of good acting coach or director, sometimes both)

Aof also goes without saying as one of the best directors that Gmmtv has to offer. (IMO)

All of that considered, seeing that we are talking about Gmmtv being the biggest company, their current line up of bl shows still seem so safe to me. You would think with all that money coming in they can afford to hire new directors and writers and take more risks once in awhile. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.

I don't think there's a single Thai bl director who doesn't have some big whiffs on their record. New has made a lot of stuff I don't like, but also several classics like Make it Right, Until We Meet Again, and My Only 12%. Jojo and Aof have made some of my all-time favorite Thai shows including Gay OK Bangkok, The Warp Effect, and Bad Buddy, but they also burned me deeply on Only Friends and Last Twilight. I used to think Golf had really interesting ideas, but having seen more of their work and learned more about the source material for The Eclipse, I am not so confident about their shows anymore. Still, these are important queer creators in the Thai bl space and I will always pay attention to what they're doing.

But yes, I do think as @twig-tea laid out in her post, there is a worrying trend toward churning out ship content rather than creating compelling stories. GMMTV is a large media company and their goal is profit, full stop. They have learned that fans will eat up their shows regardless of quality of story as long as there are popular branded pairs in the mix, so what motivation do they really have to drive for higher quality storytelling? If they can produce 16 hours of branded pair fluff with no coherent story arc, put it behind a paywall on a niche streaming service, and still have it be one of the most popular shows of the year, why do they need to strive for more?

I will continue to show up for the handful of shows in their line-up each year that actually have something to say, in the hopes that they won't stop making them entirely. It's really all we can do as individual consumers to communicate that we still want good queer stories.

[respectthepetty]

10 Anticipated BLs for 2024

Since I'm excited for ALL the GLs (Pluto, 23.5, Sunshine in the Wind, Chaser Game, Be Mine, y todo!), I'm making my list of the 10 BLs I'm excited for this year with brief reasons why I'm looking forward to them. In my normal fashion, I cheat my way into having more. All except one is Thai because Thailand loves to tease series three years in advance, then never make them, but I strongly believe these are coming:

The Next Prince

Zee continues to never play a poor person, and a trailer is supposed to drop in the first quarter of this year. I never knew there was so many fencers on BL Tumblr, so I'm looking forward to everyone's commentary on how well the characters poke with their sticks or whatever fencers do.

Jack & Joker: U Steal My Heart

It's a heist BL. It has YinWar. It has Prom x Mark. It has Bonz. It's Dee Hup House (we got beef). It's Director Tee and probably Cinematographer Jim. It might have color coding. There is not one thing I can find wrong with this series. It's perfect on paper, and I'm praying that translates well to the screen.

Spare Me Your Mercy

Like that lady in Titanic, I've been waiting 80 years for this series (give me a minute to cry about MaxTul), and it's finally near! I'm getting JJ & Tor in a Dr. Sammon piece, who I feel writes "Be Gay, Do Crime" very well, so I'll be forgiving any of these two gays' wrongs including murder, attempted murder, contemplating murder, and murdering each other in the bedroom (ahhhh!).

Wandee Goodday

Golf from The Eclipse is directing. It's about Muay Thai. It has an older doctor and a younger boxer who start off as bed friends (and I think one is actually a virgin). It has color coding. It has me already seated and waiting with popcorn, and I think it might be the first offering that will be delivered from GMMTV's 2024 lineup.

Sequels: Choco Milk Shake 2, Unintentional Love Story 2, My Doctor

Is Choco Milk Shake 2 gonna finally give me poly? Probably not, but I hope My Doctor brings the same heat the side couple did in Be Mine, Superstar, and the side couple getting the spotlight in Unintentional Love Story 2 will also make my side-couple-supremacy heart very happy this year.

Live in Love

It looks color coded. That's it. That's the reason. Keeping my expectations low because it might not get made since this is Thailand's favorite game.

Red Peafowl

The character reveals were absolute chaos, so I'm hoping that chaos transfers over to the actual series because it can either be a mess or a masterpiece, but it cannot be mediocre with Max, Cooheart, Boun, Mek, and Yacht as supports. Plus, it has color coding and a bird that is quickly becoming a Tumblr god.

Love Upon a Time

Even though it is a historical queer series, which means it could be sad, I think Domundi will keep the sass, so James' character won't be crying in the 1600s club but instead eating fruit seductively to encourage Net's character to put his homosexual skills into practice instead of simply theorizing about them, which is something I need more of. Plus, it has color coding.

Love Puzzle

This is one that might not get made because . . . Thailand. It's connected to Chains of Heart, but I don't care because the cast looks good and Poppy is gonna finally get to kiss a homie. If this doesn't get made, I will cry thug tears. It's 2024. Poppy deserves to kiss a man already.

My Stand-In

I don't understand the plot, but it doesn't matter because Pepzi and Khom are directing, and in case that means nothing, those were KinnPorsche's directors! Then, it has Up and Poom as the leads, plus a stacked supporting cast. I'm here. I'm queer. And I'm ready to be served.

Honorable Mention: Peaceful Property

It's about los espookys and features Tay and New. Will it be a QL? The streets are saying no, but all the characters are color coded, and all's I'm saying is what would be the point of color coding them if I ain't getting a BL main couple and a GL side couple? It's already canon to me.

Bonus: MosBank & JoongDunk

MosBank had like eighty projects announced for 2023, and I got NONE! Big Dragon 2, Big Dragon: The Movie, SunsetxVibes, where you at?! Y Journey: Stay Like a Local and Club Friday do not count. I don't want to watch their horror movie, but gosh darnit, if that comes out before everything else, I just might.

And I am a JoongDunk fan first, and a human second. Give my boys a gym BL already, GMMTV!

[singto-prachaya]

Poll time!

So I saw a poll with multiply rounds going around on twitter and I was less then happy with how it was going so far. So I decided to make a same poll here for tumblr. This is just a single round poll tho. Poll is limited in answers so no Ultimate Troop here. Do share this around.

[scrumptiousstuffs]

okay hopefully this will be a more fun ask. immediate answers only, no thinking. all are for both First and Khaotung.

favorite role

who you want to see them working with (separately or together)

prettiest they've ever looked (I know this one is hard but I want the first thing that pops into your head)

most babygirl moment

the time they broke your brain

photographic evidence is a must!

This was fun, anon!!! So, like you have requested, the first thing that pop into my mind:

1. Favorite role: Akk and Aye no doubt. Those are my babies. I love most of their roles pre-CP and all the one after CPs but AkkAye in The Eclipse has my heart and soul.

I can’t tell you how much I relate so much with Akk and his struggle in high school. I was Akk in my teenage years (minus the pyro tendency) except I don’t have my own Aye (or even Wat/Kan) to get me through those tough years. First was exquisite in this role. The way he conveyed his confusion while trying to come to grasp with his feelings while all his previous beliefs being systematically dismantled was amazing to watch.

And Khaotung as Aye - what can I say, he had me with his swagger and cool cockiness, trying to hide his depression and anger towards a system that cruelly took away his only father figure (also, I am ashamed to say it took me awhile to recognise Khaotung as Aye cause it was such a contrast with his performance in Longtae and Fong 🤣😂 - that’s how much of a chameleon this boy is when acting!)

My favourite moments for AkkAye (that doesn’t involve kissing) have to be these 2:

a) Aye seeking comfort from Akk who for the first time realised how much his school is bullying a student

b) And when Aye caught Akk smiling at their candid photo at the vending machine - Aye’s soft smile as he realised “ah…this guy does have feeling for me” while Akk looks panicky but at the same time realising Aye won’t tease him (that much) for his blunder!

2. Who I want to see FK working together (separately or together): I’m going to exclude people they have already worked with in this category (which really just means EarthMix and GemFourth 🤣 - cause as much as I love the other 2 CPs as well, I just can’t see GMMTV putting all 6 of them again like MLC)

For First - Tay Tawan, Arm Weerayut or Mond. Tay brotherhood with First off-screen is one of my favourite thing ever. I don’t care what they play in a show - brothers? Enemies? Best friends? Just give them to me!!!!

As for Arm, I think he is one of the more under-rated actors that GMMTV on their rosters. I know he often plays minor/secondary roles - but he has potential for so much more. I like him so much when he played View’s love interest in 55:15 Never Too Late!

With Mond - Boeing was sussed but his chemistry with First in Not Me?? - 🙌🙌🙌

For Khaotung - Gun (I’m still waiting for Home School season 2 😩), Nanon/Luke or Perth.

Nanon has been absent from acting for god knows how long. I say a good script with Khaotung will be enticing!

And I have always wanted Khaotung + Perth as brothers (the plot is secondary)

As for Luke - it is time for him to be induct in the BL world (plus his ghostship with Khaotung in Safe House? ADORABLE ☺️)

Picture courtesy of @/asianmenarewinning

And as CP, I want FirstKhaotung to act with a GL couple. Personally, I adore June/View (unfortunately, we know this GL is highly unlikely to happen). So, I’ll take NamtamFilm (who so far is doing amazingly in Pluto) or Ciize/Kapook.

Above Picture courtesy from this website

Above picture from here

3. Prettiest they’ve ever look

Khaotung when he became Barbie during one of their event- LOOK AT THIS BEAUTIFUL ANGEL

First was especially exquisite during the Moment magazine photoshoot (truly one of his best photoshoot) - THAT BONE STRUCTURE (I’m still salty nobody has picked my boy up yet as a brand ambassador)

4. Most Babygirl moment (again the first thing that pops into my mind)

When First make those small tiny excited jumps while talking to his bestie during the SFxEMFK DeadpoolWolverine Screening 😬

Khaotung famous pout during School Rangers after losing 🤭

5. That time they broke my brain - so many moments, but alas, the most recent video of FK vibing in PolyCat concert (with a song that is about pining and never confessing towards your bestie on the bg) will have to take the cake! Cause it’s still fresh on my mind (and basically everyone in this fandom) 😫….

[gunsatthaphan]

13/10/1998 - happy birthday to actor, legend, bestie, crush and personal heart killer khaotung thanawat 🫶🏻✨💓🫳🏻🐈🧎🏼‍♀️😌💝

[blmpff]

✨2023: A Summary✨

Post your most popular and/or favourite edit/gifset/analysis for each month (it’s okay to skip months!)

Tagged by @lurkingshan, and also @colourme-feral and @troubled-mind as I was working on it, thank you ❣️

My two main ~things~ are uploading actors' photos, and doing my own favorite X posts from shows I'm watching, and considering I've uploaded 5593 posts in 2023, in this essay I'll focus on my own.

disclaimer 1: I started posting my edits in March, so the first two months of the year will be just actors' pics to not skip them disclaimer 2: as for favorites the answer is always my favorite shots posts because each and every single one of them is my precious baby disclaimer 3: I added SHOWS to each month for my compilation posts for them

JANUARY:

- most popular: First Kanaphan from their trip to Japan I think - favorite: ArmyJoe stills from gmmtv twt

FEBRUARY:

- most popular: Fluke and Thor TWE bts - favorite: this MosBank

MARCH:

- most popular: Our Dining Table promo picture - favorite: Midnight Museum ep5, The Eighth Sense ep2, first Shared Location

APRIL:

- most popular: P'Jojo explaining the use of thai soap opera cliches in Our Skyy 2: Never Let Me Go - favorite: T8S x train ride, Jaewon calling Jihyun his boyfriend, shadow kisses, Midnight Museum moon shots 4/4, the post where I save links to all the shows/movies I make posts about - shows: Our Dating Sim, The Eighth Sense, Destiny Seeker, Midnight Museum, Blueming, Bed Friend

MAY:

- most popular: P'Jojo posting about Only Friends getting the green light - favorite: Man's hands, this Between Us scene, this ONHCT scene, OS2 x Win's Adventures - shows: OS2: The Eclipse, OS2: NLMG, Happy Merry Ending, ABAAB, Love Mate, ONHCT, Dear Ex, Please Tell Me So, A First Love Story 1, A First Love Story 2, Step For You

JUNE:

- most popular: Cooheart in a bridal dress at Bangkok Pride - favorite: Fluke's hair poll, IQ subber in House of Stars, ODT Tane - shows: Star Struck, Our Dining Table, Love Tractor

JULY:

- most popular: NeoMark Only Friends Q photo - favorite: these two Tokyo In April Is parallels, this Semantic Error scene - shows: Step by Step, La Pluie, House of Stars, My Ride

AUGUST:

- most popular: P'Jojo talking about sex scenes in Only Friends - favorite: ML Shin being Shin, this scene in SMC - shows: Tokyo In April Is, Sing My Crush, Egoist, Low Frequency, Stay Still, Sonnet 18

SEPTEMBER:

- most popular: the epic journey that was Red Peafowl cast announcement - favorite: Leehyun repeatedly calling An his boyfriend, Joohyuk x Sungmin, hyung, EarthBank - shows: Laws of Attraction, Love Class 2, Marry Go Round, Minato's Laundromat 2, Hidden Agenda, Bon Appetit

OCTOBER:

- most popular: P'Jojo roasting Boston - favorite: IFYLITA dream dancing, bloody Papang, bloody GG kiss&murder - shows: My Personal Weatherman, Only Friends, Grand Guignol, Semantic Error: The Movie

NOVEMBER:

- most popular: new YinWar show Jack&Joker pilot - favorite: this Mermaid's Jade scene, this The Devil Judge scene, these Playboyy posters - shows: I Feel You Linger In The Air, Mermaid's Jade, Kiseki: Dear To Me, Pure Vanilla, One Room Angel

DECEMBER:

- most popular: Babe causing Billy to malfunction - favorite: JellyfishBolster compilation, this AobPuen, DFF I've been impaled - shows: Sweet Home 2, Shadow, To My Star s1, Absolute Zero, Bake Me Please, Moonlight Chicken

Tagging everyone who wants to do it and haven't already, this site helps!

[absolutebl]

Hello! Turns out I was browsing my YouTube recommended, and it seems there's a whole host of GMMTV's decent to good BLs that I missed? I just binged Star in My Mind, Sky in your Heart and Fish Upon the Sky.

I was wondering if you have a post or on your magic spreadsheet a list of GMMTV bls by year? Looks like I just watched the better/most population stuff only.

As always, thank you for sharing your BL knowledge!

GMMTV is mostly chronicled on on the spreadsheet so sure!

GMMTV Thai BL! In order of year then rating

GMMTV BL 2016

Puppy Honey 1 (OffGun - BL side couple) 8/10 (you want the BL cut)

SOTUS (SingtoKrist) 8/10 - watch it discussion here

Kiss the series (TayNew - BL side couple) 6/10 (watching guide for this pair here)

GMMTV BL 2017

Puppy Honey 2 (OffGun - BL shared main) 8/10

SOTUS S (SingtoKrist) 8/10

My Dear Loser: Edge of 17 (PluemChimon - BL side couple) 6/10

Waterboyy the series 2017 3/10

GMMTV BL 2018

Kiss Me Again - PeteKao Cut (TayNew) 8/10 (watching guide for this pair here)

SOTUS Our Skyy (SingtoKrist) 8/10

'Cause You're My Boy AKA My Tee (FrankDrake also Phuwin & Neo's first BL) 6/10

InnSun Our Skyy (from My Dear Loser) (PluemChimon) 5/10

PeteKao Our Sky (TayNew - from the Kiss series) 5/10

PickRome Our Skyy (OffGun - from Puppy Honey) 5/10

TeeMork Our Skyy (FrankDrake - from My Tee) 5/10

GMMTV BL 2019

He's Coming to Me 9/10 - review here

Dark Blue Kiss (TayNew as PeteKao get their own series) 8/10

Theory of Love (OffGun) 8/10

3 Will Be Free 7/10 (as a BL, as a poly romantic suspense? 10/10)

GMMTV BL 2020

2gether (BrightWin) 8/10

Still 2gether (BrightWin) 8/10

Theory of Love special (OffGun) 7/10

My Gear and Your Gown 6/10

GMMTV BL 2021

2gether the movie (BrightWin) can't find, never reviewed

A Tale of Thousand Stars (EarthMix) 9/10

Tonhon Chonlatee 6/10 - review here

Fish Upon the Sky (PondPhuwin) 4/10

GMMTV BL 2022

Bad Buddy 9/10 - review here

Not Me (OffGun) 9/10 - review here

Star in My Mind - Star and Sky 8/10 - review here

The Eclipse 8/10 - review here

Vice Versa 8/10

Enchanté 7/10 - trash watch here

Cupid's Last Wish (EarthMix) 6/10

Magic of Zero: Zero Supporter (Cupid's Last Wish spin off) (EarthMix) 6/10

Sky in Your Heart - Star and Sky 5/10

GMMTV BL 2023 (Currently Airing)

Moonlight Chicken (EarthMix)

My School President (Gemini/Fourth)

Never Let Me Go (PondPhuwin)

(We could argue over whether Love Sick should top this list.)

I do have a rec/review Top 10 for GMMTV:

It's old, but that might actually be good for your needs.

Other old GMMTV posts:

[heretherebedork]

Hi, since GMM has many Thai BL series, do you have favorites? If you do, what's the 10 you like most so far?

I mean, I do have favorites. Do I have ten? I'm not sure. Are they all actually good? Probably not!

Let's try this!

A Tale of a Thousand Stars: This is one of my favorite BLs of all time. I love them so much, I adore everything about this show, I love the characters and the story and the romance and the friendships and the growth. A+, you gotta watch it.

Moonlight Chicken: Another perfection. Just... absolutely amazing. This show blew my mind but in the gentlest most healing way possible. Everyone is amazing and everyone deserves an award.

The Eclipse: A gift, this show is a gift, it's absolutely fantastic and imperfect and good and fun and filled to the brim with healing and love and pain and it's very, very good. Kan and Thua might be my favorite GMMTV couple ever.

Tonhon Chonlatee: This is the only GMMTV comedy that has genuinely made me laugh. I still like it. I will always like it. I will always defend it. It's cute, it's funny, it's a fascinating journey through.

We Are: This show absolutely earned it's place on this list, what a darling show about nothing that I adored the entire way through and still miss deeply. Just boys falling in love and vibing along. No, less plot than you think.

He's Coming To Me: This is a good show, okay? It's a bit different, he is dating a ghost... but it's good and I love it and the love story doesn't have to end just because of death.

Midnight Museum: Is it actually a BL? No. Do I care? No. It's about as queer as it gets, has a canon gay romance and the main characters are in a romance-in-all-but-name.

Cherry Magic: Honestly? The Japanese version is good but I think the Thai version is actually overall better and has more growth and more interesting character moments and goes more indepth on the actual relationship as well. Very, very good.

Wandee Goodday: This show was exactly what it needed to be. Imperfect but a joy and the ending was perfectly sweet plus we got a darling ace for ace relationship in the last episode that brought me so much joy.

I don't have an actual number 10 because none of the others I liked made it on that list... but Hidden Agenda, Never Let Me Go and Dangerous Romance were all close. Also, The Warp Effect is not a BL but is SUPER queer and very good.

Anyway, there's my list of top GMMTV BLs that I have genuinely loved all the way through.

Current Top GMMTV BL: The Trainee

Most Anticipated GMMTV BL: Kidnap