#i think it was tharntype

[givemeabreakimbig28]

guys guys guys help so i kinda remember this thing where someone's boss is a dickhead and then that person runs out of the building and someone else litteraly just punches the boss and follows him out idk if thats what happened but its the closest thing

[blmpff]

scanning TharnType 2 looking for a location, and getting jumpscared by Title and Haii being a couple

you know,

Haii from Chains of Heart

Title from La Pluie

[kinnbig]

never not thinking about that time that one of the big-name BL blogs on this site tried to insist to me that Tong isn’t gay and it was actually all just ‘marketing’

[rythyme]

from what i can gather, MacDennis is like if MAME ate the souls of a few white mid-40s American comedians and then decided to write old man yaoi

[thomaskong]

Fun fact: love by chance, 4 minutes, tharntype (partially I believe), and most recently the boy next world were all filmed at the same location—Mahidol University

For example:

Love by chance

4 minutes

The boy next world

So in a way… 4 minutes is part of the MAME cinematic universe…..

[negrowhat]

top 5 reverse 'oh' moments? This might be a bit harder to think of but i see the potential.

Reverse oh meaning where another character either realizes they don't have a chance OR when a couple realizes they're done.

Hey friend! I had to sleep on this but I'm here! Sorry it took so long! Top 5, "Welp, I guess this ain't working" moments.

Ingredients the Series. Dome brings home a very drunk Win (he's sad he's leaving to the US without Tops) and he accidentally bumps his head as he's being hauled inside. Tops immediately runs to Win's side and pretty much elbows Dome to the side to take over. Dome tries to make light convo...maybe flirt a bit, but Tops is not even listening he's too busy wiping Win's sweat and keeping his hair out of his face and making sure he's well taken care. In that moment Dome realizes that he has ABSOLUTELY no chance with Tops and kind of just slips out and bounces.

TharnType the Series. Right before Lhong gets exposed he befriends Type and takes him out to drinks. Type already knows that Lhong is absolutely bonkers by then so he pretends to be drunk and allows Lhong to escort him home. Lhong tries to have a little teasing banter with his bestie Tharn as he pushes Type into his arms. Type takes a moment to "drunkenly" tell Tharn he belongs to him and from that point Tharn completely forgets Lhong is there. He grins happily and agrees that he belongs to Type and kind of just closes the door in Lhong's face and at that point Lhong realizes that AGAIN his pick-me ass was not chosen by Tharn.

Love Mechanics. I think it's after Bar basically tells Mark that he's not interested, he's at the pool practicing with P'Bar (I think Vee is ther too but I can't remember tbh) and Gun shows up and Mark sees them being all sweet and flirty with each other and I think reality hit him that his beloved P'Bar had chosen someone else. I'm pretty sure that's what happened.

To My Star 2. Sung Yoon and Ji Woo are sitting out back finally hashing things out about their failed relationship a decade ago. Sung Yoon is hopeful that they can get back together again (which is why she came back to their hometown). They apologize to each other and then Ji Woo says something along the lines of, "Sometimes it takes having someone by your side to realize you need someone else." and Sung Yoon can tell things are going downhill from there because she knows Ji Woo means that literally. He tells her he's grateful to have had her in his life when he did. She pulls out her old couple's bracelet and asks if she can still wear it and Ji Woo says, "Yea, I won't be wearing mine anymore so it's not a couple's bracelet anymore." And that was it, she knew it was done.

The Eighth Sense. Basically the entire first beach trip was Eun Ji realizing that Jae Won was not checking for her trifling ass anymore. Of course he hasn't spoken to her since his return from his enlistment, but she was definitely expecting to rekindle things during the trip. I think she really realized things were over when she saw how close and sweet Jae Won was with Ji Hyun, I know she did because she was pissed about it. Then Jae Won completely losing interest in their conversation when he noticed Ji Hyun on the beach and leaving her hanging mid-sentence. She knew things were over, but her pride wouldn't allow her to lose to some smalltown freshman. It was about winning by the end of it, she didn't care about how Jae Won felt.

[kennyomegasweave]

I'm glad BL shows are actually acknowledging bisexuality now, in name and action (by not making it a big deal that they all have ex girlfriends), but it's weird as fuck to me that we're still not getting many straight up gays for whatever reason. Why do they all have ex girlfriends? We've finally progressed from the evil ex girlfriends to the cool ex-girlfriends but like. Can we get some straight up gay men? I'm just asking for a friend.

[saturnskyline]

okay not to get all meta-y in the middle of my silly rewatch, but i will say, one thing that consistently bothers me about mame shows is how often they treat sex as being transactional. like there isn't inherently a problem with that, as long as both parties are consenting, but in this case it feels pretty bleak... we have payu telling rain he has to "pay" for the repair work done on his car, when rain is unaware of what kind of payment he means until after the fact. we have, in several different shows, a guy essentially saying "fine, i'll sleep with you to pay you back for (insert favor)" or "i don't like to owe people, therefore i'll (kiss you) (have sex with you) (any number of things)". i know this isn't unique to mame either; it's just something that doesn't totally sit right with me, especially when the story veers more toward the coercion side of things. and it's always under the guise of "oh he's just the kind of guy you can't refuse" or something along those lines. add a line like "being fully clothed doesn't mean nothing happened" in payurain's case (even though nothing did) or, on the extreme side, what honestly amounts to sa in tharntype.... idk. i know i'm probably saying nothing new, and i do try to take mame with a grain of salt, but the vibes really aren't great here 😐😐

[baseballmomlesbiandad]

Fighter and Tutor really hit different huh

[italianpersonwithashippersheart]

I do understand where you are coming from op, I also think some criticism of Mame crosses a line at times.

For me I tried re-watching TharnType recently and found it really didn't do much for me now.

I am someone who enjoys a wider range of BLs then most, I loved both Until We Meet Again and 1000 stars, I also like some other Mame stuff. The thing about TharnType is it was pretty unique at the time (with heat levels and chemestry) but now because I enjoy more bls then most people I have just seen better.

That said i do understand the criticism of Mame. I think for me the biggest things that piss me off with her works is how fixable some of the boundary crossed are to fix. Like all the things her love interest do that cross the toxic line a bit too much would be fixable and you get the same story.

The other biggest thing for me is Love By Chance s2. Just all of it. I have so many grievance with lbd s2 and I will take them to the fucking grave, i do not forgive her for that.

Like i said i do enjoy some Mame works, i enjoy Don't Say No, Love in The Air and Wedding Plan, And Love By Chance s1. Although I also completely understand why some people would take issues with all four of those show.

I am someone that if the relationship (platonic amd romantic) and characters grab me and work for me, I will forgive bad plots and plot holes amd a lot of narrative and technical stuff that bothers a lot of people. It's only the couple or the characters are not working for me that I start to notice all the other problem the story.

Okay, you've been relogging TharnType gifs (which I appreciate as one of the cursed TharnType's enjoyers, sue me) but where are the hot takes? Where's the meta?! Pikachu, speak, please!

Anon what's this cursed business I enjoy tharntype without shame I don't gaf what the discourse says the show is a bodice ripper mess with some truly genuinely well done char development especially for Thai BLs in 2019/2020

I'd rather watch tharntype again than 2gether or 1000 Stars I said what I said bake that hot take in your pie Ms Lovett

Speaking of tharntype tho I saw this twitter thread talking about it and was like yeah ppl ARE weird about tharntype and some of that weirdness is understandable and some of that weirdness is sus as fuck hot take dos putas

tell me I'm doing "doing being queer wrong" b/c I like some dumbass soap yaoi like baby go outside, knit some mittens for some kittens at least Type has an actual char arc unlike a ton of squeecore BL protagonists hot take tres chepies

look if ppl don't like tharntype idc y'all do you I don't like a lot of popular BLs - wait till the episode on Until We Meet Again drops on the pod lmaoooo - I even GET why ppl don't like the show and I think some of the critiques are valid but god damn some ppl be WEIRD about the show and Mame to the extreme l

ike jfc I saw someone call Mame a bigot for tharntype - but the dude director of the series got absolved he was gucci lol - some of the weirdness just feels less about genuine critique and more Christian rebranded moral high groundness and I have no time for that hot take cuatro

Anyway pour one out for Techno he was the one really suffering in Tharntype my little dude, my funny man, my ever suffering dude

[absolutebl]

12 Favorite Thai BL Branded Pairs Active Right Now

Based on screen chemistry and personal taste entirely (not projects, rolls, characters). Some of your favorites will missing from this list (sorry not sorry). September 2024, not responsible for pairs getting busted up after this moment in time.

I would watch more from any of these boys even if I've disliked their previous work and am likely to continue to do so.

1 FirstKhaotung

2 JoongDunk

3 YinWar

4 Perth & Talay - YES STILL!!! I HOLD OUT HOPE!

5 TutorYim

6 JimmySea

7 MosBank

8 TayNew

9 G4

10 SailubPon

11 BillyBabe

12 GreatInn

MaxTul would make this list, but I think they're unofficially busted at this juncture, Tul seems pretty much out of the biz. And if he went back to BL most everyone would likely demand Mew.

Others that I'd pull but I don't think my own rules allow me to: JeffGameplay, BoomPeak (YES THEM), BoyTod (Ghost Host), BossPeter (Starhunter). Frankly GreatInn might not stick either.

Never Pair Branded

But not officially busted either. So I want them to do another show together. Some of these are pretty obscure, so I put in origin shows.

BeverTee - 21 Days Theory

BoomHaii - Chains of Heart

BossPre - Destiny Seeker

BrightNonkul - I Feel You Linger in the Air

PokeTongue - Star Hunter boys

BoatKenji - My Secret Love

Poom & Up - My Stand In

NohPeter - Oh My Sunshine Night

KunKiak - The Promise

OppNut - Secret Crush On You

JuniorFluke - To Be Continued

TT - Triage

PoohFiat - Top Secret Together

BoatJame - TharnType 2

JumpBoom - You're My Sky

I'll watch but I'm not invested

EarthMix

OffGun

PondPhuwin

ForeceBook

KristSingto

ZeeNuNew

MeenPeng

BounPrem

OhmFluke

DaouOffroad

MaxNat

KarnNut

PavelPoom

BossNoel

FortPeat

MileApo

Honestly I am always happy, if not gleeful, to see pairs busted up, but I do still have favorites. And I would feel a little twinge if any of those 12 were seperated permanently.

(source)

[ranchthoughts]

Happy marriage equality Thailand! 🌈

A few months ago, @colourme-feral came to me with the idea of cataloguing as many same-sex Thai QL proposals and weddings as we could. And today, to celebrate the bill passing the Senate (and the first post-bill-passing proposal and wedding), I'd like to share with you all our findings! Even though same-sex marriage has not been legal in Thailand until this year (hopefully things will be official in the fall), there have been quite a few same-sex proposals and weddings in Thai QLs throughout the years.

Big thank you to everyone who assisted on this project in some capacity (@airenyah, @bengiyo, @blmpff, @chickenstrangers, @dribs-and-drabbles, @nieves-de-sugui, @twig-tea, @waitmyturtles, @williamrikers) plus all the gif and fanvid makers whose work was instrumental in helping us double check everything (particular shout out to these gifsets by @apathetic-tortoise (1, 2) and this one by @gunsatthaphan).

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

We found 28 Thai QL shows which featured at least one same-sex proposal (the blue list below) and 15 Thai QL shows which featured at least one same-sex wedding (the green list below).

I was pretty strict with what counted as a proposal or a wedding for the purposes of this project. For example, characters who we know are married but whose wedding we don’t see aren’t counted (like Laws of Attraction’s Maya and Rose, or the unnamed Force and Book characters shown in a “Just Married” car in Vice Versa). There are many shows where there is a ring or someone gets down on one knee but the question is not exactly “popped” (Khun Chai, Star In My Mind Our Skyy 2, etc.), and there are even more shows characters talk at length about commitment and being together forever but there were no mentions of marriage or other details (like rings, etc.) that would specifically suggest it was a proposal (A Boss and a Babe, Ai Long Nhai, Be My Favourite, Cupid's Last Wish, Dark Blue Kiss, Something In My Room, Star in My Mind, Still 2gether, Until We Meet Again, 3 Will Be Free, etc.). Some of these moments might have been intended as a declaration of intent to marry by the characters and the show runners, but they weren’t conclusive enough to be included on this list. Furthermore, I think it’s interesting to see how many shows were, for lack of a better word, explicit in their discussion or portrayal of same-sex marriage (having the characters use the word marriage, showing weddings, etc.), despite being from a time before such a thing was legally possible. 

Note: I've listed the shows with the year they started airing for ease, even though some of them did finish airing in another year.

(see alt text for the full lists)

The Quick Facts

The first proposal and the first wedding in our data set both happened in Grey Rainbow episode 4, which aired on May 7, 2016. (though this is not exactly an auspicious wedding to start with, as those who know know)

12 shows featured at least one proposal and one wedding (Cherry Magic, GAP the Series, Grey Rainbow, Laws of Attraction, Love Syndrome 3, My Secret Love, Naughty Babe, Never Let Me Go, Tharntype Special: The Wedding Day, Two Worlds, Wedding Plan, and the Wedding Plan Special). 

4 shows feature two same-sex proposals (Cherry Magic, Love Syndrome 3, My Secret Love, and Two Worlds). All these shows also feature a same-sex wedding.

None of the shows in our sample had two same-sex weddings.

The Data Over Time

As you can see, generally same-sex proposals and weddings have become more common in Thai QLs over time, though of course there are more Thai Qls being produced now than in the earlier days.

Note: I'm only looking at shows which aired before the marriage equality bill passed the Senate, so the 2024 data does not include Wandee Goodday or OMG! Vampire. It will be interesting to see if and how the number of same-sex proposals and weddings in Thai QLs increases through 2024 and beyond now that it will become a legal reality.

It is also interesting to consider the production companies behind the shows in our sample. This sample includes 7 GMM shows and 5 Mandee/Domundi shows, plus 1-3 series each from other production companies like Idol Factory, MeMindY, Studio Wabi Sabi, Copy A Bangkok, Jinloe Media Work, TV Thunder, and M Flow Entertainment. In other words, GMM shows make up roughly 23% of the sample, Mandee/Domundi shows are another 16%, and other production companies comprise about 61% of the sample.

Main Couples vs Side Couples

There are 28 shows with proposals in the sample but 32 proposals, because four shows have two proposals each. 26 of these 32 proposals (81%) are between the main characters and 6 of them (19%) are between side characters.

Of the 15 weddings in the sample, 12 (80%) are between main couples and 3 (20%) are between side couples.

For interest's sake, I also broke this down for GMM and Mandee/Domundi. GMM has 7 proposals in 6 shows, with 5 main couples and 2 side couples popping the question; and 3 weddings (across 3 shows), in which 2 side couples and 1 main couple got married. Mandee/Domundi has 5 proposals in 4 shows, all between main couples, and 3 weddings (across 3 shows), also all featuring main couples.

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

And now here we are, after the bill has passed the Senate. Congratulations to the Thai queer community, and the happy couples Oyei and Cher from Wandee Goodday and Sen and Run from OMG! Vampire who are the first Thai QL couples to propose and to have a wedding (respectively) after Thailand's marriage equality bill passed the Senate! (The bill passed the Senate on June 18, 2024, and episode 8 of Wandee Goodday aired 4 days later on June 22, followed by episode 6 of OMG! Vampire on June 23.)

I can’t wait to see more same-sex engagements and weddings in Thai shows as we move forward.

[respectthepetty]

Pride Petty Watch

Long story short, I owe the BL gods, so I'll be watching TWO series from my Petty List during the month of June. This list includes shows I haven't watched for purely petty reasons, so I'm asking the crowd to pick the two shows I will watch from all the MAME series, some censored Chinese bromances, a few sexual tension-filled Korean bromances, and one wild card.

I'm making my first ever poll, so whichever two series get the highest numbers will be the two I watch. And for all the kind people in the crowd, this is not the time to think about me. Pick your favorite. And for all the people who I annoy on the daily with my wild ass takes that piss you off, pick TharnType. But there is a possibility of a secret thirteenth option that would hurt me much worse . . .

The petty ass reasons are below the poll.

Disclaimer: If you're going to read the petty ass reasons, I need you to understand these are PETTY ASS REASONS, so don't try to hit me with 2,000 words about why me not watching censored bromances is a problem or why me not liking your fave hurts your feelings. Nah. Pick a show!

MAME

Love By Chance

This show came out at the end of 2018, and I watched the first episode, maybe first two, and thought it was boring. Then, in 2019, I saw a GIF of the locker scene, so I recommitted. I made it past the first episode just when the PerthSaint drama started spilling out everywhere, so I chucked the deuces and haven't returned since.

TharnType

For some reason, I couldn't find the first episode when it aired. Then, I found out how the first episode ended. Then, I found out about Type's past. Then, I just kept finding out more awful stuff until eventually the MewGulf shit finally hit the fan, and I was still reeling from the PerthSaint drama (and the emerging ZeeSaint chaos). At this point, I've built this show up so much that I'm afraid to see what it is actually about.

Don't Say No

A story of another GIF of a locker room scene sucking me in! After the first two MAME pairs blew up, I believed her shows were cursed, so I opted out of watching this one even though I thought it would be the one to vibe with me the most. But the biggest reason was because the main characters came from TharnType, so I felt like I would have to watch TharnType to understand this show, which was a big hell nah.

Love in the Air

I watched this through mutuals on my dash, so I feel like I did watch it. It is also the highest rated MAME series, so I had faith in it. However, when I found out about Sky's past, TharnType's ghost popped back up, and I realized this demon of a show is gonna haunt me in every MAME series.

The Wedding Plan

Y'all hated one of the leads so much while it was airing that I now hate him, and I don't think I can let that go, so I'm coming in with pre-hate and TharnType's ghost, but on top of that, some of y'all said it was boring. But what is boring in a MAME series? Consent? Not kidnapping someone? I never got answers, so I'm very conflicted about this show.

Censored Chinese

The Untamed

It's color coded, but FIFTY FUCKING EPISODES! What is this shit? Grey's Anatomy? The fuck! Second, once China pulled Addicted, I was holding grudges for life because it crossed from entertainment censorship into real-world oppression, so I could not bring myself to support media from a country that openly discriminates against the queers when I live in America where our highest court is just one Supreme Court Justice away from making us all live in the damn Mojo Dojo Casa House.

Word of Honor

It's color coded, but THIRTY-SIX FUCKING EPISODES! What is this shit? Supernatural?! The fuck! Second, I don't know the difference between this and The Untamed. Both are color-coded, one of them has a lot of uncles (?), one of them has awful facial hair, and they all have pretty outfits. Every time someone makes a reference about these shows, I just nod the same way I do when people mention Star Wars because none of it makes sense.

Guardian

I spent two years believing Killer and Healer was Guardian. I haven't watched either, but I thought they were the same show. Honestly, if this show wins, I might just watch Killer and Healer because I will forget they are not the same show. Don't they both solve cases? And because it's China, past lives must be involved, no? I'm looking at their MDLs as I write this, and I'm still not convinced they are different.

Stay with Me

It's color coded, but I know how it ends, and word on the street is that IS the ending since a second season seems unlikely. China couldn't just let me be hurt over Addicted, the original. No. Gotta hurt me again with Addicted, the remake. Rude af.

The Spirealm

First off, SEVENTY-EIGHT FUCKING EPISODES! What is this shit? Law & Order: SVU?! The fuck! I know how this ends, and it ain't happy! I don't care how people are trying to spin it, so to sit through SEVENTY-EIGHT DAMN EPISODES just for that ending already has me irate. And don't try telling me Viki combined episodes so it's only thirty-four. That's still a lot. However, everybody who has watched it says it's phenomenal, so is the pain worth it or are these people all lying so they convince themselves it was worth it?

Korean Bromance

Beyond Evil

With most Korean dramas, I feel like I missing something important. Like some part of the story does not click with me and I stay lost for the rest of the show. I suck it up for the queers, but the not-queers-but-it-is-queer shows . . . nah, and especially one about cops . . . (-_-). Also, The Worst of Evil just showed, and it was another reminder that I need these cops to quit their jobs and just screw each other. Embrace "Be Gay. Do Crime"

The Devil Judge

I know enough about Kpop to know GOT7 would not let one of its members kiss a man in this show. I looked at those GIFs of Jeff Satur and Jackson Wang on their show knowing damn well that if Wang got too close to Satur, an entire management team would have ascended from hell and kidnapped both of them, so the promo for this show was so wild because it felt queerbait-adjacent, and I was salty about it.

WILD CARD!

This option will be automatically unlocked IF this stupid little poll gets 216 votes, so I have high hopes this will not happen since I ain't that popular and I hate this wild card which is . . .

SOTUS

This show is my original TharnType. It came out in 2016. I watched it live. I watched the sequel. I remember neither. New was in it? Off was in it?! WHAT?! I have no memory of this show except Krist wiping his mouth, and I have carried that with me for eight damn years. I loved Be My Favorite, so I thought I moved past whatever strange grudge I was holding against this man who doesn't know I exist nor care, but then I saw that trailer for The Ex-Morning, and unlike Elsa, I can't let this shit go, so I'm willing to play Jumanji and go back into the jungle to finish this once and all.

So what it's gonna be, mi gente. Which demons am I facing for Pride and what shows do I get to stay petty about? Help me decide!

[lurkingshan]

Favorite Kiss Game

Rules: create a poll with five of your all time favorite onscreen kisses, setting any standard for qualification you choose. Then tag more friends to join in!

Tagged by @he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle. For my poll, I am going with bl kisses that marked a major transition in a romance arc, because for me, the best kisses are the ones that have real meaning to the characters and their emotional journeys. To narrow the pool and eliminate some heavy hitters, I am excluding first kisses here and focusing on important kisses that came later in a relationship.

TharnType: Type Reaches out for Tharn

For all that this show is remembered for all the high heat sexy sex, this simple chaste kiss is the most important one in the story. It's the first moment of casual affection between them and the first time Type reaches for Tharn without trying to fight what he wants.

Bad Buddy: All In at the Beach

This beach trip is the moment Pran and Pat decided they were all in on fighting for this relationship, even if it meant a lifetime of half truths and hiding. Their kiss on the beach sealed it and led to their first time.

History 3: Make Our Days Count: Engaged

This proposal was so wild and so fast, but it made perfect sense for this couple. Bo Xiang needed to show that he was serious and Zhi Gang needed to feel secure. The way Zhi Gang cried while they kissed said it all.

Lovely Writer: No More Hiding

This is the moment when everything for Nubsib and Gene is finally out in the open with both the public and their families: who they are, how they feel about each other, and what they are willing to fight for. It was cathartic to see them kiss in the street in front of their childhood homes in full view of their families.

The Eighth Sense: It's Not the End of the Story

Oh, and I'm afraid that's just the way the world works

It ain't funny, it ain't pretty, it ain't sweet

Oh, and I'm afraid that's just the way the world works

But I think that it could work for you and me

Just wait and see

It's not the end of the story

Brb gotta go rewatch T8S.

Come play if you want: @incandescentflower @my-rose-tinted-glasses @callipigio @negrowhat @slayerkitty

And: @doublel27 @pharawee @mysterygrl20 @wen-kexing-apologist @williamrikers

Plus: @hyeoni-comb @troubled-mind @gillianthecat @shortpplfedup @shannankle

[jaejoongs-nipple-piercing]

And as of 7am this morning I’ve been fired and still was not given a reason. I tried to talk about all the things I did to make sure I was being safe and following the rules but something happened and they don’t like me because I wasn’t progressing fast enough for them.

So my fear of being 30 and jobless has now unfortunately come true.

May 1, 2024: laid off due to lack of work

July 9, 2024: suspended with no explanation, said they need to investigate.

I haven’t done anything wrong. I do what they tell me and how they tell me to do it. I know I’m a bit slower but I’m better than I was. This job is more and more like Scenic and now I’m ‘most likely’ 30 and jobless.

[waitmyturtles]

Have you read any of the Thai academic papers regarding MAME's work? sometimes I feel like fandom at large has a very strong western bias towards her that borders on xenophobia in review of anything attached to her unless it's more low stakes gmmtv style stuff like wedding plan was which suits western sensibilities more.

Hi, Non! This is interesting framing you've put forth here. I want to note that I'm close with some folks, particularly @bengiyo and @lurkingshan, whose critical tastes I trust, and I can assure myself that they would not call Wedding Plan low stakes. During my Old GMMTV Challenge project, I promised myself that I would not watch another MAME show after Love By Chance and TharnType, and I've taken Ben's and Shan's urging to chuck that aside to add Wedding Plan to my OGMMTVC syllabus, which I'll get to after my summer travels. Let me take a second to sort this all out in a more sensible and chronological answer to touch upon what I know about MAME now that I'm much more read into Thai BLs and the history of the genre.

Regarding academia and MAME, I have not read Thai source material on her start and her legacy in Thai Y novel writing and Thai BL/Series Y television productions. What I am in the midst of reading at the moment is Dr. Thomas Baudinette's Boys Love Media in Thailand (Baudinette hailing from Australia), and he does get in depth with MAME's beginnings, which for me was the first primary source material that I have encountered about her background. To summarize quickly, MAME (along with individuals like INDRYTIMES/Kwang Latika, who wrote the original novel for Love Sick, and others) was part of the first crop of young middle-to-upper-class female college students who became enamored with Japanese BL/yaoi manga, as well as (in many cases) K-pop idols, and began writing fan fiction about and/or in the styles of these interests, which led to the development of the unique Thai Y novel genre.

It does seem to me, at least on Tumblr, that a good chunk of Western fandom here has written off MAME. I'm Asian-American, and I come to my hesitation about MAME from a particularly Asian perspective, so I really can't speak for the non-Asian fans about what they're rejecting. Let me at least explain what I'm rejecting, and how I've engaged in dialogue about it with critical friends here.

LBC did not have as much of what I will attempt to describe as I saw in TharnType, something that I might now call collectivist homophobia or collectivist bias. But LBC had a smattering of it, something that I smelled early on in that series. In both series, MAME seemed to approach her characters, to me, with a distanced hand of judgement that, to me, recalled the kinds of biases that my Asian parents tried to implant in me in my childhood, that I rejected throughout my young years. Queer material is so very often not good to its queer characters, and it seemed to me through LBC and TT that MAME intended to gild that lily to channel a populist homophobia that she seemed to know would resonate with a broader fanbase -- which it did, in part, because TharnType in particular was the first Thai BL with heat in every episode.

(Two things to note about my review of TharnType that I penned last year. First item to note is that Boys Love Media in Thailand had not been published yet, and I had not read primary source material about MAME. I was enraged at the time about fan theories that MAME had been a victim of sexual assault, and had therefore written her queer characters with the biased vitriol that I perceived coming from her because of that theorized past. I still think these theories are equivocating and problematic. Second item is that I heavily recommend reading the reblogs of my TT review, tags and posts and all, to see literally the spectrum of commentary of the MAME fandom/anti-fandom across Tumblr. Writing that post and reading those reblogs was a hell of a great experience.)

Just to summarize this, then -- I choose to not engage with MAME because I see under- and overhanded bias in the work that I've watched, with my Asian eyes; and I just might assume that many Westerners see the same thing. But I don't really know, because I haven't talked to that many Western fans about the depth of this.

So what does this mean for this moment in time? I understand MAME's Love Sea is airing, which I'm not watching, and I missed the boat on Love In the Air -- so I think I'm missing some critical and/or catty chatter about those two shows from the fandom because I don't have context.

But I do know there are folks out there that either write MAME off wholly, likely for similar reasons that I've listed above, and/or hate-watch her shows and post about it. To each their own.

I would not have considered Wedding Plan if Ben and Shan weren't screaming about it. I'm happy to have fewer shows on my plate, I got no time. However.

Nothing in this world exists in a static vacuum. If MAME is experimenting with tone, approach, style, and even taste regarding her shows, then more power to her. @bengiyo's post linked above about Wedding Plan is important for me to see, because I see that he's noting that parts of the fandom may have actually demonstrated real homophobic dialogue about MAME's fictional characters, which, to me, I'm like, what? Really? You got time for that? But also:

If MAME, back in 2019 with TharnType, picked up that her Thai and global fanbases were more inclined to check in with collectivist homophobia, as I'm calling it.... and now, in 2023-2024, has noted that her fanbases might be far more inclined to support real queer equality and overtones in shows, and is including those themes in her work -- can we not welcome that change in? That's why I'll give Wedding Plan a shot.

Let's be sassy and ironic for a second. Could she be making this change for da money and the fame? Sure. But -- capitalism unfortunately rules this world. Car commercials in the States have interracial queer couples parenting children nowadays. If equality talks to money, then content makers will take note. I think I'd be a hypocrite to say that MAME shouldn't make her dollar, all while she's experimenting with more equitable stances.

Last note. There's been quite the dialogue simmering these past few weeks about GMMTV's We Are, and whether or not GMMTV is stepping away from a past where many (not all, but many) of its shows explored queerness in depth. He's Coming To Me, Bad Buddy, Dark Blue Kiss (yes... the first three shows I listed were Aof Noppharnach shows, fuck), Theory of Love, 3 Will Be Free. The major GMMTV BL/GL shows that have aired recently that have made huge waves on social media -- Only Friends, 23.5, Last Twilight, and now My Love Mix-Up -- were/are helmed by branded (capitalism, hello!) pairs, and three out of four of them were flops, with MLMU already treading that territory in EPISODE TWO, for heaven's sake. (Y'all, read the reblogs on this post. Wow.) I finished a rewatch of The Eclipse weeks ago, and I'm dragging my feet on my review, because of what I think that show represents for what branded pairs end up doing to otherwise original content.

I want to posit a theory, that I'll work more on when my OGMMTVC is over, that we have living, real-time proof that the branded pair system is failing good content -- because these shows have to produce engagement snippets of these pairs, instead of more broadly penetrating artistic content. GMMTV's one-off shows with non-branded pairs, like Be My Favorite and Wandee Goodday, are FAR MORE INTERESTING content-wise, varied and inquisitive in their artistic takes on queerness. Even Cherry Magic, featuring the long-awaited return of TayNew, felt fresh, because we literally hadn't seen TayNew in FIVE YEARS. Tay actually KISSED ANOTHER DUDE, shocker!, in 3 Will Be Free. I want to go back to those days, where the pairs could act well outside of their range and their business partners, instead of being limited to the same tone and style that their pairings and their fandoms demand.

I say ALL OF THIS, because isn't it interesting that GMMTV seems to be reverting on a scale of inquisitiveness about queerness -- and MAME seems to be going in the opposite direction?

I would not have expected it. But I have found, lately, some of GMMTV's "takes" on "queerness," as in Only Friends, to be outright offensive. This corporation has become far more gunshy to let their branded pairs just be fictionally gay. If MAME wants to take on a healthier stance of equity, and to play around with more realistic depictions of what it means to be queer in Thailand, then go for it, girl. I will admittedly be watching Wedding Plan with my Asian side-eye and my smell tests for bias, but I look forward to being proven wrong about my suspicions. I want to be a responsible fan here, open to MAME's changes.

This ended up being a lot, but thank you for provoking these thoughts, Non.