#thai branded pairs

[absolutebl]

Hi P’ABL! I saw the post earlier about branded pairs taking someone out of the story and just wanted to add my two cents, since you and I seem to be somewhat aligned on liking them (at least story/show wise). For me personally, another reason I like the pair system is I’m not worried about them being as uncomfortable!

I know the system has flaws, to put it mildly, but with the rise of pairs like EarthMix, FirstKhaotung, and even OhmNanon, it’s so nice to know that they were friends first, so they most likely could communicate better on boundaries while acting. I know they are all professionals, but something I always worry about with a lot of higher heat shows is the actors feeling pressured to do more than they are comfortable with (this isn’t unique to BL, either). When the actors are paired, and especially when they’re friends prior to being paired, I worry less that they were coerced into doing high heat they aren’t prepared for. It’s probably my anxiety that makes me worried about that more than usual.

Do you think the pair system could ever be moved to more of a healthy dynamic? On paper, the idea of pairing two actors who are comfortable with each other, good actors, with guaranteed chemistry seems amazing for actors and production companies alike. However I know there’s a lot of shit that happens in the background that makes it a lot more complex than that.

Hum, I think a lot about the 1950s Hollywood studio system with pair branding.

Do you think the pair system could ever be moved to more of a healthy dynamic?

Maybe? I mean it isn't the 1950s anymore, so evolution may go differently. (Much as humans love their repeated patterns.)

On paper, the idea of pairing two actors who are comfortable with each other, good actors, with guaranteed chemistry seems amazing for actors and production companies alike.

Yes.... on paper.

But never forget actors act.

It's what they, presumably, do best. I'm not saying any of these friendships we see between pairs are faked or forced, but I am saying that what WE see is performative.

Yes ALWAYS. On the v-live, on those bts cuts, on that reality TV show.

Also, please remember, actors tend to be narcissists - so how they behave around friendship, and notions of it, is different than many ordinary people. Their egos are both fixed, unmoored, and mercurial. Fixed because they are grounded in talent and beauty, unmoored because they often suffer from imposter syndrome (over one or both of those first 2 aspects), and mercurial because they take on other personalities so easily. Mimicry is their job, after all.

Maybe I'm jaded. But when I say never date an actor, I REALLY mean it. I mean I've plenty of celebrity-type friends, but they are a different kind of friend that requires a different kind of maintenance. They are TONS of fun to be around, but would I call them for help in times of need? Never. They aren't... how to put this nicely?... dependable.

Now when and how does the performance become the person, or the friendship? That's a fascinating question to examine.

You could watch 2017's Method, a KBL-ish movie that sort of tackles this. But it's emotionally rough going.

Since celebrities are notoriously difficult to study, psychologically speaking, we may never have actual data on this one. So in an awfully meta way I suppose we have to turn our attention back to fiction for the discussion.

(Never did I think there would come a time where I would recommend Method. Huh.)

[doublel27]

I’m still thinking about Daou Pittya’s live last night where he roasted fans and his current mission to get people to stop using the terms koojin and fanservice.

And thinking about how Pond and Phuwin admitted they hang out a lot but they don’t post any of it because they don’t want their actual relationship outside of work to be called fanservice.

And thinking about the interview BillyBabe gave recently where they reiterated that they don’t engage in fanservice and they can’t make anyone believe anything about their relationship anyway.

And about old videos of Earth during early ATOTS era asking MCs not to use the term koojin about him and Mix.

And about YinWar, BossNouel and MaxTul always having been very honest that they are friends who work together. Never obscuring that fact.

And about Tay Tawan loudly saying that OffGunTayNew all kiss each other all the time since Gun showed up and the realties of their friendship are none of your business.

And about Krist loudly saying he’s allowed to have friends.

Because none of these pairs intend to stop acting with their current partner (aside from MaxTul because Tul has left the industry entirely.) They’re not protesting being paired with another person for multiple projects. They are protesting the commodification, the telling a person who they are with know actual knowledge, and frankly homophobic/toxic masculinity drenched idea that for a man to show care to another man they either have to have a deep romantic relationship or they’re faking it all for the money, even the stuff with no branding attached.

And half the stuff that gets filed away as evidence that two men in a pair or are dating or that everything is definitely fanservice and is entirely manufactured are things that are completely normal in female friendships:

Looking at a person when they speak

Knowing someone’s likes and dislikes

Thoughtful gifts

Saying you love them/care

Acts of service

Physical affection

Sometimes being jealous of a friend’s relationship with other friends

Hanging out outside of work

And yeah, some of them may be just coworkers that they grit their teeth and work with and fake it til they make it. But some pairs out there have a genuine relationship, however they label it. And however it’s labeled is none of your business.

As a fan, you have no right to tell them how to act, whether it’s to call out fanservice and demand they stop or to tell them they can’t have other friends. Both are toxic extremes and treating a person like an object you can control.

There’s a longer essay on this, that I plan to finish soon, but this is where my brain keeps cycling through.

Bottom line, listen to these men when they speak. Trust their agency. I hope they keep clapping back at everyone.

[heretherebedork]

May 2025 be the year that pair branding falls apart and sets free the actors to make out with anyone they're comfortable with and frees them from typecasting.

[manogirl]

I am truly loving ThamePo, but something that I haven't been able to stop thinking about for a few weeks is what the endgame is.

I know it's a BL, I know it's GMMTV, and I know what that means. GMMTV ends shows happily, with very few exceptions. I know that.

I don't know what GMMTV thinks about the "idols can't fall in love" rule though I do know how bad fans react when there's a hint of a whisper of a rumor that someone in a branded pair has a girlfriend, and GMMTV quite obviously knows that too.

My question is: if GMMTV makes a BL where the obvious message is that idols should be allowed to fall in love, is that also a message on where GMMTV stands on this issue?

Because if that's the case, that seems....like a radical message to send? NEEDED, so needed, don't get me wrong. But it's almost unimaginable that a major company whose business is (and we all know it is, as we snap up permpoon change purses, samruay luggage tags and tomafox pouches [no? just me? ah well.]) selling branded pairs would come out and say, "yeah no, our artists are humans and deserve to be in love like anyone else."

Walking this tightrope and trying to end up with a happy ending AND the branded pair system unchanged seems like a very tall order to me. I hope I'm wrong, and there's a happy end AND an unequivocal message that idols are humans, because this show is really firing on all cylinders for me.

[maybe-boys-do-love]

Ossan’s Love Thailand! Don’t think I don’t see you working in the beginning notes from the 1000 Stars theme into the score! You can pretend you’re just a wacky comedy but I heard you doing it right at the beginning of part 4 in episode 3, you know, the same section where they do the reversal of the famous forehead kiss from that series. You clever dog! Just like you did with the Moonlight Chicken score last week! I’m onto you!

[lurkingshan]

Wowwww. So I wondered what was going on with the low review score on The Trainee on MDL, and @neuroticbookworm bravely went into the comments to investigate. Apparently angry TayNew shippers are review bombing the show to get back at Gun for kissing Tay. I cannot fucking believe people.

[guzhufuren]

what kinda one on one fancalls are those

[ineffable-opinions]

Earliest Branded Pairs in BL

Hu Jun and Liu Ye

They played Chen HanDong and Lan Yu in Lan Yu (2001) directed by Stanley Kwan. They also acted in Painting Soul (2003), by the same director, which was not a BL.

Hu Jun had previously acted in East Palace, West Palace (1996). Episode 6 of Blue Canvas of Youthful Days (2024) had Qi Lu and Qin Xiao watching that movie.

Stills from Lan Yu and Manifesto.

They appeared together in the Chinese TV Show Where Are We Going, Dad? Season 3 (2015), an event celebrated by their CP fans! They also acted together in Manifesto (2023). This is in line with Chinese government's complicated history with shipping and fu-cultures.

CCP is not always hostile towards BL and shipping. I mean, CCP is the second largest political party in the world with like nearly hundred million members. Some of them are fu-people, who create and consume BL. Some of them engage in shipping - of characters as well as real people including celebrities and senior party members. (I have discussed this in the context of Addicted here.) The appeal of a branded pair, who is not against getting shipped, doing a series like Manifesto is therefore manifold. Hence, JunYe CP is one of the most important branded pair ever.

Watanabe Daisuke and Hamao Kyousuke

They played Saki Giichi and Hayama Takumi in 4 BL movies:

Takumi-kun Series 2: Rainbow Colored Glass (2009)

Takumi-kun Series 3: The Beauty of Detail (2010)

Takumi-kun Series 4: Pure (2010)

Takumi-kun Series 5: That, Sunny Blue Sky (2011)

and acted in an non-BL movie:

Our Kogen Hotel (2013)

All of these movies were directed by Yokoi Takeshi. While I wonder if he's going to repeat it with the new cast of Takumi-kun Series 6: Nagai Nagai Monogatari no Hajimari no Asa. (2023), I am less sure given Kato Daigo who played Saki Giichi in the new movie is already 24 and he can only play a high schooler for so long. Also, I am not sure how the movie performed on the box office and if it would have a sequel.

This pair started off with The Musical Prince of Tennis #4 where Watanabe Daisuke played Tezuka Kinimitsu with Hamao Kyousuke as Kikumaru for 2 years.

All early 21st century Japanese live action BL had a handful of actors (Saitoh Takumi, Kawai Ryunosuke, Yoshikazu Kotani, Aiba Hiroki, Takahashi Yuta, Saito Yasuka and Namikawa Hajime) who appeared in multiple BL works but with different onscreen partners, so DaiMao branded pair was pretty unique.

Japanese BL doesn't have any branded pair currently.

[unpopularopinionbydemand]

You follow right-wing extremists but kiss men for a living...

Ho, is you cool?

[dribs-and-drabbles]

My suspicions following ep 2 of My Love Mix-up that Atom has the Mustard brand yellow-soled shoes have been proven correct after ep 5. But more than that, it seems Atom has three pairs of the sneakers.

The first, a white canvas with a thin blue stripe:

The second, a grey/clay canvas (similar to these):

And the third, the originals he wore back in ep 2, different from the first ones because they have no blue stripe (I think they're these ones):

Lucky boy.

And I'd just like to draw @respectthepetty's attention to Atom's blue socks in the fourth pic...and I'm sure you've seen Kongthap's blue sneakers (and the yellow flashlight Atom is carrying)...

Anyway, I've updated the communal wardrobe post with the top two pairs until I get a good confirmation of the third.

[thatgirl4815]

Hi. Im really curious about your opinion on branded pairs in Thai BL marketing, especially about Firstkhaotung. I happen to like both actors very much (since Moonlight Chicken) and then from the Eclipse and Only friends. It would be great to see them as a couple in an upcoming show but acting career wise it could limit their range or project choices if this branded pairs marketing strategy dictates certain limits. My somewhat negative feelings about it came from moonlight chicken which was the second Thai series that I watched and Earthmix seem to be such a strong branded pair that I found the watching experience strange and then the shoehorning of 2 Alan Gaipa scenes in the end. How do you see it? And which one is your favourite branded pair (if there is any)?

Hi! So sorry it’s taken me a bit to answer this - it’s been a crazy few days.

I also think there are both strengths and weaknesses to having branded pairings, and I think OF happened to be a really good example of that. I’ve seen quite a few disgruntled reactions to the branded pairings ending up together in the end…I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the one couple who didn’t end up together was the one that wasn’t pre-established.

In the case of Moonlight Chicken, I think it can apply similarly, though maybe not as obviously. I like the AlanGaipa scenes but I do agree that if it hadn’t been FirstKhao coming off of The Eclipse, would they have had those scenes in the end? My gut says no.

I’m kind of torn overall tbh, because I think branded pairings work for a reason. There have been so many standouts that have been hugely successful because of it - EarthMix, FirstKhao, and OffGun to name a few. The problem comes when those branded pairings interfere with plot and limit the creativity in these stories. The majority of audiences want to see their faves together, but that stunts creativity in some aspects if the plot could be better served by a different endgame (or no endgame altogether, in the case of TopMew in OF).

Anyways, I think it’s a slippery slope for gmmtv and bl in general to pursue branded pairings because it’s a huge money draw and appeals to fans, but it’s a balance of creativity and storytelling and appealing to the chemistry that viewers love so much. For me personally, FirstKhao has always been my favorite pairing since The Eclipse for a lot of reasons, but one that stands out is that their acting is so strong individually as well as together. I’ve noticed in BL especially, branded pairings have a tendency to lean into each other so much in their acting that it’s difficult to tell if they could actually hold their own on screen. FK have done that, and sprinkling in their chemistry when together just takes everything to a whole new level.

[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)

[watchthisqqq]

I am not very familiar with either of these pairings but I had a question. People seem ok with Dunk/Phuwin getting together despite them being in branded pairs. Why is that? When people get very upset in other situations if a person in a pair is with someone else. Even Pond and Joong seem to endorse it.

[heretherebedork]

I mean, that's one way to show you don't have feelings for him anymore... too bad you got spotted.

[theflagscene]

I’m watching the Zombvior blessing livestream and I’m such a parent lol, I stg. I’m just thinking like: Max wake up, Tommy stop talking. Wake up Zee! Park at least pretend to pay attention, Net, James stop giggling and you… I have no idea who you are but don’t play fight in the front row also why in heaven’s name would you wear leather pants!? It’s a blessing ceremony not a nightclub, plus it’s mid-morning in Thailand, aren’t you boiling!?

Listen, no one likes to go to church but this is part of your job, we know y’all have been to dozens of these but still at least act interested lol!!

In other news, the pure joy I got from seeing Jimmy again, healthy (hopefully) and surrounded by his other actors and colleagues. I’m just glad he’s well again, or well enough to work at the very least. Also, I didn’t see Boun there, I hope he just had to miss it because of other work commitments and not because he’s pulled out of the series.

Zee, absolutely too tall to be in the front row for pictures but legit everyone is screaming for him, so obviously they push him front and centre lol. And Yim just going to start to pass the blessed food out before everyone else was just too adorable, he was just like peace out, Imma go hang out with the screaming fans.

Huh, did Zee grow up secular? Or possibly Christian? Because he seems to be doing the very bare minimum, could be the poor dude is just freaking exhausted. But I could also see it kind of sucking having a religious ceremony tied into your contract for a religion you don’t follow, I know there’s a substantial number of Christian communities in Thailand as well even more Muslim communities, though it is a predominantly Buddhist country. But as I continue to watch I think it has to do with exhaustion more than anything else, the poor man seems dead on his feet, no pun intended, cause ya know, zombies.

Okay well this press conference is impossible to hear, hopefully they’ll have another event with better sound recording. Livestreams are always iffy, especially when held outdoors.

Considering how many pairings are being interviewed together, I’m thinking teh gay will be strong with this zombie series. Love the actors that aren’t being interviewed are just standing around in the shade eating ice cream, there are perks in not being the superstars lol!

[kinglenaaaa]

JoongDunk are the smartest co-branded bl pair in whole of gmmtv, if not the whole industry.

The way that they use social media is so clever, they’re always in the spotlight even when they don’t have any show or promo activities. Twitter, text messages, ig stories, all of their media platforms work FOR them. All they need to do is just flirt, send a couple of “I miss you” messages or tweets, post a selfie and done!!

They’re very consistent, they stick to a narrative, and it pays off. Dunk has over a million followers, even though he only had ONE extremely mid show!! In comparison, Forcebook are still under one million, both of them.

Whatever my personal thoughts on the co-branding system are, I am so amused of the way joongdunk manoeuvre it in their favour, by smartly using their social media. Idk whose big brained decision it was, but it clearly works. I applaud them!!