#this is aimed at bl fandom

[forkaround]

for the people in the back with cotton in their ears: 'REAL' QUEERNESS IS NOT JUST ANGSTY, TOXIC AND PROBLEMATIC. QUEERNESS CAN BE SIMPLE, SOFT AND KIND. IT CAN AND SHOULD BE ALL THE GOOD THINGS. Please don't keep seeing queerness through a single lens. You are just reinventing homophobia in a different font. Let girls kiss girls and be soft and happy. Let boys kiss boys and be soft and happy. That is unarguably QUEER AS FUCK. The point of queerness is you don't have to prove something. Realistic Queerness is just as much bad stuff as it is good stuff, you are not better for preferring one over the other and the person with the opposite pov isn't better or worse than you for their preferences.

[incompetentcompetence]

the day China nulls their goddamn LGBTQ+ rep censor for media is the day we’ll have access to beautiful stories like no other.

sadly, I might be old and wrinkled by then.

wtv, if the original Spirk shippers can do it, I can wait it out too…

or actually Taiwan gets a budget and all is solved

[bo-cute-o]

PSA to content creators as we enter the holiday season

(and a quick self reminder bc fuck knows I've gotten this backwards too)

Mistletoe has white berries

Holly has red berries

Ty & have a nice day

[fuck-you-upmusicbracket]

Welcome everyone, to the Fuck-You-Up Music Bracket - Round 2!!!!!

Ever had a song you can't get out of your head, a song that strips you down to your very being and leaves you with nothing? A song that you project onto your angstiest of blorbos? A song that hits you smack where you live? Or how about a song that you just really enjoy?

Then this is the place for you! We're reopening submissions for a second bracket, to crown a new champion as the ultimate fuck-you-up ballard of tumblr!

Submission Rules

Don't resubmit songs that were in the first bracket. They won't be allowed in. I've put the first bracket under the read more, so you can check before you submit. Unfortunately there is no spreadsheet version, but you can search my blog for the artists of previous rounds

You can resubmit songs that were submitted to the first bracket, but didn't make it in

Submissions for the previous bracket closed on 26th of May 2023. Any music released since then is fair game

Submissions will aim to stay open for a week, but if I get a crazy amount, they will close sooner

Because it took me so long to sort through them last time, I'm aiming to cap submissions at 600, with a bracket size of around approximately 512, but this may change

This probably goes without saying, but don't re-submit the same song multiple times. It makes my job harder, and chances are someone submitted the same song as you already

Songs from movies, musicals, TV shows, video games and other media are allowed!

As are scores and soundtracks and songs without lyrics!

Songs in languages other than English are allowed too!

Songs must be at least remotely fuck-you-up-ish. You must be able to justify its place in the tournament

You can rant about whatever blorbo you project your song onto in your descriptions, it helps me understand your reasoning better :)

Songs created by problematic bands/artists/media are allowed. However, I am not in control of how quickly it might get voted off

Propaganda is allowed and encouraged! No slander though

Submissions close on 14th of February 10:00AM (UK Time)

If there are any problems with the form or other questions, please send me an ask or message

Submissions are now closed

Tagging for visibility

@tournament-announcer @best-tournament-blog-bracket @ao3topshipsbracket @autismswagsummit @besttropeveershowdown @bl-bracket @champsinthemaking @controversial-blorbo-bracket @dysfunctional-family-fight @fandom-march-madness @fictional-gods-tournament @fictional-twink-bracket @gay-disabled-characters-showdown @gimmick-blog-bracket @girlbossmalewifetournament @goverment-agency-bracket @guess-that-ship @haveyouseenthisseries-poll @its-to-the-death @npd-characters-tournament @pokemonbattletournament @princesspoll @quote-tournament @sexiestpodcastcharacter @who-do-i-know-this-man @undertale-ost-tournament @variouspolltournaments @tragic-ships-tournament @do-you-ship-it-polls @midwest-emo-tournament

[atiny-for-life]

A general rant about shipping and all that stuff...

I was asked by @thirstkanaphan for my take on this post so I've gathered my thoughts and realized I actually have a lot to say about the topic, broadly speaking and beyond the scope of what was mentioned there.

Before I begin, I'll preface this by saying I think about all of this extremely differently than what's talked about in the post. I personally also don't feel comfortable applying fictional shipping dynamics onto real people, but I also don't view it as harmful as long as it maintains restricted to fandom spaces and doesn't get pushed out to the ones it's about, so I hope we can all be cool about this!

Also, I'm 29 now and I've seen the way shipping culture has impacted real people's friendships and such, so I'll abstain from interpreting into any of their dynamics - I'll just go based on what I see and what they've said.

#1 - The Current Drama (apparently. I was previously unaware of this.)

Regarding the whole WooSanSang shipper-drama, all I can think is... this is just history repeating itself. We had the same stuff going on in the BTS fandom when certain Taekook shippers started piling onto Jimin for no reason. And what did that accomplish? Nothing. Precisely. It just made everyone, especially Tae and Jungkook, uncomfortable.

Back then, Tae even specifically called those shippers out and yet they still wouldn't stop:

So please, guys, let's not follow in those footsteps. Be better than this!

#2 - The Main Topic: Ateez vs Fanservice and Group Chemistry™

I definitely won't sit here and claim Ateez don't do fanservice - they do a lot for the fans directly (certainly more than I think they should feel obligated to) and they're obviously aware fans scream louder when any of them get close to each other, so they most likely know the most popular "ships", but I personally think comparing any of this to the Thai BL industry is taking things too far. Way too far, even.

But I'll explain myself:

I remembered them directly addressing this type of thing before so I dug around a bit and found the discussion I was thinking of in this 2020 video:

From that, we can already gather that group dynamics and chemistry have always been fluent in their heads and it's not about couples - duos, trios, the 99 line, Tropical Boys - it's all on the same level for them, all of it contributes to the Group Chemistry™.

Hongjoong here is still hilarious to me though:

On top of that, I genuinely don't think the company cares much about any of this. They just let them do whatever as long as they don't go causing controversies. That's also why they let the guys loose without media training. (The Jumping Ban™ was always a joke btw - it was never real.)

You gotta keep in mind KQ was originally a management agency - they were never following the same grain as BigHit. They also never had Ateez on a dating ban. I really don't think ships were on their mind much at all for a long time, probably right up until WooSan shippers felt the need to act up and start micro-analyzing and interpreting a million things into every small exchange which must have been impossible to ignore.

I do think that sudden shitstorm made all eight of them more aware of the many eyes that have been newly aimed at them and it's made them more careful and reserved in regards to certain things like having arguments on camera and such - they used to include moments like those in Logbooks sometimes.

But regardless, as someone who's been on top of Ateez's content since 2021, I honestly can't say I ever sensed a strain in any of their dynamics. They all very clearly adore each other a lot and, as time passed, they all collectively got closer and closer, but as they've matured, new dynamics also emerged (Topaz, for example, got really close really quickly, but also JongSang have gotten wilder, SanSang obviously got closer, and Wooyoung's lil crush on Yunho was addressed openly - and often jokingly). But that's just what happens when you're around the same 7 people day in and day out for years.

We see the same thing in groups like NCT Dream who all grew up together and have been together for ages. They constantly shift who they're obsessed with, but the overall family dynamic never wavers. I think that's just human nature - you switch up your favorite person to hang out with which keeps things interesting.

What I think is generally noteworthy though is that multiple duos can be doing the exact same thing, but only the most popular ships will be talked about and it'll be seen as A Moment™. This happens all the time.

But if you zoom out and actually keep track of all of them, it's clear to see they're all constantly all over each other - both with words and actions. I mean, all of these are from the same recent Logbook alone:

These guys just really, really love each other a lot and they're super comfortable in each other's space. They also all talk about each other all the time, whether the others are around or not. And whenever they have a solo schedule it's all "the members this", "the members that" - it's super sweet.

But more importantly, as they've gained popularity, they've also gotten more and more opportunities to build their careers, both as a group and individually. And this is exactly why I think this is no way comparable to the Thai BL industry which is wholly centred around couple-dynamics.

Ateez have been and always will be primarily about music, dancing, occasionally modelling, and whatever other passions they have. Since the beginning, they performed in zombie make-up, with masks on, etc. - they want to be known for their performances, their achievements and that's what they promote.

Whenever they do do fanservice, it's very obvious, honestly. For example, the duo fancalls recently where they were acting out what the fans wanted (the SeongJoong hug, Wooyoung sucking at Yeosang's cheek). Or when they play games where they have to get really up close and personal, they'll often exaggerate it and make teasing comments. Or when Wooyoung rubbed up against everyone while dancing to "Sexy Back" (San and Seonghwa's faces here are so friggin' funny lmao). But even when they do this type of stuff, they clearly still have fun with it themselves.

#3 - So what do I think of SanSang?

I think San just adores Yesoang a lot and he feels very protective of him. San's always been a protector even before he bulked up and, now that Wooyoung's really grown into himself and gained a lot of confidence, San may have instinctively moved to Yeosang who, honestly? Needs a protector more than anyone else in this group.

Wooyoung's already protected him for a long time and we've heard the stories of how that went - Yeosang getting fooled by a prank call, accepting strangers' invitations to pet their dogs, often needing instructions explained twice because he zones out a lot. He's not incapable - far from it (I mean, he chose to leave BigHit for his own good, thinking Wooyoung wouldn't follow, he's LOCKED IN whenever he performs, etc.) - but it is good he has people around who'll stick by him and watch over him.

#4 - San hiding his anger?

I also think San being different on- and off-camera isn't all too surprising. From the beginning, he's always acted the most while filmed (pitching up his voice, acting cutesy) because he was worried about coming across as scary or intimidating , and now he's likely concerned about being misunderstood or causing negative press if he allows himself to slip and let his anger show.

Mind you, I think his anger is likely primarily directed at saesangs, reporters, perhaps certain interview questions or other shit going on in the Kpop industry or just the world at large (politics, social injustices, etc.). We know he has a huge heart and he cares deeply and feels very protective, so seeing the state of the world right now will likely make him no less angry than it does the rest of us. But since he's a public figure, he has to sit on it a lot more.

#5 - 8 Makes 1 Team!

Now regarding what I think whenever the members flirt with each other, bicker, hug, kiss, etc. - I think they just do it because it's fun! They enjoy the fans getting so loud and hyped up while they're on stage, but they clearly also love seeing each other's reactions, pushing each other's boundaries, exploring how far they can go before the other one puts a stop to it. I mean, they've always been equally affectionate off camera too.

For example, Wooyoung biting Yeosang shortly after meeting him, WooSan being seen with their arms around each other while walking down the street years ago, all the 99 liners going to Seonghwa's bed for cuddles when they were still all sharing a dorm as eight (Seonghwa mentioned it in a live once when Yunho came to lay down with him).

They always pile onto each other, whether they know they're being filmed or not. It's likely what happens when you've been through hell together and we know their path to success was tough and included lots of abuse at the hands of Mnet, people who called themselves fans but aren't, award shows, and more. Not to mention the shit Jongho's been through with his former label and Mingi needing a mental health break and time to reconsider whether he even wanted to continue on this path or not.

Them having been this open with their words and physical affection from early on (thanks, Wooyoung <3) is clearly also what has gotten Jongho to be so much bolder now compared to when they first debuted. He even thanked them for it in 2019:

Ultimately, I don't know if any of them are truly dating or have ever dated. Just as I don't know if any of them have had or currently have romantic crushes on each other. All I know is what they show us and what they say and anything beyond that is for them to know and them to know only. I'm just happy to see them happy and thriving.

In conclusion:

I don't want to shame anyone for how they interpret and interact with the content Ateez puts out. If you like to ship, ship away within fandom spaces. All is good as long as personal boundaries are respected and everyone remains conscious of where they post and who might see it.

Please also keep in mind that everything I said here is simply how I see it, but if you'd like to chat about differences in opinion and such, please do feel free reach out - my ask box and messages are always open! <3

[telomeke]

MY 2024 TUMBLR TOP 10

Yes I'm really late with this (totally on-brand for me 🤣) but that is the downside of waiting for 2024 to end before posting about it – and then taking too long to complete the task. Still, better late than never!

I was tagged to do this by @he-is-lightning-in-a-bottle at this post here. Thanks dearie! 🥰 (And if you'd like to play along too, there's no need to trawl through your posts manually, thank heaven. Just go to this website – Jet Black Code – and it'll list your Top 10 Tumblr posts in seconds. 👍😊)

So my activity on Tumblr (particularly writing about Thai BL) took a serious dip in 2024 (especially the latter half) for a number of reasons:

Work has ramped up in the post-COVID era, with work projects now coming onstream fast and furious. This has left me with a lot less time outside of work, which translates to less time for QL-watching, and (obviously) also less time to post about it.

My favorite queer auteur Aof Noppharnach Chaiyahwimhon has decided to step back from writing and directing (see these posts here and here), and in his absence I'm finding that non-Aof QL offerings are (perhaps unsurprisingly) disappointingly patchy in quality, which has turned QL-watching into a bit of a crapshoot (and less of a draw). With my short attention span I frankly need a show to be arresting in some way to stay committed – although I must add here that I don't need it to be highbrow art, just entertaining enough without being unduly insulting to the gray matter. So even a trashy series is fine as long as it's made clear to us we have to leave our loftier expectations at the door (memories of KinnPorsche flashing in my mind here – which also tells me my gray matter can handle quite a barrage of insulting if a show is entertaining enough 🤣). I was momentarily heartened by the promise of Khun Aof helming the GeminiFourth vehicle Ticket to Heaven in 2025 (such a beautiful trailer, a lush mini-movie almost), but I've come around to thinking this is more of an activist statement by him (commenting on the mainstream Christian/Catholic position vis-à-vis LGBTQ+ issues, remembering also that Khun Aof has a Catholic background). With this as the context, there's a high chance this show will never get made due to various sensitivities (but I live in hope nonetheless!):

With Khun Aof taking more of a backseat, my main feed for BL – GMMTV – seems to have pressed the pause button on more thought-provoking fare in favor of shows that are more formulaic and mass-market (read: vehicles for their branded couples, squarely aimed at the less discriminating and freer-spending sectors of the squealing teen audience). I've written more about it at these links here and here. And it's tough to keep watching GMMTV series when the plots don't deviate much from a well-worn template, rehashing narrative tropes because the formula is a proven money-spinner. A case in point: Kidnap the Series – never thought I'd give up on a show brimming with episode upon episode of a macho, shirtless, simping Ohm Pawat, but all that radiant manflesh still wasn't enough to keep me interested, which simply goes to show how dire the situation is. 😬🤷‍♂️ And with GMMTV enticing me less and less, I've been posting even less about BL as a result too.

Anyway, this explains why I have more original posts in the first half of 2024, while the latter half was mostly reblogs of other people's posts (and in keeping with the dictates of the game I'm only listing my own posts here, for what it's worth).

So after all that, on to my Top 10 for 2024:

✨NUMBER 1✨

My most popular post of the year was about a mysterious monk who inexplicably kept popping up in various Thai BLs: 👀

Appearing in Bad Buddy, KinnPorsche and The Sign, he was also sighted in non-BLs Pee Nak (still LGBTQ+ friendly), The Cave, Hemimeta, The Believers and The Murderer, resolutely a monk in all but the last one.

So working collectively, the BL fandom somehow managed to track down and identify the actor who plays everyone's favorite BL-friendly monk – he's Werawat Jumroensarn, not actually a monk in real life but nonetheless still a highly-religious Thai Buddhist who adroitly brings a sagely, monastic vibe to all his roles. The Thai BL fandom salutes you, Khun Werawat! 🙏💖

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✨NUMBER 2✨

This post was an explainer for the sudden flood of videos and GIFs on Tumblr showing Babe Tanatat all dressed up in traditional costume finery and performing a ceremonial dance somewhere outside Bangkok, while Billy Patchanon flapped about him gaily and garudaesquely in decidedly more normcore and less flashy garb.

The event turned out to be a worship ceremony put on by Idol Factory in faraway Nakhon Phanom, to honor the Great Naga of the Mekong even as The Sign deployed naga and garuda mythology in its storytelling, making waves here on Tumblr for fusing Thai supernatural beliefs with BL.

It was a highly respectful gesture from Idol Factory, thanking the nagas for allowing a representation of their story to be told as part of The Sign. Also respectful was the decision to have Billy abstain from the performance, probably because he was playing one of the garudas (who are mortal enemies of the nagas). All of which goes to show just how much belief in the spiritual and supernatural is woven throughout everyday life in Thailand. 👍

Babe, Heng and Songjet's little dance video at the link above is also breathtakingly beautiful. If I were the Naga being worshipped I'd certainly feel very honored indeed. 😍

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✨NUMBER 3✨

Ooh. 😵 This was one sex-drenched post, all about the visual rhetoric surrounding Tharn and Phaya's first time consummating their forbidden love and lust for each other (at least in their current reincarnations) as portrayed in The Sign:

So hot was the subject matter that despite my clinical descriptions and focus on the art direction, Tumblr's wonky algorithms (or possibly just some overworked backroom staff? 😂) decided that it was all too... too... (swoons into a deathly faint here) unseemly for the delicate constitution of the average Tumblrina in the BL fandom. (Yeah, right. Did no one survive KinnPorsche, Pit Babe or Playboyy??? 🤣)

And so they BLOCKED IT. Not once, but TWICE, which sent me scurrying to Admin with a flurry of appeals and explanations (that finally succeeded in getting the post reinstated, thank goodness). 😬

But really, all I was doing was noting how the lighting, colors, props and cinematography were working together to echo the breathless sensuality throbbing onscreen, when our two protagonists gave in to primordial desires much greater than themselves and attempted to unite their bodies as much as they could to counterbalance the heavily pre-ordained intertwining of their souls.

I think Idol Factory did a great job all around with this scene (both the players in front of the lens as well as those behind it). But was my post really all that raunchy though? I'll have to let you decide. 🤔

(above) The Sign Ep.7 [5/5] 19.47 – Phaya hungrily tops a gasping Tharn, even while a hard-working lamp from the Austin Powers range of home furnishings tries its best to do double duty: casting a sexy magenta light on everything while clumsily censoring any possible glimpse of Nagaruda penis and buttcrack 🤣

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✨NUMBER 4✨

Ah. Hmmm. 👀 Oops! Well, well...

I assure you, gentle reader and fellow BL fan, that I am not wholly possessed of a one-track mind – and yet somehow the next post here has also managed to turn all sexy and magenta while winking slyly at unspoken meanings hidden between the lines. Again. 🤣

Taking my Number 4 spot is a light-hearted post about Wandee Goodday nodding tongue-in-cheek at some legendary Thai porn, and this sideways jokery also shone as an example of WDGD's early charm, wit and intelligence. There was so much to look at and write about in the series, and I was especially taken with the lighting and art direction (all that yellow and magenta, standing in for Yoryak and Wandee) that I wrote reams about it.

But then… I decided not to post any of that, when the latter half of the show began to wander woozily about, punch drunk and semi-directionless, leading to an ending that turned out to be quite a letdown.

They squandered the obvious chemistry between the two leads and allowed a promising sexbuds-to-soulmates love story to meander to an unsatisfying conclusion. So many clever elements, but all set free to run wildly in a plethora of uncoordinated directions. This one disappointed me in the end, and it makes me sad to think of what might have been. But its fun moments were fun indeed, so I guess it's not a total loss. Inn Sarin really needs to start dialling back on the plastic surgery though. 😂

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✨NUMBER 5✨

Oh thank goodness there was 4 Minutes for us to lose our minds over collectively in 2024. Sleek, shiny, sexy – and that was just Great's car collection (the show itself, even more so 🥰).

Ah the mystery of it all! So convoluted was the Sammon plot that I found myself churning out post after post (work deadlines be damned) trying to guess at the underlying logic coursing beneath the spooky narrative onscreen, adding to the roiling cauldron of fan theories on Tumblr aiming to explain it all.

In the end Be On Cloud chose a more middle-of-the-road resolution, but there's no denying 4 Minutes captured the imaginations of so many. I remained impressed through to the end, and I will say it again: Director Ning Bhanbhassa Dhubthien is one to watch, especially if her sure hand is allowed to rein in the excesses of Khun Pond and Dr. Sammon's wilder imaginings.

But my most popular post about 4 Minutes wasn't anything to do with the screenwriting, cinematography or directing though. 🤔

As usual, a pithy take (only nine words!) is easier to like and reblog on Tumblr, and all I did was point out a cute detail about the merchandise – when you place the black and white cat plushies (standing in for Great and Tyme) side-by-side, the random color blocks on the side of each, marring the individual symmetry, form a perfect and symmetrical heart when it's cats à deux:

And of course this is signaling how each completes the other in GreatTyme's unconventional, multi-pronged love story. Big AWWWW here 💖, but then again let's not forget how DARK it all is so let's go in with a black-and-white color scheme to remind us we ain't in Hello Kitty World, but also let's not get too dark so it's soft soft kitties all the way, but oh dear that's too cute so let's give them grumpy, frowny faces and make them look as malevolent as can be. Oh! But how then did we end up with MALEVOLENT cat plushies, spawn of brooding kittenish evil, pets and pride of Chucky? Then again, why not malevolent cat plushies for the win? 🤣

I can't help thinking the constant push and pull between commercial considerations versus artistic vision in Thai BL will always follow a similar trackway, though Be On Cloud seems to have done a better job with 4 Minutes than GMMTV on most of their offerings, is my take on the subject. 😍

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✨NUMBER 6✨

OK, so I'm not watching The Heart Killers, nor have I ever seen The Taming of the Shrew (that one episode of Moonlighting and 10 Things I Hate About You don't count), but nonetheless it tickled me no end to see Shakespeare credited as a co-creator on My Drama List for this series, and my Number 6 post was a signal boost for that:

This wasn't just some editor at MDL having a lark, though I do approve. Willie Shakes is also credited on other Asian productions there (As We Like It and The Banquet) and he now has his own MDL page too. 😂👍

Anyway, credit where credit is due! 😍 (Move over Mr. Kaewpanpong, a new William has joined the BL fold. 🤣)

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✨NUMBER 7✨

If you've ever been mystified by the vagaries of romanized Thai spelling and pronunciation, my favorite Thai (and Canadian) chef Pailin Chongchitnant has a nifty little vid that goes some way to explain its complexity, linked in this post:

Prior to this, I had so many questions: 🤣

Why does Pat in Bad Buddy spell his name with an 'h'? Why does Google Translate spell his name with an 'r', and why does the Google lady pronounce it Pat-tara?

Still in BBS, why does Pran's mom call him (to my ears) Bprrraan when Pa calls him Bpaan? (Like, where did the 'r' go?🤷‍♂️)

What's up with the 'l' in Tul Pakorn's name sounding more like an 'n'? WHAT DO YOU MEAN Suvarnabhumi is pronounced more like Suwannapoom!? 👀😂

I now have a better understanding of the linguistic (and socio-political/cultural) contortions going on behind the scenes here after watching Pai's video, and I hold her encouraging words to heart (as dear @recentadultburnout reminded me in a comment on the post 🥰): "Whatever you do, it's just all various degrees of wrong." 🤣 Not a put-down, simply Pai letting us know that the language is far more complex than can be summarized with the puny 26 letters of the English alphabet. 👍🤩

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✨NUMBER 8✨

A little out of character for me, but this post has no images. And then it starts out with "There are no words..." when the post is all words. 🤣

It's really a short post about the whiplash we all went through when the arguably milk-and-water Last Twilight aired its episodes on the same day as the sex-forward Omegaverse-inhabiting Pit Babe. Really, there are no words that can do the experience justice. 🤣

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✨NUMBER 9✨

Are we descending into a pattern here? 🤣 Post Number 9 consists of a single image and no text (except for the subtitles):

Well I did caption it in the ALT Text though: 🤣

Wandee Goodday Ep.6 [4/4] 8.06 – Yoryak references the night it all began, when he rescued a trashy pile of a doctor outside a convenience store

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✨NUMBER 10✨

And rounding up my Top 10 was a signal boost bit of BL reportage, linking to the GoyNattyDream in-car interview on YouTube with Mew Suppasit and Tul Pakorn, BL royalty and officially a couple in real life:

Mew and Tul had soft-launched confirmation of their romance in the months preceding with tons of social media posts showing them hanging out and holidaying together, but from what I can gather this was the first time (or if not the first, at least one of the earliest times) they out-and-out confirmed their relationship, and candidly spoke about it, on the record. 💖

A big step for Thai BL, that paradoxically has to operate in an industry where people in positions of influence can sometimes be homophobic to actors who are (or even suspected of being) queer in real life. 👀

Congratulations to the happy couple, and congratulations to you too, dear reader, if you've read this post all the way down to here!

Not much else to do but tag others – although this is so late I figure everyone's already done it. But since I've not been on Tumblr much I've missed who's done it and who's not, so I'm just going to tag people at random, and if you've already done this please link me to your post so I can read it. 🥰 And even if I've not tagged you but you'd like to play please do so (and tag me too, so I can read your post)!

Onward tagging:

@bengiyo

@neuroticbookworm

@dribs-and-drabbles

@solitaryandwandering

@airenyah

@grapejuicegay

@waitmyturtles

@twig-tea

@rythyme

@respectthepetty

@relativelydimensional

@wen-kexing-apologist

@colourme-feral

@ranchthoughts

@chickenstrangers

@callipigio

@kattahj

@non-binarypal7

@starryalpacasstuff

@shortpplfedup

@hughungrybear

@pandasmagorica

@visualtaehyun

@inventedfangirling

@recentadultburnout

@dimplesandfierceeyes

@dudeyuri

@lovelyghostv

@dc-alves

@fiddlepickdouglas

@hapiestupid

@yinwaryuri

@writerwithoutsound

@randompens

@nihilisticcondensedmilk

@syrinth

@naniskys

@delesaria-blog

@narcissusneverknewme

@pokomumee

@suni-san

@belladonna-and-the-sweetpeas

@aroceu

@italianpersonwithashippersheart

Tagging @lurkingshan too – I already read and reblogged your post (linked here), but if you think there are others I should check out please do let me know! 💖

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[little-one-eyed-monsters]

Yo tried opening my old phone today 'cause I was looking for some ancient work files, and look what I saw in my freakin' pandemic-era, fandom obssessed gallery:

It's Boom and Singto!

(and fine! Mew's here too, okay? I'm still a bit resentful about his mental hospital and queerbaiting comments, let a former waanjai be salty in peace)

Man, they look so young 😅 Singto was still with GMMTV here (he left in 2021, returned in 2024). Boom doesn't even have his tattoos yet. This was five years ago, I didn't even know who Boom was back then. Time really is an SOB, huh? 😅

I love that this photo fully illustrates my fandom experience with Boy's Love as a genre.

Singto represents my entry as a college kid eager to explore and understand more about herself, and finding relatability (and comfort) in these newly-minted queer shows.

Mew represents my interaction with the genre once it evolved into a full-blown enterprise; with branded pairs and merch drops, fanmeets and fanservice, big gossip and even bigger controversies-- the full customer experience. It's weird and wild and frustrating and gratifying, which was also me as a young woman.

Boom represents my return to the genre, and how I look at it from a more professional perspective. It's so serendipitous that the moment I decided to reactivate my Tumblr, this relic of a blog (my Tumblr name is still a Treasure Planet reference and it's truly been YEARS since I last engaged in proper blogging), was about the time Top Form-- a meta show about the entertainment industry in 2025-- started airing. But I'd also like to think that Boom represents the renaissance of BL--a genre that is now fully acknowledged and deeply respected as a reliable industry, with more creative and prestigious shows that aim to tell a story, and a roster of actors who value the craft and what it represents more than the actual money it brings in. And what a full circle moment for Singto to return to BL, too!

I follow so many other shows and media, (and I do some work in entertainment, so I kinda have to be into pop culture), but this is the only type of media I post actively about on socials, especially now. Mainly because I'm Asian, and in my country LGBTQ+ shows and topics are still considered taboo. I can't talk about it openly with friends or co-workers, and I can't even post about it on my main socials for fear of being ostracized. Instead, our fandoms here are built through social media followings of like-minded people, not immediate social circles.

So seeing this photo now just made me realize how consistent of a presence this special genre of media has been in my life. What an experience. I can't wait to see what's in store for it in the coming years.

[holmsister]

Is Kabru a Twink? A possible answer from queer history

Abstract: ever since his introduction, discussion amongst Kabru scholars has been vivacious, sometimes to the point of some vitriol, on one particular specific point: does Kabru of Utaya fulfill the basic traits of a twink? There are points to be made on both sides of the issues. The solution proposed in this paper aims to be the compromise that might allow the scientific community to move on from this terminological impasse.

First of all, since this is a terminological discussion, let's start with a few definitions. What is a twink?

From Wikipedia, page "Twink (lgbt+ slang)" [retrieved 2024-06-12]:

Twink is gay slang for a man who is usually (but not always) in his late teens to twenties whose traits may include a slim to average physique, a youthful appearance, little or no body hair, and flamboyancy.[5][6][7] Twink is used both as a neutral descriptor, which can be compared with bear,[8] and as a pejorative.[5][9]

From Fandom LGBTQIA wiki, page "Twink" [retrieved 2024-06-12]:

Twink is a subcultural term referring to gay or bi men who defy traditional masculine roles, embracing traits that are generally seen as feminine.[1]

Twinks are typically associated with a few key tropes: general physical attractiveness, a slim build, and a youthful appearance that lacks facial hair and often body hair as well.[1] In his book Never Enough (2007), Joe McGinniss describes a court case in which twink was defined as "a gay slang term used to denote an attractive, boyish-looking gay man between the ages of 18 and 23, slender ectomorph and with little or no body hair, often blond, often but not necessarily Caucasian."

Now sadly we don't have the time to delve into the ways the term "twink" has sometimes be used to enforce ageism, racism and fatphobia in the LGBT+ community, since we are talking about, you know, a fictional character in a fantasy. We will refrain from judgement and just base ourself on these barebones definitions without further fleshing them out.

On the surface, Kabru fulfills many of the requirements for a twink. His build is slender (tho more on that later), he is in the age range (22, altho its worth noting age of majority in the dunmeshi world is 16).

Also, he has the baby face. Round cheeks, long lashes, big eyes... Like there's no way around it thats the kind of face some seme asshole would grab by the chin as they call him "pretty boy" in a bl manga. That's a face that gets men who have always considered themselves hetero to question a thing or two. That's a face that gets your landlord to make your laundry for free.

Kabru Schrödinger's twink paradox comes from the fact that as someone who practices swordfighting and wears an armour (a lighter one but still) and marches for days in the dungeon, he MUST be muscular. There is no way around this. And this goes against one of the basic tenets of twinkhood, which is Twinks MUST Be Lithe And Delicate.

To further this point, I will quote from this article from OUT magazine titled "Dear Internet: THIS is what the word 'twink' really means", dated 01 March 2024 [retrieved 2024-06-12]:

"But the things that tie all these definitions together include being gay, being thin, young-looking, little to no body hair and no facial hair, and attractive. So NO, 27-year-old with a ’70s mustache and buff arms full of the tattoos he’s gotten over his adult life is, you guessed it, NOT a twink..."

As you can see, emphasis is put on the lack of muscles. While Kabru has no facial hair, we can however substitute the tattoos for the many scars he has received in battle - his body looks much more like the body of a man who is weary with experience. Again, keeping in mind that the age of majority in dunmeshi for tallmen is 16 and Kabru is 22, we could argue that proportionally, at least culturally, Kabru leans towards being almost too old for a twink, too, and his scars can be symbolic of that in much the same way tattoos are.

Also, in both the definitions above a tendency towards feminine-coded behaviour is noted. In Kabru's case, while see him occasionally engaging in behaviour that might read as slightly feminine, we see him also assume very masculine roles both in his party and during battle. Its also worth noting that Kabru was raised by elves, a culture whose aesthetic standards lean heavily towards what reads as feminine to tallmen, and that Kabru himself is characterised as someone who heavily adapts his behaviour based on other's expectation - we can therefore argue that it is possible that what "effeminate" behaviour he engages in is actually a result of his upbringing, as well as a way to endear/ingratiate himself to those that he judges would respond better to such behaviour, rather than a matter of self-expression.

Now, i already hear the objections, so i will further elaborate on the muscle point. Having been killed and resuscitated so many times, Kabru has lost the soft layer of fat that makes Laios body so evidently strong, and it has probably even started to cut into his muscles. Also, differently from Laios' stout build, we see young teen Kabru in a few illustrations with Milsiril and he IS naturally lanky - even at his top weight its probably going to look more like an athletics/gymnastics body type than the wrestler/weightlifter type.

However, the muscles ARE there, and losing the layer of fat would make them even MORE visible. He is more likely to have defined cut abs than Laios, paradoxically. And again, if you look at the classic twink porn, the boys rarely have sixpacks or even visible arm muscles. They're bony.

Thankfully this is not the first time the lgbt+ community has been faced with this dilemma. Therefore, falling back on the wisdom of our elders, i propose: Kabru is a twunk.

Urban Dictionary, voice "twunk" [retrieved 2024-06-12]

Twunk

A term used amongst the LGBTQ community to describe males (typically gay) with the face of a twink (boyish-looking, pretty) but the body of a hunk (muscular, jocky).

Without the ambition of being definitive, my humble offering will hopefully offer Kabru scholars a chance to possibly reach a terminological consensus, therefore allowing us to move on from this topic without misunderstandings.

[cloudeeskies]

Looking for a roleplaying buddy :D

Hello! My name is Skies (or Sky) and I am currently looking for a roleplay buddy.

Some thing's about me and my roleplay style!

I am 20 years old! MDNI. I'd prefer my roleplay partners to be 18+ please.

I am semi-lit. I am working towards being lit. (Please no one word/sentence replies)

I don't really do Canon x OC.

I don't mind if characters are/end up out of character.

Currently looking for someone to RP with me from a fandom we are both interested in.

I enjoy AU's (alternate universes) mostly

I'd prefer to use Discord for the Roleplay's but we can continue to use Tumblr if you'd prefer.

I'd like to be communicative! Like discuss arch's or story plots. Also if you don't like something, or where the story is going, I want to communicate those things.

Some fandom's I'm in, and ships I enjoy from them: (just a note, im trans masc and lean more towards BL ships)

Genshin Impact - Alhaitham x Kaveh - Wriosthley x Neuvilette - Itto x Gorou - Heizou x Kazuha - Scaramouche x Kazuha - Kaeya x Albedo (theres more but these are just the main ones)

Honkai: Star Rail - Dan Heng x Caelus - Jing Yuan x Dan Heng - Dr. Ratio x Aventurine - Sampo x Gepard - most x Caelus (lol) - maybe Ren (Blade) x Dan Heng

Jujutsu Kaisen - Geto x Gojo - Itadori x Megumi - Nanami x Gojo (itadori and megumi aged up)

Haikyuu!! - Daichi x Sugawara - Iwazumi x Oikawa - Bokuto x Akaashi - Kuroo x Kenma - Sakusa x Atsumu (open to others)

Sk8 the Infinity - Langa x Reki - Cherry x Joe

My Hero Academia - Sero Hanta x Shoto Todoroki - Katsuki Bakugo x Shoto Todoroki - Katsuki Bakugo x Eijiro Kirishima (Rare pairs are fun we can make one)

As stated through out, I am willing to try other ships, rare pairs etc. Any underaged characters will be aged up, just my preference, if they are in high school they will be aged up to college age. I enjoy doing AUs (alternate Universes). We can discuss more about them later on but for example for the Genshin ships, i would probably aim for a modern AU. Please DM me if you have any questions or are interested!

[mikuni14]

I was intrigued by the defense of Maya from people who read the manga, I also saw a screenshot of this scene with her fight with Taichi and I want to say as someone who doesn't know the manga, only the series: I feel like none of this scene from the manga was translated into the scene in the series except the words. The vibe, the atmosphere, they are completely different.

I won't go into detail about all the differences, I'll write about one, the main one, which I think explains everything:

Maya from the manga is agitated and you can see that she is angry on Kohei's behalf, but you can see some kind of… chivalry in her, as if she sincerely believes that she is defending Kohei, her attack is mean but also kind of "argumentative", as if she wanted Taichi to understand what she thinks he is doing wrong

Maya from the series behaves as if it was all about attacking Taichi and everything is laced with some kind of malice and unnecessary rudeness, her attack is aimed at insulting and belittling Taichi, to drive him away from Kohei

So it is quite possible that it is simply… the drama's fault and how they decided to show this character, without nuances, just as an ordinary bitch. Or maybe the same scenes just have a different tone on paper and different in a real life.

I may also be wrong about the vibe of this scene in both editions, because I haven't read the manga and I've seen comments from readers that they didn't like Maya in the manga and don't like her in the series. So idk, I'm just trying to understand what is going on in this series right now 😅

I also want to say that the fact that it's a girl doesn't matter at all, quite the opposite, there is general anger in the BL fandom that the girl has been made "the bad one" again, we're all tired of it, besides, it's already 2024, girls don't have to have to break up relationships and they don't have to be mean.

Overall, I have the impression that something went wrong with this character and in this episode.... It's weird when the fandom of a romantic series is on fire… with anger and hatred 😭

[olderthannetfic]

I saw a good post about the anti-BL creators of Western BL flavored stuff like Heartstopper and RWRB that was like: if they are so hell bent on the idea that their stuff is aimed at gay and bisexual men or boys, why did they not bother to look at any media by/for gay men? It’s not like that’s hard to find. Even if you’re just looking at stuff for teens like with Heartstopper author, most of the big YA books about gay or bi male characters are by gay male authors. Maybe try reading those. They’re clearly reading nothing but slash fanfic and maybe like M/M romance novels for women or like, idk, Check Please, and then going Shocked Pikachu Face when it turns out their books are way more popular with female audiences and Heartstopper TV has a famous gay man talk about how it’s clearly not for gay men and not how actual gay boys act.

And like… I don’t think there’s anything wrong with M/M stuff for women, the author of this post was clear that she didn’t think there was either. But these authors clearly wanted to make M/M for men so like… maybe talk to queer men or look at the media queer men are making for themselves if that is your goal! Less fanfic, more Looking or whatever.

It’s just the sheer fucking hubris of assuming that because they are some other flavor of queer and they’ve read some M/M fiction (slash fanfic) that they must know what it’s like to be every type of LGBTQ+ and don’t need to do any research to appeal to that audience.

--

They don't want to make m/m for cis gay male culture.

What they want is to have their current tastes validated in a "You're one of the boys and those other filthy fujos aren't!" way.

Trust me, this crap has been going on since the 90s and before. It's a common affliction of slash fans who want to be the most special. That goes for the trans men trying to assert their masculinity in a world that doesn't respect them as much as for the straight ladies who endlessly tell you about their Gay Best Friend. It's a disease that hits all parts of BL fandom.

It's just our local flavor of "Knitting isn't just for GIRLS anymore!" and "Now you can drink tea as a MAN!" startup bro insecurities. You know, the people being parodied here.

The best we can do is to keep laughing in their faces and keep treating BL as a marketing niche with genre conventions that's open to whomever shares that taste.

[mirrorbusterz]

omg someone else notices just how awful the fandom characterises Orion for the sake of Megop THANK YOU

Thats one of the main reasons i love how to school a mech so much cause you do Orion so much justice it's honestly refreshing to see

It's always passively bothered me the way Orion is treated, but when I actually started writing Orion I think something in me realized just how bad the fandom collectively treats the poor guy, which is such a shame considering how conceptually awesome he is as a character. I know this is going to devolve into a rant since I've always wanted to vent my frustrations, so strap in lol

Something I wanted to consider when writing TFP Orion for Dissertation is the way the TFP version of him is perceived by the fandom. We honestly have almost no idea how the 'real' Orion would've acted a person, and the Orion Pax episodes are highly unreliable considering this episode makes no effort to tell it from Orion's perspective at all. It is very much framed from Megatron's perspective considering nearly all depictions of Orion we see on screen is when he is reacting to Megatron's presence.

Now, I don't doubt that Orion genuinely *wants* to believe in Megatron's truthfulness, however, our perception of Orion is still skewed in Megatron's favor. We have almost no idea what is actually going on in Orion's head during his time on the Nemesis, and I think that a lot of fans don't understand that his--dare i say--'submissive' characteristics are reflections of how Megatron sees him. We actually have no clue as to whether Orion himself is comfortable referring to him as 'lord,' especially considering the extinuating circumstances. He has no where else to go, of course he is going to play along with whatever his friend is comfortable with.

This is where I believe a lot of fanon tropes bleed into Orion's characterization, someone who is submissive and defers to Megatron, when the only time we see his character is when he is put in a stressful and outwardly biased situation. I don't believe that he acts this way AT ALL before he received the matrix, and it really limits the way we write our characters if we are only ever pulling from one skewed situation that didn't even depict a 'true' version of Orion in the first place.

I think it makes sense for him to be a little socially inept and bookish, even shy, if we take into account the way Optimus himself acts in TFP--he's intelligent but standoffish, a little hard to talk to--which would make sense if these traits stemmed from someone who spent most of his time cataloguing and recording. HOWEVER, conflating these traits into 'submissiveness' for the sake of sexualization is really really lame imo, and in Dissertation I aimed to flesh him out as a person rather than the sexy librarian that is the object of Megatron's affection.

One thing I wanted to emphasize is TFP Optimus' dry sense of humor that always seems to fall at the wayside. Even the characters in TFP tend to view Optimus as "humorless," when that is clearly not the case?? He has an awkward dry sense of humor that crops up multiple time, and I can't help but think of his many interactions with Agent Fowler where he is clearly enjoying himself and Fowler's bickering.

In Dissertation, I think Orion being a little snarky, sharp, who recognizes logical fallacies quickly and doesn't hesitate to playfully poke at the people he likes. Which is insanely funny when Orion himself walks into multiple metaphorical rakes, which is to highlight that he is smart but is socially inept himself.

I'm not the biggest Megop shipper myself, (I do really really love it in TFONE though) so maybe I am a little biased in my assertions, but I really think that early 2010's-era yaoi BL damaged Orion's perception on a fandom level. I love slash, but for me as a writer it's tiring to see Orion dumbed down to the sexy twunk trope that the older stronger man tops, and I think this is a problem that TFP suffers from the most. I get how homoerotic those two are, but that doesn't mean that tension *has* to be boiled down to done-over tropes.

(As for TF Exodus, I have not read the novel yet, but the snippets I have seen have leaned into the "shy librarian" trope, but this trait he possesses gets flanderized to hell and back by the fandom. I think I'm going to read it after Dissertation is finished so I can compare my characterization with the novel, I think that would be interesting! Just know, I am mainly referring to TFP Orion characterization here instead of the entire Aligned continuity.)

Bottom line, I love Orion and I'm glad that everyone else loves Orion. My intent was not to 'gatekeep' or tell you how to enjoy the character, I just wanted to highlight my personal frustrations with his popular depiction. I'm so glad that everyone is enjoying my Orion depiction in Dissertation though, I'm glad I've built an audience of cool likeminded people!

Btw if anyone else has any thoughts or questions on ANYTHING pertaining to my fic, feel free to ask! My ask box is open for a reason and I love to rant about my process teehee

[canmom]

Animation Night 164: Yaoi, Yuri

The fashion on Tumblr lately has been to divide everything in the world into yaoi and yuri, hasn't it? Well, tonight we don't need to make any abstract stretches of the imagination: it's time for anime where boys kiss boys and girls kiss girls.

So. Five minutes ago, before Tumblr deleted it, this post was off to a pretty good start! I was happily explaining about the differences of nuance between 少年愛 shōnen-ai, 耽美 tanbi, ジュネ june, やおい yaoi and ボーイズラブ bōizu rabu on the one hand, and on the other, why 薔薇 bara (rose) isn't a genre title but nevertheless the editor of 薔薇族 Barazoku ('rose tribe') magazine coined 百合 yuri as a distaff counterpart, the 'lily tribe', and that really caught on.

I was starting in on a brief sketch of some history, how Tokugawa Japan was super gay and had a defined set of social rules for gay relationships in the form of 男色 nanshoku, but this was squashed by the Meiji restoration, and thus gay manga became a subgenre cultivating its own specific otaku audience.

So then I was gonna tell you about how the early shōjo manga focusing on gay relationships, taking the old term shōnen-ai [which originally referred to pederasty], were quite nerdy and literary, but the subgenre rapidly grew in the 70s and 80s, cultivating an otaku audience of its own - primarily women termed, somewhat disparagingly, 婦女子 fujoshi but this demographic breakdown is certainly not absolute and there is a term for male fans, which is 普段し fudanshi. We coulda gone into the whole world of doujinshi, of the massive convention comiket; I coulda cracked open Kimi Rito's History of Hentai Manga for some interesting tidbits about how certain images become encoded as symbols and then reused routinely in manga.

And you know, I might have talked about how this is distinct from manga aimed at gay readers in gay magazines (like the above mentioned 薔薇族 Barazoku) which might be termed ゲイ漫画 gei manga. Perhaps we might mention here the upcoming adaptation of gay manga meme sensation kuso miso technique:

I was maybe gonna talk a little about some of the older genre conventions of BL; the masc top or 攻め seme and the effeminate bottom or 浮け uke; maybe a little about how yaoi fandom got exported into anime fan culture in the West and the strange phenomenon of the 'yaoi paddle'.

...well, it looks like I managed to skim over all that anyway. Spite works wonders for typing speed, it turns out. But believe me, that's really just surface level stuff. We're working on a followup to the legend of Animation Night 69, so we'll be able to get in a lot deeper in a few weeks~

Anyway, even today, BL and yuri works rarely get adapted into anime in a particularly high profile way. But 'rarely' is not never! In Animation Nights past, well: on Animation Night 69 we watched the delightful 風と木の詩 Kaze to Ki no Uta (The Song of Wind and Trees), an OVA adapting the seminal (ha ha) shōjo manga about a French twink at boarding school. That was the direction of Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, known also for Venus Wars and definitely the subject of a future Animation Night, it was as moving and melodramatic as you could hope from 70s shōjo. Sayo Yamamoto (AN36) brought us the incredibly charming figure gay skating series Yuri on Ice; and then of course Kunihiko Ikuhara (AN155), bless his heart, made his always bold statements on yuri with Yurikuma Arashi ('Lesbian Bear Storm') and BL with Sarazanmai, which I will surely cover if we ever reach the point where we're like 'let's marathon a TV anime' again ;p

Tonight though? We'll be looking at a couple of relatively recent films on both sides of the fence.

For the BL wing, we have the film 海辺のエトランゼ Umibe no Étranger, aka L'étranger de la Plage or Stranger by the Shore. Kanna Kii, the mangaka, had previously worked as an animator at Studio Hibari, a small anime studio that dates back to the late 70s and broadly seems to specialise in shōjo. Kii returned there to design characters and supervise the film, and evidently Hibari were very excited to adapt the work of their alumnus, because they absolutely spared no effort.

The story centres on orphaned highschooler Mio and his neighbour Shun, an aspiring gay novelist on a remote island in Okinawa. The pair grew close three years before the start of the story, but Mio had to leave Okinawa; we join him now as he returns to that same shore, still holding feelings for Shun.

I'll admit, I don't know a ton about this movie - but it comes highly recommended by kvin who described it as one of an 'oasis' of strong BL works released around 2020. And the clips I've seen - well, they're the gifs used in this post, really nicely drawn scenes of affection. So I'm pretty excited!

Our yuri wing... well, there's a few good choices for yuri TV shows I could show you, but tonight it's late and we need something short and sweet, and that really narrows the field! What I have is あさがおと加瀬さん。Asagao to Kase-san [Kase-san and the Morning Glories], a one hour OVA adapting the manga 加瀬さん Kase-san by Hiromi Takashima. The OVA starts partway into the manga, when plant nerd Yui Yamada has already started dating her crush, the athletic Tomoka Kase. It follows the trials of the girls' relationship as they are coming towards the end of their time at school - relatively low-key, slice of life first relationship typea thing.

The animae was adapted by studio Zexcs under the direction of Takuya Satō, who you might remember as director of the first part of Armitage III [AN153]. Zexcs spun out of JC Staff at the end of the 90s, and they've been pretty busy since then - for me their most notable creation is Aku no Hana (The Flowers of Evil), a truly unique rotoscope anime with an incredibly engaging, tense story about teenagers and the imp of the perverse... which sadly never got the love it deserved! yes I'm still beating this drum!

Anyway, while I have not been able to find a ton of production information, I am told at least that Kase-san was a passion project for Satō - evidently a yuri fan given he also took on the adaptation of Otherside Picnic. It began first with five-minute web adaptation Kase-san and the Morning Glories in 2018 that's more of a musical montage of moments from the series, which was then able to be expanded the next year into an hour-long OVA...

A lot of romance stories focus on the characters getting together, so it's interesting that this one skips right over those chapters of the manga and gets going once the characters are already together, focusing more on the trials of an ongoing relationship between two goofy hormonal kids trying to figure out if this is just a class S thing or something that they want to last. A great deal of effort is put towards character animation, intimacy, the little flinches and reactions. You can read a little discussion about it here on ANN.

So! With apologies for the late start once more (T_T), it's time to begin! Animation Night will shortly be live at twitch.tv/canmom, and I hope you'll join me for a gay old time~

[ur-fav-is-a-killjoy]

Sorry if this is something you get a lot but what is a killjoy? I tried googling it but the only thing that came up is the definition "someone who spoils the enjoyment of others", which doesn't seem quite right.

oh yeah I see the confusion!! this is a My Chemical Romance fandom blog, and the Killjoys are fictional characters created by the band's lead singer, Gerard Way, for their 2010 album Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys and the tie-in comic of the same name. the comic takes place in an alternate universe version of the US, where, in the then-near-future of 2019, a mega-corporation called Better Living Industries (aka BL/ind or BLI) has essentially formed a quasi-government in Battery City (which is a fictional city located in the deserts of Southern California), and have assumed full control over the lives and minds of the citizens through constant surveillance, and through stripping citizens of their individuality. the Killjoys are a group of rebels living outside of the BLI-controlled Battery City. their aim is to bring freedom from BLI, usually through creating art and music, and also through fighting and killing Draculoids, who are BLI employees "tasked with eliminating Killjoys and protecting Battery City from threats" [source]

info from here, here, and here

there's a lot more specifics I could have gone into, but this is as brief as I could get. thanks for your question!!

[fandomfanservice]

Can you all hear the Last Twilight fandom screaming “P’Aof, how could you?”

Check again, cause it’s EP11

What follows is vivid rant aimed at the universe and no one in particular, I just need to get it out cause:

We were all of us deceived!!!

We thought the curse was done, gone finally broken.

No more chains on this BL machine..

And we were soooooooooo WRONG, our sanity and hopes destroyed in last 5 mins or less.

I guess what he (Mhok) did was wrong but we all know why he did it (my take, may not be shared by all fans, but this applies to both of them).

They were soooo happy😫🥹😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 and we had so many moments of just 🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🖤🩶🤍❤️‍🔥

Rational brain is trying to kick in now and we saw Mhok anxiety etc but he is just a sweetheart in love and the biggest green flag EVER.

Also I really hate the leave them or let them go trope, if you have read my posts it’s a thing. I need someone, anyone to find an alternative that leads to a happy ending still, honestly

I know the “curse” is a storytelling tool but

There is crumbs of light for the finale but this one is gonna be a loooong recovery.

[waitmyturtles]

Okie-dokes: I'm very late to reporting on Dangerous Romance, episode 3, and listen -- listen. A lot of you know I'm in a compromised life state at the moment, --

(I'M MOVING. HOW. IN THE HELL. DO I OWN. SO MUCH. JUST. FUCKING SHIT. HOW DID I FIT SO MUCH SHIT INTO THIS PLACE THAT I AM LEAVING. OH MY GODDAMN WHAT THE FUCK. LET ME BECOME A MONK AND GIVE UP ALL THIS CRAP.)

-- yes, compromised life state, lol, and can't give too much thought to good meta at the moment. (I had to pause Not Me for the Old GMMTV Challenge because even just three episodes in, I knew it was SO GOOD that it deserves my undivided attention.)

So, yeah, brain is out of service at the moment, and then we have THIS episode of Dangerous Romance, and let me just note: y'all, Dangerous Romance was trending on Tumblr even through Only Friends Saturday last weekend (with Only Friends NOT trending, mind you). DR is clearly serving something (.....sigh, ships) that OF is not giving the fandom girlies, and man, did DR just lay it on THICK this week, huh?

I will admit. I'm a touch bummed. I LOVE PERTH AND CHIMON. I LOOOOOVVVVE THEM, YER HONORESSES! UNABASHEDLY. Yes, I love their faces. I DO, NO SHAME. I love their acting, too! I love them, like ::waves hands in circles:: all of it, all of them. I was hoping they'd chomp into a meatier show.

This is not that show. The puppy music, the reeeeeally fast swings into sympathy and "oh, you're my tutor now, bro, and I will spill all my feelings to you," IN ENGLISH AND KOREAN -- and just a touch of a class division conversation by way of Kang homey buying Sailom homey an extra dinner to-go. Sailom is now Kang's... confidante? Kang wants to make someone, anyone, proud, and it looks like Sailom is the guy.

I mean, this episode was all over the place, but....

Forgive me, meta angels, because this is EXACTLY what I need right now, omg. I'm mentally done, I'm toast! Not to say that I'm not going to enjoy Only Friends tomorrow! I am going to totally eat OF up.

But I will ROBUSTLY ADMIT to ALSO being okay with PerthChimon fan service at the moment. Unfortunately for any of my hopes of them being in a more dramatically complicated series: they still have hilarious chemistry. They're actual real bros in real life (Papang smh lol). They're clearly having fun doing this together, like OhmPerth in Double Savage. Chimon's facial expressions are outta control (that look on his face when Perth/Kang accelerated the bike? I cackled).

This is fluff! As @lurkingshan noted -- a recalibration of expectations is in order for this show. I'm taking this show right now as 100% fan service from my PerthChimon wub woobies. Perth and Chimon (and really, the co-director of this show, Lit Phadung of SOTUS and SOTUS S) -- these dudes know the score. Perth and Chimon have been around for a minute. You need two dudes to dial up to 10 on fluff BL? They have those tropes so memorized that it's burned in their bones. Put 'em in coach, they're ready to play.

If I take this show on THAT tip, then -- as an aiming-to-be-classic romance BL, then it's doing something.... if not right, then at least aligned to some tropes simply by mood. I'm curious about Sailom's flashbacks to Kang's bullying, but I don't have the strength or mindpower to read into it. If a reference back to the bullying comes -- or not -- then, whatever. This show is clearly, at the moment, trying to achieve a more simple goal than I expected of it, but I'm not gonna write it off. I'll thoroughly enjoy Perth and Chimon being poodles to each other -- gimme.

I was wondering to @lurkingshan and @neuroticbookworm earlier today that I had previously wondered WHY GMMTV would air Dangerous Romance during the Only Friends run, especially with ALL the marketing hype around Only Friends before it premiered. At the time, it seemed to me to be a pre-emptive gong strike on Dangerous Romance. Now it makes me wonder -- did GMMTV want to cover its bases by placing a classic fluff BL on air, to protect the network from losing fandom points through Only Friends? I can only wonder. If some ships are exploding through OF -- then the network can hand PerthChimon over and say, hey, we haven't forgotten our shipping roots, girlies.

Kinda makes me think. In any case -- Shan is right. I'm recalibrated on Dangerous Romance, I'm watching this literally to see PerthChimon ham it up, annnnnddd yeah, that's about it! At this point, give me the make-out sessions, give me pool time, gimme. I unabashedly stan and simp. If we get some real drama out of this show -- it will be a wonderful surprise. I just hope the show doesn't veer into totally unwatchable territory.