#also i think GMMTV is doing better with their GLs but considering we only have 3 it's hard to judge

[stormyoceans]

it's 5 am and i can't sleep so im gonna be negative for just a second before moving on but like

after seeing change2561's line up and knowing what kind of shows companies like idolfactory and domundi and beoncloud are offering when it comes to their queer content, thinking about GMMTV 2024 part 2 makes me even more sad and disappointed. hell i personally don't even like domundi and beoncloud as companies but why is it that they actually invest in the QL shows they produce while GMMTV keeps giving us the same stuff over and over again

what's the point in having 16 QL shows announced in a year if then you give all your budget and interesting storylines to het series. also the fact that so many BL actors in GMMTV need to do straight shows to experiment different genres and grow is giving 'queer shows are second rate and only good for money' (from the company's pov, artists have no fault in this)

like i do appreciate GMMTV for other things and im still gonna watch their shows, but also it's not 2018 anymore, it's about damn time they start treating QL shows as an actual art form

[illgiveyouahint]

Random QL Superlatives: 2024 Edition

I've watched a lot of QLs this year so I thought I might as well join in with the festivities that @lurkingshan and @bengiyo officially started

Character I would die for : King in Marahuyo Project

This entire show was a highlight of the year for me and in every aspect it was such a well made show. I loved King so much. He reminded me my friends in some way. So unapologetic. Willing to fight the whole island but at the same time encouraging people to be themselves all around him. The show managed to tackle so much with so little screentime.

Most precious character : Aylin in 23.5

the show overall was a disappointment for me but I absolutely adored Aylin as a character and after this and The Trainee I am definitely on a lookout for View's other roles because I think she has a great comedic timing and but can also bring me to tears easily.

I'd take them and put them in a different show if I could: TanFang/ ChainPun in We Are

I was so invested in both of these couples and I so didn't care about the main plot. I'm glad gmmtv recognizes both of these couples have good chemistry and they continue to work together. Because I certainly wanted more of them. And am considering watching some of the 2025 shows only for them.

Literally made me buy the books: She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat Season 2

My favourite genre of shows is japanese slice of life about food. And i dare say that season 2 was even better than season 1 and I loved the characters and how the show was exploring each of their specific connection to food and family. I loved it so much that I immediately went and bought the first volume.

Favourite Ensemble: The Trainee

I remember when I saw the trailer for it I was hoping that it will be an ensemble piece but was worried OffGun will be stealing too much spotlight. I was pleasantly surprised that they managed to keep the balance between all the characters pretty well and I loved how much we spent time with all of them and their individual friendships and relationships. In the end I truly believed that they'd stay friends with each other. The show ended up being pretty solid (though there were some things I wish they'd done differently) throughout which is a rare feet these days.

I'd give sacrifice to the gods to get a prequel: OyeiCher in Wandee Goodday

I was a bit skeptical about this pairing at first but they completely won me over and now I desperately want to see how their romance came to be. Or just give me some other show with these two actors.

Horniest dumbasses: Xiao Bao and Huai En in Meet You at the Blossom

Have I understood the plot? No, not in the slightest. But have I had an absolute blast watching the dumb prince and his murder wife fall in love? You bet. Give me 10 000 episodes.

Hot Boi: Mahasamut in Love Sea

Fort is so handsome and this show particularly suited him. Seeing his tanned skin under that beautiful sun. Sometimes I had to pause the show when he looked particularly good.

Hot Girlie: Ai-oon in Pluto

It's still airing but I am absolutely loving Namtam in this role. Since I'm not really into high femme girls (which unfortunately is a lot of the GL shows coming out of Thailand these days) I am really enjoying Namtam as Ai-oon. She truly is one of the bests that the industry has

Cleverest plot: Love For Love's Sake

I remember when it was airing and I kept seeing it on my dash I had no idea what the plot was and I was so confused. But when i actually watched it I was impressed with how well the concept worked. Kudos to Korea to always doing these wild concepts that actually work pretty well.

[akkrosu]

So, I almost got a bingo three (3) times, but it’s okay, we all still won in so many different ways. I’m still not sure what happened today. Did the JossFluke vampire mystery drama really happen or did I hallucinate that? And did they or did they not throw Phuwin and Dunk together in a maybe-straight-and-maybe-not romcom? And EarthMix are doing Ossan’s Love now? I am generally very confused about GMMTV’s sudden interest in adapting Japanese BLs, especially seeing as Cherry Magic isn’t even out yet.

I’m also pretty surprised at how many old branded pairs are returning—we’re getting another OffGun show, TayNew are back and cosplaying as Ghostbusters, even Pond and Phuwin are getting more stuff despite Pond saying he wanted to take a break to study. Then again, I think Mix said that too, and here we are.

Oh, and then there’s “Only Boo” (I can’t believe GMMTV still hasn’t gotten better at naming their shows) which reads 100% like an attempt to recreate My School President. Not that I necessarily mind, considering I loved MSP. I wonder though if and how critical they’ll get about the boy group and idol topic and the surrounding fan culture.

I am a little sad we only got one GL, but the one we did get looks great so far. Plus, maybe there’ll be more in Part 2. How many shows are they planning to announce this year, if this was only part 1? How they are ever planning on producing all of these is a mystery to me. What they have announced so far is more than enough for a year already, but I won’t complain.

Okay, I’m on my way back home from uni, I have my bingo card ready (thank you @icouldhyperfixatehim for the amazing template, I had so much fun)—I’m READY. Hit me with everything you have, GMMTV. I’m skipping class for this, so you better make it worth it. I’m so excited to sit in front of my screen for hours and cross off all the things on the bingo I made at 2 a.m. last night and get infused with prospects of how incredible next year is going to be. Oh, what a time to be alive.

[stormyoceans]

Do you have any other wishes for GMMTV part 2 aside from the mandatory slow burn?

[TAKES OUT HER WISHLIST] ANON HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU HAVE

all jokes aside, i honestly do have way too many wishes when it comes to what i want to see from GMMTV and most of them are very hyperspecific, so instead of giving you just an endless list of whatever random ideas or pairings i’d like to get (which is maybe more appropriate for a bingo card or something like that), i kinda condensed it all into some more general categories (sort of. a couple fo these are still pretty specific ;;;;;;;;)

anyway, here we go!!!!

1. WOMEN. literally my top wish after anything jimmysea related is MORE. WOMEN. like srsly give me viewjune as the main pairing in a GL!!!!!!!! give me sizzy in any combination!!!!!!!! give me women centring shows where the women actually get treated as the main characters!!!!!!!! give me the GL version of series like only friends and we are where the women get to be silly and nasty!!!!!!!!! give me jamie kissing women as a treat to me specifically!!!!!!!!! GIVE. ME. WOMEN.

2. historical QL. after the success of i feel you linger in the air and with both idolfactory and domundi working on releasing historical QLs in the near future, i think it’s about time GMMTV also gives us a proper one. possibly with no time travel or reincarnation involved, for once

3. plot driven QL. this is kinda tied to my wish for an actual slow burn and partly to the following point as well, but i do desperately wish we could get a QL series where the romance is obviously still there, but it’s not the main focus of the show, or at least not the only one. something like manner of death or triage, where the romance just happens along the way as the story unfolds. i think the closest GMMTV got to it was with not me, but it would be nice to get more, even if i know this is not everyone’s cup of tea

4. some variety please for the love of god. look, i know we’re never gonna get rid of school settings and office romances, so it’s pointless to wish to have none of those, but i do desperately need a bit more diversity. of the fifteen series announced in part 1, seven of them are set in school. SEVEN. that’s basically half of the offer they’re giving. and okay, if we consider only the QL shows then the ratio is better (3 out of 9), but still. give me thriller shows, give me horror shows, give me fantasy shows, give me sci-fi shows, give me jobs that aren’t just office workers or chefs, give me mystery, give me crime, give me cashiers and doctors and detectives and firefighters and taxi drivers and teachers and librarians and waiters and bartenders and mechanics and lawyers and flight attendants and therapists and farmers and hairdressers and reporters, JUST!!!!!!!!! explore something new!!!!!!!! take some risks!!!!!!!! i know GMMTV as a company is not as big as we think it is and that it focuses on teens and new generation audiences, but i don’t think younger people want to see students and office workers exclusively……

5. QL exploring other sexualities and gender identities. just give me ace main characters, trans main characters, non-binary main characters, ALL THE DIFFERENT QUEER MAIN CHARACTERS!!!!!!!

6. pepper/papang/guy/podd in any combination as a main pairing in a QL. love and light to all the rookies but if GMMTV doesn’t give these men some main roles im gonna start committing grand scale larceny to cope

[stormyoceans]

is it just me who thinks this "riding the wave" thing is not good at all? like the plots are not giving, they are pretty lazy and only rely on the same old fixed couples they know are going to work, otherwise no one would be watching these tbh where is the quality, the good scripts, the original ideas, the talent? 😭 idk i see ppl so happy and i'm like we should aim for more actually, we deserve better than this...

im afraid we might have to agree to disagree on this matter anon im really sorry ;;;;;;;;;

i actually feel like the lack of originality and the company relying on the popularity of fixed pairings to carry the stories was way more present in both of the two parts from GMMTV 2024 combined, but with the 2025 lineup what im personally seeing is more variety and the willingness to experiment with new genres, which is something that i can't help but be very happy about

there are still students and school settings, but they're trying to put a fresh spin on it by sprinkling some fantasy elements and religious guilt on top, and the majority of the characters we've seen are actually adults with countless different jobs: there are teachers, and detectives, and shop owners, and debt collectors, and scammers, and photographers, and doctors, and fortune tellers, and flight attendants, and emergency rescuers, and im probably forgetting some because there were SO. MANY. and not only that, but we also got toxic yaoi in theatre, toxic yuri in the industry, a love triangle that maybe if we pray hard enough can turn into a polycule, a master and a servant fighting each other in the ring, an amnesiac prince, and last but not least a mafia adjacent soap opera loving perfume maker (which let me tell you. that sure is a string of words i never thought i would be putting together. and y'all see me use words recreationally on the daily)

we can't really be certain of what GMMTV means with 'riding the wave', but after seeing this line up, the way im interpreting it is that they've started to understand that people are interested in queer shows with diverse storylines, and so they're finally willing to invest in them

now, don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean that our job here is done and that im fully satisfied. on the contrary. like do i think they overused the amnesia trope and the fortune telling plot? a little bit, yeah. do i wish they had have given us more GLs considering the insane amount of engagement they are pulling? YES GOD DAMN IT. do i believe that GMMTV, as a big ass consolidated company, should be setting the trends by being bolder and experiment more instead of just following along? absolutely. but we have to start somewhere, and to me this is what it is: the beginning, not the ending point, and i personally will never stop being vocal and advocating for better quality and unique plots

all this being said, i did see people being disappointed by the amount of fixed pairings we now have and expressing doubts over this 'darker', more mature era of QLs, and i think everyone's feelings are perfectly valid, because at the end of the day we all have different tastes and different things we would like to see

so what im hoping for rn is that everyone will be able to find something to be excited about and look forward to with what we've got, and as for the future, i hope we can all keep moving forward and aim for more together