#and perayas and yuyus and samoons

[francinefoam]

I can't believe I'm dusting off this account to talk about thai bl fandom nonsense. But! as someone who was in the peraya/kristsingto and thai bl trenches back in the olden days of 2017-2019, it's been wild to come back and see the same toxic shipping culture being perpetuated by some of the same people (here's looking at you, miss fuse!) in 20fucking24

I've just read OP's primer on Krist and the homophobia misinformation campaign against him (thanks for doing the work, @thebroccolination!) and I want to add that Krist's character being the "wife" and the bottom in the Kongpob/Arthit pairing played a huge role in the type of harassment Krist continues to face from shippers.

The way some shippers treat Krist is weirdly gendered and sexist, as if he really is the wife or the omega to Singto's alpha. So they expect him to be 100% loyal and "faithful", to protect Singto's reputation, and do all the emotional work in maintaining the kristsingto pairing.

SOTUS became an overnight sensation and the two leads were hounded and stalked and received so much attention they were definitely not prepared or trained for. I don't want to downplay what Singto faced, but if you were around as it was happening, I don't think anyone can deny that as the "tsundere wife," Krist had it much, much worse. There's many fan videos from these days where fans are following Krist around and asking about his husband, including when he's out with his family and his gf. In fact, the poor gf was harassed quite a bit as well. Imagine you're a normal uni student with an actor bf and then due to his sudden hit bl show, wherever you go, random women - some old enough to be your mother - are asking you invasive questions about your bf's sexuality and his "husband." This type of behavior was relentless and some of the more extreme fans were pretty much saying that Krist's relationship was fake because he was Singto's wife.

The extreme shippers didn't just harass Krist's gf, they also harassed his friends, especially any guys he was openly close and affectionate with, because they were seen as a threat to Singto. If he posted about his guy friends, he would get numerous comments telling him to stop ignoring Singto and go take care of Singto like a good wife. I was a multishipper and I liked the ghost ships of Krist/Gun and Krist/Mike and OMG. The amount of hostility just mentioning these ships generated from some perayas was wild. Krist and Gun actually stopped hanging out as much, especially in public, partly due to shipper harassment!

I've always thought that some of the most prominent perayas who were older women treated Krist weirdly like he was their daughter-in-law. IDK if this will make sense to anyone who is not thai or SE-Asian, but you know that stereotypical mother and daughter in law dynamic? with the mother in law constantly policing and criticizing the daughter in law and expecting only her to do all the work in the relationship and stay faithful, etc. etc. while the son doesn't get any of this pressure? That's how some of the thai perayas I knew acted towards Krist and Singto.

Part of this is because Krist is more open and a people pleaser, while Singto is more reserved and distant. This, along with the "wifely" expectations created a situation where Krist couldn't have a gf or male friends; meanwhile Singto was doing multiple BLs with multiple partners (as he should!). Krist was constantly nagged to provide kristsingto moments and blamed for lack of kristsingto series, but Singto was mostly left alone. (And it's not just because Singto is an introvert who doesn't like overt fanservice; he's definitely done the cutesy fanservice for other pairings. I think it's mostly that they've fallen into a pattern where Krist does 80-90% of the kristsingto work, so Singto has to do less).

Anyway, this unbalanced kristsingto/peraya dynamic and the toxic shipping is largely why I stepped away from that fandom. It's sad to see that nothing has significantly changed 5 years later.

(well, I guess one change I'm seeing is that Krist's solo fans/yuyus are more aggressive and quick to clap back towards perayas where they used to be sort of cowed and drowned out. Some of them are even tagging Singto on social media in retaliation, which is wild for them. That's usually the perayas MO lol)

TOXIC FAN PRESSURE

So a lot of us saw this exchange yesterday between Krist and a toxic fan who got flatly shut down when they tried to make Krist choose between GawinKrist and KristSingto:

I made a whole thread on Twitter to provide context about it (that I might also put on here).

And, y’know, even though this gives people like that more undeserved attention, I’m sharing these other tweets to show people outside the fandom the level of nonsense Krist has been putting up with for months just because he’s still friends with Gawin and won’t pretend he doesn’t exist for the sake of their fantasies.

Krist is twenty-eight now, and he’s clearly ready to set some boundaries with fans who try to take liberties, but I want to take this as an opportunity to point out that he’s been dealing with this and worse since SOTUS aired while he was still in university.

He’s famous for being a people-pleaser, kind to all to his own detriment, so it shocked and pleased a lot of long-time fans to see him finally clap back yesterday. And it’s fitting that he did it to protect the people he loves.

And these are sock puppet accounts posting publicly, so I can’t imagine what they’re sending to his DMs.

All because he found a friend.

I’m glad he stood up to them.

[thebroccolination]

KRIST AND HIS YUYUS

So there are three branches of KristSingto fandom, with Peraya the fans of the imaginary couple, Samoonjaopa (or just “Samoon”) the solo fans of Singto, and Yuyu the solo fans of Krist. (There are fans who overlap—like ✨me✨)

Krist’s relationship with his Yuyus really is remarkable to me. When my friend in Thailand told me he treats them like family, I took that with a grain of salt. The emotional toll that would take on a person had to be immense—and I think that’s exactly what happens. He says his fans are his “power bank” and while there must be enormous stress on him, he must also get incredible energy back.

The one thing clearest to me is that he truly loves his Yuyus in a very genuine and heartfelt way.

In January this year, Krist spoke over the phone to a fan who had terminal cancer. I think she was also the fan I saw at his solo concert in October who told him that it would likely be the last time she could attend one of his events. He gave her a long hug, and he tweeted about her afterward.

The genuine kindness in how he speaks to her here is truly lovely.

A week after this video was posted, the original poster confirmed that the fan he’d been speaking to had passed away.

I know the emotional toll on celebrities can be immense, and there are celebrities who keep their distance from fans because of it. But it must also be profoundly emotionally and even spiritually resonant in a way I can’t describe or imagine to be a source of comfort and joy for someone who’s dying.

This is why I have such respect and admiration for him. He truly is as kind as he seems, and moments like this just reinforce every effort his fans have made to show people why he means so much to us.

[angelwithaslushiemaker]

I love the comments! Everytime I rewatch there are new ones. People watching the first time or others having rewatched recently. It's always so wholesome. I have the boxset, but always end up rewatching on YouTube just so I can scroll the comments on each part.

Also: Ignore the trolls. Peraya/Samoon/Yuyu survived people spreading lies for years, we will survive people being angry that they have friends.

Have fun continuing your rewatch and know we'll have a new thing to rewatch soon, and filming updates in just a couple months!

best thing about rewatching SOTUS yesterday was the yt comments section. It's so relatable that I feel I am binging with fellow fans. Obviously it's normal to watch and enjoy stuff on your own but some shows, books, movies are so special that you can't help but try to find people online who enjoy it as much as you do.

"Oh you noticed Singto bites his lips often in series and in real life? ME TOO." "Arthit gave 2 oranges to Kong and only 1 to M. I NOTICED IT TOO."

Even these inner monologues are fun.

The excitement to share what you love with others and reading what others think about that media is just the best. So even if you are just scrolling through the comments section not commenting yourself or just reading the forum discussions the experience of being a fan enhances so much. The sense of belonging you feel. The euphoria of letting out your emotions about that media out loud.

Fandoms are a blessing. You might find someone with same interest as you living on the other side of the world, sometimes not even speaking the same language as you. Yesterday I finally made a moot on twitter, I was so excited. YES GIRL LET'S SQUEAL TOGETHER.

Though yesterday was kind of toxic in the fandom, enjoying one of my fav shows with others made me realise why I became a fan and how enjoyable it is when done right. There is so much variety now a days that most times you and your friend group will be into totally different things so when you find a community online it's just beautiful.