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hopezzy · 12 days ago

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Top Form goes TOO Meta Part 3 (Dear God, it's a SAGA): The Final Nail in the Auralis Coffin, for now:

I absolutely hate that I'm writing this now, and the last thing I want to do is bring negativity to the one pocket of social media that ISN'T blowing this story up. But the story is on FACEBOOK already, and you know that when something reaches that grandpa of a website, then it's official. Which is both ridiculous, ironic, and inconceivable in 2025-- after the second renaissance of BL which really transformed how branded pairs interact and what a CP means both for the pair and the solo artist. I was confident SmartBoom would pull through because CPs like Yinwar, UpPoom and BillkinPP exist with marginal to overwhelming success, and can be used as a blueprint for whatever hell these companies are planning for their artists. I forget that they are the exception and not the rule.

Okay, so let's do this.

TaiLai decided to burn everything into the ground when they released this statement. Here, instead of just mentioning GIR, they mentioned Smart specifically:

The two week-old Auralis fandom (jfc our fandom must have a literal world record for shortest existence) has been in shambles for weeks now since Smart's company Grand Ivory Records announced a new Smart solo fandom name, a solo photobook, solo fanmeets in China, AND a series of Youtube vlogs on their channel featuring a female artist under their company being in a pseudo-ship with Smart (the vlogs had apparently been posted in the past three months, the fandom only found out about it recently). Eagle-eyed Auralis were already sounding the alarm on X, especially as veteran fans know that press tours for a new series typically last for 6 months after the airing of the series (heck, UpPoom's My Stand-In press tour is STILL ongoing a year after the last episode aired), and it's alarming that the only notification of work for Smart and Boom are their solo projects since the beginning of June.

For my part, I was just observing the flames of the chaos with a sense of detachment and a little bit of skepticism, because it's common in 2025 for companies to launch solo activities alongside cp activities for their artists, even for cps belonging in the same company (like BossNoeul and FortPeat for example). It's done to maximize on the newly-gained fan attention, and so long as the cp still has the occasional activity, then there's no harm no foul.

What alarmed me though, was the social media silence. Actors, especially newly-minted ones, aren't supposed to be silent on social media because fan interaction is the name of the game now. You are required to FEED the machine to maintain your longevity. Even the most self-professed introverted actors like Earth Pirapat and Est Supha conform to the requirement by posting the random photo. Companies hire teams of socmed managers for this very purpose.

The only reason why an artist would go radio-silent is if they have to. Aside from posting a joint TikTok video to promote their latest event, Boom went suspiciously quiet. Smart went on video to explain the reason for choosing a new solo fandom name, then also went silent. That was my first clue that shit was about to go down.

Here's a summary of TaiLai's statement from last night:

GIR wouldn't let this slide of course. They were quick to release their own statement, claiming that TaiLai (and Headliner) broke contract terms first, and they were doing what was best for Smart by representing him exclusively:

In both statements, TaiLai and GIR have made it clear that they've TERMINATED engaging with each other, and that they will each focus on the individual artists in their roster moving forward.

To the beautiful people over at @dramalove247, when I said I wanted to be in the JinAkin fandom, please know that I meant that metaphorically. I want to leave the #JinAkinisDead, crying-over-twitter-posts phase of my fandom experience please, thank you 😅🤣

(I'm actually devastated IRL, humor is a coping mechanism.)

So... is the branded pair dead?

Yes.

The thing is, my wonderful friends who I've roped into commiserating with me by making this blog post, SmartBoom's trajectory is currently following one other dead cp: ZaintSee (who I've talked about before).

No matter how we spin this, Smart is not Jin, and Boom is not Akin. I honestly don't think Smart wanted any of this to happen, and I do not blame him at all, but I can't expect him to fall on his sword just to save his cp with Boom.

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In this quick answer interview, Boom chose Jin over Smart, and given the current context, I understand why. Jin in the story is a well-established actor at the top of his game-- able to make demands and control his relationship with his management because of his fame. Jin is also in a committed romantic relationship with his co-star, so it would make sense that he would sacrifice himself for the sake of his loved one, just as we saw Akin do for Jin. Smart on the other hand, is a newbie bound by contractual obligations and a very fragile career. He knows he is replaceable in the industry, so having good company backing is essential. Leaving GIR for this friend and co-worker he's only known for a year (which is essentially what Boom is to him) is career suicide. So he'll stay, and we can't blame him. Whether it was his choice or not is irrelevant. Smart is doing what's best for himself, as he should.

I'm not too worried about Smart though, because his career will recover. He's young, charismatic, talented and very self-aware. He'll have opportunities left and right.

The biggest loss here is Boom. Top Form was his Hail Mary to the acting industry.

I mentioned in a previous post that Boom Raweewit (formerly Jiratpisit) is great friends with Mew Suppasit and Singto Prachaya--in fact, he entered the industry alongside Mew, and actually predates Singto's entry. He was already doing extra appearances in movies before Singto debuted in Sotus. But he underwent a four year-long Thai media blacklist when he was implicated and arrested for his brother's failed cryptoscheme:

That's right, my current favorite Thai actors oscillate between the goodiest goody two-shoes this side of Bangkok, to a literal jailbird.

(I didn't want to mention this at all, but "Auralis" on X are already bringing it up, in an attempt to ruin Boom's reputation in favor of Smart's, so at least in my small corner of the internet, let me defend him).

To clarify, Boom WAS ACQUITTED (don't @ me okay), and our Thai tumblerinos are probably more suited to talk about this more than I am. But based on my research, Boom's brothers and sisters ran a cryptocurrency company which successfully scammed a 22-year old Finnish cryptobro billionaire out of 797 million TBT. At the time, they were using Boom's name, profile and likeness to contact individuals (as he was a trusted public figure), and police arrested Boom in the middle of a shoot in 2018 while his whole family fled the country (ouch my dude). He spent a few days in jail, freed himself on bail, but was blacklisted in the industry while the case ran its course. After he successfully cleared his name in 2021 (and terminated contact with his siblings and extended family members, double ouch), he starred in Chain of Hearts in 2023, and nothing else until Top Form.

THIS is why Boom cries every time family or acting is mentioned in interviews (which is ironically the two themes of Top Form, talk about triggers). The reason why a rich kid who's been to multiple countries around the world now has to ride the BTS train to get to shoots, and walks alone sans entourage to a mall show that features him as the guest star. Why the car he's currently using is a hand-me-down, and why he won't part with his black bag for ANYTHING (watch Orange is the New Black and you'll know bags are the first thing police separate from you when you're arrested). Why he stayed a few days longer in China after their fansign, without his management (rumor has it some of his family members are residing in China), and why he broke down in the middle of an interview because his "friend" recently died (rumor from Thai X states that it was a brother who died, and he couldn't go to the funeral because of the legal implications of showing contact to the police). Why he broke down when he saw his mother and grandmother in the audience at the TF fanmeet, as if he didn't expect they would show up at all-- chances are they really weren't supposed to.

Boom's woes, given his age and his legal troubles, extend beyond company mismanagement. He had already finished three other series prior to his arrest in 2018, that was supposed to air on Channel 3 (Heart by Heart, The Sweet Robot, and End Love). These shows were supposed to catapult him to stardom, which would have put him along the same level of stardom as Top Form co-star Toey Pongsakorn. These of course were scrapped after the arrest, and though he's been appealing to have them aired, no company in their right mind would air back catalog no matter how good the content may be, especially for a company as big as Channel 3. (TAKE THIS WITH A BOATLOAD OF SALT-- these are all ALLEGED my friends, only rumors from the Thai rumor mill that are unfounded and could be untrue. In fact, for safety let's just take these as false. If any Thai fans can help me out with any of this info, I am more than happy to be corrected and will delete and edit as appropriate. I apologize in advance, this is sticky, sticky information).

Anyway, the loss of a cp in a media industry that persists internationally through Boys' Love, especially one that has gained this much success, is a disaster for Boom's career and not Smart's. His contemporaries have already experienced peaks and lows in their careers. Boom's is an endless barrage of lows. What a waste of talent and potential, all because Grand Ivory AND TaiLai/Headliner have decided to enter the world's pettiest dick-measuring contest.

I'm hoping for the best but expecting the worst. Though all of this is interesting from a professional standpoint, as a fan sincerely rooting for both Smart and Boom, I'd like to get out of this trainwreck please. I'm praying I'll make a part 4 of this WITH GOOD NEWS, and not more of this meta nonsense.

Erratum: removed the part about MewGulf as a Mew insider has informed me that the claims were unfounded. If anyone else would like to correct any information on here, I'm more than happy to oblige.

#jesus christ it could almost be seen as a PR stunt with how similar this bullshit is to what happens in the series #if it werent all so STUPID #god what an absolute WASTE of talent ans chemistry by these stupid companies #ive been so endlessly impressed by boom and to think we may not see him again is so fuCKED UP #top form the series #long post

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