#dinosaur love

[live-from-flaturn]

For Anyone's Next Watch-Through...

I've started noticing patterns. Send me more and I'll make another one!

[zharizard666]

Creo que nunca publiqué los stickers que hice para la comic con del año pasado jaja

Me sorprendió que los que más se vendieron fueron los stickers ace, gracias a la comunidad ace/aro colombiana por ayudarme a pagar el recibo del gas JAJAJAJA

[absolutebl]

TOP 10 BL Trends of 2023

This is just me with my analysis hat on. 

1. 2023 = the year EVERYONE went outside their lanes

Everything went topsy-turvy this year in BL. 

For example, Korea gave us agonized yearning and outright queerness (The 8th Sense, The New Employee) while Japan served up soft office workers and tender family (Our Dining Table). 

The BL world went askew for a while, especially in the spring of 2023. 

Not that we still didn’t still get Korea’s soft angsty bubbles or Japan’s “what are you doing and why does it hurt?” kink-fests. But there were quite a few BLs that made us chronic watchers sit up in confusion and wonder if Korea was dabbling in Taiwan’s territory or Japan in Thailand’s. Then they fudged the kisses and we were like... okay, back in familiar territory. 

In contrast, Thailand stayed course-correcting for the damage they’ve done in the past with tropes (2022) and self referential meta criticism (2021), but also almost aggressively returned to their BL roots after last year’s series of shockers. Certainly, they are reexamining those roots, transplanting some, aerating others. But they really went back to classic Thai university and high school BL and pulps in a big way in 2023. 

Taiwan is always difficult to gage because they produce so few but they seem to have stuck with what they do best with no deviation while producing more this year than they have in ages. I’m happy for that, why change a good thing? But there is a tiny part of me that really wants them to hit it out of the part with a quality piece soon. For me, We Best Love still reigns supreme, but I would really like the HIStory franchise to give us that level but longer - like a happy version of Your Name Engraved Herein. I think Taiwan has the chops to give us something as good as The 8th Sense or Old Fashion Cupcake but in their style, and I would like to see them exercise their talent for good rather than just profit. 

I know, what a very odd thing for me to say. But if any BL is going to break into the mainstream American market, I genuinely think it’s most likely come from Taiwan. 

Vietnam and the Philippines are falling behind, in general. They just didn’t bring out very many shows in 2023, and what the brought out tended to fub the endings. This is forgivable in Japan (because of their style and quality) but not what watchers want in the lower production value propositions. In other words, if you do a pulp, you can’t mess up the ending (by romance standards). that doesn’t look to be changing anytime soon. 

2. The Office Romance Dominated

After years of Thailand serving us an endless (and slightly bland) buffet of university (and a few high school) BLs, this year Korea was basically like...

Ofiice. We like the Office. It’s cheap to film we can use grown up actors, acting (mostly) their actual age. 

And yeah... it totally worked. 

To be fair, Japan has always given us office live action yaoi from the beginning (they had the source material) but this year everyone else, including Thailand, seriously started playing in this setting. 

3. Boys Danced with Boys

The darling @heretherebedork​ was a big fan of this one, and I rather like it myself. Prior to this boys dancing together was very very rare in BL, but this year we got way more than our fair share. It was lovely. 

Never Let me Go

My School President 

Bed Friend 

The Day I Loved You 

Step by Step

Be Mine Superstar

Tie the Not 

Dangerous Romance

I think there were a few more. These are the ones I remembered to write down. 

4. Getting (even more) Meta With Tropes 

BL has been getting more and more meta over the past few years but this year they really focused in on tropes specifically. Calling out their own biggest and most favorite tropes in a massive way, especially Thailand and especially GMMTV. 

Like they tunneled in on damaging tropes with Bad Buddy and the like over the past 2 years, and now they are just having fun with us. 

I mean they just started the dancing trope and already they are calling it out? That’s like rapid-fire regurgitated meta there, GMMTV. 

5. Cameos are the norm now 

Taiwan has always loved cameos but in the past the other countries have been show and steady with only one or two a year. (Unless Japan does a parody.) 

This year Korea got in on the game.

Korea rarely starts trends but they do adopt smaller and lesser known existing ones and make them super popular. 

This year they did that with cameo couple appearances, even borrowing a few of Thailand’s pairs (TutorYim and MaxNat traveled north). They did it so much I stopped tracking. Love Class 2, Why R U?, and Jun & Jun were the heaviest hitters. 

Taiwan, of course, came back swinging. Kiseki was the gum-ball machine of pair cameos. (In Taiwan mafia = gay.) 

6. We are entering the cross pollination age

The number of remakes picked up or started this year was startling, not just countries revisiting their own content (Thailand, Japan) but countries revisiting OTHER countries stuff.

Lemme explain...

Korea has started remaking Thai content (Why R U?) alongside cameo'ing Thai pairs.

Thailand is doing Korean IP (My Dear Gagster Oppa) and has 2 Chinese ones slated for next year. 

GMMTV acquired a lot of Japanese IP (Cherry Magic, Ossen, and My Love Mix Up) - and then had problems distributing it. 

This is probably the most surprising trend for me. Especially the Japanese stuff. I would have thought these properties well outside of Thailand's price range (even GMMTV's) not to mention Japan’s legendary IP issues (I swear I typed this pout before the pulled TayNew’s excellent Cherry Magic). 

Also why not option some of the older popular manga instead? Bet that's much cheeper. (I did see a NEW Thai translation of Finder into Thai, which is 90s yaoi, so I have my fingers crossed on that front.)

I shouldn't be too surprised. 

Thailand is running out of y-novel content. Their publication industry is just not robust enough (I was just talking to a friend about this at length recently). But I didn't think they had the funds to option, especially from Japan. 

Perhaps the option deals are for peanuts?

7. Korea got cheeky

I’m not sure quite how else to put this. 

After finally figuring out boys can kiss, Korea started to do not just higher heat but playful higher heat, with more aggressive word play and linguistic innuendo, like they are entering their racy rom-com teenage years (Why R U? Love Class 2 and Jun & Jun in particular.) 

I guess: Welcome to your BL teens, Korea? 

It’s cute of them. I am very much enjoying it. 

And now that comedy is warming them up, we get to see them play with actual queer burgeoning physicality in shows like The 8th Sense. 

It’s nice. I like seeing Korea stretch its wings. They still stick to their bubble, but that bubble seems to be expanding. 

8. The Amnesia Trope is back

And I, for one, would prefer to forget about it. 

9. BL got trendy 

I’m not quite sure how to articulate this category but basically we started seeing a lot of “modern” romance trends out of the west (like a/b/o) show up in our BL. Not a ton and sometimes quite small, but there has a been a steady rise of things like: no seme/uke, femme gay, out gay, condom use, messy gay. 

We also got an increasing range of sub genre frameworks (like mafia, office setting) that’s moved BL pretty firmly (even in Thailand) out of school and into the workplace, whether actual working is involved or not. 

It’s not to the point where it feels like we get more non-school BL than school BL (if I include all countries in this assessment).

Japan, in classic Japanese fashion, quietly started moving in the opposite direction. It’s what they do. 

10. The Vampires are coming 

This is an announcement trend, which I don’t usually report on but it’s so CLEAR. 

So last year we had a spate of announcements of possible Omegaverse (2 from China, 1 from Japan, 1 from Thailand - the only one that’s happened). 

This year we got 5 Vampire (or vampire-esk) Thai BLs announced including one from GMMTV. 

Whether all 5 will actually get made is unlikely, but having had (basically) none prior to this (Kissable Lips), I’m pretty confident that we will get at least 2 of them. And I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one other country made one as well. (Side eyes Taiwan with interest.) 

Final thoughts

It feels like we are also seeing a decline in BL (both by quantity and quality) from Vietnam and the Philippines. As you all know, I don’t track or really watch either of these two very closely. But it feels like, now, no one else is either. 

I think we have likely seen the BL heyday already in both places and their industries are now on the decline. 

We might be witnessing a thinning in the players in the BL field. 

FYI we had approximately 

136 BLs in 2023

Previous Years

2022: 117

2021: 95

2020: 62

2019: 40

2018: 30 

2017: 44 (China’s last gasp)

2016: 27

2015: 17 (50% micro)

2014: 17 (50% micro)

And that’s it! Let me know in the comments if you’ve spotted any additional trends you want to call out.

Last year, 2022′s trend report

2021′s Trend report

Last Year’s Stats & Predictions

(source) 

[respectthepetty]

Poonpun, the man who is absolutely serving in the promos for Your Dear Daddy with Fluke, is the same little twerp from Dinosaur Love.

YES! This pink robe baddie was the crazy friend who slept with his best friend's man then stalked his best friend until he ended up in the hospital!

I don't even remember most of Dinosaur Love, but I sure in the hell remember him!

I don't even care if Your Dear Daddy is gonna be messy because I can guarantee these two are going to act their asses off.

SERVE!

[25shadesoffebruary]

[pharawee]

Kong Montree as RAK & Pepper Phongpat as DINO —DINOSAUR LOVE Episode 4

Bonus: 🦈

[heretherebedork]

I made an illegal sound. Absolutely illegal. What. WAT. Is this really how Oishii Lemon is asking to be advertised!? With porn level comments about stickiness and a line about calling his lover Daddy!? This is the future of advertising!? @absolutebl I don't even know what to think.

[iguessitsjustme]

Only one character per show. I can do another one of these with different characters from these same shows if people want.

Also I know not all of these shows are QL. Don't worry about it. Just vote.

[crispywizardtale]

I love how Rak was tge one that initiated the intimacy. That little taking off the school uniform from behind... Dino definitely didn't expect that attack but he is not someone who would complain he is someone who reacts fast

And we can see it that he was prepared for this for quite a while and this boy was hungry I'm just not sure who Dino or Pepper

Speaking of Pepper that boy can kiss yes they kissed in previous episode but this a whole another level. The amount of saliva they exchanged in this episode is insane

AND IT DOES NOT STOP!!! Pepper sweetie are we allowed to watch this?!

I do have to say I love how they portrayed Dino's desire and need for this kind of physical contact. You can really see how badly he wants Rak, how messy the kisses are and how deep they are. He has waited for Rak for so long that all of his desire that he has buried inside is coming out now when Rak is ready.

Even if Dino gave in to lust he still cares for Rak. The drop on bed but landing softly on Rak. I keep rewatching the gif because I just don't get how they landed so softly I would also love to point out the grip that Rak has on Dino. Yoi can actually see Dino pulling slightly away to reposition himself but he can't because of how tightly Rak is holding him.

I love how fast Dino is his neediness is still strong, his desire is still very much present. Despite the speed Rak is still keeping up, but what matters more is that Rak is enjoying this. His lips are parted, his left hand is going up and down on Dino's back and his right joining the left. He is enjoying this and is encouraging more of it

What matters even more is Dino finding power in himself to stop for a bit and ask for consent even if Rak was the one who initiated this in the first place a not only that but Dino is also encouraging Rak by calling him a good boy

In my opinion this is one of the greatest made love scenes.Dino has his red flags and his flaws but he can overcome them if he is with Rak i am so glad i didn't drop this series. I can also see acting improved for this episode from the main actors at least

[scoy-supremacy]

I gotta stop watching bls with sexy bi motorcycle boys, bc my gender envy is making me question if I should get a bike now.

[infodumpingaboutnature]

So a new species of dinosaur was just discovered and uh……. They named it Gremlin. Gremlin slobodorum…….

So Gremilin slobodorum is a species of leptoceratopsid ceratopsian dinosaur that lived during the Campanian stage of the Cretaceous period around 77 million years ago. Its fragmentary remains were first found in the Oldman Formation in Alberta, Canada and were originally thought to have belonged to a different genus of small ceratopsian called Cerasinops since their remains have been found in rock layers around that same age.

(Cerasinops compared to a modern house cat. Art by cisiopurple on Deviantart)

However, it was just recently discovered to be a completely new genus and so it was given the name: Gremlin slobodorum. The genus name “Gremlin” obviously refers to the mischievous mythical creature while the species name “slobodorum” is in honor of Ed and Wendy Sloboda who were both involved in the discovery of the holotype specimen.

If I’m being honest I don’t really like the genus name of this dinosaur. Like I’m all for extinct creatures having names inspired by mythology but just calling it Gremlin feels lazy in my opinion. Like it does look like a Gremlin but maybe Gremlinsaurus or Gremlinceratops would’ve been better names. But despite its uncreative (in my opinion) name I still think it’s a pretty cool dinosaur and can’t wait for more paleo art of this guy to start popping up. Also, no hate to the people who named this genus or if you like the name. I just wish it wasn’t just called Gremlin. Who knows maybe the name will grow on me.

[absolutebl]

This Week In BL - I’m pleased with what’s airing, but conflicted about what’s ended & getting started

Aug 2023 Wk 1

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Laws of Attraction (Sat iQIYI) 4 of 8 - Omg the way the bodyguard (handler?) looks at the rich kid. Gah. I see why @heretherebedork​ loves these 2. But I really hate him (not the handler, the kid). Fun fight scene. I love lawyer babygirl SO MUCH. HE WILL BE MY 2023 FAV CHARACTER. I’M CALLING IT. This ep, Srs? You’re killing me. Suits! Pussycat bows! And then... The Public Claiming!!!!! One of my favorite tropes! And openly flirting? Boys. I’m getting spoiled. Wait… is that…? NO SINGING. Ah well, Thai BL giveth and Thai BL taketh away. 

Hidden Agenda that isn’t hidden (Sun GMMTV YouTube) ep 4 of 10 - I like the script for this. It feels like the conversations they have are very honest to a uni experience. It’s comfortable and breezy. I did not expect the kiss. Bit early in the arc. There is either going to be a lot of backend drama, or a long domestic honeymoon period. (Bet you can guess which one I vote for.) 

Low Frequency (Sat iQIYI) ep 5 of 8 - It’s moving along in a Ghost Host kinda way (minus the killer chemistry). I’m not mad about it, I don’t think I'll remember it tho. 

Be Mine Super Star (Mon Viki) ep 5 of 12 - My ambivalent relationship with this drama continues. Cohabitation trope. Punn is basically a huge puppy trying to spoil/cuddle/fuck his pretty kitty prince. It is what it is. Meanwhile, I just want more of Big Daddy & the Hot Doc. (Also the name of my burlesque show.) Why does Kevin have more chemistry with Ashi in a 1 min long scene than Punn has had… ever? Is this nascent bad boy effect or nascent 2nd lead syndrome I’m feeling? (Meanwhile Ben! Hi! Long time no see!) 

Be My Favorite (Fri YouTube) ep 11 of 12 - Whatever. Trash(ish) watch here. 

Dinosaur Love (Sun iQIYI) ep 6 of 8 eps - Aw pretty baby is unhappy his bf got injured. But also very blushing maiden. This is profoundly NOT GOOD. 

Wedding Plan (Weds YT & iQIYI) ep 3 of 7 - I have decided that Lom’s theme song is BigBang’s Monster. Listen. You’ll see what I mean. Also BigBang = also very problematic but banging. What I’m saying is, I wanna punch Lom so bad, I went slightly bonkers. Water sports are addressed. A trash watch is happening!

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Jun & Jun (Korea Thurs Viki) 3 of 8 - How DARE they make me love this show so much? I feel personally attacked. The smell thing! Gah. The way they automatically go informal in private. The flirting. The language. The suits, the EVERYTHING. It’s embarrassing how much I rewatch the final bits of each ep. 

Stay By My Side (Taiwan Fri Gaga) 6 of 10 eps - I adore this ridiculous show. (I just realized that the actor playing Jiang Chi played Ray’s evil 2-timing bf in About Youth). Baby boy is quite clueless. Sweet dreams tho. I love them both so much. The washing his jersey scene was so fucking cute. Couple’s numbers, couple’s keychains, bridal towel, kisses. Thank you Taiwan for NOT activating blushing maiden. However, confident gay/confused bisexual is a go. And we got us some justifiable angst. Sigh. I’m so happy. 

Sing My Crush AKA Follow The Wind (Korea Weds iQIYI) 1-2 of 8 eps - supposed to have released in the first half of 2022 this is a adaption of Myung’s webtoon, from the director of My Sweet Dear, and Love Tractor’s production house, basically Korea does About Youth. It’s sweet (the singing bits are easy to skip) and very much a story of young first love but less stiff than KBL’s usual high school fare (kinda Taiwan feeling). I like it but that very imprecision in production makes me concerned for an HEA, especially with such a low MDL rating. 

Tokyo in April is... AKA Shigatsu no Tokyo wa (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 8fin  - Rough final episode, but it does end happily. Fortunately, I had some warning for my personal triggers, but this is Japan and they did go dark. Full review below. 

Minato's Laundromat Season 2 AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 (Japan Thu Gaga) 5 of 12 eps - Shin is so cute and proud and boldly out. I love him. Movement in the relationship with both couples, even if it’s movement into arguments and misunderstanding. I suppose we got 12 eps they need to do... something.  

Stay Still (Hong Kong Tues YouTube) 1 of 5 eps - It’s confusing. And… not good? Some flashbacks some present day? 

It’s airing but ...

Stay With Me ... NO I WILL NOT! And you can’t make me.

Review: Tokyo in April is... AKA Shigatsu no Tokyo wa

I had to chew on this for a while but here’s where I ended up. 

Two young men with a shared tragic past reunite and fall in love all over again, but the past will not stop hunting them. Based on a manga, this office set reunion romance is GREAT… damn it. It’s Japan in full on soft focus which means it gets emo, abusive, and chewy. These two characters are giving parts of their souls away in a desperate attempt to shape themselves to the expectations they have of each other. 

Japan gave us the Bed Friends that Thailand could never even imagine. But here’s the thing: I don’t enjoy my BL this heavy and cutting. I know that for The 8th Sense crowd this is peak BL and I can’t argue with the fact that the romantic devotion, domesticity, script, and acting IS all on point. It’s just not my personal preference for that point to be so damn sharp. I appreciate that this being 2023 I have the luxury of consistent quality (especially from Japan) and thus the ability to say… 

I acknowledge that this SHOULD get a 9/10 but I can’t emotionally go higher than 8/10 

RECOMMENDED BUT KNOW WHAT KIND OF BL THIS IS AND TRIGGER WARNINGS LIKE CRAZY 

Japan = sticking to its lanes like their BL is on rails. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Starting: 

8/11 Love Class Season 2 (Korea Fri Viki) 10 eps 

8/12 My Personal Weatherman AKA Taikan Yoho (Japan Sat Gaga) 8 eps 

Still Coming August 2023

8/19 Love in Translation (Thai Sat One31) ? eps - Two strangers start working in a cafe together.

8/19 I Feel You Linger in the Air (Thai Sat Gaga) 12 eps - The time travel historical romance many of us have been waiting for. 

8/20 My Universe series (Thai Sun iQIYI) 24 episodes - This is sampler pack BL, 12 pairs, each pair gets 2 eps, not sure on the order they’ll drop. Known couples include EarthBank from Destiny Seeker and KaownahTurbo from Love Stage!!!, mostly fresh faces otherwise. Jane to direct several.

8/22 Kisseki: Dear to Me formerly known as Miracle (Taiwan Tues ????) 13 eps - From screenwriter Lin Pei Yu (We Best Love, H3: Trapped) features a student doctor forced to take care of a gangster. I love the premise and like the writer, Viki or Gaga will get this one.  

8/24 Man Suang (Thailand movie, domestic cinema release) - historical drama about Thai burlesque with KP’s MileApo. Tong is in this one too?

8/? Why R U? (Korean remake) is supposed to be out this month, filming started in sept 22. I find everything about this hilarious. I mean if Korea remakes it, we lose all the sexy and then... would we have a story at all? No we would not. Not even for six short eps. It’d be like one of those mesh shopping bags.

Oh yeah, Only Friends is coming. 

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Hidden Agenda. I love them. 

Public claiming with the waist grab maneuver! A true hero. 

But I think we can all agree that THIS is the hero all love triangles deserve. (both Laws) 

(Last week) 

[poetry-protest-pornography]

Okay, I'm getting low-key "Kram is in love with Rak" vibes.

Which would explain why he was excited about the break up, and confused why Rak was leaving him, too. And also his very unsubtle comments and behavior, and baiting a fight with sending the picture to Mek.

Like, this:

-is a very desperate sort of stubbornness.

Like, I am big time codependent with my best friend, but that's not the energy these two have.

Dino agrees that Kram is being sus:

But Rak's sad little face here is breaking my heart. He looks like he's obviously still processing the whole thing, but the "we were friends" right before he says he wants to sleep at Dino's -- fully because he doesn't want to run into Kram waiting at his own apartment, is just... This poor baby.

(@respectthepetty Kram is wearing black in the break up scene-- in several scenes, actually-- what are your thoughts on his possible pining?)

[dandydemidoesfandoms]

This is Pepper Pongpat Unhapipatpong, a new Thai actor who recently debuted as Saifah, the menace twin to Phayu in Love in The Air. A completely underutilized character if you ask me.

He has a new show coming out soon, Dinosaur Love.

And, of course, we know Boss Chaikamon is hot to trot and so adorable, but y'all, we are sleeping on this man. And I for one would be remiss if I didn't point out the potential!

Clean Shaven Wholesome Fit ✔️

The requisite posey pose with art...complete with a blazer and a shirt I am sure is made of boyfriend material? ✔️✔️

The Bi Biker coding in all black?!? ✔️✔️✔️ 🥵

Sir, respectfully I am 👀, but also ✔️✔️✔️✔️

Idk why but these outfits and his jawline is doing things for me. I'm just saying. ✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️

The standard "shirts are overrated and superfluous" fit check ✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️

And if these gym posts are going the Force/Fort route, blessings are a-coming for those who are into that sort of thing.

Moral of the story

[pharawee]

Kong Montree as RAK & Pepper Phongpat as DINO —DINOSAUR LOVE Episode 5

[heretherebedork]

Things I love about this scene: Rak is still affected by what happened earlier in the series and can face this, Dino accepts Rak being not ready despite them both wanting to try, Dino's the one who apologizes for not stopping quickly enough, Dino promises to wait, Dino also continues to be playful and tease him afterwards because Rak welcomes that.

This is just a glorious example of the fact that consent can change at any minute and how to respect that as well as how to respect where your partner is. Dino knows that Rak is okay with him being playful even if he isn't ready for more so he slips back into their shared comfort zone.

They don't stop being affectionate, they don't retreat apart, they simply move back to shared and comfortable boundaries and stay there. It's great.