Don't you ever have thoughts like that? (subs by @DE4RKAZU)

15 DAY BL CHALLENGE - DAY 9

Most Visually Pleasing Love Scene

This is so hard...I like all the love scenes...and I usually save these posts for my friday #hœ q hahah ANYWAY...

You'd think I'd pick The Sign, right? While I do think the love scenes are GORGEOUS, I actually don't LOVE a few things about them. First off, the purple non-diegetic lighting makes it look too FANTASY and takes me out of the reality. Second, in the shower love scene (the one that isn't in Tharn's head lol) there is this one shot that they repeated. That repeat takes me out of it a bit too. Sorry if you didn't notice it and now you will every time you rewatch.

ONE MORE AGAIN~ lol it's a nice shot but whoever edited the scene does annoyingly use it twice...

LAST THING I SWEAR! Unfortunately the pixelation is also such a mood killer. They did a better job on the third love scene (first non imaginary one lol) using TACTICAL OBJECT PLACEMENT. I much prefer that to pixelation.

If they'd made the colouring more natural, didn't pixel censor, and didn't repeat shots, The Sign WOULD HAVE HAD my favourite love scenes hands down, for sure.

SO MOVING ON! My completely unasked-for complaints about The Sign's OTHERWISE STUNNING Love Scenes aside, that leaves me in a toss up between two scenes...it also makes me think maybe I have a thing for mirrors and bathrooms because my top two are:

The KinnPorsche Mirror Handjob

I know I'm more of a VegasPete stan when it comes to KinnPorsche, but THIS SCENE! Oh my god...it is so gorgeous. See, as much as I complain about the coloured lighting in The Sign, I think KinnPorsche did it better. I prefer the diegetic lighting in KinnPorsche. Like this is a club bathroom and it has green lighting. It makes the scene more REAL and not FANTASY without sacrificing that cool green lighting. It also really hammers in the jealousy after Kinn caught Vegas with his man. I think there's a whole breakdown somewhere about the meaning behind colours and the reflection in this scene, but I just love being able to see Kinn's expression at the same time as Porsche's while they're facing each other like this. It's gorgeous.

Speaking of mirrors...

The My Beautiful Man Bathtub Mirror

Okay so the conversation that happens right before this aside—because omg Kiyoi's cnc kink is too real lol has someone written that fic? asking for a friend...—KIYOI'S LITTLE CHEEKS! They are SO PINK. I just love how he like literally asked for this and then he's all shy and embarrassed and he doesn't usually take baths so YOU KNOW he was already turned on and over heating and he spins toward the mirror but then he just has to look at himself while Hira starts touching him and...[becomes rubber ducky]

15 DAY BL CHALLENGE - DAY 10

Most Emotionally Pleasing Love Scene

This is tricky like emotionally pleasing...in what way? I have two interpretations!

The final love scene in The Sign, definitely had heavy but good vibes. It's so beautifully soft and emotional. Tharn knowing he's saying goodbye while Phaya is celebrating having survived what he thinks is the worst thing they'll go through together. It's so well done and just such a warm, golden hour glow, despite the ominous knowing feeling.

On the other side, we have the emotionally intense love scenes and MY GOD I think that has to be the COUCH SCENE from We Best Love: Fighting Mr. Second.

This is one of the most tense love scenes in a BL (IMO). Like Shi De is so sad and all messed up and he wants Shu Yi but he knows he shouldn't and he doesn't understand why Shu Yi is upset with him so he gets wasted and shows up at his place. Shu Yi is so mad at Shi De but unwilling to communicate and he misses Shi De and is also just sad and he still wants Shi De...but maybe not like this.

This position is visually stunning and as uncomfortable as the scene is. It's just so intense and dark and messed up and very well done. I love it.

THE SIGN (2023 - 2024)

+ Bonus : The dreams kisses

Compilation

for @asiandramanet march creator bingo » blorbo and @userdramas event 15 » something new

not sure what you'd call this style but it's my first time going for something like. meta-realism? and first extensive use of pngs, which were all sourced here, as well as my own handwriting for all the various scribbles. +insp: x x x

babe_in_: 🫠

head in the gutter tian and his smitten husband

[Click to enlarge]

From Babe's IG! Caption: It's you 🐺🐽

#ourownjackandrose

The Sign - Ep. 1

Let me bawl my eyes out about the friendship between Saint Suppapong and Billy Patchanon.

Today, Saint had several events and then a little fan meet. Among other things, he talked about Billy. He said that Billy was so happy at The Sign finale event and then added:

I remember I said to him, I made a promise to you that I would do whatever it took to get as many people to know you as I possibly could, make you famous. We sat there, the two of us in tears. We hugged each other with P'Ly, tears filling our eyes. We have been fighting together since SCOY the series.

To which Billy responded:

Their loyalty to each other is unprecedented in the entertainment business. Even after Seng left IDF, Billy decided to stick with Saint and shouldered everything that Seng's stans threw at him, all the blame. He endured and Saint gave him a promise and kept it. And now? The Sign gave Billy fame - and Babe, "the best gift," as Billy called him.

Also, Saint said that IDF already bought the next BL novel to be turned into a drama. I wonder if this is the project that Billy & Babe were so excited but couldn't talk about. A few days ago, there was a fan interview where they were asked about their next project. Billy literally had to bite his lips to stop himself from blurting out something. But he almost did a shimmy in his seat, he was so giddy about it. In the end, all they said was, "Stay tuned." So, hopefully! ✌🏻

The plan was to start watching The Sign by divvying up the series into two episodes per day until I could finish. Well…that plan went completely out the window and I ended up binge watching the entire thing in one go. So, as I try to gather my thoughts, I wanted to sort of get my feelings out there on what I thought was an incredible show before I finally unfilter the tags (as to avoid any outside influence on my opinion).

Let me preface this by saying that this is going to be an incredibly bias opinion given my cultural upbringing and background (I'm half-Thai and I've spent almost half of my life living in Thailand), so please take that into account before reading any further. I metaphorically removed my western-lensed glasses while watching this series and preferred to watch as a Thai viewer, which probably made the more confusing or difficult parts of the show a lot easier to swallow. So, yes, I will admit that the show was not perfect by any means, but I was able to overlook a lot of its shortcomings given the parts that had been done so well and what this series could mean for Thai QL media going forward.

My goddess, where do I even start… I'm a sucker for the reincarnated/fated lovers trope, so the show had me before it even started. What I absolutely loved the most about the romance and the A+ chemistry was that it didn't dominate or singularly drive the story, which was refreshing to see. It gave room to explore the fantasy/mythological elements of the show, the investigatory plotlines (which we'll get to later), and the relationships of the characters surrounding the "main leads".

Episode 3, my beloved, was what solidified my trust in this series and served as the foundation for the personalized experience I curated in my continued viewing. First off (and a bit of a side note), seeing Yoshi show up as Sand just made my heart super happy. I've been following her off and on since 2018, and she was one of the only things I actually liked about หมอ มือ ใหม่… but I digress. Behind the main story (and maybe even because of it), this episode was, for all intents and purposes, a love letter to Thai culture and its religious mythology. Which, when you consider how much international draw a BL series can hold, is truly momentous. International viewers got to experience the Bang Fai Phayanak (the naga fireball festival) that occurs every Wan Ok Phansa (the last day of what is considered Buddhist Lent) and the significance it holds over Thai history and culture. Using this as the stepping stone to establish the importance of the series' reliance on naga folklore…brilliant! The episode was also the viewers' introduction to the Buddhist idea of the cyclical intermingling of karmic fates. How the implications of an interdependence on one fate more than the others would later define the relationship between Phaya, Tharn, and Chalothorn…genius! All of this!? In one episode…of a BL!? I was overwhelmed by a sense of cultural gratitude and pride, that I still can't quite shake. I think Saint knew exactly what he was doing when he chose to adapt this series and I love him even more for it.

Aside from the cultural dependency and relevance, the show delivered so much beyond that as well. The production quality sailed high above previous BL standards and, in turn, lent itself to beautiful visuals and cinematography. The casting! Billy and Babe's chemistry was just so *chef's kiss*. I knew Billy would absolutely smash it in the role of Phaya, but I often forgot that this was Babe's first ever acting role. It was an undertaking, that you could tell, he did not take lightly. Heng!? Wow! What a performance! He's been a staple in every Idol Factory series thus far, but he really nailed the purely villainous role of Chalothorn. Gap as Yai? No notes. He was able to flesh out what could have been a very one-dimensional character. Tack and Poom as Khem and Thongtai were a welcome levity inbetween, what was otherwise, a more weighty plot.

If I had to address any gripes I had with the series, there were only two that really stood out: 1) I wish the moments/conversations between Tharn and Chalothorn that eventually led to Tharn's return hadn't happened off-screen. There was a lot left to be resolved that could have been explored in that instance. But using my own inference based on Tharn as a character, his relationship with Chalothorn, and the core of his personality, I could kind of piece together how that ending came to be. 2)The lesser intriguing elements of the investigation storylines were shaky, at best. (If you were looking for the show to have a firm western-influenced ACAB agenda, then I'm sorry to say you were setting yourself up for disappointment. As much as I selfishly wanted it to be, this series was never going to be that show, it's a Thai drama.) From a Thai perspective, it made sense that the "copaganda" aspect of the series focused on the incompetency and inefficiency of a police force where justice is often informed by wealth and greed. I got an idea of what the show's stance on the matter was supposed to be but the overall plot and its consistency got lost somewhere within the final execution.

Other than that, I was left feeling satisfyingly content with where the series landed and I will continue to highly recommend it. It's easily one on my top five favorite Thai BL dramas and just Thai dramas in general! And… There is such a rich history of mythology and folklore left for the show to still sink its teeth into: the garuda of it all, the pre-exiting feud between the naga and garuda and why that is… Aside from a few minor specificities that were missing from naga folklore (their exclusion didn't really detract from anything, but it could have served to benefit non-Thai viewers), all of that could be addressed in a second season. Which, at this point, seems pretty likely 🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾 and would be HUGE in the BL world.

PLEASE, LET IT HAPPEN! 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

@asiandramanet jan/feb creator bingo » blending

Exclusive footage of Tharn convincing Snickerdoodles to let him go :

the softness 🥺🥰

The Sign (2023)

If your looking for a BL to watch, Thailand's hottest show is The Sign.

This show has everything.

Hot guys walking around naked in the locker room, fantasy Thai beasts, vaguely veiled innuendo, and a criminal who castrates his victims.

Do you like the zaniness of romcoms mixed with the camp of fantasy and the heart pounding adrenaline of a police procedural? Then this show is for you.

In all seriousness, this show did NOT need to go this hard in all areas, but I feel so grateful that it did.

I was consistently surprised and delighted the entire time I watched this show.

Bravo Idol Factory.

semantic error x pit babe -> hyung and lung negotiations