Welcome to Tumblr BL Fandom - Here’s Your Primer
memes, insider trading & obsession meta post
The Death Stairs
They haunt us. These same stairs constantly pop up in Thai BLs and we worry that someone is going to die on them (or fuck on them, or both).
BL origin = unknown, we only recently started tracking them (but the actual origin of the death stairs is 99 Home Studio117, RPC6+JM3 ซอย รามอินทรา 117 Min Buri, Bangkok 10510, Thailand. It appears to be a house rented out for filming. Honestly? They should AirBnB that level of fame. I’d rent it, buy a cactus and a chili plant, just for the photo op.)
Rain Makes BL Boys Sick
For which the only solution is a sponge bath administered by another boy with a bowl of water and a damp white towel.
We don’t make the rules, the BL gods do.
origin of the rain=fever = cultural
BL origin for the sponge bath = 2014′s Love Sick
The gayest bridge in Thailand
The Rama VII Bridge has appeared in so many Thai BLs - boys kiss on it and in front of it... A LOT.
BL origin = SOTUS 2016
Honor the Crumbs
Side dishes given very little screen time always end up being everyone’s favorites (especially in the pulps). Also falls under side dish syndrome. This is mostly a Thai BL thing, since they’re usually the BLs featuring more than one couple. (Taiwan is getting there, tho.)
BL origin = @heretherebedork
The Engineering Department is Gay (also Pink Milk)
The hot Thai boy in the engineering smock (red or blue) is either gay or a chaos bisexual. There are no exceptions.
BL origin = SOTUS 2016
Korea’s BL bubble
A world where queer is simply accepted and a hostile society doesn’t exist.
Origin, probably Strongberry’s 2017-2018 shorts, but best known starters are 2020′s Mr Heart & Wish You
Namgoong award for best wingman
Supportive straight(ish) besties! Appear throughout BL history, but really reached peak awesome with Namgoong, so a collection of us just started saying “thank you, Namgoong” whenever this archetype shows up.
BL origin, Light on Me
Korea’s BL formula
(1 short Kpop idol + 1 tall actor / random separation in the last half of the final episode) x a small cast = KBL (usually 6-8 episodes totaling under 2 hrs)
BL origin, 2015′s The Lover
Korean male beauty ideals here.
Korea figured out boys can kiss
To be fair Strongberry always knew this and Just Friends? gave it to us in 2005, it’s just they forgot for a while. A long while.
origin = Korean 2022 BL
speaking of...
Dead fish kisses
This tradition carried for years by Japan’s light BL, early Thai BL like Love Sick, & then Korea. It took Thailand’s 2016 BL (specifically elder gods KarnNut & MaxTul) to start breaking this curse. Could be argued that Ohm in 2016′s Make it Right also paved the way (while BoomPeak exemplify dead fish kissing).
origin = early 2000s JBL when it was still known as Live Action Yaoi
Taiwan = the kings of high heat
Taiwan always serves up the most consistent and authentic chemistry, kisses, and higher heat. Thailand has it as well, but isn’t as consistent about it.
BL origin = 2017 HIStory franchise and every Taiwanese BL since (although Eternal Summer probably started it in 2006)
Taiwan’s marriage equality
Taiwan was the first to feature sanctioned gay marriage in a BL, the first to depict queer engagements - and they regularly like to remind us that it’s legal there. As they should.
BL origin = HIStory 2: Right or Wrong 2017
Thailand’s food = love
Lovers cook, serve, feed, and/or eat together. Always. At least something along these lines in every Thai BL.
origin, well just Thailand in general (and Asia to be fair), but probably SOTUS & Love Sick
Vietnam’s domesticity
Vietnam always depicts at least some of their characters in a home environment, with family life, adopted kids, and more.
BL origin = Tein Bromance Extra
Cactus baby (and chili plant younger sibling)
Hilariously a cactus plant was deployed as a courting gift, spy device, and blooming representation of sexual awakening in MaxTul vehicle Manner of Death. Tumblr adopted that cactus baby.
BL origin = Manner of Death 2021
What China Did
Massive wholesale censorship curtailed/abruptly cut short multiple shows in progress in 2016-2017. Also resulted in rewriting and reshooting of those in production, and more weird and invidious things. This also showed up as a purge (and likely persecution) of Chinese queer vloggers on YouTube, the imprisonment of several danmai authors, and eventually the censored bromances we now get today.
BL origin victim = Addicted, Advance Bravely, etc...
Japan’s lanes
Japan’s propensity to lean in favor of either
sweet, campy, and very low heat live action yaoi shot in a manga style with HEA, or
dark, gritty high heat queer cinema and pinks shot in an atmospheric style with tragic endings
BL origin, Boys Love 2006 & Takumi-kun 2007
History of Japanese BL here and the weeds of Japanese BL here.
#In Strongberry We Trust
Small, queer, Korean production house Strongberry had been producing short form pro-queer KBL successfully for years, long before larger studios picked BL up. But when they transitioned to long form in 2022, we were a little scared they wouldn’t stick the landing. #InStrongberryWeTrust became our mantra.
BL origin = Choco Milk Shake 2022
Faen Fatal(e)
A side character, usually an ex-girlfriend but occasionally an ex-boyfriend, whose sole purpose is as a plot device to drive a wedge between the leads, or cause jealousy.
BL origin = Love Sick
The Thai BL Pulps
Very low budget BL with terrible sound, crazy soapy plots, and earnest acting.
BL origin = Make It Right 2016 (term coined by @heretherebedork & self)
The Mame effect
AKA #oh mame must you?
The mameverse features great characters, killer actor chemistry, and higher heat combined with terrible damaging tropes and non-sensical plot devices.
BL origin = TharnType (although technically started in Love By Chance)
The 2 Moons Curse
When a popular BL franchise struggles to survive over one season and keeps having to recast the leads.
BL origin = 2Moons original 2017
Dread Episode 11
AKA Doom of Ep 11
Explained here.
Golden Rules of BL
Never trust:
a Thai trailer,
a Viki Category,
a Vietnamese sub,
an MDL description,
a Taiwanese title,
Japan,
or a BL made before 2014.
Origin = me over the years
BLoundary Test: has the seme ever respected a single boundary?
BLechdel Test. 2 ukes discuss something that is not their seme(s). Also uke indicates actual interest in sex in a relationship.
(source)
okay what did I forget?
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10 Anxiety Inducing BL Moments
Tagged by @kurosawascrowsfeet AND @ommited-miscellaneously
Min Yudam watching Dong Baek get killed TWICE in the Director Who Buys Me Dinner. I was never expecting to have to watch Dong Baek die TWICE in Yudam arms. I was sweating and freaking out and mad because wtf!
Tin getting shot in Triage. YO WHEN I SAW THE GUN COME OUT AT THAT FUNCTION I WAS LIKE OH MY GAWD! GET OUT OF THERE! AND THEN TIN GOT SHOT AND I HAD TO GO LIE DOWN AFTER THAT.
Fighter's Dad finding out he's gay in Why R U the Series. That whole fight had me on the edge of my seat and pacing. It just got louder and louder and Fighter crying did not help. It was a lot. (this gif isn't from that scene it's from FighterTutor's breakup...which also gave me anxiety)
Pharm possessed by Intouch threatening to shoot himself in UWMA. Not even anxiety, that shit was just triggering.
Uea being tricked into having dinner with his abusers. Anytime Uea went back to his family home I was filled with dread but this time he had to sit there with his selfish and abusive birthgiver, her molesting husband, AND the boss that was harassing him at work. Sick to my stomach. (I knew I was not going to find a gif of that so let's just love our boy a lil extra)
Chisoo finding out Gitae was sent to kill him in Long Time No See. I just wasn't expecting for him to find out in the middle of a fight. I almost couldn't handle the fight or the explanation after it.
Gene and Nubsib coming out to their families in Lovely Writer. Ugh when they started joking about Y-series and novels and thought the whole idea was just ridiculous I already KNEW Gene was about to tell them everything and then tell them to shut the fuck up, because my boy stood on business. Of course shit went left...Gene outed his Daddy for having a male lover and then his daddy put his 26 yr old ass on punishment.
Kim Jun Ho fucking DYING in Kissable Lips. SPOILER ALERT! I just KNEW they was going to figure out a way to keep both Jun Ho and Min Hyun alive, but then Jun Ho literally went fucking BLIND the morning after they had sex. AND THEN HE DROPPED THE RING HE WAS TRYING TO GIVE MIN HYUN TO REMEMBER HIM BY. AND THEN HE FUCKING DIED IN MIN HYUN'S ARMS! AND UNLIKE TDWBMD HE DIDN'T FUCKING COME BACK.
Choco and Milk disappearing and leaving Jung Woo alone again in Choco Milk Shake. We all knew it was coming, Jung Woo too, but I was dreading it. Just knowing that his two favorite people were just going to fucking disappear! (I don't think this gif is from that scene lol)
Bai Lang having a breakdown in the street in the middle of a thunderstorm. All of Bai Lang's trauma gave me anxiety but that scene took the cake. He was just so out of it and it made me so scared for him.
I hope I did this right
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