#faen fatal

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)

Basically, I kinda wish BLs (or honestly most romance) would let go of the "return of the ex/jealous person wants ur boo" plotline. While I am %100 willing to delve into tropes and chaos in fiction, it's been overdone and I don't think it's done well most of the time.

The only time I enjoyed watching such a plotline (at least within my recent memory - I'm sure there might some other select few I'm forgetting, but I love gushing about this series and it's slept on) is HIstory2: Right or Wrong. The return of Yi Jie's ex was actually okay for me. Her return was more or less a culmination of everything we'd seen Sheng Zhe struggle with over the course of the series. She was a manifestation of his insecurities, and "proof" that he didn't belong in the family he'd created. The series also never indulged in Yi Jie actually wanting her back - she was not an actual conflict, rather she existed to force Sheng Zhe to get over any lingering issues of self worth. Also, while I don't think most ex's are that obsessed with their former partners, a mother and ex-wife returning was more realistic.

Most BLs don't put that much effort into external conflict - and DSN has seemingly kind of fallen into this trap. I get that ex's are a spicy and easy plotline, but I'm just kind of over them unless they can be implemented well.

Honestly, this post is just pure Right or Wrong propaganda.

I am absolute;y down for any and all Right or Wrong propaganda. It is basically my favorite HIStory installment because it is perfection and it fills me with great joy every single time I watch it. They did everything so, so well. And, yes, they did the only faen fatale/ex-lover plot I've ever appreciated.

Would it be nice if they stopped doing that plot entirely? Yes. It's on my least favorite tropes of all time list.

Jealousy is just not a fun plot point, especially when they fell the need to stick it in at the end of the relationship plot because it's like an 'ultimate test' to the relationship.

Find better drama, damnit!

I would love to take a break from that trope.

Forever.

And ever.

No more faen fatal.

No more pointlessly dramatic jealousy late in a relationship.

If we're gonna go jealousy, can it be at the beginning? That makes a lot more sense to me! Why put it at the end?

Anyway.

All this to say that I absolutely agree with you.

Faen Fatal examples 

Oh goodness there are so many. Most Thai and Vietnamese BL's have them. Hold on, lemme get a list together for recent reps. Sorry I'm bad on names but you'll get who I mean.

Nitiman - the girl Som Som, and the older boy in the play both after Jin

Lovely Writer - Aey/Aeoy after Gene

My Gear Your Gown - Folk (subverted nicely tho) after Pai

Tonhon Chonlatee - Ton's ex girlfriend, Na after Chon (subverted)

Oxygen - Kay after Gui

2gether - that random girl at the end from Wat's past

Ingredients - bad boy with the neck tat after Tops

En of Love: Tossera - Mark after Gun

Until We Meet Again - Mean’s bisexual actor character after Pharm

He's Coming to Me - the female friend after Thun

Theory of Love - all the girl characters after Kai

TharnType - that one girl Type dates, Llong after Tharn (the psychopath variant more common in Chinese & Japanese stuff - see Addicted)

Dark Blue Kiss - the younger boy after Kao

2 Moons - the female doctor student after Pha

BL tends to have a pattern of the seme having to deal with ex-girlfriends and the uke having to deal with wanna-be boyfriends. This is to establish the romantic/sexual desirability of the character within their assigned roles. The seme is so verile and strong, women (or in rare cases ex-boyfriends if the seme is out gay) swoon all over him and never want to let him go. While the uke is so vulnerable and gentle, men who identify as strong and verile want to take care of him and pursue him.

My Lascivious Boss - has a wanna be girlfriend for the seme and a violent ex-boyfriend for the uke

Follow My Sunshine - the bad boy seme is intersted in the uke

Most Peaceful Place 2 - whole story is about the introduction of a fean fatal aggressive uke

Next week's Be Love In House is introducing a male faen fatal (we think, in the guise of the returning ex boyfriend)

If the faen fatal is given too much motivation and sympathy they become complex characters in their own right and the audience can fall in love with them. Which is kinda fun. This happened with Folk and Na. They became much greater than the sum of their faen fatal parts.

I'm enjoying Golden Blood partly because they introduced a couple of faen fatale girls for the main boys right away, but have already started to subvert that by giving the girls great personality and depth. So these girls appear to be becoming found family friendships instead. It's great and I hope the show continues to do this kind of thing.

Love Triangle vs Faen Fatal

The difference between a faen fatal and a love triangle is that the FF is introduced purely as a plot device to drive a wedge between the main couple with jealousy, and is rarely given depth of their own. (Lovely Writer's Aey is a good exception to this, he was given a lot more grace than normal, but that was kinda of LW's style and he was still basically dropped at the end.) While a love triangle treats both/all relationships as legitimately possible (by the narrative) for example Great Men Academy has a legit love triangle. So, to a certain extent, does Ossan's Love. I think Light On Me is going this direction too.

But look, I’ve been struggling to find a gender neutral term for the femme fatale (or homme fatal) trope in BL. 

This is when the story introduces a character whose sole purpose is to drive a wedge between the main BL pair. Often an ex-girlfriend (for the seme) or a new flirty boy (for the uke). 

Last night I figured it out...

Ready?

Faen fatal! 

Thank you. Thank you. I’ll be here all week.

Oh wait, no we are back in lockdown.

I’ll be here all year. 

Examples of Faen Fatal /Faen Fatalle

by request

Most Thai and Vietnamese BL's have them. 

Here’s a list from 2019-2021 Thai BL. 

Sorry I'm bad on names but you'll get who I mean.

Nitiman - the girl Som Som, and the older boy in the play both after Jin  

Lovely Writer - Aey/Aeoy after Gene

My Gear Your Gown - Folk (subverted nicely tho) after Pai

Tonhon Chonlatee - Ton's ex girlfriend, Na after Chon (subverted)  

Oxygen - Kay after Gui

2gether - that random girl at the end from Wat's past

Ingredients - bad boy with the neck tat after Tops

En of Love: Tossera - Mark after Gun

Until We Meet Again - Meen the bisexual actor character after Pharm

He's Coming to Me - the female friend after Thun  

Theory of Love - all the girl characters after Kai

TharnType - that one girl Type dates, Llong after Tharn (the psychopath variant more common in Chinese & Japanese stuff - see Addicted)

Dark Blue Kiss - the younger boy after Kao

2 Moons - the female doctor student after Pha

BL tends to have a pattern of the seme having to deal with ex-girlfriends and the uke having to deal with wanna-be boyfriends. 

This is to establish the romantic/sexual desirability of the character within their assigned gender dysmorphic oles. 

The seme is so virile and strong, women (or in rare cases ex-boyfriends if the seme is out gay) swoon all over him and never want to let him go. 

While the uke is so vulnerable and gentle, men who identify as strong and virile want to take care of him and pursue him.

Here’s some from Vietnamese BL 

My Lascivious Boss - has a wanna be girlfriend for the seme and a violent ex-boyfriend for the uke

Follow My Sunshine - the bad boy seme is intersted in the uke

Most Peaceful Place 2 - whole story is about the introduction of a fean fatal aggressive uke

If the faen fatal is given too much motivation and sympathy they become complex characters in their own right and the audience can fall in love with them. Which is kinda fun. 

This happened with Folk and Na. They became much greater than the sum of their faen fatal parts. 

Love Triangle vs Faen Fatal

The different between a faen fatal and a love triangle is that the FF is introduced purely as a plot device to drive a wedge between the main couple with jealousy, and is rarely given depth of their own. (Lovely Writer's Aey is a good exception to this, he was given a lot more grace than normal, but that was kinda of LW's style and he was still basically dropped at the end.) 

A love triangle treats both/all relationships as legitimately possible (by the narrative) for example Thailand’s Great Men Academy has a legit love triangle. So, to a certain extent, does Japan’s Ossan's Love (not recommended). But by far the best love triangle in BL, so far, is Light on Me. I did an analysis about why it’s so good and how they are using tropes to manipulate us.