Here's what the colors mean: green = finished, red = dropped/dnf, purple = skimmed for gifs/watched one couple/character.

My choices, Green = I finished it, red = I droped or never watched. I got tagged by @heretherebedork and I am trying to distract myself with life.

I gotta say, what a phenomenally odd selection of shows. Why these mostly quite middling choices? Anyway, because I have a spreadsheet for exactly this reason, I left pithy reviews at end.

Duang With You 8/10 - The puppiest puppy to ever gooddoggo pursues the sulkiest cat to ever babygirl in a classic Thai uni BL.

ThamePo 9/10 - The boyband idol romance I've been waiting for from Korea, only Thailand did it instead.

Me and Thee 9/10 - A gangster raised by cheesy lakorn soap operas falls in love with an ordinary kind-hearted photographer. This show defines utterly ridiculous (set the bar, actually), but is self-aware, warm and sincere about that ridiculousness.

Cat for Cash 7/10 - A boy inherits his mother‘s cat cafe and the creditor of that cafe (who hears cats) falls in love with him.

Love Sea 7/10 - While traveling a writer has a one night stand with a very irritating man (who also breaks into his hotel room, among other red flag agendas and I hate it here).

Pit Babe 7/10 - Thailand brought us the world's first omegaverse BL but then failed to lean into the courage of its a/b/o convictions although the actors tried… poor things.

A Boss and a Babe 7/10 - With an inconsistent narrative and self-sabotaging characters this was not the Thai BL office romance I was hoping for.

(It was about this show I started to wonder if it's that I don't like ForceBook or it's just they always get such crappy shows? Frankly, jury is still out.)

The Wicked Game 7/10 - A chaebol-esk lakorn about family inheritance drama that was held together by DaouOffroad’s chemistry rather than script, logic, or plot.

Until We Meet Again 10/10 - UWMA is, without question, a work of narrative genius with a powerful and cohesive romantic backbone and stellar performances.

Memoir of Rati 8/10 - A solid high production historical about a young man who returns to Thailand as a French diplomat attaché and falls in love with a Thai nobleman in 1915.

Khemjira 9/10 - The story of a boy laboring under a curse, haunted by ghosts and demons, who’s family, friends, and (eventual) lover all try to help via spiritual and physical means.

We Are 9/10 - A soft ensemble uni BL with multiple couples and very little plot, but I didn’t care because it’s not trying to be anything more and it left me smiling and made me belly laugh quite a bit.

Interminable 7/10 - And it was.

The Love Never Sets 4/10 - A convoluted long-winded story about a poor abused kid who tries to go to college and is exposed with a sex tape.

Doctor's Mine 5/10 - A banal (to the point of offensive) uni BL featuring doctors and engineers in which plot, motivation, and characterization are a struggle (for everyone).

Jack & Joker 8/10 - A caper BL focusing on class struggles, corruption, and poverty was always gonna appeal to me but I’m not sure whether I liked it because it was good in it’s own right, or because YinWar were so good in it.

Reset 9/10 - A glorious BL lakorn about an actor murdered on his big night who wakes up in his pre-fame past and falls into the arms of the man who may have been there all along.

My Stubborn 8/10 - A delightful power dynamic fluff (and blow) piece about a bad-mouthed grumpy “best friends older brother” type and the young intern he is bent on seducing. And by bent I mean over every possible piece of office furniture.

Only Friends 3/10 - GMMTV does BL-Word but with branded pairs and the only agenda/plot = slut shaming and making sure their pairs stayed healthy and sponsor ready.

The Next Prince 7/10 - The Princess Diaries only gay and in Thai with hugely annoying inconsistencies in plot that, fortunately, I was so disengaged from, I couldn't be arsed to get upset.

My Magic Prophecy 9/10 - Paranormal suspense-ish story about a prophetic psychic and a hot doctor, and a huge relief that JimmySea finally got a decent highly rewatchable show.

MuTeLuv: Love Me if You Swear 7/10 - Basically Bad Buddy only very silly, very short, without the family drama backbone, and mixed with a road trip making it aggressively fine.

Your Sky 9/10 - This is a low stakes, green-flag, ultra-gentle 2025 pulp that's cosplaying in the nostalgia of a decade prior being university-set and featuring a fake relationship between a sunshine sweetie and an older reserved rich kid who slowly fall in love.

KinnPorsche 7/10 - Fan fervor meets my own profound indifference (the result of 2 directors with 2 distinct & conflicting points of view, who apparently never had a single conversation with each other) means I never know how to judge (or talk about) this show but I have to go with my heart, and KP didn’t win it.

Fourever You 8/10 - A watchable university sampler pack BL centering around two couples in two parts with good chemistry best consumed with the extend NC scenes.

Perfect 10 Liners 8/10 - Workmanlike uni BL in which nothing happened to some very nice boys in fun friendship groups. We Are is better.

Top Form 8/10 - 2 actors who are in competition with each other professionally fall in love and things get complicated, randomly involving honey.

Love By Chance 8/10 - AePete’s meet cute is one of the best ever put on screen and they are just so genuine and soft with each other, it’s hard not to love them from the first moment (the other couples are naff).

Revamp 7/10 - A PNR BL that was remarkable only in its extreme blandness, one of GMMTVs most soggy noodle 2025 offerings (and believe you me, it had not-stiff competition) but a boy turned into a crow. That was nice.

Love Mechanics 6/10 - My favorite messy cheeky drama-llama boys came back in spades (and showers, and beds, and under umbrellas) but unfortunately the story was not improved by being given more time.

(I've seen both versions, but I assume this applies to the follow-up full series.)

Last Twilight 7/10 - The first 3/4 this BL was something rather special but it was let down by its ending, also "fixing a disability = true happiness" is gross messaging.

Dangerous Romance 8/10 - A waffling script let down what could have bean a great story about poor, struggling Sailom who is forced to tutor his rich bully, Kang, and they fall for each other despite circumstances.

Goddess Bless You from Death 8/10 - Pavel & Pooh were perfectly cast in this crime horror about a psychic temple kid who teams up (and falls in love) with a cop to catch a serial murderer.

The Rebound 9/10 (I can explain) - This was a sports reunion romance pulp that did exactly what it claimed on the tin: gay boys play b-ball and fall in love, bonus Meen is an actual b-player and he has his shirt off within the first 2 minutes.

Love in the Moonlight 8/10 - A psudo historical BL about a young prince who is gay but has an arranged marriage to help preserve his family's assets, falls in love with his fiancé's cousin instead.

Ai Long Nhai 6/10 - Your bog standard uni BL pulp about a confident gay and a clueless manic pixie dream boy that had potential, chemistry, and earnestness going for it, but no plot and not enough attention side dishes making is just boring.

The Sign 9/10 - This show is literally everything (except straight) all at once: BL, queer, band of brothers, romcom, erotica, PNR, fated mates, police procedural, fantasy, mystery, suspense, and slasher - a crazy unhinged mess +1 roll for damage but I loved it.

Only Boo! 7/10 - A fine but dull idol romance about a sunshine boy who dances good and wants to be a star and a reserved food stand vendor.

Don’t Say No 5/10 - 12 Eps of watching Leo & Fiat realize they are exactly as kinky as we all knew they were before it started, I expected better and didn't get it.

2 Moons 6/10 - The OG template of uni BL pulps about some doctors trying to date some science and engineering kids built around a campus star contest in which the sides always steel the show.

Head 2 Head 6/10 - 2 boys grow up next-door to each other and "hate" each other until one of them keeps seeing their tragic romance future and takes steps to change the outcome.

That Summer 7/10 - I loathe the amnesia trope thus I am in immanent danger of forgetting about this show.

Cutie Pie 8/10 - High production (and heat) arranged marriage BL with visual references to live action yaoi giving this show a whiff of Japan but ultimately it stayed firmly in Thailand’s BL camp veering from absurd to appealing to annoying and then back to absurd again.

Dare You to Death 6/10 - You know its a ridiculous plot with out-of-character behavior when the leads themselves openly mock it because DYTD kinda, well, sucked balls. Best thing was that the main characters were allowed to be entirely verse in all ways, including tropes, no seme uke in sight and the blooper reel was hilarious!

SOTUS 8/10 - The BL that launched a hundred BLs some people have baggage around SOTUS, I have nostalgia.

Gelboys 6/10 - Messy gay boys in high school who all like each other and are up in each others buisness, too realistic for my queer ass, gave me PTSD.

Knock Out 9/10 - Keen may be one of BL's greatest main characters - plucky, tough, smart, kind, sweet, loving, loyal, and explicitly very gay.

My Only 12% 8/10 - A strong little BL F2L romance (tailor made for SantaEarth) about holding onto first love and childhood, that got buried under waffling family drama and formless side characters so that it took a lot of digging to get at but I still I recommend it for some killer softly domestic couple chemistry.

Century of Love 9/10 - A v pretty highly enjoyable drama about a young man who fell in love with a nice girl 100 years ago, is cursed to live until she gets reborn, only she’s reborn a man (or is she?) that I love because I can safely recommend this to lovers of melodrama and historical romance without having to qualify it as “good for a BL.”

Bad Buddy 9/10 - GMMTV’s flagship BL that started 2022 off on a BANG (okay no actual banging but you know what I mean), starring heavy hitters Ohm & Nanon in a pitch perfect university Romeo & Romeo masterpiece that will give you domesticity meets pain whiplash throughout and jet lag at the end.

Bed Friend 8/10- Office frienamies transition a flaming hot one night stand into a f-buddy relationship that is built on a puppy/cat dynamic (and kinks into it at one point) that could have been great but was overworked btu the high heat is fantastic.

Never Let Me Go 8/10 - Bodyguard romance where poor boy must watch over rich boy for family obligation reasons giving this a simple premise well executed minus a few bumps that all came for trying to overcomplicated it.

Me and Who 7/10 - Odd story carried solely by BigPark's chemistry about a poor young man dies and is reborn into the body of a billionaire heir who's arranged fiancé can hear his thoughts.

Boys in Love 7/10 - A banal high school romance featuring several different couples, including some teachers.

Burnout Syndrome 7/10 - An ethereal artist becomes the linchpin in a love triangle between two gay tech bros that is perfeclty cast but basically Thailand's version of Japan's moody arthouse smackdoodle and as such very much NOT for me.

Love in the Air 7/10 - 2 stories of aggressive player dudes bullying younger boys into sex making this BL terrible, entertaining, engaging, and unbelievably hot, like all good dumpster fires.

Cherry Magic 9/10 (Thai remake of Japanese IP) - A soft charming warm hug of a show about crushes and mind reading and self worth that really worked for me, with no-fuss execution from a consummate team and an OG lead pair (proving why they remain eternal and deserve to grow up).

My Love Mix-Up 8/10 (Thai remake of Japanese IP) - Thailand took on one of Japan's softest cutest most bonkers BLs in recent memory and made it softer and cuter and somewhat lackluster.

Kidnap 8/10 - A cute if patently absurd little show about a stuntman who is somehow convinced to kidnap a rich kid except they fall in love.

My Stand-In 8/10 - I enjoyed the experience of watching this show; I thought everybody did a great job with it and in it; and I liked that it was something substantially different for Thai BL; BUT it left me feeling more sanguine than happy because I never warmed to the main couple.

The Bangkokboy 7/10 - Much as I enjoyed some elements of this show (fights), and I think they served one of the best sex scenes we have ever seen (or will ever see) in BL, the general premise (gang wars), plot, and execution did not appeal to me personally.

RATING SYSTEM

10/10 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED faithful to tropes, happy ending, good chemistry, few flaws, high rewatch potential

9/10 ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDED probably a few pacing issues or one flaw

8/10 RECOMMENDED some concerns around tropes (like dub con) or story structure but still satisfies as BL

7/10 RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS i.e. isn’t quite BL, convoluted, not strictly HEA, too short/long, or chemistry issues

6/10 WORTH WATCHING BUT FLAWED probably around the ending or in narrative structure/cohesion or censorship

5/10 WATCH IF YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO but don’t expect much, it’s a total hot mess

4/10 FATALLY FLAWED but still basically BL, however… do we want to support this kind of behavior?

3/10 I DON'T KNOW WHAT I AM WATCHING AND NEITHER DOES IT

2/10 IT'S DEPRESSING they killed the gay, save yourself

Thanks @serensama and @in-the-drowning-deep for the tags @chaosherald (here’s mine <3)

Gently tagging @davrinsleftpectoral @bronzieinthedas @grand-crow @woundedsoul12 @sandcastlekings

Rules: make a moodboard to represent the vibe of your ship, but the pictures have to be text-based/memes/other things you wouldn't normally include if you were making a moodboard for them.

Zalan x Harding 🐦‍⬛🪨

On anon or ic, send 🎵 to ask the muse lyrics of a song they like or/and reminds them of themselves! You can specify a music genre if you want! The muse might or might not give an explanation on the song choice

My family and I joined a D&D group at my Friendly Local Game Store, two weeks before their resident DM had to move to Korea (no shade! It's a great opportunity and I wish him well, nonironically, non-sarcastically, forreal, enjoyed both sessions I played). So my husband volunteered to DM because everyone wanted to keep playing. It's been a great group so far and I'm having a lot of fun.

The past month has been a flurry of character creation. Two for the previous DM's one-shots and my current one, a Warforged Fey Wanderer ranger who goes by Herne (as in Herne the Hunter, it/its). Here's what I shared on the group's discord about it:

It was a scout, sent ahead into the Woods and vanishing along with the rest of Maril's army. It emerged 64 years later, physically altered and no memory of what it did or what happened to it during its missing time. It spent the past year as a guide and hunter for folk along the Dales Road. It is known and welcome in the towns by the name given by the first person who encountered it: Herne the Hunter.

Herne is a Warforged: 7' tall, 320 lbs, constructed to be an imposing harbinger of the Empire. While still imposing, it is clear the Empire no longer controls it. The "muscles" and "tendons" beneath are root- or vine-like rather than alchemical. It has two principal eyes, glowing and changing color with its emotions. Six smaller eyes change with the primaries and complement their function. Its most notable feature are a pair of small branches like antlers emerging from its head adding another six inches to its height. Over the course of the day, they bud, grow and mature leaves, color as in autumn, and fall when Herne enters stasis, only to bud again in the morning.

A bit in character voice (and incomplete, so technically counts as WIP):

I was built for war. Literally. I am built for war and my memories are of conquest and little else. Between wars I sleep, dreamless. I saw much war.  I woke here in this forest. I didn't know why I--we--were here. I did not ask and was not told. Never told, unless it mattered. Never asked; if I needed to know I would be told, because it mattered. Otherwise it did not, and I would not be told. I was sent into the Wood. I had a mission. A directive and a mission. I... do not quite remember what they were.  I know they are no longer important to me. I am changed.

and finally some doodles and session notes. but mostly doodles.

Tagged by @treason-and-plot

Tagging @nocturnalazure, should you choose to accept it.

Also, ARGH, don't make me choose tropes! I'm always griping about tropes! 🤣

Is this stuff we like to read or like to write? Haha.

Slow burn or love at first sight?

Slow burn. I started to put a bunch of caveats on it because slow burn stories tend to end when the characters get together, and I do want to see them together for a while! But I like characters getting to know each other and falling as they learn more about each other.

But hey, what about one of each? Characters out-of-sync. I guess that's what I'm currently writing.

Fake dating or secret dating?

Secret dating. That implies some external force that the characters have to work against in order to be together. I could do fake dating, though, if it's a good justification.

Enemies to lovers or best friends to lovers?

Either, so long as it's a good slow burn 😉

Hurt/comfort or amnesia?

Hurt/comfort. Definitely. I like me some good hurt/comfort.

Generally don't like amnesia. Feels too contrived.

Fantasy AU or modern AU?

Either or both together! I'm open to lots of settings for a good story, but I gravitate toward stuff with a supernatural element. I guess I'm currently writing pseudo-historical urban fantasy?

Mutual pining or domestic bliss?

Mutual pining, but both have their place.

Smut or fluff?

Fluff? Urgh. Can I say both again?

I like some good smut. I have attempted to write some, but I've never made it available to read. It's hard to write well. But also... my current characters have an arc related to their sex lives, and I'm finding that the detail gets in the way. I ended up settling on fade-to-fireplace, dialogue-only sex. Erotica tends to take center stage, and even when it's directly related to character development, its presence tends to smother everything else.

I also like characters to have a chance to just be happy together for a while.

Reincarnation or character death?

Not wild about either. In theory, I'd say character death. But the truth is that I'm more interested in stories right now where the characters DON'T die and have to figure our their messy selves.

@nocturnalazure and I were chatting recently about how to do good character death. I like stories to have risk to them -- i.e. a character COULD die. But I'm kind of allergic to a lot of ways character death is used as a plot device. I can identify stories where I think it is done well.

OTOH, reincarnation usually annoys me.

One-shot or multi-chapter?

Multi-chapter! I search on AO3 with a minimum word count of 20k. If I'm going to get invested in a story, I want it to hang around for a while.

I also write long-form.

Kid fic or road trip fic?

Kid fic? I don't read or write either. 😅

Arranged marriage or accidental marriage?

Like @treason-and-plot, I had to Google the accidental marriage trope. For stories with no supernatural elements, I'd say arranged marriage because the accidental marriage justifications are bonkers.

When you add supernatural stuff, then accidental gets more interesting. Google says that soulmate bonding, where two people meet and are instantly bonded for some supernatural reason neither one understands, is considered a variant of accidental marriage. That can be fun.

So maybe accidental marriage, but only in supernatural stories?

High school romance or middle-age romance?

I actually dig middle-aged romance, though I almost never see it. I am really into the idea that people's lives don't end when they turn 20. A middle aged protagonist attracts my attention.

Time travel or isolated together?

Time travel usually annoys me. It's hard to do well, and it's done SO MUCH at least in fanfic. So isolated together.

Neighbours or roommates?

These don't feel all that different to me.

Sci-fi AU or magic AU?

Both!

Body swap or genderbent?

Neither.

Angst or crack?

Angst. But crack can be a lot of fun. So both.

Apocalyptic or mundane?