#boy pakorn

[clairedaring]

MANDATE RAW + ENGLISH SOFT SUB (EP 1-4) for those who are interested

so after a whole morning of scouring the internet, i have finally found one ads-filled thai grey streaming site that uploads the complete raw + bad retail english sub provided by monomax so i ripped it off of there, nixed the soft engsubs into the raw files and put them up for downloads HERE.

for ease of streaming purposes, i've also archived these on ok.ru HERE (subs are still processing for ep 1-3 so they might take some hours, feel free to check back at a later time).

note: the subs aren't the best because they come from monomax themselves and i don't think there's any fansubber team willing to take on the role of cleaning these subs up so this is all we got, you can consider it a show for thai listening practice ಥ_ಥ

pinging peeps who i think might be interested @itsallaboutbl @baseballmomlesbiandad @benkaben @callipigio @mistbornthief @maybe-boys-do-love @narakmark @whatisgodtoanonbeliever @negrowhat @red-hibiscus @spoonfullofdream @theside-b @deliriousblue @thisonelikesaliens @elimstillnotgarak @incandescentflower @kengnamping @my-rose-tinted-glasses @adistantplace @aousboom

[crispywizardtale]

[theside-b]

Can't I smile? Of course you can. I just want to know if we are smiling for the same reason.

Ben Bunyapol and Boy Pakorn in MANDATE (2025)

[waitmyturtles]

I Watched Some Shows in 2025! (Some of Them Aired in 2025! Some Didn't! Who Cares!) Here Are My Thoughts on Some of Them!

Some of my friends have put out their 2025 lists, and I know this year was a rough one for a lot of my dear fellow clowns. I myself really did not watch a lot of shows this year. I prioritized my kids and my work, and I'm glad I did.

But I do have some thoughts and stats on what I did watch, and by being very picky about what I was watching, I ended this year on a high note. And I have an Old GMMTV Challenge update at the end of this post. Here goes nothin':

My Favorite Show of the Year That Actually Aired in 2025....Was Not Heated Rivalry, It Was MANDATE!

Yes, Mandate!

I was an EXTREMELY LUCKY BITCH that two queer/BL shows that aired this year had content crossroads with two personal interests of mine: politics (Mandate) and hockey (Heated Rivalry).

Mandate did not follow a Thai BL format at all; I wouldn't even call it a BL or a romance, even though some news outlets in Thailand called it a Series Y. Honestly, whatever. The show excellently focused on the professional changes of Dr. Nong (Boy Pakorn) from village physician to a national health minister, exploring his weaknesses and his drive to be successful both for individual and for political reasons. His developing romance with his advisor, Vee (Ben Bunyapol), and how it ended on a cliffhanger was just A+.

If you need a break from branded pairs; if you want some middle-aged yaoi; if you're interested in how this drama leverages real-life politics, if you want high-quality queer art -- Mandate is for you.

I want to once again absolutely hail the incredible @clairedaring for boosting this show so heavily when it was first airing. And if you haven't watched it: IT'S ON GAGA NOW! So watch it!

My Very-Close Second Favorite Show of the Year Was Heated Rivalry, No Duh!

It was a huge thrill for me to not only watch a show about my lifelong beloved sport, ice hockey, but to also discover that this show was so fucking well-written.

I've written a ton about Heated Rivalry in a short amount of time (here and here to start), I've read the books, and I just love everything about this universe that Rachel Reid has created, and Jacob Tierney has expanded. I'm fucking watching Shoresy now because of Jacob Tierney (it is HILARIOUS). Everything about HR is so well done. Onwards to season two and to Ottawa!

My Favorite Show That I Watched This Year That Did NOT Air This Year was Khun Chai (To Sir With Love) (2023)!

SEX GLITTER, DEATH GLITTER, MUSHROOM POWDER, JAMFILM!

UGGGGHHHH, FILM THANAPAT AND JAM RACHATA! GODDDDD I LOVED THIS SHOOWWWWWWW, and liveblogging it was SO MUCH FUN, especially with the support of the Khun Chai girlies on Tumblr. Omfg. Jam's and Film's chemistry; the INSANITY of the show to rely on high soap operatic drama; Tian's internal struggles; Jiu's desires and his need to also take care of his siblings; THE BROTHERLY LOVE OF TIAN AND YANG GAAAAAAAAHHHHH. This show. HAS. SO MUCH!

I haven't written about this show YET for my Old GMMTV Challenge project, but I will, I will!

A Show I Watched That I Loved That Aired This Year But I Didn't Write About It Was Heesu in Class 2!

MY BABIES!

(credit: @wanderlust-in-my-soul)

I didn't write about Heesu in Class 2 when I was watching it, because I was actually watching it for an assignment: the inimitable @shortpplfedup and @bengiyo of @the-conversation-pod wanted me on their podcast about Heesu and Gelboys. Here's what I said about Heesu, and just to reiterate: this was a 100% queer show that demonstrated the growth and development of queer love and queer joy within the scope of real-world scenarios with family and friends. It was done beautifully and with empathy.

I know there was a lot of fandom controversy and drama around this show, which I blissfully missed. But to me, there is no question that Heesu was a queer show, and a story on behalf of two young characters that deserved to be told.

I Also Watched Gelboys, Which I Really Liked, But I Was Kinda Meh on the Ending, But It Was a Gorgeously Shot Show, So Here's a GIF!

Yay! Love dat midriff.

The Piece That I Was THEE Most Disappointed By That I Was Looking Forward To The Most Was 10Dance, WTF???

Over-stylized and fucking pretentious. COME AWN.

Some of my top performing posts of this year are this one and this one, celebrating the incredible actor, Machida Keita. I even bought the 10Dance manga, man! I was so fucking excited! But this movie was too pretentious towards both ballroom dance and romance that I just checked out early. A blue-flooded studio with some dude sitting on the fucking floor talking metaphorically about dahnce and symbols, while his ignored female dance partner is literally in his face like, BRO YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON THIS GUY YOU DIMWIT, and Suzuki being like but DAHNCE and MEANING and TAHLENT -- good lord, no thank you, not for me. I honestly recommend the manga, the books are BONKERS, but none of the humor in the manga made it anyway near the movie, which was a goddamn shame.

I Watched These Shows and Mostly Enjoyed the Experience of Watching Them, But the Endings Ruined Them Both For Me: Love in the Moonlight and Shine

Love in the Moonlight: PIN SHOULDA ENDED UP RICH, BITCH!

But I love my son, Peek Peemapol (Make It Right 4ever), and I was glad to see him back on screen.

Shine: WTF.

I had mostly a good time watching this show, and fully enjoyed SonEuro, but what the show did to Victor was fucking unforgivable, and BeOnCloud can kiss my ass from now on.

Some quick 2025 stats from me:

1) I haven't moved forward with the OGMMTVC in a while: the posts take a while for me to write, and I was truly burnt out after I watched GAP the Series for the project. I loved watching a GL for the OGMMTVC, but GAP was just.....I dunno, I know it's a historic show, and I honestly look forward to writing about it, but it was also a badly-told story with an ending between the grandma and that prince character that left me with a bad taste in my mouf. I've gotten burnt out on watching mediocre shows, but I have My School President next on my list, and I'm committing myself to writing about Khun Chai, Laws of Attraction, and GAP before I get to MSP. Soon. I tell myself. Soon.

(It also sucks to think about GAP and the situation now with Saint Suppapong and Idol Factory and FreenBecky not getting paid, and and and just UGH.)

2) I did not finish a GMMTV show that aired in 2025. That's a first for me since I've been watching Thai BLs. I was so excited for Singto's return and The Ex-Morning, and that show just turned out so badly. Someone fire up a flare if there's something from GMMTV that's not just worth finishing, but is REALLY GOOD, when it airs.

So the way I'm approaching shows now is, with hesitance and tentativeness. But I'm thankful I ended the year on a high with Mandate and Heated Rivalry, and these two shows will stay with me for a long time.

[simple-smiles-no-lies]

Just saw someone saying on twitter that mandate is not political enough and shipping two politicians just reduces the genre to teen girls shipping activities instead of a hard hitting political BL.

And while my initial reaction was -“are we even watching the same drama?” I gave it some thought later. 

I went back to the history of all political BLs or bromances that I know (and i may have missed some)-

Not me, Shine, Justice in the dark, Spierealm, The first shot, Manner of death, Spare me your mercy, Jack and Joker, The devil Judge and Mandate itself.

And I realised that most of the previous BL dramas were actually using a bottom-up narrative, where the resistance grows organically from grassroots movements or a few individuals to topple the people who are oppressing them.

Mandate is offering us a top-down view of what it is like behind the scenes of individuals running a democracy.

The politics between individuals here is subtle, but make no mistakes, it carries devastating consequences for the many (not to mention the personal costs these individuals have to bear of being at the top, with the power to influence in the first place).

Under neoliberal capitalism and populism which have replaced most governance throughout the world in the largest ever democratic backslide since the pandemic, this is the world Mandate inhabits.

It is a war of words, PR wars, trying to wrest back control from people who think they can change the laws overnight, the fourth pillar of democracy- journalism, containing less and less journalists with an actual spine. Negotiating control with people like them-

Mandate is offering us the behind the scenes of a supposedly functional democracy. Which is new because we haven’t seen this in many BL dramas. And this is why Mandate may not feel particularly political to a lot of the audience who are used to watching political BL dramas of another kind. 

[itsallaboutbl]

How do you really feel about me? - Do I still have to say it?

[pharawee]

Why is it that all the interesting things always happen when you're away from the internet aka looks like we'll be getting not one but two more BLs with an interesting cast AND storyline next year. It's not even the holidays yet and already 2025 is giving. 🙏

First there's Mandate with Ben Bunyapol (Step by Step) and Boy Pakorn (kind of a big deal, oh and also freshly turned 40) which looks to be a love story embedded in a political thriller. 👌😩

And then there's Reset, which not only stars Pond Ponlawit (everyone's fav in Fourever You) but also (finally!!) Peterpan Tadsapon (Oh! My Sunshine Night) in a series about an actor who gets a second chance at life after the deathly betrayal at the hand of his lover.

[negrowhat]

Mark your calendars for Sept 12th. That is when this political Thai BL primeres!