Fanservice & Love Teams

Fanservice makes the world go round, especially in BL/GL. 

In this post I hope to give some context as to what fanservice is, and how it is used specifically in Thai BL/GL.

The way the Thai BL/GL industry is set up is modeled after the concept of ‘love teams’, which comes from the filipino film industry. Here two actors are paired up together acting as onscreen love interests over multiple projects, and promoting their careers together. 

If a pairing is in a show they will promote it together, and if the show is successful they can go on to star alongside each other in many shows to come. The Thai industry takes it one step further, not only are you acting alongside each other, but there will be merch! Logos! Mascots! Concerts! You might even be so lucky as to get a reality show together, such as ‘E.M.S Earth - Mix Space’ (2021-2023) . If you, like myself, watch Thai GL/BL shows for free on YouTube, you might have wondered where they get the money for their shows, the fan support is the answer.

These clips are of 'Fort' Thitipong Sangngey and Peat Wasuthorn Chaijindar from Love Sea behind the scenes (from the tumblr user fortpeat), fanservice? You decide.

All of this hinders on if you are popular, if people like your ‘ship’. So it is no wonder that these actors partake in fanservice, they can flirt, keep their relationship ambiguous, and give the fans plenty of fodder for us to make TikTok edits of. 

And this is where it all gets confusing and muddled. 

Who is to say that these interactions are real? Who knows these people's real relationships? 

I see so many new fans come in and declare for certain that - insert ship - are soulmates, -insert ship- are secretly married and -insert ship- are in love. We must also remember that since this is the BL/GL industry this speculation also includes speculating about a stranger’s sexuality.

These answers are not owed to the fans. We’ve seen it countless times, fans who feel entitled to actors' personal lives, when it is none of their business. 

The counter argument being that the actors themselves play into this idea of a ship, so why are they taken aback when fans get that invested?

Here is what I say: delulu responsibly. You can have fun, like the TikToks, make the fanedits, write the fanfictions, just know that you do not know these people, and these people don’t owe you their personal lives.

When it goes wrong:

I think we all know the worst case scenario of fanservice and shipping culture gone wrong… Dare I even say their names in fear that the fandom (which one would think would be long dead) will come after me? It is of course OhmNanon.

Imagine this; you have made a great show, gotten millions of fans, become beloved in the industry, and you want to continue acting. Just not in a ship. This is more or less what happened with ‘Ohm’ Pawat Chittsawangdee and ‘Nanon’ Korapat Kirdpan, the actors who starred in the 2021 BL drama ‘Bad Buddy’. 

‘Bad Buddy’ is a phenomenal show, an instant classic of the genre, and one of the best ever made (in my not so humble opinion). A true Romeo and Romeo story, that is fantastically written, directed and most importantly for this post; acted. Ohm and Nanon made people not only fall in love with the show but with them as well. 

What followed after that was just the messiest mess.

In 2022 it comes out that Ohm was involved in bullying during his school years, and his public reputation took a huge hit. Him and Nanon were hardly seen together after that, certainly not doing any ship promotion

Then the two star in and have to promote Our Skyy 2 (2023), which is a series of special episodes following popular series, theirs of course being ‘Bad Buddy’. And the promotion for this was… weird and uncomfortable. If you have a stronger stomach than me go back through the GMMTV TikTok account, but my god was that uncomfortable. 

I can’t know if these two things were connected, I don’t know these men. I was just watching the TikToks and almost screaming for GMMTV to let them go. 

Finally in July of 2024, GMMTV officially stated that the two of them have ceased their work as a pairing, and they will instead focus on their solo careers. 

Then everyone moved on.

Oh except for all the insane and rude behavior from shippers that followed. 

(This is a really good reddit post that sums it up very well: 

https://www.reddit.com/r/ThaiBL/comments/1bm98h2/the_behavior_of_ohmnanon_shippers_is_getting_out/)

During solo fan meets fans would hold up hearts in red and green which represented the ship, would park a truck outside of the GMMTV building begging for them to get back together, spamming their social media and egregiously wearing Ohm masks to take photos with Nanon. 

I can’t help but wonder if the industry was not set up in this manner, that situations such as these would not happen. 

During the 2024 Starlympics (for those who don’t know this is a huge sporting event put on my GMMTV where the actors get into teams and play sports against each other, it is a goldmine for looking at different interactions of your faves. I am looking forward to all the TikToks from the 2025 event already), Ohm and Nanon played on different teams (much like their characters in ‘Bad Buddy’), and one interaction between them, Ohm helping up Nanon, sent the internet alight again. 

(Gemini - who is another actor from GMM - ‘s reaction to this was definitely funny as he was more flabbergasted than any of us)

The OhmNanon ships seem to never die, no matter how hard they are each trying to put it behind them. Imagine every interaction with an old co-worker or friend, would be scrutinized and used as fodder for harassment. 

Fanservice and the ‘love team’ system is a double edged sword. On one hand it is easier to promote and get fans invested, on the other hand all hell can break loose if you end a working relationship. 

So please, as fellow fans, let these people live. They do not owe us their sexuality, their personal lives, their relationship status or anything in between. For the love of god; Ship responsibly.