Bad Buddy

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Fandom
Name: Bad Buddy
Abbreviation(s): BBS (Bad Buddy Series)
Creator: GMMTV
Date(s): Oct 29, 2021 - Jan 21, 2022
Medium: streaming television show, webseries
Country of Origin: Thailand
External Links:
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Bad Buddy is a Thai boys love drama series about sons of two feuding families who secretly become friends and eventually fall in love. It is based on the novel, Behind the Scenes, by Afterday and -West-.

History

Upon its airing, Bad Buddy quickly became incredibly popular due to utilizing a combination of the enemies to lovers and secret relationship tropes. This popularity spread not only across Thailand, but internationally as well, since new episodes were released on YouTube every Friday. Many English-speaking fans referred to its airtime as Bad Buddy Friday.

The drama won several awards for Best Series and introduced many new fans to the world of Thai BL.

GMMTV’s flagship BL started 2022 on a BANG (okay no actual banging but you know what I mean), starring heavy hitters Ohm & Nanon in a pitch perfect university Romeo & Juliet masterpiece that will give you domesticity meets pain whiplash throughout and jet lag at the end. Great production values, killer acting, and some conscious effort to correct for half a decade of Thai BL’s anti-queer mistakes. GMMTV, we forgive you. More.

quick pitch by absolutebl, Archived version

Ohm, the actor for Pat, had been in previous BLs before, such as He's Coming To Me, Dew, and The Shipper. Nanon, the actor for Pran, had never been in any BL previous and has not starred in any since. The director of Bad Buddy, Aof, said that he had always intended for them to play Pat and Pran.

The success of Bad Buddy took off so much that Ohm and Nanon had many fanmeetings around Thailand for months after the series ending. This even led to them having an official concert-style fanmeeting, wherein they sang and danced songs they chose, as well as songs relevant to Bad Buddy. A majority of the main cast joined them for some performances.

At the end of 2022, an InkPa sequel was released, promoting Oishi green tea, one of Bad Buddy's sponsors. In early 2023, as part of Our Skyy 2, a GMMTV anthology spinoff project, four episodes were released as a sequel to Bad Buddy, crossing over with A Tale of a Thousand Stars, which has the same writer and director as Bad Buddy.

Novel Differences & Similarities

Due to being a loose adaptation of Behind the Scenes, there are many differences between the two mediums. Many Bad Buddy fans have not read the novel, while those who have do not consider it necessary reading for the drama series.

Among the differences of note include:

  • The general plot involving the bus stop construction, the high school band club backstory, the bet, the theater play, the architecture camp, the rooftop kiss, and general plot beats
  • Ink, existing as a character; minor female characters in the novel who are not in Bad Buddy
  • Wai's relevance within the story (he has a larger role in the drama series)
  • Plot devices used for their relationship; one fan on Reddit notes that the novel "had a lot of the old bl stereotypes that are luckily fading from bl"[1], while Bad Buddy has been praised for its deconstruction of BL stereotypes
  • The director of Bad Buddy has said that he did not wish for it to exist in a homophobic/heteronormative world (which shows), while Behind the Scenes relies on both for tension and conflict
  • The reason of their parents' feud, which in the novel seems to be primarily between both of their fathers. In Bad Buddy, the rivalry is fueled by Pat's father and Pran's mother.
  • The entire second half of Behind the Scenes involves a plot involving an arranged marriage and Pran traveling to live in the UK, none of which is even vaguely adapted into Bad Buddy.
  • Pat and Pran's approach to their sexual relationship; in the novel, Pat seems stubborn in always wanting to top, while the drama series implies that both characters are open to being versatile

Similarities include:

  • Pran saving Pat's little sister, Pa, when they were children
  • Pat is injured at a bar, though instead of being shot, he has a vase smashed over his head

Many fans consider the drama series to be the stronger of the two mediums, both in terms of storytelling and character writing.

Characters

Pran - An Architecture student with a love of music (specifically guitar, singing, and songwriting), art, and design; the original trailer also showed that he is exceptionally good at English. He is quiet, independent, and serious, but shown to be bitchy and competitive around Pat. He is also athletically skilled, particularly at soccer and rugby in the series. He has been pining for Pat at least since high school, but is forward-thinking enough to not want to pursue a relationship that he does not think will work out. Pran also has OCD.

Pat - An Engineering student who was pushed into pursuing his major by his father; his father also pushed him into athletics, particularly in rugby. The original trailer showed that he is exceptionally good at physics. He is also talented at drums and theatre. Though in episode 1 he is referred to as an "ice king" and a "[scary] boss of the Engineering faculty," his frequent interactions with Pran depict him as a charming goofball with a fondness for competition. Initially oblivious to his feelings for Pran, once he discovers them he is so driven by them that it is difficult for him to keep them secret.

Pa - Pat's one-year younger sister who gets into photography due to her crush on Ink. She initially wants Ink to date Pat to have her around, though she doesn't know why.

Ink - Pat and Pran's friend and classmate from high school. She runs into them again in their freshman year of university. She has a crush on Pat's younger sister, Pa; they eventually date.

Wai - Pran's best friend, who is as quick to loyalty as he is to anger. He can be a source of contention in the fandom due to a moment of betrayal that has been regarded as very controversial because of perhaps unintentional homophobic subtext. He despises the Engineering department.

Korn - Pat's best friend, who is also as quick to loyalty as he is to anger. He is crass but likable. He despises the Architecture department.

Dissaya - Pran's mother, who is extremely supportive of Pran's individual pursuits but hateful towards Pat's family. She has a good relationship with both her husband and her son, though is tested with the latter towards the end of the series. She has always told Pran to avoid Pat since their childhood.

Ming - Pat's father, who pushes Pat towards his own ambitions, citing that he thinks he knows what is best. Throughout the series he appears to be more invested in his son's future over his daughter's, though this changes over time. He has always pushed Pat to do better than Pran.

Fandom

Most fan activity revolves around PatPran, the core relationship of the series. Canon GL ship InkPa also gets some attention. WaiKorn, Pat and Pran's respective best friends who go from hating each other to getting along, is also a common ship.

Bad Buddy fandom primarily resides on Tumblr (where fans write meta essays and make photo/gifsets), Twitter, AO3, and Discord. The fandom often refers to itself as a "rooftop", referencing a key scene in Episode 5, that they will not leave as long as they are invested in the fandom.

Events

During the airing of Bad Buddy from the end of 2021 into 2022, the first round of the Bad Buddy Exchange, run by aplethora and gdgdbaby, was announced and lasted until after the show's last air date. The event produced 74 fanworks.[2]

In early 2023, a second round of the Bad Buddy Exchange occurred, run by aplethora and aroceu. The event produced 75 fanworks, and a much different list of creators than the year previous.

During middle of 2023, aroceu and aplethora also ran the Bad Buddy Prompt Fest, which produced 258 prompts and 41 works. aroceu announced launching the Bad Buddy Kink Meme at the end of 2023.

Example Fanworks

Fanfiction

Fanart

Meta

Impact

Bad Buddy, along with Kinnporsche, which aired in the following year, opened up the gates to many fans who had not been exposed to Thai BL before. Being under GMMTV, Bad Buddy created a more streamlined path for BL fans who followed or researched GMMTV's previous and future BL dramas, also introducing fans to the following:

Love Pattranite Limpatiyakorn and Milk Pansa Vosbein's (MilkLove) roles in Bad Buddy, as Pa and Ink respectively, introduced many fans to them. Those fans then went on to watch MilkLove play the lead roles in GMMTV's first GL series, 23.5 Degrees.

Resources

Citations


  1. ^ Differences between the Bad Buddy Series and the novel it's based on on Reddit, December 2023. Accessed February 14, 2024.
  2. ^ https://archiveofourown.org/collections/badbuddyexchange2022
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