For the past several years, I’ve been getting into Thai GL (Girls Love) and BL (Boys Love) series, as well as KDramas (Korean Dramas, but also Comedies, Action, and a couple Variety shows), JDramas (Japanese Dramas and Comedies), CDramas (Chinese Dramas), British Dramas–pretty much any content that’s NOT on American TV. I find these stories and media very entertaining (as opposed to American shows) because the stories in these series (or movies) are allowed to develop slowly and breathe–a nice slow burn. The viewer is allowed to get invested in the story and actually grow to care about the characters, as opposed to the majority of American shows with a few exceptions (for example: Bridgerton, Only Murders in the Building, and Game of Thrones) that seem to speed through a lot of the story while expecting the viewer to care about the characters, their motivations and root for them when the conflict hits. Except for procedural dramas like Gray’s Anatomy (which I don’t watch) or NCIS “insert location here” (which I stopped watching years ago because I lost interest in the stories, and because I didn’t care about the characters enough to continue with every weekly’s new conflict), a lot of shows on American TV nowadays seem to fall under a few categories:
1–for mindless consumption (a show with no real purpose except to waste time)
2–The writers of these shows are too scared to write about themes that may offend or force one part of the viewing audience to actually have to use their brains and think about the content that’s going on in the show and how they would react, if in the same situation
or
3–the type of show that beats their viewing audience with blatant themes and stories, when the writers haven’t earned the right for the viewers to care enough about the characters, to think about how they would react in the same situation.
Basically, I’ve lost interest in most of American TV (outside of the series that are on streaming services like Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Disney+), because in some ways it’s mind-numbing, dumbs itself down, and isn’t allowed to be creative really, but I digress.
As I’ve delved deeper into Thai GLs/BLs, Kdramas, etc., there are actors whose works I’ve grown to love. For example, this past year, I added “The Loyal Pin”, a GL series about finding love and acceptance in a world (and period of time in history) that tried to shun a true and lasting love that wasn’t the supposed “Norm” of the time period to my list of all-time favorite series. Another series, “Petrichor” is a procedural cop/serial killer drama about an Inspector (Lt. Tul, pronounced ‘toon’) finding love with a Forensics doctor (Dr. Run), while investigating the case of the Raindrop Killer. Another is “The Judge from Hell”, a story that shows that anyone can find love and redemption, even at the most random of times…even a demon.
So, during the 2025 upfronts from Idol Factory (one of the bigger Thai production companies) made a big announcement. For those that don’t know, an upfront event or press conference is where a production company or channel (ABC, NBC, TNT) reveals the new and returning shows that will be released for the next year into the following year or shows that are about to go into production. In this case, it’s for 2025-26. Well, at this year’s event, Idol Factory announced a huge collaboration event and a massive series project that they will be leading called the 4Elements Mega Project. This project would collaborate with other production companies like MGI (Miss Grand International) among others, thereby bringing their companies’ big on-screen couples together in one big project. This is a colossal deal. For example, this is the equivalent of Marvel and DC coming together to create the Marvel v. DC Mega movie or series event. So in this event, we could have a team of Ironman, Captain America, Thor, Storm, Jean Grey, and Sentry on a team v. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Black Adam, Hawkgirl, and the Martian Manhunter. It’s a prodigious deal, especially in the burgeoning GL series market, because the GL series market exploded within the last couple of years, after the release of GAP, the first GL series of its kind from Idol Factory starring the GOATs/Goddesses of GL, Freen (Sarocha Chankimha) and Becky (Rebecca Patricia Armstrong), who are also the stars of “The Loyal Pin”.
The 4Elements is a widely loved series of books about the four cousins of the Watinwanit Family. I hope that they can truly bring these books to life and pull it off. Knowing that the director who will be directing all four series of the project is the same director who helmed the Loyal Pin, I know that we have a great captain to lead and guide the ship.
Rumors have been swirling about who the four on-screen couples that are going to portray the four cousins and their mates in the series were going to be. For some time, the consensus among the GL fandom was that the four couples would be FreenBecky (IDL Factory flagship GL couple), Englot (MGI’s flagship GL couple Engfah Waraha and Charlotte Austin), FayeYoko (former MGI queen Faye Peraya Malisorn and up and comer Yoko Apasra Lertprasert) and NamnuengNoey (former Thai Girl Group BNK48 members “Namnueng” Milin Dokthian and “Noey” Kanteera Wadcharathadsanakul), and with the producer heading the project, P’Chen saying that the rumored couples were 95% accurate, fans were excited to get to see all these on-screen couples in a project together.
This is where the FayeYoko situation comes in…
WHAT I’M ABOUT TO SAY GOING FORWARD IS MOSTLY ALLEGED.
It seems that while the negotiations for this mega project were going on, something began to stink and rot in the land of Ninestar Studios, the production company of whom Faye and Yoko were the flagship on-screen couple. As a result of the strife within Ninestar, Faye, and Yoko were removed from project negotiations. It seems that the heads of Ninestar decided that FayeYoko, the on-screen couple–the couple that put their name on the map in the Thai entertainment industry, needed to break up. Why, you ask? No real information has been given. I mean, until this issue came up, FayeYoko was one of the top three GL couples in the industry, with the other two CPs being FreenBecky and Englot. Why break up the on-screen couple that’s your moneymaker? Financially, it makes no sense that Ninestar, as a company, would break up a CP that is its only source of income. It is very valid reasoning to say that without the excellent acting and chemistry between these two actors, Ninestar’s debut series, “Blank” wouldn’t have garnered over 300M views to date. The company wouldn’t have gained income from all the sold-out fan meets and merchandise that the couple garnered in multiple countries, and they wouldn’t have the fanbase (sustained customers and revenue streams–some of whom took interest because of the previous work of Faye and Yoko before joining the company) that they’ve gained.
Well, Ninestar would tell you that they and Faye have a difference in work ethics and work style. So, Faye has decided to terminate her contract with the company. Oddly enough, though, Ninestar won’t be forcing her to pay penalty fees for terminating her contract. What?! Ninestar, as a company, has an actor who wants to end their contract years ahead of time and have nothing to show for it, really, but they aren’t going to have said actor pay a penalty fee for ending the contract? Now, I didn’t graduate with a Business degree, but common sense, street sense, whatever you want to call it, tells me that makes no sense whatsoever. Something doesn’t smell right. Indeed, in their online statement on TikTok (no written statement was released), the majority of the statement was painting Faye as the reason everything is happening, and that if fans want to blame someone, they only have to send their ire in her direction…Ninestar (rarely mentioning Yoko except to talk about her getting a new partner) tried to portray themselves as the victim in this situation.
The thing about Faye and Ninestar isn’t as simple as surface level. Now mind you all of what I’m about to say is ALLEGED. ALLEGEDLY, Ninestar hired Faye for the “Blank” project not only because of her acting acumen but also because of her already built-in fanbase. ALLEGEDLY, the “Blank” project ran the risk of not happening because they couldn’t get the right actor who had the right chemistry to carry the project with Faye until Yoko literally walked in the door to audition for a ‘second’ time, because the first time she auditioned, there was no one signed to play who would become her couple’s partner. ALLEGEDLY, when things were going south for Ninestar (not long after the final episode of Blank aired, with the departure of the COO and main financier of the company), Faye asked her industry friends to come in and help Ninestar get back on its feet. ALLEGEDLY, when Faye had a profit share percentage of the company that was written into the contract that she signed when she joined the company.
Now, if I look at it from this perspective, financially, it not only makes sense to force Faye out of the company, but give her the ‘no penalty fees’ because at the end of the day, Ninestar gains more than it loses, because they get profit share back (long with the cost of Faye’s salary whatever that was) in exchange for no fee. Frankly, financially and business-wise, this is the only way any of Ninestar’s side makes sense, though in the short term, it would disrupt a potential windfall in the contracted collaboration and cooperation in the 4Elements project, because Idol Factory wanted to work with Faye and Yoko together, not half of the couple. The issue is, I don’t think Ninestar counted on the intelligence and downright investigative prowess of current-day fandoms. If info can be found in any corner of the interwebs, fans…trolls…anyone with even a passing interest in this situation will find it or sus it out. Now, what was once a divided fandom (partly from no new content from the company and partly from the company themselves ALLEGEDLY buying bots to defame and cast dispersions on their company’s flagship couple, and unite them under one cause–Support of Faye and Yoko the artists while boycotting Ninestar the company. For a KPop fan like me, this situation and boycott in many ways feel very much like the Loona/Blockberry Creative debacle, and any KPop fan knows how that ended.
I think Ninestar has royally screwed the pooch in the short term and may have numbered their days as a company in the long term because it seems the people in leadership are making decisions that aren’t well thought out from a financial point and aren’t seen as positive moves by the fandoms they are trying to retain and profit from, especially when it has been revealed that ALLEGEDLY the two actors in the on-screen fandom didn’t want to break up their on-screen couple in the first place. Also, what could be the possible reasons that a fledgling company like Ninestar would want to break up its flagship on-screen couple, who are the only financially successful entity that the company has right now? Outside of personal conflict between the owner and the actor, why would one do this? I mean Ninestar’s new CEO has only been in the position for a couple of weeks, and this conflict has supposedly been going on for more than a month at least.
I just think that, being on the outside looking in, yet with some life experience that can help me discern some behaviors that are taking place in this situation, I see that there is something more going on from the owner of Ninestar’s side of things that is further muddying the waters of this conflict. It really feels like someone’s feelings and jealousy have caused them to make some ill-advised, rash decisions that may end up in their eventual downfall. Regardless, I, as a fan, hope that eventually we will get to see Faye Yoko as an on-screen couple again in the future, but only time will tell.
If y’all want to comment, be sure to do so in the comments.
