Boys Love tag + Rising trend?

katverwho 2016-07-05 03:11:58 UTC #21

Let's be real, yaoi has been around forever. Adam and Steve, not Adam and Eve.

joannekwan 2016-07-05 03:52:47 UTC #22

Oh yeah for sure! There are lots of gay Shunga pieces dating back to the 1700's. Oh Japan and their hentai …

LOL omg, really? I never heard of people shipping boy band members. And yet that doesn't surprise me in the least.
I suppose I meant BL started "trending" more in the 2000's along with the rest of anime/manga here in the West and it became more common place.

69Michi 2016-07-05 04:06:44 UTC #23

@joannekwan Oh man, shipping boy band members... Kpop bands have its worst. Generally I have a very bad impression of Kpop fan that ship band members together because every single one of them I have interacted with is either immature, obnoxious or just outright rude (The fact that they take original novel/comic, change main characters' name into their favorite idol and throw it around as if it was OKAY just gross me out)

More on the topic I guess BL has been around since forever, but it wasn't obvious because ugh people were quite close minded about this topic way back in the past. With internet and technology and 21ST CENTURY, BL just blew out of their cover

bakasama25 2016-07-05 05:20:19 UTC #24

Sure it was but back then it just called slash fiction, with Kirk and Spock slash fic. I gotta say, you not knowing decades old fandom terms is interesting.

Kura 2016-07-05 06:09:29 UTC #25

Yeah that's what they would call the fanfics! Slash or slashfics. I couldn't remember the term that was used.

Also all dem' lemons and limes...

eleoza 2016-07-05 10:50:15 UTC #26

but you don't dislike BL right? O: I mean what about NickxDaisuke in your own comic? And AndrewxSiris is a ship too XD right?

AffectedMind 2016-07-05 15:28:55 UTC #27

I wouldn't call it a "trend", but it get freaking annoying because it seems to flood Tapastic like SmackJeeves. It takes the trending and popular spot almost all the time now. What pisses me even more you can just smack the label on non BL comics and your views are blowing.

miseryhunting 2016-07-05 17:03:57 UTC #28

I'm not sure it's a trend? I mean, I don't click a comic because of the BL label, most times I don't actually. I think it works as any other comics - if you like the genre and you think the art looks promising, you check it out.
I have a friend who actively avoids those comics.

Kura 2016-07-05 17:48:56 UTC #29

I'll clear this up because yeah, it can be confusing that I include characters/character development and even story arcs that could fall under the 'BL' category, and I certainly don't want to come off as a 'say one thing and do the other' type. I do not hate all BL, but I do hate some of it, in fact I read a lot of it growing up because I was/am not straight and I was desperate to find stories that I could relate to, I'm sure anyone in that situation can attest to how hard it is growing up and always having to 'pretend' (usually via fanfic) that a character could be going through the same situation as you because media, (especially back when I was a kid) did not feature many (if any) characters that were exploring that kind of relationship that didn't end badly (usually in death)

BL (both clean and 18+) if you try to view it in a very basic way, has two very distinct piles you can divide the stories into, BL that is an honest portrayal (or attempt at) a relationship between two guys, and BL that is sexualization of the concept made for the kink and fetish fulfillment, which I wouldn't mind so much (everyone's got their thing, I an't judging) if a good number of these types of kink fics/comics would stop featuring tropes that are harmful relationship situations.

I enjoy the stuff you could sort out into the first pile, I do not enjoy the second where for some reason rape, humiliation, controlling behaviour and stalking is OK, and these are not side dramas or situations introduced to cause conflict in a bad relationship, but the way the 'loving relationships' are portrayed. (It's kinda the same as the BDSM community disliking the 50 Shades of Grey and how it portrays their community)

A lot of people inside the community of individuals looking for stories involving same sex relations, will often avoid the 'BL' tag even though we're actively looking for stories that contain that kind of relationship, because a very large majority of works in it falls into the 'sexulizing the gays to get off on our kink' category, which is fine I guess for those that enjoy it, just not what we are looking for.

quakeulf 2016-07-12 01:41:45 UTC #31

That's hilarious.

20 CHARACTER LIMIT

theawkwarddreamer 2016-07-12 04:12:55 UTC #32

Honestly, if I could find a BL comic that wasn't 100% romance and just included BL, that'd be cool. I like representation. For me, the BL tag is more a warning to stay away from, since it's either complete romance that isn't bad, or written by a straight girl who thinks gays are sexy or something. There's no in between, I swear.

NickRowler 2016-07-13 04:20:11 UTC #33

I know the BL label on the thumbnail is designed to draw viewers in but I tend to really avoid them.

I do not much care for boy's love. A lot of my issues have to do with them filled with anime tropes and romance cliches. I'm not crazy about the "lovey dovey", everyone is pretty, huggy-kissy kawaii-ness from hetro-romances and I feel the same about boy's love. Also, if the boys look too girly, I pretend it is a GL story.

I guess this is a bit ironic, seeing how I wrote a comic which some people may call a BL...Tho I call it "mild" because they never actually kiss.

joannekwan 2016-07-13 04:58:46 UTC #34

My sentiments exactly! When I see the BL label I immediately think it's going to be filled with these, and they usually are.

ToonDoctor 2016-07-14 14:45:50 UTC #35

The other thing no one has mentioned is that BL is a sure way for a comic to gain followers quickly even if it is mediocre. Most of the BL and yaoi material in web comics is mediocre but fans of the genres will dismiss other comics and support BL just because it says BL. I toy with adding the tag BL on my comic all the time just to gain followers easily.

Have nothing against BL as an genre. But I will say that for many creators it is a shortcut - most won't admit it, or will argue it's not really about putting out a comic quickly and getting 50 readers within a week....

Oh, and Smartjeeves is the place for heavy duty BL!

alaingrey 2016-07-14 15:06:05 UTC #36

Most webcomics in general are mediocre, not just BL. The difference is there's an audience for lots and lots of BL so it gives more comics a chance. But it's really not disproportionally mediocre compared to other genres, and I think it's unfair to throw creators of that kind of content under the bus like so.

ToonDoctor 2016-07-15 12:38:57 UTC #37

I did not write that all bl and yaoi is mediocre. The brunt of my criticism was based on the practice of many cartoonists to pump out bl material, or tag their comics as bl understanding that it's a quick way to build a readership, beyond mastering the foundations of making comics.

Caelestie 2016-07-26 16:01:03 UTC #38

I would love to your responses to that! heheheh

Oh man I wish there was more gl it is so hard to fine! I am gonna stay in my lonely corner now!

bakasama25 2016-07-26 16:21:00 UTC #39

Well, I don't find GL comics that much unless it's Korean.

69Michi 2016-07-26 16:28:16 UTC #40

The funny thing is I feel like social media are more likely to accept GL over BL. Like many popular cartoon shows more likely have GL (well on the top of my head I know Steven Universe and Legend of Korra), up till now I don't think I have ever seen any proper but popular cartoon show that has BL.

Caelestie 2016-07-26 22:16:25 UTC #41

well cartoon accept more a non sexual version of gl because bl is viewed sexual even tho it doesn't need to be! but you see the inverse in more adult shows where there is more Bl in general! Gl is treated pretty innocent compare to bl tho that isn't always true but most of the time!

I did have some in my reading list if you are interested:
https://tapastic.com/MemoriaCaelestie/reading-list
but yeah not really many! I am planning on doing one so yeah!