I like this a lot actually. It's nice to see how you looked back on your mistakes and decided to fix them. Boyfriends is definitely kinda mid, yes; but it does have it's audience. It never set out to be groundbreaking and is just an escapist fantasy of a trans man. However it does suck that many of the people who saw your last video on this probably will not see this video. From what I see, a lot of people really resonated with your past feelings on the topic, so I imagine it will be hard to shake off you being the "Boyfriends is harmful" guy.
As an Indonesia Queer person, when I found this webtoon for the first time, I was just too exited to know it was made by Indonesian Queer person in mainstream platform as webtoons, I don't care how cringe or mid the comic was (yes it was that hard to find representation specially own-voiced representation in mainstream platform)
At the same time I can understand your frustation. Funny enough, there are many BLs that are translated to Indonesian, even I belive Koisenu Futari (japanese aroace show) was first translated to indonesian before English
I'm glad you made this video. I'm not the biggest fan of Boyfriends (not my cup of tea!) but I'm not gonna lie, I felt hurt watching the part in the old video where you said Boyfriends made you think that you're as bad as what homophobes said, then described a hate crime scenario, when it's likely that Boyfriends author experienced all that because he's an out trans man living in Indonesia. It felt very insensitive to me as another queer Indonesian, though a closeted one because STEM is the absolute worst place to be out as queer. Listening to coworkers being disgusted about gay people in Cocomelon so they stopped letting their kids watch the channel, ALL politicians drumming up anti-LGBT narrative to gain votes for the current election season, and reading vile homophobic tweets from Indonesians on a daily basis getting thousands of likes (including from so-called Indonesian activists). That comment really rubs me the wrong way, and nearly turned me off your channel entirely until I saw this video. Glad you acknowledged that he's an Indonesian here and apologized. Hope I don't come off as too harsh or venting in here! I like your channel and hoping for a successful future for you, especially after the hbomb shoutout :) beside Indonesia just doesn't come up much in western leftist sphere sadly, so I get why you missed the author's background on your radar
Good on you for taking a step back and re-evaluating things! You don't see people do this too often, so this is refreshing to see. Not saying you did this or that you come from this angle, but I think that most of the hate Boyfriends received is because a lot of people just mindlessly jumped on this Hate Bandwagon for it on social media (I noticed it on Twitter a lot). Some people love to hate on things together as a group. To them, it's fun to bad-talk the thing that all their friends are bad-talking, like some bonding activity. And that's definitely what happened to Boyfriends, like it's almost been a trend to hate on it for no reason beyond "I think it's kinda cringe." It's been a very weird phenomenon to watch tbh. Again, not saying that's the reason why you made your old video, but I think that's why a lot of people watched and agreed with your old stance. Anyways I hope that your new video here will make others also re-consider and give the comic another chance.
Thank you, and as for the band wagon comment I would say yeah?? However in my new video (not about the comic but another thing) I do reveal another factor as to WHY that comic. I hinted at it here but I elaborate more in the next video. Once again thank you for your comment.
Boyfriends is the webtoon that actually got me to think on my views of monogamy and how I'd feel about the idea of polyamory. It may not be the deep introspective webcomic that delves into the dilemmas of queerness these days, but it got me to honestly think about my own views on my sexuality, identity, and how I view relationships over a decade since I came out just by having those things in it. In the end isn't representation, even if it's shaky and cringey like this, that shows people these things the whole point of why we fight for us to be seen?
I am a queer Indonesian transman who lives here and has my entire life. Being that, I've followed the creator's work for quite a long time before boyfriend dropped and I liked a few of their older comic. I consider it better than boyfriend in all honesty so I dropped boyfriend quite early because it was just not my cup of tea (didn't know the racism and anti-semitisms though-unfortunately I didn't use twitter until later. Most Indonesians use facebook and still does, that was where I found his work) Initially, I found you through the boyfriend video but I was quite dismissive of it in the past because from my experience a lot of "boyfriend criticism" videos tend to boil down to people thinking it's cringe and making a far bigger deal out of it than they should. Even if I did see the point of your initial video, I couldn't shake out the thought of "this is such an overblown reaction to something not worth that level of criticism" throughout watching that video. So I forget about it soon after Then I rediscovered you through Hbomberguy's recommendation and I checked out your channel (because I'm always open to watching a fellow fudanshi and people who doesn't dimiss BL/yaoi as only something straight woman consume and create). So I watched some of your other videos (I enjoyed it) and then I saw that this was the first video uploaded as of the time of writing this. It was when I remember where I watched you first. And I'll be honest, I'm glad you changed your mind There's a lot grief and joy with being queer. While queer people in America is culturally different from the one in Indonesia (because let's face it, different culture result in different queerness as well), I can emphatise a lot with the shitty bills, the people being outright homophobic and transphobic on the media, all the fearmongering, etc. Those are awful and horrific and I try my best to help by signal boosting and such. One of my first exposure to queer people when I was younger was watching the national news broadcast celebrating over the fact that the police caught a group of transwoman (while using a slur to referr to them) and throwing them into jail. That still burns into my mind to this day and that isn't even the worst way we've been treated. Go to a certain province and you will be caned publicly, bare naked for everyone to see. Children, woman, man, families, neighbors. Go to another and they will put you to jail. At the end of the day for me I don't think being hostile towards a gay webtoon made by an Indonesian queer transman is really going to solve anything Sorry for any grammar error or typos. Good work on the video. I look forward to what you post next!
I actually found this channel from the newest HBomberGuy video because I was trying to find the recommended queer youtuber shown in his video and caught a glimpse of your outdated video in it but cannot find the video nor the youtuber since it's not included in the playlist. I am glad that I arrived just on time to see a better perspective video adressing Boyfriends because as someone from the same country as Rey it's so disheartening to see the LGBT internet spaces ganging up on a queer creator to this degree and I wish more queer voices outside of America could be discussed and explored in a more serious and dignified way.
And hey, hes even covering a 'shame for all lgbt's' in a positive manner. Isnt that niceeee? Now we can pretend polyamory is rare for no reason, and monogamys pravalnce means nothing and other 'dleusional deverdreams alienating even the most progressive people on earth'
I think the best way to summed up boyfriends from what I've seen (both fron reading it personally and some of kwites vids). Its a comfort food/authors idealistic fantasy webcomic, there's nothing really awful per say but it can still be boring and I will admit the text can be grating along with some jokes (the among us emergency meeting joke will make me wince in pain) Best analogy I can think of is that its like a bowl of really thick frosting and go to that bowl as a means to unwind after a long day. Theres people that like it but its not for everyone. I will say I do respect with your decision on not taking the video down and not running fron the fact that you made it and displayed now thay your thoughts had been revised on all 3 (more so elaborating on q force and then the revision on boyfriends, with to note real quick on qforce with the boondocks bit, hit the nail on the head with it point of the show and really appreciate you poining out that comparative struggles doesn't really work in the matter of race and sexual orientation when theirs people that can be two sides of the same coin and face both struggles.) But I won't ramble on, Great video and excited to see the sonadow one
Sry for commenting twice. Maybe unpopular opinion but I think a big part of the hate was just internalized transphobia. Firstly, *everyone* was claiming Nerd was Ray’s self insert for no other reason than him being the most feminine and cutesy shy one instead of the actual trans one that Ray himself said is inspired by him and cosplays him often. Secondly, Ray was treated exactly like a fujoshi, being accused of fetishizing gay relationships, not only by other queer people but also actual transphobes. I remember a big transphobe acc calling Ray a fujoshi that wants to be a gay man, a fetishizer, all that jazz and a bunch of trans ppl ACTUALLY RETWEETING IT. Not the only time it happened either. Not saying most were knowingly transphobic, but a lot def have some untreated prejudice inside of them.
Going through the tweets and quotes regarding the hate for Ray made me seethe and cry. I know the joke of being an empath but it was genuinely hurtful to know and see some queer guy (afab) who lives in basically my "brother" country has piles over piles of death threats, harassment, sexual harassment been and still being sent to them online. Our countries are already hating queers and one time mine even passed a public canning bill to any suspected gays. It's hard enough to live here
Thanks for being honest about your change of heart, the internet needs more people acknowledging when their postures change, specially when it comes to delicate subjects. The amount of hatred Boyfriends got was always so off-putting to me, specially when it came from other queers like myself, and whenever a new wave of hate came again I got worried about the author's well-being. I never read Boyfriends because it was never my cup of tea, but from all the things I've heard about it, nothing could justify the hate... I really hope that others who rode that trend of hate grew out of it. All in all, I think that queer media that people may consider 'cringe' or not their taste is always at risk of being dogpiled by its own community, if only for the crime of not being 'good enough'. To be honest, to this day I still resent the cancellation and dogpilling of Q-Force for that very reason.
My honest opinion watching that video and watching this is that Boyfriends is an inoffensive webcomic that uses estereotypes from the community in an inoffensive way. It's fun and cute, and cringy? Maybe? That's on the eye of the beholder, and I don't think cringe is bad anyway, so... Anyway, as you say, way better to focus on the actual homophobia from the actual homophobes than on the queer person making a gay comic on the internet, I think.
tbh I think most of the discourse around boyfriends could be resolved if people could understand that characters can be both stereotypical and enjoyable to watch. as much as i love kamen rider, i think oren pierre alfonzo does reveal a few of gen urobachi’s biases. this doesn’t automatically make him a BAD character or gruelling to watch, though. similar concept applies to boyfriends with a decent amount of the complaints about them being stereotypical. ie critical media consumption is dead on the internet who’s surpsied
Honestly yeah, and I learned that sometimes stereotypes can be used in media outside of negativity (esp considering boyfriends status, I overblew it). I guess sometimes its okay if the person using it is affected by such stereotypes. We may not all like it, but we can't say we have to denounce it.
@@Kameno-o Plus a lot of biases aren’t necessarily noticed, especially if someone is part of the minority they have a bias against. If someone doesn’t hire multiple sensitivity readers, they might never pick up that a character is based off of stereotypes. im gonna guess the writer of boyfriends probably isn’t trying to write terrible gay characters, but it came off that way regardless, and there’s not much you can do at that point.
What I found funny is poeple insisting on the Jews thing. It's just a common thing in Indonesia where we younger generation, creator included, often hear propaganda about how bad jews are SO WE RETALIATE by mimicking what they said and joked about it. People eventually get it that ofc jews are not bad and that became an inside joke to us Indonesian; It's a satire to mock our older generation.
@@Kameno-oI'm not entirely religious, I don't follow the Quran but I do understand the bad rep jews get because of Israel. We're joking about our old generation senseless hatred
@@avourrito1819 in the context of ray’s post it was about pokemon go being banned by the super religious government or claiming that pokemon was satanic. While it is 100 percent true that judaism and jewish faith does NOT equal israel’s actions against palestinians, saying stuff like “pokemon is the work of jewish people” is anti semitic, and regardless that’s not the way to go.
I know you said you don't want to delete the old Boyfriends video, but I would suggest perhaps just unlisting it and providing a link to in the description of this video so people can reference it if they really want to. That way the video remains up, but also people will not be recommended a work you don't wholly stand behind any longer without the context you've provided in this one (or a direct link).
Alright. I was a watcher of your popular Boyfriend video and I'll be honest. It was very upsetting. Especially seeing how much harassment Refrainbow the trans artist has received over this. Not just from the LGBTQIA+ community calling it "cis white woman slop" but also how said hate from the community calling it trash was so nuclear that it seeped into straight male groups using it to dunk on trans/gay media. So I'll be real here, your original video was not a net positive for this community and why I (a non-binary) am very uncomfortable to be even apart of this space because of the "if it's not positive media then it is worthless". This is a really awful frame of mind to have on media in but especially that for gays who, to be frank, are not perfect people. We fuck up, we have bad pasts, and not every gay needs to be a role model. It's good to see us treated like real people but in terms of the Boyfriend webcomic, it's just, nice. It's nice to have a simple, cute, fun comic to just enjoy. I don't really see this cringe you're speaking of but that's fine, what I perceived from your original video and what similar minded people have said is that because it's not complex of deep theming then it's not doing anything for gay individuals which is not true at all. I also think a web comic about a poly relationship of 4 poc gay men is actually radically original. However despite my harsh words, I'm glad you've apologized. I always believe in second chances too (as most of you should). I'll be honest, I was actually a little worried about you being recommended on hbomb playlist because I knew of that original Boyfriend video and wasn't sure if you were still pitching those ideas out into the space still. I'm happy to have found that you've had growth and understood your own short comings. I'll be watching your other work as well. 😌
Oh yeah, tbh I kinda upset that my og vid was in the montage, but was relieved that my other vids (which i’ve been pushing for more views) got the spotlight in the playlist. But also I loved your analysis in this comment. You’re right, I did overblow it, but this time I won’t. For now let’s just let the boyfriends webtoon chill.
@@Kameno-othank you and let’s be real amongst ourselves here for a second, it takes a strong principal of character to admit you were wrong or took things too far. I want more gay creators in the space to love our own media and not be wildly critical on if our own media lives up to even higher standards than the heterosexual equivalent. That really shouldn’t matter. I’ll be looking forward on more of your essays cause tbh I actually love anime / manga content and I want more gay creators in that space too! 🥰
This video is so nice to see, because sincerely this whole Boyfriends debacle was so overblown. I remember people on twitter talking about how the creator made nsfw bts fanart when he was a minor? Like are people really pulling out things that kids do to use against them in the future? I think what made me be completely against all this hate was how people were just misgendering the author of the comic, I didn't even read the comic, but this was enough to make me be at the authors side. That's just the same rhetoric terfs use to say that trans men that are MLM are all just straight girls fetishing gays.
Agreed. The one thing I despised was misgendering ray. His identity is not based on what comic he makes. Ray is ray and being transphobic and racist does nothing
@@Kameno-o I am happy you are acknowledging it and I hope that Ray finds out about this video somehow. He didn't deserve all the hate he got and maybe hearing that one of the people who hated on him before is apologising would make things feel a little better.
Boyfriends is the junk food of stories. Not good for you and if you just consume that sort of media it won't do you any benefit but every now and then it doesn't hurt. I enjoyed Boyfriends because it was one of the few LGBTQ+ big media pieces where being queer was just fine. NO hatred, no traumatic past tied to just being queer, No big "oh shit I am a gay person and how do I deal with this", also no real plot or semblance of characters but it's working I guess. I own a lot of queer media and a lot of it deals with the real-life issues of being LGBTQ+. But I also live that life and sometimes I just want comfy happy silly plots to just take my mind off of the 7 world-shaping/historical tragedies which have just happened. I could read/watch and enjoy a fine 3-course meal of queer media but some nights I want take away pizza which is how I view series like Boyfriends and My Weird Roommate it's never the best thing you've had but sometimes it just hit's the spot.
I bought me and my boyfriend the makeship plushies back in June of 2022 (I got the prep one and he got the goth one) and when I posted a video about it on tiktok when it arrived in September I got legit death threats, over a fucking plushie. I mainly got the plushies because my boyfriend really wanted one and because some of the proceeds were going to charity, but after the video received so much backlash, I deleted the video and hid him away in my closet.
@@Kameno-o I’m not saying this was your fault! There was already a bunch of discourse and misinformation surrounding the creator being spread at that time and anything that seemed remotely positive towards refrainbow was harshly criticized
It's nice to see this video. I never finished the original because it was legitimately triggering so I'm glad I don't have to associate it with your videos and I can yeet those feelings into the mental vault forever. Also as a non-American and frequent VPN user I noticed some of the "cringe masquerading as criticism" for the comic was how invasive and annoying the ads are. Aside from refrainbow having zero control of how it was advertised, ads are nowhere near that aggressive outside of the US. I've only been shown webtoon ads a grand total of thrice in my life and twice was VPN-ing to the US
I asked on the unlisted video and I will ask here: What steps are you taking to repair the damage caused by your original video? You were one of several people who made their bread and butter badmouthing the Boyfriends' creator and their work, and your video had, by the time of unlisting it, over 600K views: think about that as if it were people on a street. The size of a city. Imagine if only 1% of people who saw your video truly internalized the whole "this comic is HARMFUL" and took to arms about it by either sending hateful tweets or, in private conversations, talking about it and thus inflaming others into doing it? Imagine if a *whole* city of people watched (and subscribed to/supported) a video spewing hate on you and your work: how would you feel? Now put that as part of a structured, systematic bullying campaign like the creator of Boyfriends had to [and still continues to] deal with? You may not have done it with *that* in mind, or intentionally, giving you the benefit of the doubt in that, but it was still theree. True accountability would be that you do the adult thing and spend time making things right. Have you apologized to the creator of Boyfriends? Pursued the people who carried your opinion like a torch in hand to make them change their mind and desist their harassment? You had a bad moment, and you turned that bad moment into a source of fame for you, and a source of misery and bullying for someone else. I don't even presume to know if you monetized the original video, but if you did, you made money out of trashing someone - a fellow member of the LGBTQ community; and if you didn't, you still got fame (viewers, followers) out of it. It's good that you changed your mind, it is the first step. I believe you are growing, and that you should have a way to make up for what you did, but I think the work ahead of you is much, much larger than you anticipate.
Thanks for this comment. Tbh i’m mot truly sure HOW I can make up for the damage. Refrainbow blocked me on twitter but i’d be willing to email him and give a detailed apology. I’ve also been trying to make lgbtq videos to help connect the community with my channel. I’m not sure if that’ll be enough but i’d be down for more suggestions on what to do.
@@FaiaHalo Both of these are incorrect, to my knowledge after a cursory search; also, "racist" isn't a shadow word, you can type it. The antisemitism accusation came from them doing satire of the antisemitic policies of their government; and the "racism" thing was from quoting/referencing the Free fandub, when they were 14, something they've already addressed, show sensitivity for, and does not constitute a persistent pattern of conduct. "Antisemitic" "Make a racist post" Sure leaves out a lot of context and lends itself to a slanderous reading, now, doesn't it? So, what's interesting here is you say this without bothering to research, asking in public in such a way that it perpetuates rumours. If you were sincerely curious, you ask a search engine. Doing this also forces other people to do your research for you, and falls suspiciously close to the conduct exemplified in this video: ruclips.net/video/wmVkJvieaOA/видео.html#t=2m20s&ab_channel=InnuendoStudios Anyway, revise your own conduct and be better.
@@Kameno-o IDK if making more money off the queer community is really making amends for directly harming the queer community. Should you be in a position of power and community organization with the issues around transphobia that you have? Not that you can't one day, but it's really something you have to be self-critical of. People don't go from that level of harassment to benevolent organizers so quickly, there's a lot of internal work you have to do on yourself to make sure those attitudes and instincts around bullying other queers don't re-emerge, ESPECIALLY if you are in a position of authority or influence.
i think it's always nice to look back on your past work and re-evaluate it! i agree with your takes here pretty much, and i definitely get needing to be in a better environment in order to see things from a new perspective. college can be so rough and i also had a non-traditional way of finishing college. im glad you're somewhere you like better now and i hope it goes well for you! there's definitely a place for critiquing lgbt media because no art should ever be exempt from analysis and when things are bad, we shouldn't have to take it and be grateful JUST because its lgbt, but the way the algorithm rewards the most inflammatory stuff regardless of how important it is in the grand scheme of things or how much the target actually deserves it can be frustrating. focusing on highlighting the good stuff out there is a good decision i think, and much better in my experience for staying motivated to make things you like, like videos! haterism has its place but the world needs its lovers, especially with so many good lgbt stories out there with much less exposure. also i just found your channel through the hbomb video! genuinely really funny i clicked to check you out because he linked your yaoi video (i havent watched your vids other than this one yet lol but im always interested in seeing accessible analysis of international lgbt media in a nuanced way, as someone lgbt who reads and watches a lot of bl/gl novels, manga/manhwa, j-dramas, t-dramas, anime, etc & beyond) AND THEN!!! i saw on your twitter you were also a tokusatsu fan! which is crazy but awesome because ive always been equally scared of finding and desperately wanting a youtuber who talks about toku stuff from an lgbt perspective - or vice versa, lgbt stuff from a toku perspective, kinda? there's just a lot people could get into, and i know that's not what your videos have been about, but its a good sign in my mind to see someone approach genres that come from non-american cultures with an open mind to see what people love about them and their positive points during analysis, instead of it being a "weird foreign thing we dont get and shouldnt interrogate further." also there's just something so special about a guy in a suit. explosions in a quarry. actors shaking puppets around as if theyre moving for real. im looking forward to watching through your channel and seeing it grow! if i had to give any feedback from the viewer side, i think itd be good to slow down during your voiceover a bit, to make it easier to hear/follow along. the fast pace is good for adding a frantic/excited/angry energy, but its good to make the lows lower so the highers are higher, if that makes sense. i have that problem too when i record things/read out loud, it can be hard to keep track of lol. keep up the good work!! gotchard has been crazy good these weeks.
This took ~72 hours to finish. For those who are mad at this or upset. I’m sorry, but I must express this bc if I don’t I just felt it would eat me alive and i’d never be able to move on w my channel.
i'd be surprised if people got upset at you for this, i think it's really interesting seeing someone reconsider their past thoughts on a piece of media. i have no interest in boyfriends whatsoever myself but this video opened me up to it a bit, it's nice to see someone talk about positive elements of a series that is usually completely dogged on. i'm really glad you made this video, it's good you have it off your chest and again i just think it's really great to see someone examine their past thoughts on a series and considering whether there were other elements that were causing you to have a lower opinion of it (comparing your anglo perspective to the author's indonesian perspective, that there was a potential that you were taking things out on a queer creator instead of queerphobes) and voicing your new view on the subject. it makes me want to consider my own views on media i dislike and think through my opinions and why i hold them, seriously props dude
I honestly thought this was a great video. People's opinions change all the time, and I'm so glad to hear you're doing so much better now. My opinion on the Boyfriends webtoon as a gay man: I honestly think that it's a bit cringe and does have some stereotypes. However, every media contains stereotypes, especially stuff made by beginners and hobbyists. I don't think their stereotypes were ever meant to be harmful, but rather to give the characters more charm or features to help readers remember them. I don't think fans should be judged based on what media they are seeing, but rather the way they consume it. As long as people aren't using the media to hurt others, I'm fine with it. I do think there are better media for representation of queer relationships and struggles though, but, hey, if someone likes the Boyfriends webtoon, then that's alright too. Just wanted to get my opinions out there. Great video, I'm excited to see more content from you!
Thank you for this comment. As a fellow gay man I always love hearing my brothers’ opinions on it too. Yeah it’s a comic, who cares? I got better things I want to talk about on my channel
I'm here to listen about your character arc. I give this a good thumbs up 👍😎 Nonetheless, I still hold some sort of grudge for anyone who once put dirt on this harmless story that I have stressed about explaining to senseless haters. I care about ASEAN queers as I am one and I care for ASEAN queer who creates queer artworks. Be one of the person who throws the tomato will still get the person to be covered by tomatoes. Just because you don't like what they wear is not a valid reason to start throwing tomatoes at them. You can look away
As a bi man, I get it. I do. I liked the Boyfriends webtoon, but I didnt take it seriously at all. It read like faux yaoi porn, which cool if you are into that. But I understand how you reached the conclusions you did, and if I consider the series more seriously, I'd probably be on the same page (well, more so).
I saw your harassment of him on X/twitter. You told a trans man of color, who is suffering oppression in indonesia, that his escapist fantasy, of queer people living idyllic lives, was responsible for queer deaths in the states. You've said a lot more, but that one stood out. But he doesn't live a privileged reality, he can be jailed for being trans and queer, just being himself and making this comic can be dangerous for him, and you just piled on. How is telling him he has no place in the safety of our community supposed to help queer people? IDK, man it wasn't just your video, it was the shit outside of it that was really fucked up, too. And, you profited off of that bullying...
@@cheesesandwich1560 yah, there's even screenshots going around. It's pretty messed up. I get wanting to make a correction before you face any backlash, but leaving out all the other stuff makes this feel inauthentic. There's being harsh about not liking something, which is fine, but when you're trying to hurt someone else, and you're willing to escalate your behavior, it becomes something else.
@@ThatCMonster yeah i thumbed through the actual comic and its so deeply inoffensive that it's weird to be this mad about it. i guess it just comes to show how much other gay people truly hate trans men.
@@cheesesandwich1560 Right? They'll yell community and about how they'll protect trans people all day long, but when it's time to actually protect and support trans men they'll be some of the first to rip us apart. It's hypocritical and honestly dangerous. I'd rather a person be open about their transphobia than deceitful, the covert terfs are easily the most dangerous.
This is nice but pls reconsider deleting the first video, it got so much attention bc of the hate-train so this video is likely to never get the same amount of attention. The old video is gonna get recommended to more people if u keep it up. I’ve never watched any anti-boyfriends video but still get recommended them once in a while
I understand, however I do believe taking it down would seem like cowardice and I would like it to be there as a form of reminder that it DID happen and I acknowledged it
okay but do you ship anyone in Zenkaiger? 0.0 i'm a new sentai fan am already so invested with recent series (in the midst of watching kingohger as we speak)
I read boyfriends when I was 13 and basically was the first from of LGBTQ media I read . looking back on it it really was not that great but it will always hold a place in my heart good or bad. your original video made me see how it could be hurtful to read that sort of media not saying you’re not allowed to enjoy that type of stuff or there’s nothing good in it but you really could find better representation out there like blue flags and heart stopper.
And that is where I think Boyfriends works as someone's early queer media exposure, plus being free and on Webtoons doesn't hurt, Heartstopper while fine does like to let you know that the main cast experience a fair bit of bigotry which if you're still scared and figuring things out being told "oh by the way a family member might call you horrid things" doesn't help. With Queer media at times it does read like it was therapy for the author and I love some of the stories it makes My Brother's Husband phenomenal book it's quite nice to have a very saccharine and cringy but at it's core harmless series where being gay is so normal that it is just background noise.
So I might not think boyfriends will ever be my cup of tea, but I genuinely respect your opinion I felt like everyone's critique was kind of valid because I feel like people didn't necessarily need to hate the series altogether, but I just felt like there was no story to begin with they just seemed to be stereotyped hyper sexual and it seems like they couldn't have a decent conversation or hang out without talking in appropriately to each other it was just smut and when I first heard about the comic, I actually liked it took the time to read it , I just lost my spark to it as a trans man i can speak only on behalf of goth as he is infact identied to be trans there was actually some things that I loved about goth only was that he was so caring about his friends his personality seemed chill and he genuinely had character traits I feel like golf is the only character that I did not naturally have a problem with because he was perfect in every way without the hypersexul activity all the other characters i did infact still saw problems with them but I won't go too much in depth, since this is a positive video, I just wanted to give a little bit of my perspective on one character that I did in fact, enjoy since this was a positive video on it Goth is a character i think could have actually been a lot better and I think all of them can be a lot better moving forward if the creator was stopped focusing on fan service, because that's genuinely what half of this season was to me, it wasn't just nothing, it was pure fan service and smut no story to be found i think the second character i like is prep because he complains about everything and is kind of relatable, but it's just the way how he speaks like he's missing that attitude a prep needs and it's the way he uses his words he doesn't have to talk like a baby that kind of bothered me I know the difference between being bratty and just straight up talking like a baby and I think the story would have been still amazing with just prep and Goth because both of them seem like they had some character to them something i like
I saw no point in removing that vid anyway, it’s an archive in the crucial moment of your life and the channel, wear it with, pride.😉 Take care of yourself.
Please, see this not as a betrayal, but as reconciliation. I no longer want to be the boyfriends guy, and I wish you can stick w the channel as we change directions
@@DeadRose_Matilda then why didn't you just take your nap before getting mad at him?🥲, Or better yet you can get rest first and then came back to watching the video😁
I like this a lot actually. It's nice to see how you looked back on your mistakes and decided to fix them. Boyfriends is definitely kinda mid, yes; but it does have it's audience. It never set out to be groundbreaking and is just an escapist fantasy of a trans man. However it does suck that many of the people who saw your last video on this probably will not see this video. From what I see, a lot of people really resonated with your past feelings on the topic, so I imagine it will be hard to shake off you being the "Boyfriends is harmful" guy.
As an Indonesia Queer person, when I found this webtoon for the first time, I was just too exited to know it was made by Indonesian Queer person in mainstream platform as webtoons, I don't care how cringe or mid the comic was (yes it was that hard to find representation specially own-voiced representation in mainstream platform)
I wish you the very best,and I apologize if my previous video affected you negatively
At the same time I can understand your frustation. Funny enough, there are many BLs that are translated to Indonesian, even I belive Koisenu Futari (japanese aroace show) was first translated to indonesian before English
@@ghafiraanatiazputri030 ACTUALLY?? I covered koisenu futari on my video on asexual representation and I never knew that
It is just a cute gay comic a gay trans man made with his ocs for fun , it was never meant to be deep and i don't get people's issues with it
I'm glad you made this video. I'm not the biggest fan of Boyfriends (not my cup of tea!) but I'm not gonna lie, I felt hurt watching the part in the old video where you said Boyfriends made you think that you're as bad as what homophobes said, then described a hate crime scenario, when it's likely that Boyfriends author experienced all that because he's an out trans man living in Indonesia. It felt very insensitive to me as another queer Indonesian, though a closeted one because STEM is the absolute worst place to be out as queer. Listening to coworkers being disgusted about gay people in Cocomelon so they stopped letting their kids watch the channel, ALL politicians drumming up anti-LGBT narrative to gain votes for the current election season, and reading vile homophobic tweets from Indonesians on a daily basis getting thousands of likes (including from so-called Indonesian activists). That comment really rubs me the wrong way, and nearly turned me off your channel entirely until I saw this video. Glad you acknowledged that he's an Indonesian here and apologized.
Hope I don't come off as too harsh or venting in here! I like your channel and hoping for a successful future for you, especially after the hbomb shoutout :) beside Indonesia just doesn't come up much in western leftist sphere sadly, so I get why you missed the author's background on your radar
You didn’t. If anything it’s me who has to apologize. I’m sorry for such, and I wish to be known as this video instead.
Good on you for taking a step back and re-evaluating things! You don't see people do this too often, so this is refreshing to see.
Not saying you did this or that you come from this angle, but I think that most of the hate Boyfriends received is because a lot of people just mindlessly jumped on this Hate Bandwagon for it on social media (I noticed it on Twitter a lot). Some people love to hate on things together as a group. To them, it's fun to bad-talk the thing that all their friends are bad-talking, like some bonding activity. And that's definitely what happened to Boyfriends, like it's almost been a trend to hate on it for no reason beyond "I think it's kinda cringe." It's been a very weird phenomenon to watch tbh. Again, not saying that's the reason why you made your old video, but I think that's why a lot of people watched and agreed with your old stance.
Anyways I hope that your new video here will make others also re-consider and give the comic another chance.
Thank you, and as for the band wagon comment I would say yeah?? However in my new video (not about the comic but another thing) I do reveal another factor as to WHY that comic. I hinted at it here but I elaborate more in the next video. Once again thank you for your comment.
Boyfriends is the webtoon that actually got me to think on my views of monogamy and how I'd feel about the idea of polyamory. It may not be the deep introspective webcomic that delves into the dilemmas of queerness these days, but it got me to honestly think about my own views on my sexuality, identity, and how I view relationships over a decade since I came out just by having those things in it. In the end isn't representation, even if it's shaky and cringey like this, that shows people these things the whole point of why we fight for us to be seen?
Wow, that’s actually a cool insight tbqh…
I am a queer Indonesian transman who lives here and has my entire life. Being that, I've followed the creator's work for quite a long time before boyfriend dropped and I liked a few of their older comic. I consider it better than boyfriend in all honesty so I dropped boyfriend quite early because it was just not my cup of tea (didn't know the racism and anti-semitisms though-unfortunately I didn't use twitter until later. Most Indonesians use facebook and still does, that was where I found his work)
Initially, I found you through the boyfriend video but I was quite dismissive of it in the past because from my experience a lot of "boyfriend criticism" videos tend to boil down to people thinking it's cringe and making a far bigger deal out of it than they should. Even if I did see the point of your initial video, I couldn't shake out the thought of "this is such an overblown reaction to something not worth that level of criticism" throughout watching that video. So I forget about it soon after
Then I rediscovered you through Hbomberguy's recommendation and I checked out your channel (because I'm always open to watching a fellow fudanshi and people who doesn't dimiss BL/yaoi as only something straight woman consume and create). So I watched some of your other videos (I enjoyed it) and then I saw that this was the first video uploaded as of the time of writing this. It was when I remember where I watched you first. And I'll be honest, I'm glad you changed your mind
There's a lot grief and joy with being queer. While queer people in America is culturally different from the one in Indonesia (because let's face it, different culture result in different queerness as well), I can emphatise a lot with the shitty bills, the people being outright homophobic and transphobic on the media, all the fearmongering, etc. Those are awful and horrific and I try my best to help by signal boosting and such. One of my first exposure to queer people when I was younger was watching the national news broadcast celebrating over the fact that the police caught a group of transwoman (while using a slur to referr to them) and throwing them into jail. That still burns into my mind to this day and that isn't even the worst way we've been treated. Go to a certain province and you will be caned publicly, bare naked for everyone to see. Children, woman, man, families, neighbors. Go to another and they will put you to jail. At the end of the day for me I don't think being hostile towards a gay webtoon made by an Indonesian queer transman is really going to solve anything
Sorry for any grammar error or typos. Good work on the video. I look forward to what you post next!
Thank you for your comment, glad to hear your comment. Sorry if the vid caused comfort
I actually found this channel from the newest HBomberGuy video because I was trying to find the recommended queer youtuber shown in his video and caught a glimpse of your outdated video in it but cannot find the video nor the youtuber since it's not included in the playlist. I am glad that I arrived just on time to see a better perspective video adressing Boyfriends because as someone from the same country as Rey it's so disheartening to see the LGBT internet spaces ganging up on a queer creator to this degree and I wish more queer voices outside of America could be discussed and explored in a more serious and dignified way.
And hey, hes even covering a 'shame for all lgbt's' in a positive manner. Isnt that niceeee?
Now we can pretend polyamory is rare for no reason, and monogamys pravalnce means nothing and other 'dleusional deverdreams alienating even the most progressive people on earth'
I think the best way to summed up boyfriends from what I've seen (both fron reading it personally and some of kwites vids).
Its a comfort food/authors idealistic fantasy webcomic, there's nothing really awful per say but it can still be boring and I will admit the text can be grating along with some jokes (the among us emergency meeting joke will make me wince in pain)
Best analogy I can think of is that its like a bowl of really thick frosting and go to that bowl as a means to unwind after a long day.
Theres people that like it but its not for everyone.
I will say I do respect with your decision on not taking the video down and not running fron the fact that you made it and displayed now thay your thoughts had been revised on all 3 (more so elaborating on q force and then the revision on boyfriends, with to note real quick on qforce with the boondocks bit, hit the nail on the head with it point of the show and really appreciate you poining out that comparative struggles doesn't really work in the matter of race and sexual orientation when theirs people that can be two sides of the same coin and face both struggles.)
But I won't ramble on, Great video and excited to see the sonadow one
Sry for commenting twice. Maybe unpopular opinion but I think a big part of the hate was just internalized transphobia. Firstly, *everyone* was claiming Nerd was Ray’s self insert for no other reason than him being the most feminine and cutesy shy one instead of the actual trans one that Ray himself said is inspired by him and cosplays him often. Secondly, Ray was treated exactly like a fujoshi, being accused of fetishizing gay relationships, not only by other queer people but also actual transphobes. I remember a big transphobe acc calling Ray a fujoshi that wants to be a gay man, a fetishizer, all that jazz and a bunch of trans ppl ACTUALLY RETWEETING IT. Not the only time it happened either.
Not saying most were knowingly transphobic, but a lot def have some untreated prejudice inside of them.
Not transphobia, it was 100% classic old misogyny lmao.
Going through the tweets and quotes regarding the hate for Ray made me seethe and cry. I know the joke of being an empath but it was genuinely hurtful to know and see some queer guy (afab) who lives in basically my "brother" country has piles over piles of death threats, harassment, sexual harassment been and still being sent to them online.
Our countries are already hating queers and one time mine even passed a public canning bill to any suspected gays. It's hard enough to live here
Thanks for being honest about your change of heart, the internet needs more people acknowledging when their postures change, specially when it comes to delicate subjects.
The amount of hatred Boyfriends got was always so off-putting to me, specially when it came from other queers like myself, and whenever a new wave of hate came again I got worried about the author's well-being. I never read Boyfriends because it was never my cup of tea, but from all the things I've heard about it, nothing could justify the hate... I really hope that others who rode that trend of hate grew out of it.
All in all, I think that queer media that people may consider 'cringe' or not their taste is always at risk of being dogpiled by its own community, if only for the crime of not being 'good enough'. To be honest, to this day I still resent the cancellation and dogpilling of Q-Force for that very reason.
Agreed. Thank you for your comment btw.
My honest opinion watching that video and watching this is that Boyfriends is an inoffensive webcomic that uses estereotypes from the community in an inoffensive way. It's fun and cute, and cringy? Maybe? That's on the eye of the beholder, and I don't think cringe is bad anyway, so...
Anyway, as you say, way better to focus on the actual homophobia from the actual homophobes than on the queer person making a gay comic on the internet, I think.
tbh I think most of the discourse around boyfriends could be resolved if people could understand that characters can be both stereotypical and enjoyable to watch. as much as i love kamen rider, i think oren pierre alfonzo does reveal a few of gen urobachi’s biases. this doesn’t automatically make him a BAD character or gruelling to watch, though. similar concept applies to boyfriends with a decent amount of the complaints about them being stereotypical. ie critical media consumption is dead on the internet who’s surpsied
Honestly yeah, and I learned that sometimes stereotypes can be used in media outside of negativity (esp considering boyfriends status, I overblew it). I guess sometimes its okay if the person using it is affected by such stereotypes. We may not all like it, but we can't say we have to denounce it.
@@Kameno-o Plus a lot of biases aren’t necessarily noticed, especially if someone is part of the minority they have a bias against. If someone doesn’t hire multiple sensitivity readers, they might never pick up that a character is based off of stereotypes. im gonna guess the writer of boyfriends probably isn’t trying to write terrible gay characters, but it came off that way regardless, and there’s not much you can do at that point.
What I found funny is poeple insisting on the Jews thing. It's just a common thing in Indonesia where we younger generation, creator included, often hear propaganda about how bad jews are SO WE RETALIATE by mimicking what they said and joked about it. People eventually get it that ofc jews are not bad and that became an inside joke to us Indonesian; It's a satire to mock our older generation.
Ok that I understand, however if you are not jewish you shouldn’t be making such jokes like that…
@@Kameno-oI'm not entirely religious, I don't follow the Quran but I do understand the bad rep jews get because of Israel. We're joking about our old generation senseless hatred
@@avourrito1819 in the context of ray’s post it was about pokemon go being banned by the super religious government or claiming that pokemon was satanic. While it is 100 percent true that judaism and jewish faith does NOT equal israel’s actions against palestinians, saying stuff like “pokemon is the work of jewish people” is anti semitic, and regardless that’s not the way to go.
I know you said you don't want to delete the old Boyfriends video, but I would suggest perhaps just unlisting it and providing a link to in the description of this video so people can reference it if they really want to. That way the video remains up, but also people will not be recommended a work you don't wholly stand behind any longer without the context you've provided in this one (or a direct link).
That seems fair, I also didn’t unlist it bc regardless it’s linked on this bad webtoon wiki and will lead to people finding it? Idk
Alright. I was a watcher of your popular Boyfriend video and I'll be honest. It was very upsetting. Especially seeing how much harassment Refrainbow the trans artist has received over this. Not just from the LGBTQIA+ community calling it "cis white woman slop" but also how said hate from the community calling it trash was so nuclear that it seeped into straight male groups using it to dunk on trans/gay media. So I'll be real here, your original video was not a net positive for this community and why I (a non-binary) am very uncomfortable to be even apart of this space because of the "if it's not positive media then it is worthless". This is a really awful frame of mind to have on media in but especially that for gays who, to be frank, are not perfect people. We fuck up, we have bad pasts, and not every gay needs to be a role model. It's good to see us treated like real people but in terms of the Boyfriend webcomic, it's just, nice. It's nice to have a simple, cute, fun comic to just enjoy. I don't really see this cringe you're speaking of but that's fine, what I perceived from your original video and what similar minded people have said is that because it's not complex of deep theming then it's not doing anything for gay individuals which is not true at all. I also think a web comic about a poly relationship of 4 poc gay men is actually radically original.
However despite my harsh words, I'm glad you've apologized. I always believe in second chances too (as most of you should). I'll be honest, I was actually a little worried about you being recommended on hbomb playlist because I knew of that original Boyfriend video and wasn't sure if you were still pitching those ideas out into the space still. I'm happy to have found that you've had growth and understood your own short comings. I'll be watching your other work as well. 😌
Oh yeah, tbh I kinda upset that my og vid was in the montage, but was relieved that my other vids (which i’ve been pushing for more views) got the spotlight in the playlist. But also I loved your analysis in this comment. You’re right, I did overblow it, but this time I won’t. For now let’s just let the boyfriends webtoon chill.
@@Kameno-othank you and let’s be real amongst ourselves here for a second, it takes a strong principal of character to admit you were wrong or took things too far. I want more gay creators in the space to love our own media and not be wildly critical on if our own media lives up to even higher standards than the heterosexual equivalent. That really shouldn’t matter.
I’ll be looking forward on more of your essays cause tbh I actually love anime / manga content and I want more gay creators in that space too! 🥰
This video is so nice to see, because sincerely this whole Boyfriends debacle was so overblown.
I remember people on twitter talking about how the creator made nsfw bts fanart when he was a minor? Like are people really pulling out things that kids do to use against them in the future?
I think what made me be completely against all this hate was how people were just misgendering the author of the comic, I didn't even read the comic, but this was enough to make me be at the authors side. That's just the same rhetoric terfs use to say that trans men that are MLM are all just straight girls fetishing gays.
Agreed. The one thing I despised was misgendering ray. His identity is not based on what comic he makes. Ray is ray and being transphobic and racist does nothing
@@Kameno-o I am happy you are acknowledging it and I hope that Ray finds out about this video somehow. He didn't deserve all the hate he got and maybe hearing that one of the people who hated on him before is apologising would make things feel a little better.
Boyfriends is the junk food of stories. Not good for you and if you just consume that sort of media it won't do you any benefit but every now and then it doesn't hurt.
I enjoyed Boyfriends because it was one of the few LGBTQ+ big media pieces where being queer was just fine. NO hatred, no traumatic past tied to just being queer, No big "oh shit I am a gay person and how do I deal with this", also no real plot or semblance of characters but it's working I guess.
I own a lot of queer media and a lot of it deals with the real-life issues of being LGBTQ+. But I also live that life and sometimes I just want comfy happy silly plots to just take my mind off of the 7 world-shaping/historical tragedies which have just happened. I could read/watch and enjoy a fine 3-course meal of queer media but some nights I want take away pizza which is how I view series like Boyfriends and My Weird Roommate it's never the best thing you've had but sometimes it just hit's the spot.
And I had pizza today, you put it perfectly witg the junk food analogy.
I bought me and my boyfriend the makeship plushies back in June of 2022 (I got the prep one and he got the goth one) and when I posted a video about it on tiktok when it arrived in September I got legit death threats, over a fucking plushie. I mainly got the plushies because my boyfriend really wanted one and because some of the proceeds were going to charity, but after the video received so much backlash, I deleted the video and hid him away in my closet.
Oh…
@@Kameno-o I’m not saying this was your fault! There was already a bunch of discourse and misinformation surrounding the creator being spread at that time and anything that seemed remotely positive towards refrainbow was harshly criticized
It's nice to see this video. I never finished the original because it was legitimately triggering so I'm glad I don't have to associate it with your videos and I can yeet those feelings into the mental vault forever.
Also as a non-American and frequent VPN user I noticed some of the "cringe masquerading as criticism" for the comic was how invasive and annoying the ads are. Aside from refrainbow having zero control of how it was advertised, ads are nowhere near that aggressive outside of the US. I've only been shown webtoon ads a grand total of thrice in my life and twice was VPN-ing to the US
Hey, i’m sorry my original video upset you, I hope this can compensate for such. Thank you for your comment.
I asked on the unlisted video and I will ask here: What steps are you taking to repair the damage caused by your original video?
You were one of several people who made their bread and butter badmouthing the Boyfriends' creator and their work, and your video had, by the time of unlisting it, over 600K views: think about that as if it were people on a street. The size of a city. Imagine if only 1% of people who saw your video truly internalized the whole "this comic is HARMFUL" and took to arms about it by either sending hateful tweets or, in private conversations, talking about it and thus inflaming others into doing it?
Imagine if a *whole* city of people watched (and subscribed to/supported) a video spewing hate on you and your work: how would you feel?
Now put that as part of a structured, systematic bullying campaign like the creator of Boyfriends had to [and still continues to] deal with? You may not have done it with *that* in mind, or intentionally, giving you the benefit of the doubt in that, but it was still theree.
True accountability would be that you do the adult thing and spend time making things right. Have you apologized to the creator of Boyfriends? Pursued the people who carried your opinion like a torch in hand to make them change their mind and desist their harassment? You had a bad moment, and you turned that bad moment into a source of fame for you, and a source of misery and bullying for someone else. I don't even presume to know if you monetized the original video, but if you did, you made money out of trashing someone - a fellow member of the LGBTQ community; and if you didn't, you still got fame (viewers, followers) out of it.
It's good that you changed your mind, it is the first step. I believe you are growing, and that you should have a way to make up for what you did, but I think the work ahead of you is much, much larger than you anticipate.
Thanks for this comment. Tbh i’m mot truly sure HOW I can make up for the damage.
Refrainbow blocked me on twitter but i’d be willing to email him and give a detailed apology. I’ve also been trying to make lgbtq videos to help connect the community with my channel. I’m not sure if that’ll be enough but i’d be down for more suggestions on what to do.
What...? Isn't the creator antisemitic and didn't they make a raci st post?
@@FaiaHalo Both of these are incorrect, to my knowledge after a cursory search; also, "racist" isn't a shadow word, you can type it.
The antisemitism accusation came from them doing satire of the antisemitic policies of their government; and the "racism" thing was from quoting/referencing the Free fandub, when they were 14, something they've already addressed, show sensitivity for, and does not constitute a persistent pattern of conduct.
"Antisemitic"
"Make a racist post"
Sure leaves out a lot of context and lends itself to a slanderous reading, now, doesn't it?
So, what's interesting here is you say this without bothering to research, asking in public in such a way that it perpetuates rumours. If you were sincerely curious, you ask a search engine. Doing this also forces other people to do your research for you, and falls suspiciously close to the conduct exemplified in this video: ruclips.net/video/wmVkJvieaOA/видео.html#t=2m20s&ab_channel=InnuendoStudios
Anyway, revise your own conduct and be better.
@@Kameno-o IDK if making more money off the queer community is really making amends for directly harming the queer community. Should you be in a position of power and community organization with the issues around transphobia that you have? Not that you can't one day, but it's really something you have to be self-critical of. People don't go from that level of harassment to benevolent organizers so quickly, there's a lot of internal work you have to do on yourself to make sure those attitudes and instincts around bullying other queers don't re-emerge, ESPECIALLY if you are in a position of authority or influence.
i think it's always nice to look back on your past work and re-evaluate it! i agree with your takes here pretty much, and i definitely get needing to be in a better environment in order to see things from a new perspective. college can be so rough and i also had a non-traditional way of finishing college. im glad you're somewhere you like better now and i hope it goes well for you! there's definitely a place for critiquing lgbt media because no art should ever be exempt from analysis and when things are bad, we shouldn't have to take it and be grateful JUST because its lgbt, but the way the algorithm rewards the most inflammatory stuff regardless of how important it is in the grand scheme of things or how much the target actually deserves it can be frustrating. focusing on highlighting the good stuff out there is a good decision i think, and much better in my experience for staying motivated to make things you like, like videos! haterism has its place but the world needs its lovers, especially with so many good lgbt stories out there with much less exposure.
also i just found your channel through the hbomb video! genuinely really funny i clicked to check you out because he linked your yaoi video (i havent watched your vids other than this one yet lol but im always interested in seeing accessible analysis of international lgbt media in a nuanced way, as someone lgbt who reads and watches a lot of bl/gl novels, manga/manhwa, j-dramas, t-dramas, anime, etc & beyond) AND THEN!!! i saw on your twitter you were also a tokusatsu fan! which is crazy but awesome because ive always been equally scared of finding and desperately wanting a youtuber who talks about toku stuff from an lgbt perspective - or vice versa, lgbt stuff from a toku perspective, kinda? there's just a lot people could get into, and i know that's not what your videos have been about, but its a good sign in my mind to see someone approach genres that come from non-american cultures with an open mind to see what people love about them and their positive points during analysis, instead of it being a "weird foreign thing we dont get and shouldnt interrogate further." also there's just something so special about a guy in a suit. explosions in a quarry. actors shaking puppets around as if theyre moving for real.
im looking forward to watching through your channel and seeing it grow! if i had to give any feedback from the viewer side, i think itd be good to slow down during your voiceover a bit, to make it easier to hear/follow along. the fast pace is good for adding a frantic/excited/angry energy, but its good to make the lows lower so the highers are higher, if that makes sense. i have that problem too when i record things/read out loud, it can be hard to keep track of lol. keep up the good work!! gotchard has been crazy good these weeks.
Tysm!! Also hell yeah fellow toku enjoyer! I was thinking of making a toku to bl pipeline vid and highlight bl with toku actors
Character development
Indeed development
This took ~72 hours to finish. For those who are mad at this or upset. I’m sorry, but I must express this bc if I don’t I just felt it would eat me alive and i’d never be able to move on w my channel.
i'd be surprised if people got upset at you for this, i think it's really interesting seeing someone reconsider their past thoughts on a piece of media. i have no interest in boyfriends whatsoever myself but this video opened me up to it a bit, it's nice to see someone talk about positive elements of a series that is usually completely dogged on. i'm really glad you made this video, it's good you have it off your chest and again i just think it's really great to see someone examine their past thoughts on a series and considering whether there were other elements that were causing you to have a lower opinion of it (comparing your anglo perspective to the author's indonesian perspective, that there was a potential that you were taking things out on a queer creator instead of queerphobes) and voicing your new view on the subject. it makes me want to consider my own views on media i dislike and think through my opinions and why i hold them, seriously props dude
I honestly thought this was a great video. People's opinions change all the time, and I'm so glad to hear you're doing so much better now. My opinion on the Boyfriends webtoon as a gay man: I honestly think that it's a bit cringe and does have some stereotypes. However, every media contains stereotypes, especially stuff made by beginners and hobbyists. I don't think their stereotypes were ever meant to be harmful, but rather to give the characters more charm or features to help readers remember them. I don't think fans should be judged based on what media they are seeing, but rather the way they consume it. As long as people aren't using the media to hurt others, I'm fine with it. I do think there are better media for representation of queer relationships and struggles though, but, hey, if someone likes the Boyfriends webtoon, then that's alright too. Just wanted to get my opinions out there. Great video, I'm excited to see more content from you!
Thank you for this comment. As a fellow gay man I always love hearing my brothers’ opinions on it too. Yeah it’s a comic, who cares? I got better things I want to talk about on my channel
I like your emolga profile
I'm here to listen about your character arc. I give this a good thumbs up 👍😎
Nonetheless, I still hold some sort of grudge for anyone who once put dirt on this harmless story that I have stressed about explaining to senseless haters. I care about ASEAN queers as I am one and I care for ASEAN queer who creates queer artworks.
Be one of the person who throws the tomato will still get the person to be covered by tomatoes. Just because you don't like what they wear is not a valid reason to start throwing tomatoes at them. You can look away
Thank you for your comment. I really feel bad for hurting so many ASEAN queers.
i found ur channel from the playlist in hbomberguys new video and it’s great, i love ur style and comedy,, subscribed :D
Tysm!!! Really appreciate it
As a bi man, I get it. I do. I liked the Boyfriends webtoon, but I didnt take it seriously at all. It read like faux yaoi porn, which cool if you are into that. But I understand how you reached the conclusions you did, and if I consider the series more seriously, I'd probably be on the same page (well, more so).
I’ve grown a taste for faux yaoi porn may the yaoi gods bless me more
I saw your harassment of him on X/twitter. You told a trans man of color, who is suffering oppression in indonesia, that his escapist fantasy, of queer people living idyllic lives, was responsible for queer deaths in the states. You've said a lot more, but that one stood out. But he doesn't live a privileged reality, he can be jailed for being trans and queer, just being himself and making this comic can be dangerous for him, and you just piled on. How is telling him he has no place in the safety of our community supposed to help queer people? IDK, man it wasn't just your video, it was the shit outside of it that was really fucked up, too. And, you profited off of that bullying...
wow he actually did that? i really should stop expecting any resemblance of perspective from americans tbh
@@cheesesandwich1560 yah, there's even screenshots going around. It's pretty messed up. I get wanting to make a correction before you face any backlash, but leaving out all the other stuff makes this feel inauthentic. There's being harsh about not liking something, which is fine, but when you're trying to hurt someone else, and you're willing to escalate your behavior, it becomes something else.
@@ThatCMonster yeah i thumbed through the actual comic and its so deeply inoffensive that it's weird to be this mad about it. i guess it just comes to show how much other gay people truly hate trans men.
@@cheesesandwich1560 Right? They'll yell community and about how they'll protect trans people all day long, but when it's time to actually protect and support trans men they'll be some of the first to rip us apart. It's hypocritical and honestly dangerous. I'd rather a person be open about their transphobia than deceitful, the covert terfs are easily the most dangerous.
Here from HBomberGuy, love the reflections in this video.
Thank you, I saw the video showed the older video which of course is not a reflection of me anymore.
This is nice but pls reconsider deleting the first video, it got so much attention bc of the hate-train so this video is likely to never get the same amount of attention. The old video is gonna get recommended to more people if u keep it up. I’ve never watched any anti-boyfriends video but still get recommended them once in a while
I understand, however I do believe taking it down would seem like cowardice and I would like it to be there as a form of reminder that it DID happen and I acknowledged it
okay but do you ship anyone in Zenkaiger? 0.0 i'm a new sentai fan am already so invested with recent series (in the midst of watching kingohger as we speak)
(This is such an awesome comment) when it comes to shipping zyuran and gaon are most DEFINITELY on the DL together you just KNOW it
Very off topic but I WOULD watch a video essay of Lab Rats from Kameno-o.
You see I WOULD but it’ll just be me gushing about how much I love Hal Sparks as an actor
3:23 My guy drop these titles I am extremely curious what these two pieces of media are-
Yep I gotchu!! Stop Hibari Kun and Queer Duck. I made videos about them on my channel so go check them out!!
@@Kameno-o Oh hell yeah will do- thank you very much! And I’m happy you’re in a better headspace!
I read boyfriends when I was 13 and basically was the first from of LGBTQ media I read . looking back on it it really was not that great but it will always hold a place in my heart good or bad. your original video made me see how it could be hurtful to read that sort of media not saying you’re not allowed to enjoy that type of stuff or there’s nothing good in it but you really could find better representation out there like blue flags and heart stopper.
True, but like I said I don't see it as hurtful anymore, it's just whatever
And that is where I think Boyfriends works as someone's early queer media exposure, plus being free and on Webtoons doesn't hurt, Heartstopper while fine does like to let you know that the main cast experience a fair bit of bigotry which if you're still scared and figuring things out being told "oh by the way a family member might call you horrid things" doesn't help. With Queer media at times it does read like it was therapy for the author and I love some of the stories it makes My Brother's Husband phenomenal book it's quite nice to have a very saccharine and cringy but at it's core harmless series where being gay is so normal that it is just background noise.
🐭👍*thumbs up*
So I might not think boyfriends will ever be my cup of tea, but I genuinely respect your opinion I felt like everyone's critique was kind of valid because I feel like people didn't necessarily need to hate the series altogether, but I just felt like there was no story to begin with they just seemed to be stereotyped hyper sexual and it seems like they couldn't have a decent conversation or hang out without talking in appropriately to each other it was just smut and when I first heard about the comic, I actually liked it took the time to read it , I just lost my spark to it as a trans man i can speak only on behalf of goth as he is infact identied to be trans there was actually some things that I loved about goth only was that he was so caring about his friends his personality seemed chill and he genuinely had character traits I feel like golf is the only character that I did not naturally have a problem with because he was perfect in every way without the hypersexul activity all the other characters i did infact still saw problems with them but I won't go too much in depth, since this is a positive video, I just wanted to give a little bit of my perspective on one character that I did in fact, enjoy since this was a positive video on it Goth is a character i think could have actually been a lot better and I think all of them can be a lot better moving forward if the creator was stopped focusing on fan service, because that's genuinely what half of this season was to me, it wasn't just nothing, it was pure fan service and smut no story to be found i think the second character i like is prep because he complains about everything and is kind of relatable, but it's just the way how he speaks like he's missing that attitude a prep needs and it's the way he uses his words he doesn't have to talk like a baby that kind of bothered me I know the difference between being bratty and just straight up talking like a baby and I think the story would have been still amazing with just prep and Goth because both of them seem like they had some character to them something i like
I saw no point in removing that vid anyway, it’s an archive in the crucial moment of your life and the channel, wear it with, pride.😉
Take care of yourself.
Thanks Dark Knight fan, I saw you on the comment section in that video too! Glad to see you're still around
Is it really that bad?
No, not at all (btw I love your sora pfp)
@@Kameno-o ah gotcha (thanks, are you a kh fan?)
@@DavidGonzalez-hd8em been one since 3rd grade of course!!
@@Kameno-o same here ngl
*Saw the title**
Biggest betrayal scene in anime.
Please, see this not as a betrayal, but as reconciliation. I no longer want to be the boyfriends guy, and I wish you can stick w the channel as we change directions
@@Kameno-o Not watched it yet.
But when I do, I'll try to understand you.
@@DeadRose_Matildado you understand it now😅
@@AmeliaBerdel-xv3wp Bruh, I wanna sleep, not watch a video now :Ъ
@@DeadRose_Matilda then why didn't you just take your nap before getting mad at him?🥲, Or better yet you can get rest first and then came back to watching the video😁