Links dump (so I can find them again)

[halfcactus]

Twitter finds:

Free Filipino ebooks (per the page description, they're PDFs)

when you want senpai to notice you but she's too busy with her 12 boyfriends: cute and funny oneshot manga about a guy trying to compete with senpai's 12 gacha boyfriends by sakaimii

when your gacha luck is so bad you get isekaied into the game of the chara you were pulling for preview, created and translated by sakaimii - The rest of the manga is available internationally on Bookwalker, untranslated

when you find out you're not your boyfriend's type, 6-page manga by sakaimii

The Pale Queen preview by EthanMAldridge; the full graphic novel is available here.

Synopsis:

Agatha has always dreamed of the stars. But when a chance encounter introduces her to the Lady of the Hills, Agatha is shocked to learn that a secret magical world lays hidden in the mist-shrouded land next to her village. She finds herself quickly captivated by the Lady, but is the Lady who she appears to be?

A Twitter thread about melonconsumer's first-hand experience in subbing for iQiyi. Apparently the process is MTL before being "proofread" (retranslated by Chinese-speaking human translators) who work on episodes in groups and in real time.

Embedded tweets, in case Twitter is inaccessible:

It's been almost a year since I started subbing for i/QI/YI

Some things I've learned:

— 🍉 田里的猹 (@melonconsumer) April 25, 2024

They have staff regularly watching social media. During this time, at least 2 subbers got fired for leaking drama release dates and other info

I don't know why because melon accounts on Weibo often have faster and more accurate info than us 😅

— 🍉 田里的猹 (@melonconsumer) April 25, 2024

There have been dramas that got released suddenly and we had like 1 day to sub 4 eps

There have been dramas that we worked on for a 1 week in advance, only for the release to get scrapped the day before

— 🍉 田里的猹 (@melonconsumer) April 25, 2024

So many things get edited last minute (or even after release)

The last few eps of a recent drama were mostly subbed without sound because it got edited and didn't finish getting re-dubbed until a few hours before release

— 🍉 田里的猹 (@melonconsumer) April 25, 2024

There are different levels of subbers. Higher budget dramas will obviously have a higher level sub team with stricter editors

But editors only look at a part of each ep (due to workload and time issues)

— 🍉 田里的猹 (@melonconsumer) April 25, 2024

Can't think of anything else, other than that the full-time staff work so hard it's crazy

The manager works literally every day and replies immediately even when I message her at like 3AM 😳

— 🍉 田里的猹 (@melonconsumer) April 25, 2024

Forgot to mention some things!
Multiple subbers work on 1 drama. Sometimes, there are multiple subbers for 1 ep

We have a glossary but when there are flashbacks or repeated lines, it's near impossible to have the exact same wording

— 🍉 田里的猹 (@melonconsumer) April 25, 2024

Subbers don't get to see much of the drama beforehand and everything is done real-time

Sometimes it's halfway thru the drama and we realize something is wrong 😅 (ex: CP4 where elixir had to be changed to pill)

— 🍉 田里的猹 (@melonconsumer) April 25, 2024

The translation process: transcription to Chinese → AI translation → humans proofread (have to change 95% of the content because AI sucks) → transcription and translation of onscreen text → broadcast → review and edit

— 🍉 田里的猹 (@melonconsumer) April 25, 2024

The biggest difference between official subbers and fan subbers is that fan subbers don't have set deadlines, understand fandom language/style, and can add translator notes to explain things

— 🍉 田里的猹 (@melonconsumer) April 25, 2024

Dreamwidth finds:

chillwaves: a mixtape / fanmix comm!!!!!!!!!! \o/ Both physical and digital :')

raikantopeni: Thai media comm; I'm personally a bit fascinated over the fascination over what I think of as love teams (actors being paired up in different projects again and again) and I guess the perception of Thai media outside of Asia. (I'm v. unfamiliar with Thai media myself but I remember the waves of international popularity beginning much earlier where I come from.) (Though my perception might just be skewed because I hung out with people who generally liked movies and dramas.)

Some essays on diaspora writing, curated by geraineon; relevant to my interests, but I'm a lazy reader =__= Don't want to lose the links and quotes tho.

-

Currently playing Eiyuden Chronicle, and keeping most of my real-time thoughts on Twitter because I don't have the energy to write a post. 😂

Current party favs are Garr (or Kogen–this game makes me appreciate tanks SO MUCH), Iudo (a physical attacker with high speed and high MP so I use him for healing magic), and Kuroto (stronk archer)... Mellore's stats and growth are mediocre, and magic is ANNOYINGLY next to useless at this point in the game anyway, but her rune slots are promising, so I rotate her in now and then for extra heals... Am retiring Francesca even though I enjoy her so much, because her HP / speed/ defense are abysmal and mark her for death.

PS. This game has a character named Pohl! No real connection/resemblance to the Suikoden 2 character but it made my heart jump hehe

Comments

[profiterole_reads]

Copy-pasted from something I said on raikantopeni about love teams:

In general (US shows, etc...), I choose my shows based on the plot and the queer rep, not on the actors. It's cool if there are actors I already like, but it's not my thing to watch everything by a specific actor.

Now, Thailand has a special recipe which is to keep the same two actors from one (BL/GL) romance show to another, and since a romance plot is a romance plot, I am totally following actor combos.

[halfcactus]

Yeah, I'm aware what of what actor combos are, they're a thing where I am too. That's why I said I was fascinated over the fascination over them. In my country they are known as love teams; I'm personally curious if there's any other term for them overseas, and if how prevalent this marketing shtick is everywhere else. Glad you have combos you want to follow, it must be so fun to have a sort of AU experience!

[profiterole_reads]

Yes, I got that you know what they are, I copy-pasted for my thoughts on them. I have no idea if they have an official name, either in Thai or in English.

[aigoos]

Really need to play Eiyuuden but have not felt like gaming at all LOL One of these days . . .

[halfcactus]

Waiting is the wiser option since they're still ironing a lot of bugs. XD There's gonna be a new patch in a week, and I'm thinking of waiting to see if it helps with the battle loading time (extremely long on Switch)!

[aigoos]

Oh, good to know. Long loading times for the battle would have soooo aggravated me! Hope the new patch helps!

[lessonsinescapology]

LOL! Yeah, I'm also amused and maybe a bit bewildered by the fascination with Thai media and BL dramas. It seems like international fans are constantly analyzing or see these things as exotic. Which is weird for me as a native😅

[halfcactus]

Yeah I guess BL has always been a huge draw for fandom! I can understand the fascination since Thai BL/GL occupies a pretty unique place in Asian drama land, and apparently it's much more accessible now that it's readily available on global streaming platforms.

I get what you mean about it feeling a bit weird or exotifying even though I'm not Thai myself... There's a sort of vibe that you get when you're in a very Anglo space... A tendency for international fans who are new to pieces of Asian media/culture to talk about them like they are niche interests that don't involve real people—I'm sure it's true for a lot of cross-cultural fandom experiences, it just makes me hyperaware of my own Asian-ness. XD I hope it doesn't get too weird for you!

[lessonsinescapology]

Yes, exactly! You articulated perfectly what I feel😅 It's an intense awareness of not being anglo/white like the rest. It's one reason I didn't join that comm.