My Roman BL Adventure (I Got to Meet OffGun!)

It’s not even been two years since I stumbled into BLs (particularly Thai BLs) thanks to Bad Buddy. But if you’ve been around in that time, you may have noticed that I particularly love the GMMTV pairing of Off Jumpol and Gun Atthaphan (OffGun). So when I saw that the Italian events company Jus in Bello was hosting a fan meet with OffGun (and other pairs) in Rome this past weekend, I debated for maybe thirty seconds before jumping at the chance to buy a pass.

This was the fourth GMMTV fan meet event – called JIB Dream Fanmeet – this company has hosted. (Well, the first one only had one GMMTV pair, but still.) JIB Dream 2 was EarthMix (Earth Pirapat and Mix Sahaphap) and FirstKhao (First Kanaphan and Khaotung Tanawat) in April 2024. JIB Dream 3 was PondPhuwin (Pond Naravit and Phuwin Tangsakyuen) and JimmySea (Jimmy Jitaraphol and Sea Tawinan) in August 2024.

JIB Dream 4 was held last weekend at the Hilton Rome Aiport. With five pairs, this was a full weekend event. In addition to OffGun, they hosted TayNew (Tay Tawan and New Thitipoom), ForceBook (Force Jiratchapon and Book Kasidet), BounPrem (Boun Noppanut and Prem Warut), and GreatInn (Great Sapol and Inn Sarin). Because you have to buy a pass for each pair, I only attended the OffGun sessions.

Ticket Packages

As I said, you have to buy a pass for each pairing, and there are multiple tiers, perks of which include a mix of a photo op session, an autograph session, and a Q&A session followed by a Hi-Touch. (If you’re unfamiliar with a Hi-Touch, it’s where you go down the line and the guests give you basically a high five.)

You also get some swag! All attendees get a tote bag (JIB branded, not related to the pairs), poster(s), postcards, and a keychain or pin – based on whatever pairing(s) they have passes for. 

Tickets for JIB Dream 4 went on sale in July. Prices are in Euros and do not include fees, which were about 6€ per ticket.

A pink pass gets you a seat in all of the Q&A sessions for that day and a chance for the Hi-Touch (via drawing). You also get the swag for all of the pairings from that day. In a two-day event such as this, you would need to buy one for each day.

A black pass gets you a seat in one Q&A session, plus a chance for the Hi-Touch. This will run you bout 80-100€, depending on the pair.

A silver pass gets you a seat in one Q&A session, plus the autograph session, and a chance for the Hi-Touch. This will run you about 250-300€, depending on the pair.

A gold pass gets you a seat in one Q&A session, plus the photo op session, and a chance for the Hi-Touch. This will run you about 250-300€, depending on the pair.

A platinum pass gets you a seat in one Q&A session, plus the photo op and autograph sessions, and a chance for the Hi-Touch. (For JIB Dream 4, they upgraded the Hi-Touch and everyone with a platinum pass got it.) This will run you about 380-410€, depending on the pair. This is the pass that I bought for OffGun.

A diamond pass gets you all sessions for the day, as well as all of the swag. (For JIB Dream 4, 15 diamond pass holders also won a 1-minute meet and greet with one pair, which was held during the autograph session. You get to sit at the table and actually chat with them for a bit.) This will run you about 800-1000€, depending on the number of pairs that day. In a two-day event such as this, you would need to buy one for each day.

Your seats are reserved by section, with diamond in the front row, platinum behind, and so forth.

A note: Use the full name that will be on your primary form of identification. I used my passport and got chided for not using my middle name on my pass. (In my defense, I bought the ticket before I got my passport, and my US driver’s license doesn’t have my middle name on it.) You will have to show your ID any time you enter the event proper for any of the sessions.

Schedule

I wish I had checked the schedules from the previous events before purchasing my pass. (The full schedule wasn’t release until a few weeks before the event.) I was under the impression they were split a bit more evenly, as in all of the OffGun stuff would happen, and then the TayNew sessions (or vice versa). But it really is an all-day event.

Registration opened at 8am on Saturday (for same day events). It was also open for a few hours on Friday, but as I was not staying at the event hotel, I just picked up my pass and swag on Saturday. They recommend that you get there at least two hours before your first session, just to ensure that you have time to pick up all of your passes. My photo op with OffGun was at noon, so I got there around 9:45am.

Honestly, I felt this was overkill. It took me less than five minutes to pick up my pass and then I had two hours to kill in the hotel lobby. Fiumicino Airport is a ways outside of Rome proper, and there is nothing else near the Hilton except the airport itself. So bring something to do – or go with a friend! – because I was struggling to fill the time. Which is one of the reasons I wish I had known what the schedule would be like when I bought my pass.

How it works is that everything is mixed up. So if you only have sessions for one pair, you have a lot of downtime. On Saturday the OffGun photo was first, at noon. The TayNew Q&A was at 1:10pm followed by their photo op at 2:25pm. Then OffGun had their Q&A at 3:35pm. Both autograph sessions were held in the same room at the same time, at 4:50pm.

For Sunday, there were three pairs, so everything started earlier and ran later.

If you’d like to see a grid version of the schedule, another attendee did a write-up on reddit with screenshots.

I was pleasantly surprised with how everything managed to run essentially on time. They may have been a few minutes late on some things, but for the most part, they stuck to the schedule very well.

I will say that as someone used to lines at events, I very rarely needed to wait in line. However, I did accidentally line up twice, thinking I was in line for something I needed, when it turned out people were just crowding around hoping for a catch of the guests as they went to their photo op. Lesson learned: if you see a line forming, ask what it’s for. Turns out, it may not be for anything!

The Swag

As I said, everyone gets swag for whichever pairing(s) you have passes for. The swag was basically the same for each pairing – a poster (11.5″x16.5″), three postcards (one for each and then a duo), and a keychain or pin. These come in a JIB-branded tote bag.

The Sessions

Photo op: You’re lined up according to your pass type. Diamond, then platinum, then gold. I don’t know what it was like for the previous JIB Dream events, but at this one, you were allowed to touch the guests. (Appropriately, of course.) At least, diamond and platinum holders were. Apparently gold pass holders were not. Also, I wish I’d known this in advance, but they will do poses! You just have to have a reference photo ready because you don’t get much time. It wasn’t until after I was done that it occurred to me we could have done Charlie’s Angels.

Anyone who has done a photo op at a convention knows the deal; these go by very fast. Honestly it felt like I blinked and my photo was done. And then I was shaking for 10 minutes after. Seriously, I thought I was pretty immune to celeb encounters after doing press rooms and events for more than a decade, but apparently I can still be starstruck!

A note: you are only allowed to take one bag with you into the photo area. There is a table just outside if you have extra bags, and someone inside the room will hold your bag for you while you take your photo.

The photo is 6″ x 8″, and you can pick it up from the registration area.

Q&A & Hi-Touch: As I said earlier, your seats are by section, and everyone has a reserved seat, so no need to line up early. Your pass has a number on it – that’s your seat number in your specific section. My seat number was platinum 65, which put me in the fourth row. (There are about 30 seats per row, 15 on each side of the aisle.) Before the session started, they showed trailers from the GMMTV 2025 presentation.

All of the Q&As are structured the same way: opening duet, Q&A, solo song, game, Q&A, solo song, fan video, picture with the crowd, final duet, and ending talk. They’re held in English, with an emcee, and – depending on the proficiency of the pairing – a translator.

For the songs, Off and Gun opened with “Too Cute to Handle”, then Gun sang “Love Training” from The Trainee, Off sang “My Side” from Not Me, and they closed with their new song “Available”.

Each Q&A portion was about four questions, and I’m not entirely sure where they get them. The emcee did mention that they were from the audience, so I assume at some point there was an opportunity to submit a question. (I’d recommend following the JIB social media accounts – I did this way too late and I think missed most of this information.) The way it worked was that questions were grouped by colors – pink, blue, green, and yellow. They “spun” a “wheel” (pushed a giant button and then there was a graphic of a spinning wheel on the screen), and whatever color it landed on, they picked a question from that color section.

I don’t remember all of the questions (sorry! memory of a goldfish), but I know they were asked about their upcoming series, Burnout Syndrome, and what they’re excited about with it. They were also asked which of their projects is their favorite (Off’s is Not Me, Gun’s is Theory of Love), which genre they’d like to work in, what they liked about Rome, and what jobs they wanted to have when they were younger. (Gun wanted to be a director, Off wanted to be a doctor.) At some point, Gun mentioned that he likes doing dramatic series the best because he loves to cry. (And he’s so good at it!)

The game that OffGun played involved one of them being blindfolded and holding out their hand while the other placed a random body part into their palm. The blindfolded one had to guess what body part it was. Gun immediately dragged a chair over so that he could put his knee in Off’s hand, whereas Off very carefully poked Gun’s palm with the tip of his finger, and then poor Gun had to guess which specific finger.

The fan video was a compilation of fan-submitted videos. JIB made a post on social media inviting people to send in their videos or fan projects, so I assume they put everything together into one video.

For JIB Dream 4, they had a favorite couple challenge, which fans could vote for on their social media accounts. OffGun won, so they got a giant stuffed bear and two plush hearts that said “I love you”. (Although, I think all the guests got the hearts.)

After the Q&A was the Hi-Touch, so everyone lined up (again, according to pass type) and went up on stage to high five Off and Gun. Someone went down the line and gave everyone hand sanitizer, which was good because I had left mine at my hotel and I have a habit of chewing my nails.

Autograph: Again, you’re lined up according to your pass type – diamond, then platinum, then silver. If you were a diamond pass holder who won the “meet and greet”, you went first. They got a minute to sit in front of Off and Gun (or Tay and New) and chat a bit with them.

For the rest of us, it was very much just down the line, sign and go. You do get a bit of time to say something to them (I told Gun I liked his coat!), but it isn’t much. If you brought a gift for them, you can give it to them during the signing. (If you do not have the signing, you can hand the gifts in when you pick up your pass in the morning.) However, you cannot bring your own item for them to sign – it has to be your photo (if you had one), or the poster or postcards you get in your swag bag. I had them sign my photo.

Overall Thoughts

This was absolutely worth the trip. For me, attending this event – and spending an additional three days in Rome sightseeing – cost me about the same as it would to go to San Diego Comic-Con. I can’t afford to do a lot of these, but I would absolutely consider attending another one, depending on the pairs. I made it a point to come to this one because Off and Gun are my favorites, and this was probably my best chance to meet them or see them at anything. (As they so rarely – or rather, never – come to the US.)

I do wish I’d had someone to go with, but that was primarily because I had so much time to kill between sessions. If I go again, I think I’d at least buy the other Q&As so that I don’t have as much downtime. This time, though, I wanted to go all out, since I was coming all the way from the US and OffGun are my absolutely faves, which is why I went with the platinum pass.

People were really nice, and all of the sessions had a really good atmosphere. I saw all types of people there, and I did not feel out of place despite being in my early 40s.

In short, I would absolutely do one of these again, and if you have the means and opportunity, I highly recommend it. JIB Dream 5 will be held this August, for anyone interested!

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

Twitter

Help support independent journalism. Subscribe to our Patreon.

Copyright © The Geekiary