As more and more promotional materials come out for upcoming period C-drama Chinese Hero Zhao Zi Long (Chinese title God of War Zhao Zi Long), the more my heart sinks as this drama indeed looks like a hot mess. Of course it could always end up an unexpected delight, but it’s hard to feel optimistic anymore when leads Lin Geng Xin looks like he’s uncomfortably cosplaying a Chinese general circa a RPG game while Yoona is so out of place it’s like she wandered onto the wrong set from a period costume commercial.
This drama has a humongous budget and just sold overseas airing rights at a new record deal so it’ll likely recoup back buckets loads of dough, but being successful doesn’t equal being a good drama and I wanted to see a good drama more than a popular one. The drama is slated to hit the peak audience viewing time, with a premiere date set for August 2015 on Hunan TV. If the drama hits big then it’ll be Lin Geng Xin’s big break much like last year’s Ancient Sword Fantasy rocketed Li Yi Feng to super stardom. Check out the latest batch of drama stills and posters.
Oh my goodness, why do the posters look so cheap and kindergarten level? For an apparently high budget drama, that’s really embarrassing. Looks like a big mess, as expected. Think I’ll pass.
Seriously, WTH is going on. The costumes are all wrong for the time period. It’s like they went for flashy over substance.
Apparently, Yoona gained some weight to counter the criticism from the initial stills, but the whole production just looks so slapstick for such a high budget drama.
it s not kindergarten level, it looks more like the old poster from the 90s
Exactly! Remind me of the posters I saw when I was at VHS rental shops a decade ago.
Good golly the graphics for the posters are pathetic. I’ve seen viki volunteer cover page designers using Photoshop producing better quality posters than this.
I fact it reminds of some cheap older romance book covers. Those with the shape shifter theme type. Didn’t they find any reputable ad agency? Or they didn’t think they needed one?
I don’t know if it is just me but i find c-dramas and movies posters looks cheap in general and very bad editing..One reason that they don’t interest me at all unless it’s proven to be good..
I agree about the dramas, but the movie industry definitely tops the Asian market. The top actors and directors are world renowned, and scripts are top notched too. The dramas on the other hand can really be a hit or miss, especially in the recent years with the flashy, over the top costumes. The scripts are also usually weaker, as they need to span over 50+ episodes, so they tend to flop down the middle if not right at the outset. The last substantial and popular drama was the Legend of Zhen Huan, which was aired in 2011-2012. However, there were some promising trailers of unreleased dramas due to stupid SARFT.
Is it just me or Lin Geng Xin looks so constipated in the posters???
I’m also not feeling this drama.
The posters are so elementary. The first one looks like it was a badly made fan-poster, and the bottom one looks like a super old drama poster.
And although Yoona is gorgeous, I don’t think she suits historical garb very much.
I think even Kpop fans can edit better than these teasers. I mean for a high budget drama, they should at least hire professionals for it. Also costumes are extravagent yet don’t look appealing at all. Maybe there will be a great twist when it airs, if not this drama is just a hot mess with potential actors and actresses. Yoona doesn’t fit right into Chinese period drama, she should have chosen modern drama like Victoria is doing with Peter Ho.
I think C-dramas generally look cheaper i don’t know why too.
but most already know this drama is more like a period idol drama. even the airing period is already targeting students who are on school vacation, this tells you something.
I think the reason is China used to produce a lot of dramas that were not aimed to entertain the common public. Rather they were more serious and concentrated on portraying a version of history or interpreting an historical fiction than appealing to the general public. Then comes several RPG based dramas and Mama Yu with his flashy but trashy dramas that appealed to the general public and propelled several actors to stardom. Thank god there’s the crew behind Zhen Huan and Ruby Lin’s production company who can find the balance between the two and not make things look cheap.
I guess that the whole production budget was spent on actors’ salaries. This looks terrible.
Did i spy Godfrey Gao? Gahhh….
Both the posters and stills looks horrible but the poster is 10x worst. They make the movie it’s trying to mock a novie rather than being a serious one.
The posters are pretty crappy but although Yoona is pretty she doesn’t have the traditional Chinese goddess beauty look. She looks totally out of place. Especially the poster where everyone is giving their “badass” face and she’s sticking out like a sore thumb smiling like she’s a tourist wearing traditional costume for a tourist picture. *groan*
Er are you sure you got the right person? In the poster, Zhao Han Ying Zi and Gu Li Na Zha were the ones with slight smile on their faces. Yoona has somewhat a frown on her face, so i don’t know what you are talking about.
Perhaps you need to double check the poster and get it right first.
Erm I think the comment was talking about the 2nd last banner poster? Which I agree completely. She doesn’t pass off as a chinese classic beauty at all
Totally agree with everything you said about that poster,she looks really odd.
Although i must admit that i find her gorgeous in that picture with her on the horse in yellow outfit she looks like a painting
I love Lin Geng Xin and Godfrey Gao, but this just looks like it won’t end up well. I was excited for this drama because of Lin Geng Xin headlining, but now I think I might just pass this one. The posters and the stills are lackluster, and the costumes… Ugh, they just don’t look right at all. I’ve always wanted to see Godfrey Gao in 古装, but he looks like he’s cosplaying Sun Wu Kong. Although I like Yoona, she just doesn’t fit with the ancient Chinese beauty look.
A hot mess…whew
Sorry to say, But Yoona looks bland…LOL
Yup! Second!
I don’t know if she got confused thinking the posts were about some SNSD promotion, but I don’t get why she’s the only one not into character lol
Wow. Now I know why korean women and ancient Chinese attain don’t match. But then again that’s a horrid hair do. Maybe she’ll look better with a fringe.
I remember Chai rim and Jang nara looking out of place too. But their faired better. Chai rim mostly had head gear or up in a bun.