Fangs of Fortune with Hou Ming Hao, Chen Du Ling, and Tian Jia Rui to End as a Disappointment in Viewership and CFs
I don’t think xianxia C-drama Fangs of Fortune would have done better or worse in a different time slot. It premiered and then a week later the two-headed beast that was The Story of Pearl Girl and Love Game in Eastern Fantasy arrived to suck all the attention into their top drama actress battle. But there is and always will be enough air in the drama verse for as many dramas to succeed at the same time since it’s a streaming world so the mid-reception and gradually lowering interest in Fangs is all on the drama itself. It’s nearing the finale and the CFs have dropped to only one before the opening sequence. The biggest winner is probably female lead Chen Du Ling for actually changing perception that she can’t act and has flat charisma, but the push for second male lead Tian Jia Rui to become an It Boy didn’t happen (as far as the lack of buzz I see online). Male lead Hou Ming Hao started and ended at the same place, still needing a breakout, and Cheng Xiao as the second female lead was thankfully not as awful as she usually is and held her own. All in all, director Guo Jing Ming‘s vision here was definitely presented but didn’t appeal to the broader audience.
CDL is terrible in this drama, she can’t act to save her life
I didn’t care for her here.
Guo Jing Ming always put himself along with the top directors…
LOL.
All of them still can’t act including Chen Du Ling.
TJR no need to worry about becoming IT Boy. As long as he’s GJM golden boy, he will remain busy. No hate for him tho. His luck
And does HMH need a breakout? I thought he’s already popular enough
Never thought people think cdl can’t act, she is not the best, but I consider her a better one among young actress
She’s 31. She’s not exactly young.
Rude.
GJM really needs to reflect on his directing, this has nothing to do with the cast, this could have been a great drama if not for his short vision and big ego, he added romance but didn’t make any romance, he wanted aesthetic fighting but was barely any exciting combat art, all CGI, he wanted to show friendship but fail in that too by making it too gloomy and sad than heartwarming and happy,
NO LOVE, NO friendship, and NO Fighting,what exactly are viewers supposed to look ar, I am still watching but meh..
I thought his name was Hou Minghou, with a “g”? At first I thought maybe a typo, but now I’m starting to question myself after seeing this on multiple back to back posts…
I tried a few episodes of FoF and it just feels like another pretentious effort by Guo Jingming. The slow talking and long stares get tiring after a while, no matter how pretty the people are…
Too bad, I was looking forward to this. Still, the visuals are so gorgeous, I can just leave it playing in the background.
Koala and her self invented pinyin. Its not an error
GJM’s drama needs a liuliang actor/actress to do well since its beauty without substance. Which evidently, none of the cast is.
I don’t actually believe this “news” as this drama is really good and I see so many posts about it on international sns.
Whats there not to believe? Being popular intentionally doesn’t change the fact that its a flop in China.
To me it’s really a good drama.
1 of d best AV seen dis year.
It’s a 10/10👍👍
2/3 my way through this drama, and HMH has exceeded all expectations. Didn’t have a strong or even good impression of his previous works, but he’s perfectly cast as a jaded demon lord with a silly side, styling was great and acting on form. Rest of cast giving a good performance too (even Cheng Xiao!!). Yeah, there are flaws, like the excessive use of in-your-face BGM and slo-mo. But it’s actually very watchable.
All of the acting was good, and Cheng Xiao gave one of the best performances of any actress in a Cdrama this year! Not only did she bring life to a character that could have been one-dimensional, but she did all of her own complex stunts allowing the camera to showcase a beautiful set of wudan choreography
Liu Yu Ning’s song on the soundtrack was good 😅
I’m confused wasn’t Huo Min Hao’s breakout role Back From the Brink? Then he was in a big hit “I am Nobody” after that and he was in Dashing Youth this year and the heat index broke 10k when it was airing (meaning it was a success). Neo Hu is actually doing really well compared to the rest of the cast. I think this drama needed a traffic FL to garner more viewership.
I think he is steadily gaining fans with each drama but none of them are big hits. Hitting 10k doesn’t mean anything; you have to see the eventual broadcast views, which is decent but again, not outstanding.
Also, this drama is very male-centric and the female lead is just a sidepiece. The ML basically has many homoerotic interactions with the 2nd male lead and the antagonist. No traffic FL would want to take this. Even JJY rejected it. Chen Duling is already as good as you can get.
He had many breakouts,he doing fine that’s why he has so many big roles lining , he one the dashing actor award on Weibo this year,if we are measuring his successes he is pretty successful actor, there nothing good comes from excessive breakouts from one project like Dylan Wang for example that’s what koala are talking ab when she measure “success”.
So…how’s the drama, really? Did it end on a positive note? Overall watchable?
I watched the drama – and I can definitely say it has its merits. Yes, it’s too flashy and theatrical when it comes to the directing & filming style and cinematography – the director favors the gothic style to the detriment of the drama – but if you stick with it long enough, the story does pan out and the acting is quite good. I liked how they aged up Neo Hou (I assume with AI). I like his acting which was consistent with his role and I thought Chen Du Ling has finally proven that she’s not just a pretty face and can hold her own in the acting department. For the first time ever Cheng Xiao didn’t do her pouty face thing which is a huge turn off to me, but actually emoted (as a stern martial artist – it isn’t too much of a stretch) but she was quite serviceable in her role.
If there’s a problem with the drama – it isn’t the acting or the actors. It’s other things…
Tbh I only watched because I’m interested with the villain character Li Lun by halfway of the drama. The main team is lackluster. I can’t believe I actually failed to feel the usual “family” vibe among them especially they flat out ignoring Xu Zhen Xuan character most of the time (like bro, he contributed more than Wen Xiao but he somehow got the second child treatment?). Also, the drama kinda too focused on the bromance element that the fl seems more like a third party than as the actual partner 🤧.
I have watched the first few episodes and I had a great time. I find all the actors charismatic , the BGM and soundtrack very well done and while CGI while lurid it adds to the dramatic presentation. I find it much more entertaining than the two overhyped big dramas. I know I am in the minority but do check out the drama for yourselves. You might enjoy it.
If you stick with it for a few episodes, it does get exponentially better, I thought it was a bit meh at first, but am now loving it. Not maybe as much as some audiences (I have a bit more mileage on the clock…), but enough to make an account and defend it!
I’m still yet to catch up on the episodes from 18 onwards, tho the drama was entertaining but the storyline wasn’t solid to keep me interested throughout. I might continue it later since i don’t have time right now.
This drama is such an eye candy, especially with male cast and cameos. It’s like Hwarang, and the story is interesting and lots of comedy at first.
Cast was also on HI6, so that should mean it’s popular as that show invites only trending guests.
I bought my first iqiyi subscription just for this drama!
So overall it can’t be a flop.
Side note, Koala finally changed Minghao name to include g.
All they did was cry in every episode.
It might have flopped in China but doing well internationally is also good thing. This drama is a great drama where there’s no power palace struggles and childish spoiled princesses. It’s good because it’s a break from the normal drama. All the actors in FoF have good chemistry and that carried the drama theu.
I am about 2/3 of the way through this and really enjoying it. Chen Du Ling appears to be a “good” actress as I have really hated her in some roles eg. Till the End of the Moon, because she played a baddie so well. And now I really quite like her in this role. Hou Ming Hao played his part perfectly and the attempt for the 2ML to overtake didn’t work as HMH shines much brighter. I find Cheng Xiao a bit “meh”, she seems quite wooden. Although he isn’t mentioned by Koala, I think Yan An (Li Lun) is doing a superb job too.
It didn’t flop in China. The people who write for Koala are oddly biased.
Was FoF a big budget production? Last time I check it was not an S-level budget production, and it was never expected to do better than 7000 on iQIYI’s heat index. It had only 1 promo, and 1 MV shot for it, and iQIYI debuted it without any advanced notification. However, it has beat expectations by averaging 8100 on that platform. It also hit a high of 8734 on a network where the average is usually in the mid-7000s. In the process of getting to 8700, it set several intraday records all without the massive advertising budget that Pearl Girl and LGiEF used.
Half way through its run, iQIYI paused it for 2 consecutive nights which goes back to their original expectations for the show. Despite that, iQIYI appears to be quite happy. Plus, the international market for FoF remains incredibly hot. Even the soundtrack is performing well.
Fangs of Fortune is pretentiously slow but I watched all the episodes because of Hou Ming Hao,the costumes and special effects. Demon, dragon or hero, Hou MingHao can do it all. I am so looking forward to all his future dramas
IMHO FOF is a mastepiece drama of the year! Its an absolute hit internationally. I can see the biased and prejudiced views here which don’t reflect the reality of how well this drama is doing. In China, the water armies, haters and trolls might have succeeded in down playing the success of this gem by using fake accounts to down vote it at douban. But it still has shown through its intial predictions iqiyi. Even though its not heavily promoted like other airing dramas that came on air with it. It is still outshinning them and unlike what you said FOF is overshadowing other dramas with its super popularity. Its a super hit! So who ever went past their petty prejudices and tried it eventually fell in love with it