waxwing

A papercraft commission of the client’s Untamed OC, Jin Mei! I initially planned to have her robes be more of a yellow color, but then I decided NO, full-on gold or BUST! Who’s to say that the wealthiest sect wasn’t straight-up wearing a million pounds of metal at all times?

First of all, I’m not very happy with the manhua to drama transition they made in the drama bc it reminds me the status of Chang Ge Xing manhua. If you don’t know why Chang Ge Xing manhua is indefinite hiatus, it’s actually bc Xia Da(manhua artist) can’t get the rights to continue the story bc her previous company that help her publish her work is claiming the rights. As in Chang Ge Xing is no longer belong to her, the company stole owns it. So I don’t even know if Xia Da get anything from this drama adaptation? :’(

The actress for Li Changge, Dilreba is nailing the look! I don’t really have any complaint about her acting. She’s perfect! And the fact that she has Uyghur blood in her like Changge is a nice addition. She also have a mole under her eyes as if Xia Da’s model for Changge is her!

As for Ashina Sun, he’s now Ashile Sun in the drama. He’s very different from the Sun we all knew from the manhua so I understand people might not appreciate the actor. I’m also having a hard time bc I have this fixed image of Sun in my head. The Sun that I knew was introduced like a villain. He was intimidating and competitive! He’s a strong warrior but never a strategist. A little dumb and oblivious but that’s his charms. Then the drama gave us an exact opposite of him which is your typical stoic and smart leading man. Leo Wu is also very young and gentle looking compare to the manhua Sun. He’s a good actor but I think the role don’t suit him? Yes, the clothes look nice to him but the character don’t match with his looks? Sometimes he look so stiff walking as if he’s trying so hard to leave an impression that he’s a strong manly guy? I wish he walk naturally. But at least drama Sun and manhua Sun have the same conflict with the Khan? The Khan is still suspicious of him and his soldiers felt bad about that.

I love the cast clothes and set. It really looks like they have enough budget. They even copied most of the designs from Xia Da’s work for Changge and Sun. So that’s my main reason why I continue to watch this.

Sadly, I’m not a fan of the video editing style and few camera shots. Maybe bc I prefer simple video editing? Yes, I love the opening and ending credits but sometimes there are camera shots that look so out of place. Like why they shot it like that? As if they are experimenting? Same with the transitions they used. The music is also handled badly. Like they keep adding an intense music even tho nothing happened that much?? Sometimes you can see good cinematography tho, but not all the time.

The drama has 5 main characters. It don’t only focuses on Sun and Changge. I appreciate the addition but if you’re a manhua fan, you’ll definitely have a hard time bc you watch it for Sun x Changge ship and the drama keep giving you new characters. I actually like Changge’s cousin (the timid princess). Tbh I ship the drama Changge with her cousin more than Sun. It reminds me of Medea and Psyche relationship from Your Throne webtoon. Well, at least they retained Changge’s strong lesbian energy lol Bc in the manhua, so many girls are infatuated with Changge when she’s in man attire! xDDD She’s a very handsome girl! 

In the drama, they made Changge and Sun meet sooner. Sun infiltrated Changge’s kingdom for the Khan to fish information so he encountered Changge so many times before their encounter outside the gate. It make sense tho. Bc in  the manhua, it really took many chapters before Sun was introduced even tho he’s the leading man lol Their first encounter in the manhua is outside the gate when Changge surrendered to Sun and she became his strategist. So we will never see Sun refer Changge as his sworn brother bc he already know she’s a woman in the drama. You know how it goes in drama, they want the two leads to meet faster bc viewers might find it boring. I don’t understand the ancient soccer tho to show that Ashile tribe and Tang have kinda good relationship at first? What is this legend of korra? It gives me Korra and Mako vibe. 

The drama made Li Shimin (Changge’s uncle) and her mother more sympathetic? That the uncle don’t really want to kill Changge and her mother actually love her. In the manhua, Changge don’t really have a good relationship with them. Again, it make sense somehow for the sake of making the show dramatic. Manhua Changge is a little cold in the beginning and she just want to take revenge bc of her ego? She only start to sympathize after she experienced the life outside such as being connected to other people. Is it me or Cdrama love making morally grey characters into something sympathetic? 

Mu Jin didn’t appeared much yet. But as far as I can see, he became your typical talkative side kick of main character. In the manhua, he is the smarter one. Sun is the dumber one. I love seeing him together with Sun at least. I have a bad feeling tho that the drama will make Mu Jin x Mimiguli a thing??? I saw it in the ending credits! I hope I’m wrong! I’m not really fond of drama adaption when they paired a an independent character to someone like what happened to Jiang Cheng and Wen Qing in The Untamed?? I prefer canon ship from original material. 

Ah Dou, the child who call Changge his master is very cute tho! He’s very bratty in the manhua but in the drama he’s too precious! I want to protect him!