Dinosaur Love (2023)

some things are best left buried in time

the only good thing about this show was chalarm and his comedic moments.

the plot was below average at best, definitely not part of the BL shift going on. the casting left a lot to be desired, and those cast in the leading roles barely had chemistry.

with all the good BLs airing right now, you can genuinely do fine never watching this series.

I do think there’s quite a few in the supporting cast that are genuinely good actors, or at least show real potential, but as for the main pairing… I just hope they can get a better support system or guidance. maybe they needed to workshop more, they looked uncomfortable at times and I had to talk myself into continuing the show in hopes it got better. needless to say, it didn’t.

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No. Just no.

I should have know this was going to be a disaster after seeing the trailer and the intro episode. I honestly don’t really like anything about this show. Not the plot (it wasn't really interesting), not the execution, not the acting, not the OST… it was all very bland and mediocre. The cinematography isn’t the worst I have seen, but the lighting and certain shots are done very strangely. The comedic sounds were horrible and didn’t really blend in.

Dino & Rak: Dino looks too old to be in university and most of his “seniors” look like they are ten years younger than him. As a character, he was very straightforward but also in a slightly creepy way. I didn’t like how pushy he was at times, but also super closed off and not ready to share anything with Rak. Rak is… well Rak. There is nothing about him that stands out, he is soft and innocent. And that is his whole personality. There was some chemistry between the two actors, but it didn’t translate well most of the time. I knew Pepper (Dino) from before and I must admit I didn’t really enjoy his acting in this series. As for Kong (Rak), it felt like he had one, maybe two, expressions throughout the series. His crying was not believable, and the adorable-yet-dumb look that he wore the rest of the time was annoying.

I really wanted to give this series a chance, hoping I would at least like some of the side characters. I know that there are three more couples in the Buddy Line Y Animal storyline, so I thought at least one of them might interest me to watch its future series. Yeah, this was my one and only try at it because the rest of the characters were very meh as well.

I honestly ended up skipping a lot of the scenes, mostly because it got boring and kind of repetitive very quickly. I don’t fully understand what they were trying to do by dragging this series out into 10 parts when the storyline could be done in a much better-rounded way in less episodes. It would probably be less boring too.

I dropped this on ep 7, mostly because I couldn’t force myself to watch any more of it. Even with skipping big chunks of it. It just wasn’t an enjoyable watch.

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Not wow in a good way

the inconsistency of story is unbelievable. it’s very chaotic for no apparent reason. it kept coming up on my fyp IG so I thought i would try. i think maaaaaybe the actors could do better if the writing wasn’t so bad. I hope they get another chance to try. I just feel like it was a rush story that they threw everything in that they could and then didn’t reread the whole thing and just made it. so weird. it was weird things like one actor cooking and burning an egg and then the other one coming to help but like the burned egg and destroyed pan not being moved or washed and then all of a sudden he’s cooking a perfect egg in the same pan??? or Rak asking to stay with Dino and then agreeing to it and cut scene Dino is dropping him at his house??? so what they can throw in the cheating bf being jealous?! and omg the “bff” what a little psycho?

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Not worth it.

This series is bad. The story, the acting, it's just bad. They talk about one thing and then a random subject comes to the conversation? It's really fast paced and too dramatic for me. If you like it then that's okay but I don't think I can finish this seires, I had to skip a lot of parts each episode. Somehow it was too much and a little boring , is that even possible?? I don't think this is worth the watch, I can't think of a way they could have made it better. I also can't think of any good parts to the show, maybe the first minute of the first episod???? I don't know, I just feel like I wasted a couple of hours of my life sitting and watching this.

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Erm where to start ?

What a waste 🫣 this has to be one of the worse bls ive ever seen tbh,Dino was kinder creepy verging on controlling and i felt abit sick watching the way he was literally sucking off raks face 🤢come on could've done better,saw more of his tongue than most characters 😏.
Rak was beyond naive he was just plain dumb i was kinda at a loss as to what guys saw in him he was just not all there at all what the hells he doing in uni he barely has the sense to be out of middle school,wow 😕 just wow.
His ex cant remember his name or be bothered to look it up but could u be any more in denial blaming everyone for his loser streak but himself plus ewww with the rapist vibe dick no means no about its ok to try rape rak coz he aint slept with dino,the omelette guy hmmmm no comment.
That creepy weird guy Tart wtf 😳.
Everything was just one big mess to me some didn't even make sense 🤔all in all i thought it was rubbish 😕 weren't really disappointed as never really expected much anyway weren't a bl i planned to watch it was just there as i was flicking through.
Wont watch again ever,good luck to all actors hope they manage to find better and more convincing projects.

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PROMISING NEW BL COUPLE THAT NEEDS WORKSHOPS FOR ACTING; WEAK STORY AND ACTING

From the first episode I already knew that this series would suck, not because of the casting but mainly because of lack of acting experience and also the story line is so weak.
Pepper and Kong is obviously great together, I'm not gonna lie about their chemistry, at one point i had this feeling that they really are a couple (BF). The bed scenes made a concrete manifestation of their chemistry and it's the only thing that's interesting. Not being a pervert but romantic scenes is BL shows are also a crucial thing in determining the story line.
From the title itself 'Dinosaur Love", in all episodes Dino is showing how much he cares and love Rak and i like that they are true in the title of the series. We can all agree that the main problem on this series is the acting, setting and PLOT although I've said earlier that they area being true to the title but that's not enough to convince and engage people in all the characters.
I REALLY HOPE THAT PEPPER AND KONG WILL GROW IN ALL THE SERIES THAT THEY WILL BE IN AND LEARN THINGS FROM IT SO THEY CAN USE IT IN THEIR FUTURE SHOWS.
I REALLY LOVE THIS TWO COUPLE TOGETHER AND I REALLY DO BELIEVE THAT IF THEY ARE BEING TRAINED WELL, THEY COULD BE THE ACTOR THAT THEY ARE MEANT.
I AM LOOKING FORWARD IN MANY PROJECTS FOR PEPPER AND KONG IN THE FUTURE!

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This is a frustrating mess of chaos.

I really wanted to love this. When i first saw it the thing that had me interested was that there was a confession in ep1. After the confession the thing that i loved was that there was no drama around liking a guy. Both ML are confident and comfortable liking guys. No drama there.
I liked the fact that Rak stood up for himself. He dumped his bf and never went back. He cut of his friend. He told Dino he was taken and that he shouldnt flirt with him. He generally sticks to what he says.
(I recently rewatched some of it and i realized that while a lot of people say that Rak is annoying because of his innocent child like behavior i noticed thats not really his character. Rak is not a naive innocent ML. He is not a virgin who doesnt know how sex works or relationships. His character is supposed to resemble a rabbit. Cute and kind but hes not supposed to be child like.
Something i liked was that when Dino tries to go further in their relationship Rak says hes not ready and Dino doesnt throw a tantrum about it. He respects Raks decision to say no. However when Rak is ready for sex he is the one to initiate sex. He undresses Dino showing he wanted sex and was ready. Rak is even comfortable with admitting that he wanted Dino earlier as well. He isnt supposed to be child like. Hes supposed to look cute and weak but he isnt naive. The actor just didnt know how to show any other emotion.)
I really dont see Dino as toxic. He was falls in love at first sight, acts heartbroken when its said that his crush is taken but he doesnt cross any lines. He doesnt try to force Rak to dump his bf or try to convince him to cheat or that hes a better choice. He just goes and drinks and moans to his friends. Later he doesnt try to force Rak to kiss him or get him drunk and try to sleep with him. I was inpressed when Rak during a moment of vulnerability tells Dino he'd date him after almost getting raped by his loser ex. Dino turned him down coz he knew that Rak wasn't ready. He could have taken advantage and didn’t.
Dino is also very jealous and possessive but he never takes out his anger on Rak. Whenever he is jealous he always talks to Rak.
Rak is also very honest with Dino. He doesnt hide it when someone flirts with him or bothers him. He doesnt lie to him so that they can create drama around this guy bothering him. They show how communication in a relationship should work because Dino always believes Rak.
I honestly believe that this show handles jealousy and possessiveness in relationships in a good way. You have a ML who is jealous and possessive but never to the point that it creates drama in the relationship. You have both leads talking through their issues and again when Rak is being flirted with he is very direct about not wanting this guy around him and telling him that he is taken and this guy needs to leave him alone and respect his relationship.
And thats all the good things i have to say about the show because what is the rest of the plot? I have so many questions that are just never answered ... like why didnt Rak attend university with Dino from the start? Its phrased as this big secret and we never find out why.
What happened to Raks friend? His mental health was really bad, he needed help and we never see him deal with it. Dude had issues but its never really addressed.
In fact that whole thing about his best friend sleeping with his boyfriend was cut way too short and its shown as completely illogical. I feel like theres huge chunks of the story that we never saw. His friend seemed to think that Rak would forgive him. Why? What was the point of sleeping with Meek (?) And how long were they all friends? What exactly happened there? I actually went back to see if i missed an episode or something because it made so little sense.
What about Raks parents? Does he have siblings? Hobbies? Friends? We find out very little about him as a person.
Exactly what is Dino up to on campus? Is he part of a gang? Or mafia? Or is he just a thug?
Whose bar did they go to and why was it bad?
The general plot makes no sense and many times i feel like theres chunks of the story thay was cut out but i will rewatch only because i actually did enjoy the ML screen time. I found their relationship to be wholesome but everything else makes no sense.

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too many sound effects, not enough plot

Overall: thought this was a romcom but episode 3 took quite a turn. I also really disliked the "comedy" sound effects. 8 episodes about 40 minutes each. Aired cut on UltimateTroop Official YouTube channel and uncut on iQIYI (eps 9 and 10 for premium members). Ultimate Troop also produced "Remember Me" and "The Yearbook".

Content Warnings: sexual assault/attempted rape (episode 3 part 2), self harm/attempted suicide (episode 3 part 2), manhandling, mental health struggles, beaten up, violence/punches, bullying, stalking

What I Liked
- Dino's singing and guitar playing sounded realistic
- awesome dance moves
- how the friend pointed out the difficulty of finding someone on a large campus
- happy Rak did something in episode 2 and did stand up for himself
- Mean's cameo in episode 2 with the angelic music was funny
- that they mentioned their series "The Yearbook"
- the idea of filling that jar to give Rak some time to recover (though this idea didn't work out)
- at least there weren't dead fish lip presses*
- Chalam and his eggs/pet snake

Room For Improvement
- that there were no consequences for the absolute despicable thing Mek did in episode 3
- the "comedy" sound effects actually make me NOT laugh, not a fan of toilet humor/conversations
- some scenes dragged on for too long like the scene in episode 3 part 2 and the terrible attempt at a redemption arc with Mek's sister
- strongly disagreed with Mek's sister saying an apology can fix everything, an apology can most definitely NOT fix everything and Mek is now beyond redeemable after episode 3
- Rak went from out of the frying pan and into the fire because Dino did not understand boundaries, "don't take too long to open your heart because I won't wait" and after Rak says for him not to touch him he....touches him...
- it's odd how the show depicted the stalker as bad but Dino did the exact same things (ignored boundaries, aggressive pursuit, extremely possessive)
- *in episode 8 the loud slurping noises not in sync with the movements was bad, plus I like some tongue but it was just too much tongue and licking
- Rak was reluctant even in the last two episodes, wish they had shown him with more agency/initiating physical stuff
- effeminate guy stereotype as hypersexualized
- at times the music was mismatched, there was a more serious scene and it had lighthearted music (hospital scene was a good example of this)
- ep 1 voice over exposition dump
- nonsense things: Rak's friends let him leave the club with some rando, say it's loud at the football field but it's quiet, lights on when sleeping, why did Rak stop running when there was an open doorway there in episode 3, etc.
- last 2 episodes were almost all filler and felt very unnecessary (and a new toxic character "you can't tell me to stop" bleh)

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Why were the best episodes behind another pay wall?

The two final episodes were the best in terms of acting, story and consistent editing and yet you needed VIP Premium to watch them whereas the rest of the series you only needed VIP Standard on IQIYI.

The final episodes had more story than the first 8 put together. The acting was closer to what I’d expect from a series and there was less of the comedy sounds added over - apart from the scene with Ai. The use of music there really confused me and gave me a slight headache.

Pepper’s acting shined in the final story where he got to express a full range of emotions. I hope he gets to act in more shows that will be able to platform his talent.

I understand that the production needs to make money but why would you hide your best content behind an additional paywall and let the mediocre content be what the masses are consuming?

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Todo mal...

Simplemente decepcionante, esperaba más de este drama.
Empezamos mal desde que tomaron la decisión de usar esos efectos de sonido, mala música, mala edición, tomas repetidas, no hay una trama interesante, escenas y diálogos demasiado largos y sin sentido y ni hablar de las "actuaciones" creo que es lo peor del drama, me dolía cada vez que un personaje miraba directamente a la camara, toda la "relación" entre Rak y Dino se sentía incómoda, lo único que salió bien fue las escenas de besos que no duraban más de 1 minuto y que son apenas 3 si mal no recuerdo y están en los últimos episodios!

Los personajes secundarios todos terriblemente actuados.
Y para rematar no debería llamarse drama, más bien es un comercial del jugo que sale cada 2 segundos.

Mejor pasa de largo, no te pierdes de nada, haste un favor y no veas esto!!!

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