Xiang Liu and You (Yes, You)

 Kokuto:

I was about to say the same.  I mean, Koala's commentary while translating was pretty much a XL appreciation festival.

Okay.  He's definitely pretty.  But it's weird that so much praise of his Jing involves tearing down XL as a character.  It's like, if Jing is so great a character, then talk about why, instead of making denigrating, if not false, comparisons to XL.

I used to find him sort of pretty, but I think he had some work done and it was definitely not needed. It made his face look weird. It was super distracting for me in LYF, especially when he smiles. He wasn’t like that in Miss the Dragon. He’s 28. Why even do this? It’s madness.

Agreed, in order to praise the “good guy”, they have to compare him with Xiang Liu. A good guy is a good guy, he doesn’t need to be put side by side to the one they call an “abuser” to make the good guy shine. So ridiculous.

 Kokuto:

But it's weird that so much praise of his Jing involves tearing down XL as a character.  It's like, if Jing is so great a character, then talk about why, instead of making denigrating, if not false, comparisons to XL.

It's not that weird, it's just pathetic. Their strawmen claims don't have a single leg to stand on otherwise if they don't deflect by tearing down XL and maligning him as an abuser, or dismissing him as a simplistic tropey bad boy or red flag. None of them have passed a high school debate class, obviously, their arguments are merely transparent deflections because they have nothing substantive to back up any of their hyperbolic nonsense.

What baffles me is how finding Deng Wei attractive always seems to equate twisting one's common sense and judgment into pretzel shapes to try and convince others that he's a good actor REALLY! and the role of TSJ is SO HARD. No, on both counts. He's cute, I guess, but people need to learn how to separate their hormones from their brain cells, or maybe it's a case of too much of the former and not enough of the latter.

 atmospheres:

His character might be endgame but his acting leaves a lot to be desired, Chinese netizens and audiences are not impressed. The height of the criticism was his acting in the Xiaoyao assassination scene (I didn't think that was his worst scene he's had worse, but by then Chinese viewers were fed up and at peak critical of him). The fact that he's the only one of the main cast in the show who can't dub himself says a lot. So much of acting is about your voice and the way you use it to deliver lines, the inflections and nuances. It's not uncommon for actors to be dubbed by VAs but it's one thing if the entire production is dubbed by VAs, whereas here it's just him. International cdrama viewers have always been really lenient about that compared to Chinese viewers and I guess it's the language barrier, but it's a problem and a major flaw if an actor's own voice cannot be used.

Koala's biases are pretty obvious, but that post really made me think where LYF is concerned, her judgment cannot be trusted.

I just read that Koala post again, and it's kind of weird, cause she's talking about how much harder it is to play the good guy, but how she's loving him playing the bad boy???  Okaaay.

Chinese netizens are pretty harsh.  I mean, early on, they hounded poor Deng Wei so much about dropping a cigarette butt, that he issued a public apology.  And don't get me started on the fan wars.   O_O   

That said, I agree, he was probably the weakest of the main actors, IMO.  I really didn't have an emotional connection to him at all.  But plenty of actors in C drama (and Hollywood) can get by on their looks alone.  It's just not my personal preference.

I did wonder why he was literally the only one who didn't use his own voice.  I mean, even the very supporting characters like Miao Pu's actor and the KIDS used their own voices, and posted their post production dubbing pics.

 atmospheres:

It's not that weird, it's just pathetic. Their strawmen claims don't have a single leg to stand on otherwise if they don't deflect by tearing down XL and maligning him as an abuser, or dismissing him as a simplistic tropey bad boy or red flag. None of them have passed a high school debate class, obviously, their arguments are merely transparent deflections because they have nothing substantive to back up any of their hyperbolic nonsense.

Absolutely savage. I agree 100%

 atmospheres:

What baffles me is how finding Deng Wei attractive always seems to equate twisting one's common sense and judgment into pretzel shapes to try and convince others that he's a good actor REALLY! and the role of TSJ is SO HARD. No, on both counts. He's cute, I guess, but people need to learn how to separate their hormones from their brain cells, or maybe it's a case of too much of the former and not enough of the latter.

It's like some of them have rose-tinted glasses on. They're letting his subpar acting skills slide since he's handsome  (¬､¬) The character of TSJ reminds me of the typical nice guy second male lead. It's not that hard to get into that role compared to what TJC has to act like as XL.

 atmospheres:

I understand how international or western cdrama fans might have found that harsh, but in that particular instance, in China throwing your cigarette butts on the ground is a big no no (the same too in Korea). It can get you a citation and a fine and is technically breaking the law, not only is it creating public waste but it's dangerous, there have been fires due to cigarette butts that weren't fully extinguished being tossed around on the ground and igniting other things. If you choose to be a public nuisance and smoke in public areas (which ofc, he's not the only one a lot of people in China smoke), then at least abide by laws and dispose of your cigarette waste properly and safely.

With that said, everyone makes mistakes and I'm sure he won't do it again after he was caught that time.

I had no idea.  I know back when there were a lot of wooden buildings in Japan, it was considered a fire hazard, but I didn't realize they had laws against it in China and Korea.  In the US, it's the actual smoking, especially in public, that has fallen out of favor, though people still do it and it isn't against the law.

No, I don't think he'll be doing that again, ever.  ;p

 nathsketch:

I was thinking of start reading her translation but I don’t think she can be trusted now.

 atmospheres:

Koala's biases are pretty obvious, but that post really made me think where LYF is concerned, her judgment cannot be trusted.

Now I wish there was an official English translation of the book that we can buy. Without biases.

 liddi:

Rewatched some leaked BTSes / scenes of Winner is King last night... do you have any idea whether there is any hope at all it would be broadcast, knowing the tightened government ruling and the recent clampdown in the industry? If I read correctly, TJC auditioned 6 times before he finally got the role of Gu Yun, and he went all out for the role, and was crying on the last day of shooting, which showed just how much it meant to him. 

I have pretty much no hope. The soft ban was turned into a hard ban end of September, one of the senior Tencent VPs stated during a Tencent press conference that this is an industry-wide ban on all BL-derived shows and none of them would be airing and no more would be made. Furthermore, it's not based on whether the show itself has edited out all BL elements, if it is based on BL source material it cannot be aired.

I am disappointed too, he lost 15kg in preparation for the role and really suffered for it.

Meanwhile, he's going to film another Tong Hua project with another very young actress -- his FLs are getting progressively younger and younger, what next an 18 year old? At least Li Landi is a pretty decent actress unlike Zhou Ye and Zhang Jingyi (IMO, I know they have their fans around here) and she's not dogged by scandal and controversy like Wang Churan. Jury's out on his FL in Go East Zhou Yiran, I haven't seen enough of her to decide. To be frank, I'm not excited about most of his upcoming projects other than Go East and UTS2, although I know he'll personally be great in them. He deserves better material, like I get that he wants to establish himself as a viable and bankable romantic 1ML, but I wish the casting was better for his upcoming romance-centric projects (I mean, what else is new though, other than LYF, he's never had great chemistry with any of the love interests he's had in his previous shows because they either sucked at acting or they had to act like they found his character unappealing).