The Journey of Legend Turns into Full Online Mockery So Production Tries to Summon Assistance with Cast Members and Advertisers Speaking Positively on Cheng Yi’s Hard Work and Professionalism
C-drama The Journey of Legend, forget becoming a hit, has actually become a true full C-netizen mockery target. This is an unifying drama insofar as its garnering solely overwhelming complaints about it. Within a week of premiere its become a meme factory and netizens are running out of space to add new criticism about it to the initial list. Male lead Cheng Yi is getting the brunt of it, and TBH the drama has major problems with the dumb script and cheap set, costumes, and special effects. It’s sad for him that the supporting male leads are outshining him in visuals and one even openly took blame for bad acting to try to stymie the criticism against Cheng Yi. His fandom’s attempts to use Xiao Zhan constantly in comparison is backfiring, and the attempt to compare this drama’s trajectory as the same to Dylan Wang‘s drama Guardians of the Dafeng, which started off with criticism but turned it around in the second half of the drama with rising viewership and reviews. This is turning into as hot a mess as Fireworks of My Heart was for Yang Yang two years ago.
Maybe if production companies stop overworking their stars,focus on post-production and writing decent scripts, the quality will improve….
God, I hate websites like this. You just push crap that destroys people’s careers just to get clicks. Eff you. Won’t be back.
💯 agree…she’s just showing her true colors (not that I wasn’t aware of her dislike for this particular actor but she’s clearly going too far this time)
That smearing campaign is disgusting and is mainly orchestrated by that same deranged fandom who only knows to act in a disgraceful and cheap manner. They’re the scourge of C-entertainment. Their idol should even be punished since he seems to enable their problematic behavior. How many artists sued their ass already? I lost count.
Not as many as ChengYi fans sued by Xiao Zhan, YangZi , Ren Jialun, Luo Yunxi, Huang Junjie.
Its total 5 artist sued ChengYi fans.
While Xiao Zhan fans nemesis who sued some of them are only Wang Yibo, ChengYi and DengWei. Only 3 artist.
3 VS 5, which more? CY fans.
As additional the ones who won case againts XZ fans only WYB even the numbers not as much as how XZ won againts WYB fans.
CY only posted they will “sue” but no impact, none of XZ fans go to court and post apology to CY, while XZ already won 3 cases againts CY fans and 3 CY big fans already posted apology.
Just because your jijie hide your fandom crimes, not mean it was not exist
You put too much importance on this website.. honestly, how much can an international site like this really affect a Chinese actor’s career? For example, take Yang Yang.. there were so many negative comments in articles about Immortal Ascension on this site, but it didn’t matter in the end. The majority of his audience is Chinese viewers, and they actually liked his acting and the drama itself. And Koala isn’t really kind to most actors anyway, except for the ones they personally like, such as Bai Lu. So just relax.. read it if you like and just pass the article you didn’t or maybe comment a little bit if you want to defend your fave..
Lol you forgot ZLS, koala love her a lot as she even post about endorsement and unconfirmed drama rumors and even write her name in articles about other actresses.
Are CCTV, satellite TV channels and newspapers in China haters too? Because they are all reporting on this drama, its problems and Cheng Yi’s bad acting and lines.
Wake up. It is embarrassing.
It must be such a disgrace if even CCTV reports it. LoL.
Yeah Koala writes these articles because its bound to attract certain people to comment on it. Like I see the same usernames in all of Cheng Yi’s articles. Which means more traffic. But honestly its starting to not work because there was once 100+ comments with Cheng Yi’s fans and haters fighting against each other. Now its just the haters and randoms with only 17 (including mine) comments. She needs a new click bait target.
Cheng Yi may be a mediocre acting, but I do feel bad that he’s bearing the brunt of the criticism. I always feel like he’s both overhyped and overhated.
Even with all the faults, I wonder why there is no explanation for why the drama looks so cheap with such a nice budget.
Is the novel better?
It has a lame script and the male lead does not have a strong screen presence. However I’ve been called a troll for not loving his unbelievable acting. Or fallen for the actor’s charms. The fans are unbelievable.
They have so much time to edit this drama properly… at least not show the scripts and wrong outfits.
To be honest…I really wanted to relax and enjoy this drama but after 3eps…I cannot watch it anymore. It is just really not a good production. Cheng Yi’s face looks puffy- too much what make up. And he does need speech training. If his next drama, which is filmed I think, fails to impress, his investors will focus their attention elsewhere.
He has a run of about 10 good years.. not bad for a actor of his skills.
Sorry Cheng Yi, this drama is not for me, I will drop it.
Critique coming from a viewer like you who used to have shown favorable opinions about CY, TJOL must be really bad!!! Nope? You might already know CY has been in my unwatchable blacklist since when. So, I didn’t even check this drama. Perhaps I should, just to see how crappy it is. LOL
Ya..I did enjoyed afew of his dramas… About 3-4 dramas. I was hoping this will be enjoyable. But no luck. I have soft spot for him but not will not sit thru dramas that disappoint me.
Whoever in charge of editing, may have to answer for some the uncut scenes. Elementary mistakes.
His makeup is so bad…his face is all white and puffy, makes his eyes look even smaller.
The pink ‘dress’…OMG. I dont understand who picks those outfits.
His acting and speech lack energy and spirit. He need speech training lessons.
I have to say, his ‘brothers’ in drama are definitely better actors than him.
I will stick to Xiao Zhan’s dramas, I enjoy afew of Dylan Wang’s dramas too (only afew), Zhang Linghe’s dramas, Zhang Xincheng’s dramas, Wang Xin Yue’s works… I am sure they are others but I only remember afew.
Yikes, I haven’t seen him onscreen but he definitely does not have male lead aura from these stills.
I liked posters a lot. And a villian has a better story to tell. The rest is cheap and looks like boys are cosplaying.
We can’t really say that it’s entirely CY’s fault. First, it’s the production team that didn’t use the budget effectively to produce a high-quality drama and instead relied mostly on marketing. Before the drama aired, the total number of reservations across platforms exceeded 10 million, and I don’t think CY’s fans alone could account for that many.
Their marketing was clearly effective in generating initial public interest.
However, once the drama aired, everything fell apart. The overall quality was disappointing, and I’m not sure what happened to Cheng Yi—his acting felt unnatural compared to his previous works. I also noticed that his agency seems to be marketing him in the wrong way, portraying him as a soft idol with smooth skin and feminine outfits to attract female fans, rather than emphasizing his strengths as a professional actor with a more masculine presence. If they had highlighted his skills and screen presence, especially in a martial arts drama, it could have better convinced the audience of his talent. Using a voice actor where appropriate would also have been fine. He’s 35; they really should stop marketing him like a teenage K-pop idol.
Looking at Weibo, I can categorize the audience into three groups:
• Die-hard CY fans: They completely deny that the drama quality is poor or that CY’s acting has dropped. While they mean well, shielding him from criticism might prevent him from improving.
• Rival fans: They love attacking CY and often compare him to other popular actor in China like XZ. I’m not a fan of either side, and honestly, both fandoms can be toxic, constantly attacking each other and pushing for their favorite to be number one. But if we’re being realistic, reaching the level of someone like XZ requires more than just fandom support. It means working on projects like CCTV dramas with strong CVB ratings, acting in films that appeal to wider audiences who don’t care about popularity, and handling harsh criticism—just like XZ experienced with his latest movie. A massive fanbase alone isn’t enough to make someone a true movie star.
• Real audiences: also includes some of CY fans who openly complain about the drama’s quality. Unfortunately, rival fans often use these complaints to excessively mock CY, even when the criticism is fair and mild. Otherwise, the drama might have just been seen as another underwhelming historical series and wouldn’t have attracted so much attack. Another factor is that some audiences had very high expectations because the drama was heavily marketed as a one-of-a-kind, male-centric series with the most participation this year. That overhyping is another reason it faced so much criticism. The lesson here is: it’s better to stay humble and not “open the champagne” too early if you’re not certain you’ll win the race.
Spot on.
So much hard work and professionalism yet he still mumbled his lines and kept his script near him when actual filming started. He must be truly untalented and incompetent, not suited to be an actor at all.
The comments about his “hard work” as a defense sound rather ridiculous to anyone who knows how tough filming costume dramas over the summer is for actors. They all sweat under their wigs and multiple layers of clothes. Some of them even do wire work in full armour at 40 degrees. In a word, it’s nothing special.
If with all his hard work this is the best result he could deliver, then maybe it’s time for him to take a break and rethink his career.
Yang Yang was able to improve on his “greasy” acting, can Cheng Yi do the same for his acting, his slurred lines, his puffy and effeminate looks and the ballet-style martial arts that clearly show he has zero core strength?
His fans may be fond of his girlish looks, but I am fed up with getting served supposed martial arts hero’s who look like they’re afraid of breaking a fingernail.
To be very honest I was intrigued by the promotion materials with the massive emphasising on the wuxia element. I was so excited to finally see it air to enjoy a rare wuxia drama in 2025. Instead, what presented to me is such horrid acting and storyline. The production team did not even pay attention to details like the scene where Cheng Yi was eating an orange. In the span of few seconds, the orange went from a complete piece, to half eaten, then to partially eaten, then to almost finished, and back to partially eaten! Such ignorance to small details just feels like an insult to the audience. Even the short stories that I watched had better continuity in their scenes!
Also all the scenes where we can clearly see Cheng Yi having his script nearby. How can an established actor do that?? This screams unprofessionalism!!
Less to say that the male lead had no wuxia aura at all. He looks like a flimsy character and couldn’t handle any hits. And it was definitely the case when we see the fight scenes, they are just floating around with slowmo effects and fighting with air like in xianxia! Really such a disappointment!
I saw the orange eating scene too…I laughed when I saw it. There are many of similar shots.
To me, Cheng Yi would be lucky to be second lead actor in real high profile dramas. Though in those kind of dramas, the second leads are usually much more handsome and talented – take Fang Yilun for example, the forever second lead to A listers.
Having said that, this whole debacle is more his agency’s fandom’s and the production’s fault than his; they definitely overhyped this drama, even insinuating that the show was delayed because of Xiao Zhan not wanting the comparison – it turns out that they were lucky it got delayed and didn’t go against The Legend of Zang Hai. And where did the money go? The show looks so cheap… Was there money laundering involved?
Anyway, let’s see what his next drama will be like. Maybe he will win the audience back.
That’s what I’m thinking…money laundering, given that it was boasting of S+ production!
I made the same comment elsewhere. Money laundering… the money is not use where it should be used.
It looked so cheap and this is me only seeing the music video and not the actual drama.
CY is kind of like a not good looking YY in that he’s fine playing serious characters that spit blood every episode, but once he needs to play someone with personality, he can’t do it. YY is much more pleasing to my eyes though. CY doesn’t have the comedic timing for this role, and comedy is harder than people think. Just watching the first episode, it was a huge disappointment. The budget looks super cheap, where did the money go? I dont know why these dramas keep getting compared but definitely agree that LoZH and GoDF, while not perfect,are both better dramas in literally every aspect.l
This is a lesson that Cheng Yi and his agency will not learn but should.
They tried bundling him with Xiao Zhan and especially Zanghai. If they didn’t push so hard that Cheng Yi was better than Xiao Zhan as their marketing tactic (which wasn’t working anyway) then once this aired, it would have passed as a bad drama and no big deal.
But they started marketing in May specifically when Zanghai was sure to come and then they experienced the full boomerang.
Cheng Yi was marketed as a better actor than Xiao Zhan, more popular, better looking and the one who has taken over the top star position. Then the scrutiny came that someone like Xiao Zhan usually experiences. And Cheng Yi failed miserably.
I see some people crying in the comments here. Oh you don’t get to do that, that time has passed. The initial comparison was started by Cheng Yi and his agency. Now enjoy the consequences.
When I say he will learn nothing, I have good reason. Huanrui bought a hot search yesterday, part of the process that Koala mentioned.
Thehot search was “Wang Xiao speaks for Cheng Yi” and of course everyone was surprised that such a respected actor was speaking up for Cheng Yi not memorising his lines and saying that was normal. But in reality, Huanrui used an extra, that happens to have the same name, to say that, then bought the hot search knowing most people will not look further and will think the actor from Dead to Rights is supporting him.
This kind of underhanded, low behavior is their typical behavior and just proves they will keep attacking others, lying and cheating and they wi never take responsibility.
Better looking? I don’t watch his series so I can’t comment about his acting, but in those above pics alone, I can tell that he’s no where more good-looking than Xiao Zhan. Fans can be really delusional. 🙄
Beauty is subjective…charisma and screen presence can do wonders. Shahrukh Khan,Benedict Cumberbatch or Liu Yuning are by no means lookers for instance but the aura they exude is enough for people to find them attractive.
As for Xiao Zhan, I can name several c-actors better looking than him and I’m only talking about their looks here(Zhang Ling He, Yang Yang, Hou Ming Hao, Chen Feiyu…)
Ah look, panda eyes, resident XZ hater.
Keep crying ahahaha
Listen @Lola, I didn’t even hate the guy, I only pity him to have such a cuckoo fandom tbh…
Typos: I don’t even hate the guy. I just pity him for having such a cuckoo fandom.
That reeks of desperation. They should just keep quiet until the drama ends.
This is the first time i’ve seen an actor being justifying so much. You have to know how to take criticism come one dude. Everyone receives some but they don’t spend their time washing away.
Lousy acting, no professionalism, and still has the time to justify his faults by educating the audience on how to watch dramas. And then his fans desperately trying to whitewash his actions. What a joke.
Nie masz racji, Cheng Yi zdecydowanie potrafi przekazać różne emocje. Ta podróż jest bardzo ciekawa.
B..but cy fans said this drama already break several records for biggest advertising and playback volume
Akurat uważam, że Cheng Yi potrafi bardzo dobrze przekazać emocje, ciekawa jest ta drama.
So, because of this and the other threads about him, started watching Mysterious Lotus Casebook and Love and Redemption. Am enjoying them and his role in them, so far, it’s still early days.
Oh, have also watched two episodes of this one. Like the concept – a modern day guy entering a Wuxia set, even has modern-day cheats, however, it hasn’t grabbed me, so far. Hadn’t realised that it was a comedy and, well, they frequently don’t work for me. Could well be me/my fault, not them/theirs, but that’s ok, I’ll just drop it, move on to something else.