I can't think of any Mainland actors with the same level of brilliant comic timing as Hongkongers Andy Lau and Tony Leung Chiu Wai in 1980s TVB. As you said in Mookie's blog, Tony Leung just became WXB onscreen and no one has ever reached even inches near his level of comic greatness. Hence when comparing HXM's YG and WXM performances to them, HXM tanked miserably. I thought Hu Ge (who was the runner-up for the YG role in ROCH06) would have made a far better YG - I can do without YG's dark undertones (which HXM was selected for) but I can't do without YG's comic side in the pre-16 years time. Among the new generation, the best comedic actors (in my opinion) are Jimmy Lin, Eddie Peng and Ariel Lin from Taiwan. I can't think of any Mainlanders as good as them. Hu Ge is the one Mainland actor who can achieve a decent level of comic timing. And I think Ma Tianyu has good potential. As for YH, he tried and stank as Si Jin (a guest role where he was suppose to act comedic but ended up looking ridiculous) in Miracle of Doctor Tao headlined by Adam Cheng - that was actually a major Mainland-Taiwan cross-straits production broadcasted on CCTV and Taiwan's FTV concurrently, but what's the use of being in high profile production if you stink in it? Sorry YH, but you just don't have a funny elastic face like your OTP Eddie, hence you look ridiculous trying to imitate his goofy cuteness. While known in this forum for his bad boy appeal, I can actually like YH in serious moralising good guy roles if they are well written (such as his young Qianlong in Prince's Study; whereas Lin Mufei in CtW was badly written plus he looked old and ugly there), but OMG he should stay far far away from comic roles.
It looks to me comic timing is a natural in-born talent and difficult to be trained for. E.g. Eddie and Ariel have no acting or any sort of formal performance training except in school plays (Jimmy did study drama and photography though). And the great classics like Andy Lau and Tony Leung were picked up from the streets back in the hey day of Chinese TV dramas in the 1980s.
Yes, looks like Ruoxi will be the breakthough role for her. First time I've heard serious praises of LSS' acting and from the author herself!