The South Korean cheerleader and influencer recently posed as EVE from Stellar Blade, but who is Lee Dahye?
Images of South Korean cheerleader and influencer Lee Dahye's cosplay of Stellar Blade's EVE are doing the rounds across various social media platforms.
The cosplay is believed to be part of Sony's PlayStation Hong Kong Stellar Blade launch event. It is the first official cosplay we've seen of EVE, the lead character of the upcoming PS5 exclusive title which launches on April 26.
Cheerleader Lee Dahye - Stellar Blade EVE cosplay
The images of Lee Dahye cosplaying as EVE from Stellar Blade were shared by Genki_JPN, a content creator who specialises in sharing video game stories and insights from Japan.
EVE is Stellar Blade's only playable character, and EVE has been developed over the last five years. While the full release won't happen until April 26, you can play as EVE already via the Stellar Blade demo, which features two boss fights.
PlayStation Hong Kong Stellar Blade launch event!
Who is cosplayer and cheerleader Lee Dahye?
Lee Dahye (이다혜) is a very prominent South Korean influencer, who rose to fame as a baseball cheerleader for South Korea's KIA Tigers in 2019 and Taiwan's Rakuken Girls. The 24-year old is now one of the most well-known cheerleaders in South Korea. Some attribute her initial fame to the resemblance to singer Irene from KPOP group Red Velvet.
Outside of cheerleading, Lee Dahye and her team are known for doing covers of popular KPOP tracks. More recently, Lee Dahye launched her own debut single "HUSH" on March 30. (video below)
Lee Dahye has quite a substantial following on social media; 1.4 million followers on Instagram (@le_dahye) and 750,000 on YouTube.
Given just how close the release of Lee Dahye's single is to her cosplaying as the protagonist of one of the most talked about games of the moment, it's not a crazy leap to imagine some part of this is a smart piece of marketing. Stellar Blade is created by Shift Up, a South Korean videogame developer. South Korean console titles are rare, and Lee Dahye's involvement in its promotion will definitely help advertise the game domestically.
Not Stellar Blade's first collab with a South Korean influencer
Stellar Blade's developer Shift Up also used a Korean influencer and model called Shin Jae-Eun to create the body of protagonist EVE through a full 3D body scan. Despite EVE's body being based on a real person, this did not stop IGN France from publishing a damning comment about EVE simply being a "a doll sexualized by someone you would think has never seen a woman". This comment would end up creating a huge IGN France controversy,