Cosplay – Page 2 – Insider Irene

Chun Li debuts at the LA Times – The Taste + launches new IG Handle @ChunLiStyle!!

Published on September 7, 2018September 5, 2018 by Insider Irene1 Comment

Cosplay AND Food Festival in one post?! Holy Cow! World’s colliding! and what better way to debut this pairing than in the backlots of Paramount Studios for the LA Times – The Taste ? Entertainment and food goes together like Peanut Butter and Jelly, right?

Shots from the LA Times – The Taste Friday Event

Over the Labor Day weekend, I along with other foodies made our pilgrimage to the annual event to sample some of LA’s best and kick off the three-day weekend with fun, food and flavor! Held right on the sets used for many movies and shows, this outdoor venue made a perfect backdrop to highlight the chef’s tasty bites. There was a ton of seafood options, which I loved including shrimp sashimi, an uni mousse, and scallops. But carnivores also had a wide selection of steaks and tartars. A number of the restaurants and guests asked me to pose for photos, which greatly reminded me of my geek convention days (See Power Morphin Con post, SDCC post, and LACC posts for photos!)

More photos from the LA Times – The Taste Friday Event

I had a great time wandering the streets sampling tons of bites, but my favorite part of this event was interacting with the sculpted characters representing Korea and Taiwan. We danced and did a bunch of videos to capture our memories, and of course ate delicious ethnic food at their booth. The boba from Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau and Korean pancakes from The Korean Tourism Board were on point!

If you’re a fan of my Chun Li cosplay I recently launched a new Instagram handle with all things Chun Li. So all future videos and photos and videos can be viewed there- so to see all those content please Follow @chunlistyle

Would you like to see more cosplay/food posts? Comment below

XOXO,

Rockstar

Celebrating Power Rangers 25th Anniversary at Power Morphin Con

Published on August 29, 2018August 22, 2018 by Insider Irene2 Comments

Earlier in August I attended Saban’s Power Morphin Con – a convention centered around the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers! This year marked their 25th anniversary and as a latchkey kid who’s watched the OG cast everyday afterschool – this group of teenagers with attitude definitely spoke to me.

Jason David Frank (Original Green Ranger); Me & Original Power Rangers Cosplayers

Held at the Anaheim Convention Center this biennial event welcomed Power Rangers from the various series including Turbo, Space, and of course the Original (English version) Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Toy companies and artists sold merchandise on the convention floor and of course there were panel discussion. I got a chance to hear Jason David Frank (Original Green/White Ranger) talk about life after Power Rangers as well as his collaboration with the Power Rangers Legacy Wars: Street Fighter Showdown (hence the Chun Li Cosplay). I also found out that my old college friend plays Ryu!

Later in the evening the convention hosted a Prom at Angel Grove High School, the Power Rangers alma mater and boy was it a happenin’ place! The DJ was spinnin’ classic 90’s music like Aqua, Britney Spears, Nsync and best dancin’ favorites. People were doing a train conga line, there was a fun photo booth, and of course a cash bar for drinks. I hadn’t danced like it was 1999 in a LOOOONG time.

What song would you want to hear at a high school dance?

XOXO,

Rockstar

Favorite Cosplay at San Diego Comic Con?!!

Published on August 22, 2018August 5, 2018 by Insider Irene4 Comments

Oh man… so this is officially my 2nd time cosplaying at San Diego Comic Con (see my first year’s post here) and had a blast. I portrayed a different character each day based on what was going on and wanted to share some of my favorite shots!

Thursday: Nightwing (Batman: The Animated Series) – My first genderbend cosplay! Before the convention started, I noticed the DC Universe Experience (right in the Gaslamp District) and knew that I had to try to sneak some shots with my Dick Grayson cosplay. Unfortunately, it was so darn hot so I had to change out mid-day. I was dying in the black unitard – but was thankful to grab a couple of cool shots! What do you think? Does the Boy Wonder have your stamp of approval? 😉

Friday: Lois Lane (Superman: The Animated Series) – Honestly this is probably one of the most under-rated characters in the DC Universe. She’s smart, spunky, and not afraid to take chances. What I love about this cosplay is that I get to act like a reporter and interview people from all over including the panel for the movie screening: Death of Superman.

Saturday: Chun Li (Street Fighter) – Probably one of my most requested cosplay for photo opts. Seems like everyone grew up with this character and thankfully her outfit is very comfortable. Yatta!

Sunday: Violet Parr (The Incredibles) – My first Disney cosplay!! and of course it’s a superhero, tehehe… My favorite part about this cosplay is having all the kids come up to request a photo and also correcting their parents when their mom/dad said “Hey look it’s Mrs. Incredible!” and the kid would reply “No that’s Violet” – yeah you show them!

Out of the four cosplays who should I cosplay more often?

XOXO,

Rockstar

Seeing Conan LIVE at Comic Con with Aquaman Cast!

Published on July 26, 2018July 25, 2018 by Insider Irene1 Comment

It’s surprising to people that this is only my second time attending San Diego Comic Con and while I had a blast last year (Click here to read) there were so many things that I missed out on! This year a group of my friends and I entered the Invincible Conan San Diego 2018 lottery for a chance to see Conan, some VIP guests, and get an exclusive Conan Funko Pop! No luck on my end, but one of my girlfriends was lucky enough to score tickets for herself and friends! Woohoo!

Conan Store and Ticket to the Saturday Show!

The taping wasn’t until the afternoon; however, we were instructed to line-up bright and early in the morning to secure our tickets. The tickets all had assigned seats, but rumor had it if you got there earlier you could get seats closer to the stage. My friends and I arrived at Spreckels Theater around 6:30 am for the 9:00 am ticket distribution, and found that a huge line already formed. There were some people there as early as 4:30 am!

Once 9:00 am hit we walked through their ticket booth decorated with all types of nerdy artwork, grabbed our tickets and went on our way. Just an FYI, tickets were somewhat random, as two guys in front of us were given Orchestra seats and we were given tickets Mezzanine. So, I really have no idea about seat selection. *shrugs*

We returned around 2:30 pm (doors closed at 3:30 pm), and enjoyed the band play before Conan arrived on stage. Conan told a few jokes and eventually introduced the cast for Aquaman including: Director James Wan, Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Yahya abdul-mateen II and Dolph Lundgren. I think out of the interview Dolph Lundgren’s story about learning to swim for the role then finding out that he didn’t need to was the highlight of the interview. Though I think some would argue that the cast drink a can of Guinness was the best part of the show – to each his own!

After the show we were each handed a Conan HellBoy Funko Pop as a souvenir. I believe if you attended the showing on the other days you had to redeem their pop at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. I think as a Comic Con newbie attending a Conan show should be on everyone’s to-do list. I for one would love to attend again next year!

Who would you love to see as Conan’s guest?

XOXO,

Rockstar

Me, Myself and Irene – 2017 in Review

Published on December 31, 2017December 31, 2017 by Insider IreneLeave a comment

When I was first thinking about this post I thought to myself – man… I totally bombed the “will write a blog post every-week” goal, I “should” be making more money, I “should” be blah blah blah.. but as I looked through my rolo-dex of photos I realized that I had so many cool moments and while I didn’t meet all the goals I set out – I did achieve quite a bit and “should” remember those! This was definitely the year of “Me, Myself, and Irene” from my “Diary of a Beauty Queen’s Food and Travel Adventures (Instagram)” to opening up to my readers with my alias as @TheGeekyGuide (Instagram) to launching my College Consulting By Yu Youtube channel (website), I’m three people in one!

As @yurockstar I finished my term as Miss Taiwanese World Queen and passed the torch (blog entry), and visited so many cool restaurants – the Exchange Restaurant being my favorite this year! (blog entry) – and festivals as media including the LA Food and Wine Festival (blog entry 1; blog entry 2; blog entry 3) where I got to meet Tyler Florence and Brian Malarky. I also got to be a guest on Gordon Ramsay’s “The F Word” and critiqued the competitors dishes. 2017 was also the year when I got to visit San Diego Comic Con (blog entry) for the first time and hear Disney Legend Alan Menkin perform his classic hits at D23 (blog entry)! I also bought an annual pass to Six Flags Magic Mountain (blog entry) and convinced four of my friends to go on roller coasters with me. On a totally random note – I also won a mattress from an Instagram contest through yelp, woot!

To be honest, I was kind of a closet cosplayer and nervous about cosplaying one of my childhood idols. The live action Wonder Woman movie debuted earlier this year and I felt very conscientious about wearing a corset, let alone portray such an iconic character. I was selected as one of Game Spot’s Best DC Cosplay at SDCC and WonderCon, and featured on the LA Time’s “Why Cosplay as Wonder Woman” video. But more importantly, I loved when kids came up to me to ask for a photo opt – just to see them smile made me feel that that 2 hours it took to do my hair and make-up all the worthwhile.

I also debuted Chun Li this year and was invited to join a Street Fighter group! Everyone does such a great job in portraying their character, and they inspired me to revisit and brush-up on my martial arts and dance techniques. I also upgraded some of my Sailor Mars uniform and had a blast with various photoshoots with the Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask! I’ve made so many awesome friends through cosplay and it’s always awesome to see familiar faces portraying different heros and villians.

@Yucollege/ College Consulting By Yu Video Thumbnails

And yes, if you can believe it this was also the year that I decided to share my counseling knowledge through youtube. It’s been on my heart for a while so I finally bit the bullet and launched the channel: College Consulting Youtube Channel (Instagram). I created 10 videos ranging from Survive a School Shooting to the Common App Tutorial, and boy you can definitely see improvements from video 1-10. There’s still much work to be done, and my goal next year is to do 40 more! Won’t you come and watch? (youtube link) 😉

I’ve learned that no matter what goal you’ve set yourself up for that if you didn’t meet it today, tomorrow is always a new day. My Resolution is to make each day count. What’s yours?

XOXO,
Rockstar

Seeing the official Justice League cast at San Diego Comic Convention

Published on November 15, 2017November 15, 2017 by Insider Irene4 Comments

I grew up watching Bruce Timm’s Justice League animated series and could not be more excited about a live-action movie. So, when I successfully got San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) tickets as a first time attendee (Read my first impressions here) I was beyond thrilled that the Justice League cast planned to do a fan autograph signing during the convention. While I knew that it was going to be near impossible to get their autograph, I made it a top priority to snap some shots of the entire cast at the DC booth – even though I faced several roadblocks. It didn’t say anywhere on the program when they were going to do the autograph session and staff members were quite hush hush on the details. Attending SDCC on Saturday July 22nd was beyond crazy. There were crowds of people and swarms of fans left and right. And of course there was a DC meetup so I made sure to dress up as Amazon Princess herself – Wonder Woman! I got to meet some incredible cosplayers and was interviewed by LA Times (here). They asked, “Why cosplay as Wonder Woman” and I was lucky enough to be one of the Wonder Women featured! After the DC shoot, I heard rumors that the Justice League autograph signing was going to happen in the late afternoon. Because I so desperately wanted to snap a few shots, I waited in the DC booth with 300 or so other fans just to try to get a glimpse. I felt like a can of sardines, but it was incredible when they finally came out. They also dropped a new trailer moments before the actors came out and it was very apparent that the Man of Steel will not be absent in this film.

Which villain do you suspect will make an appearance in the live action movie? I’m hoping for Dark Side!

XOXO,

Rockstar

Day 2 – Wonder Woman rallies the Justice League at LA Comic Con

Published on November 13, 2017November 12, 2017 by Insider Irene2 Comments

I can’t believe that the Justice League movie is coming out this week! (!!!!) I already reserved my movie tickets to watch it on Thursday night, but to celebrate I’m going to dedicate this week’s blog posts with all things Justice League – yay!!! So today’s post will be a throwback to when I cosplayed as Wonder Woman at LA Comic Con.

Saturday, October October 28th was epic on a number of fronts! It was the day when all San Diego Comic Con returning attendees entered the lottery to purchases badges (I’ll be returning! Yay!!) and the entertainment lineup at LA Comic Con was beyond amazing! My friends and I made sure to allocate enough time to get a wristband to watch a private Black Eyed Peas Concert and see Dwayne Johnson, more commonly known as The Rock! And of course we kept our eyes opened to recruit Justice League mini shoots! There were tons of guests dressed for Saturdays event and a designated DC meet-up outside the convention center. I got to hang-out with various members of the Justice League and strike some fierce poses with gang. Everyone was so nice and it’s great to see all the characters brought to life. I especially loved all the kids cosplays! The Batmans and Flashes were adorable!

Stan Lee & Black Eyed Peas; Dwayne Johnson; DC Photoshoot; Cosplay Contest

After the DC photoshoot my friends headed towards the main stage to catch a glimpse of the A-list celebrities. Stan Lee made an appearance when the entire Black Eyed Peas came up to talk about their new Alternate Reality Comic Book vision and “The Rock” one man act was a great closer for the evening. Afterwards my friends and I migrated to the Nova theater to see a front row seat at the Black Eyed Peas concert – but that’s story for another blog entry.

I think you all know who’s my favorite Justice League member, but who’s yours?

XOXO,

Rockstar

Day 1 – Chun Li takes on LA Comic Con

Published on November 10, 2017November 10, 2017 by Insider Irene1 Comment

I’ve been on an enormous cosplay kick these last few months so it shouldn’t be a shock that I spent so many days portraying different characters throughout October. (Click here for more cosplay!) The week and weekend leading up to Halloween was beyond exhausting and I’m still contemplating how I lasted – ha!! So, my apologies for being MIA on the blog, but lets get right to the good stuff! Here are some photos and reflections from Day 1 (Friday) of LA Comic Con formerly known as Stan Lee Comikaze! Last year was the first year I attended this convention and for readers who are curious about what a geek convention is like this is a good one to start! It’s no where near as crazy as the famous San Diego Comic Con but there are a good number of vendors and celebrity guest attendees! Friday was a pretty low-key day where guests could focus on shopping and snapping photos of their favorite cosplayers. I dressed up as Chun Li from Street Fighter met up with the adorable Cosplay Parents. I also saw someone dress-up as Jem from Jem and the Holograms and there were a number of girls dressed as Cammy, making the Chun-Li vs. Cammy battle one for the books. It was great to see so many familiar faces at the convention and while my goal was to do all my shopping that day, I took a ton of photos with friends and fans. On the floor, Hot Topic sold four exclusive LA Comic Con Funko Pops along with other seasonal Pops at their booth. I successfully purchased the last Halloween Town Sora – isn’t he so kawaii?!

If you could pick any character to battle Chun Li would you pick?

XOXO,

Rockstar

Geeking out at the 2nd Annual Nerdbot Con in Pasadena, CA

Published on October 5, 2017October 6, 2017 by Insider IreneLeave a comment

I’ve been on a nerd/geek convention kick as of late and when I learned about a new one in Southern California I was excited to see what it was all about. Just in its second year, NerdBot Con is the latest addition to mark residency at the Pasadena Convention Center. The one day convention boasted of it’s large cosplay presence so I dusted off my Wonder Woman uniform, grabbed my Lasso of Truth, and flew my invisible jet to get a first hand look at newest geek gathering.

The two story venue made for a lovely location as there was natural light and ample space for artists and vendors to display their work. One artist even drew a cartoon version of me – pretty accurate if you ask me 🙂 Check out his website: Jack of All Nerds Podcast. The intimate gathering also delivered on costumed attendees as they certainly attracted many diverse cosplayers and photographers.

img_3418-1 — cosplayers at the convention

I also got to meet and take a photo with Carla Perez the actress who played the original Rita Repulsa from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. She complimented my Wonder Woman cosplay and encouraged me to cosplay as her character!! Oh!!! The creative juices in my brain are turning.

Which character should consider brining to life at my next con?

XOXO,

Rockstar

Fighting Crime during Labor Day Weekend at Long Beach Comic Con

Published on September 6, 2017September 6, 2017 by Insider IreneLeave a comment

It’s not easy being a hero, and while many civilians had a three day weekend to enjoy with family and friends I decided to pull a double shift to protect the planet from evil. As Wonder Woman (@TheGeekyGuide) I got a lead that some of Arkham’s master criminals were up to no good at Long Beach Comic Con and with some help from the Justice League we were able to put them all behind bars.

Parked my invisible jet on the front lot and went into action with DC cosplayers

It’s not often that my geekiness oozes out on these blog posts (although it’s starting to become more frequent). I was really excited to share some of the new adventures at this convention. Saturday was excruciatingly hot and I felt like I was going to melt, but I loved cosplaying with so many DC Comic cosplayers! I met up with some friends who I’ve seen at other conventions and made some new friends.

img_0671-1 — More shots from Saturday’s LBCC

The convention itself was a medium sized one and showcased a large number of vendors and independent artists. I will say that because the great hall was located downstairs it evoked a type of indoor swap meet type of feel with an emphasis on comic books and collectibles. Nevertheless, I would definitely return next year so I can meet-up with and see all my favorite characters brought to life.

I’m thinking about becoming a villain next time – who should I portray? 😀

XOXO

Rockstar