Ha! Isn't it fabulous?
If you've never heard of it, "crossplay" is a form of cosplay that involves dressing as a character of the opposite gender. Often you'll see the costumes tweaked a bit to be more feminine or masculine, which is what makes it so fun. Of this group, I love Aqua(wo)man and Super(wo)man the most, but they're all great.
I also found a video of just the ladies over on Geekologie:
Anyway, I love crossplay for its creativity and double-take-inducing fun. For me, the best ones are those that re-imagine a character as if s/he had been born the opposite sex, as opposed to dressing exactly like the original. At it's worst, crossplay can be just slapping on a pair of thigh-highs and stilettos to make the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles "sexy." [eyeroll] I have no problem with sexy, but, c'mon, ladies! Get a little more creative!
You know, like this:
SourceHellboy Girl!
Or how about the lady Link I posted from MegaCon?
I could go on, but I'm supposed to be working on my "real" job right now. ;) Being sick this past week has really put me behind.
Oh, and crossplay obviously goes the other way, too, with boys dressing as girls, but I just get a bigger kick out of seeing my fellow geek girls 'playing it up.
Ok, so, your turn: what character would you like to see crossplayed? Or for that matter, what characters *have* you crossplayed? Share your ideas and links in the comments!
UPDATE: I've since heard from more experienced cosplayers that this kind of crossplay - where the gender change is played up - is more accurately known as "gender swap." Sorry for bungling the terminology, guys!
UPDATE: I've since heard from more experienced cosplayers that this kind of crossplay - where the gender change is played up - is more accurately known as "gender swap." Sorry for bungling the terminology, guys!
I love those crossplay costumes! The girl Link has inspired a friend of mine to try making a female dark Link for PAX this year. I'm seriously considering making a fem 10th Doctor costume for myself.
ReplyDeleteOh, I think I would get a kick out of seeing the cast of Serenity in Crossplay. A female Mel and a male Kaylee would be so awesome.
ReplyDeleteMy housemate and I went as a female ghostbuster and Stay Puft Marshmallow (Wo)man, respectively. I had a cute white dress and cardigan, red sequined ballet flats, and a sailor bib and puffy sailor hat. We won second place in the costume contest that night!
ReplyDeleteI love the way Wonder Woman is interpreted for a man in the top picture. Very clever!
ReplyDeleteWhile the ladies are awesome, that Power Boy is quite....yummy.
ReplyDeleteI've got my "Jane" Cobb crossplay all planned out for Dragon*Con next year! Right down to my gun (Joss, of course!)
ReplyDeleteOne year, me and three of my other friends cross dressed. Our effort was to go beyond our feminine features and actually look masculine. I was Indiana Jones and to create my masculinity, I borrowed a stage make-up set and used a stipple brush to make stubble. My friends dressed up as Jareth, the Phantom (of the Opera), and the vampire Asher. It was loads of fun, and I look forward to doing it again.
ReplyDeleteI exhibit at comic conventions, selling my prints and comics, so I pretty much get to see every cosplay at the con go by my table. I think the best crossplay I've ever seen has to be... She-Man.
ReplyDeleteAnd I wouldn't really count this as "crossplay" but it's relevantly funny :D
I was Megaman for Halloween about 5 years ago. The costume itself was a flop, but at least I didn't just wear a blue bikini and call myself "Sexy Megaman."
ReplyDeleteI had always been under the impression that 'crossplay' involed playing as a character of the opposite gender, as that gender.
ReplyDeleteWith that definition, let me show you my Sailor Mars, and my Alice in Wonderland.
I have more crossplays too :)
Man, if I had Girl-Boba's abs, I'd dress like that too! LOVE it!
ReplyDeleteI think your definition of crossplay is a little misguided. Crossplay is when someone of the gender opposite the character they are portraying attempts to pull off said character as their true gender. So, a girl deciding to crossplay batman would be a girl attempting to accurately portray themselves as a man. What you are showing off is what is widely known to the community as "gender swap" or "rule 63" where you take a character and reinvent them as the opposite gender.
ReplyDeleteNot trying to be rude or anything, just trying to be informative. I'm a fairly avid cosplayer myself and I know some of our terminology is...weird.
I'd like to see (or be) Mermaid (Wo)Man from Spongebob. I think it would be kind of funny. Mostly because for a minute that's who I thought the Aqua(wo)man in the photo was :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I totally agree about the "sexy" versions of various heroes and villains. Stilettos indeed!
The video didn't work for me. :(
ReplyDelete:'(
I don't know if this counts, but I was a female Stay Puft Marshmallow for Halloween!!!
ReplyDeleteI'd never heard of this but I actually kind of like it! :) It is far more creative than simply dressing in drag, they've actually redesigned the costumes to fit their own gender. Any guy could put on a dress, or any girl could buy a batman costume, but these people have put the extra work into their costumes so that it works for them! Bravo! :D
ReplyDeleteOkay, everyone, just STAY CALM.
ReplyDeleteWe have an EPCOT -- I repeat, WE HAVE AN EPCOT.
Do not panic. Remain inside the vehicle. A team has been dispatched to collect you for re-education.
I crossplay the shit out of the Joker. Even when I'm not at cons or anything.
ReplyDelete(Both your definition of crossplay and Sparky's.)
Although I kinda want to try Batman. Or Alois from Black Butler.
There's a female Link so why not go with another Nintendo staple: Mario. Have a female Mario (Maria?) and Luigi (Luigina?) rescuing Prince Toadstool from a female Bowser. Your guess is as good as mine what female Bowser's name would be but I think this would definitely be the most interesting of the costumes.
ReplyDeleteFor Halloween I dressed up as Joker (from the animated series) and my boyfriend (who is 6'5 which adds to it) went as Harley Quinn.
ReplyDeleteHoping the guy in the white shorts to the left isn't crossplaying. ;)
ReplyDeleteI've crossplayed John Watson from the new "Sherlock" series (nobody recognized me; it probably would have helped if I'd been able to talk another female friend into crossplaying Sherlock) and have most of a Firefly Wash outfit put together. I loved that the latter costume gave me an excuse to go shopping for little plastic dinosaurs . . .
ReplyDeleteI'm LOVING Hellgirl! The skirt is an excellent idea!
ReplyDeleteSparky, that's interesting about the definitions. So I guess I was a true crossplay as I was Indiana Jones for Halloween several years in a row in high school and college...but I dressed just like him. Same with the Phantom of the Opera.
However, this post gives me a new idea to upgrade my costume and it won't cost me a fortune. I could be Indi-Anna Jones! ;)
The Burton Inspiration
Aquaman/lass here, to thank you dudes for the totally radical feature, and also to mention that some of these comments have been right about defining exactly what it is we're doing.
ReplyDeleteWe're a bunch of San Francisco Bay Area kids, so you can bet we get picky about our terms, LOL! Actually what it came down to is me, Flash, and Green Lantern having a great discussion about it tonight.
We concluded that what we are doing is not crossplay (trying to "pass" as a character of the opposite sex) or even just gender-bending, even though we call this the Genderbent Justice League. What we are actually doing is first sex-swapping and then gender-bending: that is, changing the physical sex of the characters, and then adapting the characters to our own genders. Some of us did this more than others - for instance, Flash is almost not genderbent at all, but Power Guy is QUITE masculine-specific.
Whew! Whatever it was, it was totally outrageous, and we are soooo stoked that you dudes like it.
Hang loose, brah!
- Aqualass, aka Roxanna Meta
http://www.facebook.com/pages/United-Underworld/36371795761
I want to be lady link.
ReplyDeleteI went as a Musketeer to RenFaire, complete with false beard and mustache, but I didn't know there was a special term for that. I just got tired of dealing with long skirts.
ReplyDeleteHow about gender-swapping Luke, Leia and Han?
Ooooh! I love the Hell Girl! I'd like to see a crossplay of the Mario Brothers and Princess Peach. It would be fun to see the plumber sisters Marla and Lois save their friend Prince Petri from danger. :D
ReplyDeleteRamone Flowers? Ash(lee) Ventura? Captain Falcon? Earthworm Jane?
ReplyDeleteI'm actually putting together a sort-of crossplay for Chicago Comic-Con in August. I'll be going as a female version of classic Zartan from GI Joe: the costume stays mostly the same, but I had to make some concessions, like redesigning the breastplate to fit a *hem* different physique. Ironically, the original costume had its midriff bared, and I decided to do away with that--Zartana knows a bad look when she sees it! :D
ReplyDeleteThat DC crossplay group makes me squee in a pitch so high only dogs can hear it. <3
ReplyDeleteMy friends and I did a Firefly cosplay that involved drag versions of Mal, Jayne, and Wash. (Which eventually inspired me to write femmeslash Mal/Jayne, but we were going for the male versions in our costumes.)
I have a Dr Who (David Tennant)costume and I'm a girl, no pics of it though :-)
ReplyDeleteI was Skwisgaar from Metalocalypse last year . . . probably doing it again! Lots of fun. The best bit was when someone yelled, "Skwisgaar! Yous a lady!".
ReplyDeleteCrossplay is the biggest form of love known to man... or woman lol. It's all I do, mostly because all the anime girls I would even consider have skimpy outfits or just aren't that anatomically correct if ya catch my drift. Personally I've crossplayed Ciel Phantomhive and Alois Trancy (of Kuroshitsuji) ...that's all I'll admit to crossplaying lol. But it's sooo fun to be a boy for a weekend :D
ReplyDeleteYeah as you've found out Crossplay is more when one sex emulates a character of the opposite sex, for example a woman will bind her chest for a male chest for a male character. Its often done by those cosplayers who are androgynous and prefer characters of the opposite sex. From those i know, it tends to be women who crossplay as men more than the reverse.
ReplyDeleteLove the gender swopping of characters though, especially when done with alot of thought in how would the character look in the opposite sex.
I ran into a group of Mario crossplayers at a con in Chicago last month...sadly missing a male Princess Peach, but they had Mario, Luigi, Toad, and...somebody else. They were pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteThe Joker would be great!
ReplyDeleteI instantly thought of Jabba the Hut though. Maybe with a little pink bow off to the side on her head, a little blush, Han Solo on a chain...
For halloween parties, I have dressed up like Dread Pirate Roberta (yes, I know Roberts is a last name - but my friends would get it) Dr. Horrible's smarter twin sister and Deb Lister. Granted none of these are true superheros - but I refuse to dress as either a man (always a female version) or as some man's desire what a superhero woman should dress like. Really - how much fighting can you do when you are worried about wardrobe malfunctions and teetering on stilettos.
ReplyDeleteThis year I may be Rose Tyler (or Donna) or the 13th and last Doctor.
Nicoletta Said...
ReplyDeleteI made a pretty fantastic female mario for halloween one year. oh, and the next year I went as Slash! I never really consider gender when deciding on a costume.
Some friends did a X-men gender swap for Dragon*con 2 years ago, but my favorite is spider-girl, who is unaffiliated, but knows how to work a photo shoot.
ReplyDeleteHow about a male Slave Leia? *eyebrow waggle*
ReplyDeleteI'm suddenly inspired to be a female Indiana Jones for Halloween this year.
I've crossplayed as SEVERAL different characters... I've done THE JOKER, THE MAD HATTER, and THE CROW. I've also tried Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and Two Face as well. It's just fun portraying male characters and surprising everyone when they find out that there's actually a girl under the costume and make-up :)
ReplyDeleteI've crossplayed as The Joker from The Dark Knight. It was funny as hell seeing the looks I got from people as they did a double take after hearing me talk!
ReplyDeleteME AS THE JOKER
In pretty regularly Crossplay as Captain Hammer or Captain Mal. I think its fun, I constantly get stopped for pictures even when I'm not at Cons... =) Nothing like a Capn.Hammer cosplay at a Goth club!
ReplyDeleteI'm in middle school, and last year a bunch of 7th graders did this with Harry Potter characters, complete with a random day to dress up!
ReplyDeleteMy friend Jen (!!) dressed up as Link a few Halloweens ago, in a costume she made all on her own. She's a tiny little thing, so her dressing up as Link just worked all around.
ReplyDeleteLittle Jen as Link