FAQ: "What is CROSSPLAY"? and related word definitions

[builder396]

Well, this kind of process just takes a lot of time. Some people simply fear what they dont understand, I once met a rather extreme person on the internet in that regard, although it had little to do with sexual orientation or transgender.
Anyway, in that case the only way is to expose them to it in small doses and have them see that its nothing actually wrong with it.
But the best way to see how such topics are still perceived is to watch TV. Ive seen a few snippets out of scripted reality shows (I dont actually watch them at all) where they had gay people, except that they were the worst stereotype imaginable. Why? Because the producer wanted it that way and the gay person was threatened with a nonexistent penalty for contract breach.

By the way, not too long ago a friend told me about a documentary about cosplay he saw on TV. I didnt see it myself, but from what he told me they made cosplay look as if it was almost entirely guys dressing up as girls out of some sexual fetish, just trying to reinforce the bad stereotype.
So even cosplay is still not really that accepted by some people.

[Anna Renée]

Why do people crossplay?
The reasons vary. Occasionally one may see crossplay done as a form of satire / humorous behavior, but it appears that a large majority of crossplay occurs simply because:
1) a cosplayer likes a particular character,
2) they like the character enough that they want to cosplay as that character, and:
3) they do not feel that a simple difference in gender between themselves and the character should be a barrier to cosplaying that character.

Another reason to add to your list: Females with a smaller chest size feeling like that are unable to pull of their favorite female characters that possess larger breasts.

That's my reason behind Crossplaying. I love the male characters I do but there are a few female ones I would love to do that I just don't feel like I can pull off because of the chest size difference :/

[ARRevolution]

Happy Halloween!

[builder396]

Not the right place to ask for that... also asking it in one topic is good enough i think.

[ARRevolution]

That cd question was a joke! So Happy Halloween!

[FunSize]

So here's my thing...

I like cosplaying opposite gender characters, but I like reinterpreting them as male characters. I've seen it done by others (there was a really cool full opposite gender Justice League I saw some pictures of recently, and I've also seen some great FemmeGambits and such.)

Here's my "Mister Marvel" cosplay I did recently, just to give you an idea of what I like to do:

http://i.imgur.com/2RwaYJr.jpg

Would this be considered crosplay to most of you, or no?

[Jei-Cos]

Originally Posted by FunSize

So here's my thing...

I like cosplaying opposite gender characters, but I like reinterpreting them as male characters. I've seen it done by others (there was a really cool full opposite gender Justice League I saw some pictures of recently, and I've also seen some great FemmeGambits and such.)

Here's my "Mister Marvel" cosplay I did recently, just to give you an idea of what I like to do:

http://i.imgur.com/2RwaYJr.jpg

Would this be considered crosplay to most of you, or no?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but are you talking about cosplaying a male version of a female character, while you yourself are male? Making it so the gender of the character you are cosplaying matches your own? This is not crossplaying. Crossplaying is the gender of the character you are cosplaying in the version you are cosplaying, is the opposite of your own. So if you were to cosplay the female version, and you are male, that is crossplay. Changing the gender so it matches your own is just straight out making the character a male instead.
A lot of people don't seem to understand the difference. But:
Male wearing Female character = crossplay
female wearing male character = crossplay
male changing female character to male, then wearing new male character = cosplay
female changing male character to female, then wearing new female character = cosplay

[Syon]

The word you are looking for is genderbend.

[Galaxithea]

I want to crossplay as Sapphire from Steven Universe but I'm worried that some women/transgendered people may find crossplaying offensive. Any opinions?

[Ion]

This entire subforum is filled with people who crossplay and support other crossplayers by giving advice. None here will be offended by the idea of you crossplaying.

That said, as long as you put your best effort into your costume, wig, and makeup, you will hardly be criticized or considered offensive. Some people get a little offended if no effort is made (like if you intentionally do a crappy job) or if you were to do a "joke" crossplay with obvious male attributes such as showing off facial hair, hairy legs/chest/whatever while portraying a feminine female character re: Man-Faye, Man-Misty, Man-Ariel etc. However, you seem rather sincere in your crossplay plans and do not sound like you are doing a joke cosplay so, I am sure things will be fine.

As a side note, there will always be the occasional person who is upset and offended about anything so just know that the potential for someone not agreeing with what you are doing is ever-present. Do not let this discourage you, just as you should not let someone who holds different political views or who has a different favorite color discourage you.

All you need to do is do your best work, go out and wear your fabulous costume, and enjoy yourself.

[Galaxithea]

Hmm, that's enlightening. My makeup experience is limited to that time I mistook lipstick for candy when I was 5 so I may not be able to pull off a convincing female look. I was originally planning to go without makeup because Sapphire's bangs cover half her face and I wasn't sure if it would even show up through the blue facepaint. I was originally trying to go for a humorously obvious look (not exactly like those "joke crossplays" you mentioned with obvious male attributes, but I thought it would be good for a few laughs when people think I'm a girl from a distance until closer examination proves otherwise) but now I'm worried that I might come across as offensive. Any opinions?

Also, I'm worried that people may be creeped out by my crossplay. One of the reasons I want to crossplay as a SU character is because I want to meet other SU fans and maybe participate in a few photoshoots but I'm worried that I may not be able to do that if people slowly back away while saying "Oooookaaayy?". (It's probably not a good idea to wear it to school for Halloween.) I wouldn't want to fool them into thinking that I'm a female either, because then they would inevitably find out my true gender, causing a rather awkward moment. Do any of you experienced crossplayers know if crossplaying makes others uncomfortable?

P.S. If I wanted to request a Sapphire crossplay tutorial, where would I go? I don't want to make a new thread because those almost never get approved anyway.

[Galaxithea]

That's enlightening. My makeup experience is limited to that time when I almost ate lipstick when I was 5 so I don't think I can pull off a convincing female look. I was originally planning to go without makeup because Sapphire's bangs cover half her face and I wasn't even sure if it would show up through the blue face paint. This was also because I was shooting for the "comically obvious" look (not exactly like those joke crossplays you mentioned with the obvious male attributes; just that I thought it would be good for a few laughs when people think I'm a female until closer inspection proves otherwise) but now I'm afraid of offending people. Any more opinions?
Also, I'm worried that my crossplaying may creep out others. I wanted to go as an SU character to meet other SU fans and maybe participate in a few photoshoots but I can't do either of those things if people are slowly backing away while saying "Ooookaaaaayyyyyy?" I don't want to fool them into thinking I'm a girl either because they'd eventually find out that I'm a guy, making things awkward. Do any of you experienced crossplayers know if people find crossplaying creepy?
P.S. Where would I ask for help with my Sapphire crossplay? I'm not willing to create a whole thread for it because those never get accepted anyway.

[Jei-Cos]

Originally Posted by Galaxithea

Hmm, that's enlightening. My makeup experience is limited to that time I mistook lipstick for candy when I was 5 so I may not be able to pull off a convincing female look. I was originally planning to go without makeup because Sapphire's bangs cover half her face and I wasn't sure if it would even show up through the blue facepaint. I was originally trying to go for a humorously obvious look (not exactly like those "joke crossplays" you mentioned with obvious male attributes, but I thought it would be good for a few laughs when people think I'm a girl from a distance until closer examination proves otherwise) but now I'm worried that I might come across as offensive. Any opinions?

Also, I'm worried that people may be creeped out by my crossplay. One of the reasons I want to crossplay as a SU character is because I want to meet other SU fans and maybe participate in a few photoshoots but I'm worried that I may not be able to do that if people slowly back away while saying "Oooookaaayy?". (It's probably not a good idea to wear it to school for Halloween.) I wouldn't want to fool them into thinking that I'm a female either, because then they would inevitably find out my true gender, causing a rather awkward moment. Do any of you experienced crossplayers know if crossplaying makes others uncomfortable?

P.S. If I wanted to request a Sapphire crossplay tutorial, where would I go? I don't want to make a new thread because those almost never get approved anyway.

I wanna start off with the thing you are worried about with photoshoots and other people. Do not worry, that is not how it will be. There are MANY MANY crossplayers at cons, and I can almost promise you the majority of Steven cosplayers will be girls crossplaying..So they would have literally zero room to criticize you. No one will do that "back up saying 'ooooooookaaayyy'...." thing. I've honestly, in the 9 cons I've attended so far, never once seen something like that. I would be in the same boat as you. I normally look male, so people just go with "crossplay" without asking me what I identify as. And I've had zero people do that. In fact, I've only ever gotten positive responses at cons.

As far as the offense thing..I honestly don't think it should be offencive. You can wear whatever you want to wear and look however you want to look. If you wanna be presenting as male, in a dress, then go ahead. It's when you make crossdressing a joke as in you are purposefully trying to make it seem as if it's actually not something men should do, then THAT is offencive..Do what you want to.

[belligerent]

It sounds like you're doing it for good reasons (love of the character and series, wanting to meet other fans, etc) so anybody who would be offended will possibly be irrationally so. As Jei-Cos mentions, if you were doing it to make it seem like crossdressing itself is a joke or that people shouldn't do it, then people might have a legitimate beef with that...but do what you want and have fun. I wouldn't worry about it.

As for people being uncomfortable, usually at cons, people don't really care if you're crossplaying or not. It's REALLY common.

[DerZeroCosplayt]

Originally Posted by builder396

Well, this kind of process just takes a lot of time. Some people simply fear what they dont understand, I once met a rather extreme person on the internet in that regard, although it had little to do with sexual orientation or transgender.

The thing is that at least to me it seems that many MtF cosplayers really question their sexuality or gender identity.... I rarely meet a perfectly straight, yet convincing, "perfect" crossplayer.....and that somehow unnerves me.....

Don't consider me homophobic, but does gender identity really matter when it comes to "crossplay"? I feel like an idiot for being confident in my gender identity, because on the first glance it seems that there's a majority of "real life" crossdressers or transitioning people in the crossplay community, when in fact, they are not a majority, but a minority, but the "cis"-people don't publically talk about "underwear", as crossdresser or transgender people would do. There was even one complete community that was shut down because in the end, all talks revolved around transgender, and the crossplay content was down to under 2%.....
So why do so many "discussions" and "communities" eventually turn into Crossdressing and Transgender topics, when this (according to definitions) should be a "side note", when it comes to crossplay (imho)