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[BlondieSundae]

Originally Posted by tifaia

There's nothing wrong with gender-bending. People can cosplay as they see fit. If their reason to gender-bend is to make a sexy costume, that's their choice. If it's because all of the female characters in a show/game/movie are lame and the men are dominant figures, that's fine if they want to transform them. It's not our place to judge a person on how they wish to cosplay.

I plan to do a femme-version with a costume group that we're working on for a few reasons: 1. I am not an 8 year old boy. 2. I don't have the body of an 8 year old boy. 3. I can only bind so much before it really becomes painful, and I still have chesticles. 4. I think my idea will be very true to the character, and cute at the same time.

I'm not doing it in order to "slut up" an outfit. It's for me, my enjoyment, and my comfort. People will still be able to clearly recognize the character, but it won't be done in a manner to make it intentionally full of skin. When done well, gender-bending can be fantastic: http://www.cosplay.com/photo/2810140/

None of these seem slutty, they all look well done and the one's that does show skin have a good reason for showing it. (Like the female Kratos.... the original costume hasn't much and a god of war doesn't want a long ass toga dress getting in her way)

[Lurrdoc]

It's up to whoever genderbends' decision as to how to go about making an opposite gendered version of the character - costume, hair and all. I will admit, doing it for revealing skin or sexiness without anything official or unlike the character at all isn't something I like, but I don't complain about it. It's a creative endeavor that they wish to pursue. If that's your peeve, ignore it. In this case, live and let live. It is their own fault, however, if people can't recognize the cosplay they are doing.

I myself want to crossplay as Tsubaki Yayoi, because I truly love her character. The only problem with that would be that I don't have a feminine enough face to crossplay her so the next option would be to genderbend cosplay. People genderbend because they like a character of the opposite sex, but feel cannot give the character the true form they want to portray using they're own bodies. I think so long as you can tell who the character is and if they stay in character, it'll be a good genderbent cosplay.

[WinryRockbell18]

Can anyone help me out. What is a "JPeg?"

[Bisected8]

Originally Posted by WinryRockbell18

Can anyone help me out. What is a "JPeg?"

I thing you mean a .jpeg or .jpg. It's a type of image file.

That's a bit off topic though....

[Eau de Decus]

Originally Posted by Riku-Risa

I came to think.. personally I'm sick and tired of people making "gender-bender cosplays" of a character, where there is no reason at all to do so, but showing skin..

Two things there. Why do you boil it down to just showing skin? You don't know their reasoning and I doubt you literally asked them why they did that gender-bender cosplay, considering the fact that you "are sick and tired" of them. There are plenty of reasons to do one, you know? So, don't just assume.

If you're sick of them, ignore them. There, that seemed pretty simple right? Gender-pending isn't my cup of tea either (i.e. I would never do it), but I'm not going to "rain on someone's parade" because of my own personal viewpoints. That's just silly (and hypocritical). Live and let live.

[Riku-Risa]

Originally Posted by Eau de Decus

Two things there. Why do you boil it down to just showing skin? You don't know their reasoning and I doubt you literally asked them why they did that gender-bender cosplay, considering the fact that you "are sick and tired" of them. There are plenty of reasons to do one, you know? So, don't just assume.

If you're sick of them, ignore them. There, that seemed pretty simple right? Gender-pending isn't my cup of tea either (i.e. I would never do it), but I'm not going to "rain on someone's parade" because of my own personal viewpoints. That's just silly (and hypocritical). Live and let live.

Wow chill dude o_o" "sick and tired" is the only translation for "død træt"(in Danish) but I guess the sentence gets stronger in English.
I wrote: when they do it just to show skin; by that I mean those which only reason is to show skin - I do know some people have other reasons, and I didn't said anything about that. This thread was not a "come on attack my opinion" thread, but a "give me your opinion cause I wanna know" thread.. No need to feel so offended o_o

[Hakkari]

Sometimes there's just no physically comfortable way to crossplay a character. I'm actually planning a sort of gender-bend of Illidan Stormrage from Warcraft, cause, well, he's shirtless and eats steroids for breakfast lol.

But yeah, if someone's doing it just to show more skin, it's kind of annoying. I wouldn't say stop it, but there's really a classy, artful way to do it xD;

[Officer Boris]

People often gender bend a character because they love that character but aren't comfortable cross playing as them. Personally, I don't mind a gender bent cosplay. In fact, I can really appreciate them if they're done well.

What irks me most is when people use it as a chance to slut up their character and completely deviate from the original design. It's pointless and bothersome. Alternatively, I get bothered when crossplayers fail to bind, and it's more like a lazy gender bend. Mild rant aside, gender bends can be really cool, just use your head before doing it.

[Shirayuki~Chan]

I like genderbending characters. On the picture site "zerochan" there are a lot of semi-official gender bent characters that I want to cosplay! Also, I only cosplay girls, the only way I'll cosplay a guy is if they're gender bent or if they're crosplaying themselves. It's personal preference, some people only crossplay and some people will only cosplay their genders. I see nothing wrong with either.

[TheJasmineErin]

Some gender-bends are cool, creative, and I enjoy them, and some just don't make sense. But if someone likes doing it, then it doesn't really matter.

Some people like a certain character but can't -or won't- crossplay, so they genderbend, which I think is just fine. It is annoying that there are more male-to-female gendermends then female-to-male, but oh well. I'll just stick to crossplaying.

[Stina006]

Originally Posted by doxiequeen1

I'd rather see a good gender bend then a bad crossplay, if that makes any sense.

BUT 90% of the time girls just use "gender bend" to slutty up the mens default outfit, and that really bothers me. It comes of as lazy and slutty and is somewhat pathetic.

If the character your gender bending isn't slutty, your outfit shouldn't be.

But I do like gender bend versions that are really creative while still being recognizable, or if they are official like this, or this.

Wasn't aware that those genderbends of Haruhi were official : O
I think all genderbends are going to run the risk of looking either lazy or slutty, sometimes you just can't win.
Unless it's with an official version like you posted

[Eau de Decus]

Originally Posted by Riku-Risa

Wow chill dude o_o" "sick and tired" is the only translation for "død træt"(in Danish) but I guess the sentence gets stronger in English.

Always have been chill. ^_-

Sick and tired is a fairly strong phrase when used in English. At least in the US that is to say.

[Gummibar]

If you want to change the gender, that's your business. It's never been an issue with me. I wouldn't do it personally, cause it seems unnecessary since most of the characters I cosplay are girls...and whenever I do crossplay, I enjoy being a guy to much too change it up. XD

[Cosplay_Rose]

I'm sure whatever I have to say has already been said, but I'll contribute to this conversation anyway, since I genderbend characters.

I don't mind genderbends as long as they're not an excuse to "slut it up" and they actually keep the character's personality in mind. Other than that, as long as their not running around screaming "I'M FEMALE [character]!" at the top of their lungs, or getting pissy because they're not recognized, they're not ruining my good time, and I have no reason or want to ruin theirs.

That said, everyone else has the same right to dislike genderbends, but same rules apply, keep it to yourself, don't ruin anyone else's good time, especially if you're not ruining yours. And if simply seeing a genderbent character legitimately ruins your good time, you have more issues than just disliking genderbent characters.

There's definitely a double-standard when it comes to gender-bending characters though. Female characters portrayed as male (by actual men) seems to be generally more accepted than male characters as females.

[Tabby-chan]

i love genderbender art pieces like drawings and such. as far as cosplay goes however i love it as long as the cosplay stays true to the character. such as if someone made a female light from death note, i cant see a miniskirt and a top showing off the belly and a tie :/ lol but i can see a female version of the school uniform he wears. so as long as the cosplay resembles the character i say go for it, just dont spin way off of the original designe so much that it looks completely random.