Tag: crossdressing

Categories
cosplay

The Line Behind

Next week is Otakon! This week I’ve been making plans and most importantly deciding on what cosplays to wear for each day. I’ve got my new Kyoko Sakura to bring and my Mamimi since I like her and FLCL is a thing again. But the night outfits got a good part of my focus today and some thoughts about how far I’ve come in cosplaying after 10 plus years of it!

For Friday and Saturday night I’m planning my Dorothy from The Wiz Live and Rei cosplays Tae Takemi from Persona 5. Neither one of these costumes would necessarily be recognized as cosplay by the casual observer. It seems that I’ve firmly and decisively crossed the line between crossplaying and crossdressing! Meh, the line was always pretty blurry anyway, but now I don’t even care anymore. I just want to have fun!

Categories
Anime, Manga, Etc cosplay

Anime Hoes, Myth, and Crossplay

I’ve followed the crossplay forum on Cosplay.com for a number of years now, and not surprisingly, the majority of the cosplayers there female. Many, if not most cite their reason for crossplaying as being because most of the female anime characters wear skimpy, slutty costumes. And this is often used as a way to assuage fears that their parents may have about crossplay. But casting the women and girls of anime as bitches and hoes is not only inaccurate, it’s something of an insult to the growing number of male fans who choose to cross the line and cosplay them.

The majority of the dresses, skirts, school and military uniforms are relatively tame. Cute, yes, slutty, mostly not. Even the uniforms of the eroge game, Bible Black, are fairly modest. Indeed, the costumes of one of the most popular series for MtF crossplay, the Touhou PC games, are quite modest. And the character personalities run the same range as male characters in my opinion.

The denigration of these characters to justify FtM crossplay just plays into the worst gender stereotypes which generally prefer the masculine over the feminine. It’s always better to be a tomboy than a sissy in that mindset. Which is quite sad because those of us who choose to crossplay female characters often do so, not only for a love of the character, but a love of the female form and feminine characteristics.

We all have both male and female characteristics. Crossplay gives us a way to have some more fun with our “other” and just maybe understand it a little better.

Categories
Anime, Manga, Etc cosplay

Oh My!: A thinking man’s guide to crossplay

Oh My!: A thinking man's guide to crossplay
Oh My!: A thinking man's guide to crossplay
Oh My!: A thinking man's guide to crossplay
Oh My!: A thinking man’s guide to crossplay

Over the last couple of years, I’ve noticed increased interest in the how to’s of male to female crossplay. After participating in many of these online discussions over the years and contributing what I’ve learned from my own experiences, I was inspired to write a comprehensive little guide! (Click here to download for Nook, Kindle and iPad versions coming soon!)

This is for any guy who has thought that they might want to dress up in drag for Halloween, or perhaps has been tempted to cosplay as Sailor Moon at an anime convention. I think it hits all of the important bases with straight talk and a bit of humor. There’s a lot of information spread all over the web which makes it hard to get a handle on things if you’re just beginning. So I hope this guide will be a gateway to what I think is one of the most fun and rewarding forms of cosplay.

Update: The Kindle version just went live! Click here to download.

Categories
cosplay

Crossplay Tutorial

Several months ago, in a dazzling display of anonymous collaboration, a cheat sheet of male to female crossplay advice was compiled on the /cgl/ board of 4chan. I contributed the tip about using a feminine body wash!

It looks like the original host is no longer available, so I figured I’d put a copy here (click for full size). I’m not sure if all of the links are current as of your reading this, but the advice for MtF crossplay should be useful for anyone embarking upon this most challenging form of cosplay. Thanks again to everyone who contributed and organized this cheat sheet!

Crossplay Tutorial Graphic
Crossplay Tutorial (Male to Female)

Update: With all of the interest in this subject, I was inspired to write a more comprehensive beginner’s guide. Oh My!: A thinking man’s guide to crossplay

Categories
Anime, Manga, Etc

Yubisaki Milk Tea Volume 8 Arrives Early

I’d been waiting for this a long time, so I was quite happy to find Yubisaki Milk Tea Volume 8 on the shelf at Borders in the Loop on Tuesday, a week earlier than expected. So I bought a copy and quickly digested the double volume sized manga. It did not disappoint. It’s full of the same fan service, taboo busting, cross dressing goodness that anyone who’s followed the series has come to expect. This is not for kids, each copy is shrink wrapped for very good reasons!

This volume actually contains Japanese volumes 8 and 9. And the series has already reached its conclusion in Japan earlier this month. I wonder if that might have been the reason for moving up the release date here in the U.S.? Scanlations of the series up to chapter 69 have been around in the usual places for years now since the series went on hiatus. The new TokyoPop release covers chapters 57 through 74. With the series coming to an end in Japan, there may be new interest here, so moving quickly is probably a good idea before everyone reads it online. Even if you’ve read the scans, please show your support for Tomochika-san and the industry by buying a copy!

After two years waiting for volume 8 and now four years since I started reading the series (my 2006 post here), I’m happy to have this fat little volume in my hands! Thanks TokyoPop! ^__^  I hope I won’t have to wait as long to see the conclusion.