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Dragon*Con Genderbend Roundup

Agent Carter and Captain America from Marvel – Photo by Bruce Press

Genderbending – Altering a character’s depiction to have it suit a member of the opposite gender.

I like genderbend cosplay a lot. I may have done a post or two about it in the past. I love the creativity that goes into re-imagining the characters and costumes, I appreciate the skill that goes into their creation, and I enjoy the inherent commentary on our society that they carry with them.

The very fact that genderbending is a thing draws attention to standards of dress and the depiction of gender in fiction. However, its done as a celebration of a character rather so it doesn’t end up being grumpy. Its fun and often funny, and comedy is often the best form of commentary.

This year I had the pleasure of attending Dragon Con last weekend, a massive celebration of fandoms too diverse and dorky to list. I made it a mission to collect as many genderbend costumers as possible. Sadly my little phone could not keep up, so I’ve missed more than a few. Below are the ones I could catch. If anyone can identify the people, I’d love to give them credit. If anyone has more examples, please link to them in the comments and I’ll try to keep this up to date.

Apologies in advance for the quality of some of my phonetography.

 

Asassins Creed

Handsome Jack, Tiny Tina, and Mordecai from Borderlands
Handsome Jack, Tiny Tina, and Mordecai from Borderlands (Jack and Mordecai are the Rees Sisters)
Psycho from Borderlands
Psycho from Borderlands
Siren and Psycho from Borderlands
Siren and Psycho from Borderlands
Captain America and Thor from Marvel
Captain America and Thor from Marvel
Probably Darth Maul. Possibly another character and not a genderbend at all.
Probably Darth Maul. Possibly another character and not a genderbend at all.
Drax the Destroyer from Guardians of the Galaxy
Drax the Destroyer from Guardians of the Galaxy
Han Solo from Star Wars
Han Solo from Star Wars
Phoenix, Jubilee and Psylocke of the X-men
Phoenix, Jubilee and Psylocke of the X-men
Vash the Stampede from Trigun
Vash the Stampede from Trigun
Lady Link with Prince Zelda
Lady Link with Prince Zelda
Quicksilver and Scarlette Witch from Marvel
Quicksilver and Scarlette Witch from Marvel
Weiss and Yang from RWBY
Weiss and Yang from RWBY
Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII
Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII
Agent Carter and Captain America from Marvel - Photo by Bruce Press
Agent Carter and Captain America from Marvel – Photo by Bruce Press
Avatar Cora, dubbed Korabeard by Kieger on imgur.
Avatar Cora, dubbed Korabeard by Kieger on imgur.
Princess Peach from Mario Brothers.
Princess Peach from Mario Brothers – Inappropriately sexifying characters, not just for ladies anymore. Thanks Aedan!

Ryan

Ryan is a professional nerd, teaching engineering in the frozen north. Somewhat less professionally, he is a costumer, author, blacksmith, juggler, gamer, serial enthusiast, and supporter of the Oxford comma. He can be found on twitter and instagram @studentofwhim. If you like what I do here, feel free to leave a tip in my tipjar.

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9 Comments

  1. I don’t think you can count the Assassin’s Creed cosplayers as genderbends as they are not dressed in the costumes of the male assassins from any of the games. There were plenty of women assassins, but with the exception of the main character in Liberation and the up coming Syndicate, none were playable. In AC2 all the assassins, male and female alike, wore similar outfits.

  2. One exception to the previous statement, the woman on the far right may be in a costume similar to the winter wear outfit from the AC2 expansion. The others may be based on main characters, I may need to do another play through to verify 🙂

  3. While I would like to lambaste you for your pedantry, but that would be grossly hypocritical.

    Instead, I will admit that I was wrongish, and then leave the picture up because I was a little bit right and they were awesome.

  4. Christie! That’s awesome. Page linked and liked.

    Aedan, the link you shared isn’t working. Is it public?

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