Femboy Cosplay is a type of cosplay where the person dresses up as a feminized male character. This can be done by either wearing traditionally female clothing and accessories or by exaggerating certain masculine features to make them look more feminine.
There are many different ways to do Femboy Cosplay, and it can be a lot of fun for both genders.
What is Femboy Cosplay?
Femboy, or FTM (Female To Male), cosplaying refers to the act of men dressing up as feminine characters. This can be anything from simply wearing an outfit similar to the character’s clothes, or it can be dressing up as the actual character.
The history of FTM cosplay dates back to before conventions even existed! Back in the “olden days,” if you wanted to dress up, you had to use your own closet and come up with a way for your outfit to resemble that of the characters.
Femboy Cosplay made a big splash in the convention scene after conventions such as Anime Matsuri and Yaya Han’s Empress event came about. This allowed for men to cosplay whatever characters they wanted without having to be afraid of judgment from friends and others around them, given their history with how society used to look down on men dressing up as women.
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In 2002, one of the first known cosplayers to do a femboy version of a character was Undyne from the now-canceled PGSM anime. In 2011, GoldenbOM wrote an article about how he cosplayed as Ryuko Matoi from Kill La Kill and received threats for it online.
These days, FTM cosplay is more popular than ever before, and there are tons of amazing femboy cosplayers to follow online.
How to Create a Femboy Cosplay Look
Creating a femboy version of a character you want to cosplay isn’t too hard if it’s one that can be found in your closet or that you have the ability to buy online. For example, if you want to cosplay as Fem!Mako from Kill La Kill, all you’ll need is a red wig and some simple clothing items such as knee-high boots or shorts.
A lot of it depends on the character, though. If you’re going for someone like Ryuko Matoi, you’ll have to wear high heels, leggings that may need to be custom-made, so they fit right, and a muscle suit for the abs.
Top 10 Femboy Cosplayers to Follow on Instagram
If you’re new to the cosplay community and would like to see some amazing Femboy Cosplay, check out these 10 Instagram accounts! They all have at least 100k followers, so they are definitely worth following.
@gd_cosplay – George Daniels
George Daniel is a cosplayer from the UK who has been living in Japan for over 5 years now. You can find him as both male and female cosplays.
@marcoskoga – Marcos Koga
Marcos is a well-known crossdresser from Japan who has been in the cosplay scene for over 10 years now! He organizes events with other cosplayers, which you can find on his Instagram.
@lady_saphir – Aemilia
Aemilia is a top FTM cosplayer and has been in the scene for over 10 years. She’s best known for doing many character designs that can be seen in games such as Hearthstone online and League of Legends.
@mary_kyou – Mary Kyouno
Mary is a well-known cosplayer in the FTM community. She’s been attending conventions for over 12 years now and has many different types of costumes from both male and female characters.
@torisarashi – Tori
Tori is a gorgeous Femboy Cosplayer from Los Angeles who has been attending conventions for over 7 years now. He also cosplays male characters and is seen at various conventions such as Anime Expo and Yama-Con.
@kirifosh – Kiri Fosh
Kiri has only been in the scene for about 2 years but has already gained over 50 thousand followers! She’s well known for her flawless femboy cosplay of characters such as Mikasa Ackerman from Attack on Titan and Ryuko Matoi from Kill La Kill.
@jevsos – Jeremy Oshii
Jeremy has been in the scene for over 10 years and is well known for his FTM cosplays of Edward Elric. He often draws anime artwork that can be found on his Instagram as well.
@thedranart – TheDrAnArt
TheDrAnArt is a very well-known cosplayer and artist from the FTM community. He’s been in the scene for over 10 years now and has even worked with companies such as Blizzard Entertainment on Hearthstone cards.
@femboy_nate – Nate
Nate is a pretty well-known cosplayer from the FTM scene. He has been in the community for over 10 years and is best known for doing Femboy versions of characters such as Kakyoin from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and Armin from Attack on Titan.
@josiah_cosplay – Josiah Graham
Josiah is a well-known cosplayer from the community. He’s big on the FTM scene and has been attending conventions for over 9 years now. He makes some unique Femboy versions of characters such as Madoka Kaname from Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist.
What are the Most Popular Femboy Cosplay Costumes?
The most popular Femboy Cosplay costumes seem to be based on characters from anime and video games. Some of the most popular costumes include characters like Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist, Ash Ketchum from Pokémon, and Link from The Legend of Zelda.
These costumes are very popular because of the way that they challenge traditional conceptions of gender. Typically, these characters are presented as male; however, the Femboy Cosplay costume subverts this by presenting them as female. By doing so, it questions what society considers to be feminine and masculine.
For example, Ash Ketchum is a male character from the Pokémon franchise. However, it wouldn’t be too difficult to turn this into a female cosplay if one wanted to challenge traditional conceptions of gender.
How to Find Events Where You Can Cosplay as a Femboy
If you’re looking to cosplay as a Femboy, there are a few events that you can attend. Here are some of the largest events in North America that have a large Femboy following:
- Anime Expo – Los Angeles, CA
- Yama-Con – Chattanooga, TN
- ACEN – Rosemont, IL
- Katsucon – National Harbor, MD
Further events can be found on websites such as Cosplay.com and Eventbrite.com; however, they will be specific to your country.
In Conclusion
No matter what your opinion on femboy cosplay maybe, it’s definitely something that is worth talking about. What do you think about this emerging trend?
Side Note: For collaborating with cosplay models for photoshoots or events, you can get in touch with SnowDragon via Instagram.