Hey guys! I want to address and clarify a few things: 1. I chose Femscout as my main example because it’s the costume of mine that has gotten the most exposure. This means it had the largest number of Feminization comments to pull from. However I’d like to make it clear that Scout is not the only one I’ve received these comments on. The predominantly male TF2 characters I’ve cosplayed have all received these types of comments to different extents and frequency. Scout was just the easiest to pull from (and record in). I probably should have included comments from my other cosplays (hindsight 20/20) but I had hoped that the comments I included from Saxton Hale would do the same job. 2. Yes, I have a pony tail and yes Femscout has a ponytail (FemSniper as well). And I can understand some people thinking that ponytail = FemScout but what about a guy with one or with long hair? I’ve known my fair share of Scout’s with that and they don’t get questioned if they’re doing FemScout. Some have said I should hide my hair, which means I either wear a wig (which I have stated why I don’t and wouldn’t be worth it for this costume) or I hide my hair in the hat, the latter of which would be very uncomfortable to do considering the length/thickness of my hair combined with a headset that’s very tight to wear. I’m a firm believer that TF2 cosplay is very accessible to everyone regardless of their physical features. Saying I have to hide personal features of myself contradicts that belief. 3. All my interactions with fellow TF2 cosplayers have been positive. They’re a legitimately great corner of the community. It’s assumed that these online comments likely come from people who do not participate in the community/hobby or are even familiar with it.
@@wanttoseea3892 The TF2 Community does not care about what Gender one is when Cosplaying. People have cosplayed as TF2 Characters for years, and nobody batted an eye at how the cosplayer was a guy or a girl. (Matter of fact, the Community finds it more humorous than insulting.) The fact that you try making this all about Gender Politics tells me more about _YOU_ than it does about the TF2 community as a whole.
You'd be right on the last one. The Commenters who are against Women cosplaying as TF2 Characters usually turned out to have NOT played TF2 at all. They just look at the art work and just say "You have to be accurate". Those kinds of people, I feel, should not be listened to. They never played TF2 at all, or actually been a part of the community in the last odd decade or so. Matter of fact, if Gender truly was so important to TF2, we wouldn't have Fem-versions of the characters on the community servers... And especially not fem-versions of the TF2 teams all across the Gmod and SFM workshops. Those exist because people like them... And their ratings show how Positively people accept those versions. So if anything, those whining about your Cosplay? They either are those trying to start nonsense in the TF2 Community, or are just trolls... Which can sometimes be one and the same. This is how "Infiltrators" start to make a game decline, they basically turn up, spin a fake outrage narrative that _hopefully (for them)_ creates enough of a stink to force the developers to bend the knee to those people... Which only feeds their ego and causes them to shift the goalposts again and again until eventually, the Game Developers cannot cater to them anymore, the Loyal fans have long since abandoned the game, and the ones who crafted the outrage have abandoned the community... Much like Locusts having torn up what was once a lush and fertile land of produce. This is why I have a habit of calling such people "Locusts", or "Parasites", because that is what they are. I much rather just ignore those Parasites because that is all that they want, someone to create such a stink that the devs believe they are forced to act in ways that they should not.
Some people are just weird honestly. The first time you posted your scout cosplay, I didn’t think “Oh, she’s cosplaying the femscout” I could tell right away that you were dressed as scout.
Same thing applies to being black and cosplaying a non black character, people will just be like "Your cosplay doesn't work because your black" and it's actually so FRUSTRATING
Same thing happens to almost anyone cosplaying a character when they aren’t the character’s race, gender, age, body shape, etc.(example: white person cosplaying a non-white, or in your case black cosplaying non-black, Asian cosplaying non-Asian, the list goes on hehe) like bruv, it’s cosplay?? People need to calm down and let others have fun. Sorry you have to deal with idiots.
I once saw a black dude cosplaying Alucard from Hellsing and I wasn't thinking "oh my god! he's black!", it was "holy shit this dude is massive" as he stood at a solid 7 feet tall.
If a guy is allowed to wear a skirt, cat ears, and other female clothing because they wanna dress up as their favorite anime waifu, then I don't see the problem if a girl wants to dress up as Macho Man Randy Savage.
@@kaylemathewcomendador6964 Nowadays it's the inverse where effeminate males or masc-presenting people get fetishized to oblivion. It's not a problem to have a type or preference at all, it's just I see many "femboy" characters (or just the femboy label as expression) being reduced to hypersexuality.
Man if that was how it worked the Naruto fandom would be so full of trans boys, given how many girls I've seen cosplay Naruto and Sasuke to record clips of themselves kissing to fuel the Sasunaru side of everything. (the fact that it's even A Thing still floors me)
cosplayers receive a lot flak for not LITERALLY BEING THE SAME RACE/GENDER/HEIGHT/WEIGHT as their characters. I hosted a TF2 meet up at anime los angeles and we got great pictures and had a lot of fun. but people online were roasting on the demo man for not black, the scout for being a girl, and the medic being asian (that's me). Online, the pictures and group received a good amount of love, but also a few criticisms about physical features we couldn't control. It's dumb because it's cheap pot shots. we can't live up to impossible expectations as skymin says. our cosplays were on point but ughh people always have something to nitpick I hate that among gamers/nerds (no hate, cus I am one too), there's a loud minority behind a screen that lack social etiquette and aren't afraid to flame people who share their cosplays online
Hello! i was the scout at your meetup! i had a great time, in fact im NOT a girl and that just confuses me even more, despite this however no one should be called out for being NOT EXACTLY LIKE THE CHARACTER! i agree its really dumb
Being called Femscout is not flak, not an insult. It's just a name, that is justified because the feminine equivalent of the characters in TF2 do not exist in the original game.
The weirdest thing is that there is an actual (fanmade) female version of the scout, and she looks different enough from the male version that it’s clear which one someone is cosplaying.
here's a funny story i once heard. this didn't happen to me, and i don't know this individual personally, but someone was cosplaying miss pauling in a convention. they were at the top of the stairs, and a scout cosplayer showed up. the miss pauling cosplayer said "hi" and the scout cosplayer leaned against the railing, said "hey miss pauling" and then fell down the stairs. she never found out if the scout cosplayer was doing that intentonally as part of the scout roleplay or not.
REAL. Especially if they’re trying to call you a slur and misspell/typo it. It’s hilarious. (For clarification, slurs aren’t funny, I’m speaking from experience when people have tried to call me slurs and can’t spell them correctly. I start cackling lol)
@@user-bx3kz9sp8p Another classic is spelling the word correct but managing to pick a word that is not the one they wanted. I ran into someone talking about an amendment to their country's constitution and going "THEY'RE RIPPING THE CONSTITUENCY APART" two days ago and it made me impersonate a hyena.
Getting labeled with things you’re actively trying to not be put into is incredibly frustrating (especially being labelled as trans just because you aren’t conveniently feminine) Good on you for doing this, because making something about a pent up frustration without coming off as a douche isn’t easy.
Don't let it scare you away! I know it's hard to but try to pay no attention to this sort of stuff. Do it for yourself. Do it because you want to and enjoy it.
I understand the fear to cosplay due to the bad kind of criticism and attention. I strive for accuracy and wanting to look as natural as possible but honestly, the experience of putting together a costume is so fun and you should try to fight the negativity. Surround yourself with other people you know and can trust with cosplays. There are plenty of great guys and gals that can make cosplaying less scary and more fun to engage in as a hobby!
Thank you for speaking about this issue in the tf2 community. I faced the same problem with my own Scout costume because I was apparently "too short" and "too chubby" to cosplay as him. Since when did dressing up as a fictional character mean you have to look exactly like them? Let people have fun in the communities that bring them joy! Great video!
ofc itz always like them yapping that "you should cosplay (female character) instead" or "you can't cosplay as a man!! grrr!!" like stfu let me dress up as silly robot engineer ALSO, I’m surprised that no one knew I’m a girl when cosplaying a *””male””* character. I mean, I’m glad that I wasn’t assumed as the robot femgineer despite having a feminine body shape (since yeah, I was cosplaying him as is), but my gender gets assumed alot n that sux :(
I am a guy and I never even realised this. I had always seen female mercs as new characters as oposed to genderbends in general. For instance, to me I had always imagined the cut female spy design as a spanish femme-fatal, while the fem scout designs look a tad more serious than our current scout is. And Granny demo dosn't look like she drinks, like at all. In the end people should dress as what they want as long as it's not harming anyone, including themselves.
I used to love cosplaying TF2 because anyone could be the characters. There could be multiples of the characters and your face, body, race, gender didn’t have to be the same as the character. I used to cosplay Medic, even though I’m Asian. You should be able to cosplay any character you want.
I still remember when a poor girl posted a medic cosplay on the reddit,just her in a normal 1 to 1 costume of the medic without any changes to make it more feminine or "sexy",and the community acted so weird about it she had to take down the post. I really hope she's doing better now and didn't give up on cosplaying..
@@nightowl5332 OP: "-just her in a normal 1 to 1 costume of the medic without any changes to make it more feminine or "sexy" " You: "if it's about being horny then its her fault too" look me in the ass and tell me you being fr rn chief
My favourite thing about the scout bag complaint is scout canonically doesn't wear a bag a lot like in expiration date and the comics. So yes it is still an accurate scout it isn't welded onto his skin
Speaking as a Touhou cosplayer who is still a bit masculine looking… cosplaying as 2hus outside of Touhou spaces have been pain. I’ve definitely gotten lot of stares while at conventions. But man, I just wanna cosplay as a cool female character with a cute dress. Living in Bible Belt, I can’t wear dresses that often.
12 years cosplayer veteran from Thailand here, yes this community is...indeed very toxic. Not to mention the creepy stalker, the critique, and other types of toxic people in this community.
Going to get in here early and say thank you for the opportunity to be a part of this video :) I know people with have opinions on the topic but I'm proud of you for talking about it as I know it isn't easy :) I absolutely adore the TF2 cosplay community and I am so happy it's still around and actually growing and thriving even after all this time You look incredible in all of your cosplays and I cant wait to see what you create next (Not sure there's anything that can quite top Francis the talking France though) 💖💖💖
And then those people wonder why they "can't talk to girls". Maybe if they talked to them like they were fellow human beings rather than mythical creatures or subhumans they wouldn't have so much trouble?
Friendly reminder that the voice actor of Miss Pauling made a video years ago where she cosplayed as every TF2 character, simple times where nobody object...
It's honestly a problem for both sides. While women cosplaying men often face harasment , men cosplaying woman are treated like jokes no matter what the intention of the cosplay was
100% Not a woman but have interacted with the scene a bit and the general reaction to female cosplayers is pretty bad Not dressed up slutty enough - You should choose a more revealing cosplay Dressed up in too revealing cosplay - Ughh there just trying to get attention from horny men Like I get it , Ive seen to many Low effort cosplays of succubus's getting attention from some truly amazing cosplays (Mainly at Japanese events tbf) But a cosplay can be both revealing ( meant to draw a viewers gaze in a sexual way ) and high effort And don't get me started on the entire boys cosplay vs girls cosplay shit - Boys cosplay is better because MEN -Girls cosplay is inferior because WAHMEN
@@Crainiac0_0he's British, idk what makes him brave. British people do this all the time, and they're barely brave. Having nuance is the true mark of bravery.
As a female, i too would love to cosplay as more male characters. I cosplayed as Wrench from Watchdogs 2 and nobody knew that i was a chick. It was fun.
Cosplaying as a trans woman has it's own difficulties. I mean, I can barely play the game without getting kicked from the match simply for existing, but then i get EXTRA judged by people for wanting to cosplay male characters because inherently they see me as different to cis women, like somehow just because I changed my gender im now just not allowed to present as the opposite one in COSTUME???? It's so stupid
That's a problem you have to deal with cause you chose to be that. You can't force people to accept something that affects them when you are present. It comes off has ungenuine and selfish.
@mothichorror446 we have to completely change the way we speak for you, and talking about anything is a minefield. We have to be nice to ya, or else we instantly get demonized.
I had the same damn reaction when I was cosplaying as RED Scout at my local convention as a tween 😭 I feel your pain. Amazing scout cosplay by the way!!
Honestly communities will always put a high expectation for you to look a certain way when cosplaying anything and will get mad instantly when seeing something out of place, Whether it be your sex or your skin color.🐱
It always facilitated me how people think it's necessary to draw these artificial lines and boundaries to whether or not you are "allowed" to cosplay something This whole video covered the gender aspect, but theres probably a similar discussion to be made about races and body types So uuuh... just let people have fun with silly costumes
i feel like cosplay consistently has an issue with knowing of the individual doing the cosplay and the cosplay itself, which can be pretty demeaning when people's individuality is ignored because it's 'part of the cosplay', but the real takeaway is that scout's short sleeves are rolled up.
Every male in a six mile radius defaulting to "heh, I'm not like those weirdos, I respect women! Of course I still view every woman as a potential partner but still!! I'm not a superficial creep like other guys...btw what's your socials let's be besties teehee"
Tbh I feel like most of the people who get mad about you doing this are transphobes. If we lived in a polite society, these chucklefucks would be banished to the woods expeditiously.
'...When I heard the first sentence, my anger was triggered... If a female cosplays as a male or a male cosplays as a female, it does not mean they're a feminine male or a masculine female. Cosplaying someone or something of another gender does not mean that that cosplay becomes gender-bent to fit the person cosplaying. Oh, this has triggered me today and will hope for the best that this will change. ' - Chrome
What did you expect? A costume doesnt change anyone elses sexuality... Thats also the reason, that i am not attracted to Trans-women, with beards (or without beards) XD
@@felixmeier3298 tf are you yapping about? If you don’t have the discipline to not be a sexual harasser I suggest you go to jail atleast theirs people who are more receptive of you in their.
@@augustuslunasol10thapostle Well, someone is grumpy... Shes still a girl, so some people will still be attracted to her, or make sexual remarks, thats just how some people are. How do you come to the conclusion i am one of them? Why imply that? Whats wrong with you? Thats f-d up dude... people have no chill...
@@augustuslunasol10thapostle how did you get 3 upvotes?! XD All i said is that people like that exist, and because she is a woman, she will get targeted by some s*xual comments, wich really isnt a surprise, we are on the internet. BUT I spoke about attraction and you confuse it with s*xual harassment XD Learn how to read and what different words mean... I am not for s*xual harassment and also never took part in it... smh... i wanted to make a point that people that cosplay as "men", dont change gender and people that harass them, dont care if she is dressed as a man.
Goddamn, man, no one deserves that level of harassment. This is a great response, honestly. Don't let the idiots and creeps of the internet get to you. They're everywhere, and some will NEVER understand or stop commenting, so it's best to just ignore them for the most part, because nothing you say will get through their thick skulls. Yeah, you have some incredible cosplays. I've always seen your RED Scout and BLU Medic with the Vintage Tyrolean cosplays the most, but MAN, I didn't know about the other characters you've done. That's honestly one of the coolest Saxton Hale cosplays I've seen, like, it doesn't even matter that you don't have the build. It's so damn creative and smart with the flesh-colored tank top and chest hair over it. It really makes me want to see you do the rest of the mercs in your own style. Especially Soldier, IDK if you've done him yet.
Thanks for making your thoughts heard on a platform as big as yours. This is a concept I've tried explaining to people in my own community and never felt like I could get through to folks.
Incredible insight on what it’s like to be a female cosplayer. This video did a great job coming of as informative instead of just ranting (though I could still tell this subject matters to you). Well done
The comments you shown on the video and the ones people are posting here really shows how infuriating it can be to just be a woman on the internet. These people do not understand the feeling of having to hear "You are just victmizing yourself" whenerver you talk about a problem or being afraid of creepy comments every time you post a photo of youself. People need to be more emphatic and go outside
It's honestly unfortunate that this behavior in the TF2 community is unsurprising to me. People should be able to cosplay what they want, and dress how they want just because they like a game. This is a really good video, and it's good that someone spoke up about this. Continue doing what you're doing.
the thing that frustrates me the most is that at the end of the day, cosplay is a form of self expression, and so many people forget that. like there's usually /some/ intent to go for accuracy when making a cosplay in general, but we do it for fun and because we like a character, regardless of if you are the same gender or race or skin tone or height or size. one of my favorite parts of cosplay is seeing all the different versions of a character by different people and the unique spins that were put on their designs n all that.
Being a woman in the TF2 community in general is frustrating. I always see players saying in the chat that 'women don't exist' and it's annoying. I know that it may be a joke, but it's still hurtful. Yes, there are female TF2 players. Yes, some of us may not be as good as most players. But guess what? There are male players who are also not good at the game. But I have fun even if I'm bad at the game. Even in 2024, there are still members in the TF2 community who are misogynistic. Not all of them are, obviously, but it doesn't make me feel safe. A few years ago, I was cyberbullied on a community server just for being a girl. They said the usual things. 'Go back to the kitchen', 'make me a sandwich'. And at some point, they went so far as to tell me to kill myself. It traumatized me so bad that I really was feeling suicidal. That's why for a long while, I would just play in practice mode. Nowadays, I do play on casual servers, and keep a low profile.
Sorry you had to go throw this, they probably just project those jokes and that additude towards women because they themselves never had a female friend or a girlfriend. It hurts to never have someone you can love, but that shouldn't poison other people's lies. I hope you'll have a great time at tf2
Yeah, I understand you. I’m a woman myself, and I’ve had to deal with men saying that “you can’t like TF2/Valve games, because you’re a woman!” It’s utter nonsense, because they don’t have girlfriends or female friends. The only women who want to get within 3 feet of them are their female relatives.
Tbh, this is kinda why I use a gender-neutral name or some silly name. Only 1 time I got someone asking if I was a girl but I didn't reply cuz I left the server asap after the match. Even when I used VC, never had a "is that a girl?!" in chat or VC
This lokey reminds of this one black guy who cosplayed Luffy. And people kept calling him monkey D. Instead of Luffy and when he called them out for being racist, they just got mad and said it's Luffys name
I agree with all you say! I've been down this route to. I like to wear dresses or normal clothes (as a guy) and people just don't have any kindness. "Your not manly enough" or "why don't you wear it constantly if ur gonna wear it". Since when did clothing have gender norms???
I'll admit, I was one of those people who just assumed that every tf2 cosplayer who was female was doing a fem cosplay. I think it was more because I couldn't tell the difference between the fem costumes and the original costumes. I just assumed based off the person's gender whether or not it was a fem cosplay. I also assumed that women cosplaying as male characters would be more comfortable as their female counterparts. Don't get me wrong, I am a TF2 player(at a measly 1000 hours), I am very familiar with each merc and what they look like. Thanks for talking about this! (p.s. Your Korra cosplay looks friggin amazing)
Just watched the most passive-aggressive Scout ever. Then again, you also swore and talked inhumanly quickly (I know it was sped up but I don't care) so 10/10. And good job on the swimming! I like all your cosplays and it's pretty clear regardless of gender that you're the OG version of the merc, sometimes with some cosmetics.
I quite agree with all that you said in the video. I'm a girl and I've been thinking about cosplaying as a scout for a while now... I just haven't done it due to lack of time to put it together and out of embarrassment, I was afraid that others were going to criticize me for it. On the other hand, I screamed "OMG RAZPUTIN" out of excitement when I saw your cosplay of the minute 8:59 ^^ it made me feel genuinely happy!
I've been in the TF2 community for almost 14 years now, starting when I was 14 myself, the community has gotten better with age, but some areas definitely do need to grow up a little.
Nah, this is a Cosplay problem than a TF2 problem. He'll most people don't even know about Fem scout. So when a female cosplays any Mercernary to them ots a genderbent cosplay.
It's great you've touched on this topic. I've seen a few controversies online where TF2 fans just go over the top in poking and harassing female cosplayers. Either directly or indirectly. It's something that does need to be addressed, as well as the lack of respect to female TF2 fans I have seen in general. Also - OH MY GOD that sun-on-a-stick prop is AMAZING- Did you make it yourself or was it commissioned. Because I NEED one!
this is honestly the first time ive heard about this type of problem tho im not really in the cosplay community as many others i normally stay out of it because if i cant take part of it i feel like i wouldnt be a very good part of the community if that makes sense i just like to admire when someone gets a character accurate or just what people make as a whole
As an AFAB non-binary person, it is IMPOSSIBLE for my to cosplay male characters without being labeled a “gender swap”. The downsides of have massive bazongas I guess 😭😭
COSPLAY IS FOR EVERYONE! that means gender, race, body type, etc. don't mean a thing when trying to cosplay a character. (or really, they shouldn't) Cosplay is fun, let people just have fun!
They’re boxing hand wraps. Please never use sports tape. It’s not reusable and doesn’t breathe. Boxing hand wraps are 100% the way to go because they’re made to be reusable and engineered properly stay on and be breathable.
9:00 WAIT, you're that Raz cosplayer!!! I've wanted to cosplay him for a while and I was sooo surprised to see so few cosplays for him. I remember looking at yours when I was searching for ideas on how to tackle his helmet. Never did cosplay him, but it's neat seeing you now that I'm into TF2!
God forbid a woman do anything, I guess 💀 The cosplay community can be so toxic in general tbh. The ONLY reason I haven't started doing cosplay is because I already know I'd get harassed for being Not White. Like I'm sure a lot of people in the community are actually pretty normal but I'd be a liar if I said there wasn't an extremely vocal group of losers that gatekeep their blorbos by attacking anyone who doesn't fit their exact idea as to what that type of person is "allowed" to cosplay them. Great video, also holy shit? Pseudoregalia BGM??? Incredible taste.
6:51 actually, you can! Not a very large one, but technically, hrt can allow you to grow one, if you want to. And there are also surgical options. But you don't need it to cosplay as TF2 characters. I am not much into TF2 lore, but I would be surprised if there are official souces stating the genitals of each character. So pp is exactly as lore-accurate as no pp. Though, It would be difficult to argue that you could gain the attribute of being from Boston, that late in life. At leqst in the way I assume you meant it in this case.
Could definitely feel ya channeling the scout here at 8:00 In all seriousness tho your cosplays are incredible, and I’m rather annoyed that this is a problem in the first place. I hope in the future we can endeavor to solve it tho. Hope ya have a nice day!
I don't understand how people say you are ugly or how you say you aren't attractive?? You look not only normal but very pretty! HOW CAN ANYONE SAY YOUR UGLY?? Im so confused
