The word “cosplay” evokes images of caped crusaders, beautiful princess and elaborate anime costumes. For the cosplayers of Central Massachusetts, cosplay is about creativity, community and even charitable giving.

“Cosplay is a play on words. The ‘cos’ part is short for costume and ‘play’ is just like acting. So cosplay is when you dress up as a character and act like the character in real life. It’s not just dressing up, it’s becoming the character,” said Morgan Parkhurst, of Oxford. She first discovered cosplay in 2009, when she researched anime online and discovered that there were anime conventions. Intrigued and interested in dressing up, Parkhurst attended her first Comic Con dressed as the vocaloid Miku Hatsune. After nine years of cosplaying, Parkhurst has attended Anime Boston, Another Anime Con (AAS), Pax East and Popcult Con, where she is the assistant to the con chair head, who created this convention. In addition, she attends cosplay meetups such as the Boston Japanese Festival. You can find her costumes on Instagram and Facebook under Platinum Princess Cosplay.

By day, Staci Ann Bebb, of Webster, works as a hairdresser, but during Comic Cons and local events, Bebb transforms (with the help of hours of hair extensions and makeup) into the Red Dahlia. The Red Dahlia is Bebb’s professional charity cosplay persona. As the Red Dahlia, Bebb dresses as notable comic book and movie heroes such as Kratos, Hell Girl, Darth Maul and Spider-Man. Her unique flair as a cosplayer is that she makes her own costumes, only dresses in red costumes and embodies characters who are usually male.

Like Bebb, Nic Luce, of Webster, was in high school when she became a part of the Comic Con universe. As a teenager, Luce had a high school friend who was a passionate cosplayer. Luce was not familiar with Comic Cons or cosplay but said she thought to herself, “That looks cool! I like Halloween. I like dressing up.” As a result, she donned her first costume, Tobi from Naruto, and attended her first Comic Con Boston event. The experience would become a lifelong passion for Luce, although she admits that she made a rookie mistake at her first Comic Con and waited in line for six hours because she did not pre-register. It was a mistake that she never made again!

Ever since she was a child, Amanda Barbosa (who goes by the name Amy B.), of Worcester, enjoyed playing anime video games and watching anime movies with her brother. She said sometimes she would wake up at 5 a.m., sneak the television on while everyone else was sleeping, and watch episodes of Inuyasha. Around 10 or 11 years old, Amy B. discovered the world of cosplay.

“When I found out about cosplay, I thought it was the coolest thing ever! I loved playing dress-up and no one would play dress-up with me, so I can play dress-up by myself.” Amy B.’s first costume was Hatsune Miku and her first Comic Con was Anime Boston. Finding support among those not into cosplay wasn’t always easy. Amy B. joked that, at first, her mother believed that cosplay was connected with Satanism.

Making the costumes is a time-consuming labor of love for most cosplayers, including Amy B., and it’s a huge part of the culture. “The satisfaction of it being complete and looking like you wanted is the best feeling in the world.” However, as someone who is prone to procrastination, Amy B. advises new cosplayers to plan their costumes far in advance of Comic Cons, leaving plenty of time to finish a costume, even if unexpected challenges arise during the creation process.

For Luce, part of the fun of cosplaying is making the costumes. As an artist herself, Luce said, “It is such an accomplished feeling – creating something and seeing people love it.” The dedication to make such complex costumes usually means Luce spends anywhere from a month or two to a year creating one costume. She begins by taking screenshots of official art, drawing preliminary sketches and then gathering her materials. After so many years of attending Comic Cons and so many costumes, it is hard for Luce to pick her favorite, but so far, she loves being Itachi from Narato, “I love it! To personify him, it is so rewarding.”

Parkhurst varies between sewing her own costumes and purchasing them, depending on how much time she has available before a Comic Con begins. She spent a year sewing her Elsa costume. Although beautiful, the Elsa costume required Parkhurst to tediously hand-cut and hand-sew 2,100 sequins on the bodice in order to achieve the effect that she wanted. One of her favorite Comic Con experiences came while donning the Elsa gown. While attending an event, a few little girls excitedly came up to Parkhurst. They kept pointing at her until their parents asked if the girls could take a picture with Elsa. Parkhurst recalls that the little girls were so happy that one of them hugged her and said, “Elsa, love you.”

“It made me feel warm and happy to have made the day of a few little girls,” Parkhurst said.

And sometimes, making others feel good is more than a happy accident. The Red Dahlia does not make a cent off attending Comic Cons. Instead, she volunteers to run booths. Additionally, she and her manager sell her prints and calendars to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Last year, Bebb further expanded her love of cosplay and charity work when she joined the Band of Heroes. The Band of Heroes is a group of 90 cosplayers from all over New England who dedicate their time and character performances to visit sick children in the hospital and raise money. The Red Dahlia – along with Disney princesses, Batman, Guardians of the Galaxy and a plethora of other comic book and movie stars – can be seen visiting making children smile and laugh from their hospital beds at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Hasbro Children’s Hospital.

“When somebody runs out of hope in a movie or comic book, they look toward super heroes,” Bebb said. “These kids need one day to forget that there is something wrong.”

One of the toughest, but most enjoyable, aspects of being a cosplayer is the “play” part. Cosplayers have to embody a persona, mimic their actions and voices and stay in character, especially when they are visiting the children, “We’re making a whole universe. I even get lost in the magic,” Bebb said. “I am touched with the smiles and laughs when kids forget what they are going through.”

But creating that character – and the freedom to gender-bend – is the most rewarding perk for many local cosplayers.

“I can dress up, and it’s totally acceptable. You can be yourself, but not yourself,” Luce said, adding that she sees cosplay as “a way to escape reality and come into your own. It’s a really weird experience.”

“I guess the reason I’m so passionate about cosplaying is because it allows me to be someone different and to feel good-looking. I get to meet other great people, and when I get comments on my outfits, it makes me feel really good about myself, which is hard because I have low self-esteem. It’s like one of the only things I’m actually good at,” Parkhurst said.

For some, cosplay is more than a hobby. Amy B. said her goal is to become a famous cosplayer, which will be a challenge, since she does not like to wear the revealing or sexy costumes sported by many famous female cosplayers. Her trademark style is cute idol costumes and characters that allow her to incorporate her love of dancing, singing and performing.

“I want to show young cosplayers that you don’t have to be sexy to be famous,” she said. Rather than focus on her body, Amy B. wants to be famous due to her content, the work she puts into creating her costumes and her dedication to the craft of cosplay. She has attended about 95 Comic Cons since she officially began cosplaying. Recently, she has started traveling outside the state to notable events such as Katsucon in Maryland and Colossal Con in Ohio. She has even convinced her brother to join her in participating in cosplaying.

“There are two sides to it. On one side, you have people who love everything and who will compliment you, and they are warm and welcoming,” Luce said. “On the other side, some people judge and say costumes are crap or that they are store-bought.”

As a longtime cosplayer, Luce wants attendees to appreciate that everyone puts effort into their costumes, whether they are made from scratch or store-bought. Fortunately, Luce said, the nay-sayers make up the minority at Comic Cons, and the majority are people who are accepting and just want to have fun. The variety of the event is something that also interests Luce, from the Artists’ Alley and Dealers’ Rooms, where vendors and artists sell wares, to the discussion panels that host conversations with the audience about almost any comic book, anime, manga or super hero topic.

As a seasoned veteran of Comic Cons, Amy B.’s advice for anyone who wants to try their hand at cosplaying is just to have fun and not “stress out.”

“No one starts off perfect,” Amy B. said. Some people may be elitist at Comic Cons, but Amy B. assures newcomers that most participants are encouraging, helpful and fun. “At the end of the day, we are just nerds dressing up.”

Sloane M. Perron