STUDIO director Clive Lee gets his kicks by dressing up.
No, the 29-year-old does not have a strange bedroom fetish.
Rather, he has an alter-ego: the Gundam Exia robot, which he dresses up as to attend anime festivals and conventions.
Welcome to the world of cosplay, where girls and guys dress as their favourite Japanese comic- book, anime or video-game characters.
You've seen them before - they're often sporting out-of-this-world costumes, posing as warriors, ninjas, sailor girls or Lolitas, complete with lace and frills.
The trend in Singapore began around 1999, when the Shiro Tsubasa Animation Club (once known as the Miyuki Animation Club) was formed to promote anime in Singapore. Ngee Ann City was believed to have held the first cosplay competition in 2001.
The Singapore Cosplay Club has noted increasing attendance at its events. About 400 people turned up for its first Cosfest in 2002. This year, 15,000 attended the yearly affair.
Club president Stephanie Loh, 25, explained cosplay's appeal:
"Many people like anime and manga, so they'll jump at the chance to 'become' the characters as well."
Besides Cosfest and the World Cosplay Summit, Singaporean Cosplayers also flock to the annual Matsuri Festival, Coscon, Start-of-Year (SOY) and End-of-Year (EOY) events, as well as ad-hoc contests. This year alone saw three one-off events at venues such as Chinatown Point and Plaza Singapura.
"Cosplay is an amazing experience," said cosplayer Mr Lee, who has been a regular at these events since 2001.
"You get to be another character for a while and adopt that personality. It's like taking a break from reality," he added.
Cosplay is not restricted to world of Japanese pop culture - in the United States, people dress up as characters from Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel and DC Comics. While Singapore has clubs with members who dress up as Star Wars storm troopers, this is a marginal phenomenon compared to the world of Japanese cosplay.
Cosplay devotees must expect to spend some serious cash when it comes to costumes.
Mr Lee, for example, spent over $500 and six months to make his latest Gundam Exia costume, which he paraded at last month's Anime Fest. He has created over 15 outfits so far.
Mr Kenneth Lee, who has run Singapore's first cosplay costume shop, Pan-In-The-Box, since 2004, said 70 per cent of his clientele are students and pupils, aged 11 to 21.
He notes that today's cosplayers have become more discerning, wanting true-to-the-anime details when they buy costumes and gear.
"For example, when they buy a D.Gray-man sword, it must be arched and not straight," he added.
Student Jesuke Lim, 21, who has been cosplaying since 2006, personifies this trait. Dressed as Rai from Lamento: Beyond the Void (a bounty hunter in a fantasy game where 'cat boys' face challenges from demons) earlier this month at the 10th EOY event, she had fashioned her props and had spray-painted styrofoam head gear in the shape of horns herself.
"It's important to get the (character's) look just right," she said.
