But when the 15-year-old from Braddon went to her first cosplay (costume play) convention – an event celebrating comics, anime, manga, sci-fi, fantasy and gaming – she was taken aback by the colourful community.

"It thought it was really awesome that people got really into their fandoms and went all out and enjoyed the fact that they got to become their favourite character," she said.

Alexandra went all-out for her next cosplay event, dressing up as Madoka Kaname, a character from a popular Japanese anime series.

"I tend to cosplay characters I have similarities with in personality traits, facial structure and height. I find cosplaying a lot harder if you don't suit a character," she said.

Alexandra received plenty of attention from photographers and cosplayers alike, who approached her for photos and conversations about how much they also loved her character.

"It was something that really made me come back to cosplay. I always came back because people were there to support me and people really loved what I did."

"When you go around a cosplay convention, people don't see you as yourself. You actually become the character, which I think is something that makes it a little bit more real."

On Saturday Canberra's cosplay community brought fictional characters to life at the first Andrometa cosplay and gaming festival in Belconnen.

"Our original intent was to bridge that gap between the cosplay and gaming community with the general public," said Al Anonuevo, one of the event organisers. As an active member in the local cosplay community, Mr Anonuevo heard a lot of personal stories from his peers and realised cosplay meant a lot more to people than just simply dressing up.

"Some of the people we speak with have finally found a group that they belong to. I talked to one of the kids who said cosplaying saved her life because she felt alone and she didn't feel like she fit in," he said.

The event organisers teamed up with ReachOut, an organisation offering support to young adults suffering from mental health issues, to create a community event for young people to get excited about.

"There are a lot of really great kids that want to get involved but I don't think it is as known to people as it needs to be. We thought it was partly our duty to raise that awareness to everyone else," Mr Anonuevo said.

The organisers funded the non-for-profit event with money from sponsors and their own pockets, and they plan on donating any revenue straight back to ReachOut.

"Everything that we get we give back," Mr Anonuevo said.

Alexandra and her friends dressed up as different characters from the American cartoon Gravity Falls. Alexandra designed her yellow-and-black costume, complete with a top hat and cane, herself and it took her a month to prepare.

"I think it's just such a great opportunity and I have so many friends in the community now and I have a lot more friends than I did before," she said.

Andrometa is an all-inclusive, family friendly event and Mr Anonuevo encourages anyone interested in comics, gaming and anything in between to get involved.

"If people are really passionate about it that's what we are trying to encourage here and to give them that support and say, 'Your community is really awesome, let's introduce that to the general public.' "