From “Twilight” to “Super Eight,” popular culture is overrun by aliens, monsters and the supernatural. Social scientists would tell you monsters reflect their times as stand-ins for the evil that surrounds us. These days, that would be just about everything as mere mortals feel helpless against the destructive forces of nature and manmade idiocracy in social, economic and political realms.

Who wouldn’t want to shape-shift, endowed with powers and strength — or at least the appearance of it — beyond one’s puny human form?

Then again, it’s just plain fun to get dressed up, and that’s the impetus of “Taken,” on Friday. The Camera Obscura “Aliens & Sci-Fi Fashion Show,” conceived by DJ Nocturna, started with a party at Indigo in 2008, and she formalized it last year, with a themed ’80s Pop Music dress-up event at Bar 35.

This year, Nocturna will welcome more than nine designers to show off their fantasy creations.

Among them, The Last Outpost, the “Star Trek” Club of Hawaii, Hawaiian Ghostbusters, Kisa Kosmos, the Mandalorian Mercs Five O Clan, and the Costumers Guild of Hawaii, modeling Alien Jedi and “Star Wars” clones costumes.

A big fan of dress-up, Nocturna said she admires the creativity of many of these behind-the-scenes designers, whose work is limited to a small special-interest audience. Many also participate in weekend community events and put in hospital appearances to visit with sick children and help brighten their day.

“They’re so creative and I wanted to take them to another audience who could appreciate them just as much,” Nocturna said. “I like having costume parties because Hawaii is so laid-back. People like to wear T-shirts, and that’s OK, but dressing up keeps things interesting, entertaining and lively, and people do like to dress up. They just need a reason.”

This year, Nocturna, who says she’s always been a fan of the Victorian-sci-fi steampunk genre, will also be welcoming Won Park of Steam Punk Dreamz and Zimran Lucero of Steampunk Hawaii, whose mechanical and leather wonders have captured the imaginations of a growing legion of fans.

Lucero, a media production and film student, said his introduction to steampunk came via a party scene in an episode of “Castle” last fall. It was just before Halloween and it inspired his costume for the occasion. He started researching steampunk, and the more he learned, the more intrigued he became. So, even after the holiday had passed, he continued producing items. “People liked it, I got more attention, and it took off from there,” he said.

It wasn’t his first foray into design. As a child, he had a fascination with the medieval era and spent much of his time reading up on it and creating all forms of working weaponry, including swords, crossbows and catapults.

Having grown up in a shark fishing village in Mexico, Lucero said there was nothing around so he had to make all his own toys. He started with Legos at about 4, and by the time he was 7, he had graduated to moving parts, “pistons, pulleys, all that kind of stuff.”

His materials included leftover pieces from car repairs, scrap metal and pieces of wood.

“My dad didn’t let me use power tools, so I used all hand tools. Everything was hand-lathed, hand-drilled, hand-chiseled.”

Strangely enough, his parents weren’t afraid that he was producing lethal weaponry.

“They understood I liked the medieval time frame. I also drew castles and other structures, and we lived in such a remote area. There was no electricity, no pavement, it was like we were living in a faraway medieval land.”

At 18, Lucero joined the U.S. Navy, putting in seven years of service, and “took time off from creativity,” he said.

But once the spark was ignited again last fall, he’s busy tinkering in a friend’s workshop again, putting in as much time as his work and studies allow.

He said his ability to think in medieval terms gave him easy insight into the world of steampunk, reflecting 19th century Victorian thinking. It was a time when steam power fueled the fantastical, futuristic thinking of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne.

“Steam power was the prime mover for everything. People imagined it would take them to the moon and beyond. It made sense in that way of thinking,” Lucero said. “People who grew up in the age of electricity might not understand that in the 1900s, that was brilliant, harnessing power that could move mountains, with nothing more than boiled water.”

Lucero said people who see his mechanical arms, arm bands, goggles and other wares are often shocked that he made them. The idea that our society is so reliant on manufactured goods that we no longer know how to make things by hand scares him.

“This is really very, very simple, but people tell me they don’t understand how I’m able to do this. If you can imagine it, you can do it.”

The fast-growing steampunk movement hints at a romanticizing of an era when technology was simpler and perhaps less an invasive and fearsome force as it is today.

Lucero sees an interest in handwork as being similar to a desire to reconnect with traditional Hawaiian or other cultural values. “People try to hold on to ancient cultural traditions because someday we’ll need them again.”