Planking may be getting the headlines but several crews of young people in the Illawarra are getting their kicks from a less dangerous - and perhaps more hilarious - pastime.Morphing, as it is known, involves donning a purpose-made lycra suit, often brightly coloured and covering the face, and busting out in public to pull poses, jump around and bemuse passers-by.Then comes the element seemingly essential to all current trends - pictures of the ‘‘morph’’ are posted on social media websites, particularly Facebook.Dylan Page, 17, one of the four-person Oak Flats Morph Crew - he’s the one in the skin-tight tuxedo - invested in the suit earlier this year for his Year 12 muck-up photos.Since then he has staged ‘‘morphs’’ at a wedding, a library, in the surf (‘‘that was strange’’), tae kwon do training (‘‘it got really hot’’), and Central Ave at Oak Flats.GALLERY: Morphers in action‘‘Your personality changes ... you can do more outlandish things than you do normally,’’ Dylan said.‘‘We’ve got no face so self-confidence is certainly higher.‘‘When you’re in the suit the reactions you get from people is really fun.’’Dylan got a good reception after turning up at a Wollongong Hawks game in the suit.‘‘One of the mascots came and dragged me around to all the seats,’’ he said.A recent highlight was linking up with a crew of like-minders from Kiama for a mass morph at the Blowhole. Tourists were impressed.And while morphing at Stockland Shellharbour he overheard one young mother ask: ‘‘Are they real people in there?’’If morphing has a downside it hasn’t surfaced yet - the trend seems to be based entirely on good, clean fun - and a shared sense of absurd humour.