Ive never seen a genre (or sub-genre) take shape before, so maybe the sense of artificial, drummed-up appeal I get from the profusion of ‘Steampunk’ hype is just the way these things always begin. I tend to reject the notion that ‘Steampunk’ existed at all until fairly recently and that its so-called history is an artificial grouping created by a few like-minded authors keen on promoting themselves through a new genre.  In any case, regardless of its origins, Steampunk is here. Major motion pictures are being based on its parameters. CG sites are all over it.

Is anyone here a Steampunk fan? I find it hard to believe that there are people enthusiastic about this genre, but that doesn't mean there aren't. Are you? Why?  

Steampunk has been around a lot longer than the stuff showing up here & at other stores, and I am a huge fan of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk check this link.

There was a book that started Me on the steam/Punk rails..

A Transatlantic Tunnel,  Hurrah!  By Harry Harrison..

Published in 1973..!!

Man. I missed that train. I'm wondering if this Steampunk thing is like soccer:- something widely popular everywhere except USA (until recently). 

We even have music, www.abneypark.com/ There are other bands but this one is my favourite.

I'm glad that Steampunk has to a small degree brought out a revival of Victorian/Edwardian fashion... that is the extent of my interest in Steampunk. The whole mechanical-driven-to-the-edge concept I find a bit difficult to stomach. But, the aspects of fashion are really quite compelling. Who has really done the concept incredibly beautifully is Ms LittleFox: her outfit on that other site is nothing short of brilliant.

Quote - I'm glad that Steampunk has to a small degree brought out a revival of Victorian/Edwardian fashion... that is the extent of my interest in Steampunk. The whole mechanical-driven-to-the-edge concept I find a bit difficult to stomach. But, the aspects of fashion are really quite compelling. Who has really done the concept incredibly beautifully is Ms LittleFox: her outfit on that other site is nothing short of brilliant.

A agree with that to a degree.  The mechanical "fashions" I'm not much into, but some of the other things like the furniture and that neat looking bike that RDNA has are cute!!!  And I absolutely love the clothing fashion!  I snapped up practically all of the Steampunk stuff during their sale over Christmas. 

Being a male...  more into the retro techno...

It was the steampunk keyboard that first brought this genre to my attention.

Who could resist that keyboard?

steampunkworkshop.com/keyboard.shtml

I want one !

Attached Link: Steam's revenge

Attached Link: Steampunk

Quote - Actually, I'm thinking the old "Wild Wild West" tv series (1960s) probably could be classified as Steampunk (I loved that show!), and the movie even moreso.

Definitely the movie ;o). That mechanical spider was steampunk thru and thru.

Laurie

don't forget the Time Machine (remake)

I wants it...... mine.....

Attached Link: Rama Lama Bang Bang

I watch this dance over and over because the costumes are SO steampunk! LOL

I accept steampunk is a recent twist somehow but I don't get it. The definition of steampunk I read would make the original Frankenstein steampunk as well as a lot of other stories we know well. Most stuff by HG Wells, Jules Verne etc...

Quote - The definition of steampunk I read would make the original Frankenstein steampunk as well as a lot of other stories we know well. Most stuff by HG Wells, Jules Verne etc...

yup :)

It's been around quite a while. I've stumbled into it off and on over the years.

The best place to catch up on everything would be a site called Brass Goggles. Some say Steampunk is  making itself out to be a successor to the Goth movement (erm, well, there may be some things that are the same, but someone's always making some claims...;) There's Clockpunk (clockwork-driven engines) and dieselpunk (some folks just cant' get along without a gas engine...;)

I remember  some of it starting with books like The Difference Engine, along with the Peshawar Lancers, by Stirling, the Lost Regiment series by Forstchen, Harry Harrison did an alternate Civil War, yada yada, that came out in the 90s. There's hosts of sites; most you can find from Brass Goggles above (including Abney Park and other music, Girl Genius, the Continentals, Wondermark and other online comics, the list goes on)

It's a lot of fun, but it currently is a fad on the upswing. Now give it a year, and it may be the 'mullet of the oughts'...;)

I was telling my wife about steampunk and this discussion and her reply was, "So that makes the Flintstones Stonepunk?" I thought that was funny :)

the main problem with Brass Goggles is the sheer amount of ppl there that think gluing some cogs to something then giving it a bad paint job makes it steampunk....

I'm not particularly a fan of steampunk but it's generated some interesting ideas.  I first found the genre - before it was known as such - in "The Difference Engine" by WIlliam Gibson and Bruce Sterling.  In comic books, the Luther Arkwright stories use the theme quite a lot.

As an alternative reality it's quite interesting.  Some of the concepts are sound and, when taken to their logical conclusions, can show just how different the world could have been if only a few things had changed in the Victorian era. 

A pen and paper game called "Space 1889" nailed down a lot of this genre.  Alan Moore's excellent League of Extraordinary Gentlemen distilled a lot of it also (ignore the movie, it's not good for much except maybe the submarine).

I've always preferred CyberPunks to SteamPunks, but i like the Imagery of Steampunk in Japanese Anime, like Wings of Honneamise or the flashbacks of Doomed Megalopolis.

Quote - I'm glad that Steampunk has to a small degree brought out a revival of Victorian/Edwardian fashion... that is the extent of my interest in Steampunk. The whole mechanical-driven-to-the-edge concept I find a bit difficult to stomach. But, the aspects of fashion are really quite compelling. Who has really done the concept incredibly beautifully is Ms LittleFox: her outfit on that other site is nothing short of brilliant.

As a non-computer role-playing gamer, I'm of mixed minds. I've enjoyed some of the Steampunk games I've played in (such as a Campaign of GDW's "Space 1889"), but sometimes I yearn for the days when we played Victorian games which didn't have steam tech. (They might have magic, or the occult, but of the sort that one found in Victorian writing.) Or, for that matter, Wild West games without magic, Cyberpunk without elves etc. For every game system which doesn't mix in fantasy, there were three or more which did. :(

Yeah, Brass Goggles is some fun, but some of them take themselves a wee bit too seriously...;)

People love to harken back to a simpler, more elegant time. I seem to recall that the real Victorians  thought ancient Greece was cool. The haze of nostalgia always seems to obscure things like slavery, or in the case of the Victorian era, hellish child labor..  I suppose a fanciful reworking like steampunk allows for tweaking out those historical miscues.

It's always interesting to see how these things take off and become a whole little cultural mini-phenomenon like the "Gothic Lolita" craze in Japan. Anything that revives elegant fashions is nice though I doubt most women would be willing to go back to the panty girdle, much less tightly laced corsets except for more 'recreational' use.

Quote - I accept steampunk is a recent twist somehow but I don't get it. The definition of steampunk I read would make the original Frankenstein steampunk as well as a lot of other stories we know well. Most stuff by HG Wells, Jules Verne etc...

No, they don't count as Steampunk.  Shelley was writing science fiction looking forward (the fact electricity could cause the muscles of dead animals to twitch had been made not long before, and she was extrapolating), Wells was looking forward while Verne was either looking forward or writing what we'd today call a technothriller (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea being the main example here).

Steampunk has to be looking backward at that era, using the inspiration of Wells and Verne but looking at it with a modern point of view.  To use an easy example, writers of the time would be unlikely to use the "Wrench Wench" character (Agatha Heterodyne from "Girl Genius", for instance) whereas someone with more modern sensibilities would have no problem with the character simply because the idea of women as mechanics, or mad scientists, isn't something that's outside our acceptance range.

Quote - We even have music, www.abneypark.com/ There are other bands but this one is my favourite.

So glad someone else loves Abney park.  

I found out of steam punk quite awhile back. I really like it personally. 

Ever heard of Dr. Steel? :P

Dr. Steel, the man with a plan to conquer the world? I'm drawin' a blank...;)

Oh and Gilligan is BambooPunk? That's right.

Quote - Dr. Steel, the man with a plan to conquer the world? I'm drawin' a blank...;)

lmao.. I love his toys ;)

Thanks for the intro to "Abney Park" ..  Even an old guy can like New music..!

Steampunk is the Victorian version of the Flintstones.

 I find myself liking the style of the clothes more and more as I see some of the beautiful work here.

Quote - Steampunk is the Victorian version of the Flintstones.

Bring on the Jetsons

Having looked at the steampunk keyboard, I'd imagine that a steam punk mouse would be a small glass, brass framed box, filled with brass cogs and gears; much like a small antique clock laid on its side, but with two telegraphy keys on top.
dph

"I'd imagine that a steam punk mouse would be a small glass, brass framed box, filled with brass cogs and gears; much like a small antique clock laid on its side, but with two telegraphy keys on top." 

Cool idea, especially the telegraph keys!

Quote - "I'd imagine that a steam punk mouse would be a small glass, brass framed box, filled with brass cogs and gears; much like a small antique clock laid on its side, but with two telegraphy keys on top." 

Cool idea, especially the telegraph keys!

Can I order one with a built in trackball..?

Quote - > Quote - "I'd imagine that a steam punk mouse would be a small glass, brass framed box, filled with brass cogs and gears; much like a small antique clock laid on its side, but with two telegraphy keys on top." 

Cool idea, especially the telegraph keys!

Can I order one with a built in trackball..?

The ball of the Trackball could double as a miniature antique globe.  It's base as a round circular compass rose, still with two small telegraphy keys set on each side.
dph

Quote - > Quote - I accept steampunk is a recent twist somehow but I don't get it. The definition of steampunk I read would make the original Frankenstein steampunk as well as a lot of other stories we know well. Most stuff by HG Wells, Jules Verne etc...

No, they don't count as Steampunk.  Shelley was writing science fiction looking forward (the fact electricity could cause the muscles of dead animals to twitch had been made not long before, and she was extrapolating), Wells was looking forward while Verne was either looking forward or writing what we'd today call a technothriller (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea being the main example here).

Steampunk has to be looking backward at that era, using the inspiration of Wells and Verne but looking at it with a modern point of view.  To use an easy example, writers of the time would be unlikely to use the "Wrench Wench" character (Agatha Heterodyne from "Girl Genius", for instance) whereas someone with more modern sensibilities would have no problem with the character simply because the idea of women as mechanics, or mad scientists, isn't something that's outside our acceptance range.

To me one of the key defining aspects of Steampunk is that the technology has to be ubiquitous. One mad scientist with an armored dirigible is period science fiction (think Verne's "Warlord of the Air".) Fleets of armored dirigibles are steam punk. In a way it is one of the distinguishing factors of Cyberpunk vs. near-future hard SF. One cyborg (Martin Caidin's "Cyborg", which became the series "Six Million Dollar Man" is science fiction. Everyone cyberizing is Cyberpunk.

In addition, there really should be some acknowledgement that the technology will change things. Having everything exactly the same as historically but with giant walking steam engines rather than trains, sub-etheric techno-telepathy instead of telegraphs, and half the house of Lords being Martians (and with the dreadnaugh race between Great Britain and Germany being armored airships and earth tunnellers rather than battleships) is just incoherent. It's like those Piers Anthony novels where everything is just like the current day, but with magic, and a few strategic renames of countries.

 "Yeah, Brass Goggles is some fun, but some of them take themselves a wee bit too seriously...;)"

Unlike Poser folks. 

:)

Quote -  "Yeah, Brass Goggles is some fun, but some of them take themselves a wee bit too seriously...;)"

Unlike Poser folks. 

:)

Have You read some of the comments in the gallery recently..?

And besides,  I take Myself VERY seriously.   Others who do the same have a serious problem and should seek treatment immediately..!!!   (Just like I did..)

"Having looked at the steampunk keyboard, I'd imagine that a steam punk mouse would be a small glass, brass framed box, filled with brass cogs and gears; much like a small antique clock laid on its side, but with two telegraphy keys on top."

Sounds about right.