The Rise of Steampunk, |
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I've been aware of the concept of steampunk for years now, ever since I saw a copy of GURPS Steampunk at a local game shop. I asked Chris what steampunk was, he told me, and I filed it away as something cool, an interesting genre that I was too lazy to explore. When Phil and Kaja Foglio started publishing Girl Genius, I read it, but mostly because it had a strong female lead and my Dad had praised Foglio's style to the heavens. The airships and clockwork robots were just an added benefit. My interest in steampunk was piqued late last year/early this year by a couple of things. One was a former co-worker of Chris's who would bring nifty brass gadgets to work to show off. The other was Etsy (a marketplace for crafters, artisans and artists), where I discovered some awesome steampunk jewelry. As my own enthusiasm was growing, a beadmaker friend of mine also grew interested in the genre, with the idea of making beads that evoked that style. I offered to help her research it, and that was pretty much that. By May, I was interested enough in steampunk that Chris gave me 4 issues of SteamPunk Magazine for my birthday. As I headed off to Comic Con, I figured there'd be a little bit of steampunk-y goodness for me to enjoy. Studio Foglio had a booth, and they were handing out ribbons to anyone in a steampunk costume, so I figured there would be a few cool people for me to photograph, maybe a comic or two to buy, and that would be it. How wonderfully wrong I was! Although there don't seem to be very many steampunk comics out there yet, the steampunks (or steamers, as some apparently prefer to be called) were out in force. There were some great costumes, ranging from some very well put-together Girl Genius cosplay outfits, to homebrewed creations straight from the wearer's vivid imagination. Near the fantasy art section, I found a vendor selling corsets of various styles, along with awesome goggles and face masks studded with all the brass you could want. There was even someone selling t-shirts with awesome gear-heavy images on them. Then on Thursday, as I was scanning through the program to see what panels I could go to on Saturday, I saw a listing that caught my eye: A steampunk fan group meet-up! It interested me, it interested Chris, and it interested my little brother, so we all agreed that it was a must-see. And so, armed with my newly-purchased green and brass goggles, I set off to see what I could see, and discover if it was worth covering for Collector Times. I have to admit, going into it, I was a bit worried. It was listed as a fan group meeting, so what if everyone there except for us was from some club, and they didn't appreciate the intrusion? What if they made fun of us for not being in costume, seeing my goggles as a sad attempt to fit in? What if they were a bunch of the more anarchy-obsessed writers from SteamPunk Magazine? You see, I've always hung out at the very edge of the Goth subculture for fear of snobbery. I enjoy Gothic fashion and Gothic fiction and Gothic music, but I'm kind of a dabbler and I've heard bad things about cliquish, snarky Goths. That same sort of fear had me hesitating to go to the steampunk panel, but my desire to see awesome costumes overrode that. As it turns out, I had nothing to fear. The meet-up was actually quickly thrown together shortly before the convention by a few members of the Brass Goggles forum who were apparently going to be at the convention and thought it would be fun to have tea and talk costuming and tinkering. They expected to have maybe twenty people. Imagine their surprise when their 100-person capacity room was already full 20 minutes before the meet was expected to start, and by starting time, it was standing-room only, they had people seated on the podium, and security was coming in to clear people out of the aisles. Well, I have to hand it to them. Not only were they friendly and welcoming to the various steamers, Goths, Toy Soldiers, plainclothes people and journalists, but they quickly improvised, turning their meet-up into a Q&A session and costume show-off. The entire thing was fun, informative, and at times, even humorous. The Q&A session covered a range of topics. When talking about putting together an outfit, the information ranged from where to find clothing and pieces for gadgets, where to find inspiration for your persona, and the important safety measures to take when building and painting your accessories. When talking about the genre, there was a discussion on the source of the term steampunk, and the books, movies and music that reflect the genre. There was also talk of various other places to meet up, conventions and balls, and how to find other steamers in your area (the Geographical section of the Brass Goggles forum comes highly recommended). A special surprise for everyone was when a former writer for Star Trek got up and talked about his steampunk movie project. Drawn from historical accounts of a strange flying ship seen in the Victorian era, it will feature a wide cast of historically significant characters, including Harry Houdini and George Washington Carver. This movie will apparently be a big deal, as Orlando Bloom was in talks to play one of the roles. Definitely something you'll want to keep your eye out for. After Q&A and the surprise movie announcement, there was enough time for a few people to get up and talk about their costumes and personae. First were the three Steampunk Ghostbusters (one of whom was essentially moderating the Q&A), then another Ghostbuster separate from them. All four guys had really great, inventive ghost-catching apparatuses cobbled together out of a variety of disparate parts which came together for a very impressive effect. Among others, there was a couple who had been married in Gothic Victorian finery (which they wore to the convention as well), and a large steamship crew. Unfortunately, I had someplace I had to be at the end of the meet-up, which is a real shame. Though the room had to be cleared for the next panel, everyone spilled out into the hallway for photographs and more chatting. Throughout the rest of the convention, I was fortunate enough to discover a few other interesting steampunk-related things. Besides Dr. Steel's Toy Soldiers (who fall somewhere between steampunk, cyberpunk, Goth, and just plain crazy), we were able to preview the upcoming movie The Mutant Chronicles, which features some steam-powered ships and a monster-making machine, and then on Sunday as we were getting ready to leave, Chris randomly stumbled across the Weta booth where he found a display of crazy steampunk guns and the book that goes with them: Doctor Grordbort's Contrapulatronic Dingus Directory. For more on The Mutant Chronicles, please see my review in the Movies section of this month's issue. Doctor Grordbort's review is forthcoming, likely next month. All in all, I was pleased by my steam-related finds at the convention. The hosts of the meet-up were also clearly pleased, and were talking of big plans for next year - a larger room for a meet-up, maybe a ball, maybe even an Abney Park concert. Whatever they put together, I hope I'll be there to see it, and this time with a real costume.
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E-mail AJ at: ErtheFae@aol.com Visit AJ at: www.erthefae.com
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