What format of steampunk attracts you?

[newjack]

just to be annoying... i'll add

the road warrior to my previous list. it has that retro-tech aesthetic that fits my definition.



look a CATTLE PUSHER!

nyah nyah nyah

[J. Wilhelm]

just to be annoying... i'll add

the road warrior to my previous list. it has that retro-tech aesthetic that fits my definition.



look a CATTLE PUSHER!

nyah nyah nyah

It's an aesthetic that pleases the apocalyptic crowd. We had a member by the name of "Tower" who would share that taste and expound deeply on that side of steampunk. I wonder what happened to him?

[newjack]

i smell a PURISTEAMPUNK conspiracy!

just coined the term and couldn't wait to share it here with context

is it too late to change my handle to

HERETIC?

[Banfili]

i smell a PURISTEAMPUNK conspiracy!

just coined the term and couldn't wait to share it here with context

is it too late to change my handle to

HERETIC?

How about you just stop shouting at people! 

[Captain]

This question came up at our steampunk dinner last night.  Predominantly the answer returned was the clothes, dressing up.

While it's an interesting question, I think a dinner with people who went out to eat dinner with steampunks is more likely to be the type who dress up.  Thereby skewing the results.

So what format of steampunk draws you in the most?
clothes/dressing up
books
music
video
making
props
weapons
something I didn't list

Clothes/dressing up
music
weapons/props




Also SteamPunk table-top games and RPGs.  
Actual past technologies
Gadgets like pocket watches, fobs, shaving gear, etc....

My "goals" would be to indulge in the vehicles like early automobiles, river boats, locomotives, and even airships.  

Oh yes, the surprisingly pleasant company of other folks in the SP community.

[frances]

Participating in events with other steampunks.

[Sorontar]

Not defining or categorising steampunk or aspects of steampunk

[Prof Marvel]

Clothes/dressing up
music
weapons/props




Also SteamPunk table-top games and RPGs.  
Actual past technologies
Gadgets like pocket watches, fobs, shaving gear, etc....

My "goals" would be to indulge in the vehicles like early automobiles, river boats, locomotives, and even airships.  

Oh yes, the surprisingly pleasant company of other folks in the SP community.

OMG My Dear Captain, that visual of the C96 Mauser is incredible!
I do not know how I missed this at the time!

Now I must dig out the C96 I inherited from my Dad when he downsized (he's not dead yet!)
and play with it....

yhs
prof marvel

[c96plusMauserpuppy]

AWESOME ANIMATION CAPTAIN!!!  My 2 year old chihuahua girl is named 'MAUSER' after the c96 handgun!

[c96plusMauserpuppy]

How I steam punk: The industrial  revolution went full throttle beginning in 1680, and Technologies of 1890s began appearing much earlier. Think motor cars in the 1840s kind of stuff. You may like my fan fiction "The Great War: 1861" ongoing here.

[MWBailey]

Making, Wearing/Using/Donating or Selling What one makes, The Fantasy, the Alternate Reality, The Roar of the leather and paint and the Smell of the crowd!

[E.J.MonCrieff]

Initially it was the literature - Victorian Sci-Fi, horror, from Verne and Stoker to penny-dreadfuls and smutty postcards.
Then, the dress - the range from elegance to raggedy, finery to military uniforms.
And the machinery - from dirigibles to simple tools, everything was made with craftsmanship and fine naterials, not mass-produced plastic tatt.
These combine into a disconnection from the current mundane world of garbage media and jeans&crocs.
But, since coming here, and then attending a few events - it's the people.
None of us 'do' or probably even 'get' the exact same view or version of Steampunk, but somehow it - and we - all works together.

For me it was the whimsy, for want of a better term, and then the machinery: I've been influenced by a SciFi/SF story I read years ago which featured Ada Lovelace.

Since then, I've been drawn into Splendid Teapot Racing.....

[Synistor 303]

Initially it was the literature - Victorian Sci-Fi, horror, from Verne and Stoker to penny-dreadfuls and smutty postcards.
Then, the dress - the range from elegance to raggedy, finery to military uniforms.
And the machinery - from dirigibles to simple tools, everything was made with craftsmanship and fine naterials, not mass-produced plastic tatt.
These combine into a disconnection from the current mundane world of garbage media and jeans&crocs.
But, since coming here, and then attending a few events - it's the people.
None of us 'do' or probably even 'get' the exact same view or version of Steampunk, but somehow it - and we - all works together.

For me it was the whimsy, for want of a better term, and then the machinery: I've been influenced by a SciFi/SF story I read years ago which featured Ada Lovelace.

Since then, I've been drawn into Splendid Teapot Racing.....

The whimsy - that is the word that describes it perfectly - a little bit funny, a little bit nostalgic, a little bit playful. And in all its' finery, totally awesome!

[J. Wilhelm]

The goofiness of it all, I think, is important. However, what started as a DIY interest and a full blown internet business later morphed into a historical endeavor which included some Steampunk fashion as well. The genre gave room to my engineering and historian abilities. And somehow, all of that is tied together. There will be a new direction, hopefully, a literary branch, though my style of story development precludes any chance of predicting when that will manifest - I'm in no rush. I dabbled on the literary side since 2013, and I figure it will take more years to develop until I'm old and gray, perhaps.

I'm thinking that in a scant 12 years I participatedin this genre, I've really run the gamut.

[Caledonian]

got into it all for the costuming, which is still my favourite, but i also like the general (sub)culture
i enjoy steampunk books and music, though they can be hit and miss
i like art in the style too

[FallenFantasy174]

Hmm, for me the side of steampunk I interact with most is probably the music, I have a pretty wide taste but there's at least a song or two in each genre I listen to.

The side I'm intrested in the most, though alas do not participate much in, is fashion and making every objects. I love vintage furniture but also furniture that can transform or serve multiple purposes. The tiny house movement has thrown some amazing ideas at me that I can't wait to have space to make.

Films and books are rather hit or miss with me. There's something off putting that can crop up in the acting or the character's language that just feels like a brick wall between me and connecting to the character. Oddly this does not apply to comics or games at all.

I supose I like either near realistic Victorian or near apocalyptic pirate madness.....steam or punk if you will. Any film advertised as 'steampunk' tends to fall flat for me.

[Mackrel Sixsmith]

Initially for me it was the aesthetic. That has since grown to the music, literature, artwork and the broad scope that it encompasses.

I'd love to discuss with people about ideas and likes, share ideas for books atc.

[J. Wilhelm]

Hmm, for me the side of steampunk I interact with most is probably the music, I have a pretty wide taste but there's at least a song or two in each genre I listen to.

The side I'm intrested in the most, though alas do not participate much in, is fashion and making every objects. I love vintage furniture but also furniture that can transform or serve multiple purposes. The tiny house movement has thrown some amazing ideas at me that I can't wait to have space to make.

Films and books are rather hit or miss with me. There's something off putting that can crop up in the acting or the character's language that just feels like a brick wall between me and connecting to the character. Oddly this does not apply to comics or games at all.

I supose I like either near realistic Victorian or near apocalyptic pirate madness.....steam or punk if you will. Any film advertised as 'steampunk' tends to fall flat for me.

Definitely you have to be the most flexible with visual media. It's not the first time I hear that movies are poorly focused on Steampunk. I don't think there are that many true Steampunks making movies, so it stands to reason most movies are made by "outsiders" C or directors with "first impressions" of Steampunk.

Initially for me it was the aesthetic. That has since grown to the music, literature, artwork and the broad scope that it encompasses.

I'd love to discuss with people about ideas and likes, share ideas for books atc.

Music is another one of those areas that can be very nebulous in Steampunk, IMO. It's more like ambiental or cinematic in character rather than a specific genre.

[Kensington Locke]

Definitely you have to be the most flexible with visual media. It's not the first time I hear that movies are poorly focused on Steampunk. I don't think there are that many true Steampunks making movies, so it stands to reason most movies are made by "outsiders" C or directors with "first impressions" of Steampunk.

That's a good way to frame the problem.

If we debate amongst ourselves whether something is steampunk or not because we have varying tolerances and definitions as such, imagine what the outsider's idea of steampunk is when they haven't spent any of the thought we all have on the matter.

[Deimos]

Definitely you have to be the most flexible with visual media. It's not the first time I hear that movies are poorly focused on Steampunk. I don't think there are that many true Steampunks making movies, so it stands to reason most movies are made by "outsiders" C or directors with "first impressions" of Steampunk.

That's a good way to frame the problem.

If we debate amongst ourselves whether something is steampunk or not because we have varying tolerances and definitions as such, imagine what the outsider's idea of steampunk is when they haven't spent any of the thought we all have on the matter.

Very true.

For myself,  I will quote [US] Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart (altho' he was speaking of a *ahem* different matter), "I know it when I see it."   

[E.J.MonCrieff]

Re-reading all the posts on this thread, I found

I love the clothes and enjoy the whole making process, the books (although only the well written ones - putting a heroine/hero in a 'steampunk' setting isn't enough); I have yet to decide exactly what steampunk music is , but for me one of the best aspects of steampunk is the people who indulge in it - polite, interested, creative in many ways and, above all, on the same wavelength.

and was reminded of a SF short story I read (probably in the last century) where Ada Lady Lovelace played an important role.  I think ivory punched cards were used for data entry in her computer. 

Does anyone else know of this story, and can identify the author?

I suppose this was my first introduction to Steampunk, though it probably wasn't called Steampunk at the time.

[von Corax]

Definitely you have to be the most flexible with visual media. It's not the first time I hear that movies are poorly focused on Steampunk. I don't think there are that many true Steampunks making movies, so it stands to reason most movies are made by "outsiders" C or directors with "first impressions" of Steampunk.

That's a good way to frame the problem.

If we debate amongst ourselves whether something is steampunk or not because we have varying tolerances and definitions as such, imagine what the outsider's idea of steampunk is when they haven't spent any of the thought we all have on the matter.

Very true.

For myself,  I will quote [US] Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart (altho' he was speaking of a *ahem* different matter), "I know it when I see it."   

You're not the first to quote Justice Stewart, and likely won't be the last.

[Deimos]

Definitely you have to be the most flexible with visual media. It's not the first time I hear that movies are poorly focused on Steampunk. I don't think there are that many true Steampunks making movies, so it stands to reason most movies are made by "outsiders" C or directors with "first impressions" of Steampunk.

That's a good way to frame the problem.

If we debate amongst ourselves whether something is steampunk or not because we have varying tolerances and definitions as such, imagine what the outsider's idea of steampunk is when they haven't spent any of the thought we all have on the matter.

Very true.

For myself,  I will quote [US] Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart (altho' he was speaking of a *ahem* different matter), "I know it when I see it."   

You're not the first to quote Justice Stewart, and likely won't be the last.

Also vewy twue.
I had always known it was stated by some SC justice 'way, 'way back (and I also knew the *ahem* matter about which he stated it) but I didn't know which Justice it was.
So this time I thought I should give credit where credit was due.