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lithium73
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06 Jan 2010, 11:59 pm

Any others out there

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buryuntime
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07 Jan 2010, 12:00 am

Can you give a good definition of what steampunk is?



theLilAsimov
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07 Jan 2010, 12:52 am

I am definitely a Steam Punk fan, but I lack the funds to really get into as a sub-culture.


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07 Jan 2010, 12:55 am

Definiton plz?

I'm not googling it.


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07 Jan 2010, 4:44 am

Steam-powered robots, difference engines, that sort of thing. Takes the "style before substance" ethic and applies it to Victorian science and technology. In practice it's usually just another "skin" for the usual run of fantasy tropes, as per most cyberpunk and sci-fi.

I'm not a huge fan, but I do like some things with steampunk elements, like Perdido Street Station.


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07 Jan 2010, 6:22 am

It's, like, steam powered technology with a Victorian aesthetic. Sort of like an alternative to electric technology.
It's like Wild Wild West, and the train time machine at the end of Back To the Future. (trying to think of stuff most people have seen...) Stuff like that is Steampunk~

And yes, it's very sexy. Honestly though, I'd be way more into the subculture if people actually made steam-powered stuff, (or at least functional stuff in the steampunk style even if there's no steam involved..) instead of dressing up electric stuff. One thing I love about the idea of steampunk is the simplicity and sturdiness of design that it suggests.


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07 Jan 2010, 7:54 am

Think of steampunk as being alternate history. What if Charles Babbage had built his analytical engine and what if it had gained wide spread usage? Europe would have entered into the "Information Age" just slightly ahead of entering into the "Industrial Age". Computers would have been steam powered. The culture would have grown differently. The "Information Age" thinking would have driven the "Industrial Age" development towards more devices of a "steampunk" nature.



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07 Jan 2010, 7:58 am

I guess pocketwatches are my only connection with steampunk...


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07 Jan 2010, 8:12 am

I've nver hears of steampunk.


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07 Jan 2010, 8:35 am

Hmmm, I was going to make a post like this - once I'd decided which Forum (with a capital 'F') to put it in. Should I ask the Steampunks if there were any Aspies there, or Aspies if there were any Steampunks?

I take it you're familiar with Brassgoggles?



ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
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07 Jan 2010, 8:38 am

I assume the engines take water instead of petrol, like automobiles in the olden days. It sounds good because there's less pollution. Problem is, where would all the water come from to power the things if we all had one?



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07 Jan 2010, 8:41 am

CockneyRebel wrote:
I've nver hears of steampunk.


AFAIK, steampunk is a genre of culture where modern technology is reimagined as being in the Victorian age. It's closely linked with the anime subculture.


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ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
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07 Jan 2010, 8:45 am

Oh. I thought the scooter in the picture ran on steam like those old automobiles. Nothing in that pic looks Victorian...



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07 Jan 2010, 8:55 am

ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo wrote:
Oh. I thought the scooter in the picture ran on steam like those old automobiles. Nothing in that pic looks Victorian...
Well, you have to think, if the Victorian age HAD been filled with steam-powered technology, what would it have looked like? But since it wasn't, steampunk does look generally different from the usual idea of Victorian stuff. However, if you look up Victorian steam engines and architecture and stuff that would have been made of the same materials as steampunk-style machinery, (metal, glass, etc..) you can see the connection. (The clothing designs do stray pretty far though.)


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ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
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07 Jan 2010, 9:03 am

wigglyspider wrote:
However, if you look up Victorian steam engines and architecture and stuff that would have been made of the same materials as steampunk-style machinery, (metal, glass, etc..) you can see the connection. (The clothing designs do stray pretty far though.)

I went by what I saw in the picture. Looks like a woman with a scooter that runs on steam or has been altered to look like it does, and the woman is trying to coordinate her wardrobe to match the scooter.
It makes sense since it's called "steam punk". Sounds like a life that revolves around steam engines.



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07 Jan 2010, 9:07 am

ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo wrote:
I assume the engines take water instead of petrol, like automobiles in the olden days. It sounds good because there's less pollution. Problem is, where would all the water come from to power the things if we all had one?


Cars have never run on water alone! A steam vehicle also needs wood or coal or oil, or some other fuel, to heat the boiler to boil the water to make the steam. Like a steam train, you need a supply of both fuel and water to run them, and if it's a fossil fuel you have the same problems with emissions, you're still burning carbon in air.

Nuclear reactors are fancy steam engines, using the heat produced in a fission reaction to heat water and turn a turbine.


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