SteamCon: A SteamPunk Convention

This weekend Greg and I went to SteamCon. What is SteamCon? Why, I'm delighted you asked.

It is a convention (the first in Seattle) that celebrates the subculture of SteamPunk. Now, per Wikipedia, SteamPunk is: "a sub-genre of fantasy and speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date. Other examples of steampunk contain alternate history-style presentations of "the path not taken" of such technology as dirigibles, analog computers, or digital mechanical computers (such as Charles Babbage's Analytical engine); these frequently are presented in an idealized light, or with a presumption of functionality.

Steampunk is often associated with cyberpunk and shares a similar fanbase and theme of rebellion, but developed as a separate movement (though both have considerable influence on each other). Apart from time period and level of technological development, the main difference between cyberpunk and steampunk is that steampunk settings usually tend to be less obviously dystopian than cyberpunk, or lack dystopian elements entirely."

This is the first (non-scrapbooking) convention I have ever attended, so it was really an interesting experience.

Basically, Greg and I dressed up in Neo-Victorian clothing and went to hang out with a bunch of other people wearing some pretty great costumes and get our SteamPunk party on. There was music and dancing, vendors and fantastic art. Tons of really fun lectures and old movies and gaming and really great people.

I have decided that my costume for next year is going to be less "Victorian Lady" and more "Airship Pirate." Greg is going to stick with the Victorian theme... but do some cool prosthesis stuff to his arm, mostly involving pistons and the like.

I picked up a pair of goggles at the Girl Genius booth. I LOVE them. And now, I want to wear them all the time. Thank goodness Halloween is this week so I can get away with wearing them to work!

Overall, a great time was had by all. This year, we only went for one day, as kind of a scouting exhibition to make sure it wouldn't be lame. And it really wasn't. It was fun, and interesting, and we learned quite a bit. Next year we are probably going to go for multiple days, and maybe even get a room at the place (apparently the after-parties were crazy fun).

Hope you had a great weekend. Did you do anything fun or out of the ordinary?