City of Ember

    Although set in the future, I would put this movie on the list of steampunk. If you have not seen this movie yet then you are missing out. This movie is based on the first book of four in the Book of Ember series. There is a dystopian society that is the last humans on earth. They live in an underground shelter/city called ember that gets its electricity from a giant water wheel. The generator that converts the power is starting to fail and no one knows how to fix it. A teenage girl and boy, Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow,  must find a way out before the blackouts turn into perpetual darkness.
    this movie has steampunk attributes because of three main things:
1. the city is powered from a hydroelectric generator.
2. the young man, Doon Harrow works in the water works part of the city. So you get to see a lot of corridors that have all the pipes of the city.
3. the society has some advanced things but they are required to be run either by plugging them into the nearest outlet or having a small generator running by the user pedaling it.
    The last point is the main one that I like. When anyone wants to use a lamp or flashlight they will plug it into an outlet because batteries don't exist because they would be long gone. An old phone answering machine is powered by pedaling a small generator. In Doon's house there is a small robot that is plugged into the wall (in the movie they don't tell what the job of this robot is). At one point there is a transport machine that is used by Doon and Lina it too runs from pedal power.

Here is a link if you are interested in watching this movie: http://viooz.co/movies/2129-city-of-ember-2008.html

Steampunk Puzzle Game

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lazy8studios.cogs

For android.

Cogs is the kind of puzzle game every Steampunk fan longs for. The puzzle action happens not in two dimensions, but rather three! The objective is to get a steam-powered contraption to start running. You will change the direction of pipes, cogs, gears, and more to esure the contraption will run correctly. Not sur of this is for you? At least try the demo! You will not regret wether you like Steampunk, puzzles, or both this is a game sure to bring you a load of fun.

Steampunk Colors

William here again! I would like t talk about the colors of steampunk.
As everyone knows Halloween is coming up and people are going to be buying or making costumes. I went to value village today and was looking at what they had. There was a costume set up that was supposed to look like steampunk; but it just looked like junk. The average person may not know this but steampunk is not about wearing all brown. Doing that makes the steampunk community just mad at you for misrepresenting. Rather it is putting a slight twist on the true fashion of the 1800's Victorian era. wearing brown is an essential part of the steampunk look, but you don't go over the top with it. which is more likely for a Victorian era gentleman to have a brown cane or a black one? black. what about top hat? black. what about gloves? black.
Don't get me wrong any of these can be brown, in fact I have both a brown and a black top hat, but too much just doesn't look right.

http://www.deviantart.com/art/S-T-E-A-M-276720398

Notice the maroon jacket and black choker. This is a pretty good example of the steampunk persona, however I don't like it when someone is wearing goggles just because they think it adds to the look. Don't were the goggles unless it makes sense for your character. Is she an inventor or engineer who needs them for magnification and/or eye protection? Does she fly a steam-powered aircraft or zeplin? these are questions you should be thinking of when you see someone with goggles on in the steampunk community.

Steampunk Flying Creations

“She has halls and she has castles, and the resonant Steam-Eagles, Follow far on the directing of her floating dove-like hand, With a thunderous vapour trailing, underneath the starry vigils, So to mark upon the blasted heaven, the measure of her land.” – Edgar Allan Poe

The idea of having a machine flying but running off of steam is an amazing concept. i love the idea of steampunk partially because of its impracticality; envisioning the wold as having extreme advancements during the victorian era is so alluring. In the case of flying machines this is embodied as blimps, steam-planes, or flying structures using steam as a propellant to keep it off the ground. I am at this moment working on some artwork of my own envisionments of these. I'll keep you up to date...

Steamboy: Steampunk at Its Finest

If you have not watched the anime Steamboy yet, how can you call yourself a steampunk enthusiast? Steamboy is the embodiment of steampunk into anime. When you see it you will realize why: there are fantastic contraptions all running off of steam and manpower, it is set in the victorian era, and the story is a very good one! Please watch it as soon as possible if you truly love steampunk.  ^_^

http://www.justanimedubbed.tv/steamboy/

Cityscape Photo Collection

(click the image to enlarge)

Computers For Our Steam World

when you are in the steampunk scene you will see certain things that are typical steampunk wishes: special guns, clothes, ships, and very importantly computers! if you are an inventor and you need a contraption that will keep up with your high tech world by holding all your ideas in it, as well as being able to type up your formal papers what do you do? invent the computer of course!!

  i really like this one because of  the giant machine to the side that powers it. this is the way i would envision a steampunk computer: something that would be very bulky (ie not portable), its keyboard is a modified typewriter, and the screen is either thin (using a special technology) or it has a small box projecting out the image through a large light bulb-shaped screen.

 inventors need a way of passing their ideas to each other. how do they make copies of their designs? how do they tell each other in great detail how things work? they use their special flash drives that store information though the use of gears and cogwheels.

this is a wrist computer. where have we heard of that one befor? (fallout's pip-boy)

Steampunk Batman Followup

Hey fans! heres something worth noting. In 2009, Day 1 studios (F.E.A.R. 3, Fracture) pitched a "Steampunk Batman" game to THQ. It was an adaptation of the comic, Gotham by Gaslight, which featured a 19th century caped crusader as he attempts to track down Jack the Ripper. The project (of course) never panned out. this is a short video of its prototype.


the thing about this situation that is ironic is that we steampunk fans are always immersing ourselves in the beautiful reality that never was. this video shows us the awesome reality that could've been, but never was. here's to always wishing and rarely getting...

steampunk batman?!?!

Steampunk Batman by =R-Tan on deviantART

    the idea of a steampunk batman is pretty cool. if you have ever played arkham city, you know that Gotham was built on top of an advanced 19th century city called wonder city! the part of the story line in arkham city is a little shorter than i would have liked, and the amount of city accessible to you not as large i still give it a solid 7.5 for even having it there. plus the little city is very detailed and has robot guardians that record everything that happens and stores it in all of their collective memories (a sort of early cloud computing!)

Steampunk On deviantart.com

Deviantart.com is an amazing resource for art! You can also find steampunk clothing, craft, cosplay, and comics! Deviantart.com has an amazing collection; so go check it out!

 this one is cool because it shows the world these characters live in, as well as being anime!  this one will receive 8.5 stars from me.  ^_^

 this one is great because not only does this person have cool equipment, but this is actually a painting! i give it a 9!

 the clothes and gun...yup. this one is an 8

more anime!! i love the motorcycle-like contraption the gur is on, as well as his wings (though the wings look like a decoration more than actually funktional. i give this one a 7)

Victorian Art

we must remember that steampunk is based on the 1900s (victorian era). This is a compilation of victorian art. look at all of them and implement the aesthetic into you art/crafting of your steampunk look.

PBS on Steampunk

Steampunk: What Is It?

Dictionary.com's 21st Century Lexicon tells us that steampunk is:

a genre of science fiction set in Victorian times when steam was the main source of machine power; also written steam-punk

because steampunk is science fiction, the rules on how to make the steampunk look are a little hazy. we know that it will look very similar to the victorian era, but how much future technology is added to that foundation is up to the writer, director, or artist. steampunk can have just the technology we have currently, just steam powered. but much more often it will have futuristic things: massive floating ships, elaborate guns, and even towers powered by giant steam engines (think of the anime Howl's moving castle and Metropolis). this blogs purpose is for steampunk fans, as well as people new to the genre, to discover new steampunk items, videos, and pictures.