6 posts tagged “steampunk”
Last weekend Zigariffic, Put-a-Lydia-on-It, Kimportant and I steampunked it up at the Dickens Fair in San Francisco. La Legion Fantastique declared it Steampunk Day at the fair and, of course, C.R.U.D. had to represent (even if it was only three of us).
The fair was pretty dope! Lots of things to see, eat, drink, buy and lots of people decked out in their period finery. Tons of folks in character, which meant a) all the gentlemen were tipping their hats to the ladies (awwww), b) all the chimney sweeps were wandering around drunk and reciting dirty limericks and c) the girls and I got hit on... a lot. I didn't catch it initially, but Lydiabolical said that one older gentlemen, after checking out my phonograph gun, stated "Deadly, but not as deadly as a lovely woman."
Seriously, guys, the most action I get nowadays is when I dress up in dorky clothes. This is my life.
Anyway, moving on...
La Legion Fantastique sponsored a costume contest with a bunch of awesome prizes. Lydiamante and I figured we'd give it a shot (they were giving out these pretty cool certificates to anyone that signed up) and what do you know... I won something!
A really cool something, actually! I figure it'll be a key element for my next steampunk costume.
It was pretty awesome in that they "matched" a lot of their prizes with the characters that people were trying to portray. For instance, besides me getting this radio kit, a ship captain got a miniature brass replica of an underwater diver's helmet (the Nemo Award) and a mother/son explorer duo got two tickets to the Academy of Sciences.
None of us had a camera, but I yoinked these photos from one of the Legion's Flickrs, a fellow who went by the name Captain Robur. JoeJohnson has more photos from the day here as well.
Braved the wet weather and went to Steam Powered, the steampunk convention in Sunnyvale, on Saturday and Sunday. For its first year, it shows an amazing room for potential. The hotel it was situated in was very small, but was nicely decorated with a steampunk-inspired bar/set, displays of mannequins decked out in stuff from Gentleman's Emporium and props and vehicles created by local artists. I'd say about 90% of the attendees were dressed in steampunk or steampunk-inspired gear (I mean, if you count sticking a pair of goggles on a top hat with a pair of jeans as steampunk-inspired. I do, so we'll just roll with it.) which was pretty refreshing!
With two programming panel tracks, it was kind of easy to get bored if you weren't really interested in hearing the history of Victorian tea or something along those lines. But, the two panels I did attend (Jake von Slatt's and Greg Broadmore's) were informative, eye-opening and, most importantly, entertaining. The dealer room had everything you'd expect to see at a steampunk convention and I imagine there were a handful of people that walked out with new outfits by the end of the weekend.
Anyway, Judy and I decided that if they have it again next year (and it looks like they are... right before Comic-Con o_O) we'd totally go again. Guess that means I'll be making another steampunk costume? Oh boy.
blah blah blah... here are photos from today: http://flickr.com/photos/positivespace/sets/72157608605294268/
Didn't take any photos on Saturday because AJ, Judy and I were too busy C.R.U.D.-ing it up. And amusing the staff at the Fish Market restaurant down the street.
We got previews from Ed Pingol from our steampunk shoot from two weeks ago and I can't talk straight 'cause it's almost 3am and I should be asleep but these photos make me kind of stupid happy and I'm so glad that everyone lost some sleep and finished their costumes and woke up early and drove hella far and...
I'm gonna shut up now. JUST GO: http://edpingol.blogspot.com/2008/10/what-is-cosplay-part-ii-steampunk-style.html
I was trying to write some deep year-in-review B.S., but failed horribly, so this is its replacement.
Attendance: Katsucon, Anime Expo, Comic-Con, JTAF
New (links to galleries on cosplay.com):
Lace (Ibara), Nein (Five Star Stories), Zero (Vampire Knight)
Meant to do this year: Argilla (Digital Devil Saga 2)
Next year:
Balsa (Seirei no Moribito)
I have everything for this costume and have half-finished shoes and a semi-styled wig already! I think the fact that I bought CROCS is a sign that this costume is serious business (since I hate those shoes with an unholy passion that rivals my hate for Ugg boots). The series is pretty darn awesome, by the way, and I highly recommend it.
Steampunk something or another
I'm pretty I've asked almost every single one of my illustration/design-leaning friends to help me design a costume. I was thinking of a mad scientist theme, but all I really know is that I want some amazing cleavage, a crazy face/eye attachment thing and a gun. A really big freakin' gun.
Shouta (DOLLS)
He's a government-sponsored investigator/executioner with a saucy trench coat, guns and a team of two other people. The series started in Japan not long ago, but if you search on Cure there are something 5,000,341 DOLLS cosplayers. Hopefully I'll be joined with a pretty big group!
Otani (LoveCom / Lovely Complex)
Aimee and I are going to rock this cosplay so hard because we're ridiculously height-appropriate for both characters. I'm positive we'll have some hilarious photos as a result. If you're not familiar with the series, it centers around the tallest girl in school (Risa) and the shortest boy (Otani) and their unlikely pairing in romance. It's goofy, it's cute, it's good times!
Thankfully two of those costumes will probably be bought, since I am the laziest cosplayer ever. eBay here I come!
The only definite convention plan I have for next year is Comic-Con... where I'm going to wear all this stuff is completely beyond me at this point. I'll go to Fanime if J-Rock Revolution is on a different weekend or doesn't bring any acts I like, PMX if Aimee wants to do LoveCom there, Dragon*Con if I have the funds, YaoiCon if we decide to do DOLLS there and... yeah.
