New-ish from Airship Entertainment and designed by Cheyenne Wright (colorist for Girl Genius), it’s the ranger badge for the militant scientist in us all: The Tesla Ranger Badge.
Come on, haven’t you always wanted to enforce the laws of Science? (All right, I know, most of you would rather break them, but that’s why we need some trustworthy lawmen ’round these parts.) It even has a space to add your own individual badge number. Mmmm. DIY!
While I cannot attest to the quality of this specific pin, I can assure you that the Airship Entertainment pins, in general, are quality products. I have both a Jägermonster Insignia Pin and a Winged Trilobite Pin and am extraordinarily pleased with them. I wear them proudly on my vest and would recommend the pins to anyone who asked.
Via The Brothers Brick, flickr user CaptainSmog (Amacher Sylvain) shows us some new creations with a definite steampunk flavor.
I like the giant robot, but I really dig the tank for some reason. Click through to see the whole gallery.
In other news, our good Captain Julian has reminded me that I have blogging ability and duties here, so I shall endeavor to bring our activity up to something more frequent than “once a month.” Hopefully.
Early in the year there was discussion throughout the community over whether or not steampunk was dead. This was apparently spawned by a lull in the popularity of the word “steampunk” as a search term on Google. However, a look at Google Trends right now shows that steampunk is certainly NOT dead, and is, in fact, more popular than ever. Just as we have done in 2008, here we will take a look back at the last year and see just exactly how we have kept the steampunk community alive.
As with many things in this list, there were far too many steampunk events to mention, but arguably this year’s biggest and best was Steamcon in Seattle. Although not the first con specifically dedicated to steampunk, Steamcon seemed to set a new precedent for all future steampunk conventions. Too much happened to write about here, but there are manyreportsavailableontheaethernet.
The steampunk community was delighted when the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford University adknowledged our form of alternate history by running an exhibition of steampunk art and inventions by creators from around the world.
The CGSociety concluded their Steampunk Myths & Legends contest in Februrary. We were treated to beautiful videos and images, and the winning entries can be seen here.
October was declared Steampunk Month on Tor.com. Authors and bloggers from the steampunk community joined up with Tor’s staff to discuss everything steampunk and share short stories.
Two of the most anticipated steampunk novels this year were Leviathan, and Boneshaker. Set in World War I Europe, Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld tells of Alek, an Austro-Hungarian prince on the run as his path crosses with Deryn, a common girl disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service. Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest takes place in the ruins of Civil War-Era Seattle. Briar Wilkes must rescue her son from zombies and airship pirates after he enters the city to clear his father’s name.
This year brought us the addition of two new periodicals. Steampunk Tales is a short-story fiction magazine released specifically for iPhone. Alternatively, exploring the non-fiction side of steampunk, Exhibition Hall made its debut this year as well. On a sad note, due to the depressed economy, The Willows, a magazine devoted to speculative and dark Victorian fiction, went out of business early in the year.
Abney Park was quite busy this year. Dancer and backing vocalist Finn Von Claret left the band, and was replaced by Jody Ellen. After months of delay, the anticipated new album Aether Shanties was finally released on December 1st.
Previously a solo act, Vernian Process spent the last year reinventing itself. With the addition of Martin Irigoyen in late 2008, VP is now a full-sized band, and have released a reworked version of their album, “Behold The Machine“.
In the world of gaming Atlus online released it’s first title, a free steampunk MMORPG called Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent. The biggest flop of the year may have been Damnation, a steampunk shooter released on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Our hopes for a great steampunk game were restored however with the announcement of the forthcoming game, Epic Mickey, along with some apocalyptic-looking concept art. Epic Mickey is expected to be released in September 2010.
A couple of web series made their debut. Riese, a production featuring top actors from the Sci-Fi genre, tells the story of a wandering traveler and her canine companion who are on the run from an evil religious order known as The Sect. Also, the League of S.T.E.A.M., steampunk ghostbusters, already famous for their con appearances, began documenting their comedic travails in “Adventures of the League of S.T.E.A.M.”
For new webcomics this year, check out The Continentals, about a group of special agents battling violent crimes, Sidewise, about a boy lost in time in an alternate Victorian London, and The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, about Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage teamed together as a crime-fighting duo.
There are scores of new steampunk websites out there, and three of them deserve mention here. Steampunk Empire is a social networking site just for steampunks where one can go to chat, post photos and video, and interact with other steampunks across the globe. Likewise, Dieselpunks.org has been created for the dieselpunks among us and on top of social networking, also features new and interviews in the worlds of both steampunk and dieselpunk. Finally, “Steampunk Events is a forum for advertising steampunk events anywhere in the world. Though currently a bit inactive, the site has much potential, as long as people start using it.
Now that you’re caught up on what’s been happening in steampunk, here’s a glimpse of what’s to come:
I drag myself from the unspeakable, horrific depths of term papers and finals to share something with you. I was meandering around a certain corner of the internet when I happened upon an article about a video game. You’ll never guess what it’s about.
In September of this year, North America will be exposed to the wonderful world of Nostalgia. That’s right, we’re getting a steampunk video game for the Nintendo DS. From the creators of Fatal Frame, Dragon Quest V, Final Fantasy III and IV, Grandia, and Thousand arms, the creation of an original steampunk RPG for your favorite hand-held system has occured. Nostalgia will take place in an alternate, 19th-century setting, where you will play as a character named Eddie and gather a group of eccentric companions, flying about the world in a zeppelin.
I do believe there's a sword on that airship...
I would greatly enjoy enlightening you more, but my duties call. However, you can gather more information for your own entertainment here and here.
The game has already been released in Japan, of course. I look forward to playing this game- there are airship battles.
Always Passing Strange,
Don’t know what to get your steampunk buddy for the holidays this year? In anticipation of Christmas, Jake von Slatt of the Steampunk Workshop has written the 2nd annual Steampunk Gift Guide for the DIY technology site Make. With a focus on “gifts for steampunks” rather than “steampunk gifts,” most of the items in this year’s guide are various tools that would be helpful in creating your own steampunk items. Also included are such goodies as a mad scientist’s journal, a sundial compass, and a documentary on Nicola Tesla. Click here to read the Steampunk Gift Guide.
Mad scientists are born genetically grown in a lab, not made. If you suspect you’ve got a little mad scientists in the family, why not give them the tools they need to grow up and become the most evil mad scientists of them all, right from an early age? Xylocopa allows you to do just this, when you buy their set of A Young Mad Scientist’s First Alphabet Blocks. With these unique, laser-engraved maple wood blocks your little one will learn that F is for Freeze ray, O is for Organs, R is for Robot, and of course, most importantly, Y is for YOU, the Mad Scientist of Tomorrow.
