The REAL Toy Story | Michael Wolf
Behind those toys are a whole new world of “fun”.
Forever reblog!
This is not steampunk, but everything to do with the contradictions of steampunk subculture that will become more apparent with the rise of mainstream consumerism: a community that scorns mass production, but to an extent, is dependent upon mass produced goods to create the styles its aspires toward.
Many steampunk props, guns, and modification source materials for the person of average means is created by a larger global production force that is undergoing their own industrial revolution.
While many people thrift, mod, and create their own subcultural goods, that is more possible for participants with a certain level of class privilege (time to thrift, time to build, financial means to get special-order goods, access to stores that sell wholesale products, etc). And there are many steampunk participants who choose to mod, thrift or upcycle using source materials that are produced overseas (the classic Nerf mod being an example).
As mass popularity of steampunk items grow, this connection to non-Western mass production will need to be ethically addressed by participants of our community.
“Chinese farmer Wu Yulu drives his rickshaw pulled by his self-made walking robot near his home in a village at the outskirts of Beijing. The robot is the latest and largest development by hobby inventor Wu, who started building robots in 1986 with wire, metal, screws and nails found in rubbish sites.”
[via Stareatasia Weird News]that is the most steampunk shit I’ve seen in a while
Over at one of my other blogs, my review of Tai Chi Hero with some rambling on the previous instalment. Because I love Chinese SFF, and steampunk, and awesome things.
On the heels of tainopunk’s exchange with Robert Brown, this is a call-out from a steampunk POC to the whole community. I draw comparisons to the recent outcry against Evelyn Kriete which may or may not make sense to you depending on whether or not you know who she is, because I think the different attitudes of the communities at large towards these two people is very telling.
LOOK AT JAMES NG’S NEW IMPERIAL STEAMPUNK PIECE!!!! It has VAMPIRES and A MAD EXORCIST and A GIANT TORTOISE.
okay we need to talk about the ways in which this is amazing, because the dragon turtle has something under its paw (SUPER TRADITIONAL), and a banner in its mouth, and it’s just so amazing on so many levels.
Saw Tai Chi 0 this evening; full review to follow, but in short it was way better than I was expecting. Fierce lady (played to full fierceness by Angelababy); hilarious steampunk; adorable (girl) child prodigy; Brother Tofu doing kungfu with tofu in his hands; self-aware video game visual references (I swear). Several issues, but still looking forward to the sequel (allegedly later in October).
And done!
So this is my attempt at a steampunk Indian character. I was irritated into it by bad depictions of Western-aesthetic-pretty Indian Girlies in fake saris. Her hair is partly “inspired” by the Indian-rapunzels, because like Battameez, I cannot imagine an Indian woman with that much hair left unbraided.I’ve tentatively named her Amrita Bai, but that’s probably not period-accurate so it’s subject to change as I do more research. Her family’s from Tamilnadu, & are Vishwakarma caste (specifically metalsmiths, I assume), but they moved to one of the forts under Shivaji’s control, and she’s training under a mechanical artificer there. — All subject to change as I do more research. (Plz do tell me if this is faily somehow…)
Real saris are hard. And group-specific; this is a Tamil-brahmin 9-yard sari, and probably not quite period accurate but I’m not sure how it’d be different. No blouse, because this is from my no-British-Raj alternate India. I haven’t actually worn a 9-yard sari myself, so I’m not at all sure I have the folds right on this one. But I did get input from my mother, who has.
Anyway ya know what’s not hard? Making her skin dark. I find that dark skin is so much easier to get looking human rather than zombie than pale skin is, so extra wtf to those whitewashers who say it’s haaaard.
And now I run off to the doctor.
OH MY GOD SHWETA THIS IS PERFECT. CAN I WRITE FIC TO GO ALONG WITH IT. OH MY GOD *BREATHLESS*
:D
But, ontological question, if you write fic of my original character before I manage to write my story about her, which one is the fic?
(I want to run thoughts about that story by you if that’s okay sometime btw, not that I’m well enough to write yet but hey! Apparently I’m well enough to draw again, which is HUGE, so maybe soon!)
ETA: Name and sari do need more work — they are not caste-period accurate (hmm, must chew this over)
BUT OH MY GOD.
Yeah the earliest sari reference I could find is early 1900s, which is of course way too late. But *something* like it seems eminently practical for engineering work. Must make use of university libraries. & problem with Tamil names that are actually period will be getting Anglophones to parse them at all - but that is also true for those foreign Maharashtrans XD So her name could get shortened, as mine & my brother’s did, because these northerners can’t pronounce proper Tamil names only (I was Shwetambari, he was Saratchandra, we became Sharad & Shweta).
btw I invented the changeable-size wrench because the pipe wrench is a) Western and b) not invented yet XD
Steampunk Octopus - Portal 2010 cover by ~ninjagirl
Steampunk Octopus for Portal 2010 Literary Magazine cover. I’m still pretty proud of this, and since I haven’t posted forever, thought this would be a good way to get back into it.
I need to Art more.
The super awesome Jaymee has interviewed me as part of her Steampunk POC series! In it I talk about being POC steampunk in Australia, Malaysia, and the possibilities for steampunk set in Australia. You can read the interview on Silver Goggles. Thanks to Jaymee for interviewing me!
