steampunks
Victorian-future aesthetic enthusiasts
Steampunks are enthusiasts of steampunk—a genre and aesthetic that imagines Victorian-era technology powered by steam, gears, and brass rather than electronics.
The term covers fans, cosplayers, and creators who embrace the style: The steampunks at the convention wore goggles and corsets with clockwork accessories.
As a verb, to steampunk something is to redesign it in this aesthetic: She steampunked her laptop with brass fittings.
Sealed protective eyewear
- corsetsBoned, laced bodice garments
- brassCopper-zinc metal mixture
- gearsToothed rotating machine parts
- cogsProjections on a wheel
clockwork · tophats · monocles · airships · dirigibles · sepia · tweed · vests
Improvised or odd mechanism
- apparatusEquipment for a task
- mechanismMeans by which something operates
- inventionNew device or method
- deviceConstructed tool or machine
clockwork · gears · cogs · automaton · engine · hydraulics · pneumatics · lever
- H.G. WellsTime Machine author
- 20000 LeaguesVerne's submarine journey
- mad scientistDeranged researcher archetype
- inventorCreator of original devices
adventurer · explorer · penny dreadfuls · alternate history · speculative fiction · world-building · Morlock · Nautilus
Genre reimagining past outcomes
- anachronismHistorical time-placement error
- gaslight eraPre-electric illumination period
- what-ifHypothetical scenario query
- time travelMovement across temporal points
ether · Tesla · Edison · industrial revolution · zeppelins · coal-fired
goggles
Sealed protective eyewear
- corsetsBoned, laced bodice garments
- brassCopper-zinc metal mixture
- gearsToothed rotating machine parts
cogs · clockwork · tophats · monocles · airships · dirigibles · sepia · tweed · vests · pinstripes
contraption
Improvised or odd mechanism
- apparatusEquipment for a task
- mechanismMeans by which something operates
- inventionNew device or method
device · clockwork · gears · cogs · automaton · engine · hydraulics · pneumatics · lever · pulley
Jules Verne
- H.G. WellsTime Machine author
- 20000 LeaguesVerne's submarine journey
- mad scientistDeranged researcher archetype
inventor · adventurer · explorer · penny dreadfuls · alternate history · speculative fiction · world-building · Morlock · Nautilus · Captain Nemo
alternate history
Genre reimagining past outcomes
- anachronismHistorical time-placement error
- gaslight eraPre-electric illumination period
- what-ifHypothetical scenario query
time travel · ether · Tesla · Edison · industrial revolution · zeppelins · coal-fired
cosplay
Dressing as media characters
- makerOne who produces
- tinkererHobbyist who adjusts mechanisms
- conventionAgreed standard of behavior
fandom · DIY · craftsman · artisan · collector · enthusiast · community · scene · lifestyle · goth
steampunksminimalists
Advocates of deliberate simplicity
modernists · functionalists · cyberpunks · futurists · brutalists
- steampunk aestheticVictorian-era industrial fantasy style
- steampunk artVictorian-industrial aesthetic imagery