Steampunk? In MY Anime Con?

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  • I'll pretty much agree with a lot of what's been said here. Why be exclusionary? It kind of reminds of an episode of "Sabrina the Teenage Witch", where she cast a spell to make her cheerleader rival Libby become a nerd. "She doesn't care which group she's part of, as long as she gets to exclude people!"

    I also remember reading an article years ago, about bad things happening in the Star Trek fandom. One thing mentioned was this very sort of exclusionary mentality. People who showed up at a con in non Star Trek costumes were turned away. The people who enforced that were referred to as "Trek Nazis"* for their exclusionary attitude, do we really need to act that way too?

    I go to sci-fi cons, I'm not going to get bent out of shape by the presence of Anime characters. It's all cosplay, after all.

    *The original author's words, not mine

  • I don't go to anime conventions at all. My main conventions are DragonCon and San Diego Comic Con, so my point of view on this is a bit different from those who go to a lot of anime cons.

    Steampunk has been growing in popularity the last few years, and it's particularly visible at DragonCon. Personally I think it's really great, as it encourages people to design their own characters and costumes, rather than basing their costumes off of something else (not that I don't love costuming based on something else, obviously).

    I would say that the majority of steampunk costumes take a LOT of time. WAY more time than a lot of you are giving it credit for. How many animes, movies, comics, or even games lend themselves to "closet cosplay"? Dozens and dozens, at least. Now how many people have Victorian-esque clothing in their closets and can "just throw something together in 20 minutes"? Unless they've made Victoria costumes before, ZERO! Do you know how many hours goes into making a custom fitted Victoria corset? Or how many hours it takes to make a working metal arm? We're talking advanced sewing techniques, metallurgy, and piles and piles of research and planning -- WITHOUT reference pictures! -- for most steampunk costumes.

    Now, there are definitely people who do sloppy steampunk, and steampunk-on-the-cheap. Last year at DragonCon there was a vendor selling some $10 plastic steampunk goggles, and by the end of the con they had become the Mickey Mouse ears of D*C09 -- everyone had them. And some people are able to assemble nice looking steampunk costumes from shoes from Target, leftover Loli pieces, welding goggles, and spray painted Nerf guns. But they aren't the majority, and trust me, it still took several hours.

    I think there are two reasons that people in steampunk costumes would get a lot of pictures. First, it's difficult to tell at first glance if a steampunk costume involves handcrafted, original pieces -- bespoke corsets, fine leathercrafting, metal pieces made from scratch -- or if it's steampunk-on-the-cheap, with spray painted plastic. When I was first getting into steampunk, I took pictures of everyone I saw dressed in steampunk at cons, and it was only after going through lots of high rez images that I started to be able to separate the high quality handcrafted stuff from the lower end stuff. From 8 feet away, most of it looks astonishingly gorgeous.

    The second reason is that a lot of people still don't know what steampunk is. So they see a group of people wearing cool, unique costumes. They're obviously very unique costumes, probably well-fitted and sharp in a way that a lot of "I sewed this out of costume satin based on images from an anime" cosplays aren't (either because the clothing is handmade with a great amount of skill, or because the pinstripe pants, for instance, are a part of a real suit). The group obviously has a cohesive theme and look, but it isn't something the photographers have ever seen before. So they flock to it, and take lots of photos. And a group of photographers draws in other photographers -- there must be something cool to see there, right?

    Anyway, my point is just that you shouldn't underestimate the amount of effort that goes into a steampunk costume. And even if you do, you should NEVER, in my opinion, slight someone else's costume because they got more photos than you did. Photo envy is a great way to ruin an otherwise lovely costume.

  • Well, it never really bothers me, unless it's one of those who decide to put on goggles and continue to wear their Tripp pants and black shirt and announce themselves as Steam Punk. Cause that is not.

    I've faced the wrath of wearing a Star Trek uniform at an Anime Convention. Booed and hated throughout most of it, mostly why I never bring Girl Spock out of my closet anymore. What saddened me about it all was...well, I love anime, but because I was wearing a Trek uniform, I was dubbed not. The only reason I really wore it was because it was an Anime, Steampunk AND SI-FI themed con... SO I figured it'd be alright. But I was entirely wrong. And I really paid for it. And with that I don't plan to be girl Spock anymore due to people being very judgmental and...well, just oddly haters.. It was sad, but it's in the past and I'll just cosplay from Anime and comics like what they want. lol. It was worth a shot though... *shrug*

    But, full fledged steam punk, I greatly approve. Some of the stuff is rather amazing and i love seeing it. ^^

  • Why would Steampunk be any less welcome than video-game cosplay, television/film cosplay or something like Gothic Lolita?

    I have seen some truly amazing Steampunk costumes created, true, I've seen some lazy ones done too, but generally I've seen a lot of effort being made and I think it's a fantastic addition.

  • Prota-Girl -- Really? Geesh... even back when everyone hated on Jigglypuff and Sailor Mini/Chibi-Moon did cosplayers get THAT kind of disrespect. That makes me really sad. :( I've heard rumor of people egging such cosplayers, but never at a con like this.

  • Ehh...I don't mind Steampunk at conventions. :\ I mean, if what does it matter? No one picks on the kids in who aren't cosplaying. I mean, at least the Steampunks are making an effort to dress up for the con.
    orz

  • [QUOTE=Chyster;3488737]Ehh...I don't mind Steampunk at conventions. :\ I mean, if what does it matter? No one picks on the kids in who aren't cosplaying. I mean, at least the Steampunks are making an effort to dress up for the con.
    orz[/QUOTE]

    Clearly you don't pay attention/haven't been to enough cons yet.

  • @Vexation - It depends on which cons you go to, honestly. I think the biggest thing is the Steampunkers who actually put effort into their outfits, and the ones that came straight out of Hot-Topic and the like.

  • I think steampunk is pretty cool. At the previous con they had steampunk sailor scouts and mario.

    I wouldn't mind trying steampunk my self

  • [QUOTE=Leadmill;3488683]Stuff.[/QUOTE]

    Not that I'm jealous, If I were that attention craving I'd be right next to them with a nerf gun covered in hot glue ready to go, cosplaying the popular stuff like Bleach of Kingdom Hearts or whatever.

    And I didn't say anything about marginalized. You're putting words in my mouth (or should I say, text).

    Once again, I said I didn't mind it at the very beginning. I was stating my own feelings on it. I just don't want to see my favorite Sci-Fi and Anime cons turn into nothing but Steampunk conventions.

    And besides, even Anime is guilty of quickie costumes. I'm looking at you Death Note.

  • [QUOTE=Leon_Redfield;3488761]Not that I'm jealous, If I were that attention craving I'd be right next to them with a nerf gun covered in hot glue ready to go, cosplaying the popular stuff like Bleach of Kingdom Hearts or whatever.

    And I didn't say anything about marginalized. You're putting words in my mouth (or should I say, text).

    Once again, I said I didn't mind it at the very beginning. I was stating my own feelings on it. I just don't want to see my favorite Sci-Fi and Anime cons turn into nothing but Steampunk conventions.

    And besides, even Anime is guilty of quickie costumes. I'm looking at you Death Note.[/QUOTE]

    ^^That.

  • Well you see lolitas and ravers and goths and all this other stuff at anime conventions that has nothing to do with anime. Why not steampunks too?

  • [QUOTE=Chocolahime;3488771]Well you see lolitas and ravers and goths and all this other stuff at anime conventions that has nothing to do with anime. Why not steampunks too?[/QUOTE]

    Lolitas have nothing to do with anime? Have you watched Princess Princess? ParaKiss? Rosen Maiden? Chobits?

  • [QUOTE=Vexation;3488776]Lolitas have nothing to do with anime? Have you watched Princess Princess? ParaKiss? Rosen Maiden? Chobits?[/QUOTE]
    Well sooooorry.
    Some characters have lolita outfits. I'm just saying someone wearing just normal lolita at a convention that ISN'T related to a character is unrelated to anime.
    It's like wearing cat ears and saying you're anime related because some characters have them.
    But anyways steampunk@animecons - who cares, wear whatever you want.

  • [QUOTE=Vexation;3488776]Lolitas have nothing to do with anime? Have you watched Princess Princess? ParaKiss? Rosen Maiden? Chobits?[/QUOTE]

    Then why ignore that Steampunk has featured in several notable anime series and films by several major animation studios. You can't ignore a point one second and then use it the next.

    By your logic now Steampunk has just as much right to be at an anime event as lolita.