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 Yodhrin wrote:
So, we've moved on to gaking on people for not being movie-grade costumers now?

It isn't the quality of the actual manufacturing, it is the laziness of the design.

You do not need to be a movie-grade costumier to not make a bland, uninspired costume design. It is especially egregious when you look at womens steampunk costume designs (many of which are just boots, short skirt, corset, hat and jacket with assorted cogs, wrenches and brass scattered about) and remember that the society is based in the Victorian era, when it was scandalous to see peoples ankles.

I think we all understand that the popularity of top lady cosplayers is to a significant degree based on the amount of flesh they are prepared to splash.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
All genres have recognisable conventions or themes, that's what makes them genres.

Steampunk is based on late Victorian clothing with added science fictiony steamy bits like brass and gears and so on, because the late Victorian era was the high age of steam and early science fiction (Jules Verne, etc.) which supply the core inspiration.

You couldn't have a smooth metallic helmet like Daft Punk's. It would have to be a chromed British Army sola topee.

You couldn't have a Colt M1911 A1 for a weapon. You would carry either a big Victorian recolver, or a skiffy electric pistol made of brass and mahogany.

Anyway, practically all cosplays are recycling various tropes. How many superhero characters are really different from the core tights/pants/cape/mask format?

Superheroes are distinct characters though. So dressing up as one, it makes more sense to stay close to the character. But when you are making your own unique cosplay, maybe dont follow the cookie cutter?

Also, the Victorian thing is wrong. Because there are Steampunk novels set in the Weird West. So I have read a book about a guy in a Steampunk book using a more modern weapon like the 1911. Devon Monk was the author I believe. Not great, but not bad.

Also Yodhrin, I am not gaking on the quality of their cosplays. Many of them are well made and quite intricate. Even the ones with 0 originality to them. See, my problem is a lot of them follow the cookie cutter. I know I know, Victorian era, most of them are in to that. But are you telling me the Victorian era only had two hats, women were forced to wear corsets, and all men had dumb moustaches?

Also, as A Town Called Malice pointed out. This is based on the Victorian Era. Why can I see the corset or anything but the head on a lady? I mean, c'mon. You KNOW what ankles do to those moustaches. (It straightens them out)

Spoilered for lots of data and big pics.

Oh great. Goggles, tophats, and corsets!

 Dreadwinter wrote:
Oh great. Goggles, tophats, and corsets!

"Oh great, the basic thematic elements of the genre's aesthetic!"

Seriously, you're basically saying "Goths need to wear less black" or "What's with those stupid mohawks punks wear? Like, have some originality dude!" or "Wow, what's up with that Men In Black cosplayer wearing a black suit and sunglasses, so cliche".

You can not like the aesthetic, but critcising people for adhering to it when that was their entire objective is just petty.

 Yodhrin wrote:

 Dreadwinter wrote:
Oh great. Goggles, tophats, and corsets!

"Oh great, the basic thematic elements of the genre's aesthetic!"

Seriously, you're basically saying "Goths need to wear less black" or "What's with those stupid mohawks punks wear? Like, have some originality dude!" or "Wow, what's up with that Men In Black cosplayer wearing a black suit and sunglasses, so cliche".

You can not like the aesthetic, but critcising people for adhering to it when that was their entire objective is just petty.

You are still misunderstanding. My issue with the Goths wouldn't be the black, but how they wear it. Are all the guys wearing stupid button ups with thin red ties? Are the girls wearing black frilly skirts with obvious rips? How many studded belts/bracelets are there?

Punks? They have a very wide range of hairstyles and colors. Their hair is hardly the issue. How about those army jackets and jacket patches though? Oh yeah, 50 patches. All hail the king of punks!

Men in Black cosplay? I mean, if you are going to be an agent, only one way to do it. But who wants to be an agent when you can be an alien?!

Criminy, this genre needs a goggle ban.

Right? I mean the pictures only helped my case.

 Yodhrin wrote:

 Dreadwinter wrote:
Oh great. Goggles, tophats, and corsets!

"Oh great, the basic thematic elements of the genre's aesthetic!"

Seriously, you're basically saying "Goths need to wear less black" or "What's with those stupid mohawks punks wear? Like, have some originality dude!" or "Wow, what's up with that Men In Black cosplayer wearing a black suit and sunglasses, so cliche".

You can not like the aesthetic, but critcising people for adhering to it when that was their entire objective is just petty.

Well said, Yodhrin. This thread reminds me of the old Brony-bashing threads from a few years back.

And for anyone saying that this cosplay is lazy or boring, go get your eyes examined!

Picking the only picture in the whole thing that doesn't fit the mold we are talking about doesn't really help you when every other one has the issues I brought up.

On top of that, nobody said they were lazy. Every one of those took hours upon days upon weeks. I just wish they were more original.

The aesthetic is fine when it serves a purpose.

It mostly doesn't serve a purpose. Unless every girl is dressing up as a airship pirate and/or punk barmaid and every guy is a rich dapper gentleman who also goes on missions and is some kind of victorian james bond spy then most of what these people are dressing up as is total nonsense.

The "punk" genres are supposed to have a lot to say about society and victorian era london was a sharp contrast between the decadent elitist rich and the far more populous poor, over worked, and starving.

Look at Gotham by Gaslight. It directly talks about how if it was a rich woman who was murdered the police would never rest. But because the women being killed were prostitutes or poor they were mostly paying lip service to the investigation.

In what world do these people actually exist? What exactly do they do with their lives?

And THATS the problem. The genre is mostly a stagnant mess of everyone being a rich mechanic spy who runs a airship crew and goes to parties. Where are the actual laborers these stories should actually be about? Stop gluing cogs to your top hat. Stop wearing goggles when you have no reason to be wearing goggles. Stop carrying a steam punk crazy gun in your party time outfit.

Dress as a stream punk soldier (like that one guy up there did) and instead of shiny brass like brand new, distress it and show how horrible it is. Steam punk tech is fun, but the world should be an actual nightmare. None of that gets reflected in any of those images. It's all just high flying adventure.

So its not so much that you find Steam Punk boring but that what you've read of it you dislike from the structure they've chosen rather than the setting and overall concept itself.


I mean don't get me wrong; there's stuff I hate too and its perfectly fine not to like stuff - and I realise that you're not the OP of the thread so you're along for the ride; but still at the same time, it seems more that you want to like it but have yet to find any that you actually like.

That's just an element of exploring the concept in greater depth; finding more stories and references to delve into.

Well, apart from being colour blind there is nothing wrong with my visual perception, and I choose a selection of costume pics which showed off the wide variety of styles people wear in Steampunk.

What's next? You hate all sports because sportspeople only ever wear sportswear?

This thread is stupid and I'm locking it.