Albion: 1849

Stolen shamelessly from gmskarka.

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There was recently an interesting discussion on what exactly is Steampunk. Sure we tend to know it when we see it, but what is it actually? Personally I feel that it is a reaction against the mass-produced modern age, a return to unique hand-crafted artefacts. Which, as I pointed out, was quite Anti-Victorian, as that was the age when mass-production and factories took over. One problem is that it has lost most of it's reactionary edge and become established, a sub-culture in it's own right. This has, similar to the punk and cyberpunk sub-cultures, upset many of those who were early adopters, probably because the reactionary element has disappeared, and they don't need to react against something, and it throws them off-balance. In essence, it's become mainstream. Of course, the next step is when people start adopting the iconography of the movement (gears and goggles for instance), as simple fashion accessories (much as some clubbers started wearing jewelry made of electronic components and circuit-board tatoos and called themselvesd Cyberpunks), and that irritates both the early adopters and the mainstream, in that these newcomers just don't get it. Meanwhile the newcomers, when confronted with this, are confused. After all, they are wearing the uniform, aren't they? Like everyone else.