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Remember those curious Cthulhu Transformers? Courtesy of IDW Publishing, here's a sneak peek at the second issue of the Infestation 2: Transformers miniseries, which features more tentacled robots and Optimus Prime meeting Tesla. Edison was hanging out with the Gobots, presumably. This issue hits stores Wednesday, February 15. Here's the plot synopsis: More »
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Once upon a time, not so long ago, everybody agreed what the label "steampunk" referred to. But now the term is being used to refer to all sorts of entertainments, from future history to adventures on other planets. Is it time to rethink what steampunk means? More »
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Boy howdy, this is one of the strangest comic previews we've ever run. Courtesy of IDW Publishing, here's an exclusive preview of the first issue of Infestation 2: Transformers. More »
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Drop what you're doing — this is more important. Oregon sculptor Jud Turner has built a life-sized model of a Columbia mammoth skeleton, he's done it with 95% recycled materials (mostly old farming equipment and agricultural tools), and it's probably the most jaw-droppingly bad-ass thing I've ever laid my eyes on. More »
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The last bit of animated steampunkery we saw from Disney was Atlantis: The Lost Empire. And sadly, most of the gadgets and steam-powered gizmos were quickly swapped for fluorescent face paint. Fortunately, we've spied the perfect bit of Disneyesque concept art that's a perfect starting place for a princess with plenty of technological know-how! More »
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A few days ago, Kotaku posted a gallery of concept art from a rejected pitch for a steampunk Batman videogame based on the Elseworlds comic Gotham by Gaslight. So what exactly did we miss out on? More »
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What could be better than a steampunk Ursula with metal tentacles to carry her about? A steampunk Cruella de Vil, that's what! Check out this wonderful collection of Disney villains and heroes, steampunk-style. More »
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Steam engines run because of statistics — the particles in the machine have a predictable overall behavior, which drives the engine's piston up and down. But if you shrink the engine down to micrometer size, it'll contain far fewer particles, few enough that the behavior of each individual particle could potentially throw the entire apparatus out of whack. More »
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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy comes out in theaters today, injecting a little nostalgia into the techno-thriller spy genre. Although spycraft today involves computer hacking and surveillance drones, today we're paying homage to spy equipment from history. Some of it deserves respect for its ingenuity. Some just deserves a laugh. Check out ten ancient pieces of spy gear. More »
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Turns out Godzilla (or at least a kaiju very similar to Godzilla) is simply misunderstood. Check out this amazing music video that will transport you back to the 1990s, a time when each band had a story to tell via claymation monster. More »
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For their second year at The Utrecht School of Arts, the folks at Colorbleed Studios Consurgo put together Consurgo, a snazzy 4.5-minute short about a little girl who loses her ball in the street, which leads to the appearance of a heaving clockwork abomination. What does this creaking being want? More »
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It's time to champion this lovely and engaging Steampunk musical Futurity. Don't believe me? Then take a listen right now. More »
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Riccardo Sabatini pays tribute to technical drawings and Transformers with Mekkanika, a font composed of illustrated machines. The only question is, are his letters really robots in disguise? More »
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Check out the first trailer for Vintage Tomorrows, a forthcoming documentary about the steampunk movement. Authors, including Cherie Priest and Cory Doctorow, join enthusiasts to explain just why people are so excited about this one strand of retro-futurism. More »
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Straight out of Burning Man 2011, it's Duane Flatmo's El Pulpo Mechanico. It's an octopus. It's a steampunk tank. It's a video game boss. It's an avatar of flaming doom. It's a one-metal-cephalopod parade. I wish I could drive it down the turnpike. More »
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The Victorian Age has long since declared victory over the brains of many science fiction lovers. An alternate history, in which the British Empire was accompanied by fantastical steam-powered technology has captured people's imaginations. Steampunk rules, just as Britannia once did. Just look at the profusion of steampunk costumes at any science fiction convention. More »
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For a cool $1,750,000, you could own your very own Chelsea steampunk apartment! Receive guest through your submarine door, toast them under the giant pink zeppelin, and twirl your vast collection of clockwork thingamajigs. All this and more can be yours...if you can pay for the apartment (and all its many burnished furnishings). More »
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Far West: a world of dust and legends; of gunslingers and martial arts masters; of Imperial power and frontier wisdom. Blending the spaghetti western with the tropes of Chinese wuxia and a dash of steampunk, the shared world of Far West will include short story collections, a web series and a pen and paper RPG. More »
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Martin Scorsese seems like a most unlikely candidate to offer you something to alleviate your Harry Potter withdrawal. And yet, the first trailer for Scorsese's Hugo positively screams "Hogwarts Methadone." More »
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You would not want to get on the wrong side of this robot gunslinger and his pet rattlesnake — or it would end very badly for you. This is "The Rustslinger," one of two great new robot sculptures from Vincent Villafranca. More »
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After becoming famous for such hits as 1982's "She Blinded Me With Science," synthesizer maestro Thomas Dolby spent 20+ years in the private sector inventing new digital music technologies. Now Dolby's getting back to his electronic music roots with his new album, the dieselpunk-inflected A Map of the Floating City. More »
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In 18th and 19th century England, the ballad — sung in the street, in pleasure gardens, in taverns, or in private house parties — functioned as pure entertainment for the masses. But it was also a vehicle for news and for an expression of popular sentiment. Widespread discontent, whether with new technologies or specific political acts of Parliament, were expressed in ballad form. Ballads were sold in single-page broadsides like the one you see here, often with a somewhat shocking picture.  More »
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Miss Sarah Stanton doesn't want to be a society belle. She wants to be a member of the Society of Paragons — a hero and an adventurer. But the organization isn't quite as squeaky clean as she believes. More »
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The task of defining "steampunk" has become surprisingly difficult. Wildly differing definitions are currently in use, from the strictly traditional (late 19th century London-based alternate history science fiction) to the Lewis Carrollian (steampunk means whatever a person wants it to mean). More »
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You're not a geek just because you like science fiction, I know that much, and you're not a geek just because you saw The Lord of the Rings (each movie three times, in the theaters, including the midnight rerelease?)...maybe that makes you a geek. More »
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This animated short from Sucker Punch shows what happens to the poor fallen soldiers in Zack Snyder's dark war universe. From the mind behind Harry Potter's Deathly Hallows animation, Ben Hibon, comes "The Trenches." Watch! More »
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The rise in steam power in the late 18th century led to the imagined possibility that humanity might finally be freed from dependence on muscle and wind as sources of energy. Novels of the near- and far-future, in which new forms of energy, including steam, would lead to new technology and new cultures, expressed this imagined possibility. As early as 1802, in Johannes Daniel Falk's Elektropolis, or The Sun City, electricity was seen as something which would power a utopian civilization. (In Elektropolis even the sun has been removed and replaced with an enormous "electrophor"). More »
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Ready your man-melters and infallible aether oscillators! It's time to crush the Venusian heathens once and for all. Weta Workshop released a new animated promo for Dr. Grordbort's amazing steampunk rayguns and other super-advanced tools of space Empire. More »
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Sculptor Tom Hardwidge builds pint-sized clockwork insects and spiders out of defunct ammunition and sundry watch parts. In another universe, these little buggers are climbing in your coal-powered, head-warming derby and spitting axle grease all over your telescopic monocle. More »
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We previously featured Chet Phillips steampunk superteam the Union of Superlative Heroes. Now the artist has created The Order of Nefarious Villains, a diabolic counterpart to his Victorian justice squad. He's selling packets of these malefactors over at his Etsy shop. More »
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This is steampunk turned inside-out. In the early 1960s, illustrator Peter P. Plascencia wanted to bring Jules Verne's ninteenth century visions to life for a Space Age audience. So he trimmed all the curlicues off, de-bronzed everything, and gave us these very Mad Men-looking pictures of a Verne adventure. More »
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In a future where we cruise back and forth between our underwater cities in lovingly hand-crafted vessels, we can look forward to Andrew George Brown's "Fanciful Submarines," whimsical boats that fin through the waters and creep across the ocean floor. More »
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In 1868, Zadoc Dederick of Newark, New Jersey built a robotic man wearing a top hat to pull carriages. His creation became known as "the Newark Steam Man," and its inventor hoped to build an army of steampunkish carriage drivers. More »
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Terry Gilliam is ready to take a steam-powered journey into the the alternate world of 1884, with a steampunky story written (and soon to be directed) by Gilliam's protégé Tim Ollive. Watch these amazing animation/puppet tests by Ollive himself. More »
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Still wrestling with your holiday gift list? Well, everyone loves a t-shirt! So we've rounded up the geekiest, silliest, sexiest, stylish nerdware (and threw in a few sweaters for good measure) to make your gift-giving a bit easier. More »
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Chet Phillips' illustrations have taken us to the steampunk Planet of the Apes and an alternate universe where Earth's greatest writers and artists are cats and dogs. His latest fantastical trading cards place familiar superheroes in the VIctorian era. More »
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Right now, in Los Angeles, casting is taking place for a low-budget action movie called Steampunk Samurai Biker Chick. And it sounds like Mad Max crossed with Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!. When can we see this movie? More »
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Over at Whitechapel, Warren Ellis is holding an open submission thread to redesign Batman for the steampunk era. If you couldn't get enough of Gotham By Gaslight, this artwork is definitely up your alley. More »
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A while back, Charles Stross published a spirited critique of steampunk, saying "there's too much of it" and it's suffering from "second artist effect." Now Aurorarama author Jean-Christophe Valtat explains why steampunk and "Teslapop" are more relevant than ever. More »
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