Victoria steampunk enthusiast James Ketter and his robotic arm (photo Matthew Mathiason\/Nexus).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nFor the uninitiated, steampunk is a genre of science fiction set in Victorian England or \u201cWild West\u201d America, and it imagines a world where steam-powered devices and clockwork gadgets replace modern-day technology. Drawing influence from authors like H.G. Wells and Jules Vern, fans of the genre have imagined and even created things ranging from steam-powered cars and computers to weapons and prosthetic limbs.<\/p>\n
Husband-and-wife duo Lawrence Maynard and Brigid Skelton have been to both previous events; this year presents another opportunity to get together with other fans and show off their handmade costumes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was Brigid who got into it first,\u201d says Lawrence. \u201cI just sort of followed along. But [event organizer] Justin<\/del>\u00a0Jordan Stratford is actually a longtime friend, and I was one of the first people he contacted trying to set it all up.\u201d<\/p>\nFor Skelton, the convention is all about the elaborate costumes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve always loved costuming, ever since I was little,\u201d she says. \u201cI loved being part of the Society for Creative Anachronisms, but they put a lot of emphasis on being historically accurate. Steampunk is science fiction, set in a time that never really existed, so you get to create your own vision. Nobody can say you’re doing it wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria local James Ketter knows a thing or two about costumes himself, having won the costume contest at the first event. His wood and metal prosthetic arm, featuring a fully articulated hand, was unlike anything the event-goers had ever seen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s more than just stylized science fiction, I think,\u201d says Ketter. \u201cThings have to be functional, useful, as well as beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ketter set out to create something different from what he had already seen.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy research uncovered several iterations, but they were usually just a glove with some interesting bits attached. I wanted to show how the technology might actually work.\u201d<\/p>\n
The result was one of the most striking pieces so far at the expo.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a few people ask me if I had an actual arm inside,\u201d he says with a grin. \u201cSo I think it turned out fairly well.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Victoria Steampunk<\/del> Expo<\/strong><\/p>\nApril 20-22<\/p>\n
Empress Hotel<\/p>\n
victoriasteamexpo.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s fitting that a fringe subculture based on Victorian-era science-fiction is gaining such a following here in Victoria. With the third annual Victoria Steampunk Expo coming up, fans of the genre are again planning to dress up and geek out for a phenomenon that\u2019s steadily gaining popularity all over the world. For the uninitiated, steampunk […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2494"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3260,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2494\/revisions\/3260"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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