Steampunkifying

I've seen steampunk versions of more characters than I think I can count.  Above is a really awesome Rogue cosplay from Dragoncon 2009.  As more and more steampunk version of characters crop up there is an interesting resistance also formulating.

One person even had a such a huge resistance to it that he made a complete fool out of himself.  That's a whole lot of condescending exclusiveness to over look this awesome Duela Dent cosplay.

What I want to talk about though is why I like steampunk versions of characters.  There's a lot to be said for replicating a character.  It's difficult and so amazing when done well.  However steampunkifying a character I think uses a different set of skills that are just as impressive.

When doing a steampunk cosplay there's a matter of making a distinctively steampunk costume while still distinctively a particular character.  There's a lot of design skills involved, there's also the matter that in some sense your start more from scratch because there's usually not an image you're entirely going off of.

Here's what I love about steampunkifying though, it's an amazing equalizer.  Check out the lovely lady on the left in the picture above.  She's dressed as a steampunk batgirl, and although distinctively having more body than the comic original does't look any less authentic.  Or check out the Robin in the middle, she's wearing so much more clothing in non-tight fitting way than the original Robin.  Yet again, does not look any less authentic.

Steampunkifying is challenging in a different way than normal cosplay.  It also allows you to wear more covering clothing while still being accurate.  Lastly those who have a different body type than the original characters still can look amazing because victorian style often involved larger body types being hailed as attractive.

So to those who are resisting it, stop.  It's another way for people to express there love for a particular character, or fandom.  Steampunkifying isn't a bad thing, it's an amazing thing that brings more people into our community.  Let's make sure our community is actually awesome enough to deserve these amazing people.