geekosystem

Simon Jansen built this fully functional steam-powered record player out of a desire to make something authentically steampunk. His attempts at making a true gramophone, horn and everything, went awry, and so he settled on a turntable that was spun by the power of steam. He has another video of his engine, Nigel, playing a Sex Pistols record, just to put the "punk" in steampunk, but we like this one better. (via Laughing Squid.)

Philip Valdez made this wonderful steampunk mech, complete with an iron horse locomotive for a head and lovingly detailed valves and gears on the body. While the picture above makes it look like a MechWarrior-sized tower over his backyard, it's actually eleven inches tall, and made entirely from paper: Unlike many papercrafts, however, there are no wires, strings, or pieces of plastic to hold it together.

Ever have one of those days?  Your evil, mostly clockwork, mouth-breathing boss sends you down to yet another inhospitable planet on a wild goose chase.  And not just any planet, but one where it's a billion degrees in the shade, the most efficient method of travel is on giant smelly iguanas, and you just know that you're going to be shaking sand out of the switches and gears in your uniform for at least a month.  It hasn't even occurred to you to ask, "Why do we have spears?"

L.A.-based steampunk mischief-makers League of S.T.E.A.M. have put together a fitting St. Patrick's Day short for people who like some goggles and tweed vests with their comic mayhem. In "Fool's Gold," a hunt for an impeccably attired leprechaun goes awry when it turns out the leprechaun is a slapstick aficionado. Bonus points galore for actually including a boxing glove on a spring as a (not particularly effective) weapon for hunting the paranormal.

The video is worth watching through to the end for the action-packed conclusion ... wait, there's another conclusion? After the jump:

Earlier this month, we featured a couple of steampunk inspired weapons crafted by the Colorado based artist Jonathan Alberico.  Alberico now has two more devices to share, a shoulder-mounted hand-cranked lantern (pictured above), and a lightning gun, painted by Jamie Walborn. Both are available on eBay.

Videos after the jump. 

We're not joking. Check out the videos after the jump if you don't believe us.

Jonathan Alberico (deviantART alias Macabre151) has built two firing models of steampunk inspired weapons, Doris and Black Betty.

"Doris" is a rifle, or, to be more appropriate, a blunderbuss that can be loaded with either a magazine of four ping-pong balls or a barrel-full of confetti.

Also in Alberico's deviantART gallery is his "Black Betty," a handgun equipped with two 40 caliber balls. If you don't have any projectiles for it, it can also simply ignite flash paper. Which allows it to shoot fire.

The video is after the jump. What are you waiting for?

Wizards of the Coast has announced the setting of its newest Dungeons & Dragons living campaign series, which, for those of you don't know, allows thousands of gamers to participate in related tabletop events at gaming stores across the country. Is it set in Greyhawk, the original D&D setting from 1980? Or Eberron, the quasi-steampunk setting of questionable necessity?

We've seen our share of steampunk sculptures of fish before -- many of them very good -- but Jud Turner's "Pollutacuda" wins for sheer intricacy. It's definitely got a Karl Ruprecht Kroenen, a.k.a. "that mechanical Nazi from Hellboy," vibe going on. Full body shot after the jump: