Gaslight Gathering Con Report, part 1 of x
[What? He went to anotherconvention? I hear he is planning on going to even more of them...]
Last Friday I got a text message from Hazel Chaz that asked what my address was, so that he could swing by to pick me up and take me to San Diego for a steampunk convention, free ride and badge.
Naturally, I gave him my address, and then proceeded to roll about, lamenting that I had none of my steampunk or Victorian-era clothes with me. Here is my con report.
(They stopped using gaslights when too many theatres burned down because of it and the advent of electric lights revolutionised the field anyway...)
I didn't have very much to work with, but somehow I pulled something together that night to wear for this convention. Saturday morning Chaz showed up in his toaster-car, and we were off. The convention was held at the Town and Country Resort in San Diego, which is where the recent Anime Conji also happened. I knew the layout a little better this time than I did last, so I did not have to wander about for a half-hour getting where everything was so I could recall it and go to a stated place on call. Fortunately for me, though, I did not have any obligations this time around. No panels to host, no masquerades to win. I was just there to mention to people that the Costume Retreat sponsored by the Costumer's Guild West was happening, and how people could get involved. I was also given a stack of ribbons that read "A.L.A. Powered by Steam" to hand out. This was acceptable.
The first thing I noticed upon arrival was that the age range of the ambient crowd was significantly higher than one's average anime convention. There were very few people under what I'd wager was sixteen, and it went up to what I'd wager was around seventy-five or so. I gathered that there was quite an overlap between Steampunk here and Society for Creative Anachronism people, which makes sense. I bet if I go to Potrero this year, which is highly unlikely, by the way, I will see many of the cool dudes I saw at Gaslight.
But I digress. The age range was not the only thing which was higher; the quality of costuming and character was also far above many of the conventions I have attended, simply because there were more high-quality costumes per capita than anime conventions, where there are simply amazing costumes that must have taken years to make and finish (Big O cosplay, anyone?), but there are so precious few that they themselves are masked in the other poorly-built or store-bought Naruto and Bleach Original Characters. Nearly everyone who was in costume was in a good costume (myself excluded from this, of course...), which is so much more than I can say for, for instance, AkiCon or even Sakuracon.
I attended a panel entitled "Attaining the Victorian Silhouette," which basically was a discussion on methods of constructing and wearing the specific clothes that gave people their particular shapes during that era. It was highly informative, it was not hosted by some snotty teenagers in Hetalia cosplays, and it was actually interesting. Another point toward Gaslight. I sadly only attended a portion of this panel, and then only this panel and no others, but I can make the extrapolation that at least some of the other panels that were hosted at this con were equally as entertaining and informative, coming from a theatrical standpoint.
They hosted a Tea Party, for which one would have had to pay an extra fee should one wish to attend. It was a formal tea, to be sure, but the selection of teas that were available were low-quality, and furthermore they did not make pots of tea, preferring, for a reason unknown to me, to issue individual tea bags to each participant. "But Vincent," you say, "it was for convenience's sake! That many tea pots would be expensive, and not everyone wishes to drink the same tea!" If one wished for convenience, then one could likely skip doing steampunk as a whole. Steampunk is largely inconvenient by nature. As for the tea selection, they bought most of them from the local grocery store, which means they got the low-quality bag teas. Maybe I am a tea elitist (tealetist?), but if it is not proper loose tea, it does not belong at a formal tea party. Tea bags do not allow for full brewing of the tea, and many of them are a bleached paper-like material that stains the water with the acidic paper taste. It's subtle, but you can definitely taste it if you know what you are looking for. However, I understand that the tea cakes they served were very good (they brought some left-overs to the con suite, and I took one there), and as a whole the tea itself went without much issue.
The dealer's hall was a singularly unique experience. At an anime convention, there are lots of retailers that have bought tons of manga or figures or games or whatever from overseas (or the local Kinokuniya), brought them to the con, and intend to re-sell such things. This set of dealers generally displays its wares in much the same way universally, so it becomes monotonous to see the stall with all the books next to the Yaoi stall, which is next to the packaged wig shop. This convention, however, was supremely different. While I can readily say I have seen much of what anime convention dealers have to offer, I have never seen anything like what was being sold at some of the stalls here. Most of the shops were for hand-made, unique items or such things that one could simply not find any more, and the curiosities abounded at every stall. There was not a single shop that did not catch my eye with some trinket or fetish that I'd have loved to possess. Just walking through the hall itself was an attraction, seeing all the different goods that steampunkers can put together and offer. It is marvellous.
There was a dance that evening. I am going to call it a dance because it was a dance. Not like the rather poorly-executed Sakuracon "Masquerade Ball," this one was completely ballroom. There was a band and everything! They played all the music LIVE. I am being modest when I say that I became aware of my possession of an adult beefswelling.
I suppose this is the end of part 1. I dunno if I will get around to part 2, since I am tired and need to go to bed if I want to be up in time for work tomorrow.
Last Friday I got a text message from Hazel Chaz that asked what my address was, so that he could swing by to pick me up and take me to San Diego for a steampunk convention, free ride and badge.
Naturally, I gave him my address, and then proceeded to roll about, lamenting that I had none of my steampunk or Victorian-era clothes with me. Here is my con report.
(They stopped using gaslights when too many theatres burned down because of it and the advent of electric lights revolutionised the field anyway...)
I didn't have very much to work with, but somehow I pulled something together that night to wear for this convention. Saturday morning Chaz showed up in his toaster-car, and we were off. The convention was held at the Town and Country Resort in San Diego, which is where the recent Anime Conji also happened. I knew the layout a little better this time than I did last, so I did not have to wander about for a half-hour getting where everything was so I could recall it and go to a stated place on call. Fortunately for me, though, I did not have any obligations this time around. No panels to host, no masquerades to win. I was just there to mention to people that the Costume Retreat sponsored by the Costumer's Guild West was happening, and how people could get involved. I was also given a stack of ribbons that read "A.L.A. Powered by Steam" to hand out. This was acceptable.
The first thing I noticed upon arrival was that the age range of the ambient crowd was significantly higher than one's average anime convention. There were very few people under what I'd wager was sixteen, and it went up to what I'd wager was around seventy-five or so. I gathered that there was quite an overlap between Steampunk here and Society for Creative Anachronism people, which makes sense. I bet if I go to Potrero this year, which is highly unlikely, by the way, I will see many of the cool dudes I saw at Gaslight.
But I digress. The age range was not the only thing which was higher; the quality of costuming and character was also far above many of the conventions I have attended, simply because there were more high-quality costumes per capita than anime conventions, where there are simply amazing costumes that must have taken years to make and finish (Big O cosplay, anyone?), but there are so precious few that they themselves are masked in the other poorly-built or store-bought Naruto and Bleach Original Characters. Nearly everyone who was in costume was in a good costume (myself excluded from this, of course...), which is so much more than I can say for, for instance, AkiCon or even Sakuracon.
I attended a panel entitled "Attaining the Victorian Silhouette," which basically was a discussion on methods of constructing and wearing the specific clothes that gave people their particular shapes during that era. It was highly informative, it was not hosted by some snotty teenagers in Hetalia cosplays, and it was actually interesting. Another point toward Gaslight. I sadly only attended a portion of this panel, and then only this panel and no others, but I can make the extrapolation that at least some of the other panels that were hosted at this con were equally as entertaining and informative, coming from a theatrical standpoint.
They hosted a Tea Party, for which one would have had to pay an extra fee should one wish to attend. It was a formal tea, to be sure, but the selection of teas that were available were low-quality, and furthermore they did not make pots of tea, preferring, for a reason unknown to me, to issue individual tea bags to each participant. "But Vincent," you say, "it was for convenience's sake! That many tea pots would be expensive, and not everyone wishes to drink the same tea!" If one wished for convenience, then one could likely skip doing steampunk as a whole. Steampunk is largely inconvenient by nature. As for the tea selection, they bought most of them from the local grocery store, which means they got the low-quality bag teas. Maybe I am a tea elitist (tealetist?), but if it is not proper loose tea, it does not belong at a formal tea party. Tea bags do not allow for full brewing of the tea, and many of them are a bleached paper-like material that stains the water with the acidic paper taste. It's subtle, but you can definitely taste it if you know what you are looking for. However, I understand that the tea cakes they served were very good (they brought some left-overs to the con suite, and I took one there), and as a whole the tea itself went without much issue.
The dealer's hall was a singularly unique experience. At an anime convention, there are lots of retailers that have bought tons of manga or figures or games or whatever from overseas (or the local Kinokuniya), brought them to the con, and intend to re-sell such things. This set of dealers generally displays its wares in much the same way universally, so it becomes monotonous to see the stall with all the books next to the Yaoi stall, which is next to the packaged wig shop. This convention, however, was supremely different. While I can readily say I have seen much of what anime convention dealers have to offer, I have never seen anything like what was being sold at some of the stalls here. Most of the shops were for hand-made, unique items or such things that one could simply not find any more, and the curiosities abounded at every stall. There was not a single shop that did not catch my eye with some trinket or fetish that I'd have loved to possess. Just walking through the hall itself was an attraction, seeing all the different goods that steampunkers can put together and offer. It is marvellous.
There was a dance that evening. I am going to call it a dance because it was a dance. Not like the rather poorly-executed Sakuracon "Masquerade Ball," this one was completely ballroom. There was a band and everything! They played all the music LIVE. I am being modest when I say that I became aware of my possession of an adult beefswelling.
I suppose this is the end of part 1. I dunno if I will get around to part 2, since I am tired and need to go to bed if I want to be up in time for work tomorrow.