"Steampunk Nurse." Topic

You can see new sculpt from Smok's sculpture company here. This new miniature is labelled as "Steampunk Nurse"

From here.
link

Hope you enjoy!.

Amicalement
Armand

steampunk ?
corset over the dress = steampunk ?

houston we have a problem !

i can understand the punk , but no more …

Yeah, sculpts like this have moved so far away from any kind of "steam" or Victorian aesthetic, they really should start calling them what they really are: Fetishpunk or Masturbopunk or something.

What? You think a 'conventional' steampunk female figure is not someone's "Fetishpunk or Masturbopunk or something."?

:)

Steampunk has become a sales tag in companies peoples eyes. Expect to see more of it in the future.

Nice sculpt buy not my cup of tea though. Couldn't see how I could add it to my armies unless I had a drug dependent ladies of the night force ;)

jpattern2 has it. Children with no sense of history but a mountain of internet porn. They don't get the genre but still
try to bank on it. I will be stifled but I will drink your milkshake.

lack of culture ?

How about Vaudville Nurse?

"Women wear their corset under dress in 'mainstream' VSF, above it in steampunk."
*Which makes perfect sense*
First, against some claims to exclude this 'black sheep' being SF set in Victorian times, steampunk IS a subgenre of Victorian Science Fiction. In the same way as 'futuristic' SF encompasses very diverse subgenres from near-future 'hard science' to epic space-opera, SF set in the 2nd half of the 19th C. encompasses diverse subgenres, 'mainstream' VSF, steampunk, Barsoomian sword & planet… among them.

Then, steampunk differs from 'mainstream' VSF by departing more widely from historical Victorian times on several levels, notably 'weirder' technologies(*) and (female, mostly) fashion. The two are logically correlated: 'weirder' contraptions and weapons requires an early divergence of science from our History, leaving more time to new technologies to impact on mentalities and society as a whole, getting rid of Victorian prejudices, among others with regard to gender roles and 'proper' conduct -and thus (female) fashion for instance.
VSF contraptions have no effect on society and fashion as long are they are limited to a few experimental prototypes. As soon as they are widespread, are common enough to have an impact of everyday life of a good part of the population, they cannot but change the society and mores. Even their known existence alters the 'world view' of the majority.Any 'lack of culture' is on the side of those ignoring this simple truth.

The sad point is that several posters on this VSF forum are more conservative, reactionary and blind to natural evolution (and thus ignorant of history) than an authentic Victorian Science Fiction author, Robida link. He prophesied airplanes, tanks, biological and chemical warfare, telephone, television… and logically prophesied that all these would deeply modify the society and bring about, among others, a total change of women's status. Then, logically again, he designed a fashion for future 'active women':

Note that the general silhouette he gave to Victorian SF women was unquestionably -if in a more subdued way, he was publishing in the 1880- a precursor of typical'steampunk' female fashion link. And he was able to put forward very educated guesses, having a keen personal interest in the history of female fashion gutenberg.org/ebooks/44187 .

Actually *Robida's dress designs are far more 'accurate' / 'realistic' than unaltered Victorian fashion and values in a VSF setting*. What is 'accurate' in our historical time line is necessarily inaccurate in a diverging enough alternate one. As for fashion itself, being largely unrestricted by practicability it is to e great extent a matter of historical accidents and butterfly effects. Yet a constant historical trend regarding female fashion is that any bettering of their social status, any 'liberation', is reflected in a 'liberation' of their clothing. All Christian women were veiled (not a mere hijab but a veil over a hood) during the Middle-Ages (the taboo on female hair disappeared, among the young generation, only just before WWII)…

As for '-punk' he implies no association with 'punkitude' (if anything steampunk fashion is more connected with the goth style) and lost any dystopian connotation when 'steampunk' was coined on the precedent of cyberpunk. Steampunk Bavarian and French societies described in 'Castle Falkenstein' are less dystopian than their historical counterparts (while mainstream Victorian SF authors -Robida, Verne, Wells…- sometimes gave us gave glimpses of a very dystopian future). Indeed since steampunk '-punk' merely 'tags' science fiction set in a given period of the past, hence dieselpunk, radiumpunk Lacepunk, clockworkpunk… link

In the end I wonder if the bigotry, prejudices and alarmed prudishness expressed here don't simply betray a lack of personal experience. Being old enough to remember the "60, the age of the miniskirt (remember the UFO tv series link?) and the time when all women started to sunbathing topless on French beaches, having had a life, I see nothing specially shocking, 'Fetishpunk or Masturbopunk' in steampunk fashion.
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* Supposing that steampunk technologies are really 'weirder' than aetheral propulsion, antigravity or a concept as improbable and silly as a bipedal war walker.

Abdul… Thanks for the milkshake!

Edit since the Bug seems to have eaten my previous post (I'll try later to restore it by clicking repeatedly on the 'back' button in 'History' of my Firefox window).
In short 'mainstream' VSF corresponds to Verne (and Wells WofW): 'new' technologies -the 'SF' element of the setting- are uncommon and had no time yet to bring about societal changes;
'steampunk' VSF corresponds to Robida: widespread 'new' technologies deeply modified the society and its prejudices.

Note that most 'mainstream VSF' gaming settings are *inaccurate*, since they ignore the impact of supposedly quite common applications of 'advanced sciences' on the society, gender role and fashion included.

'steampunk' VSF corresponds to Robida: widespread 'new' technologies deeply modified the society and its prejudices.

No argument.

I would also point out that widespread "new" technologies have modified, and are still modifying, today's societies and prejudices, including gender role and fashion.

And yet, outside of porn, prostitution, Halloween, and certain clubs, you're not likely to see a hyper-pneumatic and barely clothed "nurse" who looks like that sculpt.

I have no problem with the sculpt itself – there are certainly much more "Oo, er!" sculpts on the market – but calling it "steampunk" is beyond ridiculous.

Great post abdul666lw!
Thanks for your guidance.

Amicalement
Armand

abdul666lw :

if i agree with most of your post, i still have a big problem with this particular mini .
not because of "hyper-pneumatic and barely clothed" but just because of the false assertion "steam punk" for a mini designed for modern-post-apo period .

adding "steampunk" to an uninteresting sculpt just because steampunk is THE fashion this year … it bother me a lot .

and i'm still looking for a victorian SF upper class lady ( wh**e too ) , with corset over the dress , strictly 28mm :o)

my english is not good so its difficult for me …

lou passejaire,

Your post seemed pretty clear (and I hope you find your miniature.)

Although, it seems odd to me that a Victorian upper class lady would wear her undergarments on the outside. But that may just be the historian in me…

Although, it seems odd to me that a Victorian upper class lady would wear her undergarments on the outside.

That's precisely the point: 'Victorian'.

Every VSF game is a piece of 'Alternate History' fiction based on a divergence from our History, a 'What-if?'. One -specially if claiming for 'accuracy'- has to fully explore and implement the consequences of this 'What-if?'.

If the 'What-if?' is of the type "A mad genius built a single Albatros or Nautilus" the entire context is left unchanged (at least on the short term). Similarly if the divergence came from outside the human civilization, an alien invasion for instance. Then *and only then* to ask for respect of 'historical accuracy' is appropriate (1).

If the 'What-if?' is of the type:
- steamtanks and war walkers are so common than a few dozens of infantrymen are never fielded without one or two such contraptions in support (2),
- Faraday 'galvanic' weapons are functional and in use,
- steam-powered protheses allow a man to easily carry a Gatling gun and ignore its recoil,
- aether (or phologiston or vril, or orgone or whatever) is a reliable source of energy routinely used at least in some fields,
- interplanetary travel is developed and safe enough for governments to send colons and expeditionary forces to Mars and Venus,
- antigravity is mastered,
- the existence of extra-terrestrial sentient species is common knowledge…
then the society cannot but be changed in depth. Details are for a part a matter of personal guess, but there is one certainty: it will be DIFFERENT from our historical Victorian society. In this case to ask for respect of 'historical accuracy' is basically appropriate.

In this regard weird 'steampunk' settings are more 'accurate' / 'realistic' than many 'mainstream' VSF games implying unchanged 'historical' Victorian esthetics, mores, prejudices and social roles.
.

And yet, outside of porn, prostitution, Halloween, and certain clubs, you're not likely to see a hyper-pneumatic and barely clothed "nurse" who looks like that sculpt.

In the late '60 many respectable girls and young women -including excellent students and some nurses visiting their patients- wore dresses as short as this one.
The corset, yes, but fashion is largely a matter of unpredictable fads.

.

because of the false assertion "steam punk" for a mini designed for modern-post-apo period.

I agree, 'accurate' steampunk fashion is more likely to include a hitched up dress / skirt worn over a tournure 'bump enhancer' link.

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1: Even so I have yet to see a single VSF game where Humankind faces Martian tripods with only historical Victorian troops and weapons as in Wells' novel.

2: Corresponding to the French *peace time* army of 1913 deploying some 14,000 tanks! As a comparison France had only 3,300 tanks after the mobilization of Fall 1939. Think about the implications with regard to the automobile industry, to start with. Then think about the technological advances over 'our history' in engines, suspensions &c… to have Belle Epoque tanks efficient enough to justify such monstrous program and for the tax payers to fund it. Then think about the general consequences: each and every family, even the poorest, owning its own car? Then think about the societal effects…
Every non-trivial local change creates 'ripples' which in turn trigger other changes everywhere.

for me, victorian is a useful term for the 1880-1899 period in western europa .
in this case the upper class lady is the french wife of an old french professor … i know that the victorian lady motto is "no sex please, we are British"

abdul666lw , the point is : Alternate .
what alternative way of life ( including dress, sexuality, etc ) could have been produced quickly by technical revolutions ?

we have lost the miniskirt fig on the way

No Lady Chatterley in Victorian Great Britain, indeed?

Btw, the inheritance pattern of Queen Victoria's hemophilia is well known, but when hemophilia was searched among her legitimate forebears none was found, suggesting that she was either a mutant (what a VSF idea!) or a bastard….

'The Diplomat and the Honest Woman:
- When the Diplomat says 'Yes' he means 'Maybe';
. when the Diplomat says 'Maybe' he means 'No';
. when the Diplomat says 'No'… but no Diplomat ever says 'No'.
- When the Honest Woman says 'No' she means 'Maybe';
. when the Honest Woman says 'Maybe' she means 'Yes';
. when the Honest Woman says 'Yes'… but no Honest Woman ever says 'Yes'.'
Then I read that in Victorian England some upper-class people were so embarrassed with sex that they feared that sleeping with their wife was bordering on the incestuous: she's the mother of your children, so… better to have a mistress.

Every significant change in everyday life of a good proportion of the population leads to a change of societal paradigm. The 'modern' family (a couple + children) is historically quite recent: for millenniums the basic 'cell' of the society was the family clan, 3 generations living under the same roof. 'Our' family appeared with the 19th C. industrialization, when sons of farmers went to live alone to work in the factories of the new industrial towns. When one of their sons get married, the new couple had in turn to leave and live elsewhere. Our Livret de Famille given to each newly wedded couple dates only from 1873. To pass in a decade from the 'historical' Victorian world to that described by Robida (telephone, tv, family vehicle, advanced medicine…) would turn totally upside down the society (not only because of the practical changes but because of the altered worldview). The nature of the new social structure, now, is open to hypotheses because of possible 'butterfly effects'.

Yet, regarding female fashion (the object of this thread) one observes that since 1900 the length of skirts is inversely proportional to the general optimism of the time. Remember the (relatively) short dresses of the Années Folles; the mini (sometimes micro) skirt peaked during the late '60, when unemployment was unknown, standard of living was steadily rising for all and specially for the poorest classes. Skirts lengthened after the first oil crisis. [Thus the 'nurse' of the OP would live in a very happy Utopia… ] Remember also that there was a lot of disclosed ankles, deep cleavages link . link and public quasi-nudity link . link . link . link . link (since we are on TMP, 4 pics of a very good diorama there:
link) -including by very respectable and respected ladies link during the French Directoire, a period of intense relief. Thus any sudden source of widespread optimism and general relief (drastic decrease to childbirth and infant mortality, of unemployment, general increase of life standard, wars seemingly impossible…) can lead to a 'stripped off' feminine fashion.

A point specially relevant to VSF is the possible influence of 'alien' feminine fashion. Remember that the taboo on female body is a peculiarity of the Abrahamanic faiths (following the part of Eve in the 'apple incident' and the 'original sin', Woman is the Temptatrix, the agent of Satan, the source of all sins..). The taboo on feminine breast is a peculiarity of Abrahamanic cultures: during Antiquity, and everywhere under fair, warm and hot climates until the arrival of Christians or Muslims women went as casually bare-breasted as men, weather permitting. Of course historically it had no impact on Western fashion: such people were 'savages' of 'inferior races'. On the opposite it was the burden of the White Man to civilize and enforce his own prejudices and taboos on the primitive. But extra-terrestrials enjoying a very advanced civilization could not be dismissed so easily. Think of the possible impact of Red Martians, whose science and technologies go far beyond anything Robida could have dreamed of. And Red Martians (despite what Disney tried to have us believe) favor total nudity except for a little jewelry link…
That is, if Red Martians are perceived as creatures of God and not as soulless spawns of Satan. A question rarely addressed in VSF games, but that for sure some people at least would pose in a 'real' alternate world (as it is posed in our world for instance on creationist YouTube channels).

There are certainly many misconceptions about the Victorian period in regard to their sexuality. A lot of mistaken generalisations that they were prudes. All based on books that all source themselves in one source written by a puritan – rather than actually questioning that source and looking for primary sources.

In the Western World technological progress was (at least since the Age of Enlightenment) on the whole followed by an improvement of the general standard of life, an increase of civil rights and social mobility, a blurring of gender roles (who would have believed a century ago that one day there would be armywomen, firewomen, policewomen?). So it's not unsafe to suggest that progress would have the same common beneficial effect in an alternate Victorian Western World. But applied science can as well lead to a dystopian society -specially if controlled and monopolized by an oligarchy (secular or spiritual). Imagine each of Robida's video-telephones and tv with a camera connected to the Board of Internal Security And Control of Deviant Behaviors….
And as for the general health and quality of life link…

That "widespread "new" technologies have modified, and are still modifying, today's societies and prejudices, including gender role and fashion" indeed happened in the Western World, so again it's not unsafe to suggest that it happened also in an 'alternate' Victorian Western World. But it's far from compulsory, and may require a peculiar cultural background (or may be prevented by another peculiar cultural?). In the Western World new knowledge, practices and technologies were not only put to use but 'adopted', assimilated, so mentalities and the society evolved. But one can observe that to-day in countries such as Afghanistan, the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Yemen… while cell phones and TVs are as widespread and commonly used as in the Western World they remain 'foreign' tools, are not integrated in the culture / worldview of the overwhelming majority, the mentalities and the society remain 'frozen'.