26th door on the left.

Several months ago, Gambort asked "Are you really as dirty on VA Steamworks as you make out? Aside from the overpimping I would have thought his stuff was right up your alley: quirky, colourful steam-fantasy*." (The post, a recap of Brickon09. Worth a read again, but careful, there is a joke at Nnenn's expense, which may strike some as "too soon" in a sort of time-travely way)

For context, a particularly hateful diatribe against VA, and a rant at the end of this post. VA has rather fallen off our radar since then, as has his particular style of "steampunk," which might be more properly called a pain parade. Gambort is right that our alley contains fantastical, brightly coloured steampunk, but where is the line between it and Awful Avenue?

Introducing relative newcomer Captain Smog, with his Steam Panzer:


"But," you declare, "surely you see the similarity between this and VA's early work?" Indeed, the faux gold, the brown treads, the brown everything, the bionicles, the cannons, the entry-level greebles, this seems like a recipe for disaster. And yet, it manages to work. Bravo!

Also, in the extensive research for this post, your dearest author came upon this RAMM moc by VA. It seems when VA is restrained by something outside his own imagination, he does quite well.

* "Steam Fantasy" was one of the proposed names for our particular brand of steampunk-fantasy-theme. "Jonesytheme" was rejected, for being named after someone who never actually builds; "Steam Studs" and "Steam Fantasy" both sound like gay pornos; "NotCastle" wasn't specific... "tweepunk" (as coined by our own matt) was settled upon at last.