OctopodiCon offers educational steampunk fun in Oklahoma City

OctopodiCon 2012 takes over the Magnuson Hotel and the Meridian Convention Center, 737 S Meridian Ave., Friday through Sunday.

OctopodiCon is a Steampunk event.

Steampunk is an alternate reality where the industrial revolution and science fiction collide, generally in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A lot of technology is steam powered and it seems a lot of the cogs, wheels and widgets used to build machines are also used to beautify them.

Wikipedia uses the late 1960s TV show “The Wild Wild West” as an example of the inventions available, but the work of H.G. Wells, Jules Verne and Mary Shelley are also used.

More modern versions of Steampunk are the movie “Brazil” and the sci-fi Western “Firefly.”

Clothing for this convention will run the gamut from Victorian finery to current street clothes, because, as the convention chairman of OctopodiCon says, time travel is real.

“People will be here from all times,” said Chairman Noddy Brothers. “Steampunk is an attitude.”

Brothers attended a Steampunk convention two and a half years ago and knew it was something she wanted to get involved in.

“I had $200 in my pocket when I started planning this event, which was right after the first convention I attended,” she said. “I want this to be the first of many.”

Steampunk also differs from other fan-based conventions because most of the breakout events are educational. If you participate in the correct number of workshops or lectures this weekend, you can start your journey to a novelty bachelor's degree in Steampunk.

Brothers is serious about the education. Classes are taught by real professors, many with doctorate or post-doctorate degrees.