Greetings again friend and loyal crew! It has been a while since we've spoken, I know. Yes, yes, I've missed you all a great deal too. Alas, times have been a bit rough in the workshop this year. No no, the Anomaly Obscura Engine is still running fine unlike last time you were all forced to go on without me. This time it is a little different...

Regrettably, and through no fault or actions of my own, the funding for my wonderful adventures has been withdrawn! In other words, the recession hit the good captain right in the wallet. Now, you might think to yourself, "Self, how would not having a job effect someone whose job it was to be a man of leisure, adventuring as he wills." Well, one has to work hard at not working and when things go awry it forces one to work for real. In this case, looking for a wealthy benefactor has thus far been unsuccessful so I am in the midst of a new adventure...moving to a new state of the union! Once settled there, I shall set out on a new adventure called self employment.

That's right! Having put aside the search for a new benefactor I shall become my own. I am currently planning, once settled in said new state, to begin sculpting again and then resin casting a great many of them and attempting to sell them in order to get back to adventuring proper! So my little cog-goblins, hold fast for a few more months and I shall return. Until then, keep the good captain in your prayers as I need all the help I can get. I shall truly endeavor to keep you all abreast of the situation as it develops at least in a weekly manner(provided it develops in an adventurous and steamy way) and with god's grace next year I shall have wonderful trinkets and treasures from my adventures to offer up as well!

Till next time, chin up and keep your spanner handy!

Well it's been a most adventurous few days I must say. A quick jaunt through the æthyr with some good friends resulting in hours of dodging large steam powered machine/men, avoiding the ghosts lured hither by a not so gentlemanly gentleman, and helping thwart conspiratorial plots against with crown with one Detective Holmes and his man, Watson.

Our first escapade involved the previously mentioned machine/men. Not exactly men made of machines, but rather men made of machines that could turn into machines and then back into men...made of machines. I bit confusing I daresay, but watching them stretched the limits of what is possible despite it being there, clearly possible. Perhaps an image or two would be easier to comprehend. A picture is worth a thousand words after all, and I have four pictures at the ready so that is a good four thousand words, which I rarely have time to put together at one time anyway, so here they are. Feel free to leave a thousand words but please no more than four thousand in the comments should you feel so obliged.

Steampunk Transformers!
Bumblebee~

Shockwave~

Starscream~


Perhaps I need to plan some major upgrades to the Anomaly Obscura Engine, but the last thing I need is my machine standing up and heading off to the theatre while I have important adventures to partake in!

Following my encounters with these remarkable transformers, as I've come to refer to them, I was quickly whisked into another adventure by one Sherklock Holmes. Evil was conspiring to plague all of England to which I could have none of, being quite a fan of fish and chips. We set off to thwart said plan with spectacular success and the tale was so full of derring do and rife with adventure I understand a talking film is being made of the tale! I was privy to a sneak peak of the film and could not help but notice the distinct lack of one good captain's role in it however. That Sherklock always was quite the glory hound but can you imagine the cheek! Leaving out the good captain! Regardless, I will still offer you all a peak at it as well but you must promise to imagine a dashing captain starring alongside Mr. Holmes and Watson, who would be more accurately described as supporting actors in the tale.



Finally, the true deeds of the Pac-GentleMan are revealed at last! I always knew him to be a true rapscallion at heart but at last the real man comes out for the world to see!

The real Pac-Man!

Well, after all this I need a stiff drink and a soft couch. While I go lie down and relive feats of glory you could be doing something productive, now off with you.

The other day the good captain paid an unannounced visit to a dear friend and caught them in the middle of a most time consuming pursuit. Said friend was elbows deep in a video game. Perhaps you might have even heard of it, it's called World of Warcraft. Now I was aware of this game seeing as how as captain and gentleman I must be up to date on all scientific, avionic, social and cultural trends lest I fall into the most horrible of categories...the uninteresting! Back to the tale however, as I understood it the game was set in a fantasy world with orcs and elves and other mystical creatures fighting each other for glory and profit. Imagine my shock when I discovered steampunk wonders in this world flying high in the skies and even tooling along down streets in fantasy cities!

So shocked was I that I demanded to know names, places, times and other pertinent facts so that I might share them with my crew. Inspiration for new designs perhaps, or forewarning of what lurks in the æthyr that we must be prepared for! Choose any of the bountiful reasons, but most importantly, they are stunning! And they're from a video game! I did mention that yes? A video game that ostensibly has no steampunk influences, I mean elves riding motorcycles? Who ever imagined such a thing!

I declared my profound admiration for such wonderful pixelated steampunk in the game and humbly requested images of my friend. What? No, not literally images of my friend but I requested of my friend images...have you been drinking yet today? Anyway, he enthusiastically complied with the condition that I get the names right, and so now for your appreciate, World of Warcraft Steampunk!

First, the mighty airship of the Alliance - The Skybreaker!


The fearsome airship of the Horde - Ogrim's Hammer!


A Mechano-Hog, steampunk motorcycle from World of Warcraft!


A Mechano-hog with sidecar!


Again, simply stunning! I am still shocked that a game set in a fantasy world would include such indelible steampunk icons as airships and even have motorcycles with such obvious steampunk influence. I do believe I would actually be quite fond of owning one of the Mechano-hogs myself, though the good captain is not much for sidecars...they slow me down around corners too much and I do so love fast cornering!

It does seem that I've been posting a fair bit of toys and action figures lately, but today I show you the cream of the crop, a true king among men when it comes to sculpting action figures. The mighty Sillof has created entire lines of one of a kind steampunk action figures that are just simply stunning. I'd even dare call them works of art! Pulling from our favorite childhood inspirations he has delved into the realms of Star Wars, Justice League, Dune, and even more.

Steampunk Star Wars (Steam Wars)~



Steampunk Avengers ~


Steampunk Justice League ~


These truly are the most incredible action figures to come out of the steampunk genre yet, and if you haven't seen Sillof's website you truly should. This is just a small sampling of all the wonderous toys he has created there. Most endearing to the good captain's heart, he has a collection of figures from Terry Gilliam movies! If I wasn't so refined,I might actually be swooning right now.

The good captain is most fortunate to have been invited to a live action Call of Cthulhu game taking place this weekend in the "Greater New York Area." I've had more than my fair share of encounters with Lovecraftian terrors in the æthyr to know one must always be prepared for such things, and so as I assembled my various kits for detecting and fighting such horrors I decided to fire up the Anomaly Obscura Engine and see what additional instrument and tools were out there to aid me.

Now I've shared a great deal of steampunk wonders designed for dealing with various supernatural entities before, in fact the good captain holds a special place in his heart for such alternate scientific devices, but a recent article I just saw caught my eye featuring an actual vampire hunting kit from the early 1800s. Truly, some forward thinking scientist thought best to be prepared for the inevitable encounter with the nosferatu and his carefully collected tools were recently sold at auction for an unbelievable $15,000! It warms the captain's heart knowing such value is still placed on personal security against the night terrors.

Behold~

The kit comes complete with stakes, mirrors, a gun with silver bullets (because as we all know, where there's vampires there is undoubtedly werewolves as well!), crosses, a bible, holy water, candles, and even garlic - though I doubt the garlic is truly original to the set - and it is all contained neatly in an American walnut case with a cross carved on top. Surely at only $15,000 this was a true value! If nothing else the sheer beauty of this collection of vampire thwarting conveniences should have some value as a conversation starter if left conspicuously left lying around one's workshop.

"Why yes Virginia, that is a vampire hunting kit, how kind of you to notice. Just a little something I brought back with me after my fateful expedition to an ancient and forgotten Peruvian temple we thought had long been abandoned..."

For those who believe $15,000 for a little peace of mind might be steep, here is another lovely vampire hunting kit also from the 19th century, though a bit later than the first.


This one is was a veritable steal at auction, going for a paltry $12,000. And if a gentleman isn't willing to spend $12,000 to ensure the safety of his family's eternal souls, then how could he dare be considered a gentleman!

Needless to say, the good captain will show up to face all manner of monsters, but vampires in particular should beware. In addition to a fearsome collection of tools designed for their destruction, his goggles have a built in spectroccilascope to facilitate their identification and classification prior to their dispatching!

Surely friends and family will have nothing to fear from such creatures of the night. The good captain is, after all, a gentleman!

I bring unfortunately news, the good captain is not feeling up to his normal self these last few days. A wicked combination of atmospheric changes coupled with what appear to be some poisoned food has left him wanting for better days. Fear not though, for the best in modern medical treatments have been proscribed and already I'm feeling the turnabout in my condition take place.Over the last couple of days a veritable parade of doctors and medical experts have passed by the good captain's bedside proposing their very own diagnosis, remedies, and homemade medicines. I have a natural distrust of someone who is more curious of getting to know me on the inside in a literal way, over the more figurative, but perhaps that is just me. Regardless, I eyed these quacks up with suspicion and at each opportunity attempted to sneak a glance at their medical journals, manuals, and textbooks for an idea of what they truly thought and how! The resulting images come from these very sneak peaks, and while terrifying in medical application, at least to a sick captain, they are oddly interesting in an artistic way.

First was a page from a manual on heart conditions. This struck me as a fearsome image and leaves me wondering exactly how such a quack could possible diagnose any symptoms aside from a scraped knee as anything other than a problem of the heart! At least it is a very interesting image to look at, perhaps in a butcher shop.

The next image was from a doctor specializing in the brain. Now it seemed unlikely to me that my sickness stemmed from a disease of the brain as I was still coherent enough to realize this doctor was crazier than a sack of weasels, however the images in his medical journal seemed to indicate that craziness was a prerequisite for this field of science.


The final picture I managed to acquire was from the personal journal of a skeletal expert. Clearly my headache must certainly be caused by a shrinking skull putting pressure on my brain, obviously! I'm starting to think all doctors are lunatics and in this skeletal expert's particular case, a bit deviant as well. After all, there seems to be a surprising amount of woman wrapped around some of those skeletons wouldn't you say.


Now while my caring crew gets back to work I think I shall burrow into my blankets and attempt the best cure I know of for an ailment such as mine, sleep! Pip pip cheerio and all that.

Harumph!

Starting my day off with various news and tales from around the world I stumbled upon an interesting story at the not very steampunk site called CNN that truly captured my imagination before my delectable java brew had even set in! The article is 7 Civil War stories your teacher never told you and while I had honestly known no less than five and one quarter of them, the three quarters of the one tale I'd not heard saw me crank up the Anomaly Obscura Engine and set off for an early morning jaunt into the æthyr for more information.

Here's the abbreviated tale from CNN:

The Union used hot air balloons and submarines

The balloons, directed by aeronaut Thaddeus Lowe, were used to spot enemy soldiers and coordinate Federal troop movements. During his first battlefield flight, at First Bull Run, Lowe landed behind Confederate lines, but he was rescued.

The Union Army Balloon Corps got no respect from military officials, and Lowe resigned when he was assigned to serve, at a lower pay grade, under the director of the Army Corps of Engineers.

In all, the balloonists were active for a little under two years.

In contrast, the paddle-powered Alligator submarine saw exactly zero days of combat (which is why it can't officially be called the U.S.S. Alligator).

It suffered from some early testing setbacks, but after some speed-boosting tweaks, it was dispatched for Port Royal, South Carolina, with an eye towards aiding in the sack of Charleston. It was to be towed south by the U.S.S. Sumpter, but it had to be cut loose off of North Carolina on April 2, 1863, when bad weather struck.

Divers and historians are still looking for the Alligator today.

Did you know Aeronauts served in the Civil War!? Aeronaut was their actual rank in fact. The good captain was shocked! Shocked I tell you. And of course, being the gentleman that he is, our captain has returned from the æthyr with more to share than just this, for he has found dagguerotypes as those daring Aeronauts and their amazing balloons in action!