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[ScOULaris]

Which science-fiction sub-genre/art-style do you like better?

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Cyberpunk is defined as "science fiction featuring extensive human interaction with supercomputers and a punk ambiance."

Notable Examples in Media: Blade Runner, Neuromancer, The Matrix, Ghost in the Shell, Syndicate series, Deus Ex series, Akira, Transmetropolitan, The Surrogates, The Fifth Element, Snatcher, Shadowrun.

Cyberpunk plots often center on a conflict among hackers, artificial intelligences, and megacorporations, and tend to be set in a near-future Earth, rather than the far-future settings or galactic vistas found in novels such as Isaac Asimov's Foundation or Frank Herbert's Dune. The settings are usually post-industrial dystopias but tend to be marked by extraordinary cultural ferment and the use of technology in ways never anticipated by its creators ("the street finds its own uses for things"). Much of the genre's atmosphere echoes film noir, and written works in the genre often use techniques from detective fiction.

Representative Images:

Steampunk is defined as "a subgenre of science fiction and fantasy featuring advanced machines and other technology based on steam power of the 19th century and taking place in a recognizable historical period or a fantasy world."

Notable Examples in Media: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Final Fantasy VI, Steamboy, Bioshock Infinite, Skies of Arcadia.

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain—that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology or futuristic innovations as Victorians may have envisioned them, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc. This technology may include such fictional machines as those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne.

Other examples of steampunk contain alternative history-style presentations of such technology as lighter-than-air airships, analog computers, or such digital mechanical computers as Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace's Analytical engine.

Representative Images:

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It's so hard for me to choose a favorite between the two of them. I love the whimsical atmosphere of boundless imagination that accompanies most steampunk, but on the other hand cyberpunk's darkly futuristic (and sometimes plausible) depiction of multi-tier cities and "high-tech, low-life" dystopia is so gripping and unique.

Maybe it's because I'm playing Deus Ex right now, but my vote goes to cyberpunk. When I'm back into JRPG's again, it'll probably skew more towards steampunk.

Please feel free to post whatever awesome cyberpunk/steampunk pictures you find in this thread. There's a lot of good stuff out there.

 

[wwm0nkey]

Cyberpunk will always be the best

 

[Nekofrog]

The Matrix has never felt cyberpunk. Ever.

 

[Funky Papa]

Steampunk has been overplayed as fuck during the last few years.

 

[B_Rik_Schitthaus]

Steampunk has been overplayed as fuck during the last few years.

Really?

 

[SentientStone]

My favourite movie is steampunk (Laputa) and Bioshock Infinite looks mighty interesting to me (haven't really played the originals though) based off of the gameplay video, so I will say steampunk (never really played many of the old school JRPGs, or Skies of Arcadia and I don't recall watching many steampunk movies that aren't animated). This may also have something to do with me having more exposure to cyberpunk movies and games so I may be too used to that genre to find it fascinating.

 

[C.Dark.DN]

Steampunk has been overplayed as fuck during the last few years.

Heh. This girl I know says this but you're both wrong. Cyberpunk is so common that you really don't think about it. Steampunk is less common, thus sticks out more, thus people like to derp about it.

There's probably like 30 cyberpunk tripple A video games and 2 steampunk ones this gen.

 

[The Technomancer]

Steampunk has been overplayed as fuck during the last few years.

Agreed. In 2005 or so I'd have said Steampunk, but what with the way it seems to have evolved in pop-culture I'm now firmly in the Cyber camp. Its not even that Cyber is less common (it isn't) but I realized the vast majority of SP fans don't enjoy it for the same reason I do, and that skews the nature of the genre.
Basically sexy impractical victorian costumes are on the rise, interesting ideas about grand mechanical innovations are not.

 

[Chuckie]

I checked an article about Steampunk Videogames and it said Final Fantasy 7 is steampunk.
I would think Final Fantasy 9 was, with the Airships on mist, Aircabs, puppet factories etcetera, yet that one isn't mentioned.

 

[hteng]

cyberpunk, love Ghost in the shell

 

[Salsa]

The Matrix has never felt cyberpunk. Ever.

I agree

The Matrix felt like some weird voyeur masochist fantasy with leather and whatever, nothing cyberpunk about it.

 

[V_Arnold]

Resonance of Fate!

 

[Damon Bennet]

I like worlds with a little steampunk elements. and a yellowish colorpalette

 

[B_Rik_Schitthaus]

I checked an article about Steampunk Videogames and it said Final Fantasy 7 is steampunk.
I would think Final Fantasy 9 was, with the Airships on mist, Aircabs, puppet factories etcetera, yet that one isn't mentioned.

Haven't played 7 is ages but all the stuff with clones and Jenova would lead me to say its far more Cyber punk then anything else.

 

[ScOULaris]

I checked an article about Steampunk Videogames and it said Final Fantasy 7 is steampunk.
I would think Final Fantasy 9 was, with the Airships on mist, Aircabs, puppet factories etcetera, yet that one isn't mentioned.

Final Fantasy 7 was kind of a mix of cyberpunk and steampunk. Midgar was unquestionably cyberpunk, but there were elements outside of the city that reminded me more of steampunk.

Leave it to the Japanese to smash them together and see what happens.

 

[jump_button]

Wish some one would make a good game/movie on both of them, one that are out are cheesy.

 

[Dunan]

Cyberpunk = Steampunk >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Dystopia > Post-Apocalyptic

 

[shuri]

When I think of steampunk, it reminds me of Wild Wild West with Will Smith. Enough said.

 

[Chuckie]

Final Fantasy 7 was kind of a mix of cyberpunk and steampunk. Midgar was unquestionably cyberpunk, but there were elements outside of the city that reminded me more of steampunk.

Leave it to the Japanese to smash them together and see what happens.

Yeah, I never reached disc 2 with that game, so for me it had a Cyberpunk feel haha.


Regarding the OP:

I love both styles a lot, but if I had to make a choice it would be Steampunk.

 

[Salsa]

When I think of steampunk, it reminds me of Wild Wild West with Will Smith. Enough said.

the look of the movie was the only good thing about it though

 

[sk3]

Both are severely underrepresented in hollywood film. I would rather see some steampunk movies because I can't even recall a single one. I find Cyberpunk to be a more interesting genre though.

 

[ScOULaris]

Cyberpunk = Steampunk >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Dystopia > Post-Apocalyptic

Now there's a sub-genre that has been completely played out over the course of the last decade, in everything from games to movies and graphic novels. I'm lumping zombie-apocalypse in with that too.

With regard to gaming, I blame the Unreal engine for this trend.

 

[water_wendi]

Cyberpunk
Notable Examples in Media: Blade Runner, Neuromancer, The Matrix, Ghost in the Shell, Syndicate series, Deus Ex series, Akira, Transmetropolitan, The Surrogates, The Fifth Element, Snatcher, Shadowrun.

Steampunk
Notable Examples in Media: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Final Fantasy VI, Steamboy, Bioshock Infinite, Skies of Arcadia.

You include games in these samples but are missing some defining games in your Steampunk category. Thief i can forgive (just barely) but no mention of Arcanum?

 

[benzy]

Cyberpunk.

You should avoid this movie Tetsuo though, especially if you're squeamish. lol

 

[TheRagnCajun]

The Shadowrun universe is kickass. I'm voting cyberpunk.

 

[Sh1ner]

Source on the artists please on the top image OP, I love cyberpunk art. Also can other post other great art followng these 2 genres in here. Would appreciate being light on GITS imagery.

 

[Vorg]

There's some great cyberpunk anime not on your list like AD Police, Cyber City Oedo 808, Armitage III or Appleseed and it's 2 sequels.

 

[thelatestmodel]

Cyberpunk, not even close. It's better than everything. Mega-cities, high tech, hacking, augmentation, cyborgs, it's all just so cool.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Cyberpunk is Bestpunk.

 

[Dali]

There's not really much to this thread yet, but I'm already loving it. Two of my favorite genres. I can't really decide between the two. I feel both are woefully underrepresented by quality submissions.

 

[WanderingWind]

I must be missing out on all these steampunk movies/games that everybody is so sick of. Last fully steampunk game (or that even came close) was BioShock. Before that...what, Arcanum? Two games over 15 years do not an tiring deluge make. Cyberpunk is far, far, far more common, but even then not as everyday as apocalyptic.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

I think I prefer cyberpunk because of two reasons; the amazingly diverse range of (amazing) aesthetics in encompasses, and the "it could happen" factor. Cyberpunk has a lot of different looks, from Bladerunner to GITS to The Matrix to Deus Ex: Human Revolution. They all draw from each other, and there is a common strand, but there is also a huge amount of variability as well. These come from the alternative influences they all have, and they all have a lot of them. And while Cyberpunk isn't exactly super realistic (especially the genre pioneering stuff by Gibson et al., whose vision of a free market capitalist future and hysterically unrealistic hacking antics are pretty laughable looking at it from today), Steampunk is basically pure fantasy by comparison. On some level, simply being "The Future" (TM) makes it seem more real, rather than being set in the past and having already been "proven wrong", so to speak. I think I prefer it to have at least some inklings of "yeah, this could happen" in my fiction, but that's not everybody, certainly.

 

[Awesome Animals]

My vote goes to Steampunk, but I think it comes from the idea that I am less familiar with the sub-culture, so I marvel at it more. I love the idea of past ages being improved by technology, but not technology in the sense that we see it.

I do love Cyberpunk, and the movie Akira is spectacular.

 

[Sqorgar]

Steampunk's not really a genre. There were only a handful of works that could've been considered steampunk. For the most part, the genre was made up of simple scifi written during the Victorian period or just a small subset of retro-futurism (Wild Wild West tv show) that didn't deserve to be singled out as steampunk. The first actual steampunk work was William Gibson's Difference Engine, and it was only called steampunk because it was by the guy who basically started cyberpunk.

After that, nothing for a long time. Only a few notable works, of which only a couple self identified as steampunk (like Arcanum). Then goths realized they could wear top hats and monocles and there went the neighborhood. It became a fashion and a style and while there are still few notable works being created in this genre, go to any convention in the US and you'll see people dressing up as stormtroopers with top hats and monocles.

But cyberpunk, man. That's some awesome shit right there. Blade Runner. Tron. Neuromancer (Blade Runner + Tron). Max Headroom. Wild Palms. Batman Beyond. Shadowrun. Snow Crash. I didn't have to look up notable cyberpunk works like I did steampunk, because it is an actual genre with actual notable works.

Plus, cyberpunk basically predicted a distopic future when civilians were dependent on technology they didn't understand, connected to everything through a giant computer network, ruled by ruthless, powerful, and amoral corporations. More on more, reality is starting to look cyberpunk. And not in a good way.

 

[hteng]

My vote goes to Steampunk, but I think it comes from the idea that I am less familiar with the sub-culture, so I marvel at it more. I love the idea of past ages being improved by technology, but not technology in the sense that we see it.

I do love Cyberpunk, and the movie Akira is spectacular.

akira is more sci fi post apocalyptic.

I'd say Inception is much like cyberpunk

 

[Ratrat]

Steampunk. Cause its by far more "underutilized" and imo harder to pull off well.

 

[Awesome Animals]

Steampunk's not really a genre. There were only a handful of works that could've been considered steampunk. For the most part, the genre was made up of simple scifi written during the Victorian period or just a small subset of retro-futurism (Wild Wild West tv show) that didn't deserve to be singled out as steampunk. The first actual steampunk work was William Gibson's Difference Engine, and it was only called steampunk because it was by the guy who basically started cyberpunk.

After that, nothing for a long time. Only a few notable works, of which only a couple self identified as steampunk (like Arcanum). Then goths realized they could wear top hats and monocles and there went the neighborhood. It became a fashion and a style and while there are still few notable works being created in this genre, go to any convention in the US and you'll see people dressing up as stormtroopers with top hats and monocles.

But cyberpunk, man. That's some awesome shit right there. Blade Runner. Tron. Neuromancer (Blade Runner + Tron). Max Headroom. Wild Palms. Batman Beyond. Shadowrun. Snow Crash. I didn't have to look up notable cyberpunk works like I did steampunk, because it is an actual genre with actual notable works.

Plus, cyberpunk basically predicted a distopic future when civilians were dependent on technology they didn't understand, connected to everything through a giant computer network, ruled by ruthless, powerful, and amoral corporations. More on more, reality is starting to look cyberpunk. And not in a good way.

Fuck Yea.

 

[Deleted member 81567]

It's fairly obvious

 

[Suairyu]

I agree

The Matrix felt like some weird voyeur masochist fantasy with leather and whatever, nothing cyberpunk about it.

Then you're confusing some aesthetic you saw somewhere for the definition of cyberpunk.

Cyberpunk is, quite literally, a technologically advanced* setting ('cyber') seen from the street or underworld perspective ('punk'). That is the actual definition. Matrix was pretty much the perfect distillation of the concept.

As for what I prefer, the very base concept of Cyberpunk allows for a lot more philosophical exploration. We can consider issues relevant both to our future and our present. We can explore the scientific and also the (techno)religious.

Most importantly, we can create worlds that are possible, rather than the outright fantasy of (most) steampunk.

*Technologically advanced can also mean the more advanced aspects of our current society, too. It would be entirely possible to do a present-day cyberpunk tale, though its area of exploration might entirely be internet hacker domain.

akira is more sci fi post apocalyptic.

I'd say Inception is much like cyberpunk

Technologically advanced society seen from the point of view of gang youths. Cyberpunk.

Even if we analyse content and aesthetic, we have gorgeous neon, a sense of run-down and dirty (post-apocalyptic and cyberpunk go so often hand in hand) and religious exploration through the lens of science.

 

[hteng]

also, Optic Camouflage are awesome !

 

[Purkake4]

Dieselpunk for life!

 

[Slayven]

Literary wise Steampunk is pretty big right now. As a matter of fact as the zombie trend dies down I think Steampunk is overtaking it it.

 

[Tacitus_]

Cyberpunk is so awesome.

 

[Lazlo Woodbine]

I like both so it'd be really hard to pick one over another.

go to any convention in the US and you'll see people dressing up as stormtroopers with top hats and monocles.

Yeah, watching the latest RedLetterMedia video was a bit of an eye opener. Never really knew goths gravitated to it though.

 

[Misterinenja]

Cyber.

 

[Awesome Animals]

Dieselpunk for life!

So WWII/Steampunk? Like one of the sections in Sucker Punch? And I was imagining something akin to Vin Diesel in a Steam/Cyber punk movie.

 

[ScOULaris]

Here are a couple more cyberpunk-related images that I was able to pull up on a quick image search. I'm using smaller sizes as to not stretch out the thread

I'll post some steampunk ones next. A lot is blocked at work, so my resources are limited.

 

[Purkake4]

So WWII/Steampunk? Like one of the sections in Sucker Punch? And I was imagining something akin to Vin Diesel in a Steam/Cyber punk movie.

Diesel powered stuff and art deco instead of steam powered and victorian stuff. Wikipedia

Like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

 

[Kabuki Quantum Lover]

Cyberpunk. No contest.

 

[Qwomo]

I've never encountered anything Steampunk that's particularly good.

Meanwhile Cyberpunk has a ton of cool books/movies/games.