Steampunk World’s Fair 2016 pictures: A wacky world of never-was

Steampunk. It's one of those I-know-it-when-I-see-it things.

The goggles are usually a tipoff. Or the top hats. Or the corsets. Or the clanging metal. Doctor Who gear? Don't get us started on the Is-Doctor-Who-Steampunk-Or-Not debate.

Ok, let's try this again. Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that imagines a world mired in 19th-Century aesthetics — but not necessarily 19th-Century technology. There's British Victorian style and American Wild West flair. Retro-futuristic inventions — impossible in the steam age but seeming built to fit right in. Bits and pieces of other speculative fiction tend to find a home in steampunk. Anachronisms abound. So does creativity.

If you're still not getting it, you're going to have to see for yourself. The 2016 Steampunk World's Fair started Friday evening and continues Saturday and Sunday at the The Radisson Hotel and the adjacent Embassy Suites in Piscataway. There are crafts, musical performances, lectures, gaming and a lot of immersive fun. There's a full schedule here.

Tickets for a Saturday pass are $50, and for a Sunday pass are $25. There are also VIP tickets that include, in addition to other perks, access to a special meet-and-greet. Some attractions (for instance, a Steampunk opera on Saturday night) cost extra. Tickets are available online or at the door.