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Steampunk without commentary on the exploitative machinations of imperialism is not steampunk.
Cyberpunk without commentary on capitalism's efforts to buy the world out from under us is not cyberpunk.
Solarpunk without commentary on how to grow a brighter future for everyone instead of submitting to gloom is not solarpunk.
These three make a trifecta of how capitalism took over, what can happen if it continues, and how to prevent it from doing so. What was, is, and still could be.
You could maybe add in stonepunk as a way to give commentary on what the world could have been like without the power structures which eventually led to imperialism and consequently capitalism. That's the most interesting way to do stonepunk, in my opinion.
Still not sure what dieselpunk and those others are trying to comment on though TBQH
Also, I was careful to include the words "for everyone" in there. If your vision of the future is all roses for a select group of people while leaving marginalised people and communities in the mud, then you can't sit with us.
@InvaderXan I feel like dieselpunk is just "rusted metal... big gun... look cool" and though there's not anything profound in that, I can't say that they're wrong lmao
@InvaderXan but also I feel like dieselpunk is more of a 100% dystopia genere where everything evil and oppressive just Wins and there's nothing optimistic to say about it lmao
@wgahnagl Could be why I'm not really a fan TBH
@wgahnagl @InvaderXan i feel like there's a lot of overlap (or trying to have overlap) with steampunk in critiquing imperialism. Where steampunk examines the exploitation and domination of imperial growth, dieselpunk looks at clashes between imperial power systems, the weight they throw against the human beings caught in the middle of the struggle, and the bleakness of efforts to subsist within and around those power structures.
@flowerenby @InvaderXan yeah, I feel like dieselpunk is solarpunk's logical opposite in terms of continuing imperialism as opposed to fighting it, pessimism in place of optimism and etc
@wgahnagl oh that's what i interpreted @InvaderXan as saying cyberpunk is
corvids @InvaderXan dieselpunk's commentary is generally gonna be toward the rise of fascism and the influences that led to ww2, iwrc
and then we have atompunk like, imperialism bad 2: electric boogaloo. it's focussed on the post-ww2 / cold war era, with commentary mostly on u.s. imperialism as opposed to steampunk talking about—well, from what we've seen it's really just the british—but they have a lot of key themes in common