Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. August 7 through 9. The theme is Worlds of Tomorrow, and the mood board they’re working from is Metropolis, The Rocketeer, and airships. If you just read that sentence and felt nothing, I cannot help you. The Doctor, however, felt several things simultaneously and had to sit down.

Key City is one of the premiere steampunk cons on the East Coast, and they do it right every year: makers, panels, tea dueling, live music, a costume contest, handcrafted goods from vendors who actually know what they’re doing, and a hotel (the Wyndham Gettysburg) that sits minutes from a Civil War battlefield. Which means you can spend Saturday in a brass-goggled aviator coat watching people duel with teacups, and Sunday morning standing on ground where 51,000 people became casualties in three days. The Formulae handles both with equal dignity. Online ticket sales close at midnight on August 6th, so don’t be the person who shows up at the door paying the walk-up rate because you forgot. Nothing can beat old age and betrayal, but forgetting to pre-register comes close.

Get your tickets at keycitysteampunk.com before the clock runs out. High-5 to everyone already packing their goggles.

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania is already a place where the past refuses to stay dead. So naturally, that’s where the Key City Steampunk Convention has set up shop, and this year they are leaning ALL THE WAY in. The 2026 theme is Worlds of Tomorrow: think Metropolis, think The Rocketeer, think airships over gleaming skylines and a city of marvels where high technology and high fashion collide. August 7th through 9th. The Doctor has circled the calendar in red ink and brass rivets.

They’ve got makers, panels, workshops, tea dueling (yes, tea dueling is a real and legitimate combat discipline, and I will die on that hill), vendors, live entertainment, costume contests, and a guest list that includes a chainmail artist known as Steampunk Boba Fett and a one-man Steampunk musical act named Steamcordia who plays whatever instruments happen to be lying around his apartment. That last one is either genius or a noise complaint waiting to happen. Possibly both. The Formula approves of both outcomes.

If you’re anywhere near the East Coast this summer and you have not yet attended a steampunk convention, this is the one to fix that. Wyndham Gettysburg. Bring your goggles. Bring your airship captain’s coat. Do NOT bring a mundane attitude; it will be confiscated at the door. Grab your tickets before August 6th or pay the at-door premium like a civilian. Nothing can beat old age and betrayal.

A beautifully done animation that is clearly SteamPunk. More than just gear-driven airships and rayguns, the overall thought process fits perfectly into the genre. It’s a must-see.

Set in a world of iron airships, this silhouette animation tells the story of Jasper Morello, a disgraced aerial navigator who flees his plague-ridden home hoping to redeem himself. His expedition leads him to an island which is home to a monster that may hold the cure for the Plague. The journey back is filled with dangers but, Jasper soon discovers that the greatest horror of all lies within man himself.