Not a full on nerd, but I do like a lot of the artwork, and since I do a lot of fantasy/steampunk art for a living I thought it would be fun to ride to the Archon convention in St Louis in a few weeks.

Being in sort of the light weight touring camp, I did not want to take a lot of extra ballast in the form of props or clothing and such. I could ship to the hotel, but that is for some reason cheating in my book.
So...

I decided to be more conceptual in my costume approach(plus I don't like the idea of costuming as someone else's creation)



This is what I came up with.



I figure that it will be low key, sewn onto some really light fly fishing shirts I have, and above all, it probably won't weigh more than an ounce or so. The patches are just printed with a embroidered border. I like to ride in these shirts, so I will be wearing the outfit for the six days or so it takes to get there.

It seems that as part of the "persona" of the character I will be from an unspecified time in the future that uses a different dating system, so that's open ended. As to the fishing shirts, fishing in the Ozark Archipelagos, where I am from(actually am from right on the border of where the water comes to) is very popular.

Touring by bicycle is very popular in the future, but its expensive to do it in the past.

Nothing from the future is allowed on a time tour, the only reason I have the patches is because my luggage was messed up, and I received the bags I shipped home at the end of the tour at the beginning(this happens all the time with cut rate outfits like Paradox Time Tours) The plus side of this is that I got to see all my pictures before hand. This is why I have no futuristic devices, and will explain why I have such a hard time using my Iphone(I really don't know how to use the thing)

I can tell anyone at a Sci FI convention the truth because no one will believe me, and pictures on social media will give an idea of where to do an emergency pickup if I am needed back home(at a job that has no parallels or definition in the present)

In the Future everyone speaks "Esperanto"(this will be funny to anyone who has ever read certain scifi authors like Harry Harrison) I speak the vernacular of the area because of immersive training with RNA injections and for the time being am unable to speak Esperanto.

My bike was purchased on my first time tour, in 1981, doing the west coast. I liked it and that's why I am not on a new bike. (Its a 1981 Centurion that I got new old stock and have done some upgrades to, I am actually the only person who has ever ridden it) that tour was so I could buy the original Model 5150 IBM PC with a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088processor released in the United States at a base price of $1,565.

I realize that all this might seem silly to most people, but it is touring related in a lot of ways, and so any other ideas would be interesting. Probably among all the Klingons and Manga outfits I will just be a guy in convertible pants, spd sandals, and a fly fishing shirt with a patch on the lapel, but a few will notice.

Whatever floats your boat dude

2 damage, 2 damage!

By "artwork" do you mean

artwork?

I'll admit that there can be a lot of that, but the more mature of us try to remember that women that are dressed up are not really objectifying themselves for our benefit. There is nothing worse than a room full of socially inept fanboys all trying to impress some girl dressed up as a Japanese cyberpunk schoolgirl superhero version of slave Lea
However, being at that awkward stage of adulthood I do tend to make an effort at eye contact and remember that I'm there to have fun but also to represent my own business.

Oh snap, 10 damage.

Save weight by having your design tatoo'd onto your body...

Seems priceless, also Farmer was a huge fan of using esperanto in his books... I look forward to weird fangled soul capture imagetrons on the interwebz of this.

If they are willing to dress up with tons of cleavage and walk around a convention they clearly want to be stared at. It would really be rude not to look.

Sounds great!

The problem is most of these chicks look more like Jabba than Leia.

*snicker* he said LEI-a. *snicker*

**************************

so what you need to do is cycle there in costume. i suggest you wear
your cycling shorts with whatever else you have. spandex is so futuristic.

so here's a suggestion.....you are an escaped lunatic from arkham asylum.
aside from your cycling shorts, you wear a surgical gown or lightweight
pajamas. you're an escaped patient remember?

now take your helmet, the smallest one you can find, and remove the brim.
you want to put a shower cap over it. it's like you were being rolled into
surgery when you made the great escape.

on your forehead, take a magical marker and draw a thick dotted line.
underneath that, above your eyebrows, write "cut here."

ziptie a broomstick upright to your rack, with a small cup-hook at the top
which should be about a foot above your head. to the cup-hook, attach a
clear plastic baggie, with some balled up green or blue crepe paper inside,
to simulate fluid in your IV. attach a piece of thin tubing, and tape the
other end to your forearm.

your backstory? insane criminal? apparent nutjob claiming to be from the
future? former starfleet commander in terminal depression after being
dumped by green andelusian slave girl?

Cycling Superhero

I vote for "ship your costume." Or, just go in normal clothes and enjoy.

I seriously doubt anyone at a cosplay event will care that you've got a little patch on your jacket and a backstory. Anyone who asks about it probably won't be impressed.

And it's not "cheating." Unless you use motorized transport and tell everyone that you cycled, there is no "cheating" in a touring context.

This is actually pretty true. I won't be entering any of the masquerade competitions, just wanted something that I can go out to eat in and not be freaky. Other than the patches, the clothes are my normal street friendly riding clothing.
Though most of the serious Cosplay friends I have think its a great idea, one is even trying to get a short comic strip done based on it if he can fit the time in, I am not going to be wearing any character on my shoulder(well, actually yes, but you know what I mean) But your right, I don't expect to be a showcase, just a subtle character while I attend like a normal person.

Since I am going to be shipping some art to the event I might be able to throw in something full on, but it will be pretty minimal as well.

@ big Aura

Its kind of funny, a lot of the work I did on my bike referenced Sheldon, and some of the parts did come from Harris...

Wish I was a showy enough guy to pull this off.

Thanks, I was going to have one of the patches done in Esperanto.
paradokso tempo tours
biciklado ĉirkaŭ la historio
vidi ĝin antaŭ ol ĝi malaperis

But I was not to sure of the translation. But if anyone could read it that would be Great!
Another Author who was into it was Mack Reynolds.

It took me a while, not a gamer, but that's form GTA 4, right? The radio station? 2 damage, 2 damage?

It's from a lot of things I'm sure. I think that "2 damage, 2 damage" originally come from a documentary about those special little virgins called LARPers. I could easily be wrong though.