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Description
A quick sketch. This is an extrapolation of the Edisonade subgenre of early science fiction. The term Edisonade was coined in the 1990s and is defined like thus:

"a paradigm kind of science fiction in which a brave young inventor creates a tool or a weapon (or both) that enables him to save the girl and his nation (America) and the world from some menace, whether it be foreigners or evil scientists or aliens; and gets the girl; and gets rich."

The first of this type of story was The Steam Man of the Prairies, in which hunchbacked boy genius Johnny Brainerd invents a mechanical man to pull his cart across America where he and his friends fight Native Americans and such (did I mention this subgenre tended to be very xenophobic?). The Steam Man is described like thus:

"It was about ten feet in height, measuring to the top of the 'stove-pipe hat,' which was fashioned after the common order of felt coverings, with a broad brim, all painted a shiny black. The face was made of iron, painted a black color, with a pair of fearful eves, and a tremendous grinning mouth. A whistle-like contrivance was trade to answer for the nose. The steam chest proper and boiler, were where the chest in a human being is generally supposed to be, extending also into a large knapsack arrangement over the shoulders and back. A pair of arms, like projections, held the shafts, and the broad flat feet were covered with sharp spikes, as though he were the monarch of base-ball players. The legs were quite long, and the step was natural, except when running, at which time, the bolt uprightness in the figure showed different from a human being."

Subsequent Edisonades feature characters like Frank Reade, Tom Edison Jr, Jack Wright, Electric Bob, and Tom Swift, and features inventions such as steam-powered horses, giant ostriches, fishlike submarines, and the electric rifle (which the taser was named after, it being an acronym for Tomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle).

The Edisonade was largely confined to the Victorian era and the early 20th century, so I thought I'd take that and see how it would have advanced into World War One, with steam being replaced by diesel power.

After the Americans enter the war in its last year, they bring with them good ole' American ingenuity (and its capacity for destruction). The Diesel Men quickly supplanted tanks in the war, and subsequent American wars (WW2, Korea, The Soatseran Mars War, and the War of Olympus Mons, among others). Unlike the original Steam Man, which merely pulled a cart at high speed, the Diesel Men are fully functional vehicles and battle-suits with cockpits in the torso.

If I find the time, I might take this design out of the Dieselpunk era and take it into different eras like 50s/60s Atompunk and so on.

Description
A quick sketch. This is an extrapolation of the Edisonade subgenre of early science fiction. The term Edisonade was coined in the 1990s and is defined like thus:

"a paradigm kind of science fiction in which a brave young inventor creates a tool or a weapon (or both) that enables him to save the girl and his nation (America) and the world from some menace, whether it be foreigners or evil scientists or aliens; and gets the girl; and gets rich."

The first of this type of story was The Steam Man of the Prairies, in which hunchbacked boy genius Johnny Brainerd invents a mechanical man to pull his cart across America where he and his friends fight Native Americans and such (did I mention this subgenre tended to be very xenophobic?). The Steam Man is described like thus:

"It was about ten feet in height, measuring to the top of the 'stove-pipe hat,' which was fashioned after the common order of felt coverings, with a broad brim, all painted a shiny black. The face was made of iron, painted a black color, with a pair of fearful eves, and a tremendous grinning mouth. A whistle-like contrivance was trade to answer for the nose. The steam chest proper and boiler, were where the chest in a human being is generally supposed to be, extending also into a large knapsack arrangement over the shoulders and back. A pair of arms, like projections, held the shafts, and the broad flat feet were covered with sharp spikes, as though he were the monarch of base-ball players. The legs were quite long, and the step was natural, except when running, at which time, the bolt uprightness in the figure showed different from a human being."

Subsequent Edisonades feature characters like Frank Reade, Tom Edison Jr, Jack Wright, Electric Bob, and Tom Swift, and features inventions such as steam-powered horses, giant ostriches, fishlike submarines, and the electric rifle (which the taser was named after, it being an acronym for Tomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle).

The Edisonade was largely confined to the Victorian era and the early 20th century, so I thought I'd take that and see how it would have advanced into World War One, with steam being replaced by diesel power.

After the Americans enter the war in its last year, they bring with them good ole' American ingenuity (and its capacity for destruction). The Diesel Men quickly supplanted tanks in the war, and subsequent American wars (WW2, Korea, The Soatseran Mars War, and the War of Olympus Mons, among others). Unlike the original Steam Man, which merely pulled a cart at high speed, the Diesel Men are fully functional vehicles and battle-suits with cockpits in the torso.

If I find the time, I might take this design out of the Dieselpunk era and take it into different eras like 50s/60s Atompunk and so on.