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2017 in Review

When the Sanders Administration formally took office, there was some skepticism on how much he would be able to accomplish. Some began already painting him as someone who got lucky and set too high potential goals. Others more speculated that only a few of Sanders' goals could be achieved and would have to try and work with Congress to get things to work. Even a few even noted that he was likely to be a one-term president from his inability to pass the most of things... however, all of these underestimated the support behind Sanders and lacked the understanding as to why he grew to be more popular. Sanders' support laid not in working with Congress, but with the people. At the end of the day, movements and actions would be decided by the people's support and Congress was meant to be their representatives. To fail that means being replaced. Furthermore, the successes of the Sanders Administration regarding providing the universal single-payer healthcare system now called Americare and the forgiveness of all student loan along with other successes such as with the post office and the first tax reforms showed something far different. Greater hope and optimism. An invigoration among the young. And it evident that with just these successes alone, Sanders would be able to secure a high place in American history. However, the Administration was far from done. The various progressive movements began working overtime for more outreach in primaries and working to get the message out through public television ads, radio, social media or actions. It was a growing movement of a greater tomorrow and a sign of changing times. Where the old ways were being targeted and their enablers being made fools of, such as certain corporate news groups. President Sanders himself noted the bias in the news and another plan was to boost the public news networks along with regulations and rumors of breaking up monopolies. It would make 2018 quite a priority year; the hegemony saw the cracks and were desperate not to lose while the changers knew of the fight that would come ahead and were unwilling to comproise.

The changes in the Sanders Administration certainly sent shockwaves across in the world with the growing reforms the United States was passing. Besides the surprise that came with some of the problems of the Americans, it did cause other nations to begin examining themselves to the growing desires for reforms or the criticisms to the neoliberal establishment that has been accused of prolonging various problems within the system. British Prime Minister Jeremy Corbyn's collaboration with the Sanders administration over reforms has been winning over people and greater discussions were being had to propose reforms to the EU for the purposes of transparency and representation. At the same time, this was leading to growing conflicts within certan nations such as Poland or Hungary. Of course, other problems remained in the worlds with conflicts though now the focus was lying on Asia, such as Duerte's Philippines or the troubles of Myanmar. The Sanders Administration was encouraging cooperation with China to resolve this issues, even if it came with concerns over influence in the region. At the same time, the reelection of Li Keqiang did bring to mind that the Chinese constitution stipulated that the president could not serve more than two consecutive terms and thus, many people wondered what future China would hold after Li Keqiang though one of the rumors was potentially Hu Chunhua or another member of the Commuist Youth League. Meanwhile, South America found itself in growing relations with its neighbors thanks to the Sanders administration and growing discussions were being had in regards to indigenous rights, environmental protections and supranational corporate systems. Similar discussions were also being had with Australia and even back at home, as rumors circulated that Sanders may return Mt. Rushmore to the native Americans. It's clear that it is a rising way of something new.

Pop culture was slowly beginning to reflect these changes. The cash influx that came in with the relief of no medical debt and student loan forgiveness along with the growing differing cultural zeitgeist would be reflected as indie films and shows would grow more prominent. At the same time, much of the mainsteam works retain a great deal of prominency. Marvel's MCU continued on with a few more films: Fantastic Four: Homecoming would reflect on the Fantastic Four going into space further, the plot this time developing further on the Skrulls, especially with Johnny's romantic interest in Lyja the Skrull. The film further reflected the development of the Marvel cosmic universe and further showcasing the truth on the Infinity Stones along with introducing a new foe in the so-called Super Skrull, a Skrull augmented with all four of their powers. Beyond showing the family grow closer, it deals with them realizing that danger the Earth is in and needing to head there. Thor: Ragnarok had introduced the modern villain of Cul, the long-lost older brother of Odin and the Norse God of Fear and Doom (they compared Cul's relations to the Norns as that of Moros and the Moiroi). The true person destined to bring Ragnarok, the battle had Thor choose the kind of hero he wanted to be. Many were surprised to see the Hulk return along with the introduction of the Reality Stone that Cul wields to try and bring about Ragnarok. Despite the seriousness, many noted Cul as a very affable villain (comparable to Kai from Kung Fu Panda 3, noting how jovial he is in spooking others and in hsi grandoise power.) The stinger has Thor managing to survive his encounter and being healed up by the Fantastic Four. The last film for them was Amazing Spider-Man III. It shows Peter dealing with his last year in college along with his new role in the New Avengers and his growing relationship with Mary Jane-Watson. The villain would be a surprise in the form of Venom, namely the symbiote having arrived in an astroid that crashed (one that was foreshadowed in the F4 stinger). Peter's struggle is in whether to accept the power of the symbiote though it also represented toxic relationships and making tough decisions. Namely in Peter having to part from the Symbiote for enabling him. However, the Venom's host is not Eddie Brock, but the infamous Angelo Fortunado, here portrayed as another dark reflection of Peter as the son of a mob boss and on who's negative decisions enabled him to make mistakes along with embodying toxic co-dependent relationships. Many have speculated this would lead to a Venom tie-in film with Eddie Brock, hence why the latter was not used and Angelo chosen because they could reimagine him to someone more interesting. The stinger does shows the symbiote escaping, but another showed Peter and Reed looking over the sample with Thor greeting Peter, saying he has to meet with some sort of "strange doctor."

However, the one most forward was with DC's Wonder Woman, which saw the origin story of the heroine from the island and rising up from her humble beginnings to become a strong and compassionate warrior. Her film has her explore Man's World after meeting Steven Trevor and helping to stop a war started by another demigoddess, that of the misanthropic witch known as Circe. Interviews revealed they considered Ares, but noted that it would've been too obvious a choice and that using Ares from the get-go would make it difficult for a follow-through. Of course, superhero films were not the only major successes of the year. Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi continued Nolan's take on the trilogy. Continuing the themes of the last one as Kira would continue to explore what it meant to be a Jedi and her Force training. The film was also made in loving tribute for Carrie Fisher, who passed away in 2016 and who's character in Leia would die off in the film and joining her husband. Kira with her friends in Finn and Poe have to explore what led Skylar down his path and themes of power, fate and madness were shown, especially a scene through Skylar's eyes. It would also see Luke defeat Snoke as he would be considered "The Last Jedi", raising speculations if something would happen to Kira though Nolan has noted death and rebirth as part of the themes. Snoke's backstory was revealed to be an artificial humanoid created by Palpatine. Other films included Baby Driver, Despicable Me 3, the last of the trilogy and Gigantic, an adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk done by Disney with the odd friendship of Jack and the Giant, here actually a young girl named Inma. Another notable film was Get Out, a horror film exploring race by Jordan Peele.

2017 would see plenty of stellar video game releases. Nintendo finally released Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the Nintendo Twin to massive success and giving the game its long-awaited Zelda exclusive game. Other standout Nintendo games included Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, a new game in ARMS that many saw as a sort-of successor to Punchout!, the long-awaited Star Fox 2, and even remasters of Metroid II: Samus Returns and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga for the Nintendo UDS. At the same time, rumors began flying that their new successor console was in development and potentially coming out in 2019. SEGA released their own game on the Xbox with Sonic Mania, a throwback to classic Sonic games that would grow to be one of the best games along with hinting at Sonic Forces for the next year and of course, various other games. Xbox also had other standouts such as Cuphead finally coming out on the Nintendo Twin, Sony meanwhile showed its own with Horizon Zero Dawn, Nier Automata, and Gravity Rush 2 and various others. Wolfenstein II: New Colossus, Destiny 2 and various other smash hits showed off it was a good year for gaming. The indie scene especially with games like Night In the Woods, Nex Machina and A Hat in Time being released either on computers or even on some consoles. Overall, it seemed that things were looking pretty good in this side along with the growing advancements in VR.