A Kinder, Gentler Nation Continued: A Collaborative Bush wins '92 TL:

[Ogrebear]

19-22 August 1993: Wizards of the Coast release Magic: The Gathering a trading card game at the Gencon gaming convention. The game is a smash hit with customers buying 2.5 million cards- the supply expected to last a year. Wizards of the Coast will go into overdrive to supply demand.

13 February 1995: Leading up to the launch of Star Trek: Excelsior, Black Isle Studios approach Paramount with the idea of a pen and paper Star Trek role playing game. The pitch is rejected by Paramount.

6 April 1995: TSR Inc release Dragon Dice a collectable dice game. It sells well and gains good reviews.

8 August 1995: Wizards of the Coast purchase Avalon Hill Games the board game manufacturer. Microcomputer Games, the video game arm of Avalon Hill is spun off into a separate division and will be charged with making a Magic: The Gathering game.

15 October 1995: Role-playing game maker West End Games are brought by Wizards of the Coast, partly to get their hands on the Star Wars gaming license. Wizards transfer all their existing role-playing games to their new subsidiary under Jonathan Tweet. Wizards start work starts on a Star Wars trading card game.

11 November 1995: Wizards of the Coast buy Strategic Simulations, a video game developer and publisher and merge them with Microcomputer Games their existing game studio.

7 May 1996: TSR Inc are informed by Random House that several million dollars of unsold product will be returned to them. This only increases TSR’s financial problems and staff are laid off.

4 June 1996: SSI release Planeswalker, a computer game based on Magic: The Gathering for Windows and MacOS. It is a big seller and is part deckbuilding game and part encyclopaedia for Magic cards. SSI will release yearly updates for the game card sets until 2000.

10 August 1996: During discussion for a new edition of the Marvel Superheroes RPG with TSR Marvel representatives learn how fragile TSR has become. It is reported back up the line and rather than pull the plug Marvel get into negotiations for the purchase of TSR.

1 September 1996: Iron Crown Enterprises, known for publishing the Lords of the Rings RPG announce they have become the US distributors for the popular Settlers of Catan board game.

1 October 1996: After agreement with owner Lorraine Williams Marvel purchase TSR Inc makers of Dungeons and Dragons. Williams stepped away from the company, though she made an option for Buck Rogers products (which her family controlled) a part of the sale. Marvel would make TSR a subsidiary of its publishing side and work would begin on new versions of D&D and the Marvel Superheroes RPG.

9 November 1996: Decipher Inc, publisher of the Star Trek: The Next Generation collectable card game, and the Star Wars Customizable Card Game announce they have reached agreement with Paramount to extend the Star Trek card game across all the Trek show eras, but they have also gained the licence for a new Star Trek tabletop roleplaying game.

2 December 1996: TSR announce they have purchased Mayfair Games, the publisher of the Role Aids series of supplements. After some ‘nip and polish’ to make them ‘fully compatible’ the Role Aids books would be part of the AD&D line. Given TSR under ex-owner Lorraine Williams tried to sue Mayfair games out of existence and ended up buying Role Aids line to bury it, this announcement is seen as evidence of the ‘new TSR’ post-Williams.

20 January 1997: While clearing through TSR’s product inventory and IP, Monte Cook comes across Dangerous Journeys a complete role-playing game, and Mythus, the outline/unfinished code for a computer game, both penned by Gary Gygax. Dangerous Journey’s system had a lot of things AD&D was missing such as skill system and flexible class design. Cook and fellow Senior Designer Skip Williams reached out to Gygax who would meet them.

31 January 1997: TSR Inc announce that Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons would be returning to work for them on a new RPG.

3 July 1997: TSR Inc and Dave Arneston come to an agreement regarding Arneston’s continuing D&D royalties the details are not published. It is believed in gaming cycles that the deal includes TSR publishing Arneston’s Blackmoor as setting for the game.

6 August 1997: At Gencon in Milwaukee, TSR Inc release Dangerous Journeys an RPG by Gary Gygax. With much polish and several world books from the Mythus setting to support it Dangerous Journeys would sell out at the con and demand was very high. A Mythus computer game is under development with SSI.

10 December 1998: Wizards of the Coast release the Pokemon Trading Card Game, the game sells over 500,000 copies in six weeks way above estimations. The sales are so strong trading card printers across the USA discontinue sports trading card lines to print Pokemon cards for Wizards.

6 August 1999: TSR Inc release the D&D Preview at GenCon, a playtest version of the rules for the next version of D&D. Many are surprised at the move, but play of the Preview dominates the Con, and many copies are sent out by post and online by TSR globally making headlines in mainstream press. Feedback from the playtest rules is massively positive. The new system is mostly built on a refined version of Gary Gygax’s Dangerous Journeys RPG, but its more than just a polish and tidy. Response is largely positive by the cut-off date at the end of the year.

20-23 August 2000: Anticipation for the new version of Dungeons and Dragons sees GenCon break its attendance record with 32,000 games in attendance over the weekend. It is not just D&D 3rd edition debuting at the Con, the new version of the Marvel Superheroes RPG is on the stands, and Stan Lee attends along with other Marvel personalities to push the game.

15 November 2000: Wizards of the Coast and Interplay release Ars Magica for MacOS and Windows. It will later be ported to Atari Panther. A Sega Katana conversion is cancelled.

30 April 2001: FASA Corp, maker of the Crimson Skies, Battletech, Shadowrun and Earthdawn game lines is brought by Atari for an undisclosed sum. Control of FASA’s IP is passed to Black Isle Studios who will start work on computer game adaptions, though they promise the pen and paper games will continue to be published.

19 November 2001: Ahead of the much, much anticipated Lord of the Rings movie Iron Crown Enterprises releases the Lord of the Rings RPG. The new game is chock full of images from the Fellowship of the Ring movie. Compared to the existing Middle Earth game ICE make this is a much lighter game with easier rules. ICE will keep the older Middle Earth Role Playing game going, but the push from them will be with the new game. A new edition of the Middle-Earth Collectible Card Game is released by the company at the same time.

 

[Ogrebear]

March 1994: Bendai approach Apple Corp with an idea for a games console. With Apple going through structural and financial problems the idea is rejected. Bendai will instead take the Pippin idea to Mitsubishi. The concept would evolve into a set-up box capable of internet access and playing edutainment style games for kids. It is a moderate success in Asian markets but makes little impact in the US or Europe.

August 1994: At the Tokyo Toy Show the Neo Geo CD is launched by SNK. Considerably cheaper than the 1990 version the new console is extremely capable for graphics however the system lacks ‘killer titles’ compared to other systems.

Neo Geo CD, 1994

May 25, 1994: The Elder Scrolls Arena is released. Planned as a gladiatorial arena game, it spiralled into a full-blown RPG during development becoming one of the largest games (in terms of world map) at the time of release. Delayed to fix a bug with the end game, Arena was still slow and buggy on many user’s PC’s but word of mouth about the quality of the quests and plot-line saw sales mushroom esp after the realise of the ‘Deluxe Edition’ at Christmas.

October 10, 1994: Doom II released by id Software. It is as controversial as the first game and a huge seller moving over 600,000 units in a month. Doom II would win the Origins Award for Best Game of 1994.

November 20, 1994: Bethesda release the ‘Deluxe Edition’ of The Elder Scrolls Arena which includes a mouse mat, an in-depth hint book, and latest patched version of the game. It would be a big seller.

July 7, 1995: Acclaim release Batman Forever beat-em-up game for Super NES, Sega Genesis, Windows; it is regarded as a poor tie-in to the movie and buggy, despite the use of the same motion capture technology Warner Bros using in the movie and the actor’s voices.

September 3, 1995: Bethesda Softworks release Noctropolis an adventure game made by Flashpoint Productions whom Bethesda purchased during the game’s development. The story of Peter Grey would spawn several sequels.

March 22, 1996: Amstrad Atari Gaming purchase Ocean International Ltd for £150 million pipping French company Infogrames to the post. The purchase comes with all of Ocean Software’s lucrative games back catalogue. Ocean Software would remain a separate division inside Amstrad Atari Gaming, though they would now produce games for Amiga systems, the Amiga CD32 games console, as well as Windows.

June 16, 1996: Although the Judge Dredd movie has fallen through in pre-production a PC video game is released by Amstrad Atari Gaming. A third person point and click game, Judge Dredd is praised by critics and fans for not just being another side scroller. Containing a lot of black comedy, adult situations, and violence it is condemned by parent’s groups which only drives up sales. Toby Longworth voiced Judge Dredd.

November 21, 1996: The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall is released by Bethesda Softworks. Delayed from its September release due to bugs, Daggerfall presents the player with a huge world “the size of Great Britain” with huge procedurally generated dungeons, towns, and nearly 750,00 NPC’s. Daggerfall would win the best Computer RPG award from Gamespot, and the Spotlight Award from the Game Developers Conference.

July 11, 1997: Ocean Software release Batman & Robin action-adventure movie tie-in game. Released for Windows, Amiga, Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64. The game is as well praised as the movie.

July 18, 1997: id Software and GL Interactive launch the much, much delayed 3D first person shooter Quake as shareware, however fans soon discover how to crack the software to open the full version of the software and remove copy protections. Full prices sales nosedive as fans pirate the game. Despite superb reviews Quake costs are not recouped and id Software is purchased by Bethesda Softworks.

August 21, 1997: An expansion for rpg Daggerfall called Battlespire is released by Bethesda. The game is criticised for being extremely heavy on PC resources, though praised for its storyline by fans.

October 24, 1997: Bethesda Softworks and Centropolis Entertainment release The 10th Planet an RPG/Action flight game dealing with fighting of alien invaders from an previously unknown tenth Planet in the solar system. The game was praised for its ‘cinematic’ qualities, though some criticised the balance of RPG and Action elements. The game was notably less buggy on release than many of Bethesda’s other titles, which many put down to Centropolis’ influence.

The 10th Planet sells very well, giving Bethesda a much-needed financial boost. The game will be patched for several years but no sequel is made.

November 14, 1997: Interplay release Fallout, set in a post-apocalyptic California, the role-playing game sees the player’s character cast out of their fallout shelter home to search for a replacement part for the failing water machines. With a retro 50’s vibe Fallout was very popular with gamers in part due to the freedom the players had to wander the wastelands rather than being forced to follow a linear path through the story.

November 21, 1997: Noctropllois II is released by Bethesda. A polished sequel to the 1995 game, the action-rpg superhero game sells well over Thanksgiving giving Bethesda a solid hit. Many fans site the game as getting through the worries about the events in Moldova.

January 1, 1998: Troika games is formed by three developers who left Interplay due to differences over the in-progress Fallout 2. Forming their own studio, they start working on an ‘old fashioned rpg’.

May 15, 1998: Another expansion for the Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall is released. Entitled Redguard the plot takes the player to the Isle of Stros M’kai during the same time-period as Daggerfall takes place. The game introduced the player to the gorilla like Imga and slug like Sload. Half as big as Daggerfall, it was questioned by Bethesda did not release Redguard as its own game, but Bethesda commented that as Redguard’s story was set in the same era as Daggerfall it was an expansion.

Redguard sold reasonably but like Battlespire it was considered a resource hog on some systems.

November 4, 1998: First person shooter Unreal released by GT Interactive for Windows 5, Linux, and MacOS. Made by Epic MegaGames the quality of Unreal’s graphics and gameplay see it rocket to the top of the gaming charts across the world. The multi-player is described as ‘laggy’ and many improvements will be made in this area.

June 13, 1998: Bethesda and Troika Games announce a merger. Troika will be a studio inside Bethesda. Their first game Arcanum is now being developed using the NetImmerse a 3d engine.

June 25, 1999: Delayed due to Unreal’s success id Software and Bethesda release Quake II. The delay has allowed polish time and Quake II is a big success. The horror style of the first game was dropped for a science-fiction setting, and there where RPG elements included though it remained a action shooter. Multi-player support was included from the off including 8 PVP only maps and 4 procedurally generated ‘Madness Maps’ which mixed up the maps for each map that proved very popular.

September 1, 1999: Zenith Media is formed as the parent company for Bethesda Softworks. The game company is split up into various studios under the Zenith Media umbrella. Bethesda Softworks returns to being a game creator as Zenith Media now handles all the HR, paperwork etc.

November 19, 1999: The Elder Scrolls: Eye of Argonia is released as an expansion to Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall. The plot is a sequel to Redguard released in 1998 and does not work without that expansion installed, which causes much bad press and effects sales, despite much positive press about the complex RPG story and almost bug free release. The next planned expansion Paradise Isle is cancelled. Bethesda will make no more Elder Scrolls game for some years.

August 28, 2000: Eidos Interactive publish Berlin 2000 the official video game of the XXVII Olympiad. The game is released on Windows, Nintendo 64, and Sega Katana. Critics complain the PC port is not very good, but the game sells well. A version for the Atari Panther is released in December.

November 17, 2000: The Atari Panther games console is released. Sales are brisk as people want a distraction from the Iran conflict. Among the Panther’s launch titles are Gotham Racing (Atari), Protector (Bethesda), Dead or Alive 2 (Tecmo), NASCAR Rumble (EA), Airforce Delta (Konami), 007: Soul Diamond (EA), and Dredd vs Death (Eidos).

Atari Panther, 2000

May 17, 2001: A beta of Bethesda’s new Elder Scrolls game Tribunal is available to the public. Much is made of the smooth 3D RPG gaming experience. Many cite Bethesda’s experience with Quake for this, though the tripling of Bethesda’s staff to program the immense game was more to do with it. Hype for the Elder Scrolls III title is immense among the gaming press and fans especially as Bethesda announce it will be released on the Atari Panther as well as Windows 5.5.

May 19, 2001: Atari launch the Panther Live internet gaming service at the E3 games conference. Using the Ethernet port included in all Panther game consoles.

May 10, 2002: GT Interactive is brought by Atari. The publisher is split into smaller studios inside the Atari Corp. Work starts on a new Unreal game in conjunction with Epic Games.

June 27, 2002: Released on Windows and Panther simultaneously The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal is a smash hit across the world; in the US alone 95,000 copies had been sold by mid-July on PC alone. It would stay in the Panther sales top 10 for over a year. The breadth of the world and the depth of the story telling is praised in the press and online. The combat system was singled out and it would emerge that programmers from id Software stepped in to help make the experience ‘flow’ better.

Tribunal would win many awards including PC Gamers ‘Best Roleplaying Game’, Gaming World’s ‘Game of the Year’, and Interactive Achievement Awards ‘Computer RPG of the Year’ among others.

August 30, 2002: The Mournhold expansion for The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal for both Panther and Windows. A port of Tribunal to MacThree is also released.

May 15, 2003: During E3 Bethesda launch the long-awaited 3D RPG Arcanum, set in a steampunk fantasy world with several races and classes to choose from it is well regarded by the gaming press and quickly gains a following. Unusually for one of its games Bethesda will launch a tabletop pen and paper version of the game at the same time, with the rules being given away on the disk, or in separate a hardback book.

December 4, 2003: Launched first in Japan, Sony returned to the games console market with the Playstation Portable (PSP), a handheld device that when closed functioned as PDA but opened to be a games machine. It’s 4.3-inch colour screen as regarded as amazing by the press and fans. The PSP used a specialist universal media disc system for its games and launched with a strong line up of titles including Metal Gear: Acid, Wipeout Pure, FIFA 06, and a new Elder Scroll titles created exclusively for the PSP called The Elder Scrolls Travels: Strormhold.

The PSP would sell strongly in Japan, and on its release in Europe dislodge the Nintendo Game Boy Advanced as the biggest selling mobile console. In America the PSP came second to the Dash, which had taken the title from the Game Boy the year before.

Playstation Portable, 2003

 

[SomeGuyOnline]

I might have suggested Lucasarts or Dreamworks esp since Speilberg buys the former in 1996, but Disney takes Lucasfilm in 2002 I was after someone other than Disney to own the Muppets.

Oh god, not Dreamworks. No offense to the company or anything, but I just can’t see them buying the Muppets in any way.

Does Disney still buy 20th Century Fox ITTL? If not, then they’re IMO the most likely company to have the Muppets instead.

 

[Ogrebear]

November 18, 1992: Superman #75 is released featuring the Death of Superman. The comic book speculators market goes into a frenzy with polybagged copies on sale for $100 within 24 hours of the comics release.

December 1, 1992: At a production meeting for the movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III director Stuart Gillard is surprised when TMNT creators Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman turn up. The creators bring a copy of the script with them and insist that after the creative failure of the second Turtles movie they do not want their creations saddled with a terrible time travel plot. All production comes to a halt as the script is radically revised.

January 6, 1993: An explosion rips through 36 East 63rd Street New York after reports of a fire in the kitchens. Despite efforts of the New York Firefighters the Townhouse and several nearby buildings are ruined. Billionaire Ronald Perelman and the board of his company MacAndrews & Forbes where meeting in the building at the time, and none survived. Ronald Perelman is survived by his wife Claudia Cohen, and daughter Samantha.

January 18, 1993: With the death of Ronald Perelman and most of the leadership MacAndrews & Forbes is in freefall. Shares in Perelman’s many acquisitions such as Marvel Entertainment Group, New World Entertainment, and Revlon, are being dumped onto the world’s stock markets. There are many who feel the junk bonds Perelman used to buy his companies will never mature.

February 5, 1993: An investigation into the business practices of the late Ronald Perelman has been launched with accusations of ‘greenmail’ and shady use of ‘high yield
securities’ to acquire business such as the Revlon take over in 1985. A spokesman for MacAndrews & Forbes said they will co-operate with any investigation.

March 1, 1993: James Goldsmith, new CEO of the Andrews Group (Subsidiary of MacAndrews & Forbes and holding company for Marvel Entertainment Group (MEG), New World Entertainment etc) tells the MEG Board he is cancelling the purchase of ToyBiz shares citing it as a ‘risky venture’ with the investigation into MacAndrews & Forbes ongoing. CEO of MEG Bill Bevin also tells the Board that MEG was solvent, with the private 60% of the MEG stock held by the Andrews Group rather than MacAndrews & Forbes directly. Bevin will assure the Board that no further stock issues will take place for now, and orders MEG's divisions look at reducing costs, and consolidating their customer base.

March 6, 1993: 10 episodes in Fox pulls the plug on the X-Men cartoon series, the quality of the animation is not up to the standard they expected and Mr Murdoch himself was not impressed. The last three episodes of the season are not broadcast. Fox Kids President Margaret Loesch who gambled her job on the success of X-Men is fired. Fox happily sells the right back to Marvel.

April 9, 1993: Teenage Mutant Turtles III is realised by New Line Cinema. The plot sees the Ninja Turtles travel to Japan to get a rare cure for their mentor Splinter who is dying. The Ninja run into remains of the Foot Clan and deal with the legacy of Splinter’s Human owner Hamato Yoshi running away from the Foot. TMNT III is less slapstick comedic than the first two movies, with a much dryer, older humour which was praised by critics. The SFX by ILM was also praised, winning an Oscar nomination. The movie would be popular with audiences earning $78.9 million over a $25.4 million budget.

April 10, 1993: Neil Gaiman gives a speech at the Diamond Comic Distributors 10th Annual Retailers Seminar comparing the ongoing comics bubble to the tulip bubble of the 17th century. Some of his audience consider it in bad taste considering the roaring trade comics are doing, others are in agreement with Gaiman.

May 10, 1993: Marvel Comics Group President Terry Stewart starts a review of all 140 books the company is producing, dispute pressure on him to maintain the huge profits Marvel is making Stewart, himself a comics fan, is concerned that they are driving away the customer base. This view is not popular among the executives, but Stewart points out he is only doing as CEO Bevin asked.

May 23, 1993: Stan Lee goes to William Lake head of New World Entertainment who own Marvel Productions and asks him to take on Margaret Loesch, ex Marvel Productions CEO. Lake is reluctant, but takes on Loesch as Stan Lee’s personal Projects Manager. Lee and Loesch immediately start pimping round the X-Men cartoon and a show from Japan Loesch has found via Haim Saban called Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger.

June 5, 1993: At Marvel Comics New York office Marvel President Terry Stewart tells Editor-in-Chief Tom DeFalco to drastically cut the number of Marvel Comics as quietly as possible. DeFalco will start looking for books with their storylines nearly complete.

July 1993: Batman #497 is released featuring the ‘Breaking of the Bat’ the climax to the Knightfall event running through the DC comics. Originally it was going to be Bane (whom Batman had been fighting and losing to for months) who ‘broke’ the Batman, but the twist of it being Bruce’s Wayne’s hand-picked successor Jean-Paul Valley in a backstab move saw millions of copies fly off comic bookshelves. With Batman out of the way the true villain of the series- Dr Hugo Strange stepped into the light and claimed the mantle of the Batman.

July 14, 1993: The Bidding War for control of Paramount is derailed when suspicious trading of Viacom, and Paramount shares is detected by London Stock Exchange authorities, and similar patterns are detected in the US. Paramount begin talks with New World Entertainment.

August 2, 1993: Jim Shooter’s Plasm is released by Epic Comics – Marvel’s creator owned imprint. Shooter had originally been tempted to form a new comics company, but realised in such a crowded marketplace there was no room for a new company so formed a Studio and took his series idea to Marvel. Plasm also had a trading card tie in wherein the card set could be collected to create an issue 0 of the comic. The cards were a moderate hit, and the comic line would last until 1997.

August 20, 1993: At San Diego Comic-Con Marvel Editor-in-Chief Tom DeFalco gets trapped in a lift with Marvel UK Editor-in-Chief Paul Neary who shares the new Marvel Frontier comics Marvel UK has launched, aiming for the more mature, odd market similar to DC’s Vertigo imprint. DeFalco likes the comics, and agrees to promote the line, but asks Neary to cut down the quantity of Marvel UK’s titles to increase quality.

September 1, 1993: Paramount Communications and New World Entertainment announce that Paramount is buying New World Entertainment from the Andrews Group. Fox Entertainment Group and Viacom will both try to block the deal but fail. The new Paramount Communications includes Marvel Productions (animation/films), but not Marvel Entertainment Group (publishing/licensing). Many fans of Marvel products are excited by the possibility of new Marvel shows or movies.

Over the next few months many pundits note Paramount Communications buying up or majority investing in TV stations across the US and Canada. Speculation is rife that a new TV network may be in the offing.

September 30, 1993: In Batman #500 Dr Hugo Strange having usurped the Batman role, having driven away Alfred (looking after the paraplegic Bruce Wayne), and Robin (replaced by Jean-Paul Valley), takes on Bane who (under Strange’s mind control) has taken over the Gotham Underworld. In a new armoured Bat costume Strange allows Bane to fight for his life as he beats him to show he is the superior Batman. He is denied the final victory by the return of Robin who snatched away Bane at the last second. Strange would establish himself as the ultimate power in Gotham City.

DC presented the event as if this was the new status quo which left the Batman fanbase split between those excited to see where the ‘HugoBat’ would go and those who wanted a return to the ‘classic’ status quo.

November 1, 1993: Paramount Communications is reorganized. Among other moves all Star Trek production is brought together into the Star Trek Company ending the separation between movie and TV productions. The Marvel Productions subsidiary is renamed Marvel Animation and takes over all animated projects under Margaret Loesch. A new subsidiary called Marvel Films takes over all live-action Marvel projects. The Board scores a coop by getting Stan Lee to head this division. Stan Lee will immediately get in touch with Roger Corman regarding the Fantastic Four movie Corman is directing.

December 19, 1993: Editor-in-Chief Tom DeFalco brings the axe down on 50 Marvel books and cancels a wave of products planned in 1994. He tells the Marvel staff that the books need to raise in quality all across the line to justify the cover price. DeFalco will also tell them that Marvel will be dropping the cover gimmicks of the last few years and reducing print runs.

December 24, 1993: A huge row among the founders of Image Comics regarding the problems with management, administration, deadlines, and falling orders sees Erik Larsen, and Marc Silvestri leave the group and take their studios- Highbrow Entertainment, and Top Cow to Malibu comics.

January 19, 1994: Stan Lee announces that Marvel Films will partner with Roger Corman and is actively involved with Fantastic Four movie, and after a few ‘nips and tucks’ it will premier on Thanksgiving weekend. Movie and fanzines report seeing cast and crew out on the streets of New York filming more material.

February 14, 1994: After the Great Eastern Convention in New York Marvel staffers report sales down, and ‘hot’ books not shifting as they did the year before. However, Marvel’s income is still very high. De Falco lowers the print runs across the board especially for the X-Men and Spider-Man titles.

March 7, 1994: Stan Lee gives Jack Kirby a private showing of the Fantastic Four movie at his home in Thousand Oaks, California. Afterwards the two comic legends would record an episode of The Comic Book Greats in which they reminisced about the ‘old days’. It was notable for Stan Lee apologising to Jack for failing to acknowledge Jack’s contributions properly.

May 8, 1994: The investigation into MacAndrews & Forbes is completed and the late Ronald Perelman and his board are rounded condemned in a very strongly worded report. The regulators have evidence of insider trading, shell companies, junk bonds and other practices. MacAndrews & Forbes is hammered by a wave of lawsuits from banks, creditors, shareholders and collapses.

Over May – August MacAndrews & Forbes splits up in the aftermath of the huge scandal. The debt-ridden Revlon being brought by Johnson & Johnson, and the rest of the holding company is gobbled by other interests. The Andrews Group subsidiary also folds unable to bear the strain and its own connections to Perelman.

Marvel Entertainment becomes an independent public-traded company again. The company is restructured with all of Perelman management layers added removed leaving a simple corporate structure. Fleer was sold to rival trading card company Skybox. The company was able to broker deals with the banks and its shareholders and survived if at a much-reduced valuation. Many lost their jobs largely among middle management and the ‘back room’ staff.

June 8, 1994: Voyager Communications, the parent company of Valiant Comics is sold to Acclaim Entertainment, who will create video games from the company’s characters. The Valiant part of the Deathmate crossover with Image comics will be published the same day.

July 12, 1994: DC launch Zero Hour: Crisis in Time! A massive line-wide crossover event designed to ‘fix’ the continuity issues created from the 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths event which had collapsed the DC Universe down into one timeline. As the crossover rolls out Zero Hour is initially massively popular with fans leading to a spike in sales, but as the event rolls out fans begin to vocally criticise the direction, plotting, and characterisation.

August 31, 1994: Marvel Comics announce the Rebirth event, effectively a relaunch of their entire line starting in spring. The creative teams on the books will be shuffled, and ongoing plot lines wrapped up ahead of the event. Internally plans for a Spider-Man clone storyline is put aside for now, and the X-book office puts aside their Age of Apocalypse saga.

October 12, 1994: Throughout the year work on the United Paramount Network – UPN has gone on, but advertisers are worried about the launch of a new Network without a flagship show. Paramount main tent-pole franchise Star Trek is already mid run with Deep Space Nine and while UPN can run with that not being at the start is felt will confuse things. Talks go on all year, but in a press conference CEO of Star Trek Company Sherry Lansing would confirm a new Star Trek series was in development but would not be drawn on any details. In the same press conference Marvel Films CEO Stan Lee would confirm a Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. series but would not be drawn on the star or network. The announcements calm fears about the new network and advertisers sign up.

October 27, 1994: Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries announce the formation of a new television network, the United Paramount Network – UPN. There is much speculation about the shows it will broadcast.

4 November 1994: Marvel Entertainment and Malibu Comics announce a deal, in exchange for access to Malibu’s revolutionary digital colouring system Marvel will buy 40% of the company effectively clearing Malibu’s debts. The company closes its loss-making video games arm. Talks start with Marvel Films and Marvel Animation about adaptions of Malibu’s properties.

November 23, 1994: Fantastic Four premiers in New York. Stan Lee, and Jack Kirby are among the guests on the red carpet. Boosted by an extra $14 million Marvel Films invested in the effects, sound and reshoots the film will become a moderate success, earning Marvel an impressive $65 million in box office.

December 14, 1994: The delayed ending to DC’s Zero Hour event comes out. The plot is resolved with the sacrifice of Hal Jordan using all the God level power he has accumulated as Parallax after killing Darkseid, and most of the New Gods to kickstart ‘a new Big Bang’ leading to the return of the DC Multiverse, notably giving the 1940’s Justice Society Earth One, and the ‘current’ Justice League Earth Two, having the future Legion be a ‘possible future’. DC then cancelled all their books with new No1’s on the slate for January 1995.

The event is seen one of the key moments in the end of the ‘speculator boom’ in the comics market. The delayed and changed ending (after much internal argument at DC it emerged) drove a lot of collectors away- the ‘reset’ of the DC universe was seen as a cynical cash in by DC after an insipid event rather than the Universe wide continuity fix, they had hoped for. Comic stores would see sales fall off rapidly during 1995 and 1996 leading to many closing.

In the wake of Zero Hour Marvel’s Rebirth event was seen with much more cynical eyes even though Editor-in-Chief Tom DeFalco was doing interviews promising Rebirth was nothing like Zero Hour many stores reporting pre-ordering much down on where they expected it to be.

January 1995: All Marvel comics published this month carry the Rebirth banner. There is no crossover and not even new No1’s, all titles carry their legacy numbering, though each of the characters only have a single title each; the only Spider-Man book was Amazing Spider-Man, there was only Uncanny X-Men, etc. The plots in each book give a ‘day in the life’ of each of the main Hero or teams of the Marvel Universe, with the Heroes in action vs ‘classic villains’ such as Juggernaut for the Hulk, or Loki for the Avengers. Each Hero character or supporting cast was seen. The Rebirth event would last for six issues of each book, with core concepts for the characters, main supporting cast, villains all introduced in a logical but introductory way. All the books would have a notably ‘throwback’ style of art and storytelling- the excess of the 90’s: pouches, oversized guns, and extreme muscles were gone in favour of solid anatomy, sharp writing, and tight continuity- other characters and teams where referenced across each book line. Captain America would be noted for his ‘acceptance for mutants’ speech.

Marvel would also publish the six-part Guide to the Marvel Universe detailing each of the major characters and teams and their history which also contained the new streamlined history for the Marvel Universe. At the end of the event the books would continue the same trajectory, but satellite books such as Thor, Namor, Fantastic Force, and Wolverine would appear. Marvel Comics Presents also returned to present fun team-ups.

Reaction to Rebirth was pleasant surprise, many fans had expected a Crisis style rebuilding of the Marvel Universe. The deliberately ‘classic’ take on the characters, and the solid art ‘reboot’ was much appreciated. Marvel Entertainment’s financial situation would begin to stabilise from this start.

January 1995: All DC comics this month are new No1’s for Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, and Hawkman. Presented on high quality card stock and with multiple cover options by ‘hot’ artists such as Jim Lee. The plots where origin stories for each character wrapped in a ‘current day’ story and was designed to explain where the character was after the events of Zero Hour. The start point for the timeline was set at 5 years post Superman first appearance which was set as June 1990.

While sales where not a total disaster DC’s relaunch did not gain the positive press they hoped, especially compared to the Rebirth event at Marvel. They were criticised particularly for the “gimmick covers” and artwork. Over the year DC would rally, stop the multiple covers, and change artists on several titles, but the damage was done. Executive editor Michael Carlin was forced to step aside for Archie Goodwin.

April 13, 1995: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: The Next Mutation is released by New Line. The Turtles have grown apart since their adventure in Japan (in the last movie) with trust in each other and Splinter at a low. News reaches them from April that there was a break in at TGRI, the company that produced the mutagen (never called ooze in the movie) that caused the Turtles to mutate. The four travel to investigate snarking at each other. They discover a trail leading to an old Foot base and are present as Dr Baxter Stockman uses his sample to create a new mutant turtle- bigger than the Ninja brothers. Stockman takes samples from him and knocks him out. Stockman has plenty of other animals, and to the brothers surprise he also has a sample of Shredder’s arm which he has on ice. From his mad ravings to someone off screen he wants to revive Shredder. The brothers drop into the lab which causes a fight with Stockman (who is a lot stronger than he looks), and a wave of Foot Ninja, and in particular a female Ninja called Karai. The brothers stage a retreat, managing to free the animals and taking the new Turtle with them.

Back at base Splinter is most concerned about Karai as she is Shredder’s daughter. Meanwhile Michelangelo gives the new Turtle some comics and explains the characters in an issue of Fighting American. It is decided the brothers will go after Karai and Stockman while Splinter helps the new turtle, who names himself Kirby adjust.

The original lab is destroyed, but with Casey and April’s help they track down the new Foot Clan. However even with help the Turtles are defeated by the Ninja’s, plus two new mutants- Scratch (tiger) and Leatherhead (alligator). They witness Stockman - who claims to have done this before, begin to clone Shredder. In confinement the brothers talk and reconcile as family determined to go down together rather than let Shredder come back. They break out and in a climactic battle they are about to go down when Splinter, Casey, and Kirby come to their rescue turning the tide. Stockman would be captured, but Karai would escape.

Scratch would be taken to Dr Perry from the second movie to be de-mutated, but Leatherhead pleads to be allowed to live as he is since he was a ‘loser’ before. Dr Perry takes him in. All five Turtles return to base with Splinter, and in the final shots the live action changes to an animated format and a card would appear promising the Turtles would return in animated form ‘soon’.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: The Next Mutation would make $68.4million over a $26million budget. Praised by the critics and liked by the fans TMNT IV was a strong end to the original live-action movies. One of the Turtles creators Peter Laird when asked later why they did not make more movies responded that “it seemed the right time to stop, we had done everything we could in film.”

1 August 1995: Dave Cockrum returns to Marvel to work on the New Mutants title. He will revise their costumes. Cockrum also publishes his creator owned work The Futurians through the Epic line finding a solid readership.

September 14, 1995: The United Paramount Network launches across the USA and is carried in Canada. The opening night goes well with the debut of Star Trek: Excelsior as its flagship product. As the network rolls out in its Children’s block the much-revised X-Men cartoon and a Japanese import called The Morphin Power Rangers become big shows watched by a huge number of American kids and sparking much merchandise and sequels.

November 10, 1995: Jack Kirby passes away at his home in California. There is an outpouring of condolences from across the comic industry. Marvel commissions a documentary on Kirby’s life which goes out on UPN.

September 18, 1996: Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. debuts on UPN with Willem Dafoe as the lead character and Rutger Hauer playing villain Baron Zemo as the new head of HYDRA.

The 13-part series gets good reviews for its mix of spy and action. Many are surprised by how the series plays fairly straight ‘spy vs spy’ given the ‘silliness’ of a lot of the source material. The show is picked up for a second season.

September 21, 1996: The Fantastic Four cartoon debuts on UPN Kids. Carl Ciarfalio would reprise his role as Thing from the Fantastic Four movie while Alex Hyde-White voiced Reed Richards. In order to prevent confusion with the movie versions an early episode of the show dealt with alternative realities and a glimpse of the movie FF (in cartoon form) where shown. The Fantastic Four would cross over with the X-Men cartoon and the later Marvel cartoons leading to the creation of a Marvel Animated Universe under the firm direction of Marvel Animation.

October 1996: Issue 25 of the second volume of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic comes out from Mirage Studios. It will be the last issue due to lagging sales. In the same month Archie Comics would cancel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures.

November 19, 1996: Spider-Man the Animated series starts on UPN Kids. Produced by Saben. Like the other Marvel Animated shows it would often cross over into the other series and reference events in them. Neil Patrick Harris version of Peter Parker/Spider-Man is regarded as one of the most faithful versions of the character made.

November 29, 1997: Last episode of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series airs. FCC regulations from Richard’s White House have demanded Saturday morning cartoons must have an educational element and CBS decided to make Season 11 the last as interest in the TMNT is fading anyway. The final season is almost a miniseries of related episodes cumulating in the finale on Thanksgiving weekend which would be a double length finale movie trying up the Turtle’s storylines and the final defeat of the Shredder and Krang.

November 11, 2000: Partly to promote the new edition of the Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition RPG rules Marvel Animation release Dungeons & Dragons on UPN. Featuring the kids from the old 1980’s cartoon all grown up (but still in the Realm) helping a new group of kids brought into the Realm with getting home. It gains positive reviews and ratings leading to a series being developed by Marvel.

August 13, 2004: Flush with the success of the Spider-Man, and X-Men movies Marvel Entertainment and Paramount announce that Marvel Animation and Marvel Films would be leaving Paramount and returning directly to Marvel. This marks the first time Marvel had been compete since the early 90’s.

 

[SomeGuyOnline]

@Ogrebear, Since someone else mentioned an alternate version of The Loud House in this universe, maybe this could be added to it?

March 11, 2017: A scrapped Loud House episode, No Such Luck, has its storyboards leaked onto the internet, depicting Leena Loud getting kicked out of the house after her family, led by her brother Lynn, believes that she is bad luck. They’re later taken down by Nickelodeon, but by that point, the episode has already triggered a lot of controversy with fans of the show. Eventually, the show writers step in and reveal that the episode was scrapped due to implications of serious child abuse and child endangerment.

June 8, 2017: The Loud House episode L is for Love premieres in the United States, becoming one of the most popular and critically acclaimed episodes in the whole series after it’s revealed that Ludwig Loud is bisexual when it’s shown at the end of the episode that his crush, Taylor Tells (TTL’s version of Sam Sharp), is actually a boy. Ludwig and Taylor would end up becoming an official couple later on in the series, and wind up becoming one of the most prominent LGBT+ couples of both Nickelodeon and just animated media in general as a result.

October 15, 2018: The Casagrandes, a spin-off series of The Loud House, premieres on Nickelodeon. It depicts Leena’s friend Robbie Allan, his older sister Bobbi, and their single father Martin living with their massive extended family in Great Lakes City after they are depicted moving out of Royal Woods in the second season of TLH.

August 21, 2020: The Loud House Movie, after several delays, premieres on Blockbuster Online to critical acclaim, depicting the Loud family taking a vacation to Scotland and discovering they are the descendants of Scottish royalty, leading Leena to attempt to become the new Duchess of Loch Loud as a result.

August 28, 2020: To correspond with the recent release of the Blockbuster Online film, season 5 of The Loud House premieres on Nickelodeon, depicting Leena and her friends finally entering middle school after 4 seasons of being depicted in the 5th grade, as well as her oldest brother Lucas finishing high school and going off to college. Starting this season, all the characters are aged up a year, and receive new outfits and designs as a result (A/N: aka what should’ve happened IOTL in the first place).

November 26, 2021: The live action TV film It’s A Loud House Christmas! premieres on Nickelodeon.