Alt-History Aftermath Scenarios Implied by Media
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Seems Masimo Pietrobon has done a rather cool take on the modern world borders on a Pangea world - not that these countries would likely last long if the world was mashed back together, but its an interesting map:
The above has also been turned into an interactive globe here: https://viborc.com/pangaea-map-present-day-borders-3d-globe-interactive/
The above has also been turned into an interactive globe here: https://viborc.com/pangaea-map-present-day-borders-3d-globe-interactive/
CaFae Latte (an excellent TikTok series about a cafe run by the fae) has a couple of alt history implications. First, obviously, this is a world where supernatural creatures not only exist but have been public knowledge for decades. But during a recent rewatch, I noticed that in Bob's backstory, she said she got exiled from the Fae Realm because she stopped a plot to capture the infant prince of a human kingdom and replace him with a changeling. The few details we get are 1) the human kingdom was in Ireland, 2) the timeframe is somewhere between 500 years ago and the Irish Potato Famine (which still happened) which is when Bob and Cyrus move to the US, and 3) the human royal family lost power in the 1930s but are still around. The implication is that there was a monarchy based in Ireland well into the 20th century.
The most likely explanation I can come up with, especially one that doesn't have a ton of ramifications for wider history, is that the British subjugation of Ireland went a bit differently in CaFae Latte's timeline, looking a bit more like the British Raj, with some parts of Ireland under native Irish petty kings who were still subject to the crown (similar to the Indian princely states). It would have been one of those Irish petty kingdoms that Bob aided. Then the parts of Ireland under direct British rule become a republic, and after some time the Republic absorbs the petty kingdoms.
The most likely explanation I can come up with, especially one that doesn't have a ton of ramifications for wider history, is that the British subjugation of Ireland went a bit differently in CaFae Latte's timeline, looking a bit more like the British Raj, with some parts of Ireland under native Irish petty kings who were still subject to the crown (similar to the Indian princely states). It would have been one of those Irish petty kingdoms that Bob aided. Then the parts of Ireland under direct British rule become a republic, and after some time the Republic absorbs the petty kingdoms.
16-bit Sensation, a manga about a struggling bishoujo game/visual novel company in the 1990s, has an anime adaptation that dipped its toes into time travel, by having an original character from 2023 who is sent back to various points in time from 1992 to 1999, but the latest episode went fully into alternate history, as the main character returned to her own time period, after accidentally changing the past a little too much:
The RPG/visual novel hybrid she worked on in 1999 was such a success (due to one of the side characters reverse-engineering some of the capabilities of the MC's tablet in order to develop the game, while the MC herself worked on the game's character design and story, while having an encyclopedic knowledge of visual novels as a medium), that plenty of Japanese VN companies were bought by American investors, and moved to America; this eventually turned visual novels into a very American form of media. So, otaku culture doesn't take over Akihabara, a ward that, by 2023, is a high tech (self-driving cars are way more common than IRL), sterile upper class district, with what's remained of otaku culture confined to Ikebukuro.
My guess is that would be undone in the following episode. In Bokutachi no Remake happened something simmilar...
That's what the MC hoped to do but, given that there's only a limited number of times she can go back in time, due to plot-related reasons, and that her last shot at doing so will send her back to another point in 1999, way after she started tinkering with the timeline (in fact, she'll probably have to be careful not to happen across her other self), she will have to do what Mamoru, a side-character that went from being a colleague in the 1990s to being an obscenely wealthy real estate developer in the alternate 2023 (that one episode seemingly had one hell of an axe to grind against gentrification, something that's happening to IRL Akihabara as well if some of the internet commentary on the episode is right) told her to do:
Basically, to create a game in 1999 that can compete with the one she helped develop, by offering her services to another company, while convincing her new colleagues not to leave Japan, and to help preserve otaku culture in Akihabara - this way, her earlier game can still be a Final Fantasy VII-like smash hit overseas, with her old colleagues finding fame and fortune abroad, but with enough of a counterbalance in Japan to prevent the Americanization of the visual novel genre, basically mirroring the parallel development of Japanese and Western RPGs in real life, IMO: plenty of cross-pollination (Final Fantasy was heavily inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, after all), but plenty of differences, too.
I laughed at that,the reason the genre flourish in Japan is because is cheap,the adventure games died in the west when everyone moved to MMORPG or bigger games
The question is, did people move or were they forcibly moved to MMORPGs through a mix of aggressive advertising campaigns and the virtual disappearance of everything that wasn't MMORPGs? Because now in many cases the mania has prevailed to force you to have an active Internet connection at all times for the game to work... even if you are NOT supposed to be using the online mode.
Imagine all of the urban legends of Hulk Hogan, Bruce Lee, Vladimir Putin, Chuck Norris, and Rasputin are true, and that they are as powerful as their public relations people would have you believe. I give you the 6-part 2018 manga series Golosseum by Yasushi Baba, with a U.S. President Hillary Clinton at the helm, in one of the weirdest stories ever put to print:
To be honest, photos with muscular Putin and tigers are much more widespread in European and American memes than in Russia itself.
So, another one of those cases where, in an attempt to "debunk" and "ridicule" a silly concept... it ends up being given a hell of a lot more exposure than it would have gotten on its own? When I see this it makes me hate "internet culture".
That the consumers were voting with their wallets, once the pentium processor allowed faster games and dedicated 3D accelerator GPU come , gamers wanted more complex games and once Ultima online exploded, that started the MMO boom, and once PC got more power, games that were heavily text based were passe
Considering certain purchasing choices people tend to make, I suspect that at least 50% of the cases are less "people voting with their wallets" and more "people will buy anything if you sell it to them properly." Although this observation is more in other areas than the choice of video games.
Continuing with the theme of the thread, I personally don't like the final twist that Tearmoon Empire is taking in its plot. I think it deeply and fundamentally undermines the entire premise of the series.
Continuing with the theme of the thread, I personally don't like the final twist that Tearmoon Empire is taking in its plot. I think it deeply and fundamentally undermines the entire premise of the series.
I'm of course referring to the part where EVERYTHING is literally the result of an evil conspiracy that was manipulating everything from the shadows, rather than just Mia being a clumsy administrator in the first timeline.
What's the fucking point of Mia trying to work on being a better ruler to avoid the guillotine if it later turns out that all she needed to do was dismantle the evil conspiracy?!
What's the fucking point of Mia trying to work on being a better ruler to avoid the guillotine if it later turns out that all she needed to do was dismantle the evil conspiracy?!
In a very bad film of Spanish origin and a "Comedy" known as "Los Japón" the premise is postulated that in 2019, in the absence of a better (and male) heir available to the Chrysanthemum Throne, the next Emperor of Japan be...
...a Spaniard from Seville chosen apparently at random. (The "explanation" is that the guy is the last living male descendant of an Imperial prince who traveled with the Keicho Expedition and settled in Spain.)
Of course, even though this would essentially be equivalent to Prince Wu's appointment as Earth King in LOK, this silly plan goes ahead anyway. The only thing that prevents it is that at the last moment the guy decides that being emperor is not for him.
As a movie it is worse than hitting a mother, but as an example of implicit alternative history it serves.
Although personally I am inclined to think that what would have actually happened is something like this:
*Palace of the Government of Japan, extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers, shortly after the death of the Emperor*
Prime Minister: "Gentlemen, the situation is critical. Our beloved Emperor has died and we have very few options available to succeed him. Right now our options are to name the Princess as future Empress... or choose one of the two proposals that the ministers of Finance and Foreign Affairs have to present to us".
Minister of Finance: "That's right, sir. My proposal is to take advantage of history. As you undoubtedly know, 600 years ago one of our imperial princes, who had converted to Catholicism, traveled with that expedition that we sent to Spain. The prince "He stayed there and had a family. We have located his descendants."
*Mutters of disgust among those present*
Foreign Minister: "Let's see if I understand you. Are you seriously proposing that we appoint as the new Emperor a gaijin who has never lived in Japan in his life, probably doesn't know even half a word of Japanese, and whose only merit to rise to the throne is that one of their ancestors 400 years ago was an Imperial prince?"
"Yes, that's right! That's how it is"
"That's complete nonsense and I refuse to condone such nonsense. I actually don't know why we're even considering it."
"Well, what's YOUR proposal?"
"Simple. Do the same thing that all the great powers have done. Forget about the Throne and the Emperor. Proclaim a presidential Republic, as the Americans, the Germans, and the French have done before us. I volunteer to lead the transition to a Republic of Japan..."
*Mutters of disgust even more intense than before*
Prime Minister: "Okay gentlemen, it seems that there is no consensus. But we have to make a decision."
Minister of Culture: "Prime Minister, I would like to present my own proposal."
"Go ahead."
"I was looking through history and found the interesting fact that the Spanish themselves faced a problem very similar to the death of Ferdinand VII: a female heir and laws that prevented her from inheriting. The solution they adopted was... ingenious. "
"What did they do?"
"The king enacted an amendment to the Law of Succession that allowed his daughter to inherit. The Emperor's will has not yet been made public, has it?"
"No..."
"Well, what if the Emperor had expressed his desire for his closest female relative to inherit?"
Minister of Finance: "I can't believe we are considering this. Think of the immense damage it will do to our economy if this is done. I think I will fully back the Minister of Foreign Affairs on this matter and support his proposal for a Republic "
*Muttered debate for almost an hour.*
Prime Minister: "Then I think we are all in agreement that the Minister of Culture's proposal to modify the Succession Law so that the Princess inherits is unanimously approved."
"That's right, Prime Minister."
"Let's get to work immediately. I want you to dig up all the precedents that support the idea that an Empress will not result in a disaster. The negotiations with the rest of the Diet parties will be tough, but it will be worth it. And as for those Spaniards... the less them know about this matter, the better. Do you understand?"
"Yes, minister."
...a Spaniard from Seville chosen apparently at random. (The "explanation" is that the guy is the last living male descendant of an Imperial prince who traveled with the Keicho Expedition and settled in Spain.)
Of course, even though this would essentially be equivalent to Prince Wu's appointment as Earth King in LOK, this silly plan goes ahead anyway. The only thing that prevents it is that at the last moment the guy decides that being emperor is not for him.
As a movie it is worse than hitting a mother, but as an example of implicit alternative history it serves.
Although personally I am inclined to think that what would have actually happened is something like this:
*Palace of the Government of Japan, extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers, shortly after the death of the Emperor*
Prime Minister: "Gentlemen, the situation is critical. Our beloved Emperor has died and we have very few options available to succeed him. Right now our options are to name the Princess as future Empress... or choose one of the two proposals that the ministers of Finance and Foreign Affairs have to present to us".
Minister of Finance: "That's right, sir. My proposal is to take advantage of history. As you undoubtedly know, 600 years ago one of our imperial princes, who had converted to Catholicism, traveled with that expedition that we sent to Spain. The prince "He stayed there and had a family. We have located his descendants."
*Mutters of disgust among those present*
Foreign Minister: "Let's see if I understand you. Are you seriously proposing that we appoint as the new Emperor a gaijin who has never lived in Japan in his life, probably doesn't know even half a word of Japanese, and whose only merit to rise to the throne is that one of their ancestors 400 years ago was an Imperial prince?"
"Yes, that's right! That's how it is"
"That's complete nonsense and I refuse to condone such nonsense. I actually don't know why we're even considering it."
"Well, what's YOUR proposal?"
"Simple. Do the same thing that all the great powers have done. Forget about the Throne and the Emperor. Proclaim a presidential Republic, as the Americans, the Germans, and the French have done before us. I volunteer to lead the transition to a Republic of Japan..."
*Mutters of disgust even more intense than before*
Prime Minister: "Okay gentlemen, it seems that there is no consensus. But we have to make a decision."
Minister of Culture: "Prime Minister, I would like to present my own proposal."
"Go ahead."
"I was looking through history and found the interesting fact that the Spanish themselves faced a problem very similar to the death of Ferdinand VII: a female heir and laws that prevented her from inheriting. The solution they adopted was... ingenious. "
"What did they do?"
"The king enacted an amendment to the Law of Succession that allowed his daughter to inherit. The Emperor's will has not yet been made public, has it?"
"No..."
"Well, what if the Emperor had expressed his desire for his closest female relative to inherit?"
Minister of Finance: "I can't believe we are considering this. Think of the immense damage it will do to our economy if this is done. I think I will fully back the Minister of Foreign Affairs on this matter and support his proposal for a Republic "
*Muttered debate for almost an hour.*
Prime Minister: "Then I think we are all in agreement that the Minister of Culture's proposal to modify the Succession Law so that the Princess inherits is unanimously approved."
"That's right, Prime Minister."
"Let's get to work immediately. I want you to dig up all the precedents that support the idea that an Empress will not result in a disaster. The negotiations with the rest of the Diet parties will be tough, but it will be worth it. And as for those Spaniards... the less them know about this matter, the better. Do you understand?"
"Yes, minister."
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I mean, while the current Japanese succession law is agnatic primogeniture there have been reigning Empresses before Meiji Restoration. And while perhaps absolute primogeniture might be too much for some very conservative Japanese politicians something male preference that does not fully exclude women should definitely be in the cards (apparently the public opinion in Japan is pretty positive towards the idea of a reigning Empress. Not necessarily campaigning for it when a clear male heir is there but perfectly willing to accept it).
Also Germany and France are not presidential republics (even if the French President is pretty powerful in the current 5th Republic).
Thought I understand this is a movie and not anything serious lol. Apparently there was a movie about some random American suddenly becoming King of the UK as well.
Also Germany and France are not presidential republics (even if the French President is pretty powerful in the current 5th Republic).
Thought I understand this is a movie and not anything serious lol. Apparently there was a movie about some random American suddenly becoming King of the UK as well.
So, I recall that it was a sillier Spanish version of John Goodman's King Ralph...
In Godzilla Minus One, a Godzilla film which takes place immediately in the post-war years from 1945 to 1947, Japan is frequently given allowances by the United States to use IJN ships and IJA tanks to try and defeat Godzilla. This is a major departure from post-war policy and with a precedent of allowing Japan to remilitarize and it taking place successfully without an immediate reversion to Nationalism, I think that there's a decent chance that Cold War Japan won't be a pacifist state with a decently powerful standing military in the future with a possibility of no Article 9, or if there is an Article 9 it will be interpreted in a very liberal usage to support the US and maintain Japanese interests.
Minor spoiler, but the US military is absent throughout the movie since it's a Japanese production, and it's handwaved away by MacArthur and America needing to focus on Soviet aggression and keep an eye out on Korea and China. Considering that Godzilla is shown throughout the movie to have destroyed several American ships with all hands lost, presumably thousands of American lives lost, Truman refusing to take any action to stop Godzilla and just leaving Japan to solve the issue on their own would probably leave him open to impeachment, spur hysteria that Truman is a Communist enabler, and lead Dewey to defeat Truman in a landslide while a strong Republican majority in Congress remains.
This is most especially true given the climax and resolution of the movie is Japan successfully killing Godzilla through the usage of 4 IJN destroyers, showing to the world that Japan can handle defense matters honorably without heavy aggression and Nationalism, and its heavy competence and the skill of its veterans in taking down Godzilla is likely to make America more amenable to a militarized Japan.
Minor spoiler, but the US military is absent throughout the movie since it's a Japanese production, and it's handwaved away by MacArthur and America needing to focus on Soviet aggression and keep an eye out on Korea and China. Considering that Godzilla is shown throughout the movie to have destroyed several American ships with all hands lost, presumably thousands of American lives lost, Truman refusing to take any action to stop Godzilla and just leaving Japan to solve the issue on their own would probably leave him open to impeachment, spur hysteria that Truman is a Communist enabler, and lead Dewey to defeat Truman in a landslide while a strong Republican majority in Congress remains.
Kai Meyer's Dark Reflections trilogy. A gaslamp fantasy version of the nineteenth century where the Egyptian Empire is the sole imperialistic superpower thanks to necromancy. The Empire's sorcerer-priests can resurrect the dead as mindlessly loyal puppets and are grinding down the collective military forces of the entirety of the rest of the planet in what's basically WW1 on steroids since they can just reanimate both sides' dead after every battle.
Handmaids tale, which takes place in a world where the US just suddenly ceases to exist and turns into a Christian theocratic hellhole that makes Saudi Arabia look like Sweden by comparison. Between the mass exodus of dual citizens and non-US citizens out of the continental US, along with the United States economy suddenly ceasing to exist I have a feeling the world outside of Gilead has been completely turned upside down and conflicts will spring up everywhere around the world with the US suddenly ceasing to exist and becoming a non-factor as Gilead as it is presented in the show has absolutely no means of maintaining the US military (nor does it even have interest in doing so).
Doubtful. Since it is described as being slow and deliberate rather than a sudden collapse, the rest of the world will have reoriented itself to survive without the United States.
I understand that it's a popular trope that America falls and that somehow ends up making the rest of the world even more screwed, but those are just tropes from far-right American authors.
The fact that you mention US troops suggests that you got the idea from there: one of the most common themes in "Patriotic fiction" is precisely that the presence of American troops deployed abroad is the only thing that keeps the world "free of chaos."
When normally it's just a narrative device to ensure that no matter how much damage the United States suffers, it remains the strongest and richest nation on the planet anyway because the rest of the world has collectively decided to shoot themselves in the knees. ..