America's Funniest President: Mo Udall Presidency & Beyond

Ok this is just a general question about the timeline bc it’s a bit of a slog to go back through this again, but considering that the democrats have been in control for quite some time, would they have ever addressed abortion at all during these few years?
Yup. I did mention off the side, but after a modern ersion of Equal Rights Amendment was ratified and put into place around the mid 1980s, legislation regarding codifying abortion law into legal form was put into place.
 
Ok this is just a general question about the timeline bc it’s a bit of a slog to go back through this again, but considering that the democrats have been in control for quite some time, would they have ever addressed abortion at all during these few years?
And I am glad people are still interesting in the RP. I know it's a lot to go through, but I do my best with it!
 
Yup. I did mention off the side, but after a modern ersion of Equal Rights Amendment was ratified and put into place around the mid 1980s, legislation regarding codifying abortion law into legal form was put into place.
Hopefully this means stuff like the gag rule on finding abortion in foreign aid health programs never happens as well
 
Curious how Canadian shows like Degrassi would be effected with these changes in the US, if at all.
Hmmm... I am admittingly unsure, though from what the brief glimpse I saw, they'll probably even bolder than OTL regarding representation and the like at the very least.
 
1993 Overview
1993 Overview


1993 would prove to be another busy year, especially with various external forces acting on th daily lives of people. The blizzard in the winter moving to the great flooding over in the spring tested the US's capabilities to handle disasters and rebuild from them. The Askew Administration remained on top of things and the crisises made people appreciate more of what they had, especially the reforms put in by Askew and Udall, such as the National Bureau of Healthcare helping to work overtime for the medical attention for the people affected. In the meanwhile, despite the destruction, the opportunity was taken to rebuild better than before, including the buildings' environmental impact. From the growing sights of green roofs to the growing preference of heat pumps, solar chimneys and so on to other searches into environmentally-optimal housing, it was showing a greater mindfulness for planners and designers. However, an even greater example of legislation and planning was through the release of two Constitutional amendments to be reviewed. Nicknamed the "Electoral Reform Amendment" and the "Anti-Corruption Amendment", they were created from the years-long campaign by the Askew Administration to address various problems in the political system and hope to make it more fair. The former focused on major reforms on election such as removing the electoral college, mandating instant runoff voting across the nation and other aspects such as electoral finance and campaigning while the latter was a broader sweep on making more checks and balances on the various offices such as term limits, recall elections for Senators and even making it easier to hold judges accountable should they be found violating conduct and removing them along other factors. While some of the finer details remain, such as mandating IRV on the state level for each state, and thus was having to be discusseed, the process is also surprisingly smooth, with many noting this was likely why Askew took years prior to ensure the optimal chances.

The world meanwhile continued to experience highs and lows regarding conflicts. While some new hot spots would be confirmed, especially some following up on cool downs, it did look like there was still the direction of peace overall. The Caucasus would finally be calmed down thanks to the efforts of Iran, which would see it expand its sphere of influence tremendously, but would also put it in even greater opposition with Turkey regarding the Kurds. The question of the transitional government in Ethiopia would be answered as the ethnofederal ambitons of the ruling coalition would fall apart with the martyrdom of the assassinated king and the subsequent rise of the monarchist party, resulting in the restoration of the crown in Ethiopia. And just a year ago, where Qatar would see its monarch fall as the crown prince, having been in growing conflict with his father, would be supported by the Neo-Baathists, and turning Qatar into a republic, the new government would successfully fend off a counter-coup attempt, beginning their investigation on foreign backers and the excitement of retaliation plans amongst them. This along with the growing hostilities going on in Saudi Arabia with discontent growing toward the ruling House of Saud has created economic anxiety, especially in the oil markets. Some expect that this will further accelerate the adoption of more ecologically-minded infrastructure, habits and policy to handle this. At the same time, the Yugoslavic Wars were seeming to finally reaching their end, as the Bosnian War ended with an unorthodox solution that would break the rebelling Serb-back forces and while landing Serbia some more land, it seemed that the peace would not entirely arrive yet. The bigger successes meanwhile was over the formal creation of the European Union which many hoped would lead to further peace in the continent. Though it also came with the question of the extent of US involvement in the continent, especially the fate over the prospects of NATO and the like. Canada meanwhile would go and vote in once more. A new coalition would be over in Canada... but this time, led by Broadbent's NDP. The successes of the Americans' various reforms would lead for the NDP to try and push for similar things. This along with the hopes of investment into geothermal over in the West was what led to the NDP's rise to the shock of all. However, questions and issues would still remain, especially with Quebec though the quasi-nationalist sentiments were dying down due to the focus on bigger concerns.

Pop culture would keep evolving, especially during these times. In cinema, the big expected film was Malcolm X, Spike Lee's "joint", that of an epic bioographical drama about the man himself. Despite plenty of concerns surrounding the controversial American figure, the passion and work behind the film would drive people to see it. After its delay in release, it would open up in Febuary to resounding success and would end up winning Best Film of the Year (though some note a contributing factor was Spielberg delaying Schindler's List for a 1994 release) with Denzel winning Best Actor. Despite the questions of the length, it would still do quite good, with alot of support having been granting to them. Other amazing hits would be the standout Jurassic Park, showing how far CGI had come along with working together with practical effects. Other films like Mrs. Doubtfire and The Fugitive would be big hits while The Sandlot would touch hearts and cult classics like Army of Darkness and Last Action Hero would be released. River Phoenix would have a close call with drugs, but survive and take a leave from acting to go into rehab. Disney would make a bit of surprising news with the announcements of them purchasing Harvey Comics, giving them the rights over to the various characters such as the Harvey Girls, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Wendy the Good Little Witch and even some of the superheroes, though they would remain a subsidary of Disney rather than consumed whole. It's unknown what the plans for this are, but it may signal the company changing, especially with the ousting of Jeffrey Katzenberg from Disney following finally pushing too much of Eisner's buttons, making him and Jim Henson mad. Another bit of Disney news involving comics was them discussing potential plans over with Archie Comics on certain matters, which remain unknown, though some wonder if Disney will be entering comic books, which wouldn't be surprising given the renaissance within the medium. Video games kept growing in popularity and in capability, leaving many to wonder what lies in the future there. One note was how the attempts of a Super Mario Bros movie would fall flat due to various diffeences and ultimately noting that it would be better to wait and some wondering if animation would be preferable over for the film.​
 
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Yup, River Phoenix doesn't die from an overdose here, Disney has Harvey Comics and planning something with Archie Comics (some comic book historians may be able to guess) and Katzenberg has left the building. And no Super Mario Bros movie.

And yeah, I think Broadbent and NDP could win minority government by exploiting what has been done in the US to be done in Canada, but would like feedback and suggestions there.
 
Cool, a surviving River Phoenix, and, a surviving Jim Henson, if I'm right.
Speaking of Archie Comics, curious how they'd adapt to the changing views about things. Maybe have them introduce a visually impaired character, something OTL, they haven't done, I think.
 
Cool, a surviving River Phoenix, and, a surviving Jim Henson, if I'm right.
Speaking of Archie Comics, curious how they'd adapt to the changing views about things. Maybe have them introduce a visually impaired character, something OTL, they haven't done, I think.
Yeah, Jim will still survive. He's at Disney as a shoutout from the timeline of the glorious @Geekhis Khan , just me not going into the details and so on. Though I do imagine he and Eisner will provoke scars from people from their pronounced work habits.

Well, we'll see! Archie has always been rather strong hold outs with their property though I do see more diversity coming soon though unsure what they can do to keep the brand fresh.

And speaking of Archie, yes this would still be made:
 
1982 Overview
1982 would be the first test of approval regarding President Udall and unsurprisingly, he would do quite well. His actions with providing relief through the economic stimulus was very warmly received along with his efforts in diplomacy and at home in dealing with the Solidarity Day March back in the last fall. The creation of VEFRA would become a welcome boon for the working class as they saw it as a chance to make their appeal over to the young people, a move that would become beneficial to both parties in the long-term, both in keeping the old guard and the unions in active work and for the young people, full of fire, hope and a desire for change, seeing the power of working together and of organized protest. It was this spirit of change and optimism that would start making itself evident over this year for the 1980s. It also would begin defining some of the elements of the era, namely a modernization in governance and regulation over corporations, especially after the hamfisted attempts of deregulation over during the Reagan Administration in the late 1970s. New laws were being examined on how to handle matters with the rising financial industry and to ensure that there would not be further recessions or other issues. One example of this was how the United States would order the break up of the AT&T monopoly back in January.

In fact, the incident that would show the stance of the Udall Administration would actually be in foreign affairs, the Latin American debt crisis. The debt crisis began when the international capital markets became aware that Latin America would not be able to pay back its loans, starting with Mexico in August. However, with the recession, all of that crashed and burned when Mexico declared sovereign default and most commercial banks reduced significantly or halted new lending to Latin America. Due to the loans being short-term, a crisis ensued when their refinancing was refused. Billions of dollars of loans that previously would have been refinanced, were now due immediately. With fears that the debt crisis in Latin America may cause further economic problems, as such the Americans went in alongside the International Monetary Fund to discuss the matter and to deal with it. While some in the IMF pushed for the nations to implement austerity measures, cut spending and put free market reforms, not everyone was on board with this plan due to the memories of the Reagan administration. in fact, the United States under Udall surprised everyone by being against the notion. To them, it would be repeating the problems that happened under Reagan with his austerity attempts and would discourage investment, making it more unlikely Latin America could repay their debts. [1] The Americans' influence was enough to kowtow the IMF and have them push away from this and ultimately, it was decided that the route taken would be debt relief with the vast amounts of debt and inflation, without forcing the nations to implement austerity measures or so on, along with some debt renegotiation. The details would remain debated and some nations in more hot water than others, most notably Chile who was speculated may not get debt relief due to the presence of the Pinochet admistration, which has led to worsening conditions over for Pinochet's administration... Beyond that though, world events still came about, such as the election of a socialist government in Spain spelled the formal end of Franco's Spain and them joining NATO.

Steven Spielberg’s E.T. The Extraterrestrial captivates and charms audiences while other films would also succeed though some getting lost in the cracks and becoming cult classics over time when they were rediscovered such as Ridley Scott's Electric Men, an adaptation of Philip K DIck's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (i). Other breakout hits would be Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, surprise audiences and fans while Rocky III would prove to be the last film in a fitting trilogy for the Italian Stallion. Gandhi would also prove to be quite a hit in exploring the life of the man himself and his life along with reflecting on Pakistan and Jinnah, a film that would take on a different feeling down the line. Disney itself would begin making a comeback with the rather fascinating and existential film in TRON, with some noting how it was the first film to have some influence from Jim Henson since his ascension in the company. The popular personal computer, the Commodore 64 goes on sale and begins the rise of the era of the computer as would be seen on TIME Magazine's "Man of the Year" being the computer [2]. Television would slowly begin reflecting the changes of the era with its broadcasting Micheal Jackson's Thriller album released late last year. And earlier that year, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder's Ebony and Ivory hit would become more successful than either expected due to the beginnings of other cultural trends at the time. More of these sort of songs and music videos would be shown over on MTV, the new hot channel rising in popularity among young people, in a generation that would become known as the Brightbangers.

However, it would also see some of the future challenges the nation would need to face. A string of crimes including with kidnapped children has caused parents to become increasingly concerned and work with a larger sense of community, a trend that was built upon from the last few years of strife caused by the economic trouble from the Panama Canal getting blown up and disrupting the global trade networks for them and worsen the economic situation along with the 1979 Oil crisis. While the economy was recovering, new issues were coming out; the HIV / AIDS phenomenon was getting attention and pushing more attention onto a marginalized community though at the same time, the Udall Administration's dedication into helping out deal with it provided some optimism there. Additionally, this would end up crossing over with the rising third wave of feminism in order to truly propel it, especially since this year would see such discrimination be illegal starting in Wisconsin and something that would get the Udall adminstration's attention as Congress began pushing into research on HIV / AIDS and in going to handle it. At the same time, other fascinating news has begun springing up. With Conrail becoming more profitable with the rails, the idea began floating around on the US government buying out the remaining railroads and folding them over into Conrail as it would provide further income for the government, but also allow them to expand more on potential ideas and considerations for infrastructure such as potentially electrifying the lines. As such, the government began going about by expanding Conrail, becoming a sign of what was to come. Overall, strong showings for Udall was giving promise over for what was to come in the future.



[1]- Informaton sourced from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_American_debt_crisis
[2]- Information sourced from here: https://www.whenitwascool.com/1982-guide-to-when-it-was-cool-pop-culture

(i)- TTL's version of Blade Runner.
I love conrail! :)
 
And yeah, I think Broadbent and NDP could win minority government by exploiting what has been done in the US to be done in Canada, but would like feedback and suggestions there.
I think it's doable if Ed could build enough of a base across all regions of the county, which I would believe is doable since Saskatchewan had an NDP government in power at the time, and there are probably a few seats to be gained in Manitoba too. Alberta would likely stay blue especially if the controversy over the CF-18 contract is averted, and thus preventing the rise of the Reform movement. Ed could probably work with the Liberals and Red Tories, but would need to be careful about regional alienation.

Also worth noting that there are lithium deposits in Alberta, which would be useful for electric car batteries. I don't know if they can be extracted in the nineties, but the decreased reliance on fossil fuel might have the province doing more exploration for minerals like uranium as well.
 
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I think it's doable if Ed could build enough of a base across all regions of the county, which I would believe is doable since Saskatchewan had an NDP government in power at the time, and there are probably a few seats to be gained in Manitoba too. Alberta would likely stay blue especially if the controversy over the CF-18 contract is averted, and thus preventing the rise of the Reform movement. Ed could probably work with the Liberals and Red Tories, but would need to be careful about regional alienation.

Also worth noting that there are lithium deposits in Alberta, which would be useful for electric car batteries. I don't know if they can be extracted in the nineties, but the decreased reliance on fossil fuel might have the province doing more exploration for minerals like uranium as well.
Didn't know about the lithium deposits, but that wouldn't be the focus for Alberta right now. The bigger prize wpuld be geothermal. This is because the National Geothermal Program (a Canadian government research program that ended in 1986 OTL) would get a massive boost and be revived, continuing on. The pilot projects drilled at Meager Creek, British Columbia, and Regina, Saskatchewan done in OTL would furthr spur the possibilities there.

More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_Canada#Highest_potential_regions

While the findings in OTL were in like 2012, I can't help but ntoe how much of that was neglecting the oppotunity present.
 
Something just dawned on me: if the Call Of Duty games still exist in this timeline, there's a chance that one of the games would end up having a cutscene like this with President Udall:
 
Culture Reflection: 1990 - 1993
Culture Reflection: 1990 - 1993


The Cold War was over. With the coming of a new decade would end the long standoff between the two superpowers that kept the world on the edge of their seats for half a century. However, it ended not in hellfire, but in peace. Both powers were not the same as they were decades prior. The United States enacted more and more reforms, as they would lean further away from such a strong adherence to capitalist sensabilities. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union's internal problems and foreign policy issues would nearly doom it, only to pull itself out of the pit by reforming into a different nation entirely, that of the Sovereign Union, while now taking some time away from global politics to focus on the internal issues, such as corruption, worn out systems and so on, which were treated with a good amount of force. And it was here that the new global paradigm had been born. One that took the elements of capitalism tht functioned along with socialism and begin trying to meld them together in certain degrees to get something optimal from it, learning from the lessons of others. Another shift of the paradigm, albeit one that was taking longer to be noticed, was the decreasing dominance of industry and the service economy and related sectors, such as finance, rising into prominence. And the influence of this shift was being being felt as it would spread across the world. The early 1990s would be considered the start of a new generation. The Brightbangers, born between the early 1960s to the mid 1970s were coming more of age, many reaching voting age during the Udall and early Askew adminstration, influencing their politics and championing an appreciation of the reforms. They have also begun to compete with the Baby Boomers on influencing the youngest generation, those born in the late 1970s and through the 1980s and would begin coming of age in the 1990s, that of the Freeborn Generation. A portmanteau of "free" and "born" or "reborn", the name came from a Brightbanger publisher, noting that the hopes of the youth born in the late 1970s and 1980s would be born free of the troubles and issues of the past. The name would get a second meaning as they would be the first generation coming into adult and seeing the end of the Cold War and approaching the new Millenium.

General Trends
With the end of the Cold War and the ongoing deescalation of the conflict, a rather fascinating phenomenon began occurring over the United States along with parts of Europe and other nations involved in the greater NATOsphere. The question that appeared on many people's minds was "What now?". After all the anxiety and concern over the future because of nuclear weaponry and the Cold War, the whole thing ended not with a bang, but with a peaceful resolution. While relief came on everyone's minds and there was the hope for a new tomorrow... what would that tomorrow bring? While the regional wars such as the Yugoslavic Wars, the Armenian-Azerbaijani War and other conflicts in the Middle East did show the world was not entirely at peace, it was still a general sense. Additionally, for the baby boomers, now having their own families and enjoying a higher standard of living thanks to the reforms put in by the Udall and Askew Administration, many were approaching an impasse in their lives. The older ones were approaching their middle age while others are realizing they may need to change careers. How would they deal with the change and find a new sense of meaning now that the background of the Cold War was gone? Various outlets did become open more and more to them. Many of them, especially the younger ones, put the focus over on with their kids. One notable side effect eas thanks to the gradual but growing acceptance and understanding of SATMIN+ folk, especially with the spead of ASIMTAFE centers across the US and other support groups, a growing number of children and teenagers were beginning to realize their sexual orientation sooner and the presence of the groups would help play a part for them and their guardians in understanding. Other older folk would begin trying to navigate the growing world of computers and the rise of the service industry while some more would begin embracing hobbies as a way to deal with the oncoming changes. After all, with the environmental and ecologic focused mindset gradually becoming more and more ingrained in the collective consciousness of the "first world", people were adapting more to the new status quo, such as taking into urban gardening. Many even found a new romantic sense of purpose in "returning to the land" and the sense of freedom and community that came from people coming together to produce for themselves and the rise of locally-produced foodstuff such as plants, meats and dairy cuts. While still in its infancy, the influence of this growing movement would have rammifications for the nation, economy and even politics, with this sort of neoagrarian romanticism.

Meanwhile, things keep gradually settling down as preestablished trends begin taking greater hold in the mainstream. More and more are the police having to be taught some deescalation tactics and applied since the War on Drugs ended and the successful coordination in dealing with the Waco compound reinfforced that. Another was ending the War on Drugs to further addressing the needs of addiction and pushing more and more for people to get the help that they need. This was definitely seen in Hollywood as more and more actors or other prominent people would be taking leaves for their mental health, which also showed a rise in taking mental health seriously, especially thanks to its coverage under healthcare. While children would not see psychologists annually like a physician, more and more parents would take their children to be evaluated and leading to the growng understanding of mental health and how to best help them in growing up. Another noticeable aspect in pop culture would be push that third wave feminism has done in holding men of power accountable and addressing the toxic work environment there. In fact, this led to a fascinating opportunity as other states and cities realized they could capitalize on Hollywood's weakness and work to break the near-monopolistic hold that Hollywood had on media production. This coincided with another longer-trend, that of trying to grow the computer industry. While places like California remained popular, more states were noting the change in the economy and would begin creating incentives for companies to either move to said state or intiatives to help their homegrown talent. With the decline of the coal industry now inevitable, West Virginia and similar states have begun investing more and more into growing their technological sector and they have begun attracting people who were interested, especially as they would also connect with tech-invested politicians like Tennesse also making a push thanks to the presence of "Atari Democrat" Al Gore. Michigan and other places would begin doing the same while also taking advantage of the growth of public transportation as seen with the growing need for trolleybuses and growth of rail lines and the like as part of the ongoing eletrificiation process of the rail lines, which was signalling the beginning of a massive shift in public perception of public transportation.

Greater trends were also being implemented over time. With the greater scrutiny on oil companies came a domino effect that would lead to ripples in many different areas. Plastics, having been wanting to avoid the grip of regulation, have found themselves squeezed more than other. While some got away due to their durability, thsoe that were of single-use or meant for consumption and thrown away was unaccecptable. Attempts at trying to convince for recycling would largely fail mainly due to internal research revealing the difficulty and impracticality of recycling most single-use plastics. The only solution that did stand out was disinfecting and reusing plastic containers and the like such as cutlery and even then, the effects that came from degradation of plastics such into small fragments. This in turn would lead to having to address recycling as a whole for the nations. Some were obviously easy such as metal cans, cardboard boxes and most paper, which meant that planning regulation on federal and state levels for recycling services was relatively simple and easy. Plans such as having recycling bins in housing and in public while expanding job opportunities for its processing. Other more esoteric ideas would become included, especially when certain interest groups pushed for it. One major example was recycling vegetable oil and cooking grease, with it being for usage in biodiesal purposes. More and more of this sort of legislation was finding itself passed and for most folks, despite initial concerns, just required being more careful in where to put items in each bin while just the large decrease in certain plastic containers in grocery stores and the like. More and more these behaviors of careful disposal and choice would become second nature, especially with the younger generation who would grow up with it.

Film
Hollywood continued its transitional phase of dealing with powerful figures, usually men, because of their abusive actions. This became more and more prominent as abuse cases and other horrid revelations came about, such as what happened with the two Coreys. This would unsurprisingly be having a somewht detrimental effect regarding the films produced as well as a slowdown of it. Meanwhile, people like Ted Turner would be taking advantage of Hollywood's decline to try and grow the media industries in their home states such as Turner Broadcasting making their plans over in Atlanta and other nations considering the same. However, somewhat balancing this out would be the rise of new talent in acting, writing, producing, directing and in business. They were willing to take chances and push the boundaries. This became especially prominent at this time due to it being the middle of what would be the era of "queersploitation" films. B-films that would hev prominent support from the SATMIN+ community would come out, usually being rehashes of previous films. It would be around this point that some of the problems of the "genre" were being seen, especially among the younger adults who were not as close to the "old-school" aspects of American SATMIN+ culture of the older days of Hollywood. At the same time, some of them were rather good, and did take liberties with the source material to expand such as Romeo and Julian and similar films. The question was now on how films would handle this in the future, especially with the beginnings of various discussions and talks with the big studios over content and the like.

However, there were still plenty of big name films. Total Recall, Back to the Future III, Dances with Wolves, Silence of the Lambs and Jurassic Park would be remembered as entertaining and large blockbusters of the time. Spike Lee would end up also putting his name also in Hollywood with the success of his Do The Right Thing and Malcolm X "joints", which would help push the boundaries of what could be done and what people demand to see, especially in regarrds to people of color. Batman Returns would seem to continue to show that films with superheroes still had some promise though it would also become rivaled with the rise of animated films. Disney's partnership with Miyazaki would continue to bear fruit as many people were enchanted with Kiki's Delivery Service and Porco Rosso, which further showed what Japanese animation could do and began leading to further consideration of dubbing down the line, though one potential project there was in hot debate over at Disney, namely with how much of a gamechanger it could be and if they were the right ones. Meanwhile, with Disney itself, they were now back on their feet, releasing grand hits like Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin and even the magical cult classic known as The Nightmare Before Christmas. It was showing that Eisner's handling of the company was quite successful so far though many wonder what the future would hold now that Katzenberg has more or less been forced to leave Disney and having his own plans. It seemed that the film industry would be approaching an additional period of transition.

Television
Television would continue seeing the rise and the domination of sitcoms and domcoms, presenting idyllic family life going through a series of light-hearted adventures though sometimes they would go and push the envelope, going into more serious fares. With the increased presence of such shows on television such as Full House, other shows would attempt to diversify by appealing to specific demographics or gaining various niches. From Family Matters (a successful spinoff of Perfect Strangers) focusing on for a middle class faily of color to Roseanne aiming more toward blue collar workers (who have actually gotten an increased presence in media and focus in aiming content at them). While some of the shows were ending, most famously Huxtables’ House, an exceptionally popular sitcom that worked to break the stereotypes associated with African-Americans. However, as some were ending or winding down, such as Full House approaching its final season, others were coming in. One notable one was Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, focusing on urbanite Will moving with his well-off aunt and uncle and away from the city, exploring the differences. Another would be Boy Meets World, which would see the protagonists growing up and dealing with the troubles of life. Also notable would be the rise of same-sex couples appearing in some of these. While usually as guest appearances with sproadic shots, it was still quite a surprise in television trying, if gingerly, to show and write them. Beyond that, there were plenty of shows focusing on crime, drama and many more subjects to enjoy. Twin Peaks would become quite ground-breaking for its dreamy atmosphere and strange nature, with it becoming a large inspiration to an unexpected franchise.

Meanwhile, animation over on television has been seeing a strong growth. The launch of Cartoon Network meant that childrens were spoiled for choice in watching all sorts of new animated shows, with many of them having plenty of references or subtle jokes for adults who were watcing them. Disney would continue the domination wth various shows based off of their films along with additional ones such as Darkwing Duck or The Little Mermaid: The Animated Series and many more. Shows like Animaniacs or Rocko's Modern Life pushed the envelope over what adults-aimed jokes could be done, an expression knowin as "flying under the radar." Additionally, action-oriented shows would also become quite a stand out hit and capturing the imagination of kids such as SWAT Cats: The Radical Squadron, X-Men, and especially Batman: The Animated Series would show that appealing to sense of action would work well, but also that children could handle more serious content, which was getting the idea of various individuals down the line for future shows. Batman: the Animated Series in particular would become a subject of plenty of interest because of the upcoming animated film associated with it and would seem to show what would be better for superheroes. Meanwhile, there were shows like Aeon Flux and Beavis & Butthead that showed that there was some animation opportunities aimed for teenages and young adults. This would gather some interest over some various individuals on what to adapt and use over time.

Music
The decade began with the end of 1980s-styled pop music, all thanks to the infamous Filli Vanilli scandal. This left a large void over in the music scene that was looking to be fulfilled by many things. Electro music began its rise in prominence, having been developing since the 1980s and now coming into its own right. However, right now it was overshadowed by the explosion of rap and hip-hop into the mainstream, especially influenced by the successes of Spike Lee's works, with related genres also brought along with the ride. Rap and hip-hop began taking many shapes and forms, influenced by the going-ons of the world at the time. From the cries of social justice and demand for peace to the more down-to-erth and soulful religious fervor toward nature and agarian elements to even more existential themes and elements. However, the concern was coming over the growing rivalry between the East Coast and West Coast had been a bit of concern over for the music.

Another music genre that was growing among the same lines of rap and hip-hop was alternate rock. Taking in the classic rock and roll elements to the next levels, groups like Nirvana would grow and become more popular among the youth. Meanwhile, the riot grrl movement would experience a second wave of popularity and fresh charge, riding off the anger from the actions of powerful males in Hollywood along with expanding the various genres. At the same time, they were wrestling with dealing with the mainstream along with the branch offs mixing in with other music and leading to some new develops, such as grrl-rap, a fusion of riot grrl and rap that would start growing popular among African-American women predominantly among others. This conflict over with the mainstream along with the issues of dealing with the business aspect of music would become a trouble that many of these growing genres would have to face and figure out. Some would even show said frustration in thei way such as Prince's change of his name to a symbol, done to show his frustration with his record label. Other genres sincluded the blues by Mariah Carey with her self-titled album, which helped cement her fame. Other figures such as Micheal Jackson would take a leave of absence, some for health reasons or others because of the stress. There was an existenial sort of anxiety going on in the music world and people were trying to find solutions to it along with navigating the increasingly complicated nature here.

Other
Video games began proving themselves as becoming mainstays over in the multimedia landscape. The release of the Super Famicon or known outside of Japan as the Super Nintendo, would usher in the next generation of consoles, jumping from 8-bit to 16-bit graphics and showing off more of what video games can do. With titles like Super Mario World, The Legend of Hyrule: Link to the Past and so many others, the SNES was becoming quite popular and containing man games that would become classics down the line. However, SEGA would enter the games industry to and begin the so-called "Console Wars" as they would unleash on he Sega Genesis their own mascot to rival Mario, the rebellious hero with an attitude, Sonic the Hedgehog. With quick gameplay and a different pace than the others, many kids and teenagers would become enamored over with the increasing selection of games. One aspect that helped out alot would be how large video rental stores such as Blockbuster and small local stores would adopt renting out video games as well as films and the like, diversifying their content. Computer gaming would also begin rising in popularity gradually with the growing strength of computers and various companies were taking interest, including Microsoft, who was revealed to have bought a controlling interest in Atari.

The Brass Age of Comics was now fully in swing now with Marvel having done a grand reboot of many of their franchises, doing it to try and ground many of their things in the upcoming new age while also to better handle and deal with things in the past. While many of the works were promising, there was more to the growing comic book industry than even the renewed interest and limit pushing by DC and Marvel. Image Comics would be found by many high profile illustrators and even a few writers over to try and push for more independent comics. Namely that writers and illustrators could publish their own creations and maintain copyright over their creations unlike what was the case over with the Big 2. This was not the only major development. Another was the founding of Valiant Comics over in 1992 by Jim Shooter and various other financial backers. Many believe that this was done due to some of the growing conflicts Shooter was having not just with some of the folk over in Marvel, but also with Paramount Communications, the parent company that helped acquire Marvel. Ultimately, Shooter would sell his stake for a large bit of money and Voyager Communications would gone on to find Valiant Comics. Interestingly enough, their first move would be a merger with none other than Malibu Comics. While initially interested over into going with video games, concerns over viability led to shelve it for the time being and Malibu Comics being bought out, resulting in a reboot, with the launching over of the Ultraverse now under Shooter over with Valiant Comics. Other releases would be none other than Milestone Comics, a company focusing on comics that would address the underrepresentation of minorities in comic books. Partnering up with DC for publishing, Milestone would begin with the release of major hits like an African-American Superman-like hero known as Icon, who possessed Superman-like powers though with powers focused more on gravity and Static, a teenage African-American superhero inspired by Spider-Man who got his name from his ability to make things "static" or stop though strange energy, all centered in a Dakotaverse. While it would be unknown how long this would last, it would still be viewed with intrigue by many.
 
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