Okay so here is my 101 wishes - as inspired by 101 Facts and ChannelFrederator - for a popular culture timeline.
- The WayBack Machine, Google Cache, and other Internet archivers are even bigger and more popular, with pretty much most of the surface web throughout the years archived in some form or another. That way large swathes of the Internet aren’t lost to time.
- The Internet and Social media for the most part dodge the bullet of corporatism, with websites not having to worry about being family friendly, clean, and playing safe for advertising all the time. There are still some measures taken to ensure survival and to not allow outright illegal content on their sites, but overall the audiences of websites like Youtube are much more satisfied and happy with how the website is run and looks, besides the occasional controversy here and there throughout the years- the worst years being 2016-2020 to many- things are good, life is good.
- MySpace, Friendster, Digg, and other dead/dying social media survive into the present day with moderate numbers in order to provide a sustainable alternative to monopolies like Facebook and Twitter.
- Webcomics are much more popular on the internet, with there being much more well-known webcomics than just CTRL+ALT+DEL and Penny Arcade.
- Traditional 2D animation is still popular in the film industry alongside modern 3D animation.
- Ditto with practical effects and CGI. The Thing 2011 prequel film for example uses practical effects instead of cgi like the studio wanted.
- There are less tensions between generations, with both boomers and zoomers taking interest in each other’s cultures, stories, and histories.
- Nihilism, cynicism, and general doomerism start to become less prominent in general as of recently.
- No NFTs or other promoted Crypto scams and pyramid schemes, that or they end up banned mostly everywhere for their negative effects on the environment and general scammy nature.
- Media monopolies and mega-corporations are taken down a notch thanks to public and social awareness, especially in recent years.
- Harry Potter is not ruined by J. K Rowling’s transphobia and other problematic behaviours. Atleast in the sense where fans and outsiders alike can strongly disassociate the wizarding world from her more “controversial” opinions.
- Alongside this, alot of the books’ more problematic issues such as the Goblins, the names of characters like Cho and Kingsley, the portrayal of the house elves’ slavery, and how racism is dealt with, all either don’t exist or are much better handled than IOTL. Also Draco hands Harry the wand in the Battle of Hogwarts.
- Terry Pratchett lives longer, with him being able to finish some more of his novels and writings.
- No 1937 Fox vault fire
- No 1965 MGM vault fire
- No 2008 Universal Studios Fire
- Quirino Cristiani’s studio does not burn down, and hence his films are not lost forever.
- The DCEU is on equal footing with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with both cinematic universes being both praised for their own talents and reasons, as fans fight and argue about which one is better. Meanwhile, the curse of bad luck that DC had/has IOTL passes onto Universal Studio’s Dark Universe, whereas the Dark Universe’s fate falls upon some other film studio.
- Similarly, Percy Jackson gets a much better big screen adaptation, launching a franchise of five films starring an unknown cast of child actors that are constantly compared to Harry Potter and it’s movie series. Percy Jackson’s OTL fate instead falls to the Mortal Instruments, only getting two mediocrely-received movies before being quietly cancelled.
- Stan Lee and his wife Joan live for three more years, passing away in 2021 and 2020 respectively.
- The Uncharted Movie has better casting, with no Holland or Wahlberg.
- Children of Men is a financial success.
- Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’s 2018 movie is directed by Guillermo Del Toro.
- Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland is a critical and financial success.
- Megamind and Despicable Me swap box office results, which as a result cause both Dreamworks and Illumination to go down different directions. Dreamworks continues to make their signature style of animated films, while Illumination continues to improve and build upon its craft, improving the quality of their future movies and genuinely making their films better and more beloved than OTL.
- Pixar never makes Cars 2, instead the Incredibles 2 is released in 2011 to universal acclaim, being called “Pixar’s Spider-Man 2.” It focuses on Helen Parr regarding heroics while Bob reconnects with his kids; both dealing with the Super Relocation Act. The film serves as a large critique of McCarthyism, propaganda, and the industrial-military complex, through its two villains, Mezmerella, a powerful hypnotist and archenemy of Elastigirl, and Xerek, a two hundred year old criminal kingpin who is implied to have been a financial backer of Syndrome.
- Brave is much better made than IOTL, without Lasseter’s meddling, with Chapman being able to make the film she wanted to make.
- Jack Black replaces Chris Pratt in Pixar’s Onward.
- The Rise of the Guardians is a box office success.
- Hotel Transylvania receives much better sequels, with the 4th and final film released in September 2022, ending the film series exactly 10 years after its initial release.
- Wreck It Ralph also receives a much better sequel, instead of being Disney’s The Emoji Movie.
- Brokeback Mountain wins Best Picture in 2005.
- Saving Private Ryan wins Best Picture in 1999.
- Threads is released in cinemas and becomes a major box office hit, it’s terrifying content emboldens and breathes new life into anti-war sentiment across the West during the last few years of the Cold War.
- The White Saviour trope is less popular. Green Book in particular is devoid of this trope, and is better received as a result.
- Michael Clarke Duncan lives.
- Anton Yelchin lives.
- Alan Rickman lives.
- John Hurt lives.
- Mako lives a while longer, passing away at a ripe old age sometime in the late 2010s.
- Robin Williams lives and gets to play the Joker atleast once.
- Phil Hartman lives and stars in a Troy McClure movie.
- Heath Ledger lives to star in the Dark Knight Rises. I’d imagine he still passes away though, although that shouldn’t be the case.
- As seen in Blue Skies in Camelot, Marilyn Monroe lives longer, becomes a feminist, and remarries Joe DiMaggio.
- American Dragon: Jake Long continues on for a few more seasons, developing and enriching the fantasy world of the universe, with the Huntsclan defeated, the Dark Dragon’s return and subsequent influence on the magical world, Rose searching for her lost sister, revealed to be kidnapped by an organization devoted to trying to break the secrets of the magical world, Jake transitioning throughout high school and graduating, and the final season ending with the Dark Dragon being defeated, and Jake and Rose getting together.
- The Spectacular Spider-Man also goes on for a few more seasons until concluding in 2012, continuing the stories of Peter, Harry, Gwen, MJ, Flash, and the other characters.
- Greg Weisman is able to make Gargoyles Season 3 the way he wanted to, with the third and final season being received just as well as the previous two seasons.
- Spongebob Squarepants runs for one more season, made up of the better post-Movie episodes IOTL, before concluding with the movie in 2005, before it returns ten years later with Sponge Out of Water in 2015, still airing as of 2022 with a still alive Stephen Hillenburg helping out.
- As a result of Spongebob being off the air for a decade, other shows that didn’t get their chance to shine like the Modifyers, Constant Payne, Danny Phantom, Tania, and Victorious all flourish during this time frame.
- Y: The Last Man receives a much better television adaptation, which lasts multiple seasons ITTL.
- Grimm gets its seventh and true final season, concluding in 2018.
- Steve Irwin lives and is still around as of today, continuing he and his family’s actives, loud, proud, and happy.
- Bob Ross lives for ten more years, passing away in 2005.
- Fred Rogers lives for ten more years, passing away in 2013.
- Billy Mays lives longer, passing away in 2011.
- All four of the Beatles are still alive as of today. John Lennon never encountered Chapman, and Harrison quit smoking earlier and also avoided being stabbed by his own assassin. They reunited for Live Aid in 1985, becoming one of the most famous music performances of all time alongside Queen’s performance, and went on to make a return to international touring once again not long afterwards. Lennon of course has a lot of hot spicy political and cultural opinions, meanwhile Harrison is just chilling and vibing making music and collaborating with his fellow musicians.
- Avicii lives and gets help for his mental health.
- Imagine Dragons are more positively received by critics.
- OneRepublic are much more popular and well-known, being known for many different songs other than “Shooting Stars.”
- American Authors are also a much more popular musical band than IOTL, being on par with OneRepublic or The Score in the terms of viewers and sales.
- Iceland’s music scene is huge, with Sigur Ros and Of Monsters and Men being among the most popular foreign music artists in the World.
- Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P Richardson do not die in 1959. American Pie is inspired by something else and so still exists. I’d imagine however Buddy Holly and/or Ritchie Valens would end up passing away sometime in the 1960s, and as a result end up becoming members of TTL’s 27 club. Meanwhile Richardson retires and lives happily ever after with his family.
- Jim Morrison lives in 1971, but ends up taking his own life alongside his companion Pamela Courson in 1974. As seen in Blue Skies in Camelot.
- Michael Jackson’s lives longer to finish his This Is It tour, before passing away due to similar circumstances to OTL 18 days after his last climatic performance.
- Elvis is freed from the Colonel, marries Ann Margret, and befriends and collaborates with the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. Once again just like in Blue Skies in Camelot. However, Presley ends up taking the bullets that Chapman fired at Lennon IOTL on December 8th, 1980.
- Kurt Cobain lives a little bit longer than IOTL, but still ends up a member of the 27 club, with Nirvana disbanding soon afterwards.
- Similarly, Ian Curtis ends up living longer, with Joy Division going on tour in the USA, but still commits suicide at the age of 27 in 1984.
- Australian indie bands and artists like Vance Joy, Jinja Safari, British Raj, and the Middle East are much more popular and well known.
- The Monkees live longer, with Davy passing away in 2019, followed by Peter in 2021.
- The Last of Us 2 is not as divisively received, being more similarly received to Red Dead Redemption 2.
- Garry’s Mod is more popular and well-known, dropping in popularity like Minecraft during the mid-to-late 2010s, before being brought back in style by Youtubers, Internet memes, and new talent coming in to make their new works to share with the world.
- City building sandbox games are more popular.
- Destruction and physics are more focused on in the realm of video games.
- Notch becomes a major philanthropist instead of a depressed dogwhistling shitposter after retiring from Minecraft.
- There is no “video gaming dark age”, as some would describe it ongoing as of late. Instead of buying their games, after a while gamers who hate EA, Infinity Ward, Activision-Blizard, Ubisoft, and Bethesda actually just simply start to not buy their games in massive droves, tired of all the shit they see is ruining the industry, deciding that enough is enough and that they won’t give these companies who don’t respect them anymore of their money, which manages to send their message across much more deeply and clearly. The aforementioned companies suffer a severe downfall as a result over the course during the next following few years, especially combined with some MeToo-related scandals aswell in the larger movement as a whole, but eventually they would end up rising back up after reforming themselves and fixing up their images and games one by one. Lootboxes and other forms of online gaming gambling are banned in most countries. And Maxis, Pandemic, Westwood, Rare, Visceral Games, and BioWare are all still alive and well to this day.
- Nintendo receives and faces much more backlash for their actions, with the loud fans and bootlicking counter-critics sidelined in favour of fair criticisms by both normal Nintendo fans and outside viewers. As a result things would gradually begin to change for the better, as Nintendo realised slowly but surely that they weren’t the invincible god of the gaming industry that they once were, and if they continued down this cutthroat merciless mindset, they would begin to be treated as just another company.
- Valve doesn’t make Artifact.
- Edd Gould lives and continues to work on Eddsworld with his friends and their other projects, eventually becoming one of the major faces of YouTube’s animation community, joining with other creators to help strengthen and grow the animation scene on YouTube.
- Collin Wyckoff also lives, continuing to make his style and brand of videos, entertaining, inspiring, and motivating future internet creators from across the website.
- Paul "Bear" Vasquez, aka the Double Rainbow guy lives.
- No YouTube animation channels that milk the SCP Foundation for profit with quantity-over-quality videos, thus leaving the smaller, but much more passionate, real, and down to earth SCP channels like TheHauntedReader, SCP ILLUSTRATED, and TheVolgun that care for quality over quantity to prosper and grow popular instead.
- Filthy Frank goes on for atleast another year before Joji fully retires the character and project as a whole in late 2018, wrapping up all the characters and their arcs and their stories, with him moving on to his music career as in OTL.
- H3H3Productions continues to have a good reputation with the Youtube community.
- YouTube Rewind is never cancelled.
- Pewdiepie reaches 100 million subscribers before being dethroned as the biggest Youtuber, being replaced by another individual Youtuber and not a corporation like T-Series. Particularly I would favour an eastern creator from India, China, Japan, the Middle East, or elsewhere in Asia, with there still being an aurora of “west vs east” that at the end of the day is still harmless and fun, and doesn’t end in a mass shooting occurring in New Zealand in 2018.
- Both Channel Awesome and Team Crafted never form.
- “Cancel Culture” as a term never really takes off, only really being used as a buzzword used in political circles. Meanwhile, celebrities and other rich and influential people who rightfully get called out for stuff like transphobia and/or sexual abuse are separated from real genuine cases of people being harassed and losing their jobs over misunderstandings or small mistakes or something problematic that they did a long time ago that they regret now.
- Neil Armstrong and Valentina Tereshkova land on the moon together, making one of the most iconic, inspiring, and monumental moments in human history even better and much more hopeful and optimistic in comparison to OTL. Just like in Blue Skies in Camelot. Both astronauts/cosmonauts live to see the 50th year anniversary in 2019.
- Jimmy Savile is exposed before his death, living to see his career and legacy fall apart around him, experiencing the same fate as Rolf Harris, Gary Glitter, and Max Clifford, all of whom are exposed in 1998 following Glitter being arrested the previous year for his OTL crimes.
- On a similar note Harvey Weinstein is also exposed earlier in 1999, as seen in @TheGuyWhoHeartsHistory ’s Cobain Continues Springbok Timeline.
- Jeffery Epstein is exposed all the way back in 2009, starting a new wave of revelations as women come out to tell their stories about abuse and misogyny, with figures such as Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, and Alan Dershowitz being involved, as inspired by @CountDVB ’s A Gore Prosperous Tomorrow timeline.
- Nicole Arbour, known for mocking fat people, abusing Matthew Santoro, and being featured on conservative outlets, faces karma for her actions. Similarly, Will and Jada Smith break up, with Matthew and Will’s stories becoming two major causes for a renewed interest and focus on male mental health, with many being exposed to the other gender’s experience with domestic abuse.
- Public opinion turns in favour of Stella Liebeck, with many condemning and shaming those in the entertainment and news industries who mocked her and her lawsuit, and as a result basically took the side of McDonalds and empowered them throughout the ordeal. The release of Super Size Me in 2004 would not help with McDonalds’ reputation.
- If I could change atleast one or two things about US politics outside of popular culture, using the butterflies caused by all the other differences and changes ITTL so far as a justification/excuse, and without going into too much detail as to get into Political Chat territory, they would be that Beau Biden lives and successfully runs for Governor of Delaware in 2016, winning re-election in 2020, and that Bernie Sanders wins the Democratic primaries and is elected President in 2020. Sure Joe Biden doesn’t become president, but in exchange of that his son lives, which I think he would very much appreciate and think it would make up for it.
- Colonel Sanders doesn’t lose his son in 1932 and eventually goes on to become the Governor of Kentucky from 1955 to 1959, ala @gap80 ‘s KFP timeline.
- Jim Henson buys a share in Disney in the 1980s and becomes involved with the company, while also living longer, ala @Geekhis Khan ’s timeline.
- More Cambodians escape Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, saving parts of Cambodian popular culture along the way, with more musicians, artists, and intellectuals overall surviving the genocide. On the same note Pot and his cronies face a much more fitting fate after the end of the war.
- Tankies are treated the same as Neo-Nazis and other atrocity deniers, especially in light of Russia and China’s recent actions. Twitter and Reddit scrub clean their websites of their presence much to high public approval and praise.
- Way less monuments and cultural and historical artefacts are destroyed during the Syrian, Iraqi, and Ukrainian-Russian conflicts.
- J.K Simmons, Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Betty White, David Attenborough, Oprah Winfrey, Dolly Parton, Keanu Reeves, Morgan Freeman, and Tom Hanks all live to become centenarians.
- AH.com is a more popular website.
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