ArgosyMTM World History

Here is a list of events that have happened in the world, and how they're different in the ArgosyMTM AU to OTL. Note some similarities to “Johnsonverse”.

Stars
Green and purple stars are possible ITTL.

The System as a whole
There are two more stars that the planets orbit: the Sun has a small red companion known as Mal, and a purple ”twin” known as Eclipsa.

Planets in general
(TBA, but there are 30 planets here, instead of just 8)

Dwarf planets
Eris was discovered much earlier, meaning that Pluto was “demoted” in 1951 instead of 2006.

Venus
Venus’s moon Neith turned out to be real and not an illusion.

Earth
Earth is Super-Earth-sized ITTL, which means several more countries and continents to explore. More specifically, several countries from Dream Fiction, Mihsign, Jonaspedia, and Fic5689 wikis exist on Earth ITTL, as well as all of Geography Now’s April Fools countries, and several obscure Wikia and Miraheze sites’ countries (such as Sintopia).

Earth also has a second, slightly smaller moon known as “Lilith”, or the “Black Moon”, whose near side has far more craters than either side of Luna, giving it a “dark” look. This means that the name “Luna” for the IOTL moon is more common. There are also three more moons, known as Lucifer, Selene, and Arta. Lucifer is the remnants of a dead star that eventually ended up in Earth’s orbit, made out of water in a plasma state, and has a “rainbow glow” effect; Selene is habitable and has human colonies on it; and Arta is a larger version of OTL’s Cruithne, much like Mars’ moons IOTL.

Species
Due to Earth being bigger, there are more species of animals, such as dylanuses, a group of extremely-humanoid big cats. Also, several species that are purely mythological IOTL exist ITTL.

Countries
As mentioned above, there are several more countries in existence, due to the Earth being bigger. Some notable countries include El Kadsre, Netralia, Jonas, Zakavia, Herkatia, Magisteria, Kyantuly, Eruowood, Ludussia, Neltody, and the Republic of Wilson.

British Isles
The British Isles contain more islands, and therefore, more countries, such as Jonas, Brian, Jinja, Evieline, Rycotte, Cyverdemyan, and the Euro Republics.

Great Britain itself has more autonomy for its Constituent Countries ITTL, which means Ireland is still united under the British crown; see for more information.

Japan and Japanese language
ITTL, like in Johnsonverse, Japan was annexed into the United States after WWII following a failed coup. However, this is offset by more Japanese-speaking countries existing, such as Neon District, Kozankyo, and El Kadsre.

United States
The United States is massively different culturally, due to 4 factors: increased Dutch involvement in its colonization, a cultural exchange with China during the Interwar Period leading to a cultural revolution, the Mormons becoming more involved in Utah politics (also forming an autonomous city in Illinois), and aforementioned annexation of Japan.

ITTL, the USA has 5 official languages: English, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese. American English can be written with one of 3 scripts: traditional Latin, the Mormon script of Deseret, and an adaptation of Chinese characters known as American Hanzi.

The United States has 9 more states. 8 of these are the OTL 8 regions of Japan. Sintopia is a landmass that does not exist IOTL; it is notable as being mostly reclaimed land (what was once an archipelago when the British “discovered” it, is now one big island).

The US consists of 3 constituent countries: America proper (which consists of the OTL 50 states), Japan, and Sintopia.

Washington family
After serving 2 terms as President, George Washington was still widely beloved as the “Father of American Independence”. John Adams lobbied for the Washington family to receive royal status, though by the time this was finally enacted in 1799, Washington was already dead; therefore, the title went to his 7-year-old son, George II. The title is largely ceremonial, with most executive power residing in the President.

The list of US Kings and Queens is as follows:
 * George II (born 1792; reigned 1799-1847; abdicated 1847; died 1874)
 * George III (born 1814; reigned 1847-1869; died 1874)
 * John I (born 1841; reigned 1869-1893; died 1893)
 * Louis I (born 1858; reigned 1893-1927; died 1927)
 * Louis II (born 1888; reigned 1927-1945; died 1945)
 * Louis III (born 1913; reigned 1945-1991; died 1991)
 * Alexis I (born 1935; reigned 1991-2005; died 2005 with no heirs or prince consort; rumoured to be asexual)
 * George IV (born 1947; reigned 2005-2009; abdicated 2009 due to health issues; died 2019)
 * Randall I (born 1978; reigned 2009-2015; abdicated 2015 after sexual assault allegations; stripped of his titles by Carly I)
 * Carly I (born 1996; reigned 2015-present)

The House of Washington is also the monarchy of these Columbia realms, former US territories which are now independent: Hosona, Eruowood, Perestroika, St. Lawrence, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau.

China
Instead of PRC/China and ROC/Taiwan, there is a communist North China (People’s Republic of China), a democratic South China (Federal Republic of China), an independent Tibet (Kingdom of Tibet), and a Taiwan not restricted by the One China policy (Republic of Taiwan). The UNSC seat of China went to the Federal Republic.

Russia and former Soviet Union
After Russia left the collapsing Soviet Union, the RSFSR went into a civil war between Putinist groups (the Russian Federation) and a neo-Tsarist constitutional monarchy under Tsarina Maria (the Second Romanov Empire of Russia). In 1995, the US and UK brokered a peace treaty, where the Putinists would get the European part of Russia (west of the Ural Mountains), and the Tsarists would get the Asian part of Russia (east of the Ural Mountains). As a result, the Russian Federation (and later Union State) is known as West Russia, and the Second Romanov Empire is known as East Russia. In 2000, West Russia merged itself with Lukashenko’s Belarus to form the Union State of Russia and Belarus.

A rump state of the Soviet Union is still intact, located in the IOTL countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan; it is basically a larger OTL Kazakhstan with Communist aesthetics used in propaganda, similar to OTL’s PR China. However, the UNSC seat of the original USSR went to first the Russian Federation, then the Union State of Russia and Belarus in 2000, and later the Second Romanov Empire of Russia in 2022 after the UN expelled West Russia for invading Ukraine.

The capital of West Russia is Moscow, and the anthem is To Serve Russia. The capital of East Russia is Novosibirsk (though the largest city is in Vladivostok), and the anthem is Farewell to Slavianka. Soviet Kazakhstan’s capital is the same as IOTL Kazakhstan, and uses the old USSR state anthem.

Ukraine, Moldova, and the Baltic states are the same as IOTL.

West Russia and North China have a defensive bloc known as “Counter-American-Imperialist Security Organization” (CAISO). East Russia and South China have their own defensive bloc with Soviet Kazakhstan, South Korea, Tibet, and Shidinnia (fictional Chinese-culturally-influenced Sakhalin), known as “Eurasian Security Organization” (EASO).

City of Seattle
Seattle is much larger ITTL, taking a similar role in the West to Chicago in the East. It is the fifth-largest-city in the Lower 48 USA, between Houston and Phoenix.

US Presidents
Sheldon Johnson Jr., a fictional centre-left businessman turned Democratic state senator, is the 46th President, with Kamala Harris as his VP, and slightly more leftist policies than Biden has IOTL.

United Kingdom and Ireland
Great Britain has more autonomy for its Constituent Countries ITTL. As a result, Southern Ireland is still part of the UK as the fifth Constituent Country. Each Country within the UK has two official languages, English and a second language (Anglish for England, Welsh for Wales, Scots Gaelic for Scotland, Ulster Scots for Northern Ireland, and Irish Gaelic for Southern Ireland). RTE still exists in Southern Ireland, and Wales and Scotland also have their own broadcasters, RDC (Rhwydwaith Darlledu Cymru; co-existing with S4C) and SBS (Scottish Broadcasting Service). The SBS operates BBC Alba ITTL, which is known as SBS Alba instead. Northern Ireland has TVNI (Television Northern Ireland) as its broadcaster, and England has a company called ETC (English Television Corporation), often regarded as an inferior version of the BBC.

ITV regions for Southern Ireland are based on the traditional 4 provinces (UTV covers all parts of Ulster, including those within Eire IOTL): Hibernian Television for Leinster, Irish Television for Munster, and Lagan Television for Connaught. As an aside, Thames never lost its franchise to Carlton ITTL, with Granada instead losing its franchise to North West Broadcasting, which means that regional identity on ITV remains into today, though it still ends up centralized into 1 company. LWT was absorbed into Thames with the Central Media Group/Thames Communications merger.

England

 * Borders: Border Television
 * North East: Tyne Tees Television
 * North West: North West Television
 * Yorkshire and Lincolnshire: Yorkshire Television
 * Midlands: Central Independent Television
 * West of England: Wessex Television
 * East of England: Anglia Television
 * London: Thames Television
 * South West: Westcountry Television
 * South and South East: Meridian Broadcasting

Scotland

 * Scottish Lowlands: Propeller Television
 * Central Scotland: Scottish Television
 * Northeast Scotland: Grampian Television
 * Northwest Scotland: Hebrides Television

Wales
Note that, ITTL, HTV is an independent broadcaster, basically an English-language S4C.
 * North and West Wales: Marcher Television
 * Southeast Wales: WTV (Wales Television)

Ireland

 * Ulster: Ulster Television
 * Leinster: Hibernian Television
 * Munster: Irish Television
 * Connaught: Lagan Television

Crown Dependencies

 * Isle of Man: Manx Television
 * Channel Islands: Channel Television

Billy Mays
Billy Mays would have never overdosed on cocaine, and would still be alive today. He would still work on infomercials until today. As a result, several infomercials that starred Anthony Sullivan IOTL would be Billy Mays infomercials instead. In 2011, he would be hired by MTM Enterprises for a syndicated talk show, and do voice actor work starting in 2013. Billy Mays would also do the Flex Tape commercials, but working together with Phil Swift.

Sullivan Productions (which produced infomercials with Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan) would be acquired by ArgosyMTM Group in 2012.

Interstate Highways and US Routes
ITTL, the AASHTO and state DOTs refused to get rid of Routes 66 and 99 to make way for the new Interstates. As a result, Eisenhower did the “nuclear option” of transferring all highway maintenance and planning to a QUANGO known as the Interstate Foundation.

The Interstate Foundation has local chapters in each state, and operates the Interstate, US Highway, and all state highway systems, as well as a more powerful Amtrak (which controls all rail infrastructure in the US, with private rail companies being mere subcontractors, allowed to run trains on public tracks, while having to compete with Amtrak themselves) and a high-speed rail system known as Interstate Rail.

MTM Enterprises
International Family Entertainment would be bought out by Canadian cable company Shaw Communications in 1996, and spun off (along with Nelvana and the Canadian YTV-related channels) into Corus Entertainment in 1999. This means that MTM Enterprises would still exist today, instead of being folded into Fox. (Corus would have spun off its US assets, including MTM and Argosy Media, as Argosy Communications (now ArgosyMTM Group) in 2006.) “In spite of a nail”, the US Family Channel would still be sold to Fox, meaning that Fox Family would still exist (but never sold to Disney/ABC). However, ITTL, MTM would hold on to the Family Channel library.

ArgosyMTM libraries
Through several corporate acquisitions and mergers, the Embassy/TAT and Gramercy libraries, as well as most MGM films starring Judy Garland, would be owned by ArgosyMTM Group today.

Chuck E. Cheese and ShowBiz Pizza
Creative Engineering would have been acquired by Argosy Media in 1995. Aaron Fechter would also become a nicer person after meeting Ellen Peck, and wouldn’t be as hostile towards fans. Later on, in 2015, ArgosyMTM Group would acquire CEC Entertainment, and make several changes, including a new “retraux” design for the CEC characters known as “Redux”, and reviving the ShowBiz brand and characters (as they already owned CEI). This process was known as “Concept Division”.

Judy Garland
Judy Garland would form her own production company, which would later be sold to TVS (and now owned by ArgosyMTM Group). The Judy Garland Show would be co-produced by Garland’s own company, under the television unit, Judy Garland Television. She also would have had another daughter named Judy Garland Jr. in 1967. After Garland died, Liza Minnelli took over the company. In 1973, Liza Minnelli and Judy Garland Productions would have won a lawsuit against MGM over personality rights, meaning most MGM films starring Judy Garland (except for The Wizard of Oz) would become owned by Judy Garland Productions (and later ArgosyMTM Group).

Embassy Pictures/Television
Coca-Cola would also acquire Embassy Pictures around the same time as Embassy Television, and would have continued to own Embassy after selling off Columbia and TriStar, until 1989 when it was sold back to Norman Lear. This means that the Embassy name would survive until today. Shaw Communications would have acquired Embassy in 1997, and it would now be part of ArgosyMTM Group. This means that the TAT and Embassy libraries would be owned by ArgosyMTM Group instead of Sony. ”In spite of a nail”, older Embassy and TAT logos would still be plastered, but with MTM logos instead of ColTri or Sony logos. This means that the complete TAT logo would still be lost media.

Disney
Disney is much less expansionist. Instead of buying ABC, they start their own broadcasting network, The Disney Network (TDN); Paramount outbids them for Marvel; Johnson (fictional film studio/railway conglomerate) outbids them for Lucasfilm; Fox is never for sale; and Disney+ never exists, with Disney instead having an exclusivity deal with Netflix.

NASCAR
NASCAR would have been acquired by Argosy Communications (now ArgosyMTM Group) in 2011. It would have been allowed to remain mostly autonomous at first, but after a series of poor decisions, Ellen Peck herself would take personal control in 2014, introducing a new car called the “Strictly Stock Car” which is as close as possible to showroom models (while still retaining safety features), and also allowing much more auto companies to enter their car brands into NASCAR.

YTMND
YTMND would be acquired by Argosy in 2007, which would make changes to keep it relevant against YouTube (and later on, Vine and TikTok), including expanding the features to allow more advanced subdomain sites. As a result, it would still be a popular site today, instead of becoming a minor niche community.

Arena football
The Arena Football League would have been acquired by NASCAR/WWE Entertainment in 2009, which was in turn acquired by ArgosyMTM in 2011. This means that the AFL wouldn’t have had its decline, and the IFL would have merged with AFL in 2012, with all of its teams (as well as af2 teams) becoming AFL teams. FCF also wouldn’t exist, with all of its teams being AFL teams instead, as part of a publicity stunt called “Fan-Controlled Arena Football”. Other indoor football leagues such as AIF, CIF, NAL, and AAL would still exist, but wouldn’t be as popular as AFL.

Due to WWE being owned by AMTM, Ellen Peck would have convinced Vince McMahon not to bring back the XFL, instead allowing him to take control of the AFL and implement his plans for the XFL revival into arena football.

Hasbro and Nintendo
Due to Japan being part of the United States, Hasbro would have bought out Takara in 1984. However, in 1996, something even bigger happened: Hasbro merged with Nintendo, forming the HasbroNintendo Group, which would go on to acquire IDW (in 2002), Working Partners (in 2004), Bandai-Namco (in 2007), Valve (in 2009), and Crypton Future Technologies (in 2011). This resulted in many changes.

Famicom and NES
Due to Japan being part of the USA ITTL, the Famicom would be released worldwide, with the NES being a budget model. The FDS would also be released worldwide.

SNES
The SNES would use the US/European name and Japanese/European design worldwide.

SNES-CD
The SNES-CD would exist, as a partnership between Nintendo and TechEruo, using a BIOS licensed from Microsoft (actually a modified Chicago beta); being released in 1993. Its titles would include the groundbreaking Super Mario CD, developed by North Carolina Data Input. However, the Philips CDI games would also still exist, “in spite of a nail”. This means that OTL’s Satellaview would never exist.

Nintendo 64DD
The Nintendo 64DD would be much more successful, being released in the mainland USA and Europe as well, and also coming out much earlier: in 1997 instead of 1999. One difference is that instead of a proprietary floppy format, it would use the then-new DVD format. Once again, TechEruo and Microsoft would collaborate with Nintendo on the system, with the backend this time being a modified NT 5.0 beta. Super Mario 64 2 would be a launch game for the system, being basically an enhanced version of SM64, with influences from OTL’s “personalized copy” Internet meme.

GameCube
The GameCube would have a more sophisticated BIOS. Continuing the Nintendo/Microsoft partnership of TTL, the BIOS would be based on the then-new Windows XP.

Wii
Yet again, it would have a Windows-based BIOS; this time, a modified Windows LH.

Wii U
The Wii U would instead be called the Wii 2, and as a result, would be far more successful. However, “in spite of a nail”, the Switch would still release at the same time as IOTL. It would have a modified Windows 7.1 BIOS.

Switch
One change to the Switch, is that online functionality is free, with an optional paid membership offering extra perks. Also, the BIOS would be based on Windows v.X.

Super Mario franchise
There is a clearly-defined “Marioverse”, consisting of the Mario (and all spin-offs), Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Wario Land, WarioWare, Rhythm Heaven, Conker, Banjo-Kazooie, Pac-Man, R.O.B., and Game & Watch series. Characters originating from the RPGs and Wario games make appearances in the “main” Mario series, as well as some characters from acquired companies. The Mario and Sonic Olympics series is instead “HasbroNintendo Olympics”, also featuring characters from Legend of Zelda, Kirby, Pokémon, Pac-Man, My Little Pony, Transformers, and several other franchises.

Games
As Japan would be part of the US, SMB2J (The Lost Levels) would be released worldwide (and would have elements of OTL’s SMB Special, which would never exist ITTL); our SMB2U would be titled Super Mario Bros. 3 on both sides of the Pacific; and our SMB3 would likewise be Super Mario Bros. 4. Also, SMW would use the “Super Mario Bros. 5” subtitle worldwide, and the “Super Mario World 2” subtitle would’ve been applied to Yoshi’s Safari instead of Yoshi’s Island.

Bowser would also get his own spinoff series starting in 1993, BowserQuest, a combination platformer/RPG series where Bowser gets to be the good guy for once, defending his Koopa Kingdom from an attack by the evil Tabuu. This would have some similarities to OTL’s Smash Bros story modes (with the Smash games being primarily fighting games with no real plot ITTL, and the closest thing to a villain being Master Hand).

“Return of Donkey Kong” would have been released in 1988, and been a spiritual predecessor to the DKC series.

Toadette and Waluigi would have been created much earlier, in 1997 as two of six playable characters for the 64DD launch game “Super Mario 64 2” (the other 4 being Mario, Luigi, Wario, and (Blue) Toad).

Nintendo would own the rights to the Great Giana Sisters franchise ITTL, having acquired them for cheap from Rainbow Arts in 1989; new Giana games would come out around the same time as Mario games, as part of a “Quietly-Performing Sister Show” strategy.

The infamous Mario edutainment games would never exist; the Weegee meme would still exist, but based on a poor drawing of Luigi made by a child, and “side-characters” of that meme (such as Malleo and Bowsa) would never have existed.

Super Mario Bros. (original)
No changes here. However, after SMB2 was released, this game was re-released as “Super Mario Bros. 1: Mario’s Adventure”.

Super Mario Bros. 2: The Lost Levels
This would be a combination of OTL’s SMB2J with elements from Super Mario Bros. Special (which never existed ITTL).

Super Mario Bros. 3: Dream Factory Panic
Basically SMB2U, but with slightly more Mario elements added compared to IOTL (for example, Wart is reskinned into Bowser). Note that, ITTL, Nintendo never had a deal with Fuji TV, which means Doki Doki Panic never existed, only SMB2U/SMB3.

Super Mario Bros. 4: Mario, Master of Transformation
Basically OTL’s SMB3, but with more elements from previous games added in.

Super Mario Bros. 5: Super Mario World
A more ambitious SMW, with several of the unused beta elements from IOTL, as well as more elements reused from previous games.

Dr. Mario series
Starting with SSBM, Dr. Mario would be considered a separate character from Mario; the lesser-known third Mario brother, who went into medicine instead of plumbing. Dr. Mario World would never exist, with Tiger Lee Clarke calling it “the worst idea since the Virtual Boy” when rejecting it.

Super Mario 64 DS

 * Dr. Mario, Waluigi, Giana, and Maria are unlockable characters. Like in the later IOTL Giana Sisters games, Giana can switch between “Cute” and “Punk” forms at will, making her essentially 2 characters in 1; Maria is similar to SM3DW Rosalina; Waluigi has his abilities from the IOTL “Purple Prizes” rumour; and Dr. Mario is essentially a platforming-oriented version of his Melee moveset.

New Super Mario Bros. series

 * In the 4-player NSMB games such as NSMBW, the 3rd player is still a Blue Toad (but referred to as just Toad), but the 4th player is instead a bipedal Yoshi wearing an orange hat (inspired by this fanart).
 * NSMBUDX is massively different:
 * Peachette is a separate character slot from Toadette, which means the Super Crown meme never exists.
 * Each character has their own supporting character to save from Bowser: Mario saves Peach, Luigi saves Daisy, Blue Toad saves Rosalina, Yoshi saves Birdo, Toadette saves Toadella (a character from the Toadette spin-off series that exists ITTL), Peachette saves Red Toad, and Nabbit saves an orange version of himself.
 * Mario is playable in the NSLU levels.

Super Mario Maker 2

 * There are more course elements.
 * The game is still being actively updated.
 * There would be an 8-player mode, and, as a result, 16 playable characters: Mario, Luigi, (Blue) Toad, Toadette, Wario, Waluigi, Yoshi (the one from TTL’s NSMBW), Toadella (a character from Toadette’s own spin-off series which exists ITTL), Dr. Mario, Gooigi, Nabbit, Peachette, Giana, Maria, Birdo, and Donkey Kong.

Adaptations
The Mario franchise would have better adaptations into other media, with the DiC cartoons from OTL being co-produced by Argosy, and being followed by a French/Canadian/US-co-produced Super Mario 64 cartoon using the same motion-captured early CGI as the Donkey Kong Country cartoon from the same era. The Touchstone Mario movie didn’t exist ITTL, which means adaptations into other media continued. The SM64 cartoon was however followed by a hiatus of Mario cartoons, until 2006, when The New Super Mario Super Show was launched, initially to tie in to NSMBDS, using a similar “thick black line” art style to OTL’s 2D Nintendo promotional art. This series was extremely successful, and continues until today. As a result, the upcoming Mario movie is EXTREMELY different, being a film spinoff of the cartoon show, with the voice actors from the games reprising their roles, and is a MTM Films production instead of Universal/Illumination.

The Mario-Kun manga series would have concluded in 2002 ITTL.

My Little Pony franchise
The franchise would have started in 1926 in El Kadsre (a fictional country) as an animated Tokusatsu series. It was obscure outside of EK until 1971, when it was released in the US as a toyline and accompanying cartoon, but the main focus would be on the cartoon (1971-1981) until G2 (OTL’s G1) in 1983. The generations would be G1 from 1971-1983, G2 (OTL’s G1) from 1983-1999, G3 from 1999-2008, and G4 from 2008-present.

Pre-G1
Before G1, there were no MLP toys at all, but there were several movies and cartoon series. Most of these never made it beyond El Kadsre. This ended in 1971 when the line was introduced to American shores.

G1
This was an “experimental” era, where the toys were an afterthought (as Hasbro did not directly own the franchise, which actually originated in El Kadsre in the 1920s). The main character was a Pegasus known as Starsong Heatlight. G1 received a movie known as The Starsong Heatlight Movie in 1975, released by Argosy Pictures, which is often called one of the best animated movies ever made.

G2
Basically OTL’s G1, with some G2 elements. In 1983, Hasbro’s Claster division acquired the El Kadsreian company responsible for licensing the MLP franchise, known as EQUE. This brought the MLP franchise under full Hasbro control. As a result, the entire franchise was “Americanized”.

G3
This is a hybrid of OTL’s G3 with elements from G2 and G3.5. It would have started in 1999 (with a TV special on MBS) to revive interest in the brand, and ended in 2009 when Lauren Faust took control and G4 started.

G4
G4/FiM (starting in 2009 (meaning that the “Core 7” and “G3.5” eras never happened), initially as a cartoon for Argosy Kids, with The Hub being the home of reruns when it launched in 2010) would be extremely different, being co-created by Lauren Faust, Michael Mikulak (a controversial fanfic author IOTL, aka “Mykan”; ITTL, is much saner, and was hired by Hasbro in 2005 to write for Transformers), and Tiger Lee Clarke (the last one being an executive who has two things in mind: worldbuilding, and selling as much toys as possible). The most obvious difference is that there is a Mane 9 instead of a Mane 6, as Clarke believed that more mane cast members would sell more toys. Also, like in G1 (or ITTL G2), Megan Williams (voiced by Andrea Libman) exists as a human sidekick to the ponies, going with her sister Molly (voiced by Lilly Bartlam) through an Equestria portal with no way out in the very first episode. (Spike still exists, voiced by Cathy Weseluck.)

There would be much more complex worldbuilding. Tiger Lee Clarke would have to convince the execs in charge of the project (mostly Nintendo alumni) that certain decisions (like Twilight becoming an Alicorn Princess and the whole Royal Wedding plotline; both of which were planned by Tiger from the formative era of the series) would sell more toys.

The initial Elements of Harmony in this AU (2 more are added later):
 * Twilight Sparkle (initially Unicorn, later Alicorn, Element of Magic): Is mostly the same as IOTL, but she has both a library AND a castle. Voiced by Tara Strong.
 * Rainbow Dash (Pegasus, Element of Loyalty): Same as IOTL. Voiced by Ashleigh Ball.
 * Rarity (Unicorn, Element of Generosity): Same as IOTL. Voiced by Tabitha St. Germain.
 * Pinkie Pie (Earth Pony, Element of Laughter): Mostly same as IOTL, except that her secondary talent of baking is “decomposited” to Minty, to emphasize Pinkie’s theme as a “party animal”. As a result, she lives in a giant bouncy castle instead of the Cakes’ bakery. Voiced by Andrea Libman.
 * Minty (Earth Pony, Element of Courage): Combination of an OTL G3 character, with OTL Pinkie’s talents in baked goods, including living in the Cakes’ bakery. Voiced by Amanda Leighton.
 * Fluttershy (Pegasus, Element of Kindness): Same as IOTL. Voiced by Andrea Libman.
 * Applejack (Earth Pony, Element of Honesty): Same as IOTL. Voiced by Ashleigh Ball.
 * StarSong (Unicorn, Element of Hope): Loosely based on an OTL G3.5 character, with a grey colour scheme, and has a special talent for singing. Voiced by Crystal Stainton.
 * Toola Roola (Pegasus, Element of Creativity): Loosely based on an OTL G3.5 character (the same way Pinkie and RD were), and has a special talent for painting. Arrived in Ponyville after her home country of Skyra got invaded by “El Catsre” (depicted as a parody of the Warrior Cats mixed with El Kadsreian stereotypes). Voiced by Argosy veteran, Katie Belshaw.

Later through the course of the series, 2 more elements join:
 * Sunset Shimmer (Unicorn, Element of Empathy): Same as OTL, but with more major roles. Voiced by Rebecca Shoichet.
 * Starlight Glimmer (Unicorn, Element of Freedom): Same as OTL, but gets her own Element. Voiced by Kelly Sheridan.

There would also be twice the Cutie Mark Crusaders as well:
 * Apple Bloom (Earth Pony, Applejack’s younger sister): Same as IOTL. Voiced by Michelle Creber.
 * Sweetie Belle (Unicorn, Rarity’s younger sister): Same as IOTL. Voiced by Claire Corlett.
 * Scootaloo (Pegasus, Rainbow Dash’s adopted younger sister): Only change is her parents died, so she was adopted by RD’s parents. Voiced by Madeleine Peters.
 * Daphne “DeeDee” Dil (Earth Pony, Toola Roola’s adopted younger sister): Improved version of a Mykan OC. Voiced by Andrea Libman.
 * Star Dreams (Unicorn, StarSong’s younger sister): Based on an OTL toy character. Voiced by Katie Belshaw.
 * Snowdrop (Pegasus, Fluttershy’s younger sister): An old fandom OC. Voiced by Madeline Sims.

The School of Friendship plotline was suggested, but Tiger rejected it on sight, saying that it was better fit for the comics (where it ultimately ended up).

The Mane 9 also have canonically-defined ages. From oldest to youngest:
 * StarSong: 19
 * Rarity: 18
 * Applejack: 17
 * Twilight Sparkle: 16
 * Rainbow Dash: 15
 * Fluttershy: 14
 * Pinkie Pie: 13
 * Minty: 12
 * Toola Roola: 11

And the CMCs’ ages (again, from oldest to youngest):
 * Star Dreams: 9
 * Scootaloo: 8
 * Apple Bloom: 7
 * Sweetie Belle: 6
 * Snowdrop: 5
 * DeeDee: 4

Megan is canonically 12, Molly is canonically 8, and Spike is canonically 4.

Another change is that the ponies have a mix of modern and fantasy technology.

Equestria Girls
Equestria Girls was suggested by a low-ranking exec, but was shot down by Tiger Lee Clarke, who said that “we have Megan and Molly, and also, My Little Ponies that aren’t ponies are just as much of a dumb idea as Transformers that don’t transform; we tried that, and if not for the Kenner acquisition bringing in new blood who came up with Beast Wars, the Action Masters would have killed the Transformers brand for good”, and also that “this is a MASSIVE ripoff of Monster High, and if we release it, Mattel WILL sue us, and we WILL deserve it”. Some EQG elements instead end up in the main G4 series.

G5
G5 would have been delayed indefinitely until G4 was no longer making HasNin enough money. G4 is still on air today, and some G5 elements from IOTL, are instead in IDW spin-off comic books about the future of Equestria. This means that Pony Life never existed, and some of its own elements are in FiM instead.

HiT Entertainment
HasbroNintendo would’ve outbid Mattel to acquire HiT.

Thomas the Tank Engine franchise
The series still airs on PBS, and both BWBA and AEG never happened, with some of the elements from these series being used in MLP instead. Retroactively, “generation” labels were applied: G1 for the original Railway Series, G2 for the Britt Alcroft era, G3 for the HiT era, G4 for the early CGI era, and G5 for the HasNin era.

Warrior Cats franchise
Warrior Cats would be EXTREMELY different, being started in 1985 as a toyline that serves as a “spear counterpart” to the various iterations of MLP. There would be 3 “generations” of Warriors: G1 from 1985-1997, the short-lived G2 from 1997-2003, and G3 (OTL’s Warriors series) from 2003-present.
 * BloodClan would eventually become an official Clan.
 * There would be more fantasy elements, such as a magic system.
 * The “twolegs” would be humanoid monsters, similar to mythological orcs, and the series would take place in a post-apocalyptic world after a nuclear war.
 * The clans of the Forest/Lake wouldn’t be the only Clans around.
 * While the main focus would be the toyline and books, and there would be no cartoon, there would be a big-budget Warrior Cats movie series produced by MTM Films since 2011, based on the G3 book series and receiving rave reviews.

Transformers franchise
The only real difference is that the “Bayformers” movies never happen (HasNin tried to get a deal with Paramount, but Paramount passed it on in favour for a deal with Mattel), and the G1 continuity is the “default”/“evergreen” continuity, with the “Aligned continuity” never existing. The use of the term “G1” would be discouraged officially, with Hasbro and most fan sites (such as TFWiki) preferring the term “Classic”, but many fans who were around for G2 and the post-80s-cartoon/pre-Beast-Wars era still call it “G1”.

Smash Bros. series
The Smash Bros. series would be very different, aiming to cross over everything owned by HasbroNintendo (and, starting with Brawl, its sister companies such as Argosy/MTM, Wincorp, and ICHC). Ultimate aims to be “the most ambitious crossover in history”, including several film and TV characters, which means NASB and MultiVersus don’t exist ITTL.

Monopoly
Monopoly is massively changed ITTL, due to changes to the board game division of HasNin as a whole:
 * Winning Moves is directly owned by Hasbro; HasNin also buys RadGames (creators of Super Add-ons) in 2006, instead of suing them like IOTL. HasNin later releases a Mega Edition version of Super Add-ons.
 * Mega Edition has 13 non-corner spaces on each side, rather than 12, to keep the Railroads as a X/Y axis.
 * Russian company “Paradox Youth Creative Association” was also later acquired by HasNin, which bought an official version of their Monopoly clone “Business 2000” to US stores as “Monopoly Advanced”, another board-within-a-board similar to Super Add-ons. There are two versions: one for the original Monopoly, and one for the Mega Edition/Mega Super Add-ons combination.
 * The Stock Exchange that goes over the Free Parking space is still sold as an accessory.
 * ”Casinopoly” is also an official Hasbro product.
 * Joniziak and the creators of the “Insane Monopoly” TableTopSimulator mods, among several other fanartists, were hired by HasNin.
 * New tokens are added to allow additional players in a game, instead of replacing existing tokens.
 * The Chance and Community Chest cards were never changed.

UNO
Hasbro outbid Mattel for International Games, makers of UNO, in 1992.
 * Variations such as DOS, UNO Flip, and UNO All Wild still exist.
 * The newer decks have both Swap Hands and Shuffle Hands cards.
 * There is also a combination UNO/Monopoly game, known as “Unopoly”, which is basically two games being played at once.
 * The VeeFriends UNO deck never existed, due to it being based on a Web3/NFT IP, and Tiger Lee Clarke’s disdain for that market; Tiger reportedly sent a profanity-filled email to Gary Vee to call off their partnership once it became apparent that VeeFriends was “part of a scam, not the whole Hello-Kitty-type franchise I expected”.

Microsoft
In 2002, Microsoft was broken up in an antitrust lawsuit, with Office and related software being spun off into an independent company (later acquired by Theorysonic), and Windows and MSN online services being sold to Tiger Lee Clarke’s holding company as Windows Corporation (later shortened to Wincorp). This means the Xbox consoles never happen, which means Sega is still making its own consoles today, though they also operate as a “second-party” developer for Nintendo as well.

Windows
Bill Gates left Microsoft after the antitrust lawsuit, with Wincorp being taken over by Tiger Lee Clarke, a highly successful British-Singaporean businesswoman. As a result, a “Windows XP Second Edition” is released in 2003 to rave reviews. Later, in 2008, Bill Gates returns to the company after its acquisition of Macromedia. Even before Clarke took over, there were some changes; for example, Windows ME never happens (being replaced by a Personal SKU of 2000), and NT 5.0 and 2000 are separate versions.

Newer Windows versions don’t try to force a Microsoft online account on you. Also, there are a lot less Windows versions considered “bad”.

Support of older Windows versions
Tiger Lee Clarke started a tradition of releasing old Windows versions into the Public Domain on their out-of-support dates, which continues until today.

Windows NT 5.0, 2000, and ME
Windows NT 5.0 was released on time around the same time as Windows 98, instead of being delayed and retooled into Windows 2000. Windows 2000 still exists, but based on the Neptune code instead of NT 5.0, and internally numbered as NT 5.1. Windows ME never existed, being replaced by Windows 2000 Personal.

Windows XP
As said earlier, Windows XP gains a Second Edition. (Think the Delta Edition mod from IOTL.) The First Edition was supported until 2014, and the Second Edition was supported until 2017.

Windows XP RTM’s internal version number is 5.5, and XPSE’s version number is 5.51.

Windows Vista
Longhorn was never “reset”, and was shipped in 2005 under the name Windows LH. The result is similar to OTL’s Longhorn Milestone 5 beta build 4015, with some influences from the IOTL fan project Longhorn Reloaded (generally, going with whichever between the two is closer to XP aesthetically). Windows LH received mainly positive reception, though it was criticized by some as little more than a “Windows XP Third Edition”. It was supported until 2019. Like OTL’s Vista, it has the internal version number 6.0.

Windows 7
Due to OTL’s Vista never happening, Aero is introduced in 7 instead. One minor change is that the internal version number is instead 7.0 to match the branding.

Windows 8
Windows 8 was cancelled after Tiger Lee Clarke got her hands on a beta build and lambasted it as “the love child of a Fisher-Price toy and an old BlackBerry flip phone”. Instead, a minor update to Windows 7 was released known as Windows 7.1 (NT version 7.1), which has the same end-of-support date as OTL’s 8.1.

Windows 10
Windows 10 is instead known as Windows v.X (internal version number 8.0). Due to Windows 8 being cancelled, some Metro design is introduced in 10 instead.

Windows 11
Windows 11 is instead known as Windows v.X2 (internal version number 8.1), and is mush better-received, due to sticking closer to the original Windows 10X plans.

Bill Gates
Bill Gates never goes into the medical field; after initially leaving Microsoft, he briefly goes into philanthropy, but is later picked as the CEO of Macromedia. After Wincorp acquires Macromedia, Gates decides to “stick to software”. This means that the Bill Gates vaccine microchip conspiracy theory is much less commonplace, and the WEF/Klaus Schwab Great Reset conspiracy theory is slightly more commonplace.

WebTV
WebTV is still around, and was never rebranded to MSN TV. The WebTV brand name is used on set-top boxes and smart TVs made by Wincorp Consumer Products; Wincorp acquired TiVo in 2005, absorbing it into WebTV.

Macromedia
Macromedia never merges with Adobe, instead hiring Bill Gates to run the company. Later on, in 2008, Wincorp acquires Macromedia solely to get Gates back (like how Apple IOTL acquired NextStep to get Steve Jobs back). One thing to note is that this version of Macromedia lobbies heavily for Canvas and WebAssembly to be included in HTML5 earlier (meaning Flash is phased out earlier), and Procreate is a Macromedia product ITTL. While Adobe goes with the controversial Creative Cloud model, Macromedia decides to sell software in the traditional version method to retain brand loyalty, and the entire Macromedia suite is included for free with each version of Windows. Due to Microsoft being split apart, OneNote is instead a Macromedia product.

The Powerpuff Girls
The show would’ve been co-created by Craig McCracken and Lauren Faust, and would be an MTM Animation production. The 2016 reboot would have Faust involved, and would be much closer to the original.

Video game industry
The major players in the video game console industry today are Nintendo, Sega (which still makes its own consoles ITTL), Sony (under the PlayStation brand name), Rapier (a fictional British tech company and creators of the Game-Fi series of consoles), Zerona (a fictional Taiwanese company which is closer to OTL Nintendo than the Hasbro-owned Nintendo of TTL is, and also owns Atari’s assets, having acquired them in the mid-90s after the failure of the Jaguar), Square Enix (which makes its own consoles ITTL), and Theorysonic (a company from a country that doesn’t exist IOTL known as El Kadsre). PC gaming is even bigger than it is IOTL, with HasbroNintendo owning Valve and Steam.

Sega consoles (post-Dreamcast)

 * Seventh generation: Dreamcast 2
 * Eighth generation: Dreamcast X
 * Ninth generation: Dreamcast Z

Square Enix consoles

 * Third generation: Squarebox
 * Fourth generation: Super Squarebox
 * Fifth generation: Square Polybox
 * Sixth generation: Square Wishplay
 * Seventh generation: Square Dimension
 * Eighth generation: Square Fusion
 * Ninth generation: Square S1

Zerona consoles

 * Third generation: Zerona Game Device
 * Fourth generation: Zerona Game Device 2
 * Fifth generation: Zerona Game Device 3
 * Sixth generation: Zerona 00
 * Seventh generation: Zerona Blast
 * Eighth generation: Zerona Galaxy
 * Ninth generation: Zerona VCS

Theorysonic consoles

 * Third generation: Theorysonic Hyper-System
 * Fourth generation: Theorysonic Codear
 * Fifth generation: Theorysonic Sphere Box
 * Sixth generation: Theorysonic Pyramid
 * Seventh generation: Theorysonic Turboplay
 * Eighth generation: Theorysonic Lightplay
 * Ninth generation: Theorysonic Swift

Google
Google was acquired by Wincorp in 2005, wanting a replacement for their aging MSN search engine, and mainly sticks to being a search engine. They tried to acquire YouTube, but were outbid by KMF’s personal headcanon version of Johnson Industries from Johnsonverse; afterwards, they decided to “stick to search”. There are no search ads; AdWords and AdSense still exist, but as MSN products. However, iGoogle, Google Reader, and Google Groups still exist, and survive until today.

Google+ still exists, but is branded as Bing (used for Microsoft’s own search engine IOTL); it never has its data breaches, and gains popularity as an alternative to Facebook and Twitter. Chrome never exists, due to Wincorp having an indefinite agreement with Netscape (the for-profit arm of Mozilla). Gmail also never exists, instead being realized as improvements to Hotmail (which still retains the Hotmail name ITTL, since the Outlook name was divested when Microsoft broke up).

ReCAPTCHA is owned by MSN, and never introduced the “select all images” captchas, meaning that the old “Inglip Summoned” captchas based on old books are still in use.

Android
Wincorp merges the Android project into Windows CE. New Android versions come out around the same time as new Windows versions.

Mozilla and Firefox
Due to Google being less ambitious and Chrome not existing, Firefox retains the near-infinite customization present in older versions, and XUL is still the extension format for Mozilla applications (including Firefox and Thunderbird).

Due to Google never releasing Gmail ITTL, Mozilla starts its own email site, Thunderbird(dot)net, in 2007. Mozilla also has control of LibreOffice ITTL (having gained control of that in 2012, and re-merging the Apache fork in 2014), and has released stand-alone HTML composer, IRC client, and IM software, under the names “BlueGriffon”, “ChatZilla”, and “Instantbird”. The last one is a successor to GAIM, which ITTL, was bankrupted by its legal issues with AOL, which were solved by a renaming to “Pidgin” IOTL.

Netscape still exists as Mozilla’s for-profit arm, and was never bought out by AOL. After the breakup of Microsoft, Netscape entered an indefinite agreement with Windows Corporation where Internet Explorer would be discontinued, and Netscape Navigator would be the default browser on all Windows versions, starting with XPSE. However, Netscape is mainly used to install Firefox, similar to how IOTL, Edge is mainly used to install Chrome.

Due to Chrome never existing, this means there are “Firefoxbooks” instead of “Chromebooks”.

The Loud House
Instead of Chris Savino, TLH is created by a British animator known as Dereck Torres, and is a D Tor (Torres’ own production company, owned by Rapier) production for CITV, having started in 2011 and still running today.

Big City Greens
Instead of the Houghtons, BCG is also created by Dereck Torres for CITV, and started in 2013.

Apple
Steve Jobs would have died in 2006 instead of 2011, and Apple focuses on the iPod line of MP3 players, discontinuing the Mac line and Mac OS in 2007. The iDevices such as iPhone and iPad still exist, but the phones use a variation of Android (which is a corporate relative of Windows ITTL, as Google mainly sticks to being a search engine), and the tablets use full Windows.

Merv Griffin game shows
Merv Griffin’s classic game shows such as “Jeopardy” and “Wheel of Fortune” are owned by AMTM.

Due to the “butterfly effect”, Pat Sajak dies of cancer in 2020 instead of Alex Trebek. Vanna White becomes the hostess by herself, as Argosy did not want to pay to find a new male host for WoF.

Video formats
All major studios still sell VHS tapes, marketed as a low-budget/low-cost option, and more recently a “nostalgic” format. Betamax is also still alive and kicking, marketed at a price point between VHS and DVD. There are also two more formats in use, due to El Kadsreian and Eruowoodian innovations:
 * Movicard, an El Kadsreian innovation which is basically to a SD card what a video DVD is to a CD-ROM.
 * TES (TechEruo System), invented in Eruowood, looks similar to an old Nintendo cartridge.

Extinct formats include TVD (Titanium Video Disc; a variation of the floppy disc).

Mad Magazine and EC Comics in general
EC was bought out by Argosy instead of Kinney National. As a result, Mad Magazine is extremely different, and shares several writers with other Argosy satire properties, such as The Onion and the pun writers for Wacky Packages.

COVID-19 vaccines
The vaccines are much more effective, though there is still some fearmongering around side effects.

Chris Hansen
Chris Hansen never committed tax fraud, and as a result, was never arrested by the State of Michigan. After he left NBC, he was hired by MTM Enterprises. Hansen vs. Predator airs in local syndication across the US.

PBS
The IOTL versions of PBS, NPR, C-SPAN, and VOA don’t exist. Instead, the Public Broadcasting Service was formed by the United States during World War II as a domestic propaganda service, absorbed NHK after the USA annexed Japan, and now operates several TV and radio networks, similar to Britain’s BBC and OTL Japan’s NHK. Like the BBC, it is known as “the PBS” for short. The PBS has agreements with Argosy/MTM for home media distribution and movie adaptations of PBSK (TTL’s version of PBS Kids) shows.

Networks
There are 4 main TV networks in the PBS family:
 * PBS One, the main network.
 * PBS Two, serving a similar purpose to OTL’s secondary PBS stations.
 * PBS Edu, similar to OTL’s NHK E.
 * PBS Nihongo, the replacement for NHK G after Japan was annexed by the US.

PBSK
PBSK has 3 channels, all available on DTT:
 * PBSK, the main channel, with a general kiddie audience. Basically OTL’s PBS Kids but with slightly less preschool shows.
 * PBSK Sprout, a preschool channel very loosely based on the IRL Sprout. It also has some shows from BabyFirst (which doesn’t exist ITTL) as well, as well as several imports from Great Britain’s CBeebies.
 * PBSK Doink, targeted towards older kids and preteens. It mostly consists of British imports from CBBC and CITV.

Note that, ITTL, the Children’s Television Workshop is operated directly by the PBS, as are several major stations such as WNET and WGBH.

Television frequencies in the USA

 * Channel 37 was never reserved for radio astronomy, though Channel 1 is still unused.
 * The higher UHF band channels above channel 36 were never reallocated to telecoms. Speaking of UHF, the All-Channel Receiver act was passed much earlier, during the very early days of television, which means UHF channels are more common.
 * Super-high-frequency (known as Super-UHF or SUHF) channels are also used, on channels 84 to 259.

Usenet
Usenet never declined, and is still a popular protocol. This is due to binaries never overtaking discussion.