I think Red Flood precedes it, but Balkanized America in that mod is a secret end game thing and not the point of the mod. Red World probably was the first mod that actually did something like this. Given how popular a trope it is, it’s surprising how few mods have actually delivered on this premise.
Red world was good fun and surprisingly deep if memey. The right wing semi democratic American Remnant in the South was a blast to play, you could have Rumsfeld or Jeb Bush as leader and reunify the States then start liberating Europe from communism with your trusty sidekicks Tony Blair and King Juan Carlos.
The American Republic was definitely fun. Something about the Bushes actually being good guys is so funny. I also liked that the Spanish revive monarchism into no longer being a dead ideology, just to shake up the world map. It was just the right amount of memey where it feels carefree and silly, but not totally ridiculous and stupid like Make America Again.
I remember 2021 was a bad year for a small fandom I was in known as "Old Roblox Revivals" where there were 2 websites known as Goodblox & Finobe that let you play old Roblox versions à la Old School Runescape. Goodblox was an exact replica of 2008 Roblox down to last detail until some obsessed 'cord faggot hacker doxxed everyone's IPs and got it to shut down. Finobe was declining as it was just the 2012 & 2016 clients plopped onto a minimalist site (latter isn't even old roblox) & became super private for no reason, but it was hit with a Cease & Desist from Roblox that some theorize was faked by the chink admin so he could shut it down without controversy. Austiblox followed those sites from 2022-2023 and was actually pretty decent, so much that I shilled it on my youtube. It shut down near the end of 2023 because it's admin got bored. After that, the Old Roblox Community went down skibidi toilet. If you want your fix of old 'blox you can play Retrostudio, a Roblox game that LARPs as the old clients & has a few ports of 2015 era games despite it's shit studio. I guess I'm getting too old for toddlerblox anyways, but idk I might put the 2013 client in $WÅBooru and let you put roblox game files on the 'log that run in the browser for shits & giggles as well as a way to host a coronation event for myself as the new king of deep ifunny.
Thank you for reading, I’m glad you enjoyed it. I am familiar with Mr. Z, and used to watch him back when I watched alternate history videos. He’s got his flaws, but he’s leaps and bounds ahead of Alternate History Hub.
Agreed. I do miss Z's Althistory content, but he's a step above most "history/althistory" creators. Though I do like Alternate history hub's non-history channel.
Great article series that kind of summarized in good words why I couldn't get into Kaiserreich/TNO - and why TFR was the only really fun mod (besides, well, the My Little Pony one).
Of course, I've reached terminal brainrot because I'm now building a cosplay for TFR for a local video game con......
Enjoyed the series. A good side tangent would be that of the HOI4 YouTuber. Some of them have become fairly political over the years, especially the European ones after February 2022.
HoI4 is my most played game on steam, but I actually don’t watch HoI4 on YouTube. I did watch iSorrowproductions before HoI4 came out and he did his very, very early stuff on EU4. But then he got a good microphone, deleted all his actually funny videos, and became a talentless hack hamming it up for the camera. I think Drew Dernil does HoI4 as well, I watched him back when he was a Civ V and EU4 YouTuber called “BAStartGaming.” That’s the full extent of my HoI4 YouTuber knowledge, no exaggeration. As a matter of principle, I don’t like watching YouTube videos about my favorite games. It just makes it all feel weird. I watch videos about games I don’t play or rarely play.
I recognize a bit too many of those memes for my liking, perhaps Im an oldhead now. Great series, encapsulates what I've been feeling and why I've gravitated away from hoi4 recently. Looking forward to updates on the Post Collapse USA fiction.
Side note, TNO is truly cooked, played after not touching it for months and they added an Antartica update of all things. All could be forgiven if they'd just be a lil goofy and make a dirlewanger genghis kan tree...
The Antarctica stuff looks fun at a glance and once you play it you realize how immensely boring it is. There is nothing to do as those tags, and it really was a waste of effort putting it in-game. The only reason it made it in at all was because fan submodders did most of the work for TNO, and all they had to do was integrate the submod’s already-underwhelming work.
The best part of hoi4 mods is being permabanned from their sub reddits for being marginally transphobic
Does TFR reference sab's rates or is he just the sab seen on the news?
They don’t say a word about him, he’s just an appointable advisor.
I just remembered Nazbol Richard Spencer-ruled Idaho from Red World. I wonder if anyone's ever shown him the mod.
Was Red World the first popular mod to release with a memey balkanized America besides KR? I think it might have been
I think Red Flood precedes it, but Balkanized America in that mod is a secret end game thing and not the point of the mod. Red World probably was the first mod that actually did something like this. Given how popular a trope it is, it’s surprising how few mods have actually delivered on this premise.
Red world was good fun and surprisingly deep if memey. The right wing semi democratic American Remnant in the South was a blast to play, you could have Rumsfeld or Jeb Bush as leader and reunify the States then start liberating Europe from communism with your trusty sidekicks Tony Blair and King Juan Carlos.
The American Republic was definitely fun. Something about the Bushes actually being good guys is so funny. I also liked that the Spanish revive monarchism into no longer being a dead ideology, just to shake up the world map. It was just the right amount of memey where it feels carefree and silly, but not totally ridiculous and stupid like Make America Again.
The pics in this article are pure kino, gem of gems
I remember 2021 was a bad year for a small fandom I was in known as "Old Roblox Revivals" where there were 2 websites known as Goodblox & Finobe that let you play old Roblox versions à la Old School Runescape. Goodblox was an exact replica of 2008 Roblox down to last detail until some obsessed 'cord faggot hacker doxxed everyone's IPs and got it to shut down. Finobe was declining as it was just the 2012 & 2016 clients plopped onto a minimalist site (latter isn't even old roblox) & became super private for no reason, but it was hit with a Cease & Desist from Roblox that some theorize was faked by the chink admin so he could shut it down without controversy. Austiblox followed those sites from 2022-2023 and was actually pretty decent, so much that I shilled it on my youtube. It shut down near the end of 2023 because it's admin got bored. After that, the Old Roblox Community went down skibidi toilet. If you want your fix of old 'blox you can play Retrostudio, a Roblox game that LARPs as the old clients & has a few ports of 2015 era games despite it's shit studio. I guess I'm getting too old for toddlerblox anyways, but idk I might put the 2013 client in $WÅBooru and let you put roblox game files on the 'log that run in the browser for shits & giggles as well as a way to host a coronation event for myself as the new king of deep ifunny.
This has been a very good series, well done.
P.S. Have you heard of Monsieur Z?
Thank you for reading, I’m glad you enjoyed it. I am familiar with Mr. Z, and used to watch him back when I watched alternate history videos. He’s got his flaws, but he’s leaps and bounds ahead of Alternate History Hub.
Agreed. I do miss Z's Althistory content, but he's a step above most "history/althistory" creators. Though I do like Alternate history hub's non-history channel.
Great article series that kind of summarized in good words why I couldn't get into Kaiserreich/TNO - and why TFR was the only really fun mod (besides, well, the My Little Pony one).
Of course, I've reached terminal brainrot because I'm now building a cosplay for TFR for a local video game con......
Enjoyed the series. A good side tangent would be that of the HOI4 YouTuber. Some of them have become fairly political over the years, especially the European ones after February 2022.
HoI4 is my most played game on steam, but I actually don’t watch HoI4 on YouTube. I did watch iSorrowproductions before HoI4 came out and he did his very, very early stuff on EU4. But then he got a good microphone, deleted all his actually funny videos, and became a talentless hack hamming it up for the camera. I think Drew Dernil does HoI4 as well, I watched him back when he was a Civ V and EU4 YouTuber called “BAStartGaming.” That’s the full extent of my HoI4 YouTuber knowledge, no exaggeration. As a matter of principle, I don’t like watching YouTube videos about my favorite games. It just makes it all feel weird. I watch videos about games I don’t play or rarely play.
I recognize a bit too many of those memes for my liking, perhaps Im an oldhead now. Great series, encapsulates what I've been feeling and why I've gravitated away from hoi4 recently. Looking forward to updates on the Post Collapse USA fiction.
Side note, TNO is truly cooked, played after not touching it for months and they added an Antartica update of all things. All could be forgiven if they'd just be a lil goofy and make a dirlewanger genghis kan tree...
The Antarctica stuff looks fun at a glance and once you play it you realize how immensely boring it is. There is nothing to do as those tags, and it really was a waste of effort putting it in-game. The only reason it made it in at all was because fan submodders did most of the work for TNO, and all they had to do was integrate the submod’s already-underwhelming work.
I wonder how Sab is doing these days
Does Molossia exist in TFR?
No. Although The Fire Rises has a good sense of humor, it is a more serious mod than Make America Again, which was basically a total meme mod.
Why can't Molossia rise to power?
The humble Critic will not pick up his gutter crown