2012 – End of the World

Back when I was in high school, there was an ongoing hype about how the world was going to end in 2012. On December 21^st, 2012, the 5,125-year Mayan Calendar was about to reach the end, which means that the world could end in 2012. We even had a movie about the world ending named 2012. Many people believed that it was going to end when the day came. And then it came…

…and the world didn’t end.

Since it’s been over ten years since the Mayan Doomsday prophecy, the very idea of the world ending in 2012 is very laughable by today’s standards. In fact, it was actually the most forgettable year of the 2010s decade. Much of the events that year were forgettable as well. Adding more of the irony, one of the lesser-discussed years of the decade before it happened became the most memorable year of that decade. And that is 2016.

To those who were born in 2013 or later (or were alive at the time but too young to remember), here’s what happened. Many people believed the world would be going on for as long as we’re in the Mayan Calendar. But the end of the Mayan Calendar coincides with December 21^st, 2012. So they thought the world was going to end. They even came up with conspiracy theories, like the Earth will crash into a planet called Nibiru, or that the alignment of the planets with a black hole will flip everyone off the face of the Earth. There were other doomsday conspiracy theories that decade, like a big asteroid going to hit the Earth in 2015. In 2011, I even read an article about how the Earth’s axis has tilted, and in 2020, there will be a total polar meltdown (where all of the ice caps will melt completely), resulting in a sea level rise of 300 feet everywhere. Luckily, that didn’t happen, but we did have a global catastrophe happen in 2020 anyways, and it’s still widely regarded as the worst year of the 21^st Century.

What 2012 is Best Remembered For:

When the year started, it was predicted to be one of the biggest years. Along with the Mayan Calendar coming to an end, there was a US presidential election, a Summer Olympics, and new technology. But now, the year is best remembered for two things: the shooting of Trayvon Martin, and the Sandy Hook Massacre. The latter of these two events even occurred in December, and on a Friday (the same day of the week December 21^st landed on that year). Everything else that year, have been overshadowed by events from other years. Certainly, the world didn’t end in 2012. The shooting of Trayvon Martin was significant for the fact that it led to the Black Lives Matter movement, while the Sandy Hook Massacre was the first time a school shooting like that happened at an elementary school. But these events, let’s go over how they contrast with events before and after:

• The Jerry Sandusky Trial – an ultra-sick pervert even worse than Jeffrey Epstein was put on trial. Since people were more interested into Epstein than Sandusky today, nobody really talks about him anymore.
• Film Releases – the most memorable movies to come out that year were The Hunger Games and Marvel: The Avengers. Sure you can say that they are among the most memorable movies of the year, so let’s leave it as that. On the animation department, I remember the release of Wreck-It-Ralph and Brave, but Wreck-It-Ralph has been overshadowed by Frozen the next year, and Brave was one of Pixar’s worst movies. Now the worst animated movie of all time, Foodfight, came out that year. So 2012 does have something more memorable.
• Video Gaming News – in 2012, Sony released the PlayStation Vita, while Nintendo released the Wii U. Both consoles were among the worst. The PS Vita doomed Sony’s stay on the handheld market for how much of a failure, while the Wii U was the biggest failure Nintendo ever had (maybe except Virtual Boy, but at least Nintendo cancelled it early rather than try to give it a chance like the Wii U).
• The 2012 London Summer Olympics – of course, every even-numbered year is the year of the Olympics, but it’s not as memorable as the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics (or at least the initial concerns before it started) or the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
• 2012 Presidential Election – towards the end of the year, we had the election between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Obviously, Obama won because Romney wasn’t that good of a candidate. Compared to all of the other presidential election in the 21^st Century, this was the most forgettable, even more than the 2004 Election.
• Disney’s Acquisition of Star Wars – back in 2012, Disney bought the rights to Lucasfilms, and planned on making new Star Wars movies. Although this was just the beginning, the real impact wasn’t seen until later.

If the World Ended in 2012:

Anyways, if the world really ended in 2012, pretty much everything that happened within the last 13 years wouldn’t have happened. While that’s not much compared to the rest of human history, a lot wouldn’t have happened if it did. Some of the most striking examples to consider:

• Donald Trump would never become president. This also means no MAGA, no Jan 6, no QAnon, none of that.
• There will be no iOS 7, where Apple changed the designs of their interfaces to a more basic-looking theme (which we still have today).
• The Cubs’ last World Series win would be in 1908, while eight other teams wouldn’t have won the World Series. Additionally, at least one team wouldn’t have made it to the postseason since Ronald Reagan was president.
• COVID-19 would never have happened or even existed.
• The Supreme Court created by the Republicans when they rigged the court in their favor wouldn’t have existed.
• Pope Francis (who passed away last year) would never become the pope.
• There will be no Brexit. The UK would be part of the EU when the world ends.
• Disney’s Frozen would never become a movie, the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy and the Mandalorian would never exist, and Moana and Encanto would never enter production.
• Transgender issues would never make it to the spotlight.
• TikTok and Temu would never become popular.

In regards to gaming news, here’s what would be true had the world ended in 2012. Since the gaming industry hasn’t been here too long, a lot wouldn’t have happened, like the following:

• There would be no Animal Crossing: New Leaf or Pokémon X/Y. This would mean that there would never be additional clothing customization, town customization, or wall furniture in the Animal Crossing series, while Pokémon wouldn’t have clothing customization, 3D graphics in the main series, battle gimmicks like Mega Evolutions and Terastalization, or even the Fairy Type.
  • This would also mean that the 3DS would have no memorable titles that defined the handheld.
  • It’s also worth mentioning that the Animal Crossing franchise started waking up with the release of Animal Crossing: New Leaf, not Wild World, not New Horizons, but New Leaf. Had the world ended in 2012, almost nobody outside the Animal Crossing fandom would know what “Animal Crossing” is.
• Mario Kart 8, one of Nintendo’s most successful games, would never existed.
• The Splatoon Franchise would never have existed.
• The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One would never have existed, as well as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
• Of course, there would be no Nintendo Switch.

Now going over my personal life, it’s a good thing that I was born early enough and that several successes me and my family achieved were done before the Mayan Doomsday date, but the world ending in 2012 would basically wipe out my entire adulthood (maybe except the late teenage years). Whether or not that happened, I still graduated high school, lived up to age 18, got a 3DS, went to Disneyland as an adult (and stayed at the Disneyland Hotel in the suite rooms), and voted in at least one presidential election. Also, some of my best friends that I’m very good friends with and are still friends with today, I would’ve still met and befriended given that I did that in high school or earlier, not college. But if the world ended in 2012, the following would’ve never happened:

• I would never live up to age 20, which in return would mean I would never reach the drinking age.
• I would never play Animal Crossing: New Leaf or Animal Crossing: New Horizons, nor would I ever created many original characters for the purpose of Animal Crossing fanfics. That means, no Kaylee, Jenny, and Penny, no Andrea, and no Holly and Charlotte.
• Speaking of which, I also would have never joined the Bell Tree Forums, the largest Animal Crossing fansite. As someone who’s been a member for over 10 years and generated a lot of memories, I would have not gotten anything like that in a reality where the world ended in 2012. All of the friends I made, all of the blog posts I written, all of the collectibles I collected, and all of the events I participated in, never has happened.
  • The world ending in 2012 would also mean that The Bell Tree Forums would never have reached an age where it was the largest Animal Crossing fansite. Although it was founded in 2004, it only started getting more active in 2013 when Animal Crossing: New Leaf came out. Some of the oldest collectibles, the chocolate cake and the birthstones, were released in 2013 as well. The world ending in 2012 would make all of that inexistent.
• I would never have played at public casinos.
• I would never have gained more knowledge about Disney’s animated history or have purchased every movie from the Disney Renaissance on iTunes.
• In addition, I would have never watched or appreciated the classics from the 20^th Century. For instance, I didn’t watch Jurassic Park until I was 24. I was 19 years old on December 21^st, 2012. More surprisingly, I would have never watched Star Wars, not all of it at least.
• I would also never gain interest into Nintendo and its franchises. I did play Super Mario Sunshine as a kid, as well as Donkey Kong 64, but I never played Super Mario 64 or Ocarina of Time until I was 22.
• I wouldn’t have graduated college or gotten a degree in math. In fact, I only finished one semester in college by December 21^st, 2012.
• I would have never played a main series Pokémon game either. Despite playing Pokémon games as a kid before, my first main series game I played was Pokémon Sun/Moon, which came out in 2016.

Thankfully, the world hasn’t ended in 2012, and I’m still here to write this blog. You may never know when the world would end. Even the most stubborn Bible literalists wouldn’t believe the Mayan Doomsday prophecies. However, I would like to say that in 2033, it would be 2,000 years since the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

Now if there’s anything that would happen either way, whether or not the world would end in 2012, everyone is going to die. If the world ended, this wouldn’t matter much anyway. But death is a natural occurrence, and everyone is bound to meet their end someday.

Other Years, Before and After:

It’s not just limited to 2012. Every time a new year begins, you would never know what’s going to happen. There are some things we do know that are bound to happen within a certain year before the year begins, but once the year passes, it would be remembered for what happened that year.

Let’s take 2017 for example. When 2016 was coming to an end, here’s what I knew, or what many others knew, was going to happen:

• Donald Trump would become president of the United States.
• In August, a total solar eclipse would occur in the United States, and it would run coast to coast.
• The Nintendo Switch would be launched. That same year, the games Super Mario Odyssey, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Splatoon 2, would be released as well.
• Friday the 13^th would land in October, for the first time since 2006.
• Star Wars would observe its 40^th anniversary, and the iPhone would observe its 10^th anniversary.

And then when 2017 passed, everything mentioned above did happen, as well as everything listed below:

• Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, and Hurricane Maria all hit the United States.
• The #MeToo Movement began, starting with the exposure of Harvey Weinstein.
• Thanks to the election of Donald Trump, left-wing politics have spilled into awards shows and professional football games.
• In the same month as the solar eclipse and Hurricane Harvey, a drive-in attack occurred in Charlottesville, resulting in the issue of Confederate statues in public places being brought attention.
• In terms of film releases, the film industry was at its worst that year, given the disappointments surrounding The Last Jedi and the existence of bad movies like The Emoji Movie and the 2017 Mummy reboot.

I can see this way with personal life too. Before 2025 started I didn’t know that it would eventually be more about my BIONICLE collection, nor would I know that BrickLink would be the site I use the most frequently that year. Even right now, I’m still working on it, since I’m persistent in completing a full collection, while watching my spendings.