History Roleplay / RedDawnPlus20

** With the British having their hands full, Argentina sees an opportunity to grab the Falklands again. A single Polaris ICBM from HMS ''Revenge'' wipes out the Argentine fleet at Puerto Belgrano (and the adjacent city) before they can jump off. Other South American governments protest the action, and [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown Chile helps themselves to some now-undefended Argentine territory]].

* UnfortunateNames: the [[Website/AlternateHistoryDotCom AH.com thread mentions]] a Soviet general by the name of "Yuri Jurkov." 'Nuff said.

''Red Dawn +20'' originally started as a thread on an Alternate History message board that ran ''[[LongRunner 335 pages]]'' before relocating to [[http://www.tboverse.us/HPCAFORUM/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=31 this members only message board dedicated to organizing the available information and subject matter]]. (TheWikiRule [[http://reddawnwwiii.wikia.com/wiki/Red_dawn_alt_hist_wwIII_Wiki is also enforced]].) After some considerable [[RetCon RetConning]] to separate some wheat from the chaff, a coherent, believable timeline for WorldWarIII emerged. A bloody conflict lasting from September 3, 1985, to October 14, 1989.

** Marvel and DC Comics are both victims of the nuclear strike on New York. However, Creator/StanLee survives by virtue of having been in Los Angeles on a business trip. He promptly sets up a new publishing concern with some local publishers and is soon turning out new editions of ''Franchise/CaptainAmerica'', ''Franchise/IronMan'', and ''Franchise/TheAvengers''. These comics are not only distributed to the US military for morale purposes, but are also dropped by the Air Force on the occupied states, where they are incredibly popular, despite the KGB making their possession punishable by death.

* CurbStompBattle: Several. The Soviet drive through Alaska, the initial attempt to halt the Combloc advance in Texas, and the first major American counteroffensive are all disasters. On the other hand, an attempted invasion of southern Arizona by the Mexicans on Day 1 gets routed in a matter of hours, US and allied combined naval and air forces rip apart an attempted Soviet amphibious landing at New Orleans (a USMC pilot says that [[BlackComedy the sharks ate well that day]]), and another attempted landing at Seattle is utterly slaughtered by the US Navy.

* StuffBlowingUp: A U.S. Navy pilot, rolling in for a [[StandardHollywoodStrafingProcedure strafing run]] on a Soviet destroyer, suddenly finds himself having to dodge flying destroyer ''bits'' as an incoming [[{{BFG}} battleship-caliber salvo]] blasts the ship to pieces in his face.

* CurbStompBattle: Several. The Soviet drive through Alaska, the initial attempt to halt the Combloc advance in Texas, and the first major American counteroffensive are all disasters. On the other hand, an attempted invasion of southern Arizona by the Mexicans on Day 1 gets routed in a matter of hours, US and allied combined naval and air forces rip apart an attempted Soviet amphibious landing at New Orleans (a USMC pilot says that the sharks ate well that day), and another attempted landing at Seattle is utterly slaughtered by the US Navy.

* PunnyName: After the invasion, Congress passes a Selective Service law that uses student loan data to find EVERYBODY of military age (including the ones who didn't--or, in the case of women, didn't have to--register for Selective Service. It's known as the [[CurbStompBattle Curb-Stomp Act]].

** With the British having their hands full, Argentina sees an opportunity to grab the Falklands again. A single Polaris ICBM from HMS ''Revenge'' wipes out the Argentine fleet at Puerto Belgrano (and the adjacent city) before they can jump off. Other South American governments protest the action, and [[KickTheDog Chile helps themselves to some now-undefended Argentine territory]].

* NukeEm: Speaking of the above, Washington D.C., New York, Omaha, Kansas City, and various nuclear silos in the Dakotas and Wyoming are wiped out. Most of China goes up in smoke as well, though duds spare Hong Kong, Macao, Fuzhou, and presumably a handful of other cities and military bases. The Chinese, likewise, manage to hinder Soviet air defenses by successfully firing a handful of nukes at Russia itself before they're destroyed, creating holes in its air defense shield, which the pilots of Operation EASTERN EXPRESS exploit over the next few years.

** One of the posters speaks highly of a fighter pilot named [[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 Kara Thrace]]; there's also a RAF exchange pilot named Kara Shaw, Athena flies a RF-4C Phantom II, and a Colonel Tigh is mentioned.

* ThrowItIn: The film never once hints at New York City getting nuked. Someone on the thread did, and as a result, it's wiped out in this timeline.

* BoardingParty: During the Battle of the Baltic Exits, HMS ''Yarmouth'' (the "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Crazy Y]]") managed to board and capture a crippled ''Krivak'' class frigate, towing her prize into Rosyth Harbor two days later.

* AmazonBrigade: A very famous and successful US Army attack helicopter battalion nicknamed the Cobra Chicks has all-female flight crews flying AH-1 Cobra gunships. Multiple all-female B-52 crews are also mentioned.

* FullFrontalAssault: A female USAF MP chases down and captures a Cuban soldier who took her encampment by surprise while she's wearing combat boots... and ''only'' combat boots. She ''really'' didn’t appreciate having her weekend interrupted!

** Fidel Castro is tried in absentia and convicted of war crimes, but [[LoopholeAbuse stays in Cuba and hides behind the ceasefire agreement]]. He still tries to hold American [=POWs=] hostage in violation of the peace treaty, prompting a blockade by the US Navy (Castro loses), and shelters high-profile American collaborators. Almost every poster refers at some point to having a lot of unfinished business with Cuba in general and Fidel and Raoul in particular.

* LesCollaborateurs: The ALA (American Liberation Army) is a military/security force raised in the occupied states. It's membership ranges from people who are forcibly conscripted, reluctantly join for free food, criminals looking for a reduced sentence and a lot of power, and of course, true-believers. While the conscripts are generally pitied, the rest are regarded as beneath contempt. One USAF veteran says that he still thinks it "would be worth ruining a perfectly-good million-dollar J-79 engine just to toss one of those scumbags down the intake."

** Creator/HeathLedger plays Franchise/CaptainAmerica in a movie directed by Creator/StevenSpielberg that shifts the title character into WWIII.

** An enthusiast in Missouri donates his entire collection of restored American, British, and German WWII/Korean War armored vehicles to the Army. The sight of a crew of "black [=GIs=] riding an ex-SS Panther leading a column of Shermans, Centurions, and M36 Jackson tank destroyers against Ivan" turns quite a few heads. After the war, his collection is short a couple of destroyed vehicles, but the Army compensates him with a fleet of captured Soviet armor.

** An enthusiast in Missouri donates his entire collection of restored American, British, and German WWII/Korean War armored vehicles. The sight of a crew of "black [=GIs=] riding an ex-SS Panther leading a column of Shermans, Centurions, and M36 Jackson tank destroyers against Ivan" turns quite a few heads.

** When the 14th Armored Division assaults a town southeast of Denver in 1986, they find the local Resistance fighters have already rolled up the defending Nicaraguan infantry using a fully-restored and armed WWII-era M4 Sherman tank (an [=M4A3E8=], as seen in ''Film/{{Fury}}'', to be exact). The Abrams gunner telling the story wonders where they found ammo for the Sherman’s main gun—they ''did'' have some, and even had some left afterwards. It is recorded in the history books as the last combat engagement of a Sherman tank.

* FullFrontalAssault: A female soldier chases down and captures a Cuban soldier who took her encampment by surprise while she's wearing combat boots... and ''only'' combat boots.

** Lots of "vintage warbird" aircraft get a chance to see combat one last time.

* BadassBiker: Most biker gangs end up volunteering for the Army as light cavalry regiments. The Hell's Angels are especially famous as the 13th Irregular Light Armored Cavalry. They trade in their Harleys for [=LAV-25s=] and gun jeeps, though. They also are known to have [[PayEvilUntoEvil dispensed some biker justice]] to some high-profile ALA members caught trying to sneak back into the general populace at the war’s end, including a particularly vicious, sadistic, and notorious woman known as The Harpy.