The New Tens



"''"This guy wants to tell me we're living in a community.Don't make me laugh.""

- Killing Them Softly.''

The decade that ran from 2010 to 2019. The word "New" is used to distinguish this from the 1910s, which is arguably unnecessary since there are few people alive who remember The Edwardian Era (as of 2019, the oldest living person was 7 when King Edward died). However, many sci-fi stories have used 2010 as a standard Twenty Minutes Into the Future date, and so many of them take place in the year 2010 or one of the other 10's to be more original.

While some take the argument that the Turn of the Millennium ended in fall 2008 at the earliest, others maintain that they were still living in a continuation of that era until about 2012. However, the beginning of the calendar decade was still reeling from the effects of the Great Recession, the end of the Bush Era and the beginning of the fledgling Obama Administration. The US and welfare states of Europe were mired in debt and doubt, China and India continued to spread their economic and political clout, and even the most optimistic predictions of the future were hedged.

Politically, The War on Terror goes on, even after the death of Osama Bin Laden, but it seems to be letting up a little in its most intense theaters in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, so-called "homegrown terrorism" appears to be on the rise, reaching its ugliest manifestation in the 2011 murders of over 70 teenagers by a right-wing anti-Muslim extremist in Norway. War comes a-clanging to the Middle East with tensions around Iran, continuing from Turn of the Millennium, growing and escalating. One can argue that it is the newest near-miss for World War Three... if we are lucky.

In the second half of the decade, this has changed somewhat. In 2016, Donald Trump became the US President, and he quickly became very controversial for his attitude to the world, racial issues, and investigations of himself and his staff. In the USA, the trends toward populism and not being willing to work with political opponents intensified to the point where bipartisanship was, if not dead, then on life-support. Also, the UK voted to leave the European Union. Political concerns have become more of an issue that divides. The concern on Muslim terrorism continued after ISIS was responsible for many attacks starting from 2014, but also issues about white supremacy or Nazis who acquired guns, especially because many leaders like the previously-mentioned Trump would not say anything about it. (In particular, Trump was called 'a white supremacist' by at least two presidential candidates and some media figures).

Protests opposed to budget reform in favor of debt reduction sprouted up all over Europe, signaling an intensification of distrust in civil government that had been growing all through the previous decade. In the United States, healthcare reform was also pushed through intense controversy, but Americans' first concern remains the lackluster economy. This led to a rebuff of the Democrats, the arrival of the conservative/Libertarian Tea Party movement in 2009, the birth of the left-wing Occupy movement in 2011 (and the police's responses to it), seemingly endless deadlocks on seemingly every issue under the sun, and even deeply unpopular copyright bills which some fear could bring the feared 1984 Dystopia to life (see below for more). The net result of all this is even more hatred and distrust aimed at politicians.

China, Australia, and a handful of other countries managed to avoid recession, but China is beginning to feel the pressure from the largest real estate bubble in world history. In the Middle East, long-standing dictatorships in Egypt and Tunisia were overturned by massive protests, sparking a wave of protests for democracy and/or Sharia. across the region. Libya's Gadaffi was overthrown in a civil war, while Bahrain crushed the revolutionaries, and Syria's crackdown has reached brutal and horrifying levels. There was also unrest in the U.S. with Occupy protests near Wall Street and cities across the nation, which in turn spread to several other countries.

Trump was impeached in 2019 (although the matching Senate trial won't happen until 2020), in a vote that went by party lines. The federal election in Canada resulted in a minority government where the various parties were elected in distinct parts of the country. The government of the United Kingdom finally passed a "Brexit" resolution to leave the European Union in the same year. Nationalism is very big, in issues such as Scotland, Catalonia and Hong Kong. Politics at the end of the New Tens was the politics of division, not the politics of inclusion.

Culturally, there was a boom in light, happy, or extravagant entertainment as the world looked for distraction; according to the Sekhmet Hypothesis, 2010 marks the beginning of the new "hippie" era in contrast to the dark and gloom of the previous decade. Internet memes now enjoy national exposure on every form of media. James Cameron overturned his own record with Avatar, and reignited the 3D craze which had lay fallow since the 1970's. Twilight became a household name. Glee harkens to days gone by while simultaneously capturing the enthusiasm and optimism of youth. But Darker and Edgier has also done well in the current environment; consider the progression of the Harry Potter films as per their source novels, the explosion of Young Adult Literature set in dystopian settings (i.e. The Hunger Games series), and zombies becoming a genre fiction mainstay almost as popular as vampires. In TV, the laugh track (currently associated with "campy" sitcoms targeted to younger audiences) went out of fashion, leading to an era of cynical and quirky humour.

Perhaps the strangest coincidence is that even in its infancy, this decade has witnessed a lot of blasts from the past. Hasbro has launched The Hub, a TV channel featuring updates of many iconic franchises from The Eighties, such as My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (which gained a major Peripheral Demographic fandom that no one saw coming) and Transformers Prime. Starting in 2010, Cartoon Network started airing more TV-PG shows such as Adventure Time and Regular Show, both of which were enjoyed by not only older kids, but people who were kids in The Nineties (now in their college years and a bit beyond) and also people who were kids in The Eighties (now full-grown adults) due to their refrences to The Eighties and their slight similarity to cartoon shows from The Nineties such as Ren and Stimpy. The channel also began airing a 2011 reboot of ThunderCats. Retro Studios has revived the beloved Donkey Kong Country series from The Nineties for a new installment. The Kunio-Kun series, too, looks to be on the verge of revival. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World has opened The Nineties up as the new nostalgic decade, a testament to how time has passed. Paul Reubens revived the Pee-wee's Playhouse stage show and announced that he wants to do another Pee Wee movie, while The Muppets made a big-screen comeback bid after verging on Deader Than Disco at the Turn of the Millennium. Two iconic franchises of The Sixties have also been revived on the big screen (Star Trek and Rise of the Planet of the Apes) after a long period of being misbegotten and left in the dust. Even Duke Nukem Forever has been released! (Cue the Flying Pigs!)

Science Fiction, however, is in bad shape, verging on dormant on U.S. television. In the span of just a couple of months, Syfy had cancelled many Science Fiction shows such as Stargate Universe, and ABC gave up on a V revival. Some blame this on trying to grab New Battlestar Galactica's fans, while other see it as a result of a waning interest in space.

This latter explanation is not surprising, given that manned exploration never ventured past Earth's orbit again since the Apollo program, the Columbia shuttle disintegrated after two decades of service and the whole shuttle program was recently retired with no evident replacement at sight, which leaves only the venerable Soyuz capsules, active since the late 60s, to manage an increasingly budget-shrinking International Space Station. The impression held in The Seventies that by the turn of the century mankind would be roaming at Mars' sands seems now dreadfully far, far away. On the other hand, commercial exploration of space has turned out to be a rather good investment for NASA, with no less than five separate manned capsules (NASA's Orion, SpaceX Dragon, Boeing CTS-100, Sierra Nevada Dream Catcher, and some unspecified capsule by Blue Origin) four human-rated launch vehicles (human-rated versions of the existing Delta IV and Atlas V; Falcon 9; and the Space Launch System), and two unmanned resupply vessels (the aforementioned Dragon in its cargo configuration, plus the Orbital Sciences Cygnus) under development for deployment some time between now and the early 2020s. Of these, Orion and Dragon are capable of going beyond Low Earth Orbit--and potentially to Mars--while the rest are to be LEO ferries. The era of commercial space transport can be fairly said to have begun some time in 2012, when the Dragon completed testing--including the all-important retrieval .--and began operations (first flight to the ISS: 7 May 2012, in cargo configuration). Last but not least, a consortium of super-rich entrepreneurs (among them, James Cameron) have started a company aimed at mining asteroids. If anything, it might be said to be the decade in which space became no longer exclusive to nations, but became the domain of the private company. This is expected to continue into the 2020s.

Unmanned exploration seems even more promising, after the Dawn and New Horizons probes reached their targets, Ceres and Pluto, in 2015. Also, the Philae lander landed on the surface of a comet in 2014. But let's not mention the Russian Phobos-Grunt disaster.

Meanwhile in the Land of the Rising Sun, the cultural stuff exported from the country tends to be treated with either indifference or outright disgust, though that depends considerably on which part of the world you're on. Anime series at the start of the decade, with a few notable exceptions, received lukewarm receptions (due to either being generic adaptations of Harem or Romantic Comedy), the television format heavily laden with (generally well-received) adaptations of established franchises, although when original properties do crop up, they proved to be fairly competent at the very least. This could be in part due to the increasing availability of anime on the internet exposing audiences to more mediocre works, in contrast to the relative novelty that characterized its entry into the West during the 1990s-2000s, not to mention a total lack of reliable, professional critics' references - a result of inadequate and prejudiced public attention - which made the 10% of Sturgeon's Law in this medium almost indistinguishable to general audiences. The Dragon Ball franchise had a brief revival in the Recut series Dragon Ball Kai, but it was canceled before the final story arc after high ratings failed to translate to increased merchandise sales. The recent revival of Toonami however, combined with the growing popularity of online streaming and distribution like Crunchyroll, has helped boost a revival of interest in anime in the English-speaking West. The anime industry in general has increasingly embraced digitization and online distribution/streaming as a viable, alternative platform to the decades-old direct-to-TV model Anime also remains warmly received in Asia and Australia, which is helped along by various recent hits such as Attack on Titan, One-Punch Man and the latest iteration of Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure. For Visual Kei and Japanese metal bands, there also seem to be some silver linings: X Japan, Buck Tick, Loudness, Luna Sea, and others have reunited and/or are actively touring. In light of one of the worst disasters of the New Tens -- a devastating earthquake and tsunami in the Tohoku region in 2011 -- the Female FIFA 2011 victory as well as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have proved to be sorely needed morale boosters.

Manga, following its Western counterparts, is undergoing a transition of sorts into digital, online and doujinshi-style self-publishing to cope with the changes in technology. This continues a trend from the Turn of the Millennium with works like Axis Powers Hetalia, though more traditional and established manga giants like Shonen Jump continue earning profits despite print media publishing in general being on the decline.

In terms of Japanese games, the most recent offerings by Square Enix (Mind Jack, Lord of Arcana, etc.) failed to impress an already cynical Western gaming community, and Final Fantasy suffered its greatest failure to date with its fourteenth installment. While Idea Factory and Nippon Ichi Software have tried to pick up the slack with various degrees of success; one of the reasons cited for this is the growing differences between Japanese and Western tastes in games. This is in addition to sites like Polygon and Kotaku publishing articles with an anti Japan bias, though these have mellowed down over time as other games were well-received. Fighting Games like BlazBlue (among others) continue to remain popular while other works like From Software's Dark Souls series have gained more overseas popularity.

Speaking of video games, the New Tens became a source of cynicism and displeasure as the gaming community has become fractured over certain games and their companies. Despite Duke Nukem Forever coming out, (long after its pigs-might-fly release prospects had become a running joke in games culture), the community was divided over the nostalgic past and the current trend of gritty shooters saturating the market along with Postal III being universally panned and Saints Row's future being uncertain with THQ threatening the make light hearted shooters a memory of the past.. BioWare's Dragon Age II created a Broken Base among the Role-Playing Game fans and even Valve Corporation suffered a bit of base breaking when Portal 2 was released and Team Fortress 2 became Free to Play (And not to get started on the Metacritic bombs many games received). The cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 was just another sign of the growing animosity of the gaming community as many fans are left angry and bitter over the state of the industry. Because of this, sales of video games has dropped in the past couple of years. However, one electronic entertainment industry that continues to do well is the iPhone App Store, with hits such as Angry Birds leading the way. But it is Apple's very success with apps that has been the bane of the rest of the industry; customers have drifted toward the App Store at the expense of the traditional retail video games. Nintendo has even been pressured by investors to come up with something on the iPhone, a move which they have rejected. On the other hand, the success of games like Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3 and Skyrim, among others, have shown that the industry is not as down as some more cynical gamers make it out to be. However the release of Mass Effect 3 has only served to be a completely bitter reminder of how some believed the game industry has fallen to Game Journalism siding with Big Business who makes poor decisions at almost every turn.

While the Role-Playing Game genre has suffered, the Fighting Game genre is another story. Due to the efforts and success made by both Street Fighter IV, Tekken 6 and BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger in the late 2009's, fighting games started to pick up the pace, with the announcements of... more IV expansions, Continuum Shift and its expansions, as well as other fighting series continued such as King Of Fighters XIII, Arcana Heart 3, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and the upcoming Soul Calibur V, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Dead or Alive 5 and a lot of new bloods such as Skullgirls or Daemon Bride or other-series based ones such as the Umineko no Naku Koro ni fighting game and Persona 4 Arena, most of them widely accepted positively. Not to mention one of the most surprising crossovers to date: Street Fighter X Tekken. The most surprising, however, was the revival of the Mortal Kombat franchise with its newest installment/reboot winning back the fans disappointed with how it was hit hard with Polygon Ceiling and even makes it eligible for tournament plays. In a way, Fighting Games are seeing quite the revival in the early part of the New Tens. Arc System Works, the company behind BlazBlue has been picking up a lot of attention and continues to grow thanks to BlazBlue, with the possibility of becoming the next Fighting Game top company after fans became more cynical towards Capcom.

Despite the economic downturn, technology marches on. Facebook, Twitter, and the cellphone have revolutionized the social experience with commentators beginning to predict the end of privacy. But the Internet is proving to be even less hospitable to the preservation of media than the newspapers and filmreels of past decades, with once-well-known virtual media of the 2000s like Homestar Runner, Kid Radd, Bob and George and several different MMOs all lost or on their way to oblivion.

Internet piracy drew the ire of the United States Congress, and Congress' attempts to curtail it drew the Internet's ire:
 * It began with the proposition of the SOPA and PIPA bills, which many said would grant government the power to shut down copyright-infringing websites. The Internet exploded in massive protest, even including The Other Wiki blacking out in protest, and even Anonymous banding together with big website creators to protect the free Internet, all to make sure the bills did not pass. They didn't, but the US Senate, thus far, shows no signs of completely giving up.
 * The situation worsened when, a day after The Other Wiki blacked out, it turned out that the FBI, before SOPA even passed, had taken measures to shut down popular filesharing site MegaUpload, which caused a chain reaction of filesharing sites like Fileserve, Filejungle and many others making their sites for private-uses only.
 * And following behind SOPA is ACTA, rumored to be much worse, although many said the rumors tend to be exaggerated. With the backlash in Poland and elsewhere, it seems unlikely that it would be ratified, let alone implemented, in the foreseeable future.
 * After that, the fight was against PCIPA, the US equivalent of existing European data retention laws. However, given the internet previously rallying to defeat the far more imminent threats of SOPA and PIPA, and already rallying to delay and weaken the slow burning ACTA, there was more than a few months to prepare to take down PCIPA. On top of that, PCIPA is a remake of legislation that already failed to make it to a full vote. These factors, and the fact that the media actually denounced PCIPA/HR 1981 in 2011, make for a bill that, like previous US data retention bills, was doomed to an ignoble failure.
 * Making matters worse, however, was the CISPA, a bill that attempts to fix cybersecurity problems, but ended up creating privacy problems. This went so far that the House passed it on, and it all now falls down to the Senate to decide whether it passes further or not, although Democratic sources are saying that the bill is dead on arrival in the Democrat-controlled senate thanks to its formally bipartisan support splintering among party lines. The crub of comfort here is that Barack Obama has promised to veto it, but time will tell whether he'll live up to the promise or not - he is far more likely to veto it than the NDAA, which was an annually-passed bill that just so happened to have a ansty set of riders attached. In addition, the bill has been improved - some of the privacy issues have been resolved through numerous amendments that make it so the government cannot mine data gleaned, and that they cannot condition ISPs to give up information, and other amendments have clarified that intellectual property is not something it can be used to protect. Now, according to the CDT, the big flaws that haven't been addressed (and are likely to be addressed by Senate Democrats - if they even give it the courtesy of a debate before scrubbing it) are the flow of information directly to the NSA, and the use of information for "national security." Also, the much-maligned Quayle amendment, which amended CISPA to be able to affect cases involving "the exploitation of children" and "threat of bodily harm or death to an individual," is, in fact dictated by existing laws, in which ISPs and other entities can (and already do) voluntarily give information related to these to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the US government, and law enforcement agencies. However, ISPs and the government may not search for such things under CISPA or current law - however, if information related to the exploitation of a minor or a threat of bodily harm is also found in cyberattack data, the Quayle amendment allows it to be used.

In December 2017, Net Neutrality was officially removed in the US by a vote from the communications authority, and the commission's chairman Ajit Pai quickly became one of the most hated figures online. Similarly Europe's Article 13 was equated by some with a 'YouTube meme ban'. (However, Canada's rules regarding net neutrality were strengthened at the time.) But after a few weeks, it was clear that fewer people wanted to discuss such a thing.

Alternative fuel sources continue to grow in availability, albeit slowly, and energy-efficient appliances are on the cusp of becoming the norm. The only workable alternative to fossil fuels at the beginning of the decade, nuclear power, fell under scrutiny due to the earthquake/tsunami combo critically damaging atomic energy plants in Japan, most notably the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. While not nearly as severe as Chernobyl, it has had a similar chilling effect, and the outcome of this shaped nuclear power policies for the rest of the decade as countries rethought their nuclear programs. Germany led the way on this one, with the government of Angela Merkel doing a 180 on nuclear policy, announcing plans to eliminate all nuclear power in Germany by 2020, shortly after the accident in a desperate attempt to keep voters on their side; while her CDU/CSU has taken a drubbing, her coalition partners, the libertarian FDP, has been wiped out or nearly so from at least two state legislatures, and the Greens have officially become a prospective party of government. On the other hand, France and (more significantly) India and Britain continued to press ahead in their plans to preserve and expand their nuclear power base, so the future remains extremely muddy on this one. Another option became viable during this decade: electrical storage batteries increased in efficiency and decreased in both weight and price while solar and wind power became noticeably less expensive, leading to increased adoption of electric vehicles over the second half of the decade. By the end of the decade, it was possible to drive an electric car across North America, recharging at roadside stations the way fuel-powered vehicles refill at roadside stations - and the electric car was priced competitively with an equivalent fuel-burner when total cost of ownership was taken into account. Also, some municipalities introduced "net zero" building codes, stating that new residential buildings had to return as much power to the electricity grid as they used. A few concept buildings have been built and not connected to the grid at all.

Scientific thinking took a hit in this decade. While it became obvious that there was overwhelming evidence for the existence of man-made climate change and against the existence of harmful effects of vaccination, network executives and politicians quickly discovered that there was a noticeable fraction of the population who did not want to believe the science for whatever reasons. Climate-change deniers and anti-vaxxers became groups to be appealed to, rather than dismissed as inconsequential fringe movements.

The 2010s was the decade of the $1000 cellphone. For many people, their most powerful (and most expensive) computer was the one they carried in their pocket - or, toward the end of the decade, in their hands at all times. This has had an effect on how entertainment has been produced: as the television screen loses importance to the smartphone screen, games and shows have followed suit to accommodate the easy portability of entertainment.

See Also: The Edwardian Era, The Roaring Twenties, The Great Depression, The Forties, The Fifties, The Sixties, The Seventies, The Eighties, The Nineties, Turn of the Millennium, and The New Twenties.


 * 3D Movie: This trend had its beginnings in about 2005-2006, emerged in 2008-2009 and is still going in 2019. Unfortunately, if the creators know a movie won't be very good or popular, they make it in 3-D to make more money off of it. Especially animated movies.
 * All CGI Cartoon: Major animation studios still prefer these to traditionally animated films; Disney is the key exception, having returned to releasing a new 2D film every other year, which might be a good chance to make a comeback.
 * Ascended Meme: Considering how much closer creators and Fandom are now, this is becoming common.
 * Auto-Tune: Began in The Turn of the Millennium, but hit its stride in 2010 with the "Bed Intruder" song, and made into an art form by the likes of Bon Iver and Kanye West. Unfortunately for the music industry, such devices have caused actual musicians to lose interest in the mainstream... for the most part. There will always be exceptions.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive and Corrupt Politician: Sadly seemingly more prevalent than ever in the developed world, with these two tropes forming an unholy allegiance through lobbying and cronyism. It culminated in an attempt to impose net-wide censorship, and made Lamar Smith the biggest Scrappy amongst the current Congress, who are already widely hated for passing controversial laws while blockading laws that would actually do some good.
 * Dye Hard
 * Evil Matriarch
 * Friending Network: Facebook and Twitter.
 * Hipsters: The butt of many jokes.
 * Horizontal Lens Flares: Started somewhere in the late 2000s, early 2010s music videos can't seem to go without them. The 2009 Star Trek film added to their popularity among filmmakers.
 * Merchandise-Driven: Still fairly common, particularly with the Bayformers trilogy and shows on The Hub.
 * Moe: Becoming a more popular concept in the west, although reception of newer anime series that feature this have been treated with either indifference or outright disgust due to either being generic adaptations of Harem or Romantic Comedy, or put in an inappropriate setting.
 * Ms. Fanservice: Though the popularity of this trope never faded, an increasing movement of feminists has seemingly contributed to a decrease in its presence American video games. Of course a counter-movement formed against that, specially when tropes like Mr. Fanservice and Gorn never were repressed to such an extent. A lot of them are new or old fans of Japanese media that don't want it to be modified by enthusiastic translators or "localizers"; Japan seems entirely unaffected by this ongoing "war", causing some people to see it as a Ms. Fanservice haven.
 * Network Decay: Still persists during this era, although some networks have started to return to their roots. Other networks have either have shut down or re-branded entirely so at least their new themes fit.
 * The Illuminati: According to many people on YouTube, the best musicians on there are a part of this.
 * Tsundere: The concept is still strong, but it has gained a fair amount of backlash in this decade.
 * Twice-Told Tale: Exploded in popularity in this period, in the wake of 2009's novel Pride and Prejudice And Zombies in literature and 2010's film Alice in Wonderland. The former launched the Literary Mash-Ups genre, and the latter a raft of Fairy Tale retellings.
 * Two Decades Behind: Harkening back to The Eighties and, gradually, The Nineties - the usual cycle for nostalgia.
 * Uncanceled: Lots of series have emerged from the grave, even after decades of being cancelled. Examples include Twin Peaks, Roseanne, Futurama, Timeless, Longmire, Community and in a sense Top Gear, whose hosts all moved to a new show. Lots of these were spurred by a move to premium channels and online distribution like Netflix.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Political?: A common idea in much fiction. Since many writers are more aware of politics, this issue comes up. The term 'woke' has become common to describe those who aim to be aware of political and social issues.
 * Worst News Judgment Ever: Only continues to worsen in this era, especially where 24-Hour News Networks are concerned. A prominent example was HLN's saturation coverage of the Casey Anthony trial in 2011, which was also an example of Missing White Woman Syndrome (Anthony was accused of murdering her toddler-aged daughter).

''Shake that.

Anime and Manga

 * Cyber Team in Akihabara
 * The Haruhi Suzumiya series is suspected to have started in 2010.

Film

 * 2010: The Year We Make Contact, pictured, is set in 2010.
 * In Back to The Future, Doc Brown originally planned to travel 25 years into the future, before being interrupted by disgruntled terrorists.
 * District 9, a Science Fiction Mockumentary/Satire/Social Statement, set in 2010 South Africa.

Literature

 * In 2010, the advent of unlimited storage space and bandwidth will kill Big Media, according to Peter F. Hamilton's Misspent Youth.
 * They still live as of 2019.
 * Numbers begins in the last months of 2010.

Video Games

 * The first four .hack games are set in 2010.
 * Uplink starts in this year.
 * The little-known Street Fighter game, Street Fighter 2010.
 * Killer7
 * Mercenaries 2:World In Flames is set in August 2010

Western Animation

 * Reptar 2010, The Show Within a Show
 * Lisa Simpson gets married in August 2010.

Web Comics

 * Mayonaka Densha begins in 2010 before going back to 1888.

Anime and Manga

 * Eden of the East starts three months after November 22, 2010.

Literature

 * Remnants, at least before the characters leave Earth. After that they become Human Popsicles and go through a five-century Time Skip.
 * The sequel to Silver Phoenix
 * The True Meaning of Smekday

Live-Action TV

 * Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Retconned the rise of Skynet into 2011.

Web Comics

 * Act 6 of Homestuck takes place on 11/11/2011.

Video Games

 * Battlefield Play4Free
 * Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is set in this year.
 * Persona 4

Film

 * 2012, obviously.
 * I Am Legend

Live Action TV

 * Lilyhammer
 * Sherlock

Video Games

 * In Assassin's Creed, the Present takes place in 2012 wherein the Templars have nearly collected all of the Pieces of Eden.
 * Persona 4 Arena

Real Life

 * The London Olympics

Comic Books

 * The Days of Future Past storyline in X-Men.

Film

 * Escape From L.A. (starts in 2000)

Anime and Manga

 * Alien Nine is set in 2014.

Fan Works

 * Kira Is Justice, because Four Is Death.

Video Games

 * Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is set in 2014.
 * As is Battlefield 3.

Real Life

 * The Sochi Olympics

Anime and Manga

 * The Future GPX Cyber Formula series begins in 2015, and continues on to 2022.
 * Neon Genesis Evangelion begins in 2015, and may extend into early 2016. Instrumentality happens between December 31, 2015 and January 1, 2016. What happens after that isn't certain.

Film

 * Back To The Future Part II is partly set on October 21, 2015.
 * In Real Life July 2010, many people fell for a hoax confusing this date with the film's 25th anniversary (July 5, 2010); see that year's section for details.

Video Games

 * Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is set in 2016, 5 years after the first game.
 * The Ace Attorney series is for the most part set in this decade, with the first game starting off in the fall of 2016.

Real Life

 * The Rio Olympics

Comic Books

 * The Surrogates.

Film

 * A part of Click takes place in 2017.

Literature

 * The epilogue of the last Harry Potter book (published in 2007) would, according to the official timeline, take place in 2017. We don't really get to see what the Muggle world is like by that time, but at the very least they still have cars and driving tests.
 * We also know that they still have train stations and that they haven't found out about wizards yet.

Video Games

 * .hack//G.U.
 * Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All takes place in 2017 with exception of Case 4. Also, Case 5 of the first game takes place on February of this year.

Film

 * Terminator Salvation.
 * Iron Sky

Video Games

 * Trauma Center takes place in 2018.
 * Case 4 of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All takes place on March of this year and Case 2 of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials & Tribulations takes place on September or October depending the game you play (Sep 11 for Japan and Oct 11 for US).

Real Life

 * The Pyeongchang Olympics

Anime and Manga

 * Akira

Film

 * Blade Runner takes place in November 2019.
 * The Island takes place in July 2019.

Literature

 * Arthur C. Clarke's July 20, 2019 is set on... that's right. (He chose that date because it's the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.)

Live-Action TV

 * Dark Angel begins in 2019.
 * The first season of Dollhouse has a Distant Finale set in 2019.

Video Games

 * House of the Dead III takes place in 2019.
 * It is implied that the Varrigan City Death Watch in MadWorld takes place in 2019.
 * Cases of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials & Tribulations take place on this year. Also,  on Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney where  happens on April 29th (almost three months after Case 5 of T&T).

Animated Shows

 * Tinga Tinga Tales. From Kenya.

Anime and Manga
See also Anime of the 2010s and Manga of the 2010s‎.
 * Digimon
 * Digimon Xros Wars
 * Digimon Xros Wars: The Young Hunters Leaping Through Time
 * Dog Days
 * Durarara!!
 * Hanasaku Iroha
 * Infinite Stratos
 * Katanagatari
 * Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?, although the first three light novels were published in 2009.
 * Marvel Anime
 * Mobile Suit Gundam AGE
 * My Hero Academia
 * One Punch Man
 * Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai!
 * Pokémon
 * Pokémon Best Wishes/Pokémon Black and White
 * Pretty Cure
 * Heartcatch Pretty Cure
 * Suite Pretty Cure
 * Smile Pretty Cure
 * Puella Magi Madoka Magica
 * Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin, Ironically it took place in 1999.
 * Star Driver
 * The Tatami Galaxy
 * Tiger and Bunny
 * Tokyo Girls Destruction
 * Un-Go
 * Yu-Gi-Oh Bonds Beyond Time
 * Zoobles

Asian Animation

 * Astro Plan
 * RPG Metanoia

Comic Books
See also Comic Books of the 2010s‎.
 * Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers. Series started in January, 2010.
 * Fall of the Hulks. Storyline started in February, 2010.
 * Siege. Storyline started in February, 2010.
 * Chip. First appeared in March, 2010.
 * Twi Lit. Series started in March, 2010.
 * American Vampire. Series started in May, 2010.
 * Brightest Day. Series started in June, 2010.
 * Darkwing Duck. Series started in June, 2010.
 * The Thanos Imperative. Storyline started in June-July, 2010.
 * Heroic Age. Storyline started in July, 2010.
 * I Zombie. Series started in July, 2010.
 * Neonomicon. Series started in July, 2010.
 * Secret Avengers. Series started in July, 2010.
 * Avengers Academy. Series started in August, 2010.
 * Batman Beyond. Series started in August, 2010.
 * Archie Comics.
 * Kevin Keller. First appeared in September, 2010.
 * Life With Archie the Married Life. The series started in September, 2010.
 * One Moment in Time. Storyline published in September-October, 2010.
 * Lady Mechanika. First appeared in October, 2010.
 * Superman Earth One. Published in October, 2010.
 * Ratchet and Clank. Series started in November, 2010.
 * Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers. The second series started in December, 2010.
 * X-Force. Fourth incarnation. First appeared in December, 2010.
 * Empire State. Published in 2011.
 * Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes. The series started in January, 2011.
 * Fear Itself. Storyline started in May, 2011.
 * Mega Man. The series started in May, 2011.
 * Flashpoint. Series started in July, 2011.
 * Spider Island. Storyline started in August, 2011.
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IDW. Series started in August, 2011.
 * New 52. A Continuity Reboot for the The DCU. Started in October, 2011.
 * Batgirl 2011. Series started in November, 2011.
 * Demon Knights. Series started in November, 2011. Set in Dark Age Europe.
 * Justice League Dark. Series started in November, 2011.
 * Red Hood and the Outlaws. Series started in November, 2011.
 * Transformers Robots in Disguise. Series started in January, 2012.
 * Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye. Series also started in January, 2012.
 * Adventure Time. Series started in February, 2012.
 * Avengers vs. X-Men. Series started in May, 2012.

Fan Works
See Fan Works of the 2010s.

Film
See Films of the 2010s

Han-guk Manhwa Aenimeisyeon

 * Canimals

Literature
See Literature of the 2010s.

Live-Action TV
See also Live-Action TV of the 2010s‎.
 * 10 O'Clock Live
 * The Almighty Johnsons
 * Alphas
 * American Guns
 * A.N.T. Farm
 * Auction Hunters
 * Austin and Ally
 * Ax Men started airing in 2008.
 * Becoming Human
 * Bedlam
 * Being Human (USA)
 * The Big C
 * Blue Bloods
 * Boardwalk Empire
 * Borgen
 * The Borgias
 * Breakout Kings
 * Bron Broen
 * Burn Notice: the Fall of Sam Axe
 * Call Me Fitz
 * Call the Midwife
 * The Chicago Code
 * Chris Ryan's Strike Back
 * Strike Back
 * Combat Hospital
 * Community
 * Connor Undercover
 * Covert Affairs
 * Dan for Mayor
 * Danger 5
 * Death Comes to Town
 * Downton Abbey
 * Endgame
 * Episodes
 * Eternal Law
 * Fairly Legal
 * The Firm
 * Forbrydelsen
 * The Franchise: A Season with the San Francisco Giants
 * Friday Night Dinner
 * Friends With Benefits
 * Game of Thrones
 * Glee
 * Gold Rush
 * Good Luck Charlie
 * Graduados
 * Grandma's House
 * The Great Outdoors
 * Happy Endings
 * Haven
 * Hawaii Five-O
 * Hellcats
 * Herederos de una Venganza
 * Him and Her
 * Homeland
 * Hot in Cleveland
 * The Hour
 * How TV Ruined Your Life
 * Human Target. Second Series.
 * An Idiot Abroad
 * The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret
 * James May's Man Lab
 * Jessie
 * Justified
 * Kamen Rider
 * Kamen Rider Double (most of the episodes aired in 2010)
 * Kamen Rider OOO
 * Kamen Rider Fourze
 * The L.A. Complex
 * Lab Rats
 * Law & Order: LA
 * Lip Service
 * Louie
 * Luck
 * Luther
 * Mad Dogs
 * Malparida
 * Memphis Beat
 * Mike and Molly
 * Million Dollar Money Drop
 * Modern Family
 * Mongrels
 * Mr. D
 * My Phone Genie
 * New Girl
 * Nikita
 * Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy
 * No Ordinary Family
 * Numbers Never Lie
 * NYC 22
 * The Only Way Is Essex
 * Outcasts
 * The Pacific
 * Person of Interest
 * The Pillars of the Earth
 * Pop Up Video
 * Power Rangers
 * Power Rangers Samurai (The first Saban season since Power Rangers Time Force.)
 * Pramface
 * Pretty Little Liars
 * Raising Hope
 * Red Eye With Greg Gutfeld
 * Red or Black
 * Rev
 * Revenge
 * Rizzoli and Isles
 * Roger and Val Have Just Got In
 * The Secret Circle
 * Rookie Blue
 * Rubicon
 * Sadie J
 * Shake It Up
 * Shameless
 * Sherlock
 * Skins
 * The Slap (ABC miniseries)
 * Smash
 * Sons of Guns
 * So Random
 * Stand Up for The Week
 * Storage Wars
 * Super Sentai
 * Samurai Sentai Shinkenger
 * Tensou Sentai Goseiger
 * Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger
 * Tokumei Sentai Gobusters
 * Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger
 * Switched at Birth
 * Terriers
 * Top Gear US
 * Top Shot
 * Touch
 * Tower Prep
 * Tracy Beaker Returns
 * Treme
 * The Trip
 * Two Broke Girls
 * Los Únicos
 * Unnatural History
 * The Voice
 * What Would You Do
 * White Collar
 * Victorious
 * Zen

Music
See also Musicians of the 2010s‎.
 * 2NE1
 * Adele
 * Christina Aguilera
 * Beyoncé
 * Justin Bieber -- debuted in 2009, but gained astronomical fame during 2010 and beyond.
 * Black Eyed Peas
 * BTS -- formed in 2013. By 2018 they sold out performances in the USA.
 * Kelly Clarkson
 * Miley Cyrus
 * Drake
 * Eminem
 * Exist Trace
 * Florence + the Machine
 * Fun
 * Selena Gomez
 * Calvin Harris
 * Jessie J
 * Victoria Dawn Justice
 * Ke$ha
 * Kimbra.
 * Lady Gaga
 * LMFAO
 * Pixie Lott
 * Demi Lovato
 * Luna Sea - reunited and started their first world tour in 2010
 * Maroon 5
 * Bruno Mars
 * Janelle Monae
 * OFWGKTA released music on the tail-end of the 2000s, but released their more popular works during the 2010s.
 * One Direction
 * Owl City
 * Katy Perry
 * P!nk
 * Rihanna
 * Snoop Dogg
 * Britney Spears
 * Sugababes
 * Tinie Tempah
 * Usher
 * Versailles
 * The Veronicas
 * Kanye West
 * X Japan reunited in 2007 and is arguably more popular globally in The New Tens than before...
 * The solo career of Yoshiki Hayashi
 * The solo career of Sugizo

Professional Wrestling

 * Alberto Del Rio
 * Christian
 * CM Punk
 * Cody Rhodes
 * Daniel Bryan
 * Dolph Ziggler
 * Mark Henry
 * The Miz
 * The Nexus
 * Sheamus
 * Wade Barrett
 * Zack Ryder

Video Games
See also Video Games of the 2010s.
 * Ace Combat: Assault Horizon
 * Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy
 * Ace Combat Joint Assault
 * All Points Bulletin: Reloaded
 * Anarchy Reigns
 * Asura's Wrath (2012)
 * Back to the Future: The Game
 * Batman: Arkham City
 * Battlefield 3
 * Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril
 * BlazBlue: Continuum Shift
 * Borderlands 2
 * Brawl Busters
 * Darkspore
 * DC Universe Online
 * Disgaea
 * Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten
 * Dragon Age: Awakening
 * Dragon Age II
 * Duke Nukem Forever (no, seriously. Cue the Flying Pigs.)
 * The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
 * Epic Mickey
 * Fallout: New Vegas
 * Final Fantasy
 * Final Fantasy XIV
 * Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
 * Final Fantasy Type-0
 * Final Fantasy XIII-2
 * Ghost Trick
 * GoldenEye
 * Kid Icarus
 * Kid Icarus Uprising
 * Kingdom Hearts
 * Kingdom Hearts coded (Episode 8 and Re:coded)
 * Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
 * Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
 * Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
 * L.A. Noire
 * The Legend of Zelda
 * The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
 * The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
 * Lego Universe
 * Lollipop Chainsaw
 * Mafia II
 * Mari0
 * Mario Kart 7
 * Mario Sports Mix
 * Mario Tennis
 * Mario Tennis Open (2012)
 * Mario vs. Donkey Kong
 * Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! (2010)
 * Mass Effect
 * Mass Effect 2 (2010)
 * Mass Effect 3 (2012)
 * Metroid
 * Metroid: Other M (2010)
 * Mortal Kombat 9
 * Persona 4
 * Persona 4 Arena
 * Play Station All Stars Battle Royale
 * Pokémon
 * Pokémon Black and White
 * Pokémon Black 2 and White 2
 * Pokémon Conquest
 * Portal 2
 * Project P 100 (Working Title)
 * Prototype 2
 * Rage
 * Resident Evil
 * Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D
 * Resident Evil: Revelations
 * Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
 * The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police
 * Sam And Max: The Devil's Playhouse (2010)
 * Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
 * Shadows of the Damned
 * Shinobi series
 * Shinobi (2011)
 * The Sims Medieval
 * Singularity
 * Snailiad
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (2010)
 * Sonic Colors (2010)
 * Sonic Generations (2011)
 * StarCraft II
 * Star Fox
 * Star Fox 64 3D
 * Street Fighter X Tekken (2012)
 * Super Hero Squad Online
 * Super Meat Boy
 * Tales (series)
 * Tales of the World :Radiant Mythology 3 (2011)
 * Tales of Xillia (2011)
 * Tasty Planet: Back for Seconds
 * Transformers Aligned Universe
 * Transformers: War for Cybertron (2010)
 * Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (2012)
 * Transformers Universe (2012)
 * Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
 * Umineko no Naku Koro ni (Episodes 7 and 8, and Tsubasa)
 * Vanquish
 * The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
 * World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
 * X-Universe series:
 * X3: Albion Prelude
 * X: Rebirth
 * X-Men
 * X-Men: Destiny (2011)

Web Animation

 * There She Is

Web Comics
See also Web Comics of the 2010s‎.
 * Homestuck (It technically began in 2009, but the overwhelming majority of the content was produced in The Tens and the narrative is drenched in the metacommentary of the times)
 * The Pocalypse
 * Elf Blood was started in late 2009, but only really came into its own in early to mid 2010.
 * Mayonaka Densha began in 2010 but wasn't put online until 2011, at which point 10 whole volumes had already been written.
 * Anthronauts. Started in March, 2010.
 * Critical Miss. Started in May, 2010.
 * The Crossworlds. Started in August, 2010.
 * Ballerina Mafia . Started in September, 2010.
 * CHEVALIER. Started in September, 2010.
 * Here Wolf. Started in November, 2010.
 * Canis. Started in July, 2011.
 * Sonichu ended in 2010.

Web Original
See also Web Original of the 2010s‎.
 * The Amazing Atheist
 * The Angry Video Game Nerd
 * The Bunny Perspective
 * Botchamania
 * Bronyism
 * The Cartoon Hero
 * Cinnamon Bunzuh
 * Six Days the Animorphs Were Idiots
 * Count Jackula
 * Critical Marine
 * Dark Side of the Toon
 * Dragon Ball Abridged
 * EPICMEALTIME
 * The Game Heroes
 * Gay Comic Geek
 * House of Love
 * Internet Reviewer Trials
 * Laci Green
 * Lanipator
 * The Lebrons
 * Little Kuriboh
 * Lord Kat
 * Wyrmwick Campaign
 * PreWick Campaign
 * Made of Fail Podcast
 * The Mercury Men
 * Mikey Insanity
 * Pat the NES Punk
 * The Philosofan
 * Project Million
 * Psychopathic Radio
 * RedLetterMedia
 * Reviewtopia
 * Apollo Z Hack
 * Cheap Arse Film Review
 * Cin Wicked
 * Delonge Wannabe
 * Diamanda Hagan
 * Demoversi
 * EZ Rider
 * The Film Renegado
 * Frothy Pint of Metal
 * Joshua the Anarchist
 * Marc Mues
 * RBG Productions
 * The Omega
 * TJ Omega
 * Warning! Readers' Advisory
 * What We Had to Watch
 * RWBY
 * SCP Foundation
 * SF Debris
 * Stuff You Like
 * That Guy With The Glasses
 * The Angry Joe Show
 * Ashens
 * Ask That Guy With The Glasses
 * Atop the Fourth Wall
 * History of Power Rangers
 * Iron Liz
 * Awesome Video Games
 * Video Games Awesome
 * Bad Movie Beatdown
 * Bennett the Sage
 * Benzaie
 * Computer and Spaceman
 * The Blockbuster Buster
 * Brows Held High
 * Bum Reviews
 * Chaos D 1
 * The Cinema Snob
 * 80's Dan
 * Clan of the Gray Wolf
 * Eric Power Up
 * Familiar Faces
 * Guru Larry and Wez
 * Happy Harry
 * Internet Personality Vangelus
 * JonTron
 * Kickassia
 * The Last Angry Geek
 * Lee and Dena
 * Luke Mochrie and The Inners
 * Marz Gurl
 * Mike J
 * The Nostalgia Chick
 * The Nostalgia Critic
 * Obscurus Lupa
 * Paw Dugan
 * Phelous
 * Press Start Adventures
 * Pushing Up Roses
 * The Rap Critic
 * Rollo T
 * The Rosen Hacker
 * Sad Panda Q and A
 * Forget About It
 * Sean Fausz
 * The Spoony Experiment
 * Counter Monkey
 * Spoony's Campaign
 * Suburban Knights
 * That Dude in the Suede
 * That SciFi Guy
 * Todd in the Shadows
 * Video Game Confessions
 * Weird Video Games
 * Welshy
 * What The Fuck Is Wrong With You?
 * You Can Play This
 * Psychotaku
 * Y: Ruler of Time
 * The Idiot's Lantern
 * Transylvania TV
 * The Quest for Geekdom

Western Animation
See also Western Animation of the 2010s‎.
 * Adventure Time
 * Allen Gregory
 * Almost Naked Animals
 * The Amazing World of Gumball
 * The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
 * Ben 10: Ultimate Alien
 * Beware the Batman
 * Bob's Burgers
 * Bubble Guppies
 * The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!
 * Cosmic Quantum Ray
 * Dan Vs.
 * Fish Hooks
 * Generator Rex
 * G.I. Joe: Renegades
 * Green Lantern: The Animated Series
 * Hero: 108
 * Jake and the Never Land Pirates
 * Kick Buttowski
 * Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness
 * The Legend of Korra
 * The Looney Tunes Show
 * MAD
 * Mary Shelley's Frankenhole
 * Maryoku Yummy
 * Mon Suno
 * My Little Pony
 * My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
 * Napoleon Dynamite
 * Neighbors From Hell
 * Pink Panther and Pals
 * Planet Sheen
 * Pound Puppies (The Hub's 2010 version)
 * The Problem Solverz
 * Regular Show
 * Robotomy
 * Scaredy Squirrel
 * Scooby Doo
 * Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated
 * Secret Mountain Fort Awesome
 * Sidekick
 * Strawberry Shortcake. Second television series.
 * Sym-Bionic Titan
 * ThunderCats (2011)
 * Transformers
 * Transformers Prime
 * Transformers Rescue Bots
 * Tuff Puppy
 * Ugly Americans
 * Ultimate Spider-Man
 * Unsupervised
 * Voltron Force
 * Wild Kratts
 * Young Justice
 * Zevo-3

"And may the odds be ever in your favor!"