In the normal Earth, the year 2014, which barely had any memorable points, became the most explosive year in nearly a decade.
The focus for almost the entire year was on a company called the United States United Super Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company.
First, there was the major scandal that broke out at the beginning of the year, and a huge loss of nearly 4 trillion US dollars, which made the entire United States United Super Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company the target of public criticism.
As the incident was exposed, the United States United Super Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company, which was once the world's largest in market capitalization, reaching nearly 80 trillion US dollars at its peak and occupying half of the Nasdaq market, finally fell to less than 80 billion US dollars at one point.
This alone was enough to leave a deep impression on stockholders worldwide.
Initially, many people thought it was just bad luck for Americans, and many were gloating, calling it an American disaster. However, some data released afterward showed that it was people worldwide who suffered.
Of the total market capitalization of 80 trillion US dollars of the United States United Super Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company, less than 52% of the funds came from the United States.
Of the remaining 48%, 18% came from Europe, 6% from Southeast Asia, Japan's "Yijia" purchased over 4% of the shares, and another 4% came from other scattered countries, with the remaining 8% coming from China.
In short, the United States United Super Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company was an enterprise jointly invested by global tycoons and fund companies.
This was also normal, as a market capitalization of 80 trillion US dollars at its peak could not be supported by a single country; it required joint funding from around the world.
The result was that everyone suffered together when things went wrong, and a large amount of capital and wealthy individuals lost everything.
The losses were not limited to this. According to later statistics, the sharp decline of the United States United Super Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company brought about numerous other derivative economic problems worldwide.
For example, a famous European car manufacturer had invested 80% of its liquid assets in the United States United Super Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company, and after the latter's collapse, this company also went bankrupt.
According to incomplete statistics, in the following year, the indirect losses caused by the United States United Super Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company reached 2 trillion US dollars, almost equivalent to France's entire annual GDP.
It was truly terrifying.
What was even more terrifying, and what the world would remember, was a disaster that occurred a few days later. While the initially announced death toll was only over 2,000, as more and more bodies were recovered, the final death toll nearly doubled to 4,232, surpassing the number of deaths in 9/11 and becoming the most severe man-made disaster in American history.
Later, the United States even established a nationwide day of mourning to commemorate the victims of this disaster every year.
But the most unbearable thing was that the United States United Super Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company, which caused such severe consequences, actually managed to recover.
In the latter half of 2014, with the investment from the Western Mustang Fund and Little Swift's bold declaration to resume pipeline construction, the United States United Super Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company experienced an incredibly fierce rebound on its reopening day.
Although there was a slight fluctuation in between, within four hours of opening, the United States United Super Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company had already broken through a market capitalization of 700 billion US dollars. By the close of trading that day, the stock of the United States United Super Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company had once again returned to the 1 trillion US dollar market capitalization line, which was an unexpected miracle for everyone.
The Western Mustang Fund also seemed to have full confidence in the United States United Super Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company, as subsequent financial reports from the company indicated that over 52% of the company's shares were fully held by the Western Mustang Fund, an increase of nearly 8% from the initial 45.5%. This meant that the Western Mustang Fund had become the controlling parent company of the United States United Super Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company.
With the strong support of the Western Mustang Fund and the green lights from various government agencies in the United States, the stock of the United States United Super Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company remained on an upward trend for a full month.
Although the increase was not as dramatic as on the first day, there was a daily gain of about 1%. By the second month, the United States United Super Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company had returned to a market capitalization of 2 trillion US dollars.
As a result, the United States United Super Vacuum Pipeline Railway Company once again surpassed oo.com and returned to the top of the list of the world's most valuable companies. Although the company had not yet shown any tangible performance, it was clear that the United States United Super Vacuum Pipeline Company had survived and even had a better future.
However, the European car company was not so lucky. After declaring bankruptcy, it had no chance of revival and was eventually acquired by a Chinese car company. While it was revived in name, it was ultimately no longer the same as before.
While the United States was buzzing with its trillions of dollars enterprise that shocked the world, such matters were of no concern to the "plastic model community." What they cared about was whether they could buy good plastic models at a cheap price.
The "plastic model community" is a very niche group. Broadly speaking, people who play with figurines can be considered part of it. If viewed more strictly, then only those who play with models, specifically plastic models, are considered members of this community.
And the largest segment within the plastic model community is Gundam models. The entire Gundam model market is theoretically monopolized by Bandai, as Bandai holds the copyright to Gundam, and Bandai started its business by producing assembly models. Therefore, Bandai is considered the absolute giant of the entire plastic model community.
Of course, as a giant, Bandai's prices are extremely expensive. In 2014, a few sheets of plastic could sell for 200 yuan, and plastic models costing thousands of yuan were common. Even the world's richest man could only afford to play with Daban.
Daban, a fierce rival of Bandai and a formidable competitor in China, specializes in reverse-molding Bandai's assembly models priced at two to three hundred yuan and selling them for forty to fifty yuan (prices in 2014). It is a godsend for plastic model enthusiasts who cannot afford the genuine products.
Of course, due to its pirated nature, Daban is ultimately a clandestine enterprise. It does not even have legal registration and relies entirely on unofficial channels for sales.
Historically, Daban was finally exposed in 2018, and the entire factory was raided.
It is believed that during that period, everyone might have seen news about Bandai of Japan presenting a golden model to the Shanghai police to express its gratitude for their crackdown on evil.
This golden model has many memes associated with it, such as being the world's only fully plated PG Unicorn, unique and one of a kind.
Another anecdote is that the Unicorn's legs were assembled incorrectly, which became a classic blunder.
Therefore, Daban's position in the plastic model community is quite special. Daban satisfies the needs of many plastic model enthusiasts while simultaneously being looked down upon by them. Of course, this is Daban's original sin, and there's nothing more to say.
However, this very pirated manufacturer suddenly announced that it had been acquired by a super boss and would transform into a legitimate model manufacturing enterprise in the future.
Of course, the entire community dismissed this news as a joke. Did they not know what Daban was capable of? This was probably just a self-amusing announcement from Daban.
However, a few days later, a screenshot shocked the entire plastic model community. It was a screenshot of a filing with the Ministry of Commerce, which indicated that a company named Daban Models had indeed completed its registration with an astonishing registered capital of 1 billion yuan RMB.
This screenshot was met with disbelief, and many experts quickly declared that the screenshot had been photoshopped.
But these experts were quickly proven wrong, as any netizen could simply log onto the website of the Ministry of Commerce and query the company's information; it was impossible to fake.
And even more unbelievable news followed. Daban suddenly announced that it would hold a grand new product launch event at the end of 2014 to officially release the company's first super assembly model aimed at the global market.
In response, plastic model enthusiasts largely expressed that Daban was being too modest, as they already had hundreds of products and were now claiming to release their first.
As for the new product launch event, they suggested that an online live stream would suffice, and it would be best if Daban's legal representative made an appearance to express their gratitude.
Then Daban announced that this new product launch event would be held at the Bird's Nest stadium, with a big surprise for everyone.
The plastic model community was stunned by this announcement.
Yes, they were all numb from the shock. Holding a new product launch event at the Bird's Nest stadium – which tycoons had invested in Daban to have the confidence to do such a thing? Was their 1 billion yuan registered capital real and not just borrowed money?
Of course, some plastic model enthusiasts firmly believed that this was all a stunt by Daban and that they would never hold a new product launch event at the Bird's Nest.
Therefore, some enthusiasts in the capital decided to uncover the truth. The method was simple: they would personally check the future usage arrangements of the Bird's Nest stadium.
This was because the rental of the Bird's Nest involved many aspects, and all rentals had to be registered three months in advance and then displayed on a public notice board.
With less than a month left until 2015, if Daban had indeed rented the Bird's Nest, it would definitely be visible on the notice board.