Abrams Trek, an alternate reality with little difference...

I should say first, I am a huge Star Trek fan, and I have been all my life. I won't sum up my feelings about Abrams Trek, really because if I did this post would fall into a mess of nerdiness. Instead what I want to write about is the nature of its alternate reality. In the case of Abrams Trek the concept of an 'alternate reality' is used as a cheat to allow for a 'reboot'. But as the upcoming sequel is currently in production we will see possible growth and diversion from the original Star Trek universe. I love alternate universes, the concept is actually one of my personal obsessions. So here are some things I'd like to see in this new reality to further set it apart from the prime Roddenberry-Verse. I acknowledge that some of these are superficial, but just go with it.

1. Facial Hair; Even the smallest changes help. The crew is young in the Abrams-Verse. Maybe set somewhere just before the original series timeline. When the original crew made the jump to feature films, they started experimenting. The first time you see Bones in 'The Motion Picture' he's sporting an impressive beard, which he promptly shaves off, and Scotty sports a mustache through the rest of the films and in his appearance on 'The Next Generation'. So in this young Abrams-Verse, throw a beard on Kirk, a mustache on Bones, a goatee on Sulu, and keep them for the rest of this crews run.
2. Uniforms; The Abrams-Verse uniforms are already different from the original series. Why not take it further, why not make some bigger changes. Instead of shirts and pants you could change it to spacesuits, or tech driven jumpsuits, or whatever you'd like.
3. A new non-human hero; Spock has, among other things, represented the possibilities of Star Trek. His mother a human, his father a vulcan, he was the enigma of the future. What can be if we embrace the non-human life we will one day meet. Spock brought a hope and was a real jump from the evil aliens so often seen in popular entertainment. So bring someone else into the fold. A new addition to the command crew to really hit the point home. Since there's only the singular female voice in Uhura, maybe the new addition could also be female.
4. Kill off one of the characters; Seriously. If you want to set what you're doing apart as an alternate universe, you have to make a jump. And killing a major character is a hell of a jump. Doing this could even open the door to #3 above.
5. Change the Enterprise; The design of the Enterprise in the Abrams-Verse was quite different. Change it even more, go nuts.
6. Conflict; The destruction of Vulcan, the presence of Spock-prime, knowledge of advanced technology, these three things provide enough of a push to shake up the status quo in big ways. The Gorn, the Klingons, the Orions, Romulans, Tholians, potential for some big differences abound.

This is an alternate reality, start changing things.