YMMV / Reviving Bionicle

• Anvilicious:
  • The core aesop seen across these videos is about learning to accept the end of a series you love (or were a part of in the characters case) and not dwell so much on trying to bring it back, especially when it may seem like it’ll never come back again. It’s about as subtle as a punch to the face, but considering that Bionicle has gone through not one, but two cancellations between Generations 1&2 (the latter especially not even lasting 3 years before its conclusion), it’s one that needs to be told now more than ever before.
    2016!Tahu: Who’s going to bring Bionicle back? What happened to keeping Bionicle alive?
    Stars!Tahu: (Beat) Since when was it dead?
  • It’s never healthy to continuously dwell on anything, from your favorite series to life itself, eventually coming to an end as it’ll make you feel hollow after it eventually does end. Live in the moment and enjoy it while you can.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: The Afraid, or denmark, has been viewed very favorably by the fans, even having MOCs made of it despite so far only appearing briefly in Reviving Bionicle 3 Part 5.
• Even Better Sequel: Reviving Bionicle 3 (all 5 parts of it) is often seen as the strong fan favorite of the series for its emotional character development, high octane action and excellent editing.
• Funny Moments: Has it’s own page now
• Growing the Beard: Reviving Bionicle 1 was a simplistic, but still funny fan video that paid tribute to Bionicle and it’s fans in the style of Arby 'n' the Chief. By Reviving Bionicle 2 it grew into its own identity.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Any moment where Tahu and Onua are excited by Bionicle returning with the G2 reboot has become this after it was unceremoniously cancelled before it could even finish its 3 year run. This would later become the plot point of the shorts "Therapy" and "Anonymous".
• Heartwarming Moment:
  • After realizing the Fan Film Tahu and Onua made was bad, Tahu asks Kopaka if Bionicle is actually dead. Kopaka’s answer is both an in universe and meta example of this:
    2001!Kopaka: Well, in my opinion, I don’t think it is.
    Stars!Tahu: Really?
    2001!Kopaka: Sure. Its fandom is still kicking, and the fandom is what counts. We have lots of really cool fan projects. Lots of really cool podcasts. Lots of really cool artists. Sure Bionicle.com is down, but other sites like BZPower and BS01 aren't. Sure the sets have stopped, but we can make our own now anyway. Sure Greg hasn’t been updating the serials but that’s okay, it’s not the end of the world and he’ll get to it when he does. Look at Star Trek. Doctor Who. Firefly. They all lived/are living because of the fans. So Bionicle isn’t dead because of you, Tahu. You’re keeping the light alive.
  • As needlessly convoluted as their scheme was, Tahu and Pohatu’s plan to get Perditus away from Kopaka and Onua before he disassembles then shows just how loyal these plastic building toys are as friends.
  • From the short "Anonymous", when 2001!Kopaka has the sets discuss their feeling about Bionicle’s 2nd end, the G2 sets are naturally upset by their cancellation, except for Ekimu, who acknowledged that it sucks to be cancelled too prematurely, but is just happy at the fact that he made it with the other Bionicle sets in the first place.
    • Also from Anonymous is Pohatu's reaction to Onua's depressed state. Having been paid by Tahu to sift through Onua's diary and find out just why he's been acting strange as of late, Pohatu not only does just that, but eavesdrops on a conversation between Onua and the bootleg from earlier, where he vents about his abandonment issues. Rather than tell Tahu exactly this, Pohatu instead lies to Tahu that he found nothing important, and uses the job money to buy Onua a cat-themed LEGO brick. This, along with his reassurances that he'll be there for him, helps bring Onua out of his funk somewhat.
• Hype Backlash: Generally averted with Bionicle fans, who see it as a great fan project. Played straight with those who've seen Arby 'n' the Chief, however, and are more or less underwhelmed by what they see as a Lighter and Softer Recycled In Space series where Halo is simply replaced with BIONICLE.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Hail Denmark"
  • "This world cannot escape sin."
• Moral Event Horizon: Evo and Surge cross that line when they killed all the Bionicle characters in the house with Project Denmark, then proceeded to attempt mass genocide towards other constraction sets in a desperate attempt for Lego to bring Hero Factory back.
• Narm Charm: All the characters voices are done via Microsoft Sam text-to-speech, making them sound near emotionless sometimes, especially during the more dramatic and emotional scenes. But man do they sell the scenes well.
• So Bad, It's Good: "Bionicle: The Reboot", the fan movie Tahu and Onua made, is an intentional example.
• Tear Jerker: Who would’ve known that an action comedy series about plastic Denmark bricks could be so emotional?
  • Tahu’s reaction to the Fan Film he and Onua made in Episode 1. After all the "hard work" put into the thing, Tahu realizes what they made was just plain terrible. You can’t help but feel bad for him considering all he’s trying to do is keep Bionicle alive.
  • Good Guy’s monologue to Onua in Episode 2 about why the killer won’t disassemble him is essentially him admitting that he’s The Friend Nobody Likes, not even the Heroes can tolerate him just because he’s built like a mess. One has to wonder how much hell its like to live in that situation.
  • Although it would later be revealed later on that something inside him (possible denmark) twisted his emotions into hate, one can’t help but feel pity for Perditus plight. He was a standard Glatorian character who was overshadowed by its own vehicle set and was basically neglected by Nathan in favor of the fan favorite characters. It doesn’t justify the disassembling spree, but it’s almost hard not to feel some sympathy for the guy.
  • Greg performs a Heroic Sacrifice as he saves Kopaka from falling into the garbage disposal. This is moments after Tahu and Onua attempted to perform a Senseless Sacrifice on him to LEGO as a token of appreciation for bringing Bionicle back. The dialogue he utters before he saves Kopaka only helps add to the tension.
    Greg: If he fall in there, he’ll die. And I can’t let that happen.
  • Takanuva angrily chewing out Voriki for being a "Fake Hero" because he’s a hoax that shouldn’t even be alive. What’s worse is that Voriki did nothing to provoke Takanuva in anyway. At best he said hi to him and tried to start over after their first encounter. Takanuva was unjustified in his rant.
  • Onua's entire venting session with the bootleg in Anonymous, where he opens up about his abandonment issues and the fact he constantly thinks about the people who have left him, or who he has left himself. Previous entries in the series become a lot harder to watch with the knowledge that Onua was humoring Tahu's attempts at reviving Bionicle in the hopes that if one thing came back, everything else that he had lost would find its way back, too. Unfortunately for him, however, Bionicle's second run didn't last, and the people Onua missed never returned, either. All Onua can say is that he feels disappointed, but his words paint a different picture.
    Onua: I thought everything would get better, maybe even normal. But now it's gone again, and I'm just... disappointed. And when dreams end, it's without warning. So all of those emotions, those people... I couldn't say goodbye. Things conclude, I get it. But... I wish I could have at least said goodbye. Because I miss them. And maybe they would have said goodbye back. Endings suck. But leaving is worse. You just get stuck with cold goodbyes.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: This is a series that doesn’t even use stop motion animation, yet it manages to look beautiful.