Bionic Fantasy

Bionic Fantasy (バイオニックファンタジー Baionikku Fantaji) is a fan story by GokaiWhite and a crossover between Bionicle and Final Fantasy 7, 8, and 10. Gokai conceived the idea while considering taking over the Dead Fantasy series of fan films, which also featured characters from the Final Fantasy series.

A prequel, Prologus: Bionic Fantasy, which will expand on the history of the setting, is currently in early conceptual stages, hopefully to be followed by an animated film adaptation of Bionic Fantasy.

Setting
The post-apocalyptic planet Ankoku Nui is divided into eight elemental regions, instead of the usual six Metru/Wahi on Metru Nui and Mata Nui. It is revealed to be a living organism sustained by a crystal that had lost it's light due to the actions of Dai-Shinra, a Makuta-run organization, supposedly built from the ashes of the Shinra Electric Power Company, whose primary base of operations is located on Do-Mura. The only known natural wildlife remaining are powerful, giant Rahi-like creatures called Genjuu.

Characters
Toa Metru, the main protagonists of the 2004-2005 story arc. Toa Luminus, a team of warriors of light, two each from three different worlds. Jikanmu, an original character and the mysterious Toa of Time who works to unite the above Toa teams in order to save Ankoku Nui.
 * Vakama, the Toa Metru of Fire and team leader.
 * Nokama, the Toa Metru of Water
 * Matau, the Toa Metru of Air
 * Onewa, the Toa Metru of Stone
 * Whenua, the Toa Metru of Earth
 * Nuju, the Toa Metru of Ice
 * Cloud Strife, the main protagonist of Final Fantasy VII, Toa Luminus of Dreams, and team leader.
 * Tifa Lockheart, the Toa Luminus of Friendship
 * Squall Leonheart, the main protagonist of Final Fantasy VIII, and Toa Luminus of Courage.
 * Rinoa Heartilly, the Toa Luminus of Love
 * Tidus, the main protagonist of Final Fantasy X, and Toa Luminus of Hope.
 * Yuna, the secondary protagonist of Final Fantasy X, and main protagonist of Final Fantasy X-2, and Toa Luminus of Justice.
 * Aerith, a posthumous honorary Toa Luminus and a half Cetra who continues to exist on a more spiritual level, helping Cloud from beyond the grave many times.

Scryptorek, an original antagonist and a time-traveling Makuta who founded the Dai-Shinra organization.

Story
"Listen now, to this long lost chapter in the legend of the BIONICLE. In the time before time, there was a distant planet called Ankoku Nui, stricken by a terrible darkness. The lands were dried, scorched, withered, fractured, and nearly all manner of life has been extinguished. Ankoku Nui was on the brink of destruction, and only twelve warriors from worlds afar, brought to this desolate planet by pure chance, by causes unknown, had a chance to save it. This is their story..." - Turaga Vakama
 * Part 1: Fire and Water
 * Part 2: Air and Ice
 * Part 3: Earth and Stone
 * Part 4: Time and Space

Compilation of Bionic Fantasy
The following list refers to the recommended order of games/novels/movies to play/read/watch before reading Bionic Fantasy, to familiarize with the characters and better understand the lore behind it, in the vein of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
 * 1) Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Game)
 * 2) Final Fantasy VII (Game)
 * 3) Final Fantasy VIII (Game)
 * 4) Final Fantasy X (Game)
 * 5) Final Fantasy X-2 (Game)
 * 6) Bionicle Adventures #1-3 (Novels)
 * 7) Bionicle 2: Legends of Metru Nui (Movie)
 * 8) Bionicle Adventures #4-8 (Novels)
 * 9) Bionicle 3: Web of Shadows (Movie)
 * 10) Bionicle Adventures #9-10 (Novels)
 * 11) Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile (Novels/Audio Drama )
 * 12) Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete (Movie)
 * 13) Bionic Fantasy

Themes
Nostalgia is a major theme in the story, which Gokai wrote as a salute to two of his favorite series that he grew up with. He had wanted to follow in Kingdom Hearts creator/director Tetsuya Nomura's footsteps in making some kind of similar crossover fiction for a long time, and creating Bionic Fantasy was his first major step in that direction. Gokai refrained from including any characters from Final Fantasy XIII and XV to put more emphasis on the nostalgia factor, despite those games' characters also being designed by Tetsuya Nomura, though Gokai would love to have Lightning from FFXIII and Sora from Kingdom Hearts play a role in some sort of future related project.

Another major theme is homesickness, as the heroes of the story were suddenly taken away from their homes, but despite their longing to go back, they understand it is their duty to save Ankoku Nui from becoming a lifeless rock, much like how environmentalism and the preservation of life are themes in Final Fantasy VII, as is the latter especially in Final Fantasy IX.

History and legacy also play a part in the story. Both Toa teams tell each other of events in their past as a partial recap of the events of their original publications. The Dai-Shinra organization also strives to keep the sins of the past, particularly those of it's spiritual predecessor, the Shinra Corporation, strong and alive in the present and beyond. Jikanmu, being a historian at heart, unfortunately, also believes the hypocrisies of the past to be necessary evils that must be respected as history if one is to be deserving of a future; that if people change themselves and/or the "rules" of today's world, even if for the better, history will be forgotten and everything will fall apart. However, the protagonists see the truth of Jikanmu's words and choose hope for the future, over the idolatry of corrupt or otherwise controversial authorities and historical figures whose age-elitism and wickedness ultimately overtook whatever legitimate sense of morality or dedication to the common or greater good they may have had in the past, or claim that they still do. Thus, Scryptorek is symbolic of falsified history which is meant to censor out the truth in order to glamorize the suffering of those who do not deserve it.

As with the Final Fantasy series, dualism also plays a huge role in Bionic Fantasy, as probably best represented through the two protagonist teams, one of which has three males and three females, one of each from three different games in the series. Another example is the concept of the younger generation vs. the older generation. The older, bigoted generation, symbolized by Scryptorek, believes itself to always be superior to all who come after, that any atrocities their youngers rightfully accuse them of, including forceful imperialism and "ethnic cleansing", are justified under serving some higher power or as being "historically correct"; this is emphasized by the idea that Ankoku Nui's "history" was written by those who make hypocrites out of heroes and heroes out of hypocrites, and misled the people who lived there. Thus it is suggested that the younger generation, symbolized by the Toa Luminus and Toa Metru, who have learned from the mistakes of those who came before them, choose to think for themselves instead of blindly follow the rules established by the corrupt/amoral powerful to be enforced by and onto the misguided masses, and strive to change the heartbreaking realities of today for the better, are the truly enlightened ones who deserve to lead others through example, not authority. Gokai also crafted the world of Ankoku Nui to be what he would consider the perfect marriage of high fantasy and cyberpunk.

Cast
* Default voice in bold

Special Thanks

 * Original Directors: Yoshinori Kitase, Terry Shakespeare
 * Original Producers: Hironobu Sakaguchi, Bob Thompson
 * Original Music: Nobuo Uematsu, Nathan Furst, Masashi Hamauzu, Yoko Shimomura, Takeharu Ishimoto, Ian Livingstone
 * Original Scenarios: Kazushige Nojima, Motomu Toriyama, Greg Farshtey
 * Genjuu/Mechanical design consultants: Yoshitaka Amano, Ikuto Yamashita
 * Extra Special Thanks: Tetsuya Nomura, Greg Farshtey, Hideaki Anno, and all Square Enix + LEGO staff and fans...

Trivia

 * This is the first BIONICLE related production, if (currently) an unofficial one, to focus on the Toa Metru, as well as feature Christopher Gaze as Turaga Vakama's voice, in thirteen years.
 * Similar to Web of Shadows, Teridax has no direct involvement with the events, but he is still the larger-scope main villain who is at least indirectly responsible for the events that took place.
 * This marks Gackt's overall third involvement with Final Fantasy, and first involvement with Bionicle.
 * Jikanmu's conception is probably meant to be a substitute to whatever hypothetical role Genesis Rhapsodos might have in any future FFVII project(s).
 * Aside from Tetsuya Nomura himself, GokaiWhite has cited Hideaki Anno, the writer of Neon Genesis Evangelion, as one of the main influences on this work.
 * Other influences for the story's tone and setting include Lost Odyssey, Fist of the North Star by Tetsuo Hara(especially the True Savior's Legend film series of the late 2000s) and historical drama films like Ridley Scott's Gladiator.
 * This fiction is also dedicated to Dead Fantasy creator Monty Oum.