Pandemic Panda was the group behind various LEGO/BIONICLE fan projects and news, and are most well known for the TTV Podcast, Bionicle Autopsy, TTV: On Air, Bio Craft: Chronicles, and The Recap Reviews. The group was composed of CEO and Head Project Manager Varderan, Podcast Manager Mesonak, Legal and Business Manager Kahi, Music Composer and Host of the former show On Ebay Today Venom, Tenebrae Invictus of the Invictus Analysis, Host and Narrator Viper, and a number of folks who are solely cast members: the most recent additions including Takuma Nuva, Exxtrooper, and Prpldragon.
Their various shows are known in the Bionicle community for ostensibly being the most polished YouTube channel in the fandom. as well their focus on news, commentary, and entertainment in a casual, personality-driven fashion. Formed first under Varderan on the website BZPower as "iBZP", the TTV Podcast is the group's main focus, and what they are most known by. Very few in the fanbase referred to them by Pandemic Panda while the company existed, and rather referenced the group by the name "The TTV Podcast". The cast and crew has gone through many iterations and has lost and gained new members throughout the year of their formation, near the end of Bionicle's first run in 2010.
Pandemic Panda was disbanded in 2018 after the cast decided that their more stringent model was taking its toll on them. Soon after that, they had a substantial cast shakeup; Kahi was fired and Prpldragon announced to be leaving, but Prpl decided to stay on part-time and focus on school. Eljay, who had been fired in mid-2017, was rehired, and three new cast members; deadmatoro, Kini Hawkeye, and Avohkah Tamer were hired as well.
Since their formation, they have gained a much larger following due to covering and discussing other popular Lego themes such as Ninjago, Hero Factory, and Legends of Chima.
Pandemic Panda includes examples of:
- Accidental Misnaming:
- Kahi often gets the names of Chima characters wrong, but a notable case is during the early season two coverages, where he addresses the Lion "Lagravis" as "Lavertus" with Meso, who is very good about names, not calling him out on it or noticing.
- And then there's the time he accidentally called Ekimu "Ekuvu".
- Anachronic Order: The string of Podcasts between 110 and 116 have been recorded in varying orders, different from the order they were posted in.
- And Knowing Is Half the Battle: The name of Podcast #109
- Angrish: Eljay displays this to quite a large degree while Meso plays through MNOG, intentionally going the wrong way.
- Animated Adaptation: The Youtube User Maximumwarp has made quite a number of "animated" bits using audio from the podcast and MNOG Playthrough.
- Applied Phlebotinum: How the cast view the Chi during the Legends of Chima Coverages.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Kahi and Eljay especially have been known to go into these types of rants during the Chima and Ninjago coverages.
- Bears Are Bad News: In the Chima Coverages, all the cast are very vocal about their disdain for the Bear Tribe.
- Berserk Button: For Eljay, it's most anything Meso does that "ruins the experience" of the game, such as bringing up Hero Factory during a dramatic and important cutscene, or just going the wrong way.
- Better than a Bare Bulb: Kahi has stated himself quite the fan of Lampshade Hanging, and believes that it makes the Legends of Chima show smarter, as it gives a semblance of self-awareness.
- Big "NO!": Eljay lets one out during the MNOG playthrough. Quite a few actually. The most notable example is during the Po-Koro arc where Meso wants to go to Onu-Koro, which is not until later in the game.
- Book Ends: Their MNOG Playthrough ends with Meso and Eljay on a beach, the same one as from the beginning.
- Boomerang Bigot: Kahi regularly makes Asian Jokes because he himself is Asian. Var has also indulged in this once or twice.
- Breakout Character: Oh so many. Of the Podcast itself, we have Eljay and Meso, who have the largest followings, and in other projects, such as the MNOG Playthrough, there's the Time-Traveling Muaka.
- The Bus Came Back: As of 2016, Tenebrae Invictus has returned to the main cast.
- Butt-Monkey: Eljay, oh so much.
- Call-Back: Oftentimes, will the cast reference past podcast episodes, past coverages, and etc.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Eljay is very anti-big companies, specifically Google and Apple.
- Crossover: With both the BS 01 Wiki during Makutafest in a short stopmotion video.
- Demoted to Extra: Due to varying matters, this fate has befallen both members Kini and Tenebrae Invictus.
- Dramatic Unmask: At the end of the Recap Review finale.Eljay: I have a lot of people to thank and I won't be able to do all that. But while I can't thank you all individually, I can thank you all... face to face.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Looking back on earlier content like Podcasts or Machinima vids, the difference in the voices of the cast, Meso especially, is quite jarring.
- The Faceless: Until the end of the Recap Reviews, Eljay was never seen without his replica Kanohi Miru.
- Fan Boy: Of Bionicle, duh. Mesonak has also voiced his love for Hero Factory.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: For Brickfair 2016, they hosted a video podcast rather than an audio podcast.
- Genre Savvy: All the cast on the coverages to some extent, but Kahi especially.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Being a LEGO fan group, they of course attract a younger audience. Having seen this coming, they have a no-swearing policy, and Eljay in particular has taken to using Bionicle lingo and terms in pseudo-swears.
- Guest-Star Party Member: A few, Most notably Swert: Admin of BS 01, Their friend Heir of the Chronichler, and friend Awesomenessborn.
- He's Back!: Eljay made his grand return after seven months on March 17, 2018.
- Jerkass: Many would say Kahi is one. Intentionally invoked during the short-lived series "Live Pretentiously", in which Kahi would (as a joke) take being a jerkass up to eleven while doing a Let's Play with a horrified TTV member.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While Kahi does come off as a jerk to his fellow cast members, Eljay especially, he has been the most prominent of the cast to address the repeated downtimes their message boards have been suffering, especially with the ddos attack of September 22nd, 2014.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Kahi eventually fell into this, emotionally manipulating prpl and orchestrating Eljay's firing, which subsequently resulted in his own expulsion. When the Lime Joint Podcast interviewed him and exposed what he had done, he had to effectively be forced to apologize and tried to play the victim.
- Lame Comeback: We have this exchange at one point in the MNOG LP.Mesonak: I mean, look at this dude. (referring to Kongu)Eljay: What's wrong with Mirus, Meso? What do you have against Mirus? You know, sometimes people with Mirus are the most outspoken.Mesonak: You see, Eljay, what had happened was...the Miru...is a dumb mask.Eljay: YOUR FACE IS A SKULL!
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: With Eljay being Zoidberg, in several Podcast and Coverage intros.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Because of their origins as members on an internet forum, all of the cast stick by their original screennames, though all have made their real names publicly available. Truth in Television also applies, since the cast themselves only call each other by their screennames behind the scenes.
- Precision F-Strike: Kahi accidentally dropped one during a Brickonicle discussion, much to the entertainment of his castmates (it was censored in the YouTube release as per their above policy).
- Put on a Bus: Tenebrae Invictus.
- The Reveal: Eljay's face at the end of the Recap Reviews.
- Running Gag: Meso solidified his "Hello and Welcome!" catchphrase with a video of him at Mardi Gras, which the cast ran away with and try to insert into every new TTV episode.
- Shipper on Deck: Everyone in the cast for the Alena x Eljay ship.
- Signing-Off Catchphrase: All derivative of the phrase "Thanks for watching".
- Shout-Out: To the BS 01 Wiki, to the CBW Wiki, and to Audible.com, the last one being Played for Laughs in some instances.
- Stalker with a Crush: Jokes have been made that Eljay is this.
- The Sociopath: After his firing and the revelation of the events behind it, many have called Kahi an example.
- The Stoner: Eljay's Recent Review portray Umarak as this in the skit intros; the Hunter is searching for Okotan creatures to strap to his back and hallucinate, and he reaches his Destroyer form through "mask drugs".
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Eljay and Kahi, which led to Eljay being fired.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Meso and Eljay
"Well, y'see, what'd happened is...The Miru is a Dumb Mask"
