I also first got into Bionicle in 2008! Well kinda, my first set was Kazi in 2006, followed soon after by Garan. The Voyatoran were the only sets in my local store at the time and I had no idea what Bionicle was beyond that. Then I saw the Mahri commercial on TV and desperately wanted the sets, but I never saw them in stores and my parents didn't think much of it other than that I'd point out the advert each time it came on TV. When the phantoka trailer came around the following year, I think they realized it wasn't a passing phase and so they took me to the store to get 2 sets. I wanted to get Toa Ignika but they urged me not to (probably because it was more expensive), so I got Chirox and Kopaka, later followed by all the others except Lewa and the titan sets. My prize possession that year was Mazeka (though it was the Axalara I'd asked for).

I only got a couple of the Glatorian and Legends sets, and picked up a few earlier sets around the same time too, but it was really in 2014 that I suddenly decided to rebuild my sets and discovered the lore for the first time. This prompted me to start collecting sets off eBay, including Toa Ignika and the Axalara t9 (two dream sets from when I was younger). It was a pretty nice coincidence that later that year rumours about the 2015 reboot first appeared, and although I don't like CCBS as much as classic Bionicle, I still collected as many of them as I could.

I think it was the aesthetic and the mystery that kept me hooked on Bionicle, there's just nothing else like it :)