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{{quote|''"It strikes me that the only reason to take apart a pocket watch, or a car engine, aside from the simple delight of disassembly, is to find out how it works. To understand it, so you can put it back together again better than before, or build a new one that goes beyond what the old one could do. We've been taking apart the superhero for ten years or more; it's time to put it back together and wind it up, time to take it out on the road and floor it, see what it'll do."''|'''[[Kurt Busiek]]''', '''''[[Astro City]]''''', on the whole point of [[Deconstruction]].}}
So the genre has just been [[Deconstruction|deconstructed]]. What used to be seen as a wonderful and happy story has been shown as it would really be, often much darker than it was previously portrayed as. What hundreds of thousands of children wished were real is now considered [[Fridge Horror|the stuff of nightmares]].
So, you wanted to be a [[Princess Classic]]? Well, [[Rose of Versailles|your husband is Louis XVI]].
So, you [[I Just Want to Be Badass|wanted to be a badass]] [[Super Soldier]]? Well, here's your [[Training From Hell]], [[Shell-Shocked Veteran|Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder]], and existence as pretty much a military slave, without the luxurious off-duty living conditions of the Mamelukes and Janissaries.
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* ''[[Cross Game]]'' seems out to do this with [[Replacement Goldfish]]..
* ''[[Parallel Trouble Adventure Dual]]'' managed to give us all the Evangelion-esc action, without the Evangelion-esc drama and [[Mind Screw]].
* [[Naoki Urasawa]]'s ''[[Twentieth Century Boys]]'' systematically deconstructs and ''then'' reconstructs both the sort of cheesiness that came out of kids' manga in the 70s and, really, the whole idea of childhood, childhood dreams (of becoming a hero), and, for that matter, the 60s and 70s themselves: the inspiration of the Moon landing, rock and roll, love and peace, the idea that we were entering a future where anything was possible.
* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' is a reconstruction of the entire history of mecha, starting with [[The Seventies]] era of [[Super Robot]] anime with Kamina as the voice of the seventies, then came Nia and [[The Eighties]] "''[[Real Robot]]''" style storyline of [[The Empire]] vs the Rebels and [[The Nineties]] with the whole Evangelion deconstruction type era with Rossiu leading the way. TTGL is a trip through the Mecha Genre.
* ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ|Gundam ZZ]]'' can be seen as a Reconstruction in the Gundam franchise, where [[Mobile Suit Gundam]] put forth the original concept layout of Gundam, and [[Zeta Gundam]] became a Deconstruction of those concepts, such as [[Falling Into the Cockpit]]. Though not everyone [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|saw it as such.]]
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== Comic Books ==
* ''[[Astro City]].'' In fact, most of [[Kurt Busiek]]'s works involve nuanced reconstruction on some level.
* In 1986, DC's big two heroes, Superman and Batman both received Deconstructive treatments, with ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]'' and ''[[Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?]]''. These were followed almost immediately with Reconstructions with ''[[Batman: Year One]]'' and ''Man Of Steel''.
** ''[[Kingdom Come]]'' was a particularly famous comics reconstruction that delivered a rather heavy-handed denouncement of the [[Nineties Anti-Hero]]. Though it should be noted that the story ended up with {{spoiler|''all'' the super-heroes realizing they were flawed, removing their masks, and joining normal human society.}}
** ''[[Justice]]'' is more a reconstruction proper, as it is essentially ''[[Superfriends]]'' without the camp, token characters, and low-budget visuals. Its opening reads like a superhero deconstruction, with the rest of the series reading like a thorough rebuttal.
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* A lot of smaller conventions of the superhero genre were deconstructed during the [[Bronze Age]] and reconstructed during the [[Dark Age]]. For one example, Genre: [[Superheroes Wear Capes]] because of the [[Rule of Cool]]. Decon: [[Watchmen|Capes are silly stuff that's just for show and can get in the way,]] therefore practical superheroes don't wear capes. Recon: [[Superheroes Wear Capes]] for variety of useful purposes, or are given explanations deeper than the [[Rule of Cool]].
** Also, Genre: Heroes don't kil because of the [[Comics Code Authority]]. Decon: Superheroes kill, and those who don't wind up getting beaten by the villain. Recon: Superheroes don't kill because they are not police or military and therefore don't have the legal authority to kill.
* ''[[Captain Atom]]: Armageddon'' was this as well. By the time it came out, the [[Wildstorm]] characters had come to embody all the excesses of the [[Dark Age]], so DC brought [[Captain Atom]], who, while [[Deconstructor Fleet|hardly what you'd call a traditional superhero]], nonetheless was a much more [[The Cape (trope)|wholesome, positive character]] to set the [[Wildstorm]] Universe to rights.
* ''[[Superman: Secret Identity]]''. A boy named Clark Kent in "our" world develops Superman's actual abilities.
** Deconstruction: He repeatedly mentions that he has no clue where his powers came from or how they work - how can he hear things before the sound waves even have time to reach him, for instance? When he actually starts going out in costume, the Superman suit works in his favour because no-one's going to believe someone saying Superman saved them. Unfortunately, he draws the attention of the military, who repeatedly try to capture him and experiment on him.
** ''Re''construction: He never stops helping people, and eventually proves to the people chasing him that he's more useful as a friend than an enemy. The book's overall tone and ending is completely positive.
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* While ''[[Hunting the Unicorn]]'' is largely a [[Deconstruction Fic]], it is indirectly ''re''constructive since it portrays Blaine as a believable character rather than a [[Relationship Sue]]. In-story, it's starting to reconstruct how damaged he is by showing how Kurt and Blaine genuinely care about each other, averting [[There Are No Therapists]], and using a healthy dose of [[The Power of Friendship]] / [[The Power of Love|Love]].
* ''[[Ultimate Sleepwalker|Ultimate Sleepwalker: The New Dreams]]'' and ''[[Ultimate SpiderWoman|Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With The Light]]'' are intended as Reconstructions of traditional superhero comics. Many plots are "done in one", efforts are made to explain traditional superhero tropes and make them more believable, and [[Writing for the Trade]] is notably absent.
* ''[[Blue Sky (fanfic)|Blue Sky]]'' is a Reconstruction of the 'Wheatley becomes human' breed of fanfiction. This extremely large branch of the portal fan-community tree is rife with variations, ranging from innocent, helpless Human!Wheatley who needs Chell, to Wheatley being a psychotic, corrupted android with a taste for non-con. In this fic, Wheatley is sorry for what he did, but he's not entirely innocent either. Chell is willing to forgive him, but doesn't right off the bat, and makes it very clear that Wheatley has to earn her trust. Even the most common thread of these stories, GlaDOS seeking revenge, is subverted. She is only interested in testing, and making Wheatley hurt to reach that goal is more of a fringe benefit than anything else.
== Film ==
* ''[[Batman Begins]]'' is a reconstruction of the entire idea of Batman.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' takes the dumb blonde who gets killed in horror movies and reconstructs her as an action heroine, then deconstructs the supergirl concept by giving her real world problems.
* ''[[Clueless]]'' is a reconstruction of Teen Movies after the bitter deconstruction of ''[[Heathers]]''.
** While also taking some time out to reconstruct [[Jane Austen]] by way of [[Film of the Book|adapting]] ''[[Emma]]'' into a modern-day setting where it actually more-or-less works.
* ''[[Hard Boiled]]'' features every single police officer character as unambiguously heroic, as an apology by [[John Woo]] for the way Chinese films had started to glorify criminals (including some of Woo's previous films). Their conduct in the hospital sequence in particular puts an extra helping of "Heroic" in [[Heroic Bloodshed]].
* ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'' was partially an attempt to revive the British police officer as a credible movie hero after almost every British crime movie of the previous decade (or at least since ''[[Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels]]'') had instead focused on glorifying criminals. Hot Fuzz spent its first half brutally deconstructing the police-action movie, then used its second half to gleefully rebuild it.
* Some recent Westerns seem to be attempts at this (the ''<nowiki>[[3:10 to Yuma]]</nowiki>'' remake, ''Appaloosa'') in contrast to some of the more post-modern examples of the genre (such as ''[[No Country for Old Men]]'' and ''[[The Proposition]]''). Or they may be seen as straddling the middle ground between [[Deconstruction]] and [[Reconstruction]].
* ''[[Silverado]]'' reconstructed the Western in [[The Eighties]].
* When the [[James Bond]] series appeared dead (and had been somewhat deconstructed in the Timothy Dalton era), ''[[True Lies]]'' appeared to reconstruct the spy-action-adventure genre by way of [[Affectionate Parody]]. Ironically, it is a remake of a French ''parody'' of Hollywood action-adventure movies.
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== Video Games ==
* After becoming famous for making the dark [[Real Robot]] game series, ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'', [[Hideo Kojima]] went on to produce the much more un-ironic mecha game series, ''[[Zone of the Enders]]''.
** Afterwards, he went on to make ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'', one of the most extensive deconstructions of video games ever.
** Arguably, reconstructed them ''powerfully'' with ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]'', taking the same deconstructive plot and putting it - and with it, many of the same genre presumptions - back together.
* ''[[The Darkness]]'' Reconstructs the [[Nineties Anti-Hero]], after over a decade of deconstruction and parody. Taking the criticism that most [[The Dark Age of Comic Books|Dark Age]] characters are shallow and over the top, the game makes Jackie complex and subtle, while playing many of the [[The Dark Age of Comic Books|Dark Age]] tropes straight and for realism, minus the ridiculous [[Rob Liefeld|Liefeldian]] costume.
* The ''[[Mass Effect]]'' series is a reconstruction of classic science fiction tropes (especially [[Space Opera]]), even down to the visual styling.
** [[Mass Effect 2]] reconstructs the concept of a [[Proud Warrior Race]], after [[Deconstructed Trope|deconstructing]] it in [[Mass Effect 1|the first game]].
* ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'' pretty much deconstructs every single Western genre trope, then reconstructs every single one throughout the game into a massive [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] by the end.
* ''[[Disgaea]]'' was this to the Strategy RPG genre, mostly by being very comedic, not taking itself seriously, and dropping most of the long winded political stuff that the genre had favored since Ogre Tactics.
* Much of Nintendo's massive success with the [[Wii]] and [[DS]] is due to reintroducing the simplicity and arcade-style gameplay that made the original [[NES]] and [[Game Boy]] mass phenomenons. Nintendo even went so far as to make [[New Super Mario Bros|all-new]] [[Mario]] [[New Super Mario Bros Wii|2d sidescrollers]] for both of them.
* ''[[Half-Life]] 2'' reconstructs the [[Zombie Apocalypse]] in a few areas, specifically the near-totally infested town of Ravenholm. Said zombies are created by a huge [[Puppeteer Parasite]] that latches onto the head (the headcrab), but it's surprising how many zombie tropes are played with and how many work.
** The Addon ''Episode 2'' leads out of the ruined and mostly abandoned cities and turns to the wilderness, which is the more post-apocalyptic version of the ...well, [[Zombie Apocalypse]]. Many of the best scenes consist of exploring seemingly abandoned buildings next to the road.
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== [[Web Original]] ==
* ''[[Red vs. Blue]]''. Notable in that the new series is actually called ''Reconstruction''. After five seasons of picking apart gaming tropes, they are now being put back together. What was once laughed at by the main characters is now a serious threat. Of course, it never made the audience stop laughing at them.
** ''Reconstruction'' is actually a [[Double Subversion]]. Yes, it put some tropes back together but it utterly obliterates some of the jokes the series as a whole has built over five seasons. [[Your Mileage May Vary|Your Mileage Will Vary]] ''a lot'' as to whether or not this was a good thing.
* The [[Whateley Universe]] is basically a reconstruction of the [[Superhero]] genre, starting with kids at a [[Super-Hero School]] and an attempt to define realistic powers and the [[Applied Phlebotinum]] to make them work. ([[Author Appeal|And]] [[Gender Bender]]s [[Author Appeal|galore]].)
* [[The Randomverse]] seems to have gone this way. It started off with heros discussing their movies, to heroes discussing their movies while socialising, to Lex Luthor attacking the heroes while they're trying to socialise, and has since built up a canon of jokes and joke-threats ad threats that used to be jokes, and constantly flipping allegiances. And it's ''still'' flipping hilarious.
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* The jury may be out, but this seems to be the entire purpose to the newest ''[[Scooby Doo]]'' series, ''[[Scooby Doo Mystery Inc]]''. The series takes a comically cynical approach to the Scooby Doo mythos, but it doesn't outright [[Affectionate Parody|parody]] or [[Deconstructed Trope|deconstruct]] the elements. While the kids are, realistically, treated as a nuisance by the law and their parents constantly question why they're obsessed with solving mysteries, the kids still get the job done and solve mysteries because they love it and love hanging around with each other.
** Case in point, at the end of Episode 11, the gang breaks up under the weight of the group's relationship issues. A straight deconstruction would probably end there - Mystery Inc. is a group of teenagers in high school investigating crimes in their home town, so eventually they have to grow up and find real jobs. However, Mystery Inc. gets back together by the end of the next episode, realizing that solving these mysteries really is what they were meant to do, and the team begins repairing their bonds - the reconstruction is that the Scooby Gang would have personality clashes, just like any group of friends, but acknowledging these clashes and finding ways to cope with them strengthens the group. (A straight parody, on the other hand, probably wouldn't even bring up these issues in the first place.)
* [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]], in a very subtle way. My Little Pony had been parodied for years, and the new series picked up on the reactional sarcasm and sardonicness of cartoons in the 90's. It's dropped the saccharine [[Tastes Like Diabetes]] exaggeration of its previous incarnations, even regaining some of the initial darkness of its pilot roots in the eighties, and older fans don't feel so silly for watching it because they know the show is very much aware of its own idealism and even pokes fun at it. (Twilight's blunt ''"Tell me she's not..."''' when Pinkie Pie starts singing, for example, while also accepting the value of her song.)
* ''[[Archer]]'' does this to a whole lot of [[Spy Fiction]] tropes;
** Its [[Jerkass]] [[James Bond]] [[Expy]] protagonist is self-centred, [[Really Gets Around|can't keep it in his pants]], [[Overt Operative|can't maintain a cover identity to save his life]], all his colleagues hate him and he displays [[Ping-Pong Naivete|at times profound stupidity]]... but he's incredibly competent in certain areas of his job.
** The show also reconstructs the trope [[Amusing Injuries]] - characters repeatedly have to deal with the long-term ramifications of the injuries they suffer (usually at Archer's hands) but it never stops the initial accidents being [[Played for Laughs]].
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