With enough resources, one could fix almost anything. So what's enough to be bricked?
* Configured badly in a way that could be fixed in just software, but in a very unintuitive and undocumented way?
* Firmware overwritten with broken firmware, requiring special software and images to fix/update?
* Firmware overwritten with broken firmware, requiring you to open the case and attach a serial cable to a hidden connector fix it?
* Firmware overwritten with broken firmware, requiring you to attach thin test wires to a flash chip and bit-bang flash programming sequences?
* Firmware overwritten, requiring you to lift and replace the flash chip.
* Broken hardware components requiring extensive rework?
Whether something is irrevocably bricked or not depends upon what tooling, documentation, and skills you have. Someone releasing a new tool that makes it easier to recover/unbrick doesn't make it not have been bricked in the first place...
With enough resources, one could fix almost anything. So what's enough to be bricked?
* Configured badly in a way that could be fixed in just software, but in a very unintuitive and undocumented way?
* Firmware overwritten with broken firmware, requiring special software and images to fix/update?
* Firmware overwritten with broken firmware, requiring you to open the case and attach a serial cable to a hidden connector fix it?
* Firmware overwritten with broken firmware, requiring you to attach thin test wires to a flash chip and bit-bang flash programming sequences?
* Firmware overwritten, requiring you to lift and replace the flash chip.
* Broken hardware components requiring extensive rework?
Whether something is irrevocably bricked or not depends upon what tooling, documentation, and skills you have. Someone releasing a new tool that makes it easier to recover/unbrick doesn't make it not have been bricked in the first place...