Please, Just Let Winx Club Die

Now if you’re a late millennial or early Gen Z woman like me, you’ve probably at least heard of Winx Club. It was the quintessential girl power show when I was a kid, and watching those fairies fly around and have magic adventures was my favorite thing to do. 

So, when Winx Club: The Magic Is Back was announced, I was thrilled. Sure, I wasn’t a big fan of the 3D animation, but most of the new fairy designs were great. 

Then I started hearing more about it. And more. And more. And then it came out on streaming on October 2nd, and I spent an entire day watching it. An entire day I could have spent rewatching Season 1 of the original Winx, because it is better in practically every way, shape, and form. 

[Note, this contains major spoilers for Winx Club: The Magic is Back and the original Winx Club]

For those of us who aren’t familiar with Winx, it’s simple. It’s an Italian kids show that was dubbed into English. The plot starts with a high-school girl named Bloom discovers that she has magic powers and meets a fairy (or two, in the reboot) who takes her to Alfea, a college for fairies like her and has fantastic magical adventures while discovering her past and the history behind her powers, and learning that she’s the Fairy of the Dragon Flame, one of the most powerful fairies of all time. The other main characters in the series are Stella, Flora, Musa, Tecna, and Aisha/Layla. Aisha/Layla’s name is the only one that changed between the reboot and the original, and it’s because her name was changed in the original English dub from Aisha to Layla. She’s always been Aisha in Italian. 

When I went to watch the reboot, I at least expected it to be better than Fate: The Winx Saga, which is the Winx Club reboot that turned our colorful cast of heroes into an edgy mess. None of them were really friends, it whitewashed two of the main characters, and cut out Tecna. I really, really did not like Fate. 

But at least Fate had a vision. At least it had a reason to exist. At least they tried to do something new with Winx Club and put a fresh twist on it. Winx Club: The Magic Is Back didn’t even do that— they just copied and pasted plot points from Winx Club and tried to cram about three seasons of content into thirteen episodes, leading to the main villain being a discount version of the villain from Season 3 and the Trix, the fan-favorite witches who were the main villains of the first season and appeared in every season since, being relegated to the sidelines. 

So, here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly of Winx Club: The Magic is Back. 

One thing I really can’t fault The Magic is Back for are most of the outfits. The new transformations are stunning, and the new fairy forms are pretty good. I have some personal nitpicks on a couple of the designs, but overall they’re pretty solid. 

Also, the music is a lot better than most people give it credit for. Some of the singers obviously have accents, but that’s not as bad as most people make it seem. “Step into the Dark” has been stuck in my head since I watched the reboot, and “Superpower” isn’t bad either. Plus, I have to give them points for keeping “Under the Sign of Winx” as the intro, because that song’s been stuck in my head since I was a child. 

I am also very happy to see female specialists— Robin was one of my favorite additions to the reboot. In the original Winx Club, the martial artists who didn’t use any magic were all men. It’s fun to see a woman using a sword in this new show, especially since they toned down Aisha’s tomboyish tendencies for the reboot. 

The Trix also had some very strong moments that gave them depth. Icy, Darcy, and Stormy are three witch sisters that work together for evil, and most of the Winx fandom adores them. The reboot had an episode that showed their worst fears, and it turns out all three of them have the same one— they’re terrified of their sisters hating them. The Trix are some of the most iconic villains from the original, and giving them moments like these only makes me adore them more. 

And just as a plus, I really like Flora’s new voice. She has this charming accent that I adore. 

Oh, God. Where do I start?

Probably with the fact that the show is terribly paced. The plot points feel… out of order, and I’m not quite sure why. Reveals that were in the first few episodes were held off on, and Bloom’s entire relationship with Stella was cut off at the knees from how quickly the reboot sped past their first meeting. Most of the girls only have a single focus episode, and there’s no time for anyone to develop except Bloom. And Tecna didn’t even get a focus episode! 

Also, various characters were getting their previous characterization in the original show destroyed for no reason— Stella’s worst fear in The Magic is Back is that her father thinks of her as stupid and wanted a son, while in the original Winx Club, her father adores her. Meanwhile, there’s Aisha. In the original Winx, she was shown to be deeply rebellious and headstrong, and her parents were only half as strict as in the reboot. However, Aisha is no longer as rebellious despite the intensity of her parents’ strictness, and a lot of her tomboyish tendencies have been erased. 

There’s also the fact that some of the original Specialists, Timmy and Riven, have barely any lines in the reboot. Riven and Musa are a fan-favorite couple, as shown by the fact that on the fanfiction site Archive of Our Own (or Ao3), they’re the pairing with the highest amount of fics tagged. And I might be a little biased here, but I always loved Timmy and the fact that he barely shows up made me incredibly sad. And they’re not even the specialists who drew the shortest end of the stick, because Helia was completely removed. 

And I’d be remiss not to talk about the animation. The 3D animation disappointed a lot of fans of the original, but it’s not just that. It’s the fact that in certain scenes, the girls almost look like dolls. The original Winx looked dynamic, even though most of the fight scenes were simply particle effects. Modern graphics do nothing if the girls look stiff when they move. 

And despite those few moments that give the Trix depth, it doesn’t change the fact that they should have been the main villains. Forcing them to share the screen by being someone else’s minions right off the bat makes them not feel like the major threat they are, even when they do plan to double-cross their master. 

I also don’t like that in the first few episodes, they separated the witches and fairies into a dark vs light binary. Those who have darkness in their hearts are automatically witches, while those who have no darkness in their hearts are fairies. Now, putting aside the fact that it’s impossible for anyone to be completely good, that’s also just… not how it worked in the original Winx? The source of Witch Magic is negative emotions there, and that’s simply how it goes. 

Bloom is absolutely terrified of being assigned to be a witch, while in Winx, fairies and witches are free to switch their classification at any time. Mirta, the Witch of Illusion, transfers to Alfea to become a fairy. This implies that in the universe of the reboot, that’s not possible. You’re simply assigned a classification and that’s that, and fairies apparently despise witches because they’re ‘evil,’ when in the original series and the reboot there are proud and strong witches that are anything but evil such as Headmistress Griffin. And then there are fairies that are anything but perfectly good and noble, such as Diaspro. It’s just… incredibly strange that a strict binary was introduced where there was none in the original. And then this whole plotline is dropped after about episode 3 and it’s never brought up again that witches and fairies don’t get along and supposedly hate each other.

Last but not least for what’s simply mildly infuriating, Dark Bloom was severely hindered in the reboot. In Season 2 of Winx Club, Bloom was transformed into an evil version of herself, aptly named Dark Bloom. This was a reoccurring incident in Season 2, and Dark Bloom quickly became a fan favorite. Watching the protagonist of the show and the most powerful fairy turn around and attack her friends was a twist no one saw coming, and the outfit didn’t hurt matters. However, in the reboot, Dark Bloom showed up for only one episode and was expelled from Bloom almost instantly. As someone whose favorite Winx season is 2, I can’t tell you how disappointed I was. It would have been better to not have her at all if they weren’t going to do that moment justice. 

Now this right here is where I’m the most upset— Damien’s entire existence. In the reboot, Bloom was given a twin brother who carried half the Dragon Flame. Not only did he take screentime away from the girls in a show about girl power, replace Helia as Flora’s love interest, and completely fracture the lore, he also just… doesn’t add anything new to the story. “What if Bloom had a twin” is a scenario best left to fanfiction writers, who could probably do this trope significantly more justice. Damien’s entire existence is painfully redundant, and it’s obvious that he’s simply not supposed to be there. Also, despite being Flora’s love interest, they barely interact because the plot is so centered on his relationship with Bloom. It seems like they almost fall in love without really talking. 

Damien’s relationship with Flora also relegates Flora to the side, to the point where Flora’s face isn’t even shown in what is possibly their most romantic scene in the show. Meanwhile, Helia and Flora’s relationship centers Flora— It’s her fantasies, her wishes that we spend time on. Flora is relegated to Damien’s girlfriend in The Magic is Back, barely having a personality of her own outside of him. And we never hear her talk about how much she loves him, only people teasing Damien for how much he loves her. In a show where Flora’s supposedly one of the main characters, it’s strange to relegate her to the girlfriend of a male character. 

And of course, I can’t talk about what’s wrong with the Winx Reboot without talking about discount Valtor— I mean Vexius. Vexius was Bloom’s father’s right hand until he betrayed him in the war between light and darkness, and he has Bloom’s twin brother and has raised him as his son. Now, how did he get Bloom’s brother? Why does he have him and not Bloom? This is not elaborated on.  Vexius spends the entire season trying to get Bloom’s half of the dragon flame, and then out of absolutely nowhere seems to remember that he has her twin brother right there who has the other half and who loves him and simply asks him for his Dragon Flame, which he had to do research on despite being from the planet that the Dragon Flame is from and being desperate to obtain its power. 

If that wasn’t bad enough, almost none of Vexius’ plans are original and they always end up worse than what the original character did. Pretend to be a trusted authority figure in order to gain the Winx’s trust? Professor Avalon already did that. Turn Bloom evil? Professor Avalon also did that one. Deal with the Trix and the Omega Dimension? Have an alternate Dragon Flame? Have a grudge against Bloom’s birth parents? That’s literally all Valtor. He’s a combination of too many villains and he’s not even as menacing as one of them. 

And that’s really the fundamental problem The Magic is Back seems to have. A lot of their plots are taken from the original show and changed in a way that takes away the emotional impact or makes the characters seem stupid. Aisha’s relationship with her parents takes a day to fix in The Magic is Back, when it took a whole season in Winx Club. Stella gets captured by a fake boyfriend the Trix cooked up, but in the original it was her actual boyfriend that supposedly invited her out on a date while in The Magic is Back she follows a man she met online into a dark alleyway and stays in an isolated location with him for an extended period of time. Musa has a concert, but the long plotline about her father growing to accept her life choices because he grew to hate music after Musa’s mother died is replaced by Musa simply wanting to make enough money to support her father. 

And all of this doesn’t really scrape the surface of what the real problem is: we can’t let Winx Club die. Most Winx Club fans agree that everything after Season 4 is garbage, and yet we have Fate: The Winx Saga and Winx Club: The Magic is Back. And the question is… why? Why can’t we let Winx stay dead? We have enough content to last a lifetime, with eight seasons of the original, two seasons of Fate: The Winx Saga, and now The Magic is Back. 

I know I’m probably more obsessed with Winx Club than the average person. I rewatch it constantly. When I went to Otakufest in June, I couldn’t stop smiling when I found a seller selling Winx-inspired keychains. I pre-ordered the Winx Club Funko pops the day they were announced, and I’m still eagerly waiting for them to someday release the other three main fairies. But I think that makes me uniquely qualified to say one thing: I’m tired of new Winx Club content. 

The show is brilliant. It lives rent-free in my head and it has since I was a little girl. But its time has long passed, and it’s time to let it go. We’ve spent enough time with them, and as much as I love Aisha/Layla and Tecna, it’s time to let them rest. If we really must continue at Alfea, why not find a few new fairies to spend our time with? Or develop some fairies and witches who got somewhat left behind as the seasons went on, such as Diaspro, Mirta, Lucy, or Roxy? 

Either way, the Winx are like dear friends to me. And I know it hurts to say goodbye, but we have to. The reboot is supposed to introduce the Winx to the next generation of young girls, but they already have the original Winx. Almost all the episodes are free to watch on YouTube. Bloom, Stella, Flora, Musa, Tecna, and Aisha/Layla are my dear friends, but the younger generation deserves to find their own dear friends. And then they’ll make their kids watch that, just like their parents made them watch the original Winx Club. It’s just how life is supposed to go. 

So please, for the love of Daphne, just let Winx Club die!