We're the Winx Club...uh, Club!

[downrightdude]

*claps and orders Fred #3 to take coats from guests*

So, does anybody else here like watching Winx Club? Have a favorite faerie?

Excited about Season 6? Wondering when episode 9 will appear on TV? Let us discuss!

[downrightdude]

Personally, I think season 6 is going great! Both Bloomix and Mythix are interesting transformations, and the subplot involving Selina is intriguing.

[Liou]

...

SPOILER: Click to show

OK fine!!!
I'm not really into Winx Club but...
I WATCH IT, I ADMIT IIIIIT >.<

I find it just silly most of the time, and the girls don't have enough room for vital organs in their stomachs, butbutbut sparkliness and magic and I'm sorry, my hormones just compel me to watch it!
(Brings me nostalgic memories of my best friend from around age 9. Winx was our favorite after W.I.T.C.H. ;w; )

Now that that's out of the way...

I'll probably marathon season 6 some time this summer. Season 5 felt reeaally weird with so many new graphic styles introduced, but what I've seen about season 6 so far seems interesting, I have hopes for the new antagonist. The Trix don't seem to be working under anyone else - please let their motivations have more depth. Good ol' Trix. And I want Daphne/nymph backstory and worldbuilding.

Otherwise I don't know much about it and I don't really watch it okay? *shifty eyes* *crabwalks out* You didn't see me here!

[downrightdude]

SPOILER: Click to show

Season 5 was a bit weak, I admit. Hopefully Season 6, which is fantastic already, can make us forget Season 5 and it's weakness. And have fun marathoning!

Why hello/good bye mysterious stranger!

[downrightdude]

A new Winx Club movie will be coming out in September! How exciting.

[downrightdude]

Can't wait to begin Season 7! Waiting for some good audio English videos.

[Zoey]

I haven't actually watch-watched Winx Club since like, the middle of Season 4 (Season 3 was the bomb, and the movie with Enchantix was mind-blowing for my middle-school mind), but I still catch up with the overall plot and the new transformations, of course. XD I liked Bloomix; wasn't too much of a fan of Mythix; Butterflix is kind of meh. Heard Roxy was suppose to be the seventh member, but then they just kind of let her die into the background... >.> I was okay with that, actually... LOL! Seven main characters (plus their respective male counterparts) would've been a lot to follow.

Interested to see how the show carries out now that it seems like the usual Trix are finally out of the picture...

[downrightdude]

I actually really liked Mythix. Butterflix has potential, but I wish the transformations were longer. D:

Yep, the Trix are seemingly out of the picture.........for now, it seems. Pretty funny to see how many people complain about how much they miss the Trix and are wanting the writers to add them back to the show.

[Liou]

Oh hey, a while ago I managed to catch up with season 7 little by little, and then go over seasons 2 and 3 again because I'd only seen bits and pieces of them before... and the contrast sure makes one think. I've had a thought dump sitting around for a while. >.> (shush, this show is part of my childhood)
(Some spoilers ahead)

About the series' continuity as a whole:

SPOILER: Click to show

This show was NOT supposed to have more than 3 seasons. In fact, I'm tempted to consider everything that came after season 3 as a separate spin-off.

The most obvious continuity problem is the different fairy forms that came after Enchantix, the so-called "final form" from season 3. Since each of the later seasons sends the Winx to a different sort of world and environment, it does make some sense for them to have specialised forms, but why should they not return to their Enchantix in-between? Why should they not re-use forms from previous seasons when returning to places they visited before? When their Sirenix is absorbed by the Legendarium in Season 6, why can they not return to Enchantix or at least standard fairy form?
The succession of fairy forms had already had a continuity problem at the beginning of season 3, where the Winx who didn't have their Enchantix yet never thought of bringing back the Charmix that they'd worked so hard to earn in Season 2.
One possible explanation is that each new transformation completely overwrites the previous form and they can never go back, which makes the change a more dramatic transition in the girls' lives.
But the show never explains that explicitly. It's not up the fans' job to fill plotholes with theories if the show cannot keep its own canon consistent.
The "real" explanation is, of course, all the dolls sold with fancy new fairy outfits - the company had enough success to make an actual amusement park, apparently??

The largest plothole / retcon is the disappearance of fairy dust from season 4 onwards. Fairy dust was an ex machina for season 3, and it was fitting enough for the fairies' "final form", but there is no way the show could have continued with it. Perhaps it was ineffective on Earth? They could have explained its disappearance but never did; the fairies suddenly forgot all about it, even when there was obvious dark magic cast on their shop at the beginning of season 4.

Which brings me to another change: after season 3, everyone's powers seem downgraded. Fight scenes are slower and much more basic, with fewer mooks. The Charmix convergence that defeated Darkar, for instance, seems like it could have made short work of any of the later baddies, even though the Winx are supposed to be much more powerful since then. Seasons 4 and 5 still had some fighting iirc, but in season 6, both the Winx and boyfriend squad get cornered by simple werewolves that are nothing compared to even the Trix's mooks, and by season 7, it seems like all the fighting got toned down for younger viewers.

The toning-down is even obvious from the colour palettes: in seasons 2 and 3, you get grey skies, burning forests, murky brown swamps, purple-grey slimy monsters, the girls get web'd by spiders and fall straight into a pit of leeches... Later seasons are much brighter and cuter.

You can tell that the antagonists got powered down and all the monsters are less creepy and ugly, too. Compare Valtor to everyone who came after. Valtor was the show's peak Big Bad. He went out there, he did the impossible, the show invented several new worlds just so that he could pwn them. He manipulated the Trix with a classic narcissist's pattern and had them wrapped around his finger, managing to make them fight each other over him, keeping them divided to make sure they couldn't backstab him. So easy.
Meanwhile, in season 7, Kelshara... stands around, bullies her brother and rants. When confronted with good guys, it takes ages before she does any fighting... which consists of one generic magic blast. That's it.

Most of season 7 seems to be made of Looney Tunes-esque antics by the various animal sidekicks and Brafilius. The boyfriend squad is downgraded to petsitters.
There are more giggles, gasps, hmm's, haaww's and animal noises- than actual dialogue.
It's very obvious that the earlier seasons had more plot to them because the dialogue seems much faster in comparison, simply because they had more plot to fit into one episode.

Plot from the earlier seasons involved: royal intrigue on different worlds, cool minor characters like Griffin, Amentia, Diaspro, Cassandra and Chimera with their own motivations affecting the plot, a secret library, an impostor teacher, actual magic theory, the Winx splitting into two's and three's and actually doing different things?? like... clubbing?! and running into gang members?? so inappropriate for the little children. D:
More time was spent on the girls' (yes, even those who are not Bloom!) individual backstories and the friendships that developed between them.
In the later seasons, sending the girls on individual subplots is just too complicated. D: They stay together and only transform all at the same time. Have you ever seen a group of six(6) friends stay together that much and not get tired of each other?

So, the later seasons are not making much effort to stay consistent with the early show. They seem to be catering to young, new viewers instead of trying to keep a fanbase of grumpy old fans like me. They're casually leaving out old bits of worldbuilding that would make things complicated. You know what, that's a smart, valid choice.
They now have a slower-paced, relaxing little show with fun wardrobe changes, cute animal friends, pretty sparkly natural backgrounds, and a message telling kiddies to be good to nature. There are worse messages for a show to have. Heck, have you noticed that when the Winx have a party, the food on the tables is mostly fruit? So healthy.

About characters:

SPOILER: Click to show

The Trix. Every time you think the writers have finally got tired of the Trix, they find a way to bring them back.
I'm actually glad that they do. Look, the Trix are not particularly smart antagonists, they don't have particularly deep motivations. They're just kind of iconic to the show. Their personalities, their aesthetics, their set of powers were memorable and I'm sure they helped to catch viewers' attention in season 1.
And boy, am I glad they came back at the end of season 7. It was contrived, it had to be for only a few episodes since a full season of them would have got tiring... but without them, I couldn't have finished season 7, it was becoming too much of a bore.

Roxy: even though she got ditched after Season 4 - 7 main girls would have been too much, indeed - I'm glad that they found her a role as mission control in season 7. It wouldn't have made sense not to include her in the season about animals, anyway.

Stella got sadly flanderized in the later seasons, where she is in charge of comic relief and costume change. She used to have a much more interesting character at the beginning of the show. Beneath the careless spoiled fashionista princess, she was insecure, longed for affection and attention, and was a very good friend devoted to making others feel included as well, for example when Aisha felt like an outsider. She was quite touching sometimes. Her comic relief had better timing as she was making efforts to cheer up her friends, and it was a characteristic that suited her as the fairy of light: letting her light brighten up others' lives.
She and Brandon both seem shallow at first glance but they are a seriously adorable 'ship, the healthiest 'ship in the series in my opinion.

As for Tecna, I think the writers might have forgotten that she was supposed to have, like... a personality. Tecna used to be the intrepid strategist, providing exposition, mapping out the terrain, bravely going first through a dangerous passage, shielding the entire group and pulling off strong attacks. Sometimes she'd lead a combined group attack herself even though Bloom is supposed to be the sacred perfect leader of everything. In the last seasons, Tecna is pretty much an afterthought. RIP. I guess there's no need for a strategist when you don't have real action scenes.

Meanwhile, Flora seems to have replaced Stella as the Second Most Important After Bloom, which also allowed Helia more screen time. (You can tell the order of importance from their positions in the Butterflix dance: Flora is right next to Bloom, Aisha and Stella the cool ones are right behind, and Tecna and Musa the afterthoughts are at the back.) Aside from the show's environmentally-friendly message, my theory is that, as the later seasons target younger viewers, the nature-friendly Good Girl Flora was a better role model than the fashionista princess. Princesses and stereotypical materialistic girls seem to have gone out of fashion.

Shout-out to Griselda who, even though she was flanderized later, used to be Alfea's Mama Bear, very proud of her precious girls in a tsundere way. Griselda was tough enough to go to town and rescue the Winx from trouble, and she also gave them special self-defence classes.

((Might post a list of fairy forms from fave to least fave later, it's pretty inevitable with this show.))
((Donut judge.))