#back on my winx club bs

[irandomblogfulb]

Nothing will not convince me the only reason why Fate is going the Rivusa route is to distract everyone from the fact they whitewashed Musa and turned Riven into a homophobic, fatphobic, sexist asshole teethering on incel-dom.

#fate the winx saga #netwinx #back on my winx club bs

[gayartbirb]

About Poison Ivy and Count Vertigo

Hi, hello, I’m not dead, I’ve just been incredibly busy and kind of taking a break from social media in general. Currently on a MASSIVE DC Comics kick and there’s one particular topic that I’ve seen some HORRENDOUS takes about on here, so let’s discuss.

I never thought I’d be saying this, but CONTENT WARNING: I’m unfortunately going to be discussing topics related to rape and sexual assault below the cut. If that ain’t your cup of tea, I completely understand, and you’re free to scroll away now. TLDR if you don’t wanna read the whole thing: I’ve seen people accuse Poison Ivy of raping Count Vertigo just because she brainwashed him. These people have clearly never read the comic in question, and I’m sick and tired of this misinformation being spread around.

Okay? Okay, let’s do this.

So, it shouldn’t suprise anyone that Poison Ivy is probably one of my favorite DC characters of all time. I mean, I consider her to be one of my first gay awakenings (the others were Darcy from Winx Club and Emma Frost from Wolverine and the X-Men, if you’re wondering). So, when I see people accuse Ivy of being a full-blown RAPIST, I’m obviously gonna be upset.

Now, me being a simp is not clouding my judgement in this case. When I first saw people making this claim, I tried my dammdest to put my bias to the side and figure out what the hell these people were talking about. Lo and behold, I find out that it’s complete BS.

This particular claim stems from John Ostrander’s run on Suicide Squad starting back in 1987. I’m specifically referring to issue #45. This section on Count Vertigo’s Wikipedia page explains what went down infinitely better than I could, so I’m just gonna quote it here:

“He would later come to join the Suicide Squad in exchange for a shortened prison sentence, and it was revealed that he was plagued by bipolar disorder. After the Suicide Squad disbanded for the first time, Count Vertigo was captured by Vlatavan rebels, who wished to use his powers to overthrow the current Vlatavan government. They used a variety of drugs on him, each with a differing effect on the Count, as he would for example suddenly see himself as an Angel of Vengeance, sent to wreak havoc on the current rulers. Although he largely believed himself master of his own will, his mood swings were completely subject to his captors.

He was captured by Poison Ivy when the Suicide Squad came in and resolved the conflict and Kaligari (then-ruler of Vlatava) was murdered. Count Vertigo was Poison Ivy's slave for a long period of time, during which he grew to hate Poison Ivy and frequently threatened to kill her when he was free of her control. Amanda Waller was able to free Vertigo of her control so that he could stop a group of missiles hitting Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem at the behest of the villain Kobra. If the Dome had been destroyed, innocent lives would have been lost in a resulting war.

Vertigo succeeded, and it turned out that as he went into rehab and expunged the chemicals that had been pumped into his body by both Ivy and the rebels, that he was unwittingly cured of the disorder that had plagued him for so long.”

I’d also like to point out this snippet:

“Vertigo also resolved his grudge with Poison Ivy. During the War of the Gods crossover, he was perfectly willing to let her die when he found her abandoned on an Amazonian island; ironically, she was bound and promised whoever freed her, her undying devotion. Snickering snidely, Vertigo left her to die in the ruins of the collapsing temple they were in. Still, Ivy was saved, and Count Vertigo would later reluctantly work alongside her in the Suicide Squad, leaving their grudge be.”

Now, what does this have to do with Ivy allegedly being a rapist? Well, I’ve seen multiple people on here claim that Ivy raped Count Vertigo when she brainwashed him. To be quite blunt, this couldn’t be further from the truth. There is no, and I mean NO instances of Ivy raping or assaulting Count Vertigo. The worst thing she does is have him do things for her. That’s it. No overly sexual stuff in there at all. Here, take some pages that (hopefully) prove my point:

So, tell me why I’m seeing people say stuff like this (these were all taken from @super-hero-confessions btw. No hate to that blog, and I’m sorry y’all got caught in the crossfire on this one):

“What Poison Ivy did to Count Vertigo is exactly what Purple Man did to Jessica Jones. If it’s okay to stan Ivy, then it should be okay to stan Killgrave.”

“POISON IVY IS A RAPIST, USING HER PHEROMONES TO MAKE PEOPLE DO THINGS THEY WOULDN'T NORMALLY DO IS THE SAME AS GIVING SOMEONE A DATE RAPE DRUG. TRYING TO CALL PEOPLE HOMOPHOBIC BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE THE PAST OF YOUR FAVE CHARACTER BEING POINTED OUT, JUST SHOWS IMMATURITY AND THE FACT THAT HARL/IVY FANS FORGET THAT IVY IS A VILLAIN.”

“IT'S REALLY TELLING TO ME THAT THE PEOPLE WHO CALL JOKER A RAPIST FOR WHAT HE DID TO BARBARA ARE THE TYPE OF PEOPLE WHO MAKE EXCUSES OR TRY TO DOWNPLAY POISON IVY ACTUALLY RAPING COUNT VERTIGO. "IT WAS A DIFFERENT TIME BACK THEN, IT DOESN'T COUNT." YOU'RE DISGUSTING AND A HYPOCRITE.”

“I LOVE SEEING POISON IVY FAN BLOGS SAYING IT'S WRONG TO LIKE PURPLE MAN BECAUSE HE'S A RAPIST. I GUESS THEY THINK A WOMAN RAPING A MAN LIKE WHAT IVY DID TO COUNT VERTIGO DOESN'T COUNT.”

“POISON IVY DOESN'T DESERVE A REDEMPTION ARC BECAUSE SHE IS A RAPIST.”

“IT ANNOYS ME WHEN PEOPLE SAY JOKER SHOULDN'T BE GAY BECAUSE HE'S DONE BAD THINGS. POISON IVY IS A RAPIST AND A SERIAL KILLER AND NO ONE COMPLAINS ABOUT HER BEING LGBT? WHY CAN'T JOKER BE?”

Now, I’m saying all of this in relation to Count Vertigo. If there’s any ACTUAL instances of Ivy raping someone, feel free to let me know. HOWEVER, if you’re going to do that, I want you to cite the actual comic where it happens. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in college, it’s that you should never make a claim if you can’t back it up with an actual source.

That being said, I think the idea of Ivy and Vertigo being a couple is really funny, and I’m absolutely down to write a fanfiction addressing all of this stuff if anyone’s interested. I may be a shitty fiction writer, but dammit, I’m willing to try.

Anyway, stop calling Ivy a rapist. Sure, she does stuff that crosses a line on occassion, but she’s a villain. I’m pretty sure they all do that.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go listen to some Precure OST’s to cleanse my mind of this absolute nonsense.

#tw: r*pe #tw: sa #rant #dc comics #count vertigo #poison ivy #pamela isley #suicide squad

[bellqmione]

You asked for lots of attention in your inbox and I'm unsure if that was an open invite or for mutuals only but uhhh, here's a rant on why fate: the winx saga was an insult to me, personally:

Winx Club is an Italian magical girl show that is currently drip marketing for the release of its 9th season. Season 1-3 were made by Rainbow, and then seasons 4+ had some form of co-producing by Nickelodeon.

It was remarkable for its colourful sci-fi fantasy setting and itstackling of difficult topics for children. The main characters (who were all fairies) rode hover bikes and space ships and dated energy sword wielding fighting Specialists whilst all having a signature colour and a sparkly transformation. Stella had a full story arc on her parent's divorce, Bloom had an adoptive and bio family and had to navigate both of them, Musa had lost her mum, Aisha had controlling parents (and later lost her fiance), Tecna had emotionally distant parents who valued logic over all else, Flora was shy and reserved and had to learn to speak up for herself. It was great (at least for the first 3-4 seasons)!

As the seasons went on (most from 5+) it got targeted at a younger and younger demographic and soft reset the main characters from 20 somethings getting jobs and getting engaged back into being students and so lost a lot of its fanbase who had enjoyed watching the girls grow up and wanted to know where life post s4 would take them.

Then Netflix decided it was going to make a live action adaptation aimed at an older audience. I was Very Very nervous but I had hope. A Winx where Bloom could say fuck and blood could be shown would be cool, and maybe this time we could actually see the characters get married and then move in together instead of living on separate planets with their parents still.

The first sign that it was not going to be good was when the casting call went out and there wasn't a call for Tecna: my favourite of the 6 main characters. I was so confused as to why but was hoping it was because they planned to introduce her later (as in the original show Aisha wasn't introduced until season 2). And then the cast got released and they'd cast a white woman to play Flora (the latina coded character) and a maybe white passing maybe white woman to play Musa (the chinese coded character). They later changed Flora's name to Terra and hoped we wouldn't notice but kept the casting the same. (Only coded bc this is a sci-fi show and the characters are all from different planets, for all intents and purposes the character just are Chinese/latina/ect.) This then left Aisha (afro american coded) as the token black girl in the cast.

Speculation on my part: I think they didn't do anything to mitigate the backlash for Musa as they didn't perceive it as as bad white washing as they were doing to Flora, somehow. And I think they white washed Flora because they wrote her fat and figured a fat latina woman would be too much forced diversity or something, as if people don't just exist.

As a kid, seeing the Winx all being badasses saving the Magix dimension together whilst two of them even looked like me was really special. And they just white wash ⅓ of the main cast. Like,,, what?

Next up they released to the press that the reason they got rid of Tecna was because they were going for a more fantasy, less sci-fi vibe and so the Fairy of Technology wouldn't fit in anymore. And by "less sci-fi" they mean they're scrapping the whole setting of the Magix dimension and are instead setting it in a hidden magic society on earth (with the show taking place in Ireland specifically). No more space travel, no more alien princesses, no more hover bikes or energy weapons or the whole plot line of reintroducing Earth to magic that was s4. They couldn't even set it in the fictional town of Gardenia, Italy (where all the earth shenanigans in the original show took place). Scrapping Tecna for this reason is also bs but I'll come back to that in a moment.

Then they said they were going to make sure that they had boy fairies and girl specialists because the original show didn't and they were more progressive (ignore the white washing)... ... ... THEY HAD BOU FAIRIES AND GIRL SPECIALISTS IN THE OG SHOW STFU!! The main characters were six girls bc, wow, magical girl show aimed at little girls, and the only specialists we spent time with were their boyfriends because who tf cares about anyone else?? But background characters showed boy fairies and girl specialists from the beginning?? The fairy school literally had multiple named guy teachers. Like,,, tell me you don't care about this ip without telling me you don't care about this ip.

*sigh*

Anyways, I'll go along with their logic for this next segment i guess. So, you want to show more gender diversity in your three two different magical schools (that you smushed into one school for some reason?), you don't want to have Tecna be a technology fairy because not only have you scrapped all sci-fi but you've introduced a completely different magic system (I'll get to it). So how to kill two birds with one stone? Make her a specialist! They fight using technology and having a main character be a girl specialist/boy fairy would definitely get your point across!! But nooooo, just get rid of her entirely i guess.

Now we have some minor nit picks that one could gather from promo material before we get to the plot of the show. 1) the colours and fashions: everyone looks so drab and so dull. The bright colours and y2k fashions from the first show were part of its main selling power, now everyone is dressed like they're 35 and don't have the energy to put into outfit crafting despite all being 16-18. Especially Terra, probably because they gave up trying to dress someone fat, thanks guys. 2) they've gotten rid of the third big magic school, the one for witches and then smashed the remaining two into one. Why? To give more harry potter vibes i guess (which isn't something you should want to be emulating but w/e they don't care). 3) the magic system is radically different. Before every fairy and witch had their own domain (eg: fairy of music, witch of storms, ect) but now everyone is one of 6 different types of elemental fairy. Musa is no longer the fairy of music but instead a mind fairy, but the other main characters get to keep their domain roughly the same (though they have to share) with fire, water, earth, light, and electricity. (You might think "electricity?" why didn't they make Tecna an electric fairy but idfk guys, idfk) Oh! and they've scrapped fairy transformations, saying they're a lost art (Bloom does get one at the end of the season but all it does is give her bad gci fire wings and the sequence is boring and there's no outfit change??? In a magical girl show???). 4) they've scrapped the iconic main antagonists from the show, The Trix: a trio of witches who want to rule the magic dimension and have an eye on Bloom specifically, for one character called Beatrix (oh wow, very creative) who's an electric fairy and idk has some bad blood magic thing going on.

Then the show actually came out.

I'll be brief here bc I've already gone on long enough but to summarise it:

- the girls all hate each other for the whole season despite their easy friendship and talking about their problems being a highlight of the og show

- the dialogue feels like Riverdale but worse somehow, "snorting the midnight crack?" is somehow a real line someone says with a straight face

- they make these 16 year olds have sex on screen, please stop I don't wanna see that

- despite Terra's storyline being about not taking shit from people for being fat they somehow give everything fatphobic undertones regardless??? At least Terra and Musa are actually friends for a bit ig

- there's a love triangle where there wasn't one in the original series. Please for the love of god stop

- there's a weird polyam/bi thing happening with Beatrix, Riven, and original for this show bi character that is done in the most biphobic way possible and I'm still confused as to how they did it so bad

- Bloom's adoptive mum is abusive now?? despite her adoptive family being absolutely lovely in the original???

- Stella didn't get held back a year for slacking like she did previously, she got held back a year for blinding a student on accident but her mum is making her say it was on purpose??

- Aisha is a wet towel teacher's pet for some reason??

- yeah it's just bad.

(also despite half the main cast being princesses in the original show, now only Stella is and for some reason her mum is the monarch instead of her dad and her dad just isn't in the picture and instead of being slightly distant due to divorce her mum is just straight up emotionally abusive, in this new magic system where magic is done with emotion, so Stella has shit magic control?? Also Bloom is American now and not Italian. Idk just odd here i feel)

Uhhh, yeah, thanks for reading. Feel free to ignore this i guess ahaha I don't know if this is over stepping I haven't been a proper tumblrina for long

- 📟🧚

#everything 2 me

[hallow-witxh]

Hello, I'm an extremely confused and lost baby witch with infinite questions. Today i want to ask about affirmations/manifistations/laws of attraction/assumption. So i thought these go hand in hand with witchcraft until i saw a blog saying otherwise. Basically it explained that you are god and shouldn't believe in any other entity than yourself. And that you can manifest anything you want (changing your race and body shape and even gender, you can also fly physically through manifestation) just believe it and your desired reality will manifest in the 3D? Idk im so confused what is this? Also they said you can manifest lovers, you dont need consent because they are in your reality as an extension of yourself so you can do whatever you want to any person through manifestations. They encouraged not working towards your goals, just stay in bed and manifest wealth, it will come to you, stop using logic. Also they said you can eat whatever you like but manifesting "whatever i eat has 0 calories" wont make you gain an ounce, then they talked abt manifesting flying??? Am i crazy or is this really how things work? Also they seem to follow every word of neville goddard, no idea who that is, haven't done research yet bcuz my brain is still stunned from that post. Please tell me i'm not crazy and this is in fact bs 😭 I'd appreciate anything you have to educate me about these laws and manifestations and their place within the witchcraft community

Hey anon, I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea if this is a prank question or not because this is all very... not it. I'm going to treat it as a genuine question though so here goes.

"-you can do whatever you want to any person through manifestations." This is a massive red flag. All acts with another person need to be consensual when it comes to any religious pressure or witchcraft. This alone would have made me block that person immediately. This is probably the kind of person who suggests casting nonconsensual love spells, hexes/curses with the intention to harm someone (a separate practice from karma/send back/begone - i can make a post on that if anyone wants one), the likes.

"They encouraged not working towards your goals, just stay in bed and manifest wealth, it will come to you, stop using logic." You know, nothing will get done that way. Manifestation is calling your own power to you to make things happen. It's not going to magically land $15,000 in your bank. It's not. This is fucked up advice.

This is all some Winx Club bullshit.

Block 'em.

#Ander Answers #i just KNOW this anon question is bs #but like #honestly just in case

[dandomroodles]

back on my winx club redesign bs

[ID: A digital drawing of a Bloom redesign from Winx Club. She is wearing a blue crop hoodie over a t-shirt with an orange gradient. Her fingerless gloves match her t-shirt. She has a flame earring and a septum piercing. Her hair is tied back in a ponytail. She is smiling energetically while doing finger guns with fire coming out of them. Her name is written around her head. End ID]

#winx club #winx club redesign #winx club bloom #winx bloom #bloom winx #bloom winx club #peony.png #canon bloom was so boring #can't believe she was the main character #also that is the best typography i have ever done i can't believe i peaked at winx fanart #also also if you've read this far tell me which winx girl i should redesign next lol

[kryativelogos]

Aisha/Layla’s Wack Love Life (spoilers for S3+)

I’m on a Winx Club roll right now, but I do plan on making a post about Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. ANYWAYS. I just finished rewatching S6 and I can’t really remember if people thought S6 was good or bad but that’s not what I wanted to talk about for this post (although if people are interested I can discuss some of the things I liked and disliked about it) I’m here to talk about Aisha/Layla’s love life that I wish the show took better care of. (NOTE: I will probably be using both Aisha and Layla’s name interchangeably, please realize they are the same person and I am only switching them based on the season I am talking about. For reference, I am using Layla for S3-4 and Aisha for S5+)

I’m going to split this analysis into four parts, the first three will be about the boys they introduced throughout the show to be Aisha’s love interest and my personal opinions about them. The final part will just be final thoughts about what was appropriate for the show plot-wise and their compatibility with Aisha. So yes, warning, this is a long-ass analysis.

NABU: Introduced in S3 as the mysterious Ophir who was stalking Layla for like three (3) episodes before actually talking to the girl. He was arranged to marry Layla and was initially upset over the idea, thus stalking to figure out who the heck this girl was. He lasted for technically a full season before dying in S4, sacrificing himself to stop the Wizards of the Black Circle. I personally really liked the development that Nabu and Layla have throughout the season. From being completely upset over the idea of spying to apologizing and realizing that they had real chemistry. I learned to really love this couple in S4 because as the season goes on and there was the ridiculous drama between Andy + his band vs the specialist, there were small clips that showed that Nabu and Layla still loved each other very much. In one episode after the girls have a fight with the specialists, they walked away from each other, but Nabu and Layla looked back as they split off in (I’m sorry, I can’t think of the episode atm but if I find it, I’ll add it in). Between all the couples, I found Nabu x Layla (and Helia x Flora) to be the least problematic and understanding couple, even going out of their way to help Riven fix his relationship with Musa. He supports Layla in her passion of dancing, and he doesn’t get jealous. Like the man lets his girl go and dance with another guy because he doesn’t dance but he loves seeing Layla dance. He straight up says “Oh, I don’t dance, but Layla would love to.” (again I can’t give you the exact episode but when I rewatch it - since it’s my favorite season - I’ll update this post) I can’t tell you how sad I was when he died. I understood Layla’s pain when he died and the fact that the girls didn’t really sympathize as much as when Tecna “died” to get her enchantix in Ep16 was so annoying. I will even go as far as to say they killed off the most competent man out of the main love interests. He was by far the most impressive between all the men; his magic clearly made him superior but he wasn’t arrogant nor had a leadership complex. Nabu was really out here just trying to support his girl and I was here for it. If there was a boyfriend I would want from Winx, it would be Nabu. His sacrifice is the first hero-death and I’m pretty sure the only hero-death in the show (this may be wrong, I haven’t watched S8). Now, I know there’s a lot of hope for this man in the sense that the direct translation when Morgana says she’ll watch over him until he wakes. I don’t think this will happen and I’ll explain why later on.

ROY: Introduced in S5 as a protector?? of Andros, where he helped the Winx club navigate around the ocean in a yacht. I don’t really have much to say except he was very kind and sympathetic. He was constantly praising Aisha and was capable of supporting the club when necessary. I appreciated him in S6 despite his competition with Nex for allowing Aisha to enjoy herself. Although it was apparent that there was a rivalry between the two, I really liked how he backed down to let Aisha have fun and not be so pissed off of Nex which was common earlier in the season. This was also annoyingly one of those “nice guys finish last” though since he ends up literally vanishing after Nex and Aisha are “confirmed” a couple. This was frustrating because I really liked Roy as a character, he was supportive like Nabu and there was so much development the show could have introduced to him. There was a lack of personality which I think is why they moved away from Roy and more towards Nex. To add, “the nice guys finish last” is such a poor message to send out to kids; having a jerk as your boyfriend who only softens to you, is such a gross depiction of how men should behave and removing Roy solidified the show’s preference to “bad boys” being better boyfriends. 

NEX: Introduced in S6 with Thorin. I don’t really know the plot-reason for bringing the “red boys” into the show aside from finalizing Daphne and Aisha’s love interest, which is probably why I disliked the two so much from the start. This guy was just as bad, or worse, than Riven in S1. I absolutely despised how he treated the girls, how competitive he was, and the fact that Aisha called him out on his BS only “turned him on.” This being the only thing going for him, he was obnoxious and wanted to show off around Aisha thinking it would make him look better compared to Roy. The only soft thing I noticed throughout the entire show was in S6Ep24 when Aisha went into the Legendarium and he was “scared.” Like, dude, if that was the only time you were concerned about her safety, your character was very poorly written. I know that maybe in S7 there would be more development in his character, but I honestly don’t recall much about the boys in that season at all. So I’ll stick with his behavior in S6 for this analysis.

FINAL THOUGHTS---

I think removing Nabu was a really dumb choice. I also believe that the show thought that Roy was too similar to Nabu, so they nerfed him and introduced Nex. Nabu was too competent and had too little drama for the show’s liking and therefore removed him. I do think that plot-wise Nabu’s sacrifice was a nice touch, however after realizing that the show just wanted a hard reset on Aisha’s love life, I believe there were better ways to do so. Nabu brought out Layla’s soft side, and lead her to live a happy life with an arranged marriage (which in irl, I know of many couples who live happy lives with their arranged spouse). I personally believe that Nabu and Layla were the best couple because they lived like a regular couple irl, they grew to love each so much more organically than Nex. They considered their future together on Earth and were ready to settle down. But with the other boys, I could not see Aisha ever talking about settling down or considering a future together. I didn’t mind Roy being the next potential boyfriend seeing as he wasn’t forceful with his approach to getting to know Aisha. He was gentle with her, and even though he didn’t know her past with Nabu, he was taking it slow with her and giving her space. They had chemistry and although it didn’t last very long, it disappointed me that the show really made Aisha shallow and only noticed Nex for being better athletic-wise and not personality-wise. That being said, I will never ship Aisha and Nex. Aisha clearly disliked him in S6 and yet she tolerated him as he laughed at Roy (S6Ep15) when he messed up and hardly did anything for her. So not only did they make Nex a jerk, but also Aisha so one-dimensional that she let all of the things that she initially called him out for, to slide. I think, the show did a poor job of showing Aisha mourning for Nabu with the exception of S5′s Ep1, Ep7, and Ep8 which is only 3/26 of the episodes, and some of the girls (*cough* Stella in S5Ep8 *cough*) hardly mourned for him at all. Compatibility-wise, Nabu, for me, is and always will be the best choice. Nex, can like, go do more pushups or something. Plot-wise, there was no plot. Nabu’s death moved the storyline to make Nebula a better queen, but aside from that, this whole romance thing was just to make sure all the girls had a partner that “worked” in the show’s favor. Nex will really need to step up in S7+ if he is to ever be like Nabu in that he was supportive, kind, and let Layla be herself around him; because all I see is that Nex is solely attracted to Aisha’s badass side - the side where she’s sporty and athletic, whereas when she was with Nabu she was able to dance - which was her secret passion - and considered settling. Please treat my girl well in S8 nwn

If you guys have any inputs feel free to have a discussion down below! I do sound a bit biased in this, but I hope my analysis explains why. As always this was just a fun post, so please don’t judge me based on this! Thanks~

#winx club #winx aisha #winx layla #winx #layla x nabu #winx nabu #please don't hurt me i'm just highkey frustrated

[demxters]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH IM SO OBSESSED WITH THE NEW THEME OMG

HEHE TYYYY! after finding the og winx club series on netflix, it’s safe to say i’m back on my winx club bs 🤭

#x-lulu

[miranema]

When you are still talking about a show you are too old for..

warning: it’s loooong (TL;DR section at the bottom)

Just to be clear I have no intention to look into and review any more Winx Club related content and it’s not just because the current environment is not conducive to this kind of endeavor. After I finished paying off my debts I considered getting back to this but eventually decided against it because some of my thoughts regarding this show have changed a little and I overall no longer see the point. One of the things I wanted to accomplish when I first started was to figure out why this show never appealed to me when it first came out on the FoxBox and well, the answer was very simple if not ridiculously obvious. This show was not made for me.

I was a few months short of 13 when the show premiered in the US and had just enough experience in the genre to have expectations, and this was the problem. When western magical girl series started to show up in the early 2000s, I expected shows that improved upon the standards and cliches left by the likes of Sailor Moon and its genre contemporaries, not just in terms of visuals but writing as well. Winx Club however, seemed more in line with the type of cartoons that (since the 80s) popped up every now and then as promotional material for emerging lines of fashion dolls generally targeting younger girls, with the only difference being that it had a progressive story-line. Even if you argue that Winx Club was not so merchandise-driven in its first seasons, contemporary fashion and aesthetics had always been the selling point. By then, shows that prioritized visual appeal over writing and seemed to exists primarily as toy commercials, were starting to lose my interest. I was also getting tired of certain staples like romantic relationships being bland but senselessly overemphasized and characters (specially protagonists) being archetypes with little to no complexity.  

As an adult, I since looked back at shows of similar quality/target audience and I have surprisingly been able to find joy within them leading me to another conclusion. It’s not that I am too old and weary to appreciate animated media aimed at young girls. It’s more likely that Winx Club is a sore spot for me because it is the show that made me realize (if subconsciously) that networks in charge of delivering animated media to mainstream television were no longer invested in appealing to me. As a non-white, lower-middle class girl who was never all that into relationship-melodrama I felt that most cartoons of my day didn’t really catered to my interest and I think I saw the rise of Winx Club as a bitter indication that even the animated genres that I liked or tolerated would eventually become completely inaccessible to me.

I had some trouble finding out what the target audience bracket was for the first season. From what I eventually gathered it is either 4-8 or 5-10, although apparently concept-wise the show was intended for a slightly older age group. I give more credence to the first bracket because honestly I think this show works best as baby’s first magical girl series. The less experience you have in the genre, the less fed-up with tropes and the less expectations you have going in, the better.

Lets just make a thing clear. There is no such thing as being too old to watch cartoons. An art medium is not inherently tied to an age group. Unfortunately, everything is at the mercy of capitalism, specially art produced for entertainment. There is a lot of stupidity and outdated ideas governing how mainstream shows are made and to whom they are made for. Industries don’t like to take chances and they are reluctant to change in accordance to society unless an increased in profits can be assured to some degree…

Look, look! I swear I was just going to post a simple paragraph-long note to whoever cared, stating I was not going to continue reviewing Winx Club even though I am no longer in debt. But, I made the HUGE mistake of looking at the Wikipedia page, specifically the part where they quoted show creator Iginio Straffi defending the controversial choices made for season 8, and here I am, annoyed and rambling. To paraphrase, he claims kids around 10 years and older just don’t watch cartoons as much as they used to (sure, Jan) and they just had to retooled their show for a younger demographic and that just means it cannot be as complex as it used to be. Yes, complex is a word he ascribed to the earlier Winx Club content (level of complexity to be clear). I rolled my eyes, I died a little inside and overall I also decided, among other things, to never read another Iginio Straffi interview ever again.

In an effort to wash away this BS and exorcise some demons let me throw here some of my still lingering unwarranted Winx Club thoughts in no particular sequence before this platform collapses any further:

Winx Club is one of if not the longest running western magical girl group series and its success is likely attributed to the fact that back when it premiered in the US, it was the only accessible and visually appealing series to come out of the genre since the beginning of the millennium. It practically had a monopoly of its intended audience. In my neck of the woods, it was available without the need of a cable/satellite subscription. In contrast, Dinsey-owned W.I.T.C.H. didn’t have that same accessibility and I don’t think I even need to bring up anime in general. The one other magical girl show from around the same time that I remembered coming across in syndicated broadcast was Trollz, and well you look that up and tell me how much staying power that looked like it had.

If the show has struggled in recent years is of course NOT because older kids don’t watch cartoons nowadays. Rather I think the show runners are not quite grasping how the circumstances surrounding their target audience have changed since the early 2000s. There are a lot more options out there in terms of entertainment even if you narrow things down to only western magical girl cartoons, not to mention that Winx club no longer has an edge on accessibility. I also think we consume media faster and that along with all the new options of entertainment means we have less head space to dedicate to one single show. Putting a new coat of paint to the newer seasons is simply not enough to remain relevant.

Adding to the above, It’s been well over ten years since the show first premiered. I don’t have data to prove this, but I am willing to bet that a sizable chunk of viewers were there from the beginning or joined at the start of the Nickelodeon era. It makes little sense for changes in writing to include hacking its continuity, rewriting established lore and deleting whatever meager character development they ever had. Maybe it’s not a good idea to turn your show with progressive storytelling including aging characters, into a cash cow you intend to milk for as long as you can and beyond. Maybe they should have given the early seasons a proper conclusion and laid the groundwork for new groups of characters to lead fresh series within the same universe...or you know, a full reboot.

I am not saying that the show should suddenly conform to my tastes (though that would be nice) after all it was not made for me. I just think that people that stuck with it deserve more than what they have been getting. I saw some positive feedback with regards to World of Winx but from what little I saw I don’t think it was good enough to be the series for older fans. Tone might be slightly different but writing-wise it feels more or less the same as the current series. The attempts at humor are still not landing for me at least. Also, how old does Straffi thinks the older fans are? 10? Who knows, maybe season 8 did its job in drawing-in the next gen, and maybe the planned live action series will be all that the older fans have been asking for. I do wish them the best.

Regarding things that I changed my mind about (though only a little bit)...In more than one occasion I referred to Bloom as a mary sue and this has been digging at me. Either the term has become toxic and too often unfairly assigned to any female character in a leading position, or it was always an improper way to discuss mediocre writing. There are main characters that are created in part to serve as vehicles of indulgence for its intended audience. I don’t think these these type of characters need to be complex to be successful or serviceable but I do think relatability and/or likability are indicators of whether or not a specific indulgent protagonist is effective. I didn’t find Bloom to be effective but she seems to be popular enough with the younger range of fans and that’s what matters. All I am saying is that Bloom could have easily been better and all it would have taken was for the writers to slightly lower the pedestal they put her on. Otherwise, they should have just stuck with the Magical Bloom title so no one would have delusions that the show would ever focus on anyone else.

I stand by most of my other major criticisms of the series. Though I admit that when I was looking at each episode I would spend an unreasonable amount of time on small things or personal pet peeves.I maintain however that to whom a show is intended for should not be a determinant of quality and there are things worth discussing even if one is not within the age-range of said audience. However, it’s not hard to tell what Winx Club is mostly about; it’s romance-centered. If you are not all that invested on that sort of stuff or you don’t like what the show is offering, then there is little point in sticking around because you are just going to get more and more caught-up on the flaws. The fantasy world elements while ambitious in scope are not well developed and consistency is an issue since the beginning that only gets worse as the series goes on. Unless you can subsist solely on the aesthetics and merch-friendly elements, I wouldn’t bother beyond the first movie.

If Winx Club had been the definitive blue print shaping the future of western magical girls shows, I would probably feel justified in making this much of a fuss. However, pretty much any other show I have seen after the fact has been a deviation and an improvement. I believe that’s because more content creators that grew up with the genre (and understood the many ways it could be improved) are finding opportunities to bring their appreciation for it into the mainstream. It’s pointless for me to still complain about the older stuff. Heck, I can even find good things to say about Angel’s Friends and this is definitely a cartoon that was shaped by the success of the fairy school show. 

Winx Club is fine, it has as much right to exist as any other piece of mindless entertainment aimed at any demographic.  And that’s that.

TL;DR

I am not reviewing Winx Club stuff anymore. I just had a lot of thoughts that were brought up by an annoying Iginio Straffi quote I saw on the Wiki page while I was working on that last post. Extended rambling is what I apparently do when I am mildly upset. I barfed all this out in the hopes that I won’t think about this show again anytime soon.

 If morbid curiosity gets the better of me, I might give future Winx Club content a watch. I just won’t post about it because it seems I am incapable of finding joy in it.

No, I don’t take criticisms of the bad spelling/grammar of my ramblings. Let this mess be. This is also not a place for debate, the only discourse I welcome here is whether or not relatability is a word. Online dictionaries say it’s fine but my word processor says it is not a thing. Discuss! (JK)

Stay safe,

#winx club #ramblings #winx club review #cartoons #i am too old #winx #anyone ever heard of Angel's Friends? #I am either watching that next or Lady LovelyLocks #por que no los dos

[darkspellmaster]

She-ra and the Princesses of power, Thoughts for Season 1.

It’s been over a week since this show has aired, and I guess I can write this now. This is pretty much my thoughts during the Episodes as I watched them. Please note this is my impressions and not meant as a full on review of the show. 

Thoughts under the cut. 

Episode 1

So basically Adora and her team are being fed false info regarding the Princesses and Queen Angella. Why am I not surprised by this at all. 

So are all the cadets kidnapped or was this a volunteer thing? Like are there Horde recruiters that go to the villages and are like “Yo kids, wanna serve Lord Hordak, come join the Horde for having adventure and making new friends...” Seriously where did these cadets come from. 

Also is that Leech? We’re missing his hand suckers. 

So we have a Lonnie and a Kyle and a...? Who’s the third green guy? Does he have a name? I’ll have to look at the credits? 

Is Kyle supposed to be Mantanna? He’s put in all the gag moments. 

Hey at least they show they care for one another, so points on that. 

Also, I like Lonnie, why couldn’t we have Lonnie over Catra? 

Catra is late...so how did she get in the room before the others did? Seriously someone please explain this to me because it seems like a plot hole right there.

Anyone else feel like she’s a rejected design of someone’s 2015 Thundercat’s OC character? I feel like she’d fit right in there. Also I’m guessing she’s a Magicat, so probably we’re gonna see Kittrina and the Queen of the Magicat’s at some point.  

So Catra puts Adora in a hole, bet you anything it’s going to foreshadow something. 

“You know nothing is to low for me,” -Yeah we are setting her up to be a bad guy with lines like that. 

Their dynamic reminds me of an older sister (Adora) and a jealous younger sister (Catra) who is always in the older sister’s shadow and seen as lesser due to it. 

Okay so Adora stands up for her against Shadow Weaver, and shows empathy for Catra, We also see empathy being displayed for Kyle, even if they seem to mock him. So that brings up a point that Weaver may be leading these kids to believe that they can’t show the empathy that they have. 

Wever’s not wrong, she’s going about it way the wrong way, but she’s not wrong in regard to Catra letting the others do the heavy lifting for her. She’s still a bitch for what she’s saying. I really don’t like this take of her. 

I’m getting Starscream vibes off of Catra, someone very smart and cunning but also her ego is going to be her downfall because she thinks she’s better than anyone. 

Placing bet’s here, Shadow Weaver intends to use Adora as a weapon against Hordak and to take him down. Not sure how but it’s clear that’s what shes’ doing here with her comments to her. 

So can I call her Shadow Palpatine? Because that’s who she reminds me of. She’s making Adora into her Anakin. 

Given the “I raised you and found you as an orphan child” is probably a total fabrication, I don’t by that at all. Someone kidnapped her, but I don’t know if it was Weaver or Hordak in this case. Unless Skelator just up and became Rumplestikin and forced Randor and Marlena to Emma Swan her from Eternia. Which would be weird. 

Hello, Dream Works, Disney is calling to get Mother Gothal back. (Man, if I wanted to watch Tangled, I would watch Tangled.) 

So Glimmer reminds me of another character from another show that I can’t think of where the young girl tends to disobey their parents and it makes it all about them and their issues and...the whole relationship with her and Angella reminds me of Duke and his brother from the GI Joe movie in the 1980s. 

Also, if you’re daughter isn’t old enough to act like a noble in your court, she’s not old enough to lead a battle. 

Angella sounds more like Adora at times than Adora does. 

Okay scratch that...we have a Little Mermaid moment here mixed in with Nani and Lilo from Lilo and Stitch. 

Glimmer acts like she’s 12, and probably designed to appeal to the tweens that are like ‘Parents don’t get it” mind set. 

Okay so how the hell does Catra know how Shadow Weaver got the power stone from Hordak? Was she listening at the doors and such? How does she know about any of this? I would think that Shadow Weaver would cover this all up. 

So we know that Catra is bitter towards Weaver and will probably end up doing something to pay her back, and she’s jealous of Adora, which means anyone that is her friend going forward has a big target on their backs. Got it. 

Yup Catra is Starscream. Thanks for that reminder show. And basically an older sister with bratty younger sister dynamic going down here. Good on them for at least getting that in order. 

Catra, you know you don’t have to shove her away from running the skiff, she didn’t need you to do that. 

And now they are fighting like some sisters will when they are close in age. 

Catra is way to reckless and clearly meant to show immaturity of the two girls. She’s reminding me a lot of Ben Solo, looks like a teen but acts like she’s way younger than that emotionally. 

Did you need to have that aside break the forth wall? Could we not have had her look down or up, why at the camera? (Note: This never happens again, so why do a 4th wall joke here? And time stamp is around the 11:30 mark in this show.) 

So Adora finds the sword in the ground wrapped in Vines. How long has it been there? Also it gives her flashes, cool at least were sort of taking from the original with that aspect. 

Catra pulling her by the hair. Ow! Why? Are you trying to show how immature and mean she can be? What was the point of her pulling her by the hair, why not by the scruff of the neck or the shirt like a cat would? 

Diary writing, or at least the way the diary is being written in, positive in that it at least gets her feelings out. I still think she’s only 12 or 13. 

The moment with Glimmer and Bow outside reminds me a lot of a Harvey and Sabrina moment from the old DiC cartoon in the 2000s. And why do I feel like Glimmer would fit right into that era’s shows? 

Bow and Glimmer yelling is going on too long for my taste. Why doesn’t he shoot her a tin can phone or something useful? 

If she can teleport why not do that earlier and make the joke work. It took to long for that joke to land. 

Bow is older than Glimmer. The way he treats her and looks after her makes me think he and Adora are around the same age roughly. They are the older siblings to Catra and Glimmer’s younger siblings dynamic. 

Oh god make it stop with Glimmer and her mom’s fighting! Please! 

So Adora sneaks out and Catra doesn’t hide the fact that she’s gone by you know, stuffing the bed, or doing other things to cover for that? Maybe getting the others involved to help out to cover? Show she can be a decent leader? No? Well okay then. 

Oh god, why the screaming! That is not funny or cute. That is like something a toddler would do, and these two are not toddlers! 

So the more I see of Light Hope the more the design reminds me a lot of the Sorceress. So Light Hope =program by the Sorceress? 

Cool Bow grew up in the woods. Where at? Can we meet his dads? No? Not even gonna talk about it? Okay then. 

Devastation at 12  o’clock. Not bad showing the ruins. Kind of pretty in a depressing way. 

Yay at least we’re getting the “Evil Horde” talk in some form. 

So according to Glimmer the Horde just appeared on Etheria. So does that mean that they were from space first? or are they from Eternia and got poofed there some how? Doesn’t really seem to imply if Hordak targeted this place, or if it was a chance thing. Betting anything Shadow Weaver helped him take over as in the original one. 

So can we call Bow the Hawkeye/Green Arrow of the She-ra crew? 

Maybe I missed something but how did Adora get out of the ropes? 

Also what kind of bug is that creature? Is it normal or is it a mutant? How does anyone live around here anyway? 

So Mary Elizabeth McGlynn  (Aka, Major Makoto Kusangi) is doing the voice direction here. Well that explains why that aspect is really done well. 

Episode 2

Okay, so the Intro is very 2000s in that Winx Club/ W.I.T.C.H. sort of way. (W.I.T.C.H needs to come back too by the way. Good comic as well.) Not digging it as much as those show openings. Maybe it’ll grow on me? 

Slap stick, Bow runs into doors, news at 11. 

Well interesting, so she’s blurting out Eternia and can read First one’s stuff. Huh. Might be tying more into New Adventure’s of He-man than I thought. 

Also we’re showcasing that she’s from Eternia with this, so....

So are the Princesses Living batteries? Does not having magic kill them or something? I’m kind of confused by this? And where does this recharge thing come from? 

Glimmer better get better as this story goes on, or she’s ending up on my “Annoying character” list. 

Weaver still has a way to watch over things. Only we’re doing it like Mum-ra. Somebody really liked the Reboot of Thundercats. I get they want to use magic with her, but a tracking device I would think would do better. For a group that uses tech, they really don’t use a lot of it. 

So Weaver is shown to be a threat, good on them, but yeah there’s some Darth Sidious BS going on with her that I really don’t like very much. Palpatine wasn’t this dumb, even if he was an ass. 

Party in the forest, okay cool. Though can anyone tell me what these guys are supposed to be? Animals? Mutants, Furries? What? 

Yeah that outfit looks bad, no one would want to wear that at all. 

Why is it so shocking that she’s never been to a party, never had a birthday, etc? They’re living in the Fright Zone, of course there wouldn’t be fun.

 Also no, horses would not be used in this world apparently there because Tech, so how would she know what it is? Though I would think that in her training they would have at least mentioned them? 

Good on Adora for at least going to face down the Horde and realizing that this is not a good situation. 

Catra in a tank? Okay? 

So Catra knew that they were being manipulated this whole time and didn’t say squat to Adora? Some friend she is. Seriously she’s giving me bad flashbacks to a really possessive friend I had in chldhood. 

Oh god. Why? Catra’s pretty much needs a co-dependent -terrific. She’s pretty much become every evil sympathic crazy anime villain rolled into one. Sob story, check, poessive, check, has a need to be in power to overcome those that hurt her, again check. I feel like I’m watching a weird version of Pretty Cure with this. 

So Catra is that Jealous younger sister that wants to take over trope. Got it. 

Yeah she’s pretty much a selfish brat at this point and several anime tropes rolled into one, and I swear I’ve seen her be for in regard to this sort of character arctype in Pretty cure or shonen shows. I just can’t point to where.  So Catra tries to get Adora back by being an ass to her and pointing out that she knew they were evil and all that. Yup all the marks of a magic girl arch rival right there. 

Also magically going away ropes when Glimmer pulls the sword. At least she saved her. 

Really we’re calling it Horsie? Can’t we give the damn thing a name? 

Hey She-ra, Sailor Moon and Pretty Cure called, they want their transformation sequence back. Also is it just me or are they taking music cues from Winx and Witch here mixed in. Yeah also someone really really liked Sailor Moon’s transformations. I mean...it’s not shot for shot, but you can see the influence there. 

So people saying that old She-ra couldn’t hit people with her sword, this one just smashes the ground with it...I have no words. Not a bad thing, it’s just weird that people keep saying that Old She-ra didn’t fight and this one does, but it’s clear that this one is smashing things like the hulk, same way He man did. 

Well points on the Betrayed look from Catra. That at least is something. Side note...was it just me or was there some frame rate animation when she took Bow off the horse? Also, I guess this is a nod to catra taking Bow down back in the old show early on? 

So we’re just leaving the mess? Not gonna use any magic to clean it up huh? 

Episode 3

Once more  Angella doesn’t seem like a mother figure and seems more like an older sister. They fight way to much in this show. 

Adore is reminding me of a character in a Nick show, but I can’t place it. 

So they leave a person who has no skills about being in a fancy place, in a fancy room, alone to practice with a sword. Yeah this is going to work out well. 

Can we name the damn horse already? He has a name it’s Spirit. Can we not give him that name? 

So why isn’t he talking yet? This form means he can talk. Can’t remember if he talks when he’s not in unicorn form. 

Well what do you know, you got a laugh out of me show, good job. 

So she transforms him by accident and scares the hell out of him. Good work Adora.

Yeah is that Solider supposed to be Double Trouble? 

Also, why did you not change shirts? I’m sure Glimmer had some sort of other shirt or something in her wardrobe. Sure it would be big but having a huge Horde mark on your back, yeah that’s a bad idea. Also it’s not a tattoo, you can remove it. 

So she got chased by a mob. I get people don’t like the horde, but how do they know she’s with them. It could be that she was an escaped prisoner that was being held captive...this show...I swear. 

So she’s down in the water now, and still getting shot at. Where are the guards? 

Anyone in the mood for a little Into the Woods moment here? 

So add onto Catra’s issues the need to be superior to others. Yeah someone has a love of Starscream. 

So this is Madam Razz? Oh what the ever living loving fuck! No seriously, like yes I know Madam Razz in the original was goofy, but she also showed a lot of intellegence, even when she couldn’t get a spell right, and in some cases the results were a lot more terrifying than what she had planned. Hell she turned people into sheep, internal screaming commence. 

Who the hell is Mara? (Edit: Looked it up. So either this Mara is Mara Jade from Star Wars who was the wife of Luke Skywalker and was once part of the Empire as a Hand (assassin) who was sent to kill Luke, but later became a smuggler of sorts, trained herself to become a jedi, and later studied under Luke and eventually married him and they had Ben Skywalker. Or...this is a nod to the Mara character from the New Adventures of He-man who replaced Teela as main girl.) 

So Madam Razz is Maz from Episode VII. Oooookay. She doesn’t need to be. 

I’m not a fan of Razz’s voice. Too much Edna Mode. Also where the hell is Broom? Like she has a broom but it’s not Broom. 

More hints of Eternia. Either give her the back story or don’t! Stop playing with it. 

Catra has a lot of anger issues it seems. 

And Shadow Weaver likes to play games. I surprised that Hordak hasn’t killed her by now. Must be hard to get good helpers on Etheria. 

Is that supposed to be Grizzor? I feel like all the cool mutants have been removed for generic baddies. Like they didn’t want to tell a adventure story and wanted it to be a high school drama. 

Can we please give her a spell, and not just have her go “Razzle Dazzle”. Yes that is part of her catch phrases but not all she says. 

How does she know Mara anyway? She doesn’t answer the questions. 

Thank you Swifty for calling the name Horsie a stupid name. Also how does she talk to the Animals? 

Alright so...honestly I know the first series was fast on getting Adora as part of the crew, the difference was that it was He-man speaking up for her, or rather Adam and he’d proven to be someone that knew his shit. Bow I can understand trusting, Glimmer...eh...it seemed a bit fast of an acceptance. I would have thought they would have done something a bit more in this case, just to be different than the original. Oh well. 

So...Hordak is hot. Who’s with me on this one? 

Hey at least he stands up for Catra and knows she’s at least trying. Though that may come back to bite her in the ass later. Also it mirrors his views on her earlier when Weaver was saying that she let Adora get away. Apparently Hordak doesn’t think too much of Adora leaving, or he’s got something larger planned that no one knows about. 

Episode 4

So why is it that everyone in the castle seems to trust her so damn much? Or is that just for Glimmer’s sake? 

Adora...it’s a bed. You slept in one before. How is it that you think you killed it? Broke it is a better word. Not killed it. 

So given the design of the king...does this mean Hordak’s been turning people into the Mutants? I guess that would be a cool twist other then “Well he’s dead.” 

And at least Angella shows that she’s still wondering about this girl. Good on that part. Although she seems more bitchy then she should, but still glad to see less trust on Adora right now. She could be a spy. 

So small complaint here, why are we making Netossa and Spinnerella a joke? Seriously they are the only real couple on the show and you make a joke out of it. 

Apparently we have a tangled reference here with the way Adora looks at the picture of the King and Queen. 

Okay so Angella doesn’t trust her daughter, but she’s totally fine with the girl that was, less then a few moments ago, considered not trust worthy, giving an idea and then her okaying it? Yeah.. um...shouldn’t that have been the reverse? And why are they not taking the other two along? 

Catra is still being a lazy selfish brat, no new news here regarding her character. 

So Hordak is the one controlling the stone? Huh...is he like an Ozai? 

Perfuma seemed to have a moment of “Hot guy” sort of reaction to Adora. Good on them...that’s about the only ship I can take in this series outside of Her and Bow so far. 

So Perfuma has a bit of a mask going on. That’s a nice change compared to her more ditzy self in the original, but she was very innocent there. So far she’s been the most interesing and likable character, outside of Bow and Adora. 

Okay so -Ahem...FUCK YEAH HORDAK! He’s the ONLY thing keeping me interested in watching this so far. 

Shadow Weaver probably wants Adora due to the fact that she knows about her being connected to Eternia and is planning on using her to get them back into that dimension, or she’s going to try to take over and kill Hordak with her...one or the other. She’s still an idiot. 

Also betting she’s the one that did the Kidnapping of Adora over Hordak. *sighs* 

Also Hordak is Magic. 

So what are we going for here with Perfuma’s people? Valley, surfer, Cali beach heads? Guru style? What? 

Hey what do you know...I got a laugh out of Perfuma! Good job show. 

Not a bad message but one that was delivered weirdly. 

 Episode 5 

(Side note...gonna limit the pictures because I’m getting tired.) 

Glimmer is still annoying -same with Angella. I don’t get the reason for putting them in this relationship. 

So we have  Pirates of the Caribbean -at worlds end, with the music and design. Gotcha. 

Also is this supposed to be the Star War’s Cantena? Yup it is. 

So this is Sea Hawk huh? Wanna be Han Solo...seriously? Okay then...

*Watches the two interact* Yup, in any normal show this would imply that this could be a romantic interest with them arguing like that. This isn’t a normal show so I don’t know if they are just playing up the idea of rivals to crushes. 

Probably will be an option for a romantic interest outside of Bow...or she could be single, I’m cool with that. 

Could you please stop affecting your voice? It’s annoying Sea Hawk. 

Can I call him Lance Solo? He reminds me of Lance early on in Voltron. 

Okay yeah we’re digging into Star Wars here because man he’s calling them kids and has some sort of Kessel Run. 

Gonna guess a year older than Bow and Adora...

So Shadow weaver needs Adora for some reason. Could we be a bit more specific here. 

Wow Scorpia looks a hell of a lot like Shiro. Jeeze! Seriously I had to double take when I saw her. She’s a hugger. Horray. 

Song needs to burn, there is no melody to it. I really tend to like music in shows, but this is not even close to the better songs I’ve heard in other shows. Even songs from Steven Universe, which I don’t watch a lot of, tend to have better melodies than this. I’m hoping that this was more meant as a gag. 

Can we please stop with the dumb jokes here. They are starting to wear on me. Yes I get it he’s not that good at what he does. Yes I get it he wants to give them an adventure...but this set up sucks. 

Don’t like Mermista’s voice. I have always disliked the “Whatever” teenager trope. The relationship here needs work between them. Why does she not like him? 

Where the hell is he from? He burns his boats and this is okay? 

Wow, he can be serious, can we get more of that from him? 

So Adora is trying to help and Catra ends up belittling her and calling her dumb. My oh my she is a catch folks. Either she goes completely dark or she get’s saved in the second season because right now she such a uttler bitch...

Gah, Catra is really really annoying in this episode. She reminds me of the 90s stereotypical younger sister types. Gah...

Hey what do you know...Boat burning works for something. Not much, but something. 

Liking the guys in the background on the ship. Can we have a show about them...please? 

Awww Adora actually warmed up to Sea Hawk. 

Episode 6

Okay so people are working for Entrapta, that’s good? 

Oh Shit she’s Doc Oct. Well that explains everything I need to know about her. 

So I feel like she’s acting like a DiC cartoon villain. Just can’t get into her all that much. 

Why are we making Adora kind of dumb in this one? 

Cool Bow’s all about the tech stuff, and is behaving way more mature than the other two. 

If you’re going to have a trap like that, at least have a near fall. 

Ugly zombie robot done better in Star Wars honestly. I was more “What the hell” in that moment than scared. Hey maybe they should have watched the Episode in Transformers where Optimus lost most of his face, or the removed TMNT 2000 series where Baxter Stockman fell apart. Literally. 

Entrapta...please stop. 

Also She-ra can get drunk apparently. Or sick, whatever you want to call it. 

Well the shit she’s playing with is going to be in season 2, and that looks like crap Evil lynn works with in He-man from time to time. 

Okay so Bow does a good job leading...yay for that. 

Her parents probably died and she replaced them with Robots. 

I could say she’s an odd version of Wheel Jack, though that would mean the staff would have had to have watched Gen 1 transformers. 

The maze bit goes on a bit too long. 

Well that’s Horde prime shit that was used before in the comics. So someone was paying attention. 

The more I watch of Entrapta the more I get Vibes of Doctor K from Power Rangers RPM. Though she’s less weird than this. 

Okay make that she reminds me of Doctor Whiley from Megaman. 

Hey at least everyone realized Bow is the smart one here. 

Episode 7

So Adora in ep 6 wasn’t worried about being infected now she’s on edge over it? 

Shadow Weaver is fucking Mum-ra from Thundercat’s 2015 with all the shit she’s doing and how sh’es behaving. 

Credit for Sandra O for doing Castaspella. Good choice for this character. 

Everyone likes Bow. 

Also, she knits sweaters, that’s sweet. She seems like a decent sister. 

Lunar Lenses? Where have I heard that before. May be something from New Adventures of He man again. 

So we do have Light Spinner as Shadow Weaver. But no teacher? Booo. That was the best part of that story. Also can we tell the story when she was turned? No...man, come on...it’s important. 

Creepy Shadow Weaver. She’s really becoming more like a stalker than anything else. 

So what the hell is with the weird noises Adora is making when she’s trying to relax? 

So really we are heavy in the mother figure aspect of this character right now. Though honestly this bothers me as Shadow should not be scarier than Hordak. She wants to own Hordak and dominate him...(well who wouldn’t but that’s beside the point). 

Not sure how I feel about this change. Shadow’s known for being very loyal as she really didn’t have any place to go and blames the others for her fall. 

Someone was watching the Labyrinth 

So Catra calls Bow the heart. Is she implying that she thinks Adora likes Bow?  (If Catra x Adora is the Rey x Kylo of all this does that mean that Bow x Adora is the Finn x Rey of She-ra?) Or does she think that he’s the glue of the group? or is it just a nod to his shirt? Confused by this line

Episode 8

So it’s a ball and not a Prom. Could have just called it that in the title. 

Scorpia needs to get a better friend than Catra...go hang out with Lonnie. She seem’s cool. 

Okay Fuck you Catra. You’re manipulating the hell out of this girl. She opened up, told you that the other girls came off as uncomfortable around her and then you use her for your weird vendetta against Adora? Get past it, move on, she ain’t coming back. 

Also, okay so the Horde crashed in Scorpia’s kingdom and they gave Hordak the stone. Probably out of fear more than anything else. 

So are they trying to hint at Bow x Glimmer or are we still on siblings not hanging out anymore. Plus side for Bow’s line about change being good. 

Hey what do you know Adora made me laugh. 

Hey...why throw that line out there about Sweet Bee and Peekablue, what was the point? 

90s Make over music. Joy...

Scorpia dresses better than Adora...that’s all I’m gonna say. 

So Frosta is canonically 11. Okay...does that mean the rest are only in their early teens? 

Perfuma is Starfire. Please, for the love that is all holy, stop talking like Kori. 

Chuckles Austen? WTF? You do not put the twitter handle of your EP on your show. That is not cute. it’s Charles or Chuck, not Chuckles. Ugh. 

So Catra’s whole scheme is to kidnap bow...oookay. Weird.

Adora is Dipper, seriously that’s who she reminds me of in this episode. 

And Frosta also reminds me way to much of Toph. 

More of the high school drama with Glimmer being jealous of Bow. And the whole thing is reminding me of the Northern water tribe look. 

Can we take a moment to consider Adora is strong enough on her own to Lift Perfuma up, and she’s taller than her. 

Also that dance between Catra and Adora was a threat dance. I think there was something similar in a Star wars book. 

If Catra cares so much about Adora, why let that shit fall on her? Seems hypocritical of her. 

Hair pins don’t work like that! This is the umteeth time I’ve seen someone do that...they are not like that. 

Fight needs work, it was not as good as the one with Adora and Weaver in previous episodes. Also a lot of animation was off for the background characters. 

What was that look for? Like “Surprised she saved her?” She’s a hero, it’s what she does. 

I’m sorry but that end song sucked. Can we never use that again. 

Points for capturing Bow and Glimmer. 

Episode 9 

Shadow Weaver being a bitch...

Wow how did everyone get there that fast? I’m confused. 

Cute with the figures, but can we not fight over who is what on the board. 

Energy prison like Steven universe. 

YUCK the flushing toilet on Mermista was not funny! That was gross and you can’t hear that. 

Robot scrap collector is cute

Plan seems to be working....and then it’s not. Sea Hawk you are an idiot. 

Lot’s of Animation errors in this one. 

How is her mask working? 

Hey what do you know, Sea Hawk actually did something kinda right? 

Perfuma still proving to be the best here. 

Ball from incredible, inspiration? or round ATATs? 

Can we change Lonnie for Catra. I am begging you at this point show. She’s a lot more interesting. 

The fight with Kyle talking is amusing and the writer did well with the visual gags here. 

Sea Hawk throw is acutally funny I laughed. 

Good scene with Bow and Adora. Only to be followed by Catra being a Ben Solo. 

Alright points for Glimmer getting out and punching Shadow Weaver. Entrapta’s death and the return of the sword were all well done. Though with Entrapta’s death I felt there needed to be more time with them before hand to feel weight. 

Mourning of Entrapta was a good moment, but it would have been better if this was like the last episode of the season maybe? 

Episode 10 

How does being together mean falling apart? 

Strong mourning with Perfuma. She’s becomeing the break out of the characters for me. 

Glimmer annoying again with the Hug scene and not wanting to talk about glitching. 

I HATE this dynamic between mother and daughter. 

Can we get more Hordak please? 

Over all thoughts of this episode was that Catra was playing too much with Entrapta. She shouldn’t have fallen so easy for it. Hoping for Scorpia and Entrapta to be friends. Catra and Shadow manipulating one another to turn around and show Angella and Glimmer making up was done well, but I hate the way they got to that. Catra was still annoying in this episode. 

Episode 11

So the thing with the robot, Emily, starting to bug me. Watching Light Hope makes me think that someone was trying to mimic what Clone wars did in the past, and honestly I think this doesn’t need to go on the route of the Jedi. 

Can I say that Catra in her own way is reminding me way to much of Abu from Aladdin here. The whole thing with Catra and Adora was foreshadowed in episode one, and she seemed like a brat in the past too. Thing that bothered me with this is that it’s not explaining how these two got there. Also some animation errors. 

Shadow Wever is Eric from PotO and Scar from the lion king rolled into one. I really thought the fight was done well but the end result sort of sucked. I don’t think there’s a chance for Catra to get redeemed with this. 

Episode 12

Light Hope reminds me of Jem’s synergy. Also her way of doing things annoys me because it’s trying way to hard to be a mix of all classic shows without doing it’s own thing here. 

Swift wind has become Starlight’s rejected cousin. Why is he talking now? What changed? The magic? Is Etheria cybertron? 13 princesses, well if you know the old show, outside of one, you know exactly who they are going to be. Imp’s a recording device, and the Rune stone can hack the planet?

I want more hordak, and Swifty saved the day cool. Catra lost her compassion, and Shadow weaver is going to come back. 

Episode 13

Finally we get some action from Netossa and Spinner. Jeez. 

Glimmer was hording weapons. 

Over all the last episode was good. Though I would have liked to have seen Hordak do something. Right now he’s just there and I want to see how strong this guy is. 

#spop #spop spoilers #she ra #she ra and the princesses of power #catra #adora #bow #princess glimmer #hordak #scorpia #perfuma #sea hawk

[irandomblogfulb]

Rivusa is the worst thing that will come from this show, so Aisha’s actress post about them instead of her with Grey’s actor to tease fans about their relationship but no we need to promote the white girl with her homophobic Riven, The fact that trash Young Brain commented on their post as he proud of what he did “ by making ppl obsessed over it and forget that Musa is supposed to be Asian” is making out rage. Oh yeah they will probably use Nabu’s storyline and let Grey die because why letting Aisha be happy anyway?!

After watching season 2 I think it is a bit weird/obvs pandering when there really wasn't much of Rivusa. At least not to the extent where you'd actively promote it if it wasn't such a popular ship.

I don't have any strong feelings for the ship in the cartoon but the whitewashing and turning Riven to a total creepy misogynist sucked any and all interest I have for it in Fate. They tuned down the homophobia and fat phobia in season 2 but he's still a creep.

The rivusa shippers don't give a fuck about the whitewashing. If Fate does get a season 3, 100% we'll get an abundance of Rivusa content.

Am I somewhat happy we get a relationship between 2 poc? Kinda. But I really don't want Grey to be Nabu's replacement. I want to believe Brian Young has some common sense not to kill Grey off if he's set on this relationship.

#anti fate the winx saga #back on my winx club bs

[irandomblogfulb]

Me reading the Winx Saga preview: Aisha’s been good for far but I hope she doesn’t become the token black best friend character who only functions to help to further her white friend’s story arc. 

The fate review: 

#fate the winx club saga #back on my winx club bs #my disappointment is immesurable #winx club

[irandomblogfulb]

Fate stans really don’t understand why winx fans hate the live action reboot. 

I get wanting to appeal to a new audience but nobody ever asked for 1-to-1 remake of the original. Even in my fate review I said I was down for new ideas and giving the crew some creative liberties. But if you are gonna advertise it as being a Winx reboot and for Winx fans and there’s barely anything ‘Winx’ about it, then why the hell make a reboot in the first place? Even Winx fans who like Fate say you have to watch it as it’s own thing to get any enjoyment out of it. Fate is what 50 Shades of Grey is to Twilight. A shitty AU of the original but whoever wrote the script forgot to change the character names.

The only thing Brian Young took out of Winx is the some of the main girls (one whitewashed), 2 specialists, Faragonda, location names and the basic premise of Bloom going to a fairy school and trying to find her birth parents. That’s it. A shit ton of characters in the She-ra reboot where from the original. How hard is it to name Grey Nex and Sebastian Timmy or Brandon? ( I refuse to believe BY actually sat down and watched WOW. Or watched enough to include a background character most winx fans either forgotten or don’t know) How hard is it to include Tecna? And don’t give me that ‘b-but her technology powers wouldn’t fit in the new reboot’ excuse. Musa’s a mind fairy. Make Tecna an air fairy. ‘B-but Beatrix -’ fuck off we have 3 nature fairies, another air fairy won’t hurt. 

Fate’s whole conception is rooted in misogyny. Winx Club is an unapologetically girly and feminine cartoon. Femininity is the core of Winx Club’s identity and part of its appeal. The notion that in order to make Winx more ‘mature’ is to masculinize it, to remove the color, fashion, kind-heartedness and make it  dull, ‘realistic’ and mean-spirited - yeah, that’s misogynistic. 

So yes, as a Winx Club fan who grew up on the cartoon and still loves it to this today, I’m mad and I’m gonna complain. Brian Young took a show I love and shat all over it with his ‘reboot’. 

If Brian Young wanted to make a mean-spirited fairy show with no color, whiter than a can of white paint with fake diversity, misused feminist buzzwords and shitty Power Ranger-esque costuming, he should’ve made his own show. If he felt Winx was too girly for his liking and wanted to make something that’s basically the opposite of everything Winx stood for, he should’ve made his own show. Nobody would’ve cared about the whitewashing, and the awful uninspired costuming if Fate wasn’t attached to Winx.

Don’t use my childhood for nostalgia bait and easy advertisement. Fate proved  it didn’t need the nostalgia bait or needed to be attached to Winx Club to be popular. 

#fate the winx saga #netwinx #fate hate #don't like then scroll past #need to vent #back on my winx club bs

[irandomblogfulb]

I'll def be watching out if more characters like Tecna or any of the other specialists get name dropped. If it's only Flora then yeah that's sus.

#fate the winx saga #back on my winx club bs #winx club #if they dont name drop tecna too i swear

[irandomblogfulb]

#fate the winx saga #if you can't tell I read the 40 page preview of the book #not happy with what they did with Stella #winx club #back on my winx club bs

[irandomblogfulb]

FATE: What happens when you get a bunch of middle aged white guys to adapt a cartoon for girls

Well, I just went through 6 hours of fate and I have a lot of opinions on it. Yeah, this is going to be long (slightly under 3k words) so putting it under read more and obvious spoilers.

PSA before delving right in:

1) Yes, I will be comparing to the original. Any comparisons are not through rose-tinted nostalgia glasses. There are parts here and there that I genuinely think were done better in the cartoon on a writing standpoint.

2) This is purely my opinion and overall negative. Don't like it? Don't read. I'm all up for discussion but I don't want another person crying to me about how I “ruined” their experience of the show.

3) If you like Fate then good for you. This isn’t me bashing people who like it. 

I've spit it up into sub sections just for my own convince.

1. The problem with the 'I'm not like other girls' trope

This pertains to the entire Bloom-Sky-Stella love triangle. I wasn't as pressed about it compared to other winxers (and I loved Stella's and Brandon's relationship on my rewatch). In fact, I was okay with it. But then I sat down and watched the show and there's a lot of underlying problems with the love triangle. Particularly pitting Bloom and Stella against each other for Sky's affection.

Now this part of the love triangle I already didn't like. Correct me if I'm wrong, since I dropped the OG Winx after season 5 but the Winx while they did have their conflicts and arguments, never fought over a boy. I really appreciated that from the cartoon so seeing that live action would fall into that trap – I was mildly annoyed at that. Then it hit me. It's Bloom and Stella.

The seemingly ordinary girl vs the pristine princess of Solaria. If the title didn't give it away, you should get the point by now. Others have already called it by now but the "I'm not like other girl's" trope in itself, while seemingly feminist is actually misogynist. Saying the more masculine type of girl is better than the feminine is inherently misogynist. Stella, the prime princess, girly and feminine, is villainized by the love triangle. Sky's and Stella's relationship is toxic and Stella's overt co-dependence and jealousy are already big fat red signs - but Sky's and Bloom's relationship is built on how she's "different". Bloom isn't like Stella, she's "real".

2. Am I supposed to like Riven?

As the title puts it, wtf am I supposed to feel about Riven. Is he supposed to be a good guy? Do I root for him? Is he morally ambiguous? Because holy shit compared to OG!Riven, this guy is diabolical and much much worse! OG!Riven is an asshole and he teams up with the trix but his arc was very simple and easy to understand. He joins the bad guys, distances himself from the good guys, the trix betray his ass, he self-reflects in the dungeon - escapes and redeems himself. Net!Riven is so bad to the point where you can't redeem him and the writers don't even try. Freddie Thorp is good in his role. (however, he definitely doesn't pass for a 17-year-old. He's 26 and it shows) and he actually makes the cringe dialogue work. But he's way too diabolical and downright predatory. The scene where he forces Dane to gulp down his spiked drink - it’s worse seeing it than reading it. That grossed me out more than the gore.

What makes it worse, nobody properly calls him out. Beatrix kinda does on his homophobia – “Homophobic bashing by GIF” - and Sky does chastise him, but they still tolerate him. It is kinda funny in a way Sky has a whole ass arc about how he's enabling Stella's problematic behaviour by still dating her after she blinded her friend but doesn't realize he's doing the same for Riven.

The only person that really puts her foot down with Riven is Terra and nobody takes her seriously about anything she says.

Everyone is very laissez-faire around him and that's not how you respond to your friend being problematic. (Hey, kinda like the other girls sans Aisha are with Bloom!) Everyone surrounding Riven is so disgusting and the notion of him supposedly being a good guy is very hard to buy into. His whole relationship with Dane has a section of it’s own because there’s just a lot to unpack.

3. Stella I am so sorry

I'm also in the majority hating how they've tarnished Stella. Basically, they turned her into the stereotypical rich bully with mommy issues.

I get that Stella has an abusive mom but that’s no excuse to be a total bitch to her roommates. And no, her roommates shouldn't accept her back with open arms. And she doesn't even redeem herself - the girls just accept her back after her mom pulls her from Alfea.

And this is also another issue with the writing were the characters suddenly just change their opinions on a whim. Suddenly Stella likes the winx, suddenly Terra misses Stella even though having that girl literally gives her anxiety. Suddenly Aisha's on Bloom's side in the end.

This isn't me simping for the cartoon out of nostalgia. I was mostly okay with the idea of Stella and Sky hooking up. But Looking at it from a creative standpoint - looking at the source material, and the many paths you can take this character, the best thing Brian Young and co. can think of for her was turning her into the stereotypical rich bully that we've seen time and time again? No deconstruction no meta take, it's played out exactly how you’d expect it.

Again, this isn't me simping for the show. Purely from a creative standpoint Stella was such a major let down. There's so much to the character and Brian Young took the easiest, saturated path.

4. That one scene with Bloom's parents

You know the one. Mike unhinges Bloom's bedroom doors and Vanessa cusses out and insults her child like a petty teen bully. Forgetting how utterly cringey that scene was, you can't have her mom go batshit insane on her child, then act like she's this loving parent that cares so deeply about her daughter. Screw that! Vanessa deserved those 3rd degree burns! She invaded her daughter's privacy. Bloom didn't even do anything wrong!

I can't buy into this narrative of Vanessa and Mike being loving parents when they do something like that. Seriously who thought that was okay?

5. Pity Parties for everyone.

I already discussed this in Stella’s section but I don’t like the “it’s okay for me be a shitty person because my life sucks :)” narrative Fate tries to pull. They did it with Stella, Bloom, Riven.

What I liked about the first season of Winx Club is Bloom’s arc and her character as a whole. Because while she went through shit, from the Trix, to finding out she was adopted, her existential crisis, not feeling like she belonged, losing the dragon flame, she went through a lot. She didn’t throw a pity party. She didn’t whine, bitch and complain. She allowed herself to feel upset, took it as it is and tried to make lemonade out of lemons. And I respect that.

Net!Bloom is agrevating. She does some dumb, reckless stuff but it’s excused because she’s the protagonist? She let the war criminal out, the school gets taken over by the bad guys because of Bloom. Faragonda fucking dies because she let the war criminal out! The burned ones attacked the school because she let the war criminal out!!! But no, Aisha’s villainized for calling Bloom out because Bloom’s existential crisis is more important then anything else.

Getting to Sky, he isn’t as bad as the others. He doesn’t become a shitty person because of his problems. (Though lowkey flirting with Bloom while he hooks up with Stella is uh not good.) But he does come across incredibly whiny. Because of the cringey dialogue and the unnecessary swearing  I can’t take his speech on opening up to Bloom seriously. I laughed throughout the whole thing and Bloom leaving his unconscious body there was the icing on the cake.

One of the few characters that deserved a pity party is Terra. She’s very much like OG!Bloom in a way. She is bullied by Dane and Riven, has body insecurities, anxiety, nobody listens to her and at most only tolerates her. Despite all the crap that is thrown her way she still reminds humble, kind, and respectful. And she is one of the few characters that deserves more support than what she got out of the season.

5. Bloom, Aisha, Tokenism and their awful relationship

I’m going to be upfront, their relationship sucks. The core of their dynamic is what Aisha can do for Bloom. It’s very one-sided. Bloom only goes to Aisha to help solve her problems, which Aisha gladly does – but when Aisha disagrees with Bloom or says something Bloom doesn’t like, Bloom suddenly goes off and Aisha’s made to be the bad guy. Even though she’s right? And Aisha has her own problems as well, shown to also struggle with her powers. But nope, that’s pushed to the back burner because Bloom needs help.

I am all for creative freedom. I can stomach Stella x actual Sky. I can stomach turning Stella into a rich mean girl. I can stomach the dark academia aesthetic but what Brian Young and co. did to Aisha is just plain racist. Screw the “it’s an adaptation” excuse. Turning this character who had a rich storyline and was a princess into a white girl’s magical negro who fixes all her problems is racist and by definition tokenism. And by whitewashing the other two characters of color, making Aisha the only poc in the group – that’s the worst thing you can do to her.

And frankly we need more black princesses on screen.

6. Dane and the homophobia of the show

Towards the show’s climax it’s revealed Dane is helping Beatrix because she accepts he’s “different”. Not only does this go back to my pity party rant but like bruh,

1)      Beatrix never really did anything for Dane? She hung out and smoked with him a bit, but that’s all. You’re telling me Terra wouldn’t accept Dane? Beatrix never helped him and he never really opened up to her about his struggles.

2)      Nobody else, not even background characters bully or harass Dane for being “different”. It’s only Riven, the guy he’s crushing on. The whole falling in love with the bad boy/abuser trope is bad in a hetero relationship and that still stands for a gay one. And I know damn well if Dane was a woman half of the shit Riven did to Dane wouldn’t slide.

It makes no sense for Dane to side with the bad guys when Riven’s the one bullying him and Beatrix is complacent in the bullying. Oh, and having your second black* character who’s also lgbt+/potentially questioning be a villain? Not good.

I’m all for gay and poly rep, but not like this. If Stella and Sky’s toxic relationship is going to be called out for what it is, why not Dane’s?

*Idk if Theo Graham is light-skinned black or biracial so I’ll just refer to him as black.

7. The plot

It’s very predictable. Personally, wasn’t fond of the ‘twist of a twist of a twist’ style of writing. The story tries to be nuanced and deep but it’s not. Common sense is treated like a big revelation. Not trusting the war criminal you barely know isn’t as big of a take that the writers try to make it out to be.

8.  Everything else

·       Beatrix is fine. No Icy but did like the gothic bookworm aesthetic.

·       Sam is just there to be Musa’s love interest and provide some dumb drama between Musa and Terra. I thought they’d go the Edward/Bella root – Musa’s drawn to Sam because she can’t sense his emotions for some reason. Nope, they just get together for the obligatory make out sessions. Don’t care much for the relationship or the character.

·       Since the powers are all elemental shouldn’t there be classes purely for an elemental? Classes purely for fire fairies, etc?

·       Musa’s powers are confusing. If she has no control over them and they are “always on”, shouldn’t her eyes constantly be glowing purple?  Very wishy washy. Sometimes they overwhelm her and other times she has complete control. Her character is just there for plot stuff.

·       Terra is one of the better characters but can’t enjoy her knowing about the whitewashing. Why can’t we have a plus sized character just exist and not have body issues?

·       Sky doesn’t feel like a prince. Characters treat him like his dad is a war hero and not the King of Eraklyon. There was a point where I thought I misheard and thought his dad was just a war hero and not a king.

·       Why try to justify Rosalind’s war crime if she’s going to be the big bad anyways?

·       The way the characters treat death/act around death is very weird. Musa and Terra see a pile of dead bodies and they’re unreasonable calm. Especially Bloom an “ordinary teenage girl from earth”, reacts very nonchalant when death and war crimes are brought up. Doesn’t help the show tries to push this “they’re kids fighting a war” narrative.

·       Can’t buy into the girls’ friendship. The Aisha/Bloom dynamic is centred on what Aisha can do for Bloom. Bloom only cares about herself and only goes to her friends to help with her problems. Most of Musa’s and Terra’s interaction centre around Sam. Stella didn’t care for the girls until her mom showed up and pulled a 180. The girls were quick to turn on Aisha when she sided with the adults.

·       I have no problem with technology existing but why do they have Instagram, Tiktok and Tumblr? The otherworld is a completely separated from Earth, why do they have the same technology?  

9. Brian Young, what do you mean by mature?

I grew up on the 4kids dub before transitioning to the Nick dub for season 4 and 5 then dropping the cartoon for good. So naturally on my rewatch of the cartoon I decided to go watch the RAI dub since I heard it’s more accurate and 4Kids are infamous for their horrid localisations straying too much to the source material. Upon finishing season 1 and currently watching season 2, a few things took me by surprise. For one, the cartoon is surprisingly dark. The schools are at war with the Trix and their army of Darkness, Sky almost dies in Season 2, Riven almost dies and the Trix thinks he suicided, it’s heavily implied in Season 2 Darkar murdered some of the pixies, the paedophilic undertones of Bloom and Avalon’s relationship, the list goes on.

When the interview with Brian Young came out, he said Fate would be a mature take on the cartoon. And I wondered, what did he meant by mature? Was he going to delve deeper into the darker aspects of the show, or did he mean he was going to have the girls swear and have sex? Watching Fate, I found my answer.

If you take out the gore, swearing, drug and alcohol usage from the live action, the maturity is on par with the RAI dub. The difference is in the presentation. This is what sucks about the mentality surrounding live action remakes. Because the OG!Winx was colourful with glittery transformations , was super girly and overall had a positive upbeat tone (not forgetting 2D animated) - it can’t be taken seriously. You have to strip all that, the colour, the kindness, the femininity in order to be deemed mature.

10. Wrapping up

I went into Fate expecting the worst and honestly, it wasn’t that bad. There were things I liked about it. The show looks pretty, and I did like what they were trying to do with Sky’s arc. The actors did what they could with the material. Freddie Thorp made the cringe dialogue work and Abigail Cowen proves she can carry a show as the lead.

Fate is your generic, YA, dark academia show. It follows all the tropes of the YA genre to a T. If that’s your niche, then you’ll love Fate and I’m not bashing anyone who liked it.

For me, as a creative, it doesn’t capitalise on the strengths of the source material. I’m not asking for Winx Club again, as I’ve reiterated, I’m all for creative freedom. But Brian Young, Iginio Straffi, whoever worked on this – they could’ve created something new, innovative, something that stood out from the hordes of other YA shows. They had good material in their hands! But what I got -  I’ve seen before, and I’ve seen it done better. That’s a major disappointment.

As a winx club fan, don’t bother watching this. It’s a very diluted version of the Winx. In trying to capture the interest of the adult fans who grew up with the franchise – Iginio showed how out of touch he is if he thinks this is what they wanted.

#fate the winx saga #netwinx #back on my winx club bs #long post #this took me like 4 days to write

[irandomblogfulb]

Looking at it from a narrative standpoint, what's the point of making Terra a "new character"? All of the pre-existing characters are nothing like their cartoon counterparts. Stella's Diaspro in disguise, Musa has mind powers, Aisha's background and backstory was flushed down the toilet, Sky hooks up with Stella and his father's dead, Riven's a predatory bisexual in a threesome - if you're gonna do a complete overhaul on the others why stop at Flora? You can very much have a plus sized Flora who struggles in making friends with a brother called Sam. Making a "new character" to take Flora's place in the Winx who is also a nature fairy with the same naming convention is a redundant decision narrative wise.

The only conceivable reason why Brian Young and co. would do this is to find a loophole in the whitewashing. Cause at least with Elisha, there's a lot of confusion wrt. to her race and the styling department can do a decent enough job at making her look like Musa. Eliot? There is no Latina bone in that woman's body and there's no way they can make her look like Flora without turning her into a whole ass minstrel show.

#fate the winx saga #back on my winx club bs #winx club