#winx club meta

[sabrina-bee-art]

The Wizards are Sad Pieces of Toast, change my mind.

The Wizards are this seasons big bad villains. Or, the attempt at villains, ig. The way they are introduced, set against all the other villains the Winx have already beaten, it sets the expectation for the audience that the Wizards are even more evil, cruel and dangerous than all the villains that came before. And I guess on paper they are. Theoretically they are responsible for the genocide on the Terrestrial Fairies, which is pretty horrifying. Even Faragonda doesn’t dare speak of them out loud. And initially that’s intriguing. But when we meet them properly, they are just so boring and ineffective in comparison to Valtor or the Trix. Or even Darkar and he mostly hung out in his creepy cave castle.

I like the Wizards entrance, sort of. I like that they initially are after Bloom and want to steal her power (we’ll disregard for a moment the fact we learned in season 1 that a fairy’s power can’t be stolen) and when they realise, she isn’t the one they were looking for, they just yeet her to the side. That’s funny and unexpected. Every other villain before was after Bloom, and now for the first time, she isn’t the main centre of attention. She’ll make herself into that, later. But back to the Wizards.

We quickly realise that the Wizards are just…ridiculous, not menacing. Their actions don’t live up to the expectation set by their introduction and I think that is the main problem I have with them. How am I supposed to take them as a serious threat when the first two thirds of the season, the Wizards spend their time essentially playing pranks on the Winx? All they do in their brief moments of screen time, is to stand around and complain about the Winx. Then they try to ruin the Winx reputation and get so angry over the people of Gardenia liking these girlies. How very high school mean girl of them. It gets to a point where even the Winx are just annoyed when the Wizards show up and treat them more like an inconvenience than the evil final bosses that they end up being. Well, unless the plot demands otherwise.

It doesn’t help that, until the Winx get Believix at the end of the sixth episode, the Wizards could beat them at any point, since they canonically created a spell that renders Fairy Magic basically mute. But they don’t do anything with their advantage. Instead, they are absent for a good chunk of episodes and then only start messing with the Love & Pet shop, for no other reason than that they don’t like the Winx and find them annoying. After Episode 7, when the Winx insta-defeated them, they just sometimes attack randomly, but not with any sort of plan they want to achieve. Even though Roxy is not very protected, like the Winx don’t organise a watch for her or coordinate schedules so that someone is always with her, the Wizards only try to kidnap Roxy once. Unsuccessfully, because they conveniently forget to take her powers that particular time.

At the end, when they reveal themselves to be the Big Evils after all, I couldn’t take them seriously, with all the silly bullshit they pulled. They don’t even have any memorable personalities either. I can’t even recall all their names: there’s Ogron and Duman. Gantlos? And??? I'm sure there's a fourth one, but I couldn't remember his name if you'd held a gun to my head.

Ogron, or more like budget Valtor, in a sad attempt to be the next “charming” villain, monologues all over the place, throwing around threats and sassy lines. When Valtor did it, at least he made his threats reality thus giving his words weight. Ogron just talks shit and then gets jobbed by the Winx.

Another aspect to the detriment of the Wizards is that we don’t really get to spend much time with them. In season one and season three we spend a good chunk of most episodes with the Trix and Valtor and get to know them, their plans, and personalities. That’s why they are so memorable. The Wizards don’t get the same treatment. We barely cut away to see what they are up to, and when we do, they mostly complain about the popularity of the Winx. I’m serious. These are our villains!

We never learn their plans either. Why do they want the Terrestrial Fairies powers so badly? Just to have it? Because that’s an evil villain thing to do? Why did they start the genocide in the first place? What is their end goal now? Why do they want the White Circle? What are they planning? The audience not knowing the villains plan is a problem. That’s our frame of reference for the stakes of the season. Whenever the Winx and Wizards fight, we should clearly know what happens should the Winx lose. When we don’t understand the Wizards ulterior motives, their actions become meaningless and confusing. I would go so far to speculate that there never was a concrete plan for them, writing-wise. They are just a trope, a vessel, a hinderance for the Winx to fill this season with something. They aren’t real characters.

Let’s look at their plan, or lack there-of: At first, they want to steal Roxy’s power, then they leave her alone for a bit, messing with the Winx instead. Then they suddenly forget about Roxy and want the White Circle. Then they play more pranks and inconvenience the Winx some more. And in the end, they want to destroy Tir Na Nog…for some reason??? Because the show needs an evil final boss? With the other villains in previous season, the audience always clearly understood what their next steps would be. That adds suspense and urgency, like “Oh no! The Trix are about to steal a codex, can the Winx stop them in time???” Because we understood, that if Darkar gets all Codex pieces, he would be super powerful and destroy the Magical Dimension, the audience understood the gravity whenever the Trix managed to steal another piece. Now granted, that’s not a particularly original plan, but that’s not the point. The Wizards just randomly show up to fight, not really following any plan, or rather, whatever this episode’s plot requires. They don’t have an overarching plan. I’d argue because they don’t need one, because they will lose at the end regardless, but there not being any really just makes the Wizards seem like nothing more than a mild inconveniences to the Winx. Depending on the episode, of course, and whether we need to bring in artificial tension.

The fact that they don’t even have a proper villain’s lair speaks volumes. The Trix had Cloud Tower in season one. Darkar had his fancy underground castle. Valtor first had his cave on Andros, then Cloud Tower. What do the Wizards get? An unspecified industrial looking area and then…the sewer. They hide out in the sewer. Ewwwww. They don’t have a creepy castle, nothing. They could have had a sort of Tir Na Nog foil, a creepy old castle maybe, or even lived in the Ruins of Tir Na Nog. No. They hide in the sewers of this random Californian town.

I cannot stress enough how the majority of the season the Wizards are just sad pieces of toast and then at the last minute, they are revealed to be the big bad final boss. Their tactic of feigning their surrender could have been interesting, but by that point they already had lost all their intrigue. The Winx had already won against them every time they fought, so why should I feel any sort of threat or danger?

#winx club season 4 #winx meta #winx club critical #wizards of the black circle #winx duman #winx gantlos #winx ogron #fourth wizard i can't remember the name of #winx club meta #winx club

[no-white-dress]

I find it amusing how many winx rewrites/redesigns are hellbent on making the characters closer to traditional fairies and witches like one of the core concepts of the show wasn’t to modernize the idea of fairy. They aren't even subtle about it in season 1, Stella immediately looks at Bloom's book and goes "yeah no that's outdated stories" and need I remind you the finale?

Not addressed to anyone in particular, just something I noticed.

#this is why you'll never catch me including covens in my winx fanfics #first off that's an extremely foreign thing to me #not part of my history or folklore so I don't get the charm of it #not to mention the show pushed for individualism in cloudtower so why would they stress that so much and then have covens? #fairy courts canonically being an Earth thing is something interesting to play with though #if you think about it all other courts are non magical or mixed #winx club #winx meta

[stellasolaris]

Why Stella should not have been rebranded as the Fairy of the Shining Sun

After nearly a year, I have finally decided to write a second part to my previous post in which I said I was not a fan of the writers rebranding Stella as the Fairy of the Shining Sun.

To start, let's first take a look at her family background. Her parents are the King and Queen of Solaria—the proverbial sun and the moon. It is apparent from their distinct color palettes and the origins of their names that they represent the sun and the moon. Stella, with her original title as the Fairy of the Sun and the Moon, naturally has qualities and powers from both her parents. To take away her moon powers would be a disservice to her character, as it means taking a piece of her identity away.

While I subscribe to the idea of her having access to solar and lunar powers, I don't mind her lunar powers being secondary to her sun powers. Here's why.

Her moon-based spells, which she rarely uses, tend to be more defensive and tamer than her sun-based spells. (3.14, 3.26) For someone like her, who is bold and daring, and prefers offensive tactics over defensive ones, it makes sense that she would lean more toward using her combative solar powers. (1.21) It's what comes naturally to her.

Her relationship with her father, despite the neglectful behavior of both her parents, appears affectionate. (3.19) I like to think her strong connection with her father and home planet is in part why she prefers and is more in tune with using her solar powers than her lunar powers.

There is some debate over whether or not she should have a secondary power, with some suggesting that she would be too powerful if she had two powers. I disagree.

Her powers make narrative sense when you think of them from the standpoint of light rather than separate celestial bodies. In technical terms, moonlight is reflected sunlight. These two are not separate. In a way, her solar and lunar powers are essentially the same, just in different fonts.

It would be logical for her powers to be influenced by the level of light in her surroundings, allowing her to draw either from solar or lunar energy. We already know from canon that she becomes weak and powerless in the absence of sunlight. (2.04) In such situations, her lunar powers could become activated. This limits her abilities and prevents her from becoming too powerful.

Recall that one of the motifs regarding her character development is the use of mirrors. It serves as a symbol of her personal growth and self-awareness, particularly in seasons two and three. In 2.21, she earns a mirror-shaped pendant for being vulnerable and sharing her feelings of loneliness. In 3.04, she breaks her curse by realizing her beauty isn't skin deep. Every time she reflects on her life and grows as a person, there is a reflective item (the lake, the pendant) present. If we consider that the moon reflects the sun and acts like a mirror, we can interpret her mirror-based spells to have an indirect relation to her lunar abilities.

To be fair, her mirror spells could easily have a category of their own as the moon is not exactly like a mirror in its reflectivity power; the moon only reflects about 3–12% of the sunlight, while a mirror typically reflects anything between 70%–99.9%. However, based on the fact that the sun produces its light, whereas the moon and mirror do not, we can conclude that her mirror spells are more likely to fall under the moon category than the sun category.

From a narrative standpoint, it seems the writers had no idea what to do with her lunar side. It's likely why they changed her title and erased almost every trace of her lunar side, including the blue accents in her transformation outfits. It's a shame because there are so many ways they could have explored her moon powers in the later seasons, but no; instead, we get the displeasure of witnessing her turning into a toddler, putting fairy animals in silly costumes, and wearing an atrocious salad dress to the stage for everyone in the audience to mock. Which, for the record, she would absolutely never wear.

#winx club #winx #winx stella #winx headcanons #winx meta #winxmeta #metas

[ghostsprobably]

For the winx couples, I always liked the idea of Bloom and Stella. They'd be so cute together idk, just something about the friends to lovers storylines just does it for me XD

( their ship name is sun dragon and no one can change my mind)

And on the other hand i also like the ship between Bloom and Stella but as an Unrequited love. Unicorn of war did this in his season 6 rewrite and its become my biggest theory. Like Bloom having a crush on Stella and her just pretending that crush doesn't exist because she loves her but not romantically. idk that dynamic is interesting :p

gonna use this ask for solarflare since you bring up some really fun stuff!

I don't really see them as romantic

I definitely am not against this one, but it just doesn't super appeal to me because I really strongly see Stella as the big sister Bloom was meant to have. Since Daphne is dead and all that.

They're sweet

I love their friendship so much so I definitely understand why people ship them! Stella would definitely enable Bloom's anger more than Sky does and Bloom would enable Stella's chaos. If they became a full couple I think they would become the best kind of insane force of nature.

Oh the devotion

These two are already each other's biggest cheer leaders lol. I think there could be a problem tho in Stella's flirty nature, and Bloom's jealousy issues, but they would love each other enough to work it out I'm sure

#winx club #winx #my art #winx rewrite #text #winx au #winx redesign #solarflare #stella x bloom #stellaxbloom #winx stella #stella winx #winx bloom #bloom winx #winx shipping #winx ships #winx meta

[darkpoisonouslove]

3, 6, 19 and 21 for Valtor and 2, 4 and 25 for Daphne from the character ask game? 🙏

Thanks for the questions!

Valtor:

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

How overpowered he is. This is literally the crux of pretty much every issue with him. I'm going to take them one at a time.

First off, it is ridiculously easy for him to just get what he wants. He barely encounters any obstacles at all, especially when the Winx aren't there to fight him. This creates inconsistencies with the backstory. If it is this easy for him to steal magic and he's so powerful, it is hardly believable that he wasn't doing this before he was imprisoned or that if he was doing it, the Company were able to limit the damage he'd do (especially since the leftover Company members seem so powerless against him in the present when they should be even stronger as fighters after the 17 years they've had to acquire wisdom, experience and to develop their magical abilities further; make it make sense!). And not just that. The idea that he can just waltz into both CT and Alfea, take over the first and dispose of the head of the latter, not to mention what he did on every other world he set foot on, erases any kind of stakes from the story. It implies that he cannot be stopped by the authorities. So why is he hiding then instead of taking over the world since nothing has given us the indication that there is a force that could stop him? Leaving that issue aside, he just succeeds too easily, which makes everyone else look like weak, incompetent morons and doesn't help him either. Most of the places he robs of their magic were hardly protected at all when making him struggle a little but still succeed and outsmart his enemies would have done much more to highlight his power and cunning. They just go about building him up as a threat in the wrong way.

Secondly, he starts to unravel so badly from 3x18 onwards. The minute they introduced the Agador Box, it was game over for him and his credibility as a villain. This might seem to go against the idea that he's overpowered as the Box seemed to be a plot device demonstrating that he, too, is limited. But the truth is that nothing they'd shown before has given us any indication that power could ever become too much for him. The Box doesn't make sense when his goal was always to collect power and he himself never gave any indication that he was getting overloaded in order to foreshadow his need for it. The truth is that they needed a way for Winx to defeat him after they went overboard with his abilities and the Box was pretty much it. All his spells go in, then with the help of some fairy dust all his spells go out. Boom! Problem solved. By a cheap plot to get rid of the virtually invincible villain they created. If they'd set some limits from the start, this literally never would have been an issue. I'd actually argue that it makes way more sense for him to come with preexisting limits installed by the Ancestral Witches. After all, they wouldn't want their creation somehow amassing enough power to overthrow them and possibly kill them. It would have given him something to overcome and been a much more organic way to keep him at a power level that wouldn't require them to turn him into a pathetic wet cat for the Winx to be able to defeat him.

And lastly, I think his invulnerability contributes the most to people misinterpreting him. I have seen Valtor stans swearing up and down that he is composure personified and so in control of himself, which just... isn't true. Valtor is calm and collected for the majority of the season not because that is who he is as a character but because there is nothing that can oppose him and truly stand in his way. Think about any instance when something doesn't go like he wants it to, be it mind-controlled Ediltrude and Zarathustra telling him Griffin is trying to escape in 3x11, the Winx and their teachers failing his plan to kill Bloom in 3x14 or the Trix laughing at him in 3x25. His instant reaction is violent anger (less so in 3x11 but super evident in both of the other examples). Really, his composure is proportionally tied to his excessive power that no one else can challenge. And in those last episodes when it becomes clear his power is not going to be enough, he's not unraveled completely yet because he's exploiting everyone else's emotional weaknesses such as siccing the Trix on Bloom in 3x22 under guise of letting them fix their mistake from 3x20 and lying to Bloom he's absorbed her parents into his body in 3x23 to save his skin. He still believes that he can win because he's holding the better hand but once his spells are scattered in 3x25 and he loses the Trix as his minions, he goes completely off the rails. That is to say that his power is a crutch and limiting it from the start could have afforded more opportunities to explore his character, make him more interesting and compelling if he has to struggle and isn't allowed to keep his composure this much.

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

Being obsessed with Griffin

Too many things for comfort. Definitely the pride that easily crosses into arrogance. Recently someone told me that they've noticed I can act quite arrogant and I was like "We know but hey!" I'm pretty sure that it's not in the grand proportions in which it is with Valtor though so... at least I have that going for me. 😅

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

Well, that's easy. I HATE what they did with him and the Trix. Okay, he wants to keep them under his thumb by making them bicker with each other but a) that shouldn't have worked after the previous season and what happened with Darkar and b) why would he feel the need to manipulate them when it's never indicated that they can be a threat to him? I am a firm believer that they should have leaned way more into the fact that the Trix are descendants of the Ancestral Witches. They could have mostly kept his strategy of divide and conquer but with the added bonus that he is implied to be mega uncomfortable in the Trix' presence because of how much they remind him of the Ancestral Witches. That would have done wonders for his character and saved that particular subplot. His discomfort with the Trix would perfectly foreshadow his confrontation with the Ancestral Witches in 3x26 and could give us context of why Valtor is amassing so much magic (to ensure he'll never be under his mothers' thumb again). It'd give more depth to his character and make him feel more real when there is a negative situation he's desperate to avoid.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

My favorite thing is to have him be wrong about something/have someone else (usually Griffin) get the upper hand on him, lol. I think you can easily infer why from all my ranting in the first question so I'm not going to rehash that whole thing again here. I'll just add that it's really satisfying to watch someone wipe his smug look off his face. 10/10 would recommend at every possible opportunity. (Quick note: the way his defeat was handled on the show wasn't even cathartic because they had already torn him down so much since 3x18 through the script itself that Winx didn't really get to crush him in a satisfying way, especially considering how personal he made things for them during the season.)

I don't like having to write his speech patterns because I am always second guessing whether he sounds the way he's supposed to. He does have a more formal way of speaking and I have to remind myself of that constantly. It's a struggle to keep his dialogue in character and I am not a fan of that. But like everything, it gets easier the more you practice it.

Daphne:

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

That's so tough considering how badly canon treats her. I'm still unclear on whether her being the previous Keeper of the Dragon Fire is just one dub's version or canon all around. While to me that's always been canon, I'm gonna be very controversial with my unpopular opinion - my favorite thing about her is that she was resurrected. Yes, season 6 could have hardly treated her worse and yes, they probably brought her back for Bloom's sake, not her own but I am happy regardless because it pisses people off Daphne deserves to be more than just the ghost that died for Bloom's sake. Her season 6 storyline may suck but it is the first time that the show has treated her as her own character rather than as a prop for Bloom's story and I support that idea. I really wish people would think about that instead of insisting that Daphne stay dead just because the show dropped the ball with the execution of her revival.

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Oh, ouchie, that's a tough question. It may be because of my long-standing obsession that's currently been kicked into motion again but the first thing that popped into my head was The Hunger Games. There is just a great similarity between Daphne and Katniss both going above and beyond to protect their little sisters. And thinking about this a little more in-depth, that would actually do Daphne a very big favor because it will allow her story and feelings to be explored like they never were on the show. If she were the main character just like Katniss is, she doesn't have to be sidelined for the sake of focusing on Bloom. Daphne will be the center of the story which will allow us to witness her journey and more of her character. She would still be defined by her sacrifice for Bloom (so her character won't be warped beyond recognition) but she won't have to be contained and limited by it. She can have her own story and be the main player in it, have her trauma explored because that is one of the central things The Hunger Games focuses on.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

Oh, it's impossible to remember what my first impression was because it's been about 20 years since then. But I am positive that I always loved Daphne! However, now I am able to appreciate the nuances to her character and all the potential that she has. She's definitely one of my faves and deserved so much better!

#winx club #winx valtor #winx daphne #ask #solisvia #winx meta #meta

[rist-ix]

What do you think about the fact that the "light" put Valtor in a torture prison for almost two decades and how it could have affected him ? Love you meta btw

Thank you!! About the company of light sending Valtor to Omega…

welp. he had it coming

The exact circumstances of his imprisonment are, as usual, a victim to timeline wonkiness, so we can’t say for certain who it was that locked him up — whether it was Oritel and Marion before the Witches arrived to wipe Domino clean, or the Faragonda-Griffin-Saladin-Trio. But it is likely that Domino was destroyed before he was sentenced to eternity in ice, if not before he was even captured in the first place.

Going from that, Faragonda and Co. have just learned that their friends, their kingdom and their two young daughters (one of them a literal infant) were murdered as a final act of desperation/cruelty in the war. And they have the man who was complicit, if not actively executing said act, in their hands. If we assume that Valtor‘s fate was solely up to them, no Council and Light Rock involved, I totally get why they yeeted him to Ice Hell without hesitation. Any of his previous crimes would probably be enough to warrant that too already. I am frankly surprised that they didn’t straight up murder him on the spot, but that’s were my favorite headcanon that he’s pretty much unkillable (‘cause dragon fire) plays in quite nicely.

I love Valtor, he’s my pathetic lil meow meow, but he is also unrepentantly evil in canon. He’s living for the atrocities. He's doing it for power, but also DEFINITELY for funsies. There is the implication that his mothers can control his physical form, but even then, he never regrets anything he's done and would 100% do it again if given the chance. That is a) very sexy of him and b) a very good reason to put him in the freezer and never talk about him again. I'm with Faragonda on this one folks

That second question tho, how his imprisonment could affect him, offers a whole lot more options:

To be fair, I don’t think it was ever explicitly confirmed that Omega prisoners are awake and aware while frozen, I just like to do that in fics for the angst. But thats still 20 years he's just straight up missing, a lot of changes and developments that happened without him noticing. If he was frozen before Domino fell, thats one big newsflash for sure; if he knew beforehand, he's still terribly out of touch with how the dimension settled around that loss. I also like to think he does not understand half the lingo the trix throw at him. He fakes it till he makes it, but he is SO confused.

Going back to canon, there actually is one pretty big indicator that his imprisonment really fucked him up emotionally tho. And its in everyone's favorite episode too: the one with the ruins on Andros, where Valtor officially introduces himself to the Winx.

If we skip past his private conversation with Bloom (which would be a crime), and to the part where the Winx re-enter the fray to blast him with their colorful beams, we can see one INCREDIBLY quick shift in his behavior, to the point its almost jarring, and it's when Layla / Aisha steps up.

Up to this point, and really, in 95% of his battles, Valtor never loses his charming tone of voice and his calm demeanor. It's how he's mocking his enemies and asserting his superiority: he is so confident in his power that he doesnt even bother raising his voice, he just swats away spells and keeps up the chit-chat. That little shit. He's iconic that way.

Un-fucking-bothered.

But it also means that when he does lose his cool, its very noteworthy and makes it obvious he feels genuinely threatened or unbalanced. When Layla lands in front of him and announces herself as Princess of Andros, his face visibly falls. His smirk is wiped clean off, and he goes straight into the offensive, for the very first time that day.

No banter, no pulling his punches, he goes in for the metaphorical kill and leaves immediately after, with Layla permanently (for now) blinded in one shot. It's the only time i can remember that he specifically targeted her, and its with pure, unregulated rage and ruthlessness. Similarly, while he is doing his one-man world tour of planetary crisises, every planet suffers but Andros specifically is nearly wiped off of the star maps entirely.

While there is a point to be made about how the writers always seem to have it out for Layla, the watsonian reason for this that jumps to my mind is that Andros, for the past 18-20 years, has been his jailor. I'm pretty sure i remember lines from the german dub about how Andros and everyone on it is worthless and deserves the same fate, but even without that, its pretty obvious that Valtor is pissed at them specifically. By doing their galactic duty (or political responsibility) and guarding the Omega Gate, Andros has ensured Valtor stays nice and frosty for almost two decades. While his outward reaction - anger and violence - demonstrates his desire for revenge, his sheer lack of restraint and impulse control hints more at fear in my opinion. In the latter half of s3 we only ever see him freak out like this when he is actively losing the war. He is the animal that bites when cornered.

We cant be sure he was aware in his cell, but if just the mention of Andros can set him off like this, we can assume he really doesn't like to think about it, and might even have some form of PTSD sticking with him. And since his only reaction to fear at this point seems to be maiming and murdering, this will likely contribute to his evil-and-lovin-it problem.

Excellent ask anon!!

#asks #winx valtor #winx meta #winx club s3 ep5

[charmixpower]

Riven: Even without a voice, you put on the most amazing concert. You saved Alfea. I just wish I could be half as remarkable as you. I wasn't able to save your voice, and I couldn't be there for you once it was gone. You deserve better

You know what???? From on this has got to be genuinely the best late season Riven arc. I'm not even doing a bit or anything. S6 is genuinely selling me on their breakup as a mutual and healthy thing and Riven wanting to reflect and grow to be a better person for both himself and Musa. I WISH THEY SPENT MORE TIME ON THIS ARC INSTEAD OF PARTIES AND SKY'S RANDOM COUSIN

Everyone was warning me about s6 Riven, which is fair I'm sobbing and throwing a tantrum or whatever, but now that they're genuinely expanding on WHY he's acting like this and giving him motivation is really good. I wish he was like this from the beginning instead of just blowing Musa off for his boomerang. Like if this was the direction his arc was written from at the start I would have been all over it

Like s4 was annoying because Musa was rewritten to act more like the rest of the winx, s5 was annoying because despite giving me a lot of cute moments it was just dumb and didn't care about character, this however while being written in a way that doesn't make sense for his later motivation, could be genuinely a amazing arc AND character congruent. Seriously just like take out all the being the best stuff and over competitiveness that was smacked out of his head in s1, let him still be attentive when it really matters and just DROWN him in self worth issues and I would be yelling about s6 Riven the way I constantly cry over how much I love s2 Riven

Like you can still have them break up too! Id cry about it, not to mention kicking him off the show and making him do character development off screen robs the audience of a character arc, but like being there only when some shit is seriously going down isn't enough!! You should be continuously present obviously. This wouldn't stop that from happening!! Not to mention Riven doesn't fucking talk about stuff!! I love s2 Riven, he's genuinely trying his best but he doesn't say anything about Darcy until he's absolutely sure what the plan of action would be! He clearly doesn't like telling people about things when they're in the process of going down, so he probably is only going to mention this kind of stuff when Musa really presses him on it because he would want to get to a level hes proud of THEN tell Musa after it's already over

Oh my god this is how I felt watching the s1 final with Riven, when I stopped hating him.... God okay, S6 takes ONE win with how the second half of the Riven arc is CURRENTLY being handled. It's giving me ALL the thoughts and feelings about him

#Winx Club #Rus Chatters #Rus Liveblogs #Winx Season 6 #winx Riven #rus rants #<- that's short for rants and raves. basically i talk too much #long post #i need someone who can actually write real metas to cover s6 Riven. that would be everything to me #im.so normal #winx

[vicontheinternet]

I need y’all to know that Aisha/Layla is not defined by swimming/being active. She is a girl who is sensitive and shows her emotions a lot. Yes she felt claustrophobic by her parents but she also loves her ppl and loves being a princess. She wears skirts and dresses and I need y’all to sit with why y’all think she isn’t any of that or wears exclusively shorts/pants when in canon she’s dress just as girly as any of other girls. Aisha was based off of Beyoncé in her destiny child’s era and while she was dress in camo and shit she was still feminine I need y’all to sit with why y’all always push aisha as this hypermasculine/tomboy/swimwear wearing only/shorts and pants wearing only girl because she’s not she wears skirts and dresses she’s not uncomfortable in skirts and dresses and i need y’all to get that

#this is all back by canon info btw #she's like aaliyah if that helps or beyonce in her destiny child's era #you should go to their archives for inspiration on aisha #because aisha has a personality outside of her water powers coming from a water based planet and sports #shes active not a tomboy #and even then she's not defined by it #winx club #winx aisha #winx layla #winx commentary #winx meta #edited because I spelt claustrophobic #<<<wrong idk how #edited tag: ​she also loves hers parents

[wingshowdown]

ROUND THREE - DAY TWO

#aisha #winx club #meta knight #kirby #polls #wingshowdown poll #wingshowdown #wing showdown #round three

[reina-royale]

I have received a lot of backlash for criticizing Kim Possible as it was one of the most popular "girl power" shows of the time.

Not just here but in other internet spaces as well.

And, truly, I admit that, at the time, I admired Kim.

Emphasis: at the time.

But, as people tend to do, I grew up. I got older, learned more about the world, learned more about people, girls especially, and, when I started rewatching Kim Possible, came to a horrifying revelation:

Kim Possible is not a "girl power" show, it's just a show about a powerful girl.

What does a girl power show look like?

Well, it's best to explain with examples.

I'll keep them limited to crime-fighting shows that were on the air at around the same time Kim Possible was.

Shows being used as examples include:

Teen Titans

X-Men: Evolution

Winx Club

So, what is it that makes these shows girl power shows, but not Kim Possible?

Well, there's a lot, so it's best to grab a snack and a drink, this could be a while.

Let's begin:

Multiple Heroines

Teen Titans starts out with two awesome heroines, Raven and Starfire, and adds more to the cast later - Kole, Bumblebee, Terra, Argent, etc.

X-Men: Evolution had multiple heroines from the beginning, with more added later. And one of the original heroines was an older female mentor that everyone, including boys, looked up to.

Winx Club is a female-led show with five, later six, awesome female leads and powerful females in mentor roles that are admired and respected by men and women alike.

But Kim Possible only has one heroine for girls to look up to - Kim herself.

Sure, Yori's impressive, but she's not really her own character as she's meant to aid in Ron's development.

And while Dr. Director could be cool, we don't actually see her do more than delegate, which, while important, is hard for people to look up to.

And the professional heroes, Team Impossible, are an entirely male group.

Kim Possible only has one female for little girls to look up to.

So, if, for some reason, you find yourself not looking up to Kim, then you're out of luck with this show, because there's not any other girl for you to look up to.

It's not a girl power show if there's only one girl to look up to.

Complex Thoughts and Feelings

The girls of Teen Titans are shown with varied and complex thoughts and emotions. Starfire uses her feelings to fuel her powers, and, even though she's apathetic, there are multiple episodes that address that Raven has complex thoughts and feelings but has to keep them under control because of her powers.

In X-Men: Evolution all the characters, especially the girls, are shown with complex thoughts and feelings.

In Winx Club the girls are shown with thoughts and feelings, and it's established that their feelings fuel their magic.

But in Kim Possible, Kim's thoughts and feelings aren't very complex. Kim is shown to dislike something, or have strong opinions about something, but anything deeper is rarely explored.

When Kim didn't want Ron to be the mascot in "Attack of the Killer Bebes", there's no reason given.

When she's jealous of Yori in "Gorilla Fist", it's only hinted that it's because of her romantic feelings for Ron.

And she certainly doesn't actually talk about her feelings afterwards.

Her underlying thoughts, feelings, and motivations are rarely explored.

A girl power show should explore the thoughts and feelings of it's main character.

Competent Heroes

In Teen Titans, the Doom Patrol are in fact skilled and competent, even if they "die" a lot.

In X-Men: Evolution, the older heroes are actually good at what they do.

In Winx Club, the Specialists aren't considered less competent, they're just trained differently. And the older heroes are, in fact, very skilled.

In those shows, the more experienced and professional heroes are actually shown to be competent.

In Kim Possible, Agent Du and Team Impossible are (supposed to be) less skilled than Kim.

(Though, really, the laser web thing isn't a fair assessment of ability if they're not starting from the same place.)

While I get that Kim is supposed to be the hero, it'd be more impressive if the professional heroes were actually portrayed as good at their jobs.

The other shows don't require dumbing down the professionals to make the heroines shine, so Kim Possible shouldn't need that either.

A girl power show shouldn't need the professionals dumbed down for the girl to shine.

Independence

In the other shows, each girl is a formidable force on their own.

Maybe not able to take down every bad guy on their own, but certainly able to hold their own in a fight.

But in Kim Possible, Kim is dependent on Ron and Wade to succeed.

(As shown in "Bueno Nacho" and "A Sitch in Time".)

She is completely incapable of handling missions on her own, making her unable to be a stand-alone hero.

The main character of a girl power show should be capable of doing things without her sidekicks.

Kindness

In the other shows, the main heroines are shown to be kind to others, even those outside their immediate friend group.

A few missteps along the way, but rarely ever having malicious intentions.

Not never, but rarely.

And especially no ill intent towards their friends.

Being kind takes a lot of strength at times, so a heroine who is kind is strong and worth looking up to.

(Seriously, kindness is powerful. The world needs more of it.)

But Kim isn't very kind to her loved ones.

Don't get me wrong, she saves the world and does other things to help people, but the way she treats those closest to her is not kind, and not worth looking up to.

Hyper-competitive, bossy, controlling, condescending, judgmental, etc. These aren't actually behaviors we want little girls emulating.

A kind heroine is more powerful than a bossy, controlling, judgmental, overly-competitive one.

Acknowledgment

In the other shows, the heroines acknowledge their teammates' contributions, and don't feel jealous or threatened when one of them is better than them at something.

In Winx Club, Stella, a character who could have been a stereotypical vain, spoiled princess, is constantly praising her friends on their accomplishments.

In X-Men: Evolution, the girls acknowledge each other's strengths and skills.

And in Teen Titans, Starfire is constantly showing her friends affection and believing in their abilities. Raven too, but not quite as enthusiastically.

But in Kim Possible, Kim refuses to acknowledge Ron as important to her success, and never gives him credit for his contributions.

(Well, not to his face.)

And, while she might praise Wade when he does something cool, she clearly doesn't value him very much, as shown by her comment in "The Truth Hurts" and her disregard for his warnings in "Queen Bebe".

A role model has no problems acknowledging the contributions of others and respects her teammates.

Training

In the other shows, the heroines are shown training in the use of their powers.

But in Kim Possible, Kim is naturally good at everything.

Okay, maybe not driving or cooking, but Kung Fu and cheerleading, to name a few.

The only time we see Kim practice anything is cheerleading, but "A Sitch in Time" revealed that she was an expert from the beginning.

She was good enough at Kung Fu to impress Hirotaka, a life-long student of Kung Fu, despite saying herself that she only dabbles in it, and she's never seen training in it.

It's not even mentioned that she had any actual training in it.

And, honestly, "naturally good at everything" is hard to emulate. It's not easy to look up to "impossibly talented" when you're older.

A heroine who fails and keeps trying is more admirable than one who never fails.

Varied Interests

In the other shows, the female characters don't all have the same interests.

Teen Titans has Raven interested in things like books while Starfire is interested in cute animals.

X-Men: Evolution has Jean do basketball and soccer, Kitty enjoys theater and parties, and Rogue likes literature, to name a few.

Winx Club has Stella into fashion, Musa is interested in music, Tecna likes technology, Aisha likes sports, and Flora likes nature.

But in Kim Possible, the girls are all interested in the same things; boys, boy bands, pop music, fashion, celebrities, etc.

(Aside from Monique's interests in wrestling and extreme sports, which never get brought up more than once each.)

Despite Kim herself doing Kung Fu and other extreme sports on the regular, the other girls are shown to only be interested in stereotypical teenage girl things.

(Again, aside from Monique's interests that are only mentioned once each.)

(And also aside from Zita, who is stated as being interested in video games and on the swim team, but disappears after her second episode until "Graduation".)

A girl power show would have girls with a variety of interests, not just the stereotypical ones.

Romantic Relationships

The other shows have great romantic relationships.

In Teen Titans, Robin/Starfire had build-up, despite their interest in each other being obvious from the beginning.

In X-Men: Evolution, Jean/Scott had build-up despite their feelings being clear from the beginning, and Kurt/Kitty were never more than friends with them both ending up in relationships with other people.

In Winx Club, all the relationships took time to build up, and some don't stay together forever but neither half is entirely demonized for it.

But there wasn't a lot of build-up for Kim/Ron, with Kim insulting Ron for suggesting people might think they date and Ron expressing discomfort at the idea of dating Kim.

A girl power show should have a proper build up to a romantic relationship.

Lack of a Fool

In the other shows, there is no one "fool" character who is a majority of the humor.

There is no one character who is the butt of all the jokes.

Sure, Teen Titans has Beast Boy, who's pretty humorous and funny, but his abilities and skills as a hero are still acknowledged and respected.

And plenty of the humor comes from other characters as well.

X-Men: Evolution has Nightcrawler, who certainly jokes around a lot, but he's still taken seriously in serious moments.

And other characters contribute to the humor of the show to.

But in Kim Possible, Ron isn't taken seriously.

Ron, despite having many moments where he shows impressive skills, isn't taken seriously as a hero.

His feelings are also rarely taken seriously, even about things that are pretty serious.

And Ron is responsible for 90% of the show's humor, often at his expense.

Ron is meant to be a bumbling, clumsy, inept, incompetent character to emphasize how much Kim shines.

But a real girl power show doesn't need that, because the heroine(s) shine anyways.

Summary

Unlike some of the other "girl power" shows of the time, Kim Possible decided the only thing that's important is that Kim is capable of fighting bad guys.

But a strong female character is so much more than fighting bad guys.

Now, I'm not saying the other shows listed handled everything perfectly. I know some things were handled poorly, but in terms of "girl power", they were still handling it better than Kim Possible.

And, shockingly, only one of them was even intended to be a "girl power" show.

I guess a better girl power show would have girls as people first, icons second.

#kim possible #meta #teen titans #x men evolution #winx club

[hxneylavendxr]

so let's say, hypothetically, if shu had to control an element would it be nature or technology

this is actually a good question when i think about it too hard because steam powered mechanics do fall flat in the middle ..... the rawest form of harnessing nature to power technology

i would say nature if we absolutely need to choose one of those

#ruby in my ask box #the eccentric 5 winx club meta #anyway since rei is the technical leader of the eccentrics that qualifies him to be the dragon flame one right? but we want to put him as t #e music fairy so i would put shu as the dragon flame (steampunk) fairy and rei as music but they could swap if that works better #for whatever you are nefariously scheming...

[sabrina-bee-art]

Roxy, or The tragedy of being a background character in your own story

Ok, let’stalk about our new “main” girlie. She is sometimes introduced as the seventh Winx and among fans, it is generally agreed, that Roxy gets severely sidelined in the coming seasons and never really becomes part of the main squad. I don’t think that was ever intended for her, especially considering how this season plays out. I think she was supposed to be introduced as a bridge between the OG Winx and a new Alfea group, maybe with the OG characters popping up here and there as cameos.

Don’t get me wrong, I do like Roxy and I like what her character could have been. I don’t personally think it would make sense for her to become the seventh Winx, because she is…well the timeline is unclear, but anywhere between 3 to 5 years younger than the Winx. They already graduated Alfea. Roxy is sixteen and only just this season discovers her powers and has so much yet to learn and to grow, and that’s fine. That is potential right there. Like I said, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that she was supposed to be the main girlie of the new Alfea generation. Alas, that did not happen, so let’s look at what we got this season.

Roxy grew up on Earth, believing she is a normal teenager, and then she suddenly finds out that she is a fairy, and that magic is real. This mirrors Blooms introduction from the first season, but in contrast to Bloom, Roxy is immediately hunted by enormously powerful villains (or at least we think so until they develop their sad piece of toast syndrome). From the first moment, she is drawn into this conflict between ancient fairy hunters and powerful older fairies. My point is, she is thrown into a dangerous and harrowing situation right from the start. She has no time to enjoy or really discover her powers, or the Magical Dimension, before some asshole wants to rip it straight out of her fingers again. Or…straight from her back I guess. All she experiences as a fairy is threats and danger and fear for her life and her loved ones, not really any positives at all, so I think her struggle with this new identity makes sense. She is overwhelmed and scared.

The way it is introduced to us, however, does not work imo. At the point all this happens in Episodes 6 and 7, we don’t know Roxy yet, she just got introduced that episode. Sure, she showed up here and there in little scenes and to the audience it’s clear that she is the last fairy the Winx are looking for, but during these we don’t see her character. We don’t spend any time with her so that, when these big character moments happen, it just doesn’t land. It seems to be coming out of nowhere and they seem almost comical set against new Winx transformations and the villains ridiculous monologuing.

If we contrast Roxy’s introduction with Blooms the difference becomes even more jarring. In the first episode of season 1, we spend a good amount of time with Bloom before she even meets Stella, so we get to know her a little. And it takes yet another few episodes for Bloom to reach a point where she has an internal crisis on the scale that Roxy has right at the start of her arc, and by that time we know Bloom and we care for her. Roxy never gets the same treatment in the writing. I wonder whether it was ever discussed in the development stage of this season, if it wouldn’t be better to tell the story out of Roxy’s perspective. The way I see it, that would make more sense narratively. But I guess they didn’t want to give up the brand recognition of the main six.

So after the initial introduction, Roxy get’s possessed by an evil fairy in Episode 9. That doesn’t make her think favourably of fairies either and I think that makes total sense. After her first transformation, in Episodes 12 and 13, we have the same problem of her experiencing big emotional moments, we don’t really have any context for, because we still haven’t really spent any time with her and gotten to know her. She just seems to fade into the background when she’s not in one of those big moments, because there is so much going on and there’s so much focus on the Winx and their various dramas and the Love & Pet shop and the Rock Band, there’s no time dedicated to getting to know Roxy better and she seemingly gets over these issues as quickly as they came up. Sometimes she’ll have a line like “Maybe I can still be a regular girl while being a fairy.”, which is supposed to remind us of her character conflict and…show progress I guess?

In the last third of the season her struggle is almost completely dropped. Roxy gets telepathic messages from Morgana and it’s uncomfortable for her, and intrusive. And then she has to discover that her ancestors, the people whose culture she shares and that might help her with her new fairy identity, turn out to be genocidal maniacs and want to destroy humanity, her home, her friends and family. And then she also discovers that she is the direct descendent from the leader of these people, the fairy queen. And without any real resolution for her different struggles, at the end, she embraces her identity and that’s just…the end for her.

There’s the illusion of character development, but really it’s just randomly pieced together moments. We lack the connective tissue between the big important beats. So they don’t have the impact they could have because Roxy as a character is still not that important to us. I feel like there should have been way more emphasis on Roxy’s journey, generally this season, but especially in the later third. She is just…sort of there. In the background. While all the action and conflict falls to Bloom. Roxy doesn’t take up centre stage in a conflict, that affects her the most of all the characters. The Wizards are after her, they destroyed her people and try to do so again. Her mother wants to destroy humanity. The Winx should be in the background because the only one with real personal stakes this season is Roxy. I think, if Bloom had taken a back seat, and not been so “uwu I’m the perfectest main protagonist and speech at you to resolve the conflict”, this season could have been really compelling. Bloom should have taken up the role of big sister and mentor for Roxy, like Daphne was for her.

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I’m annoyed that this wasn’t Roxy’s season right from the start and we still faffed around at Alfea and had to sit through all the other distractions. And I’m annoyed that they didn’t even take Roxy to Magix so she could see what it really means to be part of that world.

#winx club #winx club meta #winx club critical #winx club season 4 #winx meta #winx roxy

[no-white-dress]

If you were to rewrite Winx, how would you write it?

Oh this is gonna be long.

Ok let's start from the premise that I actually like winx the way it is for a big chunk. Yes up to freaking s8. Although s7 deserves hell and nothing more.

So with that in mind:

Season 1-2

I would actually insert foreshadowing to the trix's backstory since the beginning. Some moment of banter between Darcy and Stormy and Icy not having the context for it to make it clear right off the bat that no, they have not known each other their whole lives.

I'd flesh out the magic system more, in a way that it is clear that yes, Alfea and Cloudtower have historical rivalry but mostly because it is convenient for both schools (beefing with the other school's students offers more opportunities to gain charmix/gloomix, plus there's the institutional events like the Magic Tournament where the winning school gets funding -I've been telling y'all the comics have good stuff-).

Season 3

Also Tecna is a princess but not in the way Stella or Aisha are because Zenith is an elective monarchy so she's only princess until the next elections.

Stella learns to live with the fact her parents are divorced and with the fact that Luna has a new boyfriend and she doesn't hate him. As per comic canon.

The only thing I'd change would be whatever is up with the timeline. It needs more clarity regarding when Domino fell, how old are Valtor, the Company of Light and the Ancestral Witches, and their connection with Darkar. The fact people seem to not know much about what happened with Domino is perfectly fine and realistic though (if you think otherwise, tell me what you were taught in history class about stuff that happened the decade you were born. Yeah, not much, right?).

Also that finale needs to be more climatic or have an explaination for Valtor's sudden weakness cough cough read my fanfic cough cough.

Still, I would add some comic plotlines like Musa helping an old musician elaborate the loss of his wife by allowing him to meet her ghost (with Daphne's help), giving closure to her own grief as well (extra points if it happens after the Water Stars trial because she would know it's what he needs because hearing her mom say she was proud of her did so much for her). You know, stuff that gives space to the neglected girls.

The whole royal family of underwater Andros is present, but it is a queendom. The king consort and the princes were away on some diplomatic trip when Valtor attacked, but they are shown in later episodes (Tecna enchantix episode).

Season 4

Sotlk and Magical Adventure go back to back after season 3. Nobody is whitewashed. That isn’t about writing but idc.

Oh boy...

1) Less relationship drama. Nobody needed that. Nobody liked that. Kill it with fire. Yes to questioning the status quo though. Rivusa break up? Maybe. Sky and Bloom learning to confide in each other instead of not communicating and causing arguments as a consequence? PLEASE.

2) No winx teachers. Unpopular opinion, but the ladies should have some other excuse to be in Alfea to start the action. Some higher level course, an apprenticeship of sorts, anyting but teaching. I don't want 18 year olds who were barely ever in class the previous year to teach.

3) Clarity about the Roxy being Morgana's daughter situation. Morgana has time travel powers and ran to the future, had Roxy, then went back to the past and got captured. Also clarity about why there's no witches or wizards on Earth either.

4) There would be episodes where the girls have some business to attend to in Magix with, again, some comic plots. This could work splitting the episode between the Earth plot and the Magix subplot. Examples include but aren't limited to: the Shaab stone comics (yes moved from s2 to s4 because s2 is already packed), the Andros pirates+alien lizard problem comics, the Zenith's inhabited satellite is about to be hit by a comet comic, the Stella gets kidnapped by shadow creatures from another universe comic.

5) Nabu sacrifices himself and it is clearer that he's in a coma and not dead.

Season 5

6) Ah, Bloom didn't forget her aura reading powers that are super useful to search for a magical person among thousands of non-magical people, she just really hates using them because they're a privacy breach and she only does it in dangerous situations or when they have a strong lead.

1) The trix are in Andros, and it is stated they have been there since the Havram/movie 2 events. They are clearly traumatized by the possession and nobody gave them a therapist. This time Roccaluce would've been the right place for them but alas...

2) Icy's trauma manifests in latching onto this idiot prince in the cell next to theirs because he reminds her of Valtor. They meet the same way, he does a similar monster thing, but he doesn't slam her against a wall when she breathes wrong, which is nice.

3) Roxy goes to Alfea! Yay! But Roxy feels so out of place because the winx are miles ahead of her in magic and life in general alike, while Roxy is a newbie to that world and has very confused ideas about her future. Cue to an extensive arc about Roxy learning that it is ok to do things at her own pace and that she can have more than one friend group (the winx and her classmates) because she has things in common with different groups of people.

4) Harmonix doesn't exist because the girls can swim and use magic underwater in base form/charmix AND enchantix, as per canon.

5) The sirenix curse, that hot mess. Ok so Daphne is dead dead. She did not have sirenix. Politea did. Cue to more lore about the fall of Domino and how part of the plan to prevent it failed badly with Politea getting cursed and disappearing.

6) The season is centered about the struggles of Aisha and Roxy. Bloom, Stella and Tecna are also closely involved with the plot due to their role as princesses, but have struggles that don't compete with having half your family turned into a monster army while your boyfriend is in a coma or adapting to a whole new world. For example, Bloom proves herself politically competent to both her and Sky's parents, Tecna talks her planet out of isolationism, Stella helps both.

7) The Sirenix wishes change. Less manipulating people into changing their behavior and more actual action. Obviously Nabu is healed with a wish (maybe not Aisha's? Maybe by the wish of one of her friends because they want their friend to be well again? Just saying. Everybody cried for Nabu, Aisha is not the only one who would care about him!). I have no ideas for the others but it's the kind of thing that only comes up if I sit down and write the whole thing for me and I sure as hell won't do that.

8) Tritannus gets high on Throne power and tries to kill Icy as per canon, but the Trix don't flee. They are captured and after the battle the winx see how absolutely shattered Icy is and decide to hold out a hand to them (some of them are reluctant cuz it bit them in the ass with the Black Circle). Yes same as my fanfic but one season earlier: the winx talk Roccaluce into giving the trix a proper trial.

Season 6

1) Picking up from the trial, there's a few episodes focused on that as well as some arguments between the winx because as I said they weren't all 100% on board with that. Everyone is shocked when Icy says whatever the official lie about her origins was and the magic lie detector goes ham. Icy gives in and says she's a survivor of Dyamond. Cue to the mystery of this second Domino that the Magic Dimension doesn't talk about cuz it's even more embarrassing than what happened in Domino after all planets went on with slogans like "never again will we see something like on Domino now that the Ancestral Witches and Valtor are vanquished".

I put too much thought and time into this for something I'll never do so have a quick list of things this season would deal with:

- If you know me you know I am a sucker for redemption arcs and the trix will have one in this universe too.

- This season's theme would be change and adapting to change. Most obvious with the winx and the trix having to interact with each other in a new way, but also for Earth, where magic is spreading (again, comic plots of people discovering their powers and messing up big time in more than one way)

- Selina would be the main villain, but she'd be from either Linphea or Melody for the sake of linearity. Not sure what her goals may be but there could be a situation where she tries to recruit people from Earth who developed powers, thus crossing the winx's path

- There'd be more of the adulting we were supposed to get after season 4, with the winx taking steps towards what they want their life to be. Musa would focus on her musical career, Flora would decide she wants to focus on her role of guardian fairy, Tecna would have a series of technomagic projects rejected by companies and she'd decide to start her own company (with Timmy), Bloom would take on a more active role as a princess and help with Domino's reconstruction, Stella would officially start her fashion line and use her platform to bring attention to the problems she's entangled in (e.g. oh this awesome linen that can only be imported from  Earth? Such a pity that Roccaluce won't recognize Earth as part of the Magic Dimension thus actively making commerce impossible), Aisha would focus on her role as guardian fairy as well as just enjoying her second chance with Nabu (she deserves it ok?)

- Roxy gets enchantix at some point

This took me way more than it should have lol I hope you enjoy the read!!

#willing to elaborate further on specific points #i made up half of this as I typed #thank you for the ask! #ask me anything #winx club #winx meta

[stellasolaris]

What does canon suggest about Riven and his background? I will share some of my thoughts about Riven's background and potential socioeconomic status in this post. As always, these are just my opinions. (If anyone's wondering: no, this is not the meta post that I was talking about in one of my other posts.)

I'll start by saying that my following thoughts are based on the RAI dub and the first four seasons (S1-4) as I don't consider anything past season four canon. However, I'm mainly going to focus on seasons one and two in this post.

As pointed out by many, the one-on-one scene between Sky and Riven in 2.08 is the closest we get to Riven directly confessing that he is (or has been at some point in his life) from lower-class origins.

Riven: Must be nice being a prince. You spend your whole life learning from the best.

I agree that this does give us some indication of his social class, mostly because this line fits with the rest of his characterization that's established in the earliest seasons, but even on its own, it does imply that Riven isn't nearly as privileged as Sky. He wouldn't make a comment specifically about Sky's access to highly qualified teachers if he didn't feel like he lacked them in some capacity. In other words, when we take into consideration his character as a whole, it's implied that Riven has not had as many resources growing up. This hints at him being from the lower class or relating to the struggles of someone from the lower class.

It's important to note here that this isn't the first instance Riven has expressed distaste or a mocking attitude toward privilege. It is also equally important to understand why he reacts so strongly to it. It's not that he hates or dislikes anyone who's above him in wealth or opportunity. I think he primarily has an issue with the injustice of being looked down on, of not being treated fairly, of not performing well enough. He's sensitive to people being ignorant of their privileges, which is why he often calls it out, but it's not necessarily out of resentment toward the person or their social class, but rather an indicator of his roots and how he feels about privilege in general. 2.21 is a good example of this, which I will get into later.

The reason Riven is so aggressive and abrasive in the first season has to do with a myriad of things, but it makes the most logical sense that he's likely had a bad childhood (aka trauma) and experienced being treated unfairly by either the system or people above his status. Riven wouldn't otherwise feel so strongly about privilege in season two or make patronizing remarks that are directly about one's social class in season one.

Sky (Brandon): What Riven means is that perhaps it would be best for you to go back to Alfea while we try to capture that animal. Riven: We don't need your editorial comments, Your Highness.

Brandon (Sky): Riven, you've gone too far! Riven: You're just Prince Sky's yes-man, Brandon. Why don't you go clean up his stables?

In season one, Riven likely projected a lot of his personal issues and insecurities on Brandon and Sky and their class dynamic as a whole—primarily his trust issues and feelings of inferiority—but after the infamous monster scene in 1.22, he goes through a ton of humbling and character development. He grows as a person and learns to trust and appreciate the boys, and most importantly, he starts to embrace himself. He also finally feels accepted by the group, which makes him want to clean up his act even more.

By the time we get to season two, Riven is relatively calmer and significantly lacking in condescension. The comments he continues to make about privilege are mostly a nod to his background and how he feels about unfair advantages. This is why we see a much more mature and open version of Riven in season two where he continues to make remarks about privilege on several occasions, but he's much more reasonable about it.

I want to thank @skylaryozora for mentioning the following scene in 2.21 because it ties in perfectly with what I've been explaining so far.

Riven: Well, I think it's high time you girls get a taste of what life's like where you don't have magic powers, and all you can count on are your wits and your muscles.

In this episode, Bloom says she finds it hard to get used to not having magic powers, which leads to Riven making the aforementioned comment. Similar to 2.08, he indirectly calls out the privilege (albeit a different kind) but doesn't make a big deal out of it. He's most likely talking from personal experience and having had to count on his "wits and muscles" as a kid. He isn't angry or insulting in this scene, but he does acutely notice the difference between himself and others when it comes to having unearned advantages or a better upbringing or better circumstances, and again, he wouldn't continue making these types of remarks if it wasn't deeply personal to him.

Riven's comments based on 2.08 and 2.21 alone suggest that he's had to work hard on his own to get to where he is. It's blatantly obvious he knows what a lack of privileges (and likely economic instability) feels like, probably more than anyone else because the writers make it a pattern to have Riven point out these things.

Let's talk about Riven's skills and what they mean for his character

I don't think it's a coincidence that Riven is good at creating lock picks from scratch . . .

. . . or that his stealth and wilderness survival skills are impeccable compared to others

. . . or that he's exceptionally resourceful and adaptable

. . . or that he's good at spying

These are generally not skills someone randomly picks up or excels in after a year or two of training. These are skills usually associated with people who've had to look after themselves, watch their backs, and protect themselves—people who are more likely to come from the lower class than the upper class. These "street smarts" skills might not hold a lot of weight on their own but together they form a bigger picture as to what Riven has possibly gone through to obtain these skills. (Yes, I'm sure they teach all these skills at Red Fountain, but what I'm getting at here is that Riven's expertise lies in these skills, and I think it was an intentional decision on the writers' part to showcase these particular skills.)

It's also important to consider Riven's fighting style in season one. It's not very polished. It's rushed. It's rough. It's very direct and brutal. He's not afraid to play dirty. Riven almost seems inexperienced compared to the other guys when it comes to technique and formal training, which suggests that Riven has likely been self-taught for the most part or lacks some private or selective education.

Incidentally, and this is more of a personal note, I think one of the primary reasons why Riven seems to always lose to Sky in one-on-one combat is because Sky has an edge over Riven when it comes to technique. But when it comes to other skills, like racing and wilderness survival instincts, Riven is better than Sky—the former being canon, as witnessed in 2.01. In spite of this, Riven feels a little insecure and bitter about not being as good as Sky. That lack of technique, coupled with a lack of opportunities, might be what he thinks is holding him back from being one of the best students in Red Fountain. The balcony scene in 2.04 is interesting in that regard because Riven appears to feel some type of way about the fact that Brandon and Sky were chosen to accompany the girls to a mission instead of him. He doesn't express it outright, per se, but you can tell by his tone and posture that he wishes he was included.

While the show deservedly gets a lot of criticism for its bad writing, season one is mostly decent in terms of character portrayals and has some of the best writing in the series. As I mentioned before, I think the writers were intentional with their decisions to paint Riven in a certain way, to have him say certain things, to give him certain skills that set him apart from the other characters, and in several ways, the narrative of his story gives us many details hinting at his background.

All in all, it's not strictly canon that Riven grew up financially lower class as we don't have any direct statements in the show about his background. However, I think there are more than enough allusions pointing to Riven having had to be independent and live in less-than-ideal circumstances with limited resources, so the idea of him having had a rough childhood (economically and otherwise) or being from the lower class at some point or another in his life is not unfounded. Personally, I think it's heavily implied.

#i'll try and add some more points later #winx club #winx #winx riven #winx meta #metas #riven meta #riven headcanons #winxmeta

[finchilyflawless]

TFW you start writing fanfiction of your partner’s fanfiction

#where’s the gif of Charlie bradbury saying “that’s some meta madness #winx club #story time with mother finch #fanfiction #the trix

[darkpoisonouslove]

Can we please talk about the fact that after Griffin's escape Valtor just left the Cloud Tower? Like first he told the girls that they will go to Cloud tower bc it is a good and powerfull place to stay. That there are only advantages to be there. And then Griffins escaped. And three episodes later he just drops it like it was nothing and decides to live in a cave with the trix again. A cave. He chose a cave over a magical school. Only to get one over on Griffin and leave her in confusion? Something he couldn't even see? If that doesn't show that he only went to cloud tower in the first place to see Griffin and mess up her life , I don't know.

We should talk about it! Because it doesn't make any sense! It's no secret that I'm a die-hard Griffin x Valtor truther but even if you operate with the idea that they were a thing, his behavior still doesn't make sense.

Griffin is his enemy now. He was very obviously mad at her and he did everything in his power to imprison her and keep her imprisoned. He raged that she escaped (and that his plan to get rid of Bloom was foiled but the shot focusing on Griffin specifically being teleported away before his spell could connect is very clear text there). Why in hell would he just leave CT and let her return without a fight or a dirty trick? He did conceal CT in 3x23 so why did he not do that in 3x18 instead? That would have made more sense.

The fact is that he was comfortably stationed in CT while at least everyone at Alfea and RF were aware where he was hiding. Ergo, this does not present a threat to him. The Specialist raid from the beginning of 3x18 could have taken place in any of the previous episodes but that didn't bother him, nor did the possibility of actual law enforcement barging into CT. Griffin alone could not change that situation so drastically as to make him flee CT and canon is very explicit about that. Griffin, Saladin and Faragonda combined could barely hold Valtor back for a minute so her escape couldn't have bothered him enough to motivate his decision.

I think the writers just didn't want to deal with CT anymore and wanted to move the plot along. Because if Valtor had put up a fight for CT, they would have had to spend the episode on that instead of doing the museum heist (really makes wasting 3x20 on the pixies an even worse decision if that were possible). And the thing is that Valtor should have won that fight too if they wanted to be consistent which just changes the plot trajectory too much. Concealing CT could have worked so much better but I think they didn't want to do it while the witches under his control were still inside. So what I would have proposed was to use the pixies to undo the mind control over the witches (somehow) and that way you get an infinitely better version of 3x20. They spend 3x18 on that plot and in the end Valtor uses the spell that makes CT vanish. Then 3x19 would be the museum heist and 3x20 would be Stella saving her father from Cassandra with the rest of the episodes remaining as they are now. It would have worked out way better for both plot and characters.

That said, the lack of logic absolutely does not cancel out your point! He did essentially lose interest in CT as soon as Griffin was out of there. You know, if you're willing to go the somewhat unhinged route, you could say that the reason why he left without doing any damage was to lure Griffin back and keep her away from Faragonda. I don't think he'd be too worried about what the two of them (+ Saladin) can come up with to defeat him but letting them hang out together after he boasted to both of them about how he'll hunt down and tear apart the Company of Light one by one is kind of humiliating. He has to keep them apart for that reason, not because he's jealous or anything! And the best way to do that is keep them all in their respective schools under threat of him finding a way in to create more problems if they don't watch over their students and colleagues and the buildings themselves 24/7. He'll win this by the exhaustion hyper vigilance causes them, you'll see!

#winx club #winx valtor #winx griffin #griffin x valtor #ask #anon #winx meta #winx headcanons