So, I recently started hyperfixating on an old show I used to watch called “Winx Club”. It’s a 2004 Italian Magical Girl show that was really popular and soon made its way to the states.
I’d also like to point out that this show ran from 2004-2019. Just to give you guys a heads up on how long it ran for.
While it was loved by all, it did have many, many, MANY flaws. One of which was their love interests.
Sky: Bloom’s boyfriend
Brandon: Stella’s boyfriend
Riven: Musa’s boyfriend
Timmy: Tecna’s boyfriend
Nabu/Nex/Roy: Aisha/Layla’s boyfriend/fiance/crush I guess
And Helia: Flora’s boyfriend
Notice how Aisha’s list is a bit longer. I’m gonna get into that.
They all suffer from the same thing. A thing I like to call “The Lover Effect”. Basically, when a character is introduced, but their only trait is to be another character’s love interest.
They have no other backstory. No known morals. They’re just there to fall in love with the character. And nothing more.
A lot of shows struggle with this. Mainly with their female main characters, but there are some examples of the male characters suffering from this.
And Winx Club is one of the prime examples of this.
We know little to nothing about their pasts. We don’t know what their goals are. And they’re only there to serve the main cast. The Winx. Their entire personalities revolve around them being the boyfriends of the Winx.
I think the only characters whose past we know of are Sky and Nabu’s. And even then, it’s seldom said.
A while ago, I was researching for a video based on my own version of winx for my TikTok account (shameless plug, I know). And I came across this:
It was from the old Winx website. I wasn't aware of this when I was watching it cause I grew up on the Nickelodeon one, but that's besides the point.
It clearly states here that Riven's mom left him when he was very young. And according to him: She probably left for money. Resulting in his distrust of people and his 'bad boy' attitude. Specifically in women. This was never stated in neither the show nor the comics.
This could've been perfect ammunition for a good redemption arc for Riven. Why he's so distrustful and so standoffish of all of his friends. Why he's constantly pushing Musa away. He's too afraid that they'll leave him. And the hurt will start all over again.
But no. They don't.
Instead, they give some toxic relationship between two characters where they're both in the wrong, but decide to paint him as the bad guy cause 'ShE wOuLd NeVeR dO tHaT!!!!". They constantly breakup. And then when they decide to give him the slightest amount of character development , they just drag him back down to being the asshole character. And the whole cycle repeats.
Every. Single. Fucking. Season.
I'm not even kidding.
I will give them this though;
As much as I will shit on Nick for practically ruining Winx Club, at least they tried to give him a redemption arc. But it was put into a half-assed breakup scene where he had to 'find himself'.
MUSA WAS JUST AS BAD, BUT THEY NEVER FUCKING ADDRESS IT!
The next victim is Sky.
For those who don't know:
Sky is the crown prince/king of Eraklyon. His home kingdom. The most we know about him is that he possibly has daddy issues and was in a relationship before Bloom.
Now the way they went about Sky is interesting. Because they gave him a little bit of a backstory. But not enough for him to be an interesting character to me. The most that we know is that his dad is an asshole and his ex-fiancé was just selfish.
From what I've gathered from the show.
But what else about Sky? What was his childhood like? What was his relationship with Diaspro, his ex, like? When did Sky and Diaspro first meet?
In the show, it's stated that they were childhood friends, but for some reason, I don't believe that. Maybe it's my version of Winx clouding my judgement, but I don't care. Knowing how most marriages between the elites and royalty were mainly for political reasons back then, that was probably my reason for not believing the whole "childhood friends" thing.
We don't even know his relationship with his father. The most we know is that he has an older cousin who he doesn't trust for some reason after something he did back when they were kids.
But personally, I think him somewhat revolving around Bloom could work.
Imagine this:
Ever since you were a child, you were forced into a life of perfection. Your parents were distant from you, so you were raised by the servants in the castle. You're forced into an arranged marriage to some girl who can only think about herself, from your eyes. And that's all you know. Perfection. Perfection. Perfection.
And then all of a sudden, you meet this girl. She's outgoing. She's a bit shy. She has goals. Aspirations. But most of all, she's free.
You meet her parents and you see how strong of a relationship they have with her. She has friends in her school. She's made tons of mistakes, but no one criticizes her for them. After all, they're just mistakes.
And the more you're around her, the more you realize that your childhood wasn't good. It wasn't what you wanted. You realized that you needed your parents love. But because of their status, they never gave it to you that much. Only speaking to you at dinners or whatnot.
Sky wanting to break the mold and find his true self because of Bloom could work. With good writing and planning, his character could become far more interesting than the one we were given.
Next up: Brandon.
The most we know about him is that he's Sky's best friend/squire and is from Eraklyon just like Sky. We don't know jackshit about his family life. All we know is that he's loyal and a flirtatious guy. Even when he's dating Stella, he's still flirting with other girls!
Like wtf??
Sure, he gives Stella a heartfelt speech about always loving her for who she is, regardless of how she looks. But that's basically it. And I hate that the most I can give him is killing off his dad. Like, that's the most character I can give him. Because we don't know jackshit about his past. His goals. Or anything else about him. And it sucks.
Next: Timmy
I hate that we barely see any of him throughout the show. The most screentime we get of him is when he's searching for Tecna when she gets lost in the Omega Dimension. But the fact that he didn't go on that trip with Sky and Bloom just sucks. I get that they wanted to create some cute moments between them and they didn't want Timmy, the guy who literally found her coordinates, to be a third wheel. But his girlfriend was LITERALLY SUCKED INTO ANOTHER FRICKIN PLANET!!!!! I think he has every right to be on that trip. It could've shown his desperation and fear that he may not be able to find his love.
And as much as I love him when it comes to commitment and his girlfriend, he still falls into this category. because once again, we don't know his damn backstory. Hell, we don't even know where he's from!
Like Riven, Helia, or Nex. Unless it was specified in the show, we don't know where they're from.
I'm gonna assume that Timmy's from the same planet as Tecna, which is Zenith. A futuristic planet with highly advanced technology mixed with magic.
But here's the thing: The only thing about his character that may give me that answer is the fact that he's smart and likes to make robots.
That's the only reason why.
Nothing about his character design gave that away. Which may just come down to me being nit-picky. But I honestly don't care.
And I hate that I have to assume where he's from because the show never gives us any indication from his character.
For Tecna, she had no idea how to handle her feelings for Timmy and was constantly going back and forth on logic and heart because that was the norm in Zenith. Logic was their only answer. And for that, they probably have no reason for love or feelings.
Meanwhile for Timmy, he's automatically head over heels for her and has no problem confessing his love for Tecna. That could be chalked up to just how they were raised. But, as I've said before, we don't know how he was raised.
Next: Helia
WHERE. THE FUCK. DO I EVEN BEGIN WITH THIS MAN?!
You wanna know something crazy?
Originally, Helia was supposed to be a girl. But they changed his gender and made him a boy because Flora was the only one without a boyfriend. And they didn't want her to be single.
(Even though Aisha didn't have a boyfriend and was single until season 3)
The thing that gets me the most about Helia is that he's seen as the quiet and reserved nature lover of the group. Just like Flora. But even then, we barely hear from this fucking bastard.
Like, I get that he's supposed to be the quiet guy, but it's not like he's non-verbal. He can fucking talk!
SO MAKE HIM TALK!!
At least we know from context clues that he's most likely from Linphea. The same planet Flora's from. But that's only because he's friends with the fucking princess of Linphea.
I guess you could chalk it up to his love for nature and pacifist personality, but that could be applied to anyone.
What's worse is that I couldn't even find/give him a reason as to why he's like this. I could just leave it and just say that "It's his personality. He was just born like that", but I refuse. The most i could give him was a large family. 6 sisters with him being the middle child.
Yes, I took a page out of 'Loud House', but I feel like it could work. You have absolutely no idea how much your family can shape and affect your personality.
But that's just me.
Next: Nabu
This is going to hurt me because he's my favorite out of all of the Specialists.
I want to say he falls into this category. I really do, but a part of me just doesn't have the heart to. Especially since he was basically the perfect match for Aisha/Layla.
Both come from wealthy families. Both have only known perfection throughout their lives, but are trying to break that mold and want to be their own person.
And I think it's perfect! Even if they were in an arranged marriage, they could still make it work.
You just have to develop their relationship over time. Have them do little things that makes the other fall in love with them bit by bit.
Unfortunately, they decided to fucking kill him off in season 4. Literally the season AFTER HE WAS FUCKING INTRODUCED!
And it pisses me off so much!
But back to his "Lover" trope:
See, he doesn't fall into it that much. If anything, I'd say he doesn't fall into it at all since we, as an audience, were given more than enough content of his past to make a clear picture of him.
Is this me being biased because he's my favorite? Absolutely.
And I think the reason as to why he was so loved by the fandom is because he was something new. He wasn't a copy paste of the same person but with a different personality and character design. He was something fresh.
Until they decided to fucking axe that and give us shit.
I don't wanna go too much into detail for Roy and Nex. Their characters bored me to death.
All you have to know is that Roy was the equivalent of the rebound summer fling for Aisha and Nex is like Riven, but worse. At least Riven was somewhat interesting as to why he acts the way he does. Nex is just an ass for no reason.
I get that this show is supposed to be for young girls. It's to encourage them that they can do anything. But you can have an uplifting girls show with interesting male characters.
With the reboot coming soon, I really do hope that the writers take their male characters into account and give them interesting personalities and not go down the Nickelodeon route and screw everything up.
From what I've heard, Iginio Straffi, the creator of Winx, is back to writing for the reboot. Even though his writing was flawed, I do hope that he's used these last 2-3 years in improving his characters and plot. From what I've heard, he's been working with authors from around the world. So this may be a sign of hope for the Winx fandom. Because god knows we need it.