#winx dubs

[thequeenofstormsandcrows]

more 4kids hate ig bc i forgot to mention a few things

i was reminded that musa's backstory was switched in the 4kids dub. in that dub all of the girls are princesses which i already don't like. There is literally no need and it just puts another divide between the Winx and all the other girls in school. Yah ofc they get to do all of this, they're princesses, not just the most powerful and dedicated students.

for musa in particular this was bad tho bc s2 goes into musa's backstory with her mother and how her death led to a falling with musa and her dad. the episode ends with them reconciling and finally discussing it and honoring her memory.

4kids makes this difficult bc musa's apparently a princess so they changed it to "musa's dad gives up the throne when she dies" that just like makes no sense at all. How did that just happen? Why didn't it cause major problems for Musa who would've presumbly been living a royal lifestyle up until then? Also they pulled it out of their asses bc it's pretty obvious they still considered a princess in s1 and her mom was already dead by then.

Melody already has a royal family at that so this point was just super unneeded.

And got to add the British accent for tecna. Idk that just completely takes me out, literally none of the girls have accents idk what the need was for the Tecna British accent.

And the amount of ppl that watched the 4kids dub that feel the need to argue with me and others who watched the og is so annoying. Like no that's not in the lore, when we're having fandom discussions, don't bring up the shit that happened in the 4kids dub. Like when someone asks "why did sky and brandon switch places" for the love of god stop telling them the 4kids reason, that's not the real reason and it really doesn't work in the context of the whole show.

[stellasolaris]

hihi! would you happen to know where I can watch the entirety of the 4kids dub? I know the official youtube channel has a playlist, but a lot of videos are missing from it 😭

Hi anon! I'm afraid I don't know any other sites where you can watch the entirety of the 4Kids dub, but you should be able to find all the episodes on YouTube. I'll link some playlists below.

Season 1 (Episodes 1–26, excl. Episodes 12 and 16): here | Episode 12: here | Episode 16: here

Season 2 (Episodes 1–26): here

Season 3 (Episodes 1–26): here

[darkpoisonouslove]

Okay, so I watched the RAI dub and it IS worse than the 4kids one. Somehow, it's more cringe which is a goddamn accomplishment.

[stellasolaris]

the youtube channel I was watching the 4kids dub on deleted everything 😢

Ah, I'm sorry to hear that!

[stellasolaris]

What are your thoughts on the 4kids dub? Do you like any of their voices cause for me they're my favorite one (second comes Nick) and also the changes made the entire story make sense (only bad one imo was them not making Daphne her sister cause it made everything confusing).

Putting this under the cut because it got longer than expected.

Here's the thing: I'll most likely always have a special place for the 4Kids dub. I know a lot of fans will have divided opinions on which dub is the best or which dub has the best voice acting, but to be honest, I don't really have a preference. I like both dubs for different reasons. (I have watched bits and pieces of the Italian version, which is probably my favorite as far as voice acting goes.)

But since we're on the topic of the 4Kids dub, I'll share some of my thoughts on it. Please bear in mind that I haven't watched the 4Kids dub in a while and that these are just some of the things that I can think of right now — I'm sure there is a lot more to say than this.

First off, I wasn't a huge fan of the writers turning Musa into a princess. I thought it was a bit of an odd decision because her being a princess completely changes her original background story told in the RAI dub. I'm also a bit sad that they cut the infamous monster scene from 1.22, which I think serves as a cornerstone in understanding Riven and his character.

Riven: There are many things I don't like about myself, but I'm far from being a monster, okay? I have a heart. And even though I can't be sure they'll ever be able to forgive me for all the things I've said and done, I have a few friends too.

Moreover, I found the dialogue exchange between Musa and Stella to be odd in 2.12. I think the writers tried to "fix" the episode by editing the scene where Stella has one of her impulsive foot-in-mouth moments, but they just ended up making Musa look unnecessarily harsh and not really making any sense of the scene.

Stella: Let's have a sleepover and tell our best friendship stories.

[Aisha runs away sobbing.]

Bloom: Hey? What happened? Musa: I don't know what you said, but you always hurt people's feelings.

On a more positive note, I appreciated the tonal changes made in 1.11. I've always disliked how Tecna and Stella were made to be inconsiderate even though Flora was just as much (if not more) to be blamed. If I remember correctly, I've always liked the way the 4Kids dub handled this particular episode because the writers, in my opinion, did not put Flora as much in a victim position.

In general, I appreciate a lot of the changes that either had to do with fixing continuity or animation errors (1.17) or just providing more context to the scenes without doing any disservice to the original version. I also think some of the one-liners were slightly funnier or wittier in the 4Kids dub.

Stella: I've swallowed like half this river already. Brandon: Just think of it as spring water, only without the bottle.

Darcy: This guy's got a major attitude problem. I like him. Stormy: Are you falling in love with him, Darcy? Darcy: That is a four-letter word!

Tecna: Like they say: when in doubt go digital.

[stellasolaris]

Regarding dubs to watch for winx club, the cinelume dub has some lines cut or outright mistranslated. It would be awesome if the italian original s1-4 got subbed with translation and cultural notes for english speakers, that would put a stop to the english dub wars

I used to think the Cinélume dub was almost identical to the Italian version, but turns out, as you said, there are some lines cut or outright mistranslated. I think I learned about this around the time when I was wondering why Bloom's favorite color is purple in the Cinélume dub, and then someone said that she doesn't actually say anything about her favorite color being purple in the Italian version.

I do believe the Cinélume dub, in general, is very close to the Italian version, but I'd still absolutely love to watch the original one with English subtitles.

[stellasolaris]

Which winx cub dub would you say is the best for someone who’s watching the show for the first time?

I recommend watching the Cinélume (RAI) dub first because it's the most faithful to the original Italian version. I do also like the 4Kids dub (which, in my opinion, is lighter and occasionally funnier in terms of banter—but keep in mind that it has a lot of changes and scenes cut out of the original series), so you could give it a try and judge it on your own merits after watching the Cinélume dub.

[stellasolaris]

I don't know which Winx Club dub I grew up with. I'm from the Balkans, and the Winx Club that was broadcasted here was translated into my language from one of the English dubs, so idk whether it was 4kids or Rai.

HOWEVER, one of the dubs - maybe it was ours, maybe it was one of the English ones - did it very dirty, because I never appreciated how much thought and effort went into the main 6's personalities. Especially in the comic strips!!!! I remember the characterts being a bit more cookie-cutter than they actually are.

I'm guessing you watched the RAI/Cinélume dub because, to my knowledge, most Winx Club fans from Europe grew up watching the said dub. (4Kids dub primarily aired in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. I'm probably missing some other countries, but those are the four that I know of.) I'm not sure if there are significant differences between the translated dubs, but they should, on paper, be similar to the original Italian dub.

I think both the RAI and 4Kids dubs did a pretty good job at distinguishing characters from one another, both in personality and style, though some characters could have definitely used more screen time. That actually reminds me, there's also a third dub—the Nickelodeon dub. I've never watched it, but maybe that's the dub you're talking about? All I know is that it crammed the first two seasons in four (4) one-hour specials. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the character development went straight out the window in the process. 

But yes, I agree that the comic issues are great fodder for headcanons.