#talk to me about how they did a great job actually and 4Kids is actually the reason I /can/ watch most of these shows

[shitpostingkats]

Widely panning 4Kids for just trying to do their jobs is actually much less fun than trying to pick apart different localization choices like a gleeful anthropologist.

[steve0discusses]

S5 Ep 41: Shada Defenseless Against Old Man

Hey guys apparently Twitter got freakin destroyed? Everyone’s coming back to Tumblr, and just in time for me to actually update this blog in my long covid brain fog daze! (a daze which, PS, lead me to think I uploaded this yesterday. LMAO I did not upload this yesterday, you win again, Long Covid) I didn’t feel like breaking today’s episode into 2 parts today. But also, this episode is blessed for having a lot of a card fight in it, which makes these posts a fair bit quicker for me to make.

First off, Mana joins the battle basement, and she does so by just jumping down a hole in the ceiling, onto this pillar, and then onto the floor--actually baffling how she did this.

Girl, at this point just fly down.

Eventually, everyone else arrived in Battle Basement, but they did so through the door that Mana blissfully ignored.

(read more under the cut)

They took a moment to admire their dead friend floating above them, in purple cosplay spandex.

And then, seemingly miffed that Mahad was getting more attention than him, Seto decided to interrupt the welcome back party before it ever got started.

Which I dunno, Seto has seen a lot of dead people in his life, his whole village was leveled by like 3 guys with torches, so maybe he just doesn’t care to believe in reincarnated people as cards. Maybe that would bother him and he’d just rather not think about it?

For some reason, Aknadin also came on this adventure, which is something I didn’t really notice the past few episodes, and being real, it was probably very obvious but my tired ass brain couldn’t quite remember that Aknadin still exists and is a guy who is very much trying to murder the Pharaoh. So of course he’s here. And having a hard time because of the fact he’s killed everyone in Kul Elna and now they are ghosts who are not happy to see him back.

Shada, who seems to take care of Aknadin more than anyone else, was there to save him. Which leaves me to wonder if Shada was Aknadin’s caretaker. Like literally his caretaker, or assistant, or something like that. Because it sure as hell hasn’t been Seto who keeps directing this guy back to bed.

While he’s there, the ankh keyblade started to vibe.

And I was like “Oh, is Shada finally going to get it? Is he finally going to realize that Aknadin’s been possessed by evil vibes since last Tuesday or whenever he was attacked by Bakura?”

Obviously no, this is Shada we’re talking about. So instead, he beelines to some abandoned (ware)house to look for some demons.

And since I was expecting this to go to nowhere, I was surprised to see this down in the icky basement.

Like I’ll be real, did not expect Shada to pull through and be this effective at his job. Like damn. The one time we needed him to do his job he actually did it, and he found diabound. Actually a miracle.

Like either Bakura took all the skulls of his village and stuck them together, or a ghost did it. Doesn’t actually say who assembled the skull art. But I would like to believe that Bakura was the one who gave the Diabound that adorable little kitty cat frowny face.

And this next part was I think edited by 4kids or whoever is in charge of this season’s translation. Because what I saw was him go “ahhhhh” and then Shada fell forward, and Aknadin’s just holding a whole ass brick. There was no shot of him being beaned by the brick, but just trust me, he was beaned by a brick. Or Aknadin slapped him in the ass with a brick so hard Shada nearly died, it is off-screened so you can make up whatever you want.

There wasn’t really animation to this sequence so trust me on it, it was goofy, it was great, Love it when Shada got bopped by a brick and didn’t save the world.

A bunch of ghosts picked up Shada’s body, and then I guess he got shoved into the Diabound statue at this point. Honestly, I missed that somehow. Probably happened at some point in the fighting sections, I was confused, but I still have long covid so I’m always confused. Which honestly makes this show a lot more entertaining when wild stuff happens and I just don’t catch the very obvious forshadowing.

So now that’s happened, lets join in with Yugi and crew in the desert.

They would be dying but they can’t technically die in the sideways Shadow Realm or whatever this pocket dimension is. Instead they just get very, very hungry, although they cannot actually eat anything. Which does explain why Bakura is so freakin hungry for snacks and ate everything in Kaiba’s blimp when they weren’t looking at the end of S3.

Then Tristan decided “Hey guys if this is a hallucination, shouldn’t we stop taking it so seriously, and instead look for the Forbidden Memories™?”

And for some reason the person who drew Tristan this episode made him look straight up possessed. Like almost as if he’s a big 5 all over again. I have no idea why this happened, I have no idea why he even spoke so intensely this episode, but Tristan kind of went a little evil and no one cared.

And this part was mostly for myself trying to remember what the hell is going on. Like, I was forgetful before, but now I am like Pharaoh tier forgetful. Like I fully get why he forgot his own name. Guy died. Like I got the flu 5 months ago and look how forgetful I am. Pharaoh freaking DIED.

But also he did it on purpose to hide away Korbus or whatever his name is. Kronx? Krakus. Zork. It was Zork. No. It was Zorc. It was Zorc with a c to make it copyright friendly. We got there.

Still got it, yeah yeah yeah.

It is a funny thought that had Bakura not gone to jail, he would have murdered Pharaoh before Seto did it, or I dunno, maybe he would have moved on with his life. But, because he was so freaking pissed off in jail in 3000 BC, his spirit possessed a bunch of people before landing back here in a vengeance hallucination 5000 years later. 

Like we don’t know too much about the Bakura of the past, since he’s largely possessed by the ghost of the ring, but damn that kid must have had an ENERGY.

please admire how much Joey has to hunch over just to speak to Yugi in the same frame. Storyboarder’s still got it.

And I may have mentioned this before but yes, I know Pharaoh’s name, it pops up as a recommended hashtag whenever you use Pharaoh in a tag.

Bro did bring up that if we follow the Seto naming convention, however, Atem would be “Atemo.” Which is very good.

And then Past!Odion, who’s name is COMPLETELY forgotten by my brain, pulled out the millennium scales! We have barely seen these things used in this series, I was excited for something to happen!

And it was just monster fusion.

I guess he uh...doesn’t know it can weigh your literal soul and kill you in an instant, but it’s fine. We’ll leave that to Shada of the future when he becomes a burn out and calls himself Shadi.

Pharaoh sees his friends fall one by one (except for Shada who, as mentioned, got beaned in the basement by a brick and is currently trapped in the Diabound) and decides it’s time to do the Yami thing and beg for his attacker to kill him during a card game ghost fight.

So Bakura gladly opens the gate of hell so that Pharaoh can get destroyed by ghosts.

And we get this hard-to-cap segment where we see into Pharaoh’s mind, where he is protected by the spirit of his father.

Kids TV is great. Like if I weren’t so Long Covid I’d dive more into it, but like knowing that your ancestors may (or may not) have cried big ol tears because of atrocities of generations past doesn’t actually make your problems go away. Yet I can understand where they are coming from, where Yami can’t actually change the past, and he does have to do his job as Pharaoh, even though his Uncle ruined their royal reputation which lead to his Father’s death.

Like Pharaoh really is doubting his own ability to be a leader and to use these items, and it is partially his lack of experience, but also because he truly doesn’t think he deserves it. And he does not. He was not voted in. But, he does have to do it, because that’s how the system works in his day and age. And if he does not do it, Egypt falls to bandits and warring countries

Must be difficult to be a Pharaoh, who up until now, only knew Democracy in Japan, and then suddenly has to inherit a Monarchy he fundamentally should not really believe in, despite the jokes I sometimes make in the contrary.

So because the ghosts of Kul Elna were exorcised (except for Bakura) Shada shluuuurps out of this rock tablet and I had to pause the video and go.

“OK when did THAT happen????”

Because, again, I totally missed that he got shoved in there in the first place.

And mind you, I watch these first with my bro, then I watch it again to do these caps. This was the SECOND time I watched the episode and only just got that. LMAO I miss my brain.

And then the tablet explodes because without the ghosts, we can kill it.

And no, Shada did not die here, although I truly thought this was the episode he’d die in and become a ghost. or maybe he’s already a ghost. Either way, Shada lives to see another day, although gotta tell you this day was really freakin weird.

Anyway, next episode I guess we’ll see what Bakura does without his spooky tablet covered in skulls, since he only had one pokemon, as far as I know.

And, in the mean time, here is the link to read all of these in chrono order

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

[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. 

[darkpoisonouslove]

Winx Club Season 8 Thoughts Part 1

Here I am! The latest season of Winx. Can’t believe I made it here (especially after I sped through seasons 6 and 7). I am kinda excited about this because I am finally getting to watch the second part (I have seen the first one) and I think that after season 7, it really can’t get that much worse. Also, I am now used to the idea of the art style even if I still despise it completely and passionately. So let’s do this!

8x01:

- Who thought this art style was a good idea? And why did they have to bring the band back? That was so unnecessary. But at least the song in the opening isn’t bad.

- So... Bloom is the main vocalist but they just leave Musa to write all the songs? Didn’t think that could get more unfair and yet it did. Also, love how they changed the art style but Stella is still acting as immature as she has since season 4.

- Kiko is actually being acknowledged in the second minute? Please, tell me that will last after the lumens.

- Oh, wow, the plot is already starting? I am actually pleasantly surprised. Took them only two minutes.

- Ugh, not Obscurum! Pleaaaaaase!

- Lumenia is the star that lights Solaria? Does that mean it is the first sun of Solaria? Okay... That’s actually kinda cool.

- Oh, great! The one with all the info has amnesia! But actually, that might be a good idea because not everything is convenient for damn once! Edit: And Timmy and Tecna are back to being inventors! *happy sob*

- How is a scare supposed to trigger memories? By inducing a flashback of traumatic events? That’s cool but fear can also cause memory blockages. So idk about that. Lmao @ Kiko with that hammer, though. You might have the right idea, Kiko. We’ll come back to you once Twinkly gets annoying.

- The dissonance between the maturity of the Specialists’ voices and their FUCKING FACES! It is unbearable!

- Oh, Kiko is hitting on Twinkly? XD Jk. He just wants to cheer her up and it’s actually really cute. Almost makes up for them totally ruining his design.

- Not a song number! I am forewarning everyone that I will be skipping all of those.

- Omg! A scene of the Specialists talking? About their own stuff?!??! And them messing around with each other (read: mocking each other (and especially Nex)). We haven’t had that since... season 4? It was sorely missed, THANK YOU!

- Riven is back!

- And Knut is back! But wtf is up with Griselda’s voice? Also, how did they change her design the least, yet still totally ruined it? I cannot comprehend that! Lmao at her gestures at Knut, though!

- The memories of Twinkly actually looked pretty scary and traumatic. I can’t believe I am saying this but this season is doing a decent job so far and even more than that.

- Dammit, why do I have to suffer Butterflix again?

- I was gonna say that that was quick but the thing actually reappeared. That’s... pretty nice. Could be used to such a great advantage! And it was actually Stella’s spell that worked and not Bloom’s? They gave up on their obsession with Bloom to make this make sense? Um, yes, please?

- Okay, stealing starlight sounds like a rocking plan as soon as they explain well why the hell that is the goal here.

- Yeah, Stella, you are so damn cautious! Girl, you’re almost as impulsive as Bloom. (But XD @ “Caution is our middle name... More of a nickname, really”)

8x02:

- Twinkly: Where am I? Me: At Alfea. Shut up!

- Why does this show have such an aversion to letting Kiko sleep in peace, dammit?!

- Flora has a plant that takes care of other plants? Omg, that is so cool! And we’re finally seeing her care for the plants in her room again! This season is already better than seasons 6 and 7 combined.

- Stella could just use magic to shrink down that enormous suitcase.

- Omg, they’re spending time with their boyfriends again instead of just screeching at them for no reason whatsoever? Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Why are Winx mad that the Specialists didn’t tell them about Riven? What would it have changed? They still would have been shocked. And why the hell is Musa yelling at Riven? They broke up! He doesn’t owe her a schedule of his every waking moment! I hate this reaction.

- Why... are the outfits gonna let them travel in space? I mean, can you imagine how cool they could have looked in spacesuits?

- Wow, that’s a lot of pink. But that IS the Winx aesthetic to differer from the aesthetic shown in you-know-what.

- Why is the queen ruler of all the stars and not just of Lumenia? Otherwise, the star lore is pretty cool. I have to say that the whole thing with the rivers reminds of the Underworld a lot which is an interesting parallel to dwell on.

- Stella is pretty amazing in this already indeed!

- Oh, the crystal monsters. I remember those. They were really annoying. And I am not a fan of the upcoming transformation upgrade.

- Did the Specialists follow them there? Not the most unshady thing they’ve done but at least they’re helping. Also, I would like to point Netflix’ attention to the way their weapons look! Take a close look!

- OH MY GOD! Someone had a smart idea here! They are actually handling themselves even though their powers aren’t all that effective! Riven is saving Musa and being awesome! This is good enough to make me cry, wtf?

- Ooh, damn! Love the way Valtor’s mark showed up and how actually bothered by it they acted! That was cool and really created a good atmosphere!

- They saved the river AND they actually talked about the sneaking around in a (mostly) mature manner? And they resolved the conflict? RIVEN IS COMMUNICATING?????? This season is a fucking treat so far! Except for Musa being a goddamn primadonna!

- Valtor’s new design is also pretty close to his original one and yet... just NOT. IT!

- Cosmix time. Okay, the visuals are actually quite pretty (I especially love the fact that they look transparent at first; I have a feeling there’s a nice symbolism to this but I’ll have to think about it a bit more). The song isn’t bad either but it’s a little repetitive,

- They probably could have done better with the name than “star yummies” but it isn’t quite so bad. I mean, we’ve seen worse and this is pretty minor considering that they’re doing pretty well with almost everything else (so far and I hope I am not jinxing this).

8x03:

- Okay, the name sounds dumb but it’s accurate.

- I have to say that I saw the twist with Obscurum coming even if I was only clicking through the episodes when I first watched this but now I want to see if it was foreshadowed. Him saying he wants to rule Lumenia still isn’t enough foreshadowing but it does raise the question of why Lumenia specifically so it’s headed in the right direction at least.

- Nice move, Stella! And, omg, did Flora just use something that’s not vines? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am getting really hyped up over here.

- They’re thinking! They’re actually instantly adapting to the problems that they are facing! Man, this is even better than season 1! HOW? Not that I care. Just don’t let it stop!

- So Valtor is actually using starlight to buff himself on a magical level? And in season 1 they said that starlight was the purest source of magic (4kids). Is this... continuity between the first and the latest season??????? I am literally tearing up over here because I never believed this moment would come but it has and it is beautiful!

- Not a fan of the Valtor and Obscurum dynamic because it is just... a big no again, just like his working relationship with the Trix (except I can’t decide if this is worse because Obscurum is afraid or if s3 was worse because Valtor was leading the Trix on about *gags* you know (don’t make me say it)). Love the castle in the stars, though! So cool (even if it is also so very impractical).

- Man, Twinkly really is just a stand-in for the pixies, isn’t she? Same bravery and complete and utter uselessness balance.

- Stella is fucking shining and I am loving it! But did Obscurum just say “erase them”? You mean... this has actual stakes? And Bloom’s projection of the Dragon Fire makes sense because Cosmix is light-based? Musa is using an attack that basically acts like an earthquake except without the damage aka... safe for usage? I am going to pass out from happiness. Like, you don’t even know.

- THEY ACTUALLY LOST?????? And they are not giving up but... coming up with a plan???? That is smart??????????????????? I am in love with this season for now.

- They powered the core! And that will now cause Valtor to make a shift in his strategy! This season is actually dynamic! Goddamit, yes!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

-  Obscurum to Valtor: “Something more intimate? You, me...” ... Why is he hitting on him? Bleh. But damn! The trap dimension has so much potential!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Oh, song time. Goodie. Why is Obscurum acting like he has the dancing plague? And, for fuck’s sake, why am I getting Christian Grey vibes from Valtor? Ugh! *shudders* Please, no! But he is actually taking Winx seriously and coming up with countermeasures? Um, yes, I will take that!

- Ugh, why are they having classes again?! I hate that part!

- Sky, you know where they were! But I actually kinda like the change to have Bloom be the one that doesn’t have time for dating instead of having her sulking over Sky being a prince and having royal duties the whole time.

- What do you mean that Griselda doesn’t know what is going on? This is not Griselda!

- Tecna, watch what you’re putting in your damn potion! I know Musa fucked up but you could have checked what she handed you!

- Aww, Tecna throwing a dance party to cheer Musa up was so cute! And look at Stella dragging all that luggage up the stairs on her own! She is precious (and devoted to fashion but this time in a not so annoying manner... so far.)

8x04:

- Dammit, why is Obscurum the first thing I see?

- Okay, it’s pretty cute how excited Bloom is. And all the rest of Winx helping Sky while at the same time judging him for not being better for Bloom and putting more effort in it. This is just the dynamic! I love it!

- Musical food? What the hell, Musa?! But lmao at the Sky and Flora moment there. And Musa and Layla’s reaction to his words. But he was right. Flora was the only one being useful.

- What picnic under the stars? There are no stars! It’s the middle of the day!

- Oh, why the drama now? Bloom also forgot their date in the previous episode because of her mission. Sky is doing the exact same rn! Hypocrisy much?

- “Your Great Malevolence” and “Your Vileness”? I don’t like Obscurum but his decorum is amusing at the very least.

- But if a star has to be attacked before it will alert them that they need to go there, they won’t be one step ahead of Valtor. They might be able to catch up with him but they are still one step behind him.

- A moving star. That was actually a cool idea although I am not sure how the hell that is supposed to work.

- Why have those lumens never heard of music? But damn, I am actually happy that they made the band plot relevant (for all of 3 seconds). At least make it have some purpose.

- At least Bloom actually also supported Sky while attacking him. She is literally the definition of mixed signals here but that’s better than her just being plain mad.

- Can they use the music to capture the star yummies in a trance? That would be nice and it would justify having the band in this season.

- Stella is having the time for a selfie while actually being super effective and handling that part of the mess on her own? Yes, please! Where was that in the previous seasons?!

- The thief is not “trying” to attack. He is attacking! But damn, Brandon made some good moves there! Are you telling me that we actually get to see the Specialists doing their own missions again plus a really cute parallel between Brandon and Stella? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it!

- They’re being pulled in a black hole? Holy shit! This season is actually getting intense! And it makes sense? I am shooketh! Can Stella save them with her light, though?

- Oh, nvm! They’re gonna do it together. Eh, that still works I guess.

- The Specialists were really working as a team here and I have missed seeing that so much! It’s great to have the show acknowledge them again. It could have only been better if they didn’t look like first graders.

8x05:

- Oh, now the whole starship is being pulled into the black hole? That is actually cool! They are maintaining the tension for more than three seconds and they are showing how things actually function? Well, there’s a big surprise.

- I am glad that they are actually solving this but why couldn’t Stella generate stardust herself? She is the fairy of the sun, the moon and the stars. It would have been really interesting to see her do that and this season’s theme is right up her alley.

- Valtor’s failure is kinda amusing. But I feel a little bad about Obscurum because he literally has to walk on eggshells around Valtor. No one should have to be put through anxiety like that.

- Ooh, zero gravity plus invisibility device? That is so cool!

- I wish Bloom and Sky would have talked about their little drama with the surprise, especially because there was no need for it since the delay actually helped make things even better and much more romantic. And I am also not all that sold on the Beauty and the Beast vibes I am getting from this.

- Why is Musa acting like that again? Riven is trying to be supportive and take interest in her music. I know that he ran away but obviously something happened.

- Good thing that Riven is being competent while the rest are busy partying. He did pretty well considering that he just intercepted a planned heist and he wasn’t prepared.

- Aren’t you supposed to drift in space instead of fall as if there’s gravity?

- I am a little done with the ship being threatened yet again because it can’t move without the stupid core but I really want to see how Winx are gonna save it now that the ruby is stolen.

- Maybe if they try something else other than generic blasts they may be able to defeat it.

- Valtor was the one that summoned the black hole? And he is getting low on magic juice? That kinda makes sense now that he doesn’t have Dragon Fire anymore.

- O-kay. That strategy was semi logical. Not the best they have done but it could have been worse.

- Selfish? He is trying to save a whole planet! It wasn’t like he was stealing it for the money! No, I get it that his actions weren’t okay but Musa is being a bitch to everyone. And what she just said to Riven. She is refusing to give him a second chance but is acting like she’s the one who is making all the compromises here!

8x06:

- Why wouldn’t he be allowed on Eridia? Oh, he really fucked up the core.

- Oh, shut the fuck up, Orion! It is your fault it didn’t work because you were the one who broke the core and now it can’t hold the light!

- Flora is really rooting (whoops) for abandoning the core. Nice one! How the fuck does she think to save the plants without fucking light?!?!?!?!

- Can I throw Orion in the black hole? HE is the one who fucked the whole thing up because he didn’t know what he was doing and now he is yelling at them that they don’t have a plan! Even though they agreed to help him instead of throwing him in jail!

- At least Valtor is adapting to the situation on the go and coming up with new strategies. But Orion is such a fool. He is desperate but why didn’t he consider the question of why the hell Valtor would care? Obviously he has beef with Winx which puts him at the not-so-trustworthy column.

- Man, Riven is right. Orion is a damn actor and very good at playing them. That isn’t his problem, of course, but the Winx’. I just wish Musa would think instead of pout the whole time.

- Shut up about the goddamn plants, Flora! You can’t save them in any longterm way without fixing the core of the planet first!

- DO NOT make “starsome” a thing. It sounds ridiculous. It doesn’t even make sense!

- Riven is actually discussing how he feels with the other Specialists? And they’re having fun (even if it is at his expense)? Why does Musa refuse to see how much he’s changed? I hate the way they are just trying to make more stupid drama!

- You do not look like big lumens to me but okay. Twinkly has a serious crush on her friend, doesn’t she?

- Yes, we all know that Tecna is a genius. And that is why she doesn’t become pray to stupid love drama when there is no reason for any!

- How the hell was Stella supposed to know if it will actually be safer? She said it looked safer! There is a difference! Also, they are only now wondering why Orion left them on their own!

- Now you guys are screwed! But wtf, why did Tecna just covere her eyes instead of... trying to do something like the rational person that she actually is! And you have to love how they only had Flora and Stella arguing so that they will have to come together to save the rest giving the illusion that they are actually undergoing some development. But hey! An episode without a musical number!

8x07:

- What is this now? Are they trying to make us sympathize with Orion by showing some remorse on his part? It is not working!

- They made Obscurum a cheerleader? He seems to be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, though he is not exactly a prisoner or hostage of Valtor’s. But still. There is some kind of similar vibes.

- Cool! They revealed that the star yummies are actually corrupted lumens. That was a pretty clever idea, not gonna lie. And it is totally on brand for Valtor which is also great.

- Well, I don’t see you, lumens, fixing the fucking core yourselves so you might wanna start appreciating the fact that they’re trying! They didn’t know the core was broken and wouldn’t hold the Cosmix light!

- And how do you plan on saving them, Orion? You have no idea what you’re up against and you just betrayed the only people that cared about helping you!

- Why is Twinkly not being corrupted like all the other lumens? They are different in some way that was never explained but it was already implied that the corruption works on ALL of the lumens! So what gives? Except obvious plot convenience, of course.

- So Flora actually tried something else and didn’t go for the vines at all? I am shocked... but appreciative!

- Why aren’t the plants answering? Are they too dead for words? But that spell was actually pretty cool! They made a little sun that also has nature powers added to it to shine on all of the plants at once! That was so clever and actually pretty creative! I love it!

- The nature defeating technology theme is a little misplaced I would say considering the way they fix the problem with the broken cores of the stars later on.

- Wait! Winx were transformed when the robot caught them. Why did they have to transform again and when did the transformations disappear?

- They didn’t actually fight the thing! So far their powers have been used very little for actual battle and a lot more in creative ways to restore the balance of the stars. That actually makes a lot of sense since that was what the Cosmix was for! I like it!

- Did they just make a magical sun out of Stella’s powers by boosting her energy? This was awesome!

- Why did they think Orion was the one that changed the lumens? They know that Valtor is the one working with Obscurum and commanding them! That was such a stupid guess and for what? To give Obscurum some kind of “witty” line for his entrance?

- Orion does have cool inventions but for being a genius creator he is being a fucking dumbass! Oh, now you want to be “united” with them. After you almost got them killed and your planet fucked over big time.

- Musa is gonna give Orion a third chance but she’s gonna keep being a bitch to Riven, huh?

- Wizgiz’ redesign is giving me nightmares. Why is he teaching them something that they have been doing literally since season 2 and just did not three minutes ago?!?!?!?! And why are Knut and Kiko painting the yard pink? Really? Just so that Winx can show what they have learned even though they’ve known it for about seven years now?!?!?!?!

- Submarine star? That sounds rocking. But wait, they are using Sirenix in the next ep? Why don’t I remember that? I have watched this... I think. Yes, I have. I remember the stupidity and Nex and Layla having a moment. So why don’t I remember Sirenix?

8x08:

- I thought Valtor was on the scene and then it turned out he was just in an illusion. *sigh* And why can’t he just go himself? He is not doing anything this season. Just sitting on his ass and bossing Obscurum around. It’s just... not Valtor at all. And what’s this obsession with fucking up Andros every goddamn time he shows up?

- Aww, Winx are being so adorable and supportive! Nex, too, though that is OOC. But I can’t understand why Layla didn’t just pick up the phone and tell Nex that she needs him to stop calling so that she can focus. What is so hard about that?

- I like this version of Stella’s fashion obsession. It feels a lot more natural and isn’t overtaking the whole group and the show.

- Well, they didn’t ruin Theredor and Niobe’s designs! That’s something. And Ligea looks pretty much the same as well. I don’t understand why they felt the need to fuck up Winx and the Specialists’ designs but okay.

- Why are they making Layla unable to remember three sentences? She can do much more than that and she has always been the most capable one of Winx and an exemplary princess.

- Oh, so they already mentioned that the queen’s brother disappeared exactly when Valtor showed up (How tf does she even know that? The flashback that was shown later plus the fact that no one seemed to know Valtor was back before Winx saw his mark in 8x02 contradict that.). That and Obscurum saying he wants to rule Lumenia plus Valtor’s obvious knack for corrupting and changing everyone that’s working for him, spill it all out.

- Pretty sure no one at that party cares about Twinkly but whatevs. As long as she isn’t on screen to be annoying.

- Nex transformation time!

- Sirenix is back (never has that ever happened before) and I hate the redesign even more than the original. Didn’t think it was possible. They have also fucked up the transformation sequence and made it more boring. Nice move!

- Why is Layla refusing to talk? Coming forth about her feelings is gonna make it better. I like that Nex is actually being sensitive here even if he never naturally changed to become like that and they are just writing him wildly OOC. But he was so much of an asshole that I prefer this tbh.

- How the fuck do Sirenix powers have no effect on “a creature of darkness”? They went on the Sirenix Quest to defeat Tritanus who was definitely a creature of darkness! The writers don’t even know what they’re saying anymore. At least they left Winx handling the shark even if their powers aren’t working on it. If they’d sent Nex after it and Winx after Obscurum, it would have been too convenient.

- I like the fact that they managed when their magic was useless against the enemy. At least the writers are being a little more creative in the battles by making them rely more on strategy rather than on their powers. I can accept generic blasts and beams if the idea is that that makes their magic so useless that they need to find a creative solution.

- Nex is rooting for teamwork? He really has changed. I just wish they would have shown that instead of just jumping the gun like that.

8x09:

- Why didn’t they try trapping the star yummies in a morphix net? Or something that Tecna made with her magic? Or figured out a way to close the portals that let the star yummies come and go?

- They’re gonna make THAT a problem? Breathing underwater without Sirenix? Not like Layla has been able to breathe underwater continuously throughout seasons 2-5 without the need for Sirenix. AND she also taught the others how to perform the spell. This is such a non-problem.

- They also changed the Sirenix spells, didn’t they?

- They have been in tougher predicaments. I hate how they keep making Layla despair without a reason because she has always had a damn fighting spirit.

- Oh, look! It’s the anemone stupidity. And how is Stella supposed to wake up when she is under the influence of the anemone sting? You could try a spell if you want to wake her up, Flora!

- You’d think the lumens of Andros would know their fucking princess!!!!!

- What was the big idea with rushing out of the cave if Layla didn’t have a plan? Also, she was the one that figured out the anemones attacked when they were provoked, yet she kept attacking. Stop fucking attacking them! It’s only making things worse! Jeez, it’s not so hard to figure out that you shouldn’t antagonize them.

- So the Andros lumens sing but the Peripla ones have never heard of the existence of music? Pretty damn solid. Also, they just sang the same melody the whole time even after Layla asked them for something extra beautiful.

- How the hell did she fill the morphix with air? Did she pull all the water out in the morphix shielding and only left the oxygen atoms inside to make up oxygen molecules? This somehow doesn’t seem normal but anyway.

- So what unspelled the shark? The light of Gorgol? The living star? The starfish star? They are really starting to fuck up this season.

- Love how they never said how many years old Andros is becoming!

- Why did they make the trap dimension look like a pinball machine? What was up with that? And why did Gravity Falls do it so much better?

8x10:

- So now Alfea is having an anniversary as well? And why the fuck is Twinkly only asking now about the meaning of anniversary when they already were at the anniversary party on Andros? And they really made “starsome” a recurring slang? I hate it.

- Why is Faragonda letting the students organize the anniversary? Also, not a fan of how these latest seasons are making Griselda and Faragonda look not so fond of each other. They definitely felt a lot more in sync in the first seasons.

- Lmao, love how Winx are roasting themselves. But I cannot believe that no one has said anything about Helia’s ugliest haircut... yet. They couldn’t have possibly fucked it up more after the season 4 disaster and they somehow did! Fucking spectacular! And why is Riven wearing a scarf? When the fuck have you seen Riven with a scarf? This is ridiculous!

- Love the way Flora and Helia just decided that they will be matchmakers now! But I do think that they should first try figuring out why Musa can’t forgive Riven before deciding she will trust him.

- Why didn’t Twinkly just sit on Riven’s shoulder instead of plopping herself down right on top of the controls? The zero gravity dancing was actually pretty cute but Musa could have tried just dancing with Riven. Or at least they could have said something about why she feels like she can’t even dance with him (because she feels him unfamiliar anymore or something).

- Hypsos looks so very familiar but I can’t place it. Reminds a little of Amentia’s kingdom tbh.

- I cannot believe that the Twinkly and Lumila storyline will actually have a bearing on the real plot. How did they manage? Though, I suppose I should be happy about that.

- Turning a constellation into an actual monster was a damn good idea! Although, the writers sort of implied that Valtor has the power level of a god which has not been supported by the narrative. He was such a stronger villain in season 3.

- So... what did they do? Did they send the Hydra through the portal that the star yummies use? I actually remember it being a bigger threat and harder to defeat. Is this really the end?

- Oh, look! They can reverse the star yummy corruption with the power of love! Cut to the wedding (of Twinkly and Lumila).

- I said wedding, not a fucking concert!

- Musa, I don’t even know you anymore! Since when doesn’t she want to be the center of attention! She was literally mad at him because he hadn’t called aka paid her attention! Besides, she’s a singer (which you couldn’t fucking guess from the fact that Bloom is the goddamn vocalist!). What do you mean that he exposed her? Those are just some outlined images projected! She is a lot more exposed when she sings on stage! This is so goddamn stupid! Season 2 Musa would never.

- And why are they making Flora and Helia fuck up their own sync over Musa and Riven? They should just not meddle and keep their own relationship in harmony!

8x11:

- I am so glad we’re getting rid of Obscurum soon. I have had it with him! “Go undercover as one of [Winx]”? What the actual fuck?!

- Why is the trap dimension a goddamn gaming universe? They are truly wasting its potential! And why not just shove Winx in there?!

- Flora and Helia have never had a disagreement before? Come again? And now she’s saying they never even had different opinions on anything? That is so totally healthy, you know. And the implication that that is how a relationship should be. Wow! Fucking spectacular move!

- Just don’t make Winx fight over the Flora and Helia situation! And that was a perfect example of why they don’t need to agree on everything.

- At first I agreed with the opinion I have seen floating around that the emogix are too specific but this is the Magic Dimension. They have teleportation. What is so hard to believe that they have code that can quickly animate specific actions with pre-coded visual parameters about every separate object in the animation?

- I want to see Griselda react to that fireworks explosion!

- That was the big talk? At least they said that disagreements are not inherently bad but still. This was just a damn non-closure to a damn non-problem.

- Well, Obscurum’s plan isn’t so bad but Winx have already not been welcomed by lumens. It isn’t so original.

- Why are Knut and Kiko coming along all of a sudden? Oh, that’s right! Because those lumens are ogres like Knut. How convenient!

- I don’t know what’s so hard to understand about the fact that the lumens obviously believe that Winx have come to steal their treasure and that is why they’re attacking them.

- Tecna needed an analysis to tell that the lumens think they’re enemies and want to steal their treasure? They said that! REPEATEDLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Was the core broken accidentally or on purpose? I missed that part but I don’t think that Valtor has caught on to the fact that breaking the cores will make it much harder for Winx to save the stars. Also, why did he never try to steal the Cosmix light that the Winx put in the dark cores? That would have been an interesting plan!

- Well, Convenient Knut is being awfully convenient! As was planned.

- So now the crystal is actually gonna serve as a core? Wow, what a cop-out.

- You’re telling me that Obscurum was actually the one that thought of the idea of breaking the cores on purpose? This season is really doing Valtor dirty. I just... I can’t watch. Why do they have to be like that?

- Also, he’s only now figuring out he needs to get rid of Bloom? He had that figured out at the beginning of season 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8x12:

- A wishing star that hasn’t been seen in almost a 1000 years? And he needs Cosmix to get near? How is enhancing his powers going to get him closer to the star if the problem is his darkness? What, is Cosmix gonna conceal his dark powers? Somehow, that doesn’t make sense. But damn, at least this thing is protected from dark powers so that malevolent wishes won’t be made.

- Bloom has her priorities in check and Sky comes third? After Vanessa and the mission? That is a nice change of pace, actually.

- Why doesn’t Bloom just use her goddamn magic?! It would have been so much easier! It’s hers! It’s not like she is forbidden to use it.

- Lmao, Obscurum is acting as if Valtor actually cares about him. And he thinks he’s evil? Wow, that’s cute.

- Is it me or does Vanessa look so much thinner than she used to? Not a fan of that.

- You’re telling me Bloom never made an album for her parents before? But I love the fact that they are sharing and Bloom tells them that she loves home more than anything. That was actually something that the show could have used about 4 seasons ago.

- Why do the Earth lumens look like Roman soldiers?

- Anyone else feel like the transformation of the star yummies into bigger entities is legit based on Pokemon evolution? It really operates the exact same way Pokemon evolution does.

- They’re mentioning the queen’s brother again? In what is not foreshadowing but a plainly obvious non-twist.

- Musa is really disgusted by the star yummies? They actually look pretty cute and fluffy to me. Kinda cuter than the lumens even. Not to mention that they can face monsters and whatnot but they can’t make themselves touch the star yummies? Some Guardian Fairies you are!

- Valtor feels like a nervous teenager about to introduce himself to his crush. What the hell were they thinking?

- I like the designs of the dark giants where the writings on them are concerned. They look like rune rings around their torsos and arms and I actually love the idea of that.

- The scene with Bloom and her parents was pretty good. I love the way she compartmentalized the situation and managed to be on all the fronts she needed to be on even if she had to ask for backup to do it. It was awesome!

- Valtor finally decided to show the fuck up! Halfway through the season! Love how Stella is sassing him! A little surprised that he knows her name, though.

- I don’t think that hugging that last form of star yummy evolution is gonna work. Might be a too big concentration of corrupted lumens in order for the hug thing to work.

- Goblin yummies? Oh, no. Stargoyles. Wow. Okay.

- I love the dilemma that Valtor presented! Bloom really can’t be in two places at the same time! I would be very interested (as I was the first time) if I didn’t know how this ended... aka in disappointment.

8x13:

- Backstory time! What the hell do you mean that Valtor’s life force was drifting through the universe? For years? After the Dragon Fire - that literally made up his whole being - was extinguished? And how the hell was he brought back with the power of the stars? Wtf?

- Bloom, it’s really not that hard to figure out that Obscurum is the queen’s brother! I guessed that the first time I watched this and I didn’t even know she had a brother because I had been clicking through the episodes!

- If Obscurum really thinks that being Valtor’s minion is better than being in the shadow of his sister, then she must have fucked up big time! And I mean, really big time!

- So the artificial cores are not supposed to be that small? That is just a prototype.

- I have a question - how fast do the Specialists’ ships travel for example? Because Twinkly says that she’s traveling at the speed of light but I doubt that the tech can go so fast. Aka my train of thought was what if there are planets in the Magic Dimension that are so far from one another that the people can never meet because the tech doesn’t travel fast enough? Since that seems to be the common method of transportation rather than teleportation which could totes solve that problem.

- I really wish someone other than Sky would be protecting Mike and Vanessa. And wasn’t Valtor saying that only he can stop the Stargoyles? “Cause the Specialists just got rid of all of them. At least the dark giants truly seem to be unstoppable.

- I was so hyped when Bloom said she’d give Cosmix to Valtor! It would have been so interesting to see how they would defeat him if he had Cosmix as well. But they just had Cosmix reject him? Because it has sentience apparently? That was such a fucking cop-out! Just commit to your best ideas goddammit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Why is Twinkly getting the artificial core to the Specialists instead of the other Winx? They need it inside the sun! Not on the surface of the Earth.

- Wtf? Didn’t Bloom send Twinkly towards the Earth? She is inside the Sun! What was that maneuvering?!

- So the dark giants would have been defeated when the sun was fixed anyway? Meaning that Bloom could have chosen to go help Winx and that would have solved the dilemma aka there was no actual dilemma, except she didn’t know that? Man, what a bummer!

- Poor Vanessa. Had her birthday almost completely ruined!

- Wasn’t the queen supposed to be powerless? But that moment was so emotional there! And I love the fact that she acted as an example to the lumens to have them freeing the star yummies and helping them change back. Does that mean that the part with the stars is over for this season, though?

- Not a goddamn concert again! Come on! Dedicate the song to your mom, at the very least!!!!!

- Where is Valtor? This doesn’t look like the castle amongst the stars. What happened? Oh, and you’re telling me he has no more magical energy?

- What the hell do you mean that the Trix have power like the power of the Winx? Icy’s power is literally an opposite of Bloom’s!!!!! What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I have been so confused about this ever since I first watched it over a year ago! But at least the Trix were imprisoned separately this time. Someone in this goddamn universe finally had a smart idea!

Part 2 is here.

[72crowe89]

Kids’ WB! and Diversity

“It’s so great to see a black superhero.”

This is a direct quote from one of my middle school classmates regarding Static Shock. Even as an eleven-year old girl, I realized the significance of that statement. In a world full of Supermen, Batmen, and Iron men, to have a hero like Static who looked like us and wasn’t a jive talking best friend or an aggressive criminal or a lazy bum was uplifting. Over fifteen years later, seeing diversity within cartoons wax and wane throughout the years has led me to revisiting Static Shock and the cartoon block it was on, Kids’ WB! In its 13-year history, WB has had several cartoons that are diverse in both their characters and their stories. I will go over the ones I’ve seen briefly, then discuss why the shows (mostly) were positive representations of diversity.

Waynehead (1996)

Waynehead was a 13-episode series that centered around Damey Wayans and his friends as they experienced life in their inner-city poor neighborhood. The series was created by Damon Wayans and based off of his own childhood (hence the name of the protagonist). Although the show never had a home release, reruns ran on Cartoon Network in the early 2000s.

Jackie Chan Adventures (2000)

Created by John Rogers and produced by Jackie Chan, Jackie Chan Adventures stars a fictional Jackie Chan who, in his job as an archaeologist, uncovers magical artifacts that make him a target for different natural and supernatural enemies. Luckily, he has the help of his mischievous niece Jade, his magic-using Uncle, and Uncle’s apprentice and reformed villain Tohru, as well as his own martial arts skills. The series was able to last five seasons before ending in 2005.

Static Shock (2000)

Static Shock was created by Dwayne McDuffie and based off of his Milestone Comics series Static. The cartoon follows Virgil Hawkins, a teen who gets caught in the middle of a gang war when chemicals in a nearby building cover all of the participants, given them unique powers. Virgil gains the power to control electricity and, as the superhero Static, protects Dakota City from other empowered individuals like himself. Static Shock ended in 2004 after four seasons.

¡Mucha Lucha! (2002)

¡Mucha Lucha!, roughly “a lot of fighting” in Spanish, was about life in Luchaville, a city were everyone was a Lucha Libre- style wrestler. The series follows main character Rikochet and his best friends Buena Girl and The Flea as they go to school to learn how to be the best luchador they can be, while using and developing body-morphing signature moves along the way.  ¡Mucha Lucha! was created by Eddie Mort and Lili Chin and lasted for three seasons with a direct-to-video movie, concluding in 2005.

Xiaolin Showdown (2003)

Created by Christy Hui, Xiaolin Showdown was about four children from different parts of the world training to become Xiaolin warriors that protected objects of power called Shen Gong Wu from various enemies. The children were Omi, the arrogant Dragon of Water from China, Raimundo, the laid-back Dragon of Wind from Brazil, Kimiko the tech-savvy Dragon of Fire from Japan, and Clay, the calm Dragon of Earth from the United States. Using different Shen Gong Wu and their own elements, the Xiaolin apprentices challenge their enemies to contests called Xiaolin Showdowns for control of the Shen Gong Wu, developing their skills and personalities as the series goes on. Xiaolin Showdown ended in 2006 after three seasons, although a spinoff named Xiaolin Chronicles that lasted another two seasons ran from 2013 to 2015 on Disney XD and Netflix.

Analysis

These five shows boasted widely diverse casts, but many shows during this time did. What makes these shows different, however, is that people of color were either the protagonists or the main focus of these shows. Other shows with diverse casts still usually had the male white lead who was the most developed character. So what are the benefits and drawbacks that come from having a mainly minority cast?

Positives

One of the biggest positives that comes from a POC-led cast is the variety of personalities. In white-led diverse casts, minority characters are often given one personality trait that they never deviate from. This is especially true if the trait is a common stereotype for the minority: Asian nerd, Black athlete, etc... In shows that multiple minority characters, each of them are given widely different personalities such that a stereotype is rarely establish about a particular minority in that particular show. Jackie Chan Adventures, for example, has Asian characters that range from smart, kooky, annoying, strong, evil, and more. Static Shock have African Americans that are outstanding citizens, criminals, and everything in between. This shows illustrated how varied POC are in real life.

Beyond a multitude of personalities is genuine character development. Throughout these series, POC characters who would often be reduced to static characters were allowed to grow and change throughout the series. In Xiaolin Showdown, Omi was humbled many times throughout the show, while Raimundo went from laid back but rash to a smarter and nobler warrior. Jackie and Jade’s relationship in Jackie Chan Adventures actually evolved throughout the course of the series. In these shows and more, the creators were not afraid to show their characters as imperfect-- this in turn leads to greater character development.

Given that the casts were mainly POC, these series often discussed topics that affected those communities. Both Waynehead and Static Shock discussed living in the inner city, homelessness, poverty, and violence, with the latter also discussing racism and black identity. Jackie Chan Adventures used both Chinese mythology and literature as inspiration for its stories as did Xiaolin Showdown to a lesser extent. Finally,  ¡Mucha Lucha! is a celebration of the Mexican lucha libre tradition. Not only are the characters valued in these series, but so are their cultures as well.

Finally, seeing a POC as the main character at a time where most main characters were white was empowering for young POC like myself at the time. We got to see ourselves as heroes, martial artists, warriors, and more.

Negatives

Because the main focus of these series are POCs and their stories, many people may perceive elements of these shows stereotypical, from the strong Hispanic accents in  ¡Mucha Lucha! to the exaggerated features of the characters in Waynehead to gang violence in Static Shock. Stereotypes in of themselves, however, are not bad-- reducing especially minorities characters to those stereotypes is. None of these series do that; all of the characters and situations are well developed in spite of the risk of stereotypes. It helps that most of these series were created and/or produced by people of the same ethnicity as the characters, which led to a more nuance portrayal of stereotypical issues rather than an exaggerated portrayal of them.

Caveats

Of course, there are many white-led cartoons that had well-developed POCs, including both X-Men and X-Men Evolution, Codename: Kids Next Door, As Told by Ginger, Gargoyles (although that was more creature-led) and many more. Minority characters were often just treated like another character rather than significant because of their minority, so they were just as developed as their white counterparts.

Furthermore, Kids’ WB! was not the only company that had cartoons led by diverse characters. From Nickelodeon’s Hawaiian-led Rocket Power, to Disney’s Black-led The Proud Family and Asian-led American Dragon Jake Long, to Cartoon Network’s Asian-led The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, many companies were creating cartoons that celebrated a variety of different backgrounds. What makes Kids’ WB! stand out is that it was a basic channel that everyone could watch rather than a cable channel that many could not pay for. Kids’ WB! also had relatively more diverse series than its basic channel contemporaries like One Saturday Morning or Fox Box/4Kids TV. However, although ethnically diverse, Kids’ WB! was not diverse in other ways.

All of the shows I discussed in this essay have male leads. Even though several of them have well-rounded female characters like Jade in Jackie Chan Adventures and Buena Girl in ¡Mucha Lucha!, Kids’ WB! have only a handful of shows that starred females, which were either cancelled early, borrowed from Cartoon Network, or, in the case of Cardcaptors, edited to give more attention to male characters. The studio wanted to attract more boy viewers rather than girl viewers to sell toys; ironically, this is the same excuse that many studios use for not focusing on ethnic characters-- that white children will not resonate with them.

Another diversity issue is the lack openly queer or genderqueer characters. Now, this is more of a industry-wide problem than just a Kids’ WB! problem. Even today, when we’re getting more queer representation in children’s programming like Steven Universe, Adventure Time, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, The Legend of Korra, and even Arthur, there is still a lot of pushback from “moral” guardians about this type of inclusiveness. Kids’ WB!, however, has a specific example of this. Ritchie Foley, Virgil’s best friend in Static Shock, is a reimagining of Rick Stone from the Static comics. Rick is gay in the comics, and McDuffie revealed after the show was over that Ritchie was too, which would have been an uphill battle now let along in the early 2000s.

Conclusion

Rightfully, more people are demanding more diversity in their media. People want to see shows and movies that are led by ethnic, religious, gender, sexual, and other minorities because that reflects the world they live in. It reflects them as people. Two decades later, it is amazing how Kids’ WB! had ethnically-diverse series that portrayed Black and Asian and Latinos as both heroic and flawed, noble and cruel, intelligent and foolish, and everything in between. Rather than having one minority character to fill a quota, Kids WB! had a multitude of minority characters that accurately illustrate how varied and complex real-life ethnic minorities are.

[dewbond-blog]

The Summer of Love: The English Dub of High School DxD

We will be jumping into the second half of season one next week with a look at the “Raiser Arc” and all it brings to the table, but this week I wanted to steer the Summer of Love into a topic that many people don’t really discuss: The English Dub, and my overall thoughts and feelings on it. There is a good, a lot of good, and some slightly not so good. So join me after the cut as we jump into our next chapter of The Summer of Love, the dub! This is another long one, so be ready!

To discuss the English Dub of High School DxD, it is important to give some backstory about English dubbing of anime in general. If you grew up in my generation, (late 90s, early 2000s)  then you are very familiar with the 4kids of era; a time in which the american company 4kids entertainment pretty much had a stranglehold on the western anime market. Simply put, they called the shots and every anime that was actually on television had to go through the 4kids “Americanizing process.” Needless to say, this was a bad thing.

Cardcaptor Sakura had it’s entire yuri/yaoi subtext removed and whole episodes removed. Dragon Ball censored and omitted world building, Yu-Gi-Oh became a “so bad it’s good” mess of a dub. Vision of Escaflowne became a shadow of it’s former self. Monster Rancher went from a 50+ episodes series to only a handful, and of course what they did to One Piece. The list just goes on and on. The 4kids era of anime was not a good time for the youthful medium, and frankly the wounds inflicted by this era are still fresh in many minds of my generation.

Things have gotten far better since then, with companies like Funimation, Sentai Filmworks and Aniplex taking over the dubbing market and delivering quality dubs of anime that are true to form and (sometimes) even superior to their Japanese counterparts. Yet despite this massive improvement there are still many who refuse to even give an English dub a chance, whether it is loyalty to the “authentic’ Japanese version, or trauma for the scars of the 4kids era.

Now how is this connected to High School DxD? Well not really that much, but I think it is important for readers to understand why people are somewhat hesitant on English dubs, despite a whole new generation growing up with them. There are old wounds that have yet to heal, and in this era where censorship is a hot button issue, I wanted to explain why.

Anyway, let’s get into the dub itself, and let’s start by talking about the cast.

The Cast

The English cast of DxD is frankly very strong, though it has been a cast that has had a few replacements. Akeno has been voiced by two different actress, as has Asia, and the while voice changes are noticeable, they thankfully don’t differ too much to make much of a difference. What I can say is that Asia and Akeno are both voiced excellently, with Asia being played with that cute innocent perfection, and Akeno with a level of sultry seductiveness that, while not on par with her Japanese seiyuu, gets the job done well.

The biggest voice change though has to be Issei himself, who was voiced by both Scott Freeman and later Josh Grelle, and while the change over in season 3 is a rather noticeable change (unlike Akeno’s voice change in the same season), with many people being initially put off by the sudden shift in voices. I can both say that they play an excellent Issei and bring a-

Wait..what’s this?

Fuck…do I have to do this? Do I really have to bring it up? REALLY?

ALRIGHT FINE…FINE..I’LL FUCKING ADDRESS IT.

In 2015. Scott Freeman, the voice actor of Issei and several other Funimation dub roles, was arrested, convicted and imprisoned for the possession of Child Pornography. Funimation rightfully and subsequently cut all ties with him and his roles current and future were replaced with new actors, hence the sudden change to Josh Grelle in season 3 and later 4.

Anyway, Issei’s work in the English dub marks the first, but not the most significant change in the DxD anime. While the script plays him true to form, Issei’s performance in the dub is markedly more “american” compared to his Japanese counterpart. While it is 100% loyal to the authentic story, there is a lot more ‘sex jokes’ and ‘western references’ that peek out from time to time. I’ll get into this when I discuss the script, but I did find it worked quite well for the story, and both voice actors are able to ‘get serious’ when the time comes, especially in season 4 when Josh Grelle gives his best performance as a harem lead, and this guy has MANY to his name.

However the biggest and frankly best change has to be Jad Saxton as Koneko Toujou, who completely re-invents the character for the English dub. In the Japanese version, Koneko is the quiet little kouhai who seems to only have one single emotion, very much in the veins of the Rei-clones that had a stranglehold the industry for years. The English dub however turns this completely on it’s head. Koneko becomes a motor-mouthed little girl who, while still holding true to the character’s spirit, adds far more to the plot and group chemistry than her Japanese counterpart. I just find Jad Saxton’s Koneko to be a far more interesting character, acting as a sort of the reality foil for Issei for many season, and still willing to call him out on his perverseness even after falling in love with him. Frankly, the difference between the two voices is astonishing, just watch this comparison clip.

The rest of the cast do a find job. Jamie Marchi as Rias is an excellent casting choice, and while I prefer the Japanese voice, Marchi’s signature voice is able to play both sides of Rias’ personality well and she only gets better as the seasons roll on. Kiba, Gasper, Xenovia and Rossweise are all again done very well, but it is only really characters listed above who are the real stand outs.

The Script

Remember how I brought up 4kids at the start of this post. Well I did also bring that up, because the English script of High School DxD does feel very much like a bit of a holdover from that era of anime dubs. There is more than a hint of the adapters putting in their own lines and having some fun with the dialogue than compared to other shows. It was clear to me that the writers were having some real fun trying to adapt this show for an English dub, and while some may grumble by only  being a 90% authentic script, the show does give us some great memorable one-liners like:

“I’m gonna make you eat those words like a kid doing the tide-pod challenge!”

“Cunt-tuckey fried chicken over there is in love with you”

“Forgive dat ass, don’t spank it!”

“Her milk-shakes are all over my yard”

Those are just some of the examples of the fun bit of humor that is injected into the series via the English dub and yes, it is not for everyone and yes, it is going to turn some of the purists off. Yet the voice actors give it their all and when the time comes for the show to “get serious” like with the Akeno break down, Asia story-line, the Issei/Rias fight, and more, those actors absolutely step up to the table and deliver excellent performances. So I can forgive them for having just a bit more fun with a show that is, again, about busty big boobed girls fawning over a perverted idiot.

What I do NOT forgive though, is the “president gaffe,” which undermines a vital and important plot point.

See, there is a very clear reason that Issei calls Rias “president throughout most of the anime’s run.” It helps show the class and social difference between the two characters and how, despite Rias falling truly deeply in love with Issei, her social status and his role as a servant make him hesitant to step up. It is only when that issue comes to a head that does Issei finally start calling Rias by her full name, and it is a great moment to cap off four seasons of development.

The dub however ignored that completely for the first four seasons and admitted that they weren’t aware of just how important it is. While they do address it in the season 4 dub, making an offhand comment that “Issei has been calling her President a lot lately” it doesn’t really fix the problem and remains an annoying nitpick for me. Is it a deal breaker? No, but it is a pretty glaring problem when looking at the series as a whole.

Final Thoughts.

Overall, the English Dub of High School DxD is a great one, and I honestly love it to death. As i said in my primer, I would have watched the series dubbed to do this event, but I wanted to be faithful to the Japanese release. The dub is still my go-to way of watching DxD and I suggest anyone to give it a show after watching a bit of the OG Japanese version. It’s not perfect, but it’s made with love and affection and doesn’t stray too far from it’s routes, but when it does what 4kids never could do to anime. It adds something without taking anything away.

[sage-nebula]

Okay, now that I finally have a minute, I can finally talk about the biggest event of the day:

GEN! 8! REVEAL! FAM!!

In a way, this was not surprising at all. The official Pokémon YouTube channel had been posting promotional videos of all the main regions for the week leading up to today (Pokémon Day), and once a Direct was announced we knew that they would not use that Direct for anything less than Gen VIII. Nintendo and Game Freak have made some questionable decisions in the past, but even they would not be so foolish as to dedicate a Direct to anything but a new set of games, particularly since they’d already promised us Gen VIII would be coming out this year. (Which is why those who are angry that this announcement wasn’t for Sinnoh remakes don’t really make a lot of sense. We were promised brand new core titles for a 2019 release. This couldn’t have been anything but that.) Even so, I am still thrilled by what I saw in the trailer, and I still want to talk about it because I’m so excited.

So:

Pros:

The Region: Some leaks that had come out ages ago suggested that the region could be based off the UK, and I’m so happy to see that was true. (Very little else in the leaks came true, but I’m okay with that, too; Sword and Shield are much better version names than Crown and Scepter.) The region itself looks like it’s going to be beautiful, both in terms of its countryside areas and its urban areas. It reminds me a bit of Unova in that way, how there’s a bit of a divide there, and with that divide emphasized in this reveal trailer, I wonder if that’s going to affect the plot. Either way, I’m truly excited about the region itself, particularly with some of the shots of it that we saw (both interior and exterior) in the trailer.

The Graphics: On that note, the graphics are so nice! There’s so much detail everywhere! In particular I can’t help but think of shots like the library the female trainer was standing in near the end, or the various towns the characters ran through . . . I know some people were hoping for hyper realistic graphics, but that’s never been Pokémon’s style. I’m just glad that these games are so, so much prettier than Let’s Go. I’m so glad all the models and the environment was fixed.

Random Battles are Back In: Speaking of things that were fixed, we can actually train our pokémon again! I was very relieved when I saw that, haha.

Gyms: We’re also back to the Gym system, which is also something of a relief. Honestly, I don’t mind the concept of the Island Trials, but I don’t feel that it was implemented well at all. The Trials themselves were basic and empty, and in many ways felt like watered down Gyms. In USUM it was even worse since you weren’t even allowed to explore during them (and instead had the Captain walking you through the Trials, such as in Mallow’s). Since they weren’t going to get creative with the Trials, I’m glad they’ve scrapped them to go back to the Gym system. Hopefully we’ll get a dark-type Gym this time around.

The Starters: The starters are all so cute! My favorite is Scorbunny (whom I keep calling Scorbunny-bun, haha), but I like Sobble and Grookey as well. Which one I pick will depend on the final evolutions (since I can’t just not look, although I will say I do miss the days of my youth when final evolutions were a surprise and you picked your starter based on first impression), just like which version I get will depend on version differences, but at the moment, if I had to just pick today? It would be Scorbunny. Little soccer bunbun is so cute, I love him. (Sobble would be my second choice, and Grookey my third.)

The Trainers: I LOVE BOTH OF THE TRAINER DESIGNS SO MUCH!! I actually feel like trainer customization might not be back in (more on that in the next section) because we didn’t see any customization in the trailer, and both of the designs are more detailed this time around (whereas the boy design at the least is usually generic in customizable games). But even if we don’t, I’m fine with that. I love both of the designs. I do wish the girl was able to wear pants for the snowy areas, but I love her sweater and her haircut, and the boy’s hat is cute. Really, they’re both fashionable and cute kids. I love them.

The Box Mascots: Of course we know nothing of the legendaries (legendary?) yet, but they look very lupine and I’m excited about that. GIVE ME MY SWORD WOLF, GAME FREAK!!

The Cons:

No Trainer Customization?: We might get a surprise here and that might be back in after all, but right now it looks like it might not be, so that’s a potential con for me.

No Following Pokémon?: Most of the shots that we saw of the gameplay looked empty (for instance, no other NPCs in town shots), so maybe we will get following pokémon and they’re just not able to show that yet. Bu tif we don’t, that’s also something that will make me sad, albeit it’s also something I can live with, haha.

No Pokémon in Overworld: While I am THRILLED that wild battles are back because that’s a deal breaker for me, one thing I actually did like about Let’s Go is that you could see pokémon on the overworld, and I do wish they had implemented that here. But again, I can live with it not being implemented, haha. I’m fine with wild battles, too.

The Miscellaneous:

Professor?: The leaks I talked about earlier mentioned that these games have no professor, and that we instead receive our starters from a princess. No idea if that’s true or not yet, obviously, but if it’s not and we do still have a professor, I want them to be either Poké David Attenborough or Poké Jane Goodall. (And on a related note, if the monarchy is in this game, let me throw down with the queen pls.)

Give Us the Great Galaran Bake Off: You know how each gen has a little side gimmick? Like we had Contests in Gen III, Super Contests in IV, PokéStar Studios in V, and so on? Give us Bake Off in Gen VIII. The Great British Bake Off has popularity that transcends its borders and it would be so great to implement that into these games. The bonus is that when the Galar anime starts up, there can be an episode where Ash somehow makes his way into the tent as a baker (and I say somehow, because you have to audition and everything and prove yourself worthy of being there irl and Ash cannot cook or bake for anything) and then is the first person eliminated because his pastries have soggy bottoms and are not crisp, and also his cakes have overbaked sponges and you cannot see the layers in there at all. (I hope the anime gives us that episode even if we don’t have the gimmick in the games. Come on, PokéAni. Show us the forbidden Poké Mary Berry and Poké Paul Hollywood, along with Poké Mel and Sue.)

Anime’s English Dub: On that note, I both am and am not looking forward to TPCi hiring garbage actors who will absolutely brutalize every single British* accent they have in their cast. If it was 4Kids, I would trust them to hire actors who know what they’re doing. But TPCi? I remember what they did to Alan. I’ll never forget nor will I ever forgive what they did to Alan. They hired a no-name rando off the street who had no talent whatsoever to voice Alan. If they do try to make the Galaran characters British, there is no way those accents will be passable. It will be a travesty. That said, if the PokéAni actually had a good job with a talented cast, I would pay them actual money to make Ash’s female companion have a Cockney or south London accent. I LOVE those accents and I would love to have a character with one on the main cast. They could also give Ash’s male companion (should he have one) a Scottish accent to just complete the whole dynamic and it’d be incredible. Like I know they’d probably go for standard pronunciation, but god what I wouldn’t give for regional accents for an English dub of the Galaran anime. It would be incredible. (*I said British instead of English here because not all British accents are English. Scotland is part of Britain, and therefore a Scottish accent is a British accent, for example. So believe me, I wasn’t conflating British and English; I know the difference, and I was incorporating all of them.) 

Unova vs. Galar Rivalry: I want to see some (friendly) rivalry between Unova and Galar, just like those posts from Ye Olde Tumblr where Americans and Brits would get into “fights” over things. Obviously Unova is not the only United States region (Alola and Orre also exist), but it’s the one up in New England, and the one most blatantly American, I feel. It’d be neat to see that in the game. (And on an unrelated note, was Galar the region that warred with Kalos 3,000 years ago? Hmm . . .)

All in all, I’m super excited and I just can’t wait for these games. November can’t come fast enough (and neither can more info, haha)!

[legitimateluffy]

11 Questions

Tagged by @nicefandom​, @sootbird​, @lucy-heartflawless​ AND @celestifi​!! Thanks guys ♡♡

RULES: Always post the rules. Answer the questions asked, then write 11 new ones. Tag 11 people to answer your questions, as well as the person who tagged you. 

Alright, let’s go!!

Nicefandom’s Questions!

1. Your first fandom?

Hmm I’m not sure. It could be the OP fandom actually!

2. Your 3 favorite characters?

Janeth why you do this to me I can’t choose T.T!!

Monkey D. Luffy, Nico Robin and Reiju (THOSE WERE THE FIRST THREE THAT POPPED INTO MY HEAD) and Lillie

3. Winter or Spring?

Winter for sure! I hate spring

4. Something funny that happened to you?

Idk why it was funny but the bell had gone so my best friend and I had started walking and I dropped one of my books and I said “Rip” while she said “Fuck”, we also said it in unison and it was hilarious for no actual reason.

5. Why did you start watching One Piece?

I remember I saw it on TV when I was a kid (the 4kids dub *shudders*) and I saw people talk about it on youtube and it made me remember! I guess I was chasing after my childhood?

6. Hobbies?

Making gifs, drawing, hanging out with friends and DnD!

7. Last movie you watched?

Hmm good question..... I think it was Cabaret (some of it anyone) for history!

8. Your biggest fear?

Being alone

9. A reason to smile?

My friends!!

10. A thing you’re proud of yourself?

How much I’ve improved on my art skills over the past few years!

11. Why do you start using Tumblr?

Half forced into it by my soulmate <3

Sootbird’s Questions!

1. What song is stuck in your head right now? If there isn’t one, what’s the last one you listened to?

GO! by Flow (4th opening of Naruto) for some strange reason??

2. What did you wanna be when you grew up?

I wanted to work at Maccas (McDonalds), be a pizza lady and be a taxi driver ‘just like my mum’ because she drove me to places

3. How long is your hair?

It flows down just past my chest so not too long but not short either

4. Are you allergic to anything?

Penicillin!

5. Night owl or early bird?

None really but more night owl!

6. Favorite kind of tree?

The first thing that came into my head was oak for some reason so I’ll go with that!

7. Do you know how to say “sky” in a language other than English?

I don’t! I need to get onto learning another language again after I finish school!

8. Do you dream frequently?

I do!

9. Why’d you join Tumblr?

Half forced by my best friend

10. Did you ever play jump rope as a kid?

Sometimes yes! Although I didn’t particularly enjoy skipping, I was really good at it and I might still be

11. Do you know how to swim?

I haven’t gone swimming in so long but I used to take lessons as a kid so I think I can!

Lucy-Heartflawless’ Questions!

1. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Hopefully with a steady job!

2. Hobby/hobbies

Drawing, gif making and hanging out with my friends!

3. What makes you happy?

My friends and One Piece!!

4. What’s your favorite movie and why?

God I don’t know if I have a favourite movie. The first one that comes to mind is Die Hard and I guess it’s because of the amazing action and the great story. Great one liners too!

5. What do you like about yourself?

My blue eyes! And that I love to make people laugh!

6. How are you doing right now?

I’m doing great right now! Just hungry since I’m waiting for my parents to buy me food!

7. What’s your favorite book?

Am I allowed to say One Piece?

8. Biggest fear 

Again, being alone.

9. What’s your favorite place to be in the world?

Probably either at home or in the presence of my friends! Cheesy, I know.

10. Favorite type of music

None really! I’m not that big on music!

11. Favorite color?

Red!!

Celestifi’s Questions!

1. What are your favorite genre of music and why?

Again, not really a big fan of music!

2. What got you into anime?

I just watched Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon on tv back when I was a kid!

3. Do you ever get inspired to start something new?

Sometimes yes! It’s quite rare I get inspired though which is a shame..

4. How many pets do you have or what kind of pets would you want?

I’ve got one Kelpie dog!

5. Explain a moment in your life that made you truly happy.

When I go to conventions and see other One Piece fans cosplayed! One of my friends thought it was weird that I couldn’t stop smiling hahaha

6. Are you old fashioned or new fashioned?

I’d say somewhere in between

7. Are you more into looks or brains.

Brains for days man. 

8. Do you judge a book by its cover.

I do actually although I probably shouldn’t (I’ve got a saying which goes “Don’t judge a book by its cover but what makes you pick it up in the first place?”)

9. What scares you the most and why?

Again, being alone. That thought terrifies me so much. I don’t ever want to not have friends or family I can’t lean on.

10. If you could be a superhero which superhero would you be and why?

Spiderman because he’s so cool and I’ve loved him since I was a child!! I also collected his comics for a few years but I haven’t for a while, too obsessed with OP and I don’t really know where to go from where I am!

11. Is it hard for you to fall in love?

I don’t think I’ve ever truely fallen in love with anyone, I haven’t even really had a crush on anyone for at least 4 years?? So I guess maybe? I just need the right person that’s all!

My Questions:

1. Is there anywhere in the world you want to travel to?

2. Do you consider yourself to be creative?

3. Know any languages?

4. Favourite show?

5. Draw or write?

6. Favourite food?

7. Something you want to try but haven’t had the time to do?

8. Favourite animal? 

9. Favourite type of weather?

10. Strengths?

11. Weaknesses? 

Phew that was a lot of work! Thanks a lot guys that was fun! Now I’ve gotta go do homework :(

Tagging: @mossybrows, @ienudi, @psylxcked, @mr-florg, @miraculous-steph and @sableu! Only do it if you want to!!

[darkpoisonouslove]

Winx Club Season 3 Thoughts (4kids) Part 2

Picking back up from where we left off - 3x14. Part 1 here.

Warning for some heavy anti Bloom stuff. I don’t normally let these get hateful but I just cannot anymore and this is my own rewatch and my own opinion. You can just not read it if you think you don’t want to or you don’t need the negativity. And there is some of that just in general as well and not only in regards to Bloom. (This also gets pretty angry with Valtor in the last few episodes because he’s been getting on my nerves.)

3x14:

- Well, I’m crying too. I know Tecna will be fine but seeing Winx so heartbroken is making me weep along with them. And what they said about wishing they’d laughed more at her jokes was particularly hard to swallow. Now I am genuinely upset, too.

- Aww, Riven is trying to be a good friend (even if he keeps insisting Tecna’s gone). And Timmy saying he can feel her presence is just some next level romantic shit considering his thing (and Tecna’s) has always been technology. He’s throwing logic out the window for his girl and I am ready to cry all over again just for that.

- Did they think of not being friends anymore? I know it feels wrong without Tecna but being together would have surely been better than breaking apart that friendship. And Tecna wouldn’t have wanted that from them.

- Oppositus is just hilarious. “Part sunny and part rainy. Hot and cold.” Well, that’s the perfect weather. Everyone will get what they want at one point or another.

- At least Faragonda and Griselda thought of monitoring the girls. Not that they’re doing such a great job of it but that’s another thing.

- That scene with Stormy getting spelled with Oppositus is really getting on my nerves but in a kind of calm way. It’s like it’s not making me mad but I really don’t like it so I am just sitting through it with a pained smile. I just wish Icy and Darcy would be a bit more supportive. (Also, Stella got spelled with Oppositus in season 1 as well so he’s not really showing them anything that special.)

- Didn’t they establish that the witches were hypnotized and doing whatever Valtor wanted. Why did they think that they wouldn’t be brainwashed all of a sudden? What? Did they think Valtor would give them a break for the day? And of course, let’s just barge into Cloud Tower with no plan of attack and no advantage of taking him by surprise. Fucking spectacular. Also, they couldn’t defeat him when Tecna was with them last time and all six of them fought him together. Why do they think they can take him down now? Yes, Flora got her Enchantix since then but they’re down with one member and Valtor has stolen new spells. They don’t stand a chance.

- I love how Valtor is messing with them. It’s obvious that he can defend himself against Bloom’s blasts but he wanted to get her mad to get her to use her full power and destroy her with Oppositus. And trapping Musa and Flora into what they hate the most is pretty horrible but I am kinda amused. (However, since he is pretty much using their opposites, for the longest time I thought he spelled the two of them with Oppositus too but he didn’t.)

- Rock cannibals of the dark dimension? Damn, I really wanna see that!

- Oritel has magic? I am pretty sure Valtor was lying about that considering that he was lying about everything else. And admitting that he couldn’t have defeated Oritel without a deception? That doesn’t sound like something Valtor would say. Gotta hand it to him, though, that was a pretty good plan he had for getting rid of Bloom.

- Aww, Griffin thinking so fondly of Faragonda even though she’s talking about a time when Faragonda was stronger than her. That is so cute.

- Why wasn’t Stormy at least a bit mad about what Valtor did to her?

- The Detention Dimension is such a fun concept. I love it! (I’m not loving the fact that I just got a second fic idea from this episode, though.)

- At least they figured out that the girls escaped. Otherwise, they would have said bye-bye to Bloom as well. And yay, for the Company of Light being back into action (”There’s just something about Valtor that makes everyone want to give him payback” XD (I think the Company is not over what happened 17 years ago either)) and everything but that “power pose” they’re striking is just so lame.

- Doing a dragon head thing with their hands to summon a protective shield is such a cool idea. Though, it did took me a while to figure out what was going on. It was only after seeing that Saladin was using his staff with the dragon head instead of doing the hand gesture that I figured out what they were actually doing there.

- The deception spell Darcy used was cool but shouldn’t there be some magic to the Detention Dimension that prevents that? Or was the logic that if they can pull such a spell off, then they are free to go because obviously they’re good at being witches?

- Valtor did take damage from Bloom’s fire but that was her full might there and it barely fazed him for a few moments. That Enchantix of hers must be really powerful for her to be so much stronger in later episodes. Or, once again, the writers just simply don’t know what they’re doing and can’t measure up their powers in a normal way. Poor Darcy, though. She thought he was angry at them for using the deception spell.

3x15:

- Ugh, I hate the Pyros arc.

- Thank god Sky missed Bloom. I am so not in the mood for them. But hey, Brandon is back, too! After being locked up like some criminal. Okay, but Sky said that Diaspro was banished from Eraklyon and we wouldn’t see her again. So why do we see her again several times in following seasons?

- I was gonna say that Pyros wasn’t so bad but... yeah, it’s... pretty bad. That shot of Bloom right before she blasted that dragon from underwater is so cool, though! (I kinda feel like she should be on better terms with dragons, though. You know, because of the Dragon Fire. Or does that just annoy them more? Looks like option B in this case.)

- Look at Riven running from emotions like it’s the plague! And Brandon has his own girlfriend and the consequences of staying out with her to deal with. But at least Sky is back to being helpful now that he’s not spelled anymore.

- Since when can’t Valtor shapeshift? He did turn into a deer in 3x10. That is shapeshifting. God, this show is so annoying with its lack of continuity. I reconsidered this and okay, I can see how his shapeshifting was limited to only animate things. And he needed to turn into a lightning which is different. I admit I was slightly but not completely wrong because it is incorrect that he can’t shapeshift. He can, just not to the degree that he needs.

- I see it’s time for Darcy to be the “favorite one”. He’s playing them so hard and Icy and Darcy are so falling for it. I totally agree with Stormy that they’re throwing themselves at him for attention.

- Stormy: I’m over him. Me: Good for her!

- Daphne! It’s been so long. I wish we’d seen more of her. Even though they dragged her into that stupidity about the dragon. Also, how is Bloom supposed to become stronger if she doesn’t know what to do? I feel her confusion (which I really hate to admit but I do).

- “If a monkey falls in a fountain, does it make a sound?” I. AM. SCREECHING!

- Oof, the maneuver with the coat was so smooth! And we saw him fight more physically! And get knocked face first into the ground! XD

- Timmy counted Tecna’s freckles? Talk about precision. XD But aww, Tecna laughed at his jokes because she knew what it’s like when no one laughed at hers. *sob* They are so cute!

- Walk like a dragon? Seriously? That is so ridiculous.

- Oh, thank god. For a moment I thought they were gonna make her eat bugs.

- I’m with Darcy. I like Valtor when he’s so chill in the middle of his chaotic energy. But the bracelet? To protect her from negative energy? Isn’t giving a witch a charm that wards off negative energy the same as casting a protective spell over Cloud Tower? Which he mocked in 3x10. And the shapeshifting thing is still stupid but damn! Turning into lightning? That is FUCKING AWESOME! I WANNA!!!!!!

- Oof, Bloom summoned the Dragon Fire from inside her? Okay, that was cool. Also, interesting that both Bloom and Valtor had major power-ups in this episode.

- Really? Timmy fell asleep just as he made contact with Tecna? Come on!

- That was her dragon all along? I thought we were talking metaphorically about her inner dragon. Why does this show always have to be so literal and lame? Not to mention redundant. This is the same stupidity from back in season 1 when her power was inside her all along and they sent her a whole bunch of places to “find” it.

3x16:

- Omg. Timmy found Tecna! And Brandon and Sky are both so happy about it and so proud of him! Not to mention already gearing up to go and save her even though it is the middle of the night! This scene is so adorable, I love it!

- Woah, what happened to Valtor’s eyes? Was that the demon in him showing up?

- I actually really like that scene with Stella and Sky and Riven talking. It’s nice to see Winx interact with Specialists that aren’t their boyfriends when their boyfriends aren’t around. Sells the whole friend group vibe. And them cheering each other on was really cute.

- Okay, this scene with Bloom is not only pointless, but also stupid. She can fly! She doesn’t need to jump from stone to stone and even if she loses her balance, she won’t fall because she can fucking fly! This is so stupid and not at all dramatic or suspenseful. What’s your excuse for this, writers? Also, where’s her stupid dragon? What? Did she hallucinate her own inner dragon and saw it outside of her the whole time?

- Aww, Timmy just wants to have his girl back and dance with her! That is so cute! And Brandon and Stella!

- What is the point of this scene with Bloom? She was like “No, I am not coming back unless I get stronger” but now she starts screaming at the air that she wants to go home right this second? Which she totally could? Just bc Faragonda sent her there through a portal, doesn’t mean she can’t find her own way out of Pyros. And then again acting like she doesn’t have wings? Even if she fell down that chasm, she could fly out. I am so sick of this.

- Where did Maya come from? And also, of course, on Pyros you can just bend magic rules. Makes fucking sense. And all that stuff about “being destined to battle great evil” is really getting on my nerves. Not to mention that she was looking for her parents and last time Stella checked, the Hall of the Universe said they were still alive. So there are people from her planet out there and she can earn her Enchantix the normal way. But she’s all given up on finding her parents just because Valtor told her they were dead? And she believed him because... he is the biggest evil they have fought so far and plays dirty the whole time? Fucking logic.

- I’m not even gonna talk about that magical meditation thing.

- Stella is killing me. In the Omega dimension and she still thinks about fashion.

- Timmy really thought he was gonna negotiate with Omega dimension prisoners? There was no way that could’ve gone down peacefully.

- Oh, come on! Big deal that they fell in a chasm. They can fly! God, why does everyone keep acting like fairies face the same problems with falling that people do? They have fucking wings! They’re going to be just fine! Stop dramatizing over nothing!!!!!!!!!!

- Damn, how are the Specialists not dead? Or at least not having anything broken after having huge rocks thrown at them and being crushed by them?

- Oh, damn! I always thought the necklace came from her Enchantix but it was Maya that gave it to her?

- Well, she got her Enchantix. Is this over now? I am so ready to move on. And since when does she have ownership of the island? Yes, you’re the princess of Domino and the guardian of the Dragon Fire and the most special ever - we get it. Now calm down.

3x17:

- Really? She’s gonna angst about Winx not being there when she can just find someone to ask? Like, maybe Faragonda? And while she’s at it also tell her that she came back from Pyros? Oh, and the pixies were there all along! See, no fucking reason for drama! AND Griselda and Faragonda were already awake so she could’ve just gone to them. Although, they did not seem the least bit relieved that she was back. I mean, it wasn’t like her life was in danger or something, right? Why would they be happy to see her? It’s just like she came back from vacation.

- Wait, Faragonda knew what was going on on Pyros? Seriously? I am so over all of this!

- Oh, now it isn’t Sky’s fault? But she was all bitchy back in Gardenia. I am so done with them!

- Okay, Winx aren’t too safe but that was not because of the fall. It is because of the ice snake.

- Bloom and Sky are equipped with proper clothing. So why weren’t the rest of them? It wasn’t like they didn’t know where they were going. Why didn’t they prepare themselves?

- Why the fuck can’t she transform? They’re just making stuff up as they go to create the illusion of danger.

- Of course, they find Tecna even though Timmy was the one that build a machine to tell him she was even alive still. And it had her precise coordinates but nope. Bloom will be the one to find her. And then save the day. Because she is Bloom. Miss Universe. No, I am not bitter, why are you asking?

- Sky didn’t have to interrupt that hug so insensitively.

- Also, obviously Tecna was trapped! Where did they think she was? But at least, she is really handling herself! She is awesome. Maybe a bit too much. I mean, making food out of ice? Talk about doing the impossible.

- Really? That’s just some rope. Tecna should be able to do something about it with her magic.

- And yes. Bloom can’t transform but she and Sky are still the ones to save the day. Even though it was all Tecna’s plan and she was the one who found the others. Of fucking course! We didn’t get to see her Enchantix in action even. I am really salty about this if you can’t tell.

- Yes, let’s just shout and draw everyone in one kilometer radius towards ourselves! Not to mention risk making some ice crack and fall! Such a great idea!

- Yeah, “walking” sure happened. And couldn’t Tecna transform and fly her down? The Enchantix wings are way stronger and Bloom has carried both her parents with her winx wings.

- Omg, Stella is so precious! She literally passed out from exhaustion while trying to keep them safe and warm! My baby! I love her so much!

- How have Bloom and Tecna not broken anything? They fell from so high up! This does not logic logically!

- Oh, yeah. Bloom is so much stronger! She’s only needed saving a couple of times since she got her Enchantix less than an episode ago. But how do they all keep lifting each other up so easily? They must be using magic for it. I mean, please. Even children aren’t so easy to lift up.

- Well, of course. She can’t transform... but she just did. Just like she couldn’t get her Enchantix... but she did anyway. Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? And it is really stupid because this whole episode has been going so hard for the “oh, poor Bloom who can’t transform” narrative but in the end she is still the strongest one and the one to save the day. Well, you have to pick one! You can’t have it both ways!

- Yes, sure, it was Musa’s fairy dust that fixed this. Right. And why did she even use fairy dust? There was no dark magic to remove from Bloom. None of this is adding up. None of it.

- I thought they were low on Enchantix juice. But they look like they’re doin’ just fine.

- And now she’s speaking with the snake! Which, by the way, should totally be Flora’s department. Or Roxy’s. Not Bloom’s, that’s for damn sure. And the snake isn’t even a dragon! There is some connection to dragons but still. Plus, can’t be destroyed bc it’s part of the Omega dimension? Well, I’ve got news for you! Valtor destroyed some snakes and almost caused the destruction of Omega as well. So it is not impossible.

- “I have an idea” but “I don’t know what I am going to do”. Great!

- “Just think about protecting Stella...” Awwwwwwwwwwwww!

- Omg, I can’t believe her stupid plan worked. First, the ground just opened up to let her through because she’s apparently fairy Moses. And then the snake just did what she told it to do? Really?

3x18:

- Their pajamas are ridiculous. Also, isn’t it a bit early to talk about engagement and marriage? And lake house? You mean, lake palace. I doubt either Erendor or Samara have ever settled for anything less than a fucking palace (and yes, I will take every chance to bitch about them because I can’t stand them.)

- Yeah, just call your boyfriend at 1 a.m. You know, to wish him good night. I mean, just because my sleep schedule is fucked up, doesn’t mean that everyone else’s is. And considering there are classes the next day, it was obviously too late for that. Flora what was that horrible advice coming from you?

- Wait... I don’t think I remember that scene where the Specialists actually infiltrate CT. Am I by any chance watching the RAI version of this episode? I am unclear on that so know that it’s possible. I don’t think it’s RAI but it might be.

- Aw, the vault monsters were re-spelled. :/ But now everything is going to go better since CT is back with Griffin. I never figured out why Valtor just up and left, though. He just sent the Trix after Bloom instead of going himself and then he disappeared. He didn’t even go to Omega to make sure the rest are finished. I totally wouldn’t go back to the place I was trapped for 17 years either but still. Where’d he go off to?

- Awwwwwwwww, look at Griffin just being completely adorable while trying to pull off the witch facade. And her students are precious, too. Plus, I don’t think that some lessons in team work will hurt any of the witches. Their pride maybe a little, but they could use the “practice” of working with others. XD

- Anti magic from the dimension Negatio? Say what now? They really are just going to let those things go against them and possibly cancel their magic forever? Safety just went out the window. Also, isn’t Palladium worried by being so close to those creatures? They could probably erase his magic as well if they go out of control. This is just a bit too much.

- Yikes, Bloom’s pupils looked like they’d caught fire. Her power really is out of control. (But also, you gotta love how they only showed the Enchantix of Flora, Tecna and Bloom who got it last. They were like “Yeah, Layla, Stella and Musa already got to show off theirs a handful of times. Now it’s the others’ turn.” XD)

- Why does Bloom think that Valtor will tell her the truth about her parents?

- Damn, that secret entrance is so well hidden. But really with the box? I hate the box thing. Can we just not? (Did all of those spells come from CT btw? Bc I am pretty sure he said something about realm erasure or something of the sort. Damn, what kind of things do they keep in Cloud Tower?)

(- Gotta love the animation mistake that had Darcy and Stormy in their “confrontation” outfits instead of their everyday wear for a few seconds before it switched right back.)

- Stella really outdid herself with the idea for those outfits.

- Why isn’t Stormy with Valtor, Icy and Darcy?

- Musa is thinking about breaking off the non-quite-relationship with Riven? Why don’t I remember any of that?

- Well, Nabu got busted pretty quickly. Tecna’s gadgets are really cool. And of course, Stella is being Stella.

- Stormy’s outlines showed in the clouds Valtor summoned but she wasn’t with them in the previous scene while they were flying towards Magix.

- Ooh, Valtor really only said he was after the Ancestresses’ Eye so that they’d remove it from the box and clear it for him to take it. Finesse and deception, indeed.

- Yeah, let’s just break through the museum’s security system! And also, scan the whole place to spy on them. (Btw why are they keeping powerful artifacts in a museum where anyone can walk in?) At least they figured that there is something wrong with Valtor announcing his plans.

- Nabu just let Tecna and Stella roll off the roof before he caught Layla. I can’t even.

- Tecna can tell how much magic Valtor has left? Come again? This seems just a tad bit unbelievable to me.

- Valtor doesn’t look weaker at all to me.

- Oh, so now they are smart enough to figure out his plan? But they were all idiotically asking “Why are the witches attacking us?” in 3x10. Can we keep something consistent here?

- Why doesn’t Valtor know that she has Enchantix? Didn’t the Trix tell him? They were there when she got it. Like I said, can we have some consistency in this whole thing, please?

- Okay, I have too many clashing thoughts about that last scene so I’m just not gonna go into any of them. But Nabu clearly cares for Layla since he’s been doing everything he could to protect her.

3x19:

- What did Chimera just do to the Hall of the Universe? Why did it stop rotating? (Also, ew at Cassandra’s comment about Radius revolving around her.)

- “Flying free is a thing of the past in this kingdom” No villains here, though. Nope, sir. Absolutely none. (I really can’t tell if Radius is just faking being spelled or if she spelled him again after his conversation with Stella in 3x08.) And shouldn’t the wedding be guarded regardless of the things with Stella? I mean, this is a royal event. There is no way this can go without security.

- Stella is having a total breakdown.

- Omg, this scene supports my headcanon about Stormy using her magic for everyday things. Aka drying off Darcy’s nail polish. Nice! (But oh, god, it’s the stupidity with the box again.) Where did Valtor’s neck go in those last moments of the scene? They forgot to color it so it looks like his head just hovers above his collar.

- Hey, Stella, that remark about Tecna was rude. Also, didn’t Timmy say that he and Tecna took dancing lessons? So she must have gotten better at it. Also, I am just relieved that Bloom managed to catch Kiko after she threw him in the air like he was a toy. She is very irresponsible both with his physical health and his emotions sometimes.

- I remember that part with the bikes! It’s really cute. And Stella seems to be having fun even if she was against the whole thing. Poor Musa, though. She was right about there being something wrong with Riven’s bike.

- Chimera wants to be the princess of Solaria but behaves like a vampire when exposed to sunlight.

- Oof, that scene in the boys’ dorms. XD Timmy and Riven being disaster boyfriends. But damn, Helia really got mad there and served him the news about Musa’s doubts about their relationship.

- “Think about what you would do and then do the opposite.” lmao

- The pixies appeared so conveniently. But hey, they did make awesome uniforms for the girls.

- Well, at least Riven apologized for the teasing. Now he just needs to apologize for being wrong and not listening to Musa.

- Step 2 of that plan is a little too vague. “Bust up that wedding” could mean a lot of things. And there could be various ways of execution.

- Helia and Layla really took care of the bikers. And Stella apologizing for what they’re doing to them was so adorable. She is a true princess with manners and kindness (even if she can be temperamental and straight up a bitch sometimes).

- Layla saved them again with those tricks she performed. It’s a good thing that she’s really great on her bike.

- Stella was actually pretty clever about this! She showed Valtor’s mark on her father’s neck and then she just went blazing in. I love how she blasted Chimera out of her way! She made Chimera cry. And then just started teleporting to keep Cassandra from getting away. She’s so awesome! And the people also listened to her! (If only the guards had as well.)

- She unspelled her dad! And they now have an idea on where to start about defeating Valtor.

3x20:

- Yikes, Valtor really destroyed the whole Lightrock. I bet the Trix were all too happy about that. (Why was that assembly in Faragonda’s office, though, and not in the big hall where they usually have them? Was it only for the third-years?)

- Oh, my god! Faragonda actually considered the possibility that this might be a trap so that they’d leave Alfea. I bet it was Griselda that actually figured that out. But that “she acts like she controls the school” was hilarious(ly dumb (especially coming from Digit)). She does control the school, lol.

- Well, they are tiny. It’s not like they’re trying to offend them. They’re just saying the truth.

- I thought Stormy was over Valtor. She really looked like she was. (And nobody bought Icy’s claims that she was over him even for a second.) I think that Darcy is on to something with that comment about men’s egos, though. XD Gotta admit that I am not a fan of Valtor listening in on all of this. It really reminds me of the way fake Avalon was baiting all the fairies into being even more smitten with him and that was disgusting. Although, the Trix are adults at least. (They have to be if they were seniors in season 1.) I also love that Darcy tried for a more peaceful solution. But I have a feeling that might have been because she wasn’t actually sure that she could win a magical fight between them.

- Stormy is having a bunch of good ideas here. Cruel but good. And Valtor has to at least appreciate the effort they are putting into impressing him, stealing spells and all.

- And that was the end of the good ideas and the beginning of the clowning around.

- I think Amore is in love with Stella. XD

- There’s a whole army of “little creatures of the forest”. XD

- Darcy has the right idea with the hypnotizing.

- “I wouldn’t respect you if you weren’t a little bit devious”, I can’t.

- Why is Kiko giving a ride to a seahorse that can fly?

- The Trix are now getting soundly defeated by pixies. This can’t get anymore ridiculous but I am going to give it a pass because it was established early on that this episode is just going to be Like That.

- Poor Kiko! He almost got crushed. I am not sure how smart it was of Darcy to make the pixies that big. Also, why can they make themselves smaller but not bigger? That seems kinda stupid.

- “Love energy”? Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. I am out of here. And Valtor is watching all of this. The Trix are embarrassing themselves so hard rn and I cannot stand it.

- Oof, even Valtor was done with their bullshit. He came to collect them. I just... I don’t know what to say about this except that I hate how cringy all of it is.

(- They really just spared an entire episode on this.)

3x21:

- That’s actually a smart plan to test their attacks on Bloom in order to figure out how to beat Valtor. I like it.

- Aww, Layla is still being respectful with her mom even when she is firm in defending her beliefs and her agency. I love it!

- So the Dragon Fire is basically matter and the Water Stars are anti matter? I mean, if you parallel them to our theories about the creation of the universe. But if they can’t exist in the same dimension, then how come they were just a few inches away from Bloom and nothing happened? We went from “smart plan” to “this doesn’t make sense again” pretty quickly and I am not here for it.

- You can’t seriously tell me that Faragonda and Saladin agreed to let them go on a mission to get the Water Stars. Why would you let students go get one of the three literally most powerful essences in the universe? This sounds like insanity.

- Edge of the world? Really? Are we in the Middle Ages?

- Okay, but Nabu’s approach is just stupid. Another one that doesn’t get girls. I am just amazed that Layla totally managed to catch him even though he was invisible. She is really awesome!

- “Are you putting a charm spell on me?” “No, I am just being myself.” “Well, stop it because... I don’t know. Just because.” Okay, my mind is made up. I am shipping this! (Layla x Nabu) And I only really needed one scene to start!

- Omg, they crashed. I am shooketh!

- Ugh, I am so not here for the Riven and Musa drama. And he just jumped on his bike and headed after them even though he didn’t even know for certain if there was anything happening there. I know they had some problems in the previous few episodes but that is zero trust right there.

- Holy fuck, what is that monster?!

- I’d totally forgotten that Nabu was a wizard. I just hope that now that he saved Layla and he showed that he could have freed himself at any moment but he didn’t, she will believe him. They are already too cute to not get together asap (especially considering that he dies).

- Aww, Stella was so quick to aid Musa. And she got so angry at that monster. She can be so feisty and also so good in battle. I love her!

- The pixies just tricked that monster nicely. XD I guess they really aren’t too small even for the big dangers.

- So Flora doesn’t kill things. She just “returns them to nature”. That’s one way to make natural compost, I guess.

- “Chill out, main frame.” Lol.

- Honestly, I was kinda surprised that Riven knows Piff’s name. She isn’t even Musa’s pixie (only her bestie’s). I mean, it makes sense for him to know it but at the same time it would have been just as believable if he hadn’t known it. Idk. I guess they just portray him as a jerk so much of the time that I was surprised by this. Ignore my rambling.

- Awwwwww! Layla trusted him. And he surfs. Of course, he surfs. XD (He is from Tides, after all, and they are perfectly compatible.) But of course, Riven had to arrive at the worst possible moment and misinterpret everything even more than he already had.

3x22:

- Riven did not see any of this coming. But I wouldn’t say that what he did was “valiant” at all. It was misguided and fueled by jealousy, insecurity and lack of trust. Def not things you want in a relationship.

- Yes, of course, Bloom can read that thing. And of course, Tecna and Timmy couldn’t decipher it with some tech, which was totally what I thought they would do but no!

- “When we’re big enough to be small?” XD This scene is finally making me realize why Stella has always been my fave. We just have the exact same attitude. All her bitching in this could have come straight out of my mouth.

- They are removing their inner darkness with the fairy dust? I cannot even tell you how much I absolutely despise this idea.

- Btw why is Brandon not with them?

- Omg, Valtor is torturing them by replaying them their loss by the pixies? Oh, that is evil. XD But I have to say that this makes me a little more accepting of the pixie episode because it was used to fuel the Trix here. So it was not completely useless. How come they were animated as if they’re back on Tides, though? ‘Cause I am pretty sure they are not.

- They are trampoline-ing on a cloud! I love it! It is so cute.

- I love how they just picked Stella to be their speaker. I think it’s cool because she is a princess and she will have to learn to be a leader and to hold speeches. Even if that wasn’t very official speak she did there.

- We are still on the Diaspro drama? But omg, I love how quickly Riven and Nabu are becoming friends! They seem to really like each other. And Nabu is so similar to Layla! And obviously totally in love with her already! XD I love that they are playing a game while waiting for the others! We could really use some moments when they’re just being teenagers and are not battling for the fate of the universe. That said, here come the parts with the Crystal Labyrinth that have always been my fave!

- Well, Icy did score that one!

- I am getting chills already by Tecna’s choice and she hasn’t even started debating on it. I love that the room with emotions also showed her friends and not just Timmy. And Tecna was so quick to abandon logic at the idea of never feeling again but she still chose to go through the exit in the name of the greater good. Fuck, I’m already about to cry. My eyes are watering!

- All of Darcy’s clones against all of Nabu’s would have been soooooo cool! She’s never been up against someone who can match her abilities and that would have been epic! Also, Nabu and Riven really have become fast friends and I love it!

- Ancient crow’s dust? Yes, please! This sounds so cool!

- Okay, but seriously. What the fuck did they do to Stella’s face? How does that even translate in a real life look? I mean, what? This was really half-assed. And I kinda don’t like how it implies that Stella’s grandest concern is her looks. That is not the core of her character and they could have done something else here. Also, there was zero build-up with this choice. She just got there and walked straight towards the exit. There was no suspense whatsoever.

- Musa’s test is so unfair! (And yes, I am crying.) Tecna and Stella got back what they sacrificed but Musa never got to be with her mom again. That is really cruel. But at least she got to hear how proud her mom was of her. And Arcadia told her that Stella and Tecna were already outside. Imagine how terrible it would have been if she’d sacrificed being with her mom and one of the others didn’t make it out so it was all for nothing.

- Tecna is truly like a robot without any emotion. Poor baby! But at least they restored what they took from her!

- They really had to waste so much time and have the rest of Winx come back to defeat them. And tell Valtor that Winx ran away? Valtor that can literally see anywhere in the dimension? Yeah, why do I have the feeling that that should not work out for them? Although it probably will.

- Um, excuse me? “Musa, Stella and LAYLA risked everything for”? That was Tecna, not Layla. And I am absolutely convinced that in a later episode the Stars were shown to be six instead of only three. Even though it makes sense that they would be three because they only gave them three.

3x23:

(- I am pretty sure the 3x23 I watched is RAI but I couldn't be bothered to look elsewhere for 4kids.)

- Okay, so they have the Water Stars and they don’t even know what to do with them. Why did none of them think about asking? When they were back at the Golden Kingdom?

- Seriously, Bloom is touching the Stars but there’s nothing happening? Weren’t they supposed to be unable to exist in one dimension with the Dragon Fire? She is literally touching them!!!

- What the hell is this with Valtor? He looks like his favorite puppy died, then he gets weird, then he gets sad again and then he gets so mad he makes Darcy hide behind Icy? I don’t like where any of this is going. And the Company of Light did defeat him. Growling at that fact will not change it so he might want to calm down and find a way to prevent that from happening again instead of raging.

- I love how battle ready Tecna is. Though, maybe it is a good thing that they’re looking for some R&R. She could probably use it.

- Nabu and Layla “developed a little chemistry”? Well, that’s one way to put it, I guess. XD

- Omg, Riven looks so lost when it comes to the girls. XD

- Lol, even Helia is so done with Valtor. It is indeed like Griffin said - everyone wants to give him payback.

- If there are four people fighting, is that still considered a “duel”? (Well, there were three people fighting but still.) I like his plan, though. Challenge all three of them and make it look like it’s about all of them and his revenge. Then go to Alfea while they fight each other under his illusion spell.

- And Griffin's getting some vengeful impulses of her own. I kinda love how petty Valtor was, though, to pick Cloud Tower for his demonstration even though he already fucked around there and did make some of his revenge against Griffin come true. And I love how for someone who always seems to look down on the fairy way of doing things, Griffin was trying to convince her students to stick together because it would make them stronger. That is exactly what the fairies do, you know? XD

- First, what are Ediltrude and Zarathustra doing at that assembly of Alfea teachers after they’ve been MIA since 3x10? Second, “as the oldest teacher on this council”. So Wizgiz is... the oldest of all of them? Like, age wise? And third, now we are having a mention of the situation in Alfea while Faragonda was trapped in the tree? But they didn’t bother to show any of the teachers being worried or even doing shit about it while she was missing?

- “It’s a battle we have fought before and won”. Yeah, right. You’re three members short if you haven’t noticed. And Valtor is more powerful than ever before.

- Good thing Faragonda didn’t take the Water Stars. They would have probably lost them to Valtor and then it would have been the end. I have to admit that his strategy of “divide and conquer” was pretty good. I am still salty about the fact that neither of them could tell it was an illusion, though. Griffin has worked for the Ancestral Witches for fuck’s sake. She must have been closely acquainted with Lysslis’ illusions and how to spot them. This was just too easy for him and too incompetent on their part (and by “their” I’ll let you decide if I mean the Company of Light or the writers... or both.)

- Oof, this is actually Griffin and Faragonda fighting each other. Ouch! That hurts.

- My god, what was that expression on Faragonda’s face? She looked like a rabid dog. I guess Valtor just really brings out the worst in everyone. XD

- Hey, wait! Was that glass shards or ice shards that Saladin was attacked with?

Because that was Faragonda’s magic. What is happening here? (Btw I love how much the boys wanted to help take Valtor down. Idk, it really just struck a cord.)

- Oof, that battle is taking its toll on them and the protective barrier of Alfea is suffering from Faragonda’s powers being drained. But from what we’ve seen so far, it looks like Griffin is holding up the best out of the three of them.

- It’s really cute that Winx believed Bloom about Valtor being at Alfea even if it seemed insane.

- Omg, please treat the books more gently! I am literally begging you!

- The thing with the Water Stars looked intense. But of course, Valtor found a way to cheat out of it. I wonder what the Stars would do to him, though. He was literally made from the Dragon Fire so if the Water Stars cancel that out, does it mean that he will cease to exist?

- Poor Faragonda, Griffin and Saladin. They must have felt horrible about hurting each other and falling for Valtor’s trick.

- This Layla x Nabu train is moving a little bit too fast but he was following her around for a while so I guess he did have enough time to fall for her. And they are literally made for each other so... I guess it’s fine.

3x24:

- Ugh, another dream! And, of course, Bloom’s friends are against her as always. I already bitched about that in my thoughts on the first half of this season so I won’t do it again. It is curious, though, that Faragonda is on her side in her dream(s) but her friends never are. They are supposed to be best friends but she trusts them less than she trusts Faragonda, who has, admittedly, kept information from her before? Or is it that she feels that Faragonda can help her when Winx can’t and that is what this is supposed to mean? And a sidenote – I can just see the writers going “Hehe, symbolism” when they came up with the portraits of Valtor and Marion and Oritel getting destroyed.

- Oh, you can’t be for real! She is seriously buying into Valtor’s lie about her parents? And she even finds evidence to support it in her connection to him? Really? And also, because this goes here, why the hell would the Ancestral Witches tell her the truth when they are even worse than Valtor who is lying to her (even if she doesn’t know he’s lying)? You gotta love how seeing the Ancestral Witches and thinking of seeking them out was the only purpose of that dream. That and the obvious way to up the unnecessary Bloom drama.

- See? Her friends are supportive as hell! They wake up in the middle of the night from her nightmares and aren’t even angry about it. Instead, they check up on her, offer to stay with her and say they will support her no matter what. Why does she keep dreaming of them being against her? If you are not secure in your friendship after all this, then you literally never will be.

- “Those witches are long gone” was supposed to mean that they were dead, right? Yeah, well, that didn’t work out since in Secret of the Lost Kingdom they aren’t dead.

- Why is Faragonda on board with this and ALSO so cheerful about it? She fought those witches and watched them destroy the entire planet of Domino and her friends. The least she should be is wary as fuck and worried about Bloom (and Bloom’s sanity). Not to mention reluctant to do the spell and suspicious of any results they could get. Also, where the hell is that room? Do they just have a room that can reach any dimension even in the past in the school? Because that just spells out trouble.

- Why does the Ancestral Witches’ essence still exist in Cloud Tower? They have never been mentioned to have been anywhere near Cloud Tower. Is there any reason to this or did they just do it so that Winx could bring back Cloud Tower? Because, you know, Griffin is only one of the most powerful witches in existence and the headmistress of one of the most prestigious schools for magic. Why the hell would she be able to find her own school? Especially if she has the help of Faragonda and Saladin. I mean, her and Faragonda’s convergence withstood Darkar’s attacks but, of course, they could never find Cloud Tower themselves. Never mind that Faragonda is a fairy and has been confirmed to have fairy dust in a previous episode so they totally didn’t need Winx to un-spell Cloud Tower for them.

- Yeah, Griffin totally didn’t think of the fact that Valtor might have just used an illusion spell to hide Cloud Tower. Even though she worked with him for the Ancestral Witches and Lysslis has illusion powers which Valtor could totally copy. He was shown to have ice powers like Belladonna in a previous episode so he probably can do all the things that the Ancestrals could. But of course, instead of thinking of any of that, Griffin just sat idly by and waited for students to save her school while she and her witches were probably crammed in Alfea (there is no way the school is big enough to fit both the fairies and the witches comfortably).

- Why the fuck do they need the Water Stars? Also, remember how “the Dragon Fire and the Water Stars couldn't exist in the same dimension”? They seem to be doing just fine here. It’s all pretty chill. Especially considering that the Water Stars are supposed to be able to remove Bloom’s whole magic. But she’ll just put up a shield. You know, with her Dragon Fire. The same Dragon Fire that the Water Stars can extinguish. The stupidity is unreal. And there are six Water Stars now instead of only three. Continuity at its finest.

- Why did only Flora use her fairy dust? And why couldn't they just break the spell from the outside? Ugh, this is again only here to evoke pity for Bloom because, you see, her Enchantix is incomplete and now she has to rely on her friends. Whatever will she do? Poor baby! Gag me!

- I am getting really fed up with everything but especially with Valtor. (And Bloom but I’ve already been bitching about that so let’s switch it up a little.) First, he starts yelling at the Trix that they can’t defeat Bloom even though he couldn't do it himself. Then, he wants to punish them when they call him out on his bullshit and say that he is afraid of fighting Bloom, which he totally is. And also, why did that power-up he gave them had to undress them? They didn’t have to change in bikinis in order to be more powerful. This is actually creeping me out.

- Cloud Tower has dungeons and a crypt? What the hell is going on in this school? This is supposed to be a school, you know?

- “Goth outfits”? You mean beach outfits. And they still can’t beat even the rest of Winx and we all know Bloom is supposed to be the most powerful.

- Of course, she just stumbled into the crypt accidentally! And what the hell were those vines coming out? Why vines when none of the Ancestral Witches can summon vines? Was that an illusion? Or was it some sort of protection spell?

- I don’t know what is worse – the fact that Bloom thought the Ancestral Witches would help her or the fact that they actually told her the truth. They are pure evil. Why the fuck would they tell her the truth? It would have been so much cooler if they’d told her Valtor was telling the truth and she had to fight him while thinking that could destroy her parents. It would have been real drama and not this pseudo drama that has been going on here.

- It looked like the Trix were only pretending to be hit by the Winx’ spell but then they just keep losing in literally one blast. I am so sick of this! Can we see a proper battle? Because this is everything but.

- “We haven’t even begun using our new powers.” Then why don’t you begin using them because Winx are wiping the floor with you? You really need to up your game because you are being ridiculous.

- Really? The fairy dust can now remove powers and not just spells? Convenient as hell and just as boring, thanks.

- Really? Winx are somehow more powerful than the heads of the schools (since they broke Valtor’s spell on CT)? Well, why don’t we just give them Alfea and Cloud Tower and call it quits. I mean, they are the ones doing everything anyway. Why not just hand them over the schools. There won’t be much difference.

3x25:

- Oh, so now Faragonda is concerned that Valtor is dangerous? They have been fighting him all season. She let them go for the Water Stars in what looked like an official mission. But now she is worried for their well-being? You're a little too late for that, hon.

- Okay, I am totally done with Valtor. I know the Trix were laughing at him and everything but blasting them into walls is a big no-no. They are supposed to be his partners and he's abusing them. I am so glad they left him to deal with his shit on his own.

- You know, he doesn't look too weak from here. He looks scary. And not because he turned into a demon. His temper and lack of control are scary. Especially since he has so much power at his disposal.

- At least the Trix admitted they have no taste in men. It is ironic, though, that it was Icy who said it, yet she fell for Tritanus in season 5. I guess they also never learn.

- The greatest spell is the four elements? I get why they're powerful and everything but I would've loved something more original. This just feels lazy.

- Oof, I don't think we have seen the Trix look so scared.

- I have to say that even though what is happening is pretty horrible, the frantic energy of that scene with everyone telling Faragonda what's wrong is greatly amusing me. Idk why. I guess I am just a little heartless prick sometimes. XD

- It's cute that now Griffin is instantly calling Faragonda instead of them not talking to each other like back in season 1 or having Saladin acting like a mediator, which he was. And I love that the development of their friendship is very subtle but is still there. That is so adorable!

- Please, tell me that their fairy dust won't be enough to fix this because that will be too easy. Also, I am shocked that Griselda is also there (and that she barged in Faragonda's office like that before) and they aren't waiting for Winx to solve everything.

- Oh, so the elements will keep tormenting them forever? Okay, that is a little more interesting than I originally thought.

- And so much for the teachers doing anything. It is all up to Winx... Again.

- Wow, the Specialists can neutralize twisters? That is so weird but also very cool.

- I thought Winx would try to put up a new barrier around Alfea, at least, but I guess there's no point in that. Getting Valtor seems to be the way to beat this.

- Now we're gonna talk about the Omega thing? And again brushing it off? You know what? Whatever.

- Well, his trick with the lake was kinda for nothing because they all made it out. But at least he is back to his human form.

- Formless mud monster? Really? Can't we do anything better?

- Ooh, Valtor's plan about the Water Stars was cool! And I love how Winx tried to protect Bloom. And this battle is at least going on longer even if it's still not much in terms of an actual battle.

- Bloom's idea was pretty smart but it still doesn't make sense. Valtor already absorbed a lot of spells before he got the box so he has to be pretty powerful still even without it. Edit: Or he could just put them all in the box and lose them all because he is dumb like that. Nvm. Also, he just threw away the Water Stars aka the one thing that can really fuck him over to chase the spell with the elements? Idk but the Water Stars seem more important to me.

- Like I said, what was the big idea with the elements spell? It brought him down.

- Watch Faragonda and Griselda act like they can't teleport.

- Well, the Trix finally got their brains back and left. Good for them.

- Wait, the Trix were taken back to Lightrock? I don't remember that. But awww at that shot of Icy and Stormy hugging to console each other about their terrible fate.

- Well, the boys got to Alfea fast.

3x26:

- In the previous episode: “The trees aren’t burning up and aren’t getting charred but are just swallowed in flames.” In this episode: “Everything has burned down and been destroyed.” *eternal sigh* I cannot wait for this episode to be over and be done with this whole season.

- Well, at least they fixed the forest and everything is back to normal. And the animals are so cute!

- Faragonda and Griffin’s friendship is so cute! And I am glad that neither of them is quick to close this chapter because they both know better than to just assume it’s over without evidence.

- Aww, look at Kiko! Trying so hard to cheer Bloom up!

- What was that scene with Valtor? Was he doing it on purpose to capture the Specialists and then do what he did with them? (I think he pitted them against Winx. Or at least made clones of them that went against Winx.)

- Yup! He’s using them all right. (I can’t get that meme out of my head. There was an edit of that scene with Valtor and Helia with the text post “Hey there, boys. It’s me. Ya demon.” and I am just cracking up thinking about it.)

- The spell with the elements again? It is the only one he had left but then again, Helia said he was just as strong as he’d been before that when he attacked them at the lake. Also, he only grabbed Sky, Brandon and Riven then? Not that that wasn’t enough. They would have gone even if he’d only kidnapped one of the boys. But still.

- Bloom can create things that teleport them now? Wasn’t teleportation a Stella gimmick?

- Ah, so he also took Timmy. And those were the clones that Tecna, Stella, Musa and Bloom are dealing with. That last part became apparent after Brandon but now it’s confirmed.

- Okay, this version of the four elements spell seems cooler. And the clones seem hard to defeat as well. There is finally some more tension here.

- Never mind, it’s over. Bloom solved it in a second. Of course, she did. Obviously, she doesn’t even need to see Valtor or know where he is to be able to blast him. Sure. Makes perfect sense.

- Oh, come on! Only reason that blast could have knocked Valtor out would be that he was already exhausted and using up all of his energy for the spell with the elements.

- So the Ancestral Witches aren’t dead. Just banished. Okay, that checks out. But damn, that scene is giving me the creeps and making me feel so bad for Valtor. He literally did not have control over his own body (and even... soul?), not to mention how they kept nagging him about failing. Also, is the mark by any chance how he is bound to them? It seemed to hold him prisoner.

- They’re fighting inside Valtor? That is freaky and not in a cool way. I was kinda glad that he got back to his human form (even if it was only on the inside) but that last part was pretty anti climatic. Valtor didn’t even get to do anything there. It was one blast from Bloom and everything was over. (Though, I should be glad that there won’t be more plot holes in this.)

- Wait, his essence is imprisoned with the Ancestral Witches? So in Obsidian then? That was never followed up in the movie and in s8 he said his essence was just roaming around freely. But whatever. Nothing has made sense all season. Why start now?

- Awww at Nabu and Layla! They were so perfect! How could they kill him?!

I don’t have much of a conclusion for this season. I went in really hyped for it and the last few episodes tore my nerves to shreds. Don’t be fooled by that, though. There is no sense to be found anywhere in this season. I am pretty sure at least 40% of my thoughts were just “This doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.” Also, when will continuity come back from the war? I still love Enchantix but there were even things with that that enraged me. And Valtor... I will just pretend that the last third of this season does not exist in terms of his character. I am honestly glad that I am done with this and I can move on to season 4.

[darkpoisonouslove]

Winx Club Season 2 Thoughts (4kids) Part 1

I already posted some thoughts on season 2 last year when I legit just clicked through he episodes rather than actually rewatching them so I am back to give a more in-depth look on this season! (And, hopefully, it won’t end with disappointment for me.)

2x01:

- Eww, why voiceover? It just seems so unnatural since we’ve never had it before. Not to mention that Bloom told us what each of the other girls has done during the summer but she didn’t tell us anything about herself. Like, she set out to find out more about her origins back in the first half of season 1, and I know that she did learn about being the princess of Domino but she still has no fucking idea who her parents are as individuals apart from them being the rulers of Domino. Considering how big of a plot that is later on, it just doesn’t sit right with me that she doesn’t seem remotely interested in it currently and didn’t mention anything about it. It’s like that plotline is closed for her which we all know is not true. So I am having some issues here, not gonna lie (not with Bloom but with her inconsistent writing).

- Aww, am I the only one who thinks that Stella buried herself in fashion rules all summer because she didn’t want to think about her parents’ divorce? Poor baby has been going so hard with no rest to keep herself from grieving over it. But at least she did something! (Proving she’s not lazy and spoiled; she practically had a job. Her dream job. You go get it, girl! (but also take care of your mental state, please.))

- Why is Bloom so eager to learn her fortune? Has she not read Greek Mythology? Bad idea, hon. Bad idea. (The thing with the magical reality mirrors was cool, though!)

- (Is that a new secret library or is it the regular library? I’m confused. Does anybody have a handy layout of Alfea for me?)

- She just fucking told her everything! I’m not a fan of knowing your future tbh. It really messes with your head and you start thinking “Will my actions have a negative impact on it? Will I somehow change my own destiny for the worse?” and then you go and do exactly that. Not to mention that it would be so weird to stare at Layla and just feel the pressure of being told that you’ll be best friends. Like, what if it doesn’t work? And what if it is just the fact that you were told so that pushes you to seek the friendship of that person? I don’t know. It’s just not my thing.

- Layla is awesome, though! Climbing those rocks with no equipment, not to mention with so little power left. She probably couldn’t even transform and fly if she fell. That was dangerous but did she care? Nope. She was there to save the pixies! Brave little soldier. Too good, too pure for this world.

- Ugh, Darkar managed to annoy me with his very first sentence ever. Nice job. You are a loser, loser. So deal with it! God, how will I take all that narcissism for 25 more episodes? Oh god, oh no, please, no! Whyyyyyyyy?

- Ugh, Bloom, that diadem is doing the opposite of wonders for your hair, please! At least Stella had the common sense to remove it.

- Speaking of Stella, that moment with the multiplying beauty was so cute! I love how she complimented the others while complimenting herself! But guys (Stella & Bloom), you’re not discreet with the groping. Seriously.

- Oh, hey! Riven won! And Sky only came in third! Nice! But lbr here, Timmy is the real victor! The others came in on hoverbikes while he had an entire ship that he modified himself. I mean, idk about anyone else, but I would definitely go for the ship.

- Of course there’s Diaspro drama. God, can they not for literally five seconds? And also, “we’re just friends”? Wtf? Did you fall on your head this summer, Bloom? You were calling him your boyfriend last time I checked. And you were fawning over the romance in your future. Can you just drop the pretense already?

- Ooh, Layla is so smart! She managed to outsmart all the monsters and win even when she barely had any magic left! You go, you absolute badass!

- Did they even make any changes on that new wing at Alfea? I mean, besides the name.

2x02:

- How did Tecna know that Layla was the princess of Andros? Did she hack the interdimensional FBI system? Wtf.

- They could’ve showed some other things we hadn’t seen that Layla had to go through but, of course, why would they do that when they could just use the same footage and draw less animation, bruh?

- And we’re getting to the opposites. Right on schedule when the Shadow Phoenix has shown up. You gotta love how convenient those school lessons are (not to mention that Bloom suddenly started feeling her opposite out of nowhere. Nice!) At least we got a cool magical lesson. Though, idk how to feel about the ying-yang symbol. I mean, it is a perfect representation of what they’re talking about but kind of weird to see something so earthly in Alfea. Though, Earth did have magic so... Hmm. Okay, anyway. Moving on.

- Um, question, why do Stella and Layla not know each other? And in the first season Stella and Musa and Sky didn’t know each other even though they were all royalty (I am still unclear on whether Musa is a princess or not btw but anyway). Don’t they, like, have royal meetings with other kingdoms? (which they even did in season 5 when Domino was back. What, is Domino the center of the universe and they can’t function without it? I mean, come on!)

- The talk about love is getting on my nerves and I literally have “love” in my url and it is my fave word. So what is wrong with that? I do love that guard there. Heck, yeah, it’s a prison (it’s worse than that tbh). And the fact that they’re trying to make it out not to be is extremely fucked up and sickening if you ask me. Not to mention “You can force people to be happy. It just takes time.” I really hope whoever had the idea of that place (in-verse) is going to hell.

- They legit just kept recapping season 1 for a solid minute? Aaaaaaaand... SKIP.

- Can I say that a 30-page report is an actual living nightmare. Thanks.

- The girls are all friendly with Layla (well, outside of a slip-up or two). That’s cute. But where the hell is Tecna? Can the animators only animate five Winx girls at a time? What the hell, you guys?

- So the Pixie village is on Andros (if Layla found it accidentally. I don’t imagine she realm-hopped at will)? Why don’t I remember any of that? But hey, finally some flashbacks that we haven’t seen before!

- Oh, look! My guy Kerborg is here! (the only good part of this whole Darkar thing tbh)

- The Trix finally thought of trying to pretend to be happy in order to get out of there. Well, better late than never. Though, watching how it’s going I can understand why they didn’t try before that. It is, in fact, hopeless. (But at least Darcy is handling it! She always was a bit more controlled.)

- I am so majorly creeped out by Darkar. He just met them and he’s like “You belong to me! Mwahahahaha.” Ummmm? Can you calm down? But I loved Icy’s response. Though, it didn’t stick. And he’s at it again. Seriously, this is really giving me some major off vibes. He said they were going to be the queens of Shadowhaunt which, considering he’s the king, would imply they were his wives. Now there’s a mental image that I am not even going to let inside my head, thanks. Although, having in mind that he just kept buttering them up, I would say it was just him stroking their egos to get them to join him. Not to mention that his later treatment of them supports that theory. And of course, he had to test them first and see how they’d do.

2x03:

- Please, tell me that they’ll tell someone about the Pixies and won’t just go to Shadowhaunt on their own initiative.

- O!M!G! They actually told Faragonda! I can’t believe this! Finally doing something smart, I can’t! And of course she wasn’t going to just let them go. Though, did she really think they weren’t going to want to take the test?

- Shouldn’t Stella be weakened by the darkness of Shadowhaunt? I kinda wish she’d stayed at Alfea if that would’ve spared us from the arc that is coming. (Why?)

- Okay, but it was kind of rude of Layla to just overtake Riven’s hoverbike like that. I wouldn’t appreciate it if I had to give someone a ride and they shoved me out of the driver’s seat and occupied my car, thank you. I’m surprised Riven agreed to let her drive.

- I don’t really have much to say about this episode tbh.

- It was cute that Stella jumped off the cliff for Brandon but it was not the smartest course of action. It probably would’ve been easier for him to save himself if he was alone and they may not have ended up being brought to Amentia. God, I hate this. I don’t want to be bitching about this every other sentence so just know that I absolutely despise this arc from the very bottom of my heart and that will never change.

2x04:

- They have no powers and Darkar knows they’re there. Sounds like a great situation, doesn’t it?

- That amazing moment when you either have to marry a person you’ve just met or watch the one you love die and then be forced to get married anyway. You gotta love that! I hate this so much! (And this is different from my previous point. Or at least has a different angle.)

- Wow, Riven is absolutely handling being a boyfriend. Somebody get him a manual, the man is failing spectacularly.

- I am not quite a fan of Flora’s “Must be nice to have a shoulder to cry on”. Like, you have your friends???? No, I get that she wants a boyfriend, nothing wrong with that, but it came out like she has nobody. Which is absolutely not true.

- What a lucky save that Stella just arrived when they were about to become toast. Can anyone tell me why she didn’t just teleport them where the Pixies are? Or anywhere closer to them if she could do that all along?

- Am I distracted or is there nothing to talk about in these episodes? (Both. It is both.)

2x05:

- Seriously, why didn’t they at least mention the option to teleport using that gadget from the beginning?

- Aww, Brandon was trying to be noble and get out of the marriage but it backfired. Poor him.

- Why are the Pixies bickering like that? Is it Shadowhaunt’s influence or just the fact that they’d been imprisoned together for so long?

- Wait, did they just... kill a pixie? (Off screen of course, but still. Damn!)

- So Bloom and Stella did... interestingly with the boarding.

- Why is Stella afraid of heights? Also, that’s never been mentioned before. Especially not when she jumped off a fucking cliff! Wtf. They just keep throwing in new stuff without setting it up properly and I am getting annoyed.

- What happened to Tecna’s computer?

- Oh, look! Chatta lied to Darkar to protect Pixie Village.

- It’s the Trix! Finally some action! And they are harder to defeat now that they’re stronger! Nice!

- Damn! Layla was really determined to get the Pixies out of there. (Which wouldn’t have helped if Darkar hadn’t let her but she still gets points for trying.)

- Oh come on! Do I really have to deal with fake Avalon so early in the season?!?!?! Dammit! Also, wtf is up with Bloom and Stella? Like, you both have boyfriends. At least Layla’s not affected.

- “Stella returned a compliment. What is that about?” XDDD One of the funniest lines ever! And look at Amore! She is so cute!

2x06:

- But yeah, seriously, just go get Brandon, please! (Also, good that they noticed something’s fishy.)

- Aww, Stella is absolutely furious and determined to get her boyfriend back. She should’ve gone for a plan tbh since it could’ve helped them get to the palace faster.

- I love how Stella’s known Layla for a week (half of which Layla was unconscious) tops and is already making her her bridesmaid. Am I the only one who finds this weird? Like, this friendship train is moving way too fast for my trust issues.

- Poor Brandon. She’s going to stretch him, wtf? These episodes are a horror show.

- How bad can a guard worm be? Hm, gee, I don’t know, Layla. Enough to stop you perhaps since it is a “guard”, y’know.

- And Brandon is talking to a parrot now. I am losing it just like he is. How much longer will this torture go on? Please, tell me this arc is coming to an end.

- Okay, so the plotline with Amore’s magic is less problematic than I remember it. I thought she was going to make Amentia fall in love with the flower pollen but it only leads you to your soulmate. That isn’t problematic, actually. Nice!

- Wtf do you mean they’re going to eat Brandon if he’s not a good husband?!?!?! I am getting nightmares over here. Just feeling them forming in my head. Thanks.

- It must be horrible for Stella to be standing there and watching her boyfriend being forced to marry another woman. How are these people not psychologically scarred anyway?

- Aww, they’re back together! I love how Amore is just sitting in Stella’s lap! It’s cute.

2x07:

- I was not ready for the Kiko angst even though I knew it was coming.

- Faragonda really thought she could just dodge that question without them noticing, huh? Yeah, well, no.

- Oh, look! The Shadow Fire is sentient. This reminds me of LotR tbh but anyway, moving on. So Darkar is a man who is possessed by the Shadow Fire? I so did not remember that.

- Oh, no! Is it really time for Avalon already? Dammit! I was just getting thrilled there was no Darkar in these last two episodes and now I get Avalon. Uggggh.

- I get Bloom’s annoyance with this but why does she keep blasting it when that obviously doesn’t give results?!?!?! This reminds me of that quote by Einstein that madness is doing the same thing and expecting different results. “I feel tired.” You think? You’ve been out there blasting that thing for hours. Get inside and get warmed up, oh my god! Seriously, how are they even alive? They don’t take care of themselves at all.

- This might be my more advanced knowledge of what the future holds for them speaking but I absolutely do not get what is Avalon’s appeal.

- Oh, how convenient. He’s teaching magic connected to their origins. Amazing.

- “I don’t want to seem obsessive” *proceeds to spy on girlfriend* At least the show is framing it well.

2x08:

- Ugh, I really hate these Bloom and Avalon scenes. They just leave a bad taste in my mouth.

- Ugh, I’m gagging at Bloom’s obsession with Avalon. I get he promised to help her learn about her origins but she’s downright lovesick. I am so with Sky on this and I understand his frustration.

- Aww, Brandon immediately revealed his own nickname to help Stella calm down. That was so cute! I love them!

- I love how the fairies are always invited, of course, but the witches are only invited because they helped. I mean, yeah, they do cause trouble, but like, they’re witches? I think the show should have done a better job at specifying what exactly being a witch is because currently it’s like “hey, they’re evil but they can legally learn how to be evil in the legitimate school for witches!” How does that make any sense?

- Ewww, seriously? On the one front I have Bloom and Avalon and on the other Icy and Darkar. What is wrong with this season?

- Oh, hey! It’s Helia! Now only if we didn’t have to wait half a season for Flora to confess her feelings, that would be great! I love how she got mad at Stella for introducing herself to Helia. Don’t just glare there, Flora. Do something about it! (About Helia, I mean.)

- So Saladin is also a dramatic bitch. Good to know. XD But hey, the new Red Fountain looks so much better. Before I started the rewatch, I didn’t even remember the initial vision. I only remembered the one from season 2 onwards.

- Poor Timmy! But what was Tecna’s problem? Like, you dreamed of him. That’s cool. I mean, you like him. What’s the problem? I guess she’s just not used to emotions like that, though.

- “I think it was Darcy” Jeez, really? Why is the fact that she ran away not enough proof that it was Darcy? Why would she run away if she was just a random girl? But I guess it’s a good thing Musa recognized her voice because people can actually do that unlike what movies would have you believe.

- It’s Kerborg time. Nice!

- Oh, yeah, “let’s leave Bloom and Sky in charge here”. Now you trust her. Last time she was there he blamed everything on her but hey, whatever.

- I loved Sky being supportive of Brandon and then the team up with all the rest. And Riven showing a better side of himself. That was really awesome.

- Oh, I think Helia’s got his eye on a certain fairy too! ;)

- But seriously. Literally an entire army of Specialists can’t hold the monster down while Helia did it on his own. With his glove. Wtf?!?!?!?! Though really, why am I expecting anything to make sense at this point.

2x09:

- Okay, but as annoying as Darkar is, he at least knows how to steer the witches to do exactly what he wants.

- Really, Tecna, I think your facts are wrong. You aren’t completely grown up at 16, wtf.

- Who else is completely creeped out by Avalon? He really just gave all of his very female and very young students flowers. And he’s teaching them all individual things (which is just a cover so that his interest in Bloom doesn’t stand out, of course, but still). He knows they are all crushing on him and he’s exploiting that and doing his best to lead them on and reinforce those emotions. That is absolutely disgusting, thank you.

- Seriously, even Faragonda is falling victim to his “charm” (not)? I can’t with this episode anymore and it has just started. And here I thought Darkar would be the problem of this season. How was I so wrong????????

- Oh, he wants them to trust him as much as they trust themselves? How about they throw you off a cliff instead? Oh, wait, that won’t work because he has wings. Crush him with a boulder then? (This is getting very anti Avalon and I am so sorry for all the negativity but I don’t think I can stress enough how much this is upsetting and angering me.)

- Why do I feel like Avalon is the one who planted the book there so that Tecna could do all of that and embarrass herself so that she wouldn’t try it again and he could proceed with his real plans?

- Well, we finally got Bloom’s parents’ names and a very unclear peek at them. Though, props for having their designs figured out from the beginning, though I guess that is just thanks to the comics.

- Oh, hey! Palladium is back. (Why is no one crushing on him? He is so much better and more handsome than Avalon tbh.) Glow up time, bitches. XD

- Amaryl is being Amaryl, of course. But Palladium is having none of it anymore. And he saved Stella. Nice!

- The others trust Tecna, that’s great!

- (Honestly, Griffin is the only thing saving me from losing my mind in this episode tbh, Also the fact that she believes Tecna and that Tecna was suspicious enough to dig in the first place. At least someone hasn’t lost their common sense.)

- Oh, hey, how did Bloom get that medallion? Did she pull it out of the past? Pls, tell me that’s not what happened. It can legit mess the entire timeline.

- Wait, didn’t they start chasing him before midnight? Why is it suddenly morning? Wtf? You can’t tell me they chased him all night. Why is everything so wrong?

- Poor Wizgiz! Another invention is destroyed. I feel his pain.

- At least all parts of the episode came together nicely. The writing was actually good but I absolutely hate this episode, thanks! I still appreciate the effort with the script, though.

2x10:

- Seriously, why did Bloom instantly decide that Diaspro was involved in this? Ugh. Both she and Sky need to calm down with the jealousy.

- Omg, Griselda is so savage, I can’t! Her magic is so awesome. (Since when is Stella up for cooking? Or was it just because she wanted to see the cute guy that would teach them cooking? Ah, and she’s tired of take out.) I really loved how she used different methods to deal with the different powers of the fairies. Finally we’re getting all the magical lessons and it is absolutely glorious.

- (Btw, seeing Stella openly critique classes schedule makes it clear to me why she’s always been my favorite. That is such a me thing to do. I still can’t understand how teachers liked me since I was always arguing with them.)

- Of course. Sky wants to talk and Bloom immediately decided he wanted to break up with her. Why don’t you hear him out first maybe? (Sidenote: Stella and Brandon went on a date with unicorns? That is really cute!)

- Brandon is in his role of the wingman again. Considering he’s the only one having a steady girlfriend (and they’ve said “I love you” already), the rest should just listen to him.

- Mayhem globe? That’s really cool actually.

- Helia is here. Nice!

- Poor Stormy. She looked really hurt. I thought Darcy was the one with the illusions and riddles. Why did she get it wrong and why was Icy the one to solve it (through a detail that not only has never been shown but has been pretty much disproven by what we’ve seen)?

- Yeah. Tecna and Timmy were also knocked out, Bloom. Just in case you care about that.

- Kindness spell? And non-agression spell? That’s kinda cool actually. But problematic... again.

- I am not quite sure what Bloom did but I am actually glad to see they went with a hug there (and it was cute). But how many times are they going to become a boyfriend and a girlfriend? I thought we were over this.

2x11:

- Brandon is at it again. A true specialist... in dating tips. XD

- Wow, Flora. Nice Helia spell you got there. (Btw I am so loving that we get to see them in different classes and learning things! Yes, this is what I’m here for!) But Layla was so ready to help! And I also love that Flora went to Layla instead of anyone else. It’s really cute that they got so close so fast. (”He’s crazy if he doesn’t like you.” Perhaps Layla is the one who likes Flora. XD)

- Shoulda listened to Brandon, Timmy. (But Tecna so boldly went for the “us”. You go, girl!)

- Idk but to me “The Archaic Spells of Spheria” doesn’t sound any good tbh.

- Of course Stella is all about the romantic movies. But poor pixies. They had to imprison them to save them.

- Why did all of the boys know about the Codex in the previous ep but the girls have no clue about it? Why is Faragonda keeping it from them if everyone at Red Fountain knows about it?

- What was Faragonda doing? And why did she make Bloom look for the spell? Couldn’t she do that herself? (Also, she just threw the book like that on the floor. I get why it prompted her derision but damn, really?)

2x12:

- Flora and Helia are such romantic dorks. And they’re bringing their A game there. Poems and flowers... A beautiful romance blooms. (I’ll stop now.)

- This convergence talk is giving me all the friendship feels. Not just for Winx but also for Faragonda and Griffin since they have been spotted doing convergence too. Ugh, my heart!

- Wow, Riven sure has a lot of pictures of Musa, considering the way he’s acting.

- “Kind of involved”? Mhm, sure.

- So I understand Musa’s frustration with Stella’s meddling but on the other hand I can see Stella’s point. I love Musa x Riven but Riven doesn’t seem exactly present and Musa herself stated that she’s not really sure what the status of their relationship is so...

- Okay, but there is no way in hell that it is Darcy’s birthday. It is fall currently and Darcy’s birthday is May 5 according to Wiki. So yeah, no.

- I am getting a bit sidetracked again but can we talk about the fact that Bloom and Stella couldn’t do convergence after a simple disagreement even though they’re together like 24/7 while Griffin and Faragonda managed to do it seamlessly at the end of season 1 after not speaking to each other for years and kind of getting into a fight the last time they spoke at the Day of the Royals. Friendship goals (well, besides the silent treatment.)

- Okay but I think it wasn’t right to blame Stella. She didn’t say anything that was inherently offensive. She suggested that they try to get closer. That isn’t bad even if it upsets someone indirectly. There was no need to blame her. They should’ve just focused on making Layla feel better.

- Why do I feel like none of them really had friends before they found each other? But hey, they are this big found family now and that is awesome! (I am getting all the feels again.)

- And Darcy is messing up the magical reality chamber again. Didn’t we do that already? Also, why didn’t they try to... idk, take precautions and put better security on it considering how dangerous it can be? Like, those are simple things. Please, be responsible.

- Better not play Truth or Dare with Stella. Unless you wanna be kissing ogres. XD

- That was a good save Layla pulled off there. Also, I love how the girls are mad at the “technical” issues. Tbh they are right to. How many times are they gonna get stuck in the wrong world when sent into the magical reality chamber? Like, get your shit together teachers. Also, why don’t they simply do a test run before they get anyone inside it? You’d think they’d learn their lesson.

- Damn, they can be deleted if the program is turned off? Why didn’t Darcy just have Jarred unplug it then? Winx are erased forever. Boom, problem solved. For the Trix, I mean.

- Aww, the pixies were ready to go in. That was cute.

- I LOVED that convergence! It was such a cool idea to have them make a figure. Also, they just created life. Damn! I am impressed.

2x13:

- Poor Layla. She has all those nightmares. But at least Piff helps! That’s really cute.

- I see Flora still hasn’t solved the Helia problem yet.

- They just ditched school to go to a club. What chaotic dumbass energy, I can’t.

- Aww, Layla is sharing about her harsh childhood. At least she has friends she can talk to now. But damn the difference between Andros and Solaria is very striking in scenes like that.

- Layla totally nailed that improv. Nice, you go, girl!

- I love the difference between Griselda and Faragonda! XD

- I loved that convo between Bloom and Vanessa! Yes, thank you for that. I am a little confused as to when Bloom learned Daphne was her sister. Did I miss something or did the writers miss something? But aww, Vanessa can’t see Locket. That’s making me sad. :(

- They did go to the club, though, huh? Nice one, you guys.

- How will Faragonda learn if they use magic on humans but not otherwise? That doesn’t sound very logical to me. (Speaking of logic, where is Tecna? They didn’t show her in this ep.)

- Oh, no! Poor Layla. But damn, she’s powerful. And the others are there to help her. (The pixies can cause so much trouble considering how small they are.)

- I love how Faragonda and Griselda just showed up to get them. It was cute. Though, now they’re being punished. Well, technically, Bloom didn’t break any rules because she had permission to leave but I guess she’s also in this because she shouldn’t have taken the others with her. (Cheeky to welcome Faragonda and Griselda to Earth.) At least Faragonda managed to get them the permission for music back from Griselda. XD

- Aww, babies! They are so tired from cleaning the whole school, they fell asleep. And the pixies helped, too.

- I’m not sure how Flora got that Helia is “the one” from talking to him for half a minute, but damn, wanna share those powers with the rest of us so that we can know immediately when we’ve met the one as well? (It was so cute to see Flora lean on Layla to sleep with her. And Piff, too. If she weren’t just talking about Helia, they would’ve been like a picture perfect family.)

This got very long so I decided to split the post for this season in parts. Part 2.