Winx has been my favorite cartoon for years—I practically grew up on seasons one and two on Netflix, as well as the Nick dub. So, the moment I saw The Secret of the Lost Kingdom, I was completely hooked.
When I heard about the Winx reboot, I had high hopes. It seemed like they were starting from ground zero in terms of the story, but a lot of other things changed: the animation style, some of the characters, and even aspects of the lore itself.
the Lore
To catch you up to speed: Bloom, a girl from Earth, accidentally discovers she’s a fairy. With help from fellow fairy, Stella, Bloom gets accepted into Alfea, the college for fairies, where she meets four other girls who together become the Winx Club. Along the way, they get boyfriends and fight evil witches who want to take over the dimension!
However, Bloom is no ordinary fairy. She is the keeper of the dragon flame—the most powerful energy in the universe—and the princess of a kingdom that was destroyed by the ancestors of her arch-nemeses, the Trix. Bloom eventually faces the ancestral witches, the evil that destroyed her family, becomes a real princess, and the Winx become legends throughout the magic dimension.
No cloudtower
One of the notable changes in the reboot is that both Griffin and Faragonda are co-headmistresses of Alfea, and Cloudtower is a pile of ruins. In the original series, Cloudtower was the school for witches, run by Griffin, and Alfea was the school for fairies, run by Faragonda. In the reboot, Cloudtower is stated to have fallen during the battle of good and evil, and the witches have been taking classes with the fairies at Alfea ever since.
This has changed the dynamics of the Winx’s relationship with the Trix completely because now they’re classmates! The absence of Cloudtower takes away much of the original tension and animosity between the fairies and the witches, and I kind of miss that from the original show.
who is vexius?
The Trix are the Winx’s original antagonists, and the original show has never failed to showcase that. While watching the reboot’s first episodes, I assumed that dynamic would continue, especially since there was no promo for a new villain. After all, if the reboot was going back to the beginning— when the Trix’s goal was simply to steal the dragon flame and take over the magic dimension—there seemed to be no reason to introduce a new villain. However, a few episodes in, the series introduces a brand-new villain named Vexius, who appears to have power over shadows and darkness.
Little is known about him so far, except that he advised King Oritel and Queen Marion on Domino before everything fell apart, but the whole time, he has been after the dragon flame and will do anything to get it, including enlisting the Trix and his son Damien to his cause. I’m sure he will continue to wreak havoc through the rest of the season, but there still isn’t much to be known about him, his connections, or how he managed to raise Damien.
Damien
Damien is a brand-new character, a warlock with power over fire, who cares for the animals at Alfea, specifically the changelings. As Vexius’s son, he is often set up to work with the Trix to steal Bloom’s dragon flame.
At the end of Episode 13, it is revealed that he also has the power of the dragon flame, and he is, in fact, Bloom’s twin brother. This is a shocking development on two fronts: Bloom’s only sibling thus far has ever been Daphne, and it changes the lore that only one person can carry the dragon flame at a time. He also appears to be replacing Helia as Flora’s love interest.
the soundtrack
Winx Club’s soundtrack is perhaps one of its most iconic features besides the transformation sequences.
Songs like “Heart of Stone,” “Only A Girl,” “You Made Me A Woman,” and “You’re the One” are only a few of the anthems that defined my childhood. The instrumentals used in many of the scenes during the first three seasons are so recognizable to me as well that I am quite surprised you can’t find them on streaming, but oh well.
For the reboot, Virginia Bocelli, daughter of famed musician Andrea Bocelli, recorded the transformation song “Forever Winx” and a few others. The vocalist who has done almost all of the Winx soundtracks since 2004, Elissa Rosselli, returned as well.
the plot
Winx Club is notorious for its plot holes. What happened to the giant ogre who chased the Winx around in season one? Did Daphne die saving Bloom’s life from the ancestral witches, or did they curse Sirenix because of her and Politea, as the season five lore states?
So far, the reboot seems to be doing a better job than the original series by keeping the story consistent and letting each episode flow naturally into the next—something the original struggled with after its first few seasons.
diaspro
In both series, Diaspro is a stuck-up princess and fairy, serving as the girl that Sky’s parents want him to be with instead of Bloom. However, she looks horrendous in the reboot. Reboot Diaspro comes across as a brat and is relegated to a minor side-character (at least for now), but original Diaspro was a force to be reckoned with. The first time she meets Bloom, Bloom mistakes her for one of the Trix who has put Sky under a spell, and the two have a crazy battle near Red Fountain, almost destroying it.
The trix
The Trix in the original series were a force to be reckoned with, and they only got more powerful and evil as the seasons raged on. Icy is clearly the leader and the most lethal of her sisters. She’s probably the most power-hungry villain the franchise has ever offered.
The Trix were always meant to be the Winx’s main antagonists, and no matter how many villains they face, it always comes back to Winx versus Trix, or more specifically, Bloom versus Icy. The first time Bloom and Icy meet in the reboot, Icy somehow realizes that Bloom is her nemesis, and I like to think that the choice subtly nods to the relationship that Bloom and Icy have in the original show.
where’s helia?
One of the most notable missing characters so far is Helia, Flora’s main love interest and a specialist. Granted, he doesn’t make an appearance until Season Two of the original show, but a lot of fans, me included, see his absence in the form of Damien.
Aisha & Tecna
Two of the main characters that underwent the most change as a whole were Aisha and Tecna for the reboot. In the original series, Aisha doesn’t even join the Winx Club until the second season, during the conflicts with Lord Darkar and the pixies. In the reboot, she’s a full member from the start, still struggling with balancing her royal responsibilities and her own desires.
Tecna has changed a lot too, though not necessarily for the better. At times I couldn’t tell if she was an actual human or a robot. The people of Zenith, her home planet, are not accustomed to dealing with emotions, instead preferring to focus on logical things and outcomes. In the original show, she eventually becomes more emotionally aware (the girl literally earns her Enchantix by essentially dying to save an entire planet), but for now it feels like she’s lacking something. And it’s not just these two characters. The Winx overall feel different and more hollow compared to their counterparts from the original show.
robin and the specialists
The Specialists of Red Fountain were traditionally men in the original series, but Fate changed that by introducing the fact that women could become specialists as well.
Another new character, Robin, serves as the lead specialist who works at Alfea (think of her like the chief of police) to help Faragonda and Griffin stay in control of the school and train fairies.
I am honestly so down with this change because it brings women into the face of the specialists domain, which was something stereotyped pretty much for boys during the show’s original run. This gives the women who may not have any magic ability a place to go in the magic universe, something that wasn’t there before.
musa x riven
Musa and Riven’s relationship in the original show was the most toxic out of all the Winx’s relationships. It took Musa a long time to even come to terms with the fact that she liked him, but beyond that, he was also a double agent for the Trix, sort of dating Darcy, and constantly hyper-focused on being better than Sky.
Not much has changed except for the fact that reboot Riven is more open about the fact that he likes Musa (so far) and ironically, Darcy is head over heels for him. I personally thought this change was funny, and it only furthers my theory that the Trix as a whole have been watered down.
What’s next
The second half of the first season of the reboot is expected to drop early next year, so keep an eye out for it! What else is going to change? At this point, we can only guess. In the meantime if you are interested in watching the original series, you can find all seasons and movies on YouTube for free!