Well hello there! Yes I know it’s been a while, and yes, I know it’s another Winx Club video.
But the people love these, I enjoy making these, and people have been asking for these
anyhow. But that all said, I do have a little announcement I wanted to mention in this video!
If you’ve been with me for a while, then you know that I chronically suffer from being a writer,
and I’ve been working on a book for a long while now,
which I’ve been shamelessly teasing for a while now. Welp,
she’s done and she’s gonna be releasing this fall! I’ll be dropping a new video August 25 all about
the writing and self-publishing process, in which I’ll also be revealing my book cover,
giving story details, and revealing the release date along with preorder information. So jot that
date down somewhere and be sure to check back in then for all the latest updates!
Oh I'm so excited, oh my god! Anyhow, back to the content!
Today we’re gonna be ranking the seasons of Winx Club from worst to best. And since y’all already
know what I consider to be the worst season, let’s just get this party started, shall we?
How fitting that I’m recording this while I have a headache. And I’m about to talk about
the season that gives me the most headaches. And no one was surprised. I mean, there’s a
whole video breaking down in detail why season 6 is the absolute worst, but I’ll summarize. The
premiere - or rather, what I’m counting as the actual beginning of Selina and the Legendarium’s
story - does a poor job setting the rest of the season up and establishing conflict, the finale
is likewise lackluster and anticlimactic, and everything in the middle is either a mind-numbing
macguffins quest, or pure, unadulterated filler. This season relies mostly on vapid macguffins that
mean nothing to what little story there is, the connection between Bloom and Selina rings hollow,
and all the nostalgia bait is painfully shallow. What could’ve been an interesting new story
to celebrate the franchise’s 10th anniversary wound up being the season most of the older
fans can’t stand, and honestly, the younger fans deserve something better than… whatever this is.
On top of this, it also features both the worst transformation of the series,
along with the most disappointing one. Mythix is underwhelming on every front:
poor, bland designs (save for the wings), hideous sequences, lackluster spells, and overall a waste
of time. Bloomix, meanwhile, could’ve been the next Enchantix; the next transformation
to become a fan favorite. Instead, gorgeous designs were accompanied by a mediocre song,
generic spells, and… goddamn backflips. Not to mention the divine power of the Dragon Flame
can apparently be defeated by a bird, so… great. “I’m losing to a bird!”
So overall… yeah, 6 was the worst. But we all know that already, so moving on..
Season 7 was originally meant to be co-produced with Nickelodeon, but due to budgetary reasons,
this was abandoned. And thank god, cuz it meant losing that hideous CGI from seasons 5 and 6,
which would’ve been used for the mini-worlds otherwise. And honestly,
the mini-world aesthetics, and some of the other ideas present here, kept this from
overtaking season 6 as the worst season. This is probably the most kiddified season
of the show, at least in terms of story and writing. Season 7 is built around the theme
of protecting animals and the environment, which is great, but unfortunately that didn’t
also come with a solid story that actually explored those themes in an engaging way.
Most of this season is spent with the Winx just wandering around looking for something to do,
usually misadventures to do with fairy animals gone cray cray from wild magic.
And most of the time, it had nothing to do with the villains Kalshara and Brafilius,
who were incredibly underwhelming, lacking in presence, and in Brafilius’ case,
more irritating than all of Twitter. Actually no. Twitter is still the worst. Close, though.
Season 7 is only barely saved by the cool designs of the fairy animals,
their endearing dynamics with the Winx, and ideas like the mini-worlds. Even the finale,
while kinda insane especially with that whack-ass Infinity Swan, was still relatively captivating,
especially compared to other finales. So… 7’s biggest crime is being a bore. It’s not
actively terrible like 6, but the negatives far outweigh the positives unfortunately.
Season 8 seems to be the most controversial season among Winx fans,
largely because it serves as a soft reboot to confirm the show being rebranded for a
younger audience than even the first few seasons. For what it’s worth, the story is surprisingly
solid, even with the Prime Star macguffin hunt in the second half
with the Trix returning for the umpteenth time. And even the Trix themselves wind
up being the stars of the show-- oh god, is that a pun? “GODDAMMIT BARB!”
With Icy getting a weirdly decent backstory. That all said, this season also has plenty of
problems, from more Musa and Riven drama, Diaspro being made a petty, annoying villain yet again,
along with whitewashing, and stolen character designs. Good lord, Rainbow, good lord.
So for that nonsense, season 8 is… um… not good. Still, the story is solid enough to where it is
above season 7. So congratulations, season 8, you’re barely a step above Infinity Swan.
Season 5 marked a new era for Winx Club, where Rainbow partnered with Nickelodeon to
co-produce the show and properly introduce it to English-speaking regions. Now, I’ve talked before
at length why this effort failed, but in all honesty, season 5 actually isn’t all that bad.
Especially compared to seasons 6 through 8, season 5 is frighteningly refreshing.
This season’s biggest crime is how formulaic and boring it can be, especially in the second half
with the recurring plot of Tritannus stealing the seals of the Infinite Ocean’s Pillars. Tritannus
can also be rather irritating, his forced romance with Icy is a bit of a mixed bag (at times I find
it endearing, and others I’m left wondering why it exists), and let’s be real, Harmonix is so
much better than Sirenix, there’s no arguing it. Not to mention Roxy’s absence, the weird Sky
amnesia plot followed by more Diaspro shenanigans, and Bloom stealing the spotlight for the finale
when it should’ve been Aisha’s moment… wow a lot more negatives than I thought I’d be mentioning.
But that all aside (and there’s a lot to cast aside), season 5 has plenty of positive
elements to balance that out. For one thing, as odd as the flash animation and CGI can be,
most of the designs tend to make up for it, especially the diverse oceans of the Magical
Universe we see in the first half. Likewise, Harmonix and Sirenix both have plenty of strengths
that, while they don’t match up to Enchantix, they both still bring enough to the table
to have become fan favorite transformations. So, season 5 is… fine. It’s nothing special, but
it’s still a pleasant watch that has just enough going for it to where I don’t mind revisiting it
from time to time. May we all remember this as the last truly decent Winx Club season.
Season 4 tried to do what most animated series avoid like the plague: letting its characters
grow up. Following the Winx graduating from Alfea in the first movie, season 4 follows the
girls beginning a mission to bring magic back to Earth, find, protect, and mentor its last fairy,
and discover that adulting… is hard. That all said, season 4 is probably the
weakest of the original 4, stumbling as it tries to tackle themes and storylines it’s
not really equipped to handle in depth. The first half is bagged down by petty
romantic squabbles and miscommunications which we should be past at this point, especially when
it comes to Musa and Riven’s toxic relationship. On top of that, all the issues the Winx deal with,
including finding a place to live, opening a small business, and figuring out what they
wanna do with their lives… well, everything seems to go super well for them. Too well, honestly.
Insert “All Too Well” joke here. *“All Too Well” by Taylor Swift”*
I understand this wasn’t the main plot of the season, but so many young adults
struggle navigating life early on, not only because we weren’t prepared for
the capitalist hellscape we live in, but also because of so many external factors
out of our control that we often get blamed for. But the Winx’s business only has 5 minutes of real
struggle before it takes off and becomes wildly successful, with no real consequences afterwards
from the pressure to scale the business. Wait hold up, this is an adoption place,
right? So if pets don’t cost anything to adopt, how do they make their income? Is it donations?
Did they set up their business legally? Does it have a tax ID? These are the questions I ask.
Along with that, the Winx don’t seem to question why they’re all still together. Normally at this
stage people start drifting apart as they pursue their own goals, which is perfectly normal.
But from the very start of season 4, the Winx are almost cemented together no question.
They’re offered teaching positions at Alfea in the most fan-fic-y way possible, and they never
seem to wonder what else they could be doing while they’re dedicated to their mission in Gardenia. We
get kinda close with Musa pursuing a music career, but it’s never explored in any meaningful way.
The villains are also bland. I’ve talked about this in my villains video before,
so I won’t harp on it again, but the reason it especially bothers me is because villains are
a great way to challenge your characters and put a light on their problems. If the fairy hunters,
or even the Fairies of Vengeance, focused on the Winx’s struggles as young adults, season 4
could’ve been taken to a whole other level. Not to mention the issue of Nabu’s death.
Mentioned it before, but a lot of people read Nabu as Indian-coded,
he’s the only dark-skinned man in the cast, and he and Aisha are both the only characters with
dark enough skin to be read as black, and the only dark-skinned couple. So to have Nabu wind up dying
only a season after his introduction, all for hollow shock value because he and Aisha are happy?
It’s just gross. It didn’t need to happen? You want a death that means
something? Kill Sky, kill him right now. So, season 4 is rife with problems,
but I also still consider it my favorite for what it could’ve been.
The season that started at all. Season 1 is rather simple: local ginger discovers she has magic,
goes to magic school, commits breaking and entering several times and even assaults a
woman while facing no consequences, and learning the truth of her origins and her own power. We’ve
seen it plenty of times (maybe not the assault part, but ya know), but Winx has enough unique
elements of its own to help it stand apart from its contemporaries and help it get off the ground.
Certain things haven’t aged as well, such as some of the stiff animation,
and… the entirety of the “Miss Magix” episode, holy shit, that episode was a mistake. But season
1 also has plenty of positives that makes it a charming, relaxing watch. Not to mention, goddamn
this season has the best fights, and they’re surprisingly brutal? Especially in the final
8 episodes with the all-out war the Trix begin. Unfortunately along with those issues mentioned
earlier, the other Winx don’t really get much time to shine, especially Musa and Tecna.
Thankfully they have enough to work with to make them endearing, and they
definitely do get more attention in season 2, but season 1 mostly is focused on Bloom, which…
honestly, this is the only place in the whole series where it makes sense, so it’s fine I guess.
This is the most underrated season of Winx Club,
easily. It’s incredibly character-driven, giving all the characters a moment in the spotlight;
not only characters from season 1 you wanted to see more of, but a whole cast of new characters.
And somehow, season 2 balances them all perfectly. First of all, Aisha is a queen. Oh my god,
she quickly became one of my all-time favorite characters, and now I think my second-favorite
Winx, right behind Musa. Aisha’s loneliness and struggle for connection makes her incredibly
relatable, and her dynamics with the other Winx - the rocky ones included - make it impossible
to imagine the group without her. Legit watching season 1, it feels wrong not having Aisha present.
Not to mention episodes focused not on the big dumb plot with Lord Darkar, but also some filler
episodes that we all remember fondly. Who could forget the Hallowinx episode with the terrifying
four sisters from hell, or the episode all about Musa’s turbulent relationship with her father
over her mother’s death? I wish we got more of these stories in recent seasons, because it’s
things like these that brought the show to the higher level we all recount as the golden era.
As underrated as season 2 is, season 3 is still the best season overall. Look,
I don’t make the rules. Season 3 hits the ground running, testing the Winx as Valtor wreaks havoc
across the Magical Universe, and throwing almost all of their lives into chaos, not just Bloom,
but also Stella, Aisha, and Tecna. And even Flora and Musa get some serious moments, which is
guaranteed by something we’ll discuss in a bit. I’ve talked before about Valtor in my villains
video (again, link in cards and description), but he really does serve as a great excuse for life
to throw everything at the girls. We leave the safety of Alfea to explore the diverse
worlds of the Magical Universe as they’re put into danger, and even Alfea is at risk
with Valtor on the rise. It’s the highest the stakes have ever been through the entire series
(minus the Army of Darkness plot), and it’s perfect for the Winx’s coming of age story.
Not to mention, it features the best transformation from the whole franchise:
Enchantix. Not only does it have incredible spells, a bomb-ass song, and beautiful sequences,
but the way the girls earn it truly tests them as people. They have to prove they’re
worthy of this great power, and the glo-up confirms them transitioning into adulthood
as guardians of their worlds. Plus they found a way to make Bloom’s incomplete
to keep her from getting everything she wants. So… yeah. There you have it; the seasons of Winx
Club from worst to best. And unsurprisingly, the earlier seasons dominated the least. What a shock.
And just a reminder before y’all go, that video all about my book drops on August 25,
so be sure to check back for it! Oh my god, oh my god! It’s so close!
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I'm the Unicorn of War, and… god this franchise is a shit show.