Winx Reboot Episode 5 Notes

- “The Shopping Trip.” Could we not come up with a better title?

- I hate that Magix City is now Magixia. Was it really that confusing that the planet and city had the same name? And y’all really thought it sounded better by tacking on the “-ia” suffix?

- Why is Griselda informing them that their project was incomplete now? Wouldn’t the professor of whatever class this is have said that before they tried leaving for the city?

- And an incomplete project is really enough to impose this kind of probation? When the Winx were locked at Alfea in the original, it was usually because they actively broke a rule, or it was because Valtor was wreaking havoc. It wasn’t just, “Oh, you messed up a tiny thing, so therefore fuck you!”

- I love Robin just following around Griselda the last couple episodes like a lost puppy.

- Griselda seems to hate the Winx more than Griffin. At least in the original, it felt like it made more sense with how the girls would actually break the rules. Here, Griselda’s just been going off for no reason.

- I do like Tecna being nervous of going to the city cuz of… people? Weird explanation, but I’d like to dig more into that.

- Seriously, Vexius looks so out of place. Even more so than Damien.

- I hate the city’s design so much. Why is it pastel pink?! It looks like a worse version of the set from the ME! music video.

- Also, why does Magix City (I refuse to call it Magixia) get to be pink, but Alfea doesn’t?!

- Why is there a tree that looks like it’s made of cancerous broccoli… or balloons… or green lollypops?

- This song as we see the city is very bad.

- I miss OG Bloom being disappointed that Magix City wasn’t Diagon Alley. It made her feel more human, and emphasized how different the Magic Dimension is from how we conventionally view magic.

- I do like the Winx being visibly interested in different parts of the city.

- Sky, Brandon, and Riven… but no Timmy. Fuck Timmy, I guess.

- Riven seems much less toxic than the original… thank you, God.

- But that also begs the question of why include him? At least in the original, his toxicity made him a spy for the Trix in the first season. Here, if he’s just generally cool, why is he here? What narrative purpose is he serving? It seems like Damien just soaked up a lot of his original role.

- Is it me, or does Stormy’s skin tone change drastically depending on the scene? Something she’s giving light skinned, and other times she’s giving white. It’s way too drastic to be just the lighting.

- The cars look so out of goddamn place, holy shit.

- Damien has… a magical salamander? Where the fuck did you get this thing from?

- I did find it odd that Alfea’s reserve only seemed to have changelings. There were no other creatures present, and it looks way to small to house anything else. Yet Damien just… has this named pet salamander outta nowhere.

- “You’re a fire-eating salamander.” Thanks, Damien, I don’t think the salamander knew that about himself.

- Why does Damien feel more like a protagonist than Bloom?

- Why is Musa using a UFO-themed garbage lid as a drum?

- What the hell are these floating orbs with leaves?

- “Bloom! Guys!” Have to remind the audience that Bloom is the most important.

- Not Stormy being in a different pose from one shot to another…

- How does no one on the bridge see the Trix floating behind them? They’re not even trying to hide.

- Why does everyone on the bridge look frozen in shock like they see a monster. Aren’t they all supposed to be listening to Musa and this random man playing music?

- The icicles had no weight to their animation at all, oh my God.

- This one background lady with the hoodie looks like she has two black eyes.

- Monster Sally looks like bootleg Toothless.

- Okay, luring Bloom away was too easy.

- Why is this part of the city just… empty?

- Once again, fire appearing in one frame.

- Oh my God. They tried to make it look darker, but there’s clearly just a blue-tinted filter over the screen. It’s like when people film during the day, then tack on a blue filter in post to make it look like night. It’s so, so bad, dear God.

- Is Darcy the one doing this? Cuz all I saw her do was disguise herself.

- The monster made its way over to Bloom, in this quiet part of the city, but nobody followed it? Nobody went to investigate the big monster?

- What were the added icicles for while pinning Bloom? Usually those are to restrict movement, but… they’re just there.

- Love that Bloom freeing herself didn’t even look like she was melting the ice. It just… shrunk. It kinda looked like she and the wall behind her absorbed it, which ew.

- Wouldn’t it make more sense to have Bloom take a bit to melt the ice and free herself, and use that to build tension as the monster approached?

- And immediately, blue filter is gone in one shot. Seriously, what the hell was that?

- Y’ALL HAVEN’T EVEN TRANSFORMED YET???

- Not Bloom trying to strike a superhero pose while flying.

- I do like Aisha having an actual wave spell.

- The monster hit a building with its tail, but the building is visibly undamaged. The debris just spawns out of nowhere.

- Flora’s vines look so thin and weak, consistently.

- I love that our attacks aren’t having any visible effect on the environment. Except the one that the plot needed to freak out the monster.

- Why did the camera pan down to Sky’s shoes? Wouldn’t you normally move upwards to end the shot on their face?

- The animation of Damien tackling Riven looked so bad. It’s so floaty and has no weight, and it’s so stiff.

- Random shot of Redfountain, even though we haven’t been given an establishing shot of Redfountain before now.

- Okay, Bloom luring the monster with her fire is smart on her part.

- I cackled when the monster yeeted Damien thusly.

- Also, his scream was so bad. It’s giving that recent game with the terrible acting. What is it called… Lost Souls Aside, yes.

- Can’t wait for the headmistresses to be mad at the Winx again, even though they didn’t spawn this monster and were actively trying to stop it and save the city.

- And Bloom was attacked by the Trix - AGAIN. And Icy said she wanted to steal Bloom’s powers - AGAIN. WHY ARE THE TRIX GETTING AWAY WITH THIS???

- “How dare you try to save the day. Learn from Team RWBY’s example and do nothing!”

- Oh also, why no punishment for Damien when we know that was his salamander? I also assume we will never see Sally again.

- I just realized Sally is short for Salamander… jail.

- Faragonda sealing the Winx’s powers looked like a bad dance.

- I love that they’re acting like the girls are all super close when I don’t know a damn thing about any of them in this version.

- Damien just… randomly showing the Dragon Flame… I guess cuz he felt nice that the girls like him???