Winx Club S8 E1

Much like Ninjago season 8 and season 11, from this point onward the show changes a lot and retools a lot of things. Unlike with *Ninjago* though, I think this just served to kill the show sooner instead of saving it. There's a new art style, and while I got used to the girls' new somewhat creepy porcelain doll look surprisingly quickly, that doesn't change the fact that Flora, Aisha, and other tan and dark skinned characters have had their skin lightened. What I don't think I ever got used to was the stick figure designs for the guys, or their new color coded specialist outfits, although that does make it easier for me to tell them apart, since I can't do that anymore through their voices. Unlike previous seasons, I actually paid attention to the production for this one, so I was actively spoiled on so many things: Riven and Valtor's return, which they didn't even bother to hide in the trailer, the Trix's return, etc. The old crew and even the creator himself stepped away from production for this season, either because they weren't called back or were working on other projects. In fact, Mr. Straffi actually said that the reason the show has progressively skewed younger in terms of its target audience is because "ten year olds don't watch cartoons". First of all, yes they do. Case in point: *Gravity Falls*, *Amphibia*, *The Owl House*, and so many more teen and adult animated shows on YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. That's incredibly ageist to your periphery demographic, and second of all, this season never even aired on television in some countries. It just showed up one day on Netflix. I also actually listened to the original Italian dub and songs, and I really liked it. The woman responsible for singing most of the prior songs, Elisa Rosselli, said she wasn't called in to work on this season though. Cosmix was… okay. Exploring space does seem like the next logical step, even though I think what happens this season opens up some plot holes and complaints of mine from past seasons, while also inadvertently addressing them at the same time. Does that make any sense? Anyways, onto the main show.

## Plot

I love the theme song and the end credits theme this season, even if the theme song also spoils things, like Valtor being alive, and the return of fan favorite transformations like Sirenix. *When you get in trouble Rise up from the rubble Call the Winx and light up the spark Now we've got the power of the stars We are the magical Winx Lighting up the shadows Shining like a rainbow We're the Winx, a flash in the dark Come with us, we'll save the universe We are the magical Winx When the darkness falls Answer to the call Join the magical Winx!* I feel like it's been forever since we've seen Alfea at night. The students are watching a star shower… except for Musa, who can't think of a new song for the concert the next night. This season was dubbed by 3Beep, which was founded by former employees of DuArt. They helped them dub the first season of World of Winx, and then they dubbed the second season on their own. Speaking of which, they replaced the VAs for Bloom, Musa, Flora, and Aisha. You can tell the crew was trying hard, arguably too hard, to make this season "relevant" and "for the kids". Phones now look like real world smart phones, the first thing Stella does is take a selfie, personal emoji animations to their boyfriends and vice versa are things, etc. It's officially called Emojix. I wish I was kidding. Everyone and everything looks different, even Kiko. Knut is back, and he and Kiko get involved in "comedy". Anyway, a star creature is being chased by monsters when it crash lands near Alfea. The Winx check it out, and Stella identifies the creature as a Lumen, a creature of pure light that only lives inside stars. That's another thing. Stella is the fairy of the sun, the moon, and the stars, so in theory, like what I think should've been done with Flora and Butterflix last season and Aisha and Harmonix and Sirenix in season 5, I think this transformation should've been extra personal to her and made her more powerful, or at least given her a chance for character development. Seriously, in at least the first half of season 5, I think that Aisha's arc should've been about grieving for Nabu, opening up and telling the others the truth about how she feels instead of always hiding it, and reestablishing balance and *harmony*, with herself, her new life without Nabu, her friends, her family, etc. I also think that everyone forgave her way too easily, but whatever. If they went through something similar, they'd probably feel the same way. We only have one new transformation this season, thank god. That's probably only because they also had to reanimate Butterflix, two different forms of Sirenix, and Enchantix in this new style as well. The monsters and their "master", Obscurum, watch as the Winx take the Lumen back to Alfea. The monsters are hard to take seriously because they're super cute. They're officially called Staryummies, and their larger form with all of them smushed together is called a Starchomp. I guess that might've been intentional foreshadowing for who/what they really are? In the Winx suite, the Lumen is still sleeping, and the girls tell Faragonda what happened. Stella says the Lumen is from Lumenia, the star that lights Solaria. Seriously? Now we're even pronouncing Solaria differently? Lumens never leave their star unless they have a serious problem. The Lumen wakes up the next morning. The Winx ask her who she is and why she's here, but she can't remember. The specialists arrive. So I guess Nex is a specialist now too? So, the color coded uniforms. Some of them work, like Sky wearing blue, Brandon wearing green, and Nex wearing red, and some of them don't, like putting my darling Helia in orange and Timmy in yellow. Ew, no. It definitely feels like Helia cut his hair again. I didn't bother to check if they changed the voice actors for the boys too, but honestly, they barely appeared in the previous season, so I probably wouldn't even notice, no matter how drastically different the voice was. Also, they have new laser weapons. I hate them. They look like toys. Tecna and Timmy build a memory reader to see the Lumen's memories. They see the monsters that were chasing her. She gets scared, and her powers fry the machine. Back at Red Fountain –also holy shit, we finally get to see it again– the guys, who just got back from the Omega dimension before the Winx called them, start fighting until someone shows up. Codatorta told him that he could come back. That feels like a decision Headmaster Saladin should make, but then again, Helia was able to rejoin the specialists in season 3 like it was no big deal. Brandon gives him a purple uniform. We don't see who it is, but it's clearly Riven. I miss Sam Riegel! That night, the Winx put on their concert. It's good to see Knut again, but oh god, Griselda's new voice. It was bad enough last season! They didn't even change the VA. I guess I just didn't hear it enough back then. I liked the Cinélume voice the best. It was strict, but not annoying and ear grating. Knut has been promoted from janitor to handyman. If they're including stuff from past seasons, which definitely seems to go against their own claim of reaching a new, younger target audience that hadn't even been born yet when the show first started airing in 2004, then they could've included a Pepe the duck cameo as well, right? The last time we saw him, he left Kiko to go to Lightrock monastery to be with Icy, who he imprinted on early into season 1. Thank you, Flora! Anyways, the Winx dedicate their first song to their new Lumen friend. They basically have a transformation sequence where they unfold their equipment, which builds itself. Um, okay. At least Alfea looks populated again. Unfortunately, everything is interrupted when a dark portal opens up and releases the monsters, although the sight restores the Lumen's memories. Stella points out that the tiny monsters don't look threatening, but then they form together into their large form, a Starchomp. They're like the Sulfur Fish from RWBY. Everyone else runs away like cowards, even Palladium and Wizgiz. Yeah, Faragonda tells everyone to take cover inside and then unleashes her incredibly missed magic by containing the Starchomp in a force field by herself, but most of the people had already run away by the time she said that. Palladium, Wizgiz, and Griselda get all the other students inside. The Winx transform into Butterflix. They still say their names. Since this transformation is so last season though, literally, at least it goes by quickly. Their Butterflix magic doesn't work on the monster, and it keeps getting away and dodging their attacks through portals, and splitting itself apart. They discover that Stella's light based powers are the only ones that hurt it. Bloom tells Stella to charge up the Lumen, then she'll do the same thing that she did earlier with the memory viewer. This breaks the monster up into individual Staryummies, who retreat through another portal. The Lumen tells the Winx, Griselda, and Faragonda that her name is Twinkly. She's the messenger of Lumenia. She was on a mission when the monsters attacked her. Queen Dorana asked her to deliver a call for help to the most powerful fairies in the magic dimension. The stars of the magic universe are in danger. The monsters are absorbing light from them. Someone sent them to stop Twinkly from getting to Alfea and warning them. She doesn't know who or what they are though, or why they want to steal starlight. The Winx vow to stop whoever it is. Bloom says they'll leave for Lumenia tomorrow to talk to Queen Dorana. I also love the visuals for the end credits theme. It's the Winx in their Cosmix forms with their names in their "handwriting". They look like they're formed out of stars like they're constellations, and it's absolutely **gorgeous**. *We're the Winx, beyond the stars together We're the Winx, our friendship is forever Join the magic Winx, and you will fly across the sky Your dream is coming true, it's now or never We're the Winx, beyond the stars together We are fairies, we are magical Wonderful, powerful We Are the Winx!*