Fate: The Winx Saga / YMMV

Adorkable:
- Terra's insecurity and social awkwardness lead to her doing a lot of dorky things that just serve to make her endearing.
- Musa actually manages this when Aisha forces her to talk with Sam, juggling both rage, embarrassment and teenage love all at once, while trying to look like she's not doing that.
"I hate you. I will always hate you. I hate your children. I hate your children’s children."
Applicability:
- Musa is introduced having to wear headphones to lessen the impact of the emotions she has to feel, making her Innocently Insensitive to Terra. This is familiar behavior to those on the autism spectrum, some of whom will wear headphones to help with sensory overload. Her powers also isolate her from people far more than the others', and not just because she's often cold and blunt to people; there's emphasis that she can never turn off her abilities, and Farrah's advice to her is to just learnt to manage the powers' effects.
- Farah's advice on Transformation Magic - that a fairy must embrace all their emotions, positive and negative, and feel them fully - is quite applicable to trauma counselling. Trauma can often lead to repression or unhealthy denials or certain emotions, which are extremely unhealthy coping mechanisms. It's only by learning to process all emotions healthily that one can heal from past trauma.
Catharsis Factor: Seeing Bloom, Terra, Aisha and Stella all transform together in the Season 2 finale, the latter three getting their wings for the first time is especially cathartic for those who missed the transformation sequences from the cartoons and it's accompanied by an empowering moment where they all take out Sebastian together; showing that The Power of Friendship is still present in this version too.
Cliché Storm: As these reviews point out, the series seems to be more interested in regurgitating plots and character tropes from other young adult works than trying to do something more unique or at least close to the cartoon to begin with. Namely the 'misunderstood' protagonist who finds out she has a Secret Legacy, attends a magic school hiding a Dark Secret where it's emphasized how super special and powerful she is, gets into a love triangle involving the popular ex-boyfriend of an Alpha Bitch rival, and so on and so forth.
Common Knowledge: Many defenders of Elisha Applebaum being cast as Musa have stated that she is half-Singaporean, making her half-Asian instead of white. However, as many other fans have pointed out, Applebaum's own database lists her ethnicity as white. The misinformation seems to have stemmed from her CV, which did list Singaporean as a "nationality", but that was later removed.
Critical Backlash: After the overwhelmingly negative reception of the first season, many other viewers (some of whom fans of the original) expressed appreciation for the series. Some point to things that Fate improved on the original, such as having the girls become Fire-Forged Friends rather than all getting along instantly. However, others have argued that the "friendship" between the girls is poorly developed and unbelievable.
Critical Dissonance: Despite (or perhaps because of) the negative reception, the show managed to top Netflix's charts for a good amount of time after its release. On Rotten Tomatoes, the critical score is 33% while the audience score is significantly higher at 79%.
Designated Hero: A common criticism towards Bloom. We are supposed to sympathize with her, but she often comes across as incredibly selfish and self-centered, not bothering to understand how or why her actions can hurt those around her. Her attitude towards the other girls in particular comes across as extremely rude and toxic, with many critics considering her refusal to help Aisha in her moment of need, even after the other girl had gone out of her way to help her with her powers numerous times in the previous episodes, an egregious example of this.
Dry Docking: On sites like Tumblr and AO3, the headmistress of Alfea, Farah Dowling, has a large group of fans (both male and female) who refuse to ship her with anyone mainly so that they write fanfics where she ends up with their Author Avatar instead. This is mainly due to Farah being played by the beautiful Eve Best.
Epileptic Trees:
- Some fans have theorized that the writers originally planned to cast Eliot Salt as Flora, but that they decided to cast her as a new original character after the backlash caused by the Race Lift of Musa. As evidence of this, it is often pointed out that there is virtually no difference between Flora and Terra, with the exception of their body types and skin-tones.
- Given the numerous theories in 2021 that Netflix was actively using 'outrage marketing' (such as with Masters of the Universe: Revelation) to invoke No Such Thing as Bad Publicity - it was discussed as a possibility that the Race Lift of Flora to Terra was deliberate to stir up controversy and result in publicity, so they could pull an Author's Saving Throw and cast a Latina as Flora for Season 2 (one of Terra's first lines is referencing Flora after all). Especially since, in the late 2010s, it would be extremely short sighted of any production to blatantly whitewash a beloved character and not expect backlash.
- A fan theory rose on Reddit that Aisha's cartoon backstory of being the princess of Andros could still be canon, based off a couple of hints; Queen Luna addresses her by name when she would have no reason to normally know random first years, Stella tells Bloom to ask Aisha "how big of a screw-up" losing her ring would be (if she were a princess too, Aisha would understand), Aisha seems to know more about Stella's magic than she should if they've only recently met, and in general her background is left vague beyond flooding her old school. This was disproven in Season 2, where her family are revealed to be merely very important through business, and that's why Luna knows her.
- Another theory is that since blood witches are confirmed to exist in this universe as the former residents of Aster Dell, Beatrix might have other helpers to complete the original Trix trio. And at the end of Season 2, Beatrix reveals to Stella that she has two long-lost sisters. A Freeze-Frame Bonus confirms their names are D’Arcy and Isobel, which would suggest Beatrix is this universe's version of Stormy and Isobel could be the full name of Icy.
- With the prequel confirming, that Technology is an element in the Otherworld. People are already speculating about the possibility of Tecna being introduced eventually.
Fan Nickname: W.I.T.C.H. Club or Fate: The W.I.T.C.H. Saga, by viewers who believe the series resembles more W.I.T.C.H. than Winx Club.
Fan-Preferred Couple: Musa is canonically in a relationship with Sam, but, while that has its fans, it is far more popular in the fandom to pair her with Riven, due to many feeling that she has better chemistry with Riven. The fact that in the original cartoon, Musa and Riven were an actual couple helps as well.
Franchise Original Sin:
- In reality, both Bloom being a Designated Hero and the story being afflicted by Romantic Plot Tumor are criticisms that were already directed against the original cartoon too, especially in its later seasons. However, as the cartoon's many episodes and seasons provided plenty of space to develop other plots, elements and characters, those mentioned defects came across as much more anodyne and passable; in Fate, being just a six-episode series, they inevitably take center stage.
- Fans of the cartoon were very annoyed that Tecna doesn't appear in the series, as well as the apparent Race Lift of Flora to be replaced with Terra. The first season of the cartoon didn't have all seven fairies either (in this case it was Aisha who was missing) - and that too received complaints about the lack of diversity - and Aisha being added to the cast in Season 2 was a response to that. Flora was considered Ambiguously Brown by fans as well, with Word of God having to confirm her as Latina (there were debates about whether she was a fair-skinned black girl or a tanned white girl). But obviously Musa was still clearly East Asian in the cartoon, and Stella in fact was modeled off Cameron Diaz - suggesting she was Latina too - whereas in the series Stella is clearly white and Musa only part Eurasian at best. Aisha being present earlier likewise doesn't alleviate the fact that she's very much a Satellite Character - when all the girls got plenty of development in the cartoon.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The series attracted a significant Irish viewership, due to being filmed there.
He's Just Hiding:
- Quite a few fans suspect Farah Dowling/Faragonda is still alive and simply faked her death. Considering how powerful she is both in the show and in the original cartoon, it is widely believed that she will somehow be back in the future seasons of the series. Season 2 confirms she is dead, but comes back as a spirit advisor to offer the girls some wisdom.
- Given the rather abrupt way that Beatrix is killed in a quick fight in the Season 2 finale, and a shot of a specter hovering over her grave, it's unlikely anyone's going to accept that it'll be the last we see of her.^note
He Really Can Act:
- Danny Griffin was thought of as a rather bland love interest, there to be Mr. Fanservice in Season 1. Come the next season where Sky has to kill his own father, and he collapses weeping in an almost painfully realistic way.
- Hannan van der Westhuysen shows that she can do more than just play the Alpha Bitch in the numerous scenes of Stella being tortured in Season 2, as well as her Inelegant Blubbering as she discovers Beatrix's corpse.
- Abigail Cowen likewise really brings it in the scenes where she has to say goodbye to Farah and Sky respectively. You can practically feel the heartbreak in her voice.
I Knew It!: Many predicted that Flora would make her first appearance in Season 2. They were right.
It's Short, So It Sucks!: Part of the criticism of the series is that it tries to adapt a twenty-six episode cartoon into a six-episode live-action series. Some of the complaints about Bloom's issues taking over the main plot, Aisha being Out of Focus, the Trix being condensed into one character, and less clear arcs for the others may have been alleviated with more episodes. Tellingly, Season 2 had seven episodes; allowing for more development.
Jerkass Woobie: At first glance Stella seems to be a narcissistic Alpha Bitch. But later episodes reveal that she’s actually a lot softer and very insecure due to the pressure her mother puts on her. There’s also the fact that a majority of the Alfea students think that she’s a psychotic bitch who blinded her best friend Ricky on purpose because she flirted with Sky. But the truth is that it was actually an accident and Stella’s mother forced her to say that she did it on purpose.
Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Especially on sites like AO3, Farah Dowling is shipped with almost every other character in the show, including her students. Her most popular ship is with Saul Silva, but she has also been shipped with Queen Luna, Ben Harvey, Rose Harvey, Rosalind, Andreas, and the entirity of the Winx Suite (most notably Bloom). That is not even getting into the OCs and Author Avatars she has been paired with.
Les Yay: Although it's Terra who comes out as gay, Stella and Beatrix in Season 2 share a lot of scenes that can make them come across as lovers rather than friends.
Memetic Mutation: You're either a Winx or a W.I.T.C.H^note
Moe: Flora is a perky ball of bubbly charm, who endearingly hugs all the other girls, gives Aisha a talk about the importance of love and is among the sweetest characters in a Darker and Edgier work.
Older Than They Think: Season 2 has to hang a lampshade that Flora and Terra are distant cousins to 'explain' why a darker skinned Latina and pale white girl are related. In the original cartoon itself, Flora's younger sister was pale-skinned and red-haired.
Overshadowed by Controversy: Upon the release of the first season, the series drew much ire for the casting of Elisha Applebaum as Musa and Eliot Salt as Terra, which fans of the original cartoon decried as racist. Applebaum's Musa is white despite Musa originally being Asian and Salt's Terra replaces the Latina character Flora^note. The racism allegations quickly became some of the most well-known topics regarding the series, being mentioned in most reviews and discussions. They were serious and noteworthy enough that the cast had to address them publicly.
Questionable Casting: Fans are displeased with the aforementioned Race Lift and have complained that the actresses playing the Winx Club appear too old to convincingly play teenagers, given that the actresses' ages - and those of their love interests - range from early (Abigail Cowen, 22) to late (Eliot Salt, 27) twenties. In fact the only main cast member under the age of 20 is Sadie Soverall who portrays Beatrix. Eliot Salt's casting was received a little better, despite the whitewashing, for adding some body diversity.
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
- When it was announced Terra would take the place of the fan-favorite Flora in the show, quite a few fans of the original cartoon quickly labeled her as a Replacement Scrappy. However, her reputation quickly improved after the start of the series thanks to her being the nicest and most likable character of the show and an Iron Woobie who can keep her positive attitude regardless of the circumstances. Quite a few fans are also grateful that by accepting Sam and Musa's relationship almost immediately, she avoided starting even more romantic drama on the show. Her coming out as gay in Season 2 was also well-received, especially in light of Flora joining the main cast.
- Stella's characterization in the first season was not warmly received by viewers at all, especially among fans of the cartoon, where she was a fan favorite. Here, the writers flanderized her from the sweet Lovable Alpha Bitch she was in the cartoon, to being a raging Jerkass who bullies whomever she pleases. However, in the second season she gets a lot of sympathy for putting her codependent relationship with Skye behind her and being fine with Bloom's relationship with him, supporting and helping the other members of the group continually while receiving little help or sympathy in return, being effectively tortured by her mother and Rosalind, and having an interesting arc in her Pseudo-Romantic Friendship with Beatrix.
Romantic Plot Tumor: Besides the widely-disliked Stella/Sky/Bloom Love Triangle, the series puts also a lot of focus on Musa's relationship with Sam, Terra's attraction to Dane and Dane's crush on Riven. As a result of this, the romantic drama ends up taking over a good chunk of the show's runtime. This sometimes comes at the expense of developing the girls' friendships with each other, which is certainly the case with Stella and Bloom.
The Scrappy: Bloom, thanks to her being a Designated Hero. Even viewers who aren't familiar with the original cartoon dislike her for acting like a Jerkass most of the time, being incredibly rude and mean-spirited towards the other girls, including Terra. The fact she has little personality outside the elements the writers took from other young adult works doesn't help. Not even her apology to Dowling was enough to redeem her to many, feeling that the fact that it came in the last episode wasn't enough to make up for her behavior throughout the season.
Special Effect Failure:
- Bloom gets her wings in an elaborately bad transformation sequence; the flames and wings are clearly CGI and the use of greenscreen is pretty obvious too.
- The zombies are quite obviously weightless CGI creatures and are poorly integrated with their environments.
Spiritual Adaptation: In line with the feel of many viewers and fans, this article from Polygon states that this show is actually much closer to W.I.T.C.H., another European fantasy franchise that used to keep a Fandom Rivalry with Winx, in terms of tone, visual style and character dynamics.
Squick: Aisha alludes to an incident where she flooded her school, including the toilets. She confirms that she had to wade through multiple people's excrement.
Stoic Woobie: Musa might seem aloof and a bit antisocial, but her revealing in the finale that she lost her mother just a year ago - and that due to her powers, she felt everything she felt as she died...she really needed that hug from Terra.
Strangled by the Red String:
- Musa almost immediately falls in love with Sam during their first meeting as a result of her powers not working on him. The fact Sam is mostly a Satellite Love Interest whose personality isn't particularly fleshed out by the series doesn't help.
- Dane is defined solely by his relationships to other characters, first through his budding romance with Terra, which seems purely based on physical attraction on Terra's part, then in his vaguely poly-amorous relationship with Riven and Beatrix. The latter is especially egregious, since Beatrix was responsible for his friendship with Terra ending and Riven does nothing but bully him the whole show.
Tainted by the Preview: The first trailer was met with a widespread negative reception. The most common complaints were the dark tone, dull visuals, uninspired costumes, Race Lift of two main characters, and absence of another main character.
Tear Dryer: Bloom has not been pardoned for her murder of Rosalind, and is to be punished by getting placed in stasis for twenty years; taken away without even getting to say goodbye to her friends. Sky gets locked up for trying to see her, Aisha has had her heart broken discovering Gray was a mole, and Flora and Terra couldn't find any evidence that Rosalind murdered Farah. The only glimmer of hope is this strange plant found in the graveyard. Then as Bloom is in stasis, a mysterious adult figure breaks the enchantment and literally dries her tears. It's Farah Back from the Dead after all.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Many fans of the animated Winx series were not happy about the changes made to this series, saying like Riverdale, it has just became another generic YA work that makes things dark without actually understanding either the original cartoon or how angst actually works, making it look like an ascended Dark Fic. This includes but not limited to:
- The Darker and Edgier tone, with the series having a TV-MA rating.
- The dull, desaturated outfits/color scheme, in contrast to the cartoon's bright and vibrant style, as well as the removal of the cartoon's futuristic elements, turning the setting from Magitek Post Cyber Punk to Low Fantasy grimdark.
- Musa and Terra (Flora's replacement) being played by white actresses when Musa is East Asian (inspired by Lucy Liu) and Flora is Latina (inspired by Jennifer Lopez) in the original series.
- The removal of Tecna, Brandon and Timmy from the main cast.
- Musa's Adaptational Superpower Change from being the Fairy of Music to a mind fairy.
- The fact that the fairies will not have wings and there will be no Transformation Sequences. This may have been to prevent spoilers.
- Stella being an Adaptational Jerkass instead of the Spoiled Sweet Lovable Alpha Bitch she was in the cartoon is a frequent complaint. Another is her romantic rivalry with Bloom over Sky, instead of her being Bloom's best friend and dating Brandon.
- The broken relationships between the protagonists and their parents, especially Bloom and Stella's, compared to the loving relationships they had in the original. For this reason some fans are upset that in the series Bloom wasn't simply adopted by Mike and Vanessa, but she is actually a changeling who replaced their dying baby daughter without their knowledge.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
- A lot of fans feel that Tecna would have made more sense as a "mind fairy," with Musa representing the missing "air fairy." And that since the plot frequently references Instagram and TikTok it would make sense for there to be a character whose powers are rooted in technology. Alternatively, Tecna could be introduced as an Air Fairy, thanks to its connection to electricity.
- On a similar note, Beatrix could have worked as a "mind fairy," since Darcy's main schtick was mind games and tricks. Or a "water fairy," as both an homage to Icy and to help contrast her against Bloom.
- Aisha was largely relegated to being the Token Black Friend of the group, lacking her own character arc in the first season. The fact that she struggled to control smaller amounts of water could have been used for interesting character development, but the concept was dropped almost immediately after it was introduced. Even the actual arc she had could have been explored differently - since she rather bluntly makes Bloom realize she's a changeling and sets her on this path to defy the rules and find out more, so they could have framed it as Aisha feeling guilty about her carelessness and trying to make it up to Bloom while feeling conflicted about following the rules.
- While Beatrix is often considered one of the best parts of the show, quite a few fans complained that by combining the Trix in her character the show missed the possibility to further explore the relationship between the three sisters, even if said relationship was already considered one of the best parts of the original cartoon. And Beatrix's fans wouldn't hate the idea of her getting two wicked sisters in the later seasons.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: While the series borrows some plot elements from the cartoon, it ultimately goes in a very different direction. Some have argued that the series could have modified the original plot of the cartoon to be more mature by simply emphasizing the darker themes that were already present, such as the prevalence of Arranged Marriages among royalty and Aisha's emotional trauma from her restrictive upbringing.
Uncertain Audience: This critic argues that the show doesn't really seem geared to appeal to people who watched the cartoons when they were younger, given the drastically different tone, worldbuilding, and aesthetics, but it also doesn't stand out much as its own thing. It also tries very hard to be Darker and Edgier with Body Horror, cursing and mature themes - but focuses on teen drama, all the makeouts are extremely tame and PG. Season 2 would show Skye and Bloom losing their virginity to each other, but still filmed in a very tame way.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
- Vanessa in flashbacks is presumably intended to be a sympathetic adoptive mother who has to put up with Bloom's teenage angst. However, in the main flashback, she seems to be extremely judgmental in shaming Bloom for having unconventional hobbies and not having friends. When Bloom is understandably offended and calls her a "basic bitch", Vanessa responds by taking away the door to her room, to which Bloom rightly points out is a violation of her privacy and agency. It's hard not to see getting third degree burns in Bloom's fire as Laser-Guided Karma.
- Likewise, Bloom should be written so that you as a viewer have to empathize with her and her issues with both her social anxiety and her family, not to mention when she discovers she is a changeling and wishes to find out more about her origins. The staging of the script, however, not only does not emphasize the empathy factor but even makes the character of Bloom assume strong negative connotations linked to selfishness, arrogance and egocentrism. Bloom, throughout the first season, behaves like a crazy and borderline splinter that breaks the rules several times, ignores her friends and their problems to focus solely on hers, challenges the authority of the principal Farah and the other professors with her insistence and, in the end, she even gets to free a homicidal maniac without thinking twice to get her damn answers (thereby endangering the whole school). Realizing at the end of the last episode of the many bullshit she has done and remedying herself by saving the whole school sadly wasn't enough to make many fans forgive her, especially when she continues to make the same errors in the next season (with, if anything, an increase to her level of self-absorption).
- The show tries to present Stella as a Jerkass Woobie whose toxic behavior stems from the huge amount of pressure put on her through her position of Princess of Solaria and her mother being extremely emotionally and physically abusive. However, these revelations come a good while after the audience sees Stella bully, belittle and berate the other girls and Bloom especially. Luckily, the second season improved this greatly.
What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: A live action show based on an animated series that aired on 4kids for a period of time and became a Nickelodeon property. It's gotta be for kids, or teens at most, right? Well, the series featuring of profanity, violence, blood, sex (though nothing explicit so far) and drug use say otherwise. It's also TV-MA.
WTH, Costuming Department?:
- Many fans think the costumes are boring, ugly, and more suited to adult women than teenage girls. This is especially glaring in the case of Stella, whose characterization as The Fashionista is considered an Informed Attribute by some. Musa's outfits in fact seem more fashionable than Stella's. Fans were also disappointed that the show didn't use the colorful Y2K aesthetic that the original series was known for, particularly since that style became trendy again around the time the show premiered.
- The way Bloom is often dressed head-to-toe in red, signifying that she's a fire fairy, is considered too on-the-nose to be taken seriously, bordering on Narm for some people. Ditto for water fairy Aisha almost always wearing blue and earth fairy Terra almost always wearing green. This is especially annoying because the original show didn't do this; Bloom's signature color was blue, Aisha's was green and turquoise, and Flora's (the character Terra's replacing) was pink. Season 2 would correct this, showing Bloom in blue a lot more often for example.
- The Specialists' uniforms are also rather dull looking. While their training gear does evoke the cartoon in some way, their battle gear is quite mundane. While the capes of the cartoon would be improbable in live action, there could have been more attempt to homage it in some way. Season 2 would redesign them.
- At the banquet, while all the girls are dressed up, Terra for some reason is just wearing flannel and a graphic t-shirt.
The Woobie: Boy does the series conspire to make Sky's life miserable sometimes. He grew up as an orphan, believing his father to be killed in battle, and his surrogate father doesn't like to talk about it. Then he ends up in a relationship with a possessive Alpha Bitch, whom he has to pretend to still be with for the sake of her reputation, and pretend that Stella blinded her roommate intentionally with her powers for flirting with him, when that was just an accident. Then he discovers that his father was murdered by his foster father...only for said father to turn up alive. Said father is cold and aloof to him and, before he has a chance to get to know him, is forced to kill him to save the foster father he was still feeling betrayed by. Then his girlfriend is sentenced to twenty years in stasis, he ends up kidnapped to be used as bait and, even when things turn out okay, the girlfriend has to cross into another dimension to close a portal that will destroy the world. And she was going to leave quietly in the night, only giving him a letter! He's hugged a few times in the series, but deserves many more.

YMMV / Fate: The Winx Saga

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