“La Prova di Nex”: An Analogy For The Winx Fandom
Have I written about this before? ?
…Oh, well.
Anyway, WinxClubComics has translated comic #131: “La Prova di Nex” (Nex’s Test). If you haven’t read it yet, don’t worry. I’m not gonna spoil too much.
This comic is tailor-made for Aisha and Nex. For starters, if she were dating either of her other love interests, the story wouldn’t make sense. Why? Because it’s a meet-the-parents plot, but her parents knew Nabu and Roy before she did!
Nex is truly Aisha’s guy. He’s the only one she brought into the family herself. But I’ve talked about that already.
Today’s post is about another reason this story is perfect for Aisha and Nex: it echoes how the Winx fandom reacted to them (and to Nex). It’s almost like Rainbow predicted it.
(Note: I’ll use my own translation of the comic for this post, but I might change a word or two for clarity’s sake.)
“Not Right For Aisha”
The story opens with Aisha, Nex, and the Winx having dinner with her parents: King Teredor and Queen Niobe. Nex tries to impress them with a midair cake-slicing trick, but it ends with a cake on their heads and egg on his face. Teredor is furious. After he orders the Paladin to sit down, he tells his wife, “That young man is nothing but a show-off. He’s not right for our Aisha.”
Not right for Aisha? Nex is just a show-off? Hmmmm…where have I heard that before? Or rather, where have I not heard that before?
Teredor is like most of the Winx fandom. Nex made a bad first impression on them, so they wrote him off right away as the wrong guy for Aisha. Now, everything he says and does is filtered through the horn effect: emphasize the negative, ignore the positive. (More about that here and here.)
But Bloom and Stella defend Aisha and Nex. They tell the king that the couple is “fantastic” and “made for each other”. Niobe agrees. “They seem so happy together!”
Aisha chimes in, too, when Teredor questions if her boyfriend can protect her. “Nex is not my bodyguard! We…we love each other!”
Bloom, Stella, and Niobe are like Aisha/Nex fans. We support the couple because we see how they’re compatible with each other, how well they work together, how they can help each other become their best selves, etc. As for me, they’re my favorite Winx Club couple. I love their relationship and the symbolism weaved into it.
Regaining Trust
Teredor decides to test Nex. If he can slay the last Melusina in Andros, the king will acknowledge him as “a warrior worthy of Aisha.” Aisha tries to convince him not to go, but Nex has made up his mind. He wants to prove himself — not for his own vanity, but because he wants to earn her father’s trust.
Have you noticed that’s a theme with Nex? He always has to overcome someone’s negative opinion of him. It makes me wonder…is Rainbow doing this on purpose?
Think about it. His name means “death”, right? Death scares us. We hate it. Our natural instinct is to avoid it. That’s how most characters, including Aisha, have reacted to Nex at first.
Maybe that’s why he’s so bad at first impressions. Rainbow writes him that way because no one would react positively to death right away. Nex always has to make himself look bad at first, then later the other characters find out he’s not as bad as they thought.
In other words, they can’t accept death right away. They have to make peace with it — or in this case, him. Nex wants to prove that Aisha is safe with him, and he loves her with all his heart. I’ll let you read the comic to find out what happens.
Wait…Aisha is “life”, right? How could Life be safe with Death? I’ll talk about that another day.
Final Thoughts
If the Winx fandom is Teredor, will they give Nex another chance, too? What will it take for him to earn their trust? I don’t know. Part of me think it’s too late.
It would be better if Rainbow gave Aisha and Nex their own story that has nothing to do with Winx Club. They need a better setting for the writers to explore and expand on the concepts in their relationship. Maybe a different audience will fall in love with this couple.
But while they’re stuck in this show, Rainbow could at least try to boost their popularity and repair Nex’s reputation. I hope that by the end of season eight, the fandom will have warmed up to these two.
Rainbow needs another spin-off, this time focusing on romance (and the fight against evil, naturally). World of Winx would have been perfect for that, but they only released 13 episodes per season -not enough- and there was little romance between the main 6, save for some hints/shipping innuendos (with Jim X Bloom being the strongest, and Vincenzo X Flora coming in second). I would not mind a new show, a new setting and every character getting the spotlight once in a while to ensure that every Winx fan is content. But Rainbow probably isn’t interested in that idea and producing a series on your own is gonna cost some bucks. So what’s left? Fanfics aren’t enough, too cheap and overall just “meh”. Books….well, you need lots of customers to make them a hit. Buying the rights from Rainbow is too expensive. Creating a game focusing on Nex X Layla won’t be cheap either. Not many alternatives, are there?
You could draw a comic. But even then you’ll need the rights to the characters and have a big company stand behind you. I doubt Marvel or DC are interested in anything that’s not from them. Dark Horse might be an option…maybe IDW Publishing as well.
As for your question about Teredor/the Winx fandom: Nope. Teredor possesses wisdom, something our community clearly lacks. The fandom will only give Nex a chance when he dresses up as some dumb cat and dyes his hair blonde. Or when he cameos in that horrible French-Korean baby show, then he’ll be the most popular character in the Winx universe. Since both won’t happen, Nex will be hated until the end of time. You can’t change it. Try talking to a wall, it will have the same effect. Humans are too stubborn, stupid, thick-headed. They rather die than admit their mistakes. It’s part of human nature. The saddest thing is, I have to live among a species that’s more alien to me than any extraterrestrial being ever could be.
I hope Nex will be accepted. I also hope Winx Club will be accepted. I hope Winx will finally get the appreciation it deserves. The reality however is different: The Winx fandom will continue to hate Nex and FANDOM will hate everything Winx. Regal Academy will be hated, Spirit Riding Free will be hated, The Deep will be hated….every good show will be hated. You know why? Because humanity sucks. Humanity is the biggest mistake Mother Nature has ever done.
You’re right. There aren’t a lot of options. It’s up to Rainbow to realize Aisha and Nex’s worth, but I’m not hopeful. Maybe the Netflix show could redeem them, but as I’ve said before, I’m sure the fandom is hoping Nex won’t even exist in that version. So if Rainbow keeps him and Aisha together, the fandom will probably rage against them even more.
It does feel hopeless, but I’m not giving up on these two. The best ideas are always rejected at first. It takes time for people to warm up to them. I’ll find a way. This couple deserves better.
I’d offer Rainbow some ideas if they were easy to get in touch with. But they don’t even have Twitter to promote their own shows! How are we, the fans, supposed to talk to them or offer our services (I’m sure some fans would be happy to work for Rainbow or even move to Italy to be close to their main studio) when they aren’t even easily approachable online? I’m not sure they even got the message I sent them on their website about World of Winx and Regal Academy…
Yeah, it does feel hopeless. I want you to be successful with your mission, because if you are, every thought/idea/opinion will be respected and accepted in the Winx community. But that is hard to achieve, as you already know. Nex is still going to get hated on, while some stupid, 10 year old boy in a halloween costume from a baby show is getting millions of fanart. How is this just? How can the self-proclaimed “Winx fans” loathe a character from the show they claim to love, but at the same time have wet dreams about a blonde child from a show that hasn’t even achieved the same heights that Winx Club has (let alone have the same quality)?! You certainly remember my rants about fake Winxers from a while ago. Those people I just mentioned definitely are fake Winxers because no true fan would hate a character from their -proclaimed- favorite show with such a passion, while at the same time masturbating to an underage school boy named “Adrian”. But I digress…
I’d like to help you with making Nex X Layla finally loved, but I’m of no use any longer. I have officially given up on humanity as a whole. This has been building up for months and now I have reached a point where I just can’t fight anymore without risking a heart attack. I have become a misanthrope thanks to my own species.
I’m sorry you’ll have to go through this by yourself. I’m sorry that humans are so stupid to hate a character, just because he isn’t a goody two shoes, smiling babyface like Roy (no hate here but he is a bland character. Thanks for ruining a potential love interest, Rainbow. ? Great job! ).
i never saw the comic in this way before
I think this is just how Nex acts. When you first meet him, he seems cocky and arrogant (because he is) and you want nothing to do with him. But when you hang around him more, you realize that his heart is in the right place – he’s just really overconfident and doesn’t know when to stop sometimes. But Aisha and the others are beginning to teach him how to reign it in.
If you take the symbolism away, then yeah. I just like looking at it from a writing perspective, too — trying to get into Rainbow’s heads. There are two ways to analyze a character: as a person (based on their behavior and dialogue) and as a creation (based on the writers’ intentions). A lot of people pick one side or the other (usually the “as a person” side), but that’s not enough. After all, characters have no control over themselves in the end. They’re forced to say what they say and do what they do. To fully understand why, we have to figure out what the writers are thinking and/or planning.
But I agree with you. That’s the “as a person” side of Nex. But looking at him as a creation, I just wonder what Rainbow intended.