4 Ways Nex Has Made History in Winx Club

A couple months ago, an anonymous reader said this in a comment:

There is a question that has been brewing in my mind: apart from all the characters who were introduced in Season 8, is there any character other than Nex who appears in Season 8 but was introduced after Season 3? So far, I can’t think of any….If there actually is no such character other than Nex, I think it is a very unique honor for him.

That inspired this post. Nex may have debuted in Winx season six, ten years into the series, but he’s already made history.

1. Nex was the first of the Winx’s boyfriends to have a comic named after him.

You’d think someone like Sky or Riven would have claimed this honor years ago, especially since the Specialists used to appear in every comic. Nope! Nex beat them to it in comic #131: ”La Prova di Nex” (Nex’s Test).

Note: I’m talking about the Italian titles. I know some comics have different titles in other countries. Case in point: “La Prova di Nex” is called “Der Liebesbeweis” (The Proof of Love) in Germany. It fits since in the story, Nex wants to prove his love for Aisha to her parents.

Maybe somewhere in the world, he wasn’t the first boyfriend with his name on a comic. But since the comics are released in Italy first, I’m counting the Italian titles as the ”real” ones. It’s like how the show is called Winx Club, but the Chinese title translates to “Magical Pretty Women”. Winx Club is still the definitive name.

All that to say, Nex was the first (and so far, the only) Winx boyfriend to have his name in an official comic title. Hard to believe, isn’t it? We’re 200 issues in (as of November 2020), and only one of them mentions a main guy by name.

2. He was the first of Aisha’s love interests to physically appear in three seasons.

I brought this up in the post “Which Winx Has Had The Most Love Interests?” Spoiler alert: it’s not Aisha. It’s Musa — and that’s even if you count the comics. Read the post to see her list of lovers.

Why do most fans think Aisha has had the most love interests? Because unlike most of Musa’s, hers were all main characters who spent at least one season each with her. They also all debuted within four seasons: Nabu in season three, Roy in season five, and Nex in season six.

But of course, Nabu and Roy appeared in only two seasons each. (Nabu was in Aisha’s vision in “The Shimmering Shells” — Winx season 5, episode 8 — but it wasn’t really him.) In Winx season eight, Nex became the first of Aisha’s love interests to remain in the show for three seasons. And if the rumor of Winx season nine is true, he’ll make it four in a row.

Just the facts. If you don’t like it, please don’t take it out on Nex. He didn’t write Aisha’s story — he’s just in it.

3. He was the first of the Winx’s boyfriends to change classes: Paladin to Specialist.

Rainbow lumped Nabu in with the Specialists in Winx season four, but he was still a wizard. He never wore a Specialist uniform, he never attended Redfountain, and he fought with a staff, not a sword. As for Roy, he was already a Specialist before he joined Sky’s squad, so he changed uniforms but not classes.

But Nex did both. He started out as Paladin and became a Specialist in season eight. Why not? If witches can become fairies (and vice versa), why couldn’t a Paladin become a Specialist? At least Nex didn’t have to change his alignment!

We know the marketing reason for this change — after all, red had his name on it — but what about the in-universe reason? My headcanon is that Nex really likes the Specialists (though he’d never say it out loud), and he wanted to spend more time with them. So becoming a Specialist just made sense.

4. He’s the only major character introduced after season 3 who appeared in season 8.

Roxy, Roy, Thoren, Selina. None of them appeared in Winx season eight. But Nex did.

As the anonymous reader put it:

Winx Season 8 is supposed to be a soft reboot and seems like [Rainbow] sort of wanted to overwrite the continuity established after Season 3. The presence of Nex indicates that, although he appeared later, he is still a very important character and is here to stay.

That’s right. If Rainbow had planned to get rid of him, season eight would have been the best time to do it. Instead, they gave him the last color to complete the Specialists’ Super Sentai theme, and they doubled down on his relationship with Aisha. He’s permanent now.

Now if only the Winx fandom could learn to accept him. I don’t know how much longer it’ll take, but he’ll be here.