Rude Winx Fans: “Overthinking” and Myths About Shipping

I need to get my feelings out. This will be unpleasant. Sorry, but I’ve held back for too long.

Meaningless Efforts

According to that Aisha/Roy fan on YouTube, Aisha and Nex have no meaning, and my analysis of Winx Club characters’ actions, clothing, etc. is just overthinking. But hey, I’m an excellent writer! ?

Writing is just communication. It shouldn’t stand out; it should be invisible so the reader sees nothing but the message. Saying I write well yet dismissing what I say as meaningless is like telling an orator, “Your speech was bull crap, but you’re so eloquent! I could listen to you talk all day!”

Also, when did character and scene analysis become meaningless? Did they stop teaching that in schools? That’s where I learned it. What do you think book reports are?

I shouldn’t be surprised. Another Winx fan on Instagram (maybe the same person) told me they don’t like to think when they watch a show “or else it becomes a study”. Guess what? Good shows do become studies — literally. Colleges build courses around them. Winx Club may not be top-tier television, but even a decent show can teach you something.

Let’s be honest, though. We know why that Aisha/Roy fan thinks Aisha and Nex have no meaning: they don’t like this couple!

Scratch that. They hate Nex. Oh, they kept insisting they’re not a hater, but methinks they doth protest too much. Their comment was full of the same old accusations, labels, and inaccuracies:

• He’s an arrogant “bad boy”.
• He and Aisha suddenly became a couple when he helped save the Pixies.
• He pursued her as a challenge, not because he genuinely liked her. (Nex haters always assume the worst about him.)
• He had the same story as Riven.

By the way, Aisha and Nex’s love story has turned into a game of telephone. I ran into a Winx fan on DeviantArt who thought the couple met in season seven. Another fan thought Aisha already knew Nex before season six, but Rainbow didn’t explain how they met. But “she didn’t like him until he helped save the Pixies” is the most common distortion.

It doesn’t matter how many people believe this stuff. Popularity doesn’t make opinions (or inaccuracies) facts; it just spreads them faster, especially if they’re negative. Studies show people share content that makes them angry more than they share content that makes them happy. So when people are mad, they’re more likely to see articles, videos, etc. that reinforce their outrage.

The Internet: built to tick you off. That’s why I try not to form opinions solely based on my feelings. More on that in a moment.

Anyway, the fan can’t let go of their hatred and consider what they admitted was a well-constructed counterargument to their comment. Must be hard being that bitter against a guy who’s not even real.

Roy is gone. The Winx season six love triangle ended two seasons ago. What do you gain by rejecting the outcome, especially if you know Nex loves Aisha? There’s a fine line between holding an opinion and being stubborn.

I never liked Roy, but when Winx season six began, I was willing to give him a chance, anyway. Of course, I’m glad Aisha chose Nex because he’s a better character. He has potential beyond being a love interest.

Who cares about personality or likability? Characters grow out of their flaws and become more likable. He’s already changed, but the Winx fandom is too addicted to hating him to care.

I didn’t like him, either, at first, but I grew to like him. You can do it, too, if you’re open to it. If you’re not, don’t blame him. He’s trying.

Don’t Feel, Think

You know what else I’m sick of? Being told not to think. Judge things only by how they make you feel, even though feelings are fickle.

The Internet encourages black-and-white thinking while pretending to accept the gray. “All opinions are welcome,” they say. A noble thought, but reality doesn’t work that way. It’s more like — to tweak a line from Animal Farm — all opinions are welcome, but some are more welcome than others.

“Everyone has their own opinion”? No, they don’t. Most people just have feelings and knee-jerk reactions they call “opinions” (even though they’re not), and they never question if they make sense. Some people just adopt others’ opinions and forget who they originally came from. When these people meet someone with a well-thought-out opinion, they accuse them of “overthinking”.

Well, here’s what I think: there’s no such thing as overthinking. You can’t over-analyze something — you can only come to a conclusion that makes no sense. That doesn’t mean you over-thought it. It means you approached it from the wrong angle.

One more thing. Whether something is good or bad has nothing to do with how you feel about it. Facts outweigh feelings, which is why I don’t base my opinions on likes, dislikes, or reactions. They’re too unstable to build a solid case on.

Instead, I think. I’m a thinker. Sorry, not sorry.

Ship Whoever You Want…Unless We Don’t Like Them

When I defend Aisha/Nex or criticize Aisha/Nabu or Aisha/Roy, an obnoxious fan will sometimes say, “People can ship whoever they want. It’s no big deal.” Sorry, but that’s not how things work in the Winx fandom — or any fandom.

Do you love Stella/Brandon? Tecna/Timmy? Flora/Helia?

Has anyone ever given you grief about it? Probably not. If they have, it’s maybe one or two people over the past 17 years.

Those couples have stayed together since they met. People ship with the partners with other characters — Flora/Palladium, Flora/Riven, or Flora/Brandon, for example — but the canon pairings are the fandom-approved couples. People usually let their fans enjoy them in peace. For example, you don’t see many (if any) anti-Flora/Helia comments on posts about them, even though not everyone likes them.

What about couples who haven’t been together all series? This is where “ship whoever you want” falls apart. The message in practice is, “Ship whoever you want — except Aisha and Nex. And you must ship Aisha/Nabu and Musa/Riven. If you don’t, or if you prefer another pairing (especially Aisha/Nex), you’re not a true Winx fan.”

I’m not the only one who’s noticed this. Last November, the Winx fan @bloomixaisha on Instagram published a post telling their followers, “Stop telling me Nabu is Aisha’s boyfriend every time I post her and Nex.” (Yeah, I saw the part about Roy. Look! An Aisha/Roy fan who came to accept Aisha and Nex! It is doable!)

Most fans responded that they’re sick of it, too, which tells you this happens a lot. They want to give Aisha and Nex a chance, but it’s hard when they have to scroll through comments like this on Aisha/Nex content all over the Internet:

• ”I prefer Nabu.”
• ”Nabu!”
• ”No! Nabu only!”
• ”Ewwww!”
• ?????????
• ”Nex can die! She should have picked Roy! Or Nabu should wake up already!”

Another Aisha/Nex fan on YouTube said they think Nabu is overrated — not because they never liked him, but because the Winx fandom is obsessed with him. “I got sick of opinions like ‘Nabu forever, others suck, blah-blah’. It’s so annoying to me.”

One of the worst examples from my experience was when someone spammed my Aisha/Nex Instagram page (now Koohihime’s) with comments about how she only accepts Aisha/Nabu or Aisha/Roy, and Aisha/Nex are terrible because Nex is terrible. I don’t remember everything she said because she fired out 100+ comments at once.

The problem isn’t that some fans prefer Aisha/Nabu. It’s that they think the entire Winx fandom — “true Winx fans”, that is” — agrees with them. For example, “literally no one” likes Nex (actual YouTube comment), and no one likes Aisha/Nex. So these fans feel like they can bash this couple all they want because everyone else hates them, too, right?

Wait — you do like Aisha and Nex?! You’re “a shame to the fandom”! We need to set you straight!

Case in point: this comment on @bloomixaisha‘s post:

Sorry, buddy. God didn’t answer your prayer.

Are Aisha/Nex fans the only ones who deal with this? No. Several years ago, a Darcy/Riven fan on Winx Amino talked about how Musa/Riven fans treat them and their fellow shippers like crap. I felt the fan’s pain…until they wrote a series of posts about the Specialists but left out Nex because they’re “a proud supporter of Nabu and Aisha”. That’s why I wrote my “About Nex” series.

Bottom line: this utopia where all Winx pairings are welcome is a myth. It only exists if you support the approved Winx couples.

No Place For Your Taste

Also, save the “like what you like and ignore the fandom” bull crap. Let me ask you a question: why do people join fandoms? Answer: to hang out with people who like what we like!

We don’t know each other, so our shared opinions are all we have to connect us. They become substitutes for actual relationships.

So telling someone to “ignore the fandom” is saying, “Enjoy everything else with the group, but keep this one interest to yourself, okay?” What if that interest is the thing you love the most? Why be a part of a community that hates it?

Stop telling me and other fans of unapproved couples it’s okay to like what we like. Come back when everyone bashes your faves and calls you a disgrace for loving them. Then you’ll understand.

Are You Not Entertained?

The most patronizing fans hurl insults like “I have a life outside the Internet” or ask why I “waste my time” on a fictional couple. Guess what? Aisha and Nex aren’t the only thing I care about. I’m a software developer by day, and I’m finally starting a business, which is something I’ve longed to do for ages.

But what’s wrong with spending my free time writing about the things I love? When I was growing up — before Twitter and Facebook ruined society — that’s what the Internet was for.

Also, don’t tell me I’m wasting my time while we’re all talking about a kids’ show about fairies. Watching TV is binging on mind candy when we could be doing something productive. Fandoms make it worse because they keep you buried in it even when the show isn’t on.

But if something makes you happy, inspires you, and gets you through the toughest days of your life, is it really a waste of time? We need joy as much as we need food and water. To quote Stan Lee:

I used to be embarrassed because I was just a comic book writer while other people were building bridges or going on to medical careers. And then I began to realize: Entertainment is one of the most important things in people’s lives. Without it, they might go off the deep end.

“Excelsior! 100 Stan Lee Quotes About Courage, Optimism and Success”

I haven’t wasted a second on Aisha and Nex. You may think I have if you hate them, but if you loved them like I do, you’d gladly “waste” your time on them with me.

There. I’m done venting. I don’t enjoy doing it, but sometimes you need to.

I’d rather use my marvelous writing skills to tell better stories about Aisha and Nex, on this blog and my new one. If I haven’t ticked you off yet, stay tuned for updates.