User blog comment:RoyallyBella/Official Season 7 discussion blog/@comment-29197449-20160803053055/@comment-29197449-20160804233206

I actually couldn't picture Aisha and Roy being an official couple. Yeah, Aisha had the hots for Roy and Roy had a thing for Aisha but, to me at least, it never came off as being fully realized as an actual relationship. So I was confused for the most part as to why people kept telling Nex to back off from Aisha when, from what I got, she was still very much single. As you've said, they should have both been introduced in Season 6. Nex would've had the same blank slate as Roy instead of being seen as someone who was stealing Roy's love interest or even legitimate girlfriend. They honestly could've handled it better. I don't even think Roy contributed to anything important during Season 5. He was in some fights but he was never the deciding factor for a major fight or anything.

I guess I focused on Aisha because it was so obvious that they were going to hook her up with a new guy but, yeah, Roy just jumped the gun. Even at the time, when Nex was just flirting rather than flirting with a specific girl, Roy immediately got defensive like he and Aisha were official... when they weren't. It was almost kinda like he was scared that Nex would sweep Aisha off her feet and away from him. Again, if Roy had insecurities, he'd at least have character but even with Nex becoming a very obvious love rival to him, he just came off as that guy who called dibs and wanted Nex to find someone else. He just came off as being possessive over a girl that isn't even dating him yet.

Oh, okay, okay. I see what you mean now. I have a habit of looking at a character's... well, character before I factor in how they work in a relationship with another important one. He still comes off as the newest character closer to that of a Specialist but he's not as bad as Roy, who I like to call "Sky if Sky never had character." Y'know being the guy with a heart of gold and that's it but, even then, he's nothing like Sky. I know Winx Club loves hooking characters up but I feel like it's kind of lazy to make a character specifically to hook them up with a pre-existing character because then you try to make them as relatable to the pre-existing character as possible. Like when Musa and Orlando had that "thing" going on when the Winx had to sure for the quillcat. He was just a cute guy who played the lute. Or that really, really dumb crush Musa had on Jason Queen. He was a music producer who happened to be handsome. That was it. Those instances made Musa look like she'd just settle for a guy so long as he was related to music and, in the Jason Queen case, it was his job to further her career.

I can fully understand why someone couldn't like Riven from the start. Heck, at the very beginning, he's overly moody, belittles the girls, thinks of himself to be better than everyone, awkwardly flirts with Bloom while belittling her in the process, goes out of his way to fall for one of the season's big bad(unless you grew up with 4Kidz, then he was hypnotized, which saved his character just a bit), and he doesn't realize how much of an ass he's been until he's basically faced with him being an ass to himself. I'm going to be completely honest, I'm one of those people who enjoyed Riven in a more antagonistic role to Musa. Not because she could eventually become a plot device to change him around(I enjoyed the fact that he was able to do a turnaround for himself), but because he made a great personal antagonist for the series. It also made Musa look stronger and more competent when she would put her friends and the safety of everyone above her puppy dog crush on Riven. Him being a personal antagonist as they're dating is the worst thing you could do because it makes him look like an abusive partner and it makes Musa look like she's constantly being emotionally abused. With how headstrong Musa is as a girl, I was actually surprised when she didn't just dump Riven as soon as he kept up with that behavior. Like a fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me kind of thing. Except, with how long their relationship lasted, it was basically Riven fooling Musa time and time again to the point where you wonder why Musa never just left. She does break it off but she just comes running back to him, which makes her look weak in a way.

I did notice that some fans would only talk about Musa as sort of an accessory to Riven. Like if they were talking about Musa then they had to talk about Riven. Yeah, it's rather unsettling when a main character's love interest outshines the main character. People talk about Bloom, Stella and Flora almost equally or even more than they would Sky, Brandon and Helia. As for Tecna and Timmy, I know Timmy is the most unpopular Specialist and most usually can't talk about Timmy unless they were talking about Tecna beforehand (or they're talking about how they're the most adorkable thing on this show ever). I can understand fantasizing over an ass becoming someone with a heart of gold but the problem with Riven is that he has had PLENTY of chances to drop his being overly moody and just being an A+ jerk all the time and he hasn't tried to drop it. Even when something doesn't work out the way he wants, he lashes out at others. Like when Helia and Nabu tried to help him win Musa back or at least she that he's trying to not be a jerk, he lashes out at them when it doesn't work, rather than re-evaluating himself. While I felt that he didn't deserve to leave the way he did, I would've appreciated him doing a serious re-evaluation process because he seriously friggin' needed it. Or have him be sent off in a better way other than making him a jerk for about 80% of the season. They could've avoided that entire thing if they did something simpler like having Rumpelstiltskin steal Musa's voice earlier and have him think that he needs to do solo-training or just have him treat Musa with RESPECT rather than expecting her to take being his doormat. I will never get over his behavior in season 6.

And shoot. I did mean Nex when I was talking about him being something like a parallel to Aisha's old behavior. I don't know how Roy slipped out.

Honestly, that would've been just fine. The whole turning his body into flowers thing was a little ambiguous for a sendoff. I know they had her basically say that she will find happiness to respect his death wish but, just to hammer in the point since most people think she "didn't want to move on," they just could've tacked on the words "you'll always have a place in my heart" right after or something. I personally think that the comics did a nice job in adding certain things that could help tie the story more neatly (like having two girls run Love&Pet as the Winx return to Magix since we never see the fairy pets after Season 4). Heck, the comics do a better job making Riven a person who actually has a hard time openly emoting rather than just being a jerk and using his hardships as an excuse to be a jerk. Also, I feel like Season 5 was just a big missed opportunity to flesh out Aisha, considering that it had more of a focus on her. Instead it came off as a rather fanservice-y season with the focus constantly going back to Bloom because they couldn't let us forget that she's the leader of the Winx.

It'd help greatly if there were clearer time-frames between episodes. In Daphne and Thoren's case, I was honestly under the impression that they had only been dating for a month and a half max. before Daphne shared the news that Thoren proposed to her. I guess you're right about royals often marrying their cousins but considering how most of the realms in Magix act sort of like old kingdoms with a modern twist on them (literally with Zenith), I thought they would try to avoid that. But, oh well, it's not that big of a deal. Traditions do die hard after all, like habits.

If they are gonna hook Musa up I'm just hoping they do it right. Just have it progress naturally and hopefully to make him not seem like a replacement Riven. I know I've accused Nex of being a Riven replacement but, considering that this is Musa we're talking about and most of the fanbase wants Riven x Musa back, they could end up pulling that mistake. Either that or they'll just make some guy who has an interest in music be someone who she falls for. I'm still hoping they pull neither of these tricks because, with how much work they put into Nex (especially compared to Roy), I'm sure they'll make an interesting character to be Musa's love interest... or give into the fanbase and make Riven come back in Season 8.