Issue 150: Magical Sparkles

Magical Sparkles is the one-hundred and fiftieth issue of the Winx Club Comic Series.

Plot
On Solaria, the Winx watch children play with light balls - a national sport in Solaria, according to Stella. She also says that while magic is the basic principle of the sport, it is not entirely genuine magic. She then takes Bloom over to a shop where she tries out the light magic and makes a ball with a dragon inside it. While admiring the beauty of her creation, the dragon inside begins to entangle her, making the Winx laugh. That ball then explodes, much to Bloom’s confusion. A girl comes up to the Winx and explains this phenomenon saying that the magic lights always end in explosions. Stella recognizes this girl as Astrid and runs up to her and hugs her, asking how long it has been since they have seen each other.

Stella introduces her to the Winx as one of the four finalists of the launch of the magic lights competition. Aisha congratulates Astrid and Musa says that Stella has told her that the championship is unusually hard. Astrid confirms this but says that the championship is highly honorable to the citizens of Solaria and is much like the Olympic Games for them. A flashback to Astrid and Stella’s first encounter occurs. Astrid’s talent was showcased when she was very young and in daycare with Stella. In daycare, Atar is introduced as the greatest magic light champion of all time. Young Astrid tells young Stella that this is her grandfather.

Atar then launches a light with the silhouette of a horse into the sky and Astrid adds wings to the horse, much to the delight and amazement of the children, including Stellla. In Solaria, Astrid boasts about her grandfathers status and exudes proudness saying that he won the championship last year. Atar comes up and says he is going to win again this year. Astrid is delighted to see him, but Atar tells Astrid not to call him “grandfather”, as participants in the championship can not be friends; there are only ”winners” and “losers”. Bloom calls his actions into question, but Astrid says that the championship is important for both of them. The Winx encourage Astrid to win the championship. Radius then declares the finals for the magic lights competition open and introduces the four finalists, including Astrid, her grandfather, Raja, and Mudra.

Raja kicks off the competition by manifesting an elephant light ball. To combat this, Astrid manifests a mouse, and Tecna concludes this to make sense as elephants are scared of mice. Stella says that to win the competition, equal reactions are essential. Bloom remarks about the beauty of the light. Atar and Mudra team up and attack Astrid’s mouse with a cat, much to the dismay of Astrid. Astrid then creates a seahorse and consumes the cat with lightning. Now, only Astrid and Atar are left in the competion.

Astrid tells her grandfather that she hopes the strongest competitor will win, but Atar says the crowd cheering for him makes the victory clear. Telling Astrid not to call him “grandfather”, Atar manifests the mythical bird Alicanto, much to Stella’s amazement. She says it is the most beautiful bird in all of the Magic Dimension. Astrid makes a net for the bird but it breaks through, and Bloom becomes concerned as it seems she is unable to stop it. Stella says that Alicanto is fed by sunlight and Astrid’s power will not be able to stop it as it is of a different nature. The Alicanto strikes Astrid and begins to wreak havoc on the audience. Bloom is able to manifest a shield to save a bystander and her child.

Stella helps Astrid up and asks what happened, as Astrid told her that magic lights are completely harmless. Astrid says that they are only harmless when they are projections of images, but the Alicanto is alive. Astrid tells Atar to stop the bird, but he cannot as he used forbidden magic and it has gotten beyond his control. Bloom says there in only one way to fix the situation. The Winx transform into Butterflix fairies and converge against the Alicanto. This proves ineffective as the bird strikes Musa, Tecna, and Aisha. Stella says that if the Winx keep blasting the bird it will becme much stronger than they.

Bloom says that Stella knows the subject better and asks what to do. Stella says that to stop it they must change tactics and she suggests creating a friend for her. Stella asks Astrid if she remembers the fun they had in daycare, and Astrid asks what she has planned. Stella tells her to remember the time she beat her grandfather by creating another horse. Stella tells her to create another Alicanto, and Astrid accepts. Bloom is hesitant about this plan, but Stella reassures her that these birds love to play. Astrid creates another Alicanto and the two birds begin to fly together.

The crowd is amazed and the birds fly into the night. The crowd cheers for Astrid and Radius awards her with the competiton’s trophy. Stella cheers for Solaria’s new champion. Astrid asks Atar if he is angry since he wanted to win. He says that he wanted to win so much so that he exposed Solaria to a danger, but he says that he is proud of her. He asks for Astrid’s forgiveness. She says she will forgive him under the condition that he no longer asks to not be called "grandfather". Everyone laughs.

Spells Used
None.

Debuts

 * Astrid (I150)
 * Atar
 * Raja
 * Mudra
 * Alicanto

Characters

 * Winx Club
 * Bloom
 * Stella
 * Flora
 * Aisha
 * Tecna
 * Musa
 * Royalty
 * Radius
 * Wizards
 * Atar
 * Animals
 * Alicanto
 * Astrid
 * Raja
 * Mudra

Trivia

 * This issue included the Winx Magic Travel playset.