User blog comment:KillRoy231/Stella left out twice/@comment-25405775-20160720170147

Yay for another fellow Bloom fan! Lol we're such a rare species that I feel obligated to show love and support to every self-proclaimed Bloom fan out there. Gotta keep the love alive.

I do feel like the Monster Stella arc was necessary, it gave more depth to Stella's character (usually reduced to the fashion forward, boy crazy airhead with narcissistic tendencies) and further developed the Stella/Brandon relationship. Plus, it had some pretty heartwarming friendship moments between the Winx girls so I'm cool with it.

To be honest, now that you mention it, season 3 feels kind of odd. Like, Aisha disappeared for episodes at the beginning of the season. No, I'm not talking about her "save the mermaids" arc that got her an Enchantix, I seem to recall after that she kept disappearing for no reason. I felt like for a good chunk of season 3, the girls were rarely all seen together. I really didn't mind Stella getting benched, and I think the reason why it's her and not Tecna's holograms or Flora's illusions is because she's the comic relief fairy. They probably thought it would be more entertaining if Stella got an entire subplot where her comedic skills are put to good use (by comically making excuses to avoid Griselda's suspicion). That's what I think at least.