#i think other helia stans would like it. non helia stans would look at it and go what the fuck is your problem

[specialists-of-winxclub]

It is the first time that I see a stan account of the specialists.

What are your favorite canon couples? not canon? Who would you pair them with in a non-canonical way?

Sorry for the late response! I sincerely did not expect anyone to find this account for the next 5 months lol But yeah! I'm absolutely enamoured with the Special Boysᵀᴹ, so I decided to dedicate a whole blog to them~

To answer your questions:

Canon

It may change in the future (I'm due for a proper rewatch). But, currently, my favourite canon couples are Brella (Brandon x Stella) and Nasha (Nabu x Aisha). Brandon and Stella had some of the most iconic romantic moments, especially in the season 2-3 area. I also love their "It couple" vibe. And Aisha and Nabu were the best couple in season 4. Aisha has always had her sweet side, but Nabu brought out her inner romantic. He was the first to make her so happy and it sucks that the narrative snatched him from her like that.

Non-Canon

Non-Canon ships are where my brainrot really kicks in. I love rare pairs. I have quite a few among The Boysᵀᴹ, but my favourites are Skiven (Sky x Riven) and Naven (Nabu x Riven). They're both variations of the Opposites Attract and Enemies-to-Lovers tropes. However, there are distinctions in the way I headcanon their dynamic. I see Sky and Riven as the type to clash over their differences and similarities at first. But, with time to grow and mature alongside each other, they can become the ultimate power couple. On the other hand, Nabu and Riven have a "meet ugly" but get past it within minutes. They are very different in temperament, but they fit together like a puzzle piece.

Pairings

Finally, you asked who I'd pair them with in a non-canonical way. I've already given non-canon ships for Riven, Sky, and Nabu. So, I'll give for Brandon, Timmy, and Helia now.

For Brandon, I'll go with Sky (Skandon) since I adore their banter in canon. They give Childhood Best Friends and Prince and his loyal Knight vibes. However, I think some angst would look good on them! Like, Sky getting older and suddenly realizing that, at Red Fountain, he and Brandon always watch each other's backs. But on Eraklyon, Brandon is simply expected to sacrifice himself for the prince if need be. Sky reevaluating their whole relationship, from its very inception, even as Brandon tries to reassure him. Brandon not minding the role of Sky's Knight-in-Shining-Armour and seeing it as a noble duty — romantic even. But Sky is unpacking their entire childhood and realizing how insane the arrangement was. How Brandon getting swept up in his place was normalized to the point that neither questioned it for years. How their relationship was conceptualized and built on this lopsided foundation. Both struggle to reckon their personal relationship with their socio-political statuses — Sky unable to see the good and Brandon unable to see the bad (ironically). Wouldn't that be fun? 😊💕

For Helia, I'll pair him with Riven (Rivelia). Riven and Helia are the Red + Blue dynamic. Yet, they don't really clash. Helia joins the squad and the two become roommates (oh my god, they were roommates!). There's some awkwardness at first, but no genuine friction. When it's just them, Riven rarely has any stimulus to get him agitated. Occasionally, he'll enter like a whirlwind, and they do argue sometimes. But Riven's default is quite chill. Helia finds it funny to describe Riven as "quiet and an avid reader" when asked what he thinks of him. It always catches people off-guard but Helia knows it to be (at least partially) true. On the other hand, Riven finds Helia to be more chaotic than he lets on. Riven isn't particularly neat, but Helia's side of the room is always more cluttered than his. Helia keeps accidentally sipping his paint water instead of his tea. He has no sleep schedule, but weirdly never seems tired. He gets snappish when he can't focus or his art isn't going his way. He's sensitive to perceived failure. He can be avoidant and fickle. At first, a subconscious part of Riven thought Helia would be a "Mr Perfect". But he's come to realize that Helia's just "Some Guy" like the rest of them. All-in-all, Riven and Helia have a dynamic where they complement and balance each other out. Helia brings out Riven's serene side. Riven allows space for Helia's messy side.

For Timmy, I'm a little intrigued by the idea of him with Brandon (Branmy). They give me Popular Jock x Unpopular Nerd energy. I'm imagining that, regardless of who grows to like who first, there's some "wall" between them because of their differences. If Brandon falls first, the wall is his attitude. He tends to take the piss out of Timmy at all the wrong times and it gets on the ginger's nerves. Timmy also thinks Brandon's too concerned with physical beauty and not enough with personality. If Brandon confesses, Timmy either doesn't take him seriously or doesn't think his crush will last. On the other hand, if Timmy falls first, the wall would be acquiescence. Brandon is handsome and charismatic. Plenty of people want him, and some of them are bound to be his type. Timmy knows he's not Brandon's type from living with him and is unwilling to "become" it. He's comfortable with himself and knows there's no point in trying to build a relationship on a persona they both know is fake. If they ever get around to dating, it's either very short-lived or lasts forever. No in-between.

And that's my answer~ Thank you for my first ask, Anon! Sorry the response was so long. The last part of your question got me thinking and I just couldn't completely resist the ship brain.

[emsartwork]

Let's say, for episodic plot reasons, the heroes are separated in pairs in such a way that each Winx is stuck with a Specialist other than her boyfriend. Who do you put with who and what's the dynamic like? (This is not a shipping question, it's a "put two characters in a room and watch the shenanigans" question)

(im gonna stick with the og group with Nabu, sry nex and roy stans) I wrote the girls’ names first and then randomly added a boys name next so none of this was planned lol

Scenario: the specialist’s ship crash lands into the sea and the winx+boys are thrown/scattered/swim to safety on separate small islands. Each winx+specialist pair have to work together 1. survive, 2. get off the island and 3. signal for help. 

Bloom and Nabu: not the best dynamic lol, though Nabu and Bloom are both sensitive leaders, they disagree on how to actually handle EVERYTHING Nabu wants to stay where they are and get more info to devise a plan, he keeps waiting for Bloom to offer her own opinions but she doesn’t. Bloom wants to look for help/the others by exploring the island, and doesn’t understand why Nabu is just sitting on the beach sharpening sticks. Bloom eventually gets antsy enough that she just walks off with out saying anything and Nabu is like “wtf”. They do survive well enough(bloom can start a fire whenever she wants, nabu was raised on an island etc), but don’t manage to get off the island.

Stella and Timmy: after both of them panic for a hot minute (stella’s hair is ruined, and all of timmy’s tech is waterlogged) they try to get their shit together. Timmy salvages what he can from his tech, and Stella starts to immediately send up solar flares for help.  They survive ok-ish, neither of them are super good with the outdoors but they’re rescued first. 

Flora and Sky: Flora and Sky’s immediate focus is getting back to the group, but flora realizes they might need to prepare for being stranded for a little longer. Sky is pissed at that at first but Flora has him go scout the rest of the island and he calms down. Flora finds edible plants, and Sky helps her weave vines for nets. neither of them can think of a way to signal others beyond the obvious “HELP” written in rocks on the beach. Eventually they grab some food and water and set sail in a little plant boat(made by Flora, engineered by Sky), so all in all they’re surprisingly successful!

Aisha and Brandon: oof, could either go amazing or horrible. Aisha takes the lead, and Brandon is fine with that for the most part. but Aisha’s main goal is to get off the island, and Brandon isn’t sure that’s the best course of action because the others would probably be looking for them. Brandon builds a shelter and hunts a little, and Aisha takes a break from building her raft to locate fresh water for him, but then immediately goes back to her own thing. Ultimately it would depend on if they could stop being so damn independent for a little bit to create the ultimate house raft stocked with provisions and torches for signalling.(Brandon is a handy Carpenter and hunter, Aisha can use morphix for glue and control the water if need be, and both are generally easy going but if they get too stubborn nothing good with happen)    

Musa and Helia: yikes. ok so helia’s main mode is *silence* and musa does NOT do well with that, so that would piss her off. But Helia on the other hand would get be overwhelmed and would just get frustrated with her asking him questions and shut her down, which would trigger Musa’s anxiety and she would immediately become guilty and overly conscientious, which would just continue to irritate Helia and the cycle would continue until one of them blew up. they would MAYBE be able to get some kind of signal going using Musa’s air currents to carry sound and or Helia’s weird little origami messages, but it’s not likely. (musa and Helia don’t hate each other, they just have really bad stress responses that don’t mesh well)

Tecna and Riven: Riven would be super pissed(read; scared and worried), but Tecna, as long as she’s not injured physically which can send her into shock, is non-reactive and Riven’s anger dies down pretty quickly. after that Tecna goes into scannin’ an’ plannin’ mode, which normally she does internally, but she recognizes they NEED to work together so she vocalizes her thoughts for Riven. Riven for his part can also recognize the benefit of working as a team and as Tecna is already treating him like an equal he narrows down tecna’s ideas and begins to take physical steps as Tecna is still working through things. Riven has a shelter and fire built, has found some food and fresh water, and has started sharpening sticks to use for defense and or fishing/hunting. Tecna finally comes to a conclusion and enlists Riven’s help to find a certain mineral to throw on the fire to make it burn brighter and higher to signal others. when that doesn’t seem to trigger a response for rescue, they design and build a small boat and oars to get to the other islands to see if there’s anything/anyone else around.