#if events were drawn out over time then we would also have dominian refugees who fled their home during a war

[damned-spaghetti]

Every once in a while I remember that Bloom had to earn her Enchantix by meditating on the dragon planet and like… that was fine? Putting the main character at a disadvantage and forcing them to do something different from The Way Things Are Always Done (tm) can be very interesting, actually, and I think having a character become more powerful by learning to embrace their inner self is a pretty good message for a kids’ show. But I’m absolutely baffled that this is what the writers decided to do instead of just… introducing a character or characters from Domino.

I know the show acts like it’s impossible for Bloom to earn her Enchantix the normal way because Domino was destroyed and its inhabitants were frozen, so there’s no Dominians for her to sacrifice herself for, but hear me out: that makes no sense lol.

You mean to tell me that in the Winx Club magic dimension, where the main characters are attending school in Magix and repeatedly visit realms other than their home realms, emigration doesn’t happen? Not a single person from Domino immigrated to Melody to study music, to Zenith so that they could be at the forefront of technological development, to Linphea because they wanted to be closer to nature? Nobody ever falls in love with someone from another realm and chooses to immigrate to be with them? (Bloom canonically does that one btw.) There was not a single mixed race Dominian who was born on Domino and later moved to be closer to the other side of their family?

Even if you want to pretend the Winx Club universe hasn't invented immigration yet (which like... a half assed fandom post isn't really the place to get into a discussion about xenophobia, but if you think that's at all a valid argument, then perhaps you should take a minute to consider why you think that), you mean to tell me nobody from Domino left the realm temporarily? There was not a single Dominian studying at Alfea who was excited to tell their family about acing their last exam only to find their family gone? There was not a single Dominian visiting friends in other realms, or just on vacation who tried to return home at the end of their trip, only to find there was no home to go back to?

Just the idea that there is not a single other person out there from Domino is absolutely nonsensical to me, but it's what the series decided to go with. And that's a damn shame because when you think about it, Bloom is a transcultural adoptee whose biological parents and their culture were victims of genocide. (Domino is brought back, but iirc both the characters and the audience were unaware that was a possibility at this point in the narrative.) There's so much that could be done and said with that.

The musician who made it big on Melody could sing Bloom folk songs that nobody else quite remembers. The person thriving on Linphea could show Bloom their garden filled with flowers they brought with them from Domino; flowers that no longer exist anywhere else. The former Alfea student could hold Bloom close and tell her it's going to be okay even though it won't because while their experiences are undeniably different, they remember being there; in that same environment, being forced to come to terms with the same truths and grief that Bloom is now facing.

And I want to make it clear that none of this precludes Bloom earning an incomplete Enchantix. Like I said, putting the main character at a disadvantage and forcing them to do something different from The Way Things Are Always Done (tm) can be very interesting, actually, and I think there's so many ways that could still be done. (I mean this purely from a storytelling perspective rather than a nerf perspective btw. I get that Bloom being overpowered is a common complaint, but it's actually not one I share. She's quite literally the current mortal avatar of the universe's canon Creator God; she should be more powerful than all the other characters lol.)

Maybe no opportunity arises for Bloom to earn her Enchantix while meeting these people and she's not going to purposefully put someone in danger just so she can save them (although in her most desperate moment, perhaps she considers it) (I am biting anyone who insists someone needs pure intentions to earn Enchantix btw; that's not canon and eliminating the possibility that morally grey or outright villainous high level fairies can exist is boring don't @ me). She can then make the active decision to go on the dragon meditation quest or whatever (perhaps with some guidance from the person or people she met), but is doing so with more knowledge about the people and culture she is fighting for.

Maybe the perfect situation to earn her Enchantix does arise, Bloom saves someone's life, and it just... doesn't work. To earn Enchantix, a fairy must save someone from their home realm, but not everybody has the same idea of home. The person she saves may be Dominian by birth, but in the seventeen-ish years they've had to grieve and rebuild their life, they've started to think of the realm they now reside in as their true home. Alternatively, Bloom realizes that despite being Dominian by birth and desiring a connection to her biological parents, their people, and their culture, she still considers Earth her true home. She doesn't want to go back to Earth and put her adoptive parents or anyone else in danger, so she makes the active decision to go on the dragon meditation quest or whatever.

Or maybe the perfect situation to earn her Enchantix does arise, Bloom saves someone's life, and she does earn Enchantix, but it's incomplete, despite doing everything right. If Enchantix must be earnt by saving someone specifically from the realm a fairy was born in, who's to say it doesn't share a connection to that realm? At that point, Domino is a dead world and Dominians are an endangered people. Bloom is a Guardian Fairy with very little to Guard and so she doesn't have access to the same level of Enchantix magic as other fairies do. This would also mean she would get her full Enchantix powers after Domino is revived; a sign that everything will be okay for the Dominian people.

idk I just have a lot of thoughts about all the missed opportunities here, basically all of them related to the erasure of the immigrant experience and how thoroughly the ball was dropped with the show's portrayal of genocide (refusing to even consider the idea of survivors other than Bloom and basically not discussing it at all beyond how it affects the former Company of Light and Bloom)