Ciao amore,
welcome to Stella’s Winx Club Diaries.
I am Stella, born and raised in Germany and a Winx Club fan and collector since 2004. In this series I would like to share my personal experiences with the Winx Club from the last 20 years with you.
2005
The year began with the third issue of Winx Magazine, but unfortunately this issue didn’t come shrink-wrapped on a large cardboard box like the first two. The magazine was in a transparent bag, which also contained the extra, a thin pencil case.
My best primary school friend at the time had been given a Bloom doll for Christmas and we played with her a lot. Of course, I also really wanted one of the Winx dolls, but I couldn’t decide which one I wanted. In the Barbie Journal, which we got for free from a department store the previous year, I looked at the double page spread of the Winx dolls every day and evening and thought each one was unique and beautiful and interesting in its own way.
As February and my birthday approached, I naturally tried again to ask my parents for a doll, but they still refused. At some point, my friend suggested that she could give me a doll and discussed it with her parents. I found that a bit strange, as I already knew at the time that friends don’t really give you such big presents and you’re more likely to get something like that from your parents.
But of course I wanted a doll so much and wasn’t averse to the idea. One day my friend told me that there were only Tecna and Icy left in the shop where the dolls were available and asked me which doll I would prefer. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed as neither Tecna nor Icy were my first choice. However, I decided in favour of Icy on the grounds that she was the counterpart to my friend’s Bloom doll.
On 3 February, the time had come – I turned 10 and celebrated my birthday with some of my classmates from primary school. Back then, it was customary to unwrap presents before everyone else, which made me feel uncomfortable. I saved the best for last – the doll! The doll was wrapped in matching wrapping paper – it was glittery blue on the outside and glittery silver on the inside. I’ve kept it to this day, just like my doll of course. Both just mean so much to me. I am also very grateful that my parents filmed this moment – so I can still see myself unwrapping my very first Winx doll today.
I would have loved to play with the doll straight away and ask the guests to leave, but at some point the day came to an end and I spent hours examining the packaging, the doll and her accessories and savouring her smell. Mattel dolls had that special smell that characterised my childhood.
This winter there was a lot of snow and my friend and I built houses in the snow for our dolls and were able to re-enact scenes from the series through the snow, which is also part of Icy’s powers.
The fourth and final issue of the Winx booklet also came out in February. This was again shrink-wrapped in a transparent bag and the extra this time was unfortunately a little disappointing compared to the previous ones – there was a pack of five stickers for the Winx Club sticker album from Panini.
For many weeks and months, I kept waiting and looking in the newsagents to see if the next magazine was available, but it was never published. So for a while I thought that there wouldn’t be much more of Winx and that the series would disappear from the screen.
In March, the time had finally come: the last two of five DVDs were released and arrived at my home. I had already received the first three in October last year. I still remember very well how I unpacked the last two DVDs, because they each contained one, but the same, playing card from the card game ‘Ring of Power’, which was also released in March. It was the number W23, an iridescent print with artwork of Bloom in her transformation form. This card had also appeared shortly before in a magazine called girlfriends, which was also published by atticFutura, which had also published a Winx poster magazine the previous year.
So it wasn’t long before I started collecting the cards from the game. There were PR brochures for the card game lying around in the department stores’ where the Barbie Journal was also available. I took two of them and as a child I didn’t understand much of what was in them and only liked the product pictures.
This game series included a metal case with two decks of cards and accessories to play the game, a scrapbook for all the cards and booster packs containing a pack of five cards and one of 25 sun rings. It actually took me until mid-2016 to complete all the cards.
In addition to the cards, I also started collecting the magnetic jewellery sets that were advertised in the poster magazine at the end of 2004. The first jewellery set I received was from Bloom and Stella. There were then individual sets from Bloom, Stella Flora, Musa and Tecna, a set with Flora and Tecna and a large set with all the Winx.
Unfortunately, I can’t remember the exact date, but it must have been between March and May, when we were supposed to give a presentation on a topic of our choice at primary school. I immediately realised that I wanted to give a presentation about Winx. The two girls in my group, one of whom was of course my best friend at the time, agreed. In the end, I worked out the whole poster and the two of them presented something here and there. I was so happy to be able to share my love of Winx even at school. But I don’t think anyone found it particularly exciting. xD
Around Easter I got a few more Winx dolls. First Musa and Tecna, then Stella.
On 25 June, my parents gave me Bloom, Flora and Sky – on the premise that I would get good grades at the grammar school I went to that summer. My parents had probably also realised and understood by then that the enthusiasm I felt for Winx was something very serious.
So the first six months were relatively new around Winx. I spent the rest of the year playing with my dolls, making jewellery and collecting cards. Among other things, I filmed with our video camera how I played with my dolls and tried to create my own episodes. Today it’s a bit awkward and slightly embarrassing to watch these videos, but I’m still very happy to have these recordings and also very proud of myself that I was so good with a video camera at the age of 10.
Thank you for reading this post – I hope it made you reminisce.
What are your memories of 2005 or of your childhood with Winx?
Segui il tuo cuore,
Your Stella