Magic Bloom was a pilot trailer^[1][2] of the Winx Club show produced during its early development.

Development

Magic Bloom was developed by Rainbow S.p.A. in collaboration with RAI and a German company as co-producers, and with € 100,000 of investment,^[3] over the course of twelve months following preparatory work consisting of market research, character studies and animation tests during many years.^[4]

Rainbow S.p.A. initially created Magic Bloom with character designs and graphics that were different from those later used in Winx Club:^[3]

• the characters of Magic Bloom were originally designed to look like pixies from classic fairy tales,^[5]
• Stella was originally named Sasha,^[6] and her transformation looked similar to generic fairies and consisted of a halter top, a skirt and medieval bracelets,^[5]
• Flora was originally white, had purple hair, and wore yellow sunglasses,^[7][8]
• Musa was originally white, had green hair and eyes, a jester-like transformation outfit, and always carried a flute when transformed,^[7][9]
• Riven had long hair tied in a ponytail, thicker eyebrows, a more square chin, and wore a small jacket over a loose shirt,^[10]
• Timmy had shorter hair, a more squat body, looked much younger, and wore shorts,^[10]
• Alfea was initially completely hand-drawn, unlike the CGI Alfea from Winx Club, and it had a more Gothic appearance similar to an English castle and less rounded and smooth shapes,^[11]
• Cloud Tower already had a long, thin, and entangled appearance,^[11]
• The wings of fairies would hang down their backs similar to insect wings when resting,^[11]
• The Trix wore outfits that resembled those of their ancestors. Icy, especially, had a cape similar to Belladonna's,^[11]
• and Knut had a more monstrous appearance, with green skin, a more muscular frame, red eyes, pointed ears, and large lower jaws with fangs in them, which made him look like the orcs from the Dungeons & Dragons game.

In 2002, Rainbow S.p.A. ran test screenings of Magic Bloom with 120 children, who loved the series' concept of a group of teenage girls who transform into fairies and witches, but found the appearance of the characters too old fashioned.^[5] Additionally, Iginio Straffi found Magic Bloom to be too similar to Japanese cartoons.^[12]

Because of this, Straffi was not certain that Magic Bloom's characters and graphics would be commercially successful,^[12] causing an "existential crisis" at Rainbow S.p.A. even though RAI and the German co-producer had approved the pilot.^[3]

Therefore, Rainbow S.p.A. decided to completely redo the project and it looked for new collaborators, such as designers from Italy's top fashion companies to update the look of the characters and give it a brighter and stronger palette which was more aligned with teenage fashion of the 2000s, as well as developmental psychologists. The result of the reworked story was Winx Club.^[5][4]

Release

The pilot's transformation sequences are shown at the celebration of the 15 years of Winx Club at the Lucca Comics & Games convention in 2018, where it is revealed that, except for Stella, who was supposed to be named Sasha, the Winx members' names remained the same from the beginning.

To celebrate the 20 years of Winx Club, Iginio Straffi starts to release details about Magic Bloom in a three-part miniseries on Instagram in 2024:

• On May 6th 2024, Straffi posted the first part of the miniseries with the concepts for Alfea, the rooms of the Winx, Lake Roccaluce, and Cloud Tower.^[11] On May 6th, 2024 itself, the official Winx Club account on Instagram posted:^[13]
  • an artwork of the five original Winx fairies as they were designed in Magic Bloom,
  • screenshots from the pilot episode itself,
  • concepts for the transformation sequences of the Winx,
  • early designs of:
    • Alfea and its corridors,
    • Bloom's room,
    • Sasha's room,
    • Lake Roccaluce,
    • and Cloud Tower and its entrance.
• On June 7th 2024, Straffi posts the second part of the miniseries with the concepts for Bloom, Stella, Flora, Musa, and Tecna.^[7] During the following weeks, the official Winx Club account on Instagram posts the character designs for the five original main characters:
  • on June 7th, 2024, itself, the designs for Bloom were posted,^[14]
  • on June 13th, 2024, the designs for Flora were posted,^[8]
  • on June 22nd, 2024, the designs for Sasha were posted,^[6]
  • on June 28th, 2024, the designs for Musa were posted,^[9]
  • on July 5th, 2024, the designs for Tecna were posted.^[15]
• On July 12th 2024, Straffi posts the third part of the miniseries with the concepts for Sky, Brandon, Riven, and Timmy.^[16]
  • On July 12th 2024 itself, the official Winx Club account on Instagram posts the sketches of the Specialists' concept art along with their early reworked designs from Winx Club.^[10]

Gallery

Concept art

Screenshots

Icy Concept: Magic Bloom

Alfea Concept: Magic Bloom

Possible Alfea Concept: Magic Bloom

Storyboards

Videos

Winx Club - Magic Bloom 2001

The Trailer Of "Magic Bloom"

Magic Bloom (Winx Club) Season 1 - Clip 1 & Clip 2 PLOT!

Pilot + Clips

References