Hey there, it’s Dorian! It’s been a few days since the launch of the Magical Memories Zine, and I wanted to share the love and magic I felt while working on it and thank all the amazing people who helped make it happen.

When I was asked to join the Magical Memories Zine staff, I immediately knew I wanted to be a part of it. I’d heard of it before through the Winx Forever Podcast and the Zine’s Instagram profile, and it seemed like such a perfect love letter to Winx Club that there was no way I’d pass it up.

Despite being a newcomer to the team, everyone was so welcoming and willing to work together that I felt right at home. I started my work by writing the “What is Winx?” article. Creating the character bios for the Winx fairies and the staff of the schools was especially fun since I got to dig through the old versions of the official Winx Club website. Even though I wasn’t active on the site back in the day, seeing all the art and the blog posts written by the Winx characters got me really emotional. It felt like being a kid and discovering Winx Club all over again. Also, I discovered that Faragonda canonically used to be a witch! This just made me love her even more.

Writing the recaps for the seasons and the movies gave me the opportunity to watch seasons 7 and 8 for the first time and rewatch some of the others! Although I didn’t grow up with all of them, it was still interesting to witness how the story changed over time and to try and piece it together into one timeline.

I truly loved writing the “What is Winx?” article. It felt like diving headfirst into the magical world that shaped me into who I am today. After finishing it, I did the layout design for the “Winx Cosplays” article, which is when that magical world started to expand beyond what I’d known, and I began to really see the magic of the Winx fandom. The written article by Authoress Ella is accompanied by your—the readers’—cosplay submissions. Each of them has so much passion, love, and wonder behind it. Seeing the hours of work people put into their cosplays was nothing short of stunning. Every Winxer truly carries the power of the Winx inside them, and I hope that you can feel it in yourself. Without you, this Zine wouldn’t be possible, nor would this fandom be what it is. We truly have the most amazing community.

The emotions kept coming as I helped with putting some of the magical memories you submitted into the “Our Memories” article. I didn’t do the layout; I was just there to put some of them onto the page. Reading them put into perspective just how many of us are connected by this wonderful show and the whole franchise, even though we come from seemingly completely different parts of the world. Winx Club flew over the borders of countries—it crossed oceans to get to different continents. It spanned multiple generations and made them a global family.

Working on the Magical Memories Zine has been one of the best experiences I have ever had. The rest of the team is just amazing, and the fandom is incredible. To think that some of us have been with Winx Club for 20 years is insane. It left such a mark on us, and it shows. What we as a fandom have done over these two decades is sheer proof of that. As Elisa Rosselli once said, “Nothing has changed, magic’s still inside you.”

Thank you so much for all your submissions to the Zine, all the feedback, and all the love you have given it over the past few days. All of us on the team have put a lot of love and effort into it, and it means the world that you love it as much as we do! Happy 20th anniversary of Winx Club!

Dorian