#I will defend this man to the death

[inthedreamatorium1]

I’ve been thinking a lot about Colin’s entrapment line and wrote a novel about it, whoops.

I know a lot of people are upset about it. On the surface level, it seems so out of the blue because HE was the one who suggested he help her find a husband. HE was the one that invited her over without a chaperone. HE was the one who kissed her when he knew he shouldn’t. HE was the one who kissed her a second time and initiated their first sexual encounter. So yeah, that line seems so out of character given all of this.

But then I started thinking more about it and dug a little deeper. This line comes after him saying he was a man of honor and acknowledged they had sex. He knows there are consequences there (ie. pregnancy). He knows he didn’t pull out because in that moment, there was no reason for him to do so. They were going to be married. Her winding up pregnant from that encounter wouldn’t matter in the long run because why would it?

Colin is SO angry and hurt and confused (rightfully so). Of course his mind is going to think the worst and in that moment, it did. He has spent days running over every single interaction and conversation they’ve had. He’s doubting everything. Her sincerity, her friendship, her respect, her love. Every single one of us would do the same thing. He sees himself as a protector first and foremost. So yes, he let himself think that Penelope purposefully had sex with him knowing that he would be obligated to marry her, no matter what. He let himself think she was using him and his family to protect herself from any harm if the truth came out. He knew that she knew he would never break their engagement and so yeah, he thought the worst. I mean, why wouldn’t he?

Do I think he regretted it? No, not in that moment. I think he still felt that way until they met on the street. He’s still very hostile with her (rightfully and understandably so)“What were you thinking? Why would you write these things about me and my family?” She pushes back and he finally listened to her. Not just her words but her sincerity and the way she didn’t justify any of her actions. How she apologized for it and acknowledged she was wrong. He listened.

Penelope exclaiming loudly and passionately that she loves him dissolved all of the negative thoughts he was feeling in regards to her trapping and using him. His biggest fear snapped in half. The torment he was feeling that it was all a lie dissipated. It’s why he grabbed her and kissed her so passionately. I’m sure a lot of it was relief. He was never that harsh with her again. Yes, he was still angry but he never doubted her intentions nor her love for him again. His conflict for the rest of the episode going into episode 8 was trying to sort out his place and role in her life and trying to come to terms with his feelings of inadequacy and insecurity.

So yeah, the entrapment line sucks and can be read as out of character given everything that’s happened in the previous episodes. But I think we need to allow him the grace to process everything he’s been feeling. Penelope did.

[dreamlandgirlie]

the funniest thing to me about the “josh naylor is disrespectful” bullshit is that he is like…so respectful. like have you seen that guy??? he’s like the nicest dude???

yeah it can be misconstrued because he’s very passionate and starts yelling and shit on the field but like..do you ever see him after the guards win???

it could be the most insignificant game and he still tears up bc he’s so happy and all he does in interviews after is talk about how proud he is of his teammates and how much he loves them.

so yeah, don’t you dare tell me that naylor is “disrespectful”

[lycandrophile]

i absolutely cannot believe people are trying to start discourse about whether nex benedict was actually nonbinary / whether it was okay for him to describe himself as nonbinary to some people if he didn’t actually identify that way as if he isn’t literally DEAD because he was KILLED. this is a MURDERED CHILD and these monsters are so busy getting mad at the possibility that he might have been a trans boy who described himself as nonbinary to his family because that was easier for them to take that they’re turning a CHILD who was MURDERED into fucking discourse. even when we die at the hands of cis people’s violence, our own community finds a way to make us the villains of the story.

and all of this bullshit on top of the ways that cis people are already trying to say our grief over his death is unjustified. all of this on top of people claiming he wasn’t murdered and speculating on other causes of death (i literally saw someone say he “clearly went home and took the coward’s way out” and i have never been more disgusted) or claiming that he started the fight as if any action on his part could’ve been enough to justify his death. i am haunted by the sound of his father screaming that his child was not filth because that is what people have been saying about this poor kid, that’s how cruelly his memory is being treated, and even the trans community can’t get it’s shit together enough to look past the stupid discourse and see the tragedy in front of us. did you all forget that it was supposed to be up to us to grieve him in the way he deserves when the rest of the world fails to care if people like him live or die? did you all forget that this child was our sibling, the future of our community, a life that we should have had the chance to know and treasure while he was still here but that we now have a responsibility to hold close to our hearts in his absence? nex’s life was precious and it was ended far too soon and if you truly believe that anything is more important than mourning his life and fighting for a world where no more trans people have to meet such an awful fate, you’re a traitor to this community and you do not deserve the place you occupy within it.

i’m so tired. i can’t even imagine how tired his family must be, to see the public treat the child they’re grieving so horribly, to see the world fail their baby again. leave him alone. he was already robbed of peace in life; the least you can do is let him finally have it in death.

[atlasdoe]

IF I HAVE TO SEE ONE MORE "DUMBLEDORE WHERE HAVE YOU BURRIED ALL YOUR CHILDREN" TIKTOK WITH A BUNCH OF CHARACTERS WHOS DEATHS DUMBLEDORE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH I AM GOING TO LOSE MY GODDAMN MIND

[laurrelise]

see the problem is i defend house with my life and then he goes and hits on a fifteen-year old girl with no shame in sight

what the hell man. i can no longer defend you

[pokemon1oadvanced]

Nah cause Ben was completely justified not telling anyone about Brooklynn until he had evidence. The last time he tried to tell them something it took multiple near death experience for them to be like ‘yeah so we’re being hunted.’

[strawglicks]

community service for his reckless driving

(this is a remake of old art, old is under the cut)

[l1li4n]

MY BABY

I'm raising my point again, how could ANYONE, EVER. EVER HURT HIM???????????????????????

[namelessprince]

man imagine if william had been decaying just a bit faster...

commission me

[timeisacircleofangst]

because guys we've all talked about how Curly had to watch Anya die, but he had to watch Daisuke die too

like yes Curly watched Anya overdose but he also heard Daisuke calling for Anya as he crawled out of the vent. He might not have witnessed his actual death but he saw him all bloodied and distraught at being too late to save her

and I just think about how he felt. How guilty he must have been. You just watched the arguably two most vulnerable people in your crew die and you could have prevented it, but you didn't. You were charged with protecting them they were your responsibility but now they're gone and you get to watch

[poisonousquinzel]

thinking about just how likely it is that Batman was the only person Harley told about having suicidal thoughts whilst in Arkham in Detective Comics #831

"I was seriously considering hanging sheets from the light in my cell and doing the maximum checkout when I heard this voice..."

Detective Comics #831

and how he knew when she strapped that bomb to herself in Batman (2016) #100 that he had to go after her because she was going let herself die in an attempt to end Joker's rampage for good but that she refused to physically do it because he didn't want to her Kill him and he told her that so she's found a middle ground

"We don't need to end it this way. He needs to be locked back up."

that she'd rather die than keep living with his presence in the world haunting her, haunting Them.

That if he did choose Joker, she wasn't going to disarm the bomb herself.

"Honey. You're talking to the wrong girl if you think he's not dangerous locked up in Arkham. It's like I said. That's not good enough for me. Not anymore."

the way he yells for her as she leaves.

"You're only going to get to one of us in time, Bats. Who's it going to be?"

"Harley!"

the way the two men stare at each other in the way they have so many times before, in those moments when Joker stayed or prioritized their fight over her. the way he knew Joker loved the thrill of it all and thought it was funny, thought there was No way Batman would leave him and that this game had to end as according to the rules. And that Batman would do so, he would follow the rules and save him. The way he immediately assumed Batman would choose him, choose his life and choose to stay and disarm the bomb.

And how Batman didn't do that. How Batman walked away from him, leaving him to die or escape or whatever, because He was choosing Harley and her safety and prioritizing her life over him.

The way he stared him in the eyes before choosing the woman Joker had always left to die over him. The way that it was always Him, it was never a question if he would choose Batman over her, but when faced with that type of scenario, Joker is the one that gets left behind to die.

The way she literally woke up in the hospital instead of them having a scene just outside after he removed it. because she didn't intend to live in one of the two options. the way the bomb probably did go off to some capacity because you don't just end up in the hospital knocked out for a week.

Him saying that he's glad she's okay, after everything they've been through, this war and Everything else. and the way he didn't brush off her concern

"I'm glad you're okay."

"Are you?"

"I had to bury my father again today. I did it with my family."

i just, i can't,,,,, i cant

[mintytrifecta]

[medicated-death]

Did someone say Keith magazine cover

[bones-of-a-rabbit]

oooooo we love ourselves an angy boy,, especially one that is still 200% soft for one(1) persons (its u ur th persons)

[loveisonlyforthebrave8]

did you see jeff's twitter space? holy shit

...i want to throttle every single person who has ever made jeff satur feel like he owes us any kind of apology, explanation, or even a scrap of information about his personal life. get your delusional, entitled heads out of your arses and leave that man alone. he doesn't owe you shit.

[utilitycaster]

Ok but as someone who has generally been enjoying this season of TLOVM but certainly has some degree of expectations for episodes 10-12 and generally has standards for what makes a good story, people knee-jerk defending literally any adaptational changes in TLOVM with "DO YOU HATE CHANGE" are not fucking helpful. This is true anywhere, honestly, from adaptation to major twists in stories to real world politics. If someone expresses dislike of a change, jumping immediately to "OH YOU HATE CHANGE????" is, in fandom, utterly counterproductive, and in politics and activism, breathtakingly lacking in empathy and also utterly counterproductive (it's not terribly empathetic in fandom either, but that matters way less).

Some people do knee-jerk hate change simply for being change!Change is very difficult and the familiar is comforting! But quite often they have valid concerns about specific changes and dismissing them will not help your argument. And even if they did hate change simply because it's change, do you think it's helpful to just point accusingly? Or do you perhaps need to craft an argument on why, at the very least, you support this change, and why they might consider doing so as well? Do you like change simply because it's change, because that's not any less instinctual and lacking in reasoning than the reverse.