#this is the polin effect

[somedayillbepeterpan]

I wrote my first ever Polin fanfic!

This fic was born out of a conversation about Nicola's comment about Colin and Pen dying together on the same day from Shondaland's latest bts video (New Beginnings). I talked about how my grandparents are kinda like this who were together for close to 50 years and died about a year and month from each other.

I have been suffering from a horrible writing block for the past 2 years. I could not even finish a sentence in any of the story prompts inside my head and it's been playing in my mind how I could not finish a story nor a thought.

The many essays and analysis I've been doing now is a result of Polin opening the gates of my mind and now words are rushing so fast that I can hardly keep up lol.

I would appreciate any kind comments or critique! I have another one coming and I hope to make it a multi-arc one.

[kat-rose-griffith]

Eloise: have you told him that you’re whistledown yet???

Penelope: listen, a lot has happened in the last hour. I need a minute

[dollypopup]

I get why people would think it but

Colin is NOT a rake. Colin is a young man trying to figure out his identity and what he likes sexually and trying to understand what the men of his society talk about and do. He's not out here messing around with women just to string them along and then leave them. He's trying to fit in and has been made fun of for being a virgin so yeah, he rectifies that by having sex, but just because he slept with a few women, that doesn't make him a rake? You wanna know who an actual rake in the series is?

Fife.

Because what the fuck happened to Miss Goring? I think about her sometimes and my heart aches for her. Her first season out, she's an 18 year old woman, and an older, titled man of her society who she assumes to be a proper gentleman makes her believe their relationship can actually be something, messes around with her the entire season, and then fucks her in a linen closet at a ball only to....what? Come back the next year with absolutely no mention of her whatsoever. Did she get pregnant? Was sent off in disgrace? Have to marry someone else?

Fife is a 30 year old man who has a bad habit of hounding after young, vulnerable women in his society. He fucks them and leaves them. He's a rake. Colin? Colin is not even close to that. Say what you will about the brothel scenes, but that IS the responsible place for a man of his time to go to for sex. Please stop demonizing sex work. Yes, many of these women are in that line of work because of less than savory reasons, but Colin is not taking advantage of them. He is paying for a service and they are providing that service. It is transactional, and he is the LEAST of their concerns in terms of clientele. A kind, handsome man who pays well and is discrete? Yeah, they're fine with him.

Colin has a history of respecting women. He respected Marina all throughout their courtship, and even after. I know some people sneer at him coming to see Marina, but please keep in mind she is a woman on her own who married a stranger far away from ANYONE who knew her. Colin was worried about Daphne when she came to him, asking if anything happened when she was away and clearly ready to fight for her, so of course he's worried about Marina. Partly he visits her for his own closure, but also like....y'all that's a WELLNESS visit. He's concerned that she's unhappy, but ultimately leaves because she's not hurt and that she tells him to. Colin listens to 'no' from the women around him. He asks for permission from them. He waited for Penelope's consent sexually, but he also didn't even get into the carriage until she allowed him. He even asks "Please, let me in".

Colin lives in a time when women do not have many rights, and he listens to the women around him even more than the men. He is the only one of his siblings to ask for his mum's advice and immediately takes it and takes action. He brings Eloise back a feminist text from his travels, even after she's besmirched as a radical, because he supports her pursuits. In season 2, he also knew of her going to the printers and didn't say anything. He has always respected and cared for Penelope. He hasn't insulted a single woman in his vicinity. He doesn't make the women he flirts with feel bad about themselves, or feel less, but compliments them, all whilst keeping respectable distance so as not to make them think he's interested in marrying them. He doesn't dance with any woman but Penelope in that season.

Colin isn't a rake. He's not a fuckboy. He's trying to act like he is, emulating the circle of his society, but that doesn't mean he is. I swear people just WANT to misinterpret him because that's the easiest way, but Colin is a character who doesn't lend well to surface level readings. He's a nuanced, gentle hearted character who has been looked down on for his sensitivity. He's a deeply relatable person because who of us haven't pretended to be accepted? Especially if we've been bullied or excluded. I know I have. Put on a persona for the sake of survival. And he does so for what? A few weeks? That does not a fuckboy make.

Just say you don't want to understand him and move along because those of us who get him GET HIM. And I'm grateful for a character like Colin.

He's the best man in the series by an entire mile and you can't change my mind about that.

[waltricia]

Desperately trying to reconcile the unseriousness of this still with the seriousness of the actual scene.

[lovewilltellamillionstories]

Can't wait for the Bridgerton effect to descend upon Luke Newton. I need him in those Hollywood movie musicals and rom-coms quicksharpish.

[polin-erospsyche]

I love the fact that Pen was fully ready to accept to be ruined entirely in Colin’s bedroom without a second thought to propriety until he just casually burned all the bridges of courtship and went straight for the wedding

People are saying how their first kiss changed everything but that carriage ride must have been mind blowing for the both of them

[polinsated]

headers for you to take, if you want! please reblog/give credit if you use them!

[tellmelater]

romancing mrs bridgerton miss featherington

[sea-owl]

Nah imagine modern day Kate, Sophie, and Penelope handing their boyfriends the ten page packet that comes with their birth control.

Colin has it open like a fucking scroll, Anthony look like he's reading the newspaper. Every two minutes, you have Benedict trying to pronounce a new side effect.

Benedict: Your birth control can give you blood clots!?

Anthony and Colin: Where are you reading that at?! *frantically reads over their own to see if that is also a side effect for their birth controls*

Meanwhile, Kate, Sophie, and Penelope are dying laughing in the background.

[colinfeatherington]

the whole colin calls penelope his wife before they’re even married thing, is that fanon or canon? does he do that in the books or has it just been in so many fics it feels like canon now?

[jananabananawithnopeel]

Those two pictures are giving me The Birth of Venus

[loveisnotfinite]

If you think season 3 has been out for no more than a couple of months, those numbers are insane.

[kat-rose-griffith]

Y’all aren’t allowed to get on your soap box about any of the actions of the fictional characters in the show when you can’t even just not bully an actor for being a person and dating someone who isn’t their friend/coworker

[themoonlightbrigade]

We also must discuss Colin’s dream where he says he

lost his appetite

because of all-consuming Penelope thoughts.

Like, are you okay, baby boy?

[whistledownbad]

Hiya friends! I had the privilege of going on my friend @existential-labrador’s podcast, The Alien Effect, to talk about all things Bridgerton/Polin, Taylor Swift, Dr. Who, and more, and the episode has just dropped! If any of those things align with your interests, I encourage you to give it a listen! We had so much fun chatting and I hope you all will enjoy it as well 💜💜💜

[bitterseaproduction]

Variant idea on the Soulmarks trope: It’s not the first thing your soulmate says to you written on you somewhere, but the first thing they think about you.