| anjaliesque @ 2003-04-09 20:17:00 |
About Colin
Mood: 
sympathetic
Well, I know Draco has really been a bit abused lately, but somehow I still feel sorry for Colin. He's just so unfortunately thick-skinned, and agonizingly slow to take a hint. I think he was affected by Draco's comments, especially here, and has made an effort to be more precise and educated-appearing, and thus less annoying. (Though this seems to be more annoying, if anything.)
He was understandably too assuming and presumptuous here, so I cheered like anybody else at Harry's much-needed tirade. But a little later I found this, posted the very same minute as Harry posted. Harry, my offer about Hogsmeade still stands. You and Seamus and Dean and I can all hang out. It'll be fun. Much better than hanging around this creep.
Others might harp on this insult to Draco, but come on, Draco has been absolutely horrible to him. This latest post is less presumptuous than the first to Harry, and a bit softer in tone. After this cajoling offer to Harry, and then to suddenly find Harry's biting response to his first post- it's going to be such a slap in the face. All his confrontations with Draco are mostly Harry-motivated, without personal motive at least in the beginning. And something so harsh coming from someone so normally soft-spoken- it would sting so much more than anything Draco could ever say. Colin really looks up to Harry, who, while still fending him off like everyone else, always did so very kindly, and now this has got to hurt like nothing else. My heart really does ache for the poor well-intentioned boy. So, Colin, in all your pain-
Edit: 
karabou likened Colin to a puppy. Exactly, I think. He manages to be alternately detestable and endearing. Just reading these comments is making me swing between Love!Colin and Hate!Colin. Oh, the complexities.
Comments:
| anjaliesque @ April 9 2003, 17:46:57 UTC |
*coos* Aw, it's just so sad and sweeeet.
because it's still good for you to do it if it's what makes you happy Harry
Awww. I suppose that there's the only bit of encouragement Harry is going to get from his schoolmates.
ecause you're not just a hero, Harry--you're my hero.
*cries* I may be wrong about everything I said, but none of it matters now.
| toopizza @ April 9 2003, 17:47:07 UTC |
Awww! Poor Colin. What's going to be awful now is if people read that and post nasty comments...
(parent)| shusu @ April 9 2003, 17:48:26 UTC he also states the obvious: |
"and I hope you didn't think I was trying to poke my nose in on your business because I really wasn't and it's none of my nevermind who you want to talk to, but, you can't help me being a little alarmed, Harry, because it's just so unlike you to act the way you've been acting--well, maybe not unlike you really because you're bold and persistent and determined and you keep talking to Malfoy even though he's doing a really persistent and determined job of ignoring you but that's okay"
Italics gone.
Hmmm. Sounds like a lot of our speculations.
| dancingrain @ April 9 2003, 17:52:17 UTC Re: he also states the obvious: |
Yeah, I think Colin's actually getting rather a few subtle digs in there. Whether he is smart enough to know he's doing it or not (the character, not the player - I have tons of respect for whoever plays Colin so well!). As in, Yo, Harry, what *are* you doing, Malfoy isn't paying attention to you, I was just trying to stop you from making a fool of yourself.
(parent) |
Anonymous @ April 9 2003, 17:54:12 UTC |
damn, now I feel sorry for the kid, and I HATE him. That post had some sort of hypnotising literary puppy-dog eyes, I'm sure of it.
(parent) |
Anonymous @ April 9 2003, 17:56:21 UTC |
Wait, they're not just literary, that hamster is doing it too. AUGH!
(parent)| anjaliesque @ April 9 2003, 18:42:24 UTC |
VERY sneaky. He is trying to regain our vague support. Well, Creevey, I'm in the middle of a Hate!Colin mood right now after reading all thse comments, so I'm on to you, there's no way you're going to--
because you're not just a hero, Harry--you're my hero.
Too late. *coos* ;)
| karabou @ April 9 2003, 17:47:35 UTC |
He said Harry was his hero, that was so cute! He makes some good observations, too. Hehe
I think Colin is really well-played... he's annoying and dense sometimes, yet blatantly honest and endearing. He's like Harry's puppy, he just wants to please. Which is kind of frightening, but so very Colin.
| anjaliesque @ April 9 2003, 17:54:21 UTC |
Colin really is well-played, he alternately makes me detest and adore him. I suppose like any puppy, really. I felt I had to post this because there was a lot of Colin-hate abounding (justified, of course) and I thought maybe the "endearing" part needed to be reminded of. *sigh* So well-played that a normally simple-to-understand character is now so much more complex. <3 NA.
(parent)| karabou @ April 9 2003, 17:57:46 UTC Re: |
Yes! You are so right. And I'm always afraid the players will take it personally when we root against a character or something that.. but they are all well played, they just don't always do things we might want them to. *grin*
(parent)| weatherby @ April 9 2003, 17:49:54 UTC |
See, I don't feel guilty for Colin at all. He started all of that stuff about making himself look more educated because he was so proud of himself for completely ripping Draco apart. I think he was just getting cocky because he pointed out that someone's mother doesn't care about them. Draco replied in kind and then didn't pursue it at all, except when Colin kept bugging him. And even then it was pretty clear that Draco was finished with it, whereas Colin was just getting worse and worse.
(parent)| sistermagpie @ April 9 2003, 17:57:17 UTC |
Absolutely. And actually, I didn't find that post where he invited Harry to Hogsmeade to be nice either--he was basically just trying to make it clear they were pals. Here's Harry inviting someone to go to Hogsmeade and Colin is choosing his friends for him when Colin at this point can't be a real friend, just a fan-boy who likes everybody to know he's friends with Harry.
| weatherby @ April 9 2003, 18:09:03 UTC |
I agree completely. He's just trying to make it sound like he's fit himself into Harry's life, and he became so cocky that he deluded himself into thinking Harry was going to become almost his fanboy.
(parent)| bookshop @ April 9 2003, 18:18:12 UTC |
Hahaha, absolutely. Though I don't know if I see Colin as being innately cocky as much as just swept up in the euphoria of the moment. Colin was essentially every nerdy, ignored junior high school kid who's ever been inadvertently thrust into the spotlight and placed in the ranks of the cool kids for a few days. He's had all the gryffindors looking at him with new respect and it totally swelled his head, to the point where he was one part insecurity and two parts 'I was born for greatness!' Oh, he was destined to take a fall. And, really, it could have been much much worse for Colin. But it was inevitable.
(parent)| bookshop @ April 9 2003, 17:58:46 UTC he only had himself to blame... |
I agree, with you and the person below you. You're right about everything you said and Colin *did* have it coming, and he *did* get what he deserved. Nobody's been rooting for him to fall harder than I have. But at the same time, now that it's happened, I think twinges of sympathy are in order. But then I am biased because I think Draco and Colin have a bit in common underneath it all, and Colin's day of reckoning feels like a micro version of Draco's own in a way.
| weatherby @ April 9 2003, 18:06:53 UTC Re: he only had himself to blame... |
Oh, I don't see anything to feel sympathetic about, though. Colin doesn't even know Harry. As sistermagpie just said, he knows Harry's name. Colin is upset because Harry Potter smacked him down, not his good friend Harry who he knows so well. So I don't think it feels similar at all. Colin gets told to mind his own business and Draco gets told his mother and the only friends he have don't care about him at all. Harry apologises to Colin three seconds later, Draco is left knowing that everything Colin said is true. So basically Colin got exactly what he wanted.
(parent)| bookshop @ April 9 2003, 18:12:23 UTC Re: he only had himself to blame... |
Well.
Then in that case, 
.
| anjaliesque @ April 9 2003, 18:18:34 UTC |
Ooh, it's Evil!Colin. I agree that Colin sees too much of The-Boy-Who-Lived rather than "just Harry." I did think that Colin was sort of hurt by Draco's entire spiteful post against him (which he was partially justified in making, considering what Colin had said to him) and that was why I thought he went on his Sunshiny!Colin rampage. I also think that Colin does have some small wish to be a real friend to Harry, famous or not, but doesn't really know how to go about doing it. Not that he would be wanted anyway.
(parent)| sistermagpie @ April 9 2003, 18:31:38 UTC |
Really? I didn't get the impression he was that hurt by Draco's rant. The only real thing I thought was in there was Draco saying that the Gryffindors didn't really like Colin following them around and Colin's subsequent posts seemed to make it clear he didn't believe it. (Plus Draco didn't mention Harry at all.) I doubted the stuff about his mother was hitting a mark.
(parent)| anjaliesque @ April 9 2003, 18:52:53 UTC |
I suppose neither of them may have been affected. I really think that I'm going to have to go back and read those parts over again. I know I got my own impression, but looking at it with other points in mind might make some things appear different. Lovely, lovely NrAged. ;)
(parent)| zedmeister @ April 9 2003, 18:24:47 UTC Re: he only had himself to blame... |
I feel like I'm playing devil's advocate, because I agree with most of what you say, but I *do* pity Colin. I didn't until I read his apology, but it kind of changed my view, because it gave me a different perspective. You're right in saying that he doesn't know Harry at all, not as a person, and not as a friend, but Harry is his hero.
And, well. I know that's "duh" territory, but it didn't really sink in until the apology. It made me sympathise more with his shock at Harry's reprimand. Let's face it, the fact that Harry only stepped in now could have been construed as tacit approval of Colin's actions. So I wouldn't say that he got "exactly what he wanted", since he wanted Harry on his side. (Although he seems to have accomplished that now by agreeing to ignore Draco.)
Oh, I don't know. I'm not even convincing myself here. I just think that the fact that he considers Harry his hero makes him slightly different from your average fanboy; he has more invested emotionally, and any snub hurts him more.
| katrionaa @ April 9 2003, 18:11:49 UTC Re: he only had himself to blame... |
I think Draco and Colin have a bit in common underneath it all
I totally agree with this, there's definitely underlying insecurity and vulnerability in both of 'em. Draco's just more standoffish and so it comes through less. 'aloof, unavailable Slytherin prince'
|
Anonymous @ April 9 2003, 17:50:47 UTC |
Hmm. Thing is, Draco doesn't seek Colin out. Colin initiates it all on his own. Draco only responds. Even the post Draco made about Colin was only a reply to Colin's many caps-locked comments. Colin, on the other hand, just. can't. stop. In this case, I feel for Colin, yeah, but he had it coming.
(parent)| anjaliesque @ April 9 2003, 18:47:54 UTC |
His day of doom, yes. Draco in a way had his own time of doom, with him being harrassed and then disappearing for days, and he got his share of loff from fans then. So, since I don't think there's any way that Colin could actually be worse than Draco (and Draco would be horrified if it was so, if only for sake of his carefully-maintained reputation), I thought Colin deserved his share too.
(parent) |
Anonymous @ April 9 2003, 17:51:00 UTC |
Thank you. personally, i think you're spot-on in terms of what Colin's been feeling and how his behavior has altered during all this. Poor kid. Maybe he's a tool, but even t00ls have feelings too!!!
<3333 back from the much-maligned!
| sistermagpie @ April 9 2003, 17:52:04 UTC |
Well, I've always said I was going to be sympathetic when he got smacked down. And there he goes.
But what's interesting is that he actually laid out what Harry's been doing. Will Harry respond? Will Malfoy? I'm sure j_h will tell him it's okay--because you know, his smackdown wasn't really so bad. He wasn't cruel to him he was just sharp. But will he admit to what he's been doing? Will anyone else ask about it? Will Malfoy take this opportunity to laugh at Colin?
If ps doesn't take the opportunity, that seems very big of him. If not, well, then he's just his old self. But I don't know...I don't think he'll respond to something marked as a message for HP.
| anjaliesque @ April 9 2003, 17:58:23 UTC |
You're right, it's like the very first time that the fact that Harry is chasing and Draco is ignoring is laid down right out for all to see. They seem to have been dancing around it up till now. The doings of ps (will he? won't he? aargh!) seem to really play a large role in issues. And our own emotions. *wibbles*
(parent)| sistermagpie @ April 9 2003, 17:58:57 UTC |
Yes, j_h has responded exactly the way I would have expected. He really just wants to get everybody's attention away from Draco.
(parent)| zedmeister @ April 9 2003, 18:05:05 UTC |
He really just wants to get everybody's attention away from Draco.
How do you figure? I mean, he says:
Maybe you two can just ignore each other or something?
He's making it obvious that he has a problem with Colin's behaviour towards ps in particular, not just the stalking in general.
| sistermagpie @ April 9 2003, 18:27:03 UTC |
Oh yes, you're right. I just meant he wanted to get it over and done with with his, "Can we just forget about all this?" He doesn't want to get into a discussion of what he's been doing or what Draco's been doing.
(parent)| anjaliesque @ April 9 2003, 18:07:06 UTC |
Oh, gosh, it's perfect. Peacemaker j_h with let's-smooth-it-all-over attitude hiding draco-persistence. I hope it all works out. For some reason Harry snapping at Colin and Colin at sorts with Harry really makes me feel uneasy, I suppose because it's just so completely against the norm. Oh, the angst.
(parent)| karabou @ April 9 2003, 17:59:53 UTC |
But what's interesting is that he actually laid out what Harry's been doing.
I know, he was so spot on!