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Five?! I guess I can give you five.. (plus a few extras..) I pick the ones I reread the most as my "top five favorites", which is the best way I know how to narrow this down, but I'm not convinced I have a favorite or a top 5. There are far too many good reads in the CS community!

My picks below the line - links are for ao3

I couldn't find everyone on tumblr, so PLEASE let me know their tumblr tags if you know them! Such amazing writers, the lot!

Colin O'Donoghue

Throwback | 2015 - ABC Upfronts ❤️

If you love Emma&Hook (Once Upon A Time) and you want reblog or like,this is the link of my reblog couples :)

Happy 10th Anniversary to this Iconic Captain Swan scene (November 4, 2012)!!!

5. Just today I was thinking about the goodbye scene in OUAT 5x20 "Firebird".

God, we absolutely did not deserve Colin here (neither did the script but that's besides the point). The way you see that Hook's heart is shattering right in front of us yet he then tries to put on a smile so that Emma doesn't lose it too... It’s because of how real it feels. How sad and pained his smile later looks - while he’s still crying - that it feels so fucking raw and real. And so, despite the oppositions I have to this scene in regards to narration (like, why have such an emotional goodbye when everyone fucking knows y’all aren’t gonna keep them apart) it’s still an amazingly acted scene that Colin deserves awards for.

4. Any, and I mean any, moment of him + music is an instant fave for me. Considering his guitar and singing skills it’s an outright crime that outside the OUAT musical, the only time he’s showed those on screen was for The Dust Storm (Douxie technically doesn’t count because a) he doesn’t sing (as well as Colin does at least) and b) he’s animated, we don’t see Colin’s talent come to life), so Brennan it is.

Like, sometimes people confuse “music” with “performance”. It’s one thing to be able to pick up an instrument and play something. But to be able to perform in front of an audience? I am a musician myself, but I am not a soloist performer. I mean, I could technically do it, but I’d get too stressed and nervous and in general it’s not my forte - nor my preference. Other things regarding music are that, and with my experience I have a much deeper respect for musicians who are good performers. And Colin is exactly that. He’s shy and reserved but once he picks up a guitar he turns into a wholly different human, and I love that.

3. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t choose a whumpy scene, and I think the one most showing of Colin’s talent is the one in 5x14, where he rejects Hades’ deal.

It’s... wow. With a shit-ton of makeup on him, one of his eyes covered with that fake skin thing, and he still nails the portrayal of Hook’s emotions - his anger at Hades, his defiance, his pain, and most of all, his fear. Like, when he closes his eyes and winces, because he knows that with Hades getting angry, more pain is coming... god im safsfddgstersfgdfhg

2. The ending of What StiΙl Remains.

Again, Peter is fully a problematic fave, I'd never condone or excuse anything he does in the film; but you very damn well understand why he turned that way. And in the end, he's just broken and lost and is just absolutely desperate to find something to give his life meaning. And Colin slays in this moment. How he portrays that feeling of emptiness and, at the same time, despair to find a footing. And even though you can’t help but hate him by the end, you also feel a bit (or a lot!) sorry about how his life and his circumstances have turned him into that kind of monster.

1. I think I’ll forever and always lose my fucking mind with the scene where Hook sings his mother’s lullaby to baby Alice.

One of the gifsets I reblogged from that very moment, just a little while after I was done watching the episode, I had tagged as this:

and I still kinda miss having a gif of it as my header. But seriously, especially considering that Colin has talked about how he loves this scene, because he was having fresh emotions from his own daughter’s birth as he was holding that baby, and you can just see how that bleeds into his acting of Hook as a father who’s immediately adoring his newborn daughter... I think it will legitimately stay with me forever.

Here they are!! My Top 10 Colin Moments!!!

Because, really, I have so many of them, I couldn’t narrow it down to only 5, because I’m me and also because, like, there’s two ways you could do this… You could do, like, Top Moments Where He Acted So Good or you could do Top Moments Where He Looked So Good or you could do Top Moments That I Like for Stupid Reasons That Are Still Somewhat Valid Because Personal Choice Is a Subjective Thing and You Don’t Always Have to Have Important Reasons for Liking Something, You Know… and I could go on and on!

SO! I’m doing my Top 5 Colin Moments from a “This impressed me” perspective and my Top 5 Colin Moments from a “I just really like this” perspective. Some of them overlap. Most don’t. Let’s go!!!

TOP 5 COLIN MOMENTS (performance-wise)

5. You Gotta Be Fucking Kidding Me

I have some complex love-hate feelings about The Rite itself, but one thing I unequivocally love is this scene. The slight eyeroll, the eyebrow twitch, the dialogue… Michael Kovak has had enough of these fucking frogs in his motherfucking hotel room. This scene puts Colin’s greatest strengths to good use. It’s adorable. It’s relatable. It’s understatedly funny. And if he’d been allowed to be this charming and likeable throughout the entire film, I have no doubt that America would’ve absolutely fallen in love with him. Alas, he wasn’t and they didn’t… but this scene, especially when compared to the rest of the film, perfectly illustrates the “certain something” that Colin undoubtedly has.

4. This Fucking Coward

I really think Colin’s acting in Storage 24 gets brushed aside too often. Yeah, yeah, I know; it’s a budget indie horror flick, it’s not a serious work… blah, blah, blah. Screw that. As ridiculous as the entire premise is (like all horror flicks) and as unimpressive as the film as a whole is, Colin streaks through this film thoroughly convincing the audience of two things: (1) he’s an asshole and (2) he’s scared out of his fucking mind. Most impressive is the scene above, where Mark’s fear overwhelms him to the point that he makes his most reprehensible decision yet. If Colin was a woman, I swear this role would’ve seen him getting endless offers for more (and better) horror flicks and he could’ve been the next latest hottest Scream Queen - because giving believable terror is a prerequisite for that job. But scared men in horror flicks are usually just side roles of someone’s nerdy friend who’s in the wrong place at the wrong time and gets killed off in the film’s one “comedic death” scene after a combined 7 minutes on film. It wasn’t a useful performance, so it gets ignored. But dammit, you guys, it was a good performance. Dude was fucking scared.

3. DA WHUMP

Look. I’m a connoisseur of whump. I watch a lot of it. I’ve seen tons of actors perform whump scenes. I’ve seen good acting, bad acting, and every flavor in between. So please believe me when I tell you that Colin does an absolutely amazing job with almost all of his whump scenes - and especially the ones in the Underworld arc of OUAT - and extra especially in the scene the GIF above is from. Drooling blood is something that is almost always NOT commendable, impressive, OR sexy - and yet, it’s all three of those things when Colin does it in those scenes. We also get winces, shudders, trembling, and even a bonafide whimper of all things. That man acted his fucking ass off in a scene where many, many actors would’ve phoned it in and let the stage blood do the talking for them. Believe me, I know this stuff - and if my lot in life is to be the weirdo that continually reminds the world how good Colin O’Donoghue is at portraying half-dead guys in bloody peril, I’M OKAY WITH THAT.

2. Dark Colin Rises…

I really think Colin did some of his best acting in the JJ Sneed episode of Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings. It really did a great job of showing off his derring ‘do… and his ability to flip on a dime and go from inspiring “what a charming rapscallion” responses to “holy shit I’m in danger” ones. I got literal chills the first time I saw JJ Sneed and he went full-on nasty on his cohort for the first time. Granted, we’ve seen Colin go dark in other roles (sometimes literally, hey-oooo), but JJ Sneed brought us some of the most realistic and unapologetic darkness we’ve seen - and Colin nailed it really well. Chills, I tell you people! Chills! This is precisely the kind of role Colin’s perfect for - and he nailed it so well.

1. The Entirety of His Role as Captain Hook

Look. Cheating is what I do, and I’m doing it right now, and if you didn’t expect me to do it, I mean, that’s really on you, isn’t it? But in all fairness, I’m not entirely cheating here anyway, because this entry isn’t about the individual scenes - it’s about the fact that he didn’t just play a role here; he built another whole human being that is so profoundly loved and understood by so many people that he lives on to this day in our memories and our hearts, and continues to have adventures in fanworks and lore. And it’s all the more impressive because Hook is so different from Colin himself in a lot of ways. Where Hook is ostentatious, bawdy, and confrontational… Colin is shy, considerate, and too nice to be an actual human being. My money’s on “angelic cherub that fell off a cloud, got amnesia, and was raised as a person.” but that’s a subject for another day…

TOP 5 COLIN MOMENTS (personal taste)

5. My Crazy-Ass Son

It might not be his best role. It might not be the best movie. But dammit, I love this completely batshit crazy character. Maybe it’s that I’m still pretty sure they had him step on a bear trap in the beginning of the film just so I could watch Colin wince and limp through the rest of the film. Maybe it’s the deep “monsters aren’t born, they’re made” philosophy of it all. Maybe it’s that he’s endearingly oblivious to his own evil anna’s disinterest proper marriage procedure everything. Maybe the jokes are too good. Maybe he just looks hot killing people. I dunno. I just adopted him for some reason, and woe be the person who tries to diss my crazy-ass son, ‘cos I fucking love him.

4. Detective Rogers

Here’s the thing. Colin did an amazing job acting like someone entirely unlike himself for 6+ seasons. Then, in the seventh season, he got a chance to create a cursed version of an alternate reality version of that same character and… he gave us this. And I’m gonna be honest, I don’t think Rogers took as much work for him to portray as OG Hook did, because he injected more of himself into Rogers - answering the age-old question of “What if you took Hook’s sexiness and combined it with Colin’s natural cupcakey goodness?” Now, do I think Rogers took expert acting chops to present to us? No. But do I love him with the burning passion of a thousand suns because he’s got more Colin in him than anyone else he’s played? Yes. Yes, I do. I would throw small children off a moving train for this man, but he would never ever ask me to, because he is a pure and precious peanut and I love him. (And yes, I’m cheating again. What are you going to do about it, huh? Just try and stop me.)

3. The Words

I mean… Come on. If you don’t spontaneously turn into a thirteen-year-old girl and start giggling and blushing like crazy every time you watch this, I don’t know you. It’s the Mountain Lodge Candle of music videos. You don’t actually need a man in your life; you just need to watch this video and know you’ve experienced the best that the male species has to offer you.

2. DA WHUUUUUUMP

Netflix probably still has my account flagged as “That nutter who watched the same two episodes of a 7 season series over and over and over again without ever watching any of the other episodes”.

1. Colin Himself