extremely-judgemental

[extremely-judgemental]

I love the fact that half of Velaris is just artisans and somehow Feyre is the first to realise art is therapeutic and opens the first ever art school for children.

[extremely-judgemental]

gotta be honest I just fundamentally don't get the concept of hatewatching. like sure I've put a dumb movie on during a get together with friends to get silly entertainment out of it. but whenever another disney live action remake or harry potter thing or whatever comes out and I have to see posts on my dash being like "boycott it! if you REALLY have to see how bad it is at least pirate it!!" I'm always like. bitch you live like this? you watch movies you know you'll hate? you take time out of your day - and you have a limited number of days on this earth - to watch a movie you'll hate, when there are so many great movies in the world that you could love? I'll never understand it.

[extremely-judgemental]

friend just told me that he and his siblings used to play a game called "abraham lincoln and the slimy slug" wherein one person is abraham lincoln, with a full range of motion, and one person is a slimy slug inside a sleeping bag

and they would fight. and of course abraham lincoln would just beat the absolute shit out of the slimy slug

[extremely-judgemental]

Idk if this will cure your anxiety but at least have a good laugh @highlordofkrypton

some Superman (2025) letterboxd reviews I wanted to share.

[extremely-judgemental]

[extremely-judgemental]

I was so ready to move on from this fandom but I just saw a post with the end-of-the-book disclaimer in MAF with the hotline tip on it, and these were the tags.

#acotar#tamlin#tamlin acotar#pro tamlin#*smiling ominously*

That's it. I have filtered out every tag with Feyre and Rhysand. And this still slipped by because. . . just look at the damn tags. This is clearly a rage bait. This is the kind of behaviour I am talking about.

Anyone who likes Tamlin is fully aware of his shortcomings and know exactly where he went wrong and why, and recognise his efforts to make amends when the chance was presented to him. If someone completely ignores his wrongs, go ahead and preach about abuse and enlighten them or play saviour, whatever you do.

Seriously, do you even have one reason to genuinely hate the character without the abuse as an excuse?

Readers don't condone his behaviour, they sympathise with his trauma, his pain, his fears, his mistakes, the guilt and shame that comes with it. That's called being human and they are doing the most humane thing to do, empathise.

I know psychology is wasted in this fandom because y'all love being fucking nuts. Still. It literally isn't a judgement of your character even if you empathise with the most sinister person to ever exist. In fact it proves the depth of your perception and intelligence.

And you know there are two people in that abuse, actually three. Feyre and Rhysand are not innocent. Feyre abused Tamlin too in the beginning, she wasn't always passive and reacting to her circumstances. She was manipulative and prodding at a cornered man with her constant threats. Still readers empathise with her because they could understand her helplessness and suffocation, that doesn't make her completely blameless.

Since the focus is solely on Tamlin, it is all you are relying on, which proves you don't really care if there was an abuse, you just want a valid excuse to hide behind.

You need ONE woman to tell you that it was abuse? Okay, no judgement there, it's hard to recognise sometimes.

But there are hundreds of men and women across platforms explaining how Rhysand and Cassian are abusive too, the most common, unsuspecting kind too. Where is the outcry for survivors and victims now? Why isn't there an ick for these two men? Why are their fears always understandable? Why, as a woman, you can understand a man's excuses to hide the truth about pregnancy but not the fear of real women in real world who are living that shit and dying?

Just so all this is coming from a published author doesn't mean everything she pens is the fucking truth. She is a very flawed, prejudiced woman who doesn't clearly understand abuse herself. If you base everything on disclaimers alone, you will end up with only the beliefs the world feeds you and lack the criticality to decide if it applies to you or is in alignment with you.

That warning wasn't a fucking gotcha. It fast-tracked the plot by miles with just one simple phone number and some 'heartfelt' words.

It put SJM as a progressive, feminist writer on the map when the literature has always centered around men and at a time people started talking about abuse openly.

IT WAS A MARKETING STRATEGY. You people don't understand how much SJM or the publishing house don't care about you or your welfare but only how to get the money from your pockets.

Even if the author realises how abusive Feysand and Nessian are, she won't add a disclaimer to these book at this point as it boxes them into one genre: Dark Romance. Or something equivalent to it. Instantly it vanishes out of school libraries. Bookstores and public libraries won't flaunt them at their doorsteps. People won't talk about them so freely. As a money maker, you don't want any of that. Have you tried telling your parent you love reading dark content? No one bats an eye at the neat 'Romance' label.

I don't like any of these characters. So I cannot pretend that I don't understand other's distaste when it comes to some of them. But at least have the basic courtesy to seek your people and engage in a non-toxic discourse instead of blasting this shit for clout.

[extremely-judgemental]

I disagree with the whole 'XX don't owe anything to YY'.

This applies when YY is expecting a relationship and forcing it onto XX when there are explicit signs, said or unsaid, that the latter has no intentions for it.

Morrigan has been leading Azriel for 500 years. As much as she flirts with Cassian to use him as buffer in her friendship, she also does the same with Azriel every time he begins to question her feelings for him, or lack of it. She is actively getting his hopes up once in a while to keep her sexuality hidden (don't know how that works when she has never slept with him or willing to, and she could've stopped with Cassian, I mean, one boytoy should be enough to trick everyone). And when he acts on it, she hurts him by picking other guy in the room. And to make it worse, Cassian and Rhysand also play into this game to indulge her.

Morrigan didn't owe Azriel anything when she rejected him the first time. But after exploiting his feelings for centuries, she owes him an explanation and apology.

The same can be used to explain Elain and Lucien. She can decide how she wants to live her life but stringing him along while pursuing another is mean.

I am starting to feel the women in these series can be cruel to men without reason and they still get a pass because they are *independent* and *girl power* when in truth it has nothing to do with men or their expectations, but if they are decent people. Which they are not.

Cassian and Mor’s relationship is something else.

Let’s forget about how horrible they are to Nesta for a second and point out how they are both horrible friends to Azriel.

If you knew that one of your best friends had a thing for someone why on earth would you go out of your way and sleep this that person???

And as well, instead of just facing the issue head on and putting up a boundary to say you’re not comfortable with what’s going on why would you lead someone on for over 500+ years using their best friend as a buffer????

I actually don’t know which is worse? The mere fact that they claim to be friends with him and then sit there flirting with one another in front of him when you know he has feelings for this girl , that’s just mean.

And before you come for me I know Mor doesn’t ‘owe’ Azriel anything but I think it’s basic decency to be upfront and honest with him.

[extremely-judgemental]

Assuming these are all based on canon, the current top three is taking me out. But some of the choices are even funnier.

Rhysand? If he becomes Spidey, everyone and their grandmothers will know. He can't shut up about how he is the misunderstood guy. Villains don't get a chance to monologue because he is hogging up all the trauma dump. "Change takes time" Rhysand will be the laziest spiderman to ever exist😂 And Spiderman is all about defying authority and systems in favour of the people. Who will he be defying? Himself?

Same with Cassian and Morrigan. Can't live a double life. They physically won't stop flexing their powers or good deeds.

Lucien is more like Venom. He might do the work but grudgingly. He will be miserable every minute of it. He doesn't want to be here, he doesn't even know how he got here. But he will do it because that boy is possessed by obligations and he wasn't running this show anyway until this point, so whatever.

Azriel. . . okay. Boy doesn't have a sense of right or wrong, or just empathy to begin with. "With great power comes great responsibility" yeah he's out. He's got no time to worry about others when he is busy pitying himself.

And Feyre reminds me of Green Goblin. Ifykyk.

[extremely-judgemental]

Warning: Mild tangent.

I strongly believe it won't even be a debate whether Nesta was 'imprisoned' in HoW if the readers had any proper spatial sense.

I am an Indian raised as a Hindu in my home country. We find a hill/mountain in our lands, we carve a temple on it. At the highest peaks. The strenuous journey is a form of purging and meditation and a sign of sincerity of your prayers and devotion, well anyway that doesn't matter here.

We actually have a real temple atop a mountain with 10 000 steps. It's called Dattatreya situated at ~3 300 ft and you can find more details here on the journey itself and how much prep goes into for ONE trip. You cannot complete this journey in one day and it is not advisable as such. The path itself is split into two so the visitors could rest and replenish. Moreover the photos you might find are the structures built as part of more recent renovations to some degree in order to ease these climbs.

The most common misbelief is that since the steps are built in, it must be easier than hiking or rock climbing, two activities that have become widely popular in the western world, when it isn't a right comparison.

The temple I recently visited had roughly 600 steps at an altitude of 350 m. This number is for the modern stairway that is similar to those in your common residential buildings. But the older ones must round up to much smaller count and they are coarser, jagged with sharp, rough edges. Imagine 2-3 steps collapsed together under high pressure and that's how high each one would be.

(I don't have my photos of those steps or the winding path with me. If I find them, maybe I will post them later. This is the view from the peak of the hill I found on google. This is just 350 m which should be around 1 000 ft.)

Statistically, the uphill trek is much safer compared to downhill and anyone who's climbed these paths will attest to this. The biggest problem of upward path would be retaining your strength and though the downward one feels easier and exerts least energy, it is dangerous as you are more prone to tripping and falling to death. It isn't the same as rolling down a curved rocky surface with serious bumps. Remember the ragged steps we talked about? You will get injured one way or another. You have no idea how high the death rate is for these hills with steps.

I usually take the death trap stairs as I find it an exciting challenge. I am of average build by Indian standards and have decent stamina. It was a long time ago but if I am right, it took close to 30 mins to climb those 600 steps for me. Now can y'all do the math for 10 000 steps or shall I do it for you?

And here we are talking about a woman who is malnourished from self-inflicted starvation and been self-sabotaging for a while, clearly dealing with depression and a form of PTSD.

What's unbelievable is that the injuries she sustained from the fall and the fall itself are described so vividly and yet people don't get how brutally she was hurt. Nesta almost died. It isn't an exaggeration, but a very, and I cannot emphasis this enough, likely outcome in this scenario.

But hey, it's just 10 000 steps if she really wanted to get out. Babe, you don't even hit 5k on your daily steps on levelled ground.

And I will forever hate Cassian for laughing at her when she reached the house again. Yes, it was abuse. He was revelling in how 'humbled' she was by the failed attempt when she barely survived. He heard her fall! And still didn't help because he needed her stubbornness and resolve broken.

And I will also forever hate Feyre for this. She was manipulated, okay. But she is twenty and has common sense? Just cause she is a daredevil who is jumping at every chance of death, it doesn't mean everyone else should suffer like she does.

My point is what the IC did to Nesta is far worse than what Feye accuses Tamlin of.

We've been shown Prythian is dangerous from book one. Creatures were luring Feyre. Rhys literally beheaded fae and put their heads on spikes to threaten Tamlin not to mention the fact that you can't see the bogge which is terrifying in itself. There's a lot of other dangerous things in Prythian. Yet Tamlin stopping Feyre who hadn't yet learned to control or use her new powers and was traumatised and newly fae from patrolling with him and Lucien is a huge problem for some people but Nesta being locked up because she was using alcohol as a coping mechanism and sleeping around (like the IC but apparently that's different) is not the same because she had 10,000 steps to climb down (who can actually walk down 10,000 steps realistically?) and it was to protect her. Right ok. I don't see how that makes sense.

[extremely-judgemental]

✨MAKE YOUR OWN ACOTAR OC✨

I wasn't officially "tagged" for this but it looks like super fun, so here we are. Don't worry I have blessings from mother @highlordofkrypton

For all those who want to play, answer based on yourself as truthfully and honestly as possible! You are the OC!!

PICK A COURT BASED ON YOUR PERSONALITY AND WHERE YOU WOULD THRIVE

Definitely Autumn. Hate summer, winter is cool but I would be in perpetual rest and useless my whole life if it snows all the time. Spring sounds too chirpy and Tamlin is hosting one celebration after another for everyone, so no. Day would be too bright. I'd manipulate my way into Velaris but not worth it. Dawn might work, everything in moderation, maybe if I knew more about this court.

PICK WHAT FAE YOU WOULD BE/ANY TYPE OF CREATURE:

This is gonna sound basic, but hear me out. Mermaid. Being pretty and cute 24x7 365 days a year while also be able to unhinge your jaw and devour someone whole, yeah that is just the dream. OR a selkie and if I were one, I'd wanna be MALE because my mate crying blood for my acceptance has its own appeal🙂 Or speaking of devouring, I could be a carnivore like butterwort but in a humanoid form. That would put me in Spring I guess, so maybe back to being a sea monster.

PICK A MAGIC YOU RESONATE WITH:

Would it be healing? A Shadowsinger? Elements?

Okay elemental magic is a given and water already comes with a lot of inherent powers. At this point, I'd be Feyre if I wanted more. Anyway I am pretty good with psychology and it resonates well with water and intuition, so maybe I could be some sort of psychic (way to ruin magic with science, yay me)

WHO WOULD BE YOUR MATE?

Pick one who would truly be a second half for you! (Characters with established mates count, because this is your story!)

I am really stumped with this one. There is literally not a single character I would tolerate for more than a day if they were just themselves. Someone who doesn't talk much and lets me do my thing without bothering me and isn't desperate to be attached to the hip. Let's see. There's Tamlin, Nesta, Azriel (lol trust that boy has such attachment issues that he *will* leave me alone). Everyone else runs their mouth for longer than a minute and I will eat them😇 Maybe you decide based on everything else going on here.

WHAT WOULD BE YOUR OCCUPATION?

IDK I would be off in my cave polishing the bones of my victims because I like my things shiny. Ooooooooohhhh I could be Amarantha's jeweller!!

BESTIES?

I promise you no one there would like me. I am the most unfazed motherfucker to be alive that with all the drama going on, I'd still be like 'sure sure let me eat you now'. (Tamlin would let me eat him for sure🙂) Or I'd trick everyone!! I'm that friend whose house you've never been invited to once or even know where they live but you believe you are their only bestie (NOT based on true events) Long story short, I will be hunted by Cassian for funsies or Amren for my hoard.

WHERE WOULD YOU LIVE?

Obviously a cave. Just sweep the shit off your floor once a year or something and brand new home every time! But I am a hoarder, so there will be a mantle or treasure chest to keep my trinkets.

FAV MAGICAL OBJECT:

Have no clue. A cursed object would be cool though.

FAV PLACE TO HANG OUT:

Unless I can grow legs and walk lands, some ruined submerged temple or something.

FOUR OUTFITS: PARTY, EVERYDAY, TRAINING, WORK

Well we are underwater, what is the point of clothes? But if I had to wear something, probably Velaris curtains since anything heavier than that after a lifetime of no clothes and I'll start weeping.

And no training since I'll be swimming all the time, that is workout enough.

Got no idea who might actually enjoy this. Goes without saying, I forget people if I haven't interacted with in a while. So you're welcome to play if you're interested even if not tagged. @reblogandlikes @room217prayer @litnerdwrites @flat-neines @umthisistheonlyusernamenottaken @springdusk @exiledandwanderingfox and @dionysuswineglass (you were a pain to find fyi and if you aren't a spring creature with thousand eyes or something living in the woods scaring/haunting everyone, this sucks)

[extremely-judgemental]

SJM only being done with the first draft is sooo funny to me after watching people incorrectly predict release date announcements once a month

[extremely-judgemental]

Oh these people are good. No word about the series progression for years and all of a sudden the TV deal falls through and then comes the talks about merch deals and now book 6 is finally being teased all in just a matter of few months. You all are never getting out of this limbo until the day she dies.

[extremely-judgemental]

This may be besides your point. But SJM is just that much of a terrible writer.

When a character is about to double cross at some point in the narrative usually there are hints to it. A minor wording choice, an overlooked line, a bit of a hesitation in their action, or just a behaviour that suggests to the reader that this character still has hope (or none, if the arc is downward).

Instead, her characters go about life like nothing happened and one day burst into a monologue revealing their mastermind plans after they have convinced everyone of their betrayal.

If not for the last fight or the abuse confession, Rhysand UtM has nothing to prove he ever allied with Amarantha unwillingly. It's hard for many to believe Tamlin was spying Hybern for months when nothing in the narrative hinted at that while Feyre was in Spring. It was only revealed after with his proof and help. Jurian does everything to piss off the ones around him and suddenly appears at the mortal lands, again with intel.

Sure, their help served a lot in the long run (not Rhysand, he is just a dick) and aligns well with their true personality and cause, but even the readers have no clue whether the character has completely lost their mind or there will be some other trajectory. You never at one point go, 'now all that makes sense!' If the readers didn't miss anything, the characters didn't either.

All because SJM can't fucking write and thinks these are good twists.

What exactly made the ic believe Jurian was going to side with Hybern, who wanted to enslave humans? You know, the same Jurian who fought in the War to free all humans? The Jurian who is human himself?

Especially as they all knew him?

[extremely-judgemental]

Things I Wish I Knew Earlier In Fandom

But maybe these will help somebody now.

Most of your fandom experience is shaped by who you follow. Find a good group of people and stick with them.

Support your favs and a lot of them will become your friends, or at least be friendly back to you.

Just unfollow people who bring unwanted content or negativity onto your dash.

Block people who cause you stress. It’s not worth your time to focus on parts of fandom that don’t make you happy.

Blacklisting words/tags is a tool you are allowed to use as much as you need to.

Don’t feel like you have to pretend to like things that make you uncomfortable in order to fit in. Set healthy boundaries for yourself.

Never tag your hate. Never send hate anons to someone.

Content creators love getting comments, seeing people gush in the tags on reblogs, and getting fans in their inbox. It’s the best way to motivate them to keep making awesome stuff.

If there’s certain content you want to see but it doesn’t exist yet, then make it. Draw the thing, write that fic. If you can’t, then comission an artist or writer, or send someone a prompt if they’re open to it. If you can’t do that either, then write meta or headcanons about it. Put it into the world.

Create what you love. Do it for yourself first and foremost, and if even one other person likes it too, then that’s a bonus.

[extremely-judgemental]

hi !! I just came across your tumblr, im very interested in your blog and I agree with many of your points. I was reading your post about the characterization of the different women (or "females" as sjm says 🙄) and i was wondering how you personally interpret sjm's choice to have elain kill hybern? esp in such a violent way? bc i agreed with how you described her (and others) overall, but that moment in the book rly stuck out to me as almost a wild card moment? idk if that makes sense.. anyways ty have a nice day

Hi and thank you. As I like to say, this blog is my version of purging of anything ACOTAR from my life. All that negativity needs to go somewhere.

It makes perfect sense and I get what you mean. That moment felt very out of character for even Elain who’s been a blank slate until then. Tbh I’ve stopped looking for some heavy, underlying meaning in these books as even the author has no clue who her characters are most of the times.

If the series had ended with WAR, like initially planned, this sudden spark of courage would have been Elain, for the first time, stepping up for her sisters who have been doing the unimaginable for her all their lives—Feyre earning a living, and Nesta becoming the maternal figure and baring all faults and blame. This could have been the mark of her ‘love’ we’ve been teased with throughout the series with no actual proof in text.

But now that the series just keeps going, it’s a hinting to her journey of becoming next Feyre. Both her sisters have a form of corruption to their characters because of their choices. Feyre indirectly contributes to Claire’s death, goes onto kill and maim repeatedly and takes pride in that. On the other hand, for Nesta, it’s more emotional with her cowardice, selfishness, temper, and everything else the narrative accuses of her. Elain has both of these and yet she has this very sheltered image, one of purity and innocence, that everyone around her advocates to preserve. She has always been selfish and manipulative. And like you said, the killing was extremely violent—okay, at the risk of geeking out here—Elain is attacking someone or something for the first time, and considering the differences in their physique and her natural instincts, it’s a lot feasible and appropriate if she aimed for the heart, especially from behind. Instead she goes for the neck! (IIRC the truth-teller only secures the mark, not pick one) It’s along the same vein of Feyre going for the wolf’s eye. It’s brutal, it’s calculated which makes it all the more vicious.

If you ask me, SJM doesn’t know how to portray soft characters—men or women—as she can’t tell what true strength means and so she resorts to the masculine standards. And she can’t write a compelling story without bloodshed and deaths. As long as these are just side characters like Elain in ACOTAR or June in CC, and can be set aside for the majority of the plot, she is comfortable riding the non-violence wave. She doesn’t have to build them or focus on their interiority but have them serve as foils for her badass female leads. But the moment they become the focal point of her story, they need to wield a weapon to prove themselves. In the end, it always boils down to misogyny in her books.

(Although, she did accidentally create the perfect soft character in Gwyneth, only because she was meant to be a sidekick for Nesta. Even then, one of the biggest milestones in her healing is becoming a warrior and winning the Blood Rite where she proves she is equal to any man. Isn’t that every girl’s dream🙂)

As of now, Elain has no reason to grow or change. She is forgiven for her inaction during the poverty and is universally loved. Her storyline might not have been all laid out when this scene was written, but this (along with the speech about her ‘invisibility’) helps bridge and soften her transition. This is supposed to break the mould she’s been put in so when she is eventually given a sword and sent off on a quest in her book, it doesn’t feel forced or coerced.

PS I’m sorry I laughed so hard when I opened this. It’s just hilarious to get an Elain ask after I had a major crash out about her recently lol.

[extremely-judgemental]

[extremely-judgemental]

for some reason, "you can just do an art project" unlocked a realization that "you can just make art" wasn't able to access.

like yeah i know i can set aside an afternoon and sketch a still life.

but also i can, like. select a random marine creature from a hat and then research them and then spend a bit of time in the evenings and weekends over the course of a few weeks making a diorama.

or i can make an abstract sculpture out of scrap cardboard and masking tape, and then paper mache over it, and then paint it.

or i can draw something with markers and color it in with crayons.

i dunno why it took me so long to realize that, in the same way that i can revisit the games and hobbies that i enjoyed as a kid, and i can orchestrate "presentation parties" so my friends and i can flex our slideshow animation skills, i can also Make Art, Grade School Style (and not just Grownup Art/School Style)