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the-ghost-king · 3 years

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So I'm not going to start like an Anti-Chiron tag because I don't find that enjoyable personally, but every so often people ask why I dislike him so here's essentially a "masterpost" of my thoughts on that situation for when anyone asks, just so I have it to explain some...

This isn't nearly a full list, and there's many more "incidents" that make me less than fond of Chiron, I don't hate the old man but he leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I'm not a fan of that. He's a very twisted character.

- The Lightning Thief

This quote is literally just after Percy's mom "dies", they're all sitting on the porch of the Big House right after he's finally woken up after days of sleeping, and that's the line Chiron pulls out on him.

That's straight up emotional manipulation which was entirely unnecessary in the context of what Chiron was trying to explain. There wasn't a single reason for that, in the slightest.

Immediately following that, and Percy, who canonically has anger issues, does his best to remain calm, he is immediately threatened by Dionysus, and Chiron doesn't even tell Dionysus off for doing that; Chiron just let's it happen. It's Grover who has to speak up to tell Dionysus off...

The only reason Chiron comes out looking like a old guy in this scene is because Dionysus was so much worse in his behavior, at one point intimidating Percy with his power over madness.

- The Titan's Curse

This is the aftermath of when Nico ran away upon confirmation of Bianca's death. When Percy is telling Chiron about the situation, Chiron wishes Nico had been eaten alive rather than recruited into an army.

He'd rather a child be dead than fight against him, and he openly tells this to other children he's in charge of. If Percy went missing would he have said "I hope he was eaten <3" as well?

I don't blame Perry for not delivering the truth here, it was done in an effort to protect Nico; which wasn't something Annabeth had planned on doing... I don't blame Annabeth for that though either, she's been beneath Chiron so long that she probably doesn't realize the shady stuff he does, and to her "going to tell" probably was the "right" move because she was a child...

But the fact that Chiron believes Nico truly would be better off eaten than alive :/

- Tower of Nero

This quote from Tower of Nero shows that Chiron lied to a bunch of young children (most of them were young because the older campers are largely dead because of the war or too old for camp now). It wasn't just a little white lie that adults sometimes tell kids either; they were walking into battle and he told them it was a field trip.

Did he even begin to explain the danger he was putting these kids in? Did the children understand their situation? And how dangerous it was?

Kayla has been blindsided over the years into thinking that telling children they're going on a field trip instead of fighting a battle is something to make a joke of and not be questioned... (Again, I don't blame her she's only like 12 in the book, but still)

Apollo also agrees, which isn't on Chiron but it's a whole mother reason why I can't stand Rick's interpretation of Apollo...

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This isn't me being like "oh Chiron is the worst most evil character ever" I just think that he has numerous flaws which are largely ignored in favor of the "perfect wise teacher" narrative when in fact Chiron and Dumbledore share a lot of.. Offputting qualities.

I do think that some of the situation is simply a result of Chiron having his hands tied behind his back by the gods some. And he even goes so far as to confirm this in a scene of TLT

However many of the scenes in which he exhibits behaviors like that in my first three screenshots are not related to anything the gods require and are, in fact, of Chiron's own free will.

Some things I would blame Zeus and the council for, such as how he withholds information from Percy to an excessive amount for long periods of time even when Percy straight up asks about things. I could easily see that being Zeus trying to prevent Percy from claiming the prophecy as his own, and I could see reasoning that maybe Chiron had sworn over the River Styx or something similar.

But those things don't apply to Chiron making such an unnecessary comment about Percy's mother so close to her "death". It doesn't explain why he would say he hoped Nico had been eaten out loud, and it doesn't cover the fact that he led children into a battlefield without telling them that's what was happening.

I think the context of Chiron's choices and comments would be different if the campers were older. If they were in their late teens or early twenties for the most part, I wouldn't really have much to say about how Chiron handled the situation.

But this man is in charge of children and extremely young teenagers, Percy is only 12 in TLT, maybe if he would have been 16 or 17 then I could give Chiron a pass, but he wasn't. Within the context of the comment he made in the Titan's Curse, Percy is only 14 and Nico is 10 at the beginning of the book... You don't wish a 10 year old had been eaten alive by a monster no matter how bad you think the alternative is, and if you do wish that you don't say it out loud to a group of other children. In the battle from Tower of Nero we get a quick look at the battlefield, and although Ben's age, and the age of another girl fighting alongside him are never confirmed they are implied to be fairly young, and we know Kayla is only 12 at the time too; yet Chiron told them it was a field trip instead of a battle, limiting the time they would have to mentally prepare themselves for what was coming.

On top of that, the nods the reader gets to the fact that Chiron can't act out against the gods depletes over the course of the series. After TLT the amount of times the situation involves the gods interfering with what Chiron is allowed to say lessens, and by the time the Heroes of Olympus series comes around, these limitations on his speech is almost entirely gone. Yet as seen in Tower of Nero he still does morally questionable things in regards to how he treats the campers.

Like I said, I recognize that in many scenes Chiron's hands are tied behind his back because of the gods.. But there are undeniably things he does of his own free will that are, in the nicest manner, very :/

This also isn't a full list of comparisons just a few notable scenes. I don't think Chiron is equally as bad as Dumbledore, but I think it undeniable that Chiron has some significant flaws built into his character design.

A good character has flaws, and there's nothing wrong with having a character that doesn't always conduct themselves properly or have good intentions- it's actually good writing, and I can appreciate that, but for some reason I find myself personally rubbed the wrong way by Chiron. This doesn't make Chiron badly written, or poorly designed, in fact I would say Rick's Chiron is very well designed in lots of ways, but I just don't like how it's never acknowledged by anyone in the series.

Like I said, I'm not starting an anti-Chiron situation, I just think little events like those mentioned, the way he's built a child army, and how he doesn't even try to plead with the gods over raising the ages on campers being allowed to battle is a little sus. But it more so bothers me that there's no attention payed to this problem anywhere in the books, not even by a side character or Luke, nowhere.

I don't actually care that much and this isn't that important to me, but sometimes people ask why I don't like Chiron and this is basically just my explanation to hand off to them... It's not even so much that I dislike Chiron entirely, he's well written and has his "good" moments, I just don't like the way other characters interact with him and his actions.

It's more a personal beef with him rather than an aspect of poor writing or him "being bad"... PJO in general (and HoO/ToA to a much lesser extent) shows that there's not such an inherent good vs bad in the world, and that sometimes people are victims of circumstances in some situations, or they're horribly misguided in their actions, but the series does a good job of showing those people as human still, and I applaud that.

I don't really know how to tie this up in its entirety, but there's nothing wrong with having a morally grey character who does questionable things and in many aspects it is good writing. I think Chiron is a result of Rick not thinking through the implications what he's doing in lots of situations, and I can see a fairly consistent drop in Chiron's characterization from PJO-ToA which is consistent with most other aspects of Rick's work.

I also want to clarify that if you like Chiron and disagree with me, that's absolutely 110% okay, I just personally dislike Chiron and that's on me. Like my problem with many of Rick's other immortal characters, I think he missed important aspects of them in some manner and slightly (or entirely in some cases) mischaracterized them in comparison to their original myths.. Some of these characters he came around on and fixed their character in many aspects to their more "correct" characterization (like Hera), while others (like Chiron and Apollo) he never quite figured them out. Which is a running complaint I have with Rick so I'm just adding this to his tab.

But yeah, I don't hate Chiron I just dislike him and those are different things, and I don't think it's a bad thing to have a morally questionable character, Chiron just personally rubs me the wrong way and I just wanted to explain that more fully because I've been asked about it multiple times.

Also I apologize for not adding a [read more] to this, it's a complaint of mine often when scrolling through the tags but I'm on mobile currently and don't have immediate access to a computer so~

#pjo #Hoo #Chiron pjo #percy jackson #long post

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rimalupin · 6 years

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Here's something fun: Which Youtubers do you think the Midcin Suitors would follow?

Heya, Rizos! :D

Ooo girl, you are in luck: I binge-watch YouTube videos whenever I can get a break, so your ask is right up my alley, LOL. ^-^

Alyn

ALL. THE. BAKING. VIDEOS. He gets so excited when he watches them: he will actually whip out a notebook and start writing down the recipes that he wants to try (a.k.a. ALL OF THEM! xD).

He especially likes watching cake/dessert-decorating channels (think Rosanna Pansino and My Cupcake Addiction), mostly because he wants to brush up on his decorating & design skills~.

He’d also probably watch some horse-related videos (equestrian, racing, etc.) and maybe a few dog videos so he can get ideas of what tricks he could teach Arthur.

Sid

Another dog video person: he watches adorable dog compilation videos and wonders if he can teach Jess some tricks~.

He needs to stay up-to-date about what’s going on around the world for his job, so he’d probably watch some late-night show clips (think John Oliver and Stephen Colbert) for the sake of both serious and hilarious political commentary (Ya boy’s gotta stay woke AND maintain his sense of humor! :D).

He doesn’t like to admit it, but he used to watch a bunch of gaming channels before he got too busy with his job! :P

Byron

Also watches political commentary clips from late-shows because he wants to know what people outside of political positions/occupations think of the world.

But he’d much rather watch AsapSCIENCE videos, especially those that have to do with astronomy.

He also watches a bunch of pop culture/meme videos that Nico sends him in order to “help him keep up with what’s ‘cool and hip’”. Thanks to Nico, Byron now knows that PPAP and dabbing were “so last year.”

Albert

Another avid political commentary watcher. Also watches videos that summarize political events going on around the world (like “NowThis” and other news channels’ videos).

He’s definitely a CrashCourse fan! He especially loves the History Series~.

When he’s trying to destress, he looks up latte art videos. He’s always so amazed by how the baristas create their drinks~.

It’s Nico’s fault that he has so many meme videos on his watch history. Poor Albert has gotten Rickrolled by Nico more times than he can count… xD

Nico

In case y’all haven’t already figured it out, Nico is very much into meme videos: from YouTube classics (like Numa Numa) to Vine compilations (even though Vine is dead #RIP), he has an entire freaking ARSENAL of these videos. :P

He also likes watching prank videos to get inspiration for his own silly antics (like fousyTUBE’s old prank videos and Thomas Sanders’s “Pranks With Friends”).

He has fallen in love with parkour videos and he may or may not have tried to do some of the stunts (don’t worry: Albert is always there to catch Nico when he falls yell at him for being so reckless).

Leo

Another CrashCourse fan! He and Albert may have had a few CrashCourse binge-watching sessions together, LOLOL. :D

He also likes watching the book summary and analysis videos like CrashCourse Literature and Thug Notes.

He loves watching YouTube comedians, especially those whose videos are #Relatable (think Lilly Singh, Liza Koshy, Domics, sWooZie etc.). As y’all can tell, I too watch A LOT of YouTube comedians, haha~. :P

Giles

High-key cat video person, ESPECIALLY when he’s stressed (If he had a nickel for every time he watched the Keyboard Cat video, he’d be effin’ rich.).

His search history is FILLED with yoga and mindfulness meditation videos. It’s another good destressor that also helps him maintain a healthy mind and body~.

He also has a bad habit of watching cooking videos when he’s hungry, especially the sped-up recipes videos (like Tasty’s recipe vids).

He discovered CrashCourse thanks to Leo and Albert, so he’ll occasionally send the Princess some videos to help her with reviewing lessons~.

Robert

BOB ROSS. Oh, and other performance painting videos~.

He’d definitely be the kind of person to watch oddly satisfying video compilations (both ASMR and non-ASMR).

He also loves travel videos!

It’s Amber’s fault that he watches so many hedgehog compilation videos, haha~. c:

Rayvis

He claims that he doesn’t watch much YouTube unless there’s something remotely interesting to him on the “Now Trending” page.

But TBH, he’s a huge BuzzFeed fan: he watches their videos whenever he gets a break and/or just needs to de-stress (regardless of the “quality” of the vids). He has subscribed to ALL the BuzzFeed channels, but he doesn’t want to admit it, LOLOL. xD

I can also see Rayvis as a TED Talks fan. He’s honestly such a nerd for these videos, and he isn’t afraid to embrace it~.

Louis

Hair tutorials and hair product hauls galore. What? Even the best of the best need some advice on maintaining their luscious locks.

He absolutely loves song covers (from vocal song covers to instrumental versions).

I can also see Louis trying out crafting thanks to DIY videos~.

Although ballroom dancing is his forte, he also tries to learn some hip hop routines! Some choreographers he watches include Matt Steffanina, WilldaBeast Adams, Dytto, and more~! Yes, I also watch a lot of dance videos, LOLOL.

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repwinpril9y0a1 · 7 years

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Rant: Why I Gave Up on Micro Four Thirds Once and for All

If you’re thinking about moving to Micro Four Thirds or buying the E-M1 Mark II, read this first… it may actually save you money and headaches down the line.

For the past year and a half I have been shooting both the top of the range MFT and A7RII on professional assignments. Sadly, I often ended up frustrated by the poor low-light performance of Olympus’ cameras as well as the lack of 4K, which most of my clients ask from me when I shoot, for example, cinemagraphs.

Therefore, since December 2016, I’ve gone 100% for the Sony and dropped MFT altogether to cut my losses invested in this system as well as my cherished Ambassador status (which in reality meant very little). MFT cameras are useful; for street photography in particular, there’s no denying it. They’re light, compact, and generally they get the job done.

Part of the job anyway.

Full Frame or Micro Four Thirds

It’s an old debate, but I have a bit of an edge since I have used both in a professional setting and extensively for a quite a bit now. It’s all about learning, and hopefully I can help others avoid making the same mistakes I did.

I had great hopes for the Micro Four Thirds format, I really did. So much so that initially I sold my Canon DSLR and “downgraded” to MFT. That was pre-OMD. I say “downgraded” as indeed at the time mirrorless cameras were not quite ready.

Yet I could see the potential, or the marketing made me see it anyway.

Then came the OMD system with the E-M5, and that really upped the game. It was then followed by the E-M10, E-M1 and the rest. Last year I shot some photos for Olympus’ print brochure of the E-M10 MKII, I was in Prague for the release of the E-M5 MkII and my last Olympus camera was the Pen-F, which I just sold this week.

I really have used all of them.

As new cameras were released, as much as I was excited and saw plenty of improvements, there were still some major issues that didn’t really get solved for a while, and felt like a simple lack of listening to its users. As an ambassador I’ve never been consulted in over three years, or asked by Olympus “What would you improve, or what are your suggestions as a user?”

I think that’s a big omission from them, after all it’s free market research to ask your biggest and most faithful users. Or you could ask your users on Twitter or Facebook… I don’t know, just freaking ask.

1) How long did we wait for 4K?

This has been talked about a lot, but if a system is trying to attract the pros, it needs to offer what other pro systems offer. Tired of waiting, this was one of the main reasons I went for the A7RII in July 2015.

When a client asks if you can shoot 4K, you want to say yes. Trust me. It’s a bit embarrassing otherwise.

Sure, some would ask why not go for Panasonic instead, who have been offering 4K for a while now. The reason is simple: other MFT failings, which I’ll get to, mean Panasonic would be no better.

Yes, it’s 2017, and the E-M1 MKII will have 4K. Great news Olympus, just in time for other brands to release 8K (aka “I was late at the 4K party”).

2) The high ISO performance has always sucked and still sucks

It’s easy to keep claiming MFT low light performance is good or improved, but it isn’t once you try a full-frame camera. I can shoot at ISO 3200 or even 6400 on the Sony (it’s not even the A7S) and be more than happy with the results… they’re impressive.

With Olympus, I am seriously reluctant going over ISO 1000 (dare I say even 800) as all the detail is lost.

3) The auto-focus just isn’t good enough

Alright alright, the EM1 MkII is out soon and apparently it’s got the best AF in the universe. Similar claims were made with all previous models, beginning with the E-M5… I’m bored of waiting.

Try focusing in low light or on anything without a clearly defined contrast and you will be pulling your hair out. I lost my cool recently trying to focus on a simple berry on a branch that was 40cm away, so I won’t even try to explain how many shots I lost in the street from slow focusing.

It says a lot when manual focus is the best option.

4) The image quality

I know the Sony costs quite a bit more, and that I’m basically comparing a Ferrari with a Ford Focus here. Obviously, you get what you pay for. But as photographers we all want the truest representation of what we saw when we pressed the shutter.

The Sony A7RII allows that, hence this article and my decision to move on.

5) The dynamic range is far superior on the Sony

If a camera can help reduce the time I spend in Photoshop pulling out shadows and fixing what it didn’t get properly, it’s a winner.

Not only does the Sony capture more details in the shadows without the need to over-expose your highlights, but it also allows you in “worse case scenarios” to pull an incredible amount of details from shadows if really needed from the RAW files and even the JPEGs.

6) The endless choice of compatible lenses for the Sony system

Being able to use Canon, Voigtlander, Leica lenses and many more on it with an adaptor is just perfect. Whilst Sony full-frame lenses are pricier and, yes, pretty big, you can still find great deals online for second hand third party lenses.

I particularly like the Voigtlander Nokton 50mm f/1.5, as it’s tiny.

7) You’ll make new friends

Okay, I can’t honestly claim this BUT… people do know that camera! I spent one morning in Shoreditch and three people stopped me to talk about the A7RII.

You know why that matters? Not for your popularity it doesn’t matter. But if so many people know about it, I tend to associate this with the good reputation this camera has.

8) Build quality

This reason should actually go straight to number one. I have had three main problems with Olympus cameras:

(1) If you know me you’ll know I am the most freakishly careful with my gear. I never scratch a camera. (I have never in my life broken a mobile phone screen. Enough said). And yet, each time I have a new Oly camera, it gets scratched in days. Sometimes I fear if I look at it it may get damaged. And after enough cameras I’ve logically deducted that the paint job is rubbish.

I’ve had my Sony for nearly one and half years: NOT ONE SINGLE SCRATCH.

(2) I also had a sensor issue very early on my E-M5 Mark II. The camera had to be sent out and the sensor was replaced but no explanation was given as to why exactly it did fail.

(3) Finally, on the Pen-F the battery door is made of the cheapest plastic on a super flimsy hinge and falls off quite easily. Not what I expect from a thousand pound camera.

9) Who is the genius who placed the tripod screw on the PEN-F?

Just a last one for the road. Seriously though Olympus??? I challenge anyone to mount the Pen-F on a tripod with the M.Zuiko 12‑40mm f2.8 PRO or most other lenses and not damage them! The screw is wayyyyyy too far at the front of the camera.

What that means is the lenses get damaged by the tripod plate. It’s a perfect example of designers that are too detached and don’t actually use cameras.

I know some of you will be surprised by what may seem like a 180 degree change of mind on Olympus cameras, others who know me well will be less surprised. I’ve owned the A7RII since July 2015 so I’ve had time to write this article and think about it.

Olympus has had it coming. They were not interested in hearing my opinion so here it is anyway.

I’ve been biting my tongue for about two years now, still enjoying Olympus cameras but knowing deep inside that my time using that system was coming to an end. It’s not so much dislike as a realization that I need to move on and choose what’s best for me, for my photography, and for the work I deliver to clients.

If you still doubt what I am saying here, ask yourself this question:

Would a professional photographer move to a new system, lose money reselling camera and lenses, buy a new camera and set of lenses that costs so much more etc… for no valid reason? I own a business. Trust me, I have to make very careful decisions. I sadly have no money to throw out the window!

I now know Olympus specifically, and Micro Four Thirds in general, will just never cut it versus full frame. You only need to use both to understand why.

I actually predict Olympus will possibly pull-out of this format (they’ll deny it of course) which will eventually disappear as full frame and medium format mirrorless cameras will be reduced in size close to MFT. Size is (or was) MFT’s biggest selling point.

I’m more confident now delivering photos to clients and when I actually compare the results it’s an improvement. The camera may not matter, it’s our vision that does, but I want a tool that at the very least doesn’t make it difficult for me and is faithful in the reproducing what I see.

Olympus, if you care, next time listen to your users and people you list as ambassadors—they’ll no doubt help you get it right.

Full Frame or Micro Four Thirds? I’ve made my decision.

About the author: Nicholas “Nico” Goodden is a London-based professional photographer specializing in urban photography, street photography, and attention-grabbing micro video content such as cinemagraphs and timelapse. You can find more of his work on his website or by following him on Instagram. This post was also published here.

Image credits: Voigtlander 42.5mm Test Shots by Zhao !

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