Megathread The Lara-Su Chronicles and Ken Penders topic - READ PAGE 164, POST 4096

[horridus]

At this rate, I think it's easier for Penders to die (some two years to release two pages, anyone?) than for him to release that shit.

And seriously, Hitler quotes? What the... Also, was Bollers as bad of a writer as Penders is? I like some of his characters.

Bollers could be pretty bad, but he at least had a few good ones under his belt, and at the very least could write people with more personality than Ken was capable of. And whatever his writing on Sonic? He's since moved on to bigger and better, even doing Eisner Award (very important US comic award) nominated work. 

Course, it helps that he didn't initiate the lawsuit or, afterwards, acted like an egomaniacal jackass, so maybe I'm just more forgiving because he's actually moved on in life. 

And there was never a straight up Hitler quote, just a lot of references. I misremembered something and didn't bother to double check. My bad there. 

[Maeson]

Nah, don't bother; this time I screwed up and mis-remembered. I coulda sworn there was a quote by the guy there, but I was wrong. 

That said, there are numerous references made to the 'stabbed-in-the-back' myth that was big in germany after WW1, one of those many things that would be utilized by Hitler and the Nazis in making Jews a scapegoat for every little awful thing going on and... yeah, you get the point. 

Point of order.. it's not impossibe to reference even the rise of nazism in a way that a kid might get, but that takes a good deal of skill and understanding. Things that Penders isn't really all that possessed of. 

Oh, don't worry, I screwed up earlier too.

And I agree about the last point, it's just that i don't see Sonic like a good place to talk about these themes, even less with Penders... 

I don't really believe that LSC is ever going to be released, but if it somehow came to pass? I'm terrified as to what 'deep issues' he'll cover in that book, specifically due to having seen how badly he's botched every other attempt at covering heavy issues throughout Knuckles the Echidna. Especially since his writing seems to have degraded along with his art. 

Yeah, I remember this:
 

 

So many BEATS between the SENTENCES... Although this was from a couple years ago, is there something recent, besides Lara-Su's Data File?

In some crazy weird way I want to see his comic made. I have a fascination for "so bad it's funny" things, like movies. I guess it's because it can take some "real skills at incompetence" to do something so awful, so wrong, that ends being hilarious and entertaining. But with so many delays and now this super awesome App... As time passes it's more difficult to become real.

At least we can adquire some phone cases.

[Verb & Noun]

There should be plenty left.

I'm still pretty amused at the price he's asking for them. I mean I guess it's technically a standard price, but nicer cases are available for five dollars. It's just that even if I like something and want to support it, I wouldn't buy something I can see the printing grain on.

[biznizz]

The talk about the religion in his works has made me wonder about the Lost Tribe story that he did.

If my memory serves me right, it went like this: Knuckles is pretty much browbeated by Athair into heapling a large group of nomad Echidnas into finding their Mecca Lost City of Albion. They left the city before the comet which was supposed to hit it destroyed it, then spent the the following years wandering the planet. They predated the Enerjak/Dark Legion schism. Hundreds of years ago. Haven't found a place to settle or their fabled city in all that time. I can only imagine how much inbreeding they had to do to remain 100% Echidna...

Anyways, so Athair more-or-less abandoned his Guardianship to watch over them, which meant he wasn't around when his wife died which caused his son to despise him; all because he got a prophetic dream about it. So he & Knuckles guide them, despite there being another prophecy that they'd all die in the incredibly vague "Days of Fury". Which turned out to be a localized Earthquake which was never mentioned ever again, since Knuckles got involved with the Rob O' the Hedge stuff which directly led them to Alblon. And somewhere along the way, Athair died.

They all did this, because the ones who left thought raising the city was blasphemous, and the Ancient Walkers, for some reason, decided that Athair & Knuckles should watch over them for some reason. Correct me if I got anything wrong.

 

So... there are a few things which are vaguely religious, such as the reason WHY they wandered around, and the talking to the Chaos influenced Dinosaur Gods who wanted them safe for some reason... What was Ken trying to say about religion in that story again?

[horridus]

So... there are a few things which are vaguely religious, such as the reason WHY they wandered around, and the talking to the Chaos influenced Dinosaur Gods who wanted them safe for some reason... What was Ken trying to say about religion in that story again?

That Knuckles is Jesus? 

[Salamander]

More like Moses, I guess?  The whole wandering-for-ages business is just the Israelites after their departure from Egypt, except they were looking for a homeland, not wandering around aimlessly because they'd left their original homeland and then didn't know how to get back.  Which seems pretty stupid?  I don't know the whole comic storyline, so I wouldn't want to chance any guesses on exactly how this is meant to work.

[biznizz]

That Knuckles is Jesus? 

Well, we knew that when he literally returned from the dead to save everyone from Cthulu aliens.

The wandering pilgrimage tribe sounds like it could be a Moses allegory, save for the facts that:

1) Knuckles didn't free his people from slavery, giving them a reason to seek a new land,

2) the Echidnas literally could have settled in any area that wasn't already inhabited, and pretty much made minor efforts to actually ally themselves with any locals (Echidna supremacy, ho!),

and 3) the Ancient Walkers have no real reason to want to shepard or protect the Lost Tribe, specifically or the Echidnas generally (since Tails was supposed to be their chosen one, due to Gallagher's early work, and Chacon's Gabrie's Titan Tails story). The Jews were at least the Chosen People of God; the Lost Tribe had no purpose to the Walkers, even in 25YL which was all Echidna, all the time plus boring Sonic family drama. If the Echidnas were the Chosen People of the Walkers, then it seems odd they let their hundreds of years long schism with the Dark Legion go on with no intervention, or even Enerjak who was theoretically a living Ancient Walker due to all the Chaos Energy he absorbed.

But they sought fit a bunch of wandering doofuses make it to their Suetopia. Was anyone really sad when Flynn killed them during his clean up phase?

[QuantumEdge]

Well, we knew that when he literally returned from the dead to save everyone from Cthulu aliens.

The wandering pilgrimage tribe sounds like it could be a Moses allegory, save for the facts that:

1) Knuckles didn't free his people from slavery, giving them a reason to seek a new land,

2) the Echidnas literally could have settled in any area that wasn't already inhabited, and pretty much made minor efforts to actually ally themselves with any locals (Echidna supremacy, ho!),

and 3) the Ancient Walkers have no real reason to want to shepard or protect the Lost Tribe, specifically or the Echidnas generally (since Tails was supposed to be their chosen one, due to Gallagher's early work, and Chacon's Gabrie's Titan Tails story). The Jews were at least the Chosen People of God; the Lost Tribe had no purpose to the Walkers, even in 25YL which was all Echidna, all the time plus boring Sonic family drama. If the Echidnas were the Chosen People of the Walkers, then it seems odd they let their hundreds of years long schism with the Dark Legion go on with no intervention, or even Enerjak who was theoretically a living Ancient Walker due to all the Chaos Energy he absorbed.

But they sought fit a bunch of wandering doofuses make it to their Suetopia. Was anyone really sad when Flynn killed them during his clean up phase?

I pretty much write the whole thing off as being just too darn overly complicated to such an extent that I doubt Ken had a completely clear idea of what he was doing.  There's so many plot points you mentioned that sorely needed an explanation, yet never came either from Penders not wanting to bother with such complexity, or he basically forgot about it and wanted to focus more on the newest surprise family member no.12,456.

So yeah, I'd say I'm not too beat up about Ian simply letting them go.  They were hardly characters to care for, but more a giant plot device with some biblical undertones that barely made any interesting stories.

Also, welcome back to the fire Biznizz.  Hope the frying pan was more comfortable while you were gone

Edited September 25, 2015 by QuantumEdge

[Maeson]

There should be plenty left.

I'm still pretty amused at the price he's asking for them. I mean I guess it's technically a standard price, but nicer cases are available for five dollars. It's just that even if I like something and want to support it, I wouldn't buy something I can see the printing grain on.

But that's why they are so great! They share the same level of quality as the comic. It's totally intended, I tell you.

About the religion themes, maybe Mr Penders just took things from different religious sources and slapped them together to create "his own story", and ended up being a mess, hard to understand by some and just flying over the head of others, because the "complexity" and the lack of answers combined with the increasing number of questions as the story advances, that obviously ended up not being answered too.

I see the Moses the most, but as biznizz said, it's not really an Exodus... erh... analogy? That's why I think he just grabbed what it sounded like something he could take advantage of and whatever he wanted to insert to continue his story.

At the very least I can say that Penders trying to shoehorn religion into Sonic makes me less uncomfortable than the christian Sonic fanart you find around the internet.

[horridus]

At the very least I can say that Penders trying to shoehorn religion into Sonic makes me less uncomfortable than the christian Sonic fanart you find around the internet.

Yeah, if only because in order to reach a general audience he simply picked out the most generic aspects of the Abrahamic faiths that he could, and even then, we got Knuckles walking on water and coming back from the dead ID

Left to his own devices though, we get... this. 

The Praetorian Shield. Which looks like the Islamic crescent and star turned on it's side, surrounded by Stars of David. 

While I could accept that at least part of that is meant to be 'The Praetorian's' birthmark, surrounding it with THAT particular star is... sketchy, to me. As was his reasoning for why it was okay... namely that Jewish people do not have a copyright on the shape. Which is technically true, but nobody in the Western World associates THAT star with anything else, and for him to act otherwise is deeply disingenuous. 

Edited September 26, 2015 by horridus

[Maeson]

You don't need copyright on something for people to relate certain pictures forms or images to it. It sounds more like an excuse for using that material, more than a reason for why using it... And even past that, so much jewish imaginery kind of ruins the feel that this is supposed to be another culture and universe. If it was more subtle I would have a different opinion.

But again, subtlety is not Penders' suit. This is the man that grabbed Angel Island and made a terrible photoshop job for his own projects "FLOATING ISLAND PRODUCTIONS" and was perfectly okay with it.

http://floatingislandproductions.com/

It's like the moment he saw Knuckles his life changed... "From that point on, everything was Echidnas Echyd'nyas..."

PS: Is that female character really named "Tsunami Underwater" on Ken's site? I mean, it could mean she's just diving or something, but the capital U makes it look like part of his name ...

[Salamander]

PS: Is that female character really named "Tsunami Underwater" on Ken's site? I mean, it could mean she's just diving or something, but the capital U makes it look like part of his name ...

There's another picture including her right after which confirms that her first name is Tsunami, but as for the "Underwater," it's harder to tell; capitalisation in the other photo captions is pretty erratic.  Sadly, I think it's probably not, partly as the image name is "TracyUnderwater," indicating I presume the actress's name and the description.  Still, I would be endlessly amused if Penders had really named a character "Tsunami Underwater."

[Maeson]

My exact feelings. Tsunami Underwater sounded too good to be real.

[biznizz]

And now I remember the Sonic/Image crossover, which was a shameless backdoor pilot for Lost Ones, somehow was absolutely lacking any detail about them.

 

And as for him still using not-Angel Island, I'm still shocked that even with his reboot and his overly complicated character bios, he still has yet to actually give the island a REAL name.

 

 

[Maeson]

It was Sonic Super Special 7, right?

it was crazy. So much unintended comedy. Scolder and Mully, SPAWN IN SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, Mr. Penders OC's that would later go to The Lost Ones for a colossal - yet Best-Selling - fail, Popeye and Archie cameos...

And then this:

I will never stop laughing. What were they thinking? There's no way this can't be seen in a wrong way. I can even hear Careless Whisper while seeing this, for added effect.

[horridus]

And now I remember the Sonic/Image crossover, which was a shameless backdoor pilot for Lost Ones, somehow was absolutely lacking any detail about them.

 

And as for him still using not-Angel Island, I'm still shocked that even with his reboot and his overly complicated character bios, he still has yet to actually give the island a REAL name.

 

 

You also forgot to mention how he tried to create a canon connection between the Sonic verse and his own new book by implying that in-universe Dr. Droid was the first Robotnik, and intended to then use Droid a the ultimate threat of his stories on Future Mobius. 

Oh, but it already has name! It's The Floating Island! And nothing else! Nope. Alien world would not be so creative as to call it something else. Just 'Floating Island'. Poetic naming is for losers!

[Maeson]

It could be worse, seeing the trend in Lara-Su... If Echidnas are Echyd'nyas, if Michael Taylor is Mykhal Taelor, maybe the Floating Island could be something worse if "penderized".

Some examples on top of my mind:

 Flo'atyng Ailend

Flowating Is-Land

Flou-Tin  Ysland

Copyright Infringement

and Angel Island 2: Electric Boogaloo

In fact, i made a poster for the last one:

 

...Why do I have so much fun being so stupid? 

[RetroRy]

Does he enjoy doing this stuff?  Let's sit back and see what "insider info" he thinks he has now.

[Ellipsis-Ultima]

^ Was that another LSC hint?

[RetroRy]

^ Was that another LSC hint?

Either that or him saying something is going down at Archie because he is always "in the know".

[ZDozer]

I'm still wondering why SEGA still doesn't bother putting him on his place.

The man copyrights his characters while he infringes other's. What a fucking hypocrite.

Edited September 28, 2015 by ZDozer

[SenEDDtor Missile]

I'm still wondering why SEGA still doesn't bother putting him on his place.

The man copyrights his characters while he infringes other's. What a fucking hypocrite.

Because at this point he's basically a fanartist/comic writer person. Until he actually sells it for a noticeable profit or he gets enough attention from a big audience to merit a cease and desist or something, he's pretty much just a minor nuisance at best.

[horridus]

Because at this point he's basically a fanartist/comic writer person. Until he actually sells it for a noticeable profit or he gets enough attention from a big audience to merit a cease and desist or something, he's pretty much just a minor nuisance at best.

Yep, this is it in a nutshell... as much as it annoys us for him to act like he's actually won something, the truth is, he hasn't really done anything yet, and he certainly hasn't done anything that would be worth anyone noticing. It'd be like if Sega and Nintendo were to drop the hammer CWC; what's the point? He has no career, his fanbase has vastly diminished, and he hasn't gotten anywhere near finishing or releasing this thing despite it being years since his announcement and him having no other job that we know of. It's irritating, but at the end of the day, he's not really 'getting away' with stuff so much as he's too insignificant to really care about from SEGA's perspective. 

Also, somebody decided to ask about that cryptic tweet of his.

I guess we can thus file that one under 'Stupid Plug for the series'. Which frankly is fine by me. I do not need to hear of anymore drama from this guy regarding legal stuff with Archie and SEGA. 

[Shaddy Zaphod]

Penders is kinda like Trump when you think about it. Prancing around things that should be illegal and shifting his work around and making excuses so that he comes out on top.

 

Also the colossal dickhole thing

[Maeson]

Well, for one Christian (Or Christine) Weston Chandler, our True and Honest warrior of love, was buying, tearing apart, piecing together, and adding Crayola F***** Model Magic to Amiibos to sell them afterwards. He uses Sonic and Pikachu Amiibos for creating Sonichu ones.

That and other things like his Sonichu Medallions, which has sold more than I would ever guess. And some drawings too. 

He even gave "proofs of authenticity" for each medallion. And IIRC, a little of his own hair, which is creepy.

...So in a sense, Colossal Chan is making a bigger profit, and it's making a better business out of Sonichu than Penders from Lara-Su.

...Yeah.

The guy that sung "So Need a Cute Girl" among MANY other things 1 - Ken Penders 0

Edited September 29, 2015 by Maeson
Typos!