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


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Expies. As much as he can and still get away with it with the characters he's created/bought out.

 

So you have King Max (he created the name, so odds are he'd just look different), Queen Alicia, Elias and (for a hypothetical example) Callie Acorn. Who fought with the Freedom Front to save the world from the tyranny of Dr. Ian Droid and possibly Droid's nephew Snarky. Oglivie Maurice Hedgehog, son of Jules & Bernie, and nephew of Uncle Chris became King of the Kingdom of Acorn, who has a unsteady relationship with the Praetorian of the Floating Island, K'nox, father of Lara-Su.

Oh yeah, K'nox... Can't believe I forgot about him.  Putting him into account, I don't think you're far off from what Ken would pull if he decided to do that, despite the fact that it would only make this look like more of a really poor, tinny fanfic than it already does.  And that's not including how close he's pushing it to the borderline of what's a genuinely new characters and legally questionable expies.

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Maybe Mykhal Taelor is there just to make people insert themselves. I mean, who doesn't want to be Eddie Murphy surrounded by alien furries?

After all, we see in things like american cinema how the movies are made so the american public can insert themselves easily, for example by making protagonists from other countries have "murican accent". Or being a family man, even when the family is just there to do NOTHING and doesn't have any character.

Maybe he wants that readers can get into it by using Mykhal Taelor, as he is the "normal" one. It's stupid, but hey, not the stupidest thing i would have seen.

Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if it's his own self-insertion on the universe "he created" either...

 

Penders has pretty much said that that's exactly the case; he's there to grant a human perspective on the Echyd'nya and their culture or whatever. Most people who saw this wondered why the heck he was splitting up main character duties away from the title character, given how much Penders had hyped her up before hand. Personally, I just took it as yet another sign of his disinterest in actually trying to write from the perspective of a teenage girl. And no, I'm not even going to pretend he's going to actually try and write these people with an alien mindset. The only reason he harps on them being 'alien' is to justify behaviour that would be regarded as logic-defying by humans, because honestly, they're all just short furry humans. 

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Expies. As much as he can and still get away with it with the characters he's created/bought out.

Oh sure, when he does it, it's a-okay. But when someone like Bioware does it, he goes to war with them.

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Expies. As much as he can and still get away with it with the characters he's created/bought out.

 

So you have King Max (he created the name, so odds are he'd just look different), Queen Alicia, Elias and (for a hypothetical example) Callie Acorn. Who fought with the Freedom Front to save the world from the tyranny of Dr. Ian Droid and possibly Droid's nephew Snarky. Oglivie Maurice Hedgehog, son of Jules & Bernie, and nephew of Uncle Chris became King of the Kingdom of Acorn, who has a unsteady relationship with the Praetorian of the Floating Island, K'nox, father of Lara-Su.

I think you overestimate him here. If he's still using "Mobius," "Kingdom of Acorn," and "Floating Island," I'm sure he'd argue that the concept of Freedom Fighters is one generic enough that he could use without reprisal.

Using "Oglivie Maurice Hedgehog" would be nothing short of amazing, though. I mean, even more than K'Nox was. Enough that you'd have to think that was his plan all along by introducing that name in the first place.

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Penders has pretty much said that that's exactly the case; he's there to grant a human perspective on the Echyd'nya and their culture or whatever. Most people who saw this wondered why the heck he was splitting up main character duties away from the title character, given how much Penders had hyped her up before hand. Personally, I just took it as yet another sign of his disinterest in actually trying to write from the perspective of a teenage girl. And no, I'm not even going to pretend he's going to actually try and write these people with an alien mindset. The only reason he harps on them being 'alien' is to justify behaviour that would be regarded as logic-defying by humans, because honestly, they're all just short furry humans. 

Oh yeah, that last bit ties with the "They are alien, what we see as weird for them is normal" excuse for those adult events he was going to add. 

And I agree with all the rest.

I also got  the vibe he wanted to be known as someone who was going to write about a young female more than actually writing about it, and then it didn't work the way he expected (Like being praised, maybe), so he created Mykhal, and while I don't want to think so wrong about other people, it's like he tried to change from one "minority" (female main protagonist) to another (Black character protagonist)... But he knew that he couldn't make him the focus after making Lara-Su so important, and since then he suffers some kind of writer's block, or just doesn't want/know how to continue and is going in circles...

...I know it may sound pretty stupid, but that's what I get from all this, seeing how little the project has advanced so far and how much he seems to concentrate in everything else.

Sorry for comparing again, but at this rate CWC is going to release Sonichu #11 before Penders do the first book of Lara-Su (And that one started at 2009). At the very least a few pages have been released not so long ago...

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I think you overestimate him here. If he's still using "Mobius," "Kingdom of Acorn," and "Floating Island," I'm sure he'd argue that the concept of Freedom Fighters is one generic enough that he could use without reprisal.

Using "Oglivie Maurice Hedgehog" would be nothing short of amazing, though. I mean, even more than K'Nox was. Enough that you'd have to think that was his plan all along by introducing that name in the first place.

Pffft, no kidding. He wouldn't even try to alter the Ogilvie name, given that he's perfectly, utterly comfortable with his 'alien' culture having European earth styled names. Though I coulda sworn he'd simply switched out 'Freedom Fighters' for 'The Resistance', given that the Freedom Fighters and the concept thereof were used extensively in SatAM, Fleetway and Sonic Underground, and specifically as the Freedom Fighters of the planet Mobius. Even if you discount Archie, that's three pieces of Sonic media that back up the correlation, so maybe, just maybe, he might get cold feet on that front. 

I also got  the vibe he wanted to be known as someone who was going to write about a young female more than actually writing about it, and then it didn't work the way he expected (Like being praised, maybe), so he created Mykhal... But he knew that he couldn't make him the focus after that, and since then he suffers some kind of writer's block, or just doesn't want/know how to continue and is going in circles...

...I know it may sound pretty stupid, but that's what I get from all this, seeing how little the project has advanced so far and how much he seems to concentrate in everything else.

Honestly, you've kind of hit the nail on the head. One of the vibes I've gotten off of Penders from observing his tweets and posts since the lawsuit is that he's a guy who WANTS to be taken seriously and viewed as a 'serious' writer, and this was one of the reasons he placed the subjects that he did into the Archie comics. Trouble is, he doesn't put any reaal effort into things, and at the same times he wants brownie points for just DOING stuff rather than doing it effectively.

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Pffft, no kidding. He wouldn't even try to alter the Ogilvie name, given that he's perfectly, utterly comfortable with his 'alien' culture having European earth styled names. Though I coulda sworn he'd simply switched out 'Freedom Fighters' for 'The Resistance', given that the Freedom Fighters and the concept thereof were used extensively in SatAM, Fleetway and Sonic Underground, and specifically as the Freedom Fighters of the planet Mobius. Even if you discount Archie, that's three pieces of Sonic media that back up the correlation, so maybe, just maybe, he might get cold feet on that front. 

Again, if he's using Mobius and the Kingdom of Acorn, why not the Freedom Fighters, the most generic-sounding part of the whole thing?

Oh yeah, that last bit ties with the "They are alien, what we see as weird for them is normal" excuse for those adult events he was going to add.

"Don't worry, unlike how we humans perceive it, lap dances are perfectly normal greetings in this bizarre alien culture. Allow me to demonstrate..."

Everyone Else: "NO!!!"

Edited by KingScoopaKoopa
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Again, if he's using Mobius and the Kingdom of Acorn, why not the Freedom Fighters, the most generic-sounding part of the whole thing?

"Don't worry, unlike how we humans perceive it, lap dances are perfectly normal greetings in this bizarre alien culture. Allow me to demonstrate..."

Everyone Else: "NO!!!"

It sounds like a joke but keep in mind, he's actually planning sex scenes in the book or something of that nature, he announced it last year I believe.

Edited by Ryannumber1Scarer
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It sounds like a joke but keep in mind, he's actually planning sex scenes in the book or something of that nature, he announced it last year I believe.

Technically that's not what he said, he simply said he was going to explore more 'adult' topics through Lara-Su, and would further use Mykhael to demonstrate how Echyd'yna are 'different', including how their relationships are different. 

Now given that he said all this shortly after unveling that godforsaken bikini he put Lara-Su in, it's very difficult to not expect the very, very worst possible scenario from those statements. 

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Honestly, you've kind of hit the nail on the head. One of the vibes I've gotten off of Penders from observing his tweets and posts since the lawsuit is that he's a guy who WANTS to be taken seriously and viewed as a 'serious' writer, and this was one of the reasons he placed the subjects that he did into the Archie comics. Trouble is, he doesn't put any reaal effort into things, and at the same times he wants brownie points for just DOING stuff rather than doing it effectively.

I know I should see it as "what a hack" but I can't help but feel sad.

 

"Don't worry, unlike how we humans perceive it, lap dances are perfectly normal greetings in this bizarre alien culture. Allow me to demonstrate..."

Everyone Else: "NO!!!"

I can't now unsee Fuckles lap dancing with Mykhal Taelor while saying "What, the Praetorian's Warm Welcome is not good enough for you?"

It could be worse though. It could be B.A. Baraknux. And he has a very flat rear.

I'll stop now.

That he said all this shortly after unveling that godforsaken bikini he put Lara-Su in, it's very difficult to not expect the very, very worst possible scenario from those statements. 

I still believe that subtlety is not Penders best suit. But it's true, I don't find him adding explicit sex or anything.

 

 

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Really, there have been people doing that? Because I think the closest I've seen to something remotely like that is people still thinking that the book is being written how he wrote it, and staying far away from it because of that.

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Really, there have been people doing that? Because I think the closest I've seen to something remotely like that is people still thinking that the book is being written how he wrote it, and staying far away from it because of that.

"And not just American fans either".

Huh, that's odd, considering to get Archie Sonic in the UK you have to go to specific comic shops who gets them in. Which means if you're really going to that effort to get the comics, you'll know who's the current writer.

We should rename this thread to the Ken Penders Bullshit Variety Hour.

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Really, there have been people doing that? Because I think the closest I've seen to something remotely like that is people still thinking that the book is being written how he wrote it, and staying far away from it because of that.

Speaking for myself? I've never, ever, ever seen anyone thinking he was responsible for Ian's work. 

I wonder if he said this because this year marks the tenth year Flynn has been working in the comics, given that if he is able to keep that up for another four years, he'll have exceeded Ken in EVERY way on the comic. He's already done more issues by this point. 

Also, regarding my remembering that he might have changed the names of the Freedom Fighter organization... I goofed.

iLp7oP1.png

Yeah, it was just recounting that stupid storyline where Lara first showed up, in that atrocious bio. He's all but certainly just gonna call them the Freedom Fighters. 

Edited by horridus
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...As far as the adult content thing goes, didn't he also say that we would learn where their tails are protruding from and then added a winky face or some shit?

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...As far as the adult content thing goes, didn't he also say that we would learn where their tails are protruding from and then added a winky face or some shit?

Yeeeeeah, he did do that. It was a question about Xero, and he answered more or less in that precise way. I think he was trying to be coy, but what he conveyed was.... ech. I don't think he really got how it came off. 

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Okay, I don't remember that. But it seems worse than my comment about lap dances. And the winky face doesn't make it any better.

 

PS: I still laugh at the K'nox name. He wasn't even trying... Scratch that. He never tries.

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PS: I still laugh at the K'nox name. He wasn't even trying... Scratch that. He never tries.

His excuse of choice for this is that people are going to slam him 'no matter what', so that means he doesn't have to make an effort. Of course, this rather neatly sidesteps the issue that the harshest criticisms directed his way is over the fact that he has done so little towards making this it's own thing and being so dead set on forcing it to be a continuation of stories started in Sonic. 

His crappy quality would never win anyone over, but people might actually be willing to leave him be if he actually *tried* to be original. 

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Ken is so averse to anything original that he'll only order the extra crispy chicken when he's at KFC.

Which is kind of weird, when you think about it, as most of his work on Sonic tends to veer so far away from what's already established. I guess he'd just rather mold it into his interpretation of the ideas of someone else altogether.

The results are like if you gave a kid a box full of Star Trek toys with one Sonic figure and told them that Sonic was the star.

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It still makes me wonder though.... he's gone on the record saying that the ideas he used in Knuckles were originally meant for Sonic, but were rejected for use in Sonic. What the hell kind of comic would we have gotten if he had managed to apply those ideas to Sonic to begin with??

Essentially what the Knuckles book was, except that it would've actually lasted longer due to Archie not wanting to give up that sweet licensoring deal with SEGA. Remember the Robin Hood parody that he made a cousin to Amy? Essentially that, mixed with the Dark Legion, just with hedgehogs.

Ken has pretty much stated that the only reason that he used Knuckles was because his backstory at the time was largely unwritten by SEGA. He wasn't interested in Knuckles, he just wanted a springboard to create his sci-fi kitchen sink. It truly wouldn't've mattered to him if it was all focused on Sonic or Knuckles, save for the fact that SEGA itself gave more limitations on Sonic (tho not nearly as much as there are today, ironically enough), but not for Knuckles.

I have little doubt that Lara could have easily been Sonic's kid if SEGA had actually given less of a crap back then.

I believe it was either you or KingScoopaKoopa who reminded the board that the Image crossover was merely a tool for Ken to attempt to use the Sonic name for his own, unrelated project, which he even had plans to more directly connect to the Sonic canon with the original 20YL story had the Super Special line not suffered an ignoble death following such gems as Sally McAcorn (ooh, feel those old parodies...) and Ken filling secondary stories with more inane Echidna crap towards the end. Or in the case of Naugus Games, a complete disinterest in the book after its days were numbered and they literally gave up with the main story.

 

I'll leave you with a repost of this little gem, to show that for his belittling of Mike G and Karl, Ken could always beat them in terms of cringiness, bad humor, and just plain awfulness. To the point that even Justin Gabrie had to get off his ass to veto this one.

 

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Remember the Robin Hood parody that he made a cousin to Amy?

...Maybe? I only remember a Sonic looking like an Assasin Creed reject (Before Ass.Creed, mind you) and that Knuckles (possibly Knuckles nº 2329674) was his son.

such gems as Sally McAcorn (ooh, feel those old parodies...)

 

Oh yeah, this thing:

Sallymcacorn.thumb.jpg.c64678f2437f45e49

If by cuter you mean looking soulless, well... Ok. Dem legs, doe. Nothing is sexier than spaghetti.

...Because Sonic needed Ally Mcbeal in their universe.

 

I don't think the Comic would have survived if everything happened to Sonic instead of Knuckles... 

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http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Rob_o'_the_Hedge

As I said, the Robin Hood parody that Ken created during the early Sonic & Knuckles books "Naugus Hunt" crossover post Endgame. In hindsight, it makes Amy's crush on Sonic even creepier since he's more or less visually identical to her cousin... But, Robin Sonic falls instantly in love with Mari-An, an Echidna woman he knows for a day, and almost immediately marries her & knocks her up. Goes to show how clueless Ken (and Karl, to be fair) usually were: they seemed to constantly forget that their characters are within their mid teens at the latest.

 

And if you thought that that Sally was creepy, then you haven't LIVED till you see the Naugus Games story in the last Super Special. Next to the SatAM Wolf Pack adapation, it has without a doubt the worst art that Archie ever gave the franchise. And that's saying something considering they had "I can't draw in this style" Ron Lim as main penciller for years on end. Story itself was so bad, Pen tried to deny he wrote it if my memory serves me right (did he ever do that at any other time?), and Ian Flynn basically had to rewrite those events in a FCBD special since it was so bad.

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In hindsight, it makes Amy's crush on Sonic even creepier since he's more or less visually identical to her cousin...

I know this is going to sound bad, but all these hedgehogs kinda look alike to me. Maybe he had distinctions we just aren't picking up on?

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http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Rob_o'_the_Hedge

As I said, the Robin Hood parody that Ken created during the early Sonic & Knuckles books "Naugus Hunt" crossover post Endgame. In hindsight, it makes Amy's crush on Sonic even creepier since he's more or less visually identical to her cousin... But, Robin Sonic falls instantly in love with Mari-An, an Echidna woman he knows for a day, and almost immediately marries her & knocks her up. Goes to show how clueless Ken (and Karl, to be fair) usually were: they seemed to constantly forget that their characters are within their mid teens at the latest.

 

And if you thought that that Sally was creepy, then you haven't LIVED till you see the Naugus Games story in the last Super Special. Next to the SatAM Wolf Pack adapation, it has without a doubt the worst art that Archie ever gave the franchise. And that's saying something considering they had "I can't draw in this style" Ron Lim as main penciller for years on end. Story itself was so bad, Pen tried to deny he wrote it if my memory serves me right (did he ever do that at any other time?), and Ian Flynn basically had to rewrite those events in a FCBD special since it was so bad.

What art? Half the book is just either darkness, or brightness :P

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