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

[horridus]

That and it's pretty clear he holds movies on a higher pedestal compared to video games and comic books. I wouldn't be surprised if he's acting like this because he desperately wants to be seen as a "serious" superstar in the world of TV and movies, and not stuck with "kiddy" comi-I mean GRAPHIC NOVELS and video games, and thus in his mind the only way to do so is to try to warp everything else despite having little talent to fit his ideal world out of some delusion that he'll get his big break from it.

Oooh yeah. Further evidence? Look at the Lost Ones. While it began as a comic, he spent a lot more time speculating on it's potential use as the basis for a film, going so far as to create a trailer for it and continues to mention that it's been 'optioned'... who optioned it or picked it up is never mentioned, but it's pretty clear he's far more into Lost Ones as a movie than he is into Lost Ones the comic book. 

[Salamander]

Ugh according to his current Twitter post he's still under the delusion that had "his" Sonic movie gone forward that somehow Sega Japan would have adopted all the elements in said movie and it would have been the new focus of the franchise moving forward. Seriously..and this guy tells other people they don't know business or media etc, yet he believes that back in the late 90's/early 00's that the head honchos in Sega Japan would have given a crap about a movie made in the USA using loose SatAM elements and changed the direction of the entire franchise to suit it.

As I understand it, this was his belief at the time, and the sheer arrogance of the suggestion offended Sega so much that it is in fact the very reason why his Sonic movie didn't go forward.

[Maeson]

Everything else? That's just pure ego talking. Having actually seen his concept art and pitch video for a Sonic movie, there is no chance in hell it would have been successful, let alone successful enough to make SEGA rethink their attitudes regarding overseas adaptations. 

Honestly, that pitch video for Sonic Armageddon was somewhat embarrasing even looking it as a school project or something. I can't find it anywhere, but I remember it being really poorly done...  I'm total ignorant on how these usually look, but I'm sure they don't look that cheap.

And googling "Ken Penders Sonic movie concept art" gives me "Oh boy! Ken Penders Art Apocalypse" as the first result...

I don't know if I needed that laugh, but it was good. 

Anyway, looking back at these pictures, it seems Penders got worse as time went, at the very least comparing it to what we know about TLSC. As much as I think those images are horrendous, the colors were used a little better,  and everything had more effort put into it. It also makes me miss the days where I thought he just loved burn and dodge. Time flies.

Also, it's no wonder why never happened. I'm sure kids would love to see koalas being tortured. Ironically, it's probably the image with most care as far as drawing it goes... 

Edited December 8, 2015 by Maeson
Did I ever told you how many typos I can produce?

[Tenko]

Hahaha more laughs on his Twitter. He was replying to a comment about Archie not using his characters and concern about Sega letting Archie go if there were anymore legal issues etc, when he responded with "Sega needs Archie".

Again implying that the Archie comics are, in his eyes, somehow the most important thing in the franchise. He has a real thing against the games and the Japanese cannon huh.

He's also again repeated that he was asked to work on Chronicles and Sega/EA/Bioware went behind his back and took his work and ideas. I really wish I could find that post of his where he first brought up Chronicles and how he knew nothing of it until a concerned fan brought it to his attention and helped him make the connections to his Archie work. Doesn't sound like a chain of events someone who knew of and was asked to work on said game would go through.

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

How is it possible for one man to be so ignorant about Sonic the Hedgehog?

How?

[horridus]

How is it possible for one man to be so ignorant about Sonic the Hedgehog?

How?

Willfull self delusion is a veeeery tasty brand of Kool-Aid, doncha know. 

But seriously, he's talking out of his ass. Archie never made as much money for SEGA as he would like to have people to believe, especially not now. 

[Tenko]

His desperation is pretty apparent too. Anytime someone brings up his character's in relation to the comics or upcoming movie etc his first reaction or reply is always along the lines of "Something could always be worked out" with @Sega always thrown in for good measure. The "something" quite obviously being giving him copious amounts of money.

It's like come on, first off you have in some way shape or form tired to run Sega through the court's on numerous occasions be it by name or via someone they collaborate with. Then there's the main issue at hand, that regardless of how many people liked your character's, be it one or two or the many, they are in no way important to the official Sonic Universe at large. They never were important to Sega, only to Archie, and even that has ceased to be with the soft reset on the continuity in all but the comics issue number and the reprints which lately have ground to a halt for whatever reason.

Sega doesn't give two dickey birds about your character's Penders, and they never will. They don't even really care about the Freedom Fighters or half of their own property in the comics if Ian's and the Archie crews comments are to be believed, and there's no reason for them to make things like that up.

Oddly more than disliking the man, lately I genuinely worry about him.

[Nestor]

 

He's also again repeated that he was asked to work on Chronicles and Sega/EA/Bioware went behind his back and took his work and ideas. I really wish I could find that post of his where he first brought up Chronicles and how he knew nothing of it until a concerned fan brought it to his attention and helped him make the connections to his Archie work. Doesn't sound like a chain of events someone who knew of and was asked to work on said game would go through.

To be fair to Ken on this one (and depending on how his initial statement was phrased), it could well be that after his invitation to work on Chronicles was either declined or otherwise never followed through on by Bioware, he didn't pay any more attention to Chronicles and only became aware of it having things inspired somewhat by elements of his work from the fans telling him about it much later - both of his statements on this could therefore be correct.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

His desperation is pretty apparent too. Anytime someone brings up his character's in relation to the comics or upcoming movie etc his first reaction or reply is always along the lines of "Something could always be worked out" with @Sega always thrown in for good measure. The "something" quite obviously being giving him copious amounts of money.

It's like come on, first off you have in some way shape or form tired to run Sega through the court's on numerous occasions be it by name or via someone they collaborate with. Then there's the main issue at hand, that regardless of how many people liked your character's, be it one or two or the many, they are in no way important to the official Sonic Universe at large. They never were important to Sega, only to Archie, and even that has ceased to be with the soft reset on the continuity in all but the comics issue number and the reprints which lately have ground to a halt for whatever reason.

Sega doesn't give two dickey birds about your character's Penders, and they never will. They don't even really care about the Freedom Fighters or half of their own property in the comics if Ian's and the Archie crews comments are to be believed, and there's no reason for them to make things like that up.

Oddly more than disliking the man, lately I genuinely worry about him.

Not to mention that from what I hear, Sega and Archie were all but ready to throw out The Freedom Fighters and turn it into a Game Based Sonic comic to begin with (Which would have been pretty bad IMO, considering the current state of the Games' stories) until Ian, and the former editor, as well as several members of the creative crew fought to keep them in the comic.

[Shaddy Zaphod]

edit: this post was dumb and badly worded and didn't really mean anything so delete it

Edited December 11, 2015 by Shaddy Joestar Dreemurr

[Shadowlax]

Not to mention that from what I hear, Sega and Archie were all but ready to throw out The Freedom Fighters and turn it into a Game Based Sonic comic to begin with (Which would have been pretty bad IMO, considering the current state of the Games' stories) until Ian, and the former editor, as well as several members of the creative crew fought to keep them in the comic.

Whoah what?!

Oh god , I wanna be in that time line. That sounds way better. Oh god now I wish penders took everything. 

[Tenko]

Not to mention that from what I hear, Sega and Archie were all but ready to throw out The Freedom Fighters and turn it into a Game Based Sonic comic to begin with (Which would have been pretty bad IMO, considering the current state of the Games' stories) until Ian, and the former editor, as well as several members of the creative crew fought to keep them in the comic.

That is also why one of his other statements recently is pretty rubbish. He weighed in on the whole other publisher possibly picking up the Sonic brand in the future banter that was going around, and basically said that IDW, or whoever, would never touch Sonic because they would have to start from scratch, and that would be a terrible idea and the publisher and Sega presumably wouldn't want that. He also had to add that they couldn't have Archies back cataloge of issues to continue from or re print without drawing up contracts with him and the other people originally involved.

Yet like you said, Ian and crew mentioned that Sega had wanted to do just that, start again, without all the previous characters and lore etc. So damned if I know where he was coming from with that pearl of wisdom.

[Shadowlax]

 

 

Oddly more than disliking the man, lately I genuinely worry about him.

This sort of like super sad thing happens , now that I'm thinking about it a lot with licensed comic properties. To the degree in which i can tell you a list of sad stories staring people who wrote stuff and got way too attached to characters. So I am with you , i'm more concerned for whats going on in this mans head. The comics amplify this. 

 

[horridus]

That is also why one of his other statements recently is pretty rubbish. He weighed in on the whole other publisher possibly picking up the Sonic brand in the future banter that was going around, and basically said that IDW, or whoever, would never touch Sonic because they would have to start from scratch, and that would be a terrible idea and the publisher and Sega presumably wouldn't want that. He also had to add that they couldn't have Archies back cataloge of issues to continue from or re print without drawing up contracts with him and the other people originally involved.

Yet like you said, Ian and crew mentioned that Sega had wanted to do just that, start again, without all the previous characters and lore etc. So damned if I know where he was coming from with that pearl of wisdom.

Recall, Penders has a very pronounced tendancy to overinflate the worth of his work, whether it's for Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the minute bits and pieces he did outside of Sonic the Hedgehog. He's convinced himself that it was because of HIM that the Sonic Comic lasted so long, rather than entertaining the fact that it might have had more to do with the strength of the brand itself, and therefore, in his mind, his ideas are of actual value and SEGA will one day be able to understand this, because all companies want money and view any and all avenues towards that end as acceptable. He can't/won't process that at the end of the day, his ideas were never as valued as he likes to think, nor were his contributions ever THAT important. 

[King Scoopa Koopa]

I'd just love for someone at some convention or something to ask Iizuka what he thinks of the whole Penders thing, preferably on video, and for him to just end up saying "who?"

[ZDozer]

At this point I think it safe to say that I see Penders as a mentally disturbed man.

But I actually liked the material he created. Made Knuckles more than, you know, just Sonic's buddy. Flynn was putting his creation to good use and he would never acknowledge it because he thinks of himself as the biggest pro around.

A shame that he's actually nothing but a delusional man with something that some would describe as a mental sickness.

Edited December 11, 2015 by ZDozer

[Shaddy Zaphod]

No. I know people with mental sickness, and Penders is not mentally unstable. He's not mentally healthy, in the sense that he is a hateful person with an overly inflated ego, possibly bigoted, but calling it mental sickness is wrong.

[Komodin]

Yeah, let's refrain from assuming that arrogant and assholish behavior is the same thing as genuine mental afflictions.

[Idon'tcare]

He has a real thing against the games and the Japanese cannon huh.

Must be from that wonderful period where he was busy writing his sub par soap opera sci fi comic only for SEGA to kick down his door, toss some reference images and video clips on his desk while nicely telling him everything he had been working had to be tossed aside in order to do this game tie I comic and by the way, they now had their background setting and story for Knuckles which was deemed more important to the franchise than whatever he had been working on. 

I can only guess here, but after spending so much time making up this much story, having SEGA else tell him to can the whole thing and go with this new story for Knuckles made by the Japanese Sonic crew must have seriously pissed him off, especially if his editor and company friends told him to keep quiet and just do it.

Not to mention that from what I hear, Sega and Archie were all but ready to throw out The Freedom Fighters and turn it into a Game Based Sonic comic to begin with (Which would have been pretty bad IMO, considering the current state of the Games' stories) until Ian, and the former editor, as well as several members of the creative crew fought to keep them in the comic.

Now that would be a comic I'd pay to see, if the current writing team could stop bashing the game characters they don't like... As Tracy Yardley did with Marine the Raccoon in Pirate Plunder and no, a lot of people not liking that character is not an excuse to write her that way since that would mean every single character including Sonic could be written that way as well.

I'd just love for someone at some convention or something to ask Iizuka what he thinks of the whole Penders thing, preferably on video, and for him to just end up saying "who?"

I think he'd be asking "what" instead of "who" as he's most likely have no clue there even was a trial in the first place.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I don't particularly care about the writers not liking certain characters. It shows they are fans of the series with their own liked and disliked characters. That said, they never let that get in the way and still write them in character.

[biznizz]

Must be from that wonderful period where he was busy writing his sub par soap opera sci fi comic only for SEGA to kick down his door, toss some reference images and video clips on his desk while nicely telling him everything he had been working had to be tossed aside in order to do this game tie I comic and by the way, they now had their background setting and story for Knuckles which was deemed more important to the franchise than whatever he had been working on. 

I can only guess here, but after spending so much time making up this much story, having SEGA else tell him to can the whole thing and go with this new story for Knuckles made by the Japanese Sonic crew must have seriously pissed him off, especially if his editor and company friends told him to keep quiet and just do it.

Sure he most likely didn't like it, but here's the thing. That doesn't really matter since the book was always at the mercy of it's licence holder.

It'd be akin to, say hypothetically, a comic about Super Mario Bros came out after the first game became a smash hit. You'd have new characters and elements introduced as the games are released; maybe the comic allowed Wart to show up more. And it's akin to the Mario Bros cartoon, where Mario & Luigi are from Brooklyn, with an extended family.

THEN! Yoshi's Island is released and, uh oh!, Mario & Luigi in the games are now born in the Mushroom Kingdom/World! Welp, gotta retcon the comic to match it. Writer isn't happy since it messes up his family history for Mario & Luigi, and that sucks... but he has to suck it up because, despite his feelings of entitlement to the book, he doesn't own the Mario Bros property. He never did, he never will. And he can either play by Nintendo's rules, or he can walk and a new writer can come on.

The fact that Penders was able to make his claim and get his partial court success is because of Archie's shoddy contract bookkeeping. I have little doubt that the man knew that there was no way he could've reasonably been led to believe his characters were SEGA property, but he took advantage of a weakness and here we are.

[ZDozer]

I'd just wish Penders just... stopped with all of that shitty behavior of his. Man, he really wants to end Archie for kicking him out. He's so stuck in the past with this, someone should punch his head to make it work for once so he would realize the kind of shit he does.

Edited December 11, 2015 by ZDozer

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I'd just wish Penders just... stopped with all of that shitty behavior of his. Man, he really wants to end Archie for kicking him out. He's so stuck in the past with this, someone should punch his head to make it work for once so he would realize the kind of shit he does.

Thats the best part. He wasn't kicked out, he left when a new editor actually did his job and refused to allow Penders to run unchecked.

[Jason Berry]

 

 

Now that would be a comic I'd pay to see, if the current writing team could stop bashing the game characters they don't like... As Tracy Yardley did with Marine the Raccoon in Pirate Plunder and no, a lot of people not liking that character is not an excuse to write her that way since that would mean every single character including Sonic could be written that way as well.

 

Yardley treated Marine with far more respect than Sega ever did. In Sonic Rush Adventure she was a whiny, selfish little brat who's begging for attention and always got in the way. In the comics, she's Blazes' BF that Blaze lets captain her ship, but pulls her back if she gets too out of hand. A bit of a delusional self-braggart, but otherwise a good kid. Plus, she has more personality than that goody two-shoes Cream. 

"Sega needs Archie"? More like the other way around. Sega could easily dump Archie comics and go with IDW. Gee who could Sonic possibly crossover with at IDW? Ninja Turtles, Skylanders and MLP that's who. Sonic would have a much bigger audience IMO. The only downside is it could kill off the SATAM crew completely.

Edited December 11, 2015 by Jason the Jackass

[King Scoopa Koopa]

 

I think he'd be asking "what" instead of "who" as he's most likely have no clue there even was a trial in the first place.

I'm not picky, just something that punctuates that Penders does not mean as much to Sonic as he thinks he does.