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

[MetalSkulkBane]

So almost everyone hates the movie and he still tries to get brownie points from it?

Fascinating. A rapidly sinking ship clinging to slow sinking one.

[Paul-Agnew]

And coincidentally, speaking of ships:
 

The Edge. Is. Real.

[RobotnikHolmes]

What an edgy-looking script...and all unironically edgy.

[horridus]

Never will it not cease to amaze me how much these script bits read like a fifteen year old's first attempt at writing a story. I mean good grief, that exchange couldn't possibly have sounded good even in his head, and yet on he went with it. It's laughable. 

[Kellodrawsalot]

Penders choice of dialog never changed from his 90's work,

[Rabid-Coot]

117

Linda

You see we're not so different you and I.

Tayor

We're nothing alike you monster!

Linda

We both want whats best for our people the only difference is I'm willing to do whatever it takes to ensure their survival.

[SBR2]

Holy Crap. This is literally the same as that G.U.N officer Robotnik tortures in the fan film calling him a Bastard to show how "Edgy" and "not for kids" this is.

...Come to think of it hasn't Penders said he's aiming for kids? But then again Harry Potter used Bitch too so what do I know? A real problem here though is continuity. If everything Penders did is canon than shouldn't Station Square be on Mobius with the humans who survived the Gene Bomb? He Co-Wrote the Adventure Adaptation and used Station Square and Humans so shouldn't lien-Da recognize Taylor as one?

[Big Panda]

2 hours ago, SBR2 said:

If everything Penders did is canon than shouldn't Station Square be on Mobius with the humans who survived the Gene Bomb?

Bollars concepts?

IN MY PENDERS COMIC??

( :-p )

[DabigRG]

6 minutes ago, Ernest the Panda said:

Bollars concepts?

IN MY PENDERS COMIC??

( :-p )

Oops. Outside of the event that Penders came up with some variation of the initial concept and Bollers just ran with, sounds like someone got their wires crossed on what's actually theirs for once.

[Big Panda]

I could’ve sworn Ken was against the “future Earth” idea and thought of Mobius as just being an alien planet.

[DabigRG]

13 minutes ago, Ernest the Panda said:

I could’ve sworn Ken was against the “future Earth” idea and thought of Mobius as just being an alien planet.

I couldn't tell ya about before, but he definitely wanted to push the Echyd'nyas and other creatures as being alien.

[horridus]

3 hours ago, SBR2 said:

...Come to think of it hasn't Penders said he's aiming for kids? But then again Harry Potter used Bitch too so what do I know? A real problem here though is continuity. If everything Penders did is canon than shouldn't Station Square be on Mobius with the humans who survived the Gene Bomb? He Co-Wrote the Adventure Adaptation and used Station Square and Humans so shouldn't lien-Da recognize Taylor as one?

The only consistent point Penders has made regarding the target audience is how consistently he vacillates on the subject. First he wanted it targeted at 'Young Teenage Girls', then teens in general, THEN decided it was for 'everyone', and on and on and on. He's trying to cast the net as wide as possible with regards as to who this can be sold to, without having any idea of how to actually convey that fact in his (inept) writing. 

As for the continuity issue, that was only ever a sales pitch. Penders has never, ever cared one iota for the works of the other writers and long did everything in his power to ignore whatever anyone else was doing, be it Bollers, Flynn or DeCesare. Even then, Penders can't even remember his OWN continuity for squat- recall, in 25YL Sabre was  vegetable, yet here he's mobile and speaking. 

Holding this man to anything he claims is an exercise in futility. 

[SBR2]

34 minutes ago, Ernest the Panda said:

I could’ve sworn Ken was against the “future Earth” idea and thought of Mobius as just being an alien planet.

And yet he still gave a scientific explanation to magic rocks using the idea. I think he's treating Mobius as a separate planet here but also every story he wrote is canon and by extension so should Karl Bollers and oh no I'vegone crosseyed.

[horridus]

41 minutes ago, Ernest the Panda said:

I could’ve sworn Ken was against the “future Earth” idea and thought of Mobius as just being an alien planet.

Aye, he did. Which is decidedly ironic given that I'm pretty certain the map he made for Mobius is what inspired the 'Mobius Is Actually Future Earth' development to begin with.

call

Now, call me crazy, but maybe, just MAYBE, if you want to present a setting as a wholly alien planet? Then perhaps you SHOULDN'T make the geography of the place look like a modified version of Earth's own. Call it a hunch. 

[Dr. Detective]

Aww shit son. He said the B-Word. This ain't your average ugly, bikini-wearing, echidna fan-fiction thats never coming out. Keep the kids away.

Matter of fact, everyone stay away.

[MetalSkulkBane]

I'm reminded of that time Image Comics produced Ninja Turtles

Fun times.

[SBR2]

3 hours ago, MetalSkulkBane said:

I'm reminded of that time Image Comics produced Ninja Turtles

Fun times.

Especially hilarious when you remember this is an Extension of the Mirage continuity so it's less that it "grew up" than stayed the same. 

Also that No Pizza signs kills me.

[Tylinos]

Speaking of 90s-era edge...
 

The CyberDark Colony.  Wow.  And complete with capitalizing Dark despite CyberDark being a single word.  It's like I've stepped into a time rift and landed right into a pile of #0 issues and foil cards.

[Kellodrawsalot]

On 3/11/2019 at 9:33 PM, MetalSkulkBane said:

I'm reminded of that time Image Comics produced Ninja Turtles

Fun times.

You know at least TMNT started as a much more serious darker comic book series as a parody to the dark comic book series in the 80's, Sonic at the end of the day began and was always a colorful series meant to appeal to a wilder audience.

 

There is a reason why the edgyness of Shadow the Hedgehog rubbed people the wrong way. Having swear words in your comic doesn't make your comic more adult Penders dear.

[horridus]

3 hours ago, Tylinos said:

Speaking of 90s-era edge...
 

The CyberDark Colony.  Wow.  And complete with capitalizing Dark despite CyberDark being a single word.  It's like I've stepped into a time rift and landed right into a pile of #0 issues and foil cards.

I remember this being mentioned once as a title for one of the intended books of the series. Yet again, I am left to wonder why Penders even bothered with any of this given the changes he's been making to things he assuredly owns- or does he really think that the 'Long TIme Fans' he so professes that this is meant for are going to appreciate that one of the staples of his works is now going to be operating under this utterly ludicrous name? 

And Penders is yet again being far too easy on himself- he had PLENTY of opportunities to depict things, he just never took them because he was far, far too fascinated by wasting time on meandering, self-indulgent tripe like Chaos Knuckles and M25YL. I'm all but certain this 'CyberDark Colony' is going to be the thing that justifies how the Legion has and makes all their technological stuff despite the Twilight Zone being a wasteland. Which would have been nice to have been properly explained within the story itself back then, but gosh gee, why do that when we can steal reference famous poems?  

[Adamis]

"CyberDark"...

You know, even if they're villains, is it their goal to tell people "hey we are EVIL, we have DARK in our name, now shake in terror" ...? Do they even see themselves as villains ?

You could be a villain but see yourself being right or anything, and not resorting to using "dark" or "evil" or whatever just to emphasize your bad side... 

 

[SBR2]

HAHAHAHAHA "CyberDark"? Oh, my God. *Dying of Laughter8

It's like he's a parody of himself now. Anyway can't wait for Lien-Da to be a murderer one minute and having tea with Julie-Su the next because Bygones and such.

[horridus]

4 hours ago, Adamis said:

"CyberDark"...

You know, even if they're villains, is it their goal to tell people "hey we are EVIL, we have DARK in our name, now shake in terror" ...? Do they even see themselves as villains ?

You could be a villain but see yourself being right or anything, and not resorting to using "dark" or "evil" or whatever just to emphasize your bad side... 

 

One would think so. A name like "Dark Legion" tends to indicate a very high level of self-awareness. I've seen one other bit of fiction use it for a faction, and said faction was literally comprised of demons from hell and their followers, who tend to be pretty believable as far as 'knowingly evil villains' go. Only problem is, Penders has long seemed to imply that the Dark Legion actually had some kind of legitimate point to make and did not see themselves as the villains of the story... despite rather explicitly comparing them to Nazis and giving them a name like "Dark Legion", while going out of his way to demonstrate virtually all of their leadership as power hungry and sadistic to a T. 

I think it was IAn Flynn who suggested they adopted the 'Dark Legion' name simply to intimidate people. One might also presume that, as the descendants of burrowing animals who spent much of their time underground, that maybe there is a cultural context at play- that much like the Dwarves of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, 'darkness' holds a positive connotation rather than a negative one among the Echidna, and so, 'Dark Legion' or 'CyberDark' might actually mean something less menacing to them than it does us... ah, but then you remember this is a Penders. Such things are far, far beyond his grasp and his ability to convey. 

I think a big part of it is Penders simply having a skewed take on storytelling in general. He wants to present things as complex and multifaceted, but at the same time wants to rely on the kind of clear distinctions in morality that a lot of children's fiction has, and in the end result he just winds up mangling both and creating something that is too ludicrous and simple for adults while being too heady and complicated for kids. It's kind of amazing, really. 

[Zaysho]

On 3/11/2019 at 3:09 PM, horridus said:

Aye, he did. Which is decidedly ironic given that I'm pretty certain the map he made for Mobius is what inspired the 'Mobius Is Actually Future Earth' development to begin with.

call

Now, call me crazy, but maybe, just MAYBE, if you want to present a setting as a wholly alien planet? Then perhaps you SHOULDN'T make the geography of the place look like a modified version of Earth's own. Call it a hunch. 

What gets me about this is that this map was specifically done for "Brave New World," a story he wrote and (well, mostly) illustrated. It's kind of weird to learn he apparently rejected this concept later on because it's what opened up how to develop the world of the comic. Like, when did that happen?

[horridus]

9 minutes ago, Zaysho said:

What gets me about this is that this map was specifically done for "Brave New World," a story he wrote and (well, mostly) illustrated. It's kind of weird to learn he apparently rejected this concept later on because it's what opened up how to develop the world of the comic. Like, when did that happen?

I don't think it was so much that he rejected the concept so much as him never having seen it that way to begin with. You forget that Penders is far, far more comfortable in the shoddiness of his work than most writers or artists would be. In all likelihood he found it perfectly acceptable to his idea that Mobius is a wholly alien world to give it a geography that was likely traced from a map of Earth and then simply altered here and there. It probably never occurred to him that others would look upon it, notice the similarity and use that in conjunction with Mobius' inhabitants primarily being anthropomorphic animals to decide that Mobius was in fact a future version of Earth. To say nothing of Penders doing crap like having 2001: A Space Odyssey evidently be a book that Echidnas read... 

So yeah, I don't think he saw things one way and then later changed his mind. I think he always saw things one way and was just too lazy to do any better, only to get huffy when someone else finally pulled the trigger and gave a definite answer as to Mobius' nature, one that stood contrary to his view of things.