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

[Tani Coyote]

Y'know what's sad? I actually think the "Praetorian" is Penders's best artwork for LSC yet. No, seriously, I don't think it's a bad drawing.

I would concur. The pose actually is somewhat dynamic, it's just murdered by the coloring. I think this project would, ignoring all the legal drama around it, look a lot better if he just stuck to pencils and gave the coloring task to another artist.

Of course, with regards to his quality improving and this being more acceptable, that's solely just looking within the LSC concept art. When I look at what else has been proposed for Lara Su's backstory...

I am having a tough choice deciding which one comes off as not only better looking, but more aweso-

...yeah Flynn wins. :V

As was mentioned, it's sad he doesn't seem to care about a collaborative work. Ian Flynn already wrapped up (alternate) Lara-Su's story, and I'd say pretty darn well, too.

[Delta Starfire]

A lot of the characters he tried to use where originally "Knuckles with an additional feature/colour-change/sex-change/etc." and he was forced to alter their designs so that Sega would get off his back. But this is just cutting it too fine to go unnoticed.

 

I really hope so. After what he did to the comics, this would be poetic justice. The man seems to think he's untouchable because he won that one lawsuit. He desperately needs a rude awakening, and now he may have pushed his legal victory just a tad too far. 

 

But what do I know? I'm no lawyer. 

[Johnny2071]

This guys isn't even part of Archie/Sega anymore, and took back his characters that Archie isn't even allowed to use (or even mention by name), but this guy is allowed to use Knuckles (and do this to him)!?

 

That's bullsh**! Just for that, I'm now going to use Penders' many characters (the right way). I'll even risk jail and anal r***.

 

BTW, Knuxders looks like bad cross between an echidna, Flint (Mother 3), and a typical old coot prospector.

[Tani Coyote]

I really hope so. After what he did to the comics, this would be poetic justice. The man seems to think he's untouchable because he won that one lawsuit. He desperately needs a rude awakening, and now he may have pushed his legal victory just a tad too far. 

 

But what do I know? I'm no lawyer.

Let us above all remember the key detail of that case. As far as I recall, both Archie and Penders were absolutely terrible recordkeepers and didn't have a copy of Penders' contract. Like... WHAT? How do you even- anyway...

The judge thus essentially decided, "This is stupid, get out of my court. You both win and you both lose. Have a nice day."

SEGA can without a doubt prove itself owner of Knuckles, and while they were willing to let Ken get away with a lot of his fancharacters (really, would it be worth fighting over characters they'll never use?), the fact he's outright stealing one of their franchise's most recognizable characters is going to come back to bite him bad.

 

This guys isn't even part of Archie/Sega anymore, and took back his characters that Archie isn't even allowed to use (or even mention by name), but this guy is allowed to use Knuckles (and do this to him)!?

Archie has full right to use the characters if they wish, but Ken keeps insisting that they need his permission (read: he will try and sue Archie again if they use them). With a continuity that was hard to understand anyway, Archie did the reasonable thing and just got rid of them all so they'd never have to deal with his nonsense again.

[Delta Starfire]

Let us above all remember the key detail of that case. As far as I recall, both Archie and Penders were absolutely terrible recordkeepers and didn't have a copy of Penders' contract. Like... WHAT? How do you even- anyway...

The judge thus essentially decided, "This is stupid, get out of my court. You both win and you both lose. Have a nice day."

SEGA can without a doubt prove itself owner of Knuckles, and while they were willing to let Ken get away with a lot of his fancharacters (really, would it be worth fighting over characters they'll never use?), the fact he's outright stealing one of their franchise's most recognizable characters is going to come back to bite him bad.

 

I wonder. Yeah, Penders is basically stealing Knuckles at this point. But I'm not sure I can see Sega acting unless they think LSC is likely to turn a profit. Otherwise, it'd be a waste of money on their part to try and sue him over it. Hell, even modest profits might not be enough to motivate them to action. Getting videos taken off YouTube is piss easy; you just complain to YouTube and cite the DMCA at them, and they're taken down in short order, with no costs attached. Taking a man to court is a different game altogether. 

[Mega]

It doesn't cost money to send a Cease and Desist, though. :|a If they did that, it might give Penders a reality check.

[Delta Starfire]

It doesn't cost money to send a Cease and Desist, though. :|a If they did that, it might give Penders a reality check.

 

At that point, it'd be a game of chicken, I guess. 

[Big Panda]

It doesn't cost money to send a Cease and Desist, though. :|a If they did that, it might give Penders a reality check.

Or damn Sega as idiots. Given his track record.

[Metal the Mario]

Okay... wow.

 

When I first heard about this "Praetorian" character, I'd thought that he'd be one of those characters that was only ever mentioned or shown off-screen. Or that he'd at least be drawn in a permanently shadowy appearance or something.

 

But from the looks of this print, it seems he might actually be a prominent character in the story, and we're still supposed to believe he's not Knuckles.

 

I didn't actually expect Penders to go this far, and I still can't believe he did. He didn't even alter the design much like he did with Lien-Da and Lara-Su; this character has the same exact red color and same purple eyes.

 

This is just... maddening.

[Delta Starfire]

Okay... wow.

 

When I first heard about this "Praetorian" character, I'd thought that he'd be one of those characters that was only ever mentioned or shown off-screen. Or that he'd at least be drawn in a permanently shadowy appearance or something.

 

But from the looks of this print, it seems he might actually be a prominent character in the story, and we're still supposed to believe he's not Knuckles.

 

I didn't actually expect Penders to go this far, and I still can't believe he did. He didn't even alter the design much like he did with Lien-Da and Lara-Su; this character has the same exact red color and same purple eyes.

 

This is just... maddening.

 

You mean eye. He only has one. And that makes it all okay, right? Right...?

[Celestia]

Someone needs to update the Lara-Su's Father page on the wiki with that breathtaking and I don't mean in a good way art.

 

This is kind of hilarious. I'm betting he's gonna get away with it, too. The last time he was in court, wasn't a decision finally made on all things Penders? For all we know part of whatever deal went on was that he could do something like this as long as he didn't use Knuckles' name and changed some minor details. Laws for this sort of thing rarely involve common sense.

 

But hey, cynicism aside, I'm really hoping this gives SEGA ammunition against this guy.

[Tani Coyote]

Or damn Sega as idiots. Given his track record.

Say what you will of Penders... but I think he's actually one of the few people who will call a bluff of legal action. Big companies have historically abused the threat of legal action in and of itself to get smaller people to do their bidding, even when the defendant would clearly win (e.g. in cases of trademark infringement).

In this case SEGA's clearly got the legal standing, but they probably wouldn't press the issue if Penders gave them the finger short of their feeling REALLY spiteful.

And after all he's done? I think they just might be.

[biznizz]

I wake up and see this. Ugh....

Lien-Da's design looks to have reverted. Despite looking like nightmare fuel and still looking like a SEGA echidna who's mutated, her CG renders at least looked slightly different from SEGA design. Now she, and maybe its cuz I'm still tired, looks more like an echidna (but not Lien) than even her first "There isn't a line or body she won't cross" concept art.

Knuckles is just blatantly himself. Screw you Ken, you didn't even try.

But hey, AFAIK, Ken's busy denying his overuse of dodge & burn and justifying his coloring & outlining techniques.

[Tani Coyote]

I really do hope SEGA sues over this. Ken has this aura of invincibility about him solely because his last major employer was terrible in court (pressing a case when you don't have any solid documentation... I think that's got to be one of the most insane things I've ever seen a company do). If SEGA, jokes aside, was to press charges, he would lose so hard by comparison.

Though as was said... it's not really worth the expense unless he's making tons of money.

...or is damaging SEGA's brand name in some way, but as far as I know, he was doing that when he was the writer for the comics.

[Wittymations]

I have a big red mark on my forehead from face-palming. Like, I'm not joking, I literally face-palmed so hard that I left a mark.

 

I showed this to a friend and they also face-palmed.

I think this image forces people to face-palm with some sort of Penders' dark magic. Can anybody confirm this? Did you face-palm when seeing this image?

[Celestia]

I didn't face palm, but only because I don't want to waste even that small amount of energy on Ken Penders.

[Splash the Otter]

...

 

Okay, I knew the Praetorian was going to be inspired by Knuckles. I wasn't expecting him to actually be Knuckles though.

 

Seriously, how the hell does Penders think he's going to get away with this? I mean, it isn't even a recolor. It's just Knuckles the Echidna with a fake beard and a cybernetic eye.

[Wittymations]

I was expecting Praetorian to be completely covered in metallic or something, cloaked. That way he could be like, you know, say it's Knuckles but it's not.

 

Not be this damn blatant.

[Tani Coyote]

...

 

Okay, I knew the Praetorian was going to be inspired by Knuckles. However, I wasn't expecting him to actually be Knuckles.

 

But seriously, how the hell does Penders think he's going to get away with this?

He thinks that if he can take on Archie, he can take on SEGA, I presume.

Which is of course, completely ignoring the fact that, as far as I know, he only really won against Archie because Archie can't do basic recordkeeping. Who doesn't keep copies of contracts? NEITHER of them did.

If you went to Nigel Kitching, he could probably produce a copy of the contract from when he worked on Fleetway. Bam, easy legal confirmation that he owns the characters he made for Sonic the Comic. Neither Penders nor Archie can do the same.

[Delta Starfire]

I was expecting Praetorian to be completely covered in metallic or something, cloaked. That way he could be like, you know, say it's Knuckles but it's not.

 

Not be this damn blatant.

 

...or Darth Knuckles maybe...

 

Oh, wait, that's Spectre...

[Johnny2071]

Overall, Penders is giving us fans with spin-off ideas a really bad name. And because of this offense, Penders is going to ruin it for everyone! Suppose there's a fan with a really awesome idea for Sonic Adventure 3, or a better executed Sonic Heroes or Sonic 2006 (yes, even that game), or even a comic book crossover between the Archie Freedom Fighters and the Fleetway Fighters. Now none of those ideas will even be able to be negotiated, because Sega will 100% adamant over their legal and creative ownership, main out of distrust, possible friction between Sega's Japanese division and its fans/third-writers in American. So much like the feud between the Mobians and the Overlanders.

[Delta Starfire]

Overall, Penders is giving us fans with spin-off ideas a really bad name. And because of this offense, Penders is going to ruin it for everyone! Suppose there's a fan with a really awesome idea for Sonic Adventure 3, or a better executed Sonic Heroes or Sonic 2006 (yes, even that game), or even a comic book crossover between the Archie Freedom Fighters and the Fleetway Fighters. Now none of those ideas will even be able to be negotiated, because Sega will 100% adamant over their legal and creative ownership, main out of distrust, possible friction between Sega's Japanese division and its fans/third-writers in American. So much like the feud between the Mobians and the Overlanders.

 

We'll always have fanfiction. That's my domain. And yes, my comic will involve crossovers. It already has SatAM crossed over with the games... Fleetway's next. 

[Johnny2071]

Archie has full right to use the characters if they wish, but Ken keeps insisting that they need his permission (read: he will try and sue Archie again if they use them). With a continuity that was hard to understand anyway, Archie did the reasonable thing and just got rid of them all so they'd never have to deal with his nonsense again.

 

 I guess it's like telling a panda with a big appetite that he is free to eat, but you constantly snatch the dumpling away with your chopsticks.

 

Bethany GRT, on 03 Jul 2014 - 11:27 AM, said:

We'll always have fanfiction. That's my domain. And yes, my comic will involve crossovers. It already has SatAM crossed over with the games... Fleetway's next. 

 

 

Fanfiction is okay, but it's not an actual playable game that you buy, put in your system, and play on the big screens for hours on end. Fanfiction has none of the stuff that makes official content awesome in the first place. I mean at least with NES/SNES/Genesis/GBA rom hacks, you can play those on the big screen via Wii's homebrew emulators, but anything higher than 32-bits is more complicated, that it has to be a licensed game playable on an actual console.

 

[Gabz Girl]

I've just noticed that most of Penders' characters are in fact Sonic recolours; Bernie, Jules, Rob'O Hedge, every single echidna...such originality! Urgh. Again, how can he get away with this? If this comic book is sold in stores right next to Archie Sonic he's surely going to get into all sorts of legal trouble for taking a character from SEGA, making it his own thing and selling it without them even knowing!

 

If he doesn't get into trouble for any of this I'll be pretty pissed. Random people on Youtube have been blocked by SEGA over stupid legal stuff, so why can't this fool?

[Delta Starfire]

From my understanding, Penders will allow Archie to use "his" characters, but that is heavily conditional on them obeying his vision of the comic's continuity. And that just won't fly. Archie cannot serve two masters with two conflicting visions, and since it's a licensed comic, the license owner is the one who wins. Every time. That's Sega, not Penders. So, yeah, the only thing Archie could do if they wanted to keep StH in print at all is what they did and reboot the continuity without any characters that might cause them legal problems. 

 

 

I've just noticed that most of Penders' characters are in fact Sonic recolours; Bernie, Jules, Rob'O Hedge, every single echidna...such originality! Urgh. Again, how can he get away with this? If this comic book is sold in stores right next to Archie Sonic he's surely going to get into all sorts of legal trouble for taking a character from SEGA, making it his own thing and selling it without them even knowing!

 

If he doesn't get into trouble for any of this I'll be pretty pissed. Random people on Youtube have been blocked by SEGA over stupid legal stuff, so why can't this fool?

 

 

That's right, Gabz. And even if you look at Penders's more "original" characters, like Geoffrey St. John and the substitute freedom fighters, they're all just background characters from SatAM that he gave names and personalities to. About the most original he got was Hershey, I guess. Maybe Elias. Then again, Elias was just an older male version of Sally really...