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

[Tani Coyote]

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.

That in mind, I think that even if Archie hadn't decided to reboot things, SEGA would have probably made them do it anyway. Simply for the reason you stated; SEGA doesn't want to deal with it. Just let the guy have his army of recolors and focus on making the comic free of hassles... as well as conveniently closer to the game continuity.

[Wittymations]

...or Darth Knuckles maybe...

 

Oh, wait, that's Spectre...

Yeah, Spectre was kinda what I thought Not-Knuckles was gonna be like.

 

I guess I gave Penders too much credit.

[Johnny2071]

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?

Well of course Jules and Bernie are going to be recolors of Sonic. Those are his family, his parents. And by the logic, aren't any of recolors of our birth parents in some retrospect? But they do resemble Sonic. They have to. They were primarily created to be his parents. Rob O' the Hedge is another question in mind, because he comes from Amy's family (in Mercia). But those two reasons alone are exactly why Penders shouldn't have any ownership of them, same goes for every single echidna. Because they are based on the design/existence of Sonic and Knuckles respectively.

 

Now if this were Geoffrey St. John and the Substitute Freedom Fighters, I wouldn't mind so much (of couse that wouldn't make the retcon feel any less wrong).

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Some part of me expects this to open the floodgates for various Sonic nuts to attempt to legalize their own fancharacters (or try to steal sonic under some kind of bullshit clause no one's ever heard of) and prove their own delusions of grandeur like Penders here.

 

The other part expects Penders to be smashed into the ground like a bug for this.

 

The last part is wondering how stupid can one person get.

[Zaysho]

So I overslept today what's goin--OH FUCK YOU,PENDERS!

 

This. This just has to be asking for a fucking lawsuit to happen. It's Knuckles! With a wisp of hair and a fucking beard, but anybody with even a passing knowledge of Sonic would think "Hey, isn't he that red guy from the Sonic games?" And that's ignoring how those same people think your characters in their current form still look like Knuckles with wigs and bad 90's aesthetics tacked on. Seriously, I hope this bombs and I hope it bombs fucking hard now. I mean, I expected it to be a failure anyway, but for his sake I hoped it'd do decently after all the time and money he sank into this ridiculous obsession for his past glory days, but now? No. Not anymore. It needs to blow up in his face in the most glorious way possible, because this is not acceptable by any stretch of the human imagination. It was bad enough he expects people to believe his completely derivative characters are totally original and can stand on their own (which they could if he made anything resembling effort, which most of Tumblr had proven already), it's bad enough they still look like fucking SEGA Echidnas, but this? No, we're beyond the fucking pail now. This is the most shameless rip-off I've seen in... anything.

 

Penders, you've just justified every bit of vitriol I've ever leveled toward you as a professional and your work since this bogus crusade of yours started. You're a fucking hack, and you need a reality check right now. Badly. I hope SEGA comes after you for this and I hope they tear you down.You've made a joke of creators' rights by overstepping your boundaries by refusing to let go of your past. Guess what? You don't get to hide under the flag anymore, and really, you never did. And you especially don't have any right to say shit like this:

 

Whoa! Let's be careful with the term "rip off". TL-SC uses only characters I created, which both Archie & Sega benefitted from.

Right, SEGA totally benefited from characters they never fucking used outside of the comics. And, in the comics, they were relegated back to supporting positions where they belonged from the start. What do you call what you've been doing?

You've somehow managed to make me more and more disappointed in you over the years, you've somehow managed to continue to piss me off when I can shrug off so much else at this point in my life. It's hack morons like you getting breaks that really pisses me off, especially when my sister, who could write fucking circles around you and every other glorified fanfic writer, gets shunted to the side for ripped off bullshit like this. Take the late Ben Hurst's advice and get some humility, you're severely lacking in that.

Get out of here with that bullshit, Penders.

Sincerely, an extremely pissed off artist.

[Wittymations]

So, do any other fandoms have their own Penders, or are we the only ones?

[Zaysho]

So, do any other fandoms have their own Penders, or are we the only ones?

You know, I'm sure they do. There are plenty of fanfic writers who just switch names and managed to get published, so it wouldn't be that out there.

I don't know if many have managed to work and mangle the system the way Penders has, though.

[Celestia]

Some part of me expects this to open the floodgates for various Sonic nuts to attempt to legalize their own fancharacters (or try to steal sonic under some kind of bullshit clause no one's ever heard of) and prove their own delusions of grandeur like Penders here.

Thing is, Penders worked on an official work. He did some terrible things with it, but it's a licensed comic. He may not work on it anymore, but that's still part of his history, which probably gives him some level of...power? Something like that. A random fan couldn't pull off any of this in a million years, and I can't really see anyone actually in the fanbase wanting to, either.

 

But honestly, I don't know much about copyright laws and stuff, I'm just guessing that the only reason Penders could potentially get away with this is because he worked on the comic at one point. There's probably more to it than that.

So, do any other fandoms have their own Penders, or are we the only ones?

Well, fanfics have been published simply by changing names/other important stuff. But the difference is they're usually actually fans of the thing, whereas Penders pretty obviously doesn't care about Sonic. It's like the difference between an affectionate parody and a mocking one.

[Delta Starfire]

So I overslept today what's goin--OH FUCK YOU,PENDERS!

 

This. This just has to be asking for a fucking lawsuit to happen. It's Knuckles! With a wisp of hair and a fucking beard, but anybody with even a passing knowledge of Sonic would think "Hey, isn't he that red guy from the Sonic games?" And that's ignoring how those same people think your characters in their current form still look like Knuckles with wigs and bad 90's aesthetics tacked on. Seriously, I hope this bombs and I hope it bombs fucking hard now. I mean, I expected it to be a failure anyway, but for his sake I hoped it'd do decently after all the time and money he sank into this ridiculous obsession for his past glory days, but now? No. Not anymore. It needs to blow up in his face in the most glorious way possible, because this is not acceptable by any stretch of the human imagination. It was bad enough he expects people to believe his completely derivative characters are totally original and can stand on their own (which they could if he made anything resembling effort, which most of Tumblr had proven already), it's bad enough they still look like fucking SEGA Echidnas, but this? No, we're beyond the fucking pail now. This is the most shameless rip-off I've seen in... anything.

 

Penders, you've just justified every bit of vitriol I've ever leveled toward you as a professional and your work since this bogus crusade of yours started. You're a fucking hack, and you need a reality check right now. Badly. I hope SEGA comes after you for this and I hope they tear you down.You've made a joke of creators' rights by overstepping your boundaries by refusing to let go of your past. Guess what? You don't get to hide under the flag anymore, and really, you never did. And you especially don't have any right to say shit like this:

 

Right, SEGA totally benefited from characters they never fucking used outside of the comics. And, in the comics, they were relegated back to supporting positions where they belonged from the start. What do you call what you've been doing?

You've somehow managed to make me more and more disappointed in you over the years, you've somehow managed to continue to piss me off when I can shrug off so much else at this point in my life. It's hack morons like you getting breaks that really pisses me off, especially when my sister, who could write fucking circles around you and every other glorified fanfic writer, gets shunted to the side for ripped off bullshit like this. Take the late Ben Hurst's advice and get some humility, you're severely lacking in that.

Get out of here with that bullshit, Penders.

Sincerely, an extremely pissed off artist.

 

 

You, sir, have said it better than I ever could. Very well put. 

[Tatters]

Holy shit almighty, this guy's art is terrible. I mean, I'm not a skilled artist by any means (or even an artist, period), but every piece of promotional art I've seen for this is nothing short of hideous.

The character's faces look like smooshed clay. He tries to make his Echyd'nyas (Jesus Christ) look "realistic" by not giving them prominent outlines, but it makes everything just sort of blur together. It doesn't help that everything looks like it has essentially the same 'texture' so the only tool he uses to try and define subtle details (like muscles or wrinkles in cloth) is by using the same god awful shading technique in every picture. What is the light source in this image anyway?

 

Does he really think he's going to go away with this? This Penders fellow has questionable actions and confience. 

Looking back at his old art, he never really improved from his mistakes. That shading looks so atrocious, I seriously thought this was made from a kid in the 4th grade but no this is a guy who is going to publish this character into a "legit" comic for young readers to read.

This guy needs to look back on things that he is going to do.

[Jason Berry]

Congrats Penders, you've managed to make a Knuckles design uglier than Sonic Boom's.

 

Also, you're a liar and a thief. I hope Sega sues you for every penny.  

[Big Panda]

Soooo...anybody wanna draw a retake on that where he actually looks nothing like Knuckles?

If it's even possible?

[Delta Starfire]

Soooo...anybody wanna draw a retake on that where he actually looks nothing like Knuckles?

If it's even possible?

 

I'd say "challenge accepted", but I really can't be arsed. I've got my own comic, which is fully self-aware loose Sonic fan comic that makes no attempt to brand itself as anything else, to work on. Anyways, I just shared the image with a friend, who is not a huge Sonic fangirl like me and asked her who she thinks it is. She said, "yeah, the artstyle looks rather different, but it certainly looks like Knuckles."

[Zaysho]

Soooo...anybody wanna draw a retake on that where he actually looks nothing like Knuckles?

If it's even possible?

 

I got a bit of work to do, but I soooo wanna do a different take on this. I definitely have nothing on people like Fini-mun, but I'm suddenly getting ideas I'd like to play with...

[anna]

Is he even trying? That's...that's Knuckles.

Can he even make something completely original without having to make it almost this fan-spinoff?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

You know, I was seriously hoping Penders would make a big screw up.

 

I just didn't think he'd exceed my expectations a little too much.

[Candescence]

AHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

I'm actually impressed. I'm really at a loss for words. Really, Penders? Are you trying to tempt fate?

[Wittymations]

AHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

I'm actually impressed. I'm really at a loss for words. Really, Penders? Are you trying to tempt fate?

I think he's been trying since the comics got a bit more serious. It's been growing and growing, from killing off main characters and risking his job to this, where he's risking everything.

[Eitarou]

...Um. Wow.

 

...I have no words for this.

 

You'd think he'd learn to be somewhat creative with his character designs after the thousands of criticisms he's gotten over the years. But who am I kidding? It's Penders!

 

 

Also, you're a liar and a thief. I hope Sega sues you for every penny.  

 

Why would they sue him for zero money?

[BWsonic3]

All i can do is shake my head at this man.

[Badnik Mechanic]

But guys, he graduated top of his class!

[goku262002]

But guys, he graduated top of his class!

At what? How To Plagiarize Blatantly?

[Sunwalker]

Wait until he introduces Not!Sonic with an equally stupid name and a mustache to differentiate him from Sonic. It wouldn't surprise me at this rate...

I can hardly wait for the amazing design of Saw'Neek... Except not.

[Killtank]

Congrats Penders, you've managed to make a Knuckles design uglier than Sonic Boom's.

 

Also, you're a liar and a thief. I hope Sega sues you for every penny.  

 

Yeah, I don't know how Ken can try and pass this off as his own creation. This is Knuckles. It's plain as day, folks. I don't know if he's just that brazen, but he's got to know deep down that this may not fly in a court of law. How close is too close before Sega can sue him over this drek? First he makes Spectre into a 1980s fever dream with shoulder pads that would make Murphy Brown blush, and then he just up and gives Knuckles a goatee. This is Knuckles, Ken. I'm sorry, but nobody is going to fall for this. It's the same character no matter how many times you say otherwise. A lie won't suddenly become truth if you repeat it enough times. 

[Celestia]

 

I can hardly wait for the amazing design of Saw'Neek... Except not.

 

We all know if he shows up the name will be "Ogilvie Maurice (Hedgehog)".