Megathread Archie Sonic Main Discussion

[goku262002]

Kaosu Reido has joined Retro:

Wow, seeing a post I made on the Penders forum reposted here, out of the blue, and praised? That's... an odd feeling. A very nice one though. Thanks guys.

Though, could you edit the first quoted line there? Antarctic Deity was the deepest nested one, not me.

Oh, and I was banned right after that, too. Apparently posting macros insulting Penders' designs and calling him a liar are completely fine. Creating a long, thought-out post or two criticizing how he's acting, and how he's dredging up crap from over ten years ago? Banned, right there.

Of course, registration on his forum is locked right now. They have 65 members, probably including banned ones like me, and something around like four or five mods and admins, and yet they're afraid of new members. I guess they realize that Ken's a douche, too, and he would get flooded with insults and rebuttals if they didn't keep the hug-box mentality going as long as possible.

I don't really have the energy for a long tirade or anything right now; I just wanted to say thanks for the compliments on a post I made, that I found completely out of the blue; and offer the information that, yes, I was immediately banned. The stated reason? Calling Ken Penders a jackass who draws furry comics.

I still don't see how stating the truth like that is an insult.

Lesson learned guys, don't make thoughtful objective posts at Penders' forum.

Edited January 7, 2012 by goku262002

[Xenos]

Kaosu Reido has joined Retro:

Lesson learned guys, don't make thoughtful objective posts at Penders' forum.

[SchemingMinor]

I have had my suspicions about Pender's attitude towards Robotnik back in the early 00's when I decided to re-read some of the earlier issues - hell, I had the same suspicions when I used to read the comic as a child. This new outburst, however, cements Ken's hatred and dislike towards the villain of the series while going on about the 'Su-you Su-me' family and stroking his own echidna boner at the same time.

My dislike for the man's work has hit an all new-time low.

Thank you Ian Flynn for rescuing Eggman and breathing new life into him.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Kintobor

[Mangoaxe5]

I don't think that I've ever seen someone act so unprofessional before. I think that we can all agree that Ken Penders is fucking crazy.

Anyway as far as the Sonic X comic was concerned the storylines in the comic took place inbetween episodes of the Sonic X anime.

Sega put a lot of limitations on the Sonic X book which was why Archie decided to cancel it because there really wasn't much else they could do with the comic.

[Aquaslash]

Why was there a cross over to begin with?

Fanservice! Fun! Free advertising for the other medium! Why are we looking gift horses in the mouth? :/

[-Mark-]

You know what? I say we make our own comedy series about a guy named Pen Kenders; a freelance writer/ artist fired from his old job who goes around trying to pass off tweaked recolours of existing, copyrighted characters from that company's work as his own original creations and filing a bunch of idiotic lawsuits against his former employers and related companies, stubbornly insisting that all of his 'borrowed' ideas are 100% original and his own work.

Oh, and if Penders tries to complain or sue us?

"Seriously, I'm the guy who created this character in the first place, he isn't inspired by, based on, or have anything to do with Ken Penders."

In all seriousness though, I think the best way to resolve this whole mess would just be for Archie and SEGA to step back and let Penders do whatever the crap he wants. It's not like anyone's ever going to buy his 'original' ideas anyway. It'd be much easier to just let him publish them and learn that the hard way. Granted, what's the 'best way' in a most practical sense isn't the best way in a legal sense, so it's not like they can actually do that. Shame, really, because it would really put the idiot in his place.

Edited January 7, 2012 by -Mark-

[#EndyGate]

On the matter of Kaosu Reido, though what he said was a marvelous showing of the truth, it did fall a bit under the category of a personal attack. Plus he wasn't technically banned on the spot for it, he was actually warned by an admin about it and a post before it that also showed signs of a personal attack, and even gave his own rebuttal. Plus to be fair, there were others on the forum who criticized him for the same reasons, but in a politer manner

Also some more from Penders:

@Sir Bert Leaman:

I appreciate your reasonable comments and think you make some valid points. However, you're not in my position and like the vast majority of the commentators haven't grasped the bigger picture. For starters, most of the naysayers expressing their opinion are coming from a perspective that I'm going to lose my cases. Maybe I will, but the fact is from my perspective I've well positioned myself to win, which is why I feel comfortable moving forward with my work. At a minimum, I will prove Archie owns nothing beyond the right to publish the comic books featuring new adventures of SONIC. Whether they'll be able to continue using anything created prior to Ian's run will also be resolved at my trial. Should I win, unless some agreement is made between Archie and I, at a minimum they also won't be able to reprint any of my stories as well as any stories based off of my work. And if I win, there will be ramifications felt beyond Archie.

I am receiving plenty of support these days, both from readers who enjoyed my previous material and really like what I've released so far, as well as support both from the fan community and fellow creators concerning my case, to say nothing of those who will be actually taking the stand in support of me during my trial. This isn't a he said/they said by any stretch of the imagination.

While everyone is expressing the opinion that the series is enjoying its longevity precisely because it's based on a hit video game series, crediting the work of Sega over all else, there's a flip side to the story and amply demonstrated by the fact no other video game series has ever enjoyed the longevity and success that SONIC has. Take the Nintendo line published by Valiant Comics back in the 90's, which I also worked on. The creators were hamstrung by Nintendo what they could and couldn't do, and so the project failed pretty quickly. That could have easily been Sonic's fate way back when, but it's a testament to the creators and editors who worked on the SONIC series that that didn't happen, not anything that Sega and/or Archie itself did.

I try to respond to the best of my ability these days, but there are some questions I just can't answer as satisfactorily as people would like until after my trial. We'll see what the landscape is like after the trial concludes.

One last note: anyone posting ©Archie after any of their drawings based on anything published in the Archie SONIC series, please stop doing that. Either credit ©Sega if it's their material, ©Ken Penders if it's mine, and even ©Scott Fulop (AKA Kent Taylor), ©Karl Bollers or ©MIke Gallagher if it's their characters. But whatever you do, there is no such thing as ©Archie regarding anything related to these books. That is a fact.

[-Mark-]

You know, now I think about it, Penders is clearly a marketing genius.

Let's all be honest here; how many of you are so amused by all this bullshit that he's pulling that you're actually likely to buy the first issues of his 'original' work just to see how laughably bad it is if it ever got published? I certainly would, if only to laugh my ass off at it and see how badly he'd tweaked it in order for SEGA and Archie to let it slide.

THAT WAS HIS PLAN ALL ALONG.

Edited January 7, 2012 by -Mark-

[Blue Blood]

You know, now I think about it, Penders is clearly a marketing genius.

Let's all be honest here; how many of you are so amused by all this bullshit that he's pulling that you're actually likely to buy the first issues of his 'original' work just to see how laughably bad it is if it ever got published? I certainly would, if only to laugh my ass off at it and see how badly he'd tweaked it in order for SEGA and Archie to let it slide.

THAT WAS HIS PLAN ALL ALONG.

lol, but no There's no way in hell I'd ever want to support this man's work, and to buy some of his work would be doing just that. Besides, there'd surely be some other way.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Blue Blood

[-Mark-]

True, only one person has to buy it and it'll be online within an hour.

Anyway, BRB, working on my original Pen Kenders comic. 8D

Edited January 7, 2012 by -Mark-

[Yong]

You know, now I think about it, Penders is clearly a marketing genius.

Let's all be honest here; how many of you are so amused by all this bullshit that he's pulling that you're actually likely to buy the first issues of his 'original' work just to see how laughably bad it is if it ever got published? I certainly would, if only to laugh my ass off at it and see how badly he'd tweaked it in order for SEGA and Archie to let it slide.

THAT WAS HIS PLAN ALL ALONG.

Nope. I'm not one to directly give jackasses money of any amount.

True, only one person has to buy it and it'll be online within an hour.

Anyway, BRB, working on my original Pen Kenders comic. 8D

I vote someone ask to look at the comic while browsing at a convention he's attending, then as soon as he places the book in their hand, run away. Then promptly scan it once their kicked out of the convention.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Yong

[#EndyGate]

You know, now I think about it, Penders is clearly a marketing genius.

Let's all be honest here; how many of you are so amused by all this bullshit that he's pulling that you're actually likely to buy the first issues of his 'original' work just to see how laughably bad it is if it ever got published? I certainly would, if only to laugh my ass off at it and see how badly he'd tweaked it in order for SEGA and Archie to let it slide.

THAT WAS HIS PLAN ALL ALONG.

Pfft, the whole thing would eventually be viewable via the internet by means that wouldn't cost me a cent

[The Tenth Doctor]

Yeah, I don't think it's up my buying alley. I mean I collect Sonic stuff. Not a series that apparently has nothing to do with Sonic. A small compromise could be he gets a small sum from the Sonic Archives. He did write some of the stories and I do think he should get a little bit from it. on the other hand, he's a git so no.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Dr Spudhead

[Octarine]

One last note: anyone posting ©Archie after any of their drawings based on anything published in the Archie SONIC series, please stop doing that.

inb4 there's an influx of reposts of Penders' characters with ©Archie on them.

Anyway, BRB, working on my original Pen Kenders comic. 8D

Can he team up with Ben Kalough?

[Mangoaxe5]

Whoever made this is awesome.

[Xenos]

Whoever made this is awesome.

Basically my post about a page back in a simple picture.

EDIT: Also, has anyone asked Ken Penders about why he decided to draw his characters that way?

I'm sure there is drawing talent in there somewhere, but as of right now, most of his work is...yeah.

Edited January 8, 2012 by Xenos

[Voyant]

I really wish we could get in contact with Archie someway and show them all our evidence and posts. I'm sure that it would be a big help in court if they had some fan insight.

[Your Vest Friend]

Penders has uploaded a HD/HQ (whichever) version of the Julie-Su pic from before. If you can get it to load since it's so big, take a look at the 'quality' of the drawing.

[AuroraRedwinters]

Oh goodie gumdrops, now I can see all of its imperfections up close - like the white spots.

And the mouth magnified like that is kind of creepy for some reason. Just sayin'.

[Xenos]

Penders has uploaded a HD/HQ (whichever) version of the Julie-Su pic from before. If you can get it to load since it's so big, take a look at the 'quality' of the drawing.

[HeroMystic]

Holy crap, I got goosebumps just looking at Julie-Su from far away, -now- she just looks like a sloppy mess up close.

[Aquaslash]

Holy CRAP, that is AWFUL. Like, this is the kind of stuff I used to do when I didn't know how to make line art. I'd scan and use the GIMp to darken my pencil lines. This is actually worse than that. Wow Ken, why would you do this to yourself?!

[-Mark-]

Penders has uploaded a HD/HQ (whichever) version of the Julie-Su pic from before. If you can get it to load since it's so big, take a look at the 'quality' of the drawing.

I don't think we really needed to see the picture at an obsene size in order to notice its 'quality'...

EDIT: Thankfully the large one doesn't seem to want to load for me.

Edited January 8, 2012 by -Mark-

[Neon Zephyr]

...Holy Jesus on a pogo stick, that close up never ceases to freak me out.

How freakin' hard is it to make a smooth lineart? I can use the pen tool, and I don't consider myself to be a professonal artist (because I'm simply not). I HATE the pen tool, but I still use it, unless I'm going for speed (rarely, since I never finish anything lately) or for the rough, sketchy feel, like with my avatar's drawing (though, I still used the pen tool, just a different brush). I spend HOURS filling in the white spots on my flats layer. There's no excuse for SO MANY of them

I've counted three times already where he colors outside his own lines. What. And, what's with the burn tool shading style? It's really unprofessional looking (I tried it for, like, two pictures before I decided that using the burn tool was blasphemeous and never went back), though I'll admit that it's a matter of taste. I know that people work in higher resolution for digital work then we're suppossed to see (I certainly do), but you're suppossed to use that high-res to get RID of problems like these, to guarantee that the smaller file will look it's best. Right?

Right?

If there's any upside here, it's that I'm a little more confident in my own work. (EDIT: And, I don't even mean this in a malicious manner, I'm just saying that if this is was passed for professional in Penders' time on the comic...)

Edited January 8, 2012 by Neon Zephyr

[DarkOverord]

Those lips are terrifying just saying.

Seriously. Amoung all the issues of that picture. I think her mouth is the worst.