#ken penders mention

[btm-txt]

May I offer you some Lien-da on this fine Valentine’s day? 🤲💌

[sonknuxadow]

i don't really like locke i kind of can't stand him actually but he's also one of those characters that's really fun to laugh at like he's canonically divorced . he microwaved his son when he was an egg because he had a bad dream . he died twice and one of the issues where he dies is dedicated to ken penders actual real life dead dad and its the biggest jumpscare ever. he's even homophobic

[un-pearable]

HE KNOWS. PENDERS

[sorenlionheart]

the more i think about it the more i realize that archie sonic wouldn't be nearly as infamous if it happened in the context of a superhero book rather than sonic the hedgehog lol

[stumblingjeba]

@kissankultakala

SO UM

HUH???????????????????????????????

[thankskenpenders]

As has already been reported elsewhere, Penders recently took to his personal blog to announce a major milestone...

The first Lara-Su Chronicles book (which is mostly a Mobius: 25 Years Later collection) is real. The proof copy has been manufactured. These will be in peoples' hands in a matter of months.

We've already seen the godawful cover art plenty of times before, but I'd like to highlight how bad the back cover blurb is here. It's mostly background info with very little about the actual story. "Some characters would be married with families of their own. Others walked different paths. The fate of a world would be determined." That's all it says about what happens in the comic! The rest is inside baseball stuff. Not exactly a great hook.

However, I feel like this weirdness may be because Ken had to very carefully design the front and back cover so that it isn't selling itself as a new Sonic book. As we've discussed before, Ken regained ownership of all the stories he wrote for Archie Sonic after the settlement with Archie, as well as all the characters he created for the series. He's allowed to do whatever he wants with his old work and his own characters, but he's forbidden from selling new Sonic-branded products. They have to be distinct at a glance. Per the settlement, Sega needed to make sure Ken's future works didn't "have a look or feel as though they were part of a Sonic universe." This is one of the reasons why the cast has been redesigned in a new (bad) art style for The Lara-Su Chronicles.

So while the old comics reprinted inside the book still contain Sonic characters, since Ken can still use that existing material that was forfeited to him in the settlement, you'll notice that nowhere on the new front or back cover does Ken show a character owned by Sega. The only characters shown using their appearances from the original comics are Julie-Su and Lara-Su, who Ken owns. Knuckles has been replaced with his TLSC equivalent, K'Nox, who's probably juuuuuust different enough to be considered a legally distinct character. In the blurb, Ken can mention that he wrote the original stories for Sonic and Knuckles-branded comics, because that's just a factually true statement, but he can't advertise that the book he's selling contains Sega-owned characters like Sonic, Knuckles, or even Sally. They're just... "some characters."

I remain fascinated by the weird needle Penders has to thread here due to the very specific copyright situation he's found himself in.

[comicaurora]

Can you elaborate on the Knuckles not being allowed to have a family??? My only exposure to the Sonic franchise is the Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, you mentioning it on livestreams, and smash bros

Legend has it that if you say the word "echidna" three times in a mirror Ken Penders appears to sue you for copyright infringement

[vilegato]

That image aint official either, it's a render made by @vladim-3d

I mentioned archie because Archie shouldn't be the least thing used as an example in this franchise lmao doesn't matter who was writing or whatever. That thing isn't consistent at all

does sonic twitter even know who sonic is

[theliterarywolf]

"Which is why I'm certain that the whole thing is less 'Heaven is evil' and more 'even angels have no idea what's going on, hence Sera's out here making faces that are the embodiment of 'I'm SHOOK'" Considering the conspicuous lack of mention of God (iirc), I'm suspecting (read: Hoping) that he's the one ultimately pulling strings for betterment across Creation and is the one who sent Pentious not only to Heaven, but directly into the Seraphim's laps. And that the reason he's not around is because he pulled a Supernatural!God and left because he got sick of watching his creations kill and be cruel to each other constantly. The reason Charlie's little story at the beginning seemed to act as if Heaven collectively started everything is because Lucifer would obviously be petty towards his former boss who booted him and his wife out. (You know before Supernatural fucked that up and went "jk God's actually evil lmao" in the last season) Also re: Ken Penders. I could swear he actually deleted his Twitter account, so if that's the case no need to worry! cross your fingers!

Imagine Hazbin ending with an incredibly down-to-earth conversation between God and Charlie, like:

Charlie - You're in charge of... not just Heaven but EVERYTHING! Why didn't you step in?! God - Oh, little one... Just as inquisitive as your father. And just as fiery as your mother. I'll let you in on a little secret. Sometimes when you do just enough, people will be able to wonder if you did anything at all. Look at your little hotel. Yes, Adam and Lute's little temper-tantrum caused it to be destroyed, but in the wake of that destruction..? Charlie - We were able to make it bigger. God - Now you're starting to get it. Just as you can't force sinners into redemption, I can't force people into doing my will. They have to discover it on their own. Hm? Charlie - I... guess that makes sense. God - Thatta girl. Now, go on. I'm sure that Saint Pentious and Emily aren't going to be able to keep Sera from blowing a gasket much longer. Oh, Charlie? One more thing? Charlie - Oh, uh... Sure! God - Do me a solid and tell Vagatha to visit every once and a while. She was able to remember her wings, after all.

And, of course, the Hellaverse design for God is a giant eyeball or something.

[sonknuxadow]

man im so tired of seeing people say they found news about sonic 3 or the knuckles series or sonic prime or whatever and then i start thinking oh really what is it . only for their "source" to be imdb. sometimes i feel like the only person on earth who knows that people add fake information to imdb literally all the time

[doubleddenden]

Btw, if anyone is lost about Emerl showing up on the Space Colony Ark (it's fine, it's been like 15 years since he was mentioned), here's some journals by Gerald lifted from Sonic Battle, where Emerl originated

Watch an LP of Sonic Battle for more details. You could also read up on Sonic Advance 3's "Gemerl" (Eggman's clone if him that Tails basically reprogrammed to be Cream's friend) or the Gizoids made by the Nocturnus Clan of Sonic Chronicles (it's stated to be the "4th Great Civilization" mentioned in Gerald's journal, but it should be noted the JP end only calls the Civilization "one of" the four great Civilizations, and also Chronicles is sort of a legal and canon Grey area because of Ken Penders and his petty bullshit, so it might be scrapped).

A base line to understand is that Emerl- aka the Gizoid- is an ancient weapon that copies data and merges with machinery, even copying pieces of personalities. With 1 Emerald he almost destroyed the Ark, and he became so power hungry with 7 that he almost destroyed the world and had to be destroyed by Sonic and the gang after they helped teach him how to be his own self.

Gerald actually imparted a bit of a heart inspired by Maria into both Shadow and Emerl, so the two are kinda like Super Weapon step brothers.

[ineffable-gallimaufry]

okay well tbf i wasn't sure when he was made exactly so. good to know on the legal end.

and as for the second point, i think that you could probably get around that just by doing slight tweaks to the character's arc. i was mostly thinking that the way the two characters have similar mind control set ups would make it be the most similar on a technical level. plus, shadow also sacrificed himself for sonic, they just undid that so...

bonus points if you say who carnage should be. for the record i think it would be shadow and carnage would be eclipse

[etaleah]

Why Not Ship Sonic with Knuckles Instead?

Why is it that, when Shadow and Knuckles have such similar personalities and dynamics with Sonic, do some people prefer to ship Sonic with Shadow instead of Knuckles? Wouldn’t a Sonic and Knuckles relationship offer the same thing and be more believable since those two are friends?

The answer (in my opinion) is no, it would not, and here’s why I find a Sonic and Knuckles relationship both less believable and less interesting.

(Disclaimer that I’m not knocking anyone who does like the ship. I have no problem with it; it’s just not for me)

Now the first issue I would see with a Sonic and Knuckles pairing is logistics. Knuckles is stationary; Sonic is free-roaming. Never being able to stay in one place for long is a big part of Sonic’s character, and staying in one place for a long time is kind of Knuckles’ whole thing. He guards the Master Emerald and never leaves Angel Island unless he has to, and never for very long if he can help it. Having to stay in an isolated place for a long time would drive Sonic crazy. Maybe a good fanfic writer could reconcile this by playing up the “being in love with you makes me want to stay” schtick, but even that I think would only work for so long. Knuckles wants to stay where he is because that’s his home and he feels an obligation to it. Sonic wants to travel and go where he pleases. And while we don’t know where Shadow lives, it’s safe to assume he’s probably living at least a somewhat nomadic lifestyle because the one permanent home he did have was destroyed. So I think he and Sonic would work better just from that standpoint if nothing else. Shadow has moved on from his past, but Knuckles is still very much tethered to his.

My other issue is that these characters don’t clash over the same things. As I mentioned in my Sonadow post, Sonic and Shadow fight over serious ideological differences that both are equally passionate about defending. When Sonic and Knuckles fight, however, it’s usually because Knuckles got tricked into falling for an Eggman scheme that almost any other character would have immediately seen right through. There are exceptions to this, I’m sure, like in the movie where they fight over which parent was on the right side in the war, but a lot of times they fight because Knuckles is just so dang gullible. Instead of both of them being passionate, it’s more one-sided where Knuckles is passionate but Sonic is smirking at what a dumbass he thinks his friend is. I don’t find that nearly as satisfying to explore and write about.

There’s other factors as well. I think Shadow would be drawn to Sonic because he reminds him of Maria. They’re both blue and kind-hearted, they both love the world and want to protect it, and they both want to explore and hate being trapped in one place for a long time (only in Maria’s case, she can’t really do anything about it). Knuckles doesn’t really have anyone like that in his life. There’s not really any reason for him to be drawn to Sonic in that way, at least no more so than he would be drawn to Amy, Tails, or any other good-hearted person in the series. He admires Sonic for his bravery and good morals, sure, but I imagine he admires Cream for the same reason. The only family we see Knuckles have (outside the Ken Penders comics) is his dad, who always just kinda seems like an older version of Knuckles. Shadow being with Maria makes me think of Shadow being with Sonic, while Knuckles being with his dad just makes me think of Knuckles being with his future self.

And finally, there’s the speed. Only Shadow is a match for Sonic in a race. Knuckles could beat Sonic in a fight, where it’s a contest of strength and power, but he could never beat Sonic in a race. Only Shadow can keep up with him in a race. And I just think there’s something romantic and cool about that.

Knuckles and Shadow may have a lot in common, but they are not the same character. And neither is their dynamic with Sonic.

[blazehedgehog]

Thank you for the review on Knuckles! I might watch it after all! You mentioned being confident that a scene was a reference to Ken Penders/Archie, what if it’s just a coincidence? Sorry for spoilers

I mean it could be a coincidence, sure. But he looks like this (spoilers under the cut):

When this is a fairly common photograph of Ken Penders:

(He's shaved the mustache off now, which is a bummer. It looks good on him here. But this was also like 15-20 years ago)

I also totally forgot about this, but we actually see Knuckles' dad during a flashback in Sonic 2 and he doesn't have a mustache or glasses:

(the Knuckles show also contradicts this; the show says Knuckles was side by side with his father when he died, whereas Knuckles in the movie says his dad left to go fight Longclaw and was never seen again)

Tyson Hesse also drew this comic for a Sonic zine a couple years ago, where Ken Penders refers to Knuckles as "my son."

Tyson being, y'know, the dude who helped redesign Sonic in the first movie and has a producer role on the Knuckles show.

I mean at the end of the day Ken Penders just looks like a dad. So whatever, right. It's just a funny joke, is all.

[crusherthedoctor]

Legacy. The Freedom fighters existed far longer than many of the official characters and the fleetway/Sonic X characters, and have endured the test of time.

Look at it this way, Jimmy Olson is a Superman character, right? Well, funny thing is that he didn't originate in the superman comics but came from a radio show of all things back when radio was the largest media (30s-50s)

Now does Jimmy Olson contribute much to Superman's story? No

Is he the most important character in the superman lore? No

But is he still a beloved character that people like? Hell yes.

Legacy should matter, the freedom fighters were there when the sonic franchise was faltering, and they deserve some recognition.

This is just a burial of characters that Sega owns unlike say the fleetway characters, they don't belong to Archie or Ken Penders and have every right to be acknowledged.

But here we are, Sega taking the backhoe and burying them deep, hoping we would forget them.

Meanwhile, they keep shitting out one mediocre game after the other.

The Freedom Fighters are not as important or key to Sonic's success as you think they are. They're no more essential to Sonic's world than characters from AoStH, Underground, Boom, or any other adaptation that's a thing of the past (before you mention Sticks, she was quietly retired as well following Boom's end). You preferring them doesn't change that, and neither does the popularity of Archie or SatAM. Because lest we forget, the movies are also quite popular, and so are a few of their characters.

If we're judging things by the loose definition of legacy, then the games themselves have a "legacy" of three decades as of this year, and what's more, Archie Sonic and SatAM would never have existed in the first place if it weren't for the games. Yet you're quick to trash them in favor of characters you believe to be superior solely because you say so.

Legacy alone, and standing the test of time (which in itself is debatable BTW), doesn't make a character good by default. Characters ought to be judged by their quality, not by how old or how recent they are. Characters like Sonic and Eggman do have a legacy, yes, but they are literally the main hero and main villain of the entire scope of the franchise, and are not comparable to some team from a dead cartoon and a dead comic that fans happen to like.

SEGA are not deliberately singling the Freedom Fighters out and trying to wipe people's memories of them specifically. They've simply moved on from a now-defunct branch of the franchise, as they did with every other adaptation that is no longer relevant. That's not to say you can't miss these characters, but attitudes like this highlight an inflated persecution complex shared by many of the most aggressive FF stans.

And if we're going to give the Freedom Fighters an obligatory pat on the back for simply happening to exist during down periods of the franchise, then we might as well do the same for all those game characters that also existed during those same periods.

[fernsnailz]

how would you suggest someone gets into reading archie sonic? i tried but the first few issues are such a slog

ok as someone who understands how difficult a lot of the early archie comics are to read… i HIGHLY suggest you read from the very beginning, or as close to the beginning as you can.

a lot of the early comics suck, straight up. but there’s also so much hidden gold in the early stuff that’s easily missed if you start somewhere in the middle. not to mention, storylines last for a WHILE in archie sonic. the ramifications of an early issue can randomly show up again 50 issues later - if you skip the beginning, you’re going to be lost somewhere down the road because you missed an early plot beat.

a lot of people suggest you start at issue 160 because that’s where the writing and art gets consistently good. and they’re right! but the writing is only good because it builds off of plot, characters, and lore that was set up in the previous 159 issues. if you start at 160, you’re going to miss the story and emotional context of what makes it so good. it will feel hollow. plus, you'll also miss crazy shit like this:

if you REALLY want to skip some of the early issues (which is fair), i’d suggest you start at issue 57. this issue serves as a recap for a lot of the larger story beats that happened previously, and gives you a very, very basic understanding of where the story is at this point.

there is one place where you can start archie sonic without knowing any of the extensive lore or previous issues: the reboot. you can start at issue 252 and not have to worry about anything prior because the story from this point forward basically takes place in a completely new universe.

regardless of where you start, you will need a reading order. archie sonic isn’t just the main series - it’s also the multiple spin-off series, mini-series, and specials that continuously build the story. i suggest the reading order found on the thanks, ken penders blog.

archie sonic is insane, but enjoyment comes from when you can find some sort of understanding within the chaos. and unfortunately, you can't really get that unless you start with the early stuff. best of luck to anyone out there trying to get into archie sonic, because you're probably going to need it

oh wait one last thing: BEWARE THE KNUCKLES SERIES. it's really bad