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

[horridus]

.... how the hell is it that the Echyd'nya keep getting uglier? Like, jeezum crow, hasn't looked good once throughout this inane project, but this is just taking it to new levels of hideous. Same with Sabre. I guess either Penders didn't actually make the monocle design or no longer cares for it, but that buzz cut is just... unnatural looking. Seriously the widow's peak makes him almost look like a Miradorn from Star Trek.

And this time it really IS unintentional!

And yeah, sure Penders, you've made tons of progress we just don't know about and you're perfectly content to simply LOOK like a lazy fool who constantly re-releases the same handful of images without giving any idea of when this will officially be done. Sure man, whatever you say.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Am I the only one who finds this computer system thing utterly bizarre too. Like, forget that there’s bound to be more convenient means of communicating with someone that doesn’t involve having a big ass video call screen show up over one eye that blocks vision, but how does it make any sense that they’re a prescription lens (IE - Presumedly to correct poor eyesight) - yet not only would the call and by extension, any functionality that the computer provides not be corrected, as they appear on the lens, and therefore, Lara-Su wouldn’t be able to see out of them, but surely having mini TVs that pop up right in front of your eyes wouldn’t exactly be the best way to help them either?

I know this is nitpicking but why couldn’t he just go with he thought it looked cooler instead of some half-assed explanation that it’s somehow functional and helps her eyesight when the exact opposite would logically be true?

[Promethean0416]

8 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Am I the only one who finds this computer system thing utterly bizarre too. Like, forget that there’s bound to be more convenient means of communicating with someone that doesn’t involve having a big ass video call screen show up over one eye that blocks vision, but how does it make any sense that they’re a prescription lens (IE - Presumedly to correct poor eyesight) - yet not only would the call and by extension, any functionality that the computer provides not be corrected, as they appear on the lens, and therefore, Lara-Su wouldn’t be able to see out of them, but surely having mini TVs that pop up right in front of your eyes wouldn’t exactly be the best way to help them either?

I know this is nitpicking but why couldn’t he just go with he thought it looked cooler instead of some half-assed explanation that it’s somehow functional and helps her eyesight when the exact opposite would logically be true?

Yeah, I agree this wasn't well thought out at all on his end, especially with the Virtual Boy-like red background which would normally cause eye strain. But I imagine he will come up with the usual excuse of "they're aliens, they have stronger eyes than a normal human", or something along those lines.

I mean, some franchises have HUD style graphics to use for data (Halo series), and I know Marvel (particularly Iron Man) used something similar with video displays, data, and what not, so maybe...inspiration?

[horridus]

11 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Am I the only one who finds this computer system thing utterly bizarre too. Like, forget that there’s bound to be more convenient means of communicating with someone that doesn’t involve having a big ass video call screen show up over one eye that blocks vision, but how does it make any sense that they’re a prescription lens (IE - Presumedly to correct poor eyesight) - yet not only would the call and by extension, any functionality that the computer provides not be corrected, as they appear on the lens, and therefore, Lara-Su wouldn’t be able to see out of them, but surely having mini TVs that pop up right in front of your eyes wouldn’t exactly be the best way to help them either?

I know this is nitpicking but why couldn’t he just go with he thought it looked cooler instead of some half-assed explanation that it’s somehow functional and helps her eyesight when the exact opposite would logically be true?

Penders operates under this conceit that he's a 'Real Writer', and he insists that this thing is a Hard Science Fiction story (when it isn't, it BLATANTLY isn't). As such he can never just admit he does things because he thinks its neat or looks neat or anything like that, there always has to be some kind of 'higher purpose' to it, an excuse or justification so that he can pretend he's Knowledgeable And Grounded.

In short? He's a pretentious dingus.

[Promethean0416]

Well, seems he is deciding to sell something else non-LSC related, and of course, it's a character he didn't deal with as much (aside from the commission with the Chronicles design):

Maybe I am overthinking it, but shouldn't Shadow be sleeping if he is in one of those tubes?

And of course, these "survive" shirts are limited edition. Wonder how many he will manage to sell before probably donating the rest to the Salvation Army?

 

[King Scoopa Koopa]

"Limited edition" is a brilliant cover for why we'll never see anyone wearing one.

[horridus]

4 hours ago, Promethean0416 said:

Well, seems he is deciding to sell something else non-LSC related, and of course, it's a character he didn't deal with as much (aside from the commission with the Chronicles design):

Maybe I am overthinking it, but shouldn't Shadow be sleeping if he is in one of those tubes?

And of course, these "survive" shirts are limited edition. Wonder how many he will manage to sell before probably donating the rest to the Salvation Army?

Well that's not entirely true- bizarrely given his otherwise pronounced disinterest in game content, Penders actually gave a fair bit of focus to Shadow during his last run on the book. It included such highlights as Shadow hanging around with a golden copy of Gamma that was built by Eggman's ancestor Ivan Kintobor (Born on 6/6/06!) who inadvertently destroyed earth/created Mobius by provoking the Xorda, and Locke then kidnapping Shadow for Reasons and declaring that he was neither Biological, Mineral nor Vegetable! 

A classic moment for sure!

.... god that entire run might just be the worst thing in all of Archie and I'm not even kidding.

Anyway, it was something I always found a bit odd. I suspect that it was either Penders glomming himself onto Shadow as a means of retreading all of his favorite storytelling tropes with Shadow given the eerie parallels Shadow had with Knuckles at that point, or it was something he did because he was told to by Editorial. He would later go on to claim that he quit because he was told to make an adaptation of the Shadow game while not being provided reference material, but I always found that claim suspicious given that he had no issue with playing fast and loose with game adaptations in the past...

Apologies for the dissertation there, but I felt it noteworthy to mention. Aaand yeah, I get the feeling he's doing a "Limited Run" on those shirts purely as a mean of bilking the five people who actually buy his Lara-Su crap.

[Promethean0416]

6 hours ago, horridus said:

Well that's not entirely true- bizarrely given his otherwise pronounced disinterest in game content, Penders actually gave a fair bit of focus to Shadow during his last run on the book. It included such highlights as Shadow hanging around with a golden copy of Gamma that was built by Eggman's ancestor Ivan Kintobor (Born on 6/6/06!) who inadvertently destroyed earth/created Mobius by provoking the Xorda, and Locke then kidnapping Shadow for Reasons and declaring that he was neither Biological, Mineral nor Vegetable! 

A classic moment for sure!

.... god that entire run might just be the worst thing in all of Archie and I'm not even kidding.

Anyway, it was something I always found a bit odd. I suspect that it was either Penders glomming himself onto Shadow as a means of retreading all of his favorite storytelling tropes with Shadow given the eerie parallels Shadow had with Knuckles at that point, or it was something he did because he was told to by Editorial. He would later go on to claim that he quit because he was told to make an adaptation of the Shadow game while not being provided reference material, but I always found that claim suspicious given that he had no issue with playing fast and loose with game adaptations in the past...

Apologies for the dissertation there, but I felt it noteworthy to mention. Aaand yeah, I get the feeling he's doing a "Limited Run" on those shirts purely as a mean of bilking the five people who actually buy his Lara-Su crap.

Ah, okay. I forgot about that one. Also, his starting attempt to "restore" the Echidna city after RtAI?

On another note, this tweet has me scratching my head:

From my understanding, royalty checks are sent every month for each use, but is there something more to this? Like $2 per character usage? Sold comics with each character? If it's just for $2 a month, seems like a pittance for all that has happened for those copyrights considering how much money that I imagine was spent between both sides.

[horridus]

2 hours ago, Promethean0416 said:

Ah, okay. I forgot about that one. Also, his starting attempt to "restore" the Echidna city after RtAI?

On another note, this tweet has me scratching my head:

From my understanding, royalty checks are sent every month for each use, but is there something more to this? Like $2 per character usage? Sold comics with each character? If it's just for $2 a month, seems like a pittance for all that has happened for those copyrights considering how much money that I imagine was spent between both sides.

Royalty checks are derived from a percentage of the total gross of a sold product, which in his case would mean he'd be entitled to a cut from the total sales of any issue or reprint that features his characters and stories. Even if it just amounted to a penny per issue it wouldn't be that low unless the book cratered so badly that it would've been cancelled anyway, especially when you factor in things like online sales and subscriptions and the archives that were being sold. Doesn't mean it'd be huge or anything, but if he really thinks he's making himself look like the reasonable party here then its just one more bit of evidence that this man does not live in the same reality as us.

More than likely he's just being disingenuous. Or he's an idiot. Either is perfectly valid, coming from him.

[PinkFloydMania]

I can't believe for the low, low price of $1.98, we could have avoided the Super Genesis Wave and got to see the Naugus plotline conclude without having to rely on a reboot-related cop out. Curse you Archie! /s

[Ryannumber1gamer]

21 minutes ago, horridus said:

Royalty checks are derived from a percentage of the total gross of a sold product, which in his case would mean he'd be entitled to a cut from the total sales of any issue or reprint that features his characters and stories. Even if it just amounted to a penny per issue it wouldn't be that low unless the book cratered so badly that it would've been cancelled anyway, especially when you factor in things like online sales and subscriptions and the archives that were being sold. Doesn't mean it'd be huge or anything, but if he really thinks he's making himself look like the reasonable party here then its just one more bit of evidence that this man does not live in the same reality as us.

More than likely he's just being disingenuous. Or he's an idiot. Either is perfectly valid, coming from him.

Disingenuous, given that he knows full well this wasn’t how it kicked off. He copyrighted his characters with the intent of suing SEGA and BioWare for ‘infringing on it’, which then promoted Archie to sue him for copyrighting their characters (which to be fair - would have been a valid reason had Archie’s legal team not been a bunch of utter imbeciles, quite a lot of Ken’s alleged victory was nothing but blind luck with being against a legal team that shot itself in the leg so often that they were fired mid case). 

Either way, it certainly wasn’t just being about “getting his slice of the pie” - most people actually side with him that the creators should get royalties for their work, myself included - too bad that was never what the case was about, no matter how much Penders cries wolf that it was.

[babsiwuff]

20 hours ago, Promethean0416 said:

Well, seems he is deciding to sell something else non-LSC related, and of course, it's a character he didn't deal with as much (aside from the commission with the Chronicles design):

Maybe I am overthinking it, but shouldn't Shadow be sleeping if he is in one of those tubes?

And of course, these "survive" shirts are limited edition. Wonder how many he will manage to sell before probably donating the rest to the Salvation Army?

So if he knows how to draw Shadow, why’d he resort to blatant copying?

[Promethean0416]

36 minutes ago, babsiwuff said:

So if he knows how to draw Shadow, why’d he resort to blatant copying?

Probably had reference artwork from the game on hand and thought when he got the request: "eh, this'll do."

IIRC, he even admitted at one point to using the Chronicles Shadow artwork when asked about it.

And...yeah, likely another attempt here to make himself look better from the lawsuit fallout. I can understand if one does not want to talk about all that anymore, but constantly bringing it up and pointing fingers at the other side? Yep, clearly hasn't moved on at all...

 

[horridus]

1 hour ago, babsiwuff said:

So if he knows how to draw Shadow, why’d he resort to blatant copying?

Same reason he uses photographs for his backgrounds and why he felt a need to over-reference that one image of Bunnie for that commission he did- he see's no problem with cutting corners. Guy's a lazy hack.

1 hour ago, Promethean0416 said:

Probably had reference artwork from the game on hand and thought when he got the request: "eh, this'll do."

IIRC, he even admitted at one point to using the Chronicles Shadow artwork when asked about it.

And...yeah, likely another attempt here to make himself look better from the lawsuit fallout. I can understand if one does not want to talk about all that anymore, but constantly bringing it up and pointing fingers at the other side? Yep, clearly hasn't moved on at all...

It's funny because he repeatedly made a song and dance about how important it was that his children and grandchildren inherit these copyrights, and the core of his argument in the Chronicles case was that he was owed royalties for 'his' work being used. In doing this he's basically saying his work is in fact utterly worthless.

[babsiwuff]

1 hour ago, horridus said:

Same reason he uses photographs for his backgrounds and why he felt a need to over-reference that one image of Bunnie for that commission he did- he see's no problem with cutting corners. Guy's a lazy hack.

It's funny because he repeatedly made a song and dance about how important it was that his children and grandchildren inherit these copyrights, and the core of his argument in the Chronicles case was that he was owed royalties for 'his' work being used. In doing this he's basically saying his work is in fact utterly worthless.

I still get a chuckle out of that.  His family isn’t going to do ANYTHING with this mess.  They’re all too busy with their own lives and careers.   Once he dies, that’s it.

[King Scoopa Koopa]

7 hours ago, Promethean0416 said:

IIRC, he even admitted at one point to using the Chronicles Shadow artwork when asked about it.

Well, why shouldn't he? After all, he drew, orchestrated, programmed, and hand-coded the entire thing by himself, before those bullies at BioWare pushed him into the mud and stole his game and lunch money.

[Promethean0416]

Well, his whole spiel of "Archie could have paid me 2.00 or less, so it's all their fault" is still continuing, and it's getting old. 

I understand he is not fully to blame for that whole debacle, but good lord, the things one does for attempts in the Twitter spotlight...

This one tweet did catch my eye, and like most others, has me wondering what mindset this is coming from:

What is there to work out, exactly? Pretty sure when Archie lost the license years ago, all the books, digests, best of, and whatever else Sonic related went away (including both pre and post reboot stories), unless they still have them online in some form, which I don't recall seeing in a while, but I could be mistaken.

Pretty sure the only way to get any back issues of the old series these days is online in shops that have back issues, which of course, includes Penders' site as well.

[horridus]

28 minutes ago, Promethean0416 said:

Well, his whole spiel of "Archie could have paid me 2.00 or less, so it's all their fault" is still continuing, and it's getting old. 

I understand he is not fully to blame for that whole debacle, but good lord, the things one does for attempts in the Twitter spotlight...

This one tweet did catch my eye, and like most others, has me wondering what mindset this is coming from:

What is there to work out, exactly? Pretty sure when Archie lost the license years ago, all the books, digests, best of, and whatever else Sonic related went away (including both pre and post reboot stories), unless they still have them online in some form, which I don't recall seeing in a while, but I could be mistaken.

Pretty sure the only way to get any back issues of the old series these days is online in shops that have back issues, which of course, includes Penders' site as well.

The best I can figure is this is a reference to that cockamamie claim of his that Eggman being used in Archie is in fact using his character of Robo-Robotnik, even after the reboot. Other than that though at this stage he's just talking so he can continue to try and pretend he's really a reasonable and magnanimous guy rather than the petty, greedy fool he really is. This is a guy who tried to use the lawsuit as leverage over SEGA to get his stupid Knuckles movie made. Whatever valid points he may have had are always going to be completely eclipsed by the fact his actions go beyond someone simply wanting their fair share, and he's too much of a self-centered jackass to comprehend that the more reveals about his thought process the more it becomes clear how much of a deluded, entitled prick he is.

[Promethean0416]

Yeah, if he's still hung up on Robo-Robotnik/Eggman, that ship has long since sailed without him. But then again, gotta get attention somehow...

And well, he finally posted a statement on his website again:

https://kenpenders.com/transitioning/

He may be serious this time about leaving, especially after today's debacle with Twitter, but who knows...

And...really? He's looking for more translators in an attempt to broaden his audience further? Well, as horridus and many others already said before, he seems to be planning an international fried chicken chain before purchasing his first poultry. But the one thing that eclipses all that is the fact that he hasn't released the damn thing yet locally, not even the supposed freebie prequel story.

[King Scoopa Koopa]

1 hour ago, Promethean0416 said:

he hasn't released the damn thing yet locally, not even the supposed freebie prequel story.

People talk like Penders is a purely selfish, uncaring individual who only looks out for his own interests, but this one action clearly shows a level of empathy that has long gone overlooked.

[Leebo4]

On 6/30/2023 at 5:32 PM, horridus said:

The best I can figure is this is a reference to that cockamamie claim of his that Eggman being used in Archie is in fact using his character of Robo-Robotnik, even after the reboot. Other than that though at this stage he's just talking so he can continue to try and pretend he's really a reasonable and magnanimous guy rather than the petty, greedy fool he really is. This is a guy who tried to use the lawsuit as leverage over SEGA to get his stupid Knuckles movie made. Whatever valid points he may have had are always going to be completely eclipsed by the fact his actions go beyond someone simply wanting their fair share, and he's too much of a self-centered jackass to comprehend that the more reveals about his thought process the more it becomes clear how much of a deluded, entitled prick he is.

Knuckles movie? Never heard of him attempt that

[horridus]

13 hours ago, Promethean0416 said:

Yeah, if he's still hung up on Robo-Robotnik/Eggman, that ship has long since sailed without him. But then again, gotta get attention somehow...

And well, he finally posted a statement on his website again:

https://kenpenders.com/transitioning/

He may be serious this time about leaving, especially after today's debacle with Twitter, but who knows...

And...really? He's looking for more translators in an attempt to broaden his audience further? Well, as horridus and many others already said before, he seems to be planning an international fried chicken chain before purchasing his first poultry. But the one thing that eclipses all that is the fact that he hasn't released the damn thing yet locally, not even the supposed freebie prequel story.

After what recently happened, I think I could actually buy the idea of him being serious about leaving this time. God only knows how much life Twitter has left before it finally implodes thanks to the current management.

And again, try to remember that Penders labors under the very hard delusion that his work was a massive international success and that he totally has a global fanbase that's just chomping at the bit for his stuff. He'll never be able to accept that his work was niche at best and that if he wants an audience, he's gonna have to build it.

8 hours ago, Leebo4 said:

Knuckles movie? Never heard of him attempt that

In his own words-

And just in case Twitter decides to have another seizure-

Take a good, long look at point number three.

It was never about receiving his fair share.

[Leebo4]

57 minutes ago, horridus said:

After what recently happened, I think I could actually buy the idea of him being serious about leaving this time. God only knows how much life Twitter has left before it finally implodes thanks to the current management.

And again, try to remember that Penders labors under the very hard delusion that his work was a massive international success and that he totally has a global fanbase that's just chomping at the bit for his stuff. He'll never be able to accept that his work was niche at best and that if he wants an audience, he's gonna have to build it.

In his own words-

And just in case Twitter decides to have another seizure-

Take a good, long look at point number three.

It was never about receiving his fair share.

Thanks 

[Promethean0416]

Seems he made a new Instagram account (which is empty so far, if I found the correct one, which was therealkenpenders). Don't know what Threads is aside from some news articles depicting it in a bit of negative light:

And of course, he has his site and forums, which is still pretty much dead. I imagine it will be a lot harder to post any form of updates on his "progress" once (or if) he leaves Twitter, especially after the Comic Con later on this month.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

If this is anything like the last times he "left Twitter", we'll still be hearing from his Twitter page.