🎨 Artcow Ken Penders - Former Archie Sonic Comic Writer/Artist

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AnOminous said:
Their behavior makes more sense in light of the fact that, as mentioned previously upthread, Archie is basically run by a mentally ill person.
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Funny you should mention that.
Archie comics is gon' die.png


I'm also reading chatter that Sega put stringent restrictions on what Archie could and could not do going forward from the Penders lolsuit. I wonder what those restrictions entail.

Oh shit.
Archie comics is gon' die 2.png

So this lawsuit had nothing to do with Sonic Chronicles at all. We were wrong about Penders this entire time. Archie is such a shitshow. Reading further down, I found that Archie fired their legal team after the end of the Penders lawsuit. This is actually much worse than I thought, they practically kicked him out.
Archie comics is gon' die 3.png
 
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MarvinTheParanoidAndroid said:
Funny you should mention that.
View attachment 233230

I'm also reading chatter that Sega put stringent restrictions on what Archie could and could not do going forward from the Penders lolsuit. I wonder what those restrictions entail.

Oh shit.
View attachment 233235
So this lawsuit had nothing to do with Sonic Chronicles at all. We were wrong about Penders this entire time. Archie is such a shitshow. Reading further down, I found that Archie fired their legal team after the end of the Penders lawsuit. This is actually much worse than I thought, they practically kicked him out.
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Well i am find with being wrong. but the damage has been done to both parties and nothing can really be done to undo it. Ken did sue Sega and EA over Sonic Chronicles, it have not been the trigger the mess, but it did play a part.
 
Halberd Sonichu said:
Well i am find with being wrong. but the damage has been done to both parties and nothing can really be done to undo it. Ken did sue Sega and EA over Sonic Chronicles, it have not been the trigger the mess, but it did play a part.
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He really sued Sega? Up until now, the only lawsuit I heard of was the one involving Penders' ownership of his characters.
 
MarvinTheParanoidAndroid said:
He really sued Sega? Up until now, the only lawsuit I heard of was the one involving Penders' ownership of his characters.
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yeah he tried to do it twice, but failed both times. that's why he really don't see anything of Sonic Chronicles now days. Hell that's why you can't pick echidna for custom hero in Sonic Forces. you can blame Ken Penders for that.
 
Halberd Sonichu said:
yeah he tried to do it twice, but failed both times. that's why he really don't see anything of Sonic Chronicles now days. Hell that's why you can't pick echidna for custom hero in Sonic Forces. you can blame Ken Penders for that.
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I don't believe you that he's the reason for no echidna.

It's because Knuckles is the last of his species in most canons.
 
Warden said:
I don't believe you that he's the reason for no echidna.

It's because Knuckles is the last of his species in most canons.
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yeah that's true, I think them excluding echidna was a suggestion by the legal team to play it safe.
 
As per the legal settlement of the case, new and increased mandates from Sega Incorporated were put into effect in any and all Sonic the Hedgehog related contents, including (but not limited to) games, television series, films, toys and even comic books. For Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic series specifically, as relevant to the legal case, the following mandates in effect are (but not possibly limited to) as follows:

  • Sega-specific original characters are not permitted familial relationships unless already established (like Cream the Rabbit and Vanilla the Rabbit) with some limited exceptions (eg. Charles Hedgehog). ACP-exclusive characters (Sally, Rotor, Bunnie, Antoine) are permitted however.
  • Use of Ken Penders characters or any of his content from the Pre-Super Genesis Wave are forbidden (although settlement grants ACP legal use of his creations under limited conditions, reasons for not doing so are not disclosed to the public by either ACP or Sega Inc. as of this time).
  • Content from certain games are not permissible:
  • Replacing said characters with post-incarnations however, is permissible. (eg. Maximillian Acorn → Nigel Acorn).
  • Archie Comics Publishing are forbidden to reference Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, Sonic Underground or Sonic X unless granted specific permission from Sega Incorporated.
  • ACP is forbidden to using the character Doctor Eggman Nega unless specifically granted permission from Sega Incorporated.
  • Sonic's home planet is no longer permitted to be referred to as “Mobius”, be it Light, Dark, Prime or otherwise.
  • Only one Metal Sonic is permitted for appearance but no multiples.
  • With the exception of the character Nicole allowing effected characters to remember the previous universe, these memories are forced to 'fade' and be rendered irrelevant.
  • Character depicitions such as Classic Sonic, Classic Tails, Classic Eggman or any other classic depictions of Sega's characters are not permitted unless permission is given directly from Sega Incorporated. (However some ACP publications have shown scenes of the 'Classic' characters in shadows, silhouettes or bare resemblance to them in flashbacks). With the 25th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise however, this mandate appears to have been lifted.
  • Sonic is not allowed to “lose”. He can be 'put down' and experience hardship but is not allowed to completely 'fail'.
  • Main and/or significant characters are forbidden in forming intimate or love-relationships. ACP-exclusive characters are permitted however (Bunnie and Antoine) but not with Sega's characters (Sonic the Hedgehog and Sally Acorn).
  • Original Sega characters are to conform, stay conformed to their modern designs as of Sonic the Hedgehog #71. None are allowed to change or modify their existing wardrobe or wear any different wardrobe at all, regardless of the story context.
  • Sega-exclusive characters cannot be "killed-off", whilst Archie-exclusive characters are not mentioned in this mandate, it remains unclear whether this rule may apply to them also.
  • Sonic and Sega-exclusive characters are not allowed to show excessive emotion.


An example of established-requirement of censorship of emotion from Sonic the Hedgehog #166 (left: original, right: current)
You get all that? Main characters cannot show excessive emotion, the main character can never actually lose, none of the Sega originating characters can bond with each other & none of the Sega originating characters can be killed off, not even for a planned cop out. Goodbye substantial conflict, goodbye suspense and goodbye basic storytelling. They throttled any chance of them writing anything that might sell, no wonder this comic fell apart.
 
MarvinTheParanoidAndroid said:
As per the legal settlement of the case, new and increased mandates from Sega Incorporated were put into effect in any and all Sonic the Hedgehog related contents, including (but not limited to) games, television series, films, toys and even comic books. For Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic series specifically, as relevant to the legal case, the following mandates in effect are (but not possibly limited to) as follows:

  • Sega-specific original characters are not permitted familial relationships unless already established (like Cream the Rabbit and Vanilla the Rabbit) with some limited exceptions (eg. Charles Hedgehog). ACP-exclusive characters (Sally, Rotor, Bunnie, Antoine) are permitted however.
  • Use of Ken Penders characters or any of his content from the Pre-Super Genesis Wave are forbidden (although settlement grants ACP legal use of his creations under limited conditions, reasons for not doing so are not disclosed to the public by either ACP or Sega Inc. as of this time).
  • Content from certain games are not permissible:
  • Replacing said characters with post-incarnations however, is permissible. (eg. Maximillian Acorn → Nigel Acorn).
  • Archie Comics Publishing are forbidden to reference Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, Sonic Underground or Sonic X unless granted specific permission from Sega Incorporated.
  • ACP is forbidden to using the character Doctor Eggman Nega unless specifically granted permission from Sega Incorporated.
  • Sonic's home planet is no longer permitted to be referred to as “Mobius”, be it Light, Dark, Prime or otherwise.
  • Only one Metal Sonic is permitted for appearance but no multiples.
  • With the exception of the character Nicole allowing effected characters to remember the previous universe, these memories are forced to 'fade' and be rendered irrelevant.
  • Character depicitions such as Classic Sonic, Classic Tails, Classic Eggman or any other classic depictions of Sega's characters are not permitted unless permission is given directly from Sega Incorporated. (However some ACP publications have shown scenes of the 'Classic' characters in shadows, silhouettes or bare resemblance to them in flashbacks). With the 25th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise however, this mandate appears to have been lifted.
  • Sonic is not allowed to “lose”. He can be 'put down' and experience hardship but is not allowed to completely 'fail'.
  • Main and/or significant characters are forbidden in forming intimate or love-relationships. ACP-exclusive characters are permitted however (Bunnie and Antoine) but not with Sega's characters (Sonic the Hedgehog and Sally Acorn).
  • Original Sega characters are to conform, stay conformed to their modern designs as of Sonic the Hedgehog #71. None are allowed to change or modify their existing wardrobe or wear any different wardrobe at all, regardless of the story context.
  • Sega-exclusive characters cannot be "killed-off", whilst Archie-exclusive characters are not mentioned in this mandate, it remains unclear whether this rule may apply to them also.
  • Sonic and Sega-exclusive characters are not allowed to show excessive emotion.


An example of established-requirement of censorship of emotion from Sonic the Hedgehog #166 (left: original, right: current)
You get all that? Main characters cannot show excessive emotion, the main character can never actually lose, none of the Sega originating characters can bond with each other & none of the Sega originating characters can be killed off, not even for a planned cop out. Goodbye substantial conflict, goodbye suspense and goodbye basic storytelling. They throttled any chance of them writing anything that might sell, no wonder this comic fell apart.
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Ken Penders always struck me as a higher profile ORIGINAL CHARACTER DONUT STEEL kind of person, especially with the whole lawsuits and all, but I never knew he went this far. Holy shit.

That's also why nobody I knew was shocked when Archie's comic was canned.
 
MarvinTheParanoidAndroid said:
As per the legal settlement of the case, new and increased mandates from Sega Incorporated were put into effect in any and all Sonic the Hedgehog related contents, including (but not limited to) games, television series, films, toys and even comic books. For Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comic series specifically, as relevant to the legal case, the following mandates in effect are (but not possibly limited to) as follows:

  • Sega-specific original characters are not permitted familial relationships unless already established (like Cream the Rabbit and Vanilla the Rabbit) with some limited exceptions (eg. Charles Hedgehog). ACP-exclusive characters (Sally, Rotor, Bunnie, Antoine) are permitted however.
  • Use of Ken Penders characters or any of his content from the Pre-Super Genesis Wave are forbidden (although settlement grants ACP legal use of his creations under limited conditions, reasons for not doing so are not disclosed to the public by either ACP or Sega Inc. as of this time).
  • Content from certain games are not permissible:
  • Replacing said characters with post-incarnations however, is permissible. (eg. Maximillian Acorn → Nigel Acorn).
  • Archie Comics Publishing are forbidden to reference Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, Sonic Underground or Sonic X unless granted specific permission from Sega Incorporated.
  • ACP is forbidden to using the character Doctor Eggman Nega unless specifically granted permission from Sega Incorporated.
  • Sonic's home planet is no longer permitted to be referred to as “Mobius”, be it Light, Dark, Prime or otherwise.
  • Only one Metal Sonic is permitted for appearance but no multiples.
  • With the exception of the character Nicole allowing effected characters to remember the previous universe, these memories are forced to 'fade' and be rendered irrelevant.
  • Character depicitions such as Classic Sonic, Classic Tails, Classic Eggman or any other classic depictions of Sega's characters are not permitted unless permission is given directly from Sega Incorporated. (However some ACP publications have shown scenes of the 'Classic' characters in shadows, silhouettes or bare resemblance to them in flashbacks). With the 25th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise however, this mandate appears to have been lifted.
  • Sonic is not allowed to “lose”. He can be 'put down' and experience hardship but is not allowed to completely 'fail'.
  • Main and/or significant characters are forbidden in forming intimate or love-relationships. ACP-exclusive characters are permitted however (Bunnie and Antoine) but not with Sega's characters (Sonic the Hedgehog and Sally Acorn).
  • Original Sega characters are to conform, stay conformed to their modern designs as of Sonic the Hedgehog #71. None are allowed to change or modify their existing wardrobe or wear any different wardrobe at all, regardless of the story context.
  • Sega-exclusive characters cannot be "killed-off", whilst Archie-exclusive characters are not mentioned in this mandate, it remains unclear whether this rule may apply to them also.
  • Sonic and Sega-exclusive characters are not allowed to show excessive emotion.


An example of established-requirement of censorship of emotion from Sonic the Hedgehog #166 (left: original, right: current)
You get all that? Main characters cannot show excessive emotion, the main character can never actually lose, none of the Sega originating characters can bond with each other & none of the Sega originating characters can be killed off, not even for a planned cop out. Goodbye substantial conflict, goodbye suspense and goodbye basic storytelling. They throttled any chance of them writing anything that might sell, no wonder this comic fell apart.
Click to expand...
That is the sticking point in all this. Making these characters more than just 2 dimensional heroes.
 
You can tell that Sega had enough of Archie's shit after the Pender's case. But they didn't look like the bads with the comic being well received by the fans in recent years. So they throw on harsher and harsher mandates until Archie can it themselves. I curious to what was going though the minds of Sega's higher ups when the lawsuit came to be?
 
Halberd Sonichu said:
You can tell that Sega had enough of Archie's shit after the Pender's case. But they didn't look like the bads with the comic being well received by the fans in recent years. So they throw on harsher and harsher mandates until Archie can it themselves. I curious to what was going though the minds of Sega's higher ups when the lawsuit came to be?
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I wouldn't be surprised if these were the mandates they created for their own games and they just applied them to force Archie to conform to contemporary standards. It would explain why all their new games feel so sterile.
 
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MarvinTheParanoidAndroid said:
So this lawsuit had nothing to do with Sonic Chronicles at all. We were wrong about Penders this entire time. Archie is such a shitshow. Reading further down, I found that Archie fired their legal team after the end of the Penders lawsuit. This is actually much worse than I thought, they practically kicked him out.
Click to expand...

This timeline doesn't agree with that.

http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Ken_Penders'_legal_cases

It might be worth looking into this stuff more.
 
The mandate where Sonic and Sega characters are not allowed to show emotion tells me that Eggman ultimately won and has replaced Sonic with a robot.
 
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