Ken Penders: The Weirdest Sonic Writer

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Ken Penders is the most infamous man in the Sonic comic fandom. His lawsuits were LEGENDERY so let's talk about them!
Big thanks to Zephy and Nando v Movies for their controbutions and extra thanks to ThanksKenPenders and TheAmazingSallyHogan for their blogs laying the groundwork for my research!
Special thanks to our Patrons for helping make this possible!
The Brain Teaser, Bonnie Davies, Senita Mahoney, Jonathan & Megan Pierson, David Adler, Milton Appling, Jonathan Aresse, Ralph Braganzan, Ethan Dannen, Yoav Haimovitz, LookWhosFhtagn, LuHeDi, Casper Qvortrup, Andrew Shaffer, Talentless Hack, Vydal
Tags: #Sonic #SonictheHedgehog #Knuckles
Music provided by GameChops

[@jonathankent1517]

BREAKING NEWS: Ken Penders sues the ecosystem of Australia for having echidnas in it!

[@Cloud-dt6xb]

Heh you joke, but based on this guy's ego I'm willing to bet he actually did try that.

[@TonyWitDaBaloni]

bro thinks that God copied echidnas from him

[@Hudramshinzoffy]

I’m surprised that Ken did not sue the creators or Ugandan knuckes

[@Spongyboi897]

BREAKING NEWS: Ken Penders sues a local zoo for having echidnas in it!

[@winkiedinkie1452]

@@Spongyboi897 breaking news: man with blue shirt sued for 10 trillion dollars

[@Marie-us2dr]

"I don't trust anyone who knows the age of consent in random states off the top of their head" THATS SO FUCKING TRUE MAN

[@Maniacman2030]

To be fair, it should be amended... "Anyone who constantly TALKS ABOUT the age of consent in random States". Just knowing them doesn't mean a whole lot.

[@gentlemandemon]

it's like all the guys on twitter that haul out the thesaurus for every word that resembles but is not explicitly "pedophile"

[@ryobibattery]

Vaush

[@octogonSmuggler]

I know the age of consent in Japan off the top of my head because it's an insanely shocking number. It's 13 in Japan. They need to change that...

[@generalwaddles6638]

@@octogonSmuggler Japans Prefectures (just think of them as states) age of consent is at minimal 16, the national of japan is 13 and the only location that technically uses it is some tiny island in the middle nowhere with like 5 people on it.

[@lammy8605]

Ken Penders is literally Chris Chan but with ACTUAL power over the Sonic Comics

[@silverhand9965]

He's who CWC thought he was himself.

[@nicestoriesnottherealstori3006]

Yeah, he somehow pulled a fast one against not one but two corporations.

[@concept5631]

The less that name is said the better.

[@wesshiflet2214]

they’re both very weird and wrote comics with Sonic in them, but that’s really where the similarity stops. CWC’s work was autobiographical and totally outsider-art. Ken’s stuff was a lot more in line with the general landscape of bad 90s comics

[@wednesdaygeckok.7899]

​@wesshiflet2214 ehhhh there's other similarities Knuckles being a god and having a family tree so big its to the point of self parody Sonichu/Chris having eighteen thousand different kids and Chris' random family members Knuckles is a self insert just like Sonichu Sonic and Sonichu both have entirely too many waifus in general The comics meandering into self insert stories that lose the plot for the sake of making the author satisfied Insane levels of obsession with ownership of "his" characters And also Nazi anthropomorphic animals...

[@TheRoomforImprovement]

Killing all of Ken’s characters had the same energy as when Toho bought the rights to the 1998 Godzilla only to violently kill it on screen.

[@bthsr7113]

Eh, There were some strong ideas he had back in the day, and some writers would use those characters well. Zilla was a flop, and has only been used as a punching bag since, to the point I feel sorry for it.

[@e2011ugdia]

You mean TriStar

[@Dalek59862]

​@@e2011ugdianope, Tristar's Godzilla was it's own trademark, and Toho bought it for Godzilla: Final Wars just to have Godzilla 2004 violently kill it by knocking it into the Sydney Operahouse and cooking it.

[@weathersama604]

Only good thing to come out of Zilla is the cartoon tbh lmao

[@e2011ugdia]

@@Dalek59862 zilla and TriStar are the Same Character practically

[@robertlee2092]

I never knew that Ken’s son being into Sonic helped start this whole thing. I’m trying to imagine what would be going through my daughters’ heads if 30 years from now I was spending all my time and money fighting for a bunch of weirdly sexualized Paw Patrol OCs, and it’s a very bleak image.

[@dlwf11111]

Top tier comment

[@Dgero]

God this is just a gem

[@lesigh3410]

"This is Snivelpaw and she is MY character, _I_ own the rights to her, NOT PAW PATROL!!!... *AND NO I'M NOT A FURRY, STOP CALLING ME ONE!!!"*

[@lesigh3410]

@@Dcfan200 "Ugly detected, opinion invalidated." ~ you

[@GIJOEFAN-ys8gp]

Imagine asking your son to explain Sonic to you.

[@matthewgarner7215]

Killing off all of the characters that Ken wrote was such a pro gamer move.

[@WaterKirby1994]

They didn't die they are fully alive in what we refer to as the Penders Zone.

[@brokenbiscuit3609]

@@WaterKirby1994 sounds like a fate worse than death tbh

[@shuckieboi3271]

@@WaterKirby1994 Hell is cannon in the Sonic universe?

[@ExplorerOfSky]

The time has come... Execute order 66

[@Dracosengan]

@@ExplorerOfSky good Soldiers follow orders

[@slimewizard7350]

I love how Archie couldn't just quietly retcon the characters. Nono, instead they kicked them repeatedly in the shins several times, threw them out the window, then called goddamn MEGA MAN to finish the job. That was a flex and a half.

[@jakethedragonymaster1235]

In terms of believing a source about Sonic, a series I have never played before, I will gladly believe my boy Mega Man over Ken Penders

[@megagamernick9883]

@@jakethedragonymaster1235Basically the Sonic Mega Man crossover comic retconned the whole sonic comic universe out of existence. Then they almost did it again in the second one. Archie really wanted them dead.

[@jakethedragonymaster1235]

@@megagamernick9883 if the retcon means that Mega Man characters are in any stretch of the imagination ""canon"", I'll take it!

[@megagamernick9883]

@@jakethedragonymaster1235 No kidding. Plus I’m going to say I am still bummed they cancelled led those comics

[@shurno1588]

@@megagamernick9883 Yeah , it's so sad they cancelled the mega man comics series , i loved it.

[@camerondodge2070]

I used to think I liked the Penders era sonic comics. Then I realized that all the ones I read were by Ian Flynn. Truly, Flynn is the real hero of the series.

[@brawler5760]

His expertise also helped Sonic Frontiers a shit ton.

[@nexusetmiaouss]

Archie were also made by Ian Flynn?

[@camerondodge2070]

@@nexusetmiaouss He took over the comics around 2005 or so, and actually made them good.

[@nexusetmiaouss]

@@camerondodge2070 oh thanks!

[@thekingofcookies4877]

the dude sounds like the Dave Filoni of Sonic

[@matti.8465]

The funniest thing about the Penders lawsuit is that some of the characters he now owns are pretty much unusable. What's the point of owning the rights to "evil Sonic" when you don't own Sonic? You might as well have nothing. Also, Knuckles' Dad from the movie with his one minute of screentime was infinitely more likeable than Locke "had a bad dream, better microwave the baby" the Echidna.

[@Peasham]

My brother in christ Knuckles' father in the movie basically wasn't a character

[@wolfmanbob321]

@@Peasham 0 is still more than -5

[@shadenox8164]

@@Peasham I mean there's only so much you can do with a minute of screen time.

[@Peasham]

@@shadenox8164 Yeah, which is why you really shouldn't praise that kinda character lol

[@matti.8465]

@@Peasham Point is, the bar is low. Not hard being a better father than Locke.

[@riahlexington]

I believe in creators rights too. But he just abused the system, not a win for anyone.

[@SeanWheeler100]

Yeah, he really doesn't deserve the rights to the characters he created for LICENSED comics.

[@arnahunas4048]

*THIS* I’m all for writers & artists getting the credit they deserve for their work, but Penders was completely entitled & threw everyone under the bus.

[@theshenpartei]

Ken is just a filthy cheater.

[@redclover8387]

the one time we WANT the "little guy" to lose

[@Peasham]

Well, abusing the system isn't inherently bad, the problem's that a good chunk of the characters he now owns are extremely slight variations of pre-existing characters. He put a hat on someone else's character and said they were his own.

[@FEKana]

Ken looks like the kind of guy that would memorize the age of consent from all countries. No reason.

[@theshenpartei]

Yes

[@samp.8099]

And travel to Thailand every Christmas

[@kingofthegrill]

He'd memorize those laws just to break each one

[@mundane2macabre]

​@@samp.8099and argue they were 32 in squirrel years

[@chimbo7787]

The physiognomy always checks out.

[@borediideath6526]

You wanna know the irony of Ken’s art skills? Before Sonic, he worked as an artist for companies like Marvel and his work on those comics confirms that he’s actually pretty decent at drawing human characters. That’s what really gets me, how can someone be good at drawing something as complexed as human beings but couldn’t draw something like a simple cartoon hedgehog for the life of them?

[@robertlupa8273]

If a design is simple, it's a also easy to screw up. I think. Ken should've still done better.

[@zachanikwano]

I think the skill of being a cartoony artist is a different type to being good at drawing realistic human beings. Although the current sonic comics are way way way way better at Sonic’s style atm

[@unkownuser3851]

The mindset and philosophy. Ken probably thought that more detail means quality art, that's the reason why he probably thinks of Yuji Uekawa as "lazy".

[@eonnexus]

I'd say his main problem is the fact that he draws the sonic characters too human-like. He's giving human anatomy to characters that were never supposed to have it.

[@Snotnarok]

It's not easy for some to jump styles like that. I used to draw a lot more humanoid characters for a comic + commissions. I moved on to a more cartoony style and it took me a while to get it down- heck I'm still learning. As for Ken? He probably relied on a lot of references to make art he did for Marvel which is totally fine and normal. But, he can't do that for these characters, there's no reference anymore because that'll get him in legal trouble so he has to do something else. If you look at the human characters that he's shown in that comic? They're very, obviously referenced and possibly traced, but all the other characters are nightmarish blobs, cartoon characters squeezed into [LEGALLY DISTINCT] Sonic molds and they are just, yikes.

[@magolormemes7519]

Legend has it if you look in a mirror and say "Echidna" three times, Ken Penders will appear and sue you.

[@Not_black_imposter]

Echidna echidna echidna

[@Not_black_imposter]

WHY ARE THE POLICE ON ME DOOR

[@thomaskingdom9093]

They're asking why you even mentioned him in the first place

[@dovahdog0]

guys i did this and it actually works i am currently being dragged to court against my will by ken

[@orenges7034]

@@Not_black_imposter Did you win the lawsuit case bro?

[@ShockedLogic]

I love that Ken, in a position where he can write whatever the hell he wanted for Sonic with barely ANY oversight, with the only request being "hey, incorporate the new characters" leaves for MORE creative freedom. Like, my guy, my dude you got away with rewriting holocaust poetry how do you not have enough creative liberty in your job?

[@RobbertRobbert12345]

In case you haven't noticed, Ken is pretty obviously a mentally challenged narcissist.

[@gentlemandemon]

because they can't bone in Archie comics 😂

[@Dgero]

@@gentlemandemon I- no that’s probably a legitimate point to Ken given his tweets.

[@Aflay1]

The simple answer is, he's not normal. The complicated answer is, he's an artist.

[@Dgero]

@@Aflay1 There was certainly some kind of art in his mind when he wrote a Sonic the Hedgehog themed paraphrase of that Holocaust Poem

[@ninjafrog6966]

Penders trying to get into NFTs is really fitting tbh. His characters look like an NFT

[@jeremyriley1238]

No wonder that Lara-Su Chronicles he has been planning for has not been released. He's too busy on Twitter considering suing Paramount (which I never heard more about, making me believe he didn't go through with it, meaning either he didn't have a chance or he is trolling people) and going into the controversial NFT market.

[@yourfathersinferioritycomplex]

He looks like an nft

[@ajclarke9189]

@@yourfathersinferioritycomplex Exactly. All his characters seem to have the Ken Penders mouth. He created them in his image.

[@uhohkittykitty]

Oh man he's gonna make a FORTUNE off of Bored Echidnas!

[@kittenscratchanimeart]

Bored Echidna Yacht Club

[@Avatarbee]

One thing I find hillarious is that Ian Flynn created a evil green speedster character and named her "Surge". Pretty sure he is just baiting Ken Penders while wearing a shiteating grin at that point.

[@grimsonforce7504]

Surge looks more like the ashura glitch than Scourge ever did.

[@Xalerdane]

Yep.

[@tinyetoile5503]

Deserved. As covered in the video, everything people like about Scourge, including his design, was salvaged by other people out of Ken's cesspool, not his creation.

[@Meleedroit]

@@grimsonforce7504 I think I heard this being confirmed, but either way I bet kenders is still gonna be mad lmao

[@arscente3279]

The cherry on top is that Ian wrote Surge as a tragic character and made her one of the best Sonic villains in a long time. I don’t know much about Scourge from Archie, but I assume he written in the most nonsensical way, knowing Penders.

[@mrpingasman3079]

I am so sorry you did this to yourself. The saga of Penders isn't for the faint of heart.

[@theshenpartei]

It’s rabbit hole with in a back hole inside a work hole

[@mttylerdurden9]

Now he definitely has to cover Chris Chan.🤣🤣🤣

[@PigDan]

@@mttylerdurden9 Please, nooooo! Others have already made that sacrifice. Some of the stuff he's done is hideous, yiiikes.

[@roaringthunder115]

Same

[@xenodroid]

At the time of this reply being posted this comment had 666 likes. The only number fitting for Penders.

[@prime7213]

Ken Penders is the definition of that meme where the guy is cheering and celebrating wildly only for him to actually be 3rd place on the podium.

[@Cloud-dt6xb]

Nah even third place is something to be proud of, I'd say he's more like the guy who barely put in an effort and then whines that the race was unfair.

[@massgunner4152]

He is the dude who tripped and got a concussion and is hallucinating his victory in the race while the paramedic lift him in the ambulance.

[@BJGvideos]

Third is a respectable position, especially in worldwide competitions. He's the drunk guy in the parking lot.

[@brianmegaman]

ken penders is a theif there is proof now that he traced segas and dics characters artwork and needs to go to jail for stealing so people need to act and put this man where he belongs and that is in prison and for the characters he stole to give back to sega and let idw use characters from now on the thief.

[@Ghostguy693]

This dude is at dead last and is popping champagne into his face man

[@c-puff]

You forgot the part where Kenders would also go on massive anti-Asexual rants because he can't figure out how a person can't be completely obsessed with sex.

[@sozaj]

Say what?

[@sorrenblitz805]

Uhm okie dokie like why did he have to rant against asexuals though it's not like their lack of a sex drive affects him.

[@glauberbispo8922]

lol what do this have to do with sonic, is sonic asexual ? the video is about him and hq, not about his opnions about other things

[@Meleedroit]

Damn he's THAT mad people are willingly getting no bitches?

[@katiemorison7969]

@@glauberbispo8922 It ties into his obsession with romance and how his mindset was affecting his writing. Not SOLIDLY mind, but it is kinda wild that he was probably wondering How Thems Do Be Fuckin'

[@macgyversmacbook1861]

Fun fact: hedgehogs aren’t even rodents, they’re related to shrews which look like mice but are a totally different ball game

[@iancasleton6356]

So what are they- if not a rodent?

[@bat356]

​@@iancasleton6356Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae

[@TalenkauenTV]

Shrews are shaped kinda like mice, but lack the gnawing incisors iconic to rodents, often have longer heads and smaller eyes/ears, and are also venomous

[@noaht2005]

And moles too

[@lightyearpig12]

Ken Penders may be completely nuts, but Archie basically sealed the Sonic comics’ doom due to their incompetence, while Sega just got themselves dragged into this nonsense.

[@SudrianTales]

Sega must've been confused when something going wrong wasn't their fault. for once

[@ShadowWolfRising]

@@SudrianTales Imma be real, Sega still being around and even successful is immensely surprising, any other company would have gone bankrupt, but Sega just kinda stumbled onto luck enough times to survive this long.

[@schemar17]

@@ShadowWolfRising it's cause a billionaire bailed them out back in 2003 and they still chose to mistreat sonic lol

[@ShadowWolfRising]

@@schemar17 A Billionaire on his Death Bed deciding to save their sorry asses. No other company in the entertainment industry can probably claim that. And they still squandered it for the longest time, hell they STILL make stupid decisions that they should have learned from years ago.

[@schemar17]

@@ShadowWolfRising yeah I wished they went bankrupt but since that save from the billionaire they made other ips that can make them money so they don't need to make good sonic games anymore

[@PowerPandaMods]

Let's take a moment to stop focusing on Penders and note that Ian Flynn is a national treasure. At one point, he was writing multiple Sonic comics AND Mega Man, and they were all great.

[@Gemnist98]

Now he’s writing the comics AND his own game. A true master indeed.

[@risso2309]

No, no he isn't. He's an asshole who ruined multiple Sonic comics and the one he's on now isn't performing well, Mega Man fans also didn't like his comic.

[@d.a9490]

@@Gemnist98 he have his own game?

[@Mepphy99]

and now he helps writing for the game ... thank you Ian for existing

[@DiamondBatToons]

You're right! We need to STOP focusing on the negative aspects, like Penders, because that's what's powering him at this point; Attention! It's like any other internet troll!

[@smartistepicness]

I like to think that with enough resources Sega could have won the lawsuit against Penders but they just let it slide because they never planned on using his awful characters anyways.

[@Dragonpit]

Fun fact: the only reason Sega lost that lawsuit was because Sega lost the contract they had with Penders.

[@Talessaga2]

@@Dragonpit More like Archie lost the contract...TWICE

[@yourfathersinferioritycomplex]

I wonder if the franchise would be better now if they won that lawsuit

[@harrymillar4193]

@@yourfathersinferioritycomplexNah, Sonic is in a really good position now. Who knew that hiring people who are invested in the characters would lead to better games, stories and media?

[@emperormegaman3856]

@Talessaga2 true, but Sega could've crushed him even then if they handled the thing better. And If it was any other big japanese company they would have had their own copy of the contracts, and yet another copy in their lawyers' office. Something like one of their licensees just having lost the contracts should've not happened. The thing is Sega is owned by a company that -for a long time- didn't care much about how Sonic products were handled.

[@Dracobyte]

"One thing Sonic can not outrun is the law" as demonstraded by Yuji Naka getting arrested again.

[@danishfarrell4653]

"I'll fight this in court, but I don't think they'll accept 'gotta go fast' as a medical condition"

[@ittselli3245]

@@danishfarrell4653gotta love sonic boom

[@MASTEROFEVIL]

For what?

[@snakezase2998]

Again?

[@Dracobyte]

@@snakezase2998 H e was arrested in Novrmber and December 2022.

[@theopenrift]

I think the fact that Penders is trying to get into NFTs really is the cherry on top of this shit sundae, because his characters have the exact same characteristics as most NFT "art"

[@eatshitlarrypage.3319]

And his "art" fits in so well!

[@hipjoeroflmto4764]

Golden for him because no one will want to screen shot them

[@user-zm7zl9lc6j]

I don't have a problem with nft artists because I would definitely sell pictures of monkeys for millions if I could, I think its the people that buy them that are stupid

[@theopenrift]

@@user-zm7zl9lc6j fucking sellout

[@kukuhimanputraraharja8084]

nft arts are intangible and non-fungible because they are beyond the comprehension of human minds.

[@Saltedroastedcaramel]

I honestly think Ken Pender is the reason why comic companies want to screw over comic book artists even harder

[@genericname2747]

Comic companies before Ken: Oh? You wanna take a poem about the Holocaust and make it about funny animals? Sure! Comic companies after Ken: You want Sonic to cry over his loved ones dying? No! Sonic is not legally allowed to cry!

[@timothyfinn3619]

Wasn't that only for archie and not IDW?

[@treek10k]

Jesus Christ died for your sins on the cross. Repent and believe in him or you will be separated from God The Father for all eternity and face hell forever. Never ending.

[@rickrogan2355]

@@treek10k commit sewer slide.

[@marcusbullock630]

@@treek10k Glory to Yeshua!

[@thenamesmimic9939]

Penders is literally the Robotnik of our reality. Except he didn't have a blue hedgehog to kick him down.

[@concept5631]

That's an insult to Ivo ngl

[@costelinha1867]

Nah, Robotnik is more threatening...... and also less creepy.

[@AnisterStarlight]

​@@costelinha1867 Least not in a sense of Penders creepy

[@flarestriker2005]

Aye don't do Robotnik/Eggman like that, atleast he's a threat to be taken seriously.

[@malirious]

​@@flarestriker2005Eh, he hasn't really been a threat ever since Colors came out.

[@losjuguetesdepacoyrositayt5210]

He didn’t kill Sonic, he stabed him, punched him, broke his bones, and disposed of him inside a plastic bag, all while he was alive

[@gerlofsdonia4522]

I will never forgive this man for destroying any chances of Dark Brotherhood ever getting a sequel and Shade getting axed. It wasn't a perfect game but the echidna lore was executed far better than those of the comics and it finally gave Knuckles and the fate of his kind some closure.

[@shadenox8164]

I actually rather enjoyed it and it would have been cool to get some more Sonic RPGs.

[@ShadowWolfRising]

Imagine a sequel that didn't get rushed and was allowed to get polished.

[@Mepphy99]

Hey Shade is still Canon, She was in the Sonic enciclopedia

[@themoocow7718]

Is Dark Brotherhood the RPG one? Always wanted to play it.

[@Mothlord03]

Me too man me too

[@thaneros]

Ken was the originator of "Original character, DO NOT STEAL!"

[@DominikaHare]

** My oc, do not steel**

[@ablancer3582]

Sara-Lu walked so Coldsteel could run

[@triggeredcat120]

That saying is littered all over DeviantArt.

[@ashikjaman1940]

Donut steel

[@treek10k]

Jesus Christ died for your sins on the cross. Repent and believe in him or you will be separated from God The Father for all eternity and face hell forever. Never ending.

[@ultralight9625]

Ken penders is exactly the type of person that comic book publishers will crack down on artists to avoid. He probably set back artists publisher relationships by several decades with his confirmation of the publishers predicted notions of what will happen if artists get off the hook.

[@jennifergriel861]

The thing about Penders suing over Sonic Chronicles is he really didn’t have a legal leg to stand on. You can’t copyright an idea, only an execution. And if any half decent copyright lawyers had actually looked at the case they’ed know his claims were bullshit, even is he did own the stuff he made for Archie because they didn’t use the actual literal Archie characters and stories in Sonic Chronicles. Penders should have been buried in court but instead he “won” and has all these massive bragging rights. It’s ridiculous.

[@Sora8740]

He "won" in the sense that SEGA don't care enough about Chronicles to fight for it and are just going to ignore Penders in the hopes that he goes away.

[@ashuraomega1000]

I'm confident that if Sega had taken that lawsuit (Same with Archie) to a higher Court Ken wouldn't have stood a chance

[@comixproviderftw_02]

Ken Penders, the Sonic Fandom’s worst enemy, the person killed the chance of giving Sonic SATAM a proper conclusion, and the man who created lore for Sonic and especially Knuckles that is truly bizarre that his own brain is forever a mystery. P.S. With how derivative Ken Penders characters are, he created NFTs before NFTs were a thing.

[@theshenpartei]

Thank god for the fans for making a revival series

[@theshenpartei]

@@JackedUpEntertainment don’t forget stolen characters as well like shade.

[@cville991]

Let’s not forget Ian Flynn. The second most hated enemy of the fandom.

[@AkumaKristian]

@@cville991 As an outsider to the Archie stuff, why is that exactly? I'm genuinely curious since the hate for Flynn seems to come exclusively from the Archie Sonic fanbase.

[@shadowclaw7210]

@@AkumaKristian The guy just have really annoying personality. Imagine guy from high school who just made comic you give valid criticism and he shouts out that you are hater.

[@bowmaj8666]

His hypocrisy actually hurts me! He's always whining about people stealing "his" characters, and yet he is literally stealing Knuckles for his comics! And Shade as well! You did not create Shade, Penders! And you know it!

[@robertlupa8273]

"Shade is Lara-Su and I totally own Lara-Su so you can't use her in that game." "No no, K'nox is totally a different, completely original character. You can't sue me."

[@justinecourtneysgavel89]

I find it so interesting what's currently going on with IDW. After the "pendering" as you put it and Sega's new restrictions for the comics, I thought that it would permanently handicap them. However, that's not what's happening. Things I thought impossible with how cautious Sega was being have happened! They gave a Sega character a daughter (Something EXPLICITLY banned. She's not his biological child, instead being built by him, but she STILL refers to him as her "father"), managed to build a heartfelt & emotional story, somehow got away with the METAL VIRUS ARC, have reworked old penders-era characters like scourge & that one evil echidna into excellent characters like Surge the Tenrec (clever, I know) and Dr. Starline, and most shockingly to me... THEY STRAIGHT UP MENTION A COMIC ORIGINAL CHARCTER (Tangle the Lemur) IN THE NEWEST SONIC GAME. Nature (and Sega) is healing.

[@spydersoup8447]

And for me, I'm planning to reboot Shade and her tribe to instead be this lost tribe of heroes and researchers as I always like that concept better and using them to connect everything in the main series together, and it seems like with everything you've explained here plus more like IDW finally bringing back G-merl from Sonic Advance 3 and make him part of the main cast, it seems like my ideas for the Sonic series finally have a chance to be a reality and offical. But I'm not qualitied to go work at the big companies yet. I don't care if Penders is going to rant about me for my version of Shade and the Nocturnus Clan or not. If he does end up doing so, it's obviously because he still refuses to let the whole thing go.

[@w1ccaphobia]

Belle crying after being rescued by the chaotix broke my heart, she loved Mr.Tinker and him becoming Eggman again was so sad

[@stonemanofgardnerville1162]

Most sane sonic fan (Nah that's great to hear...I liked sonic but the weirdos when I was growing up ruined it fir me but sonic pinball is still dope)

[@TequilaMockingBird91]

How are daughters explicitly banned when Vanilla The Rabbit is confirmed to be the mother of Cream The Rabbit?

[@justinecourtneysgavel89]

@TequilaMockingBird91 The ban on adding additional family members is primarily for the comics and was added after Kenders left (somewhere around 2006), where as Vanilla is a game-original character added in 2002, the same game Cream was added in!

[@ZorroVulpes]

I will never get over that despite everything Ken Penders is still only the second most controversial person to make comics about Sonic.

[@CaylexT]

I'm going to make a bold claim here and say that Ken Penders is directly responsible for the melodramatic, poorly drawn and deeply, horribly sexual segment of the Sonic fanbase, of which Chris-chan is just the most well-documented.

[@SHESTAGOOEYFROMOPIUS]

​@@CaylexT Chris chan literally fucked his elderly dementia ridden mom but go off i guess

[@SBaby]

@@CaylexT You're probably not wrong. And the other problem is that now Sega is resistant to any ships, even the good canonical ones (Sonamy) and the good non-canonical ones (Taismo) because of Kenny.

[@yourfathersinferioritycomplex]

@@CaylexT I'm gonna be honest, that side of the fandom is my absolute favorite, it's so absurdly funny

[@cementchewer]

i mean, he isn't a literal motherfucker lol

[@lanciferian]

I actually just met him in person at San Diego Comic-Con 2022. He had a small booth at the very end of Artists' Alley, and I'd never heard of him, but I was just so taken aback by the, frankly, hideous Sonic style artwork behind him I had to stop and chat. He seemed nice enough, and unfortunately I didn't have much chance to talk in-depth with him, but I could tell there had to be some wild backstory involving this guy.

[@KingofCrusher]

Were you like, is this Chris Chan's brother? haha.

[@snowpegasi]

@@KingofCrusher Nah more like "Is this Chris Chan's incest baby?".

[@connor3284]

I hope you bought something.

[@apolonier11]

@@connor3284 would you?

[@Doodle_biter]

I also met him in artist ally, he was very passionate about his story but what drew me in was the art style. After showing me his comic with voice acting and everything for 10 minutes i simply told him it was "cool" just to get away from the table and took his buissness card.

[@tannerprice2018]

Ken Penders: Makes up bullshit on the fly, copyrights characters he made for a series belonging to SEGA, bitches about characters from video games being to similar to his recolors, and constantly acts like he owns Sonic. Ian Flynn: A writer who actually writes stories fitting for the lore of Sonic, doesn’t post bitch-fits about characters on Twitter, and not only has he written Sonic comics for 2 comic publishers, but is also writing a story for an official 3D Sonic game. Clearly, getting Ian Flynn attached to the franchise was the best move SEGA made.

[@justposeidon3810]

Ian Flynn casually being one of the most godblessed sigma males of the Sonic Franchise

[@beauwalker9820]

@@justposeidon3810 he's not perfect, but I loved his Archie and IDW Sonic comics. His Megaman comics were good too. (Sad Capcom cancelled them...)

[@tonyknighton4019]

@@beauwalker9820 CAPCOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@merchantziro4285]

@@beauwalker9820 Honestly the only bad thing I can say about those comics was World's Unite and those massive flaws aren't mostly his fault because those were because of executive meddling.

[@jiobar2309]

Actually he Is only supervising the dialog I believe the story was already writen

[@CammieRacing]

As a British Sonic fan who grew up on Fleetway this was pretty eye opening and explains the strange stuff I used to see American Sonic fans drawing.

[@Cowboycomando54]

Yeah, a lot of the female background characters that Penders made (the ones that only appear for one or two panels) had rather sus proportions.

[@thatonejoey1847]

@@Cowboycomando54 those this explain why the sonic fanbase has a slightly higher proportion of weird people?

[@pseudoruu]

"sally is 32 in squirrel years" is an absolutely derranged take

[@spacethegamer6426]

The biggest badge of honor for a Sonic fan - getting blocked on Twitter by Ken Penders

[@passingrando6457]

Meme war veteran reporting in: pretend to mistake him for the original creator of _Sonichu._ After action report: Terminal buttpains.

[@joshshrum2764]

Or just having no interaction with him.

[@joshshrum2764]

@@passingrando6457 But they are just the same person.

[@invertedcolors9881]

Alternatively: Not own a twitter account

[@passingrando6457]

@@invertedcolors9881 eh, it's a good way to spend a toilet break, if you like making everyone mad, or starting a fight between two groups and then leaving.

[@humachine6738]

Ken Penders is a sad, strange little man. That guy has no humility in him whatsoever.

[@Toad_Man]

Dude singlehandedly destroyed an entire comic franchise and forced a reboot. NGL I respect the hustle.

[@thatonejoey1847]

Not only that but singlehandedly changed the way comic licences are giving and their stipulations. He is on a level we cannot reach

[@JakeBolt]

Todd McFarlane: Creators Rights! Ken Penders: Creators Wrongs!

[@mellofvck_]

So insane how much Ken reminds me of Chris-chan. These creators are so narcissistic about their awful ripoff art and constantly demand from their "fans" and the companies they ripped off. It makes me sad that the word creator is even associated with the 2, because at the end of the day they're just jealous and can't move on. Don't live for something you wish you made, everyone.

[@_Chessa_]

I think the two should team up and make some crazy shenanigan comics together. Imagine Sonichu in Ken’s art style.

[@peacockcrowe2718]

No he's an AU version of Chris Chan if Chris was actually successful.

[@mellofvck_]

@@_Chessa_ That would be amazing, I don't know if they'd get along very well though lmao

[@thejman5683]

At least Ken didn’t rape his mom

[@mellofvck_]

@@thejman5683 ...you sure?

[@riahlexington]

The lack of guidelines is insane. This is why having some control over your brand is a good thing. I agree don’t be like Disney and Nintendo and be totalitarian, but some control is good.

[@L1701]

Yeah, Disney and Nintendo don’t want another Penders.

[@grizzakaful]

@@L1701 No, Sega basically has a ball and chain for their writers. It's like anything that could be seen as interesting and showing depth just gets tossed aside. All the new rules just makes it all so dumb.

[@michaelfalcone7110]

@@grizzakaful I agree that some restrictions should be set aside, but some control has to be applied. Due to lack of control we have been given Penders, 1993 “Super Mario Bros” movie, that horrendous original Sonic movie design, and god who knows how many other god awful examples that could be brought up.

[@umbrella3235]

Now it's almost the opposite problem for comics, with there now being a weird list of mandates and restrictions that feel like they've been thought up on a dime.

[@riahlexington]

@@L1701 I don’t support how controlling those companies are. But at least they wouldn’t allow something like this to happen.

[@EddieSpaghetti555]

I had a friend who read these comics and seeing them the first time at his house was completely bizarre, I really struggled to believe they were official , I'd played Sonic games from Sega to GameCube so reading them was like "wtf is this, who are any of these characters, what is happeneing and where is Sonic?".

[@boogaloocheems4888]

Ken Penders seems like if Chris Chan actually had a career in comics

[@massgunner4152]

Ken penders is like the prototype modern sonic fan, weird ass obsession with OCs, fanfictional writing that could make a plant grow crack and scares people who are not familiar with Sonic.

[@r.jclark4641]

I sometimes wonder if his behavior and general... "uniqueness" ended up influencing a lot of modern toxic fandom culture.

[@stingerjohnny9951]

@@r.jclark4641 we are often shaped by the folk of our childhood, and that includes writers and directors.

[@BobbinRobbin777]

headcanon: he is chris-chan's and liquid chris's clone-father.

[@peacockcrowe2718]

@@BobbinRobbin777 he's an AU version of Chris Chan if Chris was actually successful.

[@BobbinRobbin777]

if Chris-Chan is solid, and Liquid Chris is Liquid... then Ken Penders is Big Boss himself.

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

If Ken Penders had a time machine, he’d travel back in time to before the Echidna was discovered, trademark it, and charge for royalties whenever anybody refers to the animal.

[@PlebNC]

This is just what would happen if any capitalist got a time machine.

[@kenpenderstheechidnalover8820]

@@PlebNC I'm socialist actually.

[@mixialuce]

@@kenpenderstheechidnalover8820 Союз нерушимый республик свободных, Сплотила навеки Великая Русь.

[@emmanuelotiki1555]

@@kenpenderstheechidnalover8820 H

[@sirsnausages2164]

@@kenpenderstheechidnalover8820 holy shit

[@phantomsanic3604]

Fun fact, my favorite villain in the comics, Finitevus, wasn't written by Penders, but after the Super Genesis Wave he stopped being used, along with some other non-penders characters, like Scourge, out of fear of someone else attempting to sue. Finitevus was goddamn maniac and I loved it. He wanted to burn the world down and cleanse it like the gigachad he was. He also had one of my favorite lines in his final appearances: “The servants are the seven Chaos… Chaos is power, controlled by my will… The controller exists to enslave the chaos!” ~ Dr. Finitevus

[@silversonome5360]

Technically speaking, Dr. Finitevus _was_ made by Penders... In the same way he allegedly "made" Scourge. The original, boring version of the character (the echidna who blasted Green Knuckles to drain his powers) was technically written by Penders, and Ian Flynn, the saint that he is, took this insignificant continuity detail and turned it into arguably the best villain in the entire comic, just as he did with Evil Sonic/Scourge

[@smasher3261]

The same thing could be said about Shard. Which in the comics was the Sonic CD/knuckles chaotics's metal sonic that defected to the good side after being rebuild after he sacrificed himself to save tails and sonic

[@goldexp1882]

Kenders shouldn't even expect a pot of gold since Chronicles didn't even sell that well

[@DoctorLazers]

One of the greatest mysteries in the history of comics is how did Ken Penders just forget how to draw?

[@KlueHints]

@Formarotica even if you don't draw for years, if you knew how to draw before, you'd still have the same skill level as when you stopped drawing, somewhat shittier but the fact that Ken's drawings became that shitty makes it more hilarious

[@atanaZion]

@Formarotica What did he say?

[@rosalinabloom2567]

I think part of it was that he was trying to differ the style from Sonic, but then it looked like...that.

[@KingFluffs]

A greater mystery is how Ilya Kushinov still gets given lead roles in art projects, when he's a known plagarist and tracer.

[@KlueHints]

@Formarotica either that or his art style just looks like the ass of a soggy decaying old lady

[@Aurich88]

I remember being so baffled by the Sonic comics as a kid. The often tragic world-building felt aimed at a more mature reader which, as Sonic's younger target demographic, was frustrating. Mainly I just kept asking "Why isn't it about Sonic?"

[@lucre113]

Fr lmfaooo the writers read watchmen once and thought “yo I can do that too”

[@jadenbryant9283]

@@lucre113 I'm not against a more darker sonic story or even Kids media featuring darker subjects I love it when they do that but the Way Ken did it was just so Fucking Weird and perpelexs the fuck out of me

[@Aurich88]

@@Dcfan200 Lol. Well, as a child I was childish. I did eventually mature as I matured.

[@Rgoid]

Ken Penders was trying to be for Sonic what Chris Claremont was for X-Men.

[@cerebrustusbordungolski7183]

@@jadenbryant9283 There's an prudent, intelligent way to introduce dark subjects in media aimed at children, then there is the Penders way.

[@kaleidoslug7777]

"The hell are you breathing in my presence for?" is such a powerful line

[@smougy]

It feels so weird learning about this now, kind of like a PTS vibe. I remember collecting the Sonic comics when I was a kid at the local Vons. Every month I would rush to the rotating stand, look for the new Sonic comic, and beg my mom to buy it for me. O ne day, at the age of 10, excited to see a new issue, I scanned through the book to get a first read while my mother got her groceries. It was normal business as usual and then "BAM"! I am hit with the panel of Geoffrey forcing a kiss from Sally. I felt very uncomfortable and even ashamed at what I just saw. I didn't understand why. I closed the book at that point and put it back on the rack. My mother finished her shopping and came to pick me up. She asked if I would like to get the new issue. I told her "No, thank you" which confused her. She later went back to see what I saw in the comic and pointed out the kiss panel asking me if that was why I didn't want to comic. I stopped collecting the Sonic comics that day. I have not seen that panel of the kiss since that day over 26 years ago until this video. I oddly I feel like I am that kid again, standing next to the birthday cards, trying to undrstand what I just saw. Now with contexts maybe it wasn't me that was the problem.

[@EinsamPibroch278]

Ken Penders is the origin of "Original Character, Do Not Steal."

[@timothyfinn3619]

Behold my brand new and original character: Geo-Fray San Jo-An

[@jackalexande]

HOLY SHIT YOU'RE SO RIGHT

[@djpegao]

Ken Penders is the Sonic equivalent of Billy Mitchell, a sad pathetic bitter old man who would sue even a cloud for giving him the wrong shade.

[@turbobist2889]

To me, Ken Penders is the John Kricfalusi of Sonic.

[@mayborneflower]

More like a Todd Todgers honestly

[@Maioly]

I see what you did there.

[@GanzoHasashi1911]

Penders is literally AU Chris Chan that was able to get a job with a comic company/Sega and strictly focused on Sonic instead of every franchise out there

[@conic2721]

@@mayborneflower I don't remember Toggers processing people out of nowhere. Meanwhile Billy? The guy is insane.

[@bitwize]

Knuckles is known by the codename "Knox" in one of the alternate universes of Sonic Prime. They're just taunting Penders now.

[@EngineerMonkey-zp3yj]

It really knox it out of the park with that one!

[@unknownuser40201]

The Good: Ian Flynn The Bad: Ken Penders The Ugly: Chris Chan

[@megacrashthehedgehog5377]

Honestly, seeing how Ken has evolved into the man-child he is today makes me appreciate Ian Flynn more. I know he has his haters, but me, I have so much respect for the guy. And I'm thankful that someone who isn't spending all his time ranting on Twitter about days long past has been an official part of Sonic for so long. Ian has proven that he's a fan of Sonic, and loves writing for the series, and has respect for the characters he's working on. Even with Sega breathing down his back more than ever with IDW, he still gets the job done, and does his best. Compare that Penders, who I feel like has become the living embodiment of pettiness.

[@paperluigi6132]

And from what I’ve heard, Ian knocked it out of the park with Frontiers.

[@HelluvaGabbs0920]

@@paperluigi6132 dude frontiers is fucking amazing

[@anderelamaro3815]

@@paperluigi6132 Ian is the main writer of Frontiers? Because man, it is an amazing game.

[@edadankmemes]

people hate Ian Flynn? Why? How??

[@alexgomez6723]

@Edwin Nah Becaue he is a lesbian fetishizing hack who tried cancelling others and isn’t that much better than Penders, as a person or content creator.

[@DoctorMinjinx]

For as divided as Sonic fans are, I think well all unanimously cannot stand Ken Penders. This is a really great video about the whole Penders debacle

[@PigDan]

It sounds stupid as hell, but there are actually some Penders fanboys on Twitter and they are usually pretty dumb and crazily loyal. Have they been following him since he started the romantic political furry drama back in the 90s, are they the forum dwellers that used to exist on his website? Where do they even come from, lol. Sorry, but I gotta be bluntly honest. To be that blind to all the wrong he's done and mindlessly shill for a niche controversial creator who doesn't produce any significant content anymore, that's just plain idiocy. They deserve the block and mute. People are actually giving him real money at SDCC right now as of this comment and for that I question their sanity, especially when it comes to that Lara-Su art.

[@geoffreyrichards6079]

Well… most of them are united on that end. But there are a very few in number who side with Penders.

[@PigDan]

Now that I think about, a lot of the accounts that always reply to his posts are the same guys and they don't usually have Sonic pfps or anything implying they're one of those bigger Sonic fans.. so they're probably just fans of Sonic from the comic or other media and that's it. So they're not really gonna be upset when he tears other Sonic stuff apart like the other comics, I guess.

[@PigDan]

@@geoffreyrichards6079 Yep. And be careful with that name around these parts, Geoffrey. Penders might get weird, lol.

[@theshenpartei]

@@PigDan the people who seem as a good person are either zealots or people who have been duped by him.

[@E_blanknamehere]

Its so funny because its such a pointless lawsuit. Its identical to making your own Simpson and sueing Fox for the rights? Is he so uncreative that he truly believes the most incredible design in the world is Knuckles in a cowboy hat?

[@AdrianGuzmanOfficial]

A little update about the comic book of Penders, it came out, and we all wish it didn't, it's horribly bad... And Penders also said he's going to try to re-release the whole Archie comics era of Sonic, he even sended some issues to people that ordered his comic, with some stuff and names changed, and signed by Ken himself, he's probably going to get sued again

[@ebaugh7320]

If you ever feel like you can't write good stories, remember Ken Penders exists

[@trentonb99]

I feel compelled and motivated now to write my own original series.

[@creativedoof]

Heh. Good advice.

[@micabryant4513]

Yuh it's hilarious how terrible writing can be more inspirational than quality writing ..now I think I can write a successful comic 🤣

[@kenpenderstheechidnalover8820]

Yet Ian Flynn write shitty stories. Have you seen half of the bullshit in the IDW Comics? Less memorable characters that'll be gone when Sega pulls away from IDW.

[@jadedheartsz]

I think he is a good writer though

[@thegamingembassy1543]

Shoutout to Ian Flynn. My man saved the franchise that is the true heart of a Sonic fan. To the IDW Team, to the next 50 issues and beyond.

[@kenpenderstheechidnalover8820]

Ian Flynn ain't no god.

[@DinnerForkTongue]

@@kenpenderstheechidnalover8820 Bu he ain't no KenPen either.

[@BrandontheAwesome]

All the more too him, even if I think his comics are a bit on the horror side, at least to me. I like the Fleetway comics myself.

[@amandaslough125]

@@kenpenderstheechidnalover8820 That Not-A-God was hired to write the anniversary encyclopedia and is writing the script to the next game though.

[@stingerjohnny9951]

@@BrandontheAwesome Oooh, I like a good horror story, might check him out.

[@xylaharrison7822]

Ian Flynn: works on the IDW comics which are by far amazing, got hired by Sega again to write for Sonic Frontiers which is called the best recent Sonic game Ken Penders: ‘I’m gonna sue Paramount for giving Knuckles a dad!’

[@dogshake]

Penders’ pitch for sonic Armageddon reminded me so much of Chris chans artstyle that it’s actually uncanny. I can see where Chris gets his inspiration from. It’s the way that they both use those bright, heavy, obvious marker strokes when coloring in. As well as the tendency to overdraw the eyes or make them anime-like. Ken could be a long lost relative of Chris.

[@absollum]

I heard about how crazy the Archie-Penders lawsuit was, but I didn't know Penders basically won due to how completely incompetent Archie Comics were.

[@quesocoatl21]

Not really incompetent, there was a fire that ate his contract.

[@kenpenderstheechidnalover8820]

@@quesocoatl21 There was no contract.

[@Ebonheart2319]

@@kenpenderstheechidnalover8820 Definitely a Contract. Stan Lee is pretty much the only man to not be bound by the For Work Contract. Penders was a nameless shlub being hired by a Comic Company with a Pedigree on par with Marvel. Archie has fallen far, but they are still old hands at the Writer's game. What happened to the contract? Well, when the spiteful manager has access to the records room...

[@SoulStarSketchin]

My favorite part is when Ken Penders exclaimed in one comic "IT'S PENDIN' TIME!!" But no seriously Penders was the worst. His starting ideas weren't too bad don't get me wrong. I even like some bits of his reconstruction of Knuckles own origin and lore but yeaaaa he went really off the rails in no time.

[@ComicDrake]

I like when he started Pendin' all over the place.

[@SoulStarSketchin]

@@ComicDrake it was a Pendening for all to be had

[@Deepkeel]

I consider him to be a deranged and disfigured alternate universe version of Yuji Naka.

[@SoulStarSketchin]

@@Deepkeel he’s the Anti-Naka. Tried to do “It’s Naka Time!” But it fell short

[@solarstrike33]

Wonder how he'd handle the Morb.

[@toaster9922]

“Well, the pots gone at that point.” LMFAO, Shoutout to these lawyers and legal members for putting up with Ken and his BS.

[@TrintellixLeGaulois]

"Sonic and SEGA characters cannot experience mournful loss of any capacity" ok but Shadow’s entire character motivation?? lmao Ken Penders single-handedly traumatized the entirety of SEGA and Sonic Team didn’t he

[@foster2095]

I just realized the reason all his higher detail stuff is so unbelievably cursed is because he's using his face as a reference oh god

[@DeAnimeJ]

Oh god 😨

[@destructivepanda5226]

Good catch 🫠💀

[@requiemagent3014]

Why does Sonic only attracts the worst kind of people? This isn't as messed up as Sonichu but still.

[@CaylexT]

This guy right here, Ken Penders. He introduced all of his weird, horny obsessions into the comic, alongside a bizarre tone about death and other melodrama, which a lot of Sonic fans grew up reading. I think he's directly responsible.

[@spydersoup8447]

@@CaylexT Honestly, this would explain why the Sonic fan base can be really out there sometimes as Clement points out when going over Sonic Mega Collection in the finale video for his Sonic retrospective when he goes over the Archie comic covers Sonic Mega Collection shows off and mentions how some of the covers are very strange and makes you wonder what the heck is going on in the stories. With this whole Ken Penders thing, it all makes sense now.

[@brunettebi4111]

He's not that only one sadly...

[@jurassicarkjordanisgreat1778]

Fandoms attract these types of people because of how childish the subject matter is.

[@StevenTLawson]

Sonic the Hedgehog was a beacon for autism for some odd reason, I think it was the soft color schemes that did it, those childlike minds were attracted to it.

[@stephenfiler3204]

Ken Penders is just Chris Chan but with a tiny amount of self control and official recognition from Sega

[@dogdie147]

He’s Chris Chan without some of the tism

[@snowsetdeer6192]

I’ve been working on a geography essay for class, chose Angel Island as my “fictional map for discussion” and 5 hours into it found out penders was the one who made it, and I felt a secret hidden emotion honestly I spent SO LONG for zero reason

[@gayanudugampola8973]

So basically... Ken Penders is a failed artist who constantly brags about his glory days.

[@theshenpartei]

Pretty much.

[@gracefullhawkeye8353]

Oh yeah totally his “glory” days.

[@ZigealFaust]

I wouldnt call him a failed artist by any means. He's more of a self destructive artist. Dude could EASILY make bank doing comms if he wanted.

[@KumaoftheForest]

Like most artist on Deviantart

[@kenpenderstheechidnalover8820]

Because according to all of you Ian Flynn worshippers. The best artist is Ian Flynn despite the fact he's garbage.

[@CambriaBold]

Ken Penders is the real-world equivalent of that one Onion article; "Heartbreaking: The Worst Person You Know Just Made A Great Point." He's a weird, petty egotist who had a single noteworthy project in his career that he continues to ride the coattails of despite burning the rest of the coat and who's main claim to fame these days is bad twitter takes and worse art. His work on the Sonic comics themselves has, in retrospect, been derided as some of the worst in any of the comics' runs. He's got nothing to cling onto except the fading relevance of books he wrote years ago that weren't even good, and yet that's all he ever wrote that people care about so he insists on not letting go. And yet, I have to give him props for sticking it to a notoriously creator-unfriendly publisher who thought they could get away with gross incompetence just because they were big and prolific. That's peak creator's rights advocacy right there! It's just a shame about literally everything else.

[@paperluigi6132]

Damn, Archie was THAT incompetent? Just because they thought they were hot shit?

[@hinotoritheobliterator6556]

It's actually a Clickhole article

[@planescaped]

When the dickhead meets the douchebag and get into a slapfight.

[@dowmein]

Isnt ken actually a part of that type of corporate culture? I remember reading that he would throw out other peoples plotlines so he could just continue to copy star trek. Since he was the senior member, he would always get his way.

[@ashikjaman1940]

Fuckin wish he didn't drag Bioware into it and steal their character though lol

[@mileskintnermusic7349]

Thanks for making this video. The issue with Penders throwing Hurst under the rug REALLY pissed me off. Hurst had some of the BEST SatAM episide.

[@eleven11teen]

I like how the pitch for Sonic Armageddon is literally just “Sonic as a child rides a futuristic skateboard and gets shot”

[@Jolfgard]

So today I learned that Sabrina the teenage witch, a cartoon series of my childhood, wasn't actually based on a live action series of the same name, but on a comic of the same name.

[@zainmudassir2964]

True. Loved Josie and Pussycats cartoon but that also from Archie comics.

[@nudimane_]

I sort of recently designed an echidna character, and my friends were like "don't let Ken Penders get a hold of this!" Now I understand the joke lmao

[@luftypufty7053]

Delete this comment and immediately put your talent towards better things. Sonic /any other OC's are cringe, period. Write a book.

[@nikotheanubianjackal9114]

@@treek10k my man, he is talking about nothing to do with jesus, heaven, hell or god.

[@anon.9303]

@@nikotheanubianjackal9114 what with how Penders is widely regarded as the worst person alive by the Sonic fandom, I find it hard to believe it's just a bot.

[@LarryXLR]

Dude just casually reporting from the Green Hill Zone

[@Nocturne989]

Would love to see how seething and angry he must be that Sonic Frontiers was written by Ian Flynn, meaning in like half the time his relationship with Sega was strong enough they trusted him with the main story itself.

[@Skkorm]

Drake fucking roasted Penders for half an hour exclusively to get the guy watching the video, so he could deliver that message at the end. What a bloody legend!

[@bjaminrowe]

A friend exposed me to his art for the first time recently and it is no understatement to say he has the most unappealing style of drawing ever to exist.

[@Icepiq72]

I love reading the SEGA Mandates for IDW and actively seeing Flynn sneakily go against them to reward his fanbase with more connection to the unnamed Sonic world

[@mateushenriquepinheiro3197]

If it isn't much to ask, what did he manage to sneak in? Because I can only think of two of the top of my head

[@manat31790]

@@mateushenriquepinheiro3197 The mandates to IDW Sonic is a general belief that Sonic has to always win and that he cannot have romance or teen angst. The loophole is that the writer isn't told HOW those mandates have to be met as long as the agreement is reached. This means Sonic is still allowed to have tension and drama in it in a more controlled environment. The Metal Virus saga is a prime example. It's a cruel, depressing, and tiring read where Sonic repeatedly fails from start to near finish to the point that it's easily comparable to DC's grimdark event comics, not helped by the problems caused by real-life COVID-19. Yet in the end, Sonic wins and heals everybody by ditching the virus into the sun. This means what dictates the story's tone doesn't come from the characters' attitudes alone, but also the circumstances they're in. These colorful characters can always have depths and dimensions as long as they're written in the ways that they always have to do their best to overcome difficulties, no matter how bad or hopeless things become. The two most notable new characters in IDW comics are Tangle the Lumer are Whisper the Wolf. These characters directly benefit from Sonic Force's character generator concepts and are able to just fit in the Freedom Fighters motif. Tangle is an energetic fighter similar to Stick the Badger, whereas Whisper is a shy but lovable sniper. Since the mandate only forbids them from being love interests, these two establish genuine friendships that are wholesome because there are no lesbian subtexts involved. Even better is that the mandate doesn't really say what sort of character the writers are allowed or not allowed to make. And for that, you have Surge, a green character who is clearly a snide jab at Scourge from Archie's comics. And Surge can easily get away with it because she has her own design and contexts that are unrelated to Penders' works and she operates within IDW's writing standard. IDW is essentially the more controlled adaptation of Sonic to ensure that the story is family-friendly and genuinely inspiring to readers, especially children. And with time passing by, the IDW universe will filled with more characters and lores, only become bigger and bigger to the point of being comparable with Archie's.

[@silversonome5360]

This even applies to the games - SEGA has been saying that Sonic can't get any new super forms... And yet, look at the last DLC for Sonic Frontiers

[@sakuraflares7054]

You know what's wild. All of this could've been avoided if Sega just had some decent oversight on the comic. As we can see in Chronicles, Ken's ideas don't come out half bad with some decent designs and another force there to reign it all in a bit. Shade actually looks pretty cool and I could imagine his little Sonic universe working minus the obvious egregious details

[@TF2Fan101]

Geoffrey St. John: A character who, in Flynn’s hands, became a tragic and compelling character who found himself in a situation he couldn’t get out of until it was too late. Rough: A thug who causes trouble with his brother, and the two of them often end up as the lackies to other big bads. How are these two similar, exactly? They’re *nothing* alike aside from the fact that they’re skunks.

[@CaylexT]

Ken Penders invented skunks

[@mr.thumbsup8335]

@@CaylexT Ken Penders is God confirmed

[@bludj992]

To me, St. John looks more like Tangle than Rough. As far as personalities go, I never really read the Archie comics so I can't say.

[@TheP725]

Geoffrey is also a pedophile!

[@lucashenrique580]

saddest part about this lawsuit to me is that, even tho we didn't lost anything meaningful when pen left with his characters, the super genesis wave also took away really cool characters, my favorites being fiona fox & mina mongoose, because archie and sega didn't anyone else trying to follow on ken's steps

[@insanehiker5587]

Sad because Penders admitted even after that nastiness that Fiona Fox belonged to Sega and Archie since he just created a different version of the same character, which is ironic since he tried to claim Scourge later on. As for Mina Mongoose that character was created by Karl Bollers, a co-writer who Penders forced to leave Archie and also created Hope Kintobor and Dr. Finitivus.

[@lokivaleska3988]

I feel the same with Scourge and Fiona. Hell, they couldn’t e kept both of them cause Ian Flynn made the green Scourge. Penders was only responsible for “evil-sonic” Which to be fair was literally just sonic with a leather jacket and sunglasses, so he shouldn’t have logically been able to get ownership of him in the first place.

[@Jangobadass]

Which ended up happening anyway with Scott Fulop... ☹

[@Jangobadass]

@@insanehiker5587 Turns out, not only did they not have Penders' contract, they couldn't find ANY of the contracts for the people who wrote the Archie comics and had to purge *ALL* the characters introduced in the Archieverse except for the ones from SatAM...😭

[@brianmegaman]

it is not over just tell everyone that ken cheated the lawsuit you people have a enough proof now.by just look at his comics to tell if he traced and thing sega or dic related that way you can go to the court and tell them that he lied and can be put in prison for lieing and stealing .also back then finding out in 2013 if someone traced there official art it was hard to prove.now in 2022 we have the technology to prove if someone did the traceing and stole the artwork. we have the technology to prove that ken penders traced officeal artwork from knuckles the echidna or sonic the hedgehog or other d.i.c characters that sega owned Like Sally acorn or bunnie rabbot and and others as well. if you give that proof to the court then you can say he lied about working for Archie comics and the characters belong to sega and he is a thief and he used the traceing to create his own characters you can put him in jail and get the characters back where they belong and put ken penders in prison and get his characters in idw sonic comics and get the Lara su comic cannsled but you guys have got to show that he traced segas offical sonic artwork to the court and that he lied that he worked for both sega and Archie comics. do this and ken penders will go to prison for lieing and stealing and the characters he stole will go back to sega ok.

[@alize0623]

Ken Penders is just who Chris Chan wanted to be.

[@lazydesmond8240]

I used to read the sonic comics as a kid. As an adult I love them even more, just because they are absolutely ridiculous. Wish me luck on collecting every single issue

[@dogdie147]

Get the sonic-chu dj as well 😂

[@neighslayer768]

Penders may have won, but anyone who was a fan of the Archie/SatAM verse lost in the end. Because of him, Sega will make sure we never see Bunny, Antoine, Rotor, Nicole or Princess Sally ever again. Despite how good the IDW run has been, it still feels empty without them. That and the lawsuit went down right in the middle of the Mecha-Sally arc. One of the more tragic ends to a beloved comic character and we never got a proper conclusion.

[@SBaby]

It also killed the Archie Sonic comics completely. They had to basically restart the comics under IDW.

[@robertlupa8273]

@@SBaby To be fair, Archie Comics were supposedly tired of making comics of licensed media, so they didn't _really_ want to make Sonic comics anymore either. At least that's what I heard. I might be wrong.

[@SBaby]

@@robertlupa8273 No, it was more that Sega wanted to have more direct control over their IP after Archie lost all those characters. So Ian Flynn basically hard rebooted the series with the IDW comics, which isn't too surprising since Kenny's tantrum basically destroyed half the original world..

[@RyuuChan3821]

i miss the freedom fighters

[@misterzygarde6431]

Ah, Penders. History’s Greatest Monster in the Eyes of the Sonic fanbase. I imagine that if the dimensional merge occurred (albeit on a less chaotic scale), some of us are going to be telling Surge, Kit, Scourge, and the Destructix about Penders.

[@EggFighterXB-]

When was the dimensional merge supposed to happen? 2018?

[@COOLERthenU]

Scourge: so your telling me he denied MY fans to have more of ME?! OTHER ME AND LIL BLUE WE GOTTA MOUTHERFUCKER TO KILL!!! SURG: YES! kit: yes sir

[@jiggityjack8113]

@@EggFighterXB- could be 2019. Not sure

[@AIewarrior]

@@jiggityjack8113 hate to be that guy but is could have been.

[@dominothealphaandomega5512]

@@jiggityjack8113 Strange, Chris- No wait I’m sorry, Christine, Said that it was coming in 2021… Maybe it will come in December of this year…?

[@kingofthegrill]

My favorite Sonic game is the one where he becomes a Pikachu and fights a bunch of cops and teachers

[@m3m3rb01]

Wait till he finds out echidnas are actual animals

[@riahlexington]

My boyfriend sent this to me knowing I am way too deep in Ken Penders lore , and you just earned a subscriber my friend. You’re entertaining, funny, and informative. Good work.

[@Topher0523]

You know the old saying to never judge a book by its cover…..but with Penders my first impression was right on the money. Dude is weird and creepy and just a man child.

[@harogenkitnsg2474]

"he's a deeply bitter narcissist who's constantly yelling about his detractors on Twitter, and hyping himself up as this creative savant" hey that's Darksydephil!

[@thelonelystankmuncher8879]

Why does he look like someone that's not allowed 150 ft. On school grounds?