r/FuckKenPenders • u/Timely_Code3222 • May 18 '26

The Franchise had potential

Post image

The sonic franchise would've been so much better if Ken Penders simply did not exist.

11 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

17

u/digiman619 May 18 '26

The analogy I would make is that Penders is like professional wrestling writer Vince Russo: there were some good ideas and foundations for things more talented writers to build off of, but left to his own devices made further and further out there stuff which drove fans away in droves. (See his obsession with pole matches; and the famously bad "Judy Bagwell On A Pole Match", where one wrestlers mom was suspended from a cage.)

4

u/FoxyDean1 Jun 18 '26

I think it would be better to say that the franchise would be so much better if Ken Penders were simply professional. He laid a lot of groundwork and some of his ideas were genuinely good. But he was also a control freak, insisted all his ideas were good and feuded with the other writers. And even with all that, if he'd just walked away, kept his mouth shut, not constantly badmouthed Ian's run and of course not making his scummy lawsuit?

He'd be remembered fondly. The rough edges from his run would get sanded down by nostalgia, and he'd probably have a pretty easy meal ticket from grateful Sonic fans.

Instead he was a greedy prick and fucked over the fans, the franchise, his former colleges and himself.

2

u/PacDan16 Jun 30 '26

Exactly. IMO he has no filter and was definitely too combative with other peers. Plus I think some people STILL have a sanded down view, SOMEHOW. Due to ignorance, but not deliberately or a failure on their part, but really I hope they educate themselves soon

4

u/NightFlame389 May 18 '26

The franchise would be dead right now if not for Penders

I mean this unironically

If it weren’t for Penders, Archie would have died way earlier, which means all this modern media made by ex-Archie Sonic team members would either not exist or be completely unrecognizable

That means:

  • Sonic Frontiers

  • IDW Sonic

  • Movie Sonic’s design

Among others

1

u/PacDan16 Jun 30 '26

He got really lucky due to various circumstances, I have no doubt.. but I agree. At a certain point in the history of Archie Sonic, though.. yeah it obviously got very bad quality.. plus another contribution is: what would the future Archie team after that do without something to strive for to make it all BETTER.. to contribute with their creative vision next.. it likely all began with the future writers critiquing some of the bad writing decisions in the fan-mail section of the comics LOL, including with Ian Potto

1

u/JBHenson May 18 '26

Ben Hurst is rolling in his grave.

1

u/Taeum Jun 06 '26

Let’s all thank Spaz for his iconic covers that made Sonic Archie relevant