Rotor Planned as Gay Character, Says Ken Penders
Tristan Oliver | November 10, 2009
An Arc was Planned in the Comics
Though current Archie Sonic comic writer Ian Flynn has seemingly quashed the notion in his ongoing interpretation of the Archie comics storyline, earlier writers–notably Ken Penders–had tinkered with introducing an existing Sonic character as a homosexual.
That’s the word on his message board, where he’s disclosed that Rotor Walrus’s sexuality was to be setup and explored around the years 2003 to 2005. Penders notes he had dropped hints in earlier issues, with a big reveal planned for the Mobius: 25 Years Later arc:
I thought it was fairly obvious Rotor was gay, and begun laying the groundwork for that storyline during the MOBIUS: 25 YEARS LATER segments. I even showed his life partner without saying as such and planted clues between the lines.
It would have been a decision more than ten years in the making. But the gross underdevelopment of Rotor as a base character is blamed for the idea never overtly coming to fruition.
But what if it did? There could have been social implications in the era, especially as gay marriage and equal rights started to spark an ongoing American debate. Indeed, international headlines were made when Dumbledore of the Harry Potter franchise was outed by author J.K. Rowling. Could Rotor, his life partner (pointed out to be Cobar, later in the thread) and in effect the Sonic franchise have been used to rally support? For fans, discussion of what could have been may best serve as a canon debate, especially among fandom more closely focused with the comics and with the SatAM television franchise–where it was a non-issue.
Filed Under Archie Comics, Sonic Scene
…wow…
………………Insufficient data to formulate a reply…..
ITS A COMIC BOOK SERIES ABOUT A BLUE HEDGEHOG FIGHTING AGAINST AN EVIL EGG SHAPED HUMAN.
..w-what…..Im literally speechless
HOLY SHIT, LOL. First at TSSZ indeed! XD
This is especially hilarious because of a certain fanfiction me and some friends read on Skype a few weeks back.
(Edited at request of Tweaker -T)
Oops. Can someone fix the tag that I apparently closed wrong?
Also, cut the Ironfist bit; he did Antoine, not Rotor. Cornet was Rotor. Durp.
Why must you put so much thought into a simplistic series, Archie?!? This is ridiculous. Sure, I have nothing against gays, but this is just silly.
Archie, just stop. This is getting really really dumb. Just end it all before you make an unnecessary story (M25/30YL) in a terrible, series-bending storyline (the whole “Freedom Fighters” deal) even more unnecessary.
Erm, what?
Hehe, really? Rotor? Out of all the Freedom Fighter, they chose ROTOR?
@Azukara: You do know he doesn’t write for the comics anymore, right? I;m positive Ian Flynn wouldn’t even consider something like that.
no
Arc nothing. Stop misrepresenting the facts, dude. This was meant as subtext, not an “arc.”
Can you do anything without fictionalizing or sensationalizing the facts?
What!?
(EDIT – Inflammatory -T)
BlackHawkOmega: Yeah! Of all the freedomfighters, they chose him!
I mean, he’s not anything like gay at all in my eyes.
And I have nothing agains gays, but I think this is stupid.
This kind of news have 1 purpose, to make fans be mad with Sonic and he’s friends… I don’t care, I love Sonic and all his friends and Enemies… SONIC WORLD RULES!!!
‘m not going to enter their game, I’m a Sonic fan that just LOVES SONIC
Uh. Why should somebody be mad about a gay character in the franchise? This shouldn’t change a single thing unless you’re a shallow fuck who has an irrational dislike of homosexuality or something.
^ Agreed. Gets me so bloody pissed.
Rotor and Dumbledore are bros.
Meh. Dun care rotfl. If Rotor’s gay, leave him be XD
If he was gay, would he be pink and feminine?
That might have been a bit too deep for a kids comic.
C’mon, it’s about a bloody hedgehog fighting robots, how deep can you get with that?!
I’m not homophobic or anything, but I believe they were trying a bit too hard on that one.
……really….. bloody Brokeback Walrus….. jk…..
It’s not a matter of “hating” homosexuals, it’s a matter of a controversial issue being portrayed one sidedly in children’s fiction. If it’s anything like most fiction starring characters that are gay, the sexuality takes over the art and overwhelms more interesting aspects of the character. It also usually portrays all critics as strawmen, showing them as one dimensional bigots. Like in other comics…mass murderers get portrayed with some sympathy, but anyone who disagrees with government endorsed sexuality must be akin to the devil himself.
And then, ignorant of any kind of “tolerant” message we wer supposed to get, all critics are shown as evil religious fundamentalists that deserve to go to hell. If it really exists. Which it doesn’t. After all, they just beat you over the head with how disgusting you are for believing it.
Yeah, I’m bitter over comics taking heroic fiction and disscussing sexual politics instead. I’m a pretty tolerant guy that believes in people doing what they think is right, but I believe gay marriage sponsored by government is a bad thing because government should not be allowed to endorse lifestyle choices. I advocate civil unions, and then if they want to consider each other married…God bless them. I have gay friends that agree with me. And yet…this media often portrays me as my approach is tantamount to slavery. Social commentary by people who …aren’t that bright, should probably be avoided. I hate being yelled at by idiots.
It’s like the epidemic of socially concious enviormental books of the 90’s…and let’s face it, Sonic was one of them. We now know that the enviornment is cleaner today than in the 40’s. The progress of industry actually ended up creating a cleaner society…more efficient for the enviorment and ouur pocketbooks.And yet, fiction portrayed industrial progress as a bad thing. The polluting countries are developing nations, not developed ones.
We also know Nuclear Power emits no Carbon and is relatively safe, France uses it with no disasters. Yet , all the anti-nuclear movies and books created a stigma that still needs people to believe we get Cherynobyl’s all the time.
Comics, as an artform even less …intricate than movies, should really avoid disscussing propaganda. That’s what I’m saying. Back to fun videogame disscussion.
WOW i did NOT see that coming XD
Lol’d at how many people are flipping out about this.
I think it’s a good idea to put something like that in a comic book mainly pointed towards kids, teaches them about accepting people of a different sexual orientation.
I”m not saying weither I’m for or agianst gay people but in a children’s comic book, could they do that?!
AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
OH LAWDY
What has Archie done to a comic about a kid’s character?
lol
@Kaylun – I don’t see why not. If someone has a problem with it, they don’t spend their money on it to give it to their children. If they still get advertisers then the publisher won’t care either.
@Crazee – If governments shouldn’t be endorsing lifestyles (a notion I agree with) why have regular marriage, at all? Actually I really don’t feel like discussing politics at all on TSSZ especially when the debate on same sex marriage isn’t even really the topic here. But you’re definitely spot on about the environmentalist movement from the 1970’s to now.
+1 for Crazee
@RS “If governments shouldn’t be endorsing lifestyles (a notion I agree with) why have regular marriage, at all”
Don’t
It’s a private contract between two consenting individuals. No need for the government to recognize it any more or less than any other contract.
Aww Gay! Seriously I the fact that Ken was even thinking about Rotor’s sexual orientation is disturbing. It sounds like some crazy anime shit from Japan.
All-Gay Exotic Carbibbean Cruise
is this supposed to matter or even be remotely interesting?
well, it IS news… media has the tendency to report on such things
lol, all these people reacting like this is a current development in the comic. To all the people screaming “no” and acting like this is something recent:
Penders was kicked off the book YEARS ago. And as far as I’ve been able to tell from the source, didn’t intend an “arc” like Tristan says. Frankly, while I respect homosexuals and am an adament supporter of their rights, such an issue isn’t really suitable for an action adventure comic like Sonic imo. Maybe in a comic like Archie or a comic more relatable to real world issues, but Sonic? Nah.
Whoa, whoa, whoa… Isn’t it up for discussion whether or not it is morally right to be a homosexual? Doesn’t that fact alone spell out that you should N-O-T put such controversial material in a children’s comic book?! I could already hear the parents’ complaints… Why would they show it as though there is nothing wrong with it?
Thank goodness it never actually happened. Rotor would’ve been such a terrible gay guy.
Well, at least it would’ve been a character no one gave a shit about.
I mean, if every Mario character can be gay, one Sonic one wont be a big deal.
Besides, apart from old school sonic fans, it’s biggest base is probably kids. And people will get pissed if anything gay appears in a kids thing (other than Spongebob).
Nothin’s wrong with gay marriage, I think it was legal here in Australia for a little while… but I dunno. Unfortunately I can see a lot of parents getting cheesed off with the comics if it had homosexual references.
what are you mean nothing wrong with gay marriage, I don’t know how can those like
themselfs
Freaking kids comic book. Sexuality shouldn’t even exist there. It’s nothing against gays, my bigger question is “why is Archie forcing Sonic to be just as in-depth with drama and romance as their main series?” I mean, Sonic could have more than a friendly relationship with someone and keep the lightheartedness (heck, Mickey and Minnie can), but they don’t drag in cheating, trust, marriage and all that crap in the cartoons they used to have, did they? Exactly. Archie needs to stop worrying about romance-drama in the comics, and just worry about Sonic in Green Hill fighting Eggman.
Oh man now there’s coke all over my computer screen.
(EDIT – Inflammatory -T)
@Cody Collins (Azukara)
Truth.
Tristan, are you alright, dear?
Gay? Giveashhh?
And I should care if he was gay because?
I’m pure loving that so many people are posting comments just to say they don’t care! So pointless! lol
Anyways, it’s cool that he’s gay, but an arc wouldn’t have been necessary. That’s kinda the whole point – it’s supposed to show that it doesn’t make a difference. Like Dumbledore: the reason his outing was so effective was that it was irrelevant to the story.
I’m really not sure how to respond to this.
I’m really glad Penders doesn’t write for the book now. Gay Rotor would’ve been an idiotic thing to do. There’s also the issue of him bringing in those soaptastic dramas into the book. Yech!
Now, I’ve always said SatAM was gay…
To be honest, it may take me aback at first, but I’ll ultimately accept homosexuality in Sonic, so long as it’s not extravagantly expressed, as it’s unnecessary to make a scene about that kind of thing.
All the same, I am glad that it was Rotor and not someone important. /homophobia =P
@Kits’Okami: Oh, as if the walrus wasn’t important. Bah.
Epic awesome. 8D
Greg: Let’s be blunt; he wasn’t. Of all the Freedom Fighters, he was (and still is) the one to be left behind off-screen to do some random crud that didn’t really have an effect on the story.
Hey…
…..I’d hit it. >>
The comics are weird. I just ignore them.
@PorpoiseMuffins – That was my point. It’s not an endorsement for the government to recognize a marriage. Based on his logic, the government MUST ban sex shops, bars (gay or straight), and so forth because these involve “lifestyles” and contracts recognized by governments.
@RaveToTheGrave:
Yeah… I wouldn’t hit it. More power to you, though!
“Whoa, whoa, whoa… Isn’t it up for discussion whether or not it is morally right to be a homosexual?”
no. it isn’t.
See, THIS is why I hate Archie. It’s like bad internet fanfiction that somehow got published.
[...] range of interests in the Sonic community. In fact we hit the ground running with the discussion of Rotor’s alleged sexuality and from there, get into a pretty deep discussion about the Sonic Archie universe. We even take a [...]
I’m all for gay rights, but crap… it’s just so out of character!
People stop discusting Rotor sexualiti, hes cool all this is just to make us hate Sonic and friends!
SONIC IS THE BEST
I don’t hate Sonic and friends,but a gay, this just dose’t feels right
oh it is not a big deal,it’s only Rotor
That’s just wrong.
I’m glad that this didn’t come to fruition, AND that I stopped reading the comics long ago. This is just too stupid for a children’s comic book.
Nothing against gay people of course.
When you have to go exploring a Sonic character’s sexuality, you’re getting too deep and probably running out of ideas.
Sonic 214: Gargoyles star Lexington crosses through the star posts and awakens a confused Rotor to new possibilities…
Thank god Ian’s in charge now.
This would have been such a pointlessly horrid idea.
[...] even went so far as to outright deny that any hints were dropped, as Penders suggested: Not even worth mentioning. There was absolutely no canonnical build-up to Rotor’s sexual [...]
Nothing against homosexuality or anything of that matter. But I’m glad they never went through with this idea if for one reason. It was just an idea thrown in there for shock value. The comic story has become so much like a day time soap opera already why add more to it?
Seriously…what happened to this comic series? The story lines at the begining were so simple. Sonic and the Freedom Fighters fighting against Dr. Robotnik to free Mobius. Maybe throw in a couple silly situations and corney dialog here and there….but it was still just good ol’ plain simple fun to read. I stopped reading the series around the time the Knuckles the Echidna series ended at issue 30-ish ( I tihnk the last issue was 33 I can’t remember its been so long) Even then, yes there was a little drama and a couple new twists and turns but it was still pretty basic and easy to follow.
I’ve been trying to get back into the series, but reading the new comics now its like its completely different concept.
If anything, I would have thought they would have chosen Antoine. >>
I would have liked to know how they would have handled that. They probably didn’t need an entire story arc for it, though. Stronger hints would have been just fine, if they really wanted to show it. Sexuality doesn’t matter!
The original storyline wasn’t meant to focus so much on the relationships between characters (or lack thereof), anyway. Honestly, at this point, I think they’re creating drama because they don’t have any better ideas.
I really don’t care who that is (I don’t hate the comic or cartoons, I just personally like the Sonic games), but I still think it’s pretty cool since this should knock some Sonic homophobes down a few pegs *cough*CWC*cough*.
And, correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Lexington beat this guy to the punch?
To be honest this is pretty irellivent, no one should be makking a fuss, anything of interest, please?