Character Discussion: Tails

[Ivogoji]

This will be the first of our official discussion topics for Sonic characters from the main video games universe. As you can see, we will not be proceeding in order with them.

#4- Miles “Tails” Prower

Sonic’s adoptive little brother and precocious gageteer sidekick, having appeared in most Sonic games since his introduction in Sonic 2 and having two titles dedicated to his own adventures. Discuss all things relating to Tails in this thread.


It took me a long time to ‘get’ Tails.

It always struck me as inexplicable that a reckless ne’er-do-well like Sonic would attract an admirer like Tails. Why does Tails even idolize Sonic? It is the one consistent character trait across all iterations of Tails’ character, and I was never really able to grasp the reason for it.

I mean, think about it: what about Sonic impresses Tails? Tails is smart; much smarter than Sonic, so he can’t look up to the hedgehog for his intelligence. Tails is mature and polite; Sonic is anything but, and Tails has never picked up any of his hero’s habits in that respect. Tails’ goals and dreams revolve around improving himself and his inventions; Sonic appears entirely content with the status quo and has no serious aspirations to speak of. Tails doesn’t seem interested in trying to emulate Sonic’s speed, and Sonic doesn’t seem interested in passing on any of his skills to Tails.

So what is the substance of their relationship, given the apparent difference in their values?

The answer finally dawned on me when I was reading this SatAM fanfic on FF.net.

Now, SatAM Tails is pretty much a completely different character compared to SEGA Tails, in terms of personality. SEGA Tails is this highly mature, extremely indepedent, expert mechanic that lives on his own and takes care of himself; he’s faced danger numerous times without Sonic’s aid and defeated numerous enemies. In contrast, SatAM Tails really is just a kid- he looks up to the Freedom Fighters as a surrogate family, and isn’t trusted to take on missions without their protection- indeed, this Tails arguably lacks the skills to fight his own battles.

As the fanfic writer highlighted, SatAM Tails views the world through the lens of his place within the Freedom Fighters’ hierarchy. Sally and Sonic take care of him, embody all that is good in the world, and are forever struggling against Robotnik, a conflict that is constantly hanging over Tails’ head. SEGA Tails however, mostly lives in seclusion with little thought for what goes on outside his lab, and the threat of Dr. Eggman isn’t something that impacts his everyday life. SEGA Tails doesn’t worry about the opinions of his world’s authority figures (like GUN) or even his position among Sonic’s friends, since the Sonic Heroes are no hierarchy.

Going back to the question of why Tails would look up to Sonic- obviously, in the SatAM verse and its step children, Tails looks up to Sonic because of Sonic’s role in the Freedom Fighters. So what about SEGA Tails, who had relationship to Sonic at all until he decided he wanted to abandon his fishing net and follow him? SEGA Tails is too self-sufficient to say that he needs Sonic for anything...

Ah, but that’s it isn’t? Tails is an extremely independent soul. So is Sonic- indeed, even more so.

The relationship of the SatAM cast is strongly defined by the hierarchy that exists among them. Tails is answerable to Sonic, and Sonic is answerable to Sally Acorn.

But SEGA Sonic answers to no one. He is completely free, accepts no authority and thumps his nose at all attempts to control him. No man nor woman is his master.

The appeal to Tails would be obvious. The Zen of Sonic. Sonic has no home in the world only because all the world is his home. Naturally, Tails would wish to become his disciple, learn the ways of detachment from worldly concerns.

And, of course, more generally Tails would look up to Sonic for his courage and determination in the face of adversaries (duh), but that wouldn't explain the full scope of his deep bond with the hedgehog.

[Chao Professor]

Ah... Tails. Yes, I have fond memories with this dear character. Admittedly, when I was younger and playing Sonic 2 with my sister, I really felt for the character. My sister is 7 years older than me, and has always been the main attraction. I was just her little sidekick who always wanted to join in on her "adventures" in the park. When we played Sonic 2 together, she always insisted on being Sonic. That I "wasn't good enough" to play him yet. So I was always stuck playing Tails, the sweet little sidekick who hardly ever complains. And in time, his character really grew on me. I began to find him even cooler than Sonic! And that stayed with me. A few years later, my sister and I were watching Sonic X almost daily on Jetix. Tails' character was obviously explored far more in the show than in the games. I loved how polite and kind he was. I loved how, even though Sonic was always the main hero, Tails never held any sort of grudge. As quoted from Sonic x episode 2 - "I helped, but Sonic's the real hero!", he really is just the definition of awesome sidekick. I see a lot of myself in Miles. Oh, not that I'm awesome... I just don't hold grudges, hehe!

Now, as to why Tails looks up to Sonic the way he does... well, it's true Tails is a genius, who can quite easily fend for himself (Sega Tails, that is), but I think he really does lack courage. He wants to adventure, but he's afraid to do it alone. He's just a kid, after all... He looks up to Sonic as a cool big brother the same way I look up to my sister. I could always do things for myself, but I lacked courage (still do.), which stops me from wanting to adventure all alone. I noticed all this last week when booking my ticket for a Sonic convention. Sub-conciously, I realised I'd booked one for my sister, too. I wasn't having the adventure alone..

God, that was cheesey...

Well, you can probably guess he's my favourite character. Always has been, always will.

[Crash32]

Tails: gay?

[Also you misspelt discussion in the title]

[Chao Professor]

^

[chaoadventures]

Tails best character.

You know why?

Because, "This is the ultimate!"


Rollin' Tails is the best.

But seriously, Tails is my favorite character because... Well, Chao Professor actually summed it up for me, just replace sister with brothers and Sonic 2 with Sonic 3 and Knuckles,
and you should get the general story.

Also this:

Spoiler:

Never mind that. Get up and follow me. No questions asked. This is actually even better out of context.

[Ivogoji]

Yeah, had the impression that Tails' biggest fans are those who got attached to the character playing the classic games.

I always felt that Sonic Adventure was both the first and the last game that gave Tails a real arc with character development. In SA2 he's essentially 'the smart guy', which is the role we see him in throughout the modern games. While we get some moments that demonstrate the growth he went through in SA (like when he readily stands up to Eggman in their first fight in SA2, in sharp contrast to their climatic battle in the original Adventure game), Tails has yet to have a comparable role in any other game. The closest was probably the Riders games, where Tails' rivalry with Wave was played up about as much as Sonic's rivalry with Jet.

Even very story driven titles like Sonic Battle and Sonic Chronicles stick Tails in the generic scientist role, for the most part (though, again, Tails has his moments in those games). He's gotten a boost in importance in entries like Sonic Colors and Lost World since they've started scaling back on the cast these days to focus Sonic and Eggman, but I'd still like to see a game that gave Tails his own story. I'm glad we're seeing the trend move away from how it was in Secret Rings, Black Knight, and Unleashed, where Tails was nearly invisible.

It would be nice if Tails were given an expanded role in Sonic 2016.

[Goat]

It's time to address the elephant in the room, and I don't mean Mogul.

Who here has actually read how Tails is in the comics?

[Ivogoji]

In the Fleetway continuity, Tails is foreigner from a magical dimension of foxes that traveled to Mobius when he was very young and was saved from drowning by Sonic. The two soon became friends, though in this universe Sonic has the outer facade of being a jerk and routinely insults Tails with names like 'Pixel Brain', which his sidekick bears with remarkable patience. Despite this, deep down the two really do care about each other and depend on team work to keep the Emerald Hill Freedom Fighters going.

In his letters to home, Tails claims he is the hero of Mobius and that Sonic is HIS sidekick, which leads to a reckoning when the fox folk summon their prodigal son back to defeat a local threat for them. In this instance Tails enlists Knuckles to pretend to be Sonic and help him keep up appearances in his dimension/fight evil. Tails zone of origin is an old fashioned sword and sorcery setting, in contrast to science fiction Mobius, where a tech whiz like Tails is much more in his element.

Also sometimes Freedom Fighters outside the Emerald Hill Zone mistake Tails for a different legendary hero, forcing him into situations similar to the above. In general this incarnation on Tails isn't as strong he is in the games and looks to others for help frequently, but is brave and usually pulls through when the chips are down.

As for the American comic Tails... don't know, don't care.

[chaoadventures]

I didn't read the Pre-Genesis Wave Archie comics very much. As I said, Robotnik already won, there was very little reason for me to read it.

But then Worlds Collide/Ken Penders (HE CANCELED MY FAVORITE TV SHOW TOO.) proceeded to kill almost everything that I didn't like,
so I've just been sad that I forgot to got to Toys 'R Us to buy the more recent ones.

[Lamby]

i've read every archie sonic publication to date including specials, mini-series, sonic universe own a bunch physically too and i follow everything every month even after the reboot, which is actually better written with the exception of penders' echidna stuff because flynn can actually run a book

fleetway felt way too bizarre, couldn't get into those

most the sega and satam counterparts of characters aren't nearly nuanced enough for me to like them so it wasn't really until archie comics that i really appreciated something that before was just your basic 1940s batman and robin trope

archie tails certainly goes through a lot of changes and a pretty organic arc of maturity. the first two major interactions with tails are the original krudzu and the wisdom tree (both cartoonish albeit instances of him trying to be mature). maybe some wouldn't count the comics until at least the giant borg-fueled invasion of roborobotnik, but there are certainly seeds of a kid with no direction attaching to sonic, a character projecting wisdom he doesn't really have. the sonic kids retcons the origins of the freedom fighters to be kids of important kingdom of acorn figures like jules and uncle chuck, king acorn, general amadeus prower, etc who were always amazed by the exploits of a group of old warriors, the original freedom fighters. when julian kintobor of the house of ivo takes over mobotropolis (which still is canon but now implied to initiate sonic 1), while everyone else is "orphaned" psychologically, tails is too young to really remember his parents and if i remember correctly doesn't even recognize his magic using uncle until he introduces himself.

his first growth comes when he goes off in a submarine he was given to "play in". feeling he isn't being taken seriously, he goes off an adventure where he encounters the ancient walkers who tells him he's destined to be a hero (which he later fulfills by stopping a cosmic mammoth mogul). so naturally upon his return he's somewhat satiated, acts his age, and by the time of sonic adventure he's always on the forefront. in archie he also doesn't have arbitrary intelligence because it's product of a kinship with rotor, who later saves tails from being crushed. his first real showcase of relevant independent technological prowess is t-pup, which helps him save bunnie and antoine from the battle bird armada.

post collide it seems that during sonic 1s events wendy and walter naugus interrupt the battle and kidnaps sonic and ivo while a young tails looks on, which to me hints at sky patrol being canon now though we'll see. otherwise tails runs with one of the two halves of the freedom fighters to fix the shattered world sometimes outside sonic's range and even fought in breezie's tournament against honey the cat (he lost)

tails is basically a kid with a lotta pride that drives his loyalty to friends and heroism many of his best traits were supplanted by not just sonic, but others like rotor or sally. sometimes he has more drive and focus than sonic being he actually sets goals where sonic's are always reactionary. so basically he's the sum of his more popular incarnations with the benefit of a supporting non-game cast that isn't horrible and outdone by fanfiction. i glossed over a lot in my shoddy analysis but, super sleepy so.