The Tails Doll Story ▸ The Cursed Sonic Foe?

This is the sixteenth in a series of Sonic character profiles. Let me know in the comments who you want me to talk about next!
"The Tails Doll Story ▸ The Cursed Sonic Foe?"
Chapters :-
00:00 Introduction
01:09 Sonic Adventure
02:03 Sonic R
05:23 Creepypasta
07:40 Creepypasta origins
11:58 Archie Tails Doll
15:22 Recent Cameos & IDW
In this video we'll be taking a look at the mysterious Tails Doll. The Doll debuted back in 1997 in racing game Sonic R. A strange character without much backstory or personality, I always got the impression SEGA considered him to be a one-off, disposable character but then something happened. Creepypastas, rumours and urban legends began circulating about Tails Doll linking him to a number of strange curses, making him one of the franchise's most well-known characters. We'll be looking at the Doll's background, the so-called curses, the origin of the 'creepy Tails Doll' characterisation, Tails Doll's portrayal in the Archie and IDW comics and more!
Links :-
- Quacker & Bowen's Sonic R Page - web.archive.org/web/200510180...
- The Green Hill Zone's Tails Doll trading card -
doorsclosing.com/lursk/GHZ/car...
- The Green Hill Zone's Tails Doll poll -
doorsclosing.com/lursk/GHZ/pol...
Music used in this video :-
- "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?" Main Theme (Instrumental Version - • SCOOBY DOO: 1969 Mai... )
- "Living in the City (Instrumental)" from Sonic R
- "1F - Grand Lobby - Tension" from Luigi's Mansion 3
- "Mystic Mansion" from Sonic Heroes
- "Can You Feel the Sunshine? (Instrumental)" from Sonic R
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Find me on Twitter: / thejohnnyvector

[@JohnnyVector]

Did you see him...?

[@erikbihari3625]

Heard about it.(also I'm FIRST!)

[@awesomejacketdude]

Not on my time line, no.

[@Nootathotep]

yes I saw the ghost at 0:04

[@classictails12345]

@@erikbihari3625 bruh

[@erikbihari3625]

@@classictails12345What?

[@djinnspalace2119]

I think its just so funny that everytime TailsDoll is portrayed as a thread they defeat it by just snapping its antenna like a frail stick.

[@TheReZisTLust]

✨thread✨

[@charlie4christ536]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/m5LXeq2nrKdlmqM Christ died for your sins and rose on the third day, showing that anyone who trusts in him for salvation, will have everlasting life. (John 11:25-26) "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" (John 3:16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

[@SlashCrash_Studios]

@@charlie4christ536 nobody caaaaaares. Stop trying to emulate the great saints of yore who would attempt to convert people to Christianity. Edit, a month after original posting: I see the reply that I replied to is gone leaving this comment without context. Basically some guy said something along the lines of "Have you tried jesus?" But probably more verbose. The time for Christian conversion is over, it's the 21st century.

[@angryboi595]

Thread

[@normalLaSerpienteBoluda]

BRO YOU PREDICTED THREADS NO WAYYY

[@rickyrackey7930]

It would be cool for Sega to reimagine Tails Doll as a drone deployed by Metal Sonic for spy missions.

[@JohnnyVector]

That sounds like the perfect role for him

[@rickyrackey7930]

@@JohnnyVector Sounds like Laserbeak from Transformers Prime?

[@yeeoof1995]

@@rickyrackey7930 or just any of soundwave's minions in general that's kinda his thing: deploy ravage or whoever, get them to spy on the autobots for information and report back to megatron

[@icantthinkstraight8853]

didnt they kind of do that in the comics?

[@Ghostguy693]

@@icantthinkstraight8853 Well yeah but not connected to Metal Sonic

[@umbrella3235]

I'm honestly suprised that Sega hasn't released an irl Tails Doll plush yet.

[@JohnnyVector]

You would've thought it'd be a no-brainer.

[@umbrella3235]

@@JohnnyVector Maybe they'll release it for halloween one year.

[@jamesowens3523]

@@umbrella3235 Yeah maybe

[@sonic.bluewind]

@@umbrella3235 Hopfully Great Eastern Entertainment would make it!

[@tailsrdoll2371]

Sadly there is not an official one yet, but their is a few on Etsy

[@bluephobiac1978]

I still find it funny how even though its trying to hurt him and his friends, Tails is still upset this thing is his counterpart, while Sonic and Knuckles got Metals.

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha, he had a little time to be salty

[@darthlord1997]

My personal favorite explanation for Tails Doll existence was one I heard in a fan made Mario and Sonic show "I ran out of Metal parts and had to use a Beanie Baby."

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha, that's great

[@tlst94]

Lol, if that's true, how can Eggman run out of resources? He's supposed to he a rich super genius(owns companies, theme parks, and casinos).

[@carrot3492]

@@tlst94 He was struggling

[@You_Cannot_Beat_Us.]

I personally think Eggman didn't see Tails as much as a threat so he just crafted a plush (with AI and slight Metal Frame inside) unlike Sonic & Knuckles who got Metal counterparts.

[@smoogieboogie1694]

I really like how different Tails Doll is from Metal Sonic. It's really unique and maybe suggests something about how Eggman sees the two heroes if you want to read into it. With Sonic he designed an attempted equal counterpart. Someone to match Sonic's speed but with deadlier abilities and a lack of any kind of quipping or sass. Meanwhile with Tails Doll it's less about matching Tails and more about getting Sonic to underestimate it, like how Eggman himself maybe underestimated Tails before he was defeated at both of their hands in Sonic 2. While the games haven't really given him any feats or abilities besides...floating, I like what the Archie reboot did with making him more of a tech sabotaging robot, matching Tails' own technical prowess. It makes me wish we got something more unique than Metal Knuckles who is clearly just "let's do what we did with Metal Sonic but for Knuckles." What if Eggman's counterpart to Knuckles was all about strength and no tactical thought? A blunt instrument? This in reference to how Eggman felt he could easily manipulate Knuckles. This would then make this robotic trio a counterpart to Team Sonic, with Metal Sonic being calculating and intelligent, rushing in to beat down the heroes personally, Metal Knuckles coming in with overwhelming force but being pointed at targets by either Eggman or Metal Sonic, and Tails Doll quietly slipping in undetected to sabotage the heroes while they're distracted. I also really like the Amy Doll for this reason. Design-wise, yes it's just Tails Doll with an Amy skin. But in function I like how it attacks by hugging Sonic and exploding. Maybe this could return not as some kind of boss character, but as a mass-produced enemy that shows up all over to mess with Sonic, referencing how Amy can seemingly find Sonic anywhere. Imagine going on a bottom path of a level only to drop into a room full of Amy Dolls that all turn towards you and come in for a group hug.

[@adamnakamura8003]

I can’t look at the exploding Amy Doll and not think of Saibamen from Dragon Ball. I can definitely see Amy Dolls as a standard Badnik attempting to Yamcha their poor target, Sonic or otherwise.

[@L0rdOfThePies]

Yes :-) i feel like it wouldve been fun to exadurate robotic knuckles a tad, so hes not just regular knuckles shaped. Metal sonic has a whole ass speed booster in his torso, cluing back to sonics shapes but also recreating his speed artificially and making him seem hollow. I think they should've leaned into knuckles' strengths and weaknesses and exadurating his hands alot more than usual, I'd make them disproportionately bigger than usual and do a little more with his feet so he can grab onto surfaces and climb up them. I'd want him to be a bit bulkier than sonic atleast aswell (im thinking exaduration like sonic boom knuckles) because knuckles is less reliant on aerodynamics as he is blocking you off, strength and bulk, him being a protector could also translate into some robotic brute strength. But maybe his ai has a loophole or two, allowing its own sentience to work against it somewhat, not stupid per se he can probably work his environment to screw you over but he's easily overcome by messing with his ai rather than taking his strength head on

[@personofmuffin]

Even though I found out about tails doll through all the creepy stuff, a certain side of me couldn't help but think it was just a little scrunkly wunkly. I love tails doll...

[@Wolfric_Rogers]

I always found Tails Doll rather creepy, mostly because of the image at 4:12. I was very surprised when I found out that it was an official render!

[@PG-sy6dh]

THAT IMAGE IS MADE BY SEGA???

[@Wolfric_Rogers]

@@PG-sy6dh, yup! It was a promo image for Sonic R.

[@eclipseRz]

Tails Doll was one of the first creepypastas I ever heard about along with Slenderman and Jeff the Killer, I played sonic r on the gamecube and I never unlocked him so hearing about a cursed character in that game freaked me out because it seemed like such a innocuous game. Tails Doll played a big role in creating a genre of haunted video game cartridge stories with Godzilla and Ben Drowned so he's an icon in my eyes for the horror community

[@JohnnyVector]

Awesome! Yeah, I'm not an expert on creepypastas or anything but it seemed like the whole Tails Doll thing was one of the first 'cursed video game' stories out there. Gotta pay our respects to an original.

[@eclipseRz]

@@JohnnyVector I only discovered it back in 2010-11 so I didn't know the story sorta dated back even sooner. I never got a creepy vibe from his original design but the lifeless way he moves makes him ripe for creepy interpretations, great video btw! Love your content

[@Giran_0]

How did it effect a Godzilla game?

[@eclipseRz]

@@Giran_0 there's an old godzilla nes creepypasta about a haunted cartridge that gets really crazy at the end

[@paulinenakeng5458]

I think tails doll is cute and I'm a little kid. Now I want sonic R .also Im boy.

[@FoxMan_FF]

I love that both the Archie and IDW comics had Tails question why he never got a cool metal counterpart. I never knew about what they did with the Tails Doll in Archie Comics, though- that was long after my time reading them! Phage is rad as hell and a legitimately creepy entity.

[@PeeperSnail]

I wanna make a comic where Tails Doll is unintentionally creepy. From Sonic and co’s perspective he’s straight out of a horror movie, but us as readers can see this is completely accidental and he doesn’t harbor any dark secrets. Like maybe introduce some of those original creepypasta points but give them a spin. Like, say the reason Can You Feel the Sunshine? plays over and over again when he’s near is due to the fact he loves the song and can’t help but to play it on loop over and over again. Or the reason programs crash in such an ominous fashion when he’s around is due to his instinct as an Eggman robot to ruin other people’s stuff, it’s just he’s too weak to physically harm anything so the only option he has is messing around with computers to hopefully corrupt its programs. And in opposition to his no-nonsense partner, Metal Sonic, he’s got a little bit of that Orbot and Cubot essence in him that makes him cower when caught and completely harmless.

[@JohnnyVector]

You've got some cool ideas. I think the IDW version came closest to what you're suggesting. They didn't make him too overtly scary.

[@lucavalente6620]

I think the horror aspect was also fueled by the animation in SonicR (floating like a hanged corpse) and the image you showed from the manual (the doll alone in a dimly lighted room).

[@JohnnyVector]

Yeah for sure. That image definitely contributed massively.

[@irenereru]

I personally think Tails Doll is meant to be kinda unsetteling on the outside, but on the inside he's just a little guy trying his best

[@JohnnyVector]

Perfect description of him

[@Brianna-eo8nu]

I can see a cute take on Tails doll as a character working well, honestly. I can easily picture him being a bit of a childlike and naïve henchman to Eggman, trying his best to be a good spy and get intel on sonic and co, yet being clumsy and messing up due to his raggedy plush body getting in the way of his espionage. Eggman’s other minions like the badnix probably pick on and make fun of him too for being made of softer materials and being no where near as intimidating as Metal Sonic, Metal Knuckels or themselfs. Yet despite being underestimated by the other Eggman robots and not being great at his job due to his floppy doll clumsiness, Tails Doll never gives up and tries his best to outwit sonic and make his creator Eggman and the other robots proud. Kinda like a more sympathetic and endearing version of Scratch and Grounder from the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.

[@minimalbstolerance8113]

Also sounds a bit like Bokkun from Sonic X

[@flyingstonemon3564]

@@minimalbstolerance8113 Bokkun was fun, I hope we see It again someday or can play as It, It could deliver great kicks with no warnings, good surprises

[@NiCoNiCoNiCola]

We need a Team Metal that's basically Neo Metal Sonic, Metal Knuckles and Tails Doll. Would be funny to play as them in a some sort of Sonic Heroes 2. Especially if their dynamic would be Metal Sonic trying to act like he's the real Sonic, while Tails Doll and Metal Knuckles are fully aware that they're just robots made by Eggman

[@unknownnstuff9635]

I always imagine he has the same connection with metal that tails do with sonic

[@unknownnstuff9635]

@@NiCoNiCoNiCola”metal sonic that’s the seventh time this week you have said your the real sonic”

[@shinigamimiroku3723]

Honestly, I'm a bit in both camps - it definitely has a cute aesthetic to it, but has just enough in its design to suggest a creepier side to it.

[@benmalsky9834]

You do have to wonder, why hasn’t there ever been an official Tails Doll plush?

[@XX-sp3tt]

Likely people couldn't stop laughing at it long enough to actually buy it.

[@kingkazma3246]

Man, if they made that red stone on Tails Doll's head be a Phantom Ruby, it will all make sense!

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha, nice theory

[@kingkazma3246]

@@JohnnyVector Yeah, like Eggman found a shard of it while he was on Angel Island, and used it to make Tails Doll, he still did not understand its power, only that it emitted a faint energy... After all, he was concentrated on stealing the Master Emerald back then!

[@TheDerpyDolphin]

Could be a plot for a Sonic Mania 2 if we ever get one

[@unknownnstuff9635]

Yeah but it’s more purple

[@ToaArcan]

I remember being pretty surprised that people actually thought the Tails Doll was scary. Its render was a little off-putting and I could see how that inspired the whole "possessed by a demon" thing, but all the theories and fanfics (calling them creepypastas is a little mean on creepypastas) struck me as kids trying too hard to be _cool_ by adding in spooky elements that weren't actually all that spooky. It didn't strike me as any different from all the other fanfics that brought in demon characters, especially as by the time I was getting into the online sphere, Sonic 06 was already out, as were the two Storybook games. We had official material with demonic enemies and bosses, including a main antagonist literally based on _Satan._ The Tails Doll thing just struck me as an awkward attempt by young fans to add another one to the mix. Finding out that people were genuine about finding this thing outright spooky was a bit of a surprise. I do also find it funny that the fanfics and eventually the Archie comics made "Schlurp" the sound of this thing's movement, as if it were slimy and gross, when that originated as forumgoers in the late 90s and early 2000s using a lolrandom phrase for the critter going wall-eyed. Honestly the spookiest thing about it was that Archie somehow managed to publish its last appearance in the preboot without realising that it had been drawn simultaneously phallic _and_ yonic, complete with teeth around the latter. No wonder it was redesigned to be more of a mechanical Biolizard post-reboot. That said, it will always bother me that Archie decided to use the final gasp of the Mecha Sally Saga on the Tails Doll instead of the titular antagonist. We really sat through two years of blithering incompetence as Sonic "Faster than Time reality-warper" the Hedgehog failed to catch Sally, only for her to be turned back via off-screen retcon and the conclusion being spent on a creepypasta meme.

[@NintendanGX]

Tails Doll always did perplex me when I first got introduced to him in Sonic Gems Collection. Then again, that game's also where I discovered my favourite Sonic character Fang, so it's hard not to look back fondly on that game compilation (despite its glaring omissions). Anyway, it was fun to then go on the internet back in 2007 and discover the culture surrounding Tails Doll and how fans depicted him. I get a kick from remembering how scared I was of the urban legend that surrounded him, as daft as it was.

[@InktheImpassive]

I just like how recently, they just made Tails Doll just unnervingly creepy but useless on its own(except for recon, I guess) since its just a doll and no eldritch, trying hard to be scary in the comics.

[@JohnnyVector]

Yeah agreed. I think maybe Archie leant too far into the creepy stuff.

[@camelkingclarith]

I remember being 10 years old in 2011 reading the Tails Doll stories on Quacker and Bowen for hours. I remember them more vividly than the webcomic that was supposed to be the main draw of the site

[@Colotov]

As a kid, TD def scared me, I remember being terrified by one of the stories. Now, not so much. I think he's cute. Hell, I manage to get a custom order plush of the little guy, before the seller deleted their shop.

[@tendedwinner748]

I wouldn’t be surprised if the tails doll creepypasta caused tails Merch sales to go down

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha, great point!

[@JunkieSama]

I actually owned a Tails plushie from The Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog back in the day, and glad I never knew of Tails Doll as a kid because I probably would have thought he was creepy after seeing that 🤣

[@SamLabbato]

I never played sonic R, so I found out about from tails doll from his creepypasta stuff. looking at his actual in game model and animations though, I can see how he wasn't very creepy to you. I think the main thing that probably started it was just how he moved, like he was suspended from a string and had no facial expressions

[@ShelbyAQD]

While I never actually found Tails Doll creepy, I loved reading through all the spooky edgelord fanfics it inspired on Quacker and Bowen as a kid. I even submitted one myself when I was 15 or so. Around that time, I also wrote in to Archie asking for them to include the character. It didn't affect anything then, but it gave me some good nostalgia when they brought him in years later. I honestly hope that someday they make a proper sequel to Sonic R, and bring the doll back into the games.

[@JohnnyVector]

Awesome! Did Quacker publish your story?

[@ShelbyAQD]

@@JohnnyVector Yeah, actually. Although, just a year or two later, I went back and re-read it, and it made me cringe so much XD

[@GhostShipBaychimo]

Of all the Creepy Pastas, this one scared me the most as a kid. There would always be a small red light somewhere in my room, like say the power light on a turned off TV. I’d see it in the pitch darkness and freak out that it was his antenna

[@NutronicAtomic]

I love tails doll. I think he works as cute and creepy as a way to convey the inverse of what Eggman really thinks about tails (naive, and unthreatening). Way back in the day when I use to do Sonic sprite art, I found a mecha tails sprite I really enjoyed, and so I created a short animated gif of the doll transforming into mecha tails by unziping itself and pulling itself inside out. Cool and a little creepy, so was super happy to see something similar in the archie comics a few years later.

[@JohnnyVector]

That sounds awesome! I'll have to try and find that gif.

[@MechanicMikan]

I still remember those good old spoopy times, where you do anything at 3 AM and something happens, usually bad or "demonic". Man, the internet changed too fast for my taste, I feel like an old man

[@JohnnyVector]

Yeah, researching for this video made me miss the days when I'd visit people's personal webpages. Feels like a lifetime ago.

[@bubbykins4864]

Oh, boy, 3 AM! [eats a sandwich, somehow causing the OG Lavender Town music to play, Mario Kart 64 to have abnormally high-quality blood, a demon to crash to Earth, said demon to take a creepy interest in humanity, said demon to possess a Sonic game, and this comment to get laughed at more than it actually deserves]

[@icefire149]

I loved hearing the research you did. I never thought the tails doll was creepy as a kid. It wasn't until I had Internet access later in high school that I realized people had a different perception.

[@EazyB90]

I remember being terrified by Tails Doll when I found out about him in my teens, though I might have thought differently if I hadn't been introduced to him through all the creepy fan stuff surrounding him. Now? For some reason... he just reminds me of GIR from Invader Zim :D

[@TheDerpyDolphin]

Glad to finally find someone else with similar thoughts on Tails Doll. As someone whos never really been into creepypasta but enjoys Sonic R, I’ve always found Tails Doll to be nothing more than a goofy drone that Robotnik made as a Tails counterpart, both to possibly trick Sonic like you said but also because Classic Tails is never much of a threat to Robotnik, unlike Sonic and Knuckles who have full “metal” clones as a result. I agree that IDW did Tails Doll right and now I’m interested in seeing their other Classic Sonic themed stories

[@JohnnyVector]

IDW's modern stuff is great too. Their recent arc Scrapnik Island stars a lot of lost, forgotten badniks and mechas.

[@JunkieSama]

Another great Sonic History lesson from Mr. Vector! I never had the chance to play the original release of Sonic R, but saw ads for it as a kid, and wanted it SO bad until news of Sonic Adventure came out and I became obsessed with that game, lol. So I never played R until Gems Collection, but then never played as any of the unlockable characters, so it wasn't until years later that I found out about the Tails Doll. In fact I think I learned of his existence from the Sonic Shorts series when I watched it back in the day. And then saw the various Creepypasta stories and fanart. I still to this day have never played as him, but I own Gems Collection and a Gamecube, so would like to TRY earning him in Sonic R at some point... Which seems as impossible as earning the unlockable characters in Sonic Shuffle 😑 . Anyway, I also never read that part of the Archie comic, but I have read/own IDW's 30th Anniversary comic, and I love that story 🥰 ! Tails Doll is just the right amount of cute/creepy in that one. I think it would be impossible to undo all the Tails Doll lore at this point, so he will remain a 'cursed' character. But I think that is fine. The Sonic franchise has very little creepiness in it to begin with, so I think Tails Doll is great for those who want spoopy Sonic content, even if it is all fan-made. And it makes for perfect Halloween content, obviously 🤣

[@darthlord1997]

If we wanna do "scary" Sonic material, I'm curious if Fleetway Robotnik is on your to do list? I think more people need to realize he's a high contender for *the* most evil and scary version of the character

[@JohnnyVector]

I'd love to tackle him at some point. You're right; Fleetway's Robotnik only got more sinister as the comic went on.

[@grinbrothers]

I thought I knew a lot about Sonic back in primary school, but was never a Saturn owner, so when a classmate told me about Sonic R and the Tails Doll, I didn't believe him. After all, why wouldn't it be a tough mechanical robot like Metalix or Metal Knuckles instead of a doll. Years later and thanks to the Sonic Gems Collection, I discovered that classmate was telling the truth. 1:36 - Fascinating to hear the crossover elements between Sonic R and Adventure. The latter was originally designed for the Saturn so it does make sense. 9:14 - Amusingly enough, giving the Tails Doll a sinister grin actually makes it less creepy. The creepy factor of Tails Doll (who can also be seen as cute in design) is the expressionless aspect combined with the lack of lore.

[@JohnnyVector]

Great point regarding the grin

[@SonicZuki]

I find Tails doll a cool character back then I thought he was really scary but over time I grow in liking Tails Doll It's nice seeing him appear in other media after sonic r

[@captaincz5763]

9:59 "It is the antithesis of life" 😭💀💀

[@ZM256.]

I didn’t know much about Tails Doll aside from the general creepiness that it has surrounded it so it was great to learn just how far back that association to it went. I remember the game review channel “SomecallmeJohnny” used the Tails Doll as a recurring character that appeared in some of their older Sonic review videos.

[@zephon6745]

I am still surprised that STC never did a Tails Doll story.

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha yeah, Tails Doll was such a non-entity in the '90s that he was originally ignored by Fleetway and Archie.

[@Sonicmid]

@@DigeeTheGenie what?

[@Sonicmid]

Fun fact they actually did Metal Knuckles before Metal Knuckles actually existed

[@zephon6745]

@@Sonicmid The Knuckles Metallix that was design because of fact that thousands of STC versions of Metal Sonic had gone rogue and tried to erase Robotnik from history, which forced Sonic to turn his friend the kindly and good Dr Ovi Kintobor into the evil Dr Ivo Robotnik.

[@Sonicmid]

@@zephon6745 yeah I know.

[@sonidash216]

I 100% agree with you Johnny Vector, I always find Tails Doll more of a cute plush rather than a scary doll.

[@novelezra]

Creepypastas seem to be maligned and mocked by people my age (and rightfully so in most cases) but I can't help but feel empathy for the children and teens who write them. I think the reason they became so popular is because in the 90s games were so filled with mystery that we didn't need ghost stories. All you needed was to play a popular videogame and talk to your friends the next day at school. "Did you know that you can complete the game more than 100%?" "Did you know if you win every match with a PERFECT you unlock the final boss as a character?" "Did you know that there is a code to make her naked?" Everything we experienced was full of mystery and with no easy accessibility to the internet to debunk things we lived in an insular community of rumors and secrets. I still remember the first easter egg I ever found on my own; the game Black Dahlia on PC; if you spin around fast enough you throw up (this was years before Metal Gear Solid 3). Young people crave mystery. In the 50s and 60s it was going adventuring with your friends, in the 70s and 80s it was experiencing TV shows, cartoons and early video games. I was a kid of the 90s so of course I was lucky to grow up during the golden age of gaming mysteries. So I understand how the internet has removed a lot of mystery from games so young people feel they have to write their own mysteries. Something to let someone else discover and to discover and unravel someone else's. The writing didn't need to be clever or interesting (or even devoid of grammatical errors). It just needed to be something to discover. Whilst I absolutely abhore Matpat and his dumb GT videos. Again, I understand this need to ingest mystery. The problem with Matpat is that he tries to get blood from a stone. To the point where there is no point. He could look at something completely innocuous and write a 30 minute video on it and get a million views. What was I talking about again?

[@guythatdosethingssometimes2651]

I think the tails dolls creepy aura mostly just comes from its render. Just the way it stands there starkly in some dark ominously lit liminal checkered space in conjunction with the weird obscure nature of its existence and unknown intentions. It just really gives of "cursed" energy. all that's the perfect recipe for some spicy Internet rumors to start brewing. I still think it's kinda cute but I could also definitely see it being a cused object that brings misfortune to those in close proximity to it.

[@JamesChessman]

Inversion horror: I didn’t know the phrase but I think this genre is eternal. Every pure character, can be dramatically mixed with more serious themes, violence etc., it’s inherent in the pure characters. :)

[@WilfredCthulu]

Yes you did a video on him! My baby. I love him so much he's so cute and weird lol I'm so glad he's been getting acknowledged more. Same with Fang. Tails Doll and Fang are legit my favorite characters in the series. We all know his big brother Metal Sonic (who I like to think is protective of his little plush brother), might as well do the essembled darkhorse Metal Knuckles... and maybe Eggrobo. The zoidberg of their group. I love how weird and clone heavy R's roster is. It's just oddly charming when games do that. Tails Doll definitely sticks out the most for well... being a weird plush rather than all metal robot. Then that gem on his head that makes him move all possessed. It's like skull kid wearing majora's mask. I guess it makes sense Tails would have the most cute and funny different counterpart compared to the others.

[@JohnnyVector]

Hopefully I did Tails Doll justice!

[@WilfredCthulu]

@@JohnnyVector Well yes I certainly agree with the cute counterbalancing. Idw is the best depiction so far.

[@sunflow57]

I remember when a friend of mine did the Tails Doll curse when we had a sleepover and it had me paranoid for weeks. 😂

[@CSS-Tails_Forever]

Tails Doll is underrated to me, they should let him return to the Sonic Games.

[@danielferrieri7434]

Video Idea: Sonic.EXE: Sonic's Worst Creepypasta

[@WilfredCthulu]

It literally killed creepypasta as a whole.

[@andreasschaeflein4233]

Y'all can cry and complain more. Yes the original story wasn't that good but the many remakes and games surrounding it is great your all just dense.

[@TheBunnyisReal]

It went from very trash to very good

[@rlcraftisharder4036]

Still very trash tbh

[@andreasschaeflein4233]

@@rlcraftisharder4036 you're pfp is more trash than any terrible depiction of him combined

[@DAFORCEFilms]

Friend and I made a _lot_ of videos using Tails Doll back when we were in high school. He was absolutely enamored with the character. I can’t get away from this.

[@Rishi123456789]

I have a soft spot for Sonic R because even though it's a very flawed game, it has an AMAZING soundtrack and Tails Doll is a cool character (although I like Metal Knuckles more than Tails Doll). Also, I saw the Mobius Forum for the first time in 1998 and I posted on the Mobius Forum for the first time in 2000. My name on the Mobius Forum used to be 'Squishie'. Good times.

[@JohnnyVector]

Awesome! Yes, Sonic R's soundtrack is brilliant.

[@tatertot64]

Man, that remix of Can You Feel The Sunshine in Gems Collection was so freaky.

[@JohnnyVector]

Oh yeah! The Acid Remix. Weird stuff.

[@KrissyBlues]

Something to mention is apparently Tails Doll was actually created for Sonic Adventure first--remember those little dolls of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in Gamma and Sonic's Final Egg? Obviously by the final release the model looks much more polished, but the prototype model wound up being used for Tails Doll in Sonic R, which explains why they went with a doll instead of taking dev time to make a full on Metal Tails

[@inendlesspain4724]

I remember a sort of origin story about how the Tails Doll we know now is actually some sort of reincarnation of another murdering living doll also shaped like a fox. It involved the doll being sprayed with holy water by a priest or something and exploding in bloody pieces.

[@Cassilda.]

Awesome video! Even though I first heard about that character through the creepypasta, I always thought he was adorable.

[@nisansparow3390]

Even as a kid I never thought this dude was scary let alone creepy. The main thought whenever I saw this dude as a kid was: "where can I get a doll like that?" Then again this was kid me who saw horror movies like Nightmare on elm, descent, Texas chainsaw, child's play, and all of the puppet master movies (except the reboot, they turned blade into a living rubber hose) so take this with a grain of salt.

[@JohnnyVector]

Maybe the creepy factor depended on whether you believed some of the rumours/urban myths? I had already decided he was non-creepy before coming across all of that stuff

[@hoseinbmr3449]

i find Tails Doll cute as well. i never got it why people call it creepy. but i actually like the fact that instead of a matal counterpart for fighting Tails got a Doll counterpart for spying and hacking because Tails is a thinker first and a fighter second

[@JohnnyVector]

That's a great point

[@sonicrocks2007]

great video. when I had sonic R. I never thought he was creepy but I did for Metal Knuckles and Mecha Knuckles. both are pretty freaky. you should cover the AI Worlds in IDW and Archie. etc. I think "Sage" is awfully like "Phage"

[@jeffreywilliams8499]

The first time I Saw Tails Doll was on Sonic R when my best friend were playing Sonic Gems Collection on Nintendo GameCube back in 2006-2007

[@marshtomp8]

That's some good sleuthing to find the Quacker and Bowen site from way back when. That's the website I remember most vividly to do with tails doll. Even submitted a few stories myself that got put up there. Good stuff.

[@akasomething]

tails doll was always cute to me! he had a creepy nature, but he was still adorable!

[@emberthefox4951]

I've tried summoning this little guy way too many times. The nostalgia is real right now.

[@bigmacsama]

That was great (and scary)! Hey, is there any chance you can do Metal Knuckles next? The poor red robot echidna needs love and appreciation for one of your next videos! Seriously though, hardly anybody talks about him anymore.

[@jaredsmith1337]

The tails doll terror is to well established to change. If anything, they need to give him a part to show how terrifying he can be. But that would have to take place in a sonic adventure 1 style game with different characters and abilities. Not really scary when you can run right past everything.

[@macabrexd]

LOVE THE VIDEO MAN!!

[@softsounds8453]

Bruh I forgot all about Can You Feel The Sunshine until you said it. Now I can't unhear it

[@JohnnyVector]

Great Sonic tune though

[@T1Hyper]

Tails doll is like sonic.exe but actually made by SEGA instead of someone else

[@jackminer2148]

[Laughs in Sonic’s Scream Test] IDK haven’t watched it yet. Doesn’t mean I haven’t known about it since childhood though.

[@kasothronos4434]

I always had the idea that their should be a tails doll that starts cute and cuddly, having an update to their Retro look to have a proper plush look. Only to have a metal tails frame inside the doll with Eggman having made the doll to ether blend in with a pile of stuffed animals or just to show how he views tails. A harmless plush

[@benogle4951]

17:31 where he grabs it is probably my favorite panel in any Sonic comic

[@Howlabunga]

Nice spoopy intro. the creepypasta part reminds me of Billy Styler's video on it

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the Scooby-Doo intro

[@Aqua_Sol]

There's also the continuation of the Pre sega genesis wave timeline made by fans called Archie Sonic Online, where Rotor, Big, Nicole, Heavy and Bomb fight the monstrous form of the doll... with the addition to it having a design change for obvious reasons.. 13:40

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha, yes the original monstrous design is a little..well..you know

[@CartooneyJooney]

This is a great video, it's intresting to see the origins of all the Tails Doll creepy stuff, that seemed to be the only thing he was known for. I loved hearing about his other appearences too. I always thought Tails Doll was really funny because they had these badass Sonic and Knuckles robots, then for Tails it's just a push toy with a robot shoved into the head. It felt a bit like a running joke about how tails gets the less impressive version of things, continuing from how he couldn't turn into super Tails with the chaos emeralds in Sonic 2 and 3 where Sonic and knuckles could. Then when they had the bigger emeralds in Soinc 3 and Knuckles they could become hyper when he finally got his super version. Though they both get their own little bonuses super Tails got super Flickes to help him bash the badnics and Tails robot has his flying over water ability. I actually can't rember if Metal Sonic and Knuckles had that though.

[@dumbfounder1142]

God I love this guy keep up the good work man 👍

[@JohnnyVector]

Thank you very much!

[@jevil-mo3mz]

The reason I think that tails doll was created not metal tails was because at that time eggman didn't know tails for great strength or speed but forgettable in his eyes as so he is shown as sneaky.

[@JohnnyVector]

That's a great theory

[@zephon6745]

That would fit STC Tails.

[@DrakeMystical]

This takes me back

[@Voxdenable]

I was scared of Ragdoll Tails when i was a kid, but when my brother said it's probably just some small floaty robot in an oversized suit, then it became just a funny mental image after that. Still, I think Eggman went minimalist on the design, as he expected this robot to be either behind Sonic in the race in the story of the game, or just in out-of-reach-to-sonic places high in the sky, spying on things... Yet, being the type to underestimate Sonic and co. at times, he cut costs on this robo's design and disguise too much... making it the ghost-like doll, and making it able to attract all kinds of attention to boot! Doc didn't even stop to think how ridiculous it was, probably until after the events of Sonic R... Arrogance like that goes to show you how the good Doctor is always going to lose, because he was too lax on his efforts to stop Sonic, or always risking destroying the world by toying with god-like forces like some fool later in the Series. Bravo, Egghead, bravoooo! (slow sarcastic claps played here)

[@NotBrainytrust]

Do a video on metal knuckles please.

[@JohnnyVector]

Great idea, thanks. I might see what IDW do with him in their Scrapnik Island storyline.

[@zephon6745]

I didn't realise that Metal Knuckles is going to be in Scrapnik Island, I knew Mecha Sonic and Mecha Knuckles was going to be in.

[@CJ-ln5ov]

9:54 I love these independent sentences below his render. Makes him sound like something Kirby slays every other week.

[@BamboAnimation]

Has been á long time, right? I was missing your amazing cartoons... 😍😍

[@justsomesimplenuclearbirbs4313]

The Tails Doll is definitely a strange one. Back in the hayday of making anything and everything "scary" the Tails Doll was often paired up with Sonic.exe which kinda fitted due to the Tails Doll being a plushie with some robotic traits and Sonic.exe literally being an executable file that always randomly said it was god. But much like Sonic.exe, the Tails Doll's popularity started to dwindle. Sure there was still references to the creepy nature of the doll, but over the years the Tails Dolls slowly started to be forgotten by both the creepypasta/horror community and the Sonic fanbase and eventually only a select few would remember the "cursed" plushie. Even fangames involving Tails' plushie counterpart were pretty low. Usually only being used as part of a jumpscare fest in other .exe creepypasta fangames. Sonic Fear is the only noticeable series of fangames to use the Tails Doll as a main villain instead of pure jumpscare fodder although at first it wasn't really the case.

[@Larry]

Hey Johnny, have you ever considered doing a "Grimer Vs. Snivley" video in the future? Would definietely be your sort of video Sir!

[@CoolBeanSoup]

Personally, I don't find Tails doll creepy at all. The design doesn't look creepy to me. I can see Dr. Eggman using the Tails doll as a spy drone disguised as a doll. I never owned a Sega Saturn, but I did use to own a Sega Genesis years ago. So, I never got to play Sonic R until this year. Over the years, I learned about Sonic R online and heard about the creepypasta. It's still weird how just one mysterious Tails doll from racing game ends up getting a creepypasta about it.

[@vn4productions]

Woah never knew ill need this

[@CJ-ln5ov]

11:35 “Inversion Horror” Assuming that’s true, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me find a name for my favorite horror genre. I’ve loved it for so many years, but wasn’t sure what to call it. “Inversion”…has a nice ring to it.

[@xX_Thaddeus_Xx]

Something to note: you might have noticed in the GHZ card/forum, there's this persistent comment about the eyes going 'schlurpy' and variants thereof. Over 10 years later in it's archie appearance, when the doll uses it's gem to cause incidents it makes a 'schlurp' sound effect. Given the comics at that point were written by Ian Flynn, a known long *long* time Sonic fan, it's entirely possible he saw/remembered the GHZ stuff about the character specifically when making that reference.

[@Evanski]

Those knocking sounds where so well done, i thought some one was legit knocking on my door, spooky as fuck

[@lilwoofs]

I’m so glad you thought he was cute, I think he’s so cute too!

[@tywatson299]

Hah. I started watching the video, and was thinking to myself "Man, we were joking about this on the MoFo (Mobius Forum) way back when." Lo and behold, the name drop then happened.

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha, had to take you way back for Tails Doll

[@havenwhiplash4192]

Ah yes. Tails Doll, my favorite Blorbo. You're not alone, I love this guy.

[@mocahbutterfly]

I sometimes imagine using one of the tails doll summoning rituals and defeat it by removing the power source that is on top of its head. I would then find a way to use the power source as a battery and keep the doll to cuddle with while I sleep.

[@Catfan0202]

My favorite theory on the in-universe reason on why we got tails doll and not metal tails is that eggman didn't see tails as a threat so he felt a doll made more sense with him only seeing tails as a threat after adventure 1

[@orderlyxchaos]

i found out abt tails doll through the creepypastas and i loved him as a creepy character when i was 9, but now i love him bc he's so cute 🥺 he's a little baby boy i also found out about the sonic r soundtrack from the creepypastas, and "can you feel the sunshine" has become one of my favorite songs since

[@JohnnyVector]

Oh yeah, the entire soundtrack is full of bangers

[@tituswaugh4367]

Tails doll is like missingno, they're cute, but also creepy at the same time, only tails doll is interpreted as more of a curse than a glitch

[@polar6066]

how the fuck is a bunch of broken game boy tiles cute 😂

[@tituswaugh4367]

@@polar6066 idk, maybe it's how silly they act as described in pokemon's text boxes, or that I'm just being autistic and find Missingno visually pleasing to my eyes, for some reason xd

[@russell456]

Could you do a video about the history of all the E series robots like Gamma ,Beta ,and Omega?

[@WildcardGrey]

The sonic shorts 2 easter egg got me when I was a younger.

[@JohnnyVector]

Yeah, that was genuinely creepy

[@Knuckleoso]

Tails Doll still invokes an inner terror every time I see him, no matter how old I get

[@sonicmario64]

You're not the only one who found Tails Doll to be more cute than creepy, since I was pretty much the same way when I was first introduced to the character when playing "Sonic R" twenty years ago. If there is one Sonic character that would be creepy, however, it would have to be Metal Sonic in his monstrous form when you fight him as the final boss in "Knuckles Chaotix", which even predates Metal Overlord from "Sonic Heroes" by a whole decade.

[@Gamester8000]

Whenever I think of the Tail Doll creepypastas, I love to laugh, due to how terrible he is in Sonic R ^^ Also, did art of a cute Tails Doll a while back, but I don't think it'd be right to promote it here ^^

[@JohnnyVector]

I'd love to see it. Feel free to shoot it over here or on Twitter.

[@Something_Maybe]

I never thought Tails Doll was scary

[@superaustin6383]

in Archie Tails makes a comment about how Sonic gets Metal and he gets this like he did in IDW so I enjoy that that's like a recurring joke now XD Tails did have a Metal before the reboot but I don't think he ever got to see it

[@JohnnyVector]

Yeah good point. Fleetway had an incredibly ugly looking Metal Tails in one issue too.

[@SoranotRoxas]

Can't believe I almost missed a Johnny Vector video. That's no good 😌

[@ParappatheRapper]

I too thought Tails Doll was just kind of cute and harmless and not very scary. I first saw him around 2004 or something, around the time I played the Sonic Gems collection games, I forget when and which games but my cousin and I did play it. To me and my cousin it was just a silly easter egg doll version of tails. Nothing spooky about it to me. I could see how some young children might find it kind of eerie with it's mostly blank and neutral expression, seeming so uncanny can be threatening to the human mind. Thanks for the video, happy halloween!

[@JohnnyVector]

Thanks!