Why Tails Was A Hero And How He Was Butchered

[@thepjshow]

So what do all you guys think about Tails and his character? Do you have similar thoughts to me, or different. Either way it will be interesting to read. Leave your thoughts below.

[@labronthesuperninjayasin2203]

I disagree that tails character was butchered way before the modern era, I mean do you remember hero's?

[@Hamb0-r3aL]

@@labronthesuperninjayasin2203 Did you even watch the whole video? 🤦‍♂️ Edit: Not attacking you, just pointing something out, that's all.

[@labronthesuperninjayasin2203]

@@Hamb0-r3aL I'm just pointing out that in mid 2000's is worst (imo) then the modern era games for some characters

[@bladesshredder6663]

100% agree with the video. As someone who’s been through the entire arc game by long-awaited game, Tails has almost completely lost what made us like him in the first place.

[@eguyigbin6987]

Please make better less biased videos

[@PKMN37]

I feel the Sonic Boom cartoon treated Tails better than the recent games have. He's smart, brave, and isn't sidelined. We see him help Sonic and friends many times.

[@rushjobinc8063]

He's still a tad arrogant in Boom, but yeah

[@100normalnameguy5]

And thats why he is still my favorite character

[@snail4177]

@@rushjobinc8063 i feel him having a little bit of arrogance is a good character flaw for him

[@tyshawnstubbs9315]

@@rushjobinc8063 I can be fine with that *Small Amount of Arrogance* as long as I don't gotta see a cowardly tails who seemingly can't lift a f--king finger ;-;

[@rushjobinc8063]

@@tyshawnstubbs9315 That's Cowardice you're thinking of, Tails isn't afraid of anything in Boom

[@mike5449]

Point that I missed in Forces. So, Tails can't fix Omega. An Eggman Robot. Can fix and reprogram literally any of the other Eggman machines in Lost World. What.

[@shadow9774]

Wanna know the best part about that? Omega would have been considered archaic by design. He was the last of the original badnik horde. The last of the E series, which was an elite series of robots designed to fight Sonic 1v1. An advanced robot, but nowhere near as advanced as Metal Sonic. Both Metal Sonic and Omega were designed/built long before lost world.

[@GreatGameTutorials]

@@shadow9774 guess sega missed the detail

[@IronManShow]

he also fixed him before soo..

[@RedToad900]

Tails also feels sad that Classic Sonic leaves him even though Modern Sonic is already there.

[@saiqa7130]

@@RedToad900 and? Classic Sonic doesn't look like Modern Sonic. So memories will be associated with Classic Sonic

[@AmateurAnimations65]

Sega has a real bad habit of taking great characters and boiling them down to one word husks of what they started as. Amy went from a caring girl that idolized sonic and could see the good in everyone including seemingly heartless robots to just the girl that likes Sonic. Knuckles went from a noble, albeit gullible warrior who has a hard time understanding the nuances of other people but once you get to know him he's a good friend and strong ally, to just the dumb guy that punches things. Shadow went from a brooding loner who struggles with his own identity, but has a surprising amount of love in his heart for those he grows close to, to just edgy the hedgy. And of course Tails went from the scared kid who had to grow out of Sonic's shadow and become his own hero, to just the coward who's also pretty tech savvy. Half of the Sonic cast can be described with a single meme, "Look how they massacred my boy"

[@rickyrackey7930]

The Sonic 2 movie made them epic. Can’t wait for Movie Tails: From Coward to Hero Again

[@Blank-un3xz]

Edgy the hedgy Lol

[@MathivichNickerson]

Sonic Went From A Hedgehog Who Loves Adventure And Running, And Someone who believes There More To Doing Things Then Serving Someone, Or Being Evil, To Just Being Cocky And Making Puns

[@nuxmitikuna7718]

@@rickyrackey7930 he actually made it lol

[@rickyrackey7930]

@@nuxmitikuna7718 Good. Now we need James Arnold Taylor and Tara Strong as Sonic and Tails

[@ElectricBarrier]

Tails went from "I will believe in myself" to "I will go hide in the corner".

[@reannathehuman1683]

Yep

[@JezElectro13]

and he went by "i'm Wannabe Idiot Badass"

[@traviscunningham7062]

@@JezElectro13 Luigi is a much better sidekick than Tails now.

[@JezElectro13]

@@traviscunningham7062 Since when Lugi is a Sidekick? do i need to remind you he rescued Mario? 4 times? without him, Bowser would win long time ago. i'm SUPRISED no one asked Nintendo to do not spin-off game all about Luigi Being Hero Beacuse Mario was Kidnapped... again. also in Super Luigi U. he went throuth Harder... WAY HARDER SMB U. without help of Mario.

[@mysingingmonstersfan1023]

@@JezElectro13 to be fair, there was that one luigi geography game

[@anthonyroundtree5]

How many people remember that when tails was introduced he was one of a few characters that could actually keep up with sonic which made him the perfect partner?

[@MetalMedallion24]

Sonic X is a pretty significant growth for him, too. He was portrayed much like he was in the Adventure games, and once he befriended Cosmo, he became so dedicated and brave enough to defend her that he even attempted to fight Shadow. It seems like a continuation of his character from Sonic Adventure.

[@thepjshow]

Agreed. I can't wait to make a video on Sonic X where I can talk about tails (mainly in the 3rd season).

[@Tara191]

I honestly think that Sonic X was probably the best portrayal of Tails (The adventure games are a close second)

[@jwroot]

Oh yeah, let's see a Sonic X analysis/review from *you!*

[@portalgaming8057]

​@@thepjshowOkay, I have to be honest. I actually like Tails better as a scared coward than a hero. When I see Tails trying to depend on Sonic to save his life and when he runs away from danger in fear, I feel really bad for him and relate to him more, because he is a calm and cute fox sidekick who isn't exactly fit to become his own hero. He needs his friend, Sonic to protect him from anything that can hurt or kill Tails. I feel relatable to Tails when he is a coward because he just wants to be safe. On the other hand, when I see him do heroic acts for other people, he just isn't very cute, calm, or relatable to me. It just feels unnecessary and I'd rather have him be his normal calm self.

[@portalgaming8057]

@SammiiVeryEpik Yeah, because I personally want Tails to be safe and Sonic would save him no matter what. You summed it up really well.👍

[@roamingtheinternet8652]

I PRAY that the next Sonic movie does him justice, he deserves it, he needs a good comeback to the way he's supposed to to be written

[@theclickening6668]

You wasted your prayers...

[@TheEnigmaticBM39]

@@theclickening6668 ?

[@kaisel_]

I think it will, at least in that post-credits scene we got of tails in the first movie he seemed to be more independent and confident and not a scared useless kid

[@banananYEAH]

Well, he looked scared when that knife scene, and fainted, but he seems to stay with Sonic, not complaining. He looks confident, so its a 50/50

[@tilsspunbytails7790]

@@banananYEAH the knife scene was probably a gag.

[@austinbaker8042]

If you're a Tails fan, you've played Sonic Adventure. I can't imagine anyone seeing tails in any other game and really liking him as much as you would if you played Sonic Adventure that's how bad they butchered his character

[@Infindox]

Either Adventure game honestly

[@regulator062]

He was great in SA2 also. Very brave, broke Sonic out of jail and always had a plan for Sonic and team. He made a naive error against Eggman but never lost his courage or will to fight even when it looked like Sonic was dead.

[@gwidyon]

Nah man, i didn't play those games, but yeah I do know how good he was in the previous games, so yeah, true

[@carobell8486]

No it just was that I didn´t play any game at all yet related to him. He is cool tho

[@Sparklecakes13]

He became my favorite when I played sonic 2.

[@user-1999emperor]

Fun fact: In the DS version of Colors, Tails tells Sonic that he wants to fight the Nega Wisp along side him. He is slightly more in-character in this port than in the console versions.

[@kirbstagoontheaxolotl]

I have played the DS version of Colours and Colours Ultimate, and I have to agree. Colours (DS) is what had made me like Tails as a character, and my favorite at the time, although with all my experience in the fandom now, Tails has been starting to fall down the rankings of my favorite characters, but I enjoy the Tails we have from the adventure era

[@thebiolibrary5572]

I think Tails cowering from Chaos 0 is really notable for his descent. In Sonic Adventure, he takes on stronger versions of Chaos, but now he's so pathetic that he can't fight Chaos 0, who is just a little bit of chaos energy and a bunch of water, while Chaos 4 is mostly chaos energy. Apparently only Sonic can fight Chaos 0.

[@johnathanegbert9277]

Eggman: WHAT?

[@HexagonThatReallyLikesVinegar]

Tails fighting a god of destruction: yeah this is fine. Talis fighting a amoeba controlling some water: WAHHHHH SONIC HELP ME

[@demidyeah9128]

This was already stated in the video I think

[@muddashucka9743]

Sega be like: oNlY mAlE hEdGeHoGs CaN fIgHt ChAoS

[@hypedup8081]

Bro ran chaos 4's shit in adventure and beat eggman in adventure And also beat eggman in adventure 2 i guess sega forgot

[@Mamaluigi13]

Seeing tails flanderized like this isn’t just a punch to the gut it’s a KO. I was a lot like tails as a kid; ostracized from everybody in school, shy as hell, etc. I loved this character and looked up to him. I’m so glad that people are pointing out his ruined character.

[@tjfreeland4257]

Your right

[@omonaijaj]

You looked up to a hedgehog? 😂

[@gadjetjr.7528]

@@omonaijaj *a fox?

[@cupio-stardust]

@@omonaijaj tails is a fox.

[@cupio-stardust]

I was also always like Tails as a kid, and seeing him in Adventure 1 made me realize I could be just like him. Obviously I didn’t defuse a nuke and save the world or anything like that, but I did start to defend myself from bullies and began to be more assertive. I also may or may not have had a small crush on him lol, but I guess that’s natural since he helped me be more brave. (ALSO! I conquered my fear of the ocean because I thought about him while I was panicking in the water, so thank you Tails!)

[@mmgmagic]

Sega was so desperate to have Mario's success, they tried to turn Tails into Luigi.

[@ajaxmaxbitch]

Damn, you might be right

[@mlgamings6110]

Dude, not even freaking Luigi was that much of a coward. Luigi confronted his fears and saved his brother from an entire haunted mansion of ghosts. He actually won a battle that Mario couldn't have. Tails in forces was a freaking joke.

[@SixtyFourJr]

Well, Luigi is more BRAVE than Tails because He didn't leave the mansion after he saw the ghost. He stayed there so he can save his brother.

[@tjlnintendo]

At least Luigi has a triolgy where he was the Hero saving his Bro and others. Dude even has his own nemesis. (King Boo). What does tails have in today’s age?

[@lasercraft32]

Hey man don't make fun of my bro Luigi like that...

[@Khyon521]

Tail’s transition from hero to Coward started after Unleashed. He wasn’t as integral to the story, but he at least helped you out by fearlessly flying you into enemy territory against a fleet of Eggman robots, and 2 Egg Cauldrons.

[@bow-89]

@Zylo Wolf 2.0 Imo, Tails, Eggman and Sonic are the only crucial characters to any Sonic game, plus for gameplay, just Sonic and Tails

[@gukeoke6312]

@Zylo Wolf 2.0 I mean, i absolutely hated the Knuckles, Rouge, Tails and Eggman stages in SA2

[@sentientmustache8360]

He didn’t do lot in generations, both of him, but he did more than everyone else that wasn’t sonic(s)

[@IM-sj1dg]

I rate this 2 tails out of 70 alternate accounts

[@ratkingwastaken]

1 out of 10 piss rocks

[@manix2329]

3 marias out of 10 piss DRRRRROPPPPPPLETS

[@hollowgab6531]

2 shadows out of 1 wife pissed

[@akane_147]

1 fuckable crop out of 69 announcements

[@animarthur5297]

I rate this 2 balls out of a bong

[@phoenixflamegames1]

It doesn’t matter how many times I rewatch this, it still hurts to see tails being so completely worthless.

[@posken10]

Yeah I agree. He is my favorite sonic character.

[@rickyrackey7930]

That is until the movie.

[@nicolasrestrepo6177]

Frontiers and Prime: allow us to introduce ourselves

[@Mariocat99]

Funny thing. Luigi is still able to give himself more confidence without Mario or needing to rescue Mario. Sure he would be scared. But he could conquer his foes. Tails' era has rather been under developed. Luigi's has still remained in his proper development. Bummer Sega had to downgrade Tails' character 10+ years later

[@robertharrison1058]

Yet in every main game or mario rpg Luigi gets some character growth only for the next game him to seen as useless again no luigi gets similar treatment by Nintendo's writers as tails does by sega made out to be crap so there main star sonic and mario are better thats why not many luigi and tails games was ever made by sega and Nintendo for these characters tails got 1 Luigi had 4 all the rest are mario and sonic its basically sabotage by those two on there own products out of fear that fans would end up liking the sidekick more than the mcs of their brands if given consistent character development if im right as its just a theory its a petty and disgusting move.

[@rod7091]

At least Luigi has done stuff in recent ganws

[@arturocastroverde3349]

Luigi still have luigi mansion

[@robertharrison1058]

@@arturocastroverde3349 no 3 in the mansion games and lets not forget wheres mario how many has Mario had soloing super mario bros super mario bros 2 mario 3 super mario world mario 64 mario sunshine mario galaxy Mario galaxy 2 Mario odessy thats just the consoles then add the paper mario and some of the game boy ones in and its basically the same mario and sonic are the mcs of Nintendo and sega while luigi and tails are pushed to the side till its demmed convenient then they are shoe horned in.

[@Squid_Salad]

Luigi #1

[@StarDragonNova]

To be fair, he even acted on his own in 06 (his wave ocean stage). And at the end of 06 he goes to crisis city alone to get the emerald. Tails now would never do that.

[@thepjshow]

Good point. Nowadays, if he had to find an emerald, he would just pull out his bootleg Wii-U and then tell someone else to go and get it.

[@Sicraft]

@@thepjshow The bootleg Wii U kills me xD

[@PhantomSpriteFr]

we *DONT* talk about sonic 06’

[@markharbath31X9]

@@PhantomSpriteFr no o6 was decent it was made in the year I was born it’s more like we don’t talk about colors

[@markharbath31X9]

@Mr Big Brother YT you have a horrible taste in sonic

[@duelisticnature6901]

Tails was the role model I looked up to when I was younger. Low self-esteem, socially insecure, smart kid of the class, you name it. Seeing him written as the whiney backseat kid bothers me so much. I feel Sonic Forces could have been a redemption of sorts. Replace classic Sonic with tails in the scenes before reuniting with the resistance and it just fits. You can replace tails with classic Sonic seamlessly since Tails had his own 2d rendition. Even the cutscenes and voicelines are framed like Tails could have flown solo. And for the SA2 nostalgia have him do a last stand mission in the cyclone mech against Eggman robots before going down under overwhelming odds (fits the war theme going on and sonic 'n pals fighting against overwhelming numbers). Such missed potential... thankfully the recent sonic movie brings a return to form. Or at least the beginning is promising.

[@cupio-stardust]

Honestly I hope in the third movie he’s just like he was in SA2.

[@spsr.]

Tails wouldnt be such a spoiled brat if he wasnt on that DANG PHONE

[@JasmineAmberSandbrook1923]

You do have a good point @SonicPlushSpeedRush

[@VongolaXZax]

Lol

[@kieranstark7213]

And hated on Sonic to the point of making him sound worse than Eggman and everyone else (like Amy and Zeena despite being annoying female stereotypes to Sonic before Sonic Boom), especially when comparing them to himself in the overpraised Sonic Lost World!

[@RWSfan2024]

Lmfao true

[@handrising3714]

Give me that PHONE tails

[@BradynNewcomer]

Tails in 1998 to 2009: A boy genius who grows a backbone. Tails in 2010: Whiny brat/ Mr. Know-it-all sidekick. EDIT: It hurts me to say that, but it's true.

[@denisefusilier9265]

true

[@blaykay-4797]

Can't really call Tails a Sidekick if Tails does next to nothing

[@SuperBlackwing]

You made me feel very sad now

[@DESIREDP0V]

I believe the real Tails will always be in SA2 can’t argue with me

[@saulo_jdyg8565]

it hurts to Me too but we all know who the main culpript is

[@bluestreaker9242]

About that scene with Tails being tricked in to revealing the Fake Emerald: if you play through the Dark Story, and going off of what Tails said "It has the same wavelength & properties as the original, but is less powerful", Eggman already knew it was fake, both through process of elimination (discounting the Master Emerald, there are only 7 Chaos Emeralds, and they have 6 in their possession aboard the ARK). "Hmph! They really thought they could trick me with a fake Emerald?" Knowing both sides, I've read that scene as Eggman ALREADY knowing the Emerald is fake, but just wanted to trick Tails in to thinking he just screwed Sonic, Tails' best friend in the whole world, in to a one-way trip to his demise whilst simultaneously gambling on confirming which of the two Emeralds they had in their possession was a fake. It's one of the smartest, most diabolical things Eggman has ever done, and to think he ALMOST got away with it. Had Sonic and Shadow never met up until then, Sonic would be dead! O.O

[@thepjshow]

I never really thought of it in that sense. That is actually incredible!

[@bluestreaker9242]

@@thepjshow It is and I sincerely wish they had stuck with this character development; I'm not saying Tails necessarily needs PTSD, but how much more interesting would it have been for Tails to still be thinking about that day on occasion: the day Eggman beat him in the battle of wits, the day he thought he had inadvertently sentenced his best friend to death. Like, Sonic tells Tails to not sweat it, as he'd do, but Tails is defeated, badly shaken up by that day; Tails' battle is still with Eggman, but now it's a different kind of battle: a redemption arc, if you will. If we had ever gotten (or do eventually get?) a Sonic Adventure 3, I feel like this would have been Tails' story arc: him feeling he needs to distance himself from Sonic and fight Eggman alone again because he realizes (incorrectly) that it was his fault Sonic nearly died and he doesn't want to endanger Sonic's life again. This time, he fights Eggman to prove to himself and to the world that he's not a danger to Sonic or his friends and that he's not afraid of Eggman, that, regardless of the one slip-up, "You'll NEVER be better than me, Eggman!" Imo, I feel like this would have been a better, more logical progression of his story to what we got instead which...oof. Just...oof... O.o

[@saturnmikustopfan4681]

But even with Tails being tricked like that, he still managed to take things into his own hands...

[@bluestreaker9242]

@@saturnmikustopfan4681 Indeed. Speaks to the strengths of his character and how much he'd grown in that time frame.

[@saturnmikustopfan4681]

@@bluestreaker9242 All for it to be completely meaningless in all those games (before Frontiers) afterwards.

[@emtee7138]

Tails is my all time favorite, and has been for ages now. Seeing someone like him, who was bullied, scared to do anything on his own, then having his confidence return and bring him back into his hero state, then immediately go back to being a coward for no apparent reason, just hurts me. Sometimes I feel like the fans know the characters more than Sega themselves do. And when that happens, my faith in the original creators start to dwindle very fast Edit: it seems like the movie is making Tails go back to his old self, thank god

[@deoxysandmew2162]

I think there was always a reason I couldnt get into Sonic series... I felt all over the place, and i guess not in only one way when im thinking about it now. I like consistency.

[@professionaltrashcan6758]

The funny thing is, the fans do know the characters better than modern Sonic writers.

[@edex59]

First, FINALLY SOMEONE WHO’S FAVOURITE CHARACTER IS TAILS FOR GODS SAKE Secondly, I am one who is currently growing up into the modern games of sonic and now knowing how heroic tails was, and suddenly becoming a laughing stock is just P A I N. Edit: 17:26 - 17:34 is just the entire second argument I made here

[@TheFakeMakotoYuki]

atleast the sonic movie 2 could help tails out

[@mmm8494]

At least in the next game, Frontiers, the writer is Ian Flynn, the writer of the Archie/IDW comics

[@ivoryvt]

"Tails has just lost it" was a mistranslation. The original Japanese script said that his whereabouts were unknown. That "Tails is lost", not that "Tails has lost it". It can't be used as an excuse for his deteriorating character.

[@Breakaway-ic5gj]

They butcher the Japanese translation so bad

[@DeathKitta]

Oh yeah, Sonic wasn't tortured for months there.

[@miterbinnesdirty]

I'll make you eat those words!

[@miterbinnesdirty]

@Mister MashupsYT I found you, faker!

[@joobtheboob]

@@miterbinnesdirty faker? I think you're the fake commenter around here.

[@thestockimagequeen]

I absolutely LIVE for the moments when Tails is written as a badass. I feel like that’s who he is at his core but he constantly gets shoved into the coward role.

[@bulb9970]

This reminds me of that question “When a character completes their arc and you still want to use them, what do you do?” This is especially true for series with multiple installments. Tails finished his arc in the Adventure games so they just regressed him in Heroes and forward. Or the writers simply don’t care for anyone besides Sonic, that works too.

[@Milkmanrules1032]

Heroes didn’t regress his character he was just as much as a hero as he was in sonic adventure 2 but they just made him sound childish to fit his age. In shadow the hedgehog Tails went on solo missions saving the president and getting rings in circus park then he runs into shadow and helps him out. I feel like he starts going a bit downhill in lets say after O6. Sonic Riders I feel like Tails starting becoming player 2 again because before That he was pretty much a protagonist if you think about it. He was great in Sonic Riders but I noticed he had to be rescued in the opening of the game and kin da acted more sensitive when wave calls his hover board a piece of junk. There’s nothing wrong with Tails going on adventures with sonic but they just tried to make him seem like the little brother and continue that after sonic Riders. I feel like because Tails never got his own game like Sega probably originally planned he is misunderstood as a sidekick but this is my opinion.

[@ShaimingLong]

The better thing to do would be either to just keep him as a flat arc character, or introduce a new arc. It's over used and bland, but they could have had his grown confidence eventually lead to making some mistakes. They could have made it so he lets his guard down expecting Eggman to focus on Sonic only to get trapped himself and have to learn from that. They could have made it so Eggman really manages to outclass his skills and Tails is forced to rely on something other than his tried and true engineering skills. The options were there, but the focus had definitely become about Sonic, so the growth of side characters was just cast aside to better make them "aid" Sonic's stories, rather than have their own along side his.

[@waleedkhalid7486]

If a character completes their arc, give them a fresh arc… a person doesn’t stop changing after a single major event. Most writers don’t understand this- they use characters as plot devices rather than as characters. Read Song of Ice and Fire and the Cosmere books to get a feel for how characters should be done. And you’ll see how the way most writers do them is so…subpar.

[@Milkmanrules1032]

@@waleedkhalid7486 Yea I really think Sega planned to expand Tails ark anyway because of some of his lyrics in his song Believe in Myself. “If I just follow you, I will not see the light.” Those lyrics right there always make it sound like Sega eventually wanted to betray Tails as a equal.

[@ShaimingLong]

@@waleedkhalid7486 I'd still argue that a flat arc is better than a forced arc. Such as, Sonic doesn't usually have an arc, he's a great example of a flat arc character, being true to himself and trusting in himself and his companions. Using Lost World for example, that seemed to try push an arc of not trusting Tails and being reckless in his actions, without ever really paying any of it off. It just makes Sonic seem whiney for a while, Tails gets overly huffy acting like Sonic suggested he was going to replace him with Eggman somehow and the whole thing just falls flat. If Sonic had to go through something like that in /every/ game, it'd be mind numbingly frustrating. That's not to say he couldn't have an arc leading to some good growth, but without someone knowing what they're doing I'd prefer keeping characters more to a status quo. Not that Tails got either, in the end.

[@KindaCringe404]

To anyone looking for good Tails characterization, might I suggest Sonic & Tails R? It's a podcast on Emi Jones' channel that pays tribute to the many great years of Sonic with some of the old voice actors and references to previous Sonic media. If there's a character ruined by modern writing, this series will have most likely fixed that character. (I said most because not every character shows up in Sonic & Tails R, but the ones who do are pretty good.) This especially applies to Tails, who is one of the protagonists, alongside Sonic. In addition to his many great character moments, he is voiced by Emi Jones herself in what may be my favorite take on Tails' voice so far!

[@DemonDethchase]

Yes! It is glorious! And the next episode is due up tomorrow! "Remember that time I stopped Eggman's missile attack in Station Square? For the first time since we've been friends I was the only who could stop Eggman. That day I realized I couldn't count on you (Sonic) forever. Not that I can't depend on you, but like... what happens when Sonic's isn't here? You know? So I did what you do. I believed in myself and fought anyway. Even though I was scared. And then I won. I want to show you that I can do things too Sonic." Tails Sonic and Tails R (episode 4) "You're wrong! I can depend on Sonic! I won't let him down! I can't! Because... Because he's depending on me! And because of that... I won't lose to you!" Tails Sonic and Tails R (episode 7) "Sonic, help me!" Tails Sonic Forces Give me strength, Sega!

[@thepjshow]

Yep. Sonic & Tails R is some good stuff. Definitely give it a look.

[@VirizionWireless]

no

[@glitchedred3809]

"Protagonist". Not a background character or a coward. It's good

[@pixelatedink955]

They arent the real voice actors right? Because they are pretty damn accurate with some of them. (No seriously, are they legit?)

[@CaptainKacknup]

They turned Somic from a hero with an attitude to a walking meme, Knuckles from a stubborn rival into a complete numbskull and Tails from a hero to a coward

[@fsendventd]

Let me preface this by saying that I love Tails. He's always been my favorite and I wish he would be playable again. Also I've started to take the Sonic and Tails R characters to heart so my idea of him tends to be based on that. With that said... Everyone else has already mentioned the thing in Unleashed with all the Dark Gaia monsters so I'll just not bother with that, since I've never played the game. However, I will say that I think it's okay for Tails to be afraid of things sometimes. There's no bravery without fear, after all, and Tails is a brave character. (Or at least he's supposed to be, and was in the Adventure games.) He's not cocky and overconfident like Sonic, he's more realistic and does genuinely worry he won't always be able to win. But you know what? He tries anyway. He does as much as he can, even though he's scared. And that's bravery. He shouldn't run away crying like he did in Unleashed, even if it's perfectly reasonable for him to retreat (one of them is 10 times his size after all, and there are lots of them). He's more cool and collected than that. He'd calmly (or at least as calm as one can be when surrounded by giant energy monsters) get himself in a safe position and analyze the situation. The reason they made him such a coward was because they needed Sonic to save him because Sonic is the hero and all that garbage. Though to be fair he did sort of stay and watch, even if he seemed a little off, instead of completely leaving. I have a soft spot for Colors, and while I hate the Baldy Nosehair jokes as much as everyone else I don't think Tails was too bad. He was just underutilized. I don't think he was a jerk in that game at all, in my opinion he was actually kinda cute, they just didn't give him enough to do so he was relegated to spouting corny humor. And while the mind control scene was effectively useless, I like to think that it's the thought that counts since it still shows that he has a little bit of strength left in him to save Sonic. (They could have done a lot more with it though.) I've actually rewritten parts of the game before to see what I could do with it and I think it's come out fairly well. Will skip Generations since there's basically no story there. He was horrible in Lost World though. Tails is supposed to be a wholesome, cute, enjoyable character. Instead they made him a stuck-up jerk, which makes no sense for him. Why is he the one who hates Eggman? It should be Sonic who's opposed to it, since he treats Eggman as much more of a nemesis while Tails tends to think of him as a rival of sorts. And also the ending was way too neatly tied up. They should have made it so that Eggman wasn't the villain, and that they actually needed him to turn off the machine, so that everyone could reconcile more correctly. And on the note of the roboticization (I know this is a comic thing and it's different but I'm calling it this for consistency), I've heard an argument before that Sega wouldn't want to permanently change the look of such a recognizable character so drastically. People wouldn't think he's Tails anymore, they'd think he's an evil anti-Tails or a cyborg created by Eggman or something. However, they could have made the game longer, and stuck with the roboticized Tails for the rest of it, making him playable for part of the game and giving some nice Metroidvania gameplay. (Or even do it to him near the beginning so that he's playable for almost all of the game.) He'd still have to be restored by the end, but they could give a reason for it so that it isn't just "hey he's okay again". (Personally I would never make it permanent or semi-permanent. Tails doesn't deserve to be put through that. It would toughen his character and get rid of the lighthearted, cute wholesomeness that so many love him for.) I want to rewrite this game in its entirety because I think a conflict between Sonic and Tails is a really good idea, not even the best of friends always get along after all. But it should actually be done well, with good reasons and Tails as more of the "sane" one and a proper restoration of trust towards the end instead of "hey look at this Sonic I was right I told you so". He was also utterly useless in Forces. Like I said, it's okay for him to be scared, but we know Sonic's assumed death hasn't broken him before and so it shouldn't do it again. Also this is like Chaos -2 or something, Classic Sonic one-tapped him while the boss fight with Chaos 0 takes three homing attacks or similar from Modern Sonic last I checked. Though I suppose Tails wouldn't have known that, but he still looks like Chaos 0 and Chaos 0 is nothing. We all know Tails has fought Chaos 4 and won. He shouldn't have been such a total wimp. Shouldn't have just stood there while Sonic had a pile of concrete dropped on his face. He would still be trying to analyze the Phantom Ruby's energy to find a way to counter it, but he would also get in there and fight to give Sonic as much of a chance as he could. (I like to think Tails is pretty good at multitasking.) Come on, Sega. Do something good with him in Rangers (or whatever we're calling it), or Prime. They keep giving us little hints that he's going to be more important again, and they need to follow up on them. Or heck, even the movie, even though Sega barely has any more involvement with that than slapping their name on the cover. I'm genuinely interested what they do with him in the movie, considering they gave movie Sonic a lot of what would normally be Tails's personality and character arc.

[@orangeslash1667]

Its get worse than Yuji Naka leaving, I did some research on the sonic wiki to to answer the question how Sonic unleashed is a passionate game with out Naka???? Well it turns out the director Yoshihisa Hashimoto Is not only a programer on Sonic advance 2 but he also made the Hedgehog Engine. Sadly he left Sega for Square Enix, and Sonic Unleashed is the last Sonic game to be made by sonic team USA and since then Sonic games are now low budget. Thats two Developers that Sega lost. Why because all Sega cares for arcade sales and pachinko machines. 3d Sonic so far is about as dead as Metal Gear. The good news is that Freedom Planet comes pretty close to the passion that Adventure 2 had.

[@ethancrasher4320]

If you want to see sonic and tails fight there’s a comic issue where they do I won’t spoil too much but basically tails dad gets imprissoned and sonic just acts well I wanna say jerk but it’s lighter than that he then believes tails would never hate him later tails and his mom go to free his dad then sonic is informed of the jailbreak he catches tails parents reunion but doesn’t see tails hide after saying he would put both of em in prison and saying tails would understand tails backhands sonic and fights him so his parents can go to the palace to confront the prince the whole fight between them is really cool and one of my favourites plus probably the only fight between the two we’ll ever get

[@Ponch126]

@@ethancrasher4320 The one from the Archie series? Tails in that universe is so far my favorite variation of the character. He’s grown up to realize that he can do more than just be a sidekick. His family actually has a high level of importance to him to the point where he fights his best friend, the person that took him in and cared for him while his parents were being attacked/captured/yada to get them out of prison. He even points out all the instances where he’s felt as if Sonic has just pushed him to the curb, his best friend and older brother. The person he looked up to and always wanted to be like and respected the most, had made him feel as if he wasn’t important. The Archie comics took his character from the Adventure games, and said “this is the Tails that we want to create. And we will not pull any punches to flesh this one out as much as we can.” Meanwhile Pontac and Graff have utterly butchered his character to the point where people literally asked if this was an Android taking the place of one of Sonic’s closest confidants.

[@kieranstark7213]

@@Ponch126The Ian Flynn Tails is more like the Tails you described in the Archie series than Ken Penders’ Tails who felt a lot more like he was written by Pontiac-Graff by yelling at Sonic in #155 aka “The Slap 2” (but is Sally the pissy girlfriend that slapped her ex-boyfriend because she thought he was actin. Like a colossal douchebag to her? No, this time, it’s Fiona with Tails, and then she had a catfight with Amy Rose over Sonic’s heart) that he hated him just like Sally in #134 aka “The Slap 1”.

[@cloudshines812]

To Tails' defense in Sonic Unleashed. He doesn't fight any gaia monsters head on because, one "HE WAS CLEARLY OUTNUMBERED" and two, Tails had a reason to be the more genius/intellectual side kick in that game. He even flies the tornado (only in two segments) but actually willing to help Sonic and Chip accomplish their goals. What's Tails' excuse in later games only to be a side character and taken a back seat in Colours, Generations and Lost World. Forces however is the worst depiction of the character and what made me ultimately despise Tails for good. Your honestly expecting me to believe that he can't beat CHAOS 0 on his own and needs to rely on Sonic, and most of the game, he's not even with normal Sonic, he's with CLASSIC SONIC who barely has any character! And also, I can officially confirm that after playing NieR: Automata and seeing what happens to a character that "loses it", it just makes Tails into an even bigger and laughable joke. Seriously, you couldn't have made Tails traumatic or even slightly evil because his "BEST FRIEND DIED?!!!"

[@eh5732]

I think Sonic Lost World would have made more sense with Sonic and Eggman arguing and Tails trying to mediate. Sonic is a free spirit while Eggman is a total control freak, they are polar opposites. Tails trying to bottle their hatred for one another for the greater good would have made for a more compelling conflict.

[@allstar4065]

Even then, the conflict would be cheap and clichéd.

[@theheartbreakcat]

Knuckles would fit in that role even better. He spent Sonic 3 though Adventure getting duped by Eggman so to never trust Eggman again and be hotheaded about it makes perfect sense for his character

[@Shuffles_Art]

I love how they redeemed Tails for Sonic Frontiers, levelling the character out while acknowledging his misinterpretations of previous games. He’s still learning how to be more confident in himself and taking time for himself rather than sticking around with sonic. It makes me very excited to see how they take these characters going forward, seeing that they now have a much more concrete vision of who these characters are and how they’ll be portrayed for future games.

[@Astromontana]

16:32 - 16:42 , This scene is the exact reason I did not buy Forces. I was already kind of iffy with buying it, but after seeing that cutscene, I said to myself "I refuse to buy a Sonic game that treats Tails like that." His character was so great in the Adventure titles. Why did they regress it so much? Tails is my favorite character as well so it's sad to see. I just wish Tails can go back to SA2 and keep his confidence and level headedness.

[@thepjshow]

I can't blame you for not buying forces after seeing that.

[@tomdrawsstuffs6092]

Pontac and Graff is why

[@altr1k]

Tails lost world:can literally reprogram everything lol

[@Jaboy-of5fw]

If I was tails in that I would put my paws up

[@exr879]

Bad writing lol good thing we have Ian Flynn in Sonic Frontiers

[@ShaimingLong]

13:45 I'm sure someone already said it, but the idea of Tails retaining the robot parts could have led nicely to him being a really easy replacement for the Avatar in Forces. It would have done his character a world of good over that travesty that actually was released.

[@Hugo-yz1vb]

He's now the videogame embodiment of the meme "Mom come pick up me I'm scared"

[@ReckiRazack]

Tails back then : " i'll do my best! " Tails now : " i'll do my worst! "

[@Hlecktro]

I always wondered how, from a biology standpoint, he could physically spin his two tails like a helicopter.

[@ScrambledNotEgg]

bruh lmfao, obviously from a biology standpoint its complete nonsense

[@walkerphillips2818]

Maybe he has a ball-and-socket joint in his butt.

[@petty_coat9916]

Watch a Game Theory video

[@daeryk6424]

Looney Toons physics!

[@Ark...........]

Or how a fat guy can survive multiple explosions and instantly recover from burn wounds or how he can run faster then sonic but I still haven't had my questions answered.

[@DaveMan1K]

17:40 That line is apparently a mistranslation. Silver was supposed to say, "Tails is lost". Lost as in missing; nobody knowing where he is.

[@sungineer]

The only way tails being more cowardly as the games went on made sense is for the adventure games to be canonically the latest game

[@FurbytheFlareon]

I remember my giant rant that I made about Shadow and Tails long ago, and oh boy this video tackled every single point that I made! It's a strange, yet nice feeling to know that you aren't the only person who feels like your favorite character while growing up was ripped apart because different writers didn't know how to make the characters consistent enough to be entertaining or even likable and I swear to God if I don't put a period at the end of this sentence I'm going to. *Inhale* :D

[@thepjshow]

I'm glad you liked the video. And, yes, breathing is important.

[@mrmechpunch4653]

Eggman: "Actually nothing else bites more than having to listen to this dreadful conversation." I think eggman in this one sentence summarized most of the games after adventure 2

[@SunIsLost]

Yes

[@starwarriorterra8373]

That spat you shone a spotlight to in Lost World is downright hilarious, honestly. It literally feels like Tails and Sonic, if that scene were to happen at all, should be in reverse positions. Tails is supposed to be the one who understands when they have to play things as safely as possible, whereas Sonic is more likely to be hotheaded and have issue with having to team up with Eggman. Of course, that scene should never be happening at all considering they HAVE teamed up. More than once, even! It literally feels as if Sega just forgets any of its past game plots with every new game.

[@rushjobinc8063]

Well the villains in this game consist of Baldy McNosehair, Criminally Insane, Fatass Dumbass, Girl, Kung Fu Asian Senior, Emo, and Diet Bowser. No wonder Tails threw all logic out the window, the game did it first.

[@Breakaway-ic5gj]

The concept of Sonic loosing his friends is kinda cool. That's the most that can be given to Lost world's story

[@johnathanegbert9277]

@@rushjobinc8063 careful calling Robotnik names. First EggManLand, then a McNoseHair's restaurant. He lets it go to his head in a good way :D

[@starwarriorterra8373]

@@Breakaway-ic5gj Oops late as sin thanks to randomly revisiting this video. I'd rather see that happen with Shadow as he has more precedent for that happening (Sonic '06 providing a very good blueprint for it even if its own story made that plot beat stumble a bit), but that also assumes that Sega will remember how to use Shadow correctly, so...

[@yourfriendlyspider-kid5477]

We need Tails to have his own game, where Sonic losts in the start of the game and then Tails has to be the hero and the final boss would be evil Sonic and has to fight his best friend and saving the day. Seriously Tails is my favorite character from Sonic and i am tired that Sonic is always the hero and the guy who never fails, Tails deserves better!

[@insertunoroginalnamehere6189]

An underrated good idea, ur better at writing stories then Sega lmao

[@laalaa9443]

I agree man they only care about sonic and knuckles.

[@renaterrier935]

There are two GameGear games that had Tails as the protagonist

[@Marc_Fuchs_1985]

@@renaterrier935 As a big Tails fan, I TRIED to play one of them, but honestly, it was low level garbage. As the majority of GG games are. Those old games developed with little effort are neither anything respecting the character, nor are they anything recommendable these days. I'd love a modern Tails only game, and it woumd indeed be a great idea to center the game around the characters and their relationship, instead of some world threat garbage and mystical stuff happening.

[@NiCoNiCoNiCola]

This could easily be Forces lol

[@StarcrossedFlash]

Tails is my hero, so I’m so glad that the movie has given him back to us

[@jwroot]

How can we be even more thankful for Jeff Fowler, Josh Miller, and Patrick Casey for bring our beloved little fox boy to justice?!😊

[@StarcrossedFlash]

@@jwroot If they brought back his soulmate too. Cosmo deserves a grand return

[@Gametoon05]

OK KO! Let's Be Heroes! characterized Tails better than the new writers could ever try.

[@lAlwaysHopel]

Tails doesn’t seems like Sonic sidekick tbh. SA1 and SA2 did good to tails, especially SA1 where his levels he was going against Sonic. I like it because we already know that Tails is also fast and can keep up with Sonic. Sad that Sega has forgotten about this, I think Sega thinks that Amy Rose and Knuckles are faster than Tails.

[@SillyDrifloon]

I feel like every character has been butchered or regressed in some way at least once. I feel like the writers are not consistent with their characters and they keep “changing” their personalities. I find myself yelling at Sonic several times thinking “that’s not something he would DO” and it’s so frustrating to see these lovable characters portrayed incorrectly by their OWN CREATORS.

[@rickyrackey7930]

I can forgive Sega if they get Tara Strong as Tails.

[@spacelightning6587]

One topic I find interesting is that Sega keeps conflating cowardice and fear. There are charactets who are afraid but still step up like Luigi in Luigi's mansion. You can see that in Adventure and Adventure 2 in that he still needs to hype himself up a bit in the cutscenes as he steps up, and that is important because those bits of heroism despite fear have been around before. Even as early as Sonic 2, Tails gets shot down in Sky Chase but comes back without actually knowing if Sonic is OK, and Tails even had a couple of Game Gear games where he had to step up alone. Tails can be afraid or at times feel dependent without being an outright coward.

[@robertharrison1058]

Even the Fleetwood Mac comics treated tails better than sega they had him wield a sword when summoned by his own race for help and defeat robotnik lieutenant nutzan bolt all on his own without sonic (one time he had knuckles help but thats it) sega really screws tails over and its not just him knuckles has had the same treatment to by sega

[@ResistancePasta]

11:59 I love how Sonic sounds legitimately very surprised here; I get the feeling this is Roger's genuine reaction to this script

[@shyguyissoawesomeguys]

lmao that's actually really funny "What?! No that's not what Tails would say you fucking idiot!"

[@XDarkEcho]

I really hate how Tails has fell down over the years, a character I used to admire as a kid, who shared the same fears, insecurities, and traits I did, given to my own older brothers who I looked up to. I remember finding out, while reading the Sonic 2 manual, that Tails was afraid of thunder(a fear I shared as well as a kid), and I always found myself rooting for the guy in Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, whenever I played them, or watched my older brothers play them. Especially on the old cartoons they had of Sonic, and the first movie; I just loved everything that showcased Tails! As I grew older, and saw how more brave, independent, and bold he became, I really felt like he was reflecting of me at those times. However, now that I'm much much MUCH older, I'm saddened how they continue to poorly write my favorite character into the ground. I was livid when I watched how they wrote Tails in Sonic Forces; like, he's cowering in fear of Chaos 0, ZERO! He beat Chaos 4 by himself! Of course, it's not just Tails who's suffered from poor writing over the longevity of the series, but such a beloved character, one I was extremely attached to; shafted. Also, how's Tails gonna be soooo smart to fix and reverse Eggman's Life Sucking Machine in Lost World, but not be "smart enough" to fix Omega? The actual hell? Great video by the way!

[@rickyrackey7930]

The movie gave us the one we deserve. The design is perfect. Like a living stuffed animal

[@torringoldstein4814]

Wait, in Forces when Tails is cowering at Chaos 0, doesn’t everyone think Sonic is still dead? Or at least held captive in space for several years? Why would Tails yell out for Sonic’s help?!??

[@Khyon521]

Supposedly after hearing about his death tails had gone insane? It doesn’t make sense cuz he literally doesn’t show any signs of mental damage but whatever

[@AdaTheWatcher]

They shoulda kept sonic dead and made tails the hero

[@The1andonlysharpshooter]

@@AdaTheWatcher LMFAO

[@jrradster2445]

If i remember correctly, tails didnt believe that sonic was dead unlike everyone else. I think he went out on a search to find him.

[@chrisjohnstonsmomisgay517]

@@AdaTheWatcher why did this make me laugh so hard

[@NotMyRealName6]

There's a _reason_ Tails' theme is titled "Believe in Myself". All that needs to be added here.

[@goatsanimations4480]

Tails used to be my favourite sonic character, i loved his design and character but now I’m starting to drive away from him and i hate it. But NOW… sonic frontiers fixed him and i am so happy about it.

[@Lobotomy_cat]

Thank god frontiers fixed all of the characters because they basically just made them into husk of what they were

[@Lobotomy_cat]

I feel this specifically for knuckles

[@samueljames576]

Not gonna lie, Tail’s characterization and catharsis in Sonic Adventure gave me goosebumps when I was 10, and it still gives me goosebumps now, seeing this sidekick finally gaining the courage to fight without Sonic.

[@lemonadesnake]

The fact that tails had more confidence in the BEGINNING of sa1 than modern is just mind boggling

[@AlastorNahIdWinRadioDemon]

Tails in Sonic Frontiers: "Then I'm wildly inconsistent." Is... Is that the new writer taking a jab at all of the older writers???

[@thecriticalghost4626]

Nice vid as always I hated what have they done with Tails, he deserved better

[@thepjshow]

Thanks for the support. It's always appreciated.

[@eguyigbin6987]

They improved Tails. Tails' character now portrays him as an equal to Sonic and doesn't treat him like a baby. Also, he isn't just one dimensional anymore

[@thecriticalghost4626]

@@eguyigbin6987 Ok

[@Turbulation1]

@@eguyigbin6987 keep telling yourself that

[@lcpdiii6522]

@@eguyigbin6987 Yeah suure they did

[@777Rowen]

Tails is one of my favorite characters! I love the character development he got only to be thrown under the bus and made him a coward. Excellent analysis! 💛

[@MrMozzie]

Missed opportunity for the Title to be like "Tails: Hero to Zero"

[@domovoi2861]

Tails at the beginning of a fight in Sonic Battle: enthusiastically says "okay, time to fight!" At the end of the fight: "looks like I'm getting stronger!" In his story episode: doesn't go to Sonic for help, fights Shadow with no fear or hesitation

[@xxSMG90xx]

I always saw Tails as Sonic's second in command. Since Sonic The Hedgehog 2 on the Sega Genesis, Tails was always capable of completing the story Solo. This is the Tails that could stomp on the Death Egg, with or without Sonic. When together Tails could take the initiative and carry Sonic into and away from Danger. In Sonic the Hegehog 3, Tails was required to fight the boss at the end of Marble Garden Zone. Eggman flies in his machine and Tails needs to carry Sonic as they are both capable of dealing damage. The Adventure series felt true to Tails. Sonic's 2nd in command and right hand man. A character capable of stepping up to lead in Sonic's absence. Tails can literally keep up with Sonic running and doesn't hesitate to fly a freaking jet plane.

[@pokemainiak]

I love how all these videos are basically "Hey so the writing in the sonic adventure games was pretty bomb and we haven't seen that quality in a long time"

[@RagdollArtwork]

I find it funny that I keep seeing all these comments saying "Gaia monsters are scary and there's a big one" when there's literally already the built-in narrative excuse that Dark Gaia literally forces people to feel hopelessness and other negative emotions. Tails has no reason to be immune to that like Sonic and Chip do, so it's perfectly reasonable to assume that effect is influencing him as well at that point.

[@thepjshow]

That is a great point.

[@damonrichardson1999]

I always liked Tails more because he was kind but when he was pushed, he could accomplish great things. He diffused a bomb alone and squared off against Robotnik himself without help from Sonic. He idolizes Sonic because he accepted him and tries harder because he inspired him. Later on he becomes a know-it-all twerp who just happens to hang out with Sonic a lot and just follows his lead almost completely. He goes from excelling in pressure to relying on Sonic again. He let his intelligence go to waste along with being boastful of just how smart he is. He doesn't use that intelligence that set him far apart from everyone else. In fact, he's no longer a sidekick later...just a supporting character with little characterization. Even in forces he mostly just cares about Classic Sonic doing all the work. He even says, "It looks like the world needs a Sonic, any Sonic". He doesn't act like in Adventure 2 where he decides to fight Eggman himself, he just decides Sonic is gone so they can't win. Also I love Sakura Haruno. She is far more useful later on than most of her classmates and I still hate how the creator of that series shafted literally every woman. I stand by that Sakura is useful, it's just the first generation REALLY fails at making her useful even though the creator easily could have. Instead he focused on Naruto and Sasuke, not other characters like Rock Lee or Might Guy who, like Sakura, actually had to WORK for what they believed in (wow, imagine that: working towards a goal instead of having the Sharingan or a demon fox with a crap ton of chakra). You wanna talk about useless? Tenten. She was shafted harder than anyone. In fact, it's a wonder she became a Chunin. Sakura surpassed Tsunade, a legendary medical ninja and the most powerful of her time.

[@thepjshow]

Hey man. Tenten is the most powerful character in the Naruto Universe. She had to have no screen time or she would solo all the characters in a fight... I kid of course. But I agree that Sakura has here own merits, but just became a meme over time. I simply put that in as a joke and nothing more. But seriously, Tenten for president.

[@Blazieth]

I will say, Ian Flynn has been doing a great job of re-railing Tails' character after Forces. In the IDW comics, he's back to form, a hero who can kick butt and is smart - still has occasional trouble with Eggman tech, describing it as "weird", but is still generally able to figure it out. He still expresses some insecurities and lingering worries, but he pushes past them, only reverting to the Cowering Stance in that "night is darkest" moment where all seems lost and they're seconds away from their last hope failing. And then, in Frontiers... he addresses his behavior in previous games. He _knows_ he's been backsliding into cowardice. He knows, and he's upset about it. He's honestly insecure about it, and he's making active effort to make up for it. Instead of trying to retcon or ignore the previous butchering of his character, Flynn has acknowledged it, and _used_ it to fuel further development that puts him back on track.

[@Endriu192]

But let's be honest. I think all Sonic universe should be rewritten. Because it has SO MUCH plot holes and idiotism

[@Mnemoniforma9.00]

No matter how badly his character gets dashed at the foot of the precipice, the parts that matter will remain sheltered in memory. As long as that index remains curated by those who understand the value of what once was, there are endless possibilities for revival.

[@eman7183]

I’ve always wanted a multi character game with more than one story like 06 and the adventure games. I think it would save shadow, silver, Amy and tails. I would have Three stories, one of just sonic alone, one with shadow rouge and tail and one with knuckles Amy and silver. Sonic is by himself because we just need more sonic gameplay. Tails is with shadow and rouge because I think shadows lack of empathy and seriousness will force tails to come out of his shell and stop being a coward. And by doing this it will help shadows reputation. Knuckles has been dumbed down but in sonic forces he was given responsibility as the leader and I think we should build on that. Amy I think needs to change to sonic boom personality. Her in game personality is kinda just being a girl. And silver all he needs is screen time.

[@GodetFam]

Pool sliver dude I remember in 06 he had at least more lore behind him then this modern era. They did his screentime and appearances limited to what I see him.

[@miss_chelles1338]

I'd honestly like that.

[@limikra1688]

good deductions, better than sega a definite

[@Breakaway-ic5gj]

Silver is a very special character, he should not be brought back unless they have some time travel again

[@ego-lay_atman-bay]

It's kinda sad that you skipped over sonic boom. The boom tails (at least in the show), is not a cowerd. In one episode, he made a universal translator that eggman stole. He goes to eggman, and then to get eggman to cooperate, he tricks eggman into believing he teamed up. Tals send the translater back to sonic and gang with a hidden message, he actually needed help getting saved. I think this episode showed that tails was good at hiding fear, and yes, now that I think about it, tails could've gotten away from eggman by himself, but then again, this episode was near the beginning of the show. Another episode (tails' crush) tails actually (finally) decides to take out eggmans robot by himself to save his crush. That was probably his peak moment in the whole show. The other episodes, he doesn't act like he needs sonic (although, in season 1, he's mainly in the back, just in his plane durring fights, but season 2 changed that). I actually like boom tails.

[@SapphireLibra3]

Something that isn't mentioned often about Tails in Sonic Adventure 2. That entire operation wasn't led by Sonic. Sonic was actually, _following Tails_ in that game.

[@artistanthony1007]

His situation in Unleashed isn't bad because he was alone and there was many Minions including a Big Tough Guy with a Spiked Club, like imagine what it'd be like for you in that situation compared to like the one in Forces with Chaos 0, I personally would panic with those Minions especially the Big Boi and get out of there but also Tails just flew a distance away and kept watch, he didn't fly out of the entire area.

[@DemonDethchase]

I do think he might have been able to fight the smaller ones, but when you saw the size difference between him and the Titan, I think running was the smarter option. Plus unlike Sonic, he doesn't have a Werefox(...?) form to fall back on to try and even the playing field, which makes me wonder if it was only the Werehog who could fight them. Especially when we don't see Amy fight them either. Plus it might be a little unrealistic to expect Tails to defeat them all by himself as he is, much like it'd be pretty unrealistic to expect Classic (Sonic) a younger, weaker version of Sonic to defeat Chaos 0 in one hit. Despite the fact we know it took 3 hits for an older Sonic to defeat him, in Adventure.

[@artistanthony1007]

@@DemonDethchase The Werehog is part Minion so because he also has a part of Dark Gaia in him, they would be easier to deal with because they can tell he's one of them and Dark Gaia was able to sense its own essence in Sonic so that's why Tails wouldnt be able to deal with them, sure he is capable but fighting creatures made from the Essence of a Primordial Entity of Darkness, Night and Destruction isnt the same as a Badnik.

[@espurrseyes42]

I don't even remember what enemies were there, but even if it were just a bunch of the Grunts, I can't be too hard on Tails for being afraid of them given they're an enemy he's unfamiliar with. He has no excuse for Chaos 0 though. Ignoring the fact that he has Chaos 4 as a boss in SA1, he deals with Eggman's Egg Walker and the missile crisis by himself in the same game, and then proceeds to be a badass in the next game by attempting to break Sonic out of jail, fighting Eggman to protect Amy, planning the whole Fake Emerald thing, and then fighting and presumably beating Eggman after that goes south and Sonic dies (allegedly). Tails has no excuse to be afraid of Chaos 0 and go silent for 6 months over a far less convincing Sonic death.

[@DemonDethchase]

@@espurrseyes42 much as I said before, I blame the bad tribute act Tails has to get over, though I do think it could have worked had it been more of a slow burn to explain why Tails is how he is in Forces. Who knows how long this war had been going on for, before the game begins, but lets say it was 6 months, and if the Resistance had been losing and struggling to hold ground. 6 months of running, hiding and fighting would start to take its toll on an 8 year old kid's mental health, hence why he's starting to freeze up in front of regular Egg Pawns he should be destroying without breaking a sweat. Now with this set, given that Tails' confidence is hanging by a thread, it would make sense that "death" of Sonic would be the straw to break the camel's back. And then when faced with Chaos (0), despite being scared he'd fight back, and the rest would be history.

[@espurrseyes42]

@@DemonDethchase The 6 months refers to AFTER Sonic "died". That couldn't have been the straw that broke anything, as that happened first followed by the 6 months of fighting and losing to Eggman until the Rookie joined. And as I said before, Tails already dealt with Sonic "dying" before in SA2, where instead of cowering, he stood up to Eggman to defend Amy and avenge his fallen friend, winning in the end. If anything, Tails would be spending those 6 months trying to find a weakness to Infinite and preparing to do combat himself, maybe fixing up and breaking out the combat planes he used to use, NOT getting depressed, randomly showing up in the city to not fully fix up Omega, and then proceed to spread his own cheeks to Chaos ZERO of all enemies. A TUTORIAL BOSS. Also, don't bring his age into this. That's completely irrelevant given EVERYTHING this boy's been doing since Sonic 2. Helping him take out the Death Egg twice. SA1 and 2. Teaming up with him in Heroes. We don't talk about 06, but he was pretty active in 06, in which Sonic ALSO died, and for real this time. Dude was even look for an Emerald of something in Shadow during an Alien Invasion that, depending on your pathing, can involved the White House getting Independence Day'd, and most certainly ends with everyone getting immobilized by parasites or something, leaving Shadow as the only one to face Black Doom. His friend "dying" again wouldn't cause him to "lose it" as Silver put it and become such as wuss that a Tutorial Boss has him surrendering and crying for help.

[@nothinghappened7599]

What's ironic is that Sakura later in the series became what Tails used to be in the Adventure series (for the most part) whilst Tails became what Sakura used to be in Naruto part 1.

[@ajaxmaxbitch]

I don't get it

[@pigstep9697]

@@ajaxmaxbitchI know this was 8 months ago, but Sakura at the beginning of Naruto was a useless character, while tails was a useful sidekick. Now they have essentially switched roles.

[@ajaxmaxbitch]

@@pigstep9697 ah ok thx

[@pigstep9697]

@@ajaxmaxbitch no problem.

[@Lonk2976]

As much as I hate 06, one thing it did that I appreciate is that Tails isn't useless, and he even saves Sonic

[@captaincommando5072]

I finished Tails' story in Sonic Adventure DX, and Tails is legitimately becoming close to becoming one of my favorite Sonic characters

[@DesertFerret7]

I can't believe that Sega would destroy Tails' personality and it has 1000 cringes for me. I had dreams where I was helping Tails preventing a city being utterly destroyed and on secret missions with him. They were far better than what Sega did to him. I can't even look at the Sonic Fanbase the same. This is very bleak for me. I want to see Tails go back to his roots where he was brave and fights Eggman and keeps him in check and not be the coward that Sega made him and not be useless. Him standing up and fighting for the greater good was a staple in the Sonic franchise and always had been. I hope to see that again and not have Tails become the joke that Sega made him as of today.

[@orangeslash1667]

Its get worse than Yuji Naka leaving, I did some research on the sonic wiki to to answer the question how Sonic unleashed is a passionate game with out Naka???? Well it turns out the director Yoshihisa Hashimoto Is not only a programer on Sonic advance 2 but he also made the Hedgehog Engine. Sadly he left Sega for Square Enix, and Sonic Unleashed is the last Sonic game to be made by sonic team USA and since then Sonic games are now low budget. Thats two Developers that Sega lost. Why because all Sega cares for arcade sales and pachinko machines. 3d Sonic so far is about as dead as Metal Gear. The good news is that Freedom Planet comes pretty close to the passion that Adventure 2 had.

[@aarroncannon1590]

If I could describe Pontaff's handling of the franchise in the 2010s it would be "Asinine."

[@eguyigbin6987]

How could that be when they improved Tails?

[@aarroncannon1590]

@@eguyigbin6987 How..!?

[@espurrseyes42]

@@eguyigbin6987 The only improvement to Tails was getting him a VA that wasn't a kid and wasn't too high pitched, and that's on whoever hired the VAs. Pontac and Graff's only contributions to Tails were making him useless, a coward, or an jackass in the case of Lost World for no good reason.

[@lpfan4491]

@@eguyigbin6987 They, er...no. They literally didn't. Not even by their own standarts, he is even more useless to the plot in Forces than he was in 2010s games prior.

[@CJPrime931]

@@eguyigbin6987 How could that be when you clearly don't know about good character writing?

[@gamertag9993]

Honestly, I think that sonic 2 movie actually represented tails in a good way. He still thinks of Sonic as his hero, but he rescues sonic countless times and went out of his way to defend sonic from knuckles. If Sega makes Tails just a little bit more heroic, Tails might be at his peak point at adventure 2 again.

[@cupio-stardust]

Honestly that scene where Tails tied up Knuckles just showed that he was brave enough to go against him even if it backfired, plus it’s also implied that he fought back against Robotnik off-screen.

[@alceratops6853]

This boy went from 'Tails' to 'Fails'. Hopefully Sonic Rangers will make him more useful.

[@CupOfTea2]

He went from “Tails Miles” to “ Fails Miles away” 🥶

[@specialbeamvegeta4059]

If it isn’t Chronic and Fails ~Dr I’ve Robotnik (Sonic for Hire)

[@camerontroutman1605]

Hopefully. And speaking of which, SEGA changed the official game title from Rangers to now Sonic Frontiers

[@godofirrelevant]

I think Unleashed should get a pass, because the Gaia monsters only come out every few million years, and is seeing them for the first time.

[@eguyigbin6987]

No it shouldn't

[@godofirrelevant]

@@eguyigbin6987 why not?

[@eguyigbin6987]

@@godofirrelevant because he didn't even try to beat them. He just ran away.

[@Amit7.]

@@eguyigbin6987 you got him buddy

[@godofirrelevant]

@@eguyigbin6987 That is fair, but unlike Chaos, Robotnik/Eggman, Metal Sonic, etc, he has never seen these monsters. Plus when he does run away, he peeks around a corner like he’s watching what they’re going to do.

[@thestockimagequeen]

Tails is my favorite character in all of fiction. It hurts so much to see him butchered like this.

[@jwroot]

2022 has to be the best year for the little fox boy. With Sonic Movie 2, Sonic Frontiers, and perhaps Sonic Prime.

[@MrSai-mn8wz]

Tails became luigi But atleast luigi had moments where he had to get his shit together when mario wasen't around

[@megablueflash1816]

Luigi might be scared a lot at times but he ain't a coward. When the time comes, that man does what needs to be done even if he has to force himself.

[@Ussysquid]

At least they make Luigi playable in games and he has his own game and if someone wants to scrap, they will catch these hands from Luigi. I'm just really upset that they don't do anything with tails or any other sonic characters.

[@braintwo3398]

"Luigi not afraid"

[@danilog342]

Tails character evolves like Luigi But backwards.

[@chrisjohnstonsmomisgay517]

Don’t compare a furry to my boy Luigi 🥶🥶🥶🥶

[@bowmaj8666]

The sad truth is this; when Tails cowered in front of Chaos in Forces, all of the Sonic haters, detractors and overly critical critics just went "Yep, that's Tails! Totally useless and gratingly annoying! He's always been like this and he always will be! The games would be so much better if it was just Sonic and not his stupid, stinky friends!" It's these people, who have no idea what they're talking about, who ignored all of the character moments and development and just trashed the Adventure games and onwards for not meeting their insane standards (e.g. 2D gameplay, Sonic Alone, Classic Sonic, Green Hill, Robotnik and not Eggman, no story; the usual crap!) So Sega basically thought that there was something wrong with Tails' portrayal and changed his characterization to please these whiners and just ended up making things worse! It's tragically people like this who know little to nothing about Sonic (and likely don't even care) who are ultimately dictating what can and can't be in a Sonic game!

[@cyandeoidre2375]

What you think about Tails in the Sonic Movie, I thought they did him justice

[@rickyrackey7930]

His design was the perfect stuffed animal.

[@Man_Aslume]

​@@rickyrackey7930 No longer with the action figures like in heroes and the other games

[@danielsurvivor1372]

16:58 It's weird how out of all of the characters they made KNUCKLES the leader. The character they constantly dumbed down intelligence and coolness vise. While Tails got IQ increase and cockiness increase, you'd think since Tails acted like Sonic in LW but more arrogant and brainy, you'd think they make him a leader. Even Amy would've been an interesting fit for a leader you can justify and that's what they did in comics. But they instead picked Knuckles who was at best reserved and more cared about Angel Island and at worst he's literally dumb, and yet he somehow became a leader?

[@jadetealaaron2003]

Making Tails the Leader would've PERFECTLY fit his Adventure 2 Arc, since in that game, Tails was the Planner of the group.

[@miss_chelles1338]

@@jadetealaaron2003 that's, actually true.

[@PeanutTechno]

There's also the fact that he came up with a plan in about 5 to 15 minutes (Operation Big Wave)....not even counting that, if you, as a leader say "The Rookie is our only hope" or anything similar, just step down from *anything* involving planning. It's like saying "Everything hinges on the new guy, if he fails we're screwed", that puts a lot of pressure on someone who just joined and on top of that, if things are *really* that desperate, then what you have isn't a plan, it's practically a death wish. Pointing all of your attacking forces at a massive overtaken city and recklessly charging into it like nothing will go wrong is just going to make everyone on your side a target and, at best, guarantee *many* casualties.

[@icetweiz]

Seriously The guy who is so gullible that he got manipulated atleast 3 times, is the leader of the resistance

[@Ussysquid]

See knuckles, I love you as a character, but tails DEFINITELY should've been the leader.

[@dfox6222]

Tails is not only one of my favorite Sonic characters, but he’s also one of my favorite video game sidekicks and favorite video game characters of all time. When I first got into video games when I was younger I immediately fell in love with Tails and wanted to be just like him. I could related to his struggles and when he overcame them I felt so happy for him. But holy shit do I fucking hate him in Lost World and Forces. He was great in the previous games, and not too bad in Colors and Generations, but the way the writers butchered one of my comfort characters in Lost World and the games that came out after that makes me so pissed. Also jeez, how could you possibly waste Kate Higgins and Colleen O'Shaughnessey on such uninspired and awful scripts?

[@theionnizergamer]

You forgot to point out that in Sonic 06 after Sonic Rescues Elise Tails takes it upon himself to distract the Eggman robots

[@spareumbrella8477]

Look how they massacred my boy. As a kid, I always like Tails, probably because I had (and have) an older brother that I really looked up to, so I suppose I identified with him more. Even in the Mega Drive era Sonic games, Tails was indispensable, as Sonic couldn't fly, so needed Tails in order to get on Wing Fortress, and also caught Sonic at the end of Sonic 3 (if you didn't get all the Chaos Emeralds, that is)

[@K1nnASH]

I liked tails because he could fly

[@lrkcm373]

I’m not even a huge Sonic fan, I only ever played Generations 3DS, but even I can agree that this is some first class character assassination.

[@VelourSweatsuit]

Tails was making major plays in Adventure 2, with the Hero Story beginning with him breaking into a maximum security prison. He also found Eggman, created the fake emerald, saved Amy etc. he was kicking shit.

[@theinktician]

Sonicsta's take on this is really good. I don't completely hate how Tails is written in Colors, but when Sonic sent Tails off, things went downhill. Honestly, Sonic was more out of character than Tails, but this started a downward spiral

[@CoolDudeClem]

9:59 This is why I thank the modding community, so I CAN play as Tails, even if I never was meant to in the first place.

[@thepjshow]

Yeah, the Sonic Modding Community is Insane.

[@mudshrooze]

Man I'm glad you exist bringing these terrible treatments of beloved characters. I always noticed that tails became a little priss and he never used to be. He was brave and smart and a perfect partner to sonic

[@raspyfusion]

Even though I'm not much of a Sonic fan, I have to say this regression of Tails hurt to watch. It was such a joy to actually see the sidekick man up and take charge of a situation once the main hero is no longer around. It takes actual effort to make that transition natural and to see him go from this from an egotistical douche to a coward was such a heavy whiplash that my neck almost broke.

[@StormStar626]

Tails was and still is my favourite character from Sonic. And you’re exactly right this love for the character came from the first Sonic Adventure games and I found myself a little annoyed at the childishness he presented in Sonic Heroes. I don’t pretend to have played the other games but I would certainly be disappointed to find his character was reduced to a coward. Sadly I think other forms of media aside from the games do a better job at handling his character, as you said; the IEW comic and their Archie predecessors. He always will be my favourite though, the original are all that really matters

[@dwarfboy9996]

Thank goodness the Live action movies did him justice, I hope we see his character progress back into Adventure Tails in the next installment.

[@faby6879]

They turned a helpless Kid into a hero only to later turn him into a joke :(

[@RickySama240]

As someone who loved Tails character development in Sonic Adventure on learning how to feel more confident and independent and not always being depending on Sonic. For me it was all good until Sonic colors when they messed up Tails's character. I hope they make him a better character in future games. :/

[@RaDmmb8886]

This is just one big 22 minute roast against tails, and I love it.

[@thepjshow]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@horaciosi]

Tails: "My character was reduced from a capable badass to a whiny damsel in distress." Samus: "First time?"

[@supreme-ss777]

16:40 The biggest middle finger to us from SEGA by far

[@JunioCDMB]

in frontiers tails talks to sonic about him being a burden to sonic, most likely referencing his downfall sonic frontier's writers KNEW what they were doing

[@TheYamiJK]

I know that pain well, ever since I saw his sprite all the way back in Sonic 2, Tails was my fave, his story between Sonic 2 and Sonic Adventure 2 was rather inspiring stuff and now, I can't even look at him and this imposter whose taken over his role ever since. To make it worse, the lovely Sonic and Tails brotherly relationship that they've had for decades has just fallen off a cliff. At this stage, I have no fave character, just ones I like slightly more than others.