Miles "Tails" Prower
From Sonic Earth
Miles Prower (マイルス・パウアー, Mairusu Pauā?), better known by his nickname Tails (テイルス, Teirusu?), is a character in the Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games, comics, and animated cartoons released by Sega.
The name "Miles Prower" is a malapropism on "miles per hour", a reference to the famed speed of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He is a young, male, golden-yellow, anthropomorphic, humanoid fox with two tails (similar to the mythological kitsune, or "yoko", who was often depicted with up to nine), hence the nickname. He is able to use his two tails to propel himself into the air for a limited time. His debut was October 16, 1992, when the 8-bit version of Sonic 2 was released, though it is often recognized as November 24, when the 16-bit version of Sonic 2, the more well-known edition, came out. He is 8 years old, stands at 80 centimeters (2 ft 7 in), and weighs 20 kilograms (44lbs).
During his first appearance in Sonic 2, his fur was an orange color, but the color was changed to yellow-orange for Sonic Adventure, and light-yellow for Sonic Heroes. In 1993 and 1995 he starred in his own games, Tails and the Music Maker for the Pico and Tails Adventure and Tails' Skypatrol for the Game Gear. Tails is the third most popular character of the series, behind Sonic and Shadow, according to official polls.
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[edit] Character design
Yasashi Yamaguchi, originally the main artist and zone designer for Sega's Sonic Team, designed Tails for an internal competition for a sidekick to the speedy hedgehog. His entry won, but Sonic Team decided to change his character's name from "Miles" to "Tails". Yamaguchi ended up with a compromise. He snuck the name "Miles" in as his legal name; "Tails" would be his nickname, ending up with the full name of Miles "Tails" Prower.
Tails was redesigned (along with all of the other Sonic characters) by Yuji Uekawa for Sonic Adventure. His fur changed color to a slightly orange shade of yellow, and he gained visible blue irises.
In the American Sonic comic book, along with the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons, he was originally a brownish color, but the comic artists eventually decided to change this to match his in-game appearance.
[edit] History
Tails' first encounter with Sonic the Hedgehog was on West Side Island, shortly after Sonic touched down on the beachside in his biplane, the Tornado. Tails was mesmerized by Sonic's speed and spinning abilities, and began discreetly following the blue stranger around the island. Sonic ignored him at first, but was soon impressed with the fox's ability to keep up, and decided to let him tag along. When young Miles happened upon the Tornado later, his lust for all things mechanical took over, and from that point forward the plane more or less became his. After helping Sonic save West Side Island from Eggman's conquest, Tails became a loyal companion, and continued following Sonic on his many adventures.
[edit] Personality
Tails is a very friendly and humble fox. He looks up to Sonic as a hero whom he wants to emulate. Though he lacks confidence, he is always quite capable around Sonic and often helps him out. He is very intelligent and at times he has even outsmarted Eggman. For a long time Tails seemed to be perfectly satisfied with just being a "sidekick", but in Sonic Adventure he expresses a longing to become more independent.
Tails has a tendency to speak often — to the point where Sonic may start ignoring him, much to the young prodigy's annoyance. He can also annoy others with his overuse of technical jargon, or technobabble, which often frustrates those around him, particularly Knuckles.
Tails has a few weaknesses; he lacks self-confidence, is afraid of lightning and ghosts, and his tendency to ramble causes him to accidentally tell secrets or plans (for example, in Sonic Adventure 2, he tells Eggman that the Chaos Emerald Sonic had was a fake, thus ruining the heroes' plans).
[edit] Interaction with other characters
Tails has many friends besides Sonic, and his skills are respected by everyone who knows him. In Sonic Heroes, he is part of Team Sonic, along with Sonic and Knuckles. Tails mostly treats all of his friends the same with a caring yet somewhat passive attitude.
Tails and Knuckles are allies. They sometimes converse more than Knuckles does with Sonic, although they do tend to irritate each other occasionally.
For the most part, he has a friendly relationship with Amy Rose, though he can be as annoyed as Sonic with her Sonic-chasing. Amy herself can be quite insulting, intimidating, and outspoken to Tails, like she is to everyone else, but they work together productively and sometimes Amy is defensive of him.
Tails is also on friendly terms with Cream the Rabbit and her Chao, Cheese.
In Sonic Adventure 2, he had a rivalry with Eggman, fighting him directly in the Cyclone twice - once on Prison Island, the second time on the Space Colony ARK after Eggman blasts Sonic into space. After this, the rivalry seems to cease, and Eggman and Tails are seen talking to each other in a quite civil way at the end of the game.
Tails also finds a rival in Wave the Swallow in Sonic Riders. In the game, she insults his Extreme Gear skills to lower his morale, but her action causes a determined Tails to beat her in a race. At the conclusion of the game Tails and Wave (supposely) became friendly rivals, but still compete.
[edit] Abilities
Like many of the other characters in the Sonic the Hedgehog universe, Tails can race around at high speeds, which he achieves by propelling himself forward by spinning his tails in a fan-like motion, but not nearly as fast as Sonic. He can also perform the Spin Attack, Spin Dash, and other spinning moves. He can also use his tails for defensive and offensive purposes, since one quick swipe of them packs enough speed and force to slice weeds in two or puncture Eggman's robots. Additionally, Tails also has several unique manuvers, such as his Tails Attack in which he attacks by twirling around and whipping out his tails, and, most notably, his trademark maneuver in which he can achieve flight by spinning his two tails around like a helicopter rotor, which is what allows him to keep up with Sonic. He can also swim quite well via dog paddling, which is an ability Sonic never had. Swimming was first given to Tails in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and has appearanced again in Sonic Advance and Sonic Advance 3. Unfortunately, Tails could only swim so far before running out of energy and starting to sink again, and he cannot lift Sonic, unlike when normally flying.
Tails has been described as having mechanical skills that rival or match Dr. Eggman's. With them he has designed and maintained many vehicles and technologically advanced weapons. Some of his attacks have centered around these devices, such as Dummy Ring bombs. However it has been said that he has yet to realize his full potential.
[edit] Gameplay quirks
In Sonic 2, Sonic 3 and Sonic Adventure, when the player opts to play in 'Sonic and Tails' mode (controlling Sonic while the AI makes Tails follow him), it's not readily stated in the manual, but a second player can use the 2P controller to use Tails. The action will continue to follow Sonic on the screen, making him the focal point, but Tails is fully controllable in every way that he is when playing as Tails alone. This can potentially be exploited by players who are having trouble with some problem areas or bosses, as Tails has the benefit of being completely invulnerable, with any "death" he suffers being quickly resolved as the character flies unharmed back onto the screen after a few seconds. Moreover, in Sonic 3, Tails is granted the ability to fly as he pleases, which can allow the Tails-using player to airlift Sonic wherever he might need to go, though Tails does have an endurance limit to his flight. Sonic Advance allowed this mode as well (via a code entered at character select), however, Tails can't be controlled by a second player this time. In the GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions of Shadow the Hedgehog, all non-hovering characters, including Tails, can be controlled with the second controller.
[edit] Super forms
Like many Sonic characters, Tails can transform into a Super Form, but needs the Super Emeralds instead of the Chaos Emeralds. When Miles "Tails" Prower uses the transformation, he becomes Super Tails. This started in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, where the player needs the seven Super Emeralds to transform. Tails does not change color, but instead glows and is surrounded by four Flickies. The Flickies surrounding him instantly attack any nearby mechanical enemies, including bosses.
[edit] Voice actors
- Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993-1996) - Christopher Welch
- Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) (1993-1995) - Bradley Pierce
- Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie (1999) - Hekiru Shiina (Japan), Lainie Frasier (US)
- Sonic Adventure (1999), Sonic Shuffle (2000), Sonic Adventure 2 (2001) - Corey Bringas (US)
- Sonic Heroes (2003), Sonic Battle (2003), Sonic Advance 3 (2004) - William Corkery (US)
- Sonic X (2003-2006), Shadow the Hedgehog (2005), Sonic Rush (2005), Sonic Riders (2006), Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)Sonic Rivals (2006) Sonic and the Secret Rings (2007) - Amy Palant (US)
- Video games (1999-2001) - Atsuki Murata (Japan)
- Video games (2002-present), Sonic X - Ryō Hirohashi (Japan)
[edit] Associated songs
The games feature several theme songs related to Tails. For the most part, Tails is associated with the Pop rock genre.
- Sonic Adventure: "Believe In Myself" - Karen Brake.
- Sonic Adventure 2: "Believe In Myself" (remake) - Kaz Silver.
- Sonic Heroes: "We Can" - Tony Harnell, Ted Poley. This was a team theme shared with Sonic and Knuckles of Team Sonic.
- Sonic Riders: "High Flying Groove" - Tomonori Sawada. This was also a team theme shared with Sonic and Knuckles.
