Sonic the Hedgehog Fanon Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Miles Tails Prower

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 , anthropomorphic fox, and one of the main characters of the Sonic the Hedgehog series released by Sega.

The name "Miles Prower" is a pun on "miles per hour", a reference to the famed speed of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He is an 8 year-old yellow-orange, anthropomorphic fox with two tails (similar to the mythologichence his nickname. He is known to be Sonic's best friend, sidekick, and an expert mechanic. He is able to use his two tails to travel at super speed as well as propel himself into the air like a helicopter. His debut was on October 16, 1992, introduced in the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2; the 16-bit version was released that November.

During his first appearance in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, his fur was orange in color, but the color was changed to yellow-orange in Sonic Adventure artwork, and light-yellow for Sonic Heroes. In 1994 and 1995, he starred in his own games, Tails and the Music Maker for the Pico, 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

Conception and creation[]

Yasushi Yamaguchi, originally the main artist and zone designer for Sega's Sonic Team, was assigned to create a sidekick character for Sonic in an internal contest. Yamaguchi originally created Ray the Squirrel (who would only appear in SegaSonicArcade)[3] to be used as a sidekick but designed Tails as an internal competition for a sidekick to the speedy hedgehog after Sega of Japan rejected the Flying Squirrel idea. The character was meant to hold a "deep admiration for Sonic." The name 'Miles Prower' played on a speed pun (miles per hour) and was originally intended to be a tanuki, a raccoon-like canine native to east Asia, and extremely popular in Japanese folklore. The designers decided to change him to a fox, however, to avoid possible comparisons with Mario, who at the time had a power up called the Tanooki Suit, which allowed him to fly, and made him look like a tanuki. His entry won, but Sonic Team decided to change his character's name from "Miles" to "Tails" in which Yamaguchi was not too pleased at all about.

Yamaguchi ended up with a compromise. He put 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. Tails' redesign saw him having his fur color changed to a slightly orange shade of yellow, and he gained visible blue irises. He also became slightly slimmer and taller, as did Sonic. He also gained a more streamlined appearance with slightly more rounded ears as well as longer tails, which are used as his main form of attack, most notably the Tail

Early Life[]

Like Sonic and some other characters Tails has very little information about his life before his role in the first games. What is known is that Tails was born with the unique trait of having two tails and because of his abnormally large IQ, Tails became a master engineer.

Personality[]

Tails is portrayed as a very kind, sweet-natured and loyal young fox with a positive attitude and always willing to help out whenever he can. He was very shy when he first met Sonic the Hedgehog, but gradually opened up and became Sonic's best friend.

Initially timid when he had first met Sonic, Tails has slowly opened up and become more outgoing over the years, though he still remains reasonably shy from time to time. This trait may be due to the fact that he was a victim of bullying or teasing because of his two special tails before he started hanging out with Sonic. Tails is not one to grab the spotlight for himself, nor does he seek it. Instead, he is always ready to help others when the time is needed.

One of Tails's most defining traits is his love and expertise for mechanics. He is shown to be extremely talented when it comes to building or tinkering with machines, his skills rivaling that of Dr. Eggman. He usually finds himself most at home in his workshop, where he is working on his next mechanical creation. Despite his great skills, however, Tails is very humble about his abilities, never giving many thoughts about his skills. Though this attitude is a testament to Tails's kind nature, it has also, however, kept him from reaching his true potential as a mechanic so far.

During their earlier adventures together, Tails always looked up to Sonic, idolizing the blue hedgehog and strove to become just like him, trying to replicate the mannerisms of Sonic that he found admirable. During his earlier adventures with Sonic, Tails always served as Sonic's sidekick, while Sonic took charge, and the young fox was content with that as he was happy to just hang out with his hero, while trying to impress him. As Tails grew as a person and became more independent, he still remained as loyal and close to Sonic as ever and still looks up to him, but his esteem about Sonic's heroics seems to have dwindled, seeing as he these days cares more about inventing then Sonic's heroic deeds.

During his early days, Tails often lacked self-confidence and courage, possibly due to his bullied past. After meeting and befriending Sonic, however, Tails gained a new inner strength and became more confident in his abilities and actions, as the support from Sonic gave Tails the belief he needed to achieve his goals. While not intended, however, this status quo, created from Sonic's authority over Tails, put a mental stranglehold on the young fox that made him dependent on Sonic. As a result, Tails often ended up lacking directions and confidence whenever he was on his own.

A turning point for Tails eventually came in Sonic Adventure. When Station Square was in danger of being destroyed by Dr. Eggman, Tails was the only one present in the city who could stop the doctor. As Sonic was nowhere to be found, Tails realized that he could not depend on Sonic forever and had to try to save the day on his own. After saving Station Square, Tails realized that he was able to be independent and support himself without Sonic's help, and that all he needed was determination and trust in himself. Since then, Tails has become more independent, self-confident, motivated, and is able to find the strength to be brave and attempt difficult things where he needed Sonic before, and as well becoming a real hero when needed to be.

Regardless of his development, Tails still tends to depend on Sonic when he is in a moment of weakness or doubt. However, he hopes to one day be self-sufficient, and not constantly rely on others, and to be just as independent as Sonic is, while wanting to prove that he can be counted on. Also, even though Tails still enjoys being Sonic's sidekick, he believes that he can do almost anything if he puts him mind onto it, even without Sonic's support.

These days, Tails shows his mechanical skills in new and helpful ways, giving Sonic an excellent edge over his nemesis. Tails is not without flaws however; he is very afraid of lightning, and he can be naive and big mouthed, which has occasionally led him to accidentally give away secrets or plans (for example, in Sonic Adventure 2, without thinking at first, he told Eggman that the Chaos Emerald that Sonic had was a fake, thus ruining the heroes' plans). Tails also hates feeling useless or being ignored, as seen in the cases when he is talking to Sonic. He also gets very angry when someone dismiss his mechanical skills, as seen when Wave the Swallow mocked  his self-customized Blue Star, to which he takes it very personally.

Tails also has a tendency to talk techno-babble, much to the irritation of his friends, usually Knuckles, such as when he tried to explain how an Extreme Gear worked, meaning that Tails does not always use tact in a situational matter. Nevertheless, Tails has always been supportive of his friends, willing to be by their side no matter what or how dangerous the situation might be, and do whatever it takes to help them, such as when he put himself in harm's way when Eggman tried to use the Mind Control Ray on Sonic in Sonic Colors.

Powers and Abilities[]

Twin Tails[]

Tails's unique trait is his genetic abnormality that has granted him two large, fluffy tails. During his lifetime, Tails has learned to use his two tails to his advantage in many situations, which is usually for transportation or unique combat moves.

Most notably of his skills with his twin tails, Tails can achieve flight by spinning his two tails around like rotary blades to fly like a helicopter. This allows Tails to travel across rough terrain, moving through areas where flying is the only method of passing through, or even just getting to higher places. When in flight, Tails can move at incredible speeds, reaching that of 768 Mph, and can even go fast enough to keep up with Sonic. This makes Tails one of the fastest characters in the series, right behind, or even at the same speed as Sonic. Tails's method to fly around with his twin tails is often referred to as Propeller Flight, or sometimes by other names. He can also use his tails to manipulate his descend through mid-air, allowing him to glide.

There does appears to be a limit to Tails's endurance, concerning how long he can stay airborne with his twin tails; as shown in nearly all his game appearances, Tails can only fly with his twins tails for limited periods of time. After that, Tails will become exhausted from the effort and starts falling down from the air.

When not using his twin tails to move through the air, Tails can also use his two tails to give him a speed boost when moving along the ground, by using them to propel himself forward at breakneck speeds. This allows Tails to reach speeds nearing those of Sonic himself. When using his twin tails to travel this way, Tails stands on his tip-toes and spin his tails to propel himself forward. This method for Tails's transport is called the Propeller Dash.

Tails's twin tails appear to be very strong limbs in their own right. As seen on several occasions, Tails is able to carry others (at least up to two people) through mid-air when flying with his tails, without hindering his own flying speed, and when using his twin tails to attack enemies, they are both strong and fast enough to slice through Eggman's robots.

When facing enemies in combat, Tails can also use his twin tails for defensive and offensive purposes, by using them to attack his foes by twirling around, or swinging them like a whip.

Physical Abilities[]

Like many of the other characters in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, Tails is able to move at super speeds without the need of his twin tails. Although not considered as fast as Sonic without using his twin tails to push himself even faster, it is shown on several occasions, such as in the ending of Sonic Heroes, that Tails can run excessively fast on his legs. However, since Tails generally does not run so much, its hard to figure out how fast he can actually run. Even so, Tails has proven himself exceptionally fast runner in the series, such as in the Sonic Riders series, where, when off of a board, Tails can get to a speed of 100 mph by running, before he starts Propeller Dashing. Also, in Sonic Colors, when Tails was controlled by Eggman with his Mind Control Ray, Tails could move as fast as Sonic, without his tails' support, which was at supersonic speed.

Being able to fly through the air, Tails possesses great acrobatic skills, agility and reflexes, such as being capable of setting off and jumping between stone pillars, grinding on rails, and performing different kinds of tricks while airborne.

Tails can also swim quite well, which is an ability Sonic never had. By using his twin tails as rear propellers, Tails can move underwater at significant speeds and with great ease.

Tails is also capable of harnessing Chaos Energy to empower himself, though he has only been seen during on rare occasions, such as in Sonic the Fighters and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles.

Intelligence and Mechanical Skills[]

Despite his young age, Tails has a genius intellect and is a prodigy when it comes to mechanics, being an extremely capable inventor and skilled mechanic. In fact, Tails's skills in mechanics even rivals those of Dr. Eggman, who is one of the greatest minds on the planet, though he has yet to reach his full potential when it comes to that field. Over the years, Tails has been known to create more than a few mechanical items of his own which have proven useful over time. These creations includes his various technological advanced, and often transformable, Tornado series of airplanes, his various combat equipments, his Chaos Emerald locater, the Sea Fox, the spaceship called the Lunar Fox, and his multi-functional Miles Electric to name a few. When given a piece of technology, Tails only needs to take a few looks on it to determine its functions, elements and purposes, even for the highly advanced Gizoid androids.

When it comes to new forms of construction, Tails is quick to grasp new technologies, such as Material technology, and, once he gets the hang on it, excels on the subject in question.

In the fields of Extreme Gear mechanics, Tails has proven to have great skills in tuning and constructing different kinds of Extreme Gear. Though he is not at the same level with Extreme Gear mechanics as Wave the Swallow, Tails's skills on the subject is great enough to impress Wave, which is a considerable feat given her standpoint for good Extreme Gear mechanics.

Tails is not only knowledgeable when it comes to technologies and mechanics, but is also quite brilliant in science and physics. When dealing with matters involving the fabric of time and space or other theoretical situations, Tails can quickly come up with solid theories and qualified guesses to how certain events will occur. In line with his mechanical skills, Tails can even contruct vessels that can travel between dimensions or withstand trans-dimensional interference. As seen in Sonic Colors, Tails can also read and translate Binary and Hexadecimal language. He also have some knowledge about ancient legends, such as the one about the Babylonians.

Tails seems to know more about the Chaos Emeralds than most characters, being able to create a duplicate that can cause Chaos Control.

Combat Skills[]

Being one of the most prominent characters in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, Tails possess many combat skills like most other characters, but he possesses a different more unique fighting style compared to his friends. Due to his young age, Tails does not possess overwhelming physical upper body strength, his strength lying more in his lower body. As such, Tails focuses more on using his other strengths, such as his twin tails and smarts, to aid him in combat.

Fighting Style[]

In close-quarter battles, Tails focuses primarily on providing aerial combat and support to his allies. When forced into direct combat, however, Tails is capable of defending himself. In comparison to Sonic, who mostly uses his legs, and Knuckles, who purely uses his fists, Tails is more well-balanced, fighting with a blend of both kicks and punches, though he seems to favor punches in certain cases. His hand-to-hand combat skills are composed of punches, kicks, and tail lashes, usually in mixed patterns to add unpredictability, though his moves can be considered rather basic in comparison to other characters.

Often when fighting foes head-on, Tails makes use his trademark twin tails to complement his fighting style and to give him an edge when fighting his opponents. With them, Tails can throw tail lashes or to strike opponents, both on the ground and in the air, with strength greater than what he normally would be capable of with his legs and arms. He can also use his tails to fly at foes with greater speed to build up charges, or to give himself aerial advantages over his opponent by launching attacks from above.

As shown on several occasions, to complement his chances in more fierce battles, Tails often uses various mechanical devices of his own creation, such as his Magic Hand, Energy Cannon and Big Hand as seen in in Sonic Battle, to improve his battle prowess in close combat. Another example is his Cyclone mech, which he used to destroy G.U.N.'s numerous forces in Sonic Adventure 2.

Techniques and Moves[]

Tails's trademark attack is his Tail Swipe technique, where he twirls his twin tails around to attack his opponents, and has developed several unique attacks from it, such as his Super Tail Swipe, much faster version of the regular variant, his Rapid Tails Attack (to which he requires the Rhythm Badge), which enabled him to attack with his tails by continuously spinning around, and his Tornado Attack, where he spins his tails around like a tornado.

Tails also can perform the Spin Attack, Spin Jump and the Spin Dash, having possibly learned them from Sonic.

From Sonic Heroes and onward, Tails has been shown using several Dummy Ring attacks. The first attack is "Dummy Ring Bomb", which throws multiple Dummy Rings that explode on impact, "Dummy Ring Snipe", which allows him to aim and throw a Dummy Ring, and "Dummy Ring Blitz", which throws a huge amount of Dummy Rings to explode on impact.

Miscellaneous Skills[]

As shown with his various Tornado biplanes, Tails has excellent air piloting skills, and has aerial dogfighting skills to go along with them, as seen during his and Sonic's attack on the Egg Carrier in Sonic Adventure, and in Sonic Unleashed.

While not only being talented with Extreme Gear mechanics, Tails is also, in his own right, a talent Extreme Gear rider, and possibly one of the best in the world, as he has proven himself capable of going up against the Babylon Rogues, who are considered the best Extreme Gear riders in the world. When riding on an Extreme Gear, Tails can, with his twin tails, ride through mid-air with great precisions and control, allowing him to take shortcuts on the tracks that can only be reached through mid-air.

Super Transformation[]

Main article: Super Tails

Like Sonic, Knuckles and Shadow, Tails can initiate a super transformation into Super Tails. Because of his young age, however, he required their enhanced version, the Super Emeralds to do so and has so far only done it in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles. In this form he gains invincibility, greater speed and strength and can control four Flicky birds that attacks any enemy.

Weaknesses[]

Tails has a tendency to talk too much as shown in Sonic Adventure 2 when he reveals to Dr. Eggman that the Chaos Emerald Sonic was trying to give him was a fake. He is also said to be afraid of lightning, otherwise known as astraphobia, and ghosts, as he can be sometimes heard screaming when ghosts appeared in Hang Castle and Mystic Mansion on Sonic Heroes. He's also supposedly very ticklish, especially on his feet.[citation needed] Tails occasionally lacks self-confidence but has been shown to get over this weakness on some occasions.

Tails also says in Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) that he gets dizzy easily; although this apparently does not affect him when he uses a Spin Dash, Tails Attack, Rapid Tails Attack or Spinball Jump. In Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II, Tails can be seen with stars over his head indicating dizziness after performing a Tornado Combo, though this only happens if he crashes into something, signifying that he is dazed due to the impact.

Friends[]

  • Sonic the Hedgehog (Close as a brother)
  • Lou the Hedgehog (Close as a sister)
  • Amy Rose
  • Cream the Rabbit
  • Klonoa the Hedgehog
  • Abby the Hedgehog
  • Knuckles the Echidna
  • Lizzy the Hedgehog
  • Jur the Hedgehog
  • Luna the Hedgehog
  • Marsha (Love Interest)

Rivals[]

Wave the Swallow

Enemies[]

Dr. Eggman

Metal Sonic

Solaris

Black Doom

Ricther

Bailey the Dark Wizard

Arjar

Mongar

Gallery[]

Advertisement