Written by The Wandering Fox
I’m back again. I hope I’m not boring you. But here I thought I’d talk about the future I wouldn’t mind seeing for Tails in the future of the Sonic franchise, given Sonic Frontiers went out of it’s way to admit that Tails was treated badly by SEGA over the last decade, Frontiers ending with Tails leaving for his own adventures to try and find himself. Before you know it the next Sonic game will be here, but at the moment we don’t know if Tails will be in it. If he isn’t, it gives SEGA more to think of in what to do for him. If he is then the character growth they did in Frontiers has to be handled with the utmost thought.
This essay I’ll talk about how I think Tails’s future should go, from personality, to powers, to any games he could have of his own.
His Personality
If there was something I didn’t like from the decade of comics or games from the 2010s, it’s Tails being a snarky jerk. He wasn’t like this all the time, but he came off as if he was behaving unlike the kind, humble fox we all loved. Bit of wit here and there is all good, but the fact you had Tails be snarky enough that he smugly talks about his genius, or have him get uppity over Sonic teaming with Eggman, or him being a coward with Sonic not there to help him, it really wrecked his character.
Tails as far as me and other fans like is for him to be the friendly sweetheart of the team. He’s smart, utterly intelligent, but he shouldn’t have an ego. He only invents things either because he likes it or it’s to help Sonic and friends. But I don’t mind him having wit here and there, a bit of a laugh with Sonic here and there, and heck he could even get a bit side-tracked by how busy he gets which could be a character flaw that can work for him.
But of course, you do have to have your heroes be more than a sweetheart, but I don’t think Tails being snarky is gonna help because he’s gonna be too much like the blue hedgehog. What does work for nice guy superheroes is giving them a bit of wisdom and inspiration, like Superman for example, he does have a bit of wit now and then, but is mostly a lovely kind hearted guy, has the one little joke. I can easily imagine Tails being like that, he fights a few foes and has a few things to say, it’s done in a non snarky manner but more of a soft way.
Yet I do like to see a dark side to Tails, but not like the character is a bitter, angry guy, but more what upsets him, what makes him become enraged with. Let’s say for argument’s sake, Speedy hurts a kid or tries killing some guys, Speedy happy he’s doing this. Tails is enraged and tells Speedy he has nothing to be joyful of, disgusting to do what he’s doing, like he’s standing over a kid and tells Speedy to leave that kid alone. It shows how Tails’s take on Speedy is born from a desire in wanting to be a hero because he genuinely wants to help others and as a bullied victim, he is gonna be very upset at how these guys are being treated.
It just tells you Tails is a pure good guy, but not on Sonic’s level of behaviour, he’s a different kind of good guy, he’s a friendly sweetheart who has a angry side that comes in if you hurt anyone that has done nothing to you.
The Fox Can Be A Toughie.
In terms of fighting and powers, they’ve reduced him to….being nothing but a gunman. That further reinforces Tails hasn’t got anything but his tech skills, he’s not as strong as Sonic or Knuckles it has anything cool to him other than fighting. Yet in the past Tails has shown he didn’t always use tech to fight his enemies, he could spin dash them, cut them with his tails, and could even use is tails to deflect anyone trying to hurt him. The games should return to this, that way we can feel like Tails is doing his own thing instead of just holding a gun.
The gameplay can be done similar to Sonic’s in Frontiers, you access these brand new powers Tails can use with his tails. Here’s a few ideas I’ve got:
Vortex Redirect: Tails redirects blasts coming at him by spinning his tails at them, the blasts shoot back to the robot.
Melee combat: His tails basically act as fists but they tear through robots, if you want to take one on in a punch up, Tails gives it his tails, a combo meter coming up to build your skills.
A Slice and Slash: A bit like how he did it in Adventure, he spins around and slashes down multiple robots with his tails.
Deflect: If you’re up in the sky or on the ground, Tails can deflect a hit with his tails.
If anything that’s it.
Yet though I don’t like Tails being reduced to a tech guy who uses a mere gun, I like the idea of him crafting a few items that could be helpful, like maybe a trap of sorts or a distraction device. There can be other levels in which Tails connects a wire or matches up a few bits of puzzles.
The Villains He Has
Tails only has a tiny group of villains, the Battle Bird Armada and Wendy Witchcart. Though it sounds simple to bring them back, you kinda want to give Tails something else to do than going back to them. I think we have to think of what can be a tough villain for him? Tails is brainy, is kind, is also strong and humble, and has overcome his bullies, yet what can we balance that against? The opposite of brains is brawn, to kindness there’s utter rudeness, strength maybe to brains, and humble there’s ego.
I did create a few villains for Tails that could match up to him. Yet I must tell you I will not name these characters to avoid them being stolen, these are my characters and they are not to be taken by you guys.
The Victim Becomes The Villain
This villain is a Mobian beetle who had weak bunch of wings that made it so she couldn’t fly. This instantly makes her the opposite of Tails who can fly yet she can’t. Like Tails, she was bullied, but it got to her. She was a smart girl though and wanted revenge on those who bullied her. She is Tails’s opposite, as she turned out to unlike him from bullying. But she does get inspired by Tails to become her own girl with her tech yet she thinks he doesn’t need Sonic. She thinks Sonic is tying Tails down and she decides to make Tails his own guy by getting Sonic. She begins abducting those who bullied her, traps them in Cyberspace, captures Sonic, then Tails’s bullies and tries getting Tails to understand. Tails sympathises with her but he isn’t having her kill them. He fights her then has her arrested, her telling Tails he doesn’t need Sonic, but Tails says it doesn’t hurt having friends.
She would have taken tech from the Ancients, building herself a suit of armour than can morph any kind of tool she wants, relying overly on her tech to fight, hence she’s quite overwhelmed by Tails kicking her butt. But of course, a female villain can often get fans excited for what her relationship to the male hero will be like.
A Team Of Villains
A brainy hero can have a brainy villain, but what if there is a tram of brainy villains? You can have Tails go up against Mobians based on the smartest of animals from our world, they can be anything. They could want Tails to join them, though given Tails is a hero and a sweetheart, they think he doesn’t have the guts to do what they think can help others. These guys are driven by ego, actually thinking those that are not on their level are weak. Gives Tails a chance to take on those of his brain powers. Each of these is the opposite of Tails, you have one who desires to use his brain to take over others, the other is based around ego in taking in how he’s the most intelligent, the final likes to create things to hurt people. Tails uses his own skills to take them down with both his heart and his own feelings on what it means to be a clever genius.
Greed
Other idea of villains for Tails is one driven by greed, who is going to have others do the dirty work for him, and wants to make others be left in the dirt. Tails does ask for favours but not out of greed but out of interest in curiosity, talk it out with someone and make good on what is found. Though Tails has his own home and invents cool gadgets, he doesn’t ask for much unless it’s to help people or he can learn something from it.
The villain in question desires something Tails is after and wants to make some darker use of it. Tails discovers a new thing in the underground of Mobius, either a civilisation, an element or resources. He decides to go and investigate to see whether it’s best to take it back or leave. The guy in question desires to use these elements to make money but what he wants to make is more something Eggman wants. Tails hides it all and fully defeats the guy, ending his desires.
Hatred
This one can be where you bring in a mystical like foe for Tails, and this one is driven by hatred. Tails is kind and him to face such a foe on a mystical level has Tails maybe question how he can stop such a thing, understanding it’s not brute force or intelligence that can defeat this, but bring kind. The mystical side of things can give Tails something to tackle in how he fights them, if it’s a bit of slashing with his tails or inventing tech to help weaken his enemies.
What kind of stories should Tails have?
I think Tails should have stories that are unique and not similar to Sonic. Sonic has told lots of stories that do involve different formats, but the stories I have in mind are more focussed around Tails and how that translates to him. Let’s say for example the first villain he fights is abducting others and this has Tails use his brains to figure out clues, basically a mystery solving story that I think is Tails’s alley, not Sonic’s.
Finding a new civilisation goes into the adventurer side of things but retains that clue searching format that goes well in the above mentions.
Yet as we know, Tails adores friendship and likes to be there for his friends, and I think that should be a big case in these stories. The victim becomes the villain easily could’ve become his friend of she didn’t kidnap his friends and bullies, the similarities are there that Tails notes “We could’ve been friends! We could’ve been a co working duo in a lab! Our shared background too, that could’ve made us something! But….you let your anger get the better of you! Look at the people you’ve hurt!”
The team of villains wanting Tails’s help at first deceive him, having him think what they’re doing is good, one could even bond with him, yet the betrayal hurts Tails enough that he isn’t sure if he can make other friends beyond the ones he’s got, thus you could end this story on a bit of a low end as Tails wonders if those like him are gonna go evil or lose their way.
This carries over into the story of the villain of greed, who hires a team to get what he wants; this team made up of girls. Obviously you’re all thinking Tails discovers he has a harem, but no, only one of the girls gets a bit more closer in terms of relationship to him, the rest have a bigger gap. The girls become good friends with him, and each are different, one is a sweetheart, the other is snarky but good hearted, the other is a bit mean but has a soft side, the last is more thoughtful and talkative, building that friendship. One of them does a semi betrayal but turns back to the light, giving Tails a more happier end to this story as he’s formed a real friendship with these girls, stopped one of them from turning evil and comes away from this a lot happier.
Once Tails has gone through all this, he faces his final original foe in the form of hatred. Having gone through all this, Tails has become a lot more wiser of others and simply lets his heart do the talking in facing the hateful being. Tails is a lot more stronger in strength and wisdom, thus Sonic tells Tails he still recognises him but knows he’s not the same anymore.
Super Form
If SEGA should do something they should bring back Tails’s super form, it’d be a lovely thing to watch. He can have unique abilities given to him. The Flickies could take shapes of different things Tails uses to fight, maybe create seven more tails. If you want to have Super Tails standout from Super Sonic, then maybe make him white with red markings on his face or tails, to do more symbolism with him being a Kitsune.
I’d say that’s it.
I love Tails and I desire him to be handled with love and care, and if SEGA can do it, I’ll be giving them a happy smile. Thanks a lot Media Man.
Media Man: Anytime my friend.
I hope you enjoyed this post and I thank my guest writer, The Wandering Fox, yet again for another contribution to the blog. Stay tuned for this Friday for my next review of a Disney classic. See you then media fans!
That's one great ideas for our fave Sonic character of all time that SEGA really should use a belief it form fans that made it intro devlopment for long time as well his abilities.
My fave idea was: Shoot fire balls with his tails cuz two words BADASS!!
Recce does really good job add creative going around our two-tailed fox.
Well those are great ideas on the potential for Tails' future and also him having his own set of foes is a solid idea and a mystery story could work for Tails' smart skills. :)
These are a series of nice ideas how to make stories for Tails as well as accurately describing him as a character.
It’s funny I suggested Tails could be involved in a mystery kind of game, then Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog was released with him solving Sonic’s murder lol