Media Essays: Tails and Fiona: How It Can Work (Valentine's Day Special)

Well this is something, a entry for Valentine’s Day based on a couple that didn’t really become a thing, yet there’s a small lot of fans who do. Well I’m the Wandering Fox and I’m one of those fans and I’m here today to explain to you how this couple could’ve worked if the writers were paying any focus to what they were bloody working on.

I will say as well this entry does contain topics of sexual abuse so I recommend younger readers do not look at this.

Background

For a bit of background this is about the Archie Sonic comics, hence this version of Tails might not be familiar to you, but basically while Tails was on a solo adventure, he encountered who seemed to be a decent sweet fox girl called Fiona was in fact an Auto duplicate of the real Fiona, created to try and kill Tails. The real Fiona would appear later having once been acquainted with Nic the Weasel, Mighty, Ray and Sonic. Fiona would join the Freedom Fighters after Sonic seemingly sacrificed himself to stop the Xorda, Fiona inspired by his heroics and selflessness, becoming friends with Bunnie and developed a friendship with Tails, becoming the medic for the Freedom Fighters.

Things went downhill for Fiona once Sonic dated her as a rebound and to take her away from Tails out of some weird sense of keeping Tails safe…..yeah, I know.

Then Fiona was raped by Evil Sonic, then happily ran off with him once he became Scourge, smacking Tails in the process, becoming a mindless nasty arm candy for a rapist pedo his biggest fan has an obsession with. Last we saw her she happily broke into a prison to break him out and is going to enslave Moebius AGAIN!

So, there’s the background to Fiona’s history in the comics. You might quickly laugh me off as an idiot because how dare I call out Ian Flynn for being a horrid writer. Well, you see, if Ian was as smart as he thought he was, he would’ve noticed SEVERAL problems with Fiona being a villain anyway. They are the following...

The Following Fiona Problems.

If you look at Fiona’s entry in my Top 5 Female Sonic Characters list, you will see I made a big point.

Fiona’s age. It was messed up throughout the comics. It is revealed Auto Fiona was made from the remains of Robo Sally. Yeah, Tails was ten by then. Who was also about ten or eleven years old then? Fiona, the real one. We see in this panel Fiona looks exactly as she appears in Sonic 125.

Notice the continuity problem as well? It took Fiona two years to escape the prison camp. If it did then she should’ve escaped AFTER Sonic came back from space, but no, even though we’re led to believe the comic has had a one year timeline, so how did this two years thing come about? Not only that but Fiona went from a kid to a sixteen year old in one year with no explanation.

Upon further inspection as well, the image above Tails and Fiona directs you to Sonic the Hedgehog issues 28 and 29, which is where the story arc Growing Pains began with Tails meeting Auto Fiona. So you mean to tell me two years happened yet by that logic Tails should’ve been twelve not still ten once he met the real Fiona, I’m confused, hey Ken Penders, Karl Bollers, mind explaining this to me?

Hey, Ian Flynn, since you’re so smart, why don’t you explain this? Or better yet call Bollers and Penders so they can explain it eh guys?

Secondly is Fiona’s character.

Some would call Fiona’s character uninteresting before she turned evil. So? Did Hershey have to turn evil given she was uninteresting? No.

Lets look at Fiona. Yes, she was a bit of an anti-hero, she thieved to survive. Yet she also hated Sonic because she thought he abandoned her, with her utterly hating those who are self serving. Well, Fiona, why did you go with Scourge? You know, the guy who used his likeness to Sonic to rape you, Bunnie and stick his tongue down Amy’s throat? Yeah, he’s very self serving isn’t he?

So you have her facing the fact Sonic not only is a selfless hero, but he didn’t leave her in the camp like he wanted to, this changed Fiona. It made her want to do good. And how is that uninteresting? A young girl who once was a anti-hero who hated Sonic is inspired to do good and join the heroes? Isn’t that a heartwarming story to tell in Sonic the Hedgehog?

Ian Flynn, can you tell me why?

Lastly, it's Scourge.

Yeah, think I summoned it up why this guy is such a horrid excuse who should’ve been killed off. He’s a rapist, a pedophile, overrated, a recolour, is a boring miserable character who Flynn tried to make special by giving him a sympathetic backstory which boils down to.

“Oh my dad never gave me any love so I killed him”.

Wow, I’m meant to feel sorry for a guy who killed his dad? This guy is evil, the Evil Sonic, why should I feel sorry for him!?

Its not just that but it’s how horribly overrated he is, to the point while Ian Flynn is willing to call him Captain Recolour, he’s DESPERATE to try and say Scourge isn’t a rapist or a pedo. Even though we’ve seen him do this shit. He pretended to be Sonic. He had sex with Bunnie, its implied very heavily he did it to Fiona, and he stuck his tongue down Amy’s throat.

Yeah, in Archie, Amy was a ten year old with the figure of a teenager. Yeah. Didn’t think of it DID YOU IAN!?

I’m sorry, but as a uncle I cannot fathom how anyone can like this guy and think Fiona is better with him.

So there’s the problems. Fiona SHOULDN’T be a sixteen year old. She could’ve had an interesting character story if Bollers, Penders and Flynn paid any attention with her inspired to do good. Scourge was not the guy she should’ve gone with, no.

So, Why Tails?

So, why do I think Fiona would be better with Tails? Lets see, its because Tails is nice, kind, intelligent, brave, is strong but his heart is of pureness. You know, something I think Fiona would be wanting in a guy?

Its not only this but Fiona’s story began with Tails with her Auto copy being created to lure him in, for Tails to get to know the real Fiona and not the idealised version of her would make for a interesting story, he falls for the real Fiona, who is at first hesitant because she does love him but feels she’s not good enough due to her bad past, yet Tails is okay with her past.

Their dynamic would be sweet as well, it’d be somewhat akin to Luz and Amity with Tails as the kind sweet guy who has an optimistic glint on his face, Fiona is the snarky yet good hearted girl who has a soft spot for a few including Bunnie and Nic with him, with Fiona softening and being much cheekier over time while Tails becomes more wiser through the years.

Ideal Version

Given this is Sonic and fans have their own universes and head canons, I would do things differently with Fiona. I’d make her twelve years old so she still has a slight edge over Tails but not much. She is snarky and cynical, feeling she only has Nic to thank for and thinks Sonic is just some false hero who’s in it for himself, yet once she meets Sonic, Tails and the Freedom Fighters, she slowly begins to change. She doesn’t join them at first, often on and off they team up, surprises Tails and Sally with her usage of guns. She comes away from the first encounter thinking Tails is cute so Sonic can’t be all bad.

In several adventures she meets the heroes on and off, you experiment her with som of them, find out who she gets along with and who she’s more strained with and showcase her other talents with medical science with her understanding infected wounds, right herbs to clean wounds, and is expert crafting traps for due to her skilled in tying notes and rope work she’s quite a smart girl.

You do some hints here and there of something going on with Tails and Fiona, like he saves her from falling to her death, carries her bridal style, Fiona falling on him leaving them feeling awkward, or some smaller moments like her and him discussing their upbringings, Tails helping her understand she isn’t the only victim in the world, his own strength and courage somewhat wowing her.

Then you do the Auto Fiona story, in which Tails tracks a distress call and finds its Fiona, only she’s trapped inside a Bandnik suit once she and Nic were found by Swatbots, Tails frees Fiona and both plan to break Nic out, with it seeming like Fiona has defeated Tails yet she and him free Nic. Fiona is still wowed by how Tails didn’t try to run nor did he leave her to find Nic alone.

Fiona and Nic then meet Bunnie with them learning Bunnie is a crime lady’s daughter, with Fiona learning not everyone on the Freedom Fighters had a past they were happy with yet Sally gave her a chance, hence improving Fiona’s view on the Freedom Fighters.

Fiona has her own fears to overcome like her fear of spiders, trying to stand up against Fang who tends to try and coheres her and Nic in helping him, Fiona growing uncomfortable with the darkness she’s living with yearning for living life doing some decency.

Fiona and Nic do finally end up arrested by Rouge who had turned her life around by becoming a GUN Agent, rounding up other bounty hunters so they don’t steal items GUN or the Freedom Fighters want in the wrong hands. Nic is up for using this chance to at least relax in the comfy lifestyle GUN provided her and Fiona, while Fiona feels frustrated, wanting to go out and fight Robotnik, with her realising she doesn’t just want to survive. She wants to live, and the Freedom Fighters can do so for her.

GUN has Fiona go with them, with her settling in Knothole with Bunnie as her most trusted friend, Bunnie being her roommate and helping Sally understand things with Fiona. Tails ends up having developed feelings for Fiona in the gaps of them seeing each other, hence he is a lil shy once he meets her again yet finds his confidence. Fiona does have to be helped in easing her excitement and learns to use non lethal guns.

From here she begins her friendship with Tails which ends up becoming romantic. Theres no Scourge. Fiona does have her confidence in the Freedom Fighters shaken once Dr Robotnik returns and is fearful of living a hard life again, with Fang playing on her fears and bullying her into joining him, though Fiona proves her worth by kicking him up the butt and has him arrested by GUN, having come to see bounty hunters in the years after Robotnik’s defeat are no better than he is, willing to go back with the Freedom Fighters.

Only other times Fiona has some trouble is her meeting Tails’s parents, given they’re rich she thinks they will look down at her like some dirt though thankfully she gets mostly a stern “Don’t hurt my son or I’ll hurt you” pep from Rosemary.

The Phantom Ruby brings Fiona’s fears of spiders to life which she has to conquer by herself.

If I were to give Tails a moment in which he is struggling in his confidence, it can be done like how Callum helps Rayla in season 3 with Fiona in Callum’s spot in which she notes to him all the amazing things he’s done, finally finishing with.

“Tails, in my life I never met anyone like you. My whole life I’ve thought there’s only those who look out for themselves. You? You are one of the most selfless brave people on this planet. You’re one of the greatest people I’ve ever met”.

Obviously Tails won’t kiss her, but it’s this moment in which their feelings for each other are quite easy to tell by now. For how their first kiss would go, it would be after they have lots of deep moments then they are about to going a fight which Tails isn’t sure he will get out of, Fiona kisses him. From there Tails and Fiona are a solid item, him the sweetheart tough genius who is more skilled with his chaos abilities, Fiona the snarky but kind girl who has turned her life for something way lovelier.

What I’m trying to say is Fiona can work as a good guy and as Tails’s love interest, her main obstacles are her own fears of Robotnik sending her back to living on the road, her old acquaintances from the past, her slight temper, and fears of not being good enough. As Tails’ love interest she is unique in snarky, slightly angry but is slick and classy, showing great love for him and respect for Bunnie and Nic, and is quite smart in stitching, bandaging, thus making her and Tails quite the couple of experts in their own skills of science, Tails the tech, Fiona the medic. Has a nice ring eh?

Well, that's what I have to tell you. You might think I’m weird, but if I can convince the Media Man to stop liking Scourge, then I’m willing to try and make everyone see Fiona was done dirty by the writers and she could’ve worked as a hero and as a love interest to Tails.

If the Media Man wants he can have a say in here, for its his blog and he has come around to the TailsxFiona pairing. He’s still a Tailsmo shipper which I’m fine with because wow, you can still be friends with a guy who ships one character with another girl. 

Happy Valentines Day everyone.

Media Man: Great work as always my mate. :)

I thought I'd leave my own take on this essay as I suggested I could. Back in the day when I used to read Archie Sonic, I wasn't well-versed in the lore and characters, so I didn't have the full picture on how messy Fiona's story and timeline was. I was idiotically onboard with her heel-turn and somehow managed to think that ScourgeXFiona was a suitable pairing. I've matured since then and can see that I was wrong to think that and that Fiona's heel-turn only did more harm to the character than anything else. While I still ship Tails with Cosmo, I do see how this pairing can work and that Fiona should've stayed a hero to reach her true potential. She's like many comic book characters: a victim of bad writing.

As I keep preaching to you all in my reviews, it's execution that makes or breaks a story or character and in this case, execution broke Fiona. With the right execution, she could've been a wonderful character and her romance with Tails could've been truly special, sweet and romantic. ^^

The comic may had screwed up, but at least fans like The Wandering Fox can show us how it could've worked.

Wandering Fox: Happy to have you here, Media Man, and I’m happy you have matured since those years. In fact, thank you for being so supportive of me and my vision of Fiona, you are a swell friend :)

Let’s give everyone a Happy Valentines Day shall we?

Media Man: You're welcome! And yes, let's. :D

Media Man/The Wandering Fox: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Thanks again for your post buddy and I hope you all enjoyed reading it too. See you again on Friday for my next one!