Web Animation / TailsTube

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Due to Late-Arrival Spoilers, all spoilers from Sonic Frontiers and preceding entries will be unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

TailsTube is a YouTube web series based on Sonic the Hedgehog. It is hosted by Miles "Tails" Prower (Colleen O'Shaughnessey) acting as a Virtual YouTuber. Tails usually answers questions that some fans might have had about the series, alongside special guests like Sonic the Hedgehog himself, as a way to clear things up and clean up some of the franchise's long-standing continuity issues.

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Frequent Troper asks: what tropes are seen used in TailsTube?

• Actually Pretty Funny: In Episode 12, after Sonic makes a joke at Shadow’s expense, Tails seems to disapprove and says, "Sonic… that was pretty good!" Tails and Sonic then laugh together.
• Added Alliterative Appeal: Eggman when he crashes into Tails' Workshop in Episode 6:
  Eggman: I have you now, you merry menagerie of mammalian and mechanical miscreants! I'm going to deck your halls with destruction! I'm going to trim your trees with trouble!
• Affably Evil: As thanks for Tails' present, Eggman gives him a "Get out of invasion free coupon" that will allow him to call off an invasion. And he keeps his end of this deal when Tails uses it to prevent him from crashing a holiday party.
• Always a Live Transmission: The series is framed as it were a livestream, including things like a live chatbox, along with Tails and his guests taking questions from an In-Universe social media site, despite all the episodes being pre-recorded short videos.
  • In Episode 2, Eggman's takeover of the show is treated as if he were hijacking Tails' livestream, which he then loses control of shortly afterwards.
  • In Episode 6, after the gift exchange with the other heroes, Tails plans on ending his stream, until Eggman literally brings his roof down in order to stage a takeover of the show, but finds no one else is there except for Tails. This isn't framed in-universe as a planned segment, but rather Tails leaving the "camera" running and the two shooting the breeze about the holidays, until Eggman leaves after Tails uses his "Get out of invasion free coupon." After he leaves, Shadow returns, seemingly unaware the show is still going on, but takes the present left behind for him by Tails, with Tails smirking that he got the moment live on camera after Shadow teleports out.
  • In Episode 8, Eggman hijacks the stream again like he tried to in Episode 6, engaging himself with the topic of Amy's Fortune cards. Even Tails' TV monitor changes to have Eggman's logo when he appears.
  • Episode 10 has a three-minute countdown that is supposed to coincide with the turnover of a New Year, with Tails calling his friends about their New Year's resolutions until Sonic arrives celebrate at the end.
  • Episode 14 has Tangle miss cues, go off-script and generally be so overwhelming Tails has to distract her to get some semblance of control over the episode.
  • Episode 15 has Cream run off on multiple occassions to save a Chao who's gotten into some kind of trouble. When hearing about Vanilla's cooking, Tails nearly cuts the transmission prematurely, before Cream reminds him to be polite and say goodbye to his guests.
• Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better: Both Shadow and Sonic namedrop the trope itself, with the first time being through Shadow's assertion that he can do anything better than Sonic, and the second time being Sonic repeating what Shadow said in a mocking tone.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Professor Victoria doesn’t really believe Tails and Orbot’s accounts of the truth of Light and Dark Gaia, despite the fact that Light Gaia (Chip) had actually come to her university and even worked with one of her colleagues; not to mention a massive earthquake prior that broke the entire world apart.
• Arc Welding: Episode 11 revisits the "Four Great Ancient Civilizations" mentioned in Sonic Battle and the non-canon Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, establishing that the Ancients were the First Great Civilization, followed by the Gaians, the Second Great Civilization that erected the Gaia Temples. This also confirms that the Ancients' arrival to Earth predated the tradition of using the Chaos Emeralds to seal Dark Gaia away.
• Audience Surrogate: Tangle acts as one in Episode 14, listing off several characters requested by fans from the IDW comics to make an appearance in the games, more specifically as extra guest racers in the roster of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.
• Black Comedy Burst: In Episode 6, Omega gifts Amy a destroyed Motobug. When Amy points out she has robot friends, Omega asks to know where they live.
• Blunt "No": When Tails calls Shadow in Episode 10 to ask if he has any New Year's resolutions, the black hedgehog simply says no, then hangs up on him.
• Boomerang Bigot: When Amy notes to Omega that she has robot friends, he, a robot himself, calls this "disgusting" and asks her to tell him where they live.
• Brick Joke: In Episode 3, Knuckles demonstrates his rock's special properties, destroying the communicator that Tails sent him. Knuckles comes back in Episode 5, where he brought Tails' destroyed device, saying that it wasn't "rock compatible."
• Brutal Honesty: Shadow does not shy away from his opinions, as Knuckles finds this out when he recites Hemingway's Six-Word Story and just explains the punchline with no twist. Shadow bluntly calls Knuckles' story "terrible." Rouge calls him out on this.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Amy in Episode 6, having her gift to Sonic completely misinterpreted as an ordinary picture frame (instead of a photo of her inside a heart) and then immediately receiving a smashed-up Motobug from E-123 Omega as her gift.
  • Shadow often finds himself on the receiving end on Sonic's pranks in nearly every episode the two appear in, as Sonic takes delight in teasing and mocking Shadow, and even tricks Tails into prank phone calling him in Episode 12. He doesn't take it well.
  • Orbot, in all of his appearances, has him be the butt of jokes from various characters. In Episode 2, he's primarily interviewed for more information on Eggman (with his last words of the Episode pleading for people to ask questions about himself next time), Eggman hits him when he's trying to come up with a festive threat in Episode 6, and when he calls Tails to tell him about his New Year's resolution in Episode 10, Tails hangs up on him since the countdown is coming up. Orbot gets his own back on Tails for the latter in Episode 11 by embarrassing him in front of Professor Victoria.
• Call-Back:
  • The giant screen that debuted in Episode 5 is titled "Miles Electric Mega", referencing the Easter egg from the first four episodes of a desktop folder titled "Miles Electric Upgrades".
  • The gift matchups are presented on-screen using the same slot machine design seen in Casino Night Zone (albeit upside-down).
  • In Episode 7, Sonic cheekily refers to Shadow as "Faker", much like he did in Sonic Adventure 2.
  • When Eggman successfully crashes Tails' livestream in Episode 8 (after failing to do so in 7), the screen gets the same takeover background as when Eggman did it the first time in Episode 2.
  • In Episode 8, when Eggman asks how Tails would know that he considers Sage family, Tails responds with, "Because you just told me, Eggman", a reference to when Eggman tricked Tails into revealing the fake Chaos Emerald in Sonic Adventure 2.
  • Episode 11: Orbot interrupts Tails at inopportune times and essentially embarrasses him in front of Professor Victoria, all as a bit of payback for Tails hanging up on Orbot back in Episode 10, something that Tails is incredulous about.
• Call-Forward: In Episode 9, Sonic mockingly says that Shadow's "costume" (he isn't actually wearing any) is "some kind of grumpy starfish". While that is a semi-accurate description of Shadow thanks to his quills, it's a dead-on description of Black Doom, the villain of the Shadow Generations portion of Sonic × Shadow Generations that released a week before the episode. Black Doom also has HEAVY ties to Shadow's backstory, who hadn't been mentioned at all since his debut nineteen years earlier in Shadow the Hedgehog, and his Doom's Eye vessel resembles a starfish.
• Cameo Cluster:
  • Episode 10 has several pieces of Sonic Channel art show up at once when Amy mentions how she wants to spend more time with all her friends, including Sonic, Tails, Big, Sonic, Knuckles, Cream and her Chao, Blaze, the Chaotix, and three pictures of Sonic.
  • Episode 14 has Tangle list off several characters she thinks who could be a racer in CrossWorlds next, with each name she says being accompanied by a selfie she took with them. In order, she lists off Gemerl, Jewel the Beetle, Lanolin the Sheep, Belle the Tinkerer, Clutch the Opossum, Vanilla the Rabbit, Surge the Tenrec, and Kit the Fennec.
• Canon Welding:
  • The series does a lot of heavy lifting to connect itself, the games, and the IDW Comic series together by namedropping certain elements as part of Sega and the Sonic franchise's efforts to bring things into a streamlined continuity.
    • Episode 1 features a question from Tangle the Lemur, the first heroic Canon Foreigner of the comics.
    • Episode 6 has Tails mention Jewel the Beetle and how she's organizing a party at the Restoration's HQ from the IDW comics.
    • Episode 10 features Tangle (in silhouette) briefly walking behind Amy.
    • Episode 14 features Tangle the Lemur and Whisper the Wolf as guest stars. Other IDW characters, including Jewel the Beetle, Lanolin the Sheep, Belle the Tinkerer, Clutch the Opossum, Surge the Tenrec, and Kit the Fennec make cameos in a series of photos as Tangle lists them off.
    • Episode 16 features panels featuring Silver from the 2022 Annual and the climax of the Metal Virus saga, which includes the time Silver turned into Super Silver to help Super Sonic solve the latter crisis.
  • Episode 7 shows off a clip of Sonic and Shadow battling in Sonic Prime, as part of how the show is considered canon to the overall game continuity.
• Cassandra Truth: In Episode 11, Tails and Orbot explain events from both Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Frontiers to Professor Victoria, namely the truth about Gaia and the truth about the Ancients. However, because Orbot is one of Eggman's lackies and Tails wasn't able to record any of this, Victoria dismisses them as just hearsay. Turns out Orbot planned this as revenge for hanging up on him on New Years.
• The Character Ice Cream Bar: The Sonic-shaped one serves as the in-universe logo for the Q&A format for the show, The Sonic Scoop.
• Chekhov's Gag: Episode 1 depicts Tails' desktop having a folder titled "Holiday Gift Ideas". Episode 6 would be the Surprise Gift Exchange Bonanza episode, albeit for the year after Episode 1 released.
• Christmas Episode: Episode 6 is set during the Holidays, where Tails has gotten himself, Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, Omega, and Shadow together to do a gift exchange (though Shadow immediately takes off after being told it was a gift exchange). When Eggman crashes the show, he lets out some Holiday-themed puns before realizing no one else is here.
• Clickbait Gag: The thumbnails for the English versions of the episodes tend to lean into this for humor:
  • Episode 1 has Tails mentioning his special guest is Sonic himself, with Sonic's face being upside-down with a red circle and arrow pointing towards it.
  • Episode 2 has Tails teasing how he'll be talking about Eggman, with Tails himself having a Jaw Drop. He also has the words "MYSTERY GUEST?!" in the thumbnail, with Orbot being censored to not spoil his identity as the guest.
  • Episode 3 has Knuckles' face way too close to the webcam, with a red circle, two red arrows, and exclamation marks pointing towards the program window.
  • Episode 8 has emphasis on the text "WE SEE INTO THE FUTURE?!" ​​along with Tails and Amy pointing towards her Tarot Cards, the subject of the Episode.
  • Episode 11 has Professor Victoria as a blue silhouette, along with three red arrows pointing at her while big text says "A MEETING OF THE MINDS?!"
  • Episode 14 has Tangle and Whisper in a white circle, Tails has a surprised expression, and big text reads "OMG! New Racers?!?"
  • Episode 15 has the text "OH NO!!!" above Cream's head, while a Chao looks at both Tails and Cream with an overly sweaty, nervous expression.
• Comically Missing the Point: In the Episode 5 Gift Exchange episode, Sonic is delighted to receive a picture frame from Amy, not realizing the photo of her inside its heart-shaped frame is a declaration of love.
• Company Cross-References: An Easter Egg in Episode 6 shows Tails' monitor playing gameplay footage of the "Sonic the Hedgehog into Dreams" mode from the Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams... promo disc.
• Compilation Re-release: While the first four videos were dubbed and simultaneously released in Japanese alongside their English versions, Episodes 5-10 and Episodes 11-14 were both packaged into two "Mega Collection" videos that were released later, which included small transitions where Tails explained what the next video would be about.
• Continuity Cameo:
  • Plenty via the questions that are sent to Tails, such as Cream the Rabbit, Knuckles, Cubot, and more.
  • The first person to ask a question in the first episode is all but said to be Dodon Pa.
  • Jet the Hawk makes a small appearance as a picture Tails brings up in Episode 4, where he's wearing a Sonic hat with a cranky scowl. The bird himself would make a full-on appearance in Episode 13.
  • Tangle the Lemur, Cream the Rabbit, and Big the Cat make silhouetted background cameos in Episode 10 during Amy's New Year's party.
• Continuity Cavalcade:
  • Relevant clips from prior games get played on Tails' screen to help illustrate his points. In episode one alone, you can see footage from Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Sonic Generations, Sonic Unleashed, Team Sonic Racing, the Sonic Advance games, Sonic Lost World, Sonic Riders and Sonic Forces playing on the screen.
  • Episode 5 starts with Tails feeling introspective, with clips of Sonic bonding with himself, Amy, and Knuckles on the Starfall Islands from Sonic Frontiers, which segues into them reminiscing on their very first adventures.
  • When Episode 5 has the gang talking about Mighty, Knuckles remembers when the armadillo helped him and "The Boys" back in Knuckles' Chaotix, along with Tails showing a clip from the game's title screen.
  • In Episode 7, Sonic, Tails, and Shadow recount the rivals' past confrontations with each other, including their original fights in Adventure 2 and team clash in Heroes, while also keeping in mind Shadow and the other teams working together to stop Metal Sonic. When Tails asks the two rivals to compliment each other, Sonic and Shadow specifically point out each other's proficiency in Chaos Control, with Sonic admitting that Shadow's ability to warp space-time was impressive, and Shadow doing the same in regards to how Sonic was able to induce the phenomenon with a fake Chaos Emerald.
  • The "Scary Story Spooktacular" in Episode 9 is littered with various references to the Adventure games and Heroes:
    • Rouge retells Shadow's origin story, albeit In the Style of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, while Tails' story turns out to be an origin story for King Boom Boo from the same game.
    • The livestream takes place outside of Tails' workshop in the Mystic Ruins, while the Halloween decorations are various set pieces and props from Pumpkin Hill, Hang Castle, and Mystic Mansion. One of the skeletons from the aforementioned 'spooky' stages in Sonic Heroes peeks out from a tree at the beginning of the stream, just like they do throughout Hang Castle and Mystic Mansion.
    • Sonic interrupts the stream by calling from the same building he stood on in his story's intro cutscene of Sonic Adventure.
  • Several objects from the series' history can be seen in the background of Victoria's office. As nod to Tails' spooky story from Episode 9, King Boom Boo's human self's crown and the cursed talisman can be seen sitting in Victoria's office too.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Sonic's background in Episode 1 indicates that he's at Emerald Coast from Sonic Adventure, specifically the area depicted in his ending screen.◊
  • At the start of Episode 2, you can faintly hear Sonic talking about his second fight with Shadow from Sonic Adventure 2.
  • When Eggman crashes into Tails' workshop in Episodes 6 and 8, some Buzz Bombers fly in to precede his entrance.
  • In Episode 6, Eggman name drops Sage from Frontiers, saying she was looking for fun "family bonding" things to do together. He does the same in Episode 8, after Amy tells him about his fortune; specifically how he's found family and has made positive connections in his life.
  • In Episode 9, Knuckles seems to still retain his fear of ghosts from Sonic Adventure 2.
  • Episode 10 has Rouge taking Tails' call from her suite from a piece of 2023 Sonic Channel art released during Golden Week, with the bridge to Radical Highway seen from her window.
  • Episode 12 has Sonic mention how Tails hacked the President's communications in Sonic Adventure 2 to get the location of Eggman's transmission.
  • Episode 13 has Tails' Miles Electric Monitor patched together with duct tape, as a quick fix to Shadow kicking it in retaliation in the prior episode. Jet also brings up Sonic's rivalry with Shadow and how they raced against each other in Episode 7, which he refers to as "last season", much to Tails' delight.
• Cutting Off the Branches: In Episode 7 Sonic calls Shadow a sore loser under his breath when they talk about meeting again (and fighting) in Heroes, implying that canonically Team Sonic wins the Team Sonic vs. Team Dark boss fight.
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: At the start of Episode 4, Tails briefly hums part of "Believe In Myself" from Sonic Adventure 2 before he realizes that he's live.
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: Dr. Eggman does this when he takes over the broadcast in Episode 2.
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • Professor Victoria first appeared in TailsTube via background cameos through Tails describing how humans fit in the general series' lore and on a book in Tails' study in Episodes 1 and 10 respectively. She also appeared in a background advertisement of the Tokyo fight scene in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024), a different continuity altogether. She finally makes a proper debut and appearance on Tails' show in Episode 11, where they discuss the First and Second Great Civilizations.
  • Jet the Hawk (making this a literal example) briefly appeared on a picture in Episode 4. He makes a full appearance in Episode 13, where he crashes the stream to hype up the Babylon Rogues.
  • Tangle appears on a profile picture in Episode 1 and as a silhouette in Episode 10. She finally makes a full-on debut in Episode 14, along with Whisper.
  • Cream the Rabbit made a few occasional cameos via social media posts on Tails' monitor or in the background of other characters' shots. Cream and Cheese would eventually become a special guest for Episode 15, where Tails visits her home and local Chao Garden.
• Earth Drift: Inverted; after a period of time where the franchise referred to its setting as "Sonic's World" and implied that it was separate from Earth, this series (as with other contemporary Sonic media) establishes that the setting is Earth. In Episode 1, Tails explains that humans and anthropomorphic animals all live on the same planet. Humans live on the large continents visible from orbit, while anthropomorphic animals live on small islands dotted around those continents. In Episode 11, Tails and Victoria explicitly refer to this planet as Earth.
• Everyone Hates Mathematics: In Episode 12, Sonic starts zoning out when Tails starts discussing a life hack for memorizing mathematic percentages.
• Fictional Social Network: In a bit of a Freeze-Frame Bonus, a lot of the things Tails uses in the Episodes are parodies of real-life social media or technology.
  • A fictional version of Twitter has its bird icon replaced with a Flicky, which was the site's icon before its re-branding as X. The questions that Tails pulls up are usually submitted through this platform, as seen with the comment, retweet, and like buttons.
  • A version of Tumblr is shown on Tails' desktop, though the logo has been recolored to be orange-yellow like Tails' fur, and has his tail incorporated into the logo.
• Film the Hand: It goes by pretty quickly, but Shadow's profile picture when Tails calls him in Episode 10 is of him trying to stick his hand in front of his face before his picture was taken.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: In Episode 9, tells the story of a greedy king who wished for immortal life, so he and his knights venture forth towards a pyramid that held a talisman that could give him exactly that. The talisman is an oval with rainbow colors, similar to the eyes of King Boom Boo from Sonic Adventure 2. Sure enough, by the time the King has taken hold of the talisman, he ends up transforming into King Boom Boo, and haunts the pyramid Eggman uses as Hidden Base.
• Foreshadowing: At the end of the fifth episode, Sonic mentions that they're almost to the anniversary of the time they went to Northstar Islands (the game officially coming out roughly a week after this episode aired), with Amy wondering if they'll be able to invite someone before she's cut off as she walks away. She's referring to Trip, who eventually becomes an ally to the heroes in Superstars.
• Formula-Breaking Episode: Episodes 11, 14, 15, and 16 are the only episodes where Sonic doesn't make an appearance.
• Fourth-Wall Mail Slot: Downplayed. In the first season, Tails and his guests answer questions that have been bugging Sonic fans for some time, usually taking them from their in-universe social media, the questions being asked by characters in-universe rather than real-life fans.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: A lot of folders or picture icons on Tails' dashboard reference different parts of the Sonic franchise. These include:
  • Chao Hat designs
  • Extreme Gear concepts
  • Tornado 3.5
  • Spagonia travel photos
  • Archeology articles
  • Holiday Gift Ideas
  • Chao Dinner Recipes
  • A Tails Heal card
  • During Pit Crew, a number of vehicles from Sonic Racing CrossWorlds are rapidly seen through a montage. Freeze framing can reveal some vehicles that weren't revealed for the game yet, including one based on NiGHTS.
• Friendly Enemy: Despite Orbot being part of Dr. Eggman's empire and thus, Tails' enemy, that doesn't stop him from having a pretty good relationship with the Fox, as he is a guest on the second episode. He tries to call Tails in Episode 10 to wish him a Happy New Year, though Tails cuts him off so he can do the countdown with Sonic (which he'd come to regret in the following episode, as Orbot proceeds to humiliate him in front of Victoria out of revenge).
• Funny Background Event:
  • In the second episode, after Tails gets control back from Dr. Eggman taking over the show, Cubot can be seen behind Orbot slinking away from the camera feed while holding two Wisp capsules.
  • In the fourth episode, Chao will occasionally pass by in the background of Amy's feed.
  • In Episode 10, there is a blackboard scribbled with chalk that crosses out the Year of Shadow, with it being replacing with Sonic. A question is written next to it if next year can be the "Year of Tails."
• Halloween Episode: Episode 9 was uploaded on Halloween, and is titled "Scary Spooky Spooktacular". While the characters don't wear costumes, Tails gathers his friends for a round of telling spooky stories around a campfire.
• Hostile Show Takeover:
  • Episode 2 ends up getting hijacked and taken over by Dr. Eggman at one point. He doesn't get very far before Tails takes it back.
  • Downplayed, but Eggman literally crashes through Tails' roof in Episode 6, looking to stage a takeover of the show, only to be met with only Tails, as everyone else already left, but the show is still going. The two briefly have a friendly conversation about the Holidays before he leaves in a huff.
  • Downplayed in Episode 8, as Eggman crashes in through Tails' roof in order to make up for the fact he raided Tails' house when no one was there.
  • Episode 13 starts with him introducing Sonic as his special guest, only for Jet to swoop in and start hyping up the Babylon Rogues and make the show all about him. The thumbnail lampshades this by saying "Jet crashes the party".
• Hurricane of Puns:
  • Eggman attempts to use a number of Winter Holiday-themed puns as threats in Episode 6, but finds that no one but Tails is available to listen to them.
  • Episode 9 is filled to the brim with Tails making several spooky Halloween-themed puns, something that Sonic playfully calls him out on by the end of the episode.
• Hypocritical Humor: Knuckles admonishes Fang the Hunter for willingly working for Dr. Eggman, even asking "What kind of jerk works for Eggman?" This is immediately followed by Sonic calling Knuckles out for the times he unwillingly teamed up with Eggman in the past, to which Knuckles defensively yells "one time!" at the group. The other three then mutter to themselves about how Knuckles was tricked at least two more times afterwards (them not even mentioning the fourth time).
• I Resemble That Remark!: In Episode 9, as part of a Halloween party, Rouge tells a scary story of a mad doctor who created a horrific life form full of anger and a tremendous thirst for retribution.
  Knuckles: Does this horrible creature have a name?
  Shadow: Yes.
• I'm Okay!: In Episode 14, Tails and Whisper tell Tangle they need to get ready for the upcoming races. Tangle then rushes off-screen, crashing into something in the factory, which causes a lot of noise. She shouts out "I'm okay!" from off-screen, assuring her friends that's she's fine.
• In-Universe Soundtrack: Songs from across the franchise are framed as if they're being played live during the "livestream," through a music player in the top-right corner of Tails' screen showing the name of the song and the associated artists and composer.
• Infodump: Played for laughs in Episode 14, where Tangle is extremely excited to introduce herself, summarizing most of her story from the IDW Comics, speaking a mile a minute to get through everything. In contrast, Whisper's introduction is a very terse "I'm Whisper the Wolf. I'm a sniper."
• iPhony: The OS of Tails' computer, ChaOS, is based on the Apple macOS, having a similar layout that uses a Dashboard on the bottom of the screen to access various apps or web pages. The GUI for the windows is also similar to MacOS, where it has red, green, and yellow icons for closing, expanding, and minimizing the window, except they are shaped like the Chaos Emeralds.
• Jerkass to One: Sonic is usually friendly and upbeat towards his friends and rivals including Jet the Hawk (though he still likes to get under Jet's feathers, and playfully teases Knuckles in episode 3), but Shadow is usually his favorite person to ridicule. In almost every episode the two appear in, Sonic just can't help but mock Shadow even when he doesn't deserve it. Jet even lampshades this in episode 13.
• Jump Scare:
  • Episode 9 has two In-Universe examples.
    • Rouge invokes this during her scary story, where she asked Shadow to arrive during a specific moment. When Knuckles asks if the "horrible creature" Rouge is referring to has a name, Shadow speaks up, which manages to scare both Tails and Knuckles (though Knuckles denies how he was scared). Shadow lampshades how his presence was used for a "stupid" jumpscare.
    • Sonic accidentally pulls this in the middle of Tails' story, where he interrupts Tails while speaking and his face getting an Extreme Close-Up, startling Rouge, Knuckles, and Tails.
  • Every character Sonic rushes over to visit and celebrate the New Year with in Episode 10 has him startling them every time he appears.
• Killed Offscreen: Episode 2 explains that the reason G.U.N. wasn't involved during Sonic Forces was due to Dr. Eggman destroying the organization after capturing Sonic. He says he "put them in their place", but the implications are obvious thanks to the use of one of Forces' percentage meter screens decreasing in Eggman's favor. As The Chaotix Casefiles would reveal, the organization is still around, just heavily damaged because of Eggman's assault.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Being released after Sonic Frontiers, Episodes 6 and 8 spoil Sage's familial connection with Eggman, especially how the two genuinely see themselves as father and daughter.
• Laughing at Your Own Jokes: When Tails brings up the segment's title for Episode 7, "Between Two Hedgehogs," he snickers to himself about the pun, the accompanying visuals of a hedges, and how he'll have Sonic and Shadow on the show.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The discussion that Tails, Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles have in Episode 5 regarding Fang the Hunter's various regional name changes ever since his debut game. Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy are confused about his conflicting titles and species, likely reflecting fans who knew Fang by any of his former names. Tails is the one to clarify that they're all aliases for the jerboa, as explained by Sonic Superstars.
• Leitmotif:
  • Tails' introductory episode features an instrumental version of "Believe in Myself" from Sonic Adventure 2, the fox's personal Image Song from the game.
  • When characters other than Sonic appear as a singular guest star (or hack into the channel), an instrumental version of their personal theme song plays in the background.
    • Dr. Eggman uses an instrumental version of "E.G.G.M.A.N." from Adventure 2 in Episode 2, with his appearance in Episode 8 being accompanied by the Eggmanland stage theme from Unleashed.
    • Knuckles uses "Unknown from M.E." and Amy uses "My Sweet Passion", both their personal themes from Adventure.
    • Shadow uses the Forces version of "Supporting Me" in Episode 7, though his quick appearance in Episode 10 is accompanied by "Throw It All Away" from Adventure 2.
• Lions and Tigers and Humans... Oh, My!: After a long period in which humans besides Eggman are absent, this series establishes once more that they share the same planet as the anthropomorphic animals, with Tails explaining that the former live on the continents while the latter live on smaller islands in Episode 1. Episode 11 has Professor "Torii" Victoria as a Special Guest, a brand-new human character, who talks with Tails about Earth's Great Civilizations.
• Manipulative Editing: Played for laughs in Episode 4 when Tails clearly has some clips of Sonic spliced together to make it look like he's saying "I love TailsTube."
• Misplaced Retribution: In Episode 12, Sonic prank-calls Shadow, and Shadow responds by teleporting to Sonic and Tails’ location and breaking Tails' floating monitor. It's still broken by Episode 13. Also doubles as Disproportionate Retribution.
• Mythology Gag:
  • One of the icons on Tails' dashboard depicts the Chao Transporter from the PC versions of the Sonic Adventure games.
  • One of the users that sends in a question in Episode 1 is "SonicFan4Eva", with the profile pic showing it to be Tangle the Lemur from the IDW comics using her render from Sonic Forces: Speed Battle.
  • One of the other Episode 1 usernames is "Spiral Hill Fan Club", which is another reference to the IDW Comics, Tangle's hometown of Spiral Hill Village. It’s also a reference to the fan club seen in one of the 2019 annual stories. The profile picture for the user is the little blonde girl seen in some of the Pre-Rendered Cutscenes of Sonic Adventure 2.
  • The logos for The Sonic Scoop and Remember When? segments use the classic "giant ring with a red-and-white banner design used in the first three Sonic'' games (as well as a few other Sega games of similar vintage).
  • Tails' username shown in Episode 2 is Sky Patrol.
  • In Episode 2, one of the folders on Tails' desktop is "Spagonia travel photos", a location also featured in Sonic Generations. Another is titled "Miles Electric Upgrades", referencing the data pad he uses in Sonic Colors.
  • In what's becoming a running gag, a desktop folder in Episode 3 is titled "Sea Fox Ver2", referencing Sonic Triple Trouble and Tails Adventure.
  • Episode 4 has references aplenty:
    • A desktop folder is titled "Lego Ideas". In addition to referring to the series of Sonic-themed Lego sets, it also refers to the original Green Hill Zone set that was a Lego Ideas fan submission.
    • One of the "alternate Sonic" mock-ups has his arms and legs wrapped in bandages, referencing the character's design in Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric.
    • Tails ponders if there's a multiverse version of Sonic with blue arms, referencing the iterations of Sonic from Sonic Boom and the Sonic The Hedgehog films.
  • The updated background introduced in Episode 5 is loaded with Tails-related ephemera:
    • The streams seem to take place in Tails' laboratory from the 3DS version of Sonic Lost World, which houses the modern incarnation of the Tornado. There's also the Yellow Tail, a bag of mint candies (Tails' favorite kind of sweets, as established all the way back in Sonic the Hedgehog 2's Japanese manual), and the Rhythm Badge stacked on the shelves.
    • The chalkboard in the back features a self-illustrated drawing of Sonic based on his Classic-era Western box art look, "mohawk" quills and all.
    • Perhaps the most surprising detail in the new background is Cosmo's pot; it should be said, however, that Tyson Hesse (who designed the new background) included it as just a cute little Easter egg and nothing more.
  • The "Wanted!" Poster of Fang Tails pops up in Episode 5 is modeled after the one seen in City Escape Act 1 from Sonic Generations, with the poster using his Sonic the Fighters render instead of his portrait from Triple Trouble. The same posters of Bean and Bark from Generations also appear in this episode.
  • In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, Knuckles mutters to himself that he likes Fang's hat, referencing the OVA where he wore that exact same hat.
  • Episode 6 has Tails gifting Eggman a book called "102 Things To Build On A Rainy Day," with the number being a reference to Gamma's designation number from Sonic Adventure. Gamma himself is also on the cover of the book.
  • In Episode 8, Amy describes her tarot cards ability to predict the future being "like signposts", referencing the time travel signposts from her debut game, Sonic the Hedgehog CD.
  • Eggman utters an indignant "I hate that hedgehog" in Episode 8 after Sonic spin-dashes into him after leaving Tails' stream, which was his catchphrase after his various defeats in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Once an Episode.
  • Professor Victoria's office from Episode 11 has a few artifacts from past games in it, including a stone tablet resembling the fishable one from the Starfall Islands, Sun and Moon Medals (as well as the Gaia Manuscripts), and the Ice Key used to open the door to Ice Cap.
  • Episode 12 shows an image of Amy's closet, showing not only her typical red dress and boots, but also her tank top and sweat pants from Sonic Riders and swimsuit from Sonic X.
• New Year Has Come: Episode 10 is all about Tails counting down the last three minutes of the year and asking his friends about their New Year's resolutions. A specific year is never given in Tails' countdown for the occasion.
• Noodle Incident: Episode 12 has Sonic mention how he learned how to get stains out of a pipe using ketchup, while the picture shows him mistaking it for a hot dog. When Tails wants more details, Sonic dodges the question. At the end of the Episode, Tails teases him about him cooking the pipe before eating it, while Sonic mentions how he chipped a tooth because of it.
• Nothing Is Scarier: The story Tails tells for the Halloween special utilizes this. It's never said what happened to the King's knights by the time he finds the talisman, but when the King grabs it, the next we see him he's just... dead. No explanation, no visual, Tails doesn't even seem to mention if he is dead.
• Online Alias: Fitting a show that is framed as a livestream, when Tails and his guests take questions from their In-Universe social media site, characters make brief cameos with their usernames highlighting an aspect of their personality or character.
  • "KingMotorPapa" is Dodon Pa from Team Sonic Racing, whose name is a reference to him being the boss of his company, Donpa Motors.
  • "SonicFan4Eva" is Tangle the Lemur from the IDW Comics, who became fast friends with Sonic after her introduction, and was already a big fan of the blue blur himself.
  • "I <3 Jewels" is Rouge the Bat, who is a treasure hunter who loves jewels, and her question immediately asks about the Chaos Emeralds.
  • "Spiral Hill Fan Club" is a bit of an obscure pull, not representing a specific character, but rather the group of Sonic fans from the comics under the same name, with their profile pic being the little blonde girl from Sonic Adventure 2's pre-rendered cutscenes.
  • Played for Laughs with Cubot, whose username is "dontregisteryourownnamecubot" when Dr. Eggman asked him not to use his own name before sending a question in.
  • Tails, who normally runs the show, has his own username pop up as "SkyPatrol," right before he regains control of his stream from Dr. Eggman. This one stems from one of his solo games, Tails' Skypatrol.
  • "ChaoRtheBest" is Cream the Rabbit, who asks her question in a rather polite way, matching her personality, and her username stemming from her love of Chao, along with having two Chao companions, Cheese and Chocola.
  • Knuckles asks two questions in the fourth episode, with his username being..."KNUCKLES," with this name and his questions being asked in CAPS LOCK, highlighting his unfamiliarity with technology and social media due to his reclusive lifestyle.
• Out of Focus: Episode 5 explains that characters that've only appeared in the Classic era (namely Mighty, Ray, and the Hooligans) are still around in the Modern era, but they've been busy having their own adventures and escapades and Sonic and co. simply haven't been able to catch up with any of them, hence why we haven't seen them outside of Classic-centric games and media.
• Paper-Thin Disguise:
  • A user asking about the Chaos Emeralds is pretty obviously Rouge.
  • Parodied when Cubot sends in a question, but Dr. Eggman asked him not to use his own name before sending one in. He ends up following his instructions to the letter, where Cubot's username is "dontregisteryourownnamecubot" while also having a profile picture of himself.
• Pet the Dog: At the start of Episode 6, Shadow immediately takes off, thinking the gift exchange is a waste of time. Before the video is over, Shadow comes back after hearing the commotion from Tails' workshop, seeing that Tails has left a present for him. After reading the card, he ends up taking the scarf that Tails left, conceding it is a little chilly.
• Please Subscribe to Our Channel: Befitting a take of online channels, Tails closes out in this manner in Episode 2.
• Product Placement: While most episodes tend to allude to various games releasing at around the same time, Episode 8 was released a few weeks ahead of the Sonic the Hedgehog: Amy Rose's Fortune Card Deck's release, and thus shows off some of the cards that would be included in the deck.
• Retcon:
  • Episodes 4 and 5 definitively undo the concept of the Classic-era characters being from an alternate universe.
    • Episode 4 re-establishes Sonic Generations' explanation of Classic Sonic being a younger version of Sonic from the past, and Tails even refers to time as "one dimension of reality" to clarify that that's what he meant when calling Classic Sonic "that Sonic from another dimension" in Sonic Forces.
    • Episode 5 establishes that characters like Mighty, Ray, and the Hooligans are still alive and kicking in the Modern era; we just haven't seen them around because they're busy with their own escapades.
  • In the original English version, the image depicting the opening of SegaSonic the Hedgehog in Episode 5 has Ray wearing the blue shoes he's been wearing since his reintroduction in Sonic Mania, rather than the red ones he wears in the actual game. The Japanese dubbed version shows a clip of the opening from SegaSonic the Hedgehog instead, where Ray wears his original red shoes.
• Rule of Cool: In Episode 1, Sonic's explanation for using a car in races despite being able to outrun them is "because it's cool" with a tone to Sonic's voice that suggests this should be obvious. He and Tails then move on to the next question with no further comment.
• Running Gag:
  • Knuckles and his love for rocks. He uses one to destroy Tails' communicator in Episode 3, says the communicator isn't rock-compatible in Episode 5, and then gives Omega a rock in Episode 6 as a present.
  • In Episode 10, Sonic is rushing across the world to wish his friends a Happy New Year, managing to scare them when he arrives.
• Scary Flashlight Face:
  • Tails does this at the beginning of Episode 8, as the topic of the Episode is Amy's fortune telling. This becomes a Brick Joke at the end of the episode where he does this alongside Amy.
  • Befitting a Halloween Episode, Episode 9 has Tails doing this as he introduces the segment, cackling evilly in the process.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Shadow does this in Episodes 6 and 9, unamused that he was brought over to do something that he considers a waste of time, teleporting out with Chaos Control.
  Shadow: (sighs after Sonic arrives) I'm not doing this.
• Sequel Goes Foreign: Starting with Episode 11, Tails starts a new series called TailsTube: On the Road in which he leaves his workshop and travels to other places.
  • Episode 11 is set at Spagonia University, with Professor Victoria making her debut and offers insights about the world of Sonic's Earth.
  • Episode 12 has Tails filming from a Chao Garden in the Mystic Ruins, which is later visited by Sonic.
  • Episodes 13 and 14 take place at the Donpa Kingdom, in preparation for the races Tails and his friends will be participating in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.
  • Episode 15 takes place in a Chao Garden located in Floral Forest Village, the hometown of Cream the Rabbit and her mother in the IDW Comics.
• Ship Tease:
  • Despite Sonic missing the point of Amy's heart-shaped picture frame in Episode 6, a similar frame can be seen in the background of Amy's party in Episode 10... and it's filled with a picture of Sonic and Amy together.
  • In Episode 12, Sonic's first instinct upon learning Tails' "saying someone's name a lot makes them like you" trick actually works is to call Amy and use it on her. At first, Sonic charming her makes her happy and she starts blushing, though she realizes what he’s doing and he hurriedly hangs up.
  • In Episode 16, Amy is brought on as a guest for the second "Between Two Hedgehogs" segment and sees that the other guest is Silver. Amy gets irritated at Tails since she mistakenly believed that Sonic would be the other guest, before Tails clarifies that he said they’d be talking about Sonic. Later, when Amy gets snarky, Tails jokingly asks her if she’s still salty about Sonic not being there.
• Shout-Out:
  • Episodes 7 and 16 are titled "Between Two Hedgehogs", which has Tails add a pair of hedges to his set. Episode 7 features Sonic and Shadow primarily ribbing, insulting, or threatening each other, while Episode 16 has Silver and Amy discussing the nature of Time Travel in their universe. These are nods to Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis, which uses this exact setup (but with ferns instead of hedges, obviously).
  • In Episode 9, when Knuckles is asked to tell a scary story, he quotes Hemingway's Six-Word Story, "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn." Unfortunately, Knuckles ends up adding a punchline to the story by noting it's because the baby was a ghost and ghosts have no feet, which is why the shoes were never worn.
  • Episode 12 has Sonic mention a time when Tails hacked War Divers to give them infinite respawns.
• Slice of Life: Has shades of this, as many of the episodes center around Tails hosting casual gatherings of the cast hanging out between their various adventures, even including Rouge, Shadow, and Eggman.
• Special Guest: Each episode of the show features someone besides Tails to host the Q-and-A period or talk on the show.
  • The first episode has Sonic, talking via a call. Sonic also briefly crashes the show in the third episode.
  • Orbot is Tails' guest for the second episode, with Eggman taking over the show midway through.
  • Knuckles is Tails' third guest, who talks to the fox via a communication device that was sent to the island.
  • Amy is the special guest of Episode 4, who also talks to the fox via a communication device from a Chao Garden.
  • Episode 5 has Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles joining Tails as they reminisce on past adventures.
  • Episode 6 has Team Sonic again (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy), who are also joined by Team Dark (Shadow, Rouge, and E-123 Omega). Shadow takes off once he realizes that he was tricked into coming on as a guest for the gift exchange, leaving Rouge and Omega behind. After everyone else leaves, Dr. Eggman and Orbot literally drop in to crash the show, becoming impromptu special guests.
  • Episode 7 has Sonic again, with Shadow being the episode's guest and actually sticking around for the whole thing.
  • Episode 8 has Amy Rose being the special guest, focused on her fortune telling and Fortune Cards. After she reads Tails' fortune about an impending negative change, Eggman crashes the stream and makes himself an impromptu guest.
  • Episode 9 has Tails first joined by Rouge and Knuckles, with Shadow and Sonic showing up later.
  • Episode 10 has Sonic as the only in-person special guest, while Tails calls up Amy, Rouge, Knuckles, and Shadow, asking about their New Year's resolution. Orbot also tries to get a word in, but Tails hangs up on him before he can say his resolution.
  • Episode 11 features the first full appearance of Professor Victoria, along with Orbot arriving to annoy Tails as payback for hanging up on him in the last episode.
  • Episode 12 has Sonic joining Tails as they call up Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, and Shadow, the last of whom arrives in person to get payback for Sonic's prank phone call.
  • Episode 13 has Tails joined by Sonic again, followed by the surprise appearance of Jet as he crashes the show.
  • Episode 14 has Tangle and Whisper making their first full appearances in the show.
  • Episode 15 has Tails visiting a Chao Garden in Floral Forest Village, the latter being the hometown of Cream the Rabbit, so naturally the young rabbit is the episode's special guest. Though she has her attention split between attending the garden itself and providing information on the Chao as Tails' guest.
  • Episode 16 has Amy again, along with Silver making his debut in the show (to Amy's disappointment as she was expecting Sonic).
• Stealth Sequel:
  • In Episode 3's case, a stealth prequel. The episode ends with Tails telling Sonic that while he was tracing the Chaos Emeralds' energy signal, he came across a mysterious set of islands, and asks Sonic if he wants to check it out. It is implied that these islands are the Starfall Islands, which makes the episode a prequel to Sonic Frontiers, with Tails even asking Sonic if they can bring Amy along with them.
  • Following Episode 3's example, Episode 5 ends with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy remarking that the anniversary of their adventure on the Northstar Islands is coming up, making the episode a sequel to the events of Sonic Superstars. Amy even ponders if next time they could invite someone. Although she gets cut off before the end, it is all but stated she's talking about Trip the Sungazer, who makes a Heel–Face Turn during the game and joins them.
• Surveillance as the Plot Demands:
  • Tails usually has a cutscene, gameplay video, or something related on-hand that he will bring up when he's recounting his adventures with Sonic to illustrate his point or refer to a past event. How Tails got all that footage from the previous games, including one that was wiped from the timeline, will forever be a mystery.
  • Averted for dramatic purposes in Episode 11, where he's forced to admit that he doesn't have any footage of the events of Sonic Frontiers to prove who the Ancients were and what they became.
  • Episode 16 has Tails not have any footage or screenshots from Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), despite it being Silver's debut game, as the events of that particular entry were Ret-Gone from history, though Amy and Tails comment on there being a familiar feeling that they've met before somewhere.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Discussed in Episode 5, where Knuckles notes how similar Mighty and Ray are to Sonic and Tails, though he gets tongue-tied when Sonic points out the same can be applied to him.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Episode 9, Tails gets his friends to tell some scary stories for the Halloween Episode, something that Knuckles is unnerved by, as he's afraid of ghosts. Despite that, he tries to act tough during the episode, downplaying moments where he's scared by saying he's being considerate about the kids watching or that his scream of fright was a yawn.
• Tarot Troubles: In Episode 8, Amy reads Tails' fortune using her Fortune cards, and while she doesn't pull out a specific card, the card she gets represents a great change in fate, its real-world equivalent being the Tower from Tarot decks. When Tails asks if it means anything since it's upside down, she mentions it's a negative change. It's around this time when Eggman crashes in through Tails' roof to take over his livestream.
• Timey-Wimey Ball: Episode 16 features both Amy and Silver discussing the various different methods of Time Travel in the franchise, touching upon the Time Stones from Sonic the Hedgehog CD, Silver's own method of travelling to the past and back, the Time Eater from Sonic Generations, and the Phantom Ruby in both Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces, along with how they easily can change the past and affect Silver's future or the ways that time travel can affect things in the characters' Present Day.
• Touché: When Tails claims Orbot is biased in favor of Eggman, Orbot points out Tails' bias for Sonic. Tails responds with this.
• Tranquil Fury: Shadow clearly doesn't take kindly to Sonic prank phone calling him in Episode 12. He doesn't respond by yelling or attacking Sonic or Tails directly. He instead kicks the TailsTube monitor off-screen.
• The Un-Smile: Amy's face flashes with one of these in the Episode 6 gift exchange as Sonic replaces the photo of her in the heart-shaped picture frame with one of him and Tails having drawn a silly face on the back of Eggman's head.
• Verbal Backspace: The video description for Episode 3 has "Today we’re joined by Knuckles to talk about Soni—anything other than Sonic!" as Knuckles didn't want to talk about the blue hedgehog in the episode.
• Versus Character Splash: The one from Sonic Colors Ultimate pops up in Episode 4 when Metal Sonic is brought up.
• Visual Pun: In Episode 16, Amy was very annoyed about Sonic not being a guest for the episode. Later, when she gets snippy with Tails, Tails asks her if she’s still salty about Sonic’s absence, and pulls up a picture of a salt shaker with a lid shaped like Sonic’s head.
• Wham Shot: The story Tails tells during Scary Story Spooktacular has art that reveals exactly who the main character is. The greedy king licking his lips as he approaches the talisman and having the light of it reflect on his eyes reveals the whole thing is an origin story for King Boom Boo from Sonic Adventure 2 and explains why he looks different compared to the other ghosts in the pyramids Eggman set up shop in.
• Writing Around Trademarks: When Silver talks about the first time he met Sonic (at least the first one he remembers) he mentions Eggman Nega, but only refers to him as a villain using technology from the future.
• You Just Told Me: In a bit of a Call-Back to Sonic Adventure 2, after getting Eggman gets his fortune told by Amy (specifically how he found family and made positive connections in his life), Eggman brings up Sage, only to backpedal when he says he never said anything about family, only for Tails to point out that he just told them that he essentially considers her a part of his family.

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Thanks for troping, and we'll see you next time for more TailsTube!

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