Tails (Sonic the Hedgehog)

Miles "Tails" Prower is a character created by the Japanese game designer Yasushi Yamaguchi. He is a major character in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Tails is an anthropomorphic fox cub with two tails (hence his nickname) who serves as one of Sonic's main sidekicks. His full name, Miles Prower, is a pun on "miles per hour".

Tails first appeared in the 1992 video game Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Yamaguchi designed Tails as part of an internal Sega Technical Institute competition to create a character to serve as a sidekick to Sonic. He wanted to name the character Miles Prower, but Sega of America staff resisted. They suggested the name Tails along with a backstory to explain it, which convinced Yamaguchi to acquiesce. Sega compromised by presenting Miles Prower as the character's name and Tails as his nickname.

Tails is characterized as a good-natured mechanical genius and skilled pilot, possessing the ability to fly by spinning his tails similarly to the rotor blades on a helicopter rotor. Most media depicts him as having been bullied for his intelligence and twin tails until he befriended Sonic; he looks up to Sonic as a role model and desires to be like him. Outside the Sonic platform games, Tails has starred in Tails and the Music Maker (1994) for the Sega Pico, and Tails Adventure and Tails' Skypatrol (both 1995) for the Game Gear. Atsuki Murata and Ryō Hirohashi have voiced Tails in Japan, while Colleen O'Shaughnessey has provided his English voice since 2014. O'Shaughnessey reprised her role for the live-action film franchise distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Video game journalists consider Tails one of the most iconic video game sidekicks. His likeness has been featured in merchandise and most Sonic the Hedgehog adaptations, including comic books, television series, and films.