TailsTube #11 - A Meeting of the Minds

TailsTube #11 - A Meeting of the Minds

Original Release Date: March 27th, 2025

I am now all caught up with the "Sonic the Hedgehog" virtual YouTuber series "TailsTube" and I have this to ask: Has this entire series been a way to soft-launch normal human beings as a regular part of the "Sonic the Hedgehog" universe again? The very first episode teased the mysterious Purple-Haired MILF and the fandom immediately went wild with speculation over what this could mean. After her name was revealed in episode 10 as "Professor Victoria," episode 11 has the character making her first proper appearance on the show. This occurs at the same time as "TailsTube" starts an arc of some sort devoted to Tails traveling the globe and seemingly revisiting the cities and countries introduced in "Sonic Unleashed." Divisive upon release in 2008, the cartoons and games have referenced the world presented in this game little since then. It would seem that enough time – seventeen years!!! – has passed that "Unleashed" is no longer controversial. Or at least not so controversial that it's been vanquished forever from canon, like Princess Elise and Soleanna. Considering Ian Flynn is now certified lore master of the official Sonic Sacred Timeline and he used the "Unleashed" version of Earth as the outline for the new globe in the post-reboot Archie "Sonic" comics, none of this is all that surprising. 

Truthfully, I would be surprised if Flynn and Tyson Hesse had been playing a calculated long game with "TailsTube." I suspect they probably had inklings of an idea, slipped Prof. Victoria into that first episode to test the waters, and worked backwards from there. Considering how cagey Sega has been about confirming certain elements as Official Dogma or not, at least up until recently, that strikes me as more likely. Now the $1.25 question: What do I, esteemed "Sonic" dweeb, think of all this? When the Post-Super Genesis Timeline was established in the old comic books, confirming that Sonic and all his freaky animal pals co-exist on a civilized Earth not too dissimilar to our own with human beings, I was hostile to the idea. I haaaaated it, truth be told. Many years have passed since then and I now believe that my dislike for this idea was based largely in my devotion to the previously established Archie "Sonic" canon. I was attached to the idea that Mobius was our modern day Earth in the far future, with humanity having splintered off into hidden conclaves of homo sapiens and four-fingered "Overlanders" who had conceded dominance of the planet to the furries decades before in a global war. Suddenly shifting to the new status quo of "Nah, Sonic and friends peacefully coexist with regular-ass people now and it's always been this way actually" gave me whiplash. 

I still prefer the Classic Archie continuity set-up. Or the idea presented in the live action movies and "Sonic X," where Sonic and friends are motherfucking aliens from another world all together who have gotten Isekai'd to our planet. The idea that Sonic and his race of cartoon animal people could simply peacefully live alongside we imperialism prone humans – that Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik is the first person ever to try and displace, enslave, or otherwise exploit the Happy Tree Friends in thousands of years – strikes me as implausible. Nevertheless, historical evidence suggests that it really do be like that. The Japanese game manuals for the original Genesis platformers confirm that Sonic has always lived on South Island, that his people have always stuck to these archipelagos, and that Eggman is the first person to try invading them. That would certainly explain why the hell there was suddenly whole cities of normal people in "Sonic Adventure," which seemed like a massive reboot at the time. Sega barely gave a shit about world-building for the first twenty years of the franchise. The simplistic goals of 16-bit platformers didn't necessitate it. However, there have been vague hints that it has always been this way. In fact, the tie-in media like "Sonic the Animation," the OVA kind of, and even "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog" a little bit have always suggested this state of affairs. It's really only "SatAM," "Underground," and the comic books that have gone with the idea of "Mobius" being a post-apocalyptic Earth or alien world of some sort. 

My point here is: Deciding "Sonic Unleashed" was an accurate depiction of the lay-out and function of the blue hedgehog's world in the Archie comic book series, after many years of that most certainly not being the case, annoyed me. Deciding the same is true for the video game universe – which had never depicted a wider world much at all but usually generalized it to be this way – is fine. Truthfully, this is another example of Ian Flynn doing what he's always done. He takes a bunch of unconnected details left lying around by thirty years of stories and he assembles them into some sort of logical whole. It still bugs me that we've seen very little of how these two societies interact, how they function, or what their mutual histories are. However, I'm willing to accept this as the status quo of the games and comics going forth. Sonic and all the characters we care about live on the islands. On the continents, there is a human society similar to our own – and clearly inspired by various cultures around the globe – but ultimately distinct in its histories, cities, and backgrounds. Alright, understood. Duly noted. Let us move on now. 

I swear I never write these "TailsTube" reviews with the intention of taking far too many paragraphs before I actually discuss the episode. (Okay, except those times I did.) Anyway! "A Meeting of the Minds" has Tails and his live-stream making their first stop-off in Spagonia, that Mediterranean inspired nation noted for its art and history. At the University, Tails meets with Professor Victoria, a published author, archeologist, and world renowned historian. Tails is a fan and is stunned to hear that Torii, as she likes to be called, is familiar with his adventures as well. Their conversation about the ancient cultures of this world, and the various mysterious ruins they left behind, are repeatedly interrupted by Orbot. The machine tagged along as revenge for Tails snubbing him on New Year's Eve. He proceeds to spoil every bit of information Tails has to share with the professor about what he knows of these civilizations, not that he bothered to bring along any hard proof of his claims anyway. 

Apparently Professor Victoria had an oblique appearance in "Shadow Generations," as the mysterious individual known only as "T." responsible for compiling Gerald Robotnik's journal pages. (Which exist as collectable items during gameplay.) However, this remains her sole appearance as anything other than a static image. So what do I think of her? Her design is eye-catching enough. I like the way her bouncy purple hair frames her face. I don't know what's up with the Stillsuit looking outfit she has on. Maybe that's standard issue at Spagonia University. The character is voiced by Crystal Lee, a relative newcomer to voice acting who has mostly worked in video games. Lee seems best known for Chinese gambling schemes/waifu generators like "Genshin Impact," "Goddess of Victory: Nikke" and "Zenless Zone Zero." (Though she did voice Cheetah in a random "Justice League" cartoon, a character who is coincidentally also an archeologist.) Lee adopts your standard dignified, refined older woman voice that only hints at the Bayonetta energy fans are going to graft onto Professor Victoria anyway. Within the narrative of this episode, "Torii" mostly exists as the straight woman to Orbot's antics, here to gasp in disbelief at the outrageous things the machine suggests and be skeptical/mildly annoyed by the whole situation. I suppose this hints at a slight stuffy, formal quality to the character – suitable to an academic – or at least a commitment to the hard sciences. Otherwise, we don't get much of a peek at her personality here. Maybe we'll learn more about her actual opinions and shit when we find out if she has a first/last name or not. 

Overall, "A Meeting of the Minds" is an amusing idea for a little four minute bit of animation. The central joke here is easily predicted. Tails is going to have his dreams and hopes of impressing someone he idolizes smashed and ruined by Orbot, who acts as if he's simply being a dunderhead but is actually being malicious. Every time Victoria references a great historical mystery of the planet's distant past, Orbot bluntly and simplistically reveals the truth about these civilizations as revealed in past "Sonic" games. Tails begrudgingly agrees that the robot's statements are basically true, Torii asks if he has any hard proof for these claims, and Tails bashfully admits he doesn't. As Orbot so amusingly puts it, Tails is asking the professor to "take his word for it, bro." The episode essentially repeats this structure until Torri has had enough and discreetly dismisses herself, leaving Tails' ego in shambles. Stretched over, say, a ten minute episode, this joke might have gotten old but it's more than enough to support a four-minute long YouTube thing. Also, I like Orbot spamming the screen with egotistic art of himself the one time Tails does present video evidence of his crazy claims about history. 

"TailsTube" is returning to its stated purpose here, of expanding on the franchise's backstory and recounting past events for anyone who might have missed them. "A Meeting of the Minds" drops spoilers for "Sonic Frontiers" and "Unleashed." It tells us who the Ancients were, why they came to Earth, what happened to them, and specifies their links to the Chao. The so-called Gaian race is detailed a little less but Orbot sarcastically brings up the climax of "Unleashed," where all the Gaia Temples Mega-Zord-ed into a giant robot to fight off the eldritch abomination living inside the planet. The Rule of Three would dictate that the episode would throw in a third example but I guess the "Sonic" franchise doesn't have any other Ancient Aliens/Indiana Jones shit in its background, at least not until whatever Flynn is building towards with the echidnas is finally revealed. (Hinted at by a diagram of the echidnan idol Knuckles found in the comics recently being on the blackboard behind Torri, alongside a bunch of other ancient artifacts from previous games.) Maybe, in the future, we'll find out that Wisps built the Great Wall of China or something. 

My main takeaway from this is twofold. First off, you're telling me that nobody noticed the Gaia Colossus forming and fighting off Dark Gaia at the end of "Unleashed?" The academic world not knowing about the "Frontiers" reveal makes sense, what with that game happening on a secluded island. That there was no news reports or shaky handheld camera footage of the kaiju fight that went down right before the planet put itself back together? I guess people where a bit preoccupied but you'd think Torri would not be so skeptical of Tails/Orbot mentioning a major global event. The academic world not knowing about the "Frontiers" reveal makes sense, what with that game happening on a secluded island... Though you're telling me that Sonic and Tails don't tell anyone about the shit they see on their adventures? Furthermore, Tails didn't think to bring any evidence of his wild claims along with him to his live interview with the historian? Even if Orbot hadn't show up, "You got a believe me, bro" does, in fact, seem to be the little fox's entire plan on this one. I know I'm probably (definitely) overthinking the joke here, as usual. You'd think Tails would have at least snapped more than one video with his little iPad accessory during these two adventures or whatever. 

Also, I like the photograph Orbot shows of Cubot dressing up as Sonic and Eggman laughing at it. Is the little robotic lackey going to be the constant thorn in Tails' side throughout this entire road trip? That might get old fast. Or maybe not, considering we have only gotten three or four "TailsTubes" in the past years. Previously, the first episode of the year drops sometime in the spring with the second coming around summer, so I guess we can expect episode 12 in July or August. I can't imagine Professor Victoria having that big of a role in any future games or comics. (Unless the frequent fan theory that Victoria is actually her first name, with her last name being Robotnik, is proven true.) However, it would be nice to see her again, if only because I'm curious about what her whole deal is. Tails says he wants to head somewhere more "low-key" next time. Not Angel Island or Mertopia, presumably. Aren't you glad I took three months to review all of these? [7/10]