Tails' Lab

Tails' Lab^[1] (テイルスラボ^[2], Teirusu Rabo^?), also known as Tails' House^[3] (テイルスハウス^[4], Teirusu Hausu^?), Tails' workshop^[5] (テイルスの工房^[6], Teirusu no kōbō^?) or simply the workshop^[7] (研究室^[8], Kenkyūshitsu^?, lit. "Laboratory"), is a location that appears in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It is Miles "Tails" Prower's basic operating location which he uses to construct his inventions. It also functions as his second home, where he usually can be found hard at work. In most games, the workshop's main purpose is to store the Tornado, a plane owned by Sonic but typically piloted and maintained by Tails.

Game appearances

Tails Adventure

The first time Tails had an operating location is in Tails Adventure, where it is named Tails' House^[3] (テイルスハウス^[4], Teirusu Hausu^?). It serves as Tails' base and vacation home on the south shore of Cocoa Island. The Japanese instruction manual states the game taking place before Tails met Sonic in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 as the house could be his temporal living place. However, the English instruction manual has its own variation, stating the game as taking place after Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and describing Tails being on vacation at his favorite holiday spot (dubbing it "Tails Island"). It is a small house with a hammock being set on the yard. The house has two main rooms for different purposes.

During Tails Adventure, Tails' house operates as a hub for swapping equipment and other mundane affairs, but not as a full playable stage. There also is the research lab where the Sea Fox is stored and is the place where the player can equip it.

Sonic the Fighters

The second time, a different operating lab is only seen at the intro demo and preclude scene of the Death Egg II fights in Sonic the Fighters, where it is located on the beach of an undisclosed tropical island. It is large grey house with yellow roof with large satellite dish on it, which can be utilized to get signals from the space. It has the large door of round shaped Tails' double-tail symbol on it. The Tornado is seen parked right next to the lab. The front yard has round launch area.

The inside of the lab is actually a large storage area and launchpad for the Lunar Fox. There are seen boxes and large computer table connected to the satellite on the roof. The upper layer leads to the cockpit of Lunar Fox. In the game, Sonic and Tails notices the terror of Death Egg II and tries to get eight Chaos Emeralds to power source of Lunar Fox. After for doing that, Lunar Fox is then moved to the outside to the round launch state and thus launched to the Death Egg II.

Sonic Adventure

A similar workshop owned by Tails is seen in Sonic Adventure, this time located at the Mystic Ruins, close to the Angel Island (which is located in the air before landing) and a wooden train station tower, that leads to Station Square. It is very similar to the one from Sonic the Fighters with the exception of it its size and having a separate small apartment on the top. It is seen that the workshop is powered with hydro power, as the generator is rotating next to the workshop. The player is only able to go to the small hall, where the first Tornado is always parked.

During the game, Sonic and Tails have to collect a crystal item on a small staircase of the workshop's door to access Windy Valley. As Eggman gets away with the Egg Carrier, after getting the fourth Chaos Emerald, Tails engages the airfield on the peninsula to launch the Tornado into the air. The small walking path disappears and the palm trees get moved horizontally while the airfield rises from below. After Sky Chase becomes a failure with the Tornado getting destroyed and the duo becoming separated, Tails got another Chaos Emerald, proceeding to build another Tornado at the workshop. Tails uses a separate launch tunnel for this new Tornado. It is located underground, leading out from beneath the waterfall near the workshop.

Sonic Battle

Main article: Tails' Lab (Sonic Battle)

In Sonic Battle, Tails has two separate houses located in Emerald Town with his residing place being Tails' House in the center of the town and separate Tails' Lab (テイルスラボ, Teirusu Rabo^?) located in the south portion. In Sonic's story, Tails took Emerl to his lab after Sonic found him in the beach. Later, as Sonic gets to Tails' Lab, Phi approaches him on the spot. After getting defeated by Sonic, Tails informs him that a robot that looks like Emerl has been spotted on the news, which Sonic states that he already fought him. While also explaining that Emerl possess amazing technology inside it, they begin testing his abilities in the arena. Later on, Knuckles heads to the Tails' Lab to find Emerl to help him reach his full potential.^[9] Around there, he spots a news report on television about a mysterious robot appearing in Night Babylon as Knuckles and Emerl head to the city. They later come back to the Tails' Lab to present a shard of Chaos Emerald to Tails before heading back to train in the Emerald Town's beach.

Amy and Emerl are later seen in Tails' Lab, as they bring all Emerald shards to create the first Chaos Emerald and increase Emerl's Skill Points. During the Shadow story, Emerl returns to Tails' Lab to practice with Tails as he promised to Shadow.^[10] After the fight, Tails no longer has anything to teach Emerl.

Tails' Lab in Sonic Battle also appears as the battle area when Emerl is chosen to train with him in the Story Mode. It also has a unique Virtual Training mode to truly test the Gizoid's abilities. The arena is almost entirely open, with only a few cylinders in the corners.

Sonic Rush

Tails' workshop is seen briefly in Sonic Rush, where it is located to the west of Water Palace in Sonic's story. In this game, it appears to the Zone Map after clearing the previously mentioned Stage of the game to provide one dialogue cutscene and after that, it becomes unable to be returned to. Based on its icon, the workshop has its appearance based on the one from Sonic Adventure. During the game's story, Sonic and Tails head to the workshop,^[7] where they discover the tear in the space-time continuum.^[11]

Other game appearances

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

Tails' Workshop is also seen in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood as it functions as the team's base for the first four chapters. In the north area of Central City, it serves as a hangar for the Tornado.

In the game, the workshop serves as the team's first stronghold. Here, it serves as a rest stop so that the team can rest and fully replenish their HP and PP after a battle and allows the player to select their party's characters upon leaving. In the game, there are other strongholds that also serve this purpose.

Sonic Lost World

Tails' Lab reappears in the Nintendo 3DS version of Sonic Lost World to the left of Windy Hill on the World Map. After Sonic collects enough Materials from the Zones, Tails can build items and RC vehicles that can be used in-game. The Lab also allows the player to change the game's settings, listen to music (during which Tails will subtly dance to whatever's playing), re-watch cutscenes, and play in the various multiplayer modes. Notably, Sonic can enter the lab while on the Hard Mode map, although this does not change anything.

The lab itself can be upgraded through the use of Material up to four times. Each upgrade adds additional decorations to the interior and also unlocks more RC vehicles. Once the lab reaches Level Three, RC vehicles can be sent to the Wii U version of the game, to be controlled by a second player. In the Wii U version, the RC vehicles can assist Sonic in co-op mode by collecting Rings and other items while he progresses through the stage.

Sonic Runners

In Sonic Runners, the appearance of Tails' Lab is depicted directly from Sonic Adventure. After receiving broken Chaos Emerald detector from Cubot, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles head to the Tails' Lab, where they were encountered by Dr. Eggman.^[12] Shortly after Eggman's defeat, Tails fixed the detector in his lab, as Sonic and his friends begin hunting the Chaos Emeralds.^[13]

Sonic Speed Simulator

In Sonic Speed Simulator, Tails' Lab was introduced around the version 1.13 update and it is located on the left near close to the circular market place and the tunnel entrance of Chemical Plant in Green Hill. The appearance of the lab is taken straight from Sonic the Fighters with the inclusion of similar airfield on a rock promontory from Sonic Adventure and additional air traffic control tower behind the lab. The Tornado is also found parked in front of the lab along with Giant Ring entrance to the Tornado Assault right next to it.

Sonic the Hedgehog Level Pack (LEGO Dimensions)

The Sonic the Hedgehog Level Pack in LEGO Dimensions features a Tails' Lab area within the adventure world.

In other media

Animation

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie

In Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, Tails' lab is the welling place of Sonic and Tails on one of the floating islands of the Land of the Sky. The island has ruins of a crashed Boeing 747 and USS Enterprise, that has a workshop inside, where Tails works. It is seen to have a satellite to collect radio signals.

Sonic X

Main article: Tails' Workshop (Sonic X)

In the Sonic X anime series, Tails established his own workshop at Mystic Ruins after the second Chaos Control occurred. Later, the workshop was sent to Sonic's world. After defeating the Metarex, Tails kept the pot in which the seed left behind by Cosmo grew from in his workshop.

Sonic Boom

Main article: Tails' Workshop (Sonic Boom)

In the Sonic Boom franchise, Tails has his own workshop located on Seaside Island, right next to his home. It looks like a huge tool shed. Inside it, Tails stores his various inventions, as well as his plane. The workshop is also equipped with a special defense system for dealing with uninvited guests.

In Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal, Tails' Workshop is one of the locations on Seaside Coast's world map. The player assemble Blueprints here to unlock new upgrades. Similarly, in Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice, in Tails' Workshop, the player can help Knuckles assemble Trading Cards in order to unlock new tracks on Thunder Island.

Sonic Prime

This section requires an expansion.

In the Sonic Prime television series, Tails' Lab appears as part of Green Hill. Tails is found residing in the workshop as some sort of home, and a base for his work. During the episode, Sonic visits the workshop to find Tails ask him about what Eggman was doing at the time, with Tails explaining the Speed Amplifier on Sonic, only for Rouge to break in through the open door. Once they come to an agreement to check things out, they exit the workshop to find Amy and Knuckles. The workshop is presumably destroyed when Sonic broke the Paradox Prism, although continues to make cameos through Sonic's memories.

Books and comics

Archie Comics

In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics, Tails' workshop on Cocoa Island appeared. After discovering Cocoa Island, Tails dealt with Sonic's year-long absence by building his workshop on the island, amongst other things. Tails later returned to his workshop when he took Antoine and Bunnie on their honeymoon to Cocoa Island. There, he built T-Pup before the Battle Bird Armada attacked. After dealing with the armada, Tails and allies would celebrate in the workshop.^{[14][15][16][17]}

Trivia

• In Tails' Workshop in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, by the window there is a pot with a sprout inside it. It is possible that this is a reference to the seed Sonic found when Cosmo sacrificed herself in the Sonic X anime series.
  • In an artwork for Sonic Channel in 2021 by Yui Karasuno, in the background of Tails' lab is a similar pot with a sprout inside it.
• In the Nintendo 3DS version of Sonic Lost World, Tails is absent from the lab menu after being captured by the Deadly Six, though this does not affect crafting upgrades at all.
• In Lego Dimensions, Tails' Lab is located in Green Hill Zone at the beginning of the story with its appearance directly based on one from Sonic the Fighters. Sonic heads back to Tails' Lab with Dr. Eggman already reaching there and kidnapping Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, and Big in an attempt to demand Sonic give up the last Chaos Emerald. Tails' Lab is also found in the game's Adventure World.
• In Sonic Adventure, the palm trees alongside the workshop's airstrip are designed to bend outwards to allow for takeoff, as does the airstrip at Thorndyke Mansion in Sonic X. This is likely a reference to the television show Thunderbirds and the launch sequence of Thunderbird 2 which had the same feature.

See also

• Research facility

References