The most effective comic book heroes are usually those who've endured a great deal of pain or loss - and Tails actually went through more than Sonic the Hedgehog ever did in Archie Comics. This makes the twin-tailed fox a tragic hero, but not in the sense that most would expect.
During the early issues of Archie Comics' discontinued series, Tails had actually been prophesied to be the Chosen One for, as fans later learned, defeating the terrifying villain Mammoth Mogul. But before Tails could fulfill his destiny, readers would discover in issue #114 that the Tails who had been following Sonic for 20 installments (which spans months in Sonic's universe) was a fake. Mammoth Mogul, who'd been trapped in Knuckles' Master Emerald that powers the Floating Island, escaped and kidnapped the real Tails, forcing the poor sidekick to stay in his Turbo Tails form so he could suck the fox's energy from him to restore his own power.
Ironically, the psyche of the imposter was explored more so than the real Tails even though the latter had just been forced to endure such a long, torturous experience, as revealed in Sonic the Hedgehog #114 by writer Benny Lee, penciler Ron Lim, inkers Andrew Pepoy and Pam Eklund, letterer Jeff Powell and colorists Josh and Aimee Ray. Readers are immediately led to sympathize with the Tails they have no reason to think isn't real as the comic explores a fear festering inside the imposter's mind before he eventually goes out on his own adventure to find the truth. Although Sonic eventually joins him, the focus stays on his sidekick, especially when he learns he's a fake. It's actually quite terrifying as the Tails readers believed was real grapples with the concept that he's a "phony" as Sonic provides false hope to what inevitably transpires, leaving the hedgehog in emotional turmoil just as the real Tails awakens, completely oblivious to everything that happened.
This moment unfortunately perpetuates a longstanding tradition of dismissing Tails that continues on in the Sonic 2 movie and IDW Publishing comic book series when the twin-tailed fox obviously has the potential of being more than just a sidekick. Issue #114 definitely serves as the catalyst that started this unnecessary pattern. In fact, it's a disappointing foreshadowing to how the entire Chosen One story concludes later on whose legacy is further diminished unnecessarily after the fact. Tails does, in fact, defeat Mammoth Mogul, but the event is reduced to a side story. To add insult to injury, when Mammoth Mogul somehow survives the altercation, he is defeated, not by the Chosen One, but by a completely random character.
It's clear that the series' writers wanted to emphasize how the months-long experience affected Sonic the Hedgehog rather than Tails because he is the main character after all. Watching the Blue Blur having to comfort someone who he both knows is a phony and undoubtedly expects won't survive in the end by saying he's not fake and that everything will be okay when it won't is heart-wrenching. Sonic being forced to then push aside those feelings as the real Tails awakens so as to protect him from the pain further accentuates his suffering. It's masterful writing, but the trauma that Tails experienced and endured should not have been swept under the rug like it was, making Tails a true tragic hero - tragic because he's ignored in favor of Sonic the Hedgehog.