Titular character | Law enforcement | Reptile traffickers | The Motorvators | Stagart Studios | Other characters
Miles Malory "Milo" Rabberts
The one it's all about.
"What do they need me for, when they have Gary Roestrom? Everybody wants to keep their share of the trough, and they're not going to let it go that easy…"
The rabbit protagonist of The Sound Designer - an underpaid, downtrodden production sound editor who finds himself mired in a federal case regarding the sudden disappearance of wild reptiles. This uncanny situation kickstarts not only an adventure he wasn't bargaining to be a part of, but also a journey of self-discovery and enlightenment.
WARNING: All spoilers are unmarked. If you haven't read the story, continue reading at your own discretion.
- Accentuate the Negative: Very prone to this in the early chapters, so much so that he rejects the possibility of getting promoted and believes the risk isn’t worth it. He gradually gets better.
- Badass Adorable: As it turns out, Milo being a cute rabbit is no reason to underestimate him. Xander found this out the hard way when they get into a fight.
- Berserk Button: Milo's is hypocrisy and taking advantage of others. In his opinion, that's a line no decent individual should cross.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Yes, Milo is exceedingly polite and friendly, and doesn't have a proclivity towards violence. Despite this, he's friends with a biker gang and eventually reveals that he's proficient in Tae Kwon Doe, albeit only using it once in self defense.
- Big Guy, Little Guy: Milo is the Little Guy to Steve’s Big Guy.
- Character Tics: Frequently rubs his nape with his hand, or his eyebrows with his fingers when he’s nervous or shy. Like any other rabbit, he also has Expressive Ears.
- Character Title: The titular Sound Designer, whose job and happenstance places him in the center of a crime conspiracy.
- The first chapter that introduces him is simply his name as well.
- Combat Pragmatist: Given that he's significantly outclassed by Xander in terms of size, Milo maneuvers him around to get a good shot at his collar bone - the weakest part of his skeleton - and kicks him there to take him out of the fight.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: With Judy, in spades. Judy is primarily hindered by impulsiveness and lack of foresight when approaching problems; conversely, Milo is too risk-averse to make an important decision and lacks confidence to come out of his comfort zone. While Judy is vigorous and skittish, Milo is calm and thoughtful. While Judy is easy-going and optimistic, Milo is neurotic and pessimistic.
- Cool Bike: A blue cruiser, which he admits he prefers for its manuverability over cars. The bike becomes a key plot point when cams catch it at the scene of a crime.
- Crazy-Prepared: He brought 10 hard drives with him to the Outback Island recording trip, just so that he could have as many backups as possible. Melanie, and later Xander both find this strange. It later turns out he has even more stashed away.
- Cute Bruiser: Being a rabbit (a handsome one, at that) and skilled enough to hold his ground in a fight against a significantly larger opponent, he qualifies.
- The Cynic: Milo doubts his own ability, finds it hard to relate to someone as chipper as Jimmy Frost, and even notes that 'last time he was optimistic, he got hurt'. As the story goes on he begins to develop away from this, finding his confidence and appreciating his simple life a little more.
- Determinator: As chapter 13 shows, Milo powers through Wallace Beanie toying with him and sets his mind to completing his sound effects library at all costs.
- The '80s: If his stack of vinyl and CDs is any indication, he loves 1980s pop music.
- The Everyman: Problems at work? Check. A personality flaw messing with his life? Check. Gets thrown into an uncanny situation? Check.
- Extreme Doormat: Deconstructed and Subverted. While he flat-out ignored Xander in the opening chapter and didn’t bother calling him out for his misdemeanor, Milo finally snaps during the board meeting when the cat decides to co-opt the only chance Milo would have at getting a promotion deal. He points out his hypocrisy, tells him what he wants to do and that he doesn’t care what Xander thinks about it – this is the first time the buck shows genuine confidence.
- Fatal Flaw: Stubbornness. It’s very difficult to shift him from a carefully considered view, even though it’s fundamentally wrong. Most of the time, it’s he who proves himself wrong in the end, apologizing to those he wrongfully scoffed at.
- The Fatalist: In the first few chapters, Milo's risk-aversion leads him to believe that he isn’t meant to do sound effects editing (despite wanting greatly to ascend to this position) and that by inaction, he’ll stay safe from the harm that failure brings. He snaps out of this contradictory presupposition later on, when he sources his confidence to himself and his own capabilities, rather than what others think of him.
- Fat Suit: Adorns one as part of his Fat Bastard cover for the Frankie sting. Amusingly, he keeps this on even during his argument with Judy over their respective futures.
- Fiery Redhead: Inverted. He has red fur, but he's very mild-mannered, patient, tactful and considerate.
- Furry Reminder: Milo's job as a Sound Designer heavily involves his powerful ears, which also aid him in identifying the initial crime he overhears.
- Milo makes frequent reference to 'binkying' when happy, a real motion rabbits are known for to express joy.
- Grew a Spine: He begins the story stuck in the same spot in life, and frequently has his opportunities snatched away by rival coworker Xander. However, after a spat with Judy, he starts to become genuinely confident and stands up for himself when pushed too far by Xander.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: His Motorvator jacket radiates this trope.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Steve; they've been neighbors, classmates and eventually roommates, but they were always one another's best friend.
- Hidden Depths: He's reasonably well-versed in martial arts, thanks to Rick's training.
- Humble Hero: He really, really doesn’t care about how much praise or recognition he’ll get for anything he does – he just wants to have it done, and hope it makes people happy.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: As pictured, he has deep blue eyes that symbolize both his calm nature and his figurative “blues” in the early part of the story.
- Interspecies Friendship: Milo's life-long best friend, Steve, is a wildebeest. Besides, a lot of the Motorvators are anything but rabbits, and his closest colleague at work, Melanie, is a giraffe.
- A Lizard Named "Liz": A rabbit with the last name "Rabberts".
- Mirror Character: To Judy Hopps, which he becomes more aware of as the story goes on. Both are rabbits in different positions in life, but while Judy worked hard to get where she wanted to in life, Milo has remained stagnant out of fear of not being good enough. When Judy takes note of this and is accused of only getting her job through diversity hiring, she grows angry and points it out.
- Mr. Fanservice: He gets two shirtless scenes and is described as a tall, well-built buck rabbit.
- Nervous Wreck: Good Lord, is he ever? When we first meet him, he is a risk-averse, neurotic, stubborn and pessimistic worrywart who is afraid of both voicing his desires and of being rejected. It takes quite a while for him to snap out of it. The first time he shows genuine confidence, he's so overwhelmed that he feels physically ill. The second time he undergoes a small freak-out when his adrenaline crashes after the fight with Xander.
- Never My Fault: There’s a lot of self-serving bias involved when Milo states that struggle is in vain with regards to work, because he firmly believes that it’s the rest of the world that’s pitted against his dreams, instead of trying to adjust himself. With a fair share of persuasion, he drops this attitude.
- Nice Guy: Well-behaved, gentlemanly, sincere, humble and compassionate, Milo is a bundle of goodness through-and-through. The next time he sees Judy after the Tundratown sting, being a changed man, he immediately apologizes to her for insulting her.
- Not So Above It All: Later interactions show that there's much more to Milo than his meek, submissive exterior; as he begins to shed it, he's completely capable of having leisurely conversations with his friends. He even warms up to Judy when it occurs to him that she really cares about his well-being.
- Odd Friendship: It's eventually revealed that Milo is close family friends with the Motorvators, a testosterone-laden biker gang operating out of a local pub. He's particularly good friends with their leader, Otis, who he respects for being down to earth despite his size and power.
- Passed-Over Promotion: A recurring one. His parents chew him out for never trying for anything above his level, but it's implied his coworkers are making sure he never gets a promotion they might be able to benefit from instead.
- Performance Anxiety: Subverted; he's only ever nervous about stepping up and asking for a promotion shot while talking to his friends. He does so anyway with little hesitation.
- Platonic Life-Partners: Seems to have a very close relationship with Melanie, albeit with (understandably) no romantic tension.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: He remarks that the romantic bond between a female hyena and a female rat is “disgusting, but okay”.
- "Rear Window" Witness: The inciting event of the story, his witnessing of a pet store robbery that puts him in the ZPD's sights.
- Righteous Rabbit: Becomes one both when he gets involved in the Clark Halibuts sting and when he summons up the strength to stand up for himself at work.
- Serious Business: With only slight exaggeration from reality, Milo and Xander both treat their jobs like a time honored tradition that only one man can take the mantle of. Their rivalry in the workplace is mostly a result of Xander's ugly personality, but Milo's own self doubts shows he partially agrees with the idea that sound design is nothing to be trifled with.
- Shout-Out: His biker club membership, nickname and license plate all owe their origins to a single Michael Jackson music video.
- Socially Awkward Hero: Milo's completely taken aback when he has his first promotion deal, and reacts with clumsy giddiness.
- Stepford Smiler: In the early chapters, he has a proclivity for putting on a smile to hide his visceral discomfort. When he becomes comfortable being assertive, he smiles and laughs genuinely and more openly.
- Straight Man and Wise Guy: The Straight Man to Steve’s Wise Guy. He’s calmer, more eloquent and patient.
- Super-Hearing: Both as a rabbit and as a sound designer, he has exceptionally good hearing.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Par for the course when he's working with Melanie, a giraffe.
- Took a Level in Badass: Standing up to Xander in a scathing Shut Up, Hannibal! when the latter tries to sabotage his shot at a promotion deal, showing surprising assertiveness, certainly counts as this. He takes another one when he beats Xander in a fight after the aforementioned cat attacks him, showing that he's starting to embrace his confidence.
- Tuft of Head Fur: He has a small patch of ruffled fur on his head.
- Unlucky Everydude: Milo subverts this trope: early on, he’s really insecure about his lack of luck, and nothing seems to be going his way. It’s when he realizes most of that lack of luck is only in his head, does he manage to achieve his dreams.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Milo eventually confides in Otis that what he really wants is for his father to be proud of him, especially hard these days now that he has to support them financially and impress them with his life choices. Up until the story starts, he's not particularly good at either.
