
— Description, Sonic Unleashed[1]

The Thunder Spinner (スパナ Spana?), also known as the Electro Spinner[2] (スパナ Spana?), is an enemy in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It is a mass-produced, bat-based Badnik model created by Dr. Eggman, and a variant of the Spinner. These robots can both fly and discharge an electrical shield to protect themselves.


As with other Spinners, they mostly resemble bats, while their design details vary between games. In Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut, Electro Spinners are nearly identical to Bladed Spinners. They have a hemisphere-shaped purple head with pointy yellow ears and menacing black and cyan eyes with white sclera. Below their head they have a conical frustum-shaped gray body, and on the bottom of it they have two cylinder-shape attachments. On the bottom and the upper edge of their body they have a line of black and yellow hazard stripes. Between their head and body, Electro Spinners have a pair of giant hook-like blades spinning around them like a helicopter rotor.



In Sonic Lost World, the Thunder Spinner models retained the same appearance as their model design from Sonic Generations, only with the addition of a more "cartoon"-stylized design, along with cartoon eyes.

Game appearances

Sonic Adventure

These enemies made their appearance in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut, where they were officially known as Electro Spinners.[2] They appear in the following Action Stages for each character:

Character Action Stage
Sonic Speed Highway, Sky Deck, Final Egg
Knuckles Speed Highway, Casinopolis, Sky Deck


Sonic Unleashed

In both the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 version and Wii/PlayStation 2 version of Sonic Unleashed, the Electro Spinners were renamed Thunder Spinners in the in-game English text, but retained their original name Spana (スパナ?) in the Japanese text. They also received a more modernized and less-menacing design. Sonic Unleashed was also where Thunder Spinners received a turquoise color scheme to distinguish them from Spinners. This color scheme would remain with them in subsequent games.

In Sonic Unleashed, Thunder Spinners can only be encountered in the game's daytime Action Stages/Stages. In gameplay, Thunder Spinners retain the same attack patterns they had in Sonic Adventure. When taking damage from the Thunder Spinner's electrical field, Sonic will briefly be paralyzed in mid-air. However, the player will not lose a life when touching the electrical field when the player has no Rings.

Sonic Colors

Coloursds electro

Thunder Spinners made another appearance in both the Wii version and Nintendo DS version of Sonic Colors. In this game, Thunder Spinners received a new redesign, which resembles a hybrid of their Sonic Adventure and Sonic Unleashed designs. In gameplay, they retain the same attack patterns as they had in the previous games. In the Wii version, they only appear in Planet Wisp and Starlight Carnival.

In the official BradyGames guide, they are referred to as "Spanners", which is a possible approximation of their original Japanese name.

Sonic Generations

Thunder Spinners reappeared in the console/PC version of Sonic Generations. In this game, they have the same design from Sonic Colors. They appear in Speed Highway, Seaside Hill and Rooftop Run. Like in the previous games, Thunder Spinners retain the same attack patterns they had in Sonic Adventure.

Sonic Lost World

Thunder Spinners reappear on the Nintendo 3DS version of Sonic Lost World. They appear throughout most of the stages, namely in Windy Hill, Tropical Coast, Frozen Factory, Silent Forest, and Sky Road. They also retain their attack pattern from the previous games they appeared in.

Powers and abilities



Concept artwork





  1. Description of the Thunder Spinners from the Bestiary, Eggman's Machinery, entry 016/030, in the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 version of Sonic Unleashed.
Navigation Templates to Thunder Spinner




