Chuck Thorndyke


 * For other uses of the term, see Chuck.

Chuck Thorndyke (チャック・ソーンダイク) is a character that appears in the anime series Sonic X and its comic series published by Archie Comics. He is an elderly scientist and inventor, as well as the paternal grandfather of Christopher Thorndyke.

New World Saga
The day after Chris rescued Sonic the Hedgehog from his pool, Chuck came across Sonic right after learning of the police pursuit Sonic was in with the Speed Team last night on the news. Thinking Sonic to be a robot, Chuck attempted to dissect him until Chris told him the truth. However, when Sonic learned from the news that Cream and Cheese had been rescued and taken to Area 99 to be studied by the military, Sonic set out to rescue them. Chuck stopped him however, knowing he could not simply break into Area 99 and back out like that: he needed to think things through.

Aided by Chuck and Chris, Sonic was able to breach the base, where he managed to rescue Cream and Cheese when the base suffered a blackout due to Tails' small microchip paper airplanes damaging the base's electrical systems. Upon escaping the base, Sonic, Cream, and Cheese were carried away by Tails in the Tornado 2. Back at Chris' house, Chuck was properly introduced to Tails, Cream and Cheese, and was impressed by the technology Tails had used for his microchip paper airplanes.

Chuck would later observe Tails' caretaking of the Tornado until he went out with Chris to search for Sonic. As time went on, Chuck also met Amy Rose after Sonic and co. recovered her. He also learned of how Sonic and his friends planned to get home to their world via Chaos Control by gathering the seven Chaos Emeralds. When one of these Emeralds was discovered at a construction site, Chuck allowed Chris to go and help Sonic get the emerald before Eggman could. After Chris and co. got back with the Emerald, Chuck would take it for safekeeping. Chuck soon after discovered that the Thorndyke family butler, Mister Tanaka, had learned of Sonic's friends, but was willing to keep it a secret from the family's chef and maid, Ella. However, after Cream, in anger, erupted Chris for thinking ill of his mother in front of Ella, Chuck helped let Ella in on how Sonic and his friends were living at the mansion.

Later, after learning that the Tornado 2 was unable to fight Eggman's E-90 Super Sweeper due to the biplane being no match for the giant flying robot, Chuck aided Tails in the creation of the X Tornado in his secret laboratory.

Later, upon learning that the second Chaos Emerald was found at the soon-to-be-demolished Diamond Stadium, Chuck was ecstatic about being in the stadium of his favorite baseball team. There, he chose to coach Sonic, Chris, and their friends when they played against Eggman's team of E-21 Ballios for the Emeralds. However, when Eggman lost the lead, he cheated to provide a chance for him to escape with at least one of the Emeralds. Thanks to Chuck, Sonic and his friends though, the team manager was convinced to move Diamond Stadium's turf to the new stadium and keep the groundskeeper as well to maintain it.

Back home, Chuck was with Cream and Cheese when a news report came on as the President announced that G.U.N. was to attack Eggman's headquarters. Chuck continued to watch the coverage on TV as the X Tornado appeared to assist G.U.N. with their attack, which ended with Sonic emerging victorious from Eggman's decimated fortress with both of the Chaos Emeralds that Eggman had acquired by that point.

Chaos Emerald Saga
When words came out that Sonic had been invited to attend a party at the White House and meet the President, Chuck went with Chris and Sonic's friends, whereas Sonic refused to go due to other obligations with Helen. When Chris became worried, Chuck tried to console him, only for Sonic to finally arrive with Helen on a commandeered G.U.N. helicopter. Afterwards, Chuck shared a laugh when Jerome Wise passed out from frustration when he discovered that the media he stalled until Sonic showed up were fast asleep.

For the most part, Chuck remained at home when Sonic, Chris, and the others went out to deal with Eggman or hunt for Chaos Emeralds. However, one day, he was called by his son Nelson, asking him and his friends to come to Filmdom City. Nelson planned on presenting a wedding anniversary ring he bought to Lindsey on the set of her latest movie. However, Chuck soon discovered that the ring was another Chaos Emerald, which had not adapted to the others yet, thereby causing it to become unstable when exposed to other Emeralds. When Nelson's plan fell apart after he tripped and caused the Emerald to become unstable, Chuck tries to intervene in the argument that erupted between his son and daughter-in-law, but both of them told him to stay out of it. Things avoided getting worse however when Eggman crashed the set in the Egg Fort II to claim the Emerald and sicced E-74 Weazo on the Thorndykes. Though E-74 was destroyed by Sonic and Knuckles, Eggman got away with the Emerald. Chuck, however, was just satisfied to see his grandson, son, and daughter-in-law gain a newfound love for each other, and celebrated Nelson and Lindsey's anniversary with everyone else.

When Sonic went on a rampant run he could not stop, Chuck came up with several inventions meant to stop Sonic in his tracks, but all of them failed.

One day, Chuck discovered that the Chaos Emeralds he and his friends had gathered were gone and a note from Chris that said that he had taken the Emeralds to help Sonic and co. get home. Learning soon after that Chris had been taken prisoner by Eggman, along with the Chaos Emeralds that Sonic and his friends had collected, Chuck set out with Tails, Amy, Cream, and Cheese in the X Tornado to try and rescue Chris, but the Egg Fort II, upon transforming into the E-99 Eggsterminator, proved to be too dangerous for Tails to get close enough to engage it. However, Sonic, upon being transformed into Super Sonic, destroyed the Eggsterminator and induced Chaos Control. Tails warned Chuck he would be sent back with them to their world, but Chuck assured Tails it would be his honor to go back with them. However, Super Sonic instead brought the Mystic Ruins and Angel Island to Earth.

Chaos Saga
Six months after Super Sonic brought the Mystic Ruins and Angel Island to Earth, Chuck met Sonic and Chris at the Thorndyke Mansion when they returned with a new friend from Sonic's world, Big the Cat. Big explained that he was looking for his buddy Froggy, who took off after swallowing something weird that drove him crazy and eat the Chaos Emerald that Big had found around the same time. Also learning of the threat of Eggman's new ally, Chaos, who grew stronger for each Chaos Emerald it absorbed, Chuck realized that they would need to once more gather the Chaos Emeralds before Eggman did, or Chaos would become unstoppable.

Later, upon learning that Chaos had gained all seven Chaos Emeralds and transformed into Perfect Chaos with their negative energy, Chuck was forced to evacuate the Thorndyke Mansion with Ella, Cream, and Cheese, while Mister Tanaka remains behind to wait for Chris, due to being a skilled swimmer, so he would be fine when the flood waters reached the estate.

Shadow Saga
With Station Square undergoing repairs from Perfect Chaos' attack, Chuck and his family moved to the capital until the repairs were done. Chuck soon discovered though that Sonic was wanted by G.U.N. and the police for crimes performed by someone that looked like him. After Sonic had a run-in with that look-alike, revealed to be Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life Form, Chuck arrived with Chris, who pleaded with Sonic to turn himself in. Sonic agreed once he learned that he was being taken to Prison Island to be incarcerated.

Chuck remained behind as Amy, Tails, Chris, and Mister Tanaka went to bust Sonic out of Prison Island. He later learned on the news that Prison Island had been destroyed. However, no casualties were found, much to his relief that Chris, who had vanished during the break-out of Sonic, was okay.

Egg Moon Saga
Because of Super Sonic and Super Shadow using Chaos Control to restore the Space Colony ARK to a stable orbit, more and more things from Sonic's world began to show up on Earth. Concerned, the President consulted Chuck about it, but Chuck assured him there was nothing to be worried about. Later, back at the Thorndyke Mansion, Chuck was with Sonic's friends when Amy grew frustrated by Sonic being late for their date and hitting something invisible with her hammer as she vented her anger. He was then confronted by Vector and Charmy of the Chaotix, leading to a scuffle before Sonic arrived with Vector's client, Vanilla, allowing her to reunite with her daughter Cream, before Sonic then started picking on Vector for his mistake.

Chuck later took Chris and all of Sonic's friends to celebrate the first sunrise of the New Year on the Thorndyke yacht, only to have it ruined when the Sun was eclipsed by the Moon, which had been repaired by Eggman and dubbed the "Egg Moon". When Eggman announced that the Egg Moon was malfunctioning and needed repairs, he offered his Sunshine Balls to remedy the situation until the eclipse ended. However, Sonic suspected otherwise, and began destroying the Mirror Towers that provided power to the Sunshine Balls, much to Chuck and the others' shock.

As a result, an angry mob led by Jerome Wise surrounded the Thorndyke Mansion. Though Amy knocked down a wall to allow Chuck and everyone else to escape, they were soon surrounded by Jerome and the mob, until Sam and the Speed Team arrived, forcing Jerome and the mob to disperse. It was only after Sonic returned to the Thorndyke Mansion with Chris, Amy, Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, and Topaz that Chuck learned that Eggman had staged the eclipse, and agreed to have Topaz and Mister Tanaka take Rouge and Knuckles up to the Egg Moon to destroy its transmitter, while Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Chris went to the White House to rescue the President and Christina Cooper, whom Eggman had taken hostage.

Emerl Saga
With Eggman incarcerated, Chuck believed the world to be safe now. However, he was proven otherwise when his son's company, Thorndyke Industries, ran into trouble when the appliances they produced turned rogue and hostile thanks to sabotage from Eggman, forcing Chuck and the others to deal with them while Bokkun broke Eggman, Decoe, and Bocoe out from prison.

As a result of Eggman's escape, the President decided to hold the Chaos Emerald Martial Arts Mash-Up to lure Eggman back into the open with its prize: a Chaos Emerald. Chuck took part, but was forced to withdraw due to needing to be taken to the hospital when he injured himself before his match against E-77 Lucky. He was thus forced to watch the tournament from his hospital bed with Nelson and Lindsey. After Emerl won the tournament however, he went berserk from the energy of the Chaos Emerald. Chuck returned to help Sonic and co. stop Emerl, but could not do much more than analyze Emerl's rampage. Fortunately, Cream and Cheese managed to do the robot in for good.

Homebound Saga
Shortly after the Emerl incident, Chuck learned that the G.U.N. destroyer Seahawk had gone missing, and joined Sonic and his friends as they searched for it, discovering that Eggman had captured the ship with his Egg Battleship and had taken the crew and passengers hostage to ensure Sonic or G.U.N. could not interfere in his plans for the lost continent of Murasia. However, Eggman's plans were foiled again, Murasia sank back beneath the waves, and Decoe and Bocoe, after being abandoned by Eggman, chose to defect and join Chuck, who is able to repair them and get their support back home in his lab.

However, when Christina Tomar arrived to reveal the threat of the Time Suspension Phenomenon, Chuck worked with Tails on Project Homebound to create a gateway that would allow Sonic and everything from his world to return there. After the initial test run allowed most of the things from Sonic's world, such as the Flickies and even Eggman in his Grand Egg Imperial, to return, additional power provided by the Eclipse Cannon allowed all of Sonic's friends to return as well. During their departure, Chuck said an emotional goodbye to Tails. However, before Sonic could use the portal, Chris shut it down. He then took Sonic and ran away, much to Chuck's initial shock. However, as Topaz, Mister Tanaka, Sam, and even Nelson and Lindsey tried to look for him, Chuck told Nelson and Lindsey of the real reason Chris ran away: their negligence of him due to their busy timetables with their jobs. Thanks to Chuck's advice, Nelson and Lindsey found Chris waiting for them at their old lake retreat and were able to establish a better relationship with him.

Chuck's friendship with Tails also made it so Chuck left Tails a parting gift for him in the rebuilt Tornado 2. When Tails found himself in trouble fighting the Grand Egg Imperial, a message from Chuck played, revealing he left one final gift for Tails, before giving the command to transform the Tornado 2 into the Hyper Tornado.

Metarex Saga
Six years later, while Chuck was assisting Helen, Frances, and Danny with their attempt to get the portal to Sonic's world working so they could bring Chris back or go join him, Nelson and Lindsey arrived with a note from Chris telling them that he had gone to Sonic's world earlier and it made Lindsey deeply concerned. While Chuck assured her that Chris was fine, he was also concerned for his grandson as well. To help Lindsey out with her concerns about Chris, Chuck agreed to send some of Chris' stuff to Sonic's world to be delivered to him on the Blue Typhoon by the Chaotix.

Personality
Chuck is good-humored and witty, and means well for his friends and family, but circumstances can cause him to behave eccentrically. He is always helping Chris, Sonic and their friends out whenever they need help.

For all his oddities, however, Chuck is a wise man, who, very much like Tails, uses his intellect when faced with problems.

Miles "Tails" Prower
Much in the same way that Chris bonds with Sonic the Hedgehog during the latter's stay with the family, and the maid Ella bonds with Cream the Rabbit and Amy Rose, Chuck and Tails formed a strong bond when the latter had been transported to Earth, due to their shared expertise with machines. It was partially thanks to Chuck that the X Tornado was made, as well as the rescue of Cream and Cheese.

Chuck often joined Tails in the X Tornado during their skirmishes with Dr. Eggman. When finding out that Tails and the others would return to their native dimension, Chuck modified the X Tornado so that its abilities could be enhanced in case of an emergency.

Friends/Family

 * Christopher Thorndyke (Beloved grandson)
 * Nelson Thorndyke (Son)
 * Lindsey Thorndyke (Daughter in law)
 * Sam Speed
 * Ella
 * Mister Tanaka
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower (Good friend and fellow inventor)
 * Amy Rose
 * Cream the Rabbit
 * Vanilla the Rabbit
 * Cheese

Enemies

 * Doctor Eggman
 * Bokkun
 * Decoe
 * Bocoe

Trivia

 * Chuck bears an uncanny resemblance to Christopher Lloyd's character Emmet "Doc" Brown from the Back to the Future trilogy and animated series spin-off.
 * His name is possibly a reference to Sonic's uncle Charles Hedgehog (more commonly referred to as Uncle Chuck) from Sonic the Hedgehog television series, Sonic Underground, and the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs.
 * Chuck was very young when his son, Nelson was born because Chuck is 61 in Series 2 and Nelson is 49 years old in Season 2. He was only 12 years old.