Bladed Spinner

"These baddies fly by rotating the wings that jut from their sides like a propeller. That said, fly is all they do. Seeing as how they don't attack, they're actually kind of cute."

- Description, Sonic Unleashed

The E-06 Bladed Spinner (スピナ), also known as Spinner, is a recurring enemy in the Sonic the Hedgehog series which first appeared in Sonic Adventure. They are a model of Badniks in the E-Series line created by Dr. Eggman. These flying robots mostly serves as Dr. Eggman's surveillance drones.

Appearance
The Spinners' overall resembles bats, but their design has been rather inconsistent. In Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut, the Spinners 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, the Spinners have a pair of giant hook-like blades spinning around them like a helicopter rotor.

In Sonic Unleashed, the Spinners received a noticeable redesign. In this game, their entire body is orb-shaped with purple still being their dominant color. They have yellow drill-like ears, empty cyan eyes and a row of cyan lights on the front, resembling a mouth. Around the middle of their body, they have a yellow ring with a transparent cyan semicircle (remising wings) attached on a purple point on each side.

In Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, the Spinners received a new design resembling a merge of their earlier designs. While their upper head and wings resemble those in Sonic Unleashed, their lower body look like they did in Sonic Adventure. Other changed details include their ears which look more like they did in Sonic Adventure, their cyan eyes have black pupils and sclera, their mouths are white, their spinning wings are solid and are colored purple, white and cyan, and they lack the hazard stripes.

In Sonic Lost World, the Spinners look more like they did in Sonic Unleashed in overall shape, but have more realistic ears, non-transparent wings, cylinders on the bottom of their body, and big, cartoon-like eyes.

Powers and Abilities
The Spinners have the ability to fly in mid-air by rotating their wings like propellers. They are also able to use their wings as blades to both cut and strike their opponents.

Sonic Adventure
The Spinners first appeared in Sonic Adventure and its remake, Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut, where they were officially known as the E-06 Bladed Spinners. They can be found in the following Action Stages for each character:

In gameplay, the Spinners' attack patterns differs between one another, depending on the situation: some stays in one place, others fly around in circles, and some others will move towards the player once they spot them. When attacking a Spinner, the player has to hit the Spinner either from above or below, as hitting them where their blades are spinning will damage the player. In Sonic's scenario, the player can use the Spinners to access hidden areas or paths by using the Homing Attack on them in a chain to cross gabs or reach paths.

Sonic Advance Series
The Spinners reappeared in both Sonic Advance 2 and Sonic Advance 3. In these game, the Spinners look almost identical to how they looked in Sonic Adventure, except that they have bigger wings.

In Sonic Advance 2, the Spinners appear only in Egg Utopia, while in Sonic Advance 3 they appear in Route 99 and Ocean Base. In the gameplay of these games, the Spinners remain stationary in one place in mid-air where they spin their blades. Like in Sonic Adventure, the Spinners can only be successfully damaged on the top or bottom, and attacking them head-on where their blades are spinning will damage the player.

Sonic Unleashed
The Spinner reappeared in both the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 version and PlayStation 2/Nintendo Wii version of Sonic Unleashed, where they are simply known as Spinners. In this game, they received a more modernized and less-menacing design.

In Sonic Unleashed the Spinners are one of the most common enemies in the game and can be encountered in nearly all the game's daytime Action Stages/Stages. In gameplay, the Spinners are virtually harmless, as they only hover in mid-air and have no attack patterns, though the player can still take damage from them by touching their spinning blades. Instead, they primarily serve as stepping stones for the player to cross grabs and reach alternate paths by using the Homing Attack on them in a chain. In some chases, when a Spinner is destroyed, another one will appear to take its place.

Sonic Colors
The E-06 Bladed Spinner reappears in both the the Wii and Nintendo DS version of Sonic Colors, where they are once again referred to as Spinners. In this game, the Spinners received a new redesign, which resembles a hybrid of their design in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Unleashed.

In Sonic Colors, the Spinners are once again one of the more common enemies encountered in the game. In gameplay, they have the same behavior and attacks patters as they had in Sonic Unleashed. They also reprise their role as stepping stones for the player to cross to reach other paths by using the Homing Attack on them in a chain, and are very useful for advancing upwards in the 2D side-scrolling sections of the Acts.

Sonic Generations
The Spinners reappeared in both the console/PC version and Nintendo 3DS version of Sonic Generations, where they are again referred to as Spinners. In this game, they feature the same design they had in Sonic Colors.

In the console/PC version, the Spinners appear in Speed Highway, Seaside Hill and Rooftop Run. On the Nintendo 3DS version, however, they only appear in Tropical Resort. Like in Sonic Colors, the Spinners in this game have the same behavior and attack patterns as they had in Sonic Unleashed. Also, on the console/PC version of Sonic Generations, a statue of a Spinner will appear in the secret Statue Room if the player enters the right code.

Sonic Jump Series
The Spinners appeared again in the 2012 version of Sonic Jump and Sonic Jump Fever. In this game, they behave in the same way as they did in Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colors. Like all the other enemies in the game, the Spinners can only be destroyed from below. They can be encountered in Blue Sky Zone.

Sonic Lost World
The Spinners reappeared exclusively in the Nintendo 3DS version of Sonic Lost World. In this game, they have a design resembling the one they had in Sonic Unleashed, but with a more cartoon-like look. During the events of the game, the Spinners and the other Badniks got hijacked by the Deadly Six when Eggman lost control over the group.

In Sonic Lost World, the Spinners can be encountered in both Windy Hill and Desert Ruins. In gameplay, they display the same behavior and attack patterns they had in Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, and again mainly serve as stepping stones for the player to cross gabs by using the Homing Attack on them in a chain.

E-15 Spiky Spinner
The E-15 Spiky Spinner is a variant of the Bladed Spinner that have spiked balls orbiting about it instead of having rotating wings, making them resemble Orbinauts. They appear in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut.

E-16 Electro Spinner
The E-16 Electro Spinner is essentially a Bladed Spinner that is able to discharge electricity, allowing it to shock its opponents. They first appeared in Sonic Adventure.

Steel Spinner
The Steel Spinner is a Spinner clad in steel armor, making it virtually indestructible. They appear in Sonic Colors.

Prism Spinner
These type of Spinners are Spinners composed of the material that prisms are made of and have a sharp point on their bottom. These type of Spinners periodically disappears and can function as a regular prism when using the Cyan Laser on them. They only appear in the Nintendo DS version of Sonic Colors.

Archie Comics
The E-06 Bladed Spinners appear in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics. In the comic, the Spinners came into being when the Prime Zone's timeline was rewritten by the Super Genesis Wave. In this world, they are Badniks and a part of Dr. Eggman's Badnik Horde.

In Sonic the Hedgehog #253, in the Mystic Ruins, a patrol of Spinners spotted the Sky Patrol and began to attack it and Rotor. Fortunately, the Spinners and their horde commander, Silver Sonic, were destroyed before they could do any real harm.

Trivia

 * Spinner appears along with a figure of Sonic the Hedgehog with a background of Speed Highway. It was released along with other notable enemies for Sonic's 20th Anniversary.
 * Spinner could actually be based off of the Ball Drone Badnik from the cancelled Sega Saturn video game, Sonic X-treme