Thunderbolt the Chinchilla


 * Not to be confused with Thunderhawk of the Brotherhood of Guardians, Thunder the Streaking Pasha, or the Thunder Arrow attack.

Thunderbolt is a female Mobian chinchilla and Egg Boss of an Egg Army division stationed in the Soumerca region of the planet Mobius, and thus serves the Eggman Empire under Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik.

Werehog Unleashed
After Cassia and Clove informed Dr. Eggman of the theft of the Chaos Emerald they had located in Crystal Cave, Eggman contacted Thunderbolt. As Thunderbolt's forces had also acquired a Chaos Emerald, she was prepared to send it to him; however, Eggman ordered her to instead use it as bait for the Sally Acorn and her team. According to plan, Thunderbolt's rainforest territory was visited by not only the Knothole Freedom Fighters, but also Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel during the events of The Shattered World Crisis. Thunderbolt and her forces-including E-113 Xi-engaged the invading heroes, with Xi making the first strike and being destroyed as a result. Thunderbolt chastised her underlings for this failure, given that they had lost a robot entrusted to them by Dr. Eggman. She and her men prepared an electrical trap for the heroes, but inadvertently triggered Sonic the Hedgehog's transformation into the Werehog. (StH: #263, #264)

The Werehog savagely attacked Thunderbolt's troops, wrecking her battlesuit and revealing her diminutive form. Consumed by bestial rage, the Werehog prepared to finish her off, but was stopped by Mighty and the Freedom Fighters. (StH: #265)

Personality
On top of her loyalty to Dr. Eggman, Thunderbolt apparently has high opinions of him, referring to him as "Lord Eggman" when discussing him with her troops; for example, when informed by one of her Egg Soldiers that "her" plan was ready, she roughly replied that it was actually Eggman's plan and that they merely had the pleasure of carrying it out. Thunderbolt also has ruthless and sadistic tendencies; she does not tolerate failure nor does she take prisoners, and she seems to enjoy the suffering of her master's enemies.

Background Information

 * The name Thunderbolt was revealed in the official solicitation for StH #264 several months before the printing of the actual issue.
 * Thunderbolt follows a trend of fictional characters who appear in a massive suit of armor to conceal their tiny size. In fact, Thunderbolt is one of the smallest Mobian variants seen, surpassed only by the Fire Ants and Charmy Bee in his "flight mode" from the original continuity.
 * Her identification as an chinchilla is revealed by Ian Flynn in the Bumbleking Forums.[1]