Gravedigger

This article is about the Decepticon sometimes named "Buildmaster". For the Autobot team named the "Buildmasters" in Japan, see Build Team (RID).

Gravedigger is a Decepticon Constructicon from the Generation 1 continuity family.

It's hard to tell, but he's flipping off the reader here.

Gravedigger is the smug, sadistic sort who enjoys lording his power over others, but is not the sharpest tool in the shed. As one of the Constructicons, he is actually excluded from most of the group's building projects by the rest of the team because of the unstable temper that earned him his name. He's only seen rarely as a result, and when the team does let him in on the action, it's usually to take part in excavation projects.

He is the younger brother of one of the group's more famous members, Bonecrusher. As a member of the Master Chaos group, he operates under the codename Buildmaster (ビルドマスター Birudomasutā).

Fiction

Find Your Fate Junior

The following summarizes one or more multipath adventures. Details vary depending on the paths taken in-story. See the book's page for information on alternate paths.

Gravedigger was among the Constructicons excavating Mount Lomas to create a secret base. When Skids and Bumblebee were captured, Gravedigger gleefully explained the Decepticons' evil plan "since you are going to die anyway." Surprisingly, Gravedigger was right: Skids and Bumblebee were disassembled and their parts used to construct the Autobot Memorial Power Plant. When their comrades came looking for them, they too were captured and used for scrap. Ouch. Dinobots Strike Back

United EX

Gravedigger joined the Earth-based Decepticons under the command of the mysterious High Regent Scrash, seeking the means to restore his older brother Bonecrusher following his encounter with some molten lava while battling Dai Atlas. As a member of the "Master Chaos" sub-group, he was refitted with a new body that would allow him to interface with Power Core drones and took the name "Buildmaster" (ビルドマスター Birudomasutā).

Buildmaster took ownership of the Construction Drones after they were stolen from the Autobots by Dozermaster, and used them in defense of the Decepticons' base when the Autobots attacked. He burst from the ground with his drones in tow, catching Assaultmaster unawares, and warning him to leave the mysterious materials they have excavated from the area alone. The two combined with their individual drones and set to fighting, but as Buildmaster was gaining the upper hand, he was attacked by Grimmaster. Unearthed Future

Kre-O online comic

Buildmaster participated in an attack led by Megatron to conquer Autobot City. Two Giant Bases! Everybody Getting Along, Come On, Fight!

Legacy VS500 Collection Special Comic

Buildmaster was one of many spectators for the Speedia 500 race on Velocitron. Velocitron Speedia 500 Part 2

Games

Transformers Roleplaying Game

Gravedigger was a stand-in member of the Constructicons. Decepticon Directive According to unconfirmed reports, he was once part of an alternative configuration for Devastator. The Enigma of Combination

Toys

United EX

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY GRAVEDIGGER GOES HEAD TO HEAD WITH THE LEGENDARY BIGFOOT!

• Buildmaster Prime Mode (2012)

• ID number: EX 06
• Release date: November 17, 2012
• Accessories: Decimator Drone, Dominator Drone, Eradicator Drone, Annihilator Drone

United EX Buildmaster is a redeco of Power Core Combiners Steamhammer, rendered in the classic purple-and-green of the original Constructicons and their many descendants. He transforms into a bulldozer that evokes a Komatsu D575A-3SR, said to be the world's largest dozer. He can also assume a "Prime Mode" where he becomes the torso of a super robot, capable of using any auto-transforming Power Core Combiner drone-machine molds for limbs.

He comes with four construction vehicle drone-limbs, redecos of the Constructicon drones. Each one has a square socket for a Power Core Combiner connection; when attached via the blue plugs on a Commander figure, the drones automatically transform into a super-robot limb, and snap back to vehicle mode when disconnected. Despite the universal connector, each drone can only form one limb type (but can be swapped from left to right):

• Decimator Drone (drill) — Arm (Buildmaster's right)
• Dominator Drone (front end loader) — Arm (Buildmaster's left)
• Eradicator Drone (plow) — Leg (Buildmaster's right)
• Annihilator Drone (steamroller) — Leg (Buildmaster's left)

Early stock photography (shown above) has the steamroller in the incorrect orientation with the drum up front and the driver seats facing backwards. The final box photography corrects this, facing the seats forward and placing the drum at the rear, with the drone port serving as the front grill.

The drones are all named to evoke the original Constructicons' combined form, Devastator. In particular, the Dominator Drone is named for the dominator disks that were used to take control of Devastator in the original The Transformers cartoon episode, "The Core".

Notes

The purple guy in the back or the green guy in the back. Take your pick.

• "Gravedigger" came about by accident. The name was a preliminary one for the Constructicon Scrapper, as indicated by both the original The Transformers cartoon series bible and the shooting script for the episode "Heavy Metal War" (which includes the line "Gravedigger, I'm picking up computer signals from above!"). "Dinobots Strike Back" writer Casey Todd was evidently working from that outdated guideline when he wrote the book; most instances of the name were switched to "Scrapper" for the finished product, but one errant use of "Gravedigger" remained. Artist William Schmidt compounded the error by drawing Long Haul instead of Scrapper into the illustration for this scene, which led to fans—at the time unaware of the origin of the "Gravedigger" name—having a bit of fun with it and imagining that Gravedigger was a unique character.
• Nearly three decades later, writer Andrew Hall properly canonized the idea of Gravedigger as his own character in the United EX toyline, opting to assign his identity to the Buildmaster toy. With this addition of an eighth named Construction to the Japanese cartoon continuity, an identity was at last provided for the long-mysterious "eighth Constructicon" who appeared with the others in a dodgily-animated scene in "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4" (the seventh having been retroactively designated as Hauler in 2003).
• Kre-O Buildmaster borrows Hook's helmet, the bladed claw pieces first used by several Abominus components and Warpath's treads.