Constructicon



The Constructicons are the Decepticons' foremost designers, engineers and builders. They are also particularly notable for their status as the very first combining sub-group of Transformers. The individual members of the team are:


 * Scrapper, (usually) the leader, a modest but masterful designer - front-load loader.


 * Bonecrusher, a destructive berserker - bulldozer (and later front-end loader).


 * Scavenger, who has some major self-esteem issues - power shovel.


 * Mixmaster, a manic and somewhat crazed chemist - cement mixer.


 * Hook, a snobbishly perfectionist engineer - crane.


 * Long Haul, a hard-working transporter who longs to be on the battlefield - dump truck (and later crane).

They are able to merge their bodies and minds together to form the gigantic Devastator.

Cartoon canon
The Constructicons' origins are clouded. According to Omega Supreme, at the time that Megatron was building up his Decepticon army, the Constructicons were not Decepticons at all (though they were seen bearing the Decepticon symbol). They were the peaceful creators of the beautiful Crystal City on Cybertron, and Omega was both its guardian and their friend. However, Megatron secretly used the Robo-Smasher to reprogram the Constructicons into Decepticons, then he had them send Omega away on a fool's errand so they could demolish Crystal City.

The enraged Omega tracked the Constructions down and reprogrammed them again, intending to return them to their previous state. But as the group returned to rebuild Crystal City, they attacked Omega while his back was turned. Megatron's programming was not to be undone, and he had also given them the ability to merge into Devastator. As they wrestled with Omega in their combined form, the Robo-Smasher latched onto Omega Supreme's head. Omega was able to fend off both his attackers, but his mental brush with the Robo-Smasher left him filled only with hate for the Constructicons, whom he pursued across the galaxy for millions of years. While this tale was only conveyed second-hand, some details would be corroborated in conversation between Omega and the Constructicons in the modern day.



In 1984, the Constructicons bolstered Megatron's forces on Earth (and Megatron referred to "the time we spent building them in these caverns," adding to the origin ambiguities). Scrapper designed a machine to transfer the other Decepticons' offensive powers to Megatron. While Megatron battled Optimus Prime, holding the attention of the Autobots, the Constructicons invaded the Ark to destroy Teletraan I. Unfortunately for them, the Ark was protected by the Dinobots, but by merging into Devastator, they became more than a match for their prehistoric foes. The return of the other Autobots and the discovery of Megatron's deception spelled the end of the battle, however. Hound distracted Devastator with a gigantic hologram, and Optimus Prime blasted the giant at just the right spot to force the Constructicons to disengage. They and the other Decepticons were then forced into a river of lava.

The Constructicons all managed to survive their magma bath mostly unscathed, except possibly for Mixmaster, who developed a manic personality and a fondness for repeating his words, which he had not displayed before. Regardless, the team was soon back at work again, performing such varied tasks as assisting in Megatron's reconstruction of New York City (which also involved turning Optimus Prime's scrapped remains into a robotic alligator) and building a device to paralyze Transformers in their vehicular modes, as well as another to crush them.

The Constructicons' history of mental manipulation continued when the Autobots planted dominator discs on them, which the Autobots activated when the Constructicons merged into Devastator. He instantly began fighting against the Decepticons, and Autobots took him back to their base. However, Megatron was secretly aware of the whole plot, even spying on the Autobots through the Constructicons' own eyes. Meanwhile, the Constructicons contentedly helped fix the battle-damaged Autobots and then accompanied them on a raid against the Decepticons, who were trying to drill into the Earth's core. During the battle, Megatron used a "control switch" to deactivate the discs, and as Devastator turned back against the Autobots, Wheeljack boosted the discs' power. This drove Devastator mad, and he began attacking everyone indiscriminately. The only thing that brought him back to sanity was the threat of the Decepticons' drill, which was seconds away from destroying the planet. He dove into the drilled hole and wrenched the bit to a standstill, saving the world.

Afterwards, the Constructicons returned to their Decepticon roles, but treachery remained a running theme. Upon learning of the Autobot Grapple's solar power tower design, Scrapper and the Constructicons pretended to have defected from the Decepticons in order to help him and Hoist construct it. But upon its completion, they turned it and the two Autobots over to Megatron. In a demonstration of Scrapper's motto, Grapple and Hoist were imprisoned in the very structure of their tower.

Later, when the other Decepticons began to suffer from Cybertonium degeneration, the Constructions, apparently working fine, took delivery of a shipment of the mineral via the Space Bridge, and as Devastator, failed to stop Spike Witwicky and Carly from getting by them and traveling to Cybertron.

When Omega Supreme learned that the Constructicons were active on Earth, he arrived on the planet and joined Optimus Prime's forces, biding his time until he could face his former friends again. That chance arose when the Constructions were discovered mining an asteroid, and Omega was dispatched to investigate. Ignoring Optimus Prime's orders, Omega Supreme engaged the Constructicons, and in the battle, split the asteroid in two, revealing that it was an egg of sorts, incubating a monstrous alien creature, which promptly attacked San Francisco while Omega, ignoring the plight of the city, continued to battle the Constructicons. Optimus Prime then entered the fray, convincing Omega that saving the city was more important than revenge, and forcing the Constructicons to retreat.

The building skills of the Constructicons remained in demand; other creations around this time included an army of drone Transformers created from common Earth cars; various constructs for Blitzwing, including a throne constructed from deactivated Autobots and a massive maze; and a giant ruby-powered laser cannon. It's unclear how unique their combining ability actually was (especially if Devastator had been around since the Golden Age), but their gestalt-monopoly on Earth was undone with the creation of the Stunticons and their Autobot counterparts, the Aerialbots. These were soon followed by the Protectobots and Combaticons, the latter even defeating Devastator in battle as their merged form, Bruticus.

Origin inconsistency
As seen above, the cartoon presented several conflicting origins for the Constructicons. The series bible described the Constructicons as having "no explained origin," but this only seemed to promote variant portrayals.

A straight reading of the "facts" appears to go: The Constructicons built the Crystal City, were Robo-Smashed back into Decepticons, ran around the galaxy for umpteen million years, ended up on Earth, and were (re)built by Megatron. However, there are issues with that narrative:


 * Even if Megatron's claim of "building" them just means "rebuilding," their Crystal City flashback showed them anachronistically already in their Terran vehicle forms, so what would he have rebuilt them into? On the other hand, that's just one more reason to doubt the veracity of Omega's flashback.

Making the issue either simpler or more complicated, depending on your view, the unreliable narrator rationale could negate much of the Constructicons' supposed history, especially from vengeance-driven Omega's tale.