What’s a Skulldozer?
There is a slight chance that you’ve heard about or seen a sketch of the Skulldozer from LittleBigPlanet before, more likely in Mr. Dewitt’s classroom. In this article, we’ll look into the Skulldozer, and the story of it!
But before we get to the Skulldozer, let’s recap what LittleBigPlanet is. LittleBigPlanet is a puzzle and creative platform with User Generated Content (UGC) created by Media Molecule and now owned by Sumo Digital. LittleBigPlanet consists of both a story mode and an online feature for players to interact with. With three main games in the series, the Skulldozer in question is found in the first LittleBigPlanet’s story mode. So…
What is the Skulldozer, and what does it look like?
The Skulldozer is the first boss in LittleBigPlanet’s final level in the Weddings Theme, made by Creator Curator Frida the Bride. The Skulldozer’s design consists of having a bull skull for its head, a somewhat shape of the first bicycle, with a large wheel in the front and two wheels in the back. Look close enough behind the set of ribs and you can see its mechanics, gear, and two thrusters. To finish off its details, a Gas Danger Material is used to give off the red flame illusion. The Skulldozer is vocal, giving off roars in a metal monster tone. It also can shoot out fireballs!
Skulldozer’s Design.
Originally, the Skulldozer’s design was going to include horns on its skull, along with the Gas Danger material being the color yellow instead of red. The horns were removed due to layering issues. (In other words, the horns were large to where they would clip through the first layer provided. Not only that, if you were to put a thin layered object in front of the horns, the items clip). This original design can be found in the LittleBigPlanet Japanese Launch Trailer and the Official LittleBigPlanet Trailer.
The Skulldozer’s original design in the Japanese Launch Trailer.
The original design with Frida on top of the Skulldozer’s head in the Official LittleBigPlanet Trailer. The Gas Danger’s color is switched to the red we know of.
Okay, this is what the Skulldozer is. What’s the story?
In order to get into the Skulldozer boss level, we would have to start at where it is introduced: The Darkness. In the Darkness, we have a mission to do for Frida and her Butler: Search for missing fiance Don ‘Lu. Using Don ‘Lu’s faithful dog as a light guide, we walk through the dark underground collecting points and prizes. Bad news, walking with the dog does not last long. LIttleBigPlanet’s antagonist The Collector comes to take away the dog, leaving us to search alone in the dark. Fortunately, we find Don ‘Lu shortly after losing the dog. Don ‘Lu explains that he got lost in the dark and was too exhausted to take another step, so he wishes to be taken back to his darling Frida. As we drag him through the dark to safety, we come across a problem: Don ‘Lu is too large to fit through a small tunnel we can walk into. However, Don ‘Lu dismisses the issue and tells us to go on without him, as he’ll see us outside.
The Skulldozer smashing its head through the right and left walls.
At the rear exit of the underground, Frida’s Butler comes to tell us that Frida has lost it, and she has begun to be on the rampage with the Skulldozer! In a rush to get to Frida quickly, we are greeted by the Skulldozer in a wall-destructing matter. That is where we begin to face the Skulldozer. Now that we finally went through the dark underground, it’s time to face the Skulldozer in the level, well… Skulldozer! When we enter the Skulldozer, the Butler explains to us how Frida believes she has been jilted by her Don ‘Lu, resulting in her destroying everything in her path with the Skulldozer. In order to escape the Skulldozer, we have to run. The chase sequence begins when the Skulldozer bashes through the wall with Frida on its head.
Now, the level isn’t a typical fight against the boss, it’s instead played like a chase race, we have 120 seconds to escape, run through high platforms that are wobbly or loose, and collect points and prizes in order to beat the level. Although there is a timer, the only consequence that happens is we don’t obtain extra points when the timer runs out. What’s unique to the boss is that we can’t fight or damage the Skulldozer in any way, so there’s no choice but to run away from it. So if we can’t kill the Skulldozer, can it kill us? Technically. Close enough to it, it can shoot out fireballs to damage us. If we somehow didn’t get damaged by the fireballs and we were too close, the Gas Danger material for the flame illusion can finish the job.
After the chase, we reach the race goal, and the bridge the Skulldozer drives onto collapses from an explosion, having it fall to its supposed fate. Frida flees away from the Skulldozer and is reunited with Don ‘Lu. The wedding of Don ‘Lu and Frida’s is saved!
Do we ever see the Skulldozer in the LittleBigPlanet Series again?
Of course! If we have LittleBigPlanet 3’s “The Journey Home” DownLoadable Content story, we can see the Skulldozer’s cameo appearance at the end of the level known as “Bone-a-fide Ride”. From the looks of it, the Skulldozer has had a makeover since its fall from the bridge. There we have it, we’ve made it through the end, full of knowledge about the Skulldozer. Since we are at the end, a question can be asked: What do you call a sleeping skull? A Skulldozer!
