Handyman (BioShock)

"Your just making him angry!"
"He was already angry!"

• Elizabeth and Booker DeWitt while fighting a Handyman.

GameInformer's cover, showing artwork of a Handyman.

The Handyman, or Alpha, appears in BioShock Infinite as an archetypal armored enemy in Columbia, similar to the Big Daddy of Rapture.

Overview

Like the Big Daddies, the Handyman is a human artificially bonded to a mechanical suit, possessing great strength and speed, as well as a short temper. Unlike the Big Daddy, Handymen are dressed in patriotic uniforms rather than diving suits and have a gorilla-like posture and build. They also have exposed human body parts, particularly their head and heart, the latter of which is kept in a fluid-filled glass tank on their chests attached to several hoses. Thick bundles of cables run from their limbs to a pair of conductors on their backs.

BioShock Infinite teaser trailer

In the teaser trailer for BioShock Infinite, the protagonist is drowning in a fish tank. When he is thrown to the ground, he sees briefly that the one drowning him is the Handyman, whose large footsteps approach, smashing a diver figurine beneath its metal foot. The Handyman grabs the protagonist, who can only see the beating heart visible in a glass chamber, and throws him out the window. Another Handyman later appears as a hand that grabs Elizabeth away from saving the falling protagonist.

In the short gameplay beta demo, the Handyman appears again, attempting to pursue Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth, even going so far as throwing a live horse at them before he is forced over the edge of a broken bridge and sent plummeting to the ground far below.

GameInformer cover artwork

The October 2010 issue of GameInformer features 3 different covers. One cover shows a full body artwork of a Handyman. It has a human-looking head and there are twisted wires coming from metal conductors on its back leading into its arms and shoulders. Besides its massive size, its arms are even more massive. The mechanical hands are painted to look more reminiscent of a human hand, and one reaches toward a small boy picking up a bowler hat. Its torso bears the label "Bettermens Auto Body", possibly the manufacturer of the Handyman.