Drill Mole

Fiction often associates drills with moles, as they, in turn, are associated as Tunnel Kings and miners. These characters will often engage in Fast Tunnelling, either through a drill-equipped machine or a drill-like appendage that is capable of rotation.

Not to be confused with a villain masquerading as a hero who prefers to use a drill.

The selection of moles as a digging character is Truth in Television. Moles are are designed for digging, with their long claws and pointy snout. They spend most of their time digging underground burrows.

Examples:

Anime and Manga

• Digmole, Coach Mountain's Medabot in Medabots, is a construction Medabot with drills for hands and on its nose.
• Drimogemon, a Monster of the Week from Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure 02, and Digimon Data Squad, is a giant purple mole with a drill on its snout. By extension, this trope also applies to its even more purple Palette Swap NiseDrimogemon, which makes a cameo appearance in Digimon Adventure: (2020).
• In Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, the heroes use drills to fight and the Team Pet is a mole. Ergo...
• GaoGaiGar is a Combining Mecha with a Drill Tank component, resulting in drills on its knees. Its Super Prototype "Genesic GaoGaiGar" is composed of robotic animals rather than vehicles; guess what animals form the legs (and therefore supply its drills)?

Card Games

• Yu-Gi-Oh!:
  • Neo-Spacian Grand Mole wears a drill armor. Its and Elemetal HERO Neos's Fusion form, Elemental HERO Grand Neos, also uses a drill arm.
  • Mogumole actually carries a drill.

Film

• Godzilla: Moguera
• The Underminer (voiced by the ubiquitous John Ratzenberger) at the end of The Incredibles fits this perfectly, riding to the surface on a giant drill.
• Atlantis: The Lost Empire: The expedition's soil expert is nicknamed Mole; along with looking like a mole, he operates the team's Drill Tank.

Tabletop Games

• Monsterpocalypse has the Subterran Uprising which have Monsters and units that are giant mole monsters with drills for weapons, most notably is Drillcon-Vorionnik. Others have buzzsaws or blasters.

Video Games

• Donkey Kong Country Returns: the moles in World 4 use a Drill Train in a few levels.
• Dungeons of Dredmor: Diggles are explicitly their own species, but they do have many resemblances to moles, and they have a very pronounced drilling nose that lets them burrow just about everywhere in the dungeon.
• Horizon Zero Dawn: Rockbreakers are giant mining machines that look like huge mechanical moles. They have a trio of rock grinders in place of a mouth.
• Kingdom Hearts II: The Driller Mole Heartless is based on the concept, though it doesn't look too much like a mole.
• Kirby and the Forgotten Land introduces Digguh, the provider of the Drill Copy Ability, who resembles a mole.
• The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages has the miniboss of Moonlit Grotto, Subterror, a blue mole wearing glasses with a drill for a nose that digs into the ground then attacks Link from below with said drill.
• MARDEK has Drillions, which supposedly use their drill snouts to mine for gems to eat. And also to hurt Mardek.
• Mega Man:
  • Although it's combined with a duckbill, Duckbill Mole (Platypus, perhaps?) from Mega Man X: Command Mission is a drill fanatic.
  • Mega Man Zero: The Molegule enemy.
  • Mega Man ZX has Flammole the Moleroid, whose arms are equipped with drills as well as flamethrowers.
• Monster Rancher: Mogis are breakdancing moles with giant drills on their heads.
• Mother 3: Reconstructed Moles, being Mischievous Moles that have been cybernetically augmented in the Pigmask Army's Chimera Lab. Mecha-Moles! also appear to have one, though, unlike the former, it doesn't use it in battle.
• Pokémon Black and White: Drillbur and Excadrill, who appropriately learn the moves Drill Run and Horn Drill. The former may be a Shout-Out to the aforementioned Reconstructed Moles from MOTHER 3; and both are widely accepted as expies of the earlier mole pokemon Diglett and Dugtrio. Due to the fact that it very abruptly Takes a Level in Badass when it undergoes Mon Metamorphosis.
• Ristar: The boss of Planet Scorch is Adahan, a mole-like creature in a giant mechanical suit. One of his attacks involves him drilling into the ground, then drilling out of the middle of the arena.
• Sonic the Hedgehog: Starting with the Burrobots in the first game, Eggman has consistently used mole themed robots that almost always have tank treads for feet and a drill for a nose. On an interesting note, the original Burrobots were probably the most technically impressive models, showing a surprising amount of movement options for sidescrolling Video Game Mooks, being able to change direction, jump. and climb up walls with ease.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story: The Monty Bros. are first seen drilling a tunnel to the under-caves of Toad Town using a giant construction drill.
  • Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins: An enemy appears with this exact name. As might be expected, it's got a drill for a nose.
  • Super Mario Galaxy: Major Burrows digs into the ground by spinning at high speeds using his spiked helmet.

Western Animation

• Dutch cartoon series Ox Tales, about an Ox who runs a farm, (roll with it) features as his main antagonist plague a crowd of moles that look just like the trope picture on the left.
• Digger (Experiment 529) from Lilo & Stitch: The Series, who is a brown alien with a drill for a tail.

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