Perverse Puppet: Difference between revisions

They usually appear as the [[Big Bad]]'s basic cannon fodder army or just lesser enemies that just get into the heroes' path and are dispatched without much effort.

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* Somewhere in the Japan of ''[[Ranma One Half|Ranma ½]]'', there exists an inn famous for its haunted doll. After Ranma breaks it accidentally and reassembles it, its spirit possesses Akane, [[Freaky Friday|switching places with her]] so that Ranma's fiance is turned into [[And I Must Scream|a living, silent doll]]. Meanwhile, the original spirit plots to kill Ranma using her body.

* Marianne from ''[[Shakugan no Shana]]'', servant of Friagne, Shana's first major opponent.

* [[Digimon|Puppetmon]] was one of the four Dark Masters and was essentially a fully autonomous marionette.

** There's an entire family of puppet digimons in the verse. Interestingly enough, almost all of them are classified as [[Always Chaotic Evil|viruses]].

* One episode of [[The Slayers]] NEXT has the gang check out a tower supposedly occupied by a mad, misanthropic toymaker in order to search for a Claire Bible Manuscript, finding it full of animate and hostile dolls and puppets, all while being menaced by a creepy man in a jester's outfit carrying a strange doll. It turns out that the "man" is actually another puppet, being controlled by the real demon: {{spoiler|the doll that "he" appears to be carrying around}}.

* In [[Vampire Princess Miyu]], Ranka utilizes her [[Razor Floss]] to move around the mannequins she collects ([[Baleful Polymorph|which once were human students]]), using them as shields. Larva hits one of them accidentally and it bleeds and screams silently, to Miyu's horror.

** Even worse than that was the fact that the ''only'' reason he was alive was because of his hatred - he "died" once his hatred was taken away from him.

* Anju from ''[[Karin]]'' always carries an animated puppet with a meat cleaver.

* Yuji Yata from the manga ''[[Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service]]'' claims to use his sock puppet to channel a snarky, foul-mouthed alien who answers to the name Kere Ellis.

* Drocell Cainz, in the anime of ''[[Black Butler|Kuroshitsuji]]''. Complete with strings, [[Marionette Motion]], and a good helping of [[Creepy Circus Music]].

== Comics ==

* Played with in the Season 8 ''[[Buffy]]'' comics. In one issue, {{spoiler|Dawn}} is turned into a porcelain doll. She's surrounded by other, living dolls, but they were made that way rather than being possessed. And none of them are particularly evil, just a bit unhinged.

== Films ==

* The ''[[Puppet Master]]'' film series of course.

* The Asian horror film ''[[The Doll Master]]''.

* "Billy", in the ''[[Saw]]'' films.

* Subverted in ''The Devil Doll'', in which the pocket-sized assassins are actually miniaturized humans, not dolls.

== Literature ==

* The African Zuni warrior doll in [[Richard Matheson]]'s short story "Prey". Memorably adapted as part of the made-for-TV film ''[[Trilogy of Terror]]'' with Karen Black in the '70s.

== Live Action TV ==

* "The Talons of Weng-Chiang," a classic ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story, had an awesomely evil puppet controlled by Magnus Greel.

* "My name is Talky Tina, and [[The Twilight Zone|I'm going to kill you]]."

* ''[[Night Gallery]]'' episode "The Doll". A British Army officer must deal with a murderous doll sent by an old enemy.

* One good character in the miniseries version of ''The Tommyknockers'' is killed when her doll collection animates and attacks her.

* In a [[Halloween Episode]] of ''[[Family Matters]],'' there was an evil puppet-Steve named Stevil who wanted to steal Urkel's soul. ''Next'' year, Stevil returned, with a new one based on Carl -- named [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Carlsbad]].

* ''[[Friday the 13th: The Series]]'' had two: the china doll Vita and Oscar the ventriloquist's dummy (the latter animated by a silk boutonniere).

''[[Paranoia Fuel|Then, when necessary, she was gone, and the head of that child with her.]]''<br />

''"Survival is control," she said.'' }}

* The Death Puppets of ''[[Duel Masters]]'' are an entire race of these.

* ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' has Calca/Calco, Brina/Brena and their "[[Fusion Dance|fused]]" form Calcabrina/Calcobrena. Controlled by Golbez, the dolls attacked Cecil and Co. when they tried to retrieve the [[MacGuffin|Earth Crystal]]. They even have their own musical theme called "Dancing Calcabrina".

** For Rydia's chapter of sequel, Calca and Brina are part of Rydia's party, and they're far less demonic-looking and scary, and they're pretty helpful, to boot. Makes you ''want'' to find the way to avert their [[Final Death]].

* The first boss of SRPG ''[[Shining Force]]'' is a Marionette left by [[Wicked Witch]] Mishaela in the [[Circus of Fear|Circus]] at Rindo. Not only that, but the other monsters you face in said big top also include mannequins, spell-casting puppets and [[Monster Clown|knife-wielding clowns]].

* Elsie and Frances in ''[[Metal Gear|Metal Gear Acid]]'' are a pair of bantering puppets who manage to hijack a plane. {{spoiler|They're being controlled by Lena}}.

* The "Puppit" enemies in the Subspace Emissary mode of ''[[Super Smash Bros]] Brawl''. Their description [[Nightmare Fuel|just makes them creepier.]]

** Here, let me help. ''A marionette enemy, suspended from above by piano strings. A Puppit proves vicious with long, sharp claws and a mysterious beam emitted from its eyes. You would think, based on the exterior wood pattern, that it's made of wood, but no one is sure. More importantly, who is the one manipulating those piano strings?! What an enemy! Mystery abounds!''

* The [[Pokémon]] Banette is apparently a toy brought to life by its grudge of being thrown away.

** [[Nightmare Fuel|That actively seeks out its old owner.]]

== Web Comics ==

* In ''[[Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki]]'', the norse god Loki walks the earth in the body of a small plush cat.

* Lil' Cal from ''[[Homestuck]]'' is perhaps the foremost thing in the comic that most fans can testify is horrifying; he's not only horrifying to the viewer, but {{spoiler|ultimately becomes key in the creation of one of the major villains, with hints that the personality is the same between the two of them}}. And Bro's puppet obsession is pretty perverse as it is...