History Main / MarionetteMaster

* Pretty much every named human character other than Narumi in ''Manga/KarakuriCircus''.

* The Hidden Sand Village from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' is renowned for its ninja puppeteers, who typically use puppets full of hidden weaponry, including poison; unlike most examples, said puppeteers, including Kankuro and [[CoolOldLady Chiyo]], are actually fairly heroic ([[HeelFaceTurn eventually, anyways]]). However, the Hidden Sand's greatest puppeteer, Sasori of the Red Sand, is an outright villain who [[PeoplePuppets can turn his victims into puppets]] that still possess any powers they had while alive.
* Gein from ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' hides inside his puppet and basically uses it like a ClockPunk GiantRobot.
* Leonof the Puppetmaster from ''Manga/{{Trigun}}''.
* Walter from ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' upgrades from using his RazorFloss to making {{People Puppet}}s.
* Evangeline from ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' makes the list as well. One of her [[IHaveManyNames several dozen titles]] is "The Puppetmaster", and at the height of her power she could apparently control an entire army's worth of puppets. Though as a powerful [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Vampire]] mage, this is mainly a secondary ability.
* Makubex & co in ''Manga/GetBackers''.
* Castor in ''Manga/ZeroSevenGhost''

* Doflamingo of ''Manga/OnePiece'' is of the PeoplePuppets variety, though he also seems to have the [[RazorFloss strings themselves]] as part of his personal arsenal.

* Friagne, the first villain in ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana'', controls hordes of exploding dolls ([[PeoplePuppets possibly constructed from torches]]). His goal is to turn Marianne, the Rinne doll he loves, into an independent existence.

* ''Manga/PandoraHearts'' - Zwei, or rather her Chain Doldum, is one of [[MarionetteMaster those]]. [[MarionetteMotion Poor Gil.]]
* One of Yura of the Hair's abilities in ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}''. She would use threads of hair to manipulate the bodies of unconscious people from Kaede's village, then force them to attack Inuyasha and the group.
* Genso from ''Manga/{{Genzo}}'' is a puppet master of amazing skills, and combines this with being CrazyPrepared. Other "puppet masters" in the series are his teacher and father-in-law Seibei and his half-brother Koshiro, who's even more skilled than him.

* Princess Rangiku, is the titular girl of ''Puppet Princess''. Rangiku seeks vengeance on those who murdered her father by using her 3 of her father's greatest warrior puppets.

* Toybox from ''ComicBook/TopTen''.
* The now obscure ''General Jumbo and his Pocket Army'', appearing in ''ComicBook/TheBeano'' between 1953 to 1974, was another heroic example. Unusually, the forces at his command extended to full air and artillery support as well as a variety of vehicles for several thousand ''Film/SmallSoldiers''-style infantry bots, and a lot of the weapons involved were explicitly capable of inflicting lethal harm.

* ''Film/TalesFromTheHood'': The army of undead slave dolls tormenting a white supremacist is controlled by an elderly voodoo priestess whose soul is contained inside an old Civil War painting.

* Two recent {{Tokusatsu}} series have given this the same twist: the heroes of ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'' and ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'' can [[PowerCopying assume the forms of their predecessors]]. Each series also has an antagonistic character who uses the same cards / keys but produces "dupes" of the hero in question rather than changing his own form - respectively, Kamen Rider Diend and Basco ta Jolokia.
* The villain in Series/TheWildWildWest's "The Night of the Puppeteer."

* The Scourge Warlock class from ''VideoGame/{{Neverwinter}}'' has the ability to create "Soul Puppets" when they use certain powers on their enemy's. They fade pretty fast, meaning you have to make another one to replace it, unless you taker the ''Damnation'' skill tree to its capstone (which also comes with other nifty upgrades to the puppet).
* Marionnette Owl from ''VideoGame/MetalGearGhostBabel''.
** Screaming Mantis in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' prefers zombie PeoplePuppets, and even controls them with literal puppets. [[spoiler: Using said puppets you can even try it out yourself, though not nearly as well as the bosses.]]
* [[MeaningfulName Kairaishi]] from ''[[VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}} Onmyōji]]''.

* Geppeto in ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts''.
* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' - Alice Margatroid's main specialty is her Doll Army, two of her most notable dolls being [[ThemeNaming Shanghai and Hourai]]. [[MundaneUtility She also has them help her do chores all over the house, even when she's not in the same room as them.]] The weird thing about it is that they aren't capable of independent action, so she's putting just as much if not more effort into micro-managing them than just doing the work herself. It also makes her habit of holding conversations with them all the more eccentric.'

* Lieselotte's sister Elfriede of ''VideoGame/ArcanaHeart'' has the power to control puppets and used this to possess a PerversePuppet to remain with Lieselotte when she died. [[spoiler:That is, that was the original story. In reality, it is Lieselotte herself who has the power to control the puppet, and her sister is still alive.]]
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' Puppetmasters, natch.
* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'':
** Carl Clover is never seen without a giant marionette called Nirvana (which [[SoulJar contains the soul of his sister Ada]]), which can be controlled by the player as he fights. Early on in Noel's Story Mode, an important question comes up: [[spoiler:who's ''really'' pulling whose strings? Something of either a subversion or an inversion, depending on how you look at it.]]
** His father, Relius Clover, is also a puppeteer, the puppet in question being his wife Ignis.
* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'''s Shiki Misaki has her stuffed [[strike:pig]] cat, Mr. Mew.
* While she is capable of fighting by herself, (and is quite good at it) Luca from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'' fights alongside her mechanical dolls, Calca and Brina.
* ''VideoGame/OgreBattle'' has a Doll Mage/Doll Master class.
* Cornet from ''VideoGame/RhapsodyAMusicalAdventure''
* Jov Leonov from ''VideoGame/PsiOpsTheMindgateConspiracy'' who has the power of mind control and a MeatPuppet army.
* Mishaela in ''VideoGame/ShiningForce.'' [[spoiler: ''Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict'' revealed that the Mishaela you killed in the original was really one of her puppets all along.]]
* This is one of the powers of Gig from ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters''. A spell called Dominion causes a small doll in the form of the person used on to appear. From there, the user can summon that person whenever needed and control them in battle.

* Anise Tatlin from ''Videogame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' has a stuffed doll which can grow big enough for her to ride into battle, making her the resident CuteBruiser.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' has the Mechanist as a [[{{Wutai}} Hoshidan]]-exclusive unit class that Ninjas and Apothecaries can be promoted to. They ride on puppet mounts, use Hidden Weapons and Bows, and can also create a puppet clone to fight alongside themselves.
* Lime from ''VideoGame/BlueReflection'' uses a teddy bear called Mr. Bear as her weapon. It can grow to giant size and shoot EyeBeams, or function as a MagicWand for shooting fireballs. Oh, and her skillset and starting stats strongly favor her being an offense-focused character, meaning Mr. Bear is potentially the strongest weapon in the game.

* All over the place in ''{{Webcomic/Erfworld}}''. Dollomancy, Croakamancy, and [[spoiler: Decryption]] are all this trope through and through. Even the ''setting'', where soldiers telepathically know their leader's wishes to some extent, counts.

* Lieselotte's sister Elfriede of ''VideoGame/ArcanaHeart'' has the power to control puppets and used this to possess a PerversePuppet to remain with Lieselotte when she died. [[spoiler:That is, that was the original story. In reality, it is Lieselotte herself who has the power to controls the puppet, and her sister is still alive.]]

* Pretty much every named human character other than Narumi in ''Manga/KarakuriCircus''. (Others are Automata -- self-moving marionettes.)

* Pretty much every named human character other than Narumi in ''Manga/KarakuriCircus''. (Others are self-moving marionettes themselves.)

* Pretty much every named character other than Narumi in ''Manga/KarakuriCircus''.

* Pretty much everyone in ''Manga/KarakuriCircus''.

** Pretty much everyone in ''Manga/KarakuriCircus''.

** Comicbook/TheFlash villain The Trickster, would sometimes do this. In the game Videogam/DCUniverseOnline he can even be seen commanding robotic action figures of Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman to fight for him.

** ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' foe the Puppeteer.

* ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' foe the Puppeteer.
* ComicBook/{{Superman}} villain the Toyman usually uses an army of toys to do his fighting for him.

* Another [[KoreanPopMusic k-pop]] example: Zelo is a {{Marionette Master}} in the music video for [[WordSaladTitle B.A.P]]'s first single, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tLooPlf2Sw "Warrior"]], using his fellow members as {{People Puppets}}. At the end, they break out of his control and shoot him ''as part of the dance''. [[CrowningMomentofAwesome It's just as cool as it sounds.]]

* Walter from ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' upgrades to using his RazorFloss to making {{People Puppet}}s.

* Walter from ''{{Hellsing}}'' upgrades to using his RazorFloss to making {{People Puppet}}s.

* Carl Clover from ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' is never seen without a giant marionette called Nirvana (which [[SoulJar contains the soul of his sister Ada]]), which can be controlled by the player as he fights. Early on in Noel's Story Mode, an important question comes up: [[spoiler:who's ''really'' pulling whose strings? Something of either a subversion or an inversion, depending on how you look at it.]]
** His father, Relius, is also a puppeteer, [[spoiler: the puppet in question being his wife Ignis.]]

* The Hollow Numb Chandelier in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' has this as her main power, using the virus to make People Puppets out of Orihime's friends.

** Also, the Septima Espada Zommari Rureaux.

* Cornet from ''RhapsodyAMusicalAdventure''

[[folder:Web Original]]
* [[Wiki/SCPFoundation SCP]]-[[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-237 237]] is an {{Otaku}} version of this, who creates small animate figures (the Foundation refers to them as "homunculi") based on fictional (primarily anime) characters. He is also probably [[TheMole a Chaos Insurgency spy]]. While most of his creations are harmless, the last note implies that he can create something much more dangerous.
[[/folder]]

* [[ThatOneBoss Puppet Ganon]] from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' is a massive marionette controlled by Ganondorf himself. You even have to sever the strings controlling it if you want to win.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' - Alice Margatroid's main specialty is her Doll Army, two of her most notable dolls being [[ThemeNaming Shanghai and Hourai]]. [[MundaneUtility She also has them help her do chores all over the house, even when she's not in the same room as them.]] The weird thing about it is that they aren't capable of independent action, so she's putting just as much if not more effort into micro-managing them than just doing the work herself. It also makes her habit of holding conversations with them all the more eccentric.
* [[ThatOneBoss Puppet Ganon]] from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker''
** Skull Kid from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess''

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' has the Mechanist as a [[{{Wutai}} Hoshidan]]-exclusive unit class that Ninjas and Herb Merchants can be promoted to. They ride on puppet mounts, use Hidden Weapons and Bows, and can also create a puppet clone to fight alongside themselves.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' has Puppeteer as a [[{{Wutai}} Hoshidan]]-exclusive unit class that Ninjas and Herb Merchants can be promoted to. They ride on puppet mounts, use Hidden Weapons and Bows, and can also create a puppet clone to fight alongside themselves.

* The Hidden Sand Village from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' is renowned for its ninja puppeteers, who typically use puppets full of hidden weaponry, including poison; unlike most examples, said puppeteers, including Kankuro and [[CoolOldLady Chiyo]], are actually fairly heroic ([[HeelFaceTurn eventually, anyways]]). However, the Hidden Sand's greatest puppeteer, Sasori of the Red Sand, is an outright villain who [[PeoplePuppets can turn his victims into puppets]] that still possess the powers they had while alive.