History Main / TrainingDummy

* The very first encounter in ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' is a dummy set up by Toriel to teach you about the game's combat mechanics. You can either attack it (it goes down in one hit and gives no EXP) or try to strike up a conversation with it (which pleases Toriel). If you instead do nothing to it for several turns, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere the dummy gets bored and flies away]], to Toriel's bewilderment. [[spoiler:Eventually, you learn that a ghost was possessing the dummy and his cousin, also a dummy, shows up for revenge later as a miniboss.]]

* The targets for Shooting Ranges.

This is some typically immortal character that you can return to, to practice your moves on. You ''can't lose a fight'' against one, but in most cases, you can't really "win" the fight either. You decide when the fight is over.

Training dummies usually make no effort to fight back. In cases where they do, you may also have the option to determine their behavior, whether it be defensive, offensive, or jump in place on one leg.

* In the reboot of the ''VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon'' series, you get to practice all your new moves when you first get them on special training dummies.

* The Poochyena that's attacking the Professor in ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' will flee if you try to lose on purpose.

** ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'' has a golem-like dummy in the item rooms which can be destroyed by making Kirby inhale it or by dishing out an amount of abuse that most of the bosses in the game would succumb to. It respawns immediately afterward, though.

** The Sandbag. It is sentient, but as the quote above demonstrates, it's totally cool with getting smacked around. It initially served as the "ball" in the Home-Run Contest but was later introduced as an item in ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl Brawl]]'', where it functions like a pinata and will drop items when beaten up. It also appears in some of the Wi-Fi waiting rooms and while you can technically defeat it by smacking it out of bounds or [[ExtremeOmnivore eating it]] with Wario, Kirby, or King Dedede, a replacement will appear immediately.

* ''VideoGame/VagrantStory'' has training dummies that allow the player to build weapon stats.

* In ''VideoGame/OverlordI'', the Jester serves this purpose. In the main game while you are in your EvilLair he'll follow you around and praise you with titles depending on how you play. You can still attack him. Doing so will eventually have him start to include "The abuser of Jesters" among your titles.

* Skelly from ''VideoGame/{{Hades}}'', an immortal [[DemBones skeleton]] who has been hired by a MysteriousEmployer to let Zagreus test his weapon skills through repeatedly pummelling Skelly. No matter how much Zagreus wails on him, he comes back ready for more. [[spoiler:Giving him enough Nectar opens a quest where he requests being given a FinalDeath through a maximally upgraded Blade of Chaos... Only to come back again and proclaim he was just pulling Zagreus' leg.]]

** The Sandbag. It is sentient, but as the quote above demonstrates, it's totally cool with getting smacked around. It initially served as the "ball" in the Home-Run Contest, but was later introduced as an item in ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl Brawl]]'', where it functions like a pinata and will drop items when beaten up. It also appears in some of the Wi-Fi waiting rooms and while you can technically defeat it by smacking it out of bounds or [[ExtremeOmnivore eating it]] with Wario, Kirby, or King Dedede, a replacement will appear immediately.

** In later expansions, training dummies that were more than just a DamageSponge were introduced, to help newer players learn the other two parts of the trinity of Tank, DPS and Heal. A tank dummy will attack the player back, hitting ''very'' hard and requiring you to learn how to mitigate damage. The healing dummies are usually on fire...

*** Dummies which can be struck are added officially to the series for the first time, mostly in Fighters Guild halls. However, using them is strictly for fun. They can't help you increase your skills, presumably because they would make leveling up ''far'' too easy.
*** Until they are no longer plot sensitive, you can consider ''Oblivion''[='s=] "essential" {{NPC}}s to be training dummy characters. Beat them up all you want (though they will fight back) because they won't die, only fall unconscious and reawaken feeling all better for more beatings. And unlike actual training dummies, doing so actually levels up your stats, since attacks only count if they're on enemies or [=NPCs=] - the actual dummies are just for decoration (although they ''do'' jiggle around when hit).

* In ''VideoGame/OverlordI'', the Jester serves this purpose. In the main game while you are in your EvilLair he'll follow you around and praise you with titles depending how you play. You can still attack him. Doing so will eventually have him start to include "The abuser of Jesters" among your titles.

* Much like the ''Valkyrie Profile'' example above, ''VideoGame/EndlessFrontier'' also has an near-immortal version of a first dungeon enemy you can practice combos on. The key word here being "near": ironically enough, you can only destroy it with low-level characters, as its defense and self-healing increase exponentally as you gain levels, making it so that it heals 6 digits worth of damage every turn and only ever takes 10 damage from any attack when fought with maxed out characters.

* Those [[BuffySpeak robot-like things]] you can practice your Bros. Attacks on in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam''. They never fight back, just existing to be mowed down as target practice. They also exist in the Mad Skillathon mini-games, in which your goal is to destroy hundreds of them for points, ranks and prizes. The basic ones just stand still, the slightly less basic ones move around on the floor a bit and some others fly around aimlessly.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Magicka}}'', there are not only people but actual training dummies. You can use them to not only test out the damage of a spell or combination and they wont fight back. They suffer, aside from a few cases, all status effects. Vlad, when he shows up in person, fits the trope just short of being able to go to him whenever you want, but he does have high HP and is susspectable to all status effects and damage.

* In the Cheryl Ladd episode of ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', Cheryl Ladd tells Miss Piggy that she's a huge admirer of her karate moves, and shows Piggy the dummy she uses to practice. Piggy says she also has a practice dummy, and calls Kermit into the room.

* Ever whale on your pillow for no reason? Or your [[CainAndAbel sibling]]?

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/MenAtArms'', the Night Watch's new recruits are trained in truncheon technique (i.e. delivering a TapOnTheHead) with the aid of "a puppet, mommet or heffigy, called by the hnickname of Harthur", as Sergeant Colon puts it.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/MenAtArms'', the Night Watch's new recruits are trained in truncheon technique (ie a TapOnTheHead) with the aid of "a puppet, mommet or heffigy, called by the hnickname of Harthur", as Sergeant Colon puts it.

* Mokujin in ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' was actually a wooden TrainingDummy brought to life due to any fighting force surging near him (Ogre, Jinpachi Mishima, etc). He's also the TrainingDummy for move demonstration in ''VideoGame/NamcoXCapcom''.