History Main / TrainingDummy

** There's a point in the ComicBook/XWingSeries comics when Ysanne takes a break from [[KingpinInHisGym sparring]] with a padded boxer droid to see to a defeated enemy.

* 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 XP) 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.]]

* ''[[VideoGame/PuzzleQuest Puzzle Quest: Challenge Of The Warlords]]'' has the Practice Dummy. A skilled player can use it to rack up easy gold and EXP before heading out to the storyline missions.

[[quoteright:200:[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-BrawlSandbagArtwork.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:200:[[WhatTheHellPlayer Almost makes you feel guilty]] [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential beating up such a cute thing, doesn't it]]?]]

** 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 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.
** Also in ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl]]'', you get trophies for kicking around the computer player in training mode.

* ''VideoGame/RogueLegacy'' features a wooden statue in front of the castle that can take an infinite amount of punishment without fighting back. It's useful for gauging how powerful your attacks might be.

[[caption-width-right:200:[[WhatTheHellPlayer Almost makes you feel guilty]] [[VideogameCrueltyPotential beating up such a cute thing, doesn't it]]?]]

-->-- '''Sandbag's trophy description''', ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Melee''

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros''
** 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 Brawl, where it functions like a pinata and will drop items when beaten up. It also appears in some of the [=WiFi=] 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/WorldOfWarcraft'' has Training Dummies for precisely that purpose - to be precise, they're for seeing how much damage you can do, rather than building up weapon skills. They're also useful for testing statistics and for developing good rotations for your abilities. In a more literal sense, in Cataclysm, there are actual dummies that train your character in skills like normal trainers.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''

* Much like the Valkyrie Profile example above, VideoGame/EndlessFrontier also has an near-immortal version of 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.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' lets you practice magic and special attacks against Merlin's endlessly respawning furniture.
* ''VideoGame/DMCDevilMayCry'' and ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'' feature dedicated training rooms, in which the player can learn and master various combos and maneuvers. In the previous ''Devil May Cry'' games, one had to go to Bloody Palace to practice their moves against hordes of enemies.

* Bang Shishigami serves this role in ''VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift'' Challenge Modes.

* ''[[VideoGame/JumpSuperstars Jump! Ultimate Stars]]'' has [=KomaRed, KomaYellow, and KomaBlue=], three square-looking things (they represent manga panels) that actually have fully functional attacks. They have three uses: tutorials and practice (each represents an [[ElementalRockPaperScissors attribute]] so you can test damage), cannon fodder in certain missions, and a handicap when ''you'''re forced to play as them.

** ''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.

* Those 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.

* VideoGame/VirtuaFighter had, like many other fighting games, a training mode where you could practice your moves on a configurable enemy (standing, crouching, jumping, and the like). They then upgraded this in either IV or V, where you could set the "dummy" to either repeat your moves or "learn" the moves as you do them. Once you train your TrainingDummy, you can actually send them into the game, where they can play through the different game modes, earning rewards, just like you.

* The tutorial level in ''VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject'' includes an actual training dummy that lowers itself into the ground after receiving enough sword strikes, as well as a live enemy (looking like a typical city guard) to show you how to block. Neither you nor the enemy can hurt or kill each other, but he still makes pained sounds when struck (and you can keep whaling on the poor guy even after the sparring is over.)

* In ''VideoGame/TombRaiderLegend'', there is a dummy in the first Peru level which you can practice your hand-to-hand combat moves on.

* One (maybe all) of the ''Franchise/DevilMayCry'' games features a practice area for you to master combo moves in, offering a straw-filled effigy to whale on.

** 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 Brawl, where it functions like a pinata and will drop items when beaten up. It also appears in some of the WiFi 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.

[[quoteright:200:[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-BrawlSandbagArtwork.jpg]]]]

!!Examples

[[folder:VideoGames]]

[[folder:RealLife]]

* The tutorial level in ''VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject'' includes an actual training dummy that lowers itself into the ground after receiving enough sword strikes, as well as a live enemy (looking like a typical city guard) to show you how to block. Neither you nor the enemy can hurt or kill each other, but he still makes pained sounds when struck (and you can keep wailing on the poor guy even after the sparring is over.)

* The Sandbag of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' 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 Brawl, where it functions like a pinata and will drop items when beaten up. It also appears in some of the WiFi 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/WorldOfWarcraft'' has Training Dummies for precisely that purpose - to be precise, they're for seeing how much damage you can do, rather than building up weapon skills.
** They're also useful for testing statistics and for developing good rotations for your abilities. In a more literal sense, in Cataclysm, there are actual dummies that train your character in skills like normal trainers.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'' has a scarecrow in Link's front yard where he can practise his moves after he receives his wooden sword. The neighborhood children call out attacks for you to perform on him.

** As with Bang Shishigami in ''VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift'' Challenge Modes.

* The Poochyena that's attacking the Professor in [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Ruby and Sapphire]] 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 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 XP) 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]], [[CrowningMomentOfFunny 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.]]

* ''{{Website/Neopets}}'' has a character named "Punchbag Bob" that you can beat up in the training mode. You can also get him as a battledome challenger, where he's very hard to beat. The guy has 5000 health, and you get a special trophy if you whittle that down to zero. It does take a while, and he sometimes pulls his "Dark Shield" to slow you down.
** Additionally, fighting him will randomly put you against Punchbag Sid, rarely, his EvilTwin who is [[BossInMookClothing one of the most powerful enemies in the game]].
*** Whereas Punchbag Bob wears those silly-looking "Groucho Glasses", Sid sports an EyepatchOfPower. 'Nuff said.
* The training droid from ''Franchise/StarWars'', which makes little whooshing sounds and fires a (mostly) harmless blaster bolt. In the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse this shows up a lot as a tool for training Jedi in CombatClairvoyance.

* Averted by one DarwinAward winner who'd built a gym in his house. He'd accidentally connected the punching bag to the wiring, and when showing it off punched the bag, killing himself.

* There are a few dummies like this in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'', primarily located in Fighter Guild quarters.
** Until they are no longer plot sensitive, you can consider ''Oblivion's'' {{NPC}}s to be training dummy characters. Beat them up all you want (they will fight back) for they won't die, but 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 [=NPC=]s - the dummies are just for decoration (although they ''do'' jiggle around when hit).

* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'' has a scarecrow in Link's front yard where he can practise his moves after he receives his wooden sword. The neighboorhood children call out attacks for you to perform on him.
** Likewise, the Hero's Shade serves as an animated Training Dummy, since no matter how much of a beatdown you lay on him, he'll get back up again. The only problem is that you hardly ever get to attack him with attacks other than the one you happen to be learning at the moment.

* 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 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]], [[CrowningMomentOfFunny 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.]]

* ''{{Neopets}}'' has a character named "Punchbag Bob" that you can beat up in the training mode. You can also get him as a battledome challenger, where he's very hard to beat. The guy has 5000 health, and you get a special trophy if you whittle that down to zero. It does take a while, and he sometimes pulls his "Dark Shield" to slow you down.

* The training droid from ''Franchise/StarWars'', which makes little whooshing sounds and fires a (mostly) harmless blaster bolt. In the StarWarsExpandedUniverse this shows up a lot as a tool for training Jedi in CombatClairvoyance.

* Ayane first appearance in the ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'' series is as a training dummy.

* ''VideoGame/BatmanVengeance'' lets you [[ButtonMashing wale on]] a static post during the training session. Alfred's pre-recorded voice [[LampshadeHanging notes]] that most of Batman's foes are "a smidge more active than a training post."

* Much like the Valkyrie Profile example above, EndlessFrontier also has an near-immortal version of 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.

* The Sandbag of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' 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 Brawl, where it functions like a pinata and will drop items when beaten up. It also appears in some of the WiFi 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.

* The Sandbag of ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' It is sentient, but as the quote above demonstrates, it's totally cool with getting smacked around.