History Main / MookMaker

* The Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Literature/ReaperMan'' sees a parasitical hive-mind awaken in Ankh-Morpork. Specifically, a malevolent creature taking the form of a shopping mall. When the Wizards of Unseen University take it on, they discover the hive-queen can generate its worker - taking the form of wheeled shopping trolleys - far faster than they can be destroyed. Eventually, in the manner of a spider encasing living prey in its silk, the queen turns the wizards into whatl ook like display mannequins.

* All three types of Guardians from ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'' carry this as one of their tactics: The Greater Guardians in Ehn'gha do it at random, the Black Guardian does it in the second phase of its boss battle, and Lesser Guardians ([[FanNickname Reapers]]) have it as their only offensive maneuver. Once the player gets the Summon spell, he/she can ''become'' a Mook Maker when necessary.

* In ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'', one of the ghosts, Vincent Van Gore, is painting all the [[OurGhostsAreDifferent trash ghosts]] in the mansion and then bringing them to life. After you defeat him (it being near the end too), you'll face very few ghosts apart from GoddamnedBats.

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[[quoteright:330:[[VideoGame/MegaMan6 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/metall_potton.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:330:What infinity may look like.]]

** Puppet Ganon in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' periodically generates Keese and Morths that can be killed for refills.
** Batreaux from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' is an (in-universe) unintentional example. He's a pretty nice guy, but that doesn't stop his demonic aura from attracting monsters to Skyloft and making all the Remlits turn evil at night.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', there are some [[MadeOfEvil Malice]] pools that have clashing maws that periodically spit out floating Stal heads.

* The mutant eggs from ''VideoGame/AssaultRetribution'', being as tall as the human players, can spawn endless amount of mutants (in their facehugger-like infant form) until they're destroyed. What's even worse is that they can respawn as quickly as they're obliterated...

* The giant seahorse in some of the levels of the first ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin'' game. He [[MisterSeahorse keeps spitting baby seahorses out of his pouch at you]].

* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterPC'' has monster spawners, which creates a single monster each as soon as the level starts (save for Gremlin spawners, who creates ''two'' gremlins). The spawners must be destroyed in order to complete a level, and each spawner are invulnerable until their creations are killed, at which point they will start regenerating a new monster, but in the regeneration process (represented by the spawner movig side-by-side) they can be blown up with a single touch. The aforementioned Gremlin spawners remains indestructible is the player killed only one of the two gremlins, and can regenerate a second gremlin in the same way, so players will be force to eliminate both gremlins as soon as possible.

* Before video games made Mook Makers a staple, ''[[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons OD&D]]'' had the grey philosopher: an undead cleric whose morbid philosophical musings materialized as vicious little ghost-like critters called malices.

** In AD&D's ''TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}'' there is the Great Old Master, a Neogi that has grown old, is injected with special venom, and then has Adult Neogi lay eggs in it. Until it dies from the children eating their way out it can act as a Mook Maker.
** The original edition of ''Deities & Demigods,'' which contains a chapter on the Franchise/CthulhuMythos, interprets Shub-Niggurath as a big, living, subterranean pool of gray filth that is constantly giving birth to random hideous monsters.
* The Sliver Queen card in ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' cranks out babies as well as being extremely powerful in a fight. It's also shockingly simple to make an infinite combo where she can create creatures forever or until you get bored.
** There are dozens of ''MTG'' examples. They can create critters [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=46160 when others are created]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=207888 for]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ant+Queen a]] [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Spawnsire+of+Ulamog fee]] (this last one with EldritchAbomination bonus), [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=192222 whenever the controller drops a land]], [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Godsire by tapping]] or a dozen other techniques.
** Green has the lion's share of these, with Verdant Force being a popular one (especially in multiplayer). The Thallids were a classic version of this trope and this is an essential part of Garruk's schtick in all his incarnations. Black has had some very popular Mook Makers within the tournament scene. Zombie Infestation was big for some time and Bitterblossom was so good at making Mooks that it was banned in some formats.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'', the Undead can do something similar- Tomb Kings (Ancient Egyptian mummy/skeleton armies) have Liche Priests who can replenish units (back to their starting strength, so not too bad). Vampire Counts, however, have no limit on the number of fresh troops they can summon... Chaos Daemons also have a fairly similar trick, but theirs involves having a wizard ''turn enemies into more Daemons''. Some of which are essentially walking plague-sores.
** Some of the Tyranid critters in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', such as the Tervigon and the Parasite of Mortex, have the ability to spit out smaller creatures.

* The Convergence of Cyriss [[HumongousMecha colossal]] in ''TabletopGame/{{Warmachine}}'' can spawn one servitor (a small flying robot with different abilities depending on the type, from repairing friendly units to exploding in the enemy's face) every turn. Iron Mother Directrix, a Convergence warcaster, can also spawn special servitors, though she can't have more than two active at a time. Her theme list allows even the colossal to spawn three servitors during the first turn of the game.
* Some cards in ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh!'' function as this by creating "monster tokens". These tokens behave like normal monsters and are represented by a coin or something[[note]]The rules state it can be anything that can be shifted to represent attack and defense mode[[/note]]. Sometimes they're put on your side of the field as a wall of defense or for summon fodder, and sometimes they [[PoisonMushroom pop up on your opponent's side]] to take up a monster slot or give you a low-attack venue to strike and drain his life points.

* The ''VideoGame/PowerBomberman'' stage Monster Havoc has one of these at the center of the stage, as do variations of some other stages like Fort Bombyard and Future World. Breaking the soft blocks around it will allow the monsters to roam free around the stage, with [[CollisionDamage deadly results]].

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Dr. Wily's Instant Robot Maker from ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge''. During the ''VideoGame/MegaMan5'' parody storyline, Bob reprograms the machine to make Robot Masters, then sends the resulting massive army of Robot Masters to attack Dr. Light's lab.
* ''WebAnimation/TheDementedCartoonMovie'' features the Auto Romeo Maker, employed multiple times during a rehearsal of ''Romeo & Juliet'' when the actress [[AxCrazy can't stop killing her co-stars with explosives]]. Later in the movie, Evil Blah calls for the Auto Damsel Maker when the damsel he's holding captive inexplicably loses her head (literally, it just pops off her neck - [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction a recurring problem among the Blahs]])
* Original Clown V from [[https://www.facebook.com/Purara.Heroes/ Purara Heroes]] comic can spawn an infinite number of different unoriginal Clown V girls.

* Many creatures in ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' are capable of doing this. The ThatOneBoss of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'', Cumulus Vex, combines this with StandardStatusEffects.

* The last obstacle before the final battle in ''StarWars VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' is a locked room with six monster-spawning machines that must be disabled before the door will open.

* Whereas Pit Fiends in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'' were originally fairly straightforward enemies, the popular ''Tactics'' [[GameMod mod]] changes their stats to those used in the [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons tabletop game books]], giving the ability to [[HellGate ''gate'']] in other Pit Fiends. Meaning that, unless you kill the first one or two quickly, you could easily have an army of enraged demons on your hands in no time.

** [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1 The first game]] has an enemy barrel with a crossbones on it whose sole purpose is to spit out an endless wave of mooks. Later in the final world before the final boss, there's a mine level that has these barrels as its gimmick. There you'll face countless of them spawning infinite different enemies if you don't act fast enough. It doesn't help the level is actually one of the longest in the game. There's also a boss named Dumb Drum, actually a giant version of the previously mentioned barrels, that uses this feature as its attack. It just spawns to enemies at a time though so it's quite easy to beat.

** Likewise for Engineer nests in ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'', which combust spectacularly when fired upon and can lead to a daisy chain of destruction.

* Blood Hawk nests in ''VideoGame/DiabloII'' will continue to spawn Blood Hawks ([[UndergroundMonkey or whichever variety you may encounter]]) until you destroy the nest.

** The most JustForFun/{{egregious}} example is Coldworm the Burrower, an Act 2 boss that spawns Sand Maggots until it's killed (and he takes quite some damage). The bad part comes here: Sand Maggots are themselves an example of EnemySummoner, so you could find yourself quickly surrounded and overrun if you're not prepared.
** Worst of all, those mooks give you no XP or treasure.

* ''VideoGame/{{Sonic 3|AndKnuckles}}'' had Launch Base Zone, in which passing in-between a pair of motion detectors will spawn those diving mooks. Parking yourself in a specific one and doing a spindash was [[InfiniteOneUps an easy way to rack up 200+ lives]].

** This isn't so bad for spellcasters, who can use ''Abjuration''. Abjuration is a low-level summoning spell that drastically shortens the remaining lifetime of any hostile summoned creatures in line of sight of the caster. Casting it twice is usually enough to immediately dismiss any and all hostile summoned creatures you see. The top-level summoners may of course immediately summon more enemies, but it really takes the bite out of summoning chains. So naturally, it was nerfed. The original version is kept as "mass Abjuration" though.
* Many of the bosses in ''VideoGame/NetHack'' can mass-summon various enemies whenever they feel like it. Oh, and the difficulty of said enemies ''scales with your level''. In other words, if you are a godless killing machine, the foe will summon a ''horde of godless killing machines'' to counter you. Often, the only hope of survival is to teleport away.
** The worst of these can even summon other boss monsters, potentially including other Mook Makers or even ''the most powerful monster in the game'', [[spoiler:Demogorgon]] (who actually never appears for any other reason). Best to hope the RandomNumberGod is smiling on you...
*** Oh and things can be generated with a scroll or wand of create monster, which will generally be hostile to you even if ''you'' were the one who read the scroll or used the wand. (Since obviously, the creatures generated when some ice troll or even a lowly kobold read the scroll will all be best friends with it.) Cursed scrolls of create monster summon 13-17 monsters.

* ''VideoGame/UltimateCustomNight'' has Dee Dee. If selected, she will appears once during the night, and either increase the difficulty of an already-present enemy, add a random new one, or (very rarely) do nothing. In the former two cases, there's no indication of what character she buffed or added. [[spoiler:There's also the slight chance that she'll instead summon one of 6 characters that aren't selectable in the menu]].
** However, if you're playing on 50/20 Mode, you'll be already fighting all the animatronics at the highest difficulty... [[spoiler:Enter XOR, Dee Dee's "shadow" version who can rarely replace her (''always'' replaces Dee Dee on 50/20 Mode), and who [[UptoEleven summons all 6 of the aforementioned secret animatronics, one after the other]]]].

* Any Geo Panels with the Clone effect in the ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' series can function as these, spawning an exact copy of a randomly chosen unit who's on the panels at the end of each turn.

* ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' has Hives and Military Bases. Hives generally spawn [[LightningBruiser Hunters]], up to four and maintains that number while the player is within the vicinity. Military Bases generate a couple extra squad of soldiers if an alert is raised within vicinity, and will continue to do so if the alert is still active and there is a lack of surviving military personnel. Destroying said structures will effectively erase the presence and circular area influence of the respective enemy type for a few minutes.

** And as for "little wit": Binder usually has to tell them what to do, but what they ''can'' do includes making a run at a bank with guns as a distraction so that others can attempt to sneak in....

* In ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken,'' [[Franchise/GIJoe Cobra]] has one of these to clone countless Mooks, though without constant maintenance some of the clones come out wrong ("Fail Nobra!").
* On ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers,'' Shrapnel has the ability to turn scrap metal into "clones" of himself and the other Insecticons. These are apparently non sentient, and the show treats them as completely disposable MechaMooks.

* Makuta from ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' are EnergyBeings wearing armor. They can solidify part of their gaseous substance (antidermis) into disgusting Kraata slugs. Exposed to [[MutagenicGoo Energized Protodermis]], these can be turned into Rahkshi armor, which then another Kraata can pilot. When Makuta Teridax became the ruler of the Matoran Universe, he kept a bunch of his brethren alive to mass-produce Rahkshi out of their own substance. Given that the Makuta's main occupation was bioengineering, they could also create basically whatever they wanted -- for instance the [[GiantSpiders Visorak]] [[SpiderSwarm horde]], ''twice''.

** Pictured: A Metool dispenser from the ''VideoGame/MegaManClassic'' series.

** Lakitus in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld2YoshisIsland'' and all ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' games, throw Spiny Eggs which turn into Spinies.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMario3DLand'' has Baddie Boxes, green boxes with yellow borders and Bowser's face imprinted on them. They endlessly generate [[TheGoomba Goombas]] in normal levels and [[InvincibleMinorMinion Dry Bones]] in castle levels.

* Many creatures in ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' are capable of doing this. The ThatOneBoss of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'', Hellcloud, combines this with StandardStatusEffects.

* ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}} 2'' has the Empress Bulborb, which keeps spawning Bulburb Grubs, very weak enemies that are nonetheless very annoying as they eat up your Pikmin very quickly if you're not careful.

* [[Series/KamenRiderDecade Kamen Rider Diend]]'s main power is the ability to create copies of other Kamen Riders, which then do what he tells them to. Normally these summons are solo, but his most-used card creates three [[Series/KamenRiderFaiz Riotroopers]], more in line with this trope.
** Later, a MonsterOfTheWeek steals the Diendriver, and with it, summons a Fangire and Undead to fight the ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger''.