The Dummy's Dummy is an on-going Horror Webcomic created by Mochamura. It first featured on Tapas in 2016 before also updating on Webtoon as a Canvas series, before finally being promoted to original and rebooting on January 12th, 2022.
Once upon a time, there was a master toymaker who discovered he had magic. Unfortunately for everyone, his magic was cursed; everything he made would come to life - with a modus operandi of the exact opposite purpose it was made for. Plush guardians turned into traitorous murderers, tools turned into sentient weapons, brothers and sisters turned into abusive monsters - and he had sold them all to children around the world. After discovering the body count of his former creations, the toymaker thought up a plan; create a ventriloquist's dummy with the intent to murder humans, so its magical directive would be to police and capture monsters instead.
The story revolves around Yumi, a young girl with psychic abilities whose grandfather has recently passed away. Unfortunately her problems don't end there. When Yumi is attacked by one of the vicious toys, she descends into her home's basement following a dream she's had the night before and inadvertently re-awakens Paris, who is all too happy to pick up where he left off.
The webcomic is available in its original
and rebooted versions for free on online.
The Dummy's Dummy contains examples of:
- Adaptation Dye-Job: A variation due to Art Evolution. At first, Yumi was portrayed as having paper-white hair and skin, but from approximately 2018 the author started to give her hair and skin a light tint of color such that she has very light blonde hair. This color scheme is kept for the reboot.
- Artifact of Doom: Everything the toymaker made automatically turned into this, developing a single-minded drive to torment whoever possessed them.
- Babysitter Friendship: Yumi and Lily get along really well and are rather fond of each other.
- Badass and Child Duo: Paris works together with Yumi, a small child, to combat the creations of his late maker. Paris of course does most of the fighting, while Yumi acts as a locator via her prophetic dreams.
- Blessed with Suck:
- The toymaker had the ability to build whatever he wanted, but everything he created always turned evil. Worse, he was at first unaware of this, resulting in him selling dozens of killer-toys to unsuspecting customers. Paris was made via Loophole Abuse to deal with his other, murderous creations.
- Yumi has the ability to see ghosts and receive prophetic dreams about incoming danger. Both are not abilities she enjoys having, as constantly being bombarded by grotesque imagery from the present and future isn't all that fun.
- Deadly Euphemism: The opening narration describes the toys as "flawed" - which is a nice way of saying "deranged and violent".
- Demonic Dummy: A rare heroic example. Paris is a living ventriloquist dummy with the same demonic powers as the rest of the toys created by toymaker. But unlike them, he isn't a mindless beast and his main function is to protect the world from his murderous siblings.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Yumi often has dreams about the future, an ability she resents because most of the time the things she sees are terrifying.
- For the Evulz: There is no stated reason as to why the toys become violent after a certain amount of time. They just seemingly attack out of nowhere and won't stop until their owner is dead.
- Happily Adopted: Yumi's adopted mothers are very caring and kind, worrying for Yumi's mental health after the death of her grandfather, but also choosing to give her the space she needs to avoid smothering her.
- Killer Teddy Bear: The very first flawed toy Paris and Yumi go up against is a monstrous teddy bear with razor-sharp claws and More Teeth than the Osmond Family.
- Living Toys: The toys the toymaker made all came to life eventually - and turned into crazed monsters. Paris is the (so far) only exception to this and only because the toymaker figured out a way to trick the power, see Loophole Abuse below.
- Loophole Abuse: When the toymaker realized his toys would always become monsters, he created a monster on purpose (Paris), so when his power would inevitably twist it, the toy would become something good, the rebellion he made Paris to do being inverted to Undying Loyalty.
- Mystical White Hair: Downplayed. Yumi and Yuzo have extremely blond (in the reboot) or white (in the original) hair and are both Seers. However, Yuzo's daughter, i.e. Yumi's mother, has black hair and is also a seer.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: Even in his bigger form Paris is barely taller than Yumi, but still manages to kick locked doors down with ease.
- Raised by Grandparents: Before his passing, Yumi lived with her grandfather. Her parents died in an unspecified accident and her grandmother passed away from illness.
- Would Hurt a Child: The Flawed Creations have no issue whatsoever with hurting and even killing children. In fact, Paris claims they're compelled to hurt children, as the toymaker's powers warp them into doing it.
