Manikin



Manikins (イミテーション, imitēshon, lit. Imitations) are the main enemies encountered in Dissidia Final Fantasy and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. They appear as crystalline palette-swaps of the playable characters. In-game they are represented by various Battle Pieces on the map board.

Story
In Dissidia, it is stated manikins were created by Cid as an attempt to draw warriors into his world. His failures became manikins, incomplete puppets, which were sealed in the Rift. This is retconned in Dissidia 012. In this game, the nation of Onrac discovers a door to the Rift and retrieves a sample of crystal ore for study. The ore acts similar to an organic lifeform and grows as a living creature. Research on the sample results in mass production of simulated lifeforms made from the crystal ore, the first manikins. They remained formless until approached in their containment cell, at which point they took on the forms of the researchers observing them. However, they were mindless puppets, and Cid was recruited by the researchers to transplant memories into them to give them a sense of self.

Though it proved impractical for widespread use, Cid was able to implant a manikin with memories of ten other individuals, resulting in a manikin that resembled a grotesque monster but was the size of, and acted like, a human child. The child was placed in Cid's care for observation, and would grow up to become Chaos. Research continued with the manikins, and eventually the successful transplant of a complete set of memories to one was successful - this manikin was named Cosmos, and took the image of Cid's wife. Ultimately, most of the manikins failed to take on memories and were sealed in the Rift. After Cosmos, Chaos and Cid were transported to World B. Cid resumed his attempts to implant manikins with memories. He eventually created the Warrior of Light from an infusion of his own memories.

During the twelfth cycle of the war as seen in Dissidia 012, Exdeath releases the manikins as footsoldiers for Chaos. Due to their nature as mindless automatons, Garland remarks they will continue to fight even when their opponent is defeated and weak. Thus, if one is overwhelmed by manikins, they can be pushed to the brink of death and risk not having the strength to be revived in the next cycle. Though they are initially few in number, a massive horde of the creatures eventually sweeps across the land, separating the heroes as they fight to try and manifest their crystals. Eventually their attention turns from the crystals to their concern for the deaths of their comrades at the hands of these new enemies.

After the Cloud of Darkness tells Laguna where and how the manikins have crossed over, he, along with Lightning, Kain, Tifa, Yuna and Vaan, decide to track down the portal the manikins are using to enter the world and close it. At the same time, a large army of manikins marches on Order's Sanctuary to kill Cosmos, and save for the warriors seeking the portal, only the Warrior of Light remains alive to defend her. Locating the portal in the Empyreal Paradox, the team defeats a few Warriors of Chaos who have arrived to stop them, and engage the manikins in a final battle, ultimately dying, but successfully closing the portal to the Rift, preventing any more manikins from emerging. Meanwhile, Cosmos uses her power to save the Warrior of Light from the manikin army sent to destroy her, weakening her, but drastically reducing the number of manikins left.

In Battle
Manikins are colored in a manner reflective of their original counterpart - Terra's manikin is red, Kuja's is purple, and so forth. Some manikins, like The Emperor's, use two colors. Manikins of different characters from the same game are the same or a similar color. Their voices are garbled, distorted versions of their counterparts, and their icon is that of the Battle Piece icon that represents them on the board. Their naming system consists of an adjective alluding to their nature as transitory imitations, and a noun that describes their counterpart - Cloud's manikin is "Imaginary Soldier," while Golbez's is "Delusory Warlock." The exceptions to this rule are Prishe, Shantotto and Gabranth, who have the naming system " of Antiquity." All manikins of characters from the same game share the same adjective, except for Vaan, whose is named "Idle Sky Pirate."

In battle, the manikin's power changes according to the type of Battle Piece that represents it. Manikins are able to perform any attack their original counterpart knows, but they can execute these attacks even if they are not a high-enough level to legitimately know them. For example, Cloud learns Blade Beam at Level 30, but Cloud's manikin counterpart can potentially have the move equipped regardless of level. The same goes for equipment: manikins may potentially equip any equipment piece they like regardless of its level requirement, and if their character counterpart can equip the item innately. They can also equip any number of the same accessory regardless of their rank, though they still may not equip more than ten. Manikins can equip support abilities, and all manikins have the basic Block, Dodge and Free Air Dash abilities. In Dissidia 012 manikins are able to use Assists, and are vulnerable to Assist Lock, Assist Break and EX Break.

Manikins can utilize EX Mode, and as such can pick up EX Cores and absorb EX Force. Instead of having their counterpart's EX Mode, all manikins share a single EX Mode titled "Powered Up!" in which they gain the Regen effect, glow brightly and have a greater likelihood to score critical hits. However, they do not gain any special abilities or attacks usable by their counterparts, cannot use EX Bursts, and keep the same appearance as their normal mode save for a glowing aura. The sole exception to these rules is Gabranth's manikin, since his fighting style is centered on him being in EX Mode. Gabranth's manikin changes its appearance while in EX Mode and gains a different moveset like Gabranth himself does, but its EX Mode is still called "Powered Up!" and it still cannot use Gabranth's EX Burst.

In Dissidia, some manikins give the player a chance to win a Destiny Point by fulfilling a requirement, such as scoring a critical hit within a time limit or preventing the opponent from picking up an EX Core. Manikins represented by Strange and Expert Battle Pieces always give the player a Destiny Point for winning in the Destiny Odyssey story modes, but in the other story modes they may not. In all story modes, defeating an Ultimate Battle Piece-level manikin always awards two Destiny Points. In Dissidia 012, as Destiny Points are replaced by KP, all manikins allow the player a chance to win KP by fulfilling a requirement, and this requirement is set depending on the gateway and is shared across all manikins in this gateway. Depending on the stage, defeating a manikin may unlock certain restricted areas, or cause other items including extra Battle Pieces to appear on the stage.

Etymology
Manikin, also known as mannequin, is an articulated doll or dummy used mainly by artists, tailors, and dressmakers. This name is befitting to the role of these characters as crystal embodiments.

Trivia

 * The concept of living crystal is also seen in Final Fantasy V ' s Interdimensional Rift, where crystal enemies called Crystelles are common enemies. It is also seen in Final Fantasy IX's Crystal World, where crystalline replicas of the four Chaos Guardian bosses are fought as random encounters.