Mannequin
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<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Mannequin</default></title>
<image source="Image"></image> <image source="image"></image> <group><header>Basic Information</header> <label>Civilian Name</label> <label>Aliases</label> <label>Gender</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Death</label> <label>Age</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Post-timeskip</label> <label>Ward start</label> <label>Relations</label> <label>Family</label></group> <group><header>Professional Status</header> <label>Occupation</label> <label>Classification</label> <label>Unique Features</label> <label>Alignment</label>
<label>Status</label><format><label>Location</label> <label>Teams</label> <label>Previous Team(s)</label> <label>Base of Operations</label></group> <group><header>First Appearance</header> <label>Worm Debut</label> <label>Ward Debut</label></group> </infobox> Mannequin a member of the Slaughterhouse Nine and is all that remains of the benevolent tinker known as Sphere.
Personality
Mannequin appears to be an exceedingly intelligent and oddly playful individual. He toys with Armsmaster when he goes to 'recruit' him and purposefully brushes up against Skitter's insects several times to show her that he could get around the sensing part of her power. He injures Armsmaster just enough to make a point.
It should be noted that "like other serial killers, Mannequin favored certain types of people as victims. His prey of choice included rogues, those individuals seeking to make a profit from their abilities, especially those looking to better the world… and tinkers."<ref name="I11d">Interlude 11d</ref>
He had something of a deathwish, which led him to attack powerful opponents.<ref>Ridtom:
True, it's just that he has a habit of underestimating his opponents.
Wildbow:
More that he has a deathwish, deep down inside. - Comment by Wildbow on Spacebattles</ref>
Although he was unable to speak, Mannequin had a variety of methods for communicating. He could spell out words, or use sign language to get his meaning across.<ref name="13.4">“Doing it differently? This isn’t that complicated,” Burnscar said.
“How’s it going to look if you do it wrong? I imagine Mannequin’s going to get punished for fucking up,” Grue said, “But he at least tried. If you screw up here, right at the beginning, you really think your team is going to be impressed? No, they’re going to be embarrassed. And I bet they’ll take it out on the person who embarrassed them.”
Mannequin tapped on Burnscar’s shoulder. She turned, and he parted his mouth slightly before drawing an ‘x’ over it with one finger.
“Mannequin says you’re lying.” - Excerpt from Snare 13.4</ref><ref name="14.5">Mannequin made a gesture at Crawler, fingertips of two hands all touching, pressed to his ‘mouth’, then he pulled his hands away, splaying his fingers. Crawler cocked his head and Mannequin pointed at the frozen heroes. I heard Crawler rumble with guttural laughter. - Excerpt from Prey 14.5</ref>
Appearance & Equipment
It is unknown what Mannequin looked like before he cocooned himself in his new 'Mannequin' body. Now, however, he survives in an ecosystem of his own creation. His body is made up of several 'pieces' which seem to be able to operate independent of each other. They are attached with chains or ball joints, his shoulders and hips are ball joints, his lower arms and, presumably, lower legs are attached to chains. These chains are capable of extending and retracting, to devastating effect.<ref name="Cast1">Mannequin – A tall (nine-foot) man encased in a sealed, protective suit, loaded out with various weaponry. Member of the Slaughterhouse Nine. - Cast</ref>
He is 9 feet tall, his head scrapes the ceiling of an average sized room. Furthermore, his head has "no eyeholes, no earholes, nor any vents for air intake. There was only a head as white and smooth as an eggshell, with shallow indents where the eyes and mouth should be and a small bump for the nose."<ref name="I11d"/>
It is noted that anyone who looks at Mannequin before the two halves of his chest come together can see the organs that are inside of him. The right and left side of his body, which appear to be able to work independent of each other are "cut cleanly down the middle"<ref name="I11d"/> and the organs inside of him "pulsed with activity, throbbing wet against the glass or glass substitute.<ref name="I11d"/>" It is also noted that there is a substantial amount of technology keeping him alive, "regulators and filtration systems, and other gear that was designed to fit into the gaps between the most vital systems."<ref name="I11d"/> His carapace was durable enough to resist his own blades.<ref name="12.6c1">The ceramic has shown itself to be fairly durable as far as resisting the impact from Mannequin’s own weapon (the whirling blades, during the scene with Armsmaster), so that’s one clue as to its durability. - Comment by Wildbow on Plague 12.6</ref>
Skitter speculates that each part of Mannequin's new body is "a self-contained system."<ref name="I11d"/> Furthermore, "everything nonessential stripped away and replaced."<ref name="I11d"/> This appears to also include Mannequin's voice as he uses keys from a keyboard to communicate with Armsmaster. Due either to the trauma he suffered or his own body modification people who sensed emotions had a hard time tracking him.<ref name="R34">When it comes to Sphere, keep in mind that he effectively second triggered, except it wasn't really a true second trigger. In Weaverdice terms, he got the Renovamen/Angel Life Perk. Get taken out of action, come back in another form. So he had a different power, but when he broke, it took on a complete other angle. Best not to compare Sphere and Mannequin too much. If it helps, think of Mannequin as a tinker creation of Sphere, chopped up brain handling the corona differently. -Excerpt from comment on Reddit</ref><ref name="I13.5">“No. Cherish has a hard time tracking Mannequin, and he won’t know how to find us,” Shatterbird said. Excerpt from Interlude 13.5 (Donation Bonus)</ref>
He is also bristling with 'weapons' and 'tools' however they seem to 'seamlessly' flow into his body making it almost impossible to see the number of weapons he has. Among other weapons he has a "telescoping blade" that comes out of the center of Mannequin's hand that can be 'speared' forward as well as retracted so quickly that it causes a recoil in his forearm and hand. Further he can swap out any of his tools for other materials to deal with the situations at hand. He likly also has replacement materials for his body for whenever he is seriously injured.<ref>I realized what was happening too late, when my feet were hauled off the ground. In the span of a second, I soared up six or seven stories, the counterweight to a nine-foot tall man in featureless white armor who plunged downward to land in a heap on the ground.
Mannequin.
He’d repaired himself this fast? Did he have spare parts lying around?
I reached up and tried to wind my arm, wrist and fingers around the chain, to alleviate the pressure on my throat, and to give me a grip in case he decided to let go.
Mannequin hauled himself to his feet and the chain that stretched from his arm to the rooftop and back down to me made me bounce with every small movement. He advanced on Amy, who backed away. - Excerpt from Snare 13.2</ref>
This repair ability has served him well in the Slaughterhouse Nine, with it's high member turnover rate. It was mentioned several times by different people that Mannequin is one of the Nine's longest serving members. Bonesaw mentioned once that she could count the members of the Nine that lasted more then a few years on one hand with fingers to spare, with Mannequin being one of them.<ref>Interlude 25</ref>
Every one of Mannequin's joints is too flexible, "capable of moving in every angle"<ref name="I11d"/> and his fingers are described as " like worms, each knuckle bending in impossible directions."<ref name="I11d"/>
Abilities and Powers
Mannequin's ability is described as a "tinker who specialized in sustaining life, sheltering it from outside forces; forces that included water, weather, space… and bugs." After the death of his children and wife, he changed from trying to protect others and now "was using his power to help and protect himself and himself only."<ref name="12.6">Plague 12.6</ref> The modifications he preformed on himself separated him from his humanity forever.<ref name="R34"/>
As a tinker, Mannequin can retain the benefits of his technology even if his powers are suppressed, but he grows noticeably less coordinated using it.<ref name="26.3">Grue reached out for another power. Mannequin’s power wasn’t useful, but the other-.
I felt my power fading, just as the swarm-decoy was gaining enough bulk.
I wasn’t the only one. Crucible’s forcefield shorted out. Clockblocker had been in the midst of reaching for Breed-bugs to lock down, and found himself only giving them easier access in climbing up his arms.
The Mannequin staggered back, tripping on the stairs. Just a little less coordinated. - Excerpt from Sting 26.3</ref>
Due to being mostly modular, his fighting style is never quite the same twice, and his flexibility and many weapons give him a lot of options. He used a different configuration with each confrontation approaching a problem from different angles and rapidly finding out how to defeat his opponents. Like guns.
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History
Background
After his rebirth Mannequin would start travelling the world as a serial killer, emphasizing individuals, predominantly tinkers and rogues who seek to better the world with their powers as his targets. Eventually he joined the Slaughterhouse Nine and has been with them for an unknown amount of time, though it has been several years.
Story Start
When the group they came to Brockton Bay to 'recruit' a ninth member for their team. His recruit is Armsmaster, who he visits in holding by climbing through the air vents, and injures just enough to make a point.<ref name="I11d"/>
Post-Leviathan
Mannequin came with the Nine to Brockton Bay, recruiting. He nominated Armsmaster. a fellow tinker.<ref name="I11d"/>
Possibly spited by the unusually low death count of Shatterbird's attack as a result of Skitter's involvement, Mannequin sought the young villain out<ref name="I11c1">Think of it as punishment. Hypothetical (don’t take this as gospel): Cherish reports that less people died than usual, maybe there’s even something in the collective emotions that points to Skitter’s involvement. Gratitude?
Mannequin volunteers to see what’s up, finds that she’s helping people? Organizing things, on top of what she did to reduce Shatterbird’s casualty count?
Finger wag. No, no, no. Bad girl. Now he has to punish her on behalf of the Nine. - Comment by Wildbow on Plague 12.7</ref><ref>More that Cherish maybe remarked "Huh, that's probably one of your lower kill counts, Shatterbird."
"Why?"
"The Worm," Cherish replies, pointing in a direction.
Jack looks to Mannequin, who leaves without a word. -
Elaboration by Wildbow on Sufficient Velocity</ref>. He found her in her territory, engaged in providing medical treatment to those with glass shards in their bodies, a remnant of Shatterbird's recent song. Skitter said she would make him pay for hurting people.
She did.<ref>Plague 12.7</ref>
Fleeing he later met up with the other 7 members, and was rebuked for his failure.<ref>Interlude 12</ref> The morning after Jack posted the rules of the Nines visit to Brockton bay and Mannequin was seen lurking at the edge of Skitter's territory.<ref>Snare 13.1</ref> Later that day he ambushed the Undersiders and maimed Panacea while she was meeting with the teenaged villains.<ref>Snare 13.2</ref> He would attack Skitters territory again with a gas attack orphaning several children. Overwhelmed by the young villains he forfeited his turn over to Burnscar so she could kill them.<ref>Snare 13.4</ref>
He was killed by Bakuda's bombs utilized by the PRT.<ref name="Cast2">Mannequin, Alan Gramme (Turned to Glass) – Once known as Sphere, a tinker working on sustainable energy and living spaces in hostile environments, including ocean-borne cities and a moon base. Was attacked by the Simurgh, saw his wife and child die, and snapped. Butchered himself and sealed the parts in an impervious, doll-like shell, with ball joints and chains separating the sections and a loadout of various retracting blades, gases and guns. Turned to glass by a bombing run utilizing some of Bakuda’s weaponry. - Cast (In Depth)</ref>
Post-Timeskip
Several clones of Gramme appeared as members of the Slaughterhouse 9000, along with a hybrid clone of him and Winter called Snowmann. Though grown and programmed by Bonesaw, they carried out the body modifications themselves.
Gold Morning
One instance of Mannequin survived to Gold Morning, and was captured by Khepri.<ref>I found members of Bonesaw’s Slaughterhouse Nine. Clones who’d fled, or who’d been left behind, lurking in dark corners, or simply hiding. A Mannequin, two Damsels that were keeping each other company, a Night Hag-Nyx hybrid, and a Crawler-Breed hybrid. - Excerpt from Speck 30.4</ref>
Trivia
- Like Andrew Norton was not an intentional homage to emperor Nortan, Mannequin was not given the first name of Alan as an intentional homage to the musician Alan Menkenany, who wrote the song Mannequin Attack.<ref name="I12c1">Yes. Homage. I totally know what you’re talking about. 🙂 - Comment by Wildbow on Interlude 12</ref>
Fanart Gallery
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Image by Abyranss on Reddit
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References
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