Do Puppetmasters exist in Ezorea?

[Mhaeric]

Minions aren't really a good example though, given only some are actual automatons/robots

The minions in question are specifically the mammets and wind-ups, which are all actual automatons/robots so it does apply.

No one said anything about PUP using minions. There are just some minions that match what a PUP is already.

[Cilia]

There are mammets and various other machina, but to the best of my knowledge there is nobody in Eorzea that weaponizes them as the idea suggests.

[Mhaeric]

There are mammets and various other machina, but to the best of my knowledge there is nobody in Eorzea that weaponizes them as the idea suggests.

Gigi (of Hildebrant's story, not the GSM one) was created to provide immortality to its creator, Archmagus Quan, and this was done with the ability to restore things to their ideal state. It failed in the Archmagus' case because Gigi grew to love him and viewed his as ideal already. This also manifested in a couple of ways during the storyline, mostly to do with reversing age and the last manifestion was quite aggressive against the other protagonists although it was ultimately unsuccessful. I would count Archmagus Quan as a mammeteer, and there's lots of room in the lore for other types of mammets with similarly powerful abilities.

[MikkoAkure]

It caused me great sorrow in 1.0 when I found out that pugilist would get monk as a job instead of puppetmaster, even though pugilists were tied to the casino, which employed mammets. I still held hope after 2.0 that PUG could split into MNK and PUP like how ACN splits into SMN and SCH, but now Yoshi doesn’t like split jobs. Oh well.

[Lubu_Mykono]

They exist when they need to add another Limited job to keep the subs up.
I bet it's gonna be based like the FF11 version where you need different parts for different components.
Except it will be tied to crafting to get the best ones with the item requirements being stuff you've already done 20 times before.

[Eloah]

Vivi is a puppet...it is explained in FF9.

Vivi in 9 wasn't a puppet, at least not how I think you're referencing it. It was established that he was different from the other Black Mages, being the prototype and all, and unlike the others, he had free will and sentience from the start of his life; since he was lost right after his creation. Remember Vivi's whole story arc is about existentialism ("How do you prove that you exist...? Maybe we don't exist...") and he acts as a grounder for Zidane when he goes through a similar issue.

To clarify, he was designed to be a puppet, but didn't become a puppet. Think of it like Johnny 5 from Short Circuit.

[Iscah]

Vivi is a puppet...it is explained in FF9.

While it's made clear in the end that he's some kind of artificial being, a great deal of discussion goes into whether he's human or not - suggesting that he looks human to the other characters in the story.

[Frizze]

/handover will make mammets and wind-up minions eat out of your hand

This doesn't work unless you have that title up. I think there were others like this, but can't remember them off the top of my head.

You dont actually need the title up to have this work. I have never set this one as my title(though i did earn it ages ago) but ive done the feeding(/handover) trick hundreds of times. Works with other peoples minis too. I dont remember if there was a special animation for /pet or not. Several minis will climb up on your shoulder if you /beckon them. Im blanking on any other emotes that have special interaction with minis.

[Cilia]

Gigi (of Hildebrant's story, not the GSM one) was created to provide immortality to its creator, Archmagus Quan, and this was done with the ability to restore things to their ideal state. It failed in the Archmagus' case because Gigi grew to love him and viewed his as ideal already. This also manifested in a couple of ways during the storyline, mostly to do with reversing age and the last manifestion was quite aggressive against the other protagonists although it was ultimately unsuccessful. I would count Archmagus Quan as a mammeteer, and there's lots of room in the lore for other types of mammets with similarly powerful abilities.

Vivi's specific abilities were not time reversal, but the power to put things into what he believes is their "ideal state." Aside from being restored to their physical prime it's implied that Vivi makes the Grand Sers more powerful than they actually were due to their braggadocio.

Either way, the closest thing anyone in Eorzea has to a combat puppet is the MCH's new Automaton Queen.

You dont actually need the title up to have this work. I have never set this one as my title(though i did earn it ages ago) but ive done the feeding(/handover) trick hundreds of times. Works with other peoples minis too. I dont remember if there was a special animation for /pet or not. Several minis will climb up on your shoulder if you /beckon them. Im blanking on any other emotes that have special interaction with minis.

Poking the slime and pudding minions will make them melt, petting certain minions has them do special things (Littlefoot does the stereotypical Yeti chest thumping), specific pairs will attempt to fight each other (Wind-up Magnai and Sadu), etc. None of this requires the Mammeteer title being either earned or displayed.

[MikkoAkure]

You dont actually need the title up to have this work. I have never set this one as my title(though i did earn it ages ago) but ive done the feeding(/handover) trick hundreds of times. Works with other peoples minis too. I dont remember if there was a special animation for /pet or not. Several minis will climb up on your shoulder if you /beckon them. Im blanking on any other emotes that have special interaction with minis.

You can do all that with most minions but you need the mammeteer title equipped to do that with wind-ups. Also, the title being on allows wind-ups to move on their own.

As far as the main topic, I had just remembered somewhere reading that Yoshi isn't a fan of the pet classes. That would make sense with the ACN/SMN/SCH and MCH changes we had for 5.0. At this point I doubt we'll get another pet class.