We feel confident in saying that this new, incredibly realistic moving puppet is the greatest thing to happen to the world of puppeteering since the release of Being John Malkovich, even though we know almost nothing about what normally goes on with puppets.

But honestly, you don’t need to be a puppet master to know that this new super articulated design is worthy of praise. Made by Barnaby Dixon, this puppet concept of his is so realistic it’s easy to forget that all of its movements are being controlled by Barnaby’s fingers, and that it’s not really a tiny masked man you’re watching dance around.

The fingers control the arms and the legs, but there is also a mechanism to move the head, as well as a cable to open the puppet’s mouth. Now watching him dance about with such grace and fluidity is cool enough, but when the puppet starts using his little fingers to point and pick things up that’s when this little marvel of engineering gets truly incredible. I never knew how much joy I could get from watching a puppet throw something in disgust, but my goodness did it make me happy. I mean, did you see him scratch his face! Must. Have. Now.

He says the idea for this design came to him a year-and-a-half ago, but that it took two months to actually build it, after he finally came up with the concept for the top.

Because the response to this has been so overwhelming in such a short time, he shared a private video he had made of his puppet dancing with a pianist.

Look at that puppet move! We didn’t know we were waiting for this puppet to walk into our lives, but now we don’t know how we ever lived without him, even if he is already a way better dancer than we’ll ever be.

Where does this new puppet rank among your favorites? Don’t string us along, tell us yours in the comments below.

Images: Barnaby Dixon