Cloning Blues: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"I am a clone, I am not alone...

''If you had ever seen us you'd rejoice in your uniqueness

 

In [[Speculative Fiction]], being a clone absolutely ''sucks''. It's enough to make a clone sing the blues.

Though real [[Artificial Human|artificial clones]] have to start at conception and go through childhood all over again, and can even have phenotypes that vary from their parent, [[Speculative Fiction]] clones are like perfect meta-xerox copies of the cloned person. They are ''exactly'' like the target at the moment of cloning, (possibly excused by [[Younger Than They Look|age acceleration]]) with all their forebearers' [[Genetic Memory|memories]] [[Soul Fragment|and skills]], although their personalities can develop from there.

 

 

 

 

Because of all this (or possibly as a cause of all this), clones get very little respect. Heroes who hesitate at killing intelligent life might still kill their evil clone. In the question of [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]], most clones rank somewhere between the [[Big Creepy-Crawlies]] and the [[Mecha-Mooks]]. Interestingly, on the question of [[Uniqueness Value]] the only clone that matters is the last one...[[Twinmaker|provided the original is dead]].

 

 

 

Unrelated to [[Something Blues]]. See also [[Scale of Scientific Sins]] and [[Creating Life]]. Closely related to [[Expendable Clone]]. Contrast with [[Clones Are People, Too]], where they ''do'' get to live their own lives.

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{{examples}}

* ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'': in the manga, a villain grows a Ryoko clone named Minagi who has a nearly opposite personality from the original, being very sweet and kind (though no less brave than Ryoko). Minagi suffers the requisite existential angst in the beginning, but gets over it and goes off to live her own life, reappearing in the manga occasionally as Ryoko's "sister." Her biggest problem is being a dead ringer for a notorious [[Space Pirates|Space Pirate.]]

* ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' had direct cloning be highly illegal, in contrast to simple genetic modification, though it didn't stop a powerful politician from cloning himself several times, believing the clones would be superior successors to his biological son. At least three have been seen, and of those one became a manipulative nihilist that attempted to wipe out the human race, and another became a pawn of the secret [[Big Bad]] of the sequel. All of them apparently suffer from birth defects that prematurely accelerate their aging and cause intense pain if not treated with medication.

* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'': Rei Ayanami is a tragic cocktail. She's a [[Half-Human Hybrid]] with [[Easy Amnesia]]. Her isolated upbringing with Gendō Ikari left her with [[No Social Skills]]. Her Male Counterpart, Kaworu Nagisa is a mysterious cocktail of [[Dissonant Serenity]], [[Ambiguous Innocence]], and [[Half-Human Hybrid]]. Then again, everybody in that mess of a show a tragic cocktail of at least three different tropes, clone or no clone. And she hates it to boot. After being cloned (again) she is just pissed off and tired, wanting to die. But she isn't allowed to.

** The second ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion]]'' film even has a scene of Rei floating in an LCL tank, wearing a collar engraved with "REI-02".

* ''[[RahXephon]]'' has {{spoiler|Isshiki Makoto, who, in both flashbacks and his final breakdown, is shown to take the fact that he's an inferior clone...rather hard, to say the least. Indeed, he almost directly causes humanity to lose the Human-Mu war out of a need to prove that he was more than an imperfect copy of his "father"}}

* In a truly staggering example of the clone inferiority complex, after the villain of first season of ''[[Slayers]]'', Rezo the Red Priest, makes a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] and dies on the apocalyptic magics of the protagonists to allow the destruction of the demon he was host to, the clone created by his spurned former lover becomes obsessed with convincing the same protagonists to use the exact same potentially world-ending spell on him so that, in the unlikely event of his survival, he can claim to have achieved something the original had not. The dubiousness of trying to one-up a self-sacrificing gesture by surviving your own is apparently lost on the mind of a megalomaniac.

** Likewise in the companion series, ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'', where the {{spoiler|Syaoran we start out with is a clone of the Syaoran from the latter half of the series. The clone first sacrifices his life for the original and then is [[My Own Grampa|reincarnated back into the original's father]]}}.

* The contestants in ''[[Gantz]]'' were all clones created at the time of death of their originals, with all memories intact. Sometimes Gantz makes mistakes, and so sometimes the 'dead' originals get better.

* The Zentradi of the ''[[Macross]]'' universe (and the Macross part of ''[[Robotech]]'') are initially all artificially-generated beings. Some cloning remains in practice, even if it's strongly hinted that many are reproducing biologically by the time of ''Macross Frontier''. They don't seem to suffer any angst about it, even the ones who are obvious clones of important characters from the original series.

** There's an apparent plot hole between the original ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]]'' and its sequels, particularly Macross 7. The official sources state that about one million people survived the Zentraedi planetary bombardment in 2010 AD. Macross 7 is set in 2045 AD, featuring the 37th immigration fleet, 7th (hence the title) to have a main colony vessel capable of carrying about one million people. Official source materials include a book with a more detailed timeline, mentioning the start of mass cloning of the surviving population and its end when mutations (due to the procedure's strain on DNA) started appearing. No mention of how many copies of each individual were made, but presumably they were loaded onto the immigration fleets to spread the seeds of humanity across the stars.

** In another interesting development, the only ones who view them as less than human are the scientists who created them and the clones themselves, possibly linked to {{spoiler|identity crisis with shared memory/perceptions. Even the bad guy of that arc would ''always'' try to talk to them as individuals (unsuccessfully) before deciding to kill them.}}

* This comes up towards the end of ''[[King of Thorn]]'', since by that point {{spoiler|both Marco and Kasumi have died and been resurrected as Medusa constructs}}; essentially, they are just copies of their original selves. Marco, [[Determinator|not being one prone to angst]], simply recommends they live on as normal.

{{quote|'''Marco''': Your worth hasn't changed. And it never will.}}

* The premise of ''[[Afterschool Charisma]]'' is a lot like ''[[Clone High]]'' if that was done seriously; that is, a school in the near future is populated by teenage clones of historical figures as a research/social experiment. And yes, [[You Cloned Hitler|they cloned Hitler]] (Who, surprisingly enough, is actually one of the most kind-hearted clones; go figure). There is enormous pressure on the clones to live up to their originals. Marie Curie, who wants to study music, [[Released to Elsewhere|transfers out]], while Mozart, who [[Fantastic Racism|embraces his fate and looks down on non-clones]] can't handle the pressure and {{spoiler|[[Driven to Suicide|attempts suicide]]}}.

* In ''[[Appleseed]] Ex Machina'' Briareos and Tereus, [[Artificial Human|a bioroid]] made from his genetic material are identical right down to birthmarks (though since Bri is a cyborg now, it's not immediately obvious to anyone who didn't know him before the fact), and share quirks and tendencies to a ridiculous degree. Genetics Do Not Work That Way! Naturally Tereus feels angsty about his lack of uniqueness, even though millions of other bioroids demonstrate no such issues, and are treated as fully equal to humans - to the point that the government mostly consists of bioroids!

* In the DC Comics Vertigo title ''[[The Books of Magic]]'', Sir Timothy Hunter, {{spoiler|a possible future for main character Tim Hunter}}, was so amoral by the deeds done to become Sir Timothy that he used his magic to create clones of his lost love Molly despite being pretty well unrecognisable as ever having been Tim. It didn't go well for anyone involved.

* In Fred Perry's ''[[Gold Digger (Comic Book)|Gold Digger]]'', Brianna, the third Digger sister, is actually a clone/BiologicalMashUp of Gina and Brittany. After her accidental creation, she quickly goes nuts and tries to eliminate her "sisters" (due to a curse that was the reason for the process that created her), though they eventually manage to talk her down. Even then, for several issues afterward, Brianna has something of an identity crisis. By "several issues", about fifty or so, on and off. Oddly enough, it is practically ''never'' referenced that, technically speaking, she is Brittany and Gina's biological daughter.

** Stryfe is a clone of Cable, who's the son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor. As a baby, Cable got infected with a techno-organic virus and sent to the future to be cured. Well that turned out to be a lie. The future doctors didn't think he could be saved, so they cloned him. The clone was then kidnapped by [[X-Men (Comic Book)|Apocalypse.]] This classic villain wanted to raise the boy as his heir, then take over his body. When he found out Stryfe was a clone, he got discarded. Well...to make a long story slightly less long, Stryfe went nuts, traveled back in time to before he was even born, and began playing at being an ineffectual mutant terrorist, running an organization staffed with losers. Turned out the whole thing was a [[Xanatos Gambit]] to turn X-Men on each other, frame Cable for murder, and Mr. Sinister and Apocalypse as the masterminds behind it all, while he kidnapped his own mother and father, beat the snot out of the Big-A, and finally unveiled himself to the cast. The reason for all his Machiavellian manipulation and tomfoolery? To avenge himself on his parents, both physical (Cyclops & Phoenix) and spiritual (Sinister & Apocalypse). The kicker? It's technically subverted because Stryfe believed he was the ''original'' and that Cable was the clone who stole ''his'' life.

* This trope is what the plot of the ''[[Spirou and Fantasio]]'' album {{spoiler|"Machine qui rêve"}} is revealed to be about at the end.

* {{spoiler|Marika Utika}} of ''[[Twin Spica]]''. Not only is human cloning illegal by international treaty, the whole [[Replacement Goldfish]] status doesn't help.

* The Mauler Twins of ''[[Invincible]]'' are a mutated mad scientist and his clone. They simply cannot agree on which was the original, and consider this important because he created the clone to be his servant. Eventually, a sequence of events occurs which guarantees the original - whichever he may have been - is now dead. The Twins miss a single beat...then commence arguing over which is the lower-generation clone.

** Things get a bit more insane from that point on. The Maulers have always been obsessed with not noticing any differences between them; the cloning process overloads the senses so it's never quite actually clear what is what or who is who or so on...

** It gets worse, since {{spoiler|at least two clones have since turned out alive and heroic - one in the mid-1970s ''Secret Society of Supervillains'' early issues, and the other one much more recently in Kurt Busiek´s ''Power Company''}}.

* In ''[[The Warlord]]'', Deimos creates a clone of Morgan's son Joshua, ages it to adulthood, and sends it to attack Morgan, leading Morgan to believe he has killed his own son.

** And then there's the fact that the children of his clones are also considered clones of him. Jamie found that out the hard way when he accidentally absorbed the baby one of his clones had with Siryn, to her obvious horror.

* ''[[Transmetropolitan]]'' uses braindead clones for rather...[[I'm a Humanitarian|specific purposes.]]

* Also from the ''[[Superman]]'' mythos, Superboy (Kon-El/Conner Kent) is a clone made from half-Superman's DNA, and half Lex Luthor's DNA (before this was revealed, there were some...''complications''). That's right, ''Superman and Lex Luthor technically had a kid.'' This is the stuff ''[[Smallville]]'' shippers live for... Superman was dead at the time

** Superboy also has a clone called [[Evil Knockoff|Match]]. That's right, ''a clone of a clone''. He started out as a [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]], but suffered [[Clone Degeneration]] and now looks like a Bizarro version of Superboy who uses Bizarro speak and is falling apart.

** And in the ''One Million'' event, it is revealed that in the distant future (the 853d century) clones of Superboy are still being made. The latest one in the series, who strongly resembles classic cult future superhero OMAC, is also called OMAC, because in his case it stands for ''One Millionth Actual Clone''.

** Calvin thinks he solves the problem by cloning only his good half. The "Good Calvin" promptly openly crushes on Susie and pursues her, but is rejected thinking it's another one of Calvin's tricks. The Good Calvin gets into a fight with regular Calvin, angry that his original is such a lowlife that Susie won't give him the time of day, and then disappears in a puff of logic when he realizes he had an evil thought.

** Dredd himself also has clones.

** The thinking behind this seems to be that if a clone doesn't work out as planned, they'll just put out another. Logical, really..

 

 

* In [http://www.demando.net/ Meredith Bronwen Mallory]'s rather disturbing little ''[[Star Wars]]'' fan fic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/913328/1/Deep_As_You_Go Deep As You Go]'', Darth Vader has utilized the cloning facilities at Kamino to clone his late wife Padmé. [[Wife Husbandry|This]] goes [[Replacement Goldfish|about as well]] as [[What Have I Become?|one would expect]].

{{quote|''"Are you an angel?" his voice is the sound of leaves brushing over a tombstone. This the awful question, because if he hadn't asked it, he would still love her. His eyes are so blue, so strange set into the roped scars on his head.''

''"I don't know," she says, and as soon as her voice sounds, she knows it is the wrong answer. The first time he asked, when she was five, she said she was whatever he wanted her to be. Her left arm had never mended right.'' }}

 

 

* Matt, in Nancy Farmer's ''[[House of the Scorpion]]'', is treated like crap by most of the people in the world simply because clones are normally reduced to the intelligence level of invalids. They are marked as "property" and treated more like inanimate objects than living things. As you can probably tell, this is a big problem for Matt, who has not had his brain destroyed and is thus a sapient person. It doesn't make it better for him when he discovers that he was not meant to replace El Patron as ruler of Opium, the fictional nation in the book, but {{spoiler|to be harvested for organs once El Patron's went bad.}}

* In the ''[[Deathstalker]]'' novels by Simon R. Green, we have {{spoiler|Evangeline Shreck (cloned before the series starts to replace the Evangeline who was killed by her father when she wouldn't let him rape her), and the clone of High Lord Dram}}. And the clones (and sometimes [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|esper clones]]) that the empire enslaves for labor.

* The clones in [[William Sleator]]'s ''[[The Duplicate]]'' have it rough. First off they get less and less sane the farther from the original they are, and the sanest ones develop black marks on their hands and die abruptly. Since they're not convinced that they are copies (they're physically and mentally identical to the original until the marks appear), this all feels monstrously unfair.

** The protagonist cloned himself. Unfortunately, the clone believed ''he'' was the original and in turn cloned himself, and that clone ALSO thought he was the original. Unfortunately for them, clones tend to develop mental illnesses quickly. The second clone became clinically depressed; the first one was the original's [[Evil Twin]].

** Thrawn's human based clones are treated vastly different, depending on characters. Some (Imperial die-hards) flat out hate them and are discriminatory. This was initially indicated as being a side-effect of the Imperial "humans first" doctrine, putting them in a second-class status to the "properly-generated" humans, but was then retconned with the Clone Wars. Which then created its own version, with the majority of the Imperial Army regarding the clones as mere tools. A Moff is absolutely horrified to find that the major he was working with is a clone.

** Luke and Mara both exhibit this opinion in the [[Hand of Thrawn]] duology, and takes this logic to its natural conclusion when Luke decides [[Honor Before Reason|to not kill]] a {{spoiler|not yet mature clone of [[Magnificent Bastard|Grand Admiral Thrawn]] because it hadn't done anything wrong. And then kills him anyway, more or less by accident but as a direct result of the [[What an Idiot!|stupid extremes]] he went to in avoiding overuse of his powers}}.

{{quote|'''Carib:''' You're [Leia] a sophisticated woman, a politician and diplomat, fully accustomed to dealing with the whole spectrum of sentient beings. And you're good at it. Yet you, too, feel uncomfortable in our presence. Admit it.}}

** A species decided that they had reached the absolute peak of their species and so decided to freeze their entire civilization at this point of absolute perfection. Every member of that species has been cloned again and again and again, and they entered a static phase that lasted 5000 years. Also, they kept evidence by numbering the clones.

** The ''[[X Wing Series]]'' had the clone of {{spoiler|Ysanne Isard}}, who believed herself to be the original and looked the same except for a nasty scar and no memory of how she got it. The real {{spoiler|Isard}}, in an [[Enemy Mine]]/prelude to betrayal, told the Rogues to go kill her; they had no objection to what amounted to assassination despite generally being shown as unwilling to kill outside of battle. This clone is subsequently called "the {{spoiler|Isard}} clone" ''by the narration'' and is taunted by the Rogues into realizing that she ''is'' a clone before they kill her.

* Kazuo Ishiguro's ''[[Never Let Me Go]]'' depicts the kids growing up in a special boarding school, carefully told and not told about the total lack of any real future and any choice in their life as they will all go on to be carers for donors and then donors themselves (they seem to be universal donors). Strangely, none of them ever try to run away or escape their fate.

** They do display a great deal of interest in finding their "possibles" (how they refer to their originals; the term "clone" is, interestingly, almost never used in the book), and seem to attach a lot of importance to who their models were. At one point Ruth horrifies the others by voicing what seems to be a universal, unspoken fear: that they're modeled on "trash", and if they want to look properly for their possibles, they should look "in the gutter".

* The replacement clones from Jackson's Whole in [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s [[Vorkosigan Saga]] series hardly have anything better; they are raised in crèches to be not just slaves, but also [[Walking Transplant|replacements]] for the aging bodies of the rich and powerful through brain transplants. Guess where their original brains go. Elsewhere in the Galaxy, cloning, while unpopular, is a somewhat tolerated and well-regulated practice, and clones enjoy all the basic rights.

** In ''Brothers in Arms'', we learn that a clone was made from {{spoiler|Miles Vorkosigan}} years ago, when the original was just six years old, in a long-running [[Xanatos Gambit]] to substitute the clone for the original once the clone was adult enough that the six-year age difference wouldn't matter. The clone goes through (relatively) normal growth and receives regular briefings on the original's activities so that his impersonation will be realistic. The original eventually defeats the plot by treating the clone as a real person with an identity (and a name) of his own, something the clone's creators never did; this triggers the clone's [[Heel Face Turn]], but takes about four books.

** The identity politics behind clones and cloning are discussed at length in ''Mirror Dance''. Since cloning is an accepted technology on Beta Colony, they have an extensive network of legal definitions and protections for clones. Cordelia, who is Betan, identifies herself to Mark as either his mother or his mother-once-removed, with legal obligations and rights approximately equivalent to a grandparent. And points out that regardless of his cloned status, his genes are half hers anyway, so she has as much biological interest in him as she does in his brother.

* In Alfred Slote's ''Clone Catcher,'' clones are walking organ banks for the rich (and since there's no magic aging, they have a good long time to know that). The guy who hunts them down if they run ''is the book's protagonist''. And it's a children's book. (Almost every character in the book comes to condemn these practices, but it's still an awfully creepy premise.)

* In the ''[[Skulduggery Pleasant]]'' books by Derek Landy, protagonist and budding sorceress Valkyrie Cain has an enchanted mirror from which she can extract her reflection. She sends the reflection to attend school and suchlike while she fights magical crime as the sidekick of Skulduggery Pleasant, magician-detective and animated skeleton (bad war wounds). At the end of each day, she puts her reflection back in the mirror and absorbs the memories it accumulated. The reflection acts just like her when it's out on its own, but only because that's its job. When face to face with Valkyrie, it is clearly a soulless image with no will of its own. Skulduggery warns her that she uses that reflection way too much. It may be developing a life of its own.)

* In [[Dean Koontz]]'s ''Frankenstein'' trilogy, Victor Helios, {{spoiler|alias Frankenstein, has created a "New Race" of genetically-engineered beings that are devoid of morality and feelings except for anger, envy, fear, and hate. They cannot disobey his commands, kill themselves, or kill others unless ordered to do so. Courtesy of direct-to-brain data downloading for the sake of knowledge, a great many of the New Race are replicants of people like politicians, police officers, and ministers. But the programming of many members of the New Race is breaking down, allowing them to act as they shouldn't in one way or another...}}

* In the novel ''[[Altered Carbon]]'', digital copies of human psyches can be replicated and transferred to other bodies. This happens two ways: the first is a form of remote storage used as emergency backup by the ultrarich to circumvent the "real death" usually caused by the destruction of the cortical stack. The plot is, initially, driven by an investigation commissioned by someone attempting to find out what occurred between their last back-up and the time of their death. The second involves the duplication of a single pysche into two bodies, a highly difficult and illegal process. It is said to be much loved of a notoriously paranoid assassin named "Dimi the Twin", who uses this technique to provide trustworthy backup for himself. {{spoiler|It is also used by the main character, Takeshi Kovacs, in the climactic events of the novel. While not provoking any existential angst in itself- both versions are, as digital copies, as "real" as the other -- it does require one copy to be destroyed to avoid unwanted attention from the authorities, provoking a difficult discussion about which version has gained more "worthy memories" since the duplication. The dilemma is eventually resolved by a game of rock, paper, scissors.}}

* The novel ''[[Brave New World (novel)|Brave New World]]'' by Aldous Huxley is realistic about artificial clones, treating them just like twins. This is amazing, since it was written in the 1930s. Then again, everybody is conceived artificially in the Brave New World, so why should clones have a stigma? (On the other hand, the techniques used to make the clones ''act'' the same are quite a stretch.)

* [[John Scalzi]]'s ''[[Old Man's War]]'' trilogy features extensive cloning, though most of the time the clones are never brought to consciousness before having their progenitors' consciousness transferred. But ''[[The Ghost Brigades]]'' has an unusual example in which a clone develops consciousness overlaid with a failed attempt to transfer a progenitor's consciousness, causing internal conflicts.

* A series of sci-fi novels written by Steven L. Kent explores this trope. All enlisted men in the future armed forces (not officers or NCOs) are clones, and the main character is a special kind of clone. All the regular clones have no idea they're clones and are biologically programmed to die if they ever find out.

* ''Anna to the Infinite Power'', a YA novel (and later movie), provides a thoughtful take on how the attempt to clone a single genius multiple times might be hampered by the distinctive personalities of her clones.

* A duology of novels, ''Farthest Star'' and ''Wall Around A Star'' by [[Frederik Pohl]] & Jack Williamson, feature a form of [[Teleporters and Transporters|teleportation]] that sends a copy of you elsewhere but leaves the original intact. The copy can be modified ''en route,'' since all you're transmitting is information. Interestingly, this is how most physicists figure real-life teleportation might work.

** In Alias's defense regarding her views of her "sisters" she'd just learned that she was not, as she thought, a naturally born person (hence feeling like a "thing to be copied"), and had been given the impression that her sisters hadn't existed past the destruction of the last of the five entities involved in her own creation so when one of them popped up in front of her Alias had a bad moment - since said last entity had specifically labeled the others as being more puppets to his whim than free spirits like Alias. As for her sisters being calmer, non-mopy, etc: most of them don't seem to have the first clue about where they really come from. Of the three that have actual screen time in the books, only one knew the full story. The other two both thought themselves simply amnesiac, much like Alias herself when first introduced.

* In ''[[Accelerando]]'' and ''Glasshouse'' by [[Charles Stross]], duplication of individuals is relatively common. Replicator-type devices are used, which results in perfect duplicates. Different "instances" of a person can be recombined in a process referred to as "merging deltas" (taken from real life software version control systems)

** In one particular inversion of this trope, one instance of a person returns to the solar system to find they have been made bankrupt by one instance of themselves, and are being sued by the children of another instance. The other clones are dead or missing, leaving them to take the rap...a person is explicitly "jointly and severally liable" for the actions of their other selves.

** In a robotic version, the protagonist of ''Saturn's Children'' is a sexbot who describes how she, and other [[A Is]] similar to herself are created. AI's with human level intelligence take as long as a human would to develop, so no [[Instant AI, Just Add Water|instant AI]], with one loophole: an AI can be duplicated easily. The standard procedure for artificial beings like her was to raise one prototype as desired than clone the AI into identical bodies.

* The Beta clones get varying degrees of this in ''[[7th Son]]'' once they discover what they are. In particular is Fr. Thomas, who fears that because he is artificial he has no eternal soul. Which is kind of a big deal for a priest.

* In [[John Varley]]'s universe they have a law that only one person can own a genotype: all copies must be destroyed. So if you discover that you're an illegal clone, your only hope is to kill your progenitor and replace him/her. Cue several plots.

** Must be hell for identical twins.

* In ''[[Otherland]]'', the members of the Grail Brotherhood conspire to produce the perfect computer simulation, into which they can clone themselves via [[Brain Uploading]] and hence achieve [[Immortality]]. To avert this trope, they arrange for their "real" bodies to commit suicide in various ways upon activation of their virtual clones (never mind that this plan goes horribly wrong when [[Psycho for Hire]] Dread takes over the system).

** The trope is played straight in the case of {{spoiler|Paul Jonas}}, who spends most of the story wandering through various simulated worlds, unaware that he's a virtual copy and the original is still alive in an induced coma. When he finds out, he realizes that everything he's accomplished is meaningless from a personal perspective, as his real body will [[Relationship Reset Button|have none of the accumulated memories]] and his virtual self can't ever be considered a real person. This sends him across the [[Despair Event Horizon]] but gives him the resolve to perform a [[Heroic Sacrifice]].

* Fabricants in the futuristic segment of ''[[Cloud Atlas]]'' are bred to perform all the unpleasant jobs humans no longer want to do (the ones we see the most of work in the fast-food industry, but there are mentions of others in even worse positions). They're bred and raised not to question their lot in life, and anyone who tries is faces intense opposition, the most obvious bit of [[Fantastic Racism]] being Sonmi's attempts to attend university lectures. {{spoiler|Oh, and once they finish their "careers", they get recycled into the "soap" that other fabricants eat.}}

* In Frank Herbert's ''WorShip'' series, clones are second-class citizens at best, disposable labor resources at worst. When there's a crisis or shortage, they always get the short end. They all have some identifiable mutation, adding [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?]].

* Wil McCarthy's "The Policeman's Daughter" is a short story in which a copy takes legal action against his source material when he is unwilling to be reintegrated (as the ''Accelerando'' example above). The original's lawyer is copied for the copy's lawyer, and legal questions involve the potential personhood of a copy and whether their "deletion" is murder or just file maintenance.

* In Jeff Long's ''Year Zero'', adult human clones are created using ancient DNA, then used as expendable guinea pigs for research to cure an unstoppable plague. Not only are these clones fully sentient, but they retain the memories of their entire lives, up to and including their deaths, and so assume they're being punished in the afterlife.

 

** Interestingly, the Cylons are never seen to make clones of existing human characters, rather they were based around certain archetypes of personality and appearance. All people revealed to be Cylons were that way from the beginning. They were either self-aware but passing for human or had fake memories. By the end, it is strongly implied that the Cylons would not even have known how to go about cloning an individual human; most of them didn't know how their own system of downloading functioned.

*** The Number Eight models were unique among Cylons in that they disagreed with each other. All other Cylons were, apparently, similar enough in personality that they could be counted on to have any member of the model vote for the entire model line in a representative system, even though some of them had different individual experiences that might have affected their personalities. Then again, Boomer is also the only model of which any copies worked as unconscious sleeper agents, so that might explain the difference.

** Also in ''Stargate SG-1'', the entire Asgard race is a race of clones portrayed fairly realistically. They don't have magical "clone memories"; those need to be transferred ''via'' computer from the original body. (Thor undergoes this procedure almost as often as Daniel dies.) Also, the Asgard have been cloning themselves for so long that they have suffered severe genetic degradation and are no longer capable of reproducing in any way other than by cloning themselves.

** {{spoiler|When a rogue Asgard genetic scientist leaves a botched (as in too young) clone of O'Neill in an attempt to study his genetic makeup to try and help his species sexually reproduce again, everyone's only worried about the original O'Neill back and doesn't care that the clone's pre-programmed to die. It's only when the original asks Thor to save his clone's life does anyone seem to care.}}

** Both the Jem'Hadar and the Vorta in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Deep Space Nine]]'' fit the "really unlucky clones" described above to a T, including innate combat or tactical prowess and the inbred belief that their creators are gods.

*** In another case Worf convinces the noble Klingon empire to install a clone of Kahless some Klingon monks cooked up to the position of Emperor. This is stated to be a purely ceremonial, if potentially influential, position (equivalent to head of state), and not to be confused with the position of ''Chancellor'' (occupied at the time by Gowron), who is at the top of the Klingon Empire's ''actual'' government.

** In the ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Voyager]]'' episode "Demon", two crewmembers come into contact with a fluid substance on a previously uninhabited planet which causes the substance to gain consciousness. In the end, ''the whole crew'' allow themselves to be perfectly copied so that the clones can build a life on this planet.

**** A later episode reveals that the clones quickly forgot their true identity, assumed the identities of the Voyager crew and tried to "get home" to Earth as well. A new technology causes their bodies to destabilize, which leads to their memories resurfacing and, obviously, lots of angst. {{spoiler|They die just after their time capsule destabilizes and their attempt to hail the real Voyager fails, so it is as if they never existed, maybe suggesting that the writers didn't want to admit that clones were worth being remembered.}}

* An episode of ''[[Farscape]]'' featured a villain who could make perfect copies of people and who [[Lampshading|lampshaded]] the common mistake by being mildly offended when someone referred to it as cloning. Unusually, the "twin" of John Crichton survived the episode. Neither of them tried to kill each other but, for the sake of sanity, the crew split into two groups, each with a copy. Also unusually, neither one was clearly established as the copy. (The scientist claimed both were "equal and original.") Savvy viewers probably guessed that the one who finally [[Official Couple|got together with Aeryn]] [[Finagle's Law|was the doomed one.]]

* Kyle and Jessie of ''[[Kyle XY]]'' are clones grown in a lab, but the cloning itself is realistic; they were grown at normal speed, not fast (spending a lifetime unconscious in tubes), and they don't have clone memories. The word "clone" is never used; but cloning is clearly described, and they look exactly like the originals from many years ago. (Now, the explanation of their intelligence and powers, on the other hand....) Strangely enough, the third season finale strongly suggests that neither are clones, but simply [[Identical Grandson|identical versions]] of their same-sex parents. It is even stated that an unseen character is Kyle's biological mother, who was never even hinted at before in the show.

** An earlier ''[[The Outer Limits]]'' example is the original series' "The Duplicate Man". [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]], an anthropologist illegally brings a Megasoid, a member of an intelligent but bloodthirsty alien race, to Earth. When the creature escapes, the cowardly anthropologist has himself "duplicated" so that his clone can secretly hunt the Megasoid. As in the episode's literary source (Clifford D. Simak's short story "Goodnight, Mr. James"), the clone unknowingly has a poison in his bloodstream that will kill him at a preset time. The ''[[The Outer Limits]]'' version adds the twist that the anthropologist's dissatisfied wife is happier with the clone, since her real husband has become cold and distant. However, the ''[[The Outer Limits]]'' version {{spoiler|cops out of killing the protagonist by revealing that he's ''not'' the clone but the original.}}

** The revival series episode ''Replica'' had a scientist create a perfect duplicate of his (apparently) terminally comatose wife; the duplicate is completely unaware she is a clone until the original wakes up and is presented as a sympathetic character. {{spoiler|In a subversion of this trope, she even gets one of the few unambiguously happy endings in the series; the scientist stays with his original wife, but clones ''himself'' so that the cloned wife can stay with 'him'.}}

* Some [[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke|genetically engineered]] X5 [[Super Soldier|supersoldiers]] in ''[[Dark Angel]]'' have clones, who are treated (by the narrative) as identical twins with their own unique identities. But it still sucks to be them because Manticore (the [[Government Conspiracy|evil organization]] that made the X5s) punished them for the escape of their originals. Alec has had a particularly rough time, because he's a clone of the [[Serial Killer]] Ben.

* In one story line arc of ''[[Soap]]'', Burt is kidnapped by aliens and a transformed alien duplicate sent down to his home in his place. The long-lived alien had gone 2,000 years without sex and was very much enjoying pizza, frozen snickers and Burt's wife Mary...not necessarily in that order...until Burt got the chance to [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8laJD6yZS8w convince him to let Burt have his life back again.]

* The documentary series ''Animal Pharm'' skewers this trope by showing that not only are clones not just copies, they may not even look the same as the original.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** Not too surprisingly, the original psycho-jealous-killer-clone rule still applies in the [[Ravenloft]] setting, even in the 3E products.

** Getting the Cloning Blue is Treason. (Unless you're Level Blue or higher.)

** There also is the Death Corp of Krieg, who are more or less just like the [[Star Wars]] clones only its more than one template (what was left after their civil war) they hide this by wearing [[Gas Mask Mooks|Gas masks]] all the time. Maybe...

* In ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]'', a 'clone' is left so the original won't be missed. This clone must be killed for the original to reclaim their place in the real world.

** Another ''[[New World of Darkness]]'' game, ''[[Promethean: The Created]]'', states that lab-made human clones have not yet been created by conventional science. Unconventional science, however, has been able to create them since some point in the 20th century, by capturing Prometheans, stealing their internal fire (or Azoth), and using that to fuel the growth of a clone. In fact, this particular kind of clone can go from embryo to mature adult (about twenty-five years old) in a few days. These particular types of clones are definitely not seen as people, not having a soul (which, as might be expected in a supernatural horror setting, is a very real concern).

 

== Video Games ==

* The Riku replica in ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories]]'' lives a sad existence, constantly trying to live up to or replace "the real thing". There's a funny omake at the end of the manga that jokes about just how sad it is.

** Also, {{spoiler|Xion from ''358/2 Days''}}.

* It turns out in ''[[Overblood]]'' that {{spoiler|both Milly and Raz are clones. The labs had actually been cloning loads of Raz's as [[Super Soldiers]] and to look after her. Milly is actually the clone of the original Raz's wife, who died. Both of them argue with the real Raz that they aren't simply clones and can't be forced to do whatever their originals did/what Raz wants them to do.}}

* The ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' series ''loves'' clones. Liquid Snake feels inferior to his 'brother' Solid Snake because Solid was supposedly given all the dominant 'soldier genes' and Liquid got all of the recessive ones from their clone-source (they mean alleles, but hey: turns out it was the other way around, [[An Aesop|showing genes aren't the only thing that determine your fate]]). While MGS-verse clones still have to grow up from scratch, once they hit about thirty they start undergoing [[Plot-Relevant Age-Up|rapidly accelerated aging, which seems to work at the speed the character designers dictate]].

** Ac!d-verse Snake gets a [[Tomato in the Mirror|tomato in the face]] when it's revealed he is a clone of Solid Snake. Which would make him a ''[[Up to Eleven|clone of a clone]]''.

* In ''[[Street Fighter]]'', depending on which plot twist you're in, BBEG M. Bison (known as Vega in Japan) has an army of clone soldiers, including Juni, Juli and Cammy. However, the term "clone" is used inconsistently and it's been stated that Juni and Juli are girls kidnapped from Germany.

** More appear in ''[[Street Fighter IV]]''; a factory of backup bodies in the event of M. Bison's death. At least two characters are revealed to be such clones.

* ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' Original Generation 2 had Wodan Ymir, a W Number android, based both physically and mentally on Sanger Zonvolt who died in the Shadow Mirror universe. Outside the fourth wall, the character was created so that the game could use Sanger's incarnation in Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden incarnation as the 'Sword of Magus' without it feeling wrong based on his characterisation and development in the previous Original Generation game.

** Ingram Plissken. There have been so many clones of him made by the Balmar empire in order to keep possessing over the Time Diver, that a lot of them have identity issues.

* ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'' has an analogue of cloning known as fomicry, which uses pure magic to create an identical copy of an original at the time of replication (dodging the aging issue) and without any memories. Most of the game's replicas use many of the pitfalls of this trope, including plenty of [[Wangst]] about not being real. In one case it's even two-sided between replica and original: {{spoiler|Luke's [[Tomato in the Mirror]] moment when he realizes that not only is he a replica, but that he was created just so his original could be kidnapped without anyone noticing, and Asch's continual resentment that his replica stole his life, and is in his own eyes an unworthy successor to his normal identity.}}

* In ''[[Freedom Force]]'', the futuristic robot hero Microwave has the ability to generate weak clones of himself, and the mad villain Deja Vu can create clones of anyone, from civilians to himself to even the game's main hero Minuteman. The final boss {{spoiler|Timemaster generates "temporal twins" of himself to besiege the heroes}} as well. As this game is based on the carefree Silver Age of comics, nobody bats an eye at any of this and no serious moral issues come into play.

* In the ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' 'Hordes of the Underdark' it appears that the mad wizard Halaster has been taken captive by the drow. But after the player kills the drow keeping him captive, another Halaster teleports in, and informs you that you ruined his brilliant plan to trap the [[Big Bad]] using a clone. The two Halasters then begin to bicker about who is the original, and who is the clone - all the while [[Rhymes on a Dime|rhyming]].

* ''[[Destroy All Humans!]]'' is centred around cloning, but clones are also used when Crypto dies during gameplay. Each clone has a number, with Crypto, starting at 137 because 136 was shot down near [[Area 51|Area 42]]. While each clone is made after the other dies, there is no personal difference between them besides their numbers and in the beginning of the game, after learning of 136's disappearance, 137 wants to go rescue himself and confuses the pronouns a lot. When he does find his remains, he laments his loss referring to 136 as himself and takes revenge on the humans for killing him.

* Astaroth from the ''[[Soul Series]]'' undergoes this during 3 and before 4, when he learns that his template was Rock he goes on a berserk rampage, destroying his creation place and eventually finding Rock and almost killing him.

** Prior to their introduction, it was stated that AFS scientists were working on the creation of [[Half-Human Hybrid|Half Human Hybrids]] using this technology. In [[Perpetual Beta|Deployment 9]] they were released, playing all the related tropes straight.

* It is suspected that the protagonist in the game ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]'' is a clone. The antagonist taunts her saying that her brain is "permanently backed up" on a computer, and there are hints indicating that death is not a particular aspect of a failure. In addition, the game contains scribblings and other artifacts left by previous participants of the survival courses, and the game does not exclude the possibility that some of the participants were just previous instances of the PC.

* ''[[Halo]]''. Master Chief and all the other Spartans were kidnapped as six year old children to begin their training. To prevent any questions from being asked, they were all flash-cloned; the parents got the clones. In the Halo universe, cloning single organs is simple, but cloning a full human isn't; they are born with no memory, are mindless vegetables and, after several months, die. So, as far as the Spartans' parents know, they all suddenly suffered major brain damage and died tragically. Only a handful of Spartan trainees ever found out about this, and half of them (count 2) ended up killing themselves after finding out the truth. ''Halo Legends''. The true tragedy of this is explored more thoroughly in the ''I Love Bees''.

* The [[Faceless Goons|Replica]] in ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon|F.E.A.R.]]'' don't go through a whole lot of angst about their cloned nature because ATC deliberately designed them to have limited cognitive capabilities and independent thought processes. The Replica themselves are vat-grown, mass-produced, disfigured, inhuman-looking beings that spend most of their lives in stasis inside small pods until activated for combat; once activated, they show all the typical range of human emotions, including surprise, anger, and fear - albeit mixed in with a terrifying single-mindedness and absolute loyalty.

** Played for laughs in the trailer for the ''Reborn'' DLC for ''F.E.A.R. 2''. "I may be a clone now, but I sure ain't your brother! Yeeaaaaaaahhhhhhh!".

* ''Neo [[Contra]]'' has its moment when {{spoiler|Bill Rizer}} finds out that he was really just part of an experiment to replicate a legendary hero...''Sounds [[Metal Gear Solid|familiar]]''?

* In ''[[P.N.03]]'' the main character, Vanessa Z. Schneider {{spoiler|comes across a clone of herself}} during one of the main story missions. At the end of the game, it's revealed that {{spoiler|the client paying her}} is {{spoiler|another clone}}. It's slightly subverted in that {{spoiler|the original person is unknown}} and that while Vanessa is {{spoiler|somewhat disturbed}} the {{spoiler|client knew about it from the beginning and doesn't mind}}.

* At the end of ''[[Gaia Online|zOMG!]]'', {{spoiler|[[Mad Scientist|Labtech]] [[Let X Be the Unknown|X]] reveals his plot to create an army of Animated [[Humongous Mecha]] and take over Gaia...and also his motivation: he's a clone of [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Johnny K. Gambino]], who abandoned him in favor of his naturally-born son Gino.}}

* In ''[[Star Wars]]: [[The Force Unleashed]] 2'' the protagonist is a clone of the original Starkiller from the first game. He's not particularly happy about this.

* In ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' ''2'', you run into a character called the "Enraged Clone" while escaping Irenicus' dungeon. The clone is completely insane, thinks you are Irenicus, and attacks you. She declares that she could never be "her" no matter how often memories and feelings are forced on her. Judging by the other tanks in the room she is far from the first attempt. We don't find out who the poor clone is supposed to replace until much, much later.

* Subverted in the ''[[Hitman]]'' series, where the protagonist uncovers at the end of the first game that he's the end-result of a dedicated cloning program. His origin is cause for significant strife later in his life, but he's never all that choked up over it - he just kills everyone.

 

== Web Comics ==

* In ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'', the character of Gav Bleuel (based on the real-life comic artist of ''[[Nukees]]'') put himself into suspended animation in the 21st century, and is later awoken (after being found in a disused storage locker) in the 31st, where he is accidentally duplicated nearly a billion times and becomes the largest single ethnic group in the galaxy. [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-12-25 After a few years,] the society of Gavs has developed technology to alter themselves physically and mentally from one another to regain their individuality.

* Parodied in ''[[The Non-Adventures of Wonderella]]'', in an installment titled "[http://nonadventures.com/2008/05/31/bad-to-the-clone/ Bad to the Clone]".

* Subverted in ''[[Final Blasphemy]]''; {{spoiler|Wily uses numerous robotic doubles of himself and one true biological clone just to make sure he's not targeted. These are pretty standard applications of the trope, and when Jeremy is captured, he finds out that he killed that biological clone of Wily rather than the genuine article; he's frustrated but relieved as he doesn't think that counts as murder. Unfortunately, the law ''does'' think that counts as murder. Cue [[Big No]].}}

'''Helen:''' That doesn't mean I didn't have a childhood. You think I was decanted from the replicating pod full-grown? For heaven's sake, Dave, I went through all the normal developmental stages!

'''Dave:''' [[Alien|Egg, facehugger, chestburster, and queen?]] }}

* In ''[[Mind Mistress]]'' this trope is inverted. She ''wants'' to find annother version of herself via dimension traveling but cannot. {{spoiler|In ''[[The Crossoverlord]]'' it is revealed that this is because the Smiling Man killed them all.}}

* ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'': Dr McNinja cloned a small army of himself in college so he could have them all study a different subject, then merge together again, making him an [[Omnidisciplinary Scientist]] with all their combined knowledge. Naturally, this trope was [[Played for Laughs]].

'''Clone:''' I am '''far''' too busy coming to terms with the existential dread of being a clone. }}

** Played with even ''further'', when it turns out that the clones all remember what Franz did to their people. [[Turned Against Their Masters|But at least something is being played straight.]]

 

== Web Original ==

** Later, Thailog and Demona work together to recover the other Manhattan Clan's DNA and then hand them over to Dr. Sevarius to make their own clones: Malibu (a clone of Brooklyn), Brentwood (clone of Lexington), Hollywood (clone of Broadway) and Burbank (clone of Hudson). They lack smarts, as they were programmed only to "obey Thailog". Without Demona's knowledge, Thailog also creates a clone from DNA merged between Demona and Elisa Maza named "Delilah" to act as his new partner to replace Demona; Demona is not happy when she finds this out. After Thailog and Demona are defeated, the clones join the Labyrinth Clan; but in the comics, they temporarily betray their clan to ally with Thailog. After Delilah helps them recover their senses, all but Brentwood return to the Labyrinth Clan (Brentwood prefers Thailog because "Thailog smart").

** In the ABC continuation, the clones turn to stone, apparently permanently, because of a malfunction in their cloned DNA. But, since this was the [[Canon Discontinuity|ABC continuation]], [[Word of God|it didn't happen]].

{{quote|'''Norm the Genie:''' Well, there you go! So I whipped this little baby up to cover for you with them.

'''Wanda:''' The ankles are filled with marshmallow!

'''Cosmo:''' Ah, oh, oh no! It broke!

'''Timmy:''' A clone? Been there, done that. }}

* Used in one episode of The New [[Woody Woodpecker]] Show called "Two Woody".

* Scourge of ''[[Transformers]]'' has the [[Red Shirt|Sweeps]], physical clones who are supposedly his huntsmen. However, they all have different voices and different personalities. As wary as Scourge is, the Sweeps are even worse. He occasionally has to ask Cyclonus for help ordering them around.

** Cyclonus was also supposed to have a clone "armada". One clone shows up in the movie when he is first created, but it is never seen again. This is the subject of much fan discussion.

** "So, which part of me did you come from?" "Don't ask!"

* In ''[[Superman: The Animated Series|Superman the Animated Series]]'', Bizarro is a clone of [[Superman]] created by [[Lex Luthor]].

* ''[[Futurama]]'' gets this more or less right: Professor Farnsworth's clone looks like a younger version of him but has a completely different personality. The clone also has a deformity that the original doesn't have, a piglike nose from pressing against the glass of the cloning chamber.

** Also, in "Bender's Big Score," time travel clones have a high "doom factor" that causes them to be destroyed.

** Nerissa later makes an Altermere of [[Mentors|Yan Lin]], who survives and is introduced to Yan Lin's family as her long-lost twin sister Mira.

** "[[Meaningful Name|Mirror]]?"

* In the ''[[Kim Possible]]'' episode "Kimitation Nation", Dr. Drakken creates an army of duplicates of Kim, Ron, and classmate Bonnie. When discussing it with Wade, she comments that cloning shouldn't work like that according to science class. He agrees; it's not "really" cloning, but they'll refer to it as such to simplify things. The clones were merely used in a [[Fantastic Aesop]] and killed off by soda.

** He'd originally wanted to clone Shego, but she had a no-cloning clause in her contract. When he kept pressing the issue, she [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here|walked out on him]] for the rest of the episode.

* In ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]] Unlimited'', [[Supergirl]] learns that the now-villainous Professor Hamilton took genetic samples of her to create a murderously sociopathic clone of Supergirl, named Galatea. However, Hamilton modified the clone to be an older version of Supergirl to make her tougher. Furthermore, Galatea is also a homage to the later copy of Supergirl, Power Girl, as noted by her white costume with [[Stripperiffic|a chest hole intended to show off her cleavage]], as well as her more developed...[[Most Common Superpower|musculature]].

* In the third season of ''[[Transformers]]: [[Beast Wars]]'', a clone of Dinobot is created who bears little resemblance to the original beyond his name, a similar-sounding voice, and having an alternate mode based on the same animal. (Thankfully, the aging issue can be tossed aside in this case...It doesn't apply to robots.) In an earlier season, Dinobot's biological form was cloned by the villains to serve as an infiltrator; Dinobot was implied to have eaten him, but he was an enemy, so it didn't matter that he was a copy.

* Parodied in the Season Two opener of ''[[The Venture Brothers]]''.

** Although it is implicitly played straight. If Orpheus' trip to the nether in an attempt to resurrect {{spoiler|the Venture Brothers}} is any indication, then Dr. Venture's cloning experiments rendered {{spoiler|the Venture Brothers soulless casks of themselves, since Orpheus is unable to find their spirits therein.}}

** {{spoiler|Their souls were located inside the learning machine; their souls just hadn't been transferred to their bodies yet.}}

* One episode of ''[[Care Bears]]'' has No Heart kick Mr. Beastly out for yet another [[Too Dumb to Live|infraction of common sense]], which means that Shreeky is left to do all the menial labor normally left to her dimwitted partner. She eventually comes up with a way to get out of her unenviable situation: she creates five magical clones of herself, and introduces them all to No Heart. But when she gets to the one who's supposed to "take the blame for [making] messes", the Shreeky clones start bickering amongst themselves; then No Heart bellows that he'd rather have Beastly back than deal with them. After he leaves, Shreeky smugly expresses her satisfaction with the results of her apparent [[Xanatos Gambit]]; then the other Shreekies start bickering over who ''really'' came up with the idea...prompting the real Shreeky to say "there's only room for ''one'' Shreeky around here!" and casually disintegrate them all with her magic mirror.

* ''[[Clone High]]'' actually manages to be a humorous [[Averted Trope|aversion]]/[[Subverted Trope|subversion]], their angst mostly coming from being moody teenagers, not clones. ([[Wild Mass Guessing|Possibly]] going to a school of nothing but other doppelgangers makes them see it as normal.) Gandhi does mention his party-boy personality as having come from the pressure of living up to his saintly forebear, however, and JFK's womanizing seems to be a mixture of living up to the real Kennedy and [[Has Two Mommies|having gay foster fathers]].

* In ''[[Code Lyoko]],'' William's phenominally stupid artificial clone, created through the supercomputer, has to replace him for several months. He never complains or angsts about his situation, probably because he doesn't realize what he is or accepts it without understanding it. It's the real William who suffers in this situation, as he comes back to find that the clone has completely trashed his reputation through stupidity.

* Many people may have forgotten, but the AndrAIa who appears in all episodes of ''[[ReBoot]]'' past her introduction is a backup copy of the original sprite who, unable to leave the game herself, piggybacked the copy onto Enzo because she [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy|didn't want him to be separated from her forever]].

** There is also a clone of Enzo due to a system restore, and a clone of Bob due to {{spoiler|Megabyte stealing Bob's code}}. Surprisingly enough, the clone of Enzo doesn't have the "I am not real" complex most clones have. Everyone just treats him like the original Enzo's younger brother, which is fair thanks to the original's [[Time Skip]]. Original Bob on the other hand, starts to think ''he'' is the clone, until the clone is revealed to be {{spoiler|Megabyte}}.

* In ''[[Carl Squared]]'', C2 has a significantly different personality from Carl. C2 also 5% DNA from car's dog Rex, which causes him to catch frisbees in his mouth and scratch behind his ear with his foot.

* Jim Gaffigan and Conan O'Brian's animated short series ''Pale Force'' has an episode where NBC president Jeff Zucker attempts to clone Conan several times, with several unintended side effects. One clone is a human fly, one is hideously mutated, and one even has breasts. The supposedly "perfect" clone, called "Clonan O'Brian" has a desire for human flesh.

* The chief ability of ''[[Captain Scarlet]]'' villains The Mysterons was to kill and recreate people and objects so that the copies were under their control. However, a building collapse/[[Lightning Can Do Anything|electric shock]] plus some [[Heroic Willpower]] might just get you your man back.

* ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' had an episode where Jimmy makes several imperfect copies of himself thanks to his lackluster use of [[Mad Scientist|Heloise's]] machine. Near the end, Jimmy dumps them all in the ocean.

* BitchStewie and BitchBrian in ''[[Family Guy]]''.

** And Stewie's evil clone.

* [[Superboy]] in ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'', being [[Superman]]'s clone. Superman himself [[That Thing Is Not My Child|is]] [["Well Done, Son" Guy|not]] [[Parental Neglect|pleased]].

** By the end of the first season, {{spoiler|Roy Harper/Red Arrow. The one we've been following throughout the show was revealed to be a clone from Cadmus, while the real Roy was put in stasis for three years. He does not take the news about his true nature, along with being an unwilling traitor, very well.}}

* On ''[[American Dad]]'' Stan uses CIA technology to create a clone of his son Steve to prove to his wife his way of raising him is better.

 

== Real Life ==

** This is a common practice with fruit trees as well. In the Yakima Valley in Washington State, USA, where most of the country's apples are grown, it would be difficult to find an orchard tree whose seeds had the same genetics as its root cells.

** Seedless grapes and domestic bananas are in fact no longer able to reproduce sexually, having adapted to being cloned by humans instead. Going back to the original point that spawned all this talk of cloned plants, one strain of banana was made completely extinct about a century ago due to a parasite that evolved to only feed on that strain. The most common variety of banana nowadays is at risk of the same fate. There are no reports of wild bananas having this trouble.

** By default any seedless variety of fruit is a clone of the original mutation, otherwise it wouldn't have lasted past one generation

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:You Hate What You Are]]