Cloning Blues: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

''And consider every weakness something special of your own"''|'''Robert Calvert ([[Hawkwind]])''', ''Spirit of the Age''}}

 

** 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.

* In the second season of ''[[Darker Than Black]]'', it turns out that {{spoiler|Suou is [[Tomato in the Mirror|actually]] an [[Opposite Sex Clone]] of her "brother" Shion; since she was created the same age as him, her past is all [[Fake Memories]]. She angsts about it until Hei hears her and points out that as far as he's concerned, she's still the same person he's been dragging all over Russia and Japan and it doesn't matter where she came from. Unfortunately, despite the "d'awww" moment, it ''does'' matter, as those [[Fake Memories]] are only being held in place because of the Meteor Shard in her necklace. Which is breakable...}}

* 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]]}}.

== Fanfic ==

* 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]].

''"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.'' }}

* [[The Virus|Kodachi Kuno]] of ''[[Divine Blood]]'' doesn't quite clone herself, but fertilizes her own eggs with genetic material gathered from psychics so that she can produces daughters that have superpowers and look like her. She then [[Mind Rape|eats their mind]] [[Fate Worse Than Death|which leaves fragments of their identity behind]] [[And I Must Scream|and their soul bound up with hers]] [[Powered by a Forsaken Child|so that she can utilize their life force to increase her personal power]] and be almost impossible to kill.

** 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}}.

** Leia and Han encounter several clones of Soontir Fel, which were inserted as sleeper agents on an agrarian planet. They're both uneasy around them, but the clones just want to be left alone -- they don't have any loyalty to the Empire. While the Solos are uneasy, they try to treat Fel's clones normally; this doesn't work well.

** 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.

** Meanwhile, the Clone Wars novels make it clear just how much life sucks for the clone troopers -- they have no pay, no leave, and no votes. If they're too badly injured to be capable of battle afterward, then they tend to get euthanised. Deserters are executed. Oh, and did we mention the age acceleration -- growing old twice as fast, or faster under the stresses of battle? At least the CGI series has the heroes treat the clones as individual sentient beings. This is a big, welcome surprise to the clones.

* The Leo Kottke/Mike Gordon song "Clone" (from the album of the same name) has fun with this idea.

* The parody song "I Think I'm a Clone Now" by [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] details a transition; for one of the clones, it starts with embarassment:

Part of some geneticist's plan..." }}

* ...and ends with enjoyment.

 

 

* [[Defrosting Ice Queen|Miranda Lawson]] of ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' is a heavily-modified clone of a ridiculously rich businessman with two duplicates of his X chromosome, and has some major confidence issues on the subject. She also has a genetic twin sister, who is (quite realistically, actually) sixteen years younger and an exact clone. She has fewer issues, primarily because she doesn't know that Miranda exists ({{spoiler|Unless you take the Paragon ending to her Loyalty Quest}}). Lair of the Shadow Broker adds more to this, as it turns out {{spoiler|she's infertile, most likely as a result of her genetic engineering.}}

** Shepard himself/herself was "resurrected" by the Lazarus Project in the beginning of [[Mass Effect 2]]. It's commented in [[Mass Effect 3]] how the original Shepard was completely braindead, and memories/personality had to be reconstructed from brain scans/other information. Shepard in [[Mass Effect 2]] on may in fact be a "clone" built from the original's body, something he/she comments on.

* [[My Hero Zero|Zero]], the star of two series in [[Capcom]]'s ''Mega Man'', is cloned twice, once in each series:

** Played straight in ''[[Mega Man X]] 2'', where Sigma builds a [[Palette Swap|Black]] Zero, claiming it to be X's real pal, seeking revenge. However, the real Zero comes in and easily destroys the clone.

** Subverted in ''[[Mega Man Zero]] 3'': {{spoiler|[[The Hero]] Zero is the clone, and [[Ax Crazy]] Omega is the original. However, the clone has Zero's real soul, still making him the real Zero, albeit in a different body.}}

** ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'' also features [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Copy-X]], who was built as an [[El Cid Ploy]]. However, it isn't really him - the real X sacrificed himself to [[Sealed Evil in a Can|seal up a dangerous enemy]] much earlier - so the clone, with an incomplete version of X's programming, ends up virtually turning evil.

* ''[[Kevin and Kell]]'' actually includes a sheep clone named Dolly who eventually started aging quickly. But thanks to a certain sci-fi device, {{spoiler|she became a lamb again (albeit with her memories intact). It is not clear whether she still ages quickly}}.

* ''[[Narbonic]]'': The title character, Helen B. Narbon, is a clone of her mother. (The "B" stands for "Beta".) [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] when Helen gets an invitation to her high school reunion:

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

** Considering Helen Alpha (a boxed-wine-swilling, antagonistic shrew of the most hilarious sort), there's more to this notion than just facetious antagonism. ''Narbonic'' actually offers a unique perspective on [[Cloning Blues]], however; rather than spending her time locked in an identity crisis, Helen faces a supercharged version of every woman's fear that she will one day turn into her mother.

* 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]].

'''McNinja:''' Aw... }}

** Played with once again [http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/17p63 here], where the villain apparently tries to create evil clones of the good Doctor.

'''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.]]

** 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]].

* ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]'': Timmy has done this many times. He [[Lampshade Hanging|once remarked about it]]:

'''Norm:''' And get ya out of school! ''([[Reality Warper|gongs]] a clone)'' Tada!<br />

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