History Main / BecomeARealBoy

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So, you've got your ArtificialHuman grown in the tank or just put together your RobotGirl with an assembly kit. Unfortunately, your creation is not a {{ridiculously human robot|s}}, and thus, predictably, they have [[TheStoic all the emotional range of a tuning fork]]. RoboSpeak is a common manifestation of such emotional paralysis.

Not to worry, though! While in reality, socialization and emotional stability are the product of years and years of interaction with other people, in the world of fiction, all a robot or ArtificialHuman needs to become a functioning, well-balanced, emotionally resonant member of society is the proper [[EpiphanyTherapy life-altering event.]]

Much as any protagonist generally works out any personal issues and neuroses they may have over the course of an otherwise unrelated story, any emotionally stunted individual, or creature conventionally incapable of emotion, will discover what it means to be human in their journey alongside the other heroes. That this may defy their programming, their [[OurSoulsAreDifferent lack of a soul]], or other such assumed limits is beside the point -- it appears robots and clones are socialized like real people, only ''much'' faster.

Compare EmergentHuman (which describes a newly turned human getting used to the human condition), DefusingTheTykeBomb (which describes the gaining of a heart rather than a soul), and PinocchioSyndrome (which solely describes the desire to become human). See also JustAMachine. LivingToys made from LoveImbuesLife may seek this.

* Ahri in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' is based on a kumiho--the Korean version of the nine-tailed fox, one known for both being predatory and desiring to be human. Appropriately, she has this as her goal in her pre-ContinuityReboot backstory. She was a nine-tailed fox that wanted to be human, so she absorbed the soul of a dying human mage during a battle and gained human form. However, she didn't see this as really being 'human', and wanted to go so far to be human in more than just form. As she absorbed more human souls and became more like a human, she also gained a conscience and realized [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone that what she had done was evil]].
** Downplayed in the post-ContinuityReboot story--while she still gained a degree of humanity and conscience over time by absorbing human memories, she no longer seeks to become human. Her new goal is to find any traces of her lost [[LittleBitBeastly Vastaya]] tribe.

* In the anime Cluster Edge, artificial soldiers are created by the government to fight wars. The soldiers have no memories and therefore no emotions due to being raised in test tubes. A right's activist gives memories to one of the main soldiers, Chrome, and although Chrome is self aware and very human, he still doesn't believe himself so.

* ''Manga/ArpeggioOfBlueSteel'' features battleships with RobotGirl avatars (called [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Mental Models]]). Some of them are initially seen as humanlike from the start (such as Takao) while other mental models start emotionless and are shown adapting to human behaviour over time. A specific character who exhibits this is [[spoiler:Haruna who starts quite [[TheStoic cold]] and becomes much more capable of emotions and sympathy after spending time with [[ChildProdigy Makie]] ]].

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[[quoteright:245:[[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/become_a_real_boy_pinocchio.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:245:"Prove yourself brave, truthful, and unselfish, and someday, you will be a real boy."]]

* In the ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'', as part of [[spoiler:the world becoming "normal"]], Yuki goes from TheStoic RobotGirl to [[spoiler:a regular ShrinkingViolet human girl]]. This was, in fact, a result of Yuki's [[TinMan spontaneous development of emotions]], since she [[spoiler:was responsible for altering reality in the first place.]]
** [[spoiler: She did it exactly ''because'' she had no emotions from the start, which made her confused, angered and angsty, that the reaction was a rampage of highest degree. At least that is what Kyon tells us.]]

* In ''[[https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-122/JohnnySnowball+Buffy+meets+Star+Trek.htm Buffy meets Star Trek]]'', the core threat that brings the Scooby Gang and the crew of the ''Enterprise''-E together is that an ancient demonic entity has possessed Data after it was accidentally released by him and Dawn Summers (the entity was trapped with a curse that prevented any born thing reading the inscription that would release it, but [[NoManOfWomanBorn Dawn and Data were created by magic and science rather than being "born"]]. This trope comes into play when Giles observes that the one "rule" the entity possessing Data must follow is that it can only truly possess something with a soul as that creates the right environment to sustain it. After hearing this, Picard and Riker reflect on the weight of the idea that they now have true evidence that Data ''is'' alive, each aware of the difference between something they've always believed about their friend and something they now know for a fact. When [[spoiler:Data is restored]], Willow observes that she can't say for certain ''when'' he acquired a soul, but he can be certain of its existence, and therefore be certain that he is truly alive where it matters.

* In an episode of ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', Sarge needs to steal Andy the bomb from the Blue Team so that he can translate the orders from command Lopez has stored on his hard drive, which against all logic are in extremely poor Spanish, just like Lopez' regular speech. So what's he do? Gets Caboose to turn his back and then replaces Andy... with Lopez. Caboose turns around and joyously cries, "Andy! You've Become a real boy!" Lopez is not amused. When Sarge realizes the fundamental barriers presented by the laws of physics (i.e., the inability to interact with something that isn't there), he pulls the same stunt with Lopez and a skull. CABOOSE is not amused, and mourns Andy's "death."

* Averted in a [[{{Mythopoeia}} fictional myth]] from ''Literature/TheCrocodileGod'': The prince of the sambar deer wanted to marry a young human datu (Filipino chief)... so he [[ImAHumanitarian killed and ate a little boy]] to take human form, which is emphatically NOT the right way to do it. The gods are angered, but give him three chances to repent and tell the truth so he can BecomeARealBoy. First chance: He arrives to find the datu's whole village in deep mourning, then finds out that the boy he ate was [[OhCrap her NEPHEW.]] Second chance: He can't eat meat--as in, he literally can't, since he gets nauseous at the SMELL of cooking meat--and realizes that while his body is human, [[OurSoulsAreDifferent his soul is still a deer's]] because the gods refuse to change it. The sambar-prince [[IgnoredEpiphany sweeps both events under the rug,]] and after he marries the datu, he asks for tattoos. They start normal, but while they heal, the gods change the designs [[RedRightHand to scenes of him killing and eating the datu's nephew.]] He tries to hide it with heavy clothes, but [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome tropical summer arrives and he can't bear the heat,]] so he takes off his shirt. When his new wife spots them and finds out the AwfulTruth, [[BerserkButton she pushes him off into a reef to drown.]] When the sambar deer find out what their prince did, [[DrivenToSuicide half of them try to drown themselves]] but are [[JustSoStory turned into the first stonefish]] by the sea-god Haik. The other half [[JustSoStory shrinks into the small deer of current-day Philippines.]]

* Deconstructed in ''Series/RedDwarf''. Kryten would love to BecomeARealBoy, but the human traits he admires are things like lying and gratuitous violence. When Kryten becomes human in one episode (and in another episode when he mistakenly believes Lister is a lesser model of robot) he becomes [[FantasticRacism arrogant and bullying]].

* ''WebComic/SluggyFreelance'' features a horror retelling of ''Literature/{{Pinocchio}}'' in the [[http://archives.sluggy.com/book.php?chapter=37#2003-10-19 story of Stiks]], where the attempt to invoke this trope GoesHorriblyWrong. Like Pinocchio, Stiks is a marionette made by a toymaker who wishes Stisk were a real boy, although this toymaker is not good at his craft, and Stiks is just a crude figure made of pieces of wood. The Moon Twin grants the wish to the extent that Stiks becomes animated, but says that he has to find the path to becoming real himself. After the townsfolk break out the TorchesAndPitchforks on the weird animated marionette and his father, Stiks cries angrily to the dark side of the moon that he wants to be real but doesn't know how. This cry is heard by the darker being Basphomy, who encourages Stiks to think that since what he lacks are head, hands and feet, he should go out and, uh, get some. So he murders the toymaker for spare parts. The Moon Twin is not pleased, and curses Stiks to be a monster who wanders forever in search of new replacements for his stolen, rotting body parts.

* ''WebComic/TheNonadventuresofWonderella'': Parodied in [[http://nonadventures.com/2014/04/05/mastery-of-puppets/ "Mastery of Puppets"]], where Wonderella helps Pinocchio to become a corporation so that he can be declared a real person. Unfortunately, the corporation was selling wood made from his magically growing nose -- and all of that turns to real noses as well.

* In the seminal SciFi novel "R.U.R." by Karel Chapek the (biological) robots rebel against humanity and exterminate them until there is only one left. When he begs them to tell them why they killed all the people, he is told they wanted to be just like us, and that is what people do.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Penny is a RobotGirl, the first synthetic lifeform capable of generating an Aura; Ruby comments in Volume 2 that she can feel Penny's heart and soul. During Volume 7, Penny believes in following one's heart while her friend Winter believes in suppressing personal feelings and adhering strictly to military duty. [[spoiler:During the Volume 7 climax, Penny's compassion for the dying Winter Maiden earns her the Maiden power instead of the intended successor, Winter; the power only transfers to young women, confirming that Penny is more than just a machine. Volume 8 explores this further when she can resist being hacked because of her human soul; however, her life can only be saved by using the [[ArtifactOfPower Relic of Creation]] to make her a real person, via stripping her of her mechanical parts to [[TheseusShipParadox bring forth the being that lies beneath]].]]

** Downplayed in the post-ContinuityReboot story--while she still gained a degree of humanity and conscience over time by absorbing human memories, she no longer seeks to become human. Her new goal is to find any traces of her lost [[LittleBitBeastly Va]][[BeastMan sta]][[WitchSpecies ya]] tribe.

* ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiPersona'':

* ''Manga/GhostInTheShell'' is all about the nature of the "human self" and what remains of it when the original body and brain gets increasingly replaced by cybernetic machines and computer programs. In the [[AWorldHalfFull slighty dystopian future]] most characters struggle with maintaining their "humanity" in a society based on apathy, indifference, and decadence. In ''[[Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex Stand Alone Complex]]'' they are contrasted with the Tachikoma, which are completely mechanical beings with purely digital [=AIs=] that never had a soul to begin with, and completely subvert this trope. They are fully aware that they are machines and incapable of having a "ghost", which makes the nature of the "human self" all the much more fascinating to them. They are almost constantly debating amongst each other about the unique nature of humans, which can not be defined scientifically and therefore lies completely outside their own experience. But at the same time their personalities are defined by the amazement and curiosity about the world, their child-like joy of life, compassion and self-sacrifice [[HumansAreBastards that people have mostly lost, making them much more human than the actual humans]], but are completely oblivious about it.
** There's also Kim in ''Innocence'', who regards machines as perfect and wants to eventually become like one. It's [[ViewersAreGeniuses very]] [[MindScrew complicated]].

* The ([[AlternativeUniverse kind of]]) sequel ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' introduces Spamton in Chapter 2, a living robotic spambot who is obsessed with becoming a "big shot". [[spoiler:If you battle him as a BonusBoss, his [[RestorationOfSanity suddenly somber and lucid]] dialog as he dies implies all he ''really'' wanted was to just not be a puppet, in more than one way; He wanted to achieve freedom and stop being [[NothingIsScarier someone's]] UnwittingPawn, and also stop being a literal puppet. His goal goes a step beyond most examples; His MediumAwareness and talks about reaching "Heaven" imply he wants to become something more like the player]].

* The sequel ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'' introduces Spamton in Chapter 2, a living robotic spambot who is obsessed with becoming a "big shot". [[spoiler:If you battle him as a BonusBoss, his [[RestorationOfSanity suddenly somber and lucid]] dialog as he dies implies all he ''really'' wanted was to just not be a puppet.]]

-->'''Penny:''' I'm not real.\\
'''Ruby:''' Of course you are. You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me?\\
'''Penny:''' I don't... Um... You're taking this ''extraordinarily'' well.\\
'''Ruby:''' You're not like those things we saw back there. You've got a heart, and a soul; I can feel it.

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So, you've got your ArtificialHuman grown in the tank, or just put together your RobotGirl with an assembly kit. Unfortunately, your creation is not a {{ridiculously human robot|s}}, and thus, predictably, they have [[TheStoic all the emotional range of a tuning fork]]. RoboSpeak is a common manifestation of such emotional paralysis.

Much as any protagonist generally works out any personal issues and neuroses they may have over the course of an otherwise unrelated story, any emotionally-stunted individual, or creature conventionally incapable of emotion, will discover what it means to be human in their journey alongside the other heroes. That this may defy their programming, their [[OurSoulsAreDifferent lack of a soul]], or other such assumed limits is entirely besides the point -- it appears robots and clones are socialized like real people, only ''much'' faster.

Often, such a journey involves extreme violence and the simplistic black-and-white morality of "them vs. us". The fact that this bears no resemblance whatsoever to daily life almost never comes up. (One can only imagine the difficulties such characters will encounter when they are placed within a situation where you ''can't'' solve any problem with the proper application of violence.)

This is a common {{anime}} plot, and also appears in a number of Western {{movies}}.

Compare EmergentHuman (which describes a newly turned human getting used to the human condition), DefusingTheTykeBomb (which describes the gaining of a heart rather than a soul), and PinocchioSyndrome (which solely describes the desire to become human). See also JustAMachine. A {{Living Toy|s}} born out of LoveImbuesLife may seek this.

Contrast MechanicalLifeforms, who start out with the same emotional range as their organic counterparts. Contrast TransNature, for when the creature trying to become human wasn't an artificial human. For the inverse of this trope see ToyTransmutation.

* Despite ''Manga/AstroBoy'' being frequently compared with Pinocchio, he himself rarely expresses a desire to become a real boy (which is somewhat ironic, considering he was originally a ReplacementGoldfish for a real boy). In fact, on the few occasions he does get upgrades to become more human-like, he ends up regretting it and comes to the conclusion that being the best robot he can be is more important than being more like a human. This trope is played somewhat straight in the story of ''Zolomon's Jewel'' in the manga, which features L-44, a robot who signs up for a dangerous mission that ends up costing him his life because he wants to earn enough money to pay for a {{Nanomachine}} treatment that will supposedly turn him into a human. Also subverted in that the villain of the piece is trying to steal the titular jewel so he can pay for an operation to become a cyborg.

* Subverted in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00''. As an [[ArtificialHuman Innovator]], Tieria Erde was created to be a tool in Aeolia Schenberg's grand plan for humanity. Over the course of the series he falls in love, gains a surrogate family, and learns to follow his own will instead of blindly obeying his creator. Yet eventually he[[spoiler: stops living in denial about his true nature, and sacrifices his biological body in order to upload his consciousness into the supercomputer VEDA. In the end, Tieria finds fulfillment as a thinking, feeling, fully sentient AI, rather than as a human.]]

* ''Manga/GhostInTheShell'' is all about the nature of the "human self" and what remains of it when the original body and brain gets increasingly replaced by cybernetic machines and computer programs. In the [[AWorldHalfFull slighty dystopian future]] most characters struggle with maintaining their "humanity" in a society based on apathy, indifference, and decadence. In ''[[Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex Stand Alone Complex]]'' they are contrasted with the Tachikoma, which are completely mechanical beings with purely digital [=AIs=] that never had a soul to begin with, and completely subvert this trope. They are fully aware that they are machines and incapable of having a "ghost", which makes the nature of the "human self" all the much more fascinating and interesting to them. They are almost constantly debating amongst each other about the unique nature of humans, which can not be defined scientifically and therefore lies completely outside their own experience. But at the same time their personalities are defined by the amazement and curiosity about the world, their child-like joy of life, compassion and self-sacrifice [[HumansAreBastards that people have mostly lost, making them much more human than the actual humans]], but are completely oblivious about it.

* Arguably the entire point of ''Anime/KeyTheMetalIdol''. However, [[spoiler: the trope is subverted and deconstructed, like many others in the series, when it is revealed that Key is a human the entire time.]]

* ''Manga/ArpeggioOfBlueSteel'' features battleships with RobotGirl avatars (called [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Mental Models]]). Some of them are initially seen as humanlike from the start (such as Takao) while other mental models start off emotionless and are shown adapting to human behaviour over time. A specific character who exhibits this is [[spoiler:Haruna who starts off quite [[TheStoic cold]] and becomes much more capable of emotions and sympathy after spending time with [[ChildProdigy Makie]] ]].

* Arguably, this trope can be applied to the original Hans Christian Andersen-authored "Literature/TheLittleMermaid". Though not an artificial life form, she is excessively different from us; Andersen's [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent mermaid]] would live for five hundred years and then dissolve into sea foam, having no afterlife of any kind. Her ongoing wish, even prior to her falling in love with the prince, is to become a human and acquire an [[OurSoulsAreDifferent immortal soul]].
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/TheBicentennialMan": Andrew Martin was originally an [[RobotNames NDR model robot]], but he [[PinocchioSyndrome wanted to become human]] for many years. The line that finally convinces the [[OneWorldOrder World Congress]] to grant him recognition as a human is when he replaces his [[{{Unobtainium}} platinum-iridium positronic brain]] with a new brain that would quickly deteriorate and kill him.

* Averted in a [[{{Mythopoeia}} fictional myth]] from ''Literature/TheCrocodileGod'': The prince of the sambar deer wanted to marry a young human datu (Filipino chief)... so he [[ImAHumanitarian killed and ate a little boy]] to take human form, which is emphatically NOT the right way to do it. The gods are angered, but give him three chances to repent and tell the truth so he can BecomeARealBoy. First chance: He arrives to find the datu's whole village in deep mourning, then finds out that the boy he ate was [[OhCrap her NEPHEW.]] Second chance: He can't eat meat--as in, he literally can't, since he gets nauseous at the SMELL of cooking meat--and realizes that while his body is human, [[OurSoulsAreDifferent his soul is still a deer's]] because the gods refuse to change it. The sambar-prince [[IgnoredEpiphany sweeps both events under the rug,]] and after he marries the datu, he asks for tattoos. They start out normal, but while they heal, the gods change the designs [[RedRightHand to scenes of him killing and eating the datu's nephew.]] He tries to hide it with heavy clothes, but [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome tropical summer arrives and he can't bear the heat,]] so he takes off his shirt. When his new wife spots them and finds out the AwfulTruth, [[BerserkButton she pushes him off into a reef to drown.]] When the sambar deer find out what their prince did, [[DrivenToSuicide half of them try to drown themselves]] but are [[JustSoStory turned into the first stonefish]] by the sea-god Haik. The other half [[JustSoStory shrinks into the small deer of current-day Philippines.]]

* Kai from ''Series/{{Lexx}}'' died and spent thousands of years as a re-animated corpse. In a subversion, he has little care for the idea of returning to life, and Xev is the one who entertains fantasies of Kai becoming alive, going so far as clinging to obvious stretches ("Kai did something unexpected! That's a sign of life!") until she learns better and accepts it. Subverted in the last season when Kai wins a DealWithTheDevil to be brought back to life, but the devil goes back on the bargain and leaves him dead [[spoiler: only to make him alive later, mere minutes before an event that would not destroy undead Kai, but that no living human could possibly survive]]. Double-subverted in that Kai [[spoiler: doesn't have a death-wish, per se, but welcomes true death after spending six thousand years only halfway there]].

* ''Series/{{Space 1999}}'' had an episode where humanoid robots wanted to learn emotions [[spoiler:in order to be able to use violence and kill off their creators]]. One of them finally did in the end [[spoiler:, and in doing so destroyed them all.]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': [[OurHomunculiAreDifferent Homunculi]] are normally mute, mindless constructs and little more than extensions of the masters. A homunculus that outlives its master, however, will attempt to continue its maker's legacy and may gradually develop a mind of its own, eventually developing a voice and will due to retaining a shard of its maker's soul. Most never reach the true mental complexity of a living creature, becoming simple caricatures of their makers or parodies of true minds, but a few eventually grow into mature people in their own right.

*** It's even taken far enough that [[spoiler: Aigis' brain is fried at the end of The Answer, and by all right she should be a robo-vegetable, but somehow comes out of it just fine.]] As an added bonus, because Aigis becomes a Persona main character, she has to have the power to equip all of the Persona's the player's managed to acquire thus far... which means the plot sets ''her'' Persona, which evolved to reflect her character growth, aside so she can fill her lost love's shoes, encapsulating all the worst issues with this trope through GameplayAndStoryIntegration: she became human by falling in love with the protagonist, and so once he's gone, she loses it altogether, and has to mimic him until she finds something else to rebuild her humanity on.

** Labrys of ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'', upon being thrown into the TV world, created a replica of Yasogami High in which she could try to live out this trope, forgetting that she wasn't human to begin with. The plot of Story Mode is centered on rescuing her before her [[EnemyWithout Shadow]] kills her for it.
** Morgana in ''VideoGame/Persona5'' is a cat, cartoonish in the Metaverse but realistic in the real world. He's convinced that he WasOnceAMan, and aids the party with the goal of finding a way to become human. [[spoiler:Turns out he was never human to begin with and realized that long before he actually admitted it out loud, but spends much of the game in denial before finally coming to terms with it in the end. However, in the ''Royal'' UpdatedReRelease, he becomes human in [[WellIntentionedExtremist Maruki's false reality]] but rejects it along with the others on the grounds that MiseryBuildsCharacter.]]

* Done in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration 2''. New main character Lamia Loveless is a cyborg spy for a villain group. She was taught how to socialize and everything, but aside from that, she is supposed to, like all 'W Numbers', lack a personality due to intentional programming. Unfortunately for the bad guys, all the W Numbers seen obtain a personality of their own, even if it only causes them to [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice themselves]] to save their masters...

** The AI fragment Sigma of Project Freelancer was fascinated by the concept of "Metastability", which was basically the stage where an AI becomes indistinguishable from a normal mind. To accomplish this, he created the Meta by brainwashing Agent Maine and having him steal the other AI fragments in order to become whole. In season 13, Locus assumes the Meta was trying to become the perfect weapon, only for Aiden Price to explain that what the Meta truly wanted was to become human.
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Penny is a RobotGirl, the first synthetic lifeform capable of generating an Aura; Ruby comments in Volume 2 that she can feel Penny's heart and soul. During Volume 7, Penny believes in following one's heart while her friend Winter believes in suppressing personal feelings and adhering strictly to military duty. [[spoiler:During the Volume 7 climax, Penny's compassion for the dying Winter Maiden earns her the Maiden power instead of the intended successor, Winter; the power only transfers to young women, confirming that Penny is more than just a machine. Volume 8 explores this further when she is able to resist being hacked because of her human soul; however, her life can only be saved by using the [[ArtifactOfPower Relic of Creation]] to make her a real person, via stripping her of her mechanical parts to [[TheseusShipParadox bring forth the being that lies beneath]].]]

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Penny (already a deliberate Pinocchio reference) is either this or a SupernaturallyValidatedTransPerson, depending on how one interprets the Volume 7 finale. Her father made her by removing some of his aura, in-universe considered a manifestation of the soul, and putting it into a robot body; as such, she is considered by some to only have a 'partial' soul and has some angst over whether she is a real girl. At the end of volume seven [[spoiler: she receives the power of the Winter Maiden, which canonically can only be given to a young girl; the question becomes whether she qualified before receiving the powers (and thus was 'already' a real girl) or whether Fria, the previous Maiden, did something in her last moments to 'fill' Penny's partial aura]]. Fans have weighed in on both sides of the debate.
** Notably, when she initially revealed her robotic nature in volume two, Ruby outright states she can feel Penny's heart and soul.

** In Volume 8, Chapter 11: [[spoiler: downplayed. Penny temporarily succumbs to a computer virus intended to get her to open the Vault of Creation and then self-terminate. She's brought back to her senses by Jaune reinforcing her Aura--essentially, strengthening her human soul. It's stated both here and in previous chapters that eventually, her mechanical body ''will'' succumb permanently, though.]]
** In Volume 8, Chapter 12: [[spoiler: played straight. In order to permanently deal with the computer virus, Team RWBY RulesLawyer the spirit of the Staff of Creation, [[LiteralGenie Ambrosius]], into creating her a new body that won't be subject to the virus or the Staff's [[EquivalentExchange limitations]]--this leaves her with a human body, with her [[TheseusShipParadox old parts being used to make a soulless, Aura-less duplicate of her]]. Averted for Penny's [[SoullessShell old body]], which finishes the process of succumbing to the virus before the team's next wish destroys its remains.]]