History Main / SendInTheClones

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* The [[PaletteSwap rainbow]] ninjas of ''MortalKombat''.

A note: The name of this trope is a pun on "Send in the Clowns", a song by Creator/StephenSondheim from the 1973 musical ''Theatre/ALittleNightMusic''. Appropriately, the pun has been used so often in various contexts that it's [[WeirdAlEffect more popular than the song itself.]] Compare with TheChosenMany.

* One of the Tree House of Horror specials from TheSimpsons had homer buy a magic hammock that cloned him whenever he sat in it. He starts off using clones for doing chores for him, but once one of them murders Ned Flanders, Homer has to get rid of it. He abandons the clones (numbering about 15) and the hammock in a back country road, and then the clones proceed to use it to make more and more clones. When this starts being a problem, they fly giant donuts from helicopters and all the clones fall into a canyon lemmings style. The short itself was called [[NameDrop Send in the Clones.]]

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': [[http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/367889.html#cutid1 Baron Fel]] was introduced as the Empire's best pilot since Vader died. He compared himself to Luke Skywalker, and not entirely without cause - both of them were farmboys who loved to fly, both of them found unexpected familiar ties to the other side. When the [[Literature/XWingSeries Rogue Squadron]] comics ended, Creator/TimothyZahn took the character in the HandOfThrawn duology and had clones of Fel stationed on various Imperial-held worlds. They turned out to be good guys.

** There was also a time that Pinky and Brain duplicated themselves for the sake of having a dance group. ItWasAllADream.

* In the MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic episode [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E3TooManyPinkiePies "Too Many Pinkie Pies",]] Pinkie clones herself with a legendary Mirror Pool in order to spend maximum hanging out time with her friends. All the clones look identical to the original Pinkie, but behave like [[{{Flanderization}} flat, exaggerated versions of the original]].

*** [[spoiler:[[RecycledScript And then there is Starscream making clones of himself to attack Megatron, similar to Animated]]. Fortunately, he's well aware of how much they can be trusted]].

* In WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Bender does this with a machine that makes two smaller duplicates of himself. Those duplicates repeat the process ''ad infinitum'' creating uncountable Benders at increasingly smaller sizes. They eventually turn into a GreyGoo.
** A classic episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' has an army of robo-Lucy Lius.

* In the StarCraft / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic crossover ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/101250/the-koprulu-sector The Koprulu Sector]]'' the Dominion uses cloning to fuel their rapid population growth. Since the DNA has to be taken from foals it's not uncommon for parents to sell their kids' genomes. Jet Stream for instance is a clone of Scootaloo, and the side story [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/122953/born-of-sin Born of Sin]] reveals that [[spoiler: Scoots is actually a clone herself, the original Scootaloo was a stillborn [[OppositeSexClone colt]] and she was part of the parents' compensation for allowing a SuperSoldier project to use their child's genes to produce an army.]]

** In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', Starscream improves his fighting chances by building a small army of... himself. Considering [[TheStarscream his]] [[ReliableTraitor dominant character trait]], this might not be wise. The first was basically just an army of robot duplicates. The other was the a small group that each took on a different trait of his personality (and had a different paint scheme that looked like other G1 Seekers). [[OppositeSexClone One of them was female.]]

* In ''TransformersAnimated'', Starscream improves his fighting chances by building a small army of... himself. Considering [[TheStarscream his]] [[ReliableTraitor dominant character trait]], this might not be wise.
** It wasn't.
** There were two sets of clones in this case. The first was basically just an army of robot duplicates. The other was the a small group that each took on a different trait of his personality (and had a different paint scheme that looked like other G1 Seekers). [[OppositeSexClone One of them was female.]]
* Also, ''Anime/TransformersEnergon'' made Ravage a mass-produced horde of numerous black "Battle Ravages" and fewer, [[PaletteSwap blue]] Command Ravages.
* This also happens in WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime. It is revealed that as [[spoiler:the Earth formed around Unicron, he can form small(er)-scale copies of himself from the rocks]]. And he can make several of them- it's creepy at the very least.
** [[spoiler:[[RecycledScript And then there is Starscream making clones of himself to attack Megatron, similar to Animated]]. Fortunately, he's well aware of how much they can be trusted]].

* The last (unaired) episode of ''Anime/ExcelSaga'' features {{Nabeshin}} fighting the remaining ACROSS Five, all of whom look exactly like That Man, except for tie colors.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': [[http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/367889.html#cutid1 Baron Fel]] was introduced as the Empire's best pilot since Vader died. He compared himself to Luke Skywalker, and not entirely without cause - both of them were farmboys who loved to fly, both of them found unexpected familiar ties to the other side. When the [[Literature/XWingSeries Rogue Squadron]] comics ended, TimothyZahn took the character in the HandOfThrawn duology and had clones of Fel stationed on various Imperial-held worlds. They turned out to be good guys.

* The ending to the first ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' movie, "[[Recap/FuturamaM1BendersBigScore Bender's Big Score]]" features [[spoiler:an army of time-duplicated Benders (with collected loot), who promptly explode out of sheer TemporalParadox]].

* Boba/Jango/Everyone Fett from ''Franchise/StarWars''. Indeed, the Clones and by extension the early Stormtroopers are all clones of Jango Fett. Considering [[EnsembleDarkhorse Boba's reputation amongst fans]], this is pretty much the defining example of non-sexual {{Fanservice}}.

* The whole plot of the ''Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' movie: [[spoiler: the villain wants to mass-produce the abilities of the League's supernatural members, creating an army.]]
* Alice in ''Film/ResidentEvilExtinction''.
* Averted/Subverted in ''Film/JudgeDredd'' in that Creator/ArmandAssante is a clone of Sylvester Stallone, but doesn't actually look that much like him. He further delivers the trope name as a line, and said clones look nothing like either of them, to the point that probably the only reason they're referred to as 'clones' is so that this line can be shoehorned into the script. The comics averted it in a better way, all the Eustace Fargo clones (Dredd, Rico, etc.) look the same but all wear different mast and outfit, or are badly disfigured, as in Rico's case who was heavy cyberized.

* In the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse, [[http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/367889.html#cutid1 Baron Fel]] was introduced as the Empire's best pilot since Vader died. He compared himself to Luke Skywalker, and not entirely without cause - both of them were farmboys who loved to fly, both of them found unexpected familiar ties to the other side. When the [[Literature/XWingSeries Rogue Squadron]] comics ended, TimothyZahn took the character in the HandOfThrawn duology and had clones of Fel stationed on various Imperial-held worlds. They turned out to be good guys.

* In the "Clone series" (Clone Republic, Rouge Clone, Clone Alliance, Clone Elite, and Clone Betrayal) all the enlisted men in every branch of the military are clones, and very disposable ones at that. The only strategy that the military (namely the marines, seeing as that is the perspective) really have is (you guessed it) sending in the clones.

* System Lord Ba'al in ''Series/StargateSG1'' builds a small army and virtually immunizes himself from being KilledOffForReal by creating several dozen clones of [[strike:himself]] (technically) his host body, complete with cloned Goa'uld symbionts inside, who all carry the same GeneticMemory and skills as the original (they're therefore more like officers than standard mooks). Surprisingly, despite the Goa'uld species' inherently backstabbing nature, the Ba'als cooperate extremely well until the series finale, where Ba'al kills them all after upgrading himself by possessing superpowered DarkMessiah Adria. See ''Film/StargateContinuum'' for the final (?) chapter of the Ba'al story.
** The clones kept referring to each other and to the original as "brothers", and had no problem with sacrificing themselves to allow a clone brother to carry out a task or escape, hinting that they saw each other as interchangeable because they were literally the same person with dozens of bodies.
* From ''Series/TheMiddleman'':
-->'''El Maestro de Ceremonies''': Sensei Ping! You have selected your champion. Now meet your opponent. The one, the only, the dread Cien Mascaras!
-->'''The Middleman''': What's the matter? I can take him. Cien Mascaras means a hundred masks. It's just one guy with a hundred masks, right?
-->'''Sensei Ping''': He was. Until he was cursed by an Aztec mummy. Now he is one hundred identical men who must all wear the same mask.
-->'''The Middleman''': [[OhCrap Oh, phooey]].

** In "The End of Time, Part 1", [[spoiler:''every human being in existence'' (except Wilf and Donna) becomes a clone of the Master]], thanks to ImportedAlienPhlebotinum. [[spoiler: It's eventually revealed that this is part of a GambitRoulette by the Gallifreyan government to bring the Time Lords back into existence.]]
** An interesting variation was used back in 2005. The Daleks, being the most popular villain of the original series, had not been seen for almost 17 years due to the original series being cancelled. For their return to the screen (which would possibly be the first time some children had ever seen them) in "Dalek", there is only one Dalek, which is believed to be the last one in existence and proves to be a terrifying threat all by itself. [[spoiler: In the series finale, the Doctor encounters an army of half a million.]]

* In ''Series/DarkAngel'' many of the X-5s have several clones, in the first season finale Max destroyed the stockpile of embryos so more wouldn't be born. When she was recaptured they tried breeding her the old fashioned way.

* The Highwayman episode "Send in the Clones" Highway befriends a strange man who is snatched by the Army. He is a clone with a deadly mission.

* [[MarvelComics Marvel's]] ''ComicBook/{{Exiles}}'' featured a storyline where an entire group of alternate reality [[WolverinePublicity Wolverines]] has to battle an ''army'' of alternate reality Wolverines led by a near omnipotent alternate reality Wolverine. The group we see get recruited is the sixth or so assembled team, though; so far, the evil Wolverine has been enslaving the Wolvies sent after him.

A note: The name of this trope is a pun on "Send in the Clowns", a song by StephenSondheim from the 1973 musical ''A Little Night Music''. Appropriately, the pun has been used so often in various contexts that it's [[WeirdAlEffect more popular than the song itself.]] Compare with TheChosenMany.

* Hope you like Genesis in CrisisCore. Because Zack will be fighting him A LOT. There is masked mook Genesis clones, normal Genesis clones, white haired Genesis clones, clown like Genesis clones... the list just goes on.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' pits you against 12 upgrades of the original singular Metal Gear. At the same time. ''Inside'' another gigantic Metal Gear.
** But not as awesome as when it all comes down to you with a rocket launcher against an [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome army of Metal Gears]].
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' is also built on an in-universe example of sorts; both the protagonist and antagonist are clones of the legendary soldier Big Boss.

* ''ComicBook/{{Valerian}}'': Valerian is cloned into dozens of short-lived copies in preparation for a particularly dangerous mission. Most of them are expended in one go when the mission manager dresses them up as German soldiers, and sent them to battle in a live-action reenactment of a WW1 trench charge.
* Marvel's new [[WolverinePublicity poster boy]], {{Deadpool}}, has recently been joined by [[ComicBook/MarvelZombies Headpool]], [[OppositeSexClone Lady Deadpool]], [[SpinoffBabies Kid Deadpool]] and [[TeamPet Deadpool Dog]] in the series ''Deadpool Corps''. Thing is, [[PlayedForLaughs it's meant to be funny]], so that's okay.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode, "Double Dipper", Dipper finds that Grunkle Stan's copier can make human clones. Dipper uses it on himself in an overly complicated attempt to impress Wendy at a dance. The Dipper clones all have a slightly lighter hue, all have numbers drawn on their cap and can be destroyed with water. Other than that, there's absolutely no difference between the Dippers both mentally and physically [[CloneDegeneration (except for the one who got caught in a copy jam)]].

* Similarly, a 1990's ComicBook/{{Superboy}} story involved an [[EvilTwin evil alternate universe Superboy]] trying to conquer parallel worlds with an army of ''Doomsdays'' he had gathered from across the multiverse. (This was when [[DCComics DC]] ''first'' tried to [[ComicBook/PostCrisis bring back the multiverse]] with a concept called Hypertime. Hypertime proved unpopular and the writers abandoned it, so this story may now be a CanonDiscontinuity.)

** [[spoiler:[[RecycledScript And then there is Starscream making clones of himself to attack Megatron, similar to Animated]]. Fortunately, [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy he's well aware of how much they can be trusted]]]].

* Luakels, from ''AHDotComTheSeries''. Started out as a forum gag whereby Luakel would claim that whenever he was apparently killed it would always turn out to be 'just another Luakel clone' (as with Dr Doom's Doombots). This was incorporated into the Series, with Luakel Clones being encountered long before a regular "prime" Luakel joined the ship's crew.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode, "Double Dipper", Dipper finds that Grunkle Stan's copier can make human clones. Dipper uses it on himself in an overly complicated attempt to impress Wendy at a dance. The Dipper clones all have a slightly lighter hue, all have numbers drawn on their cap and can be destroyed with water. Other than that, there's absolutely no difference between the Dippers both mentally and physically [[CloneDegeneration (Expect for the one who got caught in a copy jam.)]]

* Also, ''TransformersEnergon'' made Ravage a mass-produced horde of numerous black "Battle Ravages" and fewer, [[PaletteSwap blue]] Command Ravages.