Calvin converts his transmogrifier into a duplicator, and makes a clone of himself to handle his homework and chores. The clone doesn't play along, and very quickly starts causing more problems for Calvin, especially when he gets his hands on the duplicator.
Tropes
- Aesop Amnesia: Directly referenced at the end of the arc. Calvin says that they learned a valuable lesson thanks to the failure of the duplicator scheme, but when pressed by Hobbes, admits that he doesn't actually know what that lesson is, and that he didn't actually learn anything from the experience.
- Bratty Half-Pint: If one assumes that the duplicator is just a product of Calvin's imagination and the clones never existed, then Calvin's behavior takes a serious dip during this arc, as he makes far more trouble and is significantly more disobedient than usual. Near the end of the arc, his mom gets into it with him, fed up with his antics and deciding to firmly lay down the law about his behavior.
- Defeat by Transformation: After an entire arc of dealing with his troublemaking clones, Calvin is able to get rid of them by having them hide under the cardboard box that serves as the duplicator, converting it back into the transmogrifier, and using it to turn them into earthworms. For their part, the clones don't seem to mind.
- Did Not Think This Through:
- Calvin assumes his clone will do what he's told and do his homework for him; turns out he's just as lazy and irresponsible as he is, and blows him off to go play.
- Calvin and his clones work out a system where each clone goes to school for one day a week. However, the clones make no effort in syncing up, so homework and assignments given to one clone aren't passed on to the next one, so the next clone has no idea what they're supposed to be doing on their day.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Calvin's clones get sent to the principal's office every day because they don't know what they're supposed to be doing since the previous clone isn't passing that information along. Calvin is appalled, saying that even he doesn't get sent to the principal's office every day.
- Happy Ending: Calvin is rid of his clones that were causing him so much trouble, and he's also able to make the clones happy by transmogrifying them into worms.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Calvin tries to create a clone of himself to do his homework and chores so he can goof off. The clone ends up having the exact same work ethic and interest in education as the original and refuses. He also has the exact same penchant for misbehaving as the original, so Calvin ends up getting in even more trouble than usual, since the actions of the clone(s) are assumed to be him.
- Magical Counterfeiting: The possibility of using the duplicator to counterfeit money is mentioned by Calvin and Hobbes, although they never end up doing it after their initial duplicator scheme goes so poorly.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: In order for there to be only one Calvin during this arc, he would have to be remarkably fast, sprinting from one encounter with his mom to another. However, him managing to pull that off is still more realistic than him actually being able to make a cloning machine out of a cardboard box. The strip never really does anything to indicate which scenario is the truth.
- Me's a Crowd: Calvin creates a clone of himself to handle chores and homework. The clone refuses to participate in Calvin's plans, and then clones himself four times.
- Other Me Annoys Me: After Calvin's clone refuses to do his homework, we get this exchange:Hobbes: He's a clone of you all right.
Calvin: What do you mean? This guy's a total jerk! - Title Drop: Hobbes questions if using the duplicator to clone Calvin is a good idea, and Calvin accuses him of standing in the way of scientific progress. Hobbes hits the duplicate button on the side of the box, and there's a BOINK sound effect to represent the duplicator activating. Hobbes then ponders "Scientific progress goes 'boink'?" That question would later become the title of one of the book collections.
