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Anime & Manga
"Tears... tears. Why am I crying? What... did this mean to me?"
[...]
"If I die, I can be replaced."
[...]
"If I die, I can be replaced."
— Rei Ayanami, Neon Genesis Evangelion
Imitation life is just that. An imitation.
— Precia Testarossa, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 1st
Oh well, even if we all died tomorrow it's no big deal. There's still a whole nother batch of clones to take our place. C'est la vie...
— Strawberry Robot, Dead Leaves
Comic Books
I'm a broken thing they made out of Peter Parker. And that's what we have in common— Men of science, who don't give a damn about anything but themselves, messed with the natural order of all things... And that's why we have a Hulk and you and me and Captain America and mutants and pretty much every other problem we have today. I wasn't ready to talk about this because it's hard to say out loud. It's hard to admit that I'm— I'm not a real person. I don't have a mother or father. I'm not Peter Parker. I'm... this thing. It's hard to— to process myself let alone get you to. I have years of Peter Parker's childhood memories rolling around in my head... And time has gone by, and those memories have faded, and my feelings about my connection to him have faded and—- And I've become this other thing. I'm not Peter Parker. I'm not Peter Parker. I'm not even a boy. I'm Jessica Drew.'
— Spider-Woman (Ultimate Marvel universe)
Fan Works
She had become friends with them, but did she even have the right to, when they didn't actually know her but only her predecessor? Wasn't she just a stolen soul in a stolen body with stolen memories and emotions? They seemed to know, but they didn't seem to mind. Did they not understand? Were they in denial? Or could it be that she was the same Rei Ayanami they had known after all? Could she actually be not just a replacement, but herself?
If she had her former self's soul, her former self's memories, her former self's emotions, could she be the same?
Rei felt confused.
And she hated that feeling.
If she had her former self's soul, her former self's memories, her former self's emotions, could she be the same?
Rei felt confused.
And she hated that feeling.
Literature
Han Solo: So what's it like being a clone?
Carib: About as you'd expect. It's the sort of secret that gets heavier with time and age.
Han Solo: Yeah. I can imagine.
Carib: Excuse me, Solo, but you can't possibly imagine it. Every time one of us leaves this valley it's with the knowledge that every outside contact puts our lives and those of our families at risk. The knowledge that all it will take will be one person suddenly looking at us with new eyes, and the whole carefully created soap bubble of the ever-so-close Devist family will collapse into the fire of hatred and rage and murder.
Carib: About as you'd expect. It's the sort of secret that gets heavier with time and age.
Han Solo: Yeah. I can imagine.
Carib: Excuse me, Solo, but you can't possibly imagine it. Every time one of us leaves this valley it's with the knowledge that every outside contact puts our lives and those of our families at risk. The knowledge that all it will take will be one person suddenly looking at us with new eyes, and the whole carefully created soap bubble of the ever-so-close Devist family will collapse into the fire of hatred and rage and murder.
Flattery Wyvernspur: I'll find [the Nameless Bard], and with the spur I can destroy him. I can destroy his whole family.
Olive Ruskettle: But why?
Flattery: Why? Look what he did to me!
Olive: You look all right to me. Pretty near perfect, actually.
Flattery: I do not look all right. I look exactly like him. He made me that way. I don't want to be exactly like him. I don't want his face. I don't want his memories. I don't want his thoughts. I don't want his voice, and I don't want his songs. No one can make me say his name or sing his songs. I'll kill him before he tries to make me sing them again.
Olive Ruskettle: But why?
Flattery: Why? Look what he did to me!
Olive: You look all right to me. Pretty near perfect, actually.
Flattery: I do not look all right. I look exactly like him. He made me that way. I don't want to be exactly like him. I don't want his face. I don't want his memories. I don't want his thoughts. I don't want his voice, and I don't want his songs. No one can make me say his name or sing his songs. I'll kill him before he tries to make me sing them again.
—The Finder's Stone Trilogy: The Wyvern's Spur
Live-Action TV
My name is Jennifer Lucas. I'm not a factory part. I had toast for my breakfast. I wrote a letter to my mum. [...] I am Jennifer Lucas! I remember everything that happened in her entire life! Every birthday, every childhood illness. I feel everything she has ever felt, and more! I'm not a monster. I am me! Me! Me! Me! ME!
— Jennifer Lucas' Ganger, Doctor Who
You, Joe, Wally, Cisco...you all shunned me because I wasn't the true Barry Allen. I was an aberration...a disposable hero!
—Savitar, The Flash (2014)
"If we outlaw cloning, then only outlaws will have clones."
— Sifl, The Sifl and Olly Show
Music
Isn't it strange?
Feels like I'm lookin' in the mirror
What would people say?
If only they knew that I was
Part of some geneticist's plan (plan-plan-plan)
Born to be a carbon copy man (man-man-man)
There in a petri dish late one night
They took a donor's body cell and fertilized a human egg and so I say
Feels like I'm lookin' in the mirror
What would people say?
If only they knew that I was
Part of some geneticist's plan (plan-plan-plan)
Born to be a carbon copy man (man-man-man)
There in a petri dish late one night
They took a donor's body cell and fertilized a human egg and so I say
I think I'm a clone now
There's always two of me just a-hangin' around
I think I'm a clone now
'Cause every pair of genes is a hand-me-down
There's always two of me just a-hangin' around
I think I'm a clone now
'Cause every pair of genes is a hand-me-down
— "Weird Al" Yankovic, "I Think I'm a Clone Now"
Everything I know is what I need to know,
everything I do has been done before.
Every sentence in my head
Someone else has said.
everything I do has been done before.
Every sentence in my head
Someone else has said.
— John Entwistle, "905"
Podcasts
Nasdra Magrody: While the loss of material is extremely taxing, as well as the many navy crews who have lost their lives.
Lyrax Pentigure: Not to mention our clone troops.
Nasdra Magrody: As I said, material, yes.
Lyrax Pentigure: Not to mention our clone troops.
Nasdra Magrody: As I said, material, yes.
Tabletop Games
Today I slew my twin brothers seven times and nearly died four times at the hands of my twins. What kind of war is this that we replicate ourselves time and again, only to waste our own lives on axe blades dulled by endless internecine fighting? Which one of us represents the hopes and dreams of our shared parents? Is it truly death if I am reborn time and again?
Am I more worthy of living or is my twin? Might we not ally ourselves—the Spawned—against the Firsts who recline on golden thrones, stirring themselves only to order us into fratricide?
...
Perhaps we are no longer even dwarves. When a work of art is copied, and that copy is copied again and again, the results become gross parodies of the original.
I fear that I am but a pale imitation of the First I once was, willingly killing myself in an absurd parody of narcissism.
— A record of the dwarven Spawn Wars, Grand History of the Realms
Video Games
"I've known from the moment of my birth that I'm just a replica of you. How could you ever understand my feelings?"
— Li'l Judd, Splatoon 2
"'I'm me,' he says. It must be nice, being real. A fake like me could never get away with saying that. That's right, I'm a phony! The way I look, the way I feel, everything! I thought by finding some new strength I could be someone, someone who's not you! But nothing changes... I'm still just empty! Everything about me is borrowed. As long as you're around, I'll never be anything better than a shadow!"
—Riku Replica, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
"Are you kidding? Military clones? This is why nobody takes us seriously!"
— Spen Jankowski, First Encounter Assault Recon
Pit: Are you with the Underworld Army? Is that why you have it out for me?
Dark Pit: Don't be ridiculous! I just don't like the idea of someone copying my act!
Pit: WHAT? But you're a copy of me!
Dark Pit: Come on, now, think about it! If I was a copy, why would I kick my own butt?
Dark Pit: Don't be ridiculous! I just don't like the idea of someone copying my act!
Pit: WHAT? But you're a copy of me!
Dark Pit: Come on, now, think about it! If I was a copy, why would I kick my own butt?
We shall take only the greatest minds, the finest soldiers, the most faithful servants. We shall multiply them a thousandfold and release them to usher in a new era of glory.
— Col. Corazon Santiago - "The Council of War", Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
Riku: Who are you?
Riku Replica: I am you.
Riku: I am me.
Riku Replica: Does not compute. Does not compute. System shutdown.
Riku Replica: I am you.
Riku: I am me.
Riku Replica: Does not compute. Does not compute. System shutdown.
Look at you! What makes you so damned special? Why you and not me?!
— Clone of Commander Shepard, Mass Effect 3: Citadel
Asch: Only one of us can leave this room. The stronger one will destroy Van! This isn’t about hyperresonance or who is or isn’t a replica… As two of Van’s pupils, we’re going to find out who’s stronger… who the real ‘Luke’ is. This is a fight to settle who we are.
Luke: We’re both real! You and I are two different people!
Asch: Shut up! This isn’t about logic! You can’t possibly understand how I feel! You stole my past and my future! Now is all the time I have!
I don't know what piece of Elisabet I'm missing. I don't know what you have that I don't. I looked through all the data from your Focus. You were raised as an outcast. Shunned and isolated, just like me. So what's the difference?! What's my defect?
— Beta, Horizon Forbidden West
Webcomics
You look in the mirror, but someone else looks back. You remember a life you never had, one that cannot be yours. You are the piece that does not fit, you don't belong in this game. The board has been knocked over, you shall be swept away...
Tagon: Kevyn and, um... Kevyn, do you have any suggestions for how I handle paying you? I mean, there are two of you now.
Timeclone!Kevyn: No. There is one of me, and one of him.
There's lots of him. Who'd miss this one?
Golly: But... Molly and I are of like flesh. If this is the world that molded her... I do not wish to become her.
Molly: Who-wha? But that's dumb! Nobody wants you to be me! I'm already me! And you're you! An' it's like totally mete that you should remain you! I pinky-swear that everybody here'd treat the integrity of your self-identity as superdy-duper, profoundly inviolable and stuff and junk! Word!! Do you savvy?
Golly: Yes, exactly! I'm afraid that if I stay here, I'll start talking like that!
Web Original
"I think the way Cassidy fights is supposed to have some sad implications for her character, and maybe how magical girls are treated in general. She cuts away part of herself and then sees it killed, over and over, in order to fight. Whichever one is left over survives. There is no "original her" anymore. The fact that she's become so okay with that, so casual, might explain part of her callous attitude towards Undine. Experiencing 'death' every day is part of the job for her, so she sees no reason to be nice about it."
— Writing for Love and Justice
, on Cassidy from Sleepless Domain
, on Cassidy from Sleepless Domain Western Animation
"These people you're copying are already superfluous. You're trafficking in excess."
"The issue is not excess but access. Others take away reproductive rights, I grant them!"
"The issue is not excess but access. Others take away reproductive rights, I grant them!"
— Æon Flux and Trevor Goodchild.
Ben: Dean, calm down, will ya? You're taking this all wrong.
Dean: WRONG?! You're telling me I'm a... clone! That I'm not even Dean! That I'm some stupid science experiment... and you want me to take it?!
Ben: No, you're Dean. There's no other Dean, you're it, flesh and blood. Look, I was conceived in the backseat of a packer, you were conceived in a tank, so what?
Dean: So I have no mommy? No nothing?!
Ben: Dean, you have it all wrong, you have a mommy and your dad is your dad, they made you by getting drunk and forgetting to wear a condom like everybody else, and your dad loved you so much that when you got a boo-boo, he kissed it and made it all better to make it go away.
Dean: You brought me back to life!
Dean: WRONG?! You're telling me I'm a... clone! That I'm not even Dean! That I'm some stupid science experiment... and you want me to take it?!
Ben: No, you're Dean. There's no other Dean, you're it, flesh and blood. Look, I was conceived in the backseat of a packer, you were conceived in a tank, so what?
Dean: So I have no mommy? No nothing?!
Ben: Dean, you have it all wrong, you have a mommy and your dad is your dad, they made you by getting drunk and forgetting to wear a condom like everybody else, and your dad loved you so much that when you got a boo-boo, he kissed it and made it all better to make it go away.
Dean: You brought me back to life!
— The Venture Brothers, "A Very Venture Halloween"
Dani: Stop fighting. I know you're too weak to beat me!
Danny: I'm not going to fight you! Every time I fight a clone they turn to goo!
(Dani looks down and sees she's starting to melt)
Danny: But you're not mindless, like the other clones. I don't want to fight you!
Dani: Then let my father have your morph DNA! So he can save me!
Danny: He's not going to save you! He's using you! You're nothing but a mess he's not gonna clean up!
Dani: You're LYING! (blasts him)
— Danny Phantom to his cousin/clone Danielle, "Kindred Spirits"
We're clones, Sir. We're meant to be expendable.
— Clone Sergeant Sinker - Star Wars: The Clone Wars, "Rising Malevolence"
Black Canary: Roy, you used to treat your body like a temple. But now...
Red Arrow: My body's no temple. It's a cheap knock-off. A clone.
— Young Justice (2010), "Salvage"
Robot: Which... which am I...?
Mauler Twin 1: See? It's not just us. You won the coin toss champ, you're the new one.
Robot: I... wasn't expecting this. This feeling of continuance. I close my eyes and opened new ones... I didn't know which one I'd be.
Mauler Twin 2: That's how it works.
Mauler Twin 1: We had to make it seamless. Otherwise one of us knows he's the clone, and that never ends well.
Mauler Twin 2: In your case, it's... a little more obvious.
Mauler Twin 1: See? It's not just us. You won the coin toss champ, you're the new one.
Robot: I... wasn't expecting this. This feeling of continuance. I close my eyes and opened new ones... I didn't know which one I'd be.
Mauler Twin 2: That's how it works.
Mauler Twin 1: We had to make it seamless. Otherwise one of us knows he's the clone, and that never ends well.
Mauler Twin 2: In your case, it's... a little more obvious.
Hunter: Don't you dare mention that... thing around them!
Luz: What thing? That you're a Grimwalker?
Hunter: (covers her mouth) SHHH! Listen, I don't know if I'm a witch, or a human. All I know is that I'm a copy of someone Belos made... Disappear.
Luz: I don't know what you three went through, but they seem to like you!
Hunter: So I shouldn't worry about how they'll react, right? If that's the case, have YOU told them about helping Philip?
(Beat)
Hunter: Yeah. I overheard everything. Don't tell them. Please.
Luz: What thing? That you're a Grimwalker?
Hunter: (covers her mouth) SHHH! Listen, I don't know if I'm a witch, or a human. All I know is that I'm a copy of someone Belos made... Disappear.
Luz: I don't know what you three went through, but they seem to like you!
Hunter: So I shouldn't worry about how they'll react, right? If that's the case, have YOU told them about helping Philip?
(Beat)
Hunter: Yeah. I overheard everything. Don't tell them. Please.
— The Owl House', "Clouds on the Horizon"
Anne: So, what's going on? Am I dead or something?
The Guardian: Yes and no. I made a copy of you right before you expired. A backup, if you will. For all intents and purposes, you're the same Anne Boonchuy.
Anne: Well, that's gonna cause some serious existential dread later on.
The Guardian: Yes and no. I made a copy of you right before you expired. A backup, if you will. For all intents and purposes, you're the same Anne Boonchuy.
Anne: Well, that's gonna cause some serious existential dread later on.
— Amphibia, "The Hardest Thing"
