Calvin decides to try his duplicator scheme again, but this time adds in an 'ethicator' so the machine only clones his good side. It works perfectly, and Calvin's new clone starts doing everything for him, from going to school, to doing homework, to handling chores. Soon, however, it becomes clear that the clone is just too perfect, and starts to overstep in ways that Calvin can't accept.
Tropes
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Most of the time, Susie approaches Calvin with an open mind and tries to be friendly with him, and only turns nasty towards him when Calvin starts it. This time, when Good Calvin tries to be nice to her, she assumes Calvin is just setting up some sort of trick and doesn't buy it.
- Call-Back: Calvin's previous attempt to make a clone of himself to do his chores and homework is mentioned, with Calvin having learned from the experience enough to install an 'ethicator' so he can choose to clone only his good side.
- Jerkass Ball: Susie grabs it in this arc. She's normally the one who makes an effort to approach Calvin with kindness. However, she treats Calvin's good clone coldly when he tries to be nice to her. She immediately assumes that Calvin's good clone will get her books messy and threatens to beat him up for giving her a love letter.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: We see several characters interacting with Good Calvin, so there's no doubt he exists. The question is, did the duplicator actually work, or did Calvin just start randomly behaving like a model child for a few days so he could pretend it worked? The arc offers no indication in either direction.
- Never Heard That One Before: Good Calvin tells Susie that he's the physical manifestation of Calvin's good side. Susie counters that if that was true, he'd be a lot smaller, and Good Calvin says he's heard that one a lot lately.
- Other Me Annoys Me: A two way street this time. Calvin can't handle the fact that Good Calvin is crushing on Susie. Good Calvin is driven to hate Calvin when he sees how Calvin's nastiness has made it so Susie won't reciprocate his interest in her.
- Puff of Logic: As both Calvins fight over Good Calvin falling in love with Susie, the good clone suddenly disappears after having a bad thought (wanting to beat the snot out of Calvin).
- Puppy Love: Calvin's good clone clearly has a crush on Susie, trying to be nice to her and even writing her love letters. She doesn't reciprocate, assuming that Calvin is just screwing around with her.
- The Reveal: The first three strips of this arc feature Calvin behaving exceptionally good and his mom being confused by what's going on, with no explanation. In the fourth strip, it's revealed that the well-behaved Calvin is a clone, and the fifth strip reveals that he was created from the duplicator with an ethicator built in so it would only copy Calvin's good side.
- Tsundere: Good Calvin is specifically said to be a clone of Calvin's good side, not a clone of Calvin that is 'programmed' to only be capable of good. Therefore, Good Calvin having a crush on Susie means that some part of Calvin has a crush on Susie as well, and his bizarre and vitriolic behavior towards her falls under this category.
