Why didn't Zeon just clone Char?

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False Prophet
Posts: 955
Joined: Thu Dec 31, 2015 7:40 am

Why didn't Zeon just clone Char?

So, why hadn't Zeon just clone Char instead of genetically-altering different people into an "avatar" of Char? They have the data on Char's genetics and his memories from the Psychoframe. They could had done the same thing as Glemmy with the Ple clones.

I have a few explanations that I could think of:

- A big chunk of the cloning technology was lost along with Axis Zeon

- Ple was a test-tube baby (if the theory about her, Glemmy and Ghiren is to be believed), so scientists might have had a complete understanding of her physics and mentality unlike Char. You just can't clone an adult man, basically that.

- Someone might have thought that Char would disapprove Sleeves or show insubordination to their sponsors (Monaghan Bakharov), so taking someone from the ranks-and-files to be Char's "avatar" is a safer bet.

- Most Neo Zeon forces just believe that Char was death, and some had seen with their own eyes his cockpit next to Amuro as he pushed back Axis. It'd be hard to truly convince these people if Char just show up the next day. On the other hand, keeping the "avatar"'s identity ambiguous could at least keep these people confuse and not out right refusal.
Mafty
Posts: 1131
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2020 10:43 am

Re: Why didn't Zeon just clone Char?

Well to be fair someone did finally clone Char ( though it was 100 years later in a story that is not considered canon). It is sort of odd though that cloning in general completely disappears by the end of the first Universal Century. You’d think such a game changer would be better utilized than it wound up being in the end(which may in fact be why Tomino decided to bring it back in the non-canon novel Gaia Gear).
I agree that this valuable knowledge was probably lost with the destruction of the habitable areas in Axis; slowly throughout the movements there are fewer and fewer surviving Zeon sympathizers, and thus less resources to go around. Toward the end of ZZ Ple Two goes to Glemmy base in the city region of Axis, and you can see that there are scientists meeting with Glemmy. Not long after the destructive battle between the Gundam’s and the Queen Manstha happens and the next episode the rest of the habitable parts of Axis are completely destroyed; the casuatlies from the final battle are never mentioned, but its not a stretch to think that very few people made it out of Axis alive including the scientists who formulated the cloning project.
The loss of so many people and resources is shown to severely hamper the following Zeon remenat movements; Neo Zeon/Axis was their biggest rebellion, and each following rebellion had to make do with less and less. Hamans Neo Zeon had a huge asteroid base and more mass produced and specialty units than you can count. Char’s Newborn Neo-Zeon operated out of Sweetwater , and had only a handful of (admittedly powerful) units and soldiers. Later entries show the Zeon remnants flee to Mars and use One Year War era tech (The Oldsmobile Army). The only exceptions are Unicorn and Narrative which as many have noted feature implausible big remnant forces that were oddly absent in Char’s War.
Aside from resources a bigger issue could in fact be as False Prophet said, the issue of control over the clone or lack therefore of. Char was always something of a wildcard; He manipulated various people to assassinate the royal family of his army for revenge, then in the next war he fought alongside his former enemies to fight a bigger threat. Although many have tried (The Zabis, Haman, even Nanai to a degree) no one can truly control Char or stop him from doing things his way in the end. So a clone of Char may very well not act as the sponsors of the program want him to.
Really though few of these programs truly work out the way the creators intended. Artificial Newtypes usually go insane and wreak havoc, sometimes on both sides. Elpeo Ple and her “Sister” ultimately refused to be a pawn of the Zeon anymore and rebelled. Full Frontal became almost suicidal with Nihilism over the pointlessness of the Universe and his place in it, and ultimately the same fate befell Zoltan Akkanen the “failed” Char clone.
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