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by Mongrove
(unregistered id: E714D27965)
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So, the clone slugs appear to be about sixteen years old. (Yeah, I know, how can you tell the age of a naked, skinless body floating in a tank of amniotic fluid in a darkened, green-lit room? I can just tell...) Anyway, the fact that there are a lot of back-ups implies that Dr. Venture doesn't clone the boys in the sense of taking some cells and accelerating their growth. I think they started out at age 16. Like Rusty said in "Powerless", they're fed memories, hopes, and dreams through their beds. Why would they ever have had a real childhood when they could have been given a programmed memory of childhood? Hmmmm...

Of course, the existence of the "Groovy Crew" kind of interferes with Triana's description of Hank as "like Fred from Scooby Doo", and Kim's subsequent description of Hank as "that Scooby Doo kid." But who knows, maybe the Groovy Crew are specifically going for a Mystery Machine look and feel....

Sep. 30, 2006, 6:13pm

by Mr. Noy
(unregistered id: A1B4099F9C)
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In the last discussion some people wondered why the boys died so many times after they turned 16. It's a sad fact that kids die all the time, but Hank and Dean seem to have a really bad habit of getting killed over and over again. This is just speculation, but has anyone else ever thought that maybe Rusty's cloning process isn't perfect?

Sure he brings the boys back each time but after so many generations couldn't defects and anomolies begin to manifest themselves? Defects such as testicular tortion, decreased mental ability, and a tendency to be accident-prone (if that could even be considered a genetic predisposition)? Rusty has talked about fixing things "in the prototype phase" so if the boys' genes can be modified to their benefit, it stands to reason that harmful changes could also occur. That's the Nature part of the argument.

The Nurture part brings us to the learning beds which Jonas invented for the young Rusty and haven't been updated since the 1960's. The boys' knowledge of the world is out of date and since they don't associate with other children their age, apart from Trianna, they are extremely out of touch in regards to how modern kids act or think.

Presumably, Rusty can also program the learning beds to leave out inconvenient information, such as memories of the boys' mother and their own deaths. No offense to anyone who might read this, but the average 16 year old is going to be naturally curious, fool-hardy and a little naive about some things. Once you factor in the boys risky lifestyle and the fact that their clones don't get to learn from past experiences and it's hardly surprising that they continue to make the same kinds of stupid mistakes that got them killed in the first place. Just a thought, but that could explain why the boys have become MORE death-prone and not less.

Sep. 30, 2006, 8:13pm

by TheHumanStain
(unregistered id: ACEA17A24E)
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Or maybe the Great Cosmic Oz originally fated the boys to die at 16, and Rusty's continued cloning is merely defying Cthulhu's will? And no matter HOW many times the boys are recreated, it is ordained that they MUST die?

Oct. 2, 2006, 4:28am

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