After a happy-go-lucky Marine survives an assassination attempt, he goes after the man behind it, a rogue officer, and stop him from selling WMDs to the government of an enemy planet.

>>> don't know why a cloned Marine would be any less capable than a Marine who'd been born the ?normal? way, as it were

1] In your story world, you can have cloning as a perfected technique, of course. ?My response was based on the scientific fact that when cloning was first tried (on sheep), the clones turned out to be inferior copies. ?The explanation at the time was by way of analogy to xeroxing, where copies are never as good as the original.

2] And if cloning has been perfected, then what is his character flaw? ?The?dramatic purpose of a character flaw is to create suspense in the form of doubt or uncertainty as to whether it will be the downfall of the character in his dramatic quest. ?(How does "happy go lucky" put him in jeopardy of failing?)

It's necessary for a protagonist to face life-threatening external jeopardy ?-- but that isn't sufficient. ?The external jeopardy needs to be complemented by an internal weakness or flaw -- an "Achilles heel". ? I say complement in that the flaw or weakness must be engineered such that the external jeopardy threatens to exploit it and defeat (and kill) the protagonist. And I don't see how being "happy go lucky" fits that criterion.

My point ?is that cloning is an opportunity to introduce a character flaw. In the story, the clones can be advertised and certified as 100% perfect by the manufacturer -- which only means, must mean, that there is a hidden flaw. ?The iron law of dramatic irony and dialectical contradiction.

fwiw

>>> don't know why a cloned Marine would be any less capable than a Marine who'd been born the ?normal? way, as it were

1] In your story world, you can have cloning as a perfected technique, of course. ?My response was based on the scientific fact that when cloning was first tried (on sheep), the clones turned out to be inferior copies. ?The explanation at the time was by way of analogy to xeroxing, where copies are never as good as the original.

2] And if cloning has been perfected, then what is his character flaw? ?The?dramatic purpose of a character flaw is to create suspense in the form of doubt or uncertainty as to whether it will be the downfall of the character in his dramatic quest. ?(How does "happy go lucky" put him in jeopardy of failing?)

It's necessary for a protagonist to face life-threatening external jeopardy ?-- but that isn't sufficient. ?The external jeopardy needs to be complemented by an internal weakness or flaw -- an "Achilles heel". ? I say complement in that the flaw or weakness must be engineered such that the external jeopardy threatens to exploit it and defeat (and kill) the protagonist. And I don't see how being "happy go lucky" fits that criterion.

My point ?is that cloning is an opportunity to introduce a character flaw. In the story, the clones can be advertised and certified as 100% perfect by the manufacturer -- which only means, must mean, that there is a hidden flaw. ?The iron law of dramatic irony and dialectical contradiction.

fwiw

Ya, Nir, it's posted in the scifi category which is why I added "A(n) inter-galactic marine" to my version.

These types of chase stories do better if there is something personal involved, such as the marine is chasing his brother or something like that.