The Clones that fought during the Clone Wars did so with pride and absolute loyalty to
the Republic and to its later reformed state as the Empire.
So how did they react when news came about that the cloning productions on Kamino were
to come to an end, and that eventually most of them were going to be replaced by regular
Human recruits.
In Canon, the clones received the news of their eventual replacements early on in the
Empire’s reign, likely within its first few months.
This news was met with severe disappointment and shock, as they learned that the last batch
of their kind was being created on Kamino before all the cloning productions were to
be shutdown.
It was probably kind of sad for them too, as in a way their own people were going to
stop existing within the next few decades as they’ll all die off from old age.
The disappointment came from the fact that many of them will no longer fight on the frontlines,
as that was really all they knew what to do.
Some even really enjoyed fighting and being in the midst of battle as it brought them
a sense of purpose and a bit of a thrill, so for them to learn that eventually they
will no longer being doing that came with a feeling of frustration.
They didn’t want to be reassigned to menial tasks or be left to support only roles.
They wanted to be there in the action just like they were bred to.
By the 5th year of the Empire, nearly all clones were removed from the Imperial army.
Only a few remained within the Stormtrooper core, but their numbers were dwindling ever
more as the side effects of accelerated aging started to degrade them both mentally and
physically, to the point where most of them weren’t suitable to be soldiers anymore.
At one point a clone stormtrooper dropped a valuable cargo crate after being unbalanced
by strong winds, and Vader told him that he should probably retire as he isn’t as fit
as he believes himself to be.
The clone refused his offer, but likely was ashamed of his clumsiness and began to realize
just how much his body has deteriorated since the clone wars.
In the later years of the Empire, most clones that still served Palpatine did so as instructors
within selected Imperial academies and facilities across the galaxy.
Clones that retired were treated more or less as regular citizens, with some even viewing
the stormtroopers of the Empire to be vastly inferior to themselves whenever they saw them
in action.
In Legends, the Clones remained as the majority of the Stormtrooper forces for the first few
years of the Empire.
Though many of the new clones came from various templates and weren’t solely produced by
the Jango Fett DNA which dominated the armies of the Republic.
By the 7th year, the Kamino rebellion happened, where dissatisfied Kaminoan scientists bred
their own private clone army to fight off the Empire from their planet.
Their rebellion failed, but it did encourage Palpatine to expand recruitment for the Stormtrooper
core so it wasn’t completely filled with Clones he feared could one day be corrupted
and be turned against him.
The clones reacted to the new recruits by viewing them as inferiors to themselves; referring
to themselves as the pure fighting force of the Empire while the new guys diritied up
their ranks.
Eventually the original Jango Fett clones became the minority of the Imperial Military,
with the 501st Legion being the only unit to being completely made up of Jango Fett
clones.
Later on the remaining clones saw the regular Human stormtroopers’ incompetence to be
an embarrassment and even a disgrace to the armor they wore.
They began to hate how they were almost nearly replaced by those they viewed to be vastly
inferior to themselves.
Even clones who retired to become instructors, like Commander Cody, viewed the Human recruits
to be mere fools who lacked any talent to being fine soldiers.