Current Events > It's crazy how similar American Dragon and Juniper Lee we're to one another.

(+) Yeah! (+)

*were
Damn auto-correct

Both were about Asian kids who get some kind of mythical protector role for their respective cities (NYC for Jake and San Francisco for June) after it was skipped a generation in their family (Jake's mom and June's dad).

Both are mentored by a grandparent who was the city's previous protector (Jake's grandfather and June's grandmother). They're both also accompanied by a magical talking pug sidekick and an annoying younger sibling.

And the crazy part is, they both came out the same year. I call shenanigans.
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It was weird. Cursory google search says Jake Long went through a troubled development for a few years.

My guess is that someone on the staff abandoned ship and pitched Juniper Lee, and they either premiered next to eachother by coincidence or Disney rushes out Jake Long to stay ahead
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AlisLandale posted...

It was weird. Cursory google search says Jake Long went through a troubled development for a few years.

My guess is that someone on the staff abandoned ship and pitched Juniper Lee, and they either premiered next to eachother by coincidence or Disney rushes out Jake Long to stay ahead

The guy who created Juniper Lee was apparently a cast member in a season of the Real World back in the 90s. He said he got the idea for Juniper Lee back then because Buffy inspired him.
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Its a superficial thing, but Jake Longs transformation looked exactly like Danny Phantoms so I always thought of it as a rip-off of Danny Phantom. They both have that ring show up in the middle of their body and expand outwards and yell their catchphrase before the transformation. They both try to balance a normal teenage life with fighting strange beasts with weird powers. They have weird families that are involved in their secret life. Theyre both comedic and dark at the same time. DP was more entertaining though so I didnt care about Americans Dragon that much
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YookaLaylee posted...

Its a superficial thing, but Jake Longs transformation looked exactly like Danny Phantoms so I always thought of it as a rip-off of Danny Phantom. They both have that ring show up in the middle of their body and expand outwards and yell their catchphrase before the transformation. They both try to balance a normal teenage life with fighting strange beasts with weird powers. They have weird families that are involved in their secret life. Theyre both comedic and dark at the same time. DP was more entertaining though so I didnt care about Americans Dragon that much

I mean, the whole 'kids having to juggle their normal life with being superheroes in secret' thing isn't all that original, but Jake and June are so similar on a much more specific level. Hell, they even got cancelled on the same year.
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