Jacob Luke "Jake" Long/The American Dragon is the titular main protagonist from Disney's animated television series with the same name and a guest character in Lilo & Stitch: The Series.
He is a 13 (one year later 14) year old boy who has the ability to turn into a dragon and protect the magic community of New York from evil. Jake is also known to have only one sworn/mortal arch-enemy: the Huntsman but also later has a new archenemy, Dark Dragon.
He is voiced by Dante Basco, who also played Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Iroh II in its sequel series The Legend of Korra, Azymondias in The Dragon Prince, and Rufio in Hook.
He was born on somewhere between February 19 to March 20, 1992 and was officially fourteen years old in the episode "Young at Heart". Jake is a Chinese American teen who lives in New York City with his parents Jonathan and Susan and his eight-year-old sister, Haley Long.
His two best friends are feisty Trixie Carter and dimwitted Arthur "Spud" Spudinski. He is a descendant of a family of dragons. On his thirteenth birthday, his magical abilities emerge fully and he was set to protect an underground magical community existing within his city and throughout the world.
The emergence of his dragon powers also made him the first official magical guardian of America, dubbed "The American Dragon". Under the training of his grandfather Lao Shi and his animal guardian, Fu Dog, Jake would be taught in the methods of his dragon abilities, and his duties as a magical guardian. His "territory" would be restricted to the area of New York (though would extend to other places if he happened to be there, such as the forests of New Jersey in "The Long Weekend"), and he is destined to become the representative dragon of the whole country: WHICH AS OF RECENT.HE HAS Y"ALL!
Although Jake Long is still in the early training stages to be the American Dragon, it's his destiny to act as guardian, protector and champion to magical creatures secretly living alongside humans in New York City. Among them are the herd of unicorns in Central Park, the leprechauns on Wall Street, the gargoyle nest atop the Empire State Building, the Triborough Troll Bridge, the mystical city between NOHO and SOHO and the East River mermaids. Greater New York is the American Dragon's territory and if he can make it there, he can make it anywhere. But that means Jake must figure out how to control his fire breathing, flying and shape-shifting so he can perform his duties and Grandpa must figure out how to decipher his hip-hop grandson's colloquial language style.
When Jake comes home to his west side brownstone, it's to an extended family. His businessman dad is as American as apple pie and completely unaware that he has married into a family of dragons. Jake's mom is a professional caterer who also is a dragon but without transforming capacity (dragon powers skip a generation). Jake tries to ignore his brilliant yet pesky younger sister Haley, a nascent dragon, to no avail. Jake's Dragon Master is his wise Grandpa who, upon arrival to the United States, established an electronics shop on Canal Street and took Jake under his wing.
Despite the generation gap, Grandpa is patiently training Jake to master the fundamentals of being a dragon, unlock his potential and to be on time for his lessons. Grandpa's sidekick, the not-so-patient Fu-Dog, acts as Jake's animal guardian.
Personality[]
Jake Long is the cool kid in school—but not too cool. He has a keen awareness of the newest developments and styles, is self-assured, and likes video games, extreme sports, all sorts of music and the occasional comic book. Jake also has a passion for skateboarding to and from class at Fillmore Middle School and around every obstacle, ramp, bowl and bank the city streets offer him and his skateboarding friends, Trixie and Spud.
Although Jake can easily overcome obstacles when he transforms into the American Dragon, as his ordinary self he can't conquer his crush on pretty blonde schoolmate Rose who, unbeknownst to Jake, has an amazing secret of her own... she's a dragon slayer. Born into The Huntsclan, a group led by the Huntsman that leads normal lives by day and hunts magical creatures by night, Rose has the covert dual identity of Huntsgirl.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
Dragon Physiology: As a dragon, Jake's body is far better than that of any human. He can take massive blows from beings that can destroy buildings and still get back up and kicking. In addition, his senses are enhanced, making him able to hear sounds a normal human can't pick up on or see things at longer distances. If he needs to use a particular part of his dragon-body but doesn't want to go full-dragon, he can transform specific parts of his body to take their appearance and utilize their dragon physiology, whether it be his claws, wings, head, etc. Of course, that's not the only thing his physiology provides. As expected, Jake's dragon form also gives him extremely sharp claws and teeth, great for when he needs to get up close and personal with an opponent. In fact, despite being a dragon, close-range combat seems to be Jake's personal favorite method of fighting. Finally, he sprouts wings that allow him to glide around and fly at incredible speeds. His dragon tail and tongue are also prehensile, allowing Jake to grab enemies with them or trip them up for an advantage.
Shapeshifting: Jake can transform between human and dragon forms at will, at the beginning of the series, he initially had trouble transforming completely into dragon form, as he could only partly transform, however, Jake eventually is able to completely transform into his dragon form.
Wing Manifestation/Wings of the Dragon: While not officially named, Jake can summon his dragon wings in human form, usually for slow descents.
Flight: In his dragon form, Jake is able to fly, and once flew up to 179 mph to avoid being hit by a flying boulder going 180 mph.
Dragon Claw: Allows Jake to manifest his claws in human form, letting him pick locks or perform other tasks he could do with his claws.
Dragon Teeth: Although Jake never demonstrated using his dragon teeth, Jake is mention to have sharp teeth, which can bite through steel even being undamaged.
Dragon Tail: Jake's dragon tail has impressive strength as well as being excellent length, maneuverability, and balance. Jake occasionally uses it for a sneak attack upon an enemy or to access objects beyond his normal reach. It can extend to any length, wrap around and immobilize anyone in its coils.
Prehensile Tongue: Jake can lengthen his tongues to catch, grab, or tickle objects and enemies. Similar to snakes being forked shaped.
Pyrokinesis: By invoking his dragon-self, Jake is able to manipulate fire in various ways. Like most classic European dragons, he usually prefers to shoot a stream of fire out of his mouth (or his butt), though he can shoot and throw fireballs of his hands if he so chooses. It's worth noting that he can even use his fire when not turned into a dragon. This fire is strong enough to send enemies reeling and hot enough to melt metals in a matter of seconds. Jake's precision with his fire is to such a great extent that he can even make an ice statue out of snow (somehow) into a perfect ice sculpture replica of his crush, Rose. Jake is incredibly skilled with his firebreath, capable of not only shooting out fireball or streams of fire but shooting out a perfect ring of flames.
Fire Breath: Jake's primary method of fire projection is a classic dragon-style fire breath. He can unleash powerful streams of fire from his mouth — and occasionally from his butt. His control is exceptional, allowing him to create specific shapes with the flames, such as rings or targeted bursts.
Fire Ball Projection: In addition to fire breath, Jake can conjure and launch fireballs from his hands. These can be used for both offensive and tactical purposes, giving him ranged attack options when fire streams aren't practical.
Superhuman Strength: In his dragon form, Jake possesses superhuman strength. He can lift heavy objects (10-20 ton), crush stone with his fists, bend steel bars or rip iron chains with his arms.
Superhuman Durability: In his dragon form, Jake possesses superhuman durability, taking massive blows from beings that can destroy buildings and still get back up and kicking.
Superhuman Speed: In his dragon form, Jake possesses superhuman speed in both ground and also in flight.
Superhuman Agility: In his dragon form, Jake possesses superhuman agility, even in his human form. He is able to perform incredible acrobatics with no effort whatsoever and in his dragon form is also very flexible.
Superhuman Reflexes: Jake possesses superhuman reflexes, dodging most attacks which would be impossible for a human to dodge in both their dragon and human form.
Superhuman Senses: In his dragon form, Jake possesses superhuman senses. This include superhuman hearing and sight, both in which case he partially transforms into dragon form. While Jake's human form is far less impressive than his dragon form, as mentioned above he can still temporarily enhance his senses with his dragon abilities.
Enhanced Vision/Eye of the Dragon: One of these abilities, the Eye of the Dragon, gives Jake's vision a massive boost. Not only does it let him see farther, but it also gives him, x-ray vision to see through some objects, nigh vision to see in the dark or infrared vision to see heat signatures. He often utilizes a natural form of infrared vision with other kinds of vision like x-ray vision and night vision simultaneously, meaning he can see heat signature while seeing through objects and see in the dark.
Enhanced Hearing/Ear of the Dragon: Jake's vision isn’t the only thing that can get an upgrade. With the Ear of the Dragon" Jake can hear sounds more acutely than normal. It also lets him detect individual sounds, even if they're dampened or obscured by things like doorways or soundproofing. Its sensitivity is so potent it can allow Jake to hear things from anywhere across New York City.
Duplication: Dragons somehow have the magical ability to create clones of themselves. These clones can follow Jake's directions and are as powerful as he is, but they also take a lot of focus and chi to create. Usually, he's only been seen creating up to one extra clone, however, with chi amplification from special means, he can create up to five clones or even more to do simple things like chores or use them for battle.
Non-Physical Interaction: As shown by the episode "A Ghost Story", Jake is capable of hitting ghosts with his melee attacks due to his magical nature as a dragon, despite being completely untouchable to humans.
Underwater Breathing: As shown by the episode "Feeding Frenzy", Jake's dragon form allows him to breathe underwater for a limited amount of time.
Abilities[]
Experienced Combatant: Jake has no formal knowledge of hand-to-hand combat. However, his dragon powers enable him to execute fighting moves with superhuman force at an opponent. Additionally, his career as the American Dragon and from his grandfather’s training has given him plenty of combat experience.
Weapon Mastery: Jake has shown to have some skill in using weapons. This includes Huntsclan weapons. His extensive training and resourcefulness also make him very good at improving weapons out of anything. He can also use various equipment like decoration lanterns, a pole, and even simple objects like paint to battle is enemies like the Huntsman to several demons. Jake also shown to wield magical weapons.
Skilled Skateboarding: Even before he inherited his dragon powers, Jake is a very skilled skateboarder and usually skates everywhere he goes.
Dancing Skills: Jake is a great break-dancer this is also one of his natural skills. It is also worth noting this is not a dragon trait. Although it seems to be common in Jake's family, as his grandfather Lao Shi was a great dancer as well.
Gifted Athlete: Jake is great at acrobatics and can do somersaults, backflips, and many other acrobatics, but this may be due to his dragon heritage. Also, this ability is mostly used while Jake is in human form.
Weaknesses[]
Human Physiology: Jake’s powerful in his transformed state, but fairly weak in his human form.
Lack of Intelligence: Jake doesn’t have any specific physical weaknesses, but while he may be “cool and hot like a frozen sun”, he is rather lacking in the intelligence department. While he can come up with a quick strategy here and there, he seems to prefer using brute force over actual tactics.
Laziness: Often tries to find shortcuts to solve his problems, even when those shortcuts land him in trouble (like the time he tried to use a magic potion to help him create a doppelganger, but accidentally grabbed the wrong one and made an evil, uncontrollable one).
Clumsiness: He’s also occasionally liable to be clumsy in combat, resulting in him getting into unfavorable situations, and there are times where he was forced to revert back to his human form after taking enough damage.
Sphinx Hair: Sphinx hair stops his powers from working.
Equipment[]
Cheat Controller: In the episode Game On, Jake had a Magical Video Game Controller. It is a very powerful and dangerous magical object created by N.E.R.D short for the New Elfen Research and Development. Features Jake used were Shield, Invisibility, Boosts for agility, speed, intelligence, and charm, and can even Rewind time.
Uchrono Hourglass: In the episode Hero of the Hourglass, Jake reclaimed a magical object that allows people to travel through time. His animal guardian Fu have used it multiple times and warned Jake of the consequences of Time Travel. Jake used this to go back and know what would of happen if his dad knew of his double life but things went bad, but Jake and Fu were able to fi it.
Trivia[]
In an early draft for the episode "Hong Kong Nights", Jake's maternal grandmother was going to be revealed as Councilor Chang.
His dragon form was made scrawnier in Season 2 as the creators felt it better reflected his age as a muscular dragon was too much of a constant for a teen.
In American Dragon: Jake Long, Penny Proud was mentioned by Jake Long as one of his close childhood friends.
Both American Dragon: Jake Long and the original verson of Avatar: The Last Airbender, animated shows which starred Dante Basco, were first aired in 2005. Coincidentally, both of them are primarily Chinese-themed.
Heroes
