Jake wearing the body of his mother and the head of his grandfather. That's a confusing family portrait.
Production Code: 102
When Jake gets shapeshifting abilities for a dragon mission, he misuses them to get out of a parent-teacher conference and impress his peers. Hilarity Ensues.
Tropes
- Bait-and-Switch: When Jake, shapeshifted into a goblin, meets up with the Huntsman and Huntsgirl to pick up an artifact that the goblin bought from them, the Huntsman points his staff at Jake and declares that there's been a "change in plans", making it seem like he's going to shoot him. After the commercial break, it's revealed he actually meant that literally because, due to a problem with their supplier, they don't have the artifact ready yet and they'll have to wait another day.
- Cringe Comedy: Jake in the guise of Jaren MacArthur is tasked by the girls of his highschool to perform live in front of them. However, Jake doesn't know any of Jaren's songs, so he makes one up about Rose that's offkey, superficial, and embarrassing.
- Bland-Name Product: Haberdashery and Flinch is a stand-in for the popular clothing brand Abercrombie and Fitch.
- Exact Words: Jake (who has temporarily acquired shapeshifting powers) promises his mother he will face his problems head-on. Then later, he shapeshifts his head into that of Rotwood's and snickers slyly to himself "Who says the head has to be mine?"
- Innocuously Important Episode: This is primarily a standalone episode about Jake abusing his shapeshifting powers. However, by using his powers to try and impress Rose and by having Jake get captured by the Huntsclan, this episode takes some small steps to develop both Jake and Rose's romantic relationship and the American Dragon and Huntsgirl's rivalry.
- Muggle Born of Mages: We learn in this episode that Jake's mother is one, as the dragon powers skipped her generation.
- Mundane Utility:
- Jake uses his Dragon hearing to listen to a distant conversation between Rose and her friend.
- Haley uses her Dragon breath to reheat a kettle of tea (much to Susan's chagrin).
- Throughout the episode, Jake uses his shapeshifting abilities to take care of petty or personal problems.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Jake might've had better luck using his shape-shifting on the second night if he hadn't abused it the entire day. And as such, karma does not let him off easy for it at the end of the episode.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Pro-skateboarder Tommy King is pretty clearly inspired by Tony Hawk.
- Not So Above It All: Rose may be the Huntsgirl, but first and foremost, she's a teenage girl. So when she sees Jake disguised as her favorite celebrity, she's starstruck.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: While Jake and Rose's inability to distinguish each other's voices during fights can mostly be excused (Rose believes that Lao Shi isn't allowed to train a blood-relative, and Jake is too blinded by love to ever suspect that the pure-hearted girl of his dreams is actually a Huntsclan member), Rose's complete lack of recognition regarding Jake's signature outfit sans his head revealing itself as the shapeshifting potion wears off can only be chalked up to sheer lack of focus.
- Power Incontinence: The more people Jake shape-shifts into, the less control he has over the power. Unfortunately for Jake, by the time he learns this, he's in the middle of a drop-off with the Huntsclan.
- A Rotten Time to Revert: Overusing the shapeshifting ability in his daily life causes Jake to lose control in front of the Huntsclan, resulting in his capture. Chained to a wall, he begins to revert to his true form one body part at a time while the Huntsman watches, risking his identity being revealed. Fortunately, Fu Dog arrives just in time and shuts off the lights while Jake's head reverts; by the time the lights come back on, Jake has shifted back into his dragon form, simultaneously keeping his identity a secret and gaining the strength to escape.
- Unprovoked Pervert Payback: A woman in an apartment fixing herself thinks that Jake (in dragon form) and Ralph the goblin are peeping Toms when Jake is flying outside her window after grabbing Ralph. She proceeds to hit Jake with a broom.
