Very interesting, thanks! Though I still don't think they have a point - especially not given what we learned in the last two seasons. While Buffy and Dawn don't *look* a whole lot like each other (though I've certainly seen siblings that look *less* like each other - hell, I *am* one of those siblings), I still think there are a lot of similarities in their personalities - especially if you take the common factor Joyce into account. Compare the Buffy in "Helpless" to Dawn in "Conversations with Dead People", for instance (or Joyce in "Band Candy" and Dawn in "All The Way").

But no one has ever suggested seriously that Dawn is some sort of a clone of Buffy, have they?

Only Joss Whedon. ;-) "She's more than that. She's me. The Monks made her out of me. I hold her and I feel closer to her than... It's not just the memories they built, it's physical. Dawn is a part of me." And in the original script, Buffy refers to Dawn as her "daughter."

Come to think of it, it *was* Faith who has announced Dawn's arrival in Buffy's dream

And Tara did the last Dawn prophecy in "Restless." Does this mean that she's Faith AND Tara's daughter? Better not tell Willow about that... :-)