Merchandise Errors

Just for fun, and because I just recently updated this section of my Photobucket account, I thought I would share a few funny merchandise errors here.  It’s amazing the variety of mistakes that can appear in merchandise – take a look!

Two big errors in the pic to the left – Mufasa seems to be missing an awful large part of his bulk, and Sarabi has acquired a Zira-esque headstripe.  Though to be fair, this pre-dates Zira.  Sarabi looks kind of neat with a headstripe!  I actually have a hard copy of the one on the right (I might scan in my own version since I snagged this dark photo online).  LK book illustrators routinely use pictures of lineart as part of their own illustrations, but if they alter those, watch out for pieces left behind—like Scar’s dislocated paw in Simba’s armpit.

I only very recently discovered this one to the left, and it’s one of my personal favorites.  The coloring job is excellent on the cubs, perfectly matched to the design…of Simba and Nala, not Kovu and Kiara.  Golden Kovu is just so cute!  The one on the right is a napkin (I just uploaded a pic on TLKFAA about another napkin error) that perhaps on casual inspection looks fine.  Then on closer examination…the right paw belongs to Kiara, the left paw belongs to Kovu, the center paw belongs to…WTF?

Check out the rest of my Merchandise Errors album for yourself…there are many other fun mishaps lying around!

Carefree Kiara

Kiara is probably my least-favorite lion character in the LK canon.  As portrayed in the song “Love Will Find a Way,” she is not brave, not strong, not smart, and her only redeeming quality is her belief in the powah of luuuuv.

I suppose she is somewhat of a protagonist, which I like (unlike, i.e. Bella in Twilight) but she is not a particularly clever one.  Her only revelation comes from advice her father gave her, and for most of the movie she mopes about whining about 1) how she isn’t allowed to do anything, 2) how she doesn’t understand what Simba is saying, 3) how she wants to do things by herself, 4) why Kovu is really a nice guy, 5) how she feels empty without her luuuv in her life, etc. etc.  I only feel that Kiara comes into her own at the very end of Simba’s Pride.

However, there is something refreshing in the idea of a character who goes wherever her whims take her, and some aspect of Kiara is very childlike.  Perhaps it’s because the character is not allowed to grow up (overbearing daddy syndrome), but I do think this attitude is admirable in a way.  Living your life from one moment to the next, not caring too much for the future or stressing about what lies ahead. It’s kind of nice to consider a character like that, although I could never see myself doing the same.

(If you want to see what other SP cast members might think of Kiara, check out my contest-winning video!)

Kovu/Kiara Spawn, Part Un

And here he is!  My Kovu/Kiara spawn…to be more specific, their son.  He’s been uploaded on TLKFAA. I’m also working on a daughter that I will talk about in part two.

The main reason why I’ve never made a Kovu/Kiara spawn is because my canon story doesn’t extend that far into the future.  I’ve done work pre-movies all the way back to Mohatu, and extensive work during and inbetween TLK and SP, but nothing post-SP.  I still am not planning to make up a story post-SP, not in any detail; I just felt the urge to finally make my own spawn. :)

His name is Kijana, which means “young man”; it generally has a male connotation (though it may be gender-neutral depending on context). I used to call him “Kora” a couple years back, a result of combining Kiara and Kovu’s names which I have found out is very common.  I changed his name partly because it was so common, and of course because it was too similar to my own username, Koraden.

For the son, I decided to draw more from Kiara’s heritage than Kovu’s.  His base color scheme is very similar to Kiara’s: fur and underfur color, ears, nose, and mane color (his tail tuft is pretty much the color of Kiara’s at birth).  His mane reddens as he gets older like Simba’s does, but the color I have on his adult form is as red as it gets, nowhere near the classic Mufasa and Simba red.  He also has a similar body build

However, I did draw from Kovu’s side of things as well.  The classic outlander scruffy cheeks and hooked nose (though Kijana’s is supposed to be like a large Mufasa-version of that shape); the light nose bridge coloring, and the darker upper eye surround all come from Kovu.  His nose bridge shape is a pridelander/outlander combo, but his adult chin is Kovu-shaped.  Kijana’s eyes are also quite similar to Kovu’s with a more subtle version of the dark outside corner – the iris size is supposed to be midway between Kiara and Kovu’s.  I went with the blue-green eyes because they seemed unique (Majordomo gave me the idea to separate the blue and green instead of having a single matte color; the blue is the outside and green inside).  To me they recall Nala’s heritage and her sea-green/bright blue morphing inbetween movies.

Mane style was a difficult decision for me since Kovu’s flop is so iconic, as well as Simba’s shaggy bangs.  In the end I made an effort to combine the manes of Mufasa (basic shape); Simba (reddish color + those dark curved areas over the forehead); and Kovu (that “point” in the center that leans forward is supposed to recall his prominent tuft).  That mohawk-ish shape is especially prominent in cubhood and adolescence; the cub version is kind of a merging of the Simba/Kovu cub designs.

Whew, so I think I’ve summed up most of my design thoughts for Kijana here.  You wouldn’t think that character design could be so involved, but it can definitely become complicated when you really become engrossed in the details.  For me it can also be a very rewarding process, and I am quite proud of the end result. =)