My Lion King Forum

Remeber the scene where Nuka is complaining about Kovu. For a few brief seconds his mane is full, then becomes a young adults mane.

This ( I won't call it mistake at risk of being hounded over again) would further suggest her was alive during Scar's reign and was Scar's son.

Also as a teen Nuka has freckles(that appear and dissapear simlar to Kiara's inner leg coloring) but once he becomes an adult they dissapear. This could be proof since Vitani and Nuka both have/had freckles they are full siblings while Kovu is the only half sibling.

from my view, I think Nuka is an young adult lion, since he doesn't have a fully grow mane

[quote="SilverSimba01"]from my view, I think Nuka is an young adult lion, since he doesn't have a fully grow mane[/quote]
Nuka's mane does grow fully. It's just not puffy like Mufasa's or Simba's or smooth like Scar's or Ahadi's.

I think Nuka was of a teen age when Kovu was a cub, and grew to be an adult when Kovu did (I mean, it's not like Kovu would grow older than his brother).

I guess he was just sickly and couldn't grow a big mane of his own.

It looks like the animators made a small mistake and made Nuka's chest and neck the same color as his mane. I think there's even a frame or two in that scene when he has mane on the nape of his neck and his chest, but none on the sides of his neck. Since there are virtually no differences between adolescent Nuka and adult Nuka besides the more developed mane, I'm not that surprised that an error like this should turn up.

(By the way, just for laughs, check out this picture from the SP Little Golden Book. This is from the scene where the Outsiders attack Simba, when Nuka should be an adult -- yet he has no mane on his chest and looks just like he did as an adolescent [yet he still has those odd cheek tufts that the Nuka in the movie doesn't have])

My theory is that Nuka is a adolescent when we first see him and
should have grown into a adult lion, but since Zira never cared for him
and the Outlands were harsh he never really looked like a adult, But
that still wouldn't explain how Vitani and Kovu grew up looking much
better than him.

I think Nuka was supposed to be a teenager from the beginning. He has the beginning of a mane, but even as an adult, he never grows a huge, full one like all the other male lions.
This to me is more symbolic than anything else. Nuka is small and scrawny, infested with termites and doesn’t even grow a proper mane. As a character he fails at everything, and his appearence is supposed to reflect that by him seeming weak and sickly.

I believe that Nuka's weak mane is just an embodiment of his weakness as a lion in general. It's very common for characters to be portrayed in a way that reflects their personality and such.

[quote="PrincessKiara"]I think Nuka was supposed to be a teenager from the beginning. He has the beginning of a mane, but even as an adult, he never grows a huge, full one like all the other male lions.
This to me is more symbolic than anything else. Nuka is small and scrawny, infested with termites and doesn’t even grow a proper mane. As a character he fails at everything, and his appearence is supposed to reflect that by him seeming weak and sickly.[/quote]
Hmm, I guess you can have that one right

I always thought Nuka was around the equivalent of 15 - 17 when we first see him. However he really doesn't seem to be an adult later on for some reason..His voice, looks, personality, mental status and every seem the exact same.

I've always seen his lack of fur being due to his environment and physical status. He's rather malnourished and from the looks of it he has fleas/ticks. At one point I thought mange but that's not it.

Am I missing something? Because I don't see a mane in either screenshot.