My Lion King Forum

[quote="CrispyLight"]Yes, i know Mheetu was deleted and Disney said it was unofficial. I agree with that. BUT i think mheetu was DELETED after that comic came out. And maby that cub could still be Mheetu ? And if not, then who is Sarafina holding then ? If Mheetu was once designed by Disney, and then deleted, why can't Mheetu be re-used for the comics ? He only got deleted for the film.

And thanks for sharing your opinion. [/quote]

Mheetu was deleted from the first film years before the comic was published (if TLK Wiki is correct, it was published in 1998). All I know is that the cub was left nameless. If you want the cub to be Mheetu, that's all right. There's also no official information that the cub isn't Mheetu either. As for Mheetu being re-used for another work, that can work but it has to be confirmed by the creators that the character is indeed Mheetu.

[quote="Squeely"]I like to think she is, but there's no confirmation of it. Kiara and Kion could be littermates. There's also no confirmation that the end of TLK takes place before Kiara's presentation in SP. I know SP Simba looks older, but that can be chalked up to SP's creators wanting to make him look older for the film, or even just stylistic differences.

Another possibility is that Kiara's presentation was done slightly later. She seems a teensy bit older than Fluffy during her presentation. But we have no sure-fire canon explanation as of right now.[/quote]

Well, Andrew Collins (the lead animator of Kovu), in an Australian edition of the Disney Adventures magazine, was asked "What's the major difference between this film and the original?" He answered, "It takes off where the first one left off with a twist - you think it's a king but it's a queen!" Click here for the article: Africa Down Under. So, Kiara and Fluffy's presentation are one and the same.

As much as I love Kopa the only place he is official is in The Lion King Six New Adventures. I think he would have made for an interesting character, but since TLK6NA was rather obscure when they decided to make SP Kiara became the cub of Simba and Nala until TLG where Kion became their son (official son in the cannon). I believe the reason they went for Kiara rather than Kopa (or another male cub) was because TLK was about a father/son dynamic and they wanted to focus on a daughter/father dynamic. Also, SP takes a lot from Romeo and Juliet, hence the need for a female cub. My personal opinion, is I love both Kopa and Mheetu. Kopa is only cannon in the TLK6NA, which is a comic and Mheetu in early planning stages. Originally, it was planned that Scar would lure an adolescent Simba to the gorge by kidnapping Mheetu. This idea was scrapped, but maybe it gives a little background info.

Mheetu would be cannon but deleted cannon since his character was a concept deleted before the film was made and only made it into early planning stages. We really have no idea of his official color (probably pale, but again we only have sketches). There is no official information about his character.

In the Lion Guard, it specifically states Kiara is going to be queen of the Pridelands, thus making her the eldest. It does kind of make the timeline wonky, but so does SP So the only official cannon cubs of Simba and Nala are Kiara and Kion.

The whole reason for the confusion before SP was the the creators of TLK did not plan a sequel or think TLK would become so HUGE a success. I think the cub named only "Fluffy" (officially) made most fans think it was a male because the cub resembled Simba as a young cub. Before SP was released, TLK6NA was made and other books listed the cub as the son of Simba and Nala. One of the biggest and most revered fanfictions still is Chronicles of the Pridelands which made the cub a male. However, after SP this was cleared up as the cub is referred to as Kiara.

[quote="CrispyLight"]Yes, i know Mheetu was deleted and Disney said it was unofficial. I agree with that. BUT i think mheetu was DELETED after that comic came out. And maby that cub could still be Mheetu ? And if not, then who is Sarafina holding then ? If Mheetu was once designed by Disney, and then deleted, why can't Mheetu be re-used for the comics ? He only got deleted for the film. [/quote]
The comics came after the movie and Mheetu was deleted in early production. Also I don't think creators of some popularity boom money-making comics were putting any effort into looking in and making movie developement references.
I don't get why everyone freaks out about lion-only characters. Do you think Daabi, Banagi or Bhati are official too? Or Simba's good friend Simon from the comics?
Mheetu is not official and the fact he's a lion doesn't make him any more important or official. He, along with characters like Banagi, come from early production when Lion King wasn't exactly the Lion King we know today. The story was different, the characters were different. Story changed and some characters were deleted and that's it. Mheetu doesn't exist in any canon or semi-canon universe.