The Lion Guard (2015 / 2016)

[KiarasBiggestFan]

She is a very pretty cheetah.

[SimbasGuard]

I like the way she looks as well.

[Marizzle]

She honestly has my least favourite design. I usually dislike characters with a very feminine look, like hers.

[Elton John]

Maybe she will look different in the show? They all look stylized compared to the official screenshots and the short clip seen.

[Akril]

Elton John, can I ask where you got that information
It would make sense, but I'm just trying to investigate

The question wasn't directed at me, but I figured I'd answer it anyway: There's no official statement about the meaning of Kion's name. Earlier in this thread, I mentioned that someone had discovered that the Swahili word "kiongozi" meant "leader" or "guide", and that "kion" might -- might -- be a shortened form of that word.

And besides that, Simba had a cheetah for a friend in The Race. So, while that is semi-canon, it isn't like this is the first time it's happened.

True that. Let's not forget Beba from TLK6NA.

Personally, I'm more befuddled by the number of cheetahs have been formidable enemies of Simba in semi-canon material (like Kesho from the Fight for the Throne audio drama), the weird gray cheetahs in the video game and the two cheetahs in this comic). The closest thing we see to a real lion-cheetah interaction in the TLK universe is in the early "King of the Jungle" drafts, where Simba chases one or two cheetahs (depending on the draft version) away from their kill, eating it himself.

[SimbasGuard]

Maybe she will look different in the show? They all look stylized compared to the official screenshots and the short clip seen.

That is very likely, Fuli will probably look even better in the series.

[KiarasBiggestFan]

Yeah, the Kion on the book didn't look much like the Kion in the promo reel for Disney Jr.

[Elton John]

I thought that i would give a somewhat detailed analysis of the gif.

One thing i noticed right away that i really love is that it has this very classic disney look to it. If this isn't hand drawn, it does a great job of replicating the hand drawn look.

The background is not only properly animated, but it has shading as well! Each individual blade of grass does not have the same tone to it. Kion himself is shaded too, most noticably in the lower leg portion of his body as he pounces.

As kion leaps upward his tail lowers, it feels very organic.

Also his ears twitch a little and so do his whiskers. His mane and tail tuft also look properly animated as well.

At first he is hunching downwards, with hind quarters raised, shaking a little, his shoulders are noticably shown, his frontal paws are at an angle.

And as he leaps they all change positions. The physical movement of kion feels very natural, very much like he is a real thing and not just a drawing.


I can only hope that the animation is consistent with that gif

[SimbasGuard]

One thing i noticed right away that i really love is that it has this very classic disney look to it. If this isn't hand drawn, it does a great job of replicating the hand drawn look.

I'd be shocked if this turns out to be computer animated. If it is then it proves that 2D can still live in a world of 3D animation.

I can only hope that the animation is consistent with that gif

I can't see Disney setting the bar so high with a preview, only to drop the ball with the series. I think what we see is what we are going to get in terms of animation.

[Carl]

One thing i noticed right away that i really love is that it has this very classic disney look to it. If this isn't hand drawn, it does a great job of replicating the hand drawn look.

I'd be shocked if this turns out to be computer animated. If it is then it proves that 2D can still live in a world of 3D animation.

Why wouldn't it be computer animated? Even I have a Photoshop brush that replicates the 2D pencil from Disney movies, used in conjunction with a drawing tablet, it looks just like hand drawn traditional work.

Which is why hand drawn is an inaccurate term here because since acquiring a graphics tablet, all of my digital art has been hand drawn, as if on paper.