THE LION GUARD LORE (the lion king universe is BONKERS) 

Mufasa showing up constantly for his grandson but almost never for his son is very grandparent-that-spoils lol

The ancestors roar is literally a troll. It’s bound to cause massive sibling rivalries with one being the rightful heir being normal in power yet the younger sibling is op as shit. I’m kind of surprised Scar didn’t use it on Mufasa like immediately after getting it.

i fully believe the reason Kion is Simba's son, and not Kiara's is that they knew they wouldn't get away with Kovu, the crush of literally EVERYONE, being an incompetent manchild

Fun fact! Apparently Fuli is supposed to be a King Cheetah! King Cheetahs are cheetahs with an incredibly rare fur mutation that causes the cheetah's spots to fuse together, explaining why her "spots" look the way they do! I no doubt think they made her a king cheetah purely because of the name tho LOL

I definitely feel like Mufasa nicknaming Scar was just an affectionate one-off joke thing meant to congratulate him that Scar took WAAAY too personally

Shoutout to Disney Junior for having shows like Sofia The First and Lion King have genuine lore and plot armor that 6 year olds could understand

I hated this show because of how dirty they did Simba. Making him pampered? He was the one lion that knew how to not be that, he had to actually had to earn his title after deciding he wanted it.

Minor correction: Simba legit thought he started the stampede. THAT'S why he blames himself. He actually thinks he killed his dad. Scar actually plays into this - he encouraged Simba to work on his roar (making it seem like his loudest semi-roar spooked the herd) and afterwards asked him "what have you done?" This is extra evil because he didn't need to do this - he was planning to kill Simba anyway and just chose to be extra cruel for the sake of it. Of course, this only really works because he's a kid and never tells an adult about it so there's nobody around to ask the obvious question: If Simba's 'roar' spooked the wildebeasts, wouldn't they run AWAY from the sound?

I watched the original Lion King so many times before realizing the reason Simba blames himself for his dad's death (besides Scar) is that he thinks his little roar, the one that scared that lizard, started the stampede. Simba roared, the rocks began juddering on the ground, and immediately a thousand wildebeest poured over the lip of the canyon.

I really love how The Lion Guard essentially asserts The Circle of Life as almost a religious practice, rather than just the natural order. Whenever anyone doesn't follow or respect the Circle of Life, which has extremely loose meanings within the boundaries of the show, they either send out the Spanish Inqu- The Lion Guard to handle it.

It’s as if the writers saw Kiara in the second movie and just tossed her out the window to make a new character for the lion guard. She is the last character I expected to be the one to tell on a sibling

Something that always struck me as odd is Kiara’s character assassination. Like, in the Lion King 2, she’s this optimistic, playful, free-spirited Lion. But then in the Lion Guard she’s the stereotypical bossy older sister??

JUSTICE FOR MY MAN USHARI. HE ONLY TURNED EVIL BECAUSE EVERYONE WAS ABUSING HIM.

They really set up the scar and venom to symbolize trauma and ptsd, had it be treated with meds and therapy, made a point to say "this won't be magically healed, you have to live with it", and then they punched us with "yeah you're healed" in the last five minutes of the finale 💀

It literally makes no sense as to why Simba, of all people (er, lions), takes issue with a Lion Guard made up of a diverse array of animals. I mean, wasn't he raised by a meerkat and a warthog? What gives?? ((Edit: Shout-out to my boy Steve Blum for voicing Makucha, the "evil" leopard.))

I watched this show with my little brother and i still find it crazy how they don't acknowledge the snake dying in a pit of lava but put a content warning for a character dying of old age 🤡 (great video like always!)

As a kid I really liked this show and then in one of the ads for the series where they would talk about animal facts, one of them opened with “What sort of animals are the best parents?” before showing a clip of a crocodile- which I was excited by because crocodiles are incredible parents! They will literally risk death by dehydration to make sure their babies are safe! AND THEN THE AD HAD THE FUCKING GALL TO GO “no I don’t think so” and cut to some nice friendly looking prey animal that’s “actually” a good parent. In spite I never watched the show again.

I love that the orginal Lion King movie was a fairly realistic (despire the obvious lions) power struggle and succession conflict. And then this show was like, "Nah, fuck it. There's magic."

To be fair, in the Lion King 2, Kovu was only exiled from the Pridelands because Simba thought he had tricked him into getting ambushed. But...yeah, the song made it seem like they were comparing Kovu to Scar all because he just so happened to have an identical scar on his face. Actually, now that I think about it, Simba was comparing Kovu to Scar a lot just because he looked like him.

During Zira's death in Lion King 2, there was a storyboarded part where Zira says "No, never", and intentionally lets go. They got rid of that line for obvious reason, but you can still see Zira smiling as she falls. It seemed pretty fitting because of how crazy she was. I really liked that this show used Kion's scar to represent trauma and the development of mental illness. It struck a chord with me how they had him actually have to work towards his recovery and it wasn't easy or smooth. I'm glad to have a show that teaches people no matter the age that they can get back to a stable place and be happy again, even if it's in a different way. A side note of scars representing trauma, it's pretty horrible of Mufasa to do that to Scar but murder is just a little too strong a reaction Honey badgers are found in Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Indian subcontinent. It is the only living species in the genus Mellivora and in the mustelid subfamily Mellivorinae. Despite its name, the honey badger does not closely resemble other badger species. Instead, it bears more anatomical similarities to weasels. Like a skunk, it has a gland at the base of its tail that stores a stinky liquid just as powerful as that of its look-alike. They live mainly in dry areas but are also found in forests and grasslands. Honey badgers are good swimmers and can climb trees. With its long claws, the honey badger digs burrows up to 3 meters long and up to 1.5 meters deep.

Fun fact: Simba is not voiced by the same person in the in any of these. In the first movie he is voiced by Matthew Broderick. In the second movie he is voiced by Cam Clarke, and in this show he was voiced by Rob Lowe. Cam Clarke actually wanted to voice Simba in the series but he said the reason Rob Lowe was chosen over him is because "He gets the press to care"

No, cause I also literally shipped the girl Hyena and Kion so hard. When I discovered they did not end up together I said, “It’s giving-racism. Between species.” 😂😂

“always the royal family’s second born” according to the books Kiara was actually the second born, she had an older brother. She shouldve gotten the roar!!

Simba being angry with Kion about his Lion Guard being made up of different animals makes no sense when you take into account Simba was basically raised by a MEERKAT and a WARTHOG.

I agree that Mufasa not learning his lesson and making fun of Kion's scar would be really funny

"Snow leopards eat red pandas." Well, that would explain the choices of species for Shifu and Tai Lung, the father/son turned enemies.

I agree with your Fuli hot take. You can only watch a character react the same way over and over again with no depth for so long. In Season 3 she does get a lot more depth, when she sort of co-leads Kion and supports him, weather that is helping him out or telling him to chill.

The thing about the venom, it doesn’t exactly influence your behaviour itself. What it does is cause the inflicted to suffer bouts of pain which can cause them to lose control as well as become more irritable, as we see with Kion it doesn’t effect his morality and decision making it just causes him pain which on top of all the stress he’s being put under causes his temper to flare and make rash decisions. He doesn’t mean it he’s just in pain and can’t handle it

I wish Ushari’s reptile supremacist ideology got a mention 😭 he didn’t just want revenge, he wanted reptiles to run mammals out of the Pride Lands

why is simba yelling at the child his adoptive parents also adopted. imagine your way older brother yelling at you to respect him because he’s the king.

I think that it would make sense that simba would be completely oblivious to both lion culture and being a good parent because he got chased off at a young age and then raised for at least a few years, he has to basically relearn everything against what Timon and pumba taught him (no responsibility, eat/sleep when you want, simply vibe) It checks more that he would be an incompetent king vs being responsible and level headed, he’s basically still a kid also

You should do wild Kratts next, it’s made and based on the Kratt brothers and they have suits that can turn them into animals, there’s also team members and villains like Zack Varmatech (the best character in the series, no one can change my mind). It’s mostly about different animals and showing their powers and how cool animals are. It’s really fun and I love it.

You should ABSOLUTELY do Tangled The Series! It's actually really good as a show and the lore is *insane*. The songs are incredible (two of the main cast are broadway actors) and the characters are all very developed. Would highly recommend :) edit: wow this got a lot of likes

Fun fact: Kion wasn't Simba's first son, before the sequel movies, he had a son named Kopa in one of the books. He was retconned into Kiara

Kovu is supposed to be adopted. Not only by Scar, but Zira as well. If I remember correctly from my lion king hyperfixation, Nuka is the only one of Zira’s children who belongs to Scar. There’s a whole book lore outside the films. I haven’t read the books, but I have seen very in depth videos by people who did.

After seeing the recon of Scar’s backstory, it bugged me that Kion and Mufasa never had a “Ya know grandpa you were a dick to your bro, and aaaaalll of this could have been avoided.” “I know.” Conversation. Let alone a Cloud Mufasa vs Fire Scar song/conversation duet....where the bros would have reconciled. Jedi force ghosts Vader and Ben style. Scar had to get forgiveness and understanding from his grand nephew, (allowing his spirit to pass on) which had no part in the source of his transcending death rage....except by being the child of his royal replacement. Props to the writers for showing that not every wrong gets apologied for.

If you’re willing to dip your toes into Disney properties with a larger lore-scape… might I suggest Jake and the Neverland Pirates? It was one of my childhood favorites, and I remember the lore implications being especially wonky

It actually makes a ton of sense that Mufasa would be there for his grandson more than his son could ever dream of. Very grandparent thing to do.

Yeah binturong are quite the fascinating creatures! Here's more information about them: Binturong aka the bearcat are the only ones in the genus Arctictis, which means "bear-weasel" in Greek. They are members of the subfamily Paradoxurinae within the Viverridae family, which in turn is part of the Feliformia or "cat-like" suborder. Viverridae is the same family most civets are in. The binturong is native to South and Southeast Asia, ranging from Bhutan down to western Java in Indonesia. The animals spend most of their time hanging out in the treetops. The binturong is one of only two Carnivora members that has a prehensile tail, the other is the kinkajou! Yes, kinkajous are Carnivora despite their mostly fruity and nectar diet! Binturong are Carnivora members but eat most anything that suits their fancy whether it's fruits, vegetables, birds, small mammals, and fish. Solitary animals that rarely come face to face, binturongs use their roasty, popcorn-like aroma as a calling card to say “this is my turf” and find potential mates. Yes, POPCORN-like, because of 2-AP, the same molecule that gives cooked popcorn its aroma! The female binturong is one of only a few mammals that can experience delayed implantation, which allows the female to time the birth of her young with good environmental conditions. This means that mating can take place anytime of the year.

I always wanted more from The Strange Lion and Strange Cobra. They left his backstory so vague. I initially thought he was gearing up to be Kovu's father or at least Zira's original mate

The way this show handled Scar's return was crazy to me, his connection to the roar and Kion blew me away when I first watched it! I forgot it was a Disney Junior show for second 😭😭😭😭

I need to see you go into the PJ Mask lore, i think its batshit insane how they just go out every night, save the day, then go to school not sleep deprived

Kion becoming the Avatar was not what I expected

Yeah this show would have made way more sense if it was about Simba's grandchildren instead of his actual children. Even his portrayal of being kind of lazy and bitter could have been him getting old and forgetting what it meant to be King that way, having the young generation remind him of what's important.

I remember watching the pilot and being so weirded out by Kiara having a brother that was never mentioned in the movies. Why didn't they just have Kiara be the main character with no brother? Sure, they'd have to make her lose the roar by the end of the series, but I think that would be easier to write than a character who never existed until now.

What’s with Athena spiraling out of control with spin offs? It’s absolutely hilarious

Idk why but this keeps making me think of the Madagascar spinoff All Hail King Julian and also the Wild Kratts (either of which would be GREAT lore videos btw, Mort alone has some wild stuff in the Julian show)

I have child-like wonder towards this show and it's songs, I don't care how many plot holes there are, the fact it even has lore and effort put into it is what made me love it.

i always thought of this as “lion king 2” before i realized there was a lion king 2

Here are my theories 1. I believe The show reason for why Kion’s guard is different animals is to show how a child watching can be friends with people of different backgrounds/cultures 2. My lore reason; there aren’t enough males. Which is why I believe Vitani was able to assemble a lion guard in the way Simba originally wanted.

I'm more concerned about the fact that Simba has told Kion how lion sex works at a pretty young age 💀

The Lion Guard is CRAZY Why is season 3 legitimately well written (besides Rani’s entire character lmao)

"the zebra" you mention is named Thurston and I literally CRIED when he got named, he's literally my favourite character

The issue that I have with people who keeps saying Kion messes with the second movie, is that the show takes place when they’re cubs until like the final season. We don’t see Kiara’s childhood in the second movie. We see her meeting Kovu and that’s legit it

Honestly, Simba being ass at his job is very in line with both movies. Simba is a shithead in the first movie and way too proud and kind of incompetent in the second one, to the point that people tell him he’ll never be Mufasa. It’s honestly great 😂

I think, in my personal opinion, why Simba acts the way he does is.... he is overwhelmed and went NOT to therapy. I mean imagine you see how your dad gets killed and you blame yourself for YEARS for it then you find out, that the uncle the ONLY relative you "trusted" is ruining the land you grew up in and your father wanted you to protect, you kill that "lion" find out, oh it wasn't really your fault your dad died it was your uncle, THEN you kind of, have to fix everything your uncle did so the land is able to regenerate and prosper again, you have 2 canon kids and 1 semi-canon kid... I think don't hate me on that. So you have to deal with parenthood, ruling your kingdom, finding out who you are and suppress your trauma and emotions because you are king and have a family that you love so you have to FUNCTION you have to work. Otherwise the enemy of the land see you as weak and will attack you even more. Or at least... that's my take on "Why the fuck is Simba such an ***** in the series" also your daughter fals in love with the "bad-guy" tipe who resembles your uncle and might be an offspring of him A LOT which awakens your ptsd and your self-doubt even more and... oh yeah the mother of your daughters boyfriend trys to kill you... and your family.... so.... this is how I excuse the lame writing they gave him in the series... or at least I try to

theres a deleted version of the scene at 4:11 that is even crazier, Zira just straight up kills herself by purposefully letting go instead of accepting help from Kiara which is honestly raw as fuck

How could you ignore the great detail of Timon and Pumbaa literally addressing Simba and Bunga as their children in Bunga and the King? It was the highlight of the episode imo. Also Christmas in the Pridelands is a banger and I will no apologies for saying it

39:58, a better description of Kion's reaction is "I'd love to punish you for your crimes but that aint my job so...."

To be fair Scar was legit given the short stick as in the book his actual name was Taka which loosely translates in Swahili to waste (basically calling him garbage) and yes i know they changed it for the show....but man, Scar's parents just being like "ah yes our second son...waste" I tried so hard to watch this show and honestly do think its very good for a younger type of show...i just couldn't get behind some of the episodes where literally nothing happened and then i learn about this plot and the connection to Lion King 2 and im like "wait hold up???" This was a perfect watch however

Going against the cycle of life in this show is just whenever the predators do something our main characters personally don't like, even when they have every right to do what they're doing😆. How Janja and his clan didn't die of starvation is anyone's guess.

I binged all of the lion guard after I saw my little brother (who is 100% their target demographic) watched it. He stopped, I did not. I wanted to watch it more then their target demographic. I was 16.

Also little fun fact: The person who voices Chungu also voices Timon in this series. And the person who boices Janja also voices Ora

Yes I would in fact like to see a Trolls lore video. The first Trolls movie when it came out, didn't interest me all that much, but oh boy did that change with the sequel. To preface, I adore speculative bio/evo projects, so to see different species of Trolls that have evolved in different environments, yet all fill the niche of sapient, human like (predators? Do Trolls eat meat?) had me hooked. Mermaid Trolls, Fairy Trolls, Centaur Trolls etc! Not to mention the question of their technology. The Pop Trolls had wooden instruments, but otherwise lived rather primitive, agrarian lives; meanwhile the Rock Trolls had FLYING WAR MACHINES and electric instruments! There's so much to discuss with the history and science of Trolls, one could probably dedicate videos for each different type.

To be fair, kiara also learned the lesson of 'dont be racist' before her dad, so i think simba just has issues

simba's entire arc in the original movie is literally all about him maturing and learning to put the needs of the pridelands and its inhabitants above his own wants + desires. and yet they wrote him like this? like did they not watch the movie their show is based on or were they just too lazy to think of an another source of conflict. also simba was raised by a meerkat and a warthog + the lion guard magic clearly doesn't care what species the members are, so why would HE care if non-lions are part of it. like this entire show is simba and lowkey kiara slander... should've just made kion kiara's son fr.

not too far into this yet but you're so right abt the movie characters being completely butchered and it makes me so sad because they do the vast majority of the original to the show characters extremely well... like kiara just didn't have that type of bratty teen personality in the second movie but her entire non-romance arc was how she despised the idea of becoming queen because it would hold her back but in tlg that's all she cares abt

22:57 “simba is not a good dad to kion” Path of honor disagrees

I always considered this show to be Disney's way of doing MLP: Friendship is Magic "for boys" (or at least gender-neutral.) They're both shows rebooting licensed kid's properties into multi-season fantasy epics written by people who actually respect children's intelligence, and with unreasonably beautiful animation for TV to boot. I hope we get more of these shows as the kids who grew up on FIM and TLG enter the animation industry.

As someone who walked in on my parents doing it when I was 7 I know my parents gave me “The talk” at a pretty young age.I feel like if Kion knew at that age he probably got the talk for a similar reason… Last I checked the pride rock doesn’t have any separate rooms for privacy..even if it wasn’t even his parents he probably saw other animals doing it because in nature most animals don’t care if others watch them are not. 😅

There seems to be a theme in these Disney Junior shows where the protagonists defend the staus quo and don't make a positive difference, but anyone who tells them they suck is then seen as either a threat or a misinformed outsider.

I watched this show as a kid and Fuli was always my favorite because she SLAYS

I think the idea behind "You don't want the roar? Okay. Here, have all the superpowers." Is that, by proving he's willing to give up the roar, he proves he doesn't want power and that he'll only use it for good.

As someone who grew up with the show, I can confirm this show is even more than bonkers.

wait till you hear about Jake and The Neverland Pirate lore. I'm not joking. That series is genuinly one of my favorite kids shows ever. The lore is actual insane in like a good way, and the music just slaps. Highly recommend! Great vid btw :]

So I'm like 10 minutes into the video, maybe you bring it up, but it bothers me not just that Mufasa shows up more for Kion - though yeah, that's insane - but that his ghost is just talking to people all the time to begin with. The 'he lives in you' scene in the original film is a freaking metaphor. Like it's ambiguous, maybe Mufasa is having a literal conversation with Simba because Rafiki is a shaman. But the important thing is Simba connecting with the spirit of Mufasa *inside himself.* He's remembering what his father taught him and understanding that he has responsibilities, and he's dishonoring Mufasa and himself by avoiding them. When he asks for help in the sequel, he's asking for Mufasa's guidance to create more wisdom *in Simba,* not to literally just...tell him what to do. You screw up the most iconic scene of the first film if the lions can just randomly talk to (and get history lessons from) ghosts whenever they want. Like forget the ancestors letting the roar kill the old Lion Guard - if Mufasa could show up and just talk to whoever he wanted all the time, why wouldn't he have told Simba and everyone in the Pridelands that Scar was a murderer? Totally ruins the consequences of him being dead in the first place.

IT MAY BE CHEESY/INACURATE BUT SCAR'S SONG ABOUT HOW HE GOT HIS SCAR IS SO FUCKING CATCHY

You NEED to make Wild Kratts lore next, i grew up on it and it taught me everything i know about animals.

Can we just take a moment to appreciate how Athena takes her time to do her make up for all these videos?

To explain the whole "birth of Kion" confusion, there's a heory that states that Kion was born right after Kiara met Kovu

Mufasa showing up regularly for his grandson and only occasionally for his kid is hilariously grandfatherly for him.

Also yeah the ship discourse within the fandom was (and is) Wild (pun…acknowledged) They definitely were setting up Kion and Jasiri, everything within that number they have is so romantically coded it’s hilariously unsubtle. I would’ve liked that, would’ve been a fun plot point I also extremely don’t see Kion/Fuli. The whole Lion Guard is far too Sibling Energy for me Also did it feel like to anyone else they were implying something with Beshte and the dolphin..? I feel like Beshte was the most emotionally mature and would the most natural in a relationship so it’s honestly really sad his one prospect is confined to the sea while the others get carbon copies of themselves

I enjoyed and liked your coverage but you misrepresented Scar’s plan. He explicitly wanted Kion’s roar to activate the volcano and destroy everyone out of revenge. Whether or not he actually wanted the reptiles to survive is up to interpretation, but he wanted revenge through total destruction not just to give Kion a scar like him; that was just to taunt and prompt him to anger, which is what makes Kion’s forgiveness an effective moment to me.

still not as bad as that one fanfic where scar resurrected as a giant poo monster made from the droppings of the hyenas who ate him

I watched this show out of PURE CURIOSITY. I was so out of the demographic I didn’t think I’d like it, but it sucked me in with its pure fucking Insanity, especially in the later seasons. 10/10

I can respect a children’s show (especially one for Disney Jr) that has actual substance to it that doesn’t treat kids as brainless cash grabs because these shows are so so so important to their development

I remember having a friend in kindergarten that loved the lion guard,he was really nice. Thanks for the blast to the past.

8:04 the fact the cheetah would definitely be dead considering how lions hunt cheetahs sense they compete for food is funny

I'm just shocked that this series understanding of the circle of life is as well thought out as the people who irradicated all major predatory animals from North America thinking that they would get a "Game Haven" and not "Oh shit these herbivores are reproducing so rapidly that the plant life can't keep up and now we live in a dust bowl" TBH it would've been the perfect series to insert a lesson as to why predators are important to the ecosystem!

A few things i want to mention: The episode "Friends till the End" was SO weird because of how much Bunga INSISTED that Kion was "too far gone" and that it was "already too late"... Like that's your best friend??? I don't buy Kion and Rani's romance at ALL because the entire time she kept referring to Kion as "the roar" and it really only seemed like she wanted to marry him to ensure the roar "stays in the Tree of Life" During Kion and Vitani's first confrontation as Lion Guard leaders, Vitani referes to Kion saying "I'll take care of the lion with the mark of evil" referring to his scar... Dude ummmm what about your brother Kovu??? No one mentions let alone questions that Nuka is missing...

I was so curious about whole story contained in The Lion Guard but I never had enough patience to watch it. It's for kids after all, so it's hard to watch and gets boring quite quickly. I think it's better than many other kids shows (at least sounds like it). Thanks for the summary, it was very nice experience!

Two brothers, one of which becomes evil due to being bitten by a poisonous snake? Oh my God. Scare is just Garmadon from Ninjago

The weird thing about the show is that parts of it seem like they were written for a slightly older audience, and then other parts clearly aren't. I'm not sure if they originally wanted to make a general Lion King cartoon and had to settle for being relegated to a Disney Junior title or something.

I just want to mention that the voice of fuli currently voices Lunella Lafayette from Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. It's amazing go watch it!!!

I need you to know for the past 2 weeks "Thats wack, Kion do the roar" has become a constant inside joke with my friends so thank you for that

genuinely cannot explain the whiplash the dan and phil mention gave me they really do show up in the most unexpected places

Lion Guard was one of the very few Disney shows I watched growing up and I LOVED IT TO BITS!

Lion Guard is one of my favorites shows and season 3 was definitely the best! The only thing I didn’t like was the finale where the lions were the new lion guard. It would have been way better if the new lion guard was made of the young animals the lion guard were protecting and would’ve played into the idea that the lion guard doesn’t have to be made up of lions.

I'm so happy you made this video. This was literally one of my favourite shows as a kid although I eventually grew out of it and when I checked it again I saw just how much lore there was. Also, the song about how he got his scar slaps. 'THATS HOW I GOT MY SCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEN IIIIIIIIIIIIIII LLLLLEEEEEEED THE GUARDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Kion literally developing a mental illness and having to continue to take meds/mood stabilizers and actually GO TO THERAPY instead of him reaching the tree and just receiving a cure was So Fucking Good, and I did not expect it at all. It was so ridiculously actuate to real life struggles with mental health it threw me for a loop. The way his friends all knew what was going on but couldn't help but still feel frustrated with him, the way Kion was struggling with guilt over his actions even tho he knows he wasn't completely in control, and when his meds started being less effective? My god. Also one of the villains literally being addicted to his meds really showed off how people who dont need them can abuse prescription drugs and give them a bad name as well as make them harder to get for the people that actually need them. It was ingenious and that episode nocked me on my ass.