History YMMV / TheLionGuard

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Bunga getting bitten by Ushari in Fuli's New Family, and the attempt to explain Ushari's bite as venomous with it being played as comedy gets much less funny when Ushari bites Kion in the Season 3 opener, and it is revealed that his bite is much more than just poison as it threatens to send him insane.

** Simba and Nala come across as this for putting the task of leading the lion guard onto their son while he is only a cub. Yes, it is a preschool show and the premise is to appeal to younger kids, so the lion guard itself is made up of children. But taking into account that Simba and Nala are putting the massive burden and responsibility of protecting the Pridelands and leading the guard on Kion while he was only a cub, without proper training or preparing him for such a role, does not reflect well on them as parents. Effectively speaking, he was stripped of his childhood for the most part and is being placed in a ton of life-threatening situations daily(including the various predators he must fight against) and has put a mountain of responsibility and pressure on a child's back. Further adding salt to the wound is the fact that, while they are supportive of Kion, they are rarely around to actually help him and are routinely gone whenever danger shows up, and at times effectively outsource some of their own responsibilities to their children. Though much of this is offset by virtue of the fact is it is a preschool-aimed show, the premise of the guard being children would not reflect well on the adult characters if this were looked in a more mature show.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Despite being geared more towards kids, the show still goes out of its way to elaborate on the various ([[FridgeLogic and often confusing]]) elements of the "Circle of Life" and how the citizens of the Pride Lands coexist. One of the big ones being what makes the predators of the Pride Lands morally better than a lot of the ones of Outlands. Many episodes display Pride Land predators hunting in a more civilized and controlled manner like Kiara telling her friend they can't take too many gazelles, or Pua the crocodile asking the hippos if the pond has enough fish for them to eat. The animals of the Outlands (by contrast) are shown to be AlwaysChaoticEvil creatures who seem eager to take whatever they want and kill anyone they can get their hands, such as Janja and his hyenas who wanted to kill as many animals as they could in the pilot. Such animals are even shown openly denouncing the Circle of Life and those who live by it... So far any attempts at making peace with animals from the Outlands has ended [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder in betrayal]]. The show also attempts to address a long-standing issue in regards to the series' portraying hyenas as [[AnimalStereotypes inherently bad]]. The show introduces Jasiri, who tells Kion straight up that most hyenas are not like the AxCrazy Janja and in fact respect their roles in the Circle of Life.
** They also give a clear explanation for why hyenas are not allowed in the Pride Lands. Too many apex predators in one area would put too much of a strain on prey populations, so previous lions, hyenas and leopards all mutually agreed to take their own territories to keep this from happening -- and while that's not how biodiversity works in real life, it's at least something, and adds to the point that the evil hyenas are outliers among their species.
** One of the most common criticisms of the show is that Fuli the cheetah's design looks too much like a leopard. They attempted to fix this by making the leopards distinctly different. All of them are more muscular than Fuli, have bigger spots, and distinct face shapes similar to each other but different than hers. Also, the yellow of their fur is lighter than Fuli's yellow, just to further distinguish them from her. All of these are accurate differences, except for the paler yellow fur, but that last thing is a minor change compared to how far they deviate from the real thing in some of the [[CartoonCreature other animal's designs.]] This is further fixed with the introduction of Azaad who is a more accurate cheetah, having solid spots and stripes on the sides of his muzzle.
*** Fuli's "inaccurate" design is also [[RealityIsUnrealistic not as off-base]] as the critics seem to believe; "king" cheetahs are an an ''unusual'' color morph, but they're hardly vanishingly rare either. Fuli's splotchy coloring and vaguely square patterns are actually a [[TruthInTelevision fairly spot-on representation.]]
*** Except they aren't. King Cheetahs don't have rosettes like Fuli does; their pattern is more like blotchy stripes.
** Similar to Jasiri, Badili is introduced to show that not all leopards are bad and helps to reassure that the Lion Guard is more than willing to be nice to and help a predatory animal that's good at heart. They still kick him out of the Pridelands and refuse to entertain the mere notion of him living there, but at least they do it in a polite way (it was more along the lines of taking him back home rather than outright banishing him), and go out of their way for him once they learn his situation.
** Before the show's debut, when it was first announced that it would revolve around Simba and Nala's son Kion, a number of fans were upset by the thought of ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'' being retconned out of canon and Kion replacing Kiara. There was much relief when it turned out that the show does keep ''Simba's Pride'' as canon and that Kion is Kiara's younger brother.
** One major point of anger was Kiara's SameCharacterButDifferent, with her being portrayed as interested in ruling and also being somewhat of a BigSisterBully, especially among those who knew her as a selfless kind royal back in ''Simba's Pride''. Towards the end of Season 1, starting in Baboons, and especially in Season 2, Kiara begins to show more of her ''Simba's Pride'' personality, such as not mentioning her royal duties, being kind and forgiving for Kion's errors, and also showing fear over her brother's fate in Season 3.
** Makuu's CharacterDevelopment and HeelFaceTurn satisfied some fans who felt uneasy about portraying crocodiles as [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile villains]], especially if they're part of the Pride Lands. Although "Let Sleeping Crocs Lie" still introduces more crocodilian antagonists, but these crocs turn out to be truly villainous in contrast to Makuu and thus get banished into the Outlands where they join Scar and his LegionOfDoom. Basically, they made the Pridelander crocs good while the outsider crocs are evil, which fares a lot better than in Season 1.
** "The Morning Report" has a moment that subverts the show's frequent indulging in ProtagonistCenteredMorality. Makuu asserts that the crocodile float is within their rights to eat baby Kion and Bunga after the pair wanders onto their territory and harasses them -- and Pua, a very kindly and sensible leader, acknowledges that he's 100 percent right. When he does let them go, he makes it ''very'' clear that Kion's not getting a pass because he's entitled to it.
** Some viewers accused the show of perpetuating the ReptilesAreAbhorrent trope after having Ushari turn evil and the first named lizard characters as villains, which is not helped by them occurring after Makuu's redemption plus the show already having background squamates (i.e. lizards and snakes) as good guys. The show balances this by introducing more reptilian characters who are outright heroic (Hodari and Kinyonga).
** When the original film came out, Scar got some mild controversy for acting slightly effeminate. When he returns in the show, Scar completely loses any effeminate traits.
** [[spoiler:Viewers who wondred if Scar being bitten by a cobra left him unable to understand his actions were quite relieved to see in other Season 3 episodes that the venom only reduces morals, and merely amplifies the negative traits and desires of the bite victim, as they are shown to still be in utter control of their actions, meaning all of Scar's actions were still motivated by his own evil desires rather than being compelled to do so by a medical illness.]]
** The episode "The Golden Zebra" solves any FridgeHorror caused by "Let Sleeping Crocodiles Lie" and, to a lesser extent, "The Bite of Kenge". Season 2 makes it clear that there is an upcoming dry season and there is a risk of a water shortage. However, due to the events of "Let Sleeping Crocodiles Lie", the Pride Lands end up giving away an entire watering hole to provide a home for the awakened crocodiles, who also add more mouths to feed. Meanwhile, "The Bite of Kenge" reveals that the elephants have been saving watermelons for themselves due to the fact that they need extra water, however, in the episode, several of the watermelons are destroyed making it uncertain if they will have enough left. In "The Golden Zebra", both issues are indirectly resolved by giving all the Pridlanders access to a large renewable source of water that they can access any time they like.

** Kiara's [[SameCharacterButDifferent portrayal]] in this series. Some like it, some can't stand it. Kiara is [[RoyalBrat brattier and awaits becoming queen one day]], which irks old time fans who feel that it's out-of-character for Kiara, who was humble and generally kind and didn't want to become queen in her youth, not to mention that she was [[ShelteredAristocrat sheltered]] by [[MeddlingParents Simba]] and thus had [[LonelyRichKid no friends]], which was why she befriended [[OnlyFriend Kovu]] and sought to mend the ties between the prides. Others argue, however, that it makes Kiara multifaceted ([[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation maybe she doesn't really feel like her true self around her friends?]]) and her change in personality could just indicate [[CharacterDevelopment she's growing as a person and trying to figure out what she wants in life]].

** There's a section of the ''Lion King'' fandom that hates the show for various reasons, such as its FridgeLogic moments, its CriticalResearchFailure, it being LighterAndSofter, it being MerchandiseDriven, it {{retcon}}ning (namely the existence of Kion, the Roar, and the Lion Guard), its usage of SameCharacterButDifferent (especially towards Kiara and Zira), its stupid and contrived "backstory" for Scar, and generally TheyChangedItSoItSucks, so they would rather like to pretend that it doesn't exist.

** Creator/JeremyIrons not reprising as Scar with Creator/DavidOyelowo as TheOtherDarrin instead. At least two of the reactions to this change are that while Oyelowo is certainly a good actor and good voice actor, he can't channel the same feel of Irons's voice, while the other reaction is that it is outright terrible (with a strange argument that it's because the new voice actor is American... [[CriticalResearchFailure when he's actually British like just Irons]]). Although it should be noted that Irons has never played Scar in anything following the original movie, so this wasn't unexpected. Of course, as Creator/JimCummings has always been available as Scar's TheOtherDarrin and is likely more cheaper than a CelebrityVoiceActor, this decision seems to be more of an AdvertisingByAssociation choice.
** Creator/NikaFutterman's performance as Zira as been criticized for not having gotten Zira's signature voice actress, Suzanne Pleschette, to reprise her role on the show... [[CriticalResearchFailure ignoring]] the fact that Pleschette passed away in 2008.

* AssPull: Scar is evil because [[spoiler:he was bitten by a cobra]]?! Are you serious?!
** In fairness, Scar was shown to always be evil and conniving. [[spoiler: The cobra bite just removed his few inhibitions or he used it as an excuse]].
*** Still a very stupid "explanation", considering a snake bite to the eye should've left him half-blind at best and dead at worst.

** This isn't the first time in the franchise where a hyena is portrayed as a good guy. ''WesternAnimation/TimonAndPumbaa'' featured some hyenas who served as allies to the titular duo during its third season, being the episodes "Don't Wake the Neighbear" (where a hyena was one of Timon's friends who visited Pumbaa's Auntie's apartment for a party), "Recipe for Disaster" (where a hyena was one of the animals trying Timon and Pumbaa's salsa), and "Guru-Some" (where a hyena was one of the animals getting advice from Pumbaa). However, these hyenas were minor background characters, so this series is the first in which good hyenas (Jasiri and her clan) play a prominent role.

** Kiara's [[SameCharacterButDifferent portrayal]] in this series. Some like it, some can't stand it. Kiara is [[RoyalBrat brattier and awaits becoming queen one day]], which irks old time fans who feel that it's out-of-character for Kiara, who was humble and generally kind and didn't want to become queen in her youth, not to mention that she was [[ShelteredAristocrat sheltered]] by [[OverprotectiveDad Simba]] and thus had [[LonelyRichKid no friends]], which was why she befriended [[OnlyFriend Kovu]] and sought to mend the ties between the prides. Others argue, however, that it makes Kiara multifaceted ([[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation maybe she doesn't really feel like her true self around her friends?]]) and her change in personality could just indicate [[CharacterDevelopment she's growing as a person and trying to figure out what she wants in life]].

* IdiotPlot:
** In "Can't Wait to be Queen", Simba leaves Kiara in charge when he needs to leave for a few days, instead of leaving Nala or another adult in charge. She promptly falls for a obvious trap set by the hyenas and goes ''alone''.
** "Bunga the Wise" is about the chaos that ensures when the animals hear only part of Rafiki's sentence and think he said honey badgers are the wisest animals. They then proceed to follow Bunga's foolish advice, such as "ostriches should bury their heads in the sand to avoid being eaten by hyenas". Nobody questions any of what Bunga says, Bunga himself lacks the self awareness to realize he doesn't know everything and is and giving dangerous advice, Rafiki somehow doesn't realize all this is happening (he must be in his tree the entire time?).
** The plot of the "The Imaginary Okapi" hinges on the herd animals of the Pride Lands ''not recognizing leopards as a threat''. Interestingly, [[RealityIsUnrealistic some real prey species]] have been known not to recognize predators of species not native to the area, but "leopards failing to register as a threat in an area where lions and cheetahs are common" is a definite stretch.

** They also give a clear explanation for why hyenas are not allowed in the Pride Lands. Too many apex predators in one area would put too much of a strain on prey populations, so previous lions, hyenas and leopards all mutually agreed to take their own territories to keep this from happening -- and while that's not how biodiversity works in real life, it's at least something.

** Makucha the leopard in "The Imaginary Okapi". While he's a ruthless hunter and undoubtedly a jerk, he's not hunting Ajabu the okapi for mindless blood sport -- he has every intention of eating him.

** Tiifu and Zuri are loathed by fans for several reasons. The first one is their complete and utter obliviousness regarding the situations that they appear in. A second one is their narcissim and vanity, which overrides whatever peril they just happen to be in whenever they show up. The final one is the fact that they are completely disrespectful to Kion despite the fact he has saved them multiple times from danger, something Kiara has called them out on.

** Shujaa being an {{Expy}} of [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk the Hulk]] and voiced by Christopher Jackson earned him a lot of fans.

** Reirei and Goigoi in "Too Many Termites", are attacked by the Lion Guards for trying to eat the aardwolves who had been accidentally kicked out of the Pride Lands. However, since the aardwolves were in the Outlands and trespassing in their territory, Reirei and Goigoi could hunt them as they pleased.

** Reirei and Goigoi in "Too Many Termites", are attacked by the Lion Guards for trying to eat the aardwolves who had been accidentally kicked out of the Pride Lands. However, the aardwolves were in the Outlands and trespassing in their territory, so Reirei and Goigoi were within their rights to hunt them as they pleased.

*** Except they aren't. King Cheetahs don't have rosettes like Fuli does; their pattern is more like blotchy stripes.

** When the original film came out, Scar got some mild controversy for acting slightly effeminate. When he returns in the show, Scar completely loses any effeminate traits and becomes a full fledged serious villain.

** Kion is the most debated original character by far. Him being a previously unheard of younger brother to Kiara, and having more than a few similarities to Simba's previous non-canon son Kopa, has irked fans who see him as an unneeded character. On the other side people think he's a charming and flawed but likable character who's undergone a lot CharacterDevelopment and deserves a chance; plus, they like the concept of Kiara having a younger sibling.

** How did Scar get his scar? [[spoiler:Some evil lion got his snake friend to surprise slash Scar in the eye when they were alone... with the FridgeLogic of how the snake somehow didn't ''bite out'' his eye and how Scar got his name. It's strongly disliked for diminishing the emotional background behind the scar that other material gives (the books explain he got it from being attacked by a buffalo while trying to secretly kill Mufasa in their youth and was given the nickname as a punishment from their father, which [[CommonKnowledge has since been conflated by fans]] as their father being abusive; even the [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing2019 2019 computer-animated adaptation]], which is heavily criticized for being a bland and exact adaptation of the original movie, gives the implication that Scar got scarred from foolishly challenging Mufasa. However, later Season 3 episodes showed that the snake venom merely removes morals, and the person bitten still possesses full control of their actions, showing that Scar still possessed full ability to know what he was doing was wrong and did those things because of his own evil desires rather than being under the influence of cobra venom.]]

** There's a section of the ''Lion King'' fandom that hates the show for various reasons, such as its FridgeLogic moments, its CriticalResearchFailure, it being LighterAndSofter, it being MerchandiseDriven, it {{retcon}}ning (namely the existence of Kion, the Roar, and the Lion Guard), its usage of SameCharacterButDifferent (especially towards Kiara and Zira), and generally TheyChangedItSoItSucks, so they would rather like to pretend that it doesn't exist.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Bunga getting bitten by Ushari in Fuli's New Family, and the attempt to explain Ushari's bite as poisonous with it being played as comedy gets much less funny when Ushari bites Kion in the Season 3 opener, and it is revealed that his bite is much more than just poison as it threatens to send him insane.

* CriticalResearchFailure: The reason this show has an ArtisticLicenseBiology entry half a mile long. For every legitimate case of artistic license (for example, Fuli's coloration), there tends to be a few cases of this trope (for example, the female ostriches' coloration). Even the ''Un-bunga-lieveable'' skits, which ostensibly exist to pad out the show's educational content, present blatantly incorrect information such as "crocodiles are bad parents" and "lions purr".

* FranchiseOriginalSin:
** Kion's bright red and mohawk-like mane for a young cub is criticized as a design choice comparable to [=deviantArt=] animal [=OCs=] made to make it obvious that he's the protagonist. ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'' also had Kovu with a budding black mane. It's also TruthInTelevision that manes may come out looking similar to these as cubs ''grow them in'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'' franchise always took liberty with how the lions of Pride Rock have red manes (which is likely a HairColorDissonance of brown-red).
** ''The Lion Guard'' pulling an unnecessary RememberTheNewGuy with the existence of Kion and the Lion Guard is something that also happened with Zira and her pride in ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride''.
** The CarnivoreConfusion and other similar issues (namely the complaint that the show's characters seem very keen on saving other animals from being overhunted yet [[InformedFlaw are never seen eating or killing]] and most predators are depicted as evil murderers) is an inevitable issue that stems from the movies, where prey animals are also shown to be sentient in some of their little screentime (which was likely to prevent such FridgeLogic moments in the first place).

* In Season 3, Kion meets his love interest, Queen Rani, voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee. Lee would go on to play an identical character to Kion, a second born member of the throne with a superpower to protect their kingdom, in Secret Society of Second Born Royals.

* NeverLiveItDown:
** Simba is hit with this trope again, similar to the reaction to how he was [[ParentsAsPeople characterized]] in "[[WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride Simba's Pride]]". For the first couple of episodes of Season 1, Simba is shown to be doubtful about whether or not Kion can actually handle the responsibility of being leader of the lion guard, compared to Kiara, who he has complete trust in. And in the pilot movie, Simba initially reprimands Kion for not recruiting an elite team of lions like he was supposed to instead of picking his friends - taking it as a sign that Kion is not taking his duty seriously. Simba and Kion grow beyond this conflict and actually become quite close as a father and son throughout the series, to the point where Simba ironically gives Kion more freedom and support on average than his sister by Season 2. This still didn't stop Simba from being portrayed as a [[ParentalNeglect neglectful]], [[AbusiveParents abusive]] [[FantasticRacism racist]] of a king and father in many Lion Guard fanfics, who would show extreme ParentalFavoritism towards Kiara and easily disown Kion if he did anything taboo like befriending a hyena, driving his son towards the dark side.
** In certain corners of the online cartoon community, the show is infamous for a widely circulated clip of Bunga and his girlfriend farting, which many claim was a "fetish", while overlooking the good aspects of the show.

* NeverLiveItDown: Simba is hit with this trope again, similar to the reaction to how he was [[ParentsAsPeople characterized]] in "[[WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride Simba's Pride]]". For the first couple of episodes of Season 1, Simba is shown to be doubtful about whether or not Kion can actually handle the responsibility of being leader of the lion guard, compared to Kiara, who he has complete trust in. And in the pilot movie, Simba initially reprimands Kion for not recruiting an elite team of lions like he was supposed to instead of picking his friends - taking it as a sign that Kion is not taking his duty seriously. Simba and Kion grow beyond this conflict and actually become quite close as a father and son throughout the series, to the point where Simba ironically gives Kion more freedom and support on average than his sister by Season 2. This still didn't stop Simba from being portrayed as a [[ParentalNeglect neglectful]], [[AbusiveParents abusive]] [[FantasticRacism racist]] of a king and father in many Lion Guard fanfics, who would show extreme ParentalFavoritism towards Kiara and easily disown Kion if he did anything taboo like befriending a hyena, driving his son towards the dark side.

* CompleteMonster: [[Characters/TheLionKingScar Scar]], Mufasa's envious younger [[CainAndAbel brother]], is just as vile as he was in [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 the original film]]. Once the leader of the original Lion Guard, Scar decides to overthrow and kill Mufasa when the latter playfully nicknames his brother "Scar" when Scar tried to seek praise for killing a traitorous lion and cobra who scarred him--not revealing that he had been perfectly willing to work with them to overthrow Mufasa. When Scar's fellow Lion Guard members refused to help him overthrow Mufasa, Scar uses the [[MakeMeWannaShout Roar of the Elders]] to [[BadBoss kill them]], but ends up losing the Roar in the process. In season 2, years after his initial death, Scar is [[BackFromTheDead brought back as a fiery spirit]] and tries to lead the animals of the Outlands on a brutal conquest of the Pride Lands, first by cutting off the river and entire water supply of the whole Pride Lands, and eventually simply trying to have them burn the savannah and all its inhabitants. In the [[Recap/TheLionGuardS3E1BattleForThePrideLands season 3 premiere]], Scar attempts to burn the new Lion Guard, Simba, Nala, Kiara, and the hyena clan to death, the latter for one of them considering on defecting to the Pride Lands, before planning on tricking Kion into erupting the volcano with his roar, which will kill everyone in the Pride Lands. When confronted by the Lion Guard, Scar has Ushari scar Kion, with the snake's venom slowly bringing Kion into insanity as Scar declares that Kion will now be just like him. Even after the death of his physical body, Scar remained a hateful creature driven by spite.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: Bunga farting at Mama Binturong? {{Squick}}. Bunga doing it to her ''repeatedly'' to the point she runs away from him? ActuallyPrettyFunny. Bunga ''and'' Binga doing it to her at the same time? ''Hilarious''.

* WhatAnIdiot: Makuu criticizing Pua for fearing hippos. If Pua is afraid of hippos, it'd be for a REAL good reason. Hippos are some of the most dangerous animals in the world, being extremely territorial and aggressive. Even in real life, crocodiles know better than to mess around with them.