History YMMV / TheLionGuard

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic:
** The Lion Guard, for regularly stopping predators from getting their meals even when it seems like the predators ''aren't'' breaking any of the Circle of Life's rules. ''All of them'' aside from Beshte are carnivores themselves (and even hippos have been known to eat meat in a pinch), so this makes them seem hypocritical. Further compounding this issue is Kion and the guard's habit of roaming beyond the boundary of the Pridelands and enforcing their rules on the predators who live there -- something the first movie portrayed in a very, ''very'' negative light.
** 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, Kion was stripped of his childhood for the most part, having to focus on his new responsibilities as guard leader. Said role involves him being placed in a ton of life-threatening situations daily (including the various predators he must fight against) and has a mountain of responsibility and pressure put on his back. While he has the Roar to aid him in times of need, the fact Simba and Nala are willing to put their young son's life at risk like this routinely is rather jarring, especially given how protective of their daughter the films depicted them to be. 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.

** 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, because the aardwolves were in the Outlands and trespassed on their territory, Reirei and Goigoi were free to hunt them as they pleased.

* 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.

** Creator/DavidOyelowo is a high-profile Emmy-nominated actor for a reason, though this is the first time he's had to sing (not counting a joke song from a ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' skit), and it is ''glorious''. Just hear him sing "I Have a Plan" and "When I Led the Guard."

** 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. But it's still ridiculous because snake venom does not do that, nor would a snake bite leave such a perfect singular scar.]]

** There's a section of the ''Lion King'' fandom that hates the show for various reasons, such as its FridgeLogic moments, its lack of research, 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.

** While it is understandable that overt romantic affection would be toned down for a preschool show, many people have noticed just how rare love is brought up at all, even in completely justified circumstances. Simba and Nala are both married, but aside from the occasional nuzzle, there is no affectionate or familial lick, even if Kion or Kiara have just been put in extreme danger. This really gets notable in Season 3, where the Guard starts meeting love interests, and the show adamantly uses the term "friend", rather than use the term love interest. In the finale, [[spoiler: set after Simba's Pride, where Kion and Rani get married, no one ever once calls it a wedding, instead calling it a coronation.]]
** The Roar of Elder's existence. The franchise has always had hints of supernatural elements, but those were mostly toned down and refined to spirits speaking to the living. The Roar of Elders, however, takes this to ridiculous levels and brings a power level to the universe that is more akin to a straight-up superpower, more or less giving the protagonist god-like abilities he can use at will, well beyond anything anyone in the movies is capable of. Additionally, it is now canon that Scar wiled near god-like powers offscreen before the movie, and this is conveniently never brought up at all.

* 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. Its perfectly reasonable that Simba quest why a young child, who is shown to still be naive and, well, childish, might not be ready to handle the massive respobleitly and perils that come with being the leader of the Lion Guard; its outright questionable that Kion be put in that position so early in the first place.. 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.
** For some, the fact Simba is making or at least letting his younger son serve as a leader of Lion Guard in the first place brings accusations of Simba forcing his son to be a ChildSoldier and has earned Simba the reputation as a borderline *AbusiveParent who cares little about his son's safety, despite how protective he is shown to be of his older daughter. This accusation is not helped by the fact he effectively made Kion start leading the guard right after he showed the mark, the guard being composed mostly of children, as well as the Lion Guard's job being constantly shown to be both a massive responsibility and involves the guard being involved in all sorts of dangerous situations. To say nothing of the fact how Kiara, Simba's eldest child, is being given lessons and training before she is allowed to take the throne while her younger brother, almost paradoxically, is having to fulfill a complex and dangerous role when he is only a cub with no preparation beforehand.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The Lion Guard, for regularly stopping predators from getting their meals even when it seems like the predators ''aren't'' breaking any of the Circle of Life's rules. ''All of them'' aside from Beshte are carnivores themselves (and even hippos have been known to eat meat in a pinch), so this makes them seem hypocritical. Further compounding this issue is Kion and the guard's habit of roaming beyond the boundary of the Pridelands and enforcing their rules on the predators who live there -- something the first movie portrayed in a very, ''very'' negative light.