Lion guard Story Reviews

The (Almost) Perfect Abuse Story

(Please dont take the title out of context)

Now not too long ago, I figured out what makes an amazing Lion Guard story, which is stories that manage to act as a character study for the ones they focus on. Such as Simba's pain serving as an analytical story not only on Simba but on Mufasa as well, seeing how they reacted to the loss of Sarabi at a crutial point in both of their lives. It worked and despite the moments where it would look like those two characters were acting out of character, within the context of the story it made sense for them to behave the way they do.

On that note, I was looking back and remembered this story called "Kion: Fall From Grace" written by Active_Ace and I found that this story is one of the few stories that met this criteria for me, so lets dive in shal we. Also spoilers for the story so I reccomend you read it.

So stories of having Kion basically being shit on for the story isnt nothing new in this fanbase. However this story takes a different approach, rather than just the typical formula of Kion being abused and him deciding to be evil or something, we have the privelage of seeing him build up to his breaking point. 

Now in the main universe its established that Kion does have a cheery attitude, along with that his motivation to protect the pridelands comes from a sense of self worth and him wanting to prove himself worthy. He wants to be able to protect his family and has gone to great lengths to do so, even if he accidentally summond Scar back from the nether, oops. 

But the sense of Kion wanting to prove himself is messed with since well, it doesnt matter if he does prove himself, he is still going to get abused in the end. And it does work, it gives an opening for Kion to fall early on when he joins the guard. In a way, this works in a similar effect to stories where Kion has no family left, where it asks the question of "what does he have to fight for" but in this case its in a different context as no matter what Kion does, he is still going to be abused. Even if he proves himself to his mother or Kiara, it wont change how his father views him. If anything succeding in defending the Pridelands is just a means of him not getting a beating that night. 

Now it might be a bit off topic but I just would like to praise how the story handles the other main characters outside of the Royal family. Fuli is still rpesented as basically somewhat of a supportive older sister, someone who did what Kiara never did, was actually there for Kion instead of just feeling bad for him from the sidelines, she actually makes an attempt to make Kion feel better. 

Along with that, Rani and Baliyo are presented well here. They serve as an escape for Kion, for him to somewhat see what life is like without constantly being attacked, by enemies and family in a time where he is nearing the time of him turning. It's a nice utilization of those characters. 

Now if you carefully read the title, you will know that this is where the (almost) part comes into play. Keep in mind that as of now, the story is on it's 25th chapter and is incomplete, so some of these critisiszms might not age well, and I hope that they dont age well, anyways, I'm still gonna do a quick rant because I need to let it out.

(Hi this is me from the future, the following rant will mostly focus on Nala, I realized this as my brain is something of an idiot, and when I went back, I found most of the points I make are mostly focused on Nala in this story, alright carry on)

My main and only issue with this story is making Simba the sympethetic villain. Now in the contect of other stories, sympethetic villains work, such as Joker, the Vulture, Thanos, you name it. However the context of their stories is what made them work, Joker being beaten down by society and forced into insanity, the Vulture just wanting to provide for his family, and Thanos wanting to solve the issue of overpopulation and lack of resources. But it fits in the context of their stories.

However abusive parents/spouces do NOT work for sympethetic villains. It didn't work in My Pride, it doesnt work to make them sympethetic in real life, and it doesnt work in this story. I mean Kion was just an innocent cub who's first instinct, much like every other child on the plannet, is to trust their parents for confort and protection. But because Simba had bad dreams about Kion, he started to take it out on him, rather than try to make sure that Kion would never become what he saw in his dream. 

Yes Simba is somewhat understandable in this situation, and is even Kinda in character for him, since he is shown to be paranoid in the past. But it doesnt work either way, it doesnt make him understandable because he abused this kid for most of his life, physically and mentally, not only that but Kion did his best to hold it back and find light in his situation, only for him to get beaten down every day. And for these moments to even exist in the story is unexcusable, and unless he is being forced to at gunpoint by a bunch of aliens or something, Simba is flat out the bad guy, end of the story, There should be NO reason to at the very least, to feel bad or understand him. 

And yet, anyone aware of the details, ESPECIALLY Nala tries to act understanding to both sides, which is bullshit. Imagine being this kid being forced to take this abuse from your father, only for your mother, your only reliable parental figure to just empathize with your abuser instead of actively doing something to fix it. Now you have to put up with their shit for several years, trying to do what you can to avaid it, but in the end you will inevetable suffer. It hurts a lot, and if you are lucky, you will only have to deal with several years of therapy, and luckier if the other parental figure manages to get a divorce, but unfortunatly in Kion's case he is not only mentally but physically abused as well. And unlike the real world, he cant just get therapy to talk out everything, he cant go to the police, he cant go to anyone for help so he can escape (until Zira came along that is). 

And Nala is despicted as not being just a pushover, at least in the films. So it would be more in character for Nala to actively fight against Simba whenever he tries to hurt Kion, rather than just talk with him, yeah Simba might be bigger and probably has more muscle than her, but she can easily best him in a fight, and either way she is willing to put her life on the line for her cubs because that's what a mother does. So as a result Nala just stands there and watches as her son is being abused for years at a time, and does nothing mroe than talking to him, TALKING TO HIM. In my experience trying to talk things out with the abuser is just gonna lead to him/her just getting more pissed even more, feeding into the cycle of abuse, why? Its because the abuser is a narcasist who thinks that they are justified in what they are doing, and if someone anyone tries to interfere, then they will just get angrier. 

TL DR, attempting to make the abuser, especially Simba, in any way empethatic is not going to work.

Back to praising this story.

So this story works mostly works as a Kion Focused story, where its not just a sudden turn to darkness, but one that was properly built up. And I'm curious to see where this story goes, since Kion isnt even a villain but more of an anti hero. And with a cub on the way, it would be interesting to see how Kion acts as a father himself. So I'm looking foreward to what this story has to offer next.

But despite what the previous rant would tell you, I still love this story, very good, 8/10 would read again. Actually NVM 0/10 there are no explosions whenever they pose. 

Anyways, that's all I got for today, go away now.