Simba

Simba is the titular protagonist of Disney's The Lion King franchise, serving as the main protagonist of Disney's 32nd full-length animated feature film The Lion King, the tritagonist of both its 1998 sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride and the 2004 prequel/parallel film The Lion King 1 1/2, and a supporting character in the animated television series The Lion Guard.

Why He's The One True King

 * 1) He is very well-developed, as he starts off as a bratty child, but then becomes traumatized after the death of his father, which he thinks he was responsible for, leading to him running away and trying to forget all about his past. However, upon entering adulthood, he eventually realizes that he has to face his past, even if it isn't easy, and that is exactly what he does.
 * 2) Not only is he very well-developed, but the trauma that he goes through makes him very sympathetic as well.
 * 3) While he was hesitant to do so at first due to the trauma that he was going through, with some encouragement from Rafiki and the spirit of his father, he returns to the Pride Lands, defeats Scar, and takes his place as the rightful king.
 * 4) While his overprotectiveness of his daughter, Kiara, and his treatment towards Kovu in the second film can make him come off as a bit annoying, it is understandable due to all the trauma that he went through in the first film.
 * 5) At the end of the second film, with some encouragement from Kiara, he ultimately forgives Kovu and the Outsiders and welcomes them back into his pride.
 * 6) His design as a cub and an adult are both absolutely splendid.
 * 7) Johnathan Taylor Thomas (his cub voice) and Matthew Broderick (his adult voice) both do a terrific job voicing him.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) As mentioned in GQ #4, his overprotectiveness of Kiara and his treatment towards Kovu in the second film can make him come off as somewhat unlikable, but this is forgivable due to all the trauma that he went through in the first film, and he does redeem himself at the end.
 * 2) Unfortunately, he was horribly flanderized in The Lion Guard, as he became a bossy jerk. In the series' pilot film The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar, when he finds out that the members of Kion's new Lion Guard aren't lions, he literally goes and yells at him and accuses him of thinking that the Lion Guard is a game and not taking it seriously. The fact that he was upset about the members of Kion's Lion Guard not being lions is understandable since all previous Lion Guards were made up of lions, but he didn't have to be so hard on him. Also, in the episode "Bunga and the King", when Bunga says "Duh" to Simba, Simba gets extremely angry to the point where he literally uses the phrase "I am the king!" as a threat to one of his subjects, which is pretty similar to how Scar used the same phrase as a threat to Zazu at one point in The Lion King. In other words, The Lion Guard turned Simba into Scar! To add insult to injury, his design in the series is pretty ugly compared to his design in the films, and his voice by Rob Lowe sounds absolutely nothing like his voice by Matthew Broderick.