But some people think that the more believers Kopa has the more real he'll become. As in that if many enough believe in him as canon regardless of Disney saying he's not, Disney would make him into what those believers want him to be.
Well, Kopa believers: If I were you, I wouldn't hold my breath. And here's why.
The books and Kopa are outsider written and look what happened: Disney approved him for profit and childrens' entertainment in books known only in USA and did not even refer to him in the movie. Whereas their own creation (Fluffy/Kiara) they threw into the main stream known world wide. They chose their own creation over fanon creation when they saw The Lion King became a huge success.
A company the size and popularity of Disney doesn't have to remark its fans likings. It does whatever it wants and just hopes many enough people like their decision. And hence the size and popularity there are always billions who do like it. Which results in Disney getting everything they wanted: entertainment delievered and profit received. Hence, they don't have to care about what fans think of a third-party character.
That's for general.
As for Kopa's chances individually...
The only thing playing for him is that Disney has his copyrights and thus could make a movie with him. But that chance-giver dies in the light of:
1.) They already made it official that the cub is Kiara. As in they made it impossible to become anyone else anymore in movies unless they wish to totally contradict themselves. (They do already by Kiara's redesign but it's just an appearence, not an entire character contradiction.)
2.) Disney prefers using and developing stuff they've created themselves or stuff based on epic tales. Kopa is neither. Indeed Kopa is NOT Disney's creation. (link)
3.) If Disney thought Kopa is worth more than just to be in the books, they would've released the books everywhere and not just in US and they would've reprinted them. They would've refered to the cub as Kopa instead of Fluffy. But they didn't.
4.) They would've done something with him by now. It's been 17 years!
5.) The only way Disney could make Kopa literally CANON would be to release another commentary track by the same people who spoke on the 1995/2003 commentary and have them say the cub is Kopa. But since they didn't cofirm Fluffy even as Kiara (as in a pure Disney character) there is no way in hell they would confirm Fluffy as a happened-to-become-official fan-made OC!
Results in: In my reviewing opinion, Disney has the power to use Kopa in any way they want, but he most likely will never be made a movie-character, and most certainly never be made a canon character.
Fanfiction is fun and Kopa is an excellent character for it. Enjoy him but for goodness' sake let go of him a little. There's no sense in believing against facts because if you do you're in a fight you can not win. It shouldn't be the end of the world if to Disney Kopa's not the greatest thing since sliced bread! You'll still have him for unlimited fanfiction.
You're gonna say people should fight for what they believe in. I agree. But I also happen to think it would do good to be able of realizing when the fight's useless and go find a new fight in which you actually stand a chance. You're gonna say everyone should chase their dreams and no one has the right to stomp anyone's dreams to the ground. I agree. So I'm not trying to strike down anyone's right to dream of whatever he/she wants nor tell them to throw the dream to the trash can. I'm just trying to remind them not to get their hopes up too high in this particular case. It's important to dream, but even more important to not completely lose the touch with reality. Because dreams are our source of strength but reality is still where we have to live in and eventually deal with. That is if we want to really live.
Mighty big ending speach for a matter of a fictional character, you might say? Well, if you take a good look around the Kopa believers are utterly believers; some of them take their belief to a religious level and come off as if Kopa was a god who saved them from falling to their death. So I'd say the above paragraph is worth a serious considering and just big enough speach for the topic.
Thank you for reading. There was no offense intented. :)
PS.
link's a factual timeline about the cub's development in the franchise. The forum in question is for those who like to seperate the books from the movies just like Disney does.
