Cosplaying At Its Easiest

I don't get it Kopa fans...I really don't. And believe me, I've really tried!

People often ask my opinion on Kopa, but not wanting to piss off his fandom meant that I never wanted to be fully honest about it. Now that's changed, and I'm not good at bullshitting, so here it is...Kopa is overrated. It's not an uncommon opinion, but it is a 'controversial' one for some reason. All I think about when I look at Kopa is this (see comic above). I've read all the 'Six New Adventure' books online, knowing that those books weren't even written by Disney at all, just approved. I've read a lot of fanfictions about him, I see lots of fan art of him....yet I still don't see the appeal here at all.
And here's why...

KOPA'S DESIGN
Surely I'm not the only one who has noticed this! Whoever had the rare opportunity to design a whole new Lion King character really wasted it! It looks like it was very last minute. Yeah, Kopa has a more brownish nose and a slightly darker fur color, but it's still fricken' cub Simba!! The only real difference (if you can call it one) is the thick tuft on his head. There is even an illustration of Kopa in the book where it was clearly referenced from a screencap of Simba! I don't normally copy and paste images in my comics, but I didn't want anyone to think that I'm exaggerating the similarities. So as you can see, I'm not. It's right there. They could have been really creative with this! But for some reason they chose not to. I've seen FAR better designs for Kopa here on dA and elsewhere on the internet. That's how you know you've done something wrong, when the fans do a better job (for free) than you do!
Couldn't the book illustrators have at least changed his eye color or something?? ANYTHING that would have prevented him from looking like a generic Simba clone!

KOPA'S PERSONALITY
...what personality? Based on the books only, Kopa has very little personality. I didn't find him interesting at all. All he really did was whine and listen to stories about the great adventures his parents and ancestor's endured, rather than seeking his own life adventures. To me, Kopa seems to be more of a plot device than a character, the books used him as a means to tell those stories. So the focus was still mostly on TLK's canon characters. A lot of people say that Simba doesn't have a very interesting personality either. And even though I love Simba, I can't disagree. But at least Simba was actually developed as a character, and his life story was very intriguing. Kopa's is not.

KOPA VS. FLUFFY VS. KIARA VS. KION
This is where the problem lies. Sick of the Kopa theory? Blame The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride. Kopa fans were confused about the fact that Kopa wasn't featured in The Lion King 2. Why does this confuse so many people? 'The Lion King: Six New Adventures' were unofficial storybooks, nothing more. Not at all an official continuation of the original film.
On top of that, Kopa only ever featured in those books that; again, weren't written and/or designed by Disney at all. So Kopa was never Disney's creation in the first place. Also maybe because they didn't read those books, they're very hard to find; and Disney only used them as a quick cash-grab and then forgot about them.
And for some reason, there are people out there who hate Kiara because she 'replaced' Kopa. As much as i don't like Kiara, i will admit that she's far more interesting and better developed than Kopa ever was in the books. Yet people still compare her to Kopa, and question why he wasn't in sequel at all. Arguing that the cub at the end of the first film was too different from Kiara at the start of the sequel, so it MUST have been Kopa (when actually it was named 'Fluffy' by the production team). Again, this shouldn't surprise people as much as it does. To me, TLK2 is basically a fan fiction with a budget, almost like the creators completely threw the first one out the window and decided to tell their own story using the characters. So don't take it too seriously. It's just a giant plot hole, they were just hoping no one would notice the difference. Unfortunately, we did. And fans have been stupidly fighting about it ever since.
And NOW rabid Kopa fans are whining about Kion, and some say he looks like a Kopa clone....what? Kopa is a carbon copy of Simba as I have already pointed out. Kion's design isn't all that great, but at least he can separate himself as a more original looking character. More than just cub Simba with thicker hair! Some Kopa fanbrats are also saying how Kopa should at least make a cameo in The Lion Guard! You DO know that The Lion Guard is aimed at little kids, right? Having Kopa in it would confuse everyone whom haven't heard of him, which would be at least 99.98% of ALL viewers! It would be a stupid and illogical decision to put Kopa in this show, so knock it off! Disney is not using Kopa, he will never appear in any kind of TLK media again. Get over it. PLEASE!!

WHY IS SIMBA SO PROTECTIVE OF KIARA THEN?
Lazy plot device...enough said.

KOPA'S POPULARITY
This was hard to figure out, but i think i know how this character got his cult following. Kopa is a blank slate. Which means he's open to interpretation, fans see this as an opportunity to create their own story for him; since Disney didn't. From reading a lot of fan fictions and fan art, i've noticed that most of his 'life events' didn't ever take place in the original books. The Vitani and Kopa pairing for example was non existent in the book series, Vitani didn't even exist at that point. Kopa's death never happened either. So from what i can gather, fans like Kopa for who he COULD have been; rather than for who he IS. Which i do find a little strange, it's kind of like being in a relationship with someone who likes you for who they could turn you into, rather than for who you are. So when really getting down to it, Kopa has done nothing to deserve his popularity; for some reason he didn't have to.

FINAL VERDICT
I don't HATE Kopa, let me get that straight. I just don't fully understand the fandom. Kopa has done nothing to deserve any real hatred, but he hasn't done anything to deserve my fandom loyalty either. So, i'm very neutral towards him. I just wish peple would stop complaining about the fact that Disney never made a movie about him, and how people keep worshipping him and hating Kiara and Kion because of it. It makes no sense. Simba and Nala only have two canon cubs, Kiara and Kion. All others are either fanon or semi-canon, with Kopa falling into the latter category. You can enjoy Kopa as a character all you want, I'm not saying you shouldn't. But it's good to ask questions and accept certain things as they are. Kopa isn't acknowledged by any Disney mogul in the official TLK timeline, Rob Minkoff has never heard of him, it's been over 20 years since the books' release and nothing has come of them. Enough now, stop trying to make them relevant to the films. They were never intended to be. 
I'm definitely not saying stop writing fan fictions or drawing fan art of him, I actually like seeing certain fan art on this character. They're definitely far more interesting than the books ever were! Just ease up on the rabid behavior to some of you, it won't ever change anything.

   

The Lion King (c) Disney