Knockoff…Who’s There?

Recently I’ve been in a kerfluffle over a pair of 1995 German audio plays set in the Lion King universe, which I am pretty positive are not published by Disney, but instead knockoffs capitalizing on the brand. Read the comments on “SkepticalKopaIsSkeptical” to get the scoop.

Why do I even bother worrying about whether these obscure radio plays are canon (Disney-published Lion King stuff)?  Well, mainly because these plays contain part of the story of Kopa, and also introduce new characters to the universe.  New characters are important to fanartists because, well, we draw them.  Also interesting to me because I have been compiling a list of subcanon TLK characters.  The Kopa thing is an issue because I have my own “fanon”, or a set of fan theories about TLK that I use to dictate my canon and subcanon artwork.

I’m what some would call a canon “purist”, in that I try vehemently to keep canon and subcanon separate from fan theories, and keep true to TLK canon a majority of the time.   This gets me into heated discussions (read: cybershouting matches) sometimes with people who believe their fanon is the One True Story, like on YouTube last week.  YouTube comments drive me crazy sometimes.  Anyway, my decision to be a purist means that it is important for me to know exactly what is part of the canon/subcanon, and what is not.  I call this obsession “TLKOCD” and yes, it is weird.  It’s related to being a know-it-all, I think.

My TLKOCD leads me to investigate canon merchandise of all kinds, from books to plush.  And sometimes I find knockoffs, rarely, but sometimes.  For example this LK-esque plush cub made by Goffa:

which was discovered by a fellow TLKFAA artist.  All in all, I really don’t have any particular beef with knockoffs, but I do see them as being on essentially the same level as fanfiction or fanart.  The two audio plays are great stories (to read them go to that comments link I embedded above), but they aren’t official merchandise, much like this cute bandanna’ed Goffa cub.  They are similar to great fanwork…just, they’re exploiting TLK and sold to earn money off fellow fans.  So, not so great.  Hats off to the entrepreneur who bothered to make what is a pretty good quality product, but it’s stealing, in the same way that someone could steal a character I’d written, write a short story about him/her, and sell it to a publication to earn cash.  Do not want.