I'm not disgarding your opinion. I'm pointing out that its been done several times in traditional series and such, and the current filmmakers for the series seem to be hellbent on going the traditional way. That's all I was pointing out, which turned into a discussion in and of itself. I have seen enough of it done to justifiably suspect what they're going to do. I'm actually surprised that they haven't done it already.
I don't really consider Cera's part in LBT11 to be really crucial in any way, shape, or form, personally. I thought from day one when I watched LBT11 that they were trying to fill in the running time space when they realized that Littlefoot's problem wasn't going to cover their usual 1 1/2 hour running time. That's my impression, at least. I may not even be right.
In any case, the other characters' spotlight moments in the past won't matter if the filmmakers decide to take the easy and safe way out, like they have so many times in the past.