Creator questions
What's your name (real or screen, your choice)
Omnitrix 12, aka Lighthouse, aka DragonTamer2000
Tell me about yourself, age, where you're from, what you do, anything you want others to know about you, sex, etc.
I'm male, in my thirties, live in upstate New York in the United States, and work in a hardware/farming goods store. I'm a born-again Christian (not Westboro forget Westboro I am sick of Westboro), and love fantasy books.
What brought you to the Zootopia fandom?
A friend recommended the movie and I saw potential.
Who is your OC today?
Taelia Fangaster
What animal are they?
Red fox, female
What do they look like? Special markings, colorations, etc.
Mostly light orange with brown hind paws, a brown tail (white-tipped), brown ear tips, and a dark patch on her back with a white cross-shaped mark in the middle (based on real foxes known as "cross foxes"). She likes to wear purple, particularly in lighter shades.
Any reason Taelia likes to wear purple?
Well, two reasons, actually. One is that I think it goes well with her fur. The other is a bit more involved. As I was developing her role in Something Stinks, I noticed some similarities to Kendall Morgan from Power Rangers: Dino Charge. Both have skills in the tech field, both are in baseline terms better suited to support roles than to the front line when it comes to action, and both (spoiler alert) end up taking front-and-center roles anyway in a moment of crisis when, as it was said in Batman Begins, "The training is nothing. The will is everything." There's also an interesting contrast, come to think of it. While both characters are at heart passionately loyal, one seems pretty stony on the surface but is very friendly underneath, whereas the other is very friendly on the surface but has steel at her core.
How did you learn about cross foxes?
Came up in a book about a kid who went into the woods a lot. Native Americans considered them messengers from the gods, while early settlers considered them sacred and had a law that their pelts could only be given or sold to clergymen. Also their markings don't always closely resemble crosses, but they're still called cross foxes.
What inspired you to create them?
I thought it would have an interesting impact on Nick and Judy's dynamic to add a vixen into the equation; one more complex than just "the girl who's not Judy," so to speak. Also I wanted to take a look at how personal and pragmatic relations would be between police officers and an everyday mammal (hopefully) more like most of the readers. Lastly I saw it as a challenge; whether I could make her winsome enough to earn a spot in the reader's mind paw in paw with the established duo.
Do you think you accomplished that?
Hard to say inasmuch as I'm a niche writer, and her role in the main story (Something Stinks) has yet to reach its fruition, never mind where it's going to go in stories beyond that. The reactions to her overall have been quite positive, though, with readers evidently finding her a very real and natural fit to the context of Zootopia and her relationship to Nick coming to their minds even when the main plot drifts away from it. So yes, I'd say she's been a success so far.
What are they like?
Taelia is a fairly outgoing vixen in social terms much like Judy, likes to try new things (particularly recipes), and works as a sound technician. She had one primary band composed of friends from college, but also does some freelance on the side for various groups and local concerts.
Her hobbies include jogging, cooking, and listening to or tinkering with a broad assortment of music.
She holds degrees in music and computer programming.
On matters of police work, as a law-abiding citizen she doesn't have any reason to worry about police like a criminal would and naturally hopes never to have a reason to call them a crime victim. However, she has a great respect for Judy and especially admires Nick for seeking to become a cop, seeing him as a hopeful sign that things are changing for the better for foxes all around. Ironically, she bears a great disdain for the exact kind of fox Nick used to be, viewing them as contributors to the general stigma against their kind. It's anyone's guess how she'd react if she knew the budding cop was once a career con artist.
What does she do for a living?
Mostly sound boarding and other technical work for Vixen and various other bands (many of which are startups). She also does a bit of DJ-ing for radio stations and, when her preferred occupations are slow, tech support. Her occupation may shift over the course of various stories, due to events not yet revealed.
Shift as in she seeks new employment or that her occupation may change to fit the story?
Little of both, but mostly the former. Suffice to say that as events make it harder to find work in her usual areas and/or put those areas at odds with higher priorities (say, family), she'll be doing what she has to in order to pay the bills. For example, it's much easier to field tech support calls from a changeable location than, say, wiring sound boards for concerts. So if a family crisis emerged which required her to be able to relocate and tend to the needs of her parents or her brother and his family, she'd likely suspend the latter line of work in favor of the former. Conversely, if Vixen hit the big time and began doing more tours and so on, she would probably have enough work with them to justify/necessitate reducing or eliminating work elsewhere.
What's their family life like?
She has both her natural parents, an older brother, a sister-in-law, and a niece. All work in blue-collar jobs except the niece, who is too young. The rest of the family lives in Pine Forest.
Do they have a love interest?
She's had a fair number of relationships in the past, though none successful and most very unpleasant in hindsight. She hopes to do better this time around with Nick Wilde.
Do you have any stories written about them or that they're included in?
In No Stone Unturned: Something Stinks (and subsequent works), she plays something of a civilian anchor to Nick and Judy's police work; seldom interacting with it in an intentional manner, but providing a sense of the everyday mammals they're working to protect and serve as law officers. Her role will develop on that front as the stories progress, presenting the complex back-and-forth between the mammals in uniform and on the street.
In Fox Dens and Rabbit Trails (three stories in all so far) her role is more social and lighthearted, chiefly centered on her respective interactions with Nick and Judy.
She is also at the center of an in-progress story from a series called OC Albums, which gives readers a closer look at key events in her life that made her who she is now.
Tell us how you see culture in Zootopia. For example, do all foxes or rabbits have the same culture or is there a difference depending on subspecies or region?
Seems like there would be similarities based on the needs and predispositions of a species (e.g. species with weaker night vision would favor more lights, the amount of clothing one wore would be somewhat impacted by their need for insulation or ventilation, etcetera), but I think there would be regional variations as well as sub-cultures crossing species (e.g. religions, fashion-centered subcultures, etcetera).
A big topic in the fandom is not only interspecies relationships but also hybrid offspring. What's your view on that in the Zootopia universe?
As I understand it the writers specifically considered and rejected the inclusion of hybrids. Between that and other observations and remarks about biology (e.g. DNA), it seems the most reasonable assumption is that hybridization works the same there as in this world. Thus, for example, certain species of wolf and coyote could interbreed freely as if they were one and the same species. Tigers and lions would have a harder time, with infertile offspring being likely, and more distant species would just be out of luck when it came to having offspring.
And what about interspecies relationships specifically? The voice actor for Pronk, for example, did clarify that Bucky and Pronk are a married couple. And while they are in the same genus they are different species.
Before I answer I'm kind of curious as to why you're asking about this. As in, what brought on this particular issue.
Your story is one of the only ones that I'm aware of where Nick and Judy are not in an interspecies relationship. Bucky and Pronk were only brought up because they are a confirmed canon interspecies couple. I want to get the perspective of someone who sees zootopia the way you do. Are these types of relationships common/uncommon or exist at all in your head canon? Do you only see it happening between species that have the same genus or familia? Things like that.
I've seen it in other stories, and a fair number at that. To answer the question, though, I don't doubt that such relationships would occur in such a world. In any world with species like man (mentally speaking) there is almost bound to be, shall we say, experimentation, even in the absence of other equal species, as we see in this world with beastiality. As for whether they would be common or uncommon, you must remember that whether acts are common or uncommon largely centers on how a large collective of private attitudes lean; in this case how mammals overall viewed the relationship between species, biology, and morality. For example, in the case of Willy and Nicole - two of my OCs - their species are entirely compatible; that is, they can interbreed as easily as any two red wolves or any two Mexican coyotes. Thus they have no compunctions about having a relationship and potentially marrying and having cubs. In broader social terms, they would probably only be discouraged in that if they ever had kids they might not be eligible for any programs (tax breaks, let's say) aimed at rebuilding the red wolf population. If the attitudes - their own especially, since I have it in mind that they're more concerned with morality than popular opinion - were more lenient, then they might willingly search farther afield for mates. If their attitudes were stricter - say, if one or both of them were tantamount to people in this world who saw interracial couples as immoral - then they and potentially those around them would act accordingly. Also, concerning Bucky and Pronk, I'd like to point out that if I'm not mistaken their "outing" was by an actor rather than a recognized source of canon (as other actors have offered incompatible views of the lore and canon), and that if it were accurate it would torpedo some of the company's boasts about the live-action Beauty and the Beast. Not saying it's false; just pointing out logical inconsistency (which, of course, would by no means be out of place for Disney these days).
For the purpose of the OC interview the setting is the creator's OC is about to be interviewed by my co-owned OC Vicky Chola. A north american grey fox vixen in her mid 20s. They're both in a studio booth with headphones on and microphones to speak into. The interview we did earlier about the creator and their OC is considered a pre conversation between these two before going on the air. Vicky will ask questions based on the answers provided by the creator. Enjoy!
"Welcome everyone to another edition of the Characters of Zootopia show! I'm your host Vicky Chola and joining me today is Taelia Fangaster. Thank you for joining me Taelia."
"Thanks for having me. I usually don't get much attention from the public."
"Well don't feel bad we don't either. So tell our audience what you do for a living."
"Mostly sound engineering. Music, sound effects, sound board; that kind of thing. And actually, I kind of like being backstage. Sometimes being in front of a big crowd can really put me on edge."
"Have you always worked with the same group?"
"No, not by a long shot. I was with one or two flash-in-the-pan bands in high school, and since my friends and I started Vixen in college I still do a fair amount of freelance with other groups or for radio stations. Everyone in the band has some side job or other, even if mine's the only one in music. Vixen's my main group, though, and if we ever make it big it's safe to say freelance is falling by the wayside."
"Wouldn't that be nice. So what else do you do? Or is music the only thing you work on?"
"Well, a little tech support if that's what it takes to pay the bills. I have a degree in computer science besides my music credentials. Plus I've got enough hobbies to keep any sane vixen busy, with the main one being food."
"Oh now you're speaking my language." licks lips "Tell us about some of your favorite dishes?"
"Mmm, where do I even begin? I love to experiment, but especially with seafood. I could name any number of recipes with shrimp, and then there's a sweet and spicy maple mustard I found in a specialty cookbook that goes great with fish - especially milder ones like tilapia, and... oh, there's so many I could name."
"Oh, and I can't leave out the recipe Mrs. Wilde gave me for home-made pumpkin spice coffee. Seasons are so overrated when it comes to flavor."
"I might hit you up for that after the show. For now let's get back to you specifically. So where did you grow up?"
"Foxburrow, out in the suburbs near Bunnyburrow."
"How did you like growing up there?"
"Well, not exactly the promised land if I have to be honest. There was less of a general stigma against foxes, but we had a sharper divide between the foxes who were trying to make an honest living and the ones who were fine with embracing the underhanded reputation. So it had its challenges. We were near Pine Forest, though, so I was able to make some good friends there."
"What was the best and worst part about living there?"
"The best part would have to be my friend Dianne, over in Pine Forest. She was a white deer I got to know in high school, and she kind of watched my back when she could; helped with trouble from both sides. The worst part... I'd have to say it was how the troublemakers always seemed to be one step ahead - like how when my brother was accused of stealing that money from a club he was in. He was cleared in the end, but it burns me that whoever really did it was sitting somewhere, probably laughing, and never had to answer for what they did to Richard or the other kids."
"Would you say foxes have a culture problem? And what I mean by that is that so many of us just accept that others will always see us as shifty and untrustworthy and don't try to break out of that mold."
"I think it's gone farther than that. It would be bad enough if that attitude just came from other species looking down on us, but we're even doing it to ourselves, or some of us are. It's at the point where if some foxes see another fox trying to walk the straight and narrow they do everything they can to drag him or her down. I've had it happen to me, and I've known others who had to put up with it too. It's more than a problem; it's a plague."
"So you think it's become more toxic than most might be willing to admit?"
"I guess that depends on what you mean by it. Using others' prejudice to excuse bad behavior? Yeah, it's a pretty big problem, and I think a lot of animals look for excuses not to deal with it. The ones who use it don't want to face it because that means they're making an excuse and they could do better. The ones who are maybe giving more prejudice than they get don't want to admit they're adding to the problem."
"I think the only way to really solve it is for people to start thinking about what's their business to fix and stop letting other people dictate their attitudes. My parents were pretty serious about that when I was growing up, and I see it now in Nick and Judy, too. I like to think that's a sign things are going to improve."
"Speaking of, what's your relationship with the city's crime fighters?"
"Well, I'm dating Nick right now, which so far is going well, and I share an apartment with Judy so she doesn't have to put up with those (ahem) less than considerate neighbors."
"Plus we like having company at home and it's easier to manage rent when you split."
"So you seem to be deeply involved with both. And it seems like they're close friends with each other. Do you ever feel overwhelmed or out of your element when interacting with them? And what I mean is that they're both cops and have that to play off each other. So where do you feel you fit in? I hope I made that sound right."
"I guess that depends on what you mean by being out of my element. Definitely the police part is a challenge sometimes because they have to deal with a lot of stuff I can barely understand. I've had some days where I was with one or the other or both of them (we sometimes have movie nights with the three of us and things like that) and they'll be burned out or burned up over things at work. Sometimes they're not even allowed to tell me, and I hated not knowing because no one likes that when their friends are hurting. Other times they do tell me and I'm sorry I asked, but then I feel like a jerk for that because letting them unload on me is the only way I can help. So yeah, I think you'd have to either be a cop yourself - or maybe a veteran or something like that - to not feel a little out of your element at times like that. I console myself by praying a lot and just remembering that sometimes the best help I can give is being around. Besides, between the two of them the atmosphere is usually a lot more positive."
"Now in just social terms, it's a lot easier. You don't just lose your connection with someone you're dating when you're around someone who's friends with both of you, and you don't lose your connection with the other person because your date is there. If you had to do that you'd have to rethink at least one of the relationships."
"Does that fit what you were asking about? I'm not quite sure I understood what you meant about them playing being cops off of each other."
"It fits perfectly and I was referring to conversations and general interactions."
"Okay. Then no, outside the tougher parts of their job not really."
"You mentioned that you console yourself with prayer. Are you religious?"
"I guess it depends on what you mean by religious, especially since I'm sort of going back to it in more recent times; kind of a Prodigal Daughter you might say. I believe in the Bible, and I think that God cares about us and wants us to care about Him, so in that sense yes. And I think when He tries to tell us something we should pay attention, and that's why He came as Jesus. On the other paw I know there are some people who think being religious means a fixation with... you know, icons and artifacts and whatnot, or that you're always checking the lists of things to do and things not to do, and that's not me at all."
"I also get people thinking I'm waiting for them to break some kind of checklist of rights and wrongs, and that's not me either. I believe that what's right or wrong for me is the same as for anyone else, but I make it a rule not to... you know, pounce on people about it."
"Sorry we're kinda jumping around a bit but I wanted to ask you what inspired you or when did you decide that you wanted to follow the career path you're currently on?"
"Well, I always liked music, and even sang in a few musicals at church or school, so I thought it would be fun to try joining a band. Then I actually tried solo in front of an audience and almost fainted, so that pretty much killed that. As it turned out, though, everyone else in my garage band was all thumbs with the soundboards, and I was able to pick that up pretty quickly. Being so small and flexible helped too - you know, getting around wires and tight spaces - so I just changed my role."
"The computer part came later, when I went to college. Mom and Dad liked the idea of me being in music, but they wanted me to have something available where I'd have better prospects. You know how hit-or-miss show business can be. So I took a computer course too, and... well, here I am."
"That's pretty cool. Do you ever try to sing anymore? Like karaoke or something?"
"Sometimes at parties and things like that, or as part of a group. I love Christmas caroling, for example, and I still like to sing when I'm alone, and especially if I have music playing, which is a lot of the time. I actually got pulled over once or twice because I'd gotten so into the music that I let it mess up my driving. Another time I was so busy singing I didn't notice Judy and Nick had come in until Judy started singing backup. I was so startled I almost ruined dinner, but Nick seemed to like the show. I was ready to die from embarrassment except for that, especially when Judy went to take a shower and told us... uh, actually never mind what she told us."
"Must be nice having a boyfriend to get you out of tickets." she said teasingly
(a bit flustered) "Actually, I do my best to keep personal things with both of them out of their police work. Their chief's kind of strict about things like that, apparently, and the last thing I want between me and Nick is an ethics committee. I've had enough trouble with my love life as it is without getting the city government involved."
"And come to think of it, using Nick like that would make me just as bad as the mammals we talked about earlier who use species to take advantage of others, so there's that too."
"So just how close have you and Nick gotten?"
"If you mean emotionally, I think we've really connected well. He and I took different roads in life, but we've been to a lot of the same landmarks if you see what I mean. Mammals distrusting us, feeling like we had to choose between getting somewhere and keeping a conscience; stuff like that. I'd probably be repulsed by a lot of that if I didn't know he was a different fox /now,/ but since I do know that it really makes it feel like we have a good balance. And now that we are on the same track and I know he /is/ a good guy, it helps knowing that I can open up to him."
"Well, that appears to be all the time we have for today. Thank you so much for joining me Taelia."
"Thanks for having me. Bye everyone!"
"And thank you listeners for joining in. See you next time!"