Creator questions
What's your name (real or screen, your choice)
Michael, in reality. Maxojir on basically every platform, or some variant.
Tell me about yourself, age, where you're from, what you do, anything you want others to know about you, sex, etc.
Christian by belief, but not belonging to any denomination. Guy, 27 yo as of the moment. From Fairbanks, Alaska. Though I grew up on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, and spent highschool near Charleston, SC. I'm a photographer, though not an employed one currently. I also worked at a desk position at UAF until last year, and I also make podcast episodes on YT about energy, water, mining & infrastructure stuff.
What brought you to the Zootopia fandom?
Originally I just favorited art pieces on DA because I liked the characters, and had seen a few clips. I watched the entire film for the first time either early June or late May last year. It was enough to sell me on it, and I started imagining stories and the like while I listened to music while walking around outside, like I always have for different things.
Who is your OC today?
Max, my primary or most central character.
What animal are they?
He's a lynx.
What do they look like? Special markings, colorations, etc.
He's got the kind of more standard green-brown/yellowish lynx eyes. His cheek fur tufts are shorter than normal, and his fur is that one grey/brownish mix you can find in some lynx photos where they almost look kind of vaguely green.
What inspired you to create them?
Well, if I was going to have a central character, he was always going to be a cat. Like I said above, I've always walked around outside for long stretches, during which I'm usually imagining story scenarios. I started imagining stuff with the small company he and his colleagues operate first, actually, then he and the characters themselves came into being after that.
What are they like?
Quiet, non-social mostly, and always tired. Very dedicated to the "for the sake of others" ideal, both via the services of the small company FAM, and his actions with what moderate amount of extra money and time the company has. "Dead inside" from past events he witnessed providing security service abroad.
What's their family life like?
He's not really in frequent contact with his parents anymore. Almost any is with his mother, as his dad was never really impressed with him. He had an older sister named Jessie, who was in the security service abroad with him, and died as a result of injuries during an event there.
Depending on what point in their storyline you're at. Max and Jamie were married for 4 or 5 years before Jamie's "MUST BE MOM" instincts compelled them to adopt their daughter, a diabetic lynx girl named Rebekah, just turned 10 yo at the time they got her.
Both Max and Rebekah willingly endure excessive loving-jackal hugging from Jamie, and also wouldn't know what to do without it. Max does the worrying, and is always concerned for Rebekah's health.
Do they have a love interest?
Yes, a wife actually. She's a jackal named Jamie.
Do you have any stories written about them or that they're included in?
Yes. The story series "Always Tired" on AO3 will contain usually single-chapter pieces of Max & associated characters. 2 Story Chapters are there so far; "Forever" , and "More Important".
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?
Yes and no. Unlike humans, obviously, I feel a lot of cultural stuff for them would be much more species-based than country/region-based. I also kind of have it set more as some of each species' more intrinsic instincts/behaviors have translated into societal tendencies for them. Like former pack/clan/pride animals tend to still stay near or close with their extended families, whereas usually solitary animals in the former wild, instead of being solitary completely, just tend to stick more to just their own immediate nuclear family and the like. I also have some species having regard for specific historical names, like Askari for lions, Lobos and Fenrir for wolves & coyotes, Bo for sheep and ect.
Ultimate Zootopia question. Are you a WildeHopps shipper or do you prefer them with a different ship?
Yes, in a "pair of inseparable friends who know they're not going to be with anybody else" kind of way, as opposed to the obsessive romance. I do have a planned path that their lives go down, they're just not really critical to my stories.
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 Max. Thank you for joining me today."
"Of course."
"So Max, tell us where you're from."
"A small coastal place about an hour and a half southeast of Pawston called Cape Todd."
"So when did you come to Zootopia and what brought you here?"
"Eight or nine years ago, when we started FAM. Zootopia Nuclear Power Station had an open security provision contract offer. It was the only immediate business we could find, and it came with the same offer their employees get of being able to live without charge in their personnel residency compound."
"What's the housing like there?"
"Depends how many of you there are. Families get an actual apartment. Individuals get something pretty close to a dorm room but much more generously sized. Couples can get something kind of in between. Either way it's a free no rent & no bills arrangement in exchange for 15% income reduction, but that's near the lower end of what mammals usually have to spend a year anyway on everything."
"Sounds like a heck of a deal. Is it all good or are there some strings attached?"
"Apart from the 15% income dock there's also behaviour and decency expectations. No drugs, no intoxication, no smoking inside the building or in front of the entrance, no excessive noise, and general things everyplace has. We just actually enforce them."
"It sounds rather ideal. Does it live up to the hype?"
"To us it does, yeah."
"What's been your favorite part of Zootopia since you moved him?"
"Jamie. Unless you specifically want something about the city itself, then it's living in such a massive port city and getting to see container vessels, bulk carriers and oil tankers all the time."
giggles "So tell us who Jamie is?"
"My wife. A sweet, snuggly, toothy-smile jackal who never let go after the first time I let her hug me."
"How did you two meet?"
"She joined FAM about a year after I started it. She had a crush on me from the beginning, that wasn't hiding. Apparently jackal courtship usually works along the lines of: the girl picks the guy and the guy just says yes. I'm not a jackal, so I didn't react the way a jackal guy would, but I also never told her to leave me alone. I liked her being around all the time, I just kept thinking she could find somebody way better than me. But she insisted there was no one better than her sleepy kitty"
giggles "That does sound like an interesting pet name. How'd that come about?"
"Because I'm always tired. So she's always been telling me to just go to bed so she can hug-snuggle more."
"So when did things change for you to go to the next step?"
"After about two years, when I finally realised she really didn't want anyone else. And that once I actually started putting my arms around her too, I didn't want to let go either."
"That poor girl. Having to wait two whole years for you to take the hint. Does she ever tease you about making her wait so long?"
"She says she always knew I was going to. But no, most that teasing happened along the way, before the little circle of gold."
"What about kits?"
"She had the whole must be mom instinct attack that almost every jackal female gets eventually. So we adopted Rebekah. Jamie was actually the doubting one for the first time ever, she was afraid she wouldn't love Rebekah as much as she should because she thought the whole jackal mom instinct wouldn't be ok with a lynx kid. But I'll just say it turned the complete opposite of what she was afraid of. I had to teach Rebekah how to be able to breath while Jamie's hugging her."
giggles "How old is she now?"
"She'll be eleven soon."
"So what's been your experience with interspecies relations? Were there any physical differences you had to overcome, emotional or social challenges?"
"Jamie's mom's never been a fan. It was never anything specifically about me personally, just me not being a jackal really violated her mental framework, and she couldn't handle seeing us together in the same place at the same time. That lasted for a long time."
"Did she eventually come around?"
"She's fine with me, but she's still turned around herself inside over the whole thing."
"Any negative experiences outside of that?"
"Not of any actual note. That kind of would have overshadowed anything else if other stuff did happen."
"So where do you see yourself in the immediate future as well as long term?"
"Not really anything different. Just trying to keep time slow so we have Rebekah with us as long as possible."
"What do you hope life for her will be like in Zootopia?"
"Whatever she wants it to be."
"Do you think it would be better for her than yourself? More opportunities and a safer environment?"
"It's already one of the best places out of any."
"Do you foresee it staying that way?"
"So long as we're still here to make sure it is."
"Well let's hope the future continues to be safe for all. Thank you for coming on today."
"Of course."
"And thank you audience for joining us once again on another episode of the Characters of Zootopia."