Woah awesome!

Thanks :3

Yep I figured Judy would have to face this decision sooner or later. Even if her friendship is without any sinister intent, not everyone can entertain the morally grey area.

I figure having a contact isn't all that big a deal, but the actual head of organized crime in an entire district ... not to mention actually using his "services" ... even if it was for a good reason. The implications .o

The more i see of Panterras, the harder I want to polish his mouth with my fist.

Guy's got a point though.

There *is* a conflict of interests with Judy being a cop and Mr Big being a Mafioso.

Oh, no doubt on that. But it still does not make me like him. It´s not about what he says, but how he says it.

Sure he's an arsehole.
But I like it, adds some reality to the world.

Like how Bogo wasn't kissing Judy's butt just because she was the highest rated cadet. He didn't think she could hack it, and would probably get ither cops killed or something, and was a general risk to the job....until she proved she could.
And then he accepted her as just another Cop.

Bogo did not even offer her a chance for normal Duty. That´s as wrong as selling intel to mafiosos

True.
But it's not a police procedural. They have to compress it for movie-telling and make it easier for some audience members that she's getting wronged.

But also I don't disagree with that either.

I mean it's the subdued equivalent of G.I. Jane.

X3 while I didn't intend to make him an antagonist, he definitely doesn't see things lightly at any given time. He has a point, but Panterras is a textbook example of taking your attitude that slight bit too far ...

Gosh this is getting pretty dark.

Love it. x3

Hah, you have no idea how dark I can get X3

finally, some realism. personally id want the mob on my side so I dont fitted for cement shoes, and the panther would take a dirt nap, but this is rather more interesting than the movie really~

Honestly, getting the mob on your side is just inviting trouble, especially since you essentially exchange favors for favors in most cases ... I wonder what Judy's deal was for getting info out of Weaselton ... or if Mr. Big just added that as a bonus, because he wanted to know that dealt with too

Glad you addressed that. it seemed odd in the movie but hey, sometimes ya gotta go with what you got.

awesome work. thanks.

Egh, honestly, the mob is a moral gre area that's very far on the dark side. Considering he was willing to ice Judy (a cop) on their first meeting, I'm pretty sure she would not have been the first murder victim/missing persons case associated with the shrew ... going into that with a cartload of files could be interesting though X3

Thank you!

and who all is in the ice hole. i think it's interesting and wait to see where this goes.

stay awesome.

Hey, I'll do my very best ;D thanks!

Yeah, I saw many people were questioning the moral area of Judy's actions about her relationship with the God Father of the Zootopian Mafia and had included this kind of scenario. I'm curious now, how'd you play it out in the end, man. Reall curious~ *points finger tips at each other*

Oh? Do point me to others who've done this please :3

We'll see how far I spin this particular yarn. Honestly, I'm trying not to slip into it tooooo much X3

I meant that many people suggested in commentaries, but on my record you're the first who actually pointed it out in a comic. :p

Ah, shame X3 would have loved to read other people's ideas on the subject.

Eh, that was bound to happen someday, the movie was a little "light" about this I always thought...

*nods* it's meant for kids after all, but the double standard is a little... odd X3

Damn, Ipoke. Not pulling any punches there, are ya?

No? Why would I do that? X3

Wow, what a douche. Way to throw that in her face. But I guess it's good to know where they stand with each other.

I did describe him as a by the book cop. And he's really got a point, I mean they threatened Weaselton with bodily harm ... granted, neither of them were cops at the time, but that doesn't make a differnce, when you think about it X3

I get that he has a point sure, but there's a way to make your point and be by the book and still be tactful when criticising someone. I mean, reading into what he said to her, you could get the sense that he doesn't even really think she should be a cop anymore. Under pressure, he might not even really trust her judgement or even her allegiance. Now that I think about it, I wonder whether he's told any other members of the force what he thinks about her.

Seriously, though; keep up the good work. I love it when a comic can make me emotional. Means the characters are real enough for me to actually have an IRL reaction. :D

This is seriously excellent!

Speaking as the creator of the character, I can of course see into his head; honestly, he doesn't. He knows and believes well enough that Hopps and Wilde are good investigators, but both their past dealings and Wilde's effectively inexistant history is something that rubs him up the wrong way. He's not been lobbying anything, but he wouldn't work with either of them on a mob related case - hence also why they were left out of the briefing, aside from it being a Special Apprehensions assignment.

And yes, I agree and am very glad to hear the characters evoke emotions in you ^^ means I'm doing my job right!

Thank you!

I got a feeling that this is going to end very badly for Pantarras. And coming from Ipoke, it should be interesting.

Hmmmmm, I suppose I could dream up a storyline that remains with the status quo of the Zootopian crime powers ... lots of dead bodies down that road though ...

One hell of a hard choice to make, but you can't dance on the line of law and lawless forever. She knew the day would come, but I don't think she was expecting it this soon.

*nods* I didn't really specify a time for this event to happen, but yeah. She really should have expected this to happen ...

Ominous, man...but then, for all it's color, verve, and merriment, Zootopia's shadows and dark layers are never far from the surface. That little episode of "ice boarding" with citizen Weaselton's ursine interrogation was going to break surface eventually. Interesting twist with Panterras ... is he elaborating on his strategy or beckoning Judy in deeper with a hint that she should tip the operation to Fru Fru? And we already know he and Carnegy loathe each other...are there traps within traps here?

Oh, this is gonna be soooooooooooooooo GOOD!!

XD Oohohohohoooo, lots of ideas flying around in here apparently. I don't see Panterras setting Carnegy up for a backstab, that's just too cold, consider she's a single mother with a 4 y/o at home, apart from the fact that he would be crashing his own moral code, sticking to the letter and such.

Whether he's playing Judy and Fru Fru against the middle though ... who knows. If I ever do think that far and bother to elaborate on this story corner, we'll find out ^^

Wait, she told them about the "icing" thing?

It was bound to come up eventually, don't you think?

Such is the real world. It is a conflict of interest. Even if Judy means well with everything.

Very much so, yeah. "The end justifies the means" is all good and nice to a certain degree, but I thought it was interesting to play with the fact that Judy was, at that point, essentially prepared to go to almost any lengths to crack the case ... and that sort of thing will come back to bite you in the tail eventually.

It also might be worth it to note that the rabbit in some mythologies originating in regions where foxes didn't exist is the trickster figure. It was noted that the rabbit, being a creature whose life was never assured it and having to live by its wits for the duration of its modern evolution, had to use guile in order to survive.

The idea of a rabbit living a hard life was so common that in Chinese there's even a saying to describe a person's death--To say, for example, that someone "Died like a rabbit" means they died quick and with unfinished business.

That she used trickery and leverage to get results is something that I rather interestingly read as a part of her internal survival nature. She was only able to get a leg up in the case in the first place by BLACKMAILING someone. The fact that she was willing to let Nick continue to evade taxes might be rather telling in itself.

She was always clever and always willing to used tricks and lures to get her way.

How about when she was in the training for the ZPD and rather than scaling the ice sheet herself she hopped on the people beneath her to get over?

How about when she didn't have a warrant to go onto Mr. Big's property in the first place and used Nick's going over the fence that she ThREW over the fence in order to effect probable cause?

So, her habit of doing barely legal things in order to achieve her goals, overall, is not foreign and out of character for her. If you think about it there were probably several instances when she could be seen to skirt the law or the rules. And she's generally rewarded for it.

Hell, how about the time when she broke into an insane asylum without a warrant? She didn't have to answer any of it.

*nods* definitely points to consider.

The amount of brushes she has on the lawless side of the order of things bring in quite a few potential plot hooks to endanger both their careers.

In Judy's defense, she never shot first. Concerning the exercises at the Academy, there would have been other ways to wield the same results in places, but that's splitting hairs at this point X3 pretty sure Nick found the smart ways around the challenges (I already mentioned on another post; I'm pretty sure Nick would be leadership material).

There's a few other incosistencies, but honestly, it's a movie. Most of the things I find out of place are negligible and even justified to a degree, save a few things I've had to think visually about XD

Both Judy and Nick are prepared to do what it takes to get the job done, but I don't think Judy quite realizes how far she leaned out the window when she asked a crime boss for help. That sort of thing always means trouble and considering what a good spirit she is, I think she's going to be pretty badly crushed when she eventually finds Mr. Big's record ... all those disappeared people ...

Well, it might not come as that mich of a surprise to her considering the fact that she was almost casually murdered by him. AND when she was accusing him of something he didn't do and would have been able to easily disprove without resorting to violence.

Honestly, Judy getting friendly with a mob boss and using that connection to torture a guy for information is the only thing that really bugged me about Zootopia, so it's nice to see a comic addressing that.

I also thought it was an interest set up for a potential plot. I mean if you think about it, that was pretty damn tense and dark for a character we're supposed to be rooting for X3

youch, that can't be good at all. o.o I can't wait to see what happens

We'll see if I bother to get that much involved with it. I'm honestly tring to distance myself at least a little bit from doing Zoot things because I have other priorities and my own art to worry about XD

aww, but I loooves your Zoot things x3

I do too, but I have to remain focused <3

was wondering how this would pan out in the universe, glad to see it at least here

I heard a couple' people apparently hooked stories on this, so I'm excited to see what others have come up with.

to be honest, i thought it would turn out something like this, just my head cannon goes a lot longer and gets a lot more complicated.

Heh, I unfortunately lack the time to spew out all the Zoot ideas I have <3

well i am grateful for what you can put out :3

You have so many delicious directions to take here. Gato909 makes some intriguing observations. Judy IS an operator...being as diminutive as she is, she's had little choice, trying to operate in an organization where most of the animals are massive creatures. Conversely, if she has literally "climbed over the backs of the "big boys [and girls]", she's also in constant danger of being stepped on. The question of Nick's taxes [and the disposal of his purported 'vast' and illgotten fortune is one of the darker loose ends of the story]...and Nick, too, is a "little guy." Maybe there are a number of ZPD cops who resent these two puny interloper rookies, pulled off two epic case, brough down two mayors, and maybe dynamited an antipredator plot with a couple of coconspirator cops on the force?? She [and Nick] likely have more than a couple of detractors on the force. Panterras and Carnegy add some new polarizes to the mix with their own rivalry [and moral codes]. We also know Mr.Big is not the only Crime Lord in Zootopia...Is Koslov still around?

"This is not some happy fairy tale cartoon where we sing a little song and everybody lives happily ever after, you know..." [Chief Bogo]

But his is your tale, ipoke, and I'll let you ell it. JustAdd me to the list of "hooked".

XD All of this is definitely true and in the realm of the possible.

I try to keep things a little obscure and playful as I go, but this particular strip was a fun excursion into the "what goes around, comes around"-territory of storytelling <3

While I wont go full throttle (yet) on my thoughts about how ZPD has evolved since the Nighthowler situation, there's definitely a few angles to the matter. Carnegy and Fairweather are obviously very alligned with Hopps and Wilde's do what it takes attitude, although what either of them have to say on the subject of their past dealings with the mob I have yet to address in the open.

Rest asured, I will continue telling stories from my little corner of the Zoot-fic-fandom

"We little folks gotta stick together." [former] Mayor Bellweather.

Get Fru Fru out and let her hate you for it later. At least she'll be alive to.

Yeah, but do you really want the angry daughter of a mob boss alive to get back at you?

Successorship usually works within the family and we already saw in the movie that Fru Fru has absolutely no reservations about her good ol' daddy killing people ... except when she's getting married, of course X3

True, that's a good point.

Well duh Jude, what did you expect? For someone willing to have a fox up about some popsicles you're sure comfy with being around a guy who murders people.

Funny world, isn't it.

And vaguely disturbing. She seems to take it in stride that he's willing to kill- I mean 'ice' someone right in front of her. Wasn't she supposed to be the wide-eyed idealist? And hell, everyone else seems ok with this. The law is an ass.

I know, right? XD

Well, we'll see how far I take this idea of mine, whether it evolves into a storyline of any sort.

Oh I hope so, there's so much potential in it, so many issues. I mean, if everything that's hinted is true then this guy isn't that nice. It can be terribly hard to find out someone you consider a friend, even family has done terrible things.

Heh, well, I don't know in how far I'll conclude this, seeing as I essentially upset the status quo if I actually do have ZPD take up Big, but I suppose that's part of what makes it fun.

I try not to focus on Zoot too much, since I've already neglected my own artwork too much in its favor, but rest assured, my version of zoot will continue eventually :3

Well that would all depend on Mr Big's 'deal' (And of course the possibility of his daughter taking over in his absence.) And mobsters have been traditionally very hard to catch.

That's the way of things isn't it? Stuff comes along that can totally derail your arting if you let it,