The Zootopia fandom is an interesting one. Never before have I seen a community so adamant about a single pairing- Wildehopps. I recognize that not everybody ships it, which is perfectly okay.
But why do we ship Wildehopps? What compels us to write stories and make art that put this odd couple of a fox and a rabbit together? It’s only hinted at once at the very end of Zootopia, and even then that can be interpreted as being friendly banter. So what is the fuel that powers this ship?
ACRacebest is here to help, with a brand new video where he goes into the reasons for, and against, shipping Nick and Judy.
Get your tickets for the Z.N.N. Wildehopps (or just watch the video) the break!
To answer your question, the ship is fueled by 8 nuclear fusion reactors, that fuel a constant thrust Ion drive. The ship, at over 1km in length, is heading for an uncertain future. Sink of float, what will it be?
I would like to point out that I usually don't care about shipping pairs – at least not to an extent that these two has provided me – yet there's something between them that strongly compels me. It might just be because I'm a little furry inside but I've been at it for years now and I have never felt for anything like this (I don't openly go saying that here but I'll be doing it to make my point.) I always like to acknowledge that I am empty inside not because I don't feel these emotions but because I actively avoid them to prevent myself from getting hurt( WOW! this has turned into a self-awareness statement really quickly : )
My point is, there is a very strong chemistry between them and the denial of such is almost a crime.
I always boiled it down to not only chemistry but just due to the fact that them getting together slams home the point of not letting stereotypes and racism get in the way of what you can and can't do. If Judy and Nick did enter a relationship like say in a sequel, the parallels to interracial couples and the stigma that brings would have a commentary all its own while still having something to do with the original message of the first Zootopia. That being said, Zootopia is and always will be a buddy cop movie with a message, and love was not intended (even if it was joked about in deleted scenes) so it can be understandable why some don't like the idea. (Fraternization is the most obvious no-no about the whole thing.) Yet despite this, its so dam easy to pair them together; there's a certain sickening sweetness to them loving each other you can't help but like. This whole thing makes me curious, I wonder if Jason Bateman has been questioned about it to see his reaction XD.
Im just curious about the whole Fraturnization argument. Its been the most common denier in fanfictions regarding their relationship but Ive done my research on the topic and the most I found was its prohibited for an officer to fraturnize with a higher rank. While that may seem the case with Judy joining first, I don't think she's been promoted high enough that Nick can't catch up.
Actually, sometimes there is no rule prohibiting fraternization, even between ranks, as long as the fraternizing pair was not involved in a judgment decision against the lower rank (e.g., when "scoring" for purposes of promotion, the one higher in rank must excuse herself)
In Judy & Nick's case, though, their direct superior will be the one doing the ranking, and it seems that would be Chief Bogo himself.
(And, based on a fancomic, I have a headcanon that Chief Bogo doesn't care if his officers are romantically involved, as long as that relationship does NOT affect their performance.)
I don't even consider myself a shipper; I always saw shipping as a silly what if people dreamed about (a waste of time if you will) yet something about WildeHopps just really makes me happy to see it. I don't know if its the beautiful art or stories that come from it or something with me personally, I just like it and I don't know why. You know the characters and story are good when stuff like this stays with you months after watching a movie (watched it on DVD).
While I consider myself a shipper of WildeHopps (I've never shipped before), I keep myself grounded by admitting that this is but one avenue their relationship could go from hereon out. As Judy said in the movie, "In Zootopia, anything is possible", and that includes what some would percieve to be a strange and 'unnatural' union. It would 100{fc17e15ed6c8f701884a899a735d4ed94fc8cfa66fc2f404dd33f42f9afeb7a1} be within the remit of the story of the first film and how we can put aside our differences, and there is an undeniable chemistry between the two, but I'd support any way they want to take their relationship.
They already have an interspecies same-sex couple in Bucky and Pronk (confirmed by Jared Bush on his Twitter account), so that argument has already flown the coop.
I think at this point the majority is definitely "yes, ship them." Never been a shipper before this movie, didn't start out the first several times I watched it…then something grew. Yep, there is definitely a chemistry between the two you can't deny, and even if they don't become romantically involved they're so close to each other they might just deny romance altogether at that point.
Never cared much about ships, sometimes you think about that, like when i was watching an avatar ect, but in the end, i just let it flow. Not with Judy and Nick though. Stright after the movie i thought to myself, wow, thats how you define chemistry between 2.Its perfect. It opens whole new stories to tell, problems to solve. Why would you not want to connect (or even break) something, that works so well? They are supposed to be 100{fc17e15ed6c8f701884a899a735d4ed94fc8cfa66fc2f404dd33f42f9afeb7a1} opposite, but just like with the magnets, they are connected with each other.
The answer is yes! Its my believe that wildehopps should happen in canon. Damn, even the name of the ship is great…
Soo… almost all of the non-WildeHopps shippers have the reason of "Disney movies with mains getting together at the end is a cliche" and I wouldn't blame them. Yet, I just think WildeHopps has the perfect setting, chemistry and circumstance to happen. There are a bunch of Disney movies which mains got together at the end when they could rather not. I'm sure most people wouldn't have a problem if freaking Snow White and the Prince didn't get together (seriously, all they did was sing a sappy song together and having the prince molest Snow White when she sleeps)… Cancerous examples aside, I just think as good as the idea of having a good Disney movie without the mains getting together at the end is , I just cant think of it happening to WildeHopps as the chemistry is too good to leave behind. And to the non (or I should say anti) WildeHopps shippers, did Moana satisfy you with that concept ? Because I think Moana reversed the cliche pretty well
Zootopia doesn't need romance either
ugh…. i just cringe at the idea of it