Zoids I have for Sale !
Box (poor condition) + Dark Spiner - $50
Box + Command Wolf Striker + Manual - $40
Box + Lightning Saix + Manual - $50
Box + Liger Zero + Manual + Box + Jet Falcon + Manual- $120 (can Split)
Box + Techo Zoids Storm Tiger + Manual - $40
Box + Holotech Liger Fire Phoenix + Manual - $85
Box + Liger Zero + Fire Phoenix + box + Fire Phoenix Manual and LZ Manual- $75 (Can Split)
Box + Leogator + Manual - $30
Box + Gravity Saix + Manual - $15 (Missing one piece I think)
Box + Genius Wolf + Manual + Red Remote Thing - $50
Box + Bamburian + Manual - $30
Box + Helcat Noir + Manual - $50
Box + Dispelow + Manual - $40 (Parts are kinda loose, could use new fuzor cubes, I may have some)
Box + Leo Striker + Manual - $30
Box + TRU Liger Zero Schneider + Manual - $100
Box + Blade Liger (Blue) + CP Boosters + Manual - $55
Box + Energy Liger + Manual - $45
Box + Command Wolf Irvine + Manual - $30
Box + King Liger + Manual - $20
Box + Gungyalado + Manual + Comic - $85
Box + Lidier + Manual + Comic - $40
Box + Rez Tiger + Manual + model + all pieces in box TOGETHER - $100
Box + Bite Gryphon + Box + model + all pieces in box TOGETHER - $90
Box + Command Wolf CP Manual - $20
Box + Ptera CP Manual - $20
Berserk Fuhrer + Manual - $60
Zoid (Incomplete) + Pteramander Manual - $25
Gravity Wolf + Manual - $40
Battle Cougar + Manual - $30
Redler + Manual (Missing chest Piece) - $20
Gun Sniper + Manual (Missing one head horn) - $15
Metal Rhimos + Manual - $20
Brachiosaur + Manual - $15
Shadow Fox Manual - $5

PM me or comment if you are interested in anything. Will Trade for fursuit making supplies, pokemon cards or pokemon merch. Would consider trading for a high quality fursuit head or mini partial too! :)

Will sell the lot for $1200 TOTAL. Thats over $300 off.

FINALLY NOT SICK AND DYING.

Getting caught up on drawing commissions / trades / commissions etc.

If anyone has any questions PM me! I am SUPER sorry for the delay. ;-;

I am only going to be posting fursuit work to  saltysuits I will be deleting all of my fursuit submissions on this account. So if you want to follow my costuming work please follow  saltysuits!

Thanks for all your support.

DISCLOSURE: I did my best to not speak for black communities and to have kept it at a minimum even though I am frustrated, this is not my community and I must be careful and aware about how I speak about communities that are not my own. If anything was deeply offensive or incorrect please feel free to note me. I am always open to constructive criticism.

To begin, while I know Zootopia is a film that was made for children I also think it is important to analyze any film we see critically and understand the possible takeaways from a film. Like any film Zootopia has its ups and downs in terms of what is good about it and what is not great about it. I have yet to see a film ever produced that was not problematic (ableist, racist, transphobic, etc) to this day I don’t think. To be frank I don’t watch many movies or television due to this. But I was a bit thrown off and shocked by Zootopia for multiple reasons. The movie in my opinion embodies ideas of white supremacy, stereotyping, discrimination, prejudice, erasure and has a heavy pro cop narrative. While many of these issues may seem far fetched to some I do think it is important to analyze what this film set out to do (or we believe it to do) and what the actual takeaways from the film are.

I am not going to spend time talking about the story of Zootopia as to not ruin or for others and I will assume if you are reading a review you have seen it (as to not spoil it for yourself). To begin I feel as though we can all agree that the world of Zootopia mirrors our own world in many ways. The animals live in a world where animals are seen as equals and people supposedly have equal access to services and jobs in their world. However I also think we are aware of the stereotyping present in the film of the predators (non dominant group in society) and the prey (dominant group in society) there are negatives both ways. In the overall scheme of the film it shoots to teach viewers that negative assumptions are not right and that you must find your own truth. “ But if you think about that message for longer than five minutes, it doesn’t merely fall apart, it invites a reading that is almost surely contrary to the movie’s seemingly enlightened spirit: discrimination is wrong, but stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason, and it’s not easy for members of a despised class to overcome the reasons why the majority despises them, so you gotta be patient.”(Seitz) While the film attempts to address these negative stereotypes and tell the viewers stereotyping is bad I think it falls a bit short in doing that.

My reasons for saying I feel as though the message of the film is not strong is it is too wishy washy. The movie doesn’t have a strong this is right or this is wrong attitude which I recall reading from an article on someone who was on the production team somewhere. I think that is part of where this gets fishy to me. If you are going to make a movie about politics that is meant to have a positive impact in changing the world you need to be really clear about laying your ideas out. “Because people are not animals, I dread thinking about the “logical” conclusions to which such conversations will lead. The film isn’t wrong to say that carnivores are biologically inclined to want to eat herbivores ... If you think about all this as an analogy for the world we live in (particularly if we live in a melting-pot big city like Zootopia) and and then ask yourself which racial or ethnic or societal groups (cops, businesspeople, city bureaucrats) are “predators” and which are “prey” (for purposes of metaphor translation), you see the problem. "Zootopia" pretty much rubber-stamps whatever worldview parents want to pass on to their kids, however embracing or malignant that may be. I can imagine an anti-racist and a racist coming out of this film, each thinking it validated their sense of how the world works.” (Seitz) I have quoted Seitz as obviously he is much better at crafting logical words them I am. But this is one of my biggest issues with zootopia. The fact that the film is not truly taking a strong position on this idea of prejudice, racism and stereotyping.

Another frustrating I have with this film is its constant need to rely on stereotypes for comedy and relief within the film. “Zootopia's gags rely on what are, for all intents and purposes, animal stereotypes: Sloths are slow, bunnies multiply, etc. For another, the use of the word "predator" — which carries all kinds of bad connotations when it comes to American race relations — is poorly coded when you make the leap from Zootopia's specific universe to ours. The most natural line to draw between the two is that Zootopia's predators stand in for black men in our world, and one needs only look at the resurfacing of Hillary Clinton's "superpredators" clip from the '90s to know why that's potentially inflammatory territory.” (Vanderwerff) That being said it is natural to assume that Judy would at some point have a right to be fearful of Nick in a biological sense but that really muddles and confuses the point of the film when we get down to it. If we have been raised to believe something is scary even after being challenged by it this movie can also teach us we are still justified in being scared of it. For me this harks to talking about people’s discomfort when folks of color are wearing a hoodie vs the response to a white kid wearing a hoodie. Its totally different, thats assumption and fear based racism. This is where I think that Zootopia can get a little confusing. “the problem, as you can see, is the movie's suggestion that at one time prey animals were right to be suspicious of predators — and might still be, if things were to change just enough (say, due to a secret chemical formula being used as part of a conspiracy to cause fear and suspicion of predators, which is what's happening in the film). Apply this lesson to our world, and it becomes all the more troubling.”(Vanderwerff)

Now people have told me over and over this is a kids movie, but another user online so lovely spoke what I couldn’t even attempt to form so I will quote them. “Nimzag: People need to realize that kids are fucking smart. Kids feel shitty when they don't see representation, whether they know it or not. At some point, it sinks in. Yes, Disney touched this subject, so you know what? It's for kids, but it's also for others. Kids are not the only audience, and Disney knows this. They aren't dumbing it down JUST for kids. If they did, they wouldn't even have addressed this.” That being said I think it's very important for disney to make its ideas and assumptions about predators (or minority folks in the US ) very clear. Kids are going to apply the things they have learned from this film into their everyday lives, we internalize things we learn. In the same way I can internally police my transness kids learn to police themselves and the identities of others based on what they see. Kids are far far brighter than we ever give them credit for.” This all being said when we are making kids films which so closely mirror our own world (in my case the western US world which is white supremacist and laced with anti blackness and xenophobia) It is important to really show kids what is right and wrong, not dance around those topics and not confuse it or leave it so open ended.

“Animals have long been favorite symbols in these sorts of stories, because while humans are familiar with animals, animals are still alien enough to reflect our own worst qualities without being off-putting. In a story, an animal can be human-ish — but it's always just an animal.”(Vanderwerff) This is also where part of my problem comes in too. If we were daring to put humans into these same tropes and positions this film wouldn’t have left the production room. Likewise I do think it is important to talk about the issues the film touches on but it should be done in a way that is possibly more serious and isn’t making a mockery of the microaggressions many people face. The scene where Nick touches the sheep hair particularly sticks with me. “You can’t just touch a sheep’s hair!!” This is dehumanizing and frustrating when you face this very real microaggression apply it to our world. You may say “Its not a big deal, I know people who don’t care, I don’t care etc.” But the writer Maisha Johnson feels differently. “4. You Think It’s Not a Big Deal
Touching my hair is relatively harmless compared to other ways Black women are dehumanized, so I could try to “get over it.” But first, let’s be clear about what I’m “getting over.”
There’s the history of white people’s ownership of Black bodies. The obvious example is slavery, when Black folks were considered property, not people, by law. They had no power over their own bodies – which included being raped by slave owners.
That’s horrendous enough, but there are plenty more examples throughout history. Like the fact that Black people in the mid-1850s were considered such a deviation from the “norm” that they were exhibited in zoos and freak shows.
One woman, Saartjie Baartman, was displayed in a cage, mocked, and gawked at. Even after her death, scientists dissected her body to investigate the difference between the “savage” (Black) woman and the “civilized” (white) woman.” (Johnson) This is the biggest microaggression I can think of at the present moment. But I do recall other small ones like “Are you trying to generalize me because I am a fox.” “You can’t call a bunny cute, only other bunnies can’t call each other cute.” I also think of the “Don’t let them get to you speech from Nick’s perspective which really gets to the heart of what I feel is internalized oppression. I understand and feel this so strongly as a trans individual with the struggles I face on a daily basis that this part of the film did resonate with me in a positive way.
Another important aspect of this film is its pro cop narrative. I personally do not stand behind the police force as a positive addition to my city. Or statistically looking at the US in general. “A widely publicized report in October 2014 by ProPublica, a leading investigative and data journalism outlet, concluded that young black males are 21 times more likely to be shot by police than their white counterparts: “The 1,217 deadly police shootings from 2010 to 2012 captured in the federal data show that blacks, age 15 to 19, were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million, while just 1.47 per million white males in that age range died at the hands of police.”(Wihby + Kille). This is just one little chunk of information but I do know my own experience. In my city with the police here and they aren't pretty. We have had multiple black folks murdered in cold blood cuffed on the ground and they were shot for no reason. Likewise I have seen cops throw people down on the ground in public transit and beat the shit out of them for not having bus fare etc. It's hard for me to not be hyper aware of the mistreatment of black folks in my community. I just don't think I've ever had a Good experience with a cop. For example at a protest that was held for Jamar Clark in the 4th precinct peaceful protests were maced, hit and belittled by officers at the scene. Five people were actually shot at the 4th one night and the police did nothing about it. I was there one night attending the protest and someone shot a whole round of bullets somewhere in the distance. I remember my body hitting that cold concrete ground and lead BLM staff heading out to survey the area to make sure the place as safe for everyone. The whole community. While the police stood by and did nothing. I feel as though the amount of ‘Good Cops’ does not outweigh the amount of blood spilled in US streets, on my streets in my neighborhood. This is my personal bias about the issue, but for me the pro police narrative really nagged on me in the worse way and intensified all of the other views I had about this film.

A few other things I wanted to touch on which I will wrap up in a small paragraph is the use of the cheetah character as comedic relief as a ‘fat’ and potentially ‘gay troped’ character and not truly having a solid being. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that he was homophobic or 'fat shaming'. But I do feel as though the character is portrayed to love food, to be out of shape and to be effeminate. This is a common thing shown among ‘fat’ characters in films and movies. The gay trope comes to surface with his obsession of popstars and his blushy cute and otherwise ‘not masculine’ behavior. While I do not agree or endorse these stereotypes about people (or in this case cheetahs) I feel as though this character is HEAVILY played off of tropes and really ends up not being an important character. I would hope to see characters with more dynamic and well thought out identities with different body types in the future rather than how this potentially very empowering character was portrayed. I also wanted to spend a moment talking about appropriation in this film. They appropriated yoga and a spiritual vibe from other cultures to put in their film for an exotic feel. And they take accents and voices of other dialects and tones of speaking for comedic interest. These don’t directly hurt another culture (except in their rooted assumptions and micro aggressions towards people from those communities) but they certainly don’t add anything either and it would have been more tasteful to not steal something from another culture to add to your own comedic interests when so many other things could have been done.

I have been criticized for thinking too deep into this movie. But with deep and embedded racism in my country it is my duty to do my best to be critical where I can and teach those around me who haven’t had the experiences I have. It is my duty to disassemble white supremacy, racism and injustice in my communities, and this community is one of them. I have been involved in various communities of people and have been going to conferences and things for years to educate myself on topics of race , culture, whiteness, privilege, and LGBTQIA+ Folks etc. I honestly am not the best at communication in a written sense because I get angry and ranting rather than productive and neutral. But this paper has been written from a better frame of mind and I hope it is better received or at least open for conversation rather then immediate dismissal. This isn’t only a talk about Zootopia but about the very world that the movie mirrors is the one we are living in. It’s important to talk about that. To acknowledge that white supremacy, and racism are rampant in our countries and despite the prejudice that white people sometimes face it is not the same as institutional racism which chokes out other people in our communities.

Out of all of this analysis I am pleased to see Disney is trying to move in the right direction and is hopefully working on debunking their long history of racist and problematic films. I am skeptical of that but hopeful. Zootopia is a beautifully animated film with ‘good’ intentions and wonderfully executed but still “is it too much to ask that a film that wears its noble intentions like a jangling neck collar be able to withstand scrutiny? If "Zootopia" were a bit vaguer, or perhaps dumber and less pleased with itself, it might have been a classic, albeit of a very different, less reputable sort. As-is, it's a goodhearted, handsomely executed film that doesn't add up in the way it wants to. “ (Seitz) I encourage you all to think about this movie critically and see the problematic things laid out within it. Being all equal and pretending to get along is not going to solve our problems. Not addressing the root causes of white supremacy in this country is not going to solve this issues we have. Not being aware of one another's differences and the systems that limit one another are never going to make the world of equality (if it's possible) a reality. Also the amount of ‘good cops’ will never make up for the amount of blood spilled in this country in the name of ‘justice’ which is really racism (the inherent fear / bias / discrimination against black folks), police brutality (Beating, macing, killing etc as you please) and white supremacy (getting away with that shit because you are a white cop who's always been a ‘good person’.) All and all I do believe that Zootopia was trying to create a positive message, and if it wasn’t for the rudeness and insensitivity to microaggressions and racial issues in America it may have shined up to be a real classic film! I hope that most people will walk away with a good understanding from the film and make positive change in their communities and learn not to pacify issues and injustices around us. Doing this important work starts with thinking, analyzing, talking and getting to know people from communities you are not a part of. But also knowing when to be quiet, when to listen and when to learn from others.







Sources:
Seitz : http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/zootopia-2016
Vanderwerff: http://www.vox.com/2016/3/7/1117362.....-review-racism
Johnson: http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/09.....k-womens-hair/
Wihbey+Kille - http://journalistsresource.org/stud.....iew-statistics


Additional Resources:

White Racism - Not Real:
http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/07.....e-people-race/

White Privilege / White Supremacy:
https://www.deanza.edu/faculty/lewi.....20Knapsack.pdf

Don’t Touch Black Women’s Hair:
http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/09.....k-womens-hair/

How White people can fight racism:
http://www.pqmonthly.com/interrupti.....t-racism/23380

Police Reasonable Force Brutality Race Research Review Statistics:
http://journalistsresource.org/stud.....iew-statistics

It has came to my attention again that this cannot be said enough. We are artists, I am an artist, and imagine this we have lives and families, and other priorities just like you commissioners do. I am growing increasingly frustrated with commissioners who buy things who mail me a few hours later and ask if it has been shipped yet. Friend, you just bought something that needs to be made, and I am a one person studio. I need to produce things for you in a timely fashion, but that doesn't mean I am ready to ship a mask blank three hours after you pay. That being said it does take time to produce art that I am proud of and I want to send you. Sometimes there is a wait but there are a lot of things on my plate and more often then not taking care of myself comes last.

Imagine this, I have had a family member die in the past couple months, I've gotten sick for an extensive period of time twice, I am a full time student, AND its my senior year. Did I mention I need to put together show worth of artwork to graduate? Did I mention that I make suits / art so I CAN afford to go to school. Being a first generation college student is a challenge and I have been paving my own path. So if something isn't done a week after you purchase it I am sorry. I am pulled 10 different ways every week. Homework, Extra Curriculars, Family, Friends, Illness, Death, Getting Sick, Taking care of pets etc. There is a multitude of things one must do in a day and as an artist it is important to understand that as a commissioner.

This all being said I am working as best I can, and many artists have a lot of things going on in there lives. Please understand this. So many of us are doing so many things, raising kids, taking care of family, ourselves and trying to make life worth while. Please listen to that, acknowledge that, we are as busy as you are and more. Please show patience, love and respect towards your artists and please be considerate. It hurts our reputation and our lives when you aren't.

Salty (and any other artist who relates)

TO DO LIST HERE - https://trello.com/b/8DfTvsrK/salty-s-commissions

I DO NOT WORK UNDER THE CONTRAINTS OF DEADLINES ANYMORE. I WILL NOT RUSH A PROJECT TO GET IT TO YOU FASTER. I WANT TO GIVE THE BEST WORK I CAN MAKE. THAT BEING SAID I WILL DO MY BEST TO FINISH COMMISSIONS IN A TIMELY MATTER

References, progress pics etc will be posted on Trello from now on. Thank you all!

If you ever have a question about the status of your commission please contact me!

If you want to see lots of WIPS of my suits, Sneak peeks, concept questions or have general questions about your building project please hop on over to this link (https://www.facebook.com/SaltySuits) and go like SaltySuits -- I am more then happy to help!

Thank you!!

Salty