“This is an outrage!”
No, it’s accessible cosplay time! 😊
If you haven’t yet read the Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman, you are missing out. Stop what you are doing and go get the book, or, better yet, get the audiobook read by Jeff Hays. The series is a LitRPG story of a dude (Carl) and his ex-girlfriend’s cat who get pulled into a D&D style dungeon when aliens invade earth to strip mine it and then force the survivors into a televised reality game show dungeon crawl to fight for their lives and the planet. It is weird, dark and twisted at times, but also deep, hilarious, and absolutely delightful. And although I am not usually an audiobook sort of person, this is a series that is best listened to. Trust me on this.
So why am I bringing it up on my disability blog? Because as soon as I read it, I knew I had to cosplay the cat, a tortie Persian named Princess Donut (or more specifically Grand Champion, Breed Winner Regional, National Winner Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk) who gains sentience in the Dungeon and has become one of my favorite characters ever. I had seen a few people at cons cosplay her by wearing her signature tiara and sunglasses with one of those blow up dinosaur costumes that make it look like you are riding it (because, of course, Princess Donut has a pet Velociraptor named Mongo.) But I knew that with mobility disabilities that version of the cosplay wouldn’t work for me. I spent a few months trying to brainstorm (easy) ways to modify a blow up costume to work with my rollator or wheelchair, but couldn’t come up with anything that wouldn’t take a massive amount of effort and money.
So I went simple and decided to have both myself as Donut and dino Mongo using my rollator as part of the cosplay. This particular cosplay did not involve much crafting of my part, more seeking out and sourcing items. I found a tortie cat ears and tail set, a purple tiara, oversized sunglasses, a butterfly necklace, and a silver hip skirt to be her crupper armor. I drew on a cat nose and whiskers, and voilà, I was Donut. I did add a pin we made at The Rogue Shieldmaiden with what has become Carl’s catchphrase “Goddammit Donut!” (because Donut’s antics elicits such a statement regularly). 
I’ve yet to figure out an easy way to carry around a Dirty Shirley cocktail (Donut’s go-to drink), but the combo of one-arm, moving rollator, and open liquid container doesn’t work well together. As for Mongo, I found a party décor inflatable velociraptor. I know in the books his coloring is more pink and purple with feathers, but this worked for now. I might add the feathers in the future. I was able to attach him to my rollator with bendable cane holders and off we went to enjoy the Ren Faire!
I was really hoping to run into others cosplaying as Dungeon Crawler Carl characters to take pictures with, but no such luck yet. It was really fun though to see how many people recognized the cosplay! There is something that warms my heart when a book goes viral like this and there is a shared story I can connect over with others. And when it is a story about fighting for hope alongside a talking cat, even better!
The Donut and Mongo cosplay survived multiple weekends at Sherwood Forest Faire this season. A few times I added it to my pirate garb and accessories for a more Ren Faire twist on the cosplay. And randomly decided to wear it to the campgrounds’ Mardi Gras party as well. Mongo ended up getting numerous beads and then this sign appeared at one of the Taverns the next week lol. Mongo is appalled.
I am limited in how long and how far I can go using just my rollator. Unfortunately the deep sand at Sherwood makes using my wheelchair really difficult (I don’t have a heavy duty scooter that would work out there). But this cosplay might be transferred to a wheelchair version in the future for Comic Cons or Halloween.
Cosplay is for everyone y’all. And honestly, now that I’ve accepted that mobility aids are part of my everyday life, that just adds so much more I can do with my cosplays if I just get creative!
