About the Pretzelzcollie name

Pretzelzcollie was a cosplay name I used across multiple characters. I took up cosplay after my motorcycle crash in 2012 as a way to cope with learning to live life with physical limitations, unable to enjoy the active lifestyle I was accustomed to. It provided me with a sense of community and social enjoyment, returning to motorsports in a limited capacity just wasn't an option emotionally as not being able to partake was soul crushing.

One of these cosplay communities I enjoyed was the furry Fandom. You may be thinking, "ah yes that subculture of adult freaks that wear elaborate animal costumes and act like total idiots at conventions all over the world." Haha, sure we can roll with that take if you want, but it's actually a pretty amazing group of talented folks who enjoy a common interest that outsiders are quick to judge because they don't understand it. I'm not here to persuade anyone's opinions of any particular hobby, I'm simply saying yes, I was involved with that, kind of still am as I've made some amazing friendships.  

Why am I telling you this? Due to the inherent nature of the cosplay scene in general it is a target of harassment by internet trolls who have nothing better to do with their lives than hide behind their computer screen and stir drama on a superiority complex high to feel better about their own life failures. Now imagine someone in the cosplay community ends up in the spotlight after a life changing incident. Yeah, that was me and they had fun with it when they learned I lost my hands. It escalated so far out of reality as these internet trolls targeted me as leverage for their moment of internet clout, theorizing all these elaborate stories, compounded by creatively photoshopped  "screenshots" of things I said and so on. Last count there were 10 or 11 "proven" theories that labeled me as some sort of unhinged psychotic lunatic with some sort of fetished self identity mental disorder or something, another suggesting I was trying to literally become my cosplay character through surgical means, because thats totally how that works haha, that's how these people think and what their kind believes. I don't know, the things they were coming up with was absolutely wild 🤣 

This is our future generation, folks, they are caught up in such a virtual fantasy world of fiction they aren't able to process reality. Scary to think what the future holds for the human race.

But I digress, sure it didn't help my mental state as I was coping with severe depression over the loss of my hands, and the reality of my new life, but honestly I've never been one to care much about what others think of me. The people who mattered stood by me, helping me through the lowest point in my life, and this support overpowered my concern over the slander. These idiots kept trying to get reactions out of me by constantly upping their own attacks. I knew the worst thing I could do was to take their bait and let it bother me so I kept quiet and let it happen while mostly ignoring it after awhile, I began to realize they were actually a relatively small group gaining attention from only other internet trolls, that was the point I lost all concern over it. After all, we were well into Covid times at this point so people were bored and had nothing better to do than be online. It was the perfect storm of literal children of the internet who get off on harassing disabled people. What a sad existence really, I hope life treats them better and gives their life meaningful purpose so can eventually be beneficial contributors to society and live with at least a little accountability.

With that said, feel free to poke around the internet for some prime examples of the whole mess. Im not going to try and hide or bury any part of my past, it's right there for all to see. What happened was an important evolution in my life and I want people to see what people do online to others they see as inferior to themselves.  I'm proudly keeping my cosplay name that was involved with ordeal as my future persona, as I progress my lifestyle into becoming content creator, and as a distinctly recognized nickname within the medical industry and for podcast identity. I want people to see just how awful the internet can be and why you should never fall for the rumors and gossip, and why is important for anyone going through trauma to not engage the criticism they may receive. The reality of it is, there is no juicy crazy off the wall story behind my situation, just poor life choices combined with unfortunate circumstance that resulted in turning my life upside down. I know, Im sorry, wild stories of crazy people is so much more exciting. I'll go into great detail about it all in my book, but in the meantime if you have the IQ of a potato, are unable to think logically and the maturity of a child you may enjoy jumping on that bandwagon of shame.  

For the rest of you capable of critical reasoning with at least a moderate level of intelligence possessing the ability to think independently, Im sure you can interpret it all logically. Either way I've got nothing to prove and am far beyond caring what anyone wants to believe because at the end of the day how I cope with my life affects nobody but myself. I sleep just fine at night knowing what I'm able to give back to society, the life I've built as a result of how things turned out, and the future that lies ahead.