Salutations everyone, and thank you for taking the time to read our GoFundMe campaign. My name is Dorian Black and my friends and I were recent victims of a crime. On Tuesday, July 9th, a group of fellow cosplayers and photographers came together to shoot a promo for Fandom Wedding Fair. Through hard work a good amount of money we recreated the covers of the Batman: Wedding Album comic book series to help promote a geek wedding planning company. By the end of our very long shoot day we packed half our film/photo gear and cosplay props in my girlfriend Peggy Reynolds’ car and we all went out for a quick bite to eat.

We were gone for less than an hour, but in that time a thief smashed Peggy’s window and stole all of my friend Sara Crobot’s camera gear as well as my Wayne Enterprises briefcase full of all my Batman props... literally all my Batman props. To add insult to injury, we lost all the photos from the shoot, which cost quite a bit of money to put together, as well as all the photos Sara took while at Anime Expo.

If you’re a cosplayer who’s ever attended a convention, chances are you’ve had your photo taken by Sara Crobot, AKA Jazzmin Wilson of JaW Images Photography. She may have even featured you in an article or write-up about past nerdy events. The reason Jazz works so hard to take photos of us cosplayers is because she has a passion for creating wonderful memories and moments with people. She truly is an unsung hero in our community.



As much as I’m enraged about the monetary loss of this crime ($2,405.00 in total) and all our hard work going down the drain, I’m more upset over the fact that Jazz just lost her livelihood and I lost 15 years worth of memories in that case. The worst part for me is some of my bat-gear is irreplaceable. They were gifts from friends who have moved away. Exclusives from decades ago. Stuff I had custom built. Stuff I built myself.



Our car thief didn’t just steal our stuff, they stole memories that none of us will ever get back, whether it be props we poured our souls into forging or amazing images that will never be seen again because the punks also stole Jazz’s memory cards and disc drive. While waiting for the police to show up it really hit me hard how much the cosplay community means to me. I put on my first Batman suit back in 2004 for a friend’s Halloween party. I had just finished high school and was going through a lot of toxic issues at home. I was angry all the time and had some really bad trust issues. But putting on the cowl... it felt like I could be someone else.

It’s ironic, but being Batman actually helped me resolve a lot of my negative coping mechanisms. The cape and cowl eventually became a form of therapy for me. It sounds stupid to say out loud, but cosplay really changed my life. I’ve made some amazing friends through geek meetups, conventions, and photoshoots and I’ve found some truly wonderful life partners while in the guise of the Dark Knight.



Peggy, Jazz, and I put together this GoFundMe to try to cover some of our financial losses, but it’s the sentimental value of my “wonderful toys” that I’m going to miss the most, which is to say nothing of the fact that Jazz’s very bread and butter (photography) has just been stolen from her and Peggy had to replace her rear windshield out of her own pocket. But while the thief may have gotten away with thousands of dollars worth of our stuff, they can’t take away all the good times we have had with you all.

So rather than scream my rage into the void, instead I’ll simply say thank you all for the wonderful memories and add that if you can donate anything to our recovery fund we would greatly appreciate it. While we can never replace those fun photos and nostalgic mementoes, we can at least replace the physical items such as Jazz’s camera gear and some of my bat-props so we can get back to creating magical new memories.

Eternally thankful,

Dorian, Jazz, and Peggy


LOST PROPS: