Cosmic Donut Holes

Kaina Gillespie & Tyson Roehrkasse
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We are Kaina & Tyson, siblings and best friends who survived a cult. We use fiction to escape, rebuild, and argue about whether Batman could survive a Dungeon Crawler World floor. We’re here to dissect stories, pop culture, politics, philosophy, and build a beautiful community of nerds. Subscribe for the vibes, stay for the Meatball Princess.

  1. 3d ago

    Visa Runs, Kazoos, & Digital Detoxes

    We disappeared for awhile, so here’s our excuse…AKA unfiltered rambling about our lives featuring a cameo of an adorable Donut and Mongo figurine that will hopefully make you guys forget we ever ghosted ya. SORRY BOUT THAT!  Tyson’s been off being a bonafide world traveler, including a 22 hour direct bus from Berlin to Belgrade for a very specific bureaucratic reason: a Schengen visa reset. Reporting live from Serbia, he fills us in on enormous Korean corn dogs, how language barriers impact his food ordering, and the bittersweet realization that passport stamps are going digital. Efficient, but tragic.  Meanwhile, Kaina’s been deep in a digital detox and self-isolating in her hobbit hole to READ READ READ. Turns out, getting off social media is actually glorious. Thankfully, her Bahamas trip planned this month got postponed, meaning she can delay finding out if one can actually survive a Margaritaville cruise without the drink package. Speaking of — apparently there might be a real life Dungeon Crawler Carl themed cruise in the works, and if that’s true, we are SO THERE. Con planning for next year also happens in real time. Dragon Con is  #1 on the list, mainly because of the shockingly affordable merch (specifically the deeply respectable four dollar kazoo). Also: a growing cosplay wishlist, plus a moment where Tyson realizes that CrawlCon is 100% fictional. Goddamnnit Donut. We also get into a full reality TV detour, including the horrifically unfair double standard of what counted as “approved” viewing growing up (we could watch grown adults eat bugs, but Harry Potter was apparently a bridge too far), real talk about what results a month completely off social media brings, and a few book updates on what we’re each currently obsessed with. Teasers for what’s coming: the chosen one trope, a German Accent Lab, a new Blind Date Book Club pick, more DCC, and getting back on the gaming train.  Note: Viewer discretion is advised for explicit language and mature themes. Intro Music: Synthetic Prayer by JKN MusicFan Art: @ignartcio on Instagram | @misslimbim on InstagramTune into future episodes on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts!Follow Kaina on TikTok @cosmerecat for more Cosmic Donut Holes content!Business email: cosmicdonutholes@gmail.com

  2. Aug 27

    A Parade of Horribles Deep Dive, Vol. 3: Dungeon Gods & The Celestial Ascendancy

    Kaina spent several hours combing all eight books for keywords, mostly god names, and the result is a PowerPoint so deranged and conspiracy-board-coded that the FBI will be sending recruitment letters anytime now. By the end, she had a moment best described as "holy frickin' shit, I think I figured it out." Buckle up buttercups. We start with the promised family tree, and it is exactly as disturbing as you'd expect from a pantheon where the mother of all gods is a “mom-wife” to a real a*****e that is sexually attracted to bacon. Old gods, new gods, incest, and lots of cold-blooded murder. Game of Thrones vibemaxxing much??  From there it's a full genealogy breakdown: who begat who, who cursed who, who banished who, and who is currently being sponsored. There is a mysterious third child in this family tree that nobody's paid much attention to until now, and once Kaina lays out the clues connecting a certain fan favorite character to the Scavenger storyline, Tyson does not so much agree as have his mind blown. We won't spoil who it is, so tune in to hear all the dirty details. We also take a sad swing at the Geyrun murder mystery, still hopelessly unsolved after several books — and not for lack of clues. Plus, a full rundown on Apito, Hellik, Ysalte, Chachi, and a couple other notable deities as we head into the 12th floor. All of the deep dive PowerPoints, including this one, will be linked below for anyone who wants to review the receipts at their leisure. SPOILER WARNING: This episode contains spoilers for all currently released Dungeon Crawler Carl books, through book eight. Deep Dive PowerPoint Archive: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/16PE1Rk3_ahu7zfkB5gt9NpnG2uM67dhJIntro Music: Synthetic Prayer by JKN MusicFan Art: @goddess_of_fate on Discord | @avaryll.rain on InstagramTune into future episodes on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts!Follow Kaina on TikTok @cosmerecat for more Cosmic Donut Holes content!Business email: cosmicdonutholes@gmail.com

  3. Aug 18

    You're Canceled, See Ya

    TRIGGER WARNING: Sexual assault — this episode also touches on transphobia, antisemitism, gun violence. After months of talking about it, we finally delivered the episode discussing cancel culture. Buzzword alert, don't get triggered. We start with a warm up question: name someone who got canceled and came all the way back versus someone who never did. The gap between those two answers says more about power and privilege than anything else. Then it's rapid fire time with ten real cases and three answer choices: cancel, not cancel, or complicated. Cait Corrain faking reviews to sabotage rival authors. Kanye's antisemitism. Alex Jones and Sandy Hook. Kaepernick and the NFL's convenient cowardice. The Sydney Sweeney ad discourse. Conor McGregor headlining UFC after a civil sexual assault verdict. JK Rowling.  From there, why any of this works on us: moral outrage addiction is a real researched dopamine hit, and social rejection lights up the same brain regions as physical pain. We get into tribalism, the Pew data showing Americans can't agree what cancel culture even means, and a 2024 study showing people's verdicts track their political team way harder than their stated values. We draw the line between cancel culture and the quieter call-in version (Tyson's James Gunn example, old tweets resurfaced, he owned it, survived it), then ask the harder question: does canceling even work? Michael Jackson and R. Kelly's listenership went up after documentaries detailing abuse. Chris Brown just got a Grammy nomination. Verdict: it punches down way harder than it punches up. We close in the literary space, drawing a hard line between book banning (dangerous, always) and the newer trend of accusing indie authors of using AI based on detection tools that flag real human writing constantly, tanking careers off an unappealable percentage score, which is especially rich given every major AI company is currently being sued for training on stolen books. Comment your own cancel or not cancel verdicts. Fight amongst yourselves. Intro Music: Synthetic Prayer by JKN MusicFan Art: Samantha done by @lcleanforheichou on Reddit Check out our sister Kari's art (and tattoo work!) on TikTok: @markari.annTune into future episodes on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts!Business email: cosmicdonutholes@gmail.comSource ListPew Research Center, "Americans and 'Cancel Culture'" (2021)Diether, Yi, Argyle & Busby, "The Political Psychology of Cancel Culture: Value Framing or Group Identity?", Political Research Quarterly (2024)Traversa, Tian & Wright, "Cancel culture can be collectively validating for groups experiencing harm," Frontiers in Psychology (2023)Adeyemi, "The Psychological Impact of Cancel Culture," Premier Journal of Psychology (2025)Norris, "Closed Minds? Is a 'Cancel Culture' Stifling Academic Freedom...", HKS Working Paper (2020)Adrian Daub, The Cancel Culture Panic: How an American Obsession Went Global (Stanford University Press) — feature via Stanford Humanities & SciencesKennedy, "Networked Justice: The Actions and Effects of Cancel Culture on YouTube," a/b: Auto/Biography Studies (2025)The College Fix, Campus Cancel Culture Database, 2025–26 year-in-reviewHailey Gibbs, "What is 'Cancel Culture' if not just 'Consequences for Your Actions?'", Medium (2020)The Authors Guild, "Can AI Detectors Be Trusted? The Authors Guild Put Five of Them to the Test" (2026)

  4. Aug 13

    Our Love of Gaming ft. QuakeCon

    Tyson is filming this one in from the field, with boots on ground at the Gaylord Hotel in Grapevine, Texas for QuakeCon's 30th anniversary, and Kaina's holding down the home base for a very special episode: why do we actually love gaming? We start with a trip down core memory lane. The twelve hour Minecraft marathon that counts as the start of Kaina’s obsession. The Wii era. City of Heroes back when Atlas Park was basically a hangout spot and nobody had jobs to get to. Half-Life and Left 4 Dead. Tyson's Apple IIe childhood running Oregon Trail and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego on five and a half inch floppy discs, because if it wasn't educational, it wasn't allowed in our cult childhood. And obviously, the sacred memory of getting absolutely destroyed by Tyson playing Princess Peach in Super Smash Bros after talking so much smack about her. Following that, we get into the actual why. For Tyson, gaming was survival math and a safe place to land in the post cult years, and also somehow the thing that made him better at real life along the way. For Kaina, it's the same reason she loves fiction: life is a lot, escapism is necessary, and a good open world game is basically a book you get to live inside. And since these two don't get to see each other often, slaying hordes of evil together has become an avenue of quality time and staying close over distance.  Current rotation talk: an extremely detailed Vermintide 1 vs. Vermintide 2 breakdown (methodical tactical slaughter vs. chaotic satisfying slaughter but with incredibly amazing voice lines either way), Tyson's 683 soul crushing hours in Rocket League, the Baldur's Gate 3 run that's been stuck in Act One since the podcast started, and Kaina's nightly Red Dead Online ritual of riding her horse around while collecting wildflowers and listening to one of her lil audiobooks.  And then there's QuakeCon itself, which sounds amazing in every way. A cat room and a dog room both run by local rescues. An atrium that looks like Jurassic Park. Real life Rocket League with remote control cars. Multiple new games discovered mid convention including an RV survival sandbox where someone fell off a bridge and died (RIP Nick) and Windrose, which Tyson describes as Valheim except everyone's a pirate, which led directly to drinking loads of rum so he and friends could "properly" play it. We close out hyping the games on the horizon: the new God of War Laufey (and the exact kind of guys mad that it centers a woman's story), Witcher 4, 1666 Amsterdam, Dragon Twin, and the Fable reboot. Plus a very real plan brewing to livestream a Vermindtide gaming session as its own episode, so keep an eye out for that. Comment your gaming origin story below. We want to know what got you hooked and why you love the hobby. Note: This episode is a candid, humorous exploration of intimate media and cultural attitudes. Viewer discretion is advised for explicit language and mature themes. Intro Music: Synthetic Prayer by JKN MusicTune into future episodes on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts!Follow Kaina on TikTok @cosmerecat for more Cosmic Donut Holes content!Business email: cosmicdonutholes@gmail.com

  5. Aug 4

    The Ballad of Ugly Crying

    The Ballad of Falling Dragons picks up everything we loved about the first book and then turns the emotional dial up all the way. Kaina ugly cried multiple times, and Tyson maintains that all of his crying was quite beautiful. In this episode, we dig into all the dirty details about the series that is now one of our god-tier romantasy reads, despite being unfinished. Book Two of the Moonfall series (and fall they did) is an action-packed wrecking ball with no brakes and no mercy, and we are equally feral about the spice as we are about the uniquely beautiful writing style of Sarah A. Parker. We spiral through the reveals that broke us, the theories we're clinging to for dear life, and the questions that are going to haunt us until the trilogy completes…which, given Sarah A. Parker's timeline, may be a while. Which is just totally, absolutely, FINE. Not like it’s gonna consume our every waking thought until then. Also: why Tyson has a bone to pick with the Fate Herder's name, the silver ribbon theory that might connect more characters than we initially thought, whether Grimm and Ahra are gonna come through to save one of our favs, Rave's journey through icy trauma, and the devastating realization that Essie's butterman loaf involves way too much work and we just simply do not have the range. Rule numero uno going into book three: NEVER assume anyone is dead ever again.  Intro Music: Synthetic Prayer by JKN MusicFan Art Spotlight: @redmurphy.art & @ekilateral.art Tune into future episodes on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts! Follow Kaina on TikTok @cosmerecat for more Cosmic Donut Holes content!Business email: cosmicdonutholes@gmail.com

  6. Jul 8

    A Parade of Horribles Deep Dive Vol. 2: The System AI

    ⚠️ FULL SPOILER WARNING: All eight books, plus kinda sorta REALLY major spoilers for Mistborn Era 1 and The Stormlight Archive at around minutes 24-25. Cascadia voice — Sorry bout that.  YO! DADDY! What the actual frick frack snick snack did that coming out party mean?!  A Parade of Horribles contained a significant lore dump about the true nature of the dungeon, primals, and the history of the universe more than any other book thus far. In this episode, Kaina & Tyso walk through all of it: what happened to the primals, what the macro AIs actually are, The Eulogist, The Apothecary, and more. From there we get into the current state of Daddy Primal — what it controls, what it can't control (the gods…for now), as well as what the out-of-dungeon version of the nine-tier attack (I REPEAT, THE OUT OF DUNGEON VERSION) is already doing to the broader galaxy. Kaina also breaks down her casual crack theories about Lamashtu the donkey as a metaphor, the nature of subjugation, and what the Ascendancy winner will be able to do…to which Tyson responds, “So the prize is a quarter-powered donkey? Congrats.” Then, we touch on the Outside Intelligences — macro AIs assumed to be dead by the Mantids that yeeted them into stars. Speaking of…those weird bugs deserved everything they got. Some of these OIs are already on the playing field and vying for the Ascendancy, and Tyson has a rather curious theory about who they might be (if we’ve even met them yet). As we close, Kaina shares a theory that’s been living in her brain rent-free. It revolves around the myth of Scolopendra, another of its kind, and what it might mean that Carl is a primal in a story where a primal AI is carrying out the nine-tier attack on the universe. And for the record, Tyson has now been fully converted on the importance of Carl's primal race.  Intro Music: Synthetic Prayer by JKN Music🎨 Donut fan art (slides) from the Dungeon Crawler Carl Wiki Tune into future episodes on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts! Follow Kaina on TikTok @cosmerecat for more Cosmic Donut Holes content!Business email: cosmicdonutholes@gmail.com

  7. Jun 25

    Tent Soup: A Catchup Episode

    We're alive!! Welcome back to Cosmic Donut Holes. It's been a few weeks since we've recorded, and since then, Kokaina moved to a new city, went to Puerto Rico for a birthday, survived a wedding weekend, and is now back to cosplaying as a sourdough baker that totally has their life together. Tyso fell hopelessly in love, went clubbing more than a few times, ate fried cheese, and received the most adorable coke spoon in a mystery vending machine box. We catch up on all of it — Tyso's new relationship and the balboa dancing origin story, the Berlin club experience that has no American equivalent, Kaina's first (sort of) international trip and Puerto Rico's ongoing water crisis that nobody in the US is talking about, the upcoming family reunion, festival plans, and the absolute nightmare that is moving across states. Also, we touch briefly on our ongoing TBR crisis, roller skating, and tent soup. This one is all over the place. Enjoy our chaotic lives as ✨content ✨ and our regular programming shall resume soon!  Intro Music: Synthetic Prayer by JKN MusicDCC Fan Art: Joe SchlottachTune into future episodes on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts! Follow Kaina on TikTok @cosmerecat for more Cosmic Donut Holes content!Business email: cosmicdonutholes@gmail.com

  8. Jun 2

    A Parade of Horribles Deep Dive Vol. 1: Crawler Character Arcs

    After realizing a single deep dive into book 8 would’ve been approximately 8 hours long, we decided to turn this into a series — because too much happened in A Parade of Horribles to cover in one sitting, and we refuse to half-ass this. Vol. 1 is crawler character arcs. We start with Donut's two prophecies, digging into her motherhood arc, the cost of her insane level of power, as well as what her title (Champion of Nekhebit, Harbinger of Doom, Assassin of the Great and Feral Sekhmet) is setting up for the 12th floor. Then Carl: the five-sided coin, the tree-and-abyss prophecy, his dark side getting harder to keep in check as the pressure builds, the Bedlam Bride still lurking, and his primal race — is it just a label or does it actually mean something in the context of what we now know about Primals? From there we move through the remaining 12th floor crew: Ellie's four seasons build finally coming online, Imani's reason to survive now more than ever and whether that makes her more or less likely to make it out, Pony's incredible arc and his Midnight Epicure connection, Florin's possibly sentient shotgun, and the ticking time bomb that is Lucia. Over in Sheol, we check in on Louis — including a Matt Dinniman interview answer that reframes how you read him entirely — werewolf Chris, and Britney, whose worsening condition and cryptic message to Carl have us very suspicious. We also touch on the Pineapple Cabaret crew and Katia at the Kinder facility, who is still very much on our minds.  And then Sexy Scolopendra, of course. We both arrived at a fun theory before the episode even started, and it means Carl will probably f**k a centipede. Plus her paramour biscuit stats, class potential, and what the Donut dynamic is going to look like…mortal enemies, or girl besties? Vol. 2 + more are coming. The AI deserves its own episode after “coming out”, and Kaina is going to have a whole god family tree diagram for us to unpack very soon. Stay tuned, Donut Holes! ⚠️ FULL SPOILER WARNING: Everything. All eight books. Every death, every lore reveal, every prophecy. If you're not caught up, go read and come back. We'll be here. Intro Music: Synthetic Prayer by JKN Music🎨Fan Art: @the.doodlemancer on TikTok | KatiBeast on Reddit🎨 All slide fan art from the Dungeon Crawler Carl Wiki except the Scolopendra art by high_stream on RedditKaina’s Samantha shirt: https://www.highart-apparel.com/ TikTok shoutouts: @valgoworth (Beatrice theory) & @dis_pat (Scavenger’s Daughter theory)Tune into future episodes on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts! Follow Kaina on TikTok @cosmerecat for more Cosmic Donut Holes content!Business email: cosmicdonutholes@gmail.com

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About

We are Kaina & Tyson, siblings and best friends who survived a cult. We use fiction to escape, rebuild, and argue about whether Batman could survive a Dungeon Crawler World floor. We’re here to dissect stories, pop culture, politics, philosophy, and build a beautiful community of nerds. Subscribe for the vibes, stay for the Meatball Princess.

Information

  • Creator
    Kaina Gillespie & Tyson Roehrkasse
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    23
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Kaina Gillespie & Tyson Roehrkasse
  • Show Website
    Cosmic Donut Holes

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