Hello Seattle

Thoughts from HCS

For some context, my husband Austin loves Halo. So much so, that the small media company he started has several projects that revolve around the franchise. His love for Halo is a big part of why I've made several Halo inspired plushies. People often ask me if I knew what I was getting myself into when we got married given his obvious passion for Halo. I can confidently say yes. And no. Yes, because I was well aware that Master Chief owns a small part of his heart before we even started dating. No, because I wasn't able to predict the community he would build around himself and how much I would be involved in it. (If you're interested, make sure to check out discord.gg/jumperscape to get involved in the community or just go to jumperscape.com. It's pretty neat.)

At the beginning of October, I attended this year's Halo World Championship in Seattle alongside my husband and his friends. For them, it was a great opportunity to connect with fans and build connections. For me, I was mostly along for the ride. In preparation for the event, I made thirty-two Superintendent keychains with various facial expressions to pass out to people we met.

This particular design has been something I've wanted to do since the beginning of the year. It's so simple to make, but a lot of people love Vergil. However, it took me a while to find the exact right shade of green yarn to use, and then it took me a little longer on top of that to figure out how to do the eyes in a way that I was satisfied with. It was definitely worth the effort, though!

I had so much fun passing these guys out, especially since so many people's faces lit up when they realized what it was. I don't often get to see how people react to my plushies, so getting to so several times at this event was such a special treat. I've admittedly been feeling a bit burnt out when it comes to crochet lately, and I'm glad to say that this helped revive me a bit. All thirty-two were gone by the end of the first day, but throughout the rest of the weekend, I kept spotting little flashes of green and white where someone had it attached to their backpack or cosplay. It made me smile every time.

The place we were staying at in Seattle had a rooftop area where you could sit and hang out. The one night, I sat up there snuggled under a blanket and made a Flood plushie for someone at the event. I hadn't had the time to do so before the trip, and it was a great way to enjoy the evening and watch the sunset. I'm happy I remembered to bring the yarn along to make it since we were able to trade it with someone for some really cool fanart.

The trading aspect of this event was something that surprised me. In a way, it sort of reminds me of the friendship bracelet trend that was happening at Taylor Swift concerts. People made tons of stuff and brought it specifically with the intent to exchange it with other people in the community. It's an aspect of the Halo community that I personally hadn't experienced before, and as previously mentioned, I really enjoyed being apart of it because of my Superintendent keychains. A lot of people wanted the little guys!

The last day of the event, there was someone giving away merch and other Halo related memorabilia. It was sort of a free-for-all, first-come-first-serve gathering. I managed to snag a model of a ghost, and as I was walking away, someone pointed out that it came with a stand and a Sangheili that rode on it. He helped me look for them on the table. While we found the stand pretty quickly, we couldn't find the Sangheili and concluded someone else must have grabbed it before I found the ghost.

However, as I was waiting for Austin to finish up, I spotted a person carrying a Sangheili that looked about the perfect size to fit on my ghost. We ended up talking to them and were able to trade a Huragok plushie for the Sangheili. I'm so pleased that I got to reunite them!

All in all, Seattle was a lot of fun. It was my first time in the city, and I'd love to get to explore it more in the future. I enjoy Halo, but my enjoyment of it is more casual compared to most of the attendees that were at the event. I think that gave me a unique perspective, though, since I was able to take a step back and really appreciate the energy and atmosphere of the event. I'm definitely looking forward to going again next year!