Halo cosplay, Overwatch Outlaws, and animation royalty at RTX Austin festival

Nathan Mattise

AUSTIN, Texas-I'll admit it: I'd never heard of Rooster Teeth before moving to Austin. But the Texas-based animation/podcasting/game streaming media company has been around for 15 years now, and it boasts some of the longest-running Web series around (including the Halo-inspired machinima series Red v. Blue).

I'm an odd case if judging by the crowds at the 2018 RTX Austin festival last weekend. The event started in 2011, and by year two, the festival had 4,000 attendees enjoying perks like the exclusive hands-on premiere of Halo 4. In contrast, 62,000 descended upon the Austin Convention Center in 2017, and the costumed crowds certainly felt as big this go-round. Accordingly, animation studios from Titmouse (Venture Bros. and Big Mouth, among others) to Netflix (here premiering Brickleberry) hung out, one of the 12 inaugural Overwatch League squads took over the exhibition hall (by inviting folks to volunteer and get pwned), and non-stop panels helped interested con-goers find advice on writing for animation or learn what's happening behind the scenes on their favorite Web series (perhaps like popular Rooster Teeth anime, RWBY).

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