Popverse's top stories of the day

• How a second Donald Trump U.S. Presidency might impact the movie, tv, and comics industries
• 40 years after its debut, Dragon Ball is a pop culture force like few others
• Sisterhood of Dune ending explained: Understanding the book that Dune: Prophecy was based on

Sure, fans might think that they love Yoda already… but wouldn’t he be that little bit more lovable if he were made out of delicious chocolate? One exhibitor at Emerald City Comic Con has asked that unlikely question… and, better yet, proven that the answer is a very definite “yes.”

“I am not the biggest chocolate fan. I would be the girl that would cut off all the chocolate on my Snickers bar and eat the Snickers bar,” owner Jennie Hales explains about the origin of her business, the Truffle Cottage. “But about 15 years ago, someone gave me actual real chocolate and it made all the difference in the world. I started playing with truffles and did a few things for some local people, and they were all themed chocolates. And then one day my girlfriend came to me in 2013 and she said, "I think I can get you a booth at Salt Lake Comic-Con for half-off. I was like, ‘Half-off? I’m doing it.’ And then I had Google ‘what is a comic con?’ because I had no idea.”

Things, obviously, have changed significantly, with the Truffle Cottage making specialty chocolates and candies in the shape of characters and concepts from Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar the Last Airbender, and many more popular shows and movies. Understandably, the company prides itself on the creation of what it describes as “nerdy chocolates for any occasion”

“I thought, ‘I can't take normal chocolate to a comic convention. I'm going to have to do something about that,’” Hales remembers. “We always thought 50% of buying something nice is how it looks. And so that's kind of where we started, and then people would come to us and say, well, ‘Can you do this? And can you do that?’ It’s like the [Legend of] Zelda shields. They're peanut butter cookies and cream. We paint the whole top of them with edible paint to look like the actual shield. Or our Avatar tea-infused chocolates, where the pitch line on these is we channeled our General Iroh and made them tea-infused.”

Even more elaborate are the sculpted chocolates, which recreate Grogu, Yoda, and other characters in delicious, delicious sweet form. (No, really; they’re very tasty.) “We hired a sculptor. And the sculptor sculpts, I think the first thing he did for us was probably our baby Groot, and then we just said, ‘Well, this is how it has to be. We're just have them sculpt for us and design for us, and we'll just go from there.’ People love it. It's always insane. You have your people that are like, ‘It's too pretty to eat.’ Eventually they'll buy it. And once they buy, and once they eat, then they come back. It doesn't matter what it looks like anymore. They know it tastes good. And that's the important part.”

Attendees at Emerald City Comic Con tasted the evidence for themselves; the company was selling its wares at booth 10407 for the entire weekend. Those who are nowhere near the Seattle Convention Center can check out their website for examples of their work… but it’s far, far more fun to sample it in person.

Get fully immersed in ECCC 2024 with Popverse's coverage of the event. From main stage panel livestreams to backstage interviews, on-the-floor coverage, news, cosplay galleries, and all the major panels we'll be m ocderating! We also have a list of the ECCC 2024 artist alley and the big booths to expect. We've even got you covered on where to eat near the convention center.