9 years of KH13.com in the Kingdom Hearts community

[Leamax 746]

Today marks the 9th birthday of KH13.com! We are publishing this special feature to celebrate almost a decade of the impact KH13.com has had in the Kingdom Hearts community since its creation on October 9, 2008! KH13.com is now one of the best Kingdom Hearts fansites for news and media.

 

KH13.com originally started in 2008 by KH13 Webmaster DChiuch, with the help of Co-Webmaster Aaron. The website started out as a simple project between friends, however, soon became a full-fledged website for Kingdom Hearts news, media and discussion. At the time, high quality videos and media were hard to come by, so KH13 initially established itself by providing high quality trailer and cutscene downloads.

 

The name "KH13" was eventually settled on in a brainstorming session, after it was discovered that KH1.com through KH12.com were all taken – it seemed fitting that the first available domain would match up with Organization XIII. Around this time, KH13.com began to report Kingdom Hearts news, with the first article on Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.

 

In January, 2009, KH13 decided to do the first major redesign, which was then released on January 14th, 2009. You can check out the design below.

 

(Does this bring back any memories?)

 

Since then we have updated the website designs a couple of times; the current design is the 3rd update!

 

Skipping ahead to 2011, KH13 had become more well known, allowing us to start sending representatives to E3 as part of the press. sqexgal (now from SQEX.INFO) was our first representative, and former KH13 News Team member Oishii, Kingdom Hearts community veteran Churro, KH13 staff member (and former News Team Leader) Toominator, and Kingdom Hearts χ Team and News Team member Raxaimus have all been part of the experience since.

 

One important feature that has been prominent throughout KH13 is our gallery & video archives. Former KH13 Archives Team Leader and News Team member Sora96 has brought the video archives and gallery to what it is today, featuring over 29,000 images and hundreds of videos from the Kingdom Hearts series. Thanks also goes to Everglow, our partner, for recording thousands of cutscenes and playthrough videos for KH13's archives. Our wide selection of videos and images has brought in many visitors for KH13.

 

This past year has saw much excitement in the Kingdom Hearts Community. In November of 2016, the opening cinematics of Kingdom Hearts 0.2 -A fragmentary passage- was revealed at Paris Game Week. In January 2017, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue was released in Japan on the 12th and worldwide on the 24th. In March, the first performance of the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra - World Tour - began in Tokyo, Japan.

 

The tour had many stops around the world, which included London, Singapore, Los Angeles, and New York. During the tour, KH13 held three successful fan meetups. Social Media Team Leader Andrew Hankinson and News Team Leader Aquaberry hosted the first #KH13MeetUp in London in March 2017. The second one in Los Angeles was hosted by the dedicated Raxaimus. The third one was in New York, hosted by Toominator and Kingdom Hearts χ Team member Exilra. We gave out exclusive KH13 stickers to the lucky attendees, and had a card in each location for Yoko Shimomura, which fans at the meetup decorated with heartfelt thank you messages for the series composer.

 

We've made a montage for of each meetup with the help of our team members and Project Destati. You can watch them below!

 

In June 2017, during the World Tour concerts in Los Angeles, Tetsuya Nomura made a guest appearance where he revealed a

This trailer included gameplay of Olympus Coliseum and a cutscene from Twilight Town. At the end of the trailer, an announcement of an extended trailer was shown, giving the date of its release as July 15, 2017, at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California.

 

As promised, this

was revealed during the Level Up! segment of D23. This trailer revealed a new KH3 world: the world of Toy Story. The trailer showed off some gameplay along with a long cutscene of Sora, Donald, and Goofy meeting Woody, Buzz, and a few other toys in Andy’s room. At the end of the trailer was the most awaited news by the Kingdom Hearts community for more than a decade: a release year for Kingdom Hearts III, set for 2018!

 

All throughout this time, there have been exciting developments in KHUχ; in March 2017, the update from Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ to Kingdom Hearts Union χ was announced. The story has developed greatly to include a new (and old?) set of characters and plot twists that are but making players and non-players alike excited for how they will play out in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts III! For the sake of avoiding spoilers, we won't say any more, but you can check out the videos of KHUχ gameplay and story updates on Everglow's channel, the most recent being the product of hard work of KH13 translators Mio-chan and Lady Aleister.

 

The KH13.com community has also been growing on social media. Our Twitter (@KH13.com) has almost 25,000 followers. Our Facebook page (KH13.com, for Kingdom Hearts) has hit the 20,000 likes mark. We also have a new Playstation community page!

 

As we enter our 9th year, we would like to thank our current leaders of our various teams, which includes Aquaberry, WakelessDream, faemarch, and Andrew Hankinson; our vice leaders Leamax, Exilra and Wan_Pisu; and our LoL (Leader of Leaders): HarLea Quinn. We would also like to thank Toominator, Jake, and the current and past members of our various teams for their contributions to the page.

 

We'd like to also give the most important thanks of all to you, our readers, and the Kingdom Hearts community. Thanks to everyone here on KH13 for sticking with us for these 9 years. We hope to be around for many more, and to continue to provide the latest Kingdom Hearts news and media!

 

What has your favorite moment been in the KH13 community in the past 9 years? Let us know in the comments below!

 

Click here to view the article

[-Justin- 2,111]

Wow, 9 years! Thanks DChiuch for making such a great website where I got to meet a lot of really awesome people! 

My favorite moment(s) was when momsy Lea'd us

[!4misettie 350]

Good lord. 9 years is a heck of long time. Thanks for making a great website where Fans of the Kh series or any other series can hang out and chat with each other.

[Rob 5,571]

Happy 9th anniversary to KH13. Time sure does fly. Thanks to the old and current staff for their hard work throughout the years to make KH13 the best place for all things KH. Rob looks forward to next year.

 

Rob's favorite moment was smiling when seeing Aqua at the top of the page every day.

[SaiGirl01 18]

This is around the time I became creator on IMVU (October 8 2008)

[Iris 223]

9 years seems so long! Im very grateful DChiuch made this website. I got to meet many friends here Everyone is friendly here too. I hope kh13 will continue to live on.

[Guest]

Happy Anniversary KH13. I'd love to see a new re-design for the website soon.

[IwasBornAsVentus 396]

Very grateful for this amazing site, and it makes me even more happy to see it grow as they years come. 

[Cricket 1,180]

Wish Aqua was still the banner.

[Felixx 6,646]

Happy Anniversary KH13!

 

I don’t really have a favourite moment on here but I’m more than grateful for all the friends I’ve met on here. I wouldn’t be the guy I am today without them.

Not a big fan of mentioning any names as I probably would forget someone, but I’m gonna make an exception for two guys who aren’t active on here anymore, Xam and Puv. They’ve become two of my best friends and I’m happy that our friendship was able to survive outside of KH13

[RikuFangirl2008 1,368]

Happy 9th KH13!

[Dustin Lübbers 933]

cheers to 9 years and hopefully 9 more!

[Sigrun 1,064]

Man 9 years... It feels as if I was lurking a cool kh site for its fanfiction I accidentally found yesterday. Time flies man, alot of good memories were made here because of the community that surrounds this site and thanks to DC, Aaron, and the mods that provided the community an amazing platform to discuss, write, create, debate, and Rp.

 

More importantly in short...

 

Happy 9th anniversary kh13!!!

 

Edit: y'all got anymore screenshots of the old site? More specifically one taken with the old users list?

Edited October 9, 2017 by Sigrun

[Toominator 916]

Thank you guys for the shoutouts and the thank you's. This site means the world to me and I'm so thankful to the other staffers, DChuich, and everyone in the KH13 community for making it one of the best I've ever had the privilege of being a part of. 

[WakelessDream 2,280]

I'll always cherish KH13 and I'm grateful for all the fond memories, and great friends I've made because of this site. I'm also grateful to be part of the community and even get to contribute and work with other staff to help make this an enjoyable place for everyone. 

 

I love seeing this site do well and I'm proud we can celebrate 9 years of KH13 today. Looking forward to seeing us continue to be the best source for everything Kingdom Hearts, and for us to expand our wonderful community even more in years to come. Happy 9th anniversary KH13!~   

[Exilra 393]

9 years... almost a decade old already. Love this site and contributing to it, both as a member and as staff. Looking forward to the future Kingdom Hearts news to be reported as well as future members joining this site!

Edited October 9, 2017 by Exilra

[HarLea Quinn 26,501]

This site has become part of me in a way because of all the friends and time I've spent on it hahahaha! Thanks to Daniel for creating this addictive place and all the awesome members that make it so much fun! You guys make this place gr8 ALMOST as much as I love Axel/Lea. Almost. But not quite.

 

I also want to give a special shout out to all the staff who work so hard for the community here!

[VisitJoan 2,713]

I remember the site's 4th birthday when the logo had a birthday hat and so did everyone else. This place has a special place in my heart as it helped turn a very difficult time in my life into one of the most amazing times of my life (that I constantly wish I could go back to).

[KingdomHearts3 2,591]

Happy Anniversary KH13! I have enjoyed my time on here for four years, almost five this January.

[khkairi12 38]

What an achievement! I'm so happy you have given us nine years of kingdom heart news! This is the place I visit to hear about it! And I thank you so much for sharing opportunities with us like contest! It's always a happy place to come to for everyone to share the same love we have for our wonderful game Kingdom Hearts! We'll be seeing you for another nine years and more!

[Weedanort 8,786]

Welp, I still remember discovering this website back in early 2010, and being creeped out by Aqua's stare x)

 

Keep at it KH13!

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

I know I'm late on commenting on this, but hot dang, 9 years...it's incredible to see how much this site has lasted, and how it's managed to continue growing over the years! The awesome thing for me, though, is that I've been a member of this site for 6 (Almost seven, counting this year.) of the 9 years it has existed! I've seen many people come and go, and I've seen this site change over time. I've grown along with it, and I've met so many wonderful and enthusiastic people from all walks of life and different cultures! Our love of Kingdom Hearts and other video game series and other things in general united us all under one banner, and this is a great example of how people from all over the world can just relax and socialize and truly get along. 

 

KH13 is one of the most awesome sites I've been honored to be a part of. Actually, it's the only site I frequent, other than Youtube, Netflix, Hulu and the like, because honestly, all I need is this site for a good time! It's a healthy place where people can just be themselves, and I'm really happy I've been able to be a part of this amazing awesomeness! The hype for Kingdom Hearts has always remained strong thanks to all of you, the members, the staff, each and every single person involved in this, especially DChiuch and Aaron! Every one of you has done wonders, you've done the most awesome thing ever in creating this website, and I only hope it continues to thrive and live on beyond Kingdom Hearts III!

 

Here's a toast, a jolly cheer for more years down the road for KH13, the best source for anything and everything Kingdom Hearts!