Amazon Prime’s streaming service owned SDCC offsites this year with their 60,000 square foot Amazon Prime Video Experience that took place directly across from the convention center. Amazon Prime highlighted three of their shows, The Expanse, The Boys, and Carnival Row, by allowing fans to immerse themselves in the world of each show. Attendees were also treated to a lounge, some industrial-sized fans, and (most importantly), charging stations for our gear. Our Shruggie Awards poll is still technically open, so I don’t know yet which offsite you thought was the best, but Amazon Prime came in with the biggest, most interactive offsite of the con.

The Experience

It’s not Comic-Con without a line, so of course, there was a big one for the Amazon Prime Experience. Once inside, I was given a small coin purse filled with six coins, which was to be my currency throughout the offsite. Admission to each individual experience was a coin, but there was also food and drink in the form of tiny churros drizzled in caramel as well as a Carl’s Jr. food truck for me to enjoy while I was there.

In the middle of the offsite was a large tower, where highlights from each show would appear on the screen above. Actors would also act out scenes to give us a taste of what each show was about.

The shaded lounge was the perfect place to take a break and enjoy some Carl’s Jr. or go through some of our swag. Add in free charging stations next to giant fans and free WiFi, and I could work full-time here.

That was only the courtyard area. The interactive experiences were there as well, so I dove straight in with The Boys.

The Boys

The Boys sent me to a harsh, dystopian world where superheroes (“Supes”) cared more about their image than the people they were protecting. The Boys, led by Butcher (Karl Urban), would have to come in and try to clean up the mess. It’s a dirty job for a dirty crew (think of the Spice Girls, but with weaponry), but somehow, they get it done together.

Warning: The language in the videos is NSFW (but so is The Boys).

That was only a taste of what we saw. Our good friends at Parks and Cons got a lot more.

And if you were sneaky enough, you may have found the Secret Comic Book Shop around the back of the building. Did you find it?

The Expanse

Fans stepped up to the plate for The Expanse this year. After it was announced that SYFY wasn’t going to pick up season four of the show, fans, including Wil Wheaton, Patton Oswalt, and others, lobbied Amazon and Netflix to pick up the doomed series. Amazon heard the fans and added The Expanse to their lineup of original shows. While it may not be new to us, it’s new to Amazon Prime, and they treated fans to a completely interactive experience. We became part of a UN Peacekeeping Mission sent to a colony where corrupt RCE agents were taking advantage of a newly colonized planet. Once inside, we were approached by colonists looking for help and RCE agents looking for a quick buck. We were quickly evacuated out the back once the fighting started.

The RCE agent tried to sucker us in, but we weren’t buying it. Of course, tensions boiled over quickly.

As an added bonus, the cast of The Expanse dropped by their activation to surprise some of their cosplaying fans. Clearly, they were impressed (both the cast and the fans).

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0L2hHEH5ys/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0JaR3cH9ax/

Carnival Row

Carnival Row is a fantastical show, where humans have forced mystical creatures out of their lands and into society. Not everyone accepts these creatures (“critches”), so most live in the worst parts of this Victorian city. The show is as timely as it is wonderful, addressing the issues of refugees trying to live in a land where no one wants them. Series star Orlando Bloom (Philo) claims to have made San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer so uncomfortable by the immigration storyline, that Faulconer made an abrupt exit from the experience. After going through it, I can see why he would have been uncomfortable.

We were given the choice to enter as humans or creatures. Humans were treated kindly, politely, and with respect, while creatures were constantly harassed for what they were. The only place where creatures could be themselves was at The Forbidden Lounge, a burlesque speakeasy with all kinds of hidden entertainment.

The Parties

What’s a truly great SDCC offsite without a party? Amazon Prime Video invited fans to enjoy individual screenings of The Boys, The Expanse, and Carnival Row along with cast and producers from each show. The catch – You had to line up pretty darned early (we heard 3+ hours in some cases) if you wanted to get in, whether you RSVP’d or not. Those who did get in got to see the premiere of each show before anyone else and hang out with the cast and producers.

Amazon Prime Video’s Experience at SDCC was the largest, most immersive offsite I’ve been through since 2017’s Blade Runner: 2049 Experience. Regardless (or perhaps in spite) of the long line to get in, attendees got to dive into the worlds of Amazon Prime’s latest shows.

• The Boys premieres on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, July 26
• Carnival Row premieres on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, August 30
• The Expanse Season Four premieres on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, December 13

The only thing left to decide is: Who wore the wings best?