FX has possibly been the most consistent offsite at San Diego Comic-Con over the last decade, and they’re always scaring up good times and good swag for fans with the help of experiential marketing agency Creative Riff. Each year’s iteration differs, and this year offered some of, if not the most, coveted swag items of the week… as well as possibly the most disappointing overall experience.

Let me preface this review by saying that as press, I got to attend early on Thursday morning, without waiting more than maybe ten minutes. So my own experience was drastically different from attendees’, but after hearing stories from attendees all week, we want to be sure those are addressed here as well. So we’re going to walk you through what the activation was like for us, and then what it was like for everyone else.

We started our journey at The Bear, which was a pop-up “restaurant”. It didn’t particularly resemble the interior of the restaurant to us, but there’s a quick photo op at a booth, before you’re directed to sit at the bar. Here was where the real magic happened, as “servers” presented you with a serving tray and removed the lid to reveal the “special of the day” — a piece of swag. For our group, this was a branded apron, but other swag throughout the week included hats, notepads, lunchboxes, bandanas, and more. You got to unwrap your special, and then on your way out, pick up a branded set of toothpicks for an extra take-away item.

Up next, we stepped into the “Hellevator”. FX is known for its horror shows, and it’s never a proper FX offsite unless there’s something on-site for the latest Ryan Murphy program. This year was all about the upcoming Grotesquerie, and you joined an employee on their first day of work for the ride of a lifetime. Screens took you through various levels of scares, for what was a fun peek into the series and good fun for those of us who love our horror (myself included).

After that were two quick photo ops with the exteriors for Paddy’s Pub from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia as well as the vampires’ mansion from What We Do in the Shadows. There’s a Nadja doll from the series at What We Do in the Shadows, but I’ll admit, even in press, I was hoping for something a bit more than just a two-second photo outside the exterior. We were big fans of the WWDITS activation two years ago in which attendees got to step into the house for a cool 360-degree video/gif opportunity, which was a fun takeaway but kept the lines moving without taking up too much space and time.

Finally, we joined the FX Shade Station, in which artists were customizing umbrellas with a short word or phrase (I believe it was ten characters maximum) and a symbol (such as a bat or sun). This was fun and the perfect take-away item for an incredibly hot weekend — I wound up using my own umbrella several times over the weekend — but some artists were certainly better than others.

Overall, our own experience was fun, with my favorite swag items of the weekend, and I really enjoyed the FX Hellevator and the showmanship at The Bear. But all of that was with about a ten-minute wait tops, which was not the experience most attendees had over the week. So let’s get into that.

This year’s San Diego Comic-Con at least “felt” hotter outside than normal, and as attendees queued hours to be let inside FX without shade, it was often a brutal wait. Once “inside”, they were greeted with… more waits. None of this is abnormal, but in previous years, there has often been more space to explore and more performers roaming the grounds. Watching samurai’s battle it out or wandering a maze only to find that it’s actually moving and a real person certainly adds to the experience and makes waiting feel less like a drag.

While the FX Hellevator offered a cool experience, everything else was either a very quick photo op outside a backdrop (It’s Always Sunny and WWDITS), or incredibly long waits for swag. We heard stories from attendees who waited two hours in line for The Bear, after already waiting three hours in line to even get in. And worse yet, we heard stories that they were told once in line at The Bear that they couldn’t leave for any reason — not to get water or to use the restroom. This created a potentially unsafe environment at worst, and a very uncomfortable one at best. Now, maybe it was worth it to some who walked away with the item they wanted, but if I waited five hours only to be handed a notepad (or to be told they’d run out of swag), I know I wouldn’t consider this a good experience.

Based on social media, the umbrella station at least seemed to have fewer issues, but it also had long waits and seemed to close early each day.

We’re honestly not sure what the solution here is. Shaded areas would definitely be a good place to start in making the overall experience better, and as much as we love the swag, personally I would rather downgrade the swag a bit and instead have more space to explore and feel like the overall experience and interaction was more. As with any offsite, there’s a delicate balance between providing a great experience and giving fans something fun to take away, and it feels like FX swung too far towards the latter end of that spectrum this year, while sacrificing the first.

This was also the second year that FX hasn’t offered reservation timeslots, meaning everyone had to queue to get in. Last year it wasn’t as big of a deal as most of the experiences were performance-based, so it was easier to get in and watch the Shogun samurai performances without a huge wait. So perhaps rethinking that system might make sense, or offering more performance elements and things to explore in the actual offsite.

Either way, while we thoroughly enjoyed our FX experience and know many who did as well, it was the offsite we heard the most issues and complaints about all week. But there’s always next year, FX.