Amazon Prime Video

You know when you find yourself in a place of boredom blindly scrolling through options to watch with nothing new or rather of interest popping up and you are not awake enough to read? That was me when I stumbled upon Gen V. Full honesty, I had seen it promoted but had not paid mind enough to note that it in fact had already been released. But shortly after clicking play, my giving it a shot Hamilton-style would pay off.

Having not seen any of the directly related series, The Boys, the only way I can think to describe Gen V is to say it is like a blended mixture of rawer complexity and Sky High with an added in ensemble’s strength like that of The Magicians – which is an overly verbalized way to say I really liked it. I do not believe it to be perfection but I do see it to be truly one of a kind with celebrated diversity via all aspects of life and personages. What I found to be its best attribute is in that Gen V tackles so many issues in a way only a TV-MA-rated series could. Whilst some experiences are presented beneath sarcasm and dark humor, others more harsh are shown transparently in sometimes possibly triggering ways (ED/SA). Gen V is a rather well-written well-paced bizarre sometimes gory sci-fi piece with a potential to accrue quite a fanbase if word-of-mouth aka social media presents it binge-worthy enough to popularize – which is to say to the world, I personally do.

If you haven’t been able to tell from my coverage over the past seven years, I’m a huge fan of all of the insane offsite events that companies host during SDCC week. I was hooked from my very first offsite activation for 2014’s Godzilla, and just generally try to experience as many of these events during the week as I possibly can.

A couple of weeks back I posted about the Prime Video Experience, a massive 60,000 square-foot event that would host activations for upcoming series The Boys, Carnival Row, and the fourth season of The Expanse. Mikaela and I had an opportunity to check out the event during a media preview on Wednesday, and I wholeheartedly believe that it’s the most insane offsite that you’ll be able to experience this year.

The Prime Video Experience is located at MLK and 1st in San Diego (obviously), and is open from 9AM-5PM each day of the convention. As of this morning the line looked pretty long, but I assure you that the event is an absolute blast, and is well worth any wait.

From the press release, “Once inside, attendees will receive collectible gold and silver coins which they can use to further explore the activation. Fans can begin their day covering up the crime scene of a superhero kidnapping at the Audio Visual shop where Hughie works on The Boys. On the opposite end of the space, a Rocinante spaceship is positioned that will take adventure-seekers on a United Nations peacekeeping mission to a newly colonized planet seen in The Expanse. Guests can also discover the Carnival Row universe in which humans and exotic creatures coexist before entering The Forbidden Lounge, a neo-Victorian decorated hideaway venue, to enjoy a special performance. Amazon Prime Video collaborated with LG within the series activations to provide a premiere viewing experience for attendees.”

There’s also a Carl’s Jr. food truck inside, which was super cool because we don’t have a lot of those in Canada.

I took a video of each activation from start to finish (with a couple of odd cuts during The Boys activation because I had to do stuff and accidentally hit the stop button), so if you’re into spoilers or aren’t going to make the event, you can check them out below, and keep scrolling for some photos of the massive offsite (but not from inside the activations because I was taking video).

Again, spoilers ahead, and if you’re here in San Diego, don’t look at any of it and just go get in line!