SDCC 2024 Activation Tour

A look at some of the activations surrounding the Convention Center at San Diego Comic-Con 2024.

Every year at San Diego Comic-Con you’ll find a number of themed experiences known as activations in the area surrounding the convention center, and SDCC 2024 was no exception. While I didn’t have the time to visit them all, I was able to work several of them into my schedule. Here’s a brief look at each one I was able to see, in the same order that I visited them throughout the week because that’s as good of an order as any.

My first stop on arriving in town was the Sonic the Hedgehog Speed Café. A local burger joint was converted into a Sonic-themed restaurant serving, what else, fast food. From the Sonic signpost hung outside, to the back walls of the restaurant, to the rings suspended from the ceiling, everything was inspired by the games and featured Sonic and friends everywhere – even the background music was the Sonic theme played on a loop. Patrons could dine on fare that included --- and pick up some Sonic merch to take home.

Thursday’s activation tour kicked-off with a stop at Hulu’s Animayhem Factory. The factory was essentially an activation of activations, with stations for each of Hulu’s animated shows. Guests entered through a static display of a factory floor featuring familiar animated faces in various states of trouble among the machinery.

The first interactive station featured Family Guy. Visitors would select a prop from a shelf and then place it on a podium in front of a TV screen. The screen would then automatically play a clip from the show related to the prop. I was treated to the “butt scratcher” cutaway.

Up next was a Solar Opposites stress tester. The machine would read your stress level and dispense a goobler that reflected your stress. The gooblers were basically stress balls with heads and limbs, and were a cool collectible to bring home from the con.

From there it was on to American Dad and Hit Monkey. American Dad was a play on alien autopsy, with teams trying to put Roger’s organs back in place before a timer expired. Hit Monkey had visitors draw a katana from a barrel, if the sword pulled out far enough, you’d win a prize. I was lucky enough to make a wining pull, and was awarded a cool Hit Monkey pin set in a box that resembled a katana in its hilt.

The factory then opened a bit in its main area which featured a number of the shows. There was a virtual dance booth that let you try out your moves with the Belchers of Bob’s Burgers, static displays featuring an ancient vending machine from Krapopolis and a deep freezer from The Great North, and a The Simpsons donut shop serving up frosting covered donuts that looked like they each contained enough calories to meet your daily requirement.

The last room was dedicated to Futurama with a Slurm factory line serving up cups of the neon green soda of the future. As people exited the factory, they were given a 2D fanny pack and their choice of a pin set from Futurama or Solar Opposites.

The day’s tour continued a bit later with a stop at the Winchester Tavern. Yes, that Winchester Tavern. In celebration of Sean of the Dead’s 20th anniversary, Focus Features created a recreation of the famed pub that featured so prominently in the film. If you’re a fan of the film, you would have loved how much work went into leaving references to the movie just about everywhere in the bar.

When I arrived, I walked up to the bar, perused the Sean of the Dead merch, and then was handed a limited-edition Sean of the Dead tribute beer. While enjoying the cold can on what was a pretty hot day in San Diego, I explored the bar looking for every little Easter egg I could find. The first was easy, because it was hung above the bar right where it should have been – the Winchester rifle.

A bank of TVs cycled through “standby for further information” messages (while some displayed footage from the Sean of the Dead levels from the upcoming Funko Fusion game). The jukebox managed to belt out Queen despite the body of zombified John shoved through its front.

There were of course plenty of pool cues on hand, and the bouquet of flower with a card for Mum were sitting on top of a trash can. And while technically not a part of the Winchester, I did appreciate seeing the memo board that Sean used to formulate his plan, “Go round Mum’s, get Liz back, sort life out!”

I was then off to the races, entering a Roman coliseum to join a team of chariot drivers at Peacock’s Those About to Die activation. We were divided into five teams of five, and were each given a chance to take the reigns of a chariot to lead our team to victory, with the team winning the most heats taking the overall prize.

The miniature chariots were all attached to a slot racing track, and the reigns for each were on a platform above the track. Pulling up on the reigns would engage a switch that would drive the corresponding chariot forward. Timing was important, because pulling the reigns too quickly would cause your horses to tire, leaving your chariot motionless for a few critical seconds. It was fun driving the chariot and cheering on the random people who became part of my team for a brief time at Comic-Con.

Between the panels and interviews I was covering at SDCC, I was able to squeeze in one more activation before heading home, Paramount+’s The Lodge. The Lodge was similar to the Animayhem Factory in that it was a collection of activations within an activation. Visitors could get a custom Star Trek shirt printed and grab a slice of pizza with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

You could investigate a Dexter crime scene, have your photo taken with your IF, or peruse a selection of scents approved by the ghosts of Ghosts.

After enjoying the activations, you could enjoy a drink from the bar courtesy of Tulsa King before heading back out into the SoCal sun.

In addition, to the larger activations, the streets of downtown San Diego hosted many smaller activations for the enjoyment of those taking a break from the convention center and anyone who wanted to be a part of the fun even though they weren’t able to secure a badge. Spend some time walking around and you could find Dexter’s shipping crate, a Penguin food truck serving up frozen treats, and a SpongeBob water station at which you could refill your bottle.

In anticipation of the Borderlands movie, psychos were roaming the streets of San Diego and Moxxi was serving up drinks in her bar.

You might have even been lucky enough to see the Rickmobile pass by…