After a five-year absence, South Park has returned to San Diego Comic-Con in a big way, in celebration of its 20th season. Enter: the “South Park 20 Experience,” which allows fans to thrust themselves into 20 of the most iconic scenes in South Park history.
The “South Park 20 Experience” is a self-styled “corporate-sponsored celebration of a beloved intellectual property” that features backdrops that include the “Great Wall of Canada,” “Satan’s Throne,” “Cartman Riding Ostriches,” and more, each social ready with the hashtag #SOUTHPARK20.
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In addition, there’s a South Park GIF booth where visitors can take an animated gif with various characters, to print and take home and share across social networks.
“We wanted to create as seamless an experience for consumers as possible,” said Shawn Silverman, Comedy Central’s VP of marketing. “We wanted to give people an opportunity to jump into the scene and share them socially as much as they can.”
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That involved a lot of planning. In advance of the event, Comedy Central took to Twitter to ask fans what their favorite moments from South Park were. Little did they know the answers were being compiled to select the 20 classic moments they would then find in San Diego.
On Thursday, when the experience debuted at Comic-Con, Comedy Central also launched a revamped Avatar Creator where fans can become characters in the South Park universe.
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“All of the events that we do at Comedy Central, whether it’s Comic-Con, SXSW, anything on the ground, we want to make sure we’re bringing the experience to life for the fans, to be closer to these franchises and brands,” said Silverman. “We want to be super shareable. It’s just not about the tens of thousands that are going to get through this here.”
“It’s about the millions around the world,” said animator Chris “Crispy” Brion.
Which is precisely why Comedy Central launched a South Park app on Android and iOS for the occasion, allowing anyone around the world access into the brains of creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The app bolsters San Diego-bound fans, and gives others that can’t make it a lifeline, with insight into the fan-favorite moments from creators Parker and Stone, as well as clips and 500+ quotes from the show.
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For those that can come to San Diego, they’ll be rewarded a Hall H panel hosted by Chris Hardwick on Friday full of surprises and exclusive content, as well as “The Coon & Friends Experience” from Ubisoft that previews the upcoming release of South Park: The Fractured But Whole, a new video game available on December 6 coming to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC and available as a digital download..
In conjunction with Hulu, the San Diego Wine & Culinary Center hosts a Hulu Viewing Lounge, with a continuous streaming marathon of episodes from all 19 seasons Thursday through Sunday, an art gallery curated by pop-culture artist Ron English, and all-important charging stations for phones and devices.
Comic-Con is just the beginning of the South Park celebration. While mum on details, Comedy Central confirmed that these 20 fan-favorite moments will be touring the country as we build toward the 20th season premiere on September 14, and afterwards.
For more information and to follow along with South Park‘s 20th anniversary, visit SouthParkStudios.com. South Park‘s 20th season premieres at 10 p.m. ET/PT on September 14.
[All images courtesy of Comedy Central]
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