This year at SDCC, HBO hosted the Iceberg Lounge so that fans could immerse themselves into the world of The Penguin. On entry to the experience, guests were greeted by characters and led through the back streets of Gotham to the club.

Once in the club, attendees were given a cherry slush puppy and were encouraged to explore. There was a hot dog stand serving up mini hot dogs.

The bar had a themed menu serving up non-alcoholic options, beer, wine and a special cocktail called Gotham Floodwater.

For entertainment, there was a DJ and dancers, as well as The Penguin trailer playing sporadically.

On exploration, we found a room that was the hub of Oz’s operations. One of his henchmen showed us the product and gave out samples (which turned out to be exclusive pins). We were also able to prove our loyalty to Oz by getting a variety of tattoos.

From there, we met an aspiring dancer named Peaches who was told to guard the dressing room. All the character interaction was great but special shoutout to Peaches as she managed to be both hilarious and endearing. Peaches gave us a special password to get into the club within the club. The club within the club was absolutely fantastic. There was another bar with speciality cocktails, cleverly named the “Oz Fashioned” and “Sofiatini”.

They also served up arancini bites, chicken satay skewers, and sliders which were all delicious.

There were various fun activations set up including a special photo op, a tattoo station, and our personal favourite – a whiskey tasting. Fans were also able to take home a cigar as swag.

With specialised drinks, high quality food, plenty of character interactions, unique swag and lots of exciting things to see and do, The Iceberg Lounge had all the ingredients of a perfect Comic Con offsite. Guests were fully immersed and enjoyed themselves so much that a lot of them stayed all night. It was a great way to hype up the show and we’re counting down the days till it airs.

The Penguin premieres September 19th on HBO.