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When San Diego Comic-Con Finally Ends And My Exclusives Come Home

Published Sun, 14 Aug 2016 16:00:19 -0500

By Will Romine, Age 32

SDCC 2016 IS FINALLY OVER!

I know what you're thinking. SDCC ended three weeks ago, you moron. Stop living in the past! Reader, you would be right in one respect. At 5:00 PM on July 24, a booming voice filled the San Diego Convention Center, telling the 120,000 most envied geeks in the world to scram. SDCC was over and done with. The geekly hordes poured out of the convention center and into the Gaslamp district. Some were tired, some were in awe of the week that was, but all settled on one undeniable truth: the event that they had spent a year saving for; pining for; planning for was over. Me personally, I haven't been in on the exhibition floor for the "last call" announcement in several years. For me, the final minutes of SDCC proper are spent at a little store called the "Postal Annex."

Now friends, if you do SDCC right, and I certainly do, you'll finish with more swag than fits comfortably in a checked bag, under the seat in front of you, or in the overhead bin. There are several options for dealing with this wonderful, wonderful problem. You could pay the exorbitant rates that the convention center FedEx charges and be out of pocket almost as much as you paid for your loot, you could cut your losses and throw it in a dumpster, or you could shuffle your way over to Postal Annex near Petco Park. I've been coming to this place for years. They're quick, friendly, and best of all, open up on Sunday specifically for con-goers.
This year, the only shipping box I could was bigger than the stuff I needed to ship. No problem! Anh Tu, the proprietor of the shop, cut the box down to size, saving me $25 on my shipping. As she worked, she told me a little bit about her shop. For the past 11 years, the Postal Annex has been serving the con-going crowd, shipping exclusives worldwide at reasonable rates. She says that SDCC, for her, is better than Christmas. However, business this year was down, which she attributes to the new RFID badges reducing the number of illegitimate attendees. She's also seen a much reduced number of folks using her xerox machines to produce counterfeit badges. Come to think of it, the exhibition hall floor did seem a little less insane this year.

As I waived goodbye to my loot, and good bye to San Diego, I knew that there was still a little bit of SDCC to come. I knew that when I came home, my mountains of loot would be there to greet me. I also knew that once I was reunited with my SDCC haul, that I would have nothing to do but wait until SDCC 2017. That day is today. SDCC 2016 is over. I can't be too sad, however. I mean, look at that haul! I'm really surprised the dog survived the trip.

If you ever find yourself with more SDCC exclusives than you know what to do with, visit Postal Annex on 611 K Street. You just might see me there! Otherwise, follow me @notacomplainer.

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