Where to find the geekiest gadgets for fans of Comic-Con
By Phil Hornshaw
The biggest geek event of the year, San Diego Comic-Con, has come and gone in 2013. But, one of the coolest things about the event isn’t the huge number of celebrities, artists, writers and geek icons who are all in one place – although that is pretty cool. It’s the number of awesome gadgets, toys and other items that are available at the con that you might not ever see again.
Well, you’re in luck, because those cool gadgets aren’t lost to con-history if you know where to look. Here’s a quick list of the geekiest gadgets fans of Comic-Con could hope for, without having to wait a year or fly to San Diego to get them.
Make your gadgets heroic
Comic-Con would be nothing if it weren’t for superheroes. After all, it’s “Comic-Con,” not “Movie and TV Show Con,” despite the fact that Hollywood and lots of other pop culture centers have moved into the convention over the years. If you want something truly Comic-Con-esque, it needs superheroes.
There are tons of great superhero-inspired items out there, but a simple and great one is a USB drive made to look like Iron Man’s gauntlet. The officially licensed 8GB flash drive has fingers that can be posed and even includes Iron Man’s light-up Repulsor beam blaster. It’ll run you about $37 from Newegg.
And speaking of heroes, Amazon stocks several speaker sets from iHome based on characters from Marvel Comics, such as the Incredible Hulk, Captain America and, yes, Iron Man. The eKids Marvel Avengers Hulk Rechargeable Character Speaker set runs at about $25 at Amazon and is compatible with devices such as iPods and iPhones for all your listening needs.
All kinds of other stuff, too
Comic-Con has expanded far beyond just comics over the years, and there are tons of gadgets out there that are themed after just about everything that’s awesome. One of my favorites: the U.S.S. Enterprise pizza cutter, turning the ship created for Star Trek into a piece of culinary equipment. You can find a 24-karat gold version at ThinkGeek for $99, along with 3.5 percent Cash Back. There’s also an Enterprise spatula on the way to ThinkGeek’s online store.
ThinkGeek is a great place to find lots of other devices that would fit your Comic-Con-inspired lifestyle, too. It’s worth shopping around to stumble on great items such as a Tetris stackable LED desk lamp, made up of the famous blocks from the classic puzzle video game, for $40.
