any way to get your hands on this or past items from past years without being there?

i simply must have some of this stuff..

As of the past years.. (this will be my fourth year) no. Not at all. And the print run is so limited, that you actually almost never see the old stuff anywhere, not even for sale. I'm only missing 2010s stuff (and I'll forever curse my life for it)

Trading is usually the only way. They only print enough for the preorder attendees and at least in the past the only way to get it was to show up in person.

Get lucky on eBay, know someone personally who has it, or try posting on the forums offering cash/trades.

Like others have said, it's pretty unlikely. There are limited numbers of swag and generally, people don't want to part with it.