Billy Blastoff

Here are some pictures of a classic vintage space toy circa 1968-69 that I played with for endless hours as a kid. It was called Billy Blastoff and "Billy" actually powered his vehicles through a motor in his backpack (two "AA" batteries.) Absolutely great - I was much more into this style of space toy as opposed to Major Matt Mason.
These are going, going, gone on eBay, and readers of this blog realize I am selling like loads of the formative toys on my youth on the Internet. I will tag the posts EBAY and you will see, once again, that I am the self-anointed King of the Nerds.

Holy Ape Paratroopers!

As can be seen above and from following my eBay exploits, I owned just about every bit of Planet of the Apes paraphernalia ever created. This was a great one, a POTA ape paratrooper. As I don't remember seeing many airplanes in the movies I guess they shot him out of a gigantic slingshot from Ape City to terrorize humans in the Forbidden Zone.

You Asked For It. More Planet of the Apes Piggy Banks!

One of the great things about Google Analytics is how you can research what key words people use to find your blog. Recently people have found "Fatal Error" by searching for Dr. Zaius piggy banks, along with searches for "world record skydive", Rollerball, science fiction art, randall ensley, and "character design sheets." The world record skydive search is great because it takes you to my posts about Colonel Joe Kittinger and his amazing skydive of 1960 from a high-altitude balloon to test escape strategies for military jet pilots. He jumped from approximately 102,000 feet and was the first person "high" enough to see the curvature of the earth. Not Jerry Garcia.

LINK to eBay auction on the above banks.

Dr. Zaius Piggy Bank

Yes, it is time for the ebay retro-homage to my childhood again. Nice bank, no coins included.
Planet of the Apes was my first real science fiction crush. I had just about every toy related to the movie.
Goodbye Zaius, Goodbye...

Ebay link to item

Just How Much Geeky Stuff Do You Have?

An 1968 original kite that I used as a poster in my room during development. Put For Sale tonight on ebay! Not colors that I associate with the Starship Enterprise, but 60's pop-cool.

Gorilla Soldier Says Hi

Yes, I did keep every toy I ever owned. I feel sorry for those who love me. And grateful for Ebay.

Nerd Hall of Fame: Vote Early Vote Often

I think just the fact that I actually used this lunch box qualifies me for immediate inclusion in the Hall of Fame.
Mark Lenard, one of my favorite actors, portrayed the gorilla general in the series. The artist captured his features well in the art on the lunch box.

More Crushed Childhood Dreams for Sale

Look, I had great toys...but, it's time for them to go. Some that are designed well or good graphics I feel might be right to post. That top one of the Cylon Raider from the OG (Original Galactica, Boooy) launched many a space fantasy of mine, probably. Unless it is all confabulation.
Anyway, you can see how I surrounded myself in fantasy and sci-fi during the stages "The Dawn of Awareness" and "Ooh, A Girl. Soft."
There are probably hundreds of toys that I am unloading.
As to the lack of posting to the blog, my apologies. Pure sloth and pride at work. I am working on a "big for me" art project that is taking a lot of research time. More about this later, but, did you know there are some Gruesome pictures on the web of the aftermaths of motorcycle accidents? Ughhh!

1970's Model Kits

I loved building sci-fi and comic book models in the 70's and these were two of my favorites. Planet of the Apes was what really got me into drawing and I was constantly doodling General Ursus and Dr. Zaius. I am selling a lot of my old stuff to make room for, well, new old stuff and these two unopened kits are available on Ebay. My first real venture into the online auctioning world.
My favorite model was King Kong with the glow in the dark face and also a "working" or semi animated with rubber bands Pirates of the Caribbean model with a skeleton pirate steering his haunted vessel. The sword hand really made a chopping motion. But my all time favorite kit was the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Hope that turns up in my trek through old-time junk collection.