The Cheerios Kid and a Death Star prototype?

The Cheerios Kid, with his outer space outfits and Cheerios-engorged biceps, is no stranger to this blog. The ersatz Death Star, however, is (it’s all about the equatorial belt). It’s like someone took the Ultimate Power in the Universe and filtered it through grape soda, LSD and disco.

I looked for pictures of the Explorer XIX satellite and found this giant one, which makes it look as if the Death Star had been in The Day the Earth Stood Still. I bet it would have been great fun on the beach, or in the bleachers at a ballgame on a sunny summer day. Wouldn’t want to be the one to inflate it, though.

Did Lucas like Cheerios? Was he reading comics in the mid-1960s? One wonders. (Well, not really.)