Another high-flying internet dream is crashing into economic reality: Jay Maynard, aka Tron Guy, is selling his customized airplane on eBay (costume not included).
Maynard, a 48-year-old computer consultant who shot to internet celebrity for dressing in an elaborate outfit based on the classic sci-fi movie Tron, says he paid about $140,000 for the plane when he bought it a year ago.
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"I dearly wish I didn't have to sell it, but I don't have any choice in the matter," Maynard told Wired.com by phone Monday.
The two-seater sport plane, a 2008 AMD Zodiac XLi with a custom green-and-blue paint job that matches Maynard's Tron Guy outfit, also boasts a custom interior intended to go with the exterior. The seats are done in light gray and dark blue.
"You can't get green leather," he said.
Maynard, who lives in Fairmont, Minnesota, has traveled to geek gatherings like ROFLCon and become a certified cewebrity thanks to his devotion to his Tron Guy persona. He's made a fair amount of money from a string of 16 appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live, which paid him union scale, but other than that, the Tron Guy appearances haven't been that lucrative, he said. A profile in an upcoming European documentary about internet culture could help put Maynard back in the international spotlight.
Now, with his "honest job" as a programmer hitting economic turbulence, he's selling the airplane that's probably the most visible manifestation of his Tron Guy persona.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsF2RUMmpqcBidding on the Tron-themed plane is currently riding at $22,600, with nine bids and an unmet reserve.
Maynard says he's seen the original Tron so many times he's lost count. He called director Steven Lisberger a futurist and a visionary.
"Tron was the first attempt to show what goes on inside a computer," said Maynard, who called some of the movie's technical bits a little off but other parts prophetic and "scarily right."
"I mean come on — programs fighting each other?" he said.
Maynard says he has put in about 150 hours of flying time in the plane, mostly during short trips around the Midwest. While there's nothing Tron-specific about the plane's instrumentation panel aside from the "sheer level of geekery about it," Maynard said he put a lot of thought into the avionics package, specifying exactly what pieces of high-end gear went into the stack.
"There are people on the Pilots of America [forums] that have lusted after just that panel," he said.
Maynard says doesn't have any appearances planned, although he's holding out hope that he'll get involved in the upcoming Tron 2.0 movie.
"I would dearly love to be a part of it in some way, and if they call, I'm there," he said.
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