I bought one of these off eBay in the early 90s, and had a Thingmaker party with Joel Hodgson one evening, everyone ended up with a horrible headache, no doubt from the toxic fumes released by melting plastic - ThreadSky

artofcoop.bsky.social • 12 days ago

I bought one of these off eBay in the early 90s, and had a Thingmaker party with Joel Hodgson one evening, everyone ended up with a horrible headache, no doubt from the toxic fumes released by melting plastic

Reposted from Yonxers

I had both that and the heated mold that made latex bugs.

Comments

stevedarnall.bsky.social•12 days ago

I can only imagine the odor emitted by 30-year-old goop.

derfbackderf.bsky.social•12 days ago

I had one of those when I was a kid. Really boring toy, although the bugs made excellent projectiles to throw at a little brother. There was also one that made EDIBLE bugs. A neighbor friend had that one. Totally disgusting "candy." God knows what the ingredients were.

amphibiouscat.bsky.social•12 days ago

That thing is like freebasing microplastics for sure

steveor.bsky.social•5 days ago

I ran a demo of dangerous boomer toys at SecretCon 2024 in Minneapolis. Fortunately the Thingmaker was operated outdoors.

beezeemann.bsky.social•12 days ago

I never had one of these as a kid but some of my friends did. The horrible smell, the heat blistered fingertips...man, I miss the early 70s.

dholverson.bsky.social•12 days ago

My Sister and I had a "Triple Thingmaker" back in the day. I'm guessing Mattel was burning off extra parts inventory with three sets of molds to one heater. I was an annoyed kiddie when they discontinued the Plasti-Goop.

artofmeganmars.bsky.social•12 days ago

I desperately wanted one of those growing up, but my parents refused because it was a "gross boy's toy" 😭 looked like fun to me

brimstone913.bsky.social•12 days ago

My sister got the original for Christmas back in 1964 and the following year I got the Creeple People version.

cheesewhisperer.bsky.social•7 days ago

The fumes are just part of the experience!

jikorijo.bsky.social•12 days ago

I always wanted the ones you could eat.

What was it like chilling with Joel Hodgson?

https://youtu.be/bfs8hVNvVik?si=cIM1SXuMCH-Frgwh

daintist.bsky.social•12 days ago

Oh man...I remember these

daintist.bsky.social•12 days ago

I can still smell the plastic

barrycrain.bsky.social•12 days ago

I have no tattoos, but I've got a Mattel Thing-Maker™ scar

luvcatzfun.bsky.social•12 days ago

Same

thegoggiest.bsky.social•12 days ago

I remember my dad only buying the extra molds + the liquid, saying that we could easily use our oven to make them instead of the "official" one. It DID work but our kitchen smelled TERRIBLY for almost a month, lol

13thmuse.bsky.social•11 days ago

I’ve got the Creeple Peeple maker, and the Vacu-form Thing Maker sets up in the attic. They were my mom and aunts. Just enough goop left 4 me to try in the mid 80’s. That plastic destroys varnish on wood. These are the survivors of what they made. + a Lot of bugs.

thatweissguy.bsky.social•12 days ago

That goop was noxious enough fresh, I can’t imagine what two decades of fermentation would do to it.

pseigh.bsky.social•12 days ago

Between the fumes and the molds themselves getting as hot as a cast iron skillet, I’m surprised I was allowed to play with this. Those rubber bugs were fun though! I think there was a shrunken head mold too?

The finished product smelled like ass.

mcfadden.bsky.social•12 days ago

I just rewatched the MST3K episode where he plays with it!

alicetherat.bsky.social•12 days ago

I had the Peanuts version; my creations never looked as good as the ones on the box...

yonxers.bsky.social•12 days ago

On a totally unrelated note, Joel Hodgson (pre-MST3K) was the first stand up comedian I ever saw perform live (the Funnybone Comedy Club in Columbus, Ohio, summer of 1986.)

jaubertmoniker.net•12 days ago

god yeah this thing smelled nasty

thesarge00.bsky.social•12 days ago

I got handed the family one that my sisters and I used in the 70's. All the molds and working fucking food-grade hot plate (none of us made it out of those times without a scar). Where did you find the real plasti-goop?

artofcoop.bsky.social•12 days ago

Someone was selling it new on ebay, but that was 30 years ago

thesarge00.bsky.social•12 days ago

Bah pooh. Guess it's silicone with a release agent - don't think silicone would want to let go of all that detail on it's own...