If you grew up in the 1960s, you know what I’m about to tell you just by looking at the above headline.
No, kids, we didn’t need a video game console to have fun. We just needed a bottle of toxic goo and an open-faced electric oven.
That literally sat directly on our bedroom carpet. Awesome right? Wait till you read the next part.
So, let’s talk about Mattel’s legendary “Thingmaker.”
To a modern parent, this toy basically looks like a dangerous thing that can go through a lawsuit. It was literally a hot plate sold to elementary schoolers.
It was designed to cook liquid plastic into rubber bugs at high temperatures. Woow just woow!
No, there were no safety looks, cooling timers, and zero supervision.
The only things that it gave us were scary memories and scars on our fingers.
So, let’s jump in and talk about the dangerous, fume-filled wonderful toy of our childhood.
It Wasn’t a Lightbulb… It Was a Grill (390°F)
Just forget the Easy-Bake Oven. That’s for kids. Bake Ovens cooked brownies using a little 100-watt lightbulb.
Let’s talk about the kingpin.
The Thingmaker was the real deal. It was basically powered by a Calrod heating element. It basically used the exact technology in your mother’s kitchen stove or a toaster.
Let’s talk about the fun part. When you plug it in, it doesn’t just get warm. It got hot. I mean, really, really hot. Here we are talking about 390 degrees Fahrenheit. Scary right?
Sadly, there was no protective door or safety cage. It was simply exposed to the scorching square of metal sitting on a flimsy stand. How right?
If you accidentally brushed your arm against it, sorry to say, you learned a new physics lesson instantly. Just let it leave alone.
Or if you dropped a crayon on it, RIP crayon. Plus, you smoke out the entire living room.
It was basically an industrial grill for 8-year-olds. Sounds scary right?
The Magic of “Plastigoop”
The fuel for this amazing toy had the perfect scientific name. It was Plastigoop.
It came in little squeeze bottles that literally smelled like a chemical factory exploded in a candy store.
Did you know, the colors were vibrant, neon greens, bright oranges, and deep blacks.
Plus, they were actually liquid PVC (polyvinyl chloride). Woow!
However, using the Thingmaker was an art. You need to have the steady hand of a surgeon to fill the intricate die-cast metal rods. Yes, you need a lot of patience.
Sorry mate. NO SNEEZE. If you sneezed too hard, you ruined the spider’s legs. Plus, if you didn’t squeeze enough, your centipede came out missing a head. Funny right? Yes, but scary as hell!
Because of the amazing toy, we became little chemists. We swirled red and blue Goop together to create scary radioactive bugs.
They were carefully prepping the cold metal plates just before sending them into the inferno. Sounds like a science experiment, right?
The “Tongs of Terror” and The Water Sizzle
Yes, getting the mold into the oven was super easy, but getting out was the hardest part.
Mattel had a flimsy wire handle. It was basically a bent coat hanger. You had to hook into the side of the blazing hot metal plate.
Your hand would literally shake as you tried to lift the mold without dropping it. Plus, we made sure not to burn our knuckles on the heating coil.
Then came the best sound in the world.
Now you would drop the metal plate into the little blue plastic tray, which is filled with tap water. HSSSSSSSSS!
Bam, a cloud steam would rise up and fog your glasses. Finally, after a few seconds of coolding you would peel the rubber bugs out of the mold. Little science experiment. Lol.
They were still warm, sticky, and ready to use. Now it’s time to terrorize your little sister. Hahaha.
The Badge of Honor: Third-Degree Burns
We basically couldn’t find a single person who owned a Thingmaker who didn’t burn themselves at least once. Burning is a must. Lol.
Sometimes you get impatient and touch the mold before it’s cool. Sad. Or maybe the wire handle slipped, and 390 degree plate landed on your poor leg.
Or maybe just leaned in too close to check the progress and lost one eyebrow. Likewise.
Unfortunately, in the 2020s, a toy like this would get banned immediately. But in 1965, our parents simply told us to run our fingers under cold water and be more careful next time. That’s it. We survived. No crying. We had the badge of honor.
We Were a Tougher Generation
By the 1970s, the fun police arrived. The Toy Safety Act of 1969 eventually led to the demise of the open-hot-plate design.
As a result of that, later versions of the toy used lightbulbs and safety locks. But let’s be real, it just basically wasn’t the same.
Luckily, we survived the toxic fumes.
We survived the searing heat. And we have the cool rubber bugs (and the faint scars) to prove it. Fun but scary!