I know it's off topic sorta. It was my favorite toy as a child. Monster toys are in the blood here! Interesting info here: http://www.snowcrest.net/fox/str.html Mine still works! They are hard to find in working condition as the heating element is usually busted. These things get really hot, and can burn the crap outta your fingers. I always thought if hell was a play set, this was it. The Mummy was always the dude sent to hell. A freshly born Mummy.
oops I just read that link..lol we had tons of these cubes but without the oven when i was a kid cool to know where they came form
I still have some of the creatures, but the machine is long gone. As for burning fingers, the concept of natural selection ruled then, not just litigation. Those still did not get as hot as the little stovetops for Creepy Crawlers & Creeple People.
I had one of these way back when. What a great toy! It's hard to find with all the monsters and the vacuform base intact.
This reminds me of Creepy Crawlers a lot. I guess that was my generation's 'Easy Bake Oven for boys' Strange Change, in a sense?
And speaking of Creepy Crawlers and seeing the other post about the toxic nature of vinyl, think what kind of off-gassing was happening in our unventilated bedrooms as we cooked up armies of creatures.
Heating up the creatures and then crushing those hot little bastards back into cubes was my favorite part. I sold mine in the early days of ebay. Speaking of Creepy Crawlers, there used to be a toy that had molds for little soldiers where you could put metal wire in the limbs and they could bend like the old Mat Mason guys. Can't remember the name though.
My older brother had that - fighting soldiers or something like that. I would use his soldier molds with my glow in the dark goop to make legions of glowing mutant men.
Had one... and a vacuform... made lots of stuff that was great to blow up with m80's in the nearby "nunnery" property. Made the nuns jump too, which was the best part.
I have Vacuform sets still in the box. Boats, jets ,and diguises! A great era for toys! Mattel at their prime!
Wow, this is neat, the primordial Creepy Crawler maker! Are there any modern-day versions of this still around? And Paul, did you also have the Shrunken Head Factory?
The Shrunken Head mold came w/ the Fright Factory set. You could also make fangs, long fingernails and a third eye for personal adornment. Think there was a mold for an articulated skeleton, as well.
saw one of those strange change toys at my friends place last month . very cool toy paul . saw an unopened 60 s creepy crawler dragon maker set at the time tunnel toy show in san jose for $200 . that was my favorite toy when i was a kid . i was an idiot and lent it to my friend who almost burned his house down with it . his parents threw it away and that was the last time i saw that set until i came accross one at dr tongues toys in portland .
any chance i can get a paul kaiju custom mini dragon ? now iM hating myself for not buying that set . great thread paul !
Wow - I cannot believe you posted this. The Strange Change machine was my absolute favorite toy as a child; amazing when you consider that it was basically the same thing over and over again. It really is sad that the era of potentially dangerous toys is long gone - sure, I burned the hell out of my fingers with this thing multiple times, but hey - I consider it a learning experience I was really into finding one a few years back, but they go for stupid money on the bay now.
It was called the Fighting Men set. Made as part of the Mattel Make and play series that included the Thingmaker toys. First was the Vacu-form then the Vacu-maker - a cross between Thingmaker and Vacu-form. You could make a great little rubber turtle figure with a hard plastic shell. There was also Creepy Crawlers, Mini-Dragons, Fright Factory, Dolly Maker (Made basically rubber flat Liddle Kiddles), Fun Flowers, Picadoos, Creeple Peeple, Giant Creepy Crawlers, & EEEEKS!!!!! Marx also made molds to go in the Mattel ovens of Peanuts & Disney Characters. Does anybody remember Topper Motorized Monster Makers? Basically Topper Toys version where you would mold up the arms legs and heads of the Monster and put them on Windup monster bodies! Very cool. 7 different monsters made.
