Mattel Brings Back ‘ThingMaker’, Now In 3D!
While many people are crowded into the Gaylord Resort and Convention Center for the latest Katsucon, others are packed into the Jacob K Javitz Center in New York City for the annual Toy Fair, the event at which most toymaking companies debut new products. Yesterday Mattel Inc. did just that, rolling out a 3D printer aimed at the youth market and labeled with a classic name.
According to a press release, Mattel is calling its new 3D printer “ThingMaker” after the classic toys from the 1960s which allowed kids to make all kinds of things using quickset liquid latex (branded with the allegedly copywritten term Plastigoop) and metal molds. I had a set under the ThingMaker toy series, the “Creepy Crawlers” which were mostly insects and bugs, but also included things like squids and octopuses.
In addition to the actual 3D printer, the new ThingMaker toy includes a downloadable ThingMaker Design App, which comes from a previously announced partnership between Mattel and the 3D design industry giant Autodesk Inc. How all that works is best described in this paragraph from the release:
Whether creating figures such as dolls, robots and dinosaurs, or wearable accessories like bracelets and necklaces, Mattel’s new ThingMaker eco-system is the answer for at-home creative play. By downloading the ThingMaker Design App, families can browse through easy-to-follow templates or tap into their imaginations and build their own creations from hundreds of parts. When the masterpiece is ready for creation, designs get sent right to the ThingMaker 3D Printer, which prints parts in batches for easy assembly via ball and socket joints.
In my elementary school years I had lots of fun with my Creepy Crawlers, mixing colors to make all sorts of bugs and using them to freak out our cats and dogs or scare my sister. Later I moved on to things like plastic model kits, and in my early teens started asking for power tools for Christmas to make even bigger toys (OK, mostly wooden swords). Eventually all that got put aside when I discovered photography, but if I had a 3D printer back then, Lord only knows what I would have made.
As anybody of my age has been saying since we were in our 20s, “If only we had toys like this when I was a kid.” Of course, we couldn’t have swung the $299 price tag, but in today’s economy, that is the cost of a game console or decent tablet. I have no doubt we’ll see the new ThingMaker under a lot of trees this coming Christmas.
