Strange Change Machine

The Strange Change Machine was a toy produced by Mattel in the late 1960's, in which 'shape memory' plastic figures of prehistoric animals and science fiction-type creatures could be reconstituted from compressed 'time capsule' form, and then re-compressed back into that form. The label on the box gave the playset's official title as A Strange Change Toy featuring The Lost World, suggesting that this was perhaps the first of a proposed series. The Lost World was the only one produced in this series before it was discontinued.

The playset itself consisted primarily of a metal piece of electrical machinery, painted red, that consisted of two parts. The Expansion Chamber was a heated metal grill covered with a see-through plastic dome, in which the 'time capsules' were placed to change them back into whatever type of figure they had previously been - dinosaur, monster, robot, 'astropod,' or 'creatureling'. The set came with 16 of these plastic pieces molded in different colors.

To re-compress the cube into a figure, it was first heated in the Pre-Heat Area, then placed (using enclosed tongs) into the Compressor, which was basically a metal hand-cranked screwpress that squashed the figures back into their cube shape, with the Mattel logo stamped into one side.

The figures were composed of a specially treated type of plastic that would allow them to become soft and pliable when heated, so that they could be compressed into their cube form with the additional application of pressure, or slowly unfold into their character forms if reheated again.

The instructions for the machinery came printed on a playmap, the Landscape Map of the Lost World, which was a paper map with prehistoric forest and mountain range. A green plastic blowmold simulating a range of forested hills was also enclosed, called the Home for Lost World Creatures; this was to be used as a play area for the figures (the Lost World of the title), and also allowed the main piece of metal equipment to fit into the box snugly.