One of the unusual creatures that came with Mattel's 1960s Strange Change machine toy (the unit was also marketed as the Time Machine). Said electric device featured heating and compression chambers that transformed square memory-plastic "Time Capsules" into toy figures and back again.
The actual Membrane Man toy was molded from magenta-colored plastic, but the artwork on the Strange Change box depicts him as yellow, which is the look I prefer (that sickly hue gives the impression that he's made out of moldy cheese or something similarly disgusting.) In my opinion, Membrane Man looks an awful lot like a "zombified" version of Mothman, the otherworldly creature reportedly sighted by numerous individuals at Point Pleasant, West Virginia from November 1966 to December 1967. I don't know which year(s) in the 1960s that the Strange Change toys were produced, so, it's quite possible that Membrane Man's creation precedes the first Mothman encounter, but, I still think it would be neat if whomever designed Membrane Man was inspired by accounts of the legendary cryptid.
Materials:
Newsprint, tissue paper, white glue, acrylic paint, plastic, and super glue.
Dimensions:
5.6 cm / 2.2 in. x 6.8 cm / 2.7 in. (widest point x highest point)
Time:
Two days: December 3 and 4, 2012.
I modeled most of the figure's anatomy, with the exception of the wings and right "hand", on the third, and finished everything up the following day. Altogether, it took roughly six hours to make the figure and an hour-or-so to paint it.
For comparison purposes, below are several relevant images:
Illustration of Membrane Man, from the front of the Strange Change machine's box.
Close-up of the Membrane Man toy emerging/entering the Strange Change machine's compression chamber.
Pictured are the sixteen figures, tweezers, and diorama that came with the Strange Change machine. In the top, right-hand corner you can see Membrane Man relaxing in one of the diorama's volcanic depressions.
This is the Strange Change machine itself (labeled as the Time Machine in this case.)
REFERENCES:
Strange Change Machine toy information and photos.
Wikipedia Mothman article.
Extra special thanks to Jonathan Wojcik, web master of Bogleech.com, for identifying what the Strange Change Machine is and for providing me with the above link (my parents bought a secondhand Strange Change Machine, from an auction, for me as a gift, when I was a child, probably around twenty years ago, but I no longer have it and had no recollection as to what it was or who made it.) I think the one I had came with a Membrane Man, but it's been so long, I can't really say for sure.
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The repeating background graphic is a photo of the Strange Change Machine's heating chamber with both a fully formed figure and a Time Capsule inside it.
The midi music playing is the "Naaktkha Castle" theme from the video game Drakkhen (I just picked an ominous sounding tune that I felt fit Membrane Man.)
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