Ok, let’s first start off with the head. The head is made of good durable hard plastic that will probably last forever, unlike the body
Next is the bottom of the neck where we see a square gaping hole and this is where the neck joint fits in.
The neck joint is made of clear hard plastic with a triangular notch on each side. These notches keep the head attached to the body with a tight fit. Also, you’ll notice a black rubber O-ring that fits tightly around the neck, keeping the skin in place and from slipping away from the neck joint.
Green latex is the monster’s skin, which is the perfect material for stretching and then returning back to it’s natural state.
Here's a vintage photo from the original Stretch Monster Labs at Kenner.
To create the scaly texture and give shape to the monster these aluminum mandrels or dip molds were used. One of the many companies that produced Kenner's stretch figures was Precision Dippings Marketing Limited from the United Kingdom.
There were classic toys like Chatty Cathy who talked, the Great Garloo that could bend over and pick things up, Betsy Wetsy – well we all know what she did, Growing Sally grew, and you could even see Pulsar’s guts. But none of these toys could do what Stretch Monster could do and that was bleed. That’s right, Stretch Monster was a bleeder.
Most people who owned a Stretch Monster as a kid share the same memory of when they first discovered that their Stretch Monster could bleed.
Luckily the blood was just colored corn syrup and many kids actually ate it.
Of course back then there was a big debate between parents and kids on what it was and if it was toxic. Even in the patent it is mentioned, “that the filling material should be non-toxic although this is not essential”. Not essential? Good thing they went with corn syrup because we might’ve had a Stretch Monster epidemic with a bunch of kids dying from Stretch Monster poisoning.
I was told by a Kenner employee that one of the workers sustained third degree burns from the hot syrup when it bubbled out of the vat and landed on part of the worker's face and neck.
Here we see Stretch Monster’s famous blood, bottled up as an artifact from toy and pop culture history.
Ok, that’s it! Class is dismissed and someone wake up the kid in the back. He’s drooling all over his desk.
The Kenner and mandrel photos came from Stretch Armstrong World and the mint Stretch Monster that I added an x-ray machine came from the Stretch Monster Archive
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