Saban Entertainment,
Saban International Paris, Abrams/Gentile Entertainment
Joey Camen – Chris Carter
Patricia Ja Lee – Samantha “Sammy” Reynolds
Jan Rabson – Volt Jolt, Top Hat
Jonny K. Lamb – T-3, Rumble Bee, 2-Ugly, 2-Ugly 2
Tony Pope – Hocust Locust, Professor Guggengrime, Tom Lockjaw
Art Kimbro – Sting Ring
Cam Clarke – Commantis, Spooky Goopy, Todd Carter
Steve Bulen – Squirminator
Creepy Crawlers
began life as a Mattel product in 1964, a
spin-off of their Vac-U-Form
set released the year prior. The concept of the toy was to use metal molds and
liquid plastic, called “Plastigoop”, to create a variety of bug-like creatures.
After filling the molds with the Plastigoop, the molds were then placed in the
“Thingmaker”--an open-faced electric hot plate oven that cured the Plastigoop--allowing
the creations to be removed from the mold when cooled. After a few years on the
market and the release of several different sets, safety concerns about the
Thingmaker led to it being discontinued. A revamped version, the “Thingmaker
II”, was released in 1978 with a new form of Plastigoop that was heated
first and placed into plastic molds to cool. But as the goop didn’t work as
well as its predecessor, the return was short-lived and the line cancelled
again.
Mattel had
let their trademark lapse and ToyMax took over production of the line beginning
in 1992. They returned to the original concept of metal molds and cooking the
newly-christened and expanded line of “Plasti-Goop” in a slotted oven called
the “Magic Maker”. The oven was lightbulb-powered and a recolored version of
the one previously
released for Makit
& Bakit suncatcher kits in the 80s. While ToyMax brought back a lot of
classic molds, they expanded the Creepy Crawlers line to include a variety of
licensed properties, like Power Rangers and Toy Story, as well as
introduced a variety of new Plasti-Goop such as scented and glow-in-the-dark.
![]() |
Professor Guggengrime, failed magician turned super villain. |
To help
promote the toy, ToyMax partnered with Saban Entertainment
to produce an animated series centered around the concept. Introducing the
audience to the world of Creepy Crawlers was Chris Carter (Joey Camen), a
self-described “normal kid” who had an interest in magic. While working in the
magic shop of disgraced former magician, Professor Guggengrime (Tony Pope),
Chris created the Magic Maker which, thanks to a special cosmic alignment known
as the Millennium Moment, created living mutants through a bombardment of
cosmic rays on some special goop that combined magic tricks with bugs.
![]() |
Chris and the Magic Maker with Goop-Mandos Commantis, Sting Ring, Hocus Locust, Volt Jolt and T3. |
The first three creations were Volt
Jolt (Jan Rabson), a combination of a light bulb and lightning bug that could
generate electrical jolts; T-3 (Jonny K. Lamb), short for Tick Trick Tick, was
the combination of a deck of cards and a tick that possessed incredible
strength and could fire card-like darts, and also had a pet named T-Flea that
dwelled under his shoulder pads; and Hocus Locust (Pope), the four-armed
combination of a rope trick and a locust who could control the rope around his
body, was the practical joker of the group, and often fell into celebrity
impersonations. Dubbed the “Goop-Mandos” by Guggengrime, he attempted to
enslave them for his own purposes, but they escaped the shop with Chris.
However, Guggengrime kept the Magic Maker. Eventually, their ranks were bolstered
by the additions of Sting Ring (Art Kimbro), the mixture of inter-connecting
rings and a wasp who could grant the others wings they could use to fly, and
Commantis (Cam Clarke), a sword-wielding ventriloquist created from kung-fu,
karate and samurai videos mixed with a mantis. A large part of the comedy from
the show came from the fact that the Goop-Mandos had to recharge their
abilities by hanging upside down in Chris’ closet while Chris tries to keep
their existence a secret from his family; in particular, his older brother Todd
(Clarke), who was a vain and surly valley dude. Fortunately, he had the help of
his neighbor, Samantha “Sammy” Reynolds (Heidi Lenhart), to try and keep his
secret.
![]() |
The Crime Grimes: Squirminator, Spooky Goopy with Top Hat and Rumble Bee. |
With the Magic Maker in hand, Guggengrime
created his own team called the “Crime Grimes” to try and conquer the world. His
right-hand monster was Spooky Goopy (Cam Clarke), a green skeleton with
handcuff hands that wore a talking Top Hat (Rabson) he often argued with. Other
monsters included Shockroaches, which were monstrous cockroaches; Squirminator
(Steve Bulen), who was worm-like with a mace tail and had an army of squirmy
worms; Rumble Bee, a crazed bee the size of a small car; 2-Ugly (Lamb), who
could separate its head from its body and the head could move autonomously; and
Bat out of Smell, a giant bat who could spew noxious breath. A mutual threat
for both sides was Colonel Ka-Boom, a member of “Pentagon Special Services”
that was dedicated to wiping out all of the mutants and often bordered on
insanity in his methods to do so.
![]() |
Guggengrime mixing up some trouble with the Magic Maker. |
Creepy Crawlers debuted in
syndication on October 4, 1994, with the main titles done by Art Leonardi. The
characters were developed by Abrams/Gentile
Entertainment, Inc., James Cross and Judy Martin. Writers for the show
included Mark Seidenberg, Rich Fogel, Francis Moss, Ted Pedersen, Tony Marino, Steve Cuden, Cheryl Saban, Doug Booth, Francis Moss and Michael Maurer, with Joel Andryc serving as story
editor. Haim Saban, as Kussa
Mahchi, composed the music with Shuki Levy
while Hahn
Shin Corporation and Shanghai Morning
Sun Animation handled the animation.
![]() |
Volt Jolt and Commantis showing off their new Super Goop looks. |
Creepy Crawlers was renewed
for a second season. SEM Animation and Jade
Animation assumed the animation duties for the season, and with them came
some other changes to the show. Guggengrime created a new Super Goop formula
meant to be used as a weapon to destroy the Goop-Mandos, but instead it just
furthered their mutations giving them new looks and abilities. New Goop-Mandos also
made their debut: T-4 (Lamb), an unintentional clone of T-3 created by Guggengrime
who had four heads, was stronger but dumber than his predecessor, and Fire
Eyes, created from various hot foots and a firefly to defeat Guggengrime’s ice
monster. And speaking of monsters, Guggengrime created several in addition to
his Crime Grimes: Spider-Patrol, a humanoid spider monster; Franken Fly, a
combination of a housefly and Frankenstein’s monster; Skrull, a replacement for
Spooky created from metal parts animated by the Goop; Sergent Spidey, a
militaristic arachnid that could spit webs; Bugzilla, a wax statue of a giant
black mantis movie monster animated by the Goop; and Ice Scream, a monster that
could freeze an entire city by screaming.
![]() |
One of the VHS covers. |
Despite the show already promoting
a product, ToyMax was sure to try and capitalize even further by producing action
figures based on it. The five Goop-Mandos and Chris were released along
with the five Crime Grimes and Guggengrime, as well as a vehicle. Each figure
came with a mold for the Magic Maker that would allow the creation of weapons
and accessories. A playset was seen in the 1994 ToyMax booklet, but was never
produced. Saban Home Entertainment released six episodes across three VHS
collections.
ToyMax ended production of the Creepy Crawlers line in 2001. Jakks Pacific acquired ToyMax in 2002 and began re-releasing ToyMax’s products before producing all-new ones in 2006. Mattel announced a new version of the ThingMaker in 2016, which was a 3D printer for toys. However, after numerous delays the project was cancelled in 2019. In 2018, it was announced that Paramount Pictures had acquired the rights to make a film based on Creepy Crawlers, with Jakks chairman and CEO Stephen Berman serving as an executive producer.
Season 1:
“The Night of the Creepy Crawlers” (10/4/94) – Chris’ invention is hit by mysterious cosmic forces, allowing it to create a legion of heroic—and villainous—mutant creatures.
“Dawn of the Super Goop” (9/16/95) – Guggengrime’s new weapon alters the Goop-Mandos and makes their powers uncontrollable.
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