TimeWasters: Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty & The Strange Attractor

It feels like just yesterday that my dad was screaming at me for getting Silly Putty stuck in our living room rug. And yes, I might have gotten into a little trouble with that mischievous toy, but oh did I have fun with it. Recently, the people at Crazy Aaron’s were kind enough to send me their product; the new, hip Silly Putty called Thinking Putty.

Though I received the magnetic putty called the ‘Strange Attractor,’ it maintains nearly the same constancy as the rest of their putties. And what can I say? It’s fun as heck! You can really do anything with putty. From making weird shapes, to kneading it, to plain ol’ squeezing it in your hands while reading a newspaper. It’s crazy how much fun you can have with such a simple toy.

The things that really get me about Thinking Putty, the things that differentiate it from Silly Putty, are the little extra features. The vibrant colors, the cool ways of using it (like bouncing it, tearing it, etc.), and the packaging all really add to it, letting you know is made with love and quality. I think that’s one of the main selling points of this item. It’s like buying orange juice from a local farm, rather than a name brand, made in a giant factory.

I recommend Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty to everyone. I believe all ages can enjoy this toy. Check out all their products and colors at puttyworld.com Do however read my review of the Strange Attractor below to find out what I think of that particular item.

Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty (by itself) gets a flawless 10/10

For review, I was sent the ‘Strange Attractor’ as stated above. And in some of the reviews I read, they described the putty as “a lot lumpier and rougher as the others”. Well, I didn’t find that problem at all. Comparing it to the ‘hyper color’ putty I played around with once, it felt practically the same. Maybe it wasn’t as shiny or smooth, but it certainly wasn’t rough. Plus, the putty performed exactly the same in terms of bouncing, tearing, stretching and so on.

This putty is marketed as “super magnetic,” but after a few minutes of playing with it, I noticed that the putty wasn’t magnetic at all. The ‘Strange Attractor’ comes packaged with a very magnetic metal cube (which I think is a rare earth magnet). That cube does cling to the putty, however the putty doesn’t actually have any magnets in it. What is magnetic in the putty is the small particles of iron dust. When trying the trick where the magnet cube sinks into the putty, I noticed that these little pieces of metal were coming off of the putty and sticking onto the brick. This bothered me. Now, I’m no expert on this kind of stuff, and I’m probably wrong, but isn’t there any other way of doing this? If not, why can’t they just put this in every color?

Don’t get me wrong. This is VERY cool. The magnet sticks to it extremely well, and all the tricks they advertised with it work completely. For a desk toy, I’m not sure how much you could do with the metal part of it, but you could have hours of fun with the putty side. Though I do like it very much, there are some things I’m not very pleased with. First of all, the putty is not magnetic at all. It’s equivalent to a sheet of iron, in terms of ‘magnetism.’ Second, it’s not the putty that’s metal. It’s the shavings mixed in to the putty that are magnetic. I expect the “magnetism” of this putty to run completely dry in a few months, judging by the fact that every time I pull the cube out of the putty, there are hundreds of shavings stuck to it… and there can only be so many shavings.

The Strange Attractor Thinking Putty gets an above-average 7.5/10

You might also be wondering, what does putty have to do at all with tech? Well, it is not only a stress reliever for when you’re at school, in the office, or writing up a post like this one, but it’s also a time waster great toy to fumble around with when dealing with writer’s block.