Kickstart: The Island of Misfit Toys

Unlike the holiday classic "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer," these toys haven't been exiled merely for failing to smile properly.

The World Against Toys Causing Harm Inc. released its annual list of the "10 worst toys" on Nov. 20, with most of their concerns focused on toys that were designed poorly, with pieces that can come off and become a choking hazard for small children.

"Some of these toys are sold without the proper safety gear or marketed with inconsistent safety messages," the group said. Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog (a name that just rolls off the tongue) has 12 removable rigid plastic "quills" that can potentially becoming a choking hazard for the children, age 18 months and older, who are a target audience. And the Power Ranger Electronic Cheetah Claw has rigid plastic claws that it says can be used to "take on ... enemies," while also warning on the box to not "hit or swing at people."

Shortly after Hillenbrand Inc. completed its purchase of Milacron Holdings Corp., we here at Plastics News noticed that Milacron would have new leadership as a subsidiary of Hillenbrand. What, we asked ourselves, would CEO Tom Goeke's job be?

After all, we've gotten used to seeing him at events like NPE and K and Fakuma, and pretty much every other major plastics show in the world.

Hillenbrand's official financial documents filed after the acquisition revealed that both Goeke and Chief Financial Officer Bruce Chalmers parted ways once the deal was done. Will they turn up again at another company in the future? I'm sure we haven't seen the last of them.

I'm sure Elon Musk, the guy behind Space X and Tesla has a pretty awesome life overall. But then there was Nov. 21, when he made his best attempt to show off the — let's be polite and call it "atypically styled" — new Tesla Cybertruck, as our sister publication Automotive News wrote. The truck, he bragged, was tougher than its competitors with a stainless steel body.

Not only could it take a hit from a sledgehammer, he bragged, the steel would withstand a bullet fired from a 9 mm handgun. And so could the "Armor Glass" windows. While he couldn't actually bring out a gun, he did have someone throw a metal ball at it.

Cue the cracked glass.

Twice.

"It didn't go through," Musk pointed out. "That's a plus side."

Perhaps some acrylic or polycarbonate players want to touch base with him. Just in case he's in the market for some alternatives.