Monster Trucks versus Mega Trucks, off road culture gets dirty

Hello friends, I hope that you are doing well. Over here work is moving along. I’m always looking to create new art, or finish projects. I hope to find something fighting game related to write about for the blog. Until then I wanted to talk a little bit about monster trucks. You might know that I’m a huge fan of monster trucks. I’ve been a fan most of my life. Like most boys it was a natural offshoot of my love of cars, and trucks of all types. In the early days I was obsessed with a big blue Ford truck from the midwest called Bigfoot. The truck could be considered The Godfather of monster truck culture. Back in the late 1970’s, and early ‘80s the off road crowd were always trying to outperform each other. Bob Chandler, and his wife Marilyn would go weekend camping in their truck. They’d meet up with other enthusiasts to go off roading, wade through the mud, or climb some hills. Mr. Chandler was very competitive, and would often break something on his truck. He would limp back to his off road parts store where shop manager Ron Magruder would ask what he broke with his “big foot.” Chandler thought it was a clever nickname and had it painted on the side of his truck. The name had nothing to do with the Bigfoot aka Sasquatch cryptid. 

Over the years he would add bigger, stronger axles, suspension, engine, and transmission. Of course he also started using bigger and bigger tires. He jumped from 48-inch tires to the monster defining 66-inch tires. Whenever Chandler showed up at the off road meets he had a truck that was literally head, and shoulders above the rest. Competition trucks were usually created to specialize in a few events, such as the ability to plow through mud bogs, climb gravel hills, or pull against tractor sleds. Bigfoot was the truck that could do it all. It was the envy of the community. It ended up appearing in magazines, which helped spread the name from coast-to-coast. The reputation of the blue Ford took off when Chandler started driving over cars. He asked the builder of the King Kong monster truck Jeff Dane what was the best way to crush cars. Chandler pulled off the stunt for his shop’s promo video. A few years later event promoter Bob George got him to do it in front of 70,000+ people at the Pontiac Silverdome. The crowd went absolutely crazy, and surrounded the truck. Chandler locked the doors, and didn’t move for a half hour. He had no idea what he had unleashed on the world. 

Car crushing went from an exhibition to a competition race. Suddenly Bigfoot was battling other monster trucks. The goal was to see who could flatten rows of cars the fastest. The earliest rivals included USA-1, King Kong, Bear Foot, King Krunch, and Grave Digger. By the mid ‘80s the monster truck craze was in full effect. Promoters were paying big money to get the biggest, and baddest trucks to show up at their events. Monster trucks started popping up on television, and in movies. It wouldn’t be long before toys appeared on the shelves, and video games in arcades. This made me extremely happy. Game developers were becoming aware of everything that these trucks could do. They often highlighted mud bog, hill climb, sled pull, and of course car crushing events. Many of the early arcade video games like Power Drive lacked fun gameplay. They didn’t do much better on the home consoles. 

It felt like the monster trend was dying down by the time the Bigfoot NES game appeared. It was developed by Beam Software, and published by Acclaim in 1990. The graphics were nice, but the experience seemed dated. Especially since arcade graphics were improving by leaps, and bounds. The Super Nintendo would come out a year later, as did the amazing arcade game Double Axle. These were all the things I spoke about previously on the blog. Yet I wanted to take a step back to the early days of off road culture. Whenever I read the magazines about off roading I was always struck with how cool the events were in the midwest. The sled pulls, hill climbs, and mud bogs all sounded amazing. They featured mind bending trucks, and tractors in competition. Trucks with multiple supercharged engines, or tractors with jet engines were not uncommon. I knew that in the mountains there were people that would go rock crawling with their 4x4’s. Being a Southern California native I noticed that off road culture here was a little bit different.

Up north we had national parks, and southwest we had the deserts that were featured in the pages of Four Wheeler magazine, and Petersen’s 4Wheel & Off-Road both of which I was subscribed to. The writers made going camping look so cool. These people were the last cowboys, the remnants of the pioneers that settled the west. I noticed that the home-brew builders made their trucks unique for their chosen activity. A Jeep designed for climbing up mountains would be set up differently from a truck designed for racing on sand dunes. Then there were the people that lived in the city. They also wanted to be a part of the culture. They would lift their trucks, put them on big tires, and cover their engine, and suspension in chrome. They might have been able to do all the same things that midwest 4x4’s could but were referred to as show trucks. They were just too pretty to get dirty. These were the types of trucks that I most often saw.

As a kid I always wished to have a massive 4x4 of my own. I wanted it to actually take it out to the desert, and get it dirty. I felt sorry for the people that had lifted trucks but never did anything with them. I grew up and realized that I had neither the money, nor time to be an off road owner. It didn’t stop me from being a lifelong fan of monster trucks, or keeping tabs on the advancements in off road technology. That was the way it was for decades. I’d see news of new trucks, new shows, the passing of legends. I’d share my interests, and memories on the blog to new readers. This kept me happy. There was an off road trend that I never brought up because it was so niche, at least to people on the west coast. I didn’t think anyone would be interested in my thoughts on Mega Trucks, which were distinct from Monster Trucks.

Over the past decade mega trucks had been in the car culture spotlight. The tall 4x4’s had popped up in the mainstream, and been popularized on YouTube, Instagram, and even the Discovery show Dirty Mudder Truckers. If you don’t know the mega truck was a performance 4x4, specifically designed for racing through the mud. They were sometimes called mudders, swamp buggies, or mudpluggers as well. I didn’t really talk about mega trucks because people on social media used them as a flex. They would brag about how much money they put into the build. How big, tough, and powerful they were. How poor their gas mileage was, etc. At the same time I noticed how pretty they kept them. The flashiest of them never seemed to get dirty. It gave me similar vibes to the show trucks I saw growing up. It made no sense to me why they would roll around with chunky mud tires on city roads. I wanted to see these beasts get thrashed in the mud, rather than doing donuts on the street.

In the South and Midwest the mud bog was a defining challenge for how badass a truck really was. Lifted trucks were okay to look at, but would they break apart in waist high mud? Depending on their size, weight, and power how would they perform? Would they be able to power through thick sludge like a clydesdale draft horse, or speed over it like a thoroughbred race horse? The off road community kept track of the baddest trucks around. They would build a reputation by going county to county, and even state to state. They were following in the footsteps of the monster truck pioneers from 50 years ago. The locations themselves also became the stuff of legend. The toughest bogs often came with a bounty. Some of those locations could remain undefeated for years. If someone could run their truck all the way through they would win a big cash prize.

Getting dirty was something that the best off road rides were known for. Going muddin’ was a guaranteed way to have a good time in the midwest. You could pack a cooler, bring your friends, play your music loud, and drive your 4x4 all out. I could say with all certainty that it was something that never occurred to the people on the west coast, especially not the city kids in Long Beach. West coast car culture, especially Latino car culture was more about being seen. It was about having the cleanest, most detailed ride. Driving low, and slow on the boulevard was the only way to go. Some people were about performance, racing on the streets, or being able to do donuts at intersections. Some people just enjoyed sitting in the presence of supercars, or imports and never going anywhere.

I remember what a huge cultural touchstone it was knowing anything about mud bogging. I was talking about car culture with a friend from the south. He lamented how people from the city didn’t know how to have fun. I said “I get it, it’s not like you can just pack your stuff and go muddin.” He fell out of his chair. “How… how do you know about muddin?” He wondered. It was as if I was speaking a secret language, one that he hadn’t heard in years. He couldn’t believe that a Latino living on the west coast knew anything about off roading, let alone going mudding. I told him I was a huge fan of 4x4 culture. I was aware of the different ways that people went off road. I told him if I had time, and money I would definitely have a swamp buggy to call my own. Fast forward 15 years I was now watching mega trucks going crazy on YouTube. They brought back memories of watching monster trucks do the same thing when I was a kid. It felt like forever since I had last seen a monster truck competing outside of a stadium show. Mega trucks were rekindling the spirit of the old school monster trucks that I grew up with. This detail was not missed with the pioneers behind the culture.

Dennis Anderson was the man that created the Grave Digger monster truck back in 1982. Not many people realized that the Grave Digger was originally a rust-colored 1952 Ford truck made out of junk parts. It later became an infamous black and green Chevrolet panel van. Anderson stated that "I'll take this old junk and dig you a grave with it." His truck was named after his reputation, similar to Bob Chandler. Dennis was known for being super aggressive in the mud. He would either beat the bog, or blow up his ride in the process. Grave Digger’s legend grew rapidly because of his all-or-nothing approach. Mr. Anderson would fix up his truck, add a stronger motor, bigger tires, etc. It was arguably the only truck that could be considered as famous as Bigfoot. The Grave Digger reached global popularity in the late ‘80s, and early ‘90s. This was because network, and cable TV were regularly featuring monster truck races.

Toys, video games, and soft goods soon followed. Eventually Mr. Anderson sold the rights to Grave Digger, and the team in 1998. He, and his family stayed on with the new owners to drive, and advise on the Monster Jam tour. Mr. Anderson started his legacy 40+ years ago with junk parts. When he stepped away from the sport the average monster truck cost over $250,000 to build. It required more than deep pockets, but rather full corporate sponsorship to field a team, and keep a truck running throughout a season. A semi-retired Dennis decided to return to his roots. He went back to the early days of the monster truck scene. When everything was DIY. When people could build up a stock truck, and turn it into something amazing. He built a mega truck called King Sling in 2010. It was a fraction of the price of a monster truck, but equally fun to drive. King Sling made regular appearances all over the country over the next decade. Mr. Anderson should be celebrated for his contributions to both the monster truck, and the mega truck cultures.

As far as this blog went I was not as enthusiastic about mega trucks as I was about monster trucks for several reasons. The simplest answer was because mega trucks were not a new idea. No matter how fantastic they looked, how modern their construction was, or what space age materials they used, they were following in the footsteps of the monster community. A flashy shop built mega truck would never have the primal impact of a home built monster truck. At least not to me. If you don’t believe me then watch this tug of war between the mega truck “2nd to None” versus the monster truck “Big Brown”. The new mega truck got humiliated in public by an old monster truck. It was like watching a kid trying to take down their big brother in an arm wrestling match.

I’m sure the mega truck could race circles around the monster, however in a head to head contest it would get flattened. The lack of DIY in their builds was a major reason why I didn’t talk about mega trucks here. At the dawn of the monster truck era no two builds were alike. They were created by hand. These off road enthusiasts turned their farm / work / camping trucks into monsters over several seasons. They had no templates to work from, they figured things out as they went along. The trucks had different bodies, different power plants, different types of tires, different suspensions. They were all Frankenstein builds cobbled together from farm, military, and scrap parts. Some of the modern monster, and mega trucks were becoming uniform in construction. They had similar steel tube frames, and fiberglass bodies. Owning a mega truck, or monster truck was a financial flex. You didn’t have to build them when you could just buy them.

Mega truck culture highlighted which builders could weld parts onto already expensive work trucks. Or which builders could attach truck frames onto tall platforms. It didn’t matter how they looked or performed in the end. Such was the case for massive rides like Monstermax 2, and Monstrosity. These were monster trucks that took the build mentality of a mega truck. They were famous not for what they could do, but rather because they were huge. Monstermax 2 was owned by Cody Shane Detwiler aka WhistlinDiesel. He amassed an enormous following on social media. He used his money to buy expensive cars to thrash, or build massive rides. To be fair if I had a lot of money I’d probably do the same thing. The aesthetic, and performance of the truck wasn’t as important as how over-the-top it was. It should be noted that Cody was arrested for tax evasion charges on November 12, 2025. Motor Trend wondered if Monstermax 2 had surpassed Bigfoot V as the world’s biggest monster truck? They presented their case, and highlighted all of the massive parts that were bolted on an already large truck. With this kind of thinking why didn’t the magazine do an article on Monstrosity by Trey Theiss as well? He put dually’s on the truck, and it rested on a taller platform. Wouldn’t that make it the new biggest monster of all time?

The tradition of putting together a super truck from scratch was lacking. Worse was that these owner blurred the lines between mega truck, and monster truck. They were famous for being enormous. This highlighted the main problem that I had with spectacle builds. The spirit of competition was missing. Monstermax 2, and Monstrosity didn’t show up at public truck meets. They did not put in the work in the mud, the hills, car crushes, or sled pulls. Instead they were filming short social media clips on private compounds. They weren’t meeting their community around the country, but instead hunting for likes. They got a ton of attention, but they also go push back from the community. People argued that these builds would probably snap in half if they tried taking on an actual mud bog challenge. It was obvious from the videos posted online. The trucks from Mr. Detweiler, or Mr. Theiss were so overbuilt that they lurched around at a snail's pace. The spectacle of having the biggest was more important than showing what they could do. This was the opposite of what the most famous monster trucks could do. Bigfoot V, and VII were in the Guiness Book of Records for being the tallest, and heaviest trucks. Bob Chandler didn’t just build them for show. He toured the country putting in the work. He met with the people. He proved that he could run a mud bog, or crush cars with these titans. I had yet to see anything as impressive from Monstermax 2, or Monstrosity.

Rather than speculate on their size, I wanted to figure out which monster was the biggest. I put on my detective hat. The Motor Trend article said that Monstermax 2 rode on the largest Goodyear Optitrac tires currently available (as of 2025). These were 82 inches in diameter. Being a monster truck historian of sorts I knew right away there were a few trucks that had bigger tires. Al Thurber’s Godzilla had 73” tires, and later rode on 96” tires. Bob Chandler’s Bigfoot V had 120” tires. The most colossal monster that I knew of was Richard Arel’s Superfoot. His pink Suburban had 150” tires. I did a mock up on Photoshop to see how the trucks might look side-by-side. This wasn’t completely accurate, but it would help give us an idea of how massive the super heavyweight monsters really were. Monstermax 2 was very close, it was certainly among the elite, however I don’t think it was the biggest. Of course I was measuring by the top of the truck roof, and not by any attachments, such as the ship horn mounted on top of Monstermax 2. In this way people couldn’t try attaching a big antenna, and claim that was part of the total height.

It may seem like I was dumping on mega trucks in this blog. That couldn't be further from the truth. Mega trucks were from the same evolutionary branch that gave us monster trucks. They would always remain cool. 99% of the rides were home builds created to get down and dirty. Like most things in modern society it was the vocal 1% that got on my nerves. I wished that some people didn't buy their way into the culture for clout, but participated in it fully without expecting fame. People that enjoyed off roading for the sake of it were the best people in my book. They were enjoying a lifestyle I could only dream of. I wanted them to keep on rolling. I’d like to know your thoughts on mega trucks. Do you like them, loathe them, or are indifferent? Do you like off road trucks? Rock crawlers, desert buggies, or mud monsters? Let me know in the comments section. As always if you enjoyed this blog, and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Bookmark This Page; Car culture, racing video games, and more!

Hello friends! I’m a big fan of car culture in all forms. If you want to read about real cars, and some great racing video games then Bookmark This Page.

The Car Tangent, part 1...

The Car Tangent, part 2…

The Car Tangent, part 3…

The Car Tangent, part 4…

The Car Tangent, part 5…

The Car Tangent, part 6…

The Car Tangent, part 7…

The Car Tangent, part 8…

The Car Tangent, part 9…

The Car Tangent, part 10…

The Car Tangent, part 11…

The Car Tangent, part 12…

The Car Tangent, part 13…

The Car Tangent, part 14…

The (Videogame) Car Tangent, part 1...

The (Videogame) Car Tangent, part 2…

The Racing Tangent, part 1...

The Racing Tangent, part 2…

The Racing Tangent, part 3…

Almost SEGA Good! A 1UP Classic...

Hot Rod, my favorite driving game of all-time! A 1UP Classic...

NASCAR memories part 1…

NASCAR memories part 2…

The secrets of Hog Hollow 

Are you a fan of racing games, or real cars? Let me know about it in the comments section. As always if you enjoyed this blog, and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Bookmark This Page; martial arts, and fighting game comics from overseas

Hello friends! If you want to find out about martial arts comics, and fighting game comics from overseas then Bookmark This Page.

The manga and fighting game connection, part 1...

The manga and fighting game connection, part 2…

The manga and fighting game connection, part 3…

Manhwa, Chinese and Korean comics take on Street Fighter - A 1UP classic from June 17, 2011

Tony Wong, Andy Seto, the Story of the Four Constables. A 1UP classic from Mar 29, 2012

The Martial Myths; a look at Mahua. A 1UP classic from Mar 30, 2012

The Martial Myths; Capcom and SNK in manhua. A 1UP classic from Apr 4, 2012

Martial Myths; the dangers of the dark path and the dim mak. A 1UP classic from April 5, 2012

The Martial Myths; the lessons from manhua applied to Street Fighter. A 1UP classic from Apr 09, 2012 

Do you collect any international comics? Let me know about it in the comments section. As always if you enjoyed this blog, and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

The memories of Wonder Eggs in my collection

Heya friends, I hope that you are doing well. Today I wanted to share some gems from my collection of Wonder Eggs merchandise. If you don’t know, from 1992-2000 Namco ran a video game theme park called Wonder Eggs in Futakotamagawa, Setagaya Ward Tokyo. When the park opened it was so successful that Namco added a sister park next door called the Egg Empire. I wrote about it extensively on this blog.

I had a great number of items that I had gathered in a few years of searching. I loved that I had an entire set of the plush Pyrallis figures. There were some larger ones that they sold in the park, however I had never seen them for sale in any of the Japanese auction sites, even when I searched via the history of products that had already sold. Chances are that they would ever pop up were extremely slim. It didn't stop me from checking. 

I had various ephemera from the parks. I had both the Guidebook, as well as the Map of the park. I also had several stickers. Not all of them were featured here. One of the nicest ones I got was from the opening of Virtual Vehicle, which came with a Pyrallis celebrating the first anniversary of the park. 

I managed to get several tickets to the park. These were called Karla Cards. They kept track of the attractions you went on, what scores you achieved on certain attractions, and even if you got a fortune from the Pyrallis statues. In this way visitors to the park would have a memento of their visit. The silver card was actually a telephone card from the park. I hadn't seen any other phone cards pop up in years of searching, so this was a score. I even managed to purchase rare stickers from the park. A couple of the stickers you could not buy, but could only win if you got the top score in their attractions. I was lucky that somebody in Japan was willing to part with them. 

The map of the park was gorgeous. Of course the people that worked on the Namco games had also lent their talents into creating the art for the park, attractions, and costumes for employees. The world building that Namco did at Wonder Eggs was exceptional. It had its own mythology, its own calendar, and even its own language. This was apparent on the “Carnival Coin” which you would use to pay for the games on the classic midway. The town of Laperot village appeared on one side, and the message of play from the Goddess Elds was on the other. Once I learned the history of the village I enjoyed going over the details engraved on the coin.

The other things I managed to get from the park were pins that visitors could buy. I got a classic pin back button featuring the Pyrallis Ilinx. I also got a really nice pin of the Wonder Sun. I found out that they also offered a Wonder Moon pin, which I hope to track down some day.

Some of the items you could buy or win could only be done during seasonal events. Such was the case for a jack-o-lantern pin that I found. This was only available during the fall season at the park when they ran a Wonder Halloween Festival. Interestingly enough the Halloween event at their park existed before the ones offered at Disneyland or Walt Disney World.

Even though the park was in existence for less than a decade it was constantly evolving. Every few years they would change attractions, and even the story carried in the park. In 1999 Namco ended the cycle for Wonder Eggs 2, and they had limited-edition pins available. These pins celebrated the closing of Wonder Eggs 2, and heralded the updated Wonder Eggs 3. If you got one of these pins, and attended Wonder Eggs 3 you would get a one-time free pass to the park, and other perks during your visit. It was a unique concept that I don’t think had been explored at any other park.

A thing that I never thought would turn up at auction was a Wonder Rally Passport. The park was designed with gamers in mind. One of the events they had was called the Wonder Rally. It debuted in 1998. In it kids, and adults were given passports where they were required to complete a certain amount of challenges during their visit. Guests would get stamps, and stickers in the passport to mark how well they did. The goals varied depending on the age, or ability of the player. People that competed the challenges could earn “Master of Play” pins. The lowest level was a bronze pin, followed by a silver and gold pin. The gold pin was actually labeled the “Iron Man of Play.”

There was a fourth exclusive pin that went to the “Superman of Play.” It was difficult to earn in one visit as it required the best scores or outcomes in some of the attractions. The pin was colored green. You could imagine how surprised I was when one popped up on the Japanese auction sites. Sadly the passport from the grand master was not included in the auction. The passport that I secured came from an earlier auction. It was sold by a gamer that would have earned a bronze award. I wasn’t complaining about that because every item I managed to get from the park told a story.

At the end of 2025 a couple of items popped up that I hadn't seen before. The first were a couple of mini pins featuring the Pyrallis. These were fairly tiny, a little smaller than a nickel in size. The characters were Alea which represented chance, and Ilinx which represented dizziness. I was now wondering if I'd ever see the other two mini pins. As cute as this find was there were something even more surprising on a Japanese auction site. 

When wonder Eggs closed in 2000 Namco offered a token that was a thank you to visitors. In all the years of doing research I had never seen it mentioned in any Japanese blog or news article. On the face was a flying egg logo, with tiny impressions of the various attractions. It had the word FINAL at the bottom. On the other side of the token was a thank you message from Namco. Thankfully it didn’t cost a lot as the seller offered it for a buy it now price, rather than try to auction it off.

There were a few gems from the park that hoped might turn up. Even if they didn’t I was super happy with every piece that I managed to win. I was sharing the memories of visitors to the actual parks. I was keeping it alive for people that never got a chance to experience it. Were there any theme parks past or present that you collected items from? Let me know about it in the comments section. As always if you enjoyed this blog, and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Bookmark This Page; My favorite Games of All-Time.

Hello friends, the blog collection today will give you a chance to know me a little bit better. I made a list of games that I could play forever, and ever. If you want to learn about some rare, and fun games then Bookmark This Page.

Making the List - Originally published on 1UP - February 6, 2006

My favorite Games of All-Time #20: State of Emergency - Originally published on 1UP - March 31, 2006

My favorite Games of All-Time #19: NBA Street - Originally published on 1UP - April 7, 2006

My favorite Games of All-Time #18: Final Fantasy VI- Originally published on 1UP - April 14, 2006

My favorite Games of All-Time #17: Bionic Commando - Originally published on 1UP - April 21, 2006

My favorite Games of All-Time #16: The Ocean Hunter - Originally published on 1UP - April 28, 2006

My favorite Games of All-Time #15: Samurai Showdown II - Originally published on 1UP - May 5, 2006

My favorite Games of All-Time #14: Chrono Trigger - Originally published on 1UP - May 19, 2006

My favorite Games of All-Time #13: Top Skater - Originally published on 1UP - May 26, 2006

My favorite Games of All-Time #12: Resident Evil - Originally published on 1UP - June 2, 2006

My favorite Games of All-Time #11: War of the Monsters - Originally published on 1UP - June 9, 2006

My favorite Games of All-Time #10: Dragon Ball Z 2- Originally published on 1UP - June 16, 2006

My favorite Games of All-Time #8: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 - Originally published on 1UP - June 30, 2006

My favorite Games of All-Time #7: Hydro Thunder - Originally published on 1UP - July 7, 2006

My favorite Games of All-Time #6: Burning Rangers - Originally published on 1UP - July 14, 2006

My favorite Games of All-Time #5: Carmageddon - Originally published on 1UP - July 21, 2006

My favorite Games of All-Time #4: Street Fighter Alpha 2 - Originally published on 1UP - July 28, 2006

My favorite Games of All-Time #3: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Originally published on 1UP - August 11, 2006

My Favorite Games of All-Time: #2 Jet Set Radio Future - Originally Published on 1UP - August 18, 2006

My Favorite Games of All-Time: #1 NiGHTS into dreams... - Originally published on 1UP - August 25, 2006

If I updated my favorite games of all-time for 2023 what would be different? 

Were any of these games your favorite? Let me know about it in the comments section. As always if you enjoyed this blog, and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Bookmark This Page; Enter the Dragon, Fighting Layer & the roots of Street Fighter II

For those that are visiting my page for the first time my name is Noe aka BigMex. I love fighting games, as well as racing games, skateboarding, theme parks, and much more. You might know that this blog had been around for a long time. A good portion of what I wrote on the 1UP, and the Capcom-Unity  pages some 20+ years ago were shared here. My best work was hidden at the bottom of this page. To make things easy for new visitors I started collecting similar threads. If you were interested in a certain topic then I was asking you to Bookmark This Page.

The first collection was a deep dive on Fighting Layer, a little known title by ARIKA and Namco. Find out the connection to Street Fighter II in this series.

Enter the Dragon, the legend inspires a game, part 1…

Enter the Dragon, the legend inspires a game, part 2…

Fighting Layer, return of the dragon, part 1...

Fighting Layer, return of the dragon, part 2…

Fighting Layer, return of the dragon, part 3…

Fighting Layer, return of the dragon, part 4…

Fighting Layer, return of the dragon, part 5…

Fighting Layer, return of the dragon, part 6…

Fighting Layer, return of the dragon, part 7…

Fighting Layer, return of the dragon, part 8…

Fighting Layer, return of the dragon, final part… 

Did you ever play Fighting Layer? Even an emulated version? What did you think about it? Let me know about it in the comments section. As always if you enjoyed this blog, and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Some Hot Wheels play sets that brought back memories

Hello friends, I hope that you were doing well. If you remember a few blogs back I mentioned how I was cleaning up the garage to help with my mental health. I was looking for things that inspired my creativity. One of those things were toys. I’m sure your favorite toys inspired your imagination growing up as well. I talked about it previously but I was really into Hot Wheels as a kid. I’m still a huge fan of cars, and automotive art, and always will be. My brothers and I had a number of classic Hot Wheel, and Matchbox cars, and tracks growing up. As we got older we gave up a number of our toys to our cousins, nieces, and nephews that weren’t so lucky. Since we took great care of our toys they were in super great condition even as hand-me-downs. One of the best sets we gave up were from an old line called Sto & Go. These were track playsets that held a few cars, and could close into a small suitcase complete with carrying handle. Each playlet was themed after parts of Hot Wheels City. You could find a set that looked like downtown, complete with pop-up skyscrapers. One set had a garage, gas station, and car wash. One set was a construction yard, complete with working crane, and gravel dump. These playsets offered so many things to see, and do. We definitely got our fair share of wonderful memories through them, and were sad to let them go, but knew they were going to be enjoyed by another generation of family members.

One of the last sets I remember getting, possibly the last set in fact was called the Wildwave Stunt Set. The thing I really appreciated in the Hot Wheels sets was the storytelling that they provided. The early generation of tracks in the ‘60s, and ‘70s were fairly straightforward jumps, and loops. In the ‘80s there was much more storytelling. The Wildwave story was essentially a wave that a car could surf on. The track was a beach scene with a corkscrew loop over a lifeguard tower. There were tiny plastic palm trees, and characters that you could play with when you weren’t dropping the woodie surf wagon down the track. It was a compact stunt track that you could take apart for travel. I enjoyed this set more than others because it reminded me of my childhood. We spent a lot of time at the beach. I was gifted this track for Christmas in 1990. This was during an especially cold, and rainy winter. There was a death in the family, so my parents left us in the care of our grandmother. Despite the somber holiday when I played with the track it always reminded me of those warm summer memories.

It was certainly a track that I thought about picking up on eBay. But reason got the better of me. There was just no room to display it. There were plenty of other toys in the garage I had yet to find room for. The memories of that set remained, and that was enough… for now. I’d like to know if there were any toys, or playsets specifically that you had great memories of. Tell me about it in the comments section. As always if you enjoyed this blog, and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Creating brand new theme park badges for Wonder Eggs

Hello friends, I hope that you are doing well. Today I would like to share another art project come to life. If you remember earlier this year I mentioned the Wonder Eggs employee badge that I had won at auction. This was actually worn at the video game theme park built by Namco in Japan. It was in operation from 1992-2000. I had a number of retail items from the park, and was blessed to get something used by a staff member named “Suzuki.” In doing research on the park I discovered that the same pyrallis character was used on all the employee badges. This was the pink colored character named Ilinx. I wondered what it would have looked like if each pyrallis was used on the employee badges. Not only that if the two gray colored cyborg pyrallis from the Egg Empire had badges as well. At first I did illustrations of the badges, then I decided to go the extra step and get actual ones made from Vogesey.

The Pyrallis, the mascots of the park were based on philosopher Roger Caillois' book “Man, Play and Games.” The author explained that there were four types of play, Namco took those concepts and assigned them to mythological characters. Agon the green Pyrallis with a bow and arrow shaped tail, had a stubborn sense of justice, and represented Competition. Ilinx the pink Pyrallis with a propeller shaped tail, was cheerful, funny, and represented Dizziness. Mimicry the blue Pyrallis with a harp shaped tail was shy, gentle, and represented Simulation. Alea the violet Pyrallis with a three pointed pitchfork tail was free-spirited, carefree, and represented Chance. The cybernetic Pyrallis from the Egg Empire were gray colored but were never given names. I took two other concepts from Mr. Callois’ book and named them Tyche (Luck) and Moira (Destiny). I used the fictional language used at the park “Elds’ Character” and put the character names on each badge. At first I was simply going to have them have plain clear acrylic finishes, but then decided they would be more magical if they had hologram flakes instead.

I also created custom backs for the badges. The original badge had a safety pin, and clip over a plain white background. The new ones had the clip, and pin as well. I added the symbol of the fantastic Laperot Village, which Namco themed their park after. It was a detail that fans of the parks could appreciate. While I was working on the badges I got inspired to create badges for my wife, and I to celebrate the Pink Monorail podcast. But that would be a topic for a future blog. If you could have a badge from a real or fictional place what would you choose? Maybe a passkey for the Avengers Tower? Or a press pass for the Daily Bugle? Let me know about it in the comments section. As always if you enjoyed this blog, and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Designing Wonder Eggs merch...

Hello friends, I hope that you are doing well. Work has been going well, and a few projects are chugging along over here. I was thinking the other day about the rare Oswald watch that I got my hands on. It gave me an idea for an illustration; I was wondering it might have looked like if Namco created prize watches for their Wonder Eggs theme park. As I was doing some research on the merchandise from the park I found out that one of their old shopping bag designs featured a pyrallis on the face of a pocket watch. So that was more than enough inspiration. Here were what I think the watch faces would have appeared. I used the classic Ingersoll “Mickey Mouse” movement for the arms.

The symbols on the outside edge of the watch were the actual numbers from “Elds’ Character” the fictional language used in the theme park. As an art study I actually recreated the fonts for myself a year or so ago. In this way if I ever wanted to do art on Laperot Village, or anything else Wonder Eggs related then it would be accurate. Since I was already drawing the pyrallis I came up with a design for a tee shirt for their seasonal Wonder Halloween Party at the actual park. The pumpkin character was a walk-around costume used in the park.

I had fun coming up with costume ideas for the different pyrallis characters. I just wish I had gotten a chance to visit the park when it was around. Thankfully I have a collection of items from the park that will always remind me of its greatness. Were there any theme parks or attractions you wish you had visited before they were torn down? Let me know about it in the comments section. As always if you enjoyed this blog, and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Lightning strikes twice, a second rare Oswald item turns up on bidding sites!

Hello friends, had you heard the saying that “lightning seldom strikes twice?” Well I’m happy to say that lightning struck twice for me. As you might know I’m a huge fan of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. I had an extensive collection of plush figures, and rare items from Japan, and the USA. Just a week ago, on February 11, 2026 to be exact I posted a blog about a rare Oswald watch that turned up on bidding sites. I talked about how the seller was very greedy, and was asking for hundreds of dollars for a watch that you could have won at Japanese arcades. Its original retail value would have been closer to $20-$30. Well because of that post I decided to jump on the same Japanese bidding site where the watch first turned up to see what was new. Would you believe that the second of the three watches was available for a “buy it now” price?! Even better the price for this watch (after I used a coupon) was $58. I did have to pay for shipping, and a stupid tariff, but given how rare it was I was happy to pick it up.

I now owned two of the three watches from the short time that Universal Studios Osaka was promoting the character in Japan. If I could land the one with the Mickey Mouse hand movement then I would own the whole set. I doubted that it would ever turn up, but if lightning did strike twice for me, then maybe the third time was the charm? Have you ever lucked out when collecting anything? Tell me about it in the comments section. As always if you enjoyed this blog, and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!