Losing a monster collection, and getting it back

If you were a regular visitor to this blog then you probably knew that I collected various things. These included foreign, and domestic comic books, comic book toys (especially Hulk figures), Japanese video game magazines, sneaker books, vinyl basketball figures, Wonder Eggs ephemera, and of course Oswald the Lucky Rabbit merchandise. One of the things that I used to collect were monster truck magazines. In fact I used to have a massive library of 4x4 magazines, skateboard magazines, and US video game magazines.

Unfortunately almost 20 years ago Southern California experienced a series of freak rainstorms that lasted for weeks on end. Some of my collection was in my bedroom, but a good portion was also stored in my parent’s garage. I didn’t realize at the time that there was a leak in the garage roof, directly over where I kept most of my magazines. It not only dripped directly onto my magazines, but it also pooled on the garage floor, where most of my books were sorted in cardboard boxes. By the time I learned what had happened I had lost decades of issues, including the first hundred or so copies of Electronic Gaming Monthly, Game Pro, and Gamefan.

By a miracle the rarer Japanese issues that I owned managed to stay dry. After the storms passed my family rented a dumpster. My brothers, and I helped empty out the garage, throwing away piles of disintegrating paper. My mom would have the garage torn down, and rebuilt. I began sorting, and organizing the things that survived. I put them in a storage unit where they remained for years and years. I was genuinely heartbroken over what I had lost. I didn’t bother trying to build the monster magazine collection again. In fact I didn’t want to look or think about anything monster truck related for years after. I mentioned how I broke out of that cycle in 2019 when a monster truck jumped over a flying plane. Some people outgrew the things they loved as kids. Not me, from the moment I saw my first monster truck I was hooked. My friends, and family learned to live with my obsession. Remember the story about how I was more excited to play a monster truck arcade game than go on any rides at a local theme park? When I say I was a fan I meant it.

My parents always supported our interests. While they bought my brothers toys, I begged them for a subscription to Four Wheeler Magazine. They were happy that I was a voracious reader, more important they appreciated how well we took care of the things they bought. My brothers, and I were aware how hard they both worked. They gave us the advantages they didn’t have growing up. We saw them go without just to make ends meet. So we took good care of every present we got. In fact we still had some of the toys, and comics we grew up with. At the end of the year we would give some of the toys we had outgrown to cousins, nieces, and nephews in the US, and Mexico. In my case I gave up entire Hot Wheel track sets, and dozens of cars that I had held onto for years. For my little brother he gave up folders of Pokemon cards, which in hindsight could have been a downpayment to a house. The gifts also included our BMX bikes as we entered our teen years. We knew that things were sometimes tough for our extended family. We were fortunate enough to help.

Quality monster truck toys were hard to come by when I was growing up. For the longest time all we had were Hot Wheel trucks, which were good, but not real monsters. Then one day the gods smiled on us. The Super Chargers by Matchbox set the bar that wouldn’t be topped for years. They were roughly the same scale as Hot Wheels, about 1:64. They had the trademark oversized Goodyear tires, and axels with a little give so you could roll over your toy cars. They debuted in 1985-1986 and featured a who’s-who of the monster pioneers. These included Bigfoot, USA-1, Awesome Kong II, Fly-N-Hi, Mad Dog II, Rollin’ Thunder, and Taurus. Over the following years Matchbox would add more trucks, and even pulling sleds to the lineup. These other monsters were completely made up. I’m sure an accountant at Matchbox said they could save money on licensing costs by creating their own lineup. These included cars, trucks, and jeeps with names like Bog Buster, Hawk, Toad, Doc, and So High. My parents were willing to get me one of these cars each time we visited Toys R Us. Again, I was grateful for their generosity. I’m sure they were happy that we were content with Hot Wheels, and never asked about the U.S.S. Flagg for our G.I. Joes.

As the ‘80s went on more, and more monster truck toys started popping up, and even monster-adjacent trucks started appearing. For example my older brother was an avid collector of Legos. He’d been a fan since the late 1970’s. In my lifetime I only collected a few sets. Some of which were the first lifted trucks produced by the company. I remember my brother’s excitement when he found them. He pulled me to the toy aisle to show me. A little red, white, and blue truck called the 4-Wheelin’ Truck from 1987. Then in 1988 he found the black Road and Trail 4x4 which was even larger, and clearly the first monster produced by the company. Just out of curiosity I jumped on eBay to see what the trucks were going for today. The white one was around $20 including the box. I was shocked to see that the Road and Trail boxed set ran for around $260. This made me more grateful that I took good care of my toys, even if most of them were still in the garage. Looking back on the ones I collected it frustrated me was that the Bigfoot Matchbox toy was never on the shelves. I searched at every toy store for years, but I could never find the iconic blue Ford. That was the one that I always wanted. I had to settle for some of the generic monsters, and a couple of the named ones. I still respected the vehicles in my collection because they were groundbreakers.

Taurus was a popular truck. It became a legend for crushing busses. By the mid ‘80s people knew that monster trucks could easily crush cars. In order to stand out the drivers had to get more creative. Jack Wilman the builder / driver of Taurus decided to run his crimson painted monster over two school busses tucked side-by-side. It was super dangerous considering that in order to reach that height the truck first had to roll over some cars, and then crawl up to the roofs of the busses. You might know that bus roofs were not reinforced. So the almost six-ton monster truck would flatten the roofs, and create a shaky platform. Mr. Wilman would then have to get off the other end without falling off sideways. He could have easily injured himself, and wrecked his truck in the process. It was a spectacular stunt that was rarely performed by any other monster. Then there was the first monster van Rollin’ Thunder. This bright orange van was actually a local legend. The owner / builder / driver was Jim Oldaker. He was out of Redondo Beach. I would often see the van parked at a shop in Wilmington California. I never got a picture with the van because I assumed it would always be there. These two Matchbox monsters went everywhere with me. They were especially fun to play with in the playground, and beach. The big wheels rolled right over the sand whereas all my Hot Wheels would sink right in. I was super-happy with the Matchbox toys, then one Christmas I got the greatest present a kid could ask for. My very own Bigfoot from Playskool toys.

The rest of the toy industry was learning that monster trucks were not a fad. They had captured the imagination of the entire nation. They appeared in movies, and on television. There were news reports, and magazine articles on the movement. Kids were especially drawn to them. We couldn’t get enough of the awesome machines. Toy companies were scrambling to create new 4x4 products. Then they had to figure out how to market these trucks to the masses. It was an easy sell to me, however some people needed to understand what these giant trucks were all about. Playskool, or rather their parent company Hasbro learned that they could feature Bigfoot in a cartoon show. These shows were wildly successful ads for their other toy lines including Jem and the Holograms, Inhumanoids, Transformers, and G.I. Joe. In the cartoon series the fictional Yank Justice was the driver of Bigfoot. He was the star of a traveling crew called the Muscle Machines. This team had sled pulling cars, and trucks like the Orange Blossom Special, War Lord, and Black Gold. They were putting on shows all over the country when they got involved in a mystery adventure.

The series was animated by the same studios that worked on G.I. Joe, and voiced by the same cast. It was a cheesy series that managed to make sure that each character got a chance to shine. I think this was the part that studios didn’t really understand about the culture. The trucks were the draw at the sled pulling events, mud bog, and hill climbs at stadium shows, and county fairs. Each vehicle had its own personality. They all had unique bodies, suspensions, tires, and power plants. No two performed the same. More important each truck built their own fan base. It was apparent in the Knight Rider TV series that the robot car K.I.T.T. was more than the co-star of the show. The episodes that revolved around vehicle opponents like K.A.R.R., the Juggernaut, and Goliath were the most memorable ones. In a similar fashion the best parts of the Bigfoot cartoon was watching the truck go up against combine harvesters, steam rollers, and the fictional monster trucks Grave Roller, and Barbarian. I had a feeling that if the series had been more encounters like that, and less mystery adventure like a G.I. Joe then it would have been picked up for another season.

When our parents moved us out of our tiny apartment in Downtown Long Beach into a house in North Long Beach our toys, comics, and magazines came along. When I didn’t have anything to read I would walk to the local 7-11 to buy issues of Off-Road, and also 4Wheel & Off-Road magazine. This was through the mid ‘80s, and early ‘90s. You could now imagine how many issues of that era were lost. Monster trucks meant a lot to me all through my childhood, through my formative years, and into adulthood. While I gave up a lot of toys to my nieces, and nephews, I never stopped loving monster trucks That was why I was devastated when my collection was wiped out. I learned to accept the loss, and be grateful with what was preserved. Years later I got married, went through various moves. Including a period where we didn’t have a permanent residence. Eventually we were able to get some stable housing. By the grace of God I was able to bring the collection out of storage, and move it into a new garage (with a better roof). My family noticed that my mental health improved when I brought my Japanese game magazines into the house. My wife, and kid encouraged me to start collecting again. The library felt incomplete because it lacked the extensive 4x4 library that I once owned. So I decided that would become my focus.

I started rebuilding the library in earnest. It took almost 15 years by the time I wrote this blog to talk about it. I would pick up back issues on eBay. Sometimes I would get an entire lot of 10 or 20 off road issues at a time for very little. I’d toss the ones that didn’t have monster features in the recycle bin, or pull out single pages for my scrapbook wherever there was a short article. Sometimes I would go months without seeing anything worth collecting. Then there were greedy sellers asking too much for single issues. I kept to my budget, and waited them out. Every now, and then someone would sell the same rare issues for a few bucks, and that’s when I would move. By my estimation I managed to get back about 95% of the titles that I originally owned. I was missing scores of posters. Again greedy sellers were gutting poster books, and trying to sell individual posters for absurd prices. So I passed on all of those. The biggest surprise was that I managed to land books, and magazines that I never owned as a kid. I had an entire chronology of the birth of the monster truck movement in the early ‘80s, all the way to the creation of the Monster Jam tour in the ‘90s, and even the rise of the mega truck generation in the 2000’s. As an illustrator I had a resource library that I could go to for every era, and type of truck, engine, suspension, and angle that you could imagine. I was very proud of what my family helped me rebuild. As with everything I owned it was a slow, and steady process.

Speaking of rebuilding. When I couldn’t find any back issues then I would hunt for physical toys. Since our apartment was tiny I wanted something small that wouldn’t take up much space. Preferably something that would fit on my desk. It would be nice to have something that I could look at every day while I was working from home. I already had a number of items on my desk to remind me of my passions. Things like skate tools, fantasy coins, a Big the Cat figurine, a Laboon gashapon, a Neo Geo Pocket Color, and a Michael Lau figure. These were things that I could pick up, study, and play with while I was on break. The only thing missing were some vehicles. At first I thought about picking up some of the recent model quality trucks. GreenLight Collectibles launched the Kings of Crunch series in April 2020. These were first generation, and some second generation monsters in the traditional 1:64 scale. They were absurdly detailed, with realistic interiors (including cupholders!), and undercarriages. The quality of each build was well above the standard Hot Wheels toy. No disrespect to Mattel, but these were gorgeous models that you could proudly display. Although I was tempted to invest heavily in the line I decided to only get a couple of trucks. Those being Bigfoot V, and Bigfoot VII, the ones that had the 10-foot tires.

In addition to the Greenlight models there were tons of monsters in the toy aisles, however there was only one line that I really wanted to return to. I jumped on eBay, and searched for the original Super Chargers. You could already guess which was the first one that I picked up. After 40 years I finally had my own Matchbox Bigfoot! Then I worked backwards to pick up the other real world trucks. USA-1, Awesome Kong II, Fly-N-Hi, Mad Dog II, and Rollin’ Thunder. My original Taurus truck was somewhere in the garage, so I would eventually add it to the desk as well. It turned out that a lot of monster truck toys came, and went after I lost my original magazine collection. I’ll talk about picking those up in a future blog. Did you have something you loved, and lost? Were you able to get it back? Tell me 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; How fight culture became fighting game history

One of the first series I created for this blog was a look at the martial arts legends that inspired many of our favorite characters, and games. If you want to learn the ancient history of modern games then Bookmark This Page.

How fight culture became fighting game history, part 1…

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How fight culture became fighting game history, final part…

Did you have a favorite legend, or real world fighter that you were inspired by? 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; The Namco Chronicles

The more research I did about Namco the more amazed I was at how almost every title was connected. If you want to find out all about Namco’s shared universe then Bookmark This Page.

The Namco Chronicles, part 1...

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Prop Cycle, the most interactive arcade game you've never heard of. A 1UP Classic...

The tanks of tomorrow, the games of the past.

Did you have a favorite Namco game, or series? 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 story of Our Lady of the Boombox...

As you may know I am a huge fan of fighting games. I rarely talk about Sega fighters, and I might do a deep dive on them someday. For now I wanted to focus on some of my favorite stage art of all time. There were many stage designs in the various fighting games that I loved. Exotic jungles, busy metropolitan intersections, racetracks, heavy metal mosh pits, and other amazing backgrounds sparked my imagination. Of the dozens, and dozens of fighting games that I had played in my life there was a detail that was burned into my brain. It influenced me so much that I had to redraw it, almost from memory some 15 years later.

You might remember that Sega was one of the first studios to go all in on 3D fighting games with Virtua Fighter back in 1993. As their technology improved they tried other ideas with their fighting engine. They released a lesser known title called Fighting Vipers. The title from November 1995 featured young characters in armor, as opposed to traditional martial arts masters. The stages were set mostly in city locations. One of which was in a concrete pit with walls covered in graffiti. One of the pieces on the wall really stood out to me because it made a religious icon instantly accessible to my generation. It was inspired by the Rest In Peace murals featuring the Virgin Mary. In this case it was a tribute to Honey, the character that the Bayside stage belonged to. As a Mexican-American I grew up in the Catholic Church. I was well familiar with the art, and iconography used by the church. Jesus, his apostles, the saints, Pope’s and various figures adorned not only the walls of the churches we visited, but also abuela’s house. The image of the Virgin Mary was one of the most important figures for the Latin community. Specifically it was Our Lady of Guadalupe. The short version of this visual was that it was adopted by the natives of Mexico in the 1500’s. It lead to many of the native Aztecs to convert to Catholicism. 

Many years passed, and I got a chance to play hundreds of games in the arcade, and at home. I would reflect on my favorites, and the things that made them unique. I would have long talks about it with my brothers, and friends. This was before I started writing things down on a blog. While talking about favorite stages in fighting games I mentioned the graffiti in Fighting Vipers. I lamented that my favorite piece wasn’t featured in the Sega Saturn version of the game. By that time most of the arcades we used to visit had closed down, and those that were around never had Fighting Vipers. The only proof that the art I loved had ever existed was from a tiny screenshot in one of my Japanese gaming magazines. I sketched it out one day as best as I could remember. Mind you this was almost 15 years after the arcade game had come out. The fact that it was a close approximation of the actual art showed how much I was moved by the graffiti. It really turned the iconic figure into something that 20th century kids could relate to. I’m sure that it stood out to the other Latinos that played the game.

I posted the sketch on 1UP, and talked about how I would like to redo it in color. Sure enough a few months later I had an illustrator version of it. Unfortunately looking back on my hard drive I couldn’t seem to find the original file. Thinking about it 2010-2011 was about the time that my older Mac computer crashed, and I lost a lot of data. If it weren’t for some CD backups that I made I would have lost years of files. It wouldn’t be hard for me to reproduce the piece. Chances are it would look a lot better if I did. I still loved the pose, and look of the original drawing. It wasn’t exactly how the Sega original appeared, but in my memory that was how it always was. To be honest it wasn’t be the first time I recreated the graffiti from a Sega game in Adobe Illustrator.

I was a huge fan of the Jet Set Radio games, and little by little managed to recreate all of the game icons, in Japanese, and English! As well as the small, medium, and large graffiti pieces. I was hopeful that someday I might be able to use them in some sort of modded game about graffiti. But for now that was my story on Our Lady of the Boombox. I hope you enjoyed the art. Did you ever recreate any of your favorite stage art, graffiti, or logos? 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; The Ridge Racer Legacy

The Ridge Racer series was a result of an intense rivalry with Sega. If you want to find out all about Namco’s flagship racing series then Bookmark This Page.

The Ridge Racer Legacy, part 1...

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The Ridge Racer Legacy, part 30… 

Have you played Ridge Racer in the arcade or the consoles? 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; the Sega / Namco Arcade Rivalry

One of the greatest rivalries in the arcade was between Sega, and Namco. If you want to see some of the best work from both companies then Bookmark This Page.

The Sega / Namco Rivalry, part 1...

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The Sega / Namco Rivalry, final part… 

Did you take sides in the rivalry between Sega, and Namco? 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!

A rare Sonic Team item pops up, plus showing my favorite game character some love

Heya friends, I hope that you are having a great week. I managed to find a rare Burning Rangers item on a Japanese bidding site. There wasn’t much tangible goods from Sega when the game came out. I did pick up magazines featuring interviews with Sonic Team, and some rare screenshots from early builds of the game. Yet past that I didn’t really have any sort of merch. That was why I was surprised to see a mousepad pop up. The art was fantastic, so I had to pick it up.

As long as I was on a Sonic Team kick I was inspired to do some art featuring my favorite game character NiGHTS.

At the end of 2025 I was also inspired to do a piece for Christmas.

It had been a long time since I drew Reala, the rival to NiGHTS. I had to rectify it before the end of the year.

NiGHTS heard you wanted a bike for Christmas. Good luck getting it back!

Turned the best illustration I did this year into a holiday celebration. I'm wishing you, and yours the very merriest of holidays!

At the end of 2025 I was also inspired to do a piece for Christmas.

Of course 2025 was the 29th Anniversary of NiGHTS into dreams... this meant that I had to create a new illustration in 2026 to celebrate its 30th Anniversary. I'll be posting that at the end of the year. Were there any rare games, or favorite characters that you loved to draw? 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; Chinese video game copycats

Chinese developers can sometimes be shameless when creating video games. If you want to see examples of borderline plagiarism then Bookmark This Page.

Copycat Culture, part 1...

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Copycat Culture, final part… 

Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery? Or are some of these developers just poaching game ideas? 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; Meet the people that made Hydro Thunder & H2Overdrive

One of the greatest games of all time was Hydro Thunder. It was an arcade boat racing game with a dedicated fanbase. If you want to find out what happened with the team then Bookmark This Page.

Catching up with Team Hydro, part 1 - A 1UP classic from June 9, 2009

Catching up with Team Hydro, part 2 - A 1UP classic from June 9, 2009

Catching up with Team Hydro, part 3 - A 1UP classic from June 10, 2009

Meet Vector Unit, developers of Hydro Thunder Hurricane. A 1UP Classic... 

Did you ever play any of the boat racing games? Did you have a 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!

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!