Collecting modern monsters

In a previous blog I talked about how Hot Wheels stopped producing Monster Jam toys in 2018 to create their own line. Mattel also partnered up with the Bigfoot Team, and a few independent monster truck owner / drivers to bring an arena show to fans. Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live was now in its eight year with no sign of slowing down. This change of toy companies allowed me to focus back on something that I had been a fan of all my life. As long as Feld Entertainment controlled Monster Jam, and the majority of monster toys then I couldn’t bring myself to collect anything. Once I had an alternative it would be easy to start again. As with everything in my collection I had to be very selective. I had a budget I couldn’t go over, and very little space in my home to display anything. This meant that I could only collect a handful of trucks that really meant something to me. I’m going to feature them today.

I’m going to start with the most obvious toy. Bigfoot was the original monster truck, and the one that I grew up with. I was a fan from day one. I was also a fan of the owner Bob Chandler, and various Bigfoot drivers for decades. The next one I added to my collection was for the missus. When Bigfoot started gaining popularity in movies, and TV Bob’s wife Marilyn asked why he should be having all the fun. So he built her a baby blue Ms. Bigfoot. It was almost identical to the original Ford F-250 that he used for Bigfoot. He even kept it on 48-inch tires which was what the original Bigfoot drove around in before Bob put it on 66-inch tires. I covered Marilyn as the first female monster truck driver, and the truck on a previous blog. It was important for me to have the Chandlers at the start of my new collection.

The next two trucks were also complimentary for a different reason. The Grave Digger was always a tough competitor. Despite the feelings I had for the Feld company, I had nothing but respect for Dennis Anderson, and his family. He built his own truck, and legacy in many early competitions. Plus the Grave Digger had a fantastic look often imitated, but never duplicated. It earned its spot at the top of the collection. Note that the version I got was a classic design. The skull, cemetery, and haunted house were similar to the "Grandma" version with the words Grave and Digger on top of each other, as opposed to side-by-side. Right next to it was the Bone Shaker. Larry Wood’s iconic Hot Wheels design was every bit as brutal as the Grave Digger. There was a reason why it was the star of Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live. The old school hot rod-turned-monster truck was just too cool for words.

The next truck was actually a fictional rival to Bigfoot. Snake Bite debuted in 1991, it was the first monster truck to have a custom 3D character body. Underneath the snake-shaped shell was actually a rebuilt Bigfoot IV. This allowed Chandler to run two trucks in shows, and competitions. The team really committed to the rivalry. They said the truck came from Cobra Creek, Colorado (which didn’t actually exist). They also had the drivers wear snake-patterned airbrushed masks. Veteran Bigfoot drivers like Andy Brass, Dan Runte, Larry Swim, Chris Norman, and a few others played the characters Colt Cobra, Ricky Rattler, Vic Venom, Kris Kopperhead, Andy Anaconda, or Sid Sidewinder. Hot Wheels was on board the rivalry, and made some popular toys featuring both trucks. The Carolina Crusher was another formidable competition monster truck. It was built, and driven by Gary Porter for years, and years. He stepped away from racing for a while. He returned in 2014 to drive once more for the 30th anniversary of his truck. He eventually sold the rights to Paul Shafer, who later sold those rights to Pace Motorsports which became Feld Motorsports. Despite all this I still held Mr. Porter, and his truck in high regards.

The next truck in my series was created by Rosalee Ramer, and her father Kelvin Ramer. Kelvin built, and drove the Time Flys truck. Rosalee grew up learning how to fix trucks alongside her dad. There were pics of her as a little kid doing repairs. By 14 she was driving competitively. Making her the youngest professional monster truck driver ever. Her truck was called Wild Flower, and was easily one of the most unique trucks ever built. Next to it was King Krunch. It was an old-school truck that also represented generations of competitors. It was originally built by Scott Stephens from Texas way back in 1982. He toured the country for years, and his son Colt Stephens became a driver as well. Scott also built two of my favorite trucks, the jet-powered Coors Brewser, and the Coors Light Silver Bullet. Those trucks would never be made into toys, so having a King Krunch was as close as I could get.

The next two trucks embodied the spirit of the early monsters. Those trucks were literally inspired by ancient monsters, and cryptids. The first was the Cyclops. It was a 1969 Chevrolet C-10 built by brothers Fred and Gary Dykman out of Arizona. It was similar to the Grave Digger in that it was a famous mud truck that got coverage in the 4x4 magazines, and later become a monster truck. The Dykman brothers were very committed to the Cyclops gimmick. They had a giant animated eye hidden under the hood. It would pop out, and look around before starting a run. I remember seeing this live as a kid, and the audience went crazy when it happened. The Michigan Ice Monster was a 1983 Chevrolet C-10 by Brett Engleman. It was only in competition for a few years before Mr. Engleman stepped away from the sport. This was also one of the old school trucks that I saw live for the small window it toured originally. There was a smaller version of the truck called the Michigan Ice Monster Jr. It was built from a 1975 Chevrolet Blazer, and owned by Jesse Birgy.

The next two trucks represented the smaller owner / drivers that carved out their own path, and became successful. Titan was an awesome 1972 Chevy C-10 truck owned, and driven by Donald Epidendio from Lower Lake California. He drove as a member of the Straight up Racing team, and took part in the Monster X Tour. He also competed in several Monster Jam World Finals as well. There was something about the old school square body trucks that I thought could never be topped. Bigfoot, Cyclops, King Krunch, Titan, Giant, and a few more were all square bodied classics. The next monster in my collection was easily the most successful to feature a car body. The Avenger had a 1957 Chevy Bel Air body. It was owned, and driven by Jim Koehler from Columbus Michigan. He owned, and operated Team Scream Racing, and ran in the Monster Truck Throwdown Tour. He had an outspoken personality, and knew how to fire up the crowd whenever he got on the mic. He was possibly the greatest ambassador the sport had ever seen.

The next truck owner / driver Dave “Heavy D” Sparks was half of the Diesel Brothers alongside “Diesel Dave” Kiley. Sparks fell out of favor in my eyes for a number of reasons which had nothing to do with his arrest, and release either. It was more about his outspoken defense of immigrant Mexican laborers while also revealing he was a MAGA Trump supporter. Rather than waste my time on this glaring contradiction I would rather talk about the Brodozer. The Ford Super Duty truck was one of the first modern diesel trucks to compete in Monster Jam. I wrote about it years ago. The next truck belonged to an owner / driver that was a tough competitor. Joe Sylvester out of Canton Ohio played by his own rules, and had a truck that reflected that. My favorite version of Bad Habit featured a Jeep Gladiator body. There was a build with an Escalade body but I thought it was too bland. Mr. Sylvester held the records for both the fastest truck in the quarter mile, and furthest jump. 

The next truck in my collection was the Lucas Stabilizer, which was driven by Cynthia Gauthier. It was the only truck owned, and operated by Feld that I collected on purpose. I did so for two reasons; because Ms. Gauthier was an exceptional driver who had been competing for years with different trucks, and different teams. She had long since earned a truck of her own. The other reason why it was in my collection was because it was a callback to the classic Peterbilt monster trucks like Big Pete, and Super Pete. I also had a truck that was featured in the first few years of the Hot Wheels Monster Truck Tour. There was a WWII airplane-themed square body truck called the V8 Bomber. It looked hyper-American. On tour it was driven by Stevie Snellen, and built on a version of Basher with a vinyl wrap. Mattel realized in hindsight that maybe it wasn’t a good look to have a truck like this on tour that glorified war machines. This was especially true as they took the tour international. So they came up with a different theme.

I did collect one vehicle that wasn’t based on a specific truck. That was the Cremator, a hearse-bodied monster. There were other hearse monsters in the past, and I would like to talk about them one day, but this was a Hot Wheels original. The last monster truck in my collection was Wreckreation. It was an RV monster truck which was run by Tomfoolery Motorsports. The Pagliarulo family out of Florida owned and operated many trucks including the classic Michigan Ice Monster, and Excalibur, as well as the newer Jester, Kraken, and Missfire. Matt Pagliarulo was a veteran driver, and his children Michael, Nick, and Brooke were competing alongside him. The trucks they owned were cool, however they didn't appeal to me as much as this RV. Wreckreation captured the essence of everything I loved about monster trucks. It had a classic square body, a solid color, and a very strong visual theme.

The trucks that told a story were always the ones that I gravitated toward. Wreckreation could have come from the actual first generation of monsters. There were pics of early trucks such as Bigfoot, and King Kong with camper shells on the bed. Remember that Bob Chandler, and Jeff Dane would take camping trips using their actual daily driver trucks? They would hit the trails, and mud bogs as weekend warriors. Wreckreation was carrying on that tradition. It was possibly the last of the working man's monster campers. By contrast I never cared for the trucks with animal, zombie, or robot bodies. Those weren't cohesive themes. They didn't tell a story, they were just gimmicks.

Of course I needed a place to store my trucks when I wasn’t playing, I mean, when I wasn’t studying them for reference. Hot Wheels released a Bone Shaker Monster Mover in 2018, the same year that they released the Bone Shaker monster truck. It could store a dozen models. How amazing was this?! I put the most important trucks to me in the carrier, in case I ever cleared enough space in the home to display them. You’ll have to guess which ones those were.

So this wrapped up my look at the monster truck toys I currently had. Were there any toys that you collected because they meant something to you? Tell me about them 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 Giant Monster Series, part 5...

The giant monster genre was a subsection of the monster genre. The tradition of scary beings went back to the earliest days of storytelling. Imagine primitive tribes sitting around a fire recounting the time they almost got eaten by a giant bat or snatched by a troll living under a bridge. Monsters were sometimes shape-shifters, they looked human from a distance but then up close they were something else. The bigger the monster, or god, the greater the chance for destruction. Gods and giant monsters were the roots of disease and natural disasters. Some demanded a blood sacrifice in order to be satiated. Smaller monsters could still be bloodthirsty, or demand a sacrifice. Their destruction was limited to a small group of people, a clan sometimes, they were just effective when used for a cautionary tale.

 

One of the classic monsters was the Cyclops. The one-eyed monster was the child of the god Zeus. The creature had a habit of eating trespassers on his island. He was blinded by Odysseus (Ulysses) and as punishment Zeus caused Odysseus and his crew to be lost at sea for a decade. Most lost their lives to various creatures, large, small and seductive. Homer the poet was credit for writing the Odyssey. The creatures he described represented a various state of being for the gods, or hubris for the lost Greek sailors. No matter how far they traveled, they could never outrun their past. The monsters in classic literature manifested our innermost fears. Another creature that reflected our psyche was the monster created by Dr. Frankenstein. The story by Mary Shelley was a cautionary tale about accepting responsibility for your actions. In the case of Dr. Frankenstein he was a reckless scientist. He succeeded in creating life from death but was horrified with the results. He abandoned his creature and without a master or guiding hand to temper his existence the creature terrorized a village. There were so many layers to the creature, ranging from pitiful to morbid. It made the creature both sympathetic and terrifying to behold. When the monster showed up in movies it created a template that would be copied by other studios and even game developers.

 

Bioshock by 2K was released in 2007 and had a monster not unlike Frankenstein's creature. The "Big Daddy" was a mutated man inside of a twisted diving suit. He was protective of his "daughters," mutated girls. Like the creature he was obscenely strong. He was relentless in his pursuit of the hero. The setting in the game made the encounters with Big Daddy much more intense. Audiences were trapped in the remains of an underwater city called Rapture. The hero couldn't simply run to the next town for help. The additional layer of isolation on top of a great antagonist made the series unforgettable. In the follow-up title, Bioshock Infinite by Irrational Games, the player was trapped aboard a floating city called Columbia. The game from 2013 replaced Big Daddy with a cybernetic automaton called the Handyman. Like Frankenstein's creature it was an unstoppable force with a tragic back story. Series director Ken Levine managed to turn both monsters into sympathetic creatures by the end of each game.

Great monster stories are about escapism. Whether the setting is Victorian England or Japan in the near-future, there has to be something for audiences to escape to or from. For video games it is not enough to run from the monsters, but to be able to fight them as well. When audiences were introduced to the Big Daddy or the Handyman they were grossly unprepared for the encounter. Early on in each game players had to learn how to hit and run from their opponents. As they gained experience then they earned new weapons and abilities. Eventually the game evened the playing field and audiences no longer had to fear the monsters. This formula has probably never been exploited more than in the Earth Defense Force series.

 

Earth Defense Force is a long-running series from publisher D3. The game has traded multiple developers since it debuted in 2003 but the core experience remains the same. You are the hero in the ultimate movie spectacle. Imagine a game recreating the biggest fights in Independence Day, Pacific Rim, Guardians of the Galaxy or Godzilla. In essence the jaw-dropping special-effects scenes that put people in movie theaters every summer. The story in each game is straightforward, you are a member of an elite force that is protecting the Earth from alien invaders. As aliens, in the form of giant bugs start popping up you fight them with small weapons but as you progress the tools get bigger and better. You move from machine gun, to rocket launcher, to tank and eventually science fiction weapons; power suits, laser rifles, rocket backpacks and much more. Your squad is under a constant barrage of enemy fire and giant monsters. It is a frenetic experience that ups the ante with every mission.

If you've never heard of the title there's probably a reason. The game has a cult-like following. Visually the graphics are amazing. The scale of the creatures you have to fight is off the chart. The alien spacecraft, giant bugs and monsters in the series are literally breathtaking. They are among the largest things ever presented in a game. Remember that this includes the enormous monsters in Mass Effect, Resistance, Lost Planet, Monster Hunter and the God of War series. From a game play standpoint there is a lot of action to be had and a ton of different ways to dispose of the various giant creatures you come across, including the ability to pilot a mecha or giant robot.

   

Despite the awesome visuals the game is lacking in depth. Like many of the summer movies the experience is about spectacle and nothing else. Films like Armageddon (1998), The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and San Andreas (2015) pile on the special effects and hope that audiences don't mind the lackluster script or poor acting. The EDF series is the gaming equivalent of those effect features. Small details that are addressed in AAA titles are overlooked in the series. Things like clipping (where 3D models intersect), animation and collision detection are not always right. But it doesn't seem to matter when the game hits you with wave after wave of giant robotic lizards and space ships that eclipse the horizon. No sooner are they destroyed than another batch arrives. You have no time to wonder how cities are rebuilt so quickly or why you are never fighting atop the remains of your enemies. The steady build up and immersive narrative of a Bioshock game is replaced with explosion after explosion. So was there a man versus giant monster game that captured the gravity of the situation better? Certainly! We will look at some examples in the next entry.