-Review and Photos By Andy Jones

Are you ready for MONSTER MONSTER TRUCKS TRUCKS TRUCKS?
We will sell you the whole seat, but you only need the EDGE.

They’ve gone and done it. Playmobil has made a monster truck theme and it’s fantastic. For years I’ve tried to custom make my own monster truck with playmobil pieces, but it didn’t set right. This is monster truck perfection. The chonky wheels and the springy suspension work great. The over-the-top styling is a lot of fun to look at, but it’s a ton of fun in your hands. They’re sturdy too, you can be reasonably tough (within normal stunt show play) so don’t be afraid to knock ’em around a bit.

I like the bull styling of set 70549. This set comes with a piece of rocky landscape for it to climb over, but really, how can you resist hitting the toy chest and finding some cars and trucks for this behemoth to roll over. I also liked the styling of the driver. Keep an eye out for the Shark-themed monster truck 70550.

The work tent, 705512, is a nice addition to the theme. You get a motorcycle, a pit guy, and a bunch of mechanic’s tools, including a blow torch. Here you can perform repairs to the cars, trucks, and bikes after they perform a stunt. There’s a workbench with a vice, a laptop, platforms to lift a car, and more.

I love the hot rod, 70551. There are interchangeable parts such as the hood and bumper, so you can play as the super-charged hot rod or add the bumper ramp and perform stunts with the dirt bike. I also love the crash-test dummy. There was a dummy in the blind-packed series 19 Fi?ures series, but I missed out. I love the flaming barrels, and that the driver is female. But check it out, you switch the bumper and replace the engine block with a hood and you can jump one of the motorcycles (either from 705512 or 70553) and jump it over the car. Or heck, keep the flaming engine block and make it a bit more exciting.

Each one of these sets brings home a little bit of stunt show excitement. I like that on their own, they’re pretty fun, but put them together and the fun expands. If this theme continues in the future, I’d love to see a grandstand and maybe a super beater car that could fall apart and be put back together. That car could either be run-over by the monster trucks or compete in the demolition derby.

My family missed going to the County Fair last summer, and we’re not getting a stop on the Monster Jam tour this year, so this theme came out at the right time. I’m glad playmobil is seeing unprecedented success with their licensed lines such as Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Scooby Doo, and How to Train Your Dragon, but I’m also really glad to see new original themes getting a chance too.

Review and Photos By Andy Jones

Review Samples Courtesy of Playmobil

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