A few weeks ago, Alice, Brett, Rob, Edward, and I went to Monster Jam here in Philadelphia. This has proven a surprisingly durable event in kid terms. Alice is not only still talking about it, she’s been on a whole kick designing monster trucks in her head, making monster trucks out of LEGO, and playing out various tricks and stunts. Yesterday I was treated to a full Monster Jam show in our living room, complete with racing, technical competition, and freestyle, along with the requisite rescue work.
This is our current lineup and arena. Please note the tire wall barrier preventing drivers from shortcutting the very tight chicane, and the obstacle wall used for getting the trucks up into headstands, moonwalks, and flips.
READY, STEADY, GOOO!
The green and blue/orange trucks are official LEGO kits we had around still assembled.
Alice’s Classroom Crusher (her favorite Monster Jam truck) obviously wins every competition, just like in real life! (at the event we saw live, Classroom Crusher did indeed win each competition) It has a simple little suspension that we made up together for Alice to build a school bus on top of using a huge portion of our yellow bricks on hand.
Classroom CRUSHER
Mini suspension
We’re not sure Nana got the same design brief as everybody else, so her Monster Truck stands out from the crowd. I’m not too sure the driver has appropriate credentials either, but am afraid to get too close to ask.
To infinity and beyond…
… in search of bananas.
My truck is probably a little too serious for this crowd. But it does include a second person specifically in charge of making the BRAP BRAP and VROOMM noises. Its simple suspension permits the wheels to swing left & right as well as up and down, so the body can tilt and rock somewhat more like a real vehicle crawling over obstacles might.
One guy drives, one guy makes the BRAP BRAP noises.
BEEP BEEP
SMASH
Last but absolutely by no means least is Alice’s rescue truck, which everyone knows is the true star of Monster Jam. The driver doesn’t quite fit in the cockpit, so they have to store their legs on top.
