When you first open the box the first thing you notice is the four very large wheels. These are the hollow type. The monster truck is very colorful which is appropriate for a monster truck. Even when it comes to the technic pieces there really aren't any unique pieces. It contains a very small page of large stickers The build for the most part is really easy. Although for some reason some of the brick require a bit more force than usual to get them to snap. The rubber bands look a bit wimpy to me. I suspect that if you have a kid who plays with this a lot you will soon be replacing them. The minifig,is just a plain racing suit print. And only on front of the chest. The head has only one face print on it, But it a smug smile print that i haven't seen before. I'm not sure about a care, but scale wise it's taller and longer then the combine from 60223. The truck looks rather good and in proportion running over 75886.

Summary

This car was already on my wishlist for a while, and having seen the fun my nephew had with it, sealed the deal. The build was a quick and easy 30 minutes of fun. The car looks generally like a monster truck, and the suspension is simple but quite effective. The stickers look cool. Overall, I think this is a good set, that offers a whole lot of opportunity for play. And it even would not look too bad as a small display piece. It offers good value for money, and could IMHO make a nice gift.

Build experience

The build is divided into two parts: the chassis and the undercarriage, which makes sense. The construction of the chassis is nice, but nothing special. Construction techniques pretty much follow a pattern similar to that of other vehicles in the City Vehicles line. Nice pieces are the orange and blue wheel wells. The stickers are easy to apply, and IMHO definitely add to the looks of the vehicle.

The undercarriage is a simple build visually dominated by the use of Technic pieces and the massive wheels. The rubber band makes for a workable suspension. It is connected to the chassis using SNOT techniques, and the connection is very solid. The ramp could have been improved upon, it now looks rather flimsy. The two firework displays are a nice touch.

Minifigures

There is only a single minifigure included in this set. The print on the front and back of his torso is nice and multicolored, and a good depiction of a racing overall. There is no print on his legs. He only has a single face print, of a smirking expression. It is OK, but a second face print would have been nice. I did not come across a spare hair piece.

The build

I think this car is a nice depiction of a monster truck in this scale. All important elements - flashy lights, flashy colors, flashy stickers, oversized wheels - are all there. The one thing off compared to the originals is the suspension. However, making it a spring-suspension system would have made the construction much more complicated. Moreover, it probably would have resulted in a visually worse looking vehicle. The body seems to be more or less in scale with the wheels. The only thing arguably missing is the bull bar with lights-but then again, that would probably easily come off with rough play..

Play vs display

Above all, this is a play set. The car bounces around nicely, is easy to handle, and the suspension is not too soft. Any kid that likes racing around cars and have them bounce of things should have quite a bit of fun with it. It is IMHO also striking enough that it can serve as a small display piece or a small vignette.

The verdict

Overall, I think this is a very good set - better than I thought it to be before I saw the set in real life. It offers pretty good value for money, a fun build, and also fun. I am glad I have added it to my collection.

I think this is my first ever day 1 purchase. My son and I both have an affinity for monster trucks and demolition and this seemed like a good gift for my 8 year old boy (and his dad).

The Build

I didn't actually build it myself so I can't really speak to the build experience. However, just looking at the thing, and being around my son when he built it, I will say that the top half (truck body) is fairly simple & straightforward, while the lower half (frame, suspension, wheels) is far more interesting & fun to put together, at least for me.

Parts

It has parts. None of them particularly rare, I think or ones I desperately wanted by themselves, but they fit together nicely and form what is on the outside of the box, which is what I bought them for.

Minifigure(s)

The Minifigure is rather generic, with a nondescript, but nicely front & back printed torso, plain, unprinted legs and a fairly common head and blue racing helmet. But his colors match that of his vehicle, and he looks the part of someone who should drive it.

Price/Value

It seems a bit more expensive than I want it to be, but that's often the case nowadays and I suppose it's about the same size as many other sets in its price range. The very large wheels & tires make the price per piece seem inflated but they also make up quite a bit of the height of the finished model.

The Finished Model

The finished model looks great in my opinion. The color scheme of blue and orange works well and the rubber band-supported suspension is a really nice play feature. It's great to play with, crushing other vehicles and rolling over stuff and smashing things like real monster trucks do. Seeing the suspension in action—watching those tires go up and down as you ramble over & crush your other bricks (or your sister's dolls, or whatever)—is very satisfying.

I do think it feels like there is a piece missing under each of the headlights (or that the headlights should've been taller and extended down another brick), which gives it a strange, suddenly somewhat blocky look in that one area, but that's a minor complaint.

The set also comes with two flaming barrels and a mud ramp for driving the truck over/through, but these don't really add much of anything and seem just thrown in to fill a leftover parts budget. Honestly, these will end up in my spare parts bin because my son will either lose them or prefer to drive over other things. The ramp slides too much when you try to drive the truck over it anyway, even on carpet.

Overall Opinion

Overall, I really, really like it. It's not perfect by any means, but a fun little set and a good representation of what I want it to be in Minifig scale. It looks and plays like a monster truck toy should. Ultimately, I'm very satisfied and glad I have it.

In short, if you like monster trucks, and if you like Lego, chances are that you will like this set.