Nothing Can Stop...The Animal!
Friday, July 16. 2010
Like many kids, I happily welcomed the monster truck craze of the 1980s. Like any cultural phenomenon, those early days saw some of the greatest - and most insane - innovations. Bigfoot received regular tire upgrades until it was finally sporting eight ten-foot oil field rig tires. Aces High set a long-distance wheelie record. Virginia Beach Beast was riding around on a former tank chassis. The tie-in toys followed suit, with different manufacturers trying to outdo each other: Flex had tires that would change diameter when they encountered obstacles, C.L.A.W. had multiple speeds and articulated body for steering, and Monster Masher had no fewer than 18 powered wheels along its length. One of the more famous "gimmick" trucks was The Animal, with tires that featured pop-out claws. I had one of these in my group of monster truck toys, but didn't know that Monogram had made a deal with Galoob to make a model of it until several years later. Now, thanks to the power of the internet, I have a 1/24 version as well!
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