Ladies, gentlemen… and the rest of you sick freaks, start your engines!
Just before Halloween, Toys R Us revved up a new and exclusive line of hot rod monster toys, known as Monster 500. Monsters and hot rods are a proven recipe for success. They can be found burning rubber together in the visual stylings of Ed Roth’s Rat Fink, in the lyrics of any given White Zombie song, and even in video games such as Twisted Metal.
Is Monster 500 the real deal, or is Toys R Us just looking to cash in on recent monster fads from zombie hordes to adolescent vampires? Today we’ll be test driving the 2″ die cast Monster cars to find out. So buckle up, and as always, keep your arms, legs, tentacles, and wings inside the ride at all times.
SCULPT
The sculpting is nothing short of brilliant. Each Monster 500 ride is dripping in detail and the characters are dynamically posed, creating the impression that they’re in the midst of action even when sitting still. The ultimate examples being characters such as Croc Pot, whose lolling tongue appears to be blowing back in the wind, creating a serious sense of speed.
Each character, though the same general dimensions, has a unique sense of mass and size. Zoom Zombie is a boney corpse sticking out of a towering hearse, while Lead Foot is a muscular giant astride a motorized tree trunk. There are no cookie-cutter sculpts here. Even the wheels vary greatly from car to car. Some have giant funny car wheels in the back, with teeny tiny front wheels, some are set up more like street cars.
PAINT
Any hot ride should have a bitchin’ paint job, but this is one area where Monster 500 falls a little off the pace. What’s there is good, and some vehicles have seven or eight colors achieved through a combination of colored plastics and paint applications. However, the toys are so large and so detailed, that even that is not enough to give them a fully painted feel.
This minor shortcoming ironically suggests another great market for these guys: customizers. Zoom Zombie’s hearse is covered in trim, lights, and other details that are just crying out to be painted. And the toys are so large, it shouldn’t be too onerous for even amateur paint slingers to get in on the action.
PRESENTATION
Toys R Us has surrounded consumers with cool Monster 500 stuff to see and do. The flagship Monster 500 website is packed with awesome artwork and backstory information, as well as previews of the NEXT figures already slated for Spring 2014.
When you buy one of the figures, you get a trading card of that character, which also contains a code to unlock a character in the free Monster 500 racing game app. And although the game isn’t the most fun you’ll have this year, it’s well worth the free download to see the characters modeled and animated in 3D. If you like the toys, you’ll love seeing them come alive through the magic of the internets. All of these extras feel authentic and add to the overall experience of the toys.
VALUE
The basic 2″ figures go for $6 each, or $15 for a 3-pack, but not all of the characters are available via the 3-packs. That is a great price for what you’re getting. Pro tip: Buy the two 3-packs, which will save you $6 over buying individually, and you’ll have saved exactly enough money to buy another individual figure! Remember kids, the more you spend, the more you save! (No wonder I’m broke.)
VERDICT – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Monster 500 is firing on all eight ghastly cylinders. Toys R Us has created an instantly classic line of monster hot rod toys that should appeal to Strange Kids and collectors of all ages. The designs are timeless, and in thirty years there will be people searching flea markets for these guys because they will be just as cool then as they are today. Get ’em all or cherry-pick your favorites; highly recommended for holiday shopping.
