Review: 42200 Monster Jam ThunderROARus
Posted by benbacardi,The second of next year's Monster Jam pull-back trucks is 42200 Monster Jam ThunderROARus Pull-Back, a 232-piece Technic vehicle based on one of the many Monster Jam trucks that compete internationally in racing and skills competitions in large dirt arenas.
I previously looked at 42199 Monster Jam DIGatron Pull-Back, and as LEGO have typically released a pair of these vehicles each year, ThunderROARus completes 2025's line-up and brings the total across the years to eight.
Summary
42200 Monster Jam ThunderROARus Pull-Back, 232 pieces.
£22.99 / $27.99 / €27.99 | 9.9p/12.1c/12.1c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A fun build let down by some unsightly gaps, and not as faithful to the real truck as it could have been.
- Pull-back monster trucks are fun!
- A good size vehicle
- Not a great representation of the real truck
- Some large gaps and visible Technic frame
- Lack of B-models this year disappointing
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
The box artwork includes some stats about the original vehicle: sporting a 1500hp supercharged V8 engine, with 1.68m diameter wheels, and weighing in at 12,000lb. I believe every truck uses the same engine, tyres, and is built to the same weight standard, so these statistics would be near identical across the range. In fact, the info panel on the box of 42199 Monster Jam DIGatron Pull-Back does show the exact same numbers.
The variety, therefore, comes in the colour scheme and design of the fibreglass bodywork around the truck's frame. ThunderROARus is styled after some kind of dinosaur-like predator, a grey pale body covered in fearsome red spikes and a myriad of teeth.
The vehicle's LEGO counterpart consists of 232 pieces, found in unnumbered paper bags inside the box. This difference from its companion set was a surprise, as I would have expected them to be produced at around the same time. Like usual, construction was relatively quick and was completed within half an hour or so, a good way to pass the time while watching some dull work-related training videos!
The set relies heavily on stickers to provide the red accents on top of the bodywork, with only a handful of pieces in red to break up the large swathes of grey panels and beams. Only two spikes are featured on top of the vehicle, a far cry from the high number that pepper the roof of the real thing.
The body sits high above the Technic frame that houses the pull back motor, none of which is particularly well hidden or disguised, as you can clearly see from the side profile below. Once again, silver corrugated pipes are used to symbolise the rear suspension, which is non-functional on all these pull back sets.
The vehicle features ten of the many ferocious teeth that line the hood of the real thing, which I haven't done a good job of angling correctly in the photo below! They capture the impression fairly well, although they are significantly larger proportionally than they ought to be.
The boxy gap left beneath the open mouth and the vehicle's frame is rather unsightly, though, and once again the large crossbeam at the front of the truck is quite distracting from the overall look.
As with all these sets, the detailing on the bodywork relies heavily on the 14 stickers, which are shown below. The photo further down shows the truck without them applied—primarily a broad swathe of rather uninspiring grey panels.
I do appreciate the use of "tractor" tyres rather than the previous style, as they are more faithful to the real tyres used by the actual monster trucks. I think I've put some of these on backwards, though, which wasn't an issue before!
Conclusion
There are many aspects of these Monster Jam sets I enjoy, despite not being a big monster truck fan. They're great fun-sized Technic sets, feel good in the hand and to roll around once built, and the pull-back motor adds a bit of additional play value.
However, I think LEGO's missed the mark slightly with this particular set, at least when compared to the source material. The overall feel of the original vehicle are there, but the shape hasn't been captured particularly effectively, and the square Technic frame is too visible and leaves some unsightly gaps. The ThunderROARus' partner set, 42199 Monster Jam DIGatron Pull-Back, builds a more appealing design that is more faithful to the real truck it's attempting to replicate.
As was pointed out in the previous review, this year the sets don't include an alternative model build. The trucks are the main appeal, but the single model coupled with the price increase is disappointing.
Of the 48 current trucks in the Monster Jam line-up (at least for the US version), LEGO have now produced eight, and at the rate of two a year could continue for a long time without running out of inspiration to draw from! Personally, I hope they do, because although this particular set fell a little short of my expectations, that's not true of the entire line, and the idea behind the license is a fun one. Have any of you collected them all?
42200 Monster Jam ThunderROARus Pull-Back will be available from LEGO.com on January 1st for £22.99 / $27.99 / €27.99.
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22 comments on this article
I have the shark one, I considered getting at least one other but wasn’t that bothered either way. Pity they didn’t go with the tractor tyres from day 1.
Thanks for the review. My kids have several of the previous monster trucks and just one of them has been rebuild into the b-model. I do think that the arms are the wrong way around in the pictures.
I keep trying to tell my partner - when it comes to making household decisions, it's ThunderRoar-US, not ThunderRoar-ME.
Based on the official images and the source material, it looks like you have the red arms on either upside down or backwards…it looks like they are supposed to approximate the “vestigial” arms of a T-Rex or a raptor.
Not bad, but wouldn't touch it for over £14
God when are those speed champions reviews arriving? I swear I might tweak out again like last year
We have 42118 Grave Digger and 42134 Megalodon in our household. Its fun to have 2 of them to pull back and smash into each other! Or to set up ramps and piles of bricks for them to burst through. Or whatever general silliness my kid and her friends come up with.
@R1_Drift said:
"God when are those speed champions reviews arriving? I swear I might tweak out again like last year"
Those sets are being released in March, so not until February at the earliest.
Damn. I want some dino-moar of that.
I do pick these up every year, going back a good decade or so now. Just a fun toy. Some look better than others, but I’m glad they exist and the monster jam sub-theme is really fun!
Finally! :-)
Still like these sets and consider them pretty much perfect play sets, but this isn't the best one indeed. Too few details, too much reliance on stickers. Do like the proper tires tough. The price, not so much...
While I kinda understand why they don't do it, but how cool would it be if it had a bouncy suspension like those real monster trucks?
It looks too mch like the shark one to me
@CapnRex101 said:
" @R1_Drift said:
"God when are those speed champions reviews arriving? I swear I might tweak out again like last year"
Those sets are being released in March, so not until February at the earliest."
Yay! A review release window! Thanks Huw! :))))))
Thanks for the photo of the set without stickers!
I’m considering to purchase one of those vehicles, mostly to try to use the pullback part for constructions that are not vehicles.
your truck seems to have a little problem with its tyre profile. They are turning against each other.
You're very harsh. This is a pull-back toy car, not a scale model. I don't think the 8 year old who is crashing this into his mate's car will worry about the wrong number of spikes on the roof or the size of the teeth.
The big black ugly frame is obviously there to take the impacts that the real-life car won't have to deal with. I think for the size of the set the designer did a pretty good job at the shape of the car. The only thing I would say is missing is two more corrugated tubes for the front suspension.
These Monster Jam trucks were fun little sets for kids at the sub $£20 price, good gifts for kids to take to parties etc but that extra £$5 price creep is a bit hard to stomach. As someone said, under 15 and these are great. Over 20, not so much.
I have only one, 42134 Megalodon, which I got when it was discounted to 9.50 Euro on Amazon.
Haven't built it yet though.
@iookjj said:
"your truck seems to have a little problem with its tyre profile. They are turning against each other."
The review explicitly states that "I think I've put some of these on backwards, though, which wasn't an issue before!"
The arms being on backward makes them look like little legs with feet. It looks hilarious. And kinda cute.
This is such a well written, in-depth review, that I was wondering why you didn’t mention the 40% (EU) price increase? Did you deliberately take the price out of the review? Then I understand. For me, I always liked the 20€ sets in many themes, also the Technic pull-backs. But 28€ makes me easily pass them.
I actually have all except these current 2. Not really a fan of either IMO. Agree that the one does at least look more like its RL counterpart. But yes for the sake of the series I will end up with a at least 1 of each.