A sparkling unicorn-themed monster truck. I know that the word ‘monster’ in this name refers to the truck, not the theme of the decorations, but I am just used to monster trucks having appearances that match the loud, powerful, anything-but-subtle destruction and mayhem they can cause.
Does this mean, perhaps, I should reconsider my understanding of unicorns? After all, Unikitty is not known to be the most stable and coherent entities in the LEGO universe; perhaps unicorns like a bit of roar and thunder? I still do not know, but I can say that I don’t mind this style of Monster Truck.
LEGO gifted us a copy of 42220 Monster Jam™ Sparkle Smash™, one of the new Monster trucks to be released in January 2026. The set contains 243 pieces and retails for AU$44.99/£24.99/US$34.99/€29.99.
It is very similar to Grave Digger we reviewed recently, and many of the same conclusions hold for this set. The main difference is the appearance. Sparkle Smash is a real Monster Truck performing in the Monster Jam shows so we can directly compare the real item with the LEGO variant.
A visitor seeing the LEGO car, even without knowing the original, pointed with disgust at the front bumper and asked “what is THAT?!” and it turns out this is a very fair question. All the Monster trucks LEGO released in this series have a large bumper bar in front of their front wheels. Real monster trucks typically do NOT have this, for the simple reason that the wheels themselves are so big they stick out in front of the truck. If the truck drives into anything the wheels hit it first and the truck either drives over the obstacle, or up against it.
Perhaps LEGO wanted to position these trucks as bumper cars, or expected people to smash them into things (and smash them I did!), but even so, having the wheels stick out the front would provide better softening and protection than the hard plastic bar.
So, we set about to remove the bumper bar to see if the appearance of the truck improved:
and yes it did! Without the bumper bar the truck looks a lot more like the real car, and in general more like a Monster truck. I wholeheartedly recommend NOT to attach the bumper to the car, and use the wheels to smash into things instead.
This brings me to another important part; this car looks cute. The car is covered in glittered stickers and has ears, manes, and a horn on top. The angry ‘mouth’ finished the look; an unexpected adorable ‘monster’.
Both 42220 Monster Jam™ Sparkle Smash™ and 42219 Monster Jam™ Grave Digger™ provide a very similar experience in a different package. If you’re in the market for a monster truck you can safely choose just on appearance, knowing you will not loose out on anything. I give this set the same 3 out of 5 arbitrary praise units, nothing to complain about, but also nothing too stellar to see here (despite the sparkly stars on the stickers).
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Until Next Time,
Play Well!
If you have enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it with your friends, families and communities. You can also keep up to date with us by following The Rambling Brick on our socials: Facebook, Threads, Bluesky, Tumblr (or just sign up for our mailing list) and find some extra content on Instagram and TikTok.
We really value your feedback: please let us know what you think about the sets we review, and the articles we post. And if you wish to support the Rambling Brick, consider clicking on our affiliate links before going shopping at LEGO.com. The Rambling Brick receives a small commission, and it costs you nothing extra.
Until Next Time,
Play Well!