Bigger Than Godzilla! Giant Tonka dump truck

 

After covering Tonka (and Sidekick Carl) on Mystery Monday, I knew there was way too much material not to do another post. After further thought, I decided there was only one feature that would work, so I dusted this one off for yet another round. It's Tonka vs. (generic) Godzilla, but first, here's a little more on Carl and the oddly mysterious Play People.

As covered previously, the Play People was a line released by Tonka in the late 1970s and early '80s to go with their larger metal vehicles. I previously tried out just how well Sidekick Carl, my only specimen, really worked with a vehicle that I was sure had come with at least one other figure now lost. In the process, I also tried out another truck that I was sure was one of the last Tonka trucks I got, a medium-sized dump truck that I think I got around 1988. I was a little thrown off when I saw identical trucks listed as from 1983, but I had no trouble confirming it was still being made in the late 1980s. In any event, I confirmed that Carl would fit in the cab, if anything a little better than in the van that was released with the Play People. However, the proportions proved a bit wonky. Here's Carl and the Truckstop Queen with the vehicle.

Proof the lady belongs with a truck!

As seen above, Carl is if anything a little smaller than the proper scale of the truck, which we've already seen Tonka was usually happy to ignore. On the other hand, it certainly isn't that close to the Queen's scale. (If you're asking why my reference model is bigger than almost everything else, you're clearly new here.) I'm pretty sure I did sometimes play with the truck with figures in it, though the only ones I remember specifically are Playmobil figures I used for cannon-fodder goons and a few of my major villains. What's of most interest is that the 1983 date puts the design a year after the 1982 date reported for the retirement of the Play People. This means Tonka was still trying to make their biggest vehicles compatible with action figures, even if they weren't making their own.

Having gone through this experiment, I inevitably thought of something else I had tucked away, one of the true giants from Tonka. I seriously debated whether to get it out, because the place I left it was so out of the way and sketchy I genuinely didn't want to touch the thing. Still, I finally and reluctantly broke it out, and with a fair amount of work, I cleaned off enough of the filth to see the filth underneath. Here's a pic with the other dump truck.

This particular toy is possibly the earliest I have any recollection of getting. I'm sure I got it for Christmas from a grandparent, I think in 1983. (I also remember my brother got a blue TIE fighter, which puts it at 1985 the latest.) I consulted Mighty Tonka, and easily matched it to a model introduced in 1983 and continued well after. Per the site, this and other vehicles in the Mighty Tonka line were actually slightly smaller than those from earlier years. The new design included a new cab, which I discovered has an opening at the back; sure enough, there was room for Carl. Here's some more pics with Carl and the Queen.

Trust me, you do not want to see the inside of the bed.

I literally got this shot turning on the camera at random. Damn, she looks good.

One more thing I ran across is the actual name of the truck. I first saw it in a "vintage" ad, where I assumed it was a slipup by some anonymous advertiser. But I kept seeing it, and I started developing a suspicion that I still only believed when I got to samples of original packaging. They couldn't just call it Mighty Dump Truck? On their own box???

With that unpleasantness out of the way, it's finally time for the inevitable comparison: Is the dump truck bigger than generic Godzilla? On close examination, it depends on what you mean. It's not as tall as Godzilla/ Genericzilla, but it's not far off either. However, it's length was clearly greater, and it was only fair to consider its total dimensions. That proved tricky enough that I finally turned to the other truck, which is a bit shorter though it may not look like it in the reference pic above. Here's some pics of how it turned out.

Okay, let's call it a draw.

I really don't have much to add to the pictures. That damn truck is easily the most colossal toy I have ever owned. What surprised me most handling it is that it's really not even that heavy, surely a testament to just how well Tonka had mastered the engineering of their products. The problem will continue to be finding room for it. On a lighter note, here's an extra pic of the Queen.

Beep beep, big boy.

And one more with the Gas Station Duchess/ Connie. King Kong never gets a break; he kid of deserves it.

Well, you weren't exactly truth in advertising yourself.

That's all for now, more to come!