Blaze and the Monster Machines

Blaze and the Monster Machines is an American animated children's TV series. Focusing on teaching STEM, the show premiered on Nickelodeon on October 13, 2014. The show revolves around Blaze, a monster truck, and his human driver, AJ, as they have adventures in Axle City and learn about various STEM concepts which help them on their way. Joining them is the human mechanic Gabby and their monster truck friends: Stripes, Starla, Darington, and Zeg as well as their rival Crusher and his goofy sidekick Pickle. Then later on, Watts and Sparkle join the main cast in Seasons 3 and 5. The show was renewed for a fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth season.

Plot
The show focuses on Blaze, an orange-red monster truck, and his smart, young driver, AJ. They live in a world that involves many living monster trucks called "Monster Machines". Their friends include trucks, Starla, Stripes, Zeg, Darington, Watts (as of Season 3), and Sparkle (as of Season 5), as well as Gabby, a mechanic who can fix anything and later on Watts' Monster Machine driver and close friend (as of Season 3). Each episode also features Crusher, a very evil sneaky blue lightning bolted tractor-trailer who cheats in races, but slowly evolves into a nicer character. Crusher is always accompanied by a small truck named Pickle, his goofy sidekick.

Format
Each episode has Blaze and AJ go on various adventures and solve problems along the way, normally three per episode, with "assistance" from the viewing audience. Blaze might also transform into a different vehicle or artifact depending on the situation. Blaze may sometimes get a task done with the help of his Blazing Speed, a special power that allows him to go super fast. Animals in this Monster Machine world have blended windows (which have been removed as of season 5) and wheels. Despite this, AJ and Gabby are both humans. In some episodes, Blaze, AJ and their friends are in a race against Crusher. During the race, Crusher cheats, usually with the help of his gray robot parts. However, Blaze and AJ manage to get through his traps, and they always beat him in time. Not all episodes involve a proper race, but still have Blaze competing against Crusher, sometimes by racing against him to get an item. Other episodes involve helping a truck friend such as Starla, Zeg, Darington, Stripes, Watts, Sparkle, or even Crusher and/or Pickle. Each episode features two or three original songs usually performed by Blaze and AJ offscreen, when they are setting off on their adventure or demonstrating the episode's STEM concept.

Main

 * Blaze (voiced by Nolan North) is the host of the series and central character and an orange-red monster truck who's so good-hearted, loyal, and brave. He has blue eyes, and he is the only main Monster Machine character to have an eye color in the entire series. He is based on the first-generation 2010-2014 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor (even 2013-2014 STX and/or FX4) in the form of a trophy truck/pre-runner, judging from the coinciding orange-red color, and has a modified version of the older generation 2004-2008 F-150's grille shaping design, along with a 2007-2013 Chevrolet Silverado's horizontal bar (non-split implies 1500 models). He is Axle City's number one racer, especially with help from his Blazing Speed which is initiated by saying "Let's Blaze!". At the very beginning of Season 2, Blaze becomes the newest member of the Axle City Fire Department and Season 4 has him join the Axle City Police Department to help Officer Anna. In the Season 5 episode "The Blaze Family", Blaze reveals the he has a family: a mother, a father (with an unknown name) and a little sister named Sparkle (who could possibly become a future main character in the series). He and his friends would also visit VelocityVille (where they turn into Race Cars to take part in adventures and Race Car Events) and Animal Island (to visit their animal friends and transform into animals for competitions or to take care of problems and/or obstacles). As revealed in the Season 3 episode "Need for Blazing Speed," Blaze's Blazing Speed engine is not only what he uses to unleash his Blazing Speed, but it is also what allows him to drive around in general. As of that same season, starting with the "Wild Wheels" episodes, Blaze's design has been slightly upgraded to have the addition of taillights, coinciding with the series' updated animation. Blaze, along with his Monster Machine friends and Gabby's ATV, also have additional features as well, such as a winch/tow hook to tow any Monster Machine out of trouble (every truck in the series actually has this) and Speed Lights to illuminate themselves in the dark and race in the dark in one of Axle City's outdoor races. On his tires, he has flame patterns, and on his sides, he has his signature flame decals. A standard F-150 where the SVT Raptor was introduced would be the 12th overall. Despite being supposedly based on the SVT Raptor, Blaze only has one row, when in reality the actual said vehicle always has two (which are never sold in a single cab body style).
 * AJ (voiced by Dusan Brown in "Blaze of Glory"/"Dragon Island Duel", Caleel Harris in "Runaway Rocket"/Season 3, Ramone Hamilton in Season 4/"The Amazing Stunt Kitty", Jakari Fraser in "Sir Blaze and the Unicorn"/"Video Game Land: A Monster Machine Super Special", and Ayden Elijah in "The Garbage Truck Challenge"/present, singing by Jacquez Swanigan in "The Mystery Bandit"/"Rocket Ski Rescue", Reed L. Shannon in "Race to Eagle Rock"/"The Gold Medal Games", Artyon Celestine in "Sparkles Racing Badge"/"A Blazing Amazing Christmas", Judah Edwards in "Renewable Energy Racers"/"Valentine's Day Rescue", and Leo Abelo Perry in "School Bus Blaze!"/present) is the show's co-host and Blaze's human best friend and driver. He is an African-American science and technology expert. AJ's racing suit technology includes his Visor View in his helmet which allows him to see things no one else can. When AJ activates his Visor View, the background usually turns orange in Season 1. From Season 2 and onwards, it doesn't do that anymore. His skywriting gloves which allow him to draw pictures in mid-air (which has been mostly abandoned since Season 3) and a wrist-com video watch worn on his left arm to call others. His uniform can also undergo minor changes in appearance, such as when Blaze transforms into a race car, and Blaze using his speed lights. As the show progressed, AJ became the one to describe the STEM concept instead of Blaze in earlier seasons.
 * Crusher (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) is the main antagonist from the series. He's a deep blue tractor truck with a lighter blue lightning bolt motif who is Blaze's biggest rival, based on a large 18-wheeler cargo-truck, such as a 2005 Peterbilt 386 and/or 2012 Kenworth T680. He cheats in most episodes because he would get lampooned by Blaze in a fair race. He constructs various cheating gadgets from parts that he keeps in a bag on his chassis. While he is known for his cheating and mischievous ways, he is not all bad and not really evil. In fact, Crusher is still good at heart at times. In addition, Blaze and his friends are even willing to help Crusher in some instances, such as helping him find his toy truck Little Trucky in The Mystery Bandit, Gasquatch saving him by sneezing away a thundercloud and then he's bringing him down from the Mud Mountain in this episode in Season 1, as seen on Nickelodeon. On his tires, he has lightning bolt patterns.
 * Pickle (voiced by Nat Faxon) is a small, and green singing hatchback monster truck based on a 1975 AMC Pacer with darker green stripes and bumps on his sides, who is Crusher's sidekick despite Crusher's indifference towards him, although the two are known to be close friends most of the time. In the episode "The Pickle Family Campout", it's revealed that he has a family: 3 cousins, 5 sisters, and a Grandpa. He tends to look on the brighter side of things and is quite goofy and has an extremely high pitch voice. Although he is by Crusher's side, Pickle is actually quite friendly towards Blaze and his friends. On his tires, he has wavy line patterns.
 * Gabby (voiced by Angelina Wahler in Season 1/"Tow Truck Tough", Molly Jackson in "Need for Blazing Speed"/Season 5, Luna Bella Zamora in Season 6, and Kensington Tallman in Season 7/present) is a human mechanic with light skin, blue eyes and purple hair in a ponytail. She wears a white shirt with blue overalls, though she switches to a white and blue racing suit and helmet with goggles when riding with Blaze. She fixes up the trucks when they are damaged and sometimes rides with AJ and Blaze to take part in some of their adventures. Gabby's uniform and helmet undergoes changes like AJ's, but it has only happened once (when Gabby's ATV uses Speed Lights). Gabby also drives a purple ATV. After that, she no longer drives it anymore after "Light Riders". Because starting with "Fast Friends", she is now a Monster Machine driver for Watts. This makes her the second character to become one and to be partnered with a Monster Machine (in this case: Watts), the first being AJ who partners with Blaze. When Gabby competes in a Monster Machine event with Watts, she wears a white and magenta version of her racing suit.
 * Stripes (voiced by Sunil Malhotra) is an orange tiger truck with violet stripes on him, and the design based on multiple generations of a Jeep Wrangler, such as a high sense of smell and retractable spike-claws in his tires. He is good at jumping and climbing. In Season 3's "Wild Wheels" episodes, when Blaze transforms into a Lion Monster Machine, he shares his engineering powers to transform Stripes into a tiger named Super Tiger Stripes. In "Babysitting Heroes," it reveals that Stripes can babysit baby animals. His home is a treehouse in a jungle outside Axle City. On his tires, he has stripe patterns. In "The Monster Machine Christmas Extravaganza", he is an Axle City Caroler.
 * Starla (voiced by Kate Higgins) is a purple pickup truck based on a lot generic, and more stubbier version of the then-new 4th-generation 2014 GMC Sierra (in 1500 Regular Cab Standard Box configuration), with the same generation Chevrolet Silverado wheel wells, a silver cowgirl hat, who's a roping expert. She speaks with a Southern accent. She runs a farm outside Axle City. She's the only female Monster Machine to be a main cast member until "Watts" in Season 3. On her tires, she has horseshoe patterns. In "The Monster Machine Christmas Extravaganza", she is an Axle City Caroler.
 * Darington (voiced by Alexander Polinsky) is a clumsy yet starry blue and white monster truck with a gold star motif based on either the second generation 2008-2010 or third generation 2011-2016 Ford F-250 Super Duty. He also has a helmet and cape-like spoiler, who loves stunts, and often becomes happy. His catchphrase is "Darington!". In "The Chicken Circus", it is revealed that Darington can speak chicken. In "The Amazing Stunt Kitty", it is also revealed that Darington has a kitty cat named Stunt Kitty as his pet and sidekick. On his tires, he has star patterns. In "The Monster Machine Christmas Extravaganza", he is an Axle City Caroler.
 * Zeg (voiced by James Patrick Stuart) is a lime green dinosaur truck with brute tendencies based on a Terradyne Gurkha/Armet Gurkha F5. He has a short vocabulary and tends to refer to himself in third person. Like most Ceratopsian dinosaurs, Zeg loves to smash. In "Race to the Top of the World," Zeg reveals that he can't swim (even though he did show to do such thing later on in Five Alarm Blaze). He has a low, Hulk voice. His home is a prehistoric cave outside. On his tires, he has rock patterns. In "The Monster Machine Christmas Extravaganza", he's an Axle City Caroler. His main catchphrase in multiple episodes is his name itself, "Zeg!".
 * Watts (voiced by Melanie Minichino) is a magenta monster truck powered by electricity who speaks with a South American accent. She is the latest of Blaze's friends (as of Season 3) based on a 2016 Lamborghini Huracán LP610-4 Spyder with a truck grille and bumper. She is also the second female Monster Machine to both be part of the main cast and be part of Blaze's Monster Machine friends, with the first one being Starla. Watts' features include her electric engine and her special yellow electric tires, both allowing her to drive faster, and her Electric Charge which allows her to give anything electricity so it can work. When Watts met Blaze, AJ and Gabby for the first time, she happily asks Gabby to be her driver, saying that she never had anyone driving her before. Gabby happily accepts Watts' offer, saying that she has never been a Monster Machine's driver before. Since then, Gabby is now a Monster Machine driver for Watts and the two are now very close friends. This makes Watts the second Monster Machine to be driven by a human and to be partnered with a Monster Machine driver (in this case, Gabby) with the first being Blaze who partners with AJ. On her tires, she has lightning bolt patterns just like Crusher. In "The Monster Machine Christmas Extravaganza", she is an Axle City Caroler. She is also the only main character with (different) colored tires.
 * Sparkle (voiced by Julieta Cortez) is Blaze's younger sister. She originally debuted as a guest character in the 5th season ("The Blaze Family"), but made periodic appearances in the next few seasons. Based on the same type of Ford Raptor just like him. She has hot pink hair that has pigtails with yellow stars holding them in every place. Her eyes have glittery pink eye liner and eyelashes. She has a finish of sparkles on her tires (to coincide with her name), which has the same print as her brother. Sparkle's sides bear a smaller version of Blaze's flame symbol. Sparkle is very playful and enjoys her brother's company greatly. She also prefers fair play over cheating, putting her at odds over Crusher. Just like Blaze, Sparkle has the ability to transform into other vehicles to perform different tasks. When transforming, Sparkle retains her hair and the flame symbol, but sometimes the flame symbol takes on other guises. Like Blaze too, Sparkle has a Blazing Speed engine as well. But hers have a pink and yellow contrail similar to Blaze's. As said above, her appearances and interaction with the viewer is one of the few aspects in hinting that Sparkle may be a second introduction of a new main character in the series after Watts. In "Sparkle's Big Rescue", after Crusher sent Blaze and AJ away with the Bye-Bye Copter, Sparkle took Blaze and AJ's places as the main protagonist of the episode of Blaze and the Monster Machines on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block.

Locations

 * Axle City is the main location of the series and where Blaze, AJ, Gabby, and all of the rest of the Monster Machines live. The most well-known locations of the area include the Monster Dome, Mud Mountain, a land of Medieval Monster Machines, and much more, including nearby islands. Monster Machines race events include Stuntmania, the Axle City Grand Prix and the Race to the Top of the World. Monster Machine friends, both in Axle City and other areas of the Monster Machine world, include the Great Sphinx, Pegwheel Pete and his Pirate Crew, Bump Bumperman, Joe and Gus, Gasquatch, the Light Thief (a kangaroo), the Litter Critter (a raccoon), and the Treat Thief (a mouse).
 * VelocityVille is the location for the "Race Car Adventures" episodes. To reach VelocityVille, Blaze and his friends travel to it with help from their friend, Swoops, whom Blaze and AJ first met before he offers them a ride on their very first visit to VelocityVille. Where Axle City is inhabited by Monster Machines, VelocityVille's inhabitants are Race Cars. This is where Blaze transformed into a Race Car for first time to save his new friends of Velocityville and since then, he, his Monster Machine friends and even Crusher and Pickle transform into Race Cars whenever they visit VelocityVille. As a result of the Race Car Transformation, AJ's racing suit also undergoes some slight changes, such as his racing helmet having white detailing instead of black. Blaze, AJ, Gabby and the other Monster Machine's Race Car friends include Rally, Fender, Dash, Mark-Set-Go and other Velocityville residents like Becky Checkerflag and Speedrick (formerly a rival who wants no one to be faster than him, but now a friend who believes that all race cars, including him, should be fast). In VelocityVille, Race Cars happily drive around the city at incredible speed and velocity thanks to their aerodynamic shapes, and Race Car events take place, such as the Race to Eagle Rock, the Polar Derby and the Hundred Mile Race.
 * Animal Island is a location in the Monster Machines' World where animals of all kinds reside, including insects. Animal Island is also the location for the "Wild Wheels" episodes. Unlike the animals in Axle City and VelocityVille, all of the animals in Animal Island are capable to talk like humans and Monster Machines, in addition to their usual animal noises. The main residents of the island and Blaze, AJ, Gabby and the Monster Machines' animal friends include Bunk the Elephant, Bam the Gorilla, Skyler the Falcon, Nelson the Rhino, and Tooks the Toucan. Blaze and his friends travel to Animal Island by raft or Swoops. When Blaze and his friends visit Animal Island, instead of STEM Concepts, the "Wild Wheels" episodes teach viewers educational facts about all kinds of Animals.

Production
The first season consisted of 20 episodes. On June 15, 2015, the series was renewed for a third season which premiered on October 10, 2016. On June 21, 2017, it was renewed for a fourth season which premiered on March 26, 2018. On May 22, 2018, it was renewed for a fifth season which premiered on August 16, 2019. On February 19, 2020, the series was renewed for a sixth season which premiered on December 18, 2020. On August 9, 2021, Charlie Adler, the voice director for the series, confirmed that the series was renewed for a seventh season, which was later confirmed to have 26 episodes.

Broadcast
Blaze and the Monster Machines premiered on Nick Jr. in the United Kingdom and Ireland on March 6, 2015 and on Nick Jr. in Australia and New Zealand on March 9. The series is also airing on Nickelodeon and Treehouse TV in Canada and Nick Jr. in Africa. It premiered on Nicktoons in the United Kingdom along with Ryan's Mystery Playdate on 6 January 2020.

DVD releases
Blaze and the Monster Machines DVD releases are distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment under the Nickelodeon label.

Video game
In 2021, Outright Games released a racing game, Blaze and the Monster Machines: Axle City Racers on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

Mobile streaming
On August 31, 2017, the first two seasons and the first half of the third season were added to the Noggin app.