This was the first, and only appearance of Little Trucky until Season 3's episode Mega Mud Robot, the latter currently being the last.
This was also the only appearance of the Steel Wheel trophy to date.
This is the first time Crusher and Pickle spend most of the episode with Blaze. It's also the first time Crusher gets to help Blaze instead of hinder him as usual.
This is the second time Crusher didn't bother to cheat nor despise Blaze during the episode.
This is the first episode where Blaze shows a slight hint of impatience; when he and Ferris take their places for a photograph and nothing happens before Ferris realizes he forgot his camera, Blaze shifts his eyes back and forth while still holding his smile.
AJ's voice is slightly deeper due to Dusan Brown experiencing puberty.
Also starting this episode, AJ has a singing double for the music numbers.
This was the final episode to have closed captioning displayed in ALL CAPS. As of Gasquatch!, the captions now display in Sentence case.
The sound whenever a magnet activates is different than it sounded in Blaze of Glory.
This is Ferris' only speaking appearance, and probably his longest screen time.
This is the first time Blaze interacted with Joe and Gus.
This is the first time Blaze uses Blazing Speed while transformed.
Magnets is the second song AJ sings entirely himself without Blaze after Lever.
This is the first time Bump Bumperman's name was mentioned, by Blaze, though only his first name. His last name was never mentioned until Officer Blaze, by AJ.
This is the final time a transformation request does not begin with "To make...".
This is the only episode where Axle City's railroad system is a maglev network. All future appearances of any railroads in the series are based on conventional railroad tracks.
Running Gags[]
Whenever the Mystery Bandit is brought up to someone, they get nervous and shift their eyes back and forth while a horror sting plays in the background.
Crusher sobbing over Little Trucky whenever mentioned.
Allusions[]
The name "Steel Wheel" most likely originates from the car type of wheel, which are made with an alloy of iron and carbon. They are seen often on most basic model cars/trucks in real-life (like the Ford F-150 XL).
During the elevator scene, it is based on a classic cartoon gag of multiple people crammed in it.
The horror sting (that plays every time when the Monster Machines are shocked of the Mystery Bandit) has a similar melody to the popular suprise meme sound effect, which is a sound effect often used in many random videos on the YouTube platform.
But later in around 2024-2025, the sound effect got remixed into a Brazilian Phonk song by the producer, KXZINVK, with the title "FUNK DO SURPRISE".
Ferris could also be named after a "Ferris wheel", or its inventor, "George Washington Gale Ferris Jr.", even though the character has nothing in common.
Goofs[]
This is the second time since The Driving Force that there is something is inaccurate to the lore. Despite that maglev trains exist in the universe (as Blaze transforms into one), they don't even exist in the United States. The reason of that is because they are very expensive to build per mile of track and there's no viable route for them that can't be done more cheaply with conventional rail or monorail.
The elevator would have not been able to carry Blaze and his friends due to their weight, as it would've been broken considering that there were four Monster Machines and two people and they would altogether weigh 21,020 pounds, and elevators can only carry 2,500 pounds.
Although it wouldn't happen here due to it being just a "cartoon exaggeration".
During the maglev train scene when everyone looks down at Blaze’s support magnets, Gabby is wearing her regular overalls and not her tracksuit. Also, her helmet disappears.
The mud disappears on the tires out of nowhere when the bandit is actually revealed to be Ferris. Though it's possible that there's a very secret/hidden water pool to splash into inside the train which such feature was never shown on-screen.
In the STEM song when Blaze and Zeg jump over the pile of metal pipes, AJ is missing.
Gabby's ATV disappears after they all enter to the elevator.
Monster trucks are not actually magnetic in real-life. Their framework is made out of fiberglass, which isn't metal. The same happened in Blaze of Glory.
In the travel song, when Blaze sings "G-g-give me some speed," the captions read it as "Hope you give me some speed".
When Blaze and AJ are shocked and glance sideways when the Mystery Bandit was first mentioned, Blaze blinks and the top third of his eyelids disappear for a split second.
Gabby's wrench has a number 2 on it, but when seen on Ferris' magnet and when she gets it down, the number is not there.
While Blaze is at the winner's podium, the trophy repeatedly changes its position between shots before it disappears.
As said above, this episode apparently doesn't have a DVD release. It could possibly be for the following below:
Licensing or Rights Issues: Sometimes specific episodes have music, guest voices, or content that cause licensing hurdles. Maybe something in that episode got stuck in legal limbo.
Content Concerns or Edits Needed: The episode might have included scenes or messages that didn’t pass final approval for physical release—maybe something was considered inappropriate or controversial for DVD.
Low Demand or Market Strategy: The producers might have felt it wasn’t popular enough or profitable to release that particular episode on DVD, focusing instead on collections or other episodes.
Technical or Quality Problems: There might have been production glitches, animation errors, or audio problems that made it difficult or costly to finalize the episode for DVD.
Streaming Priority Over Physical Media: Since the rise of streaming, some shows or episodes skip DVDs entirely because companies want to push viewers to digital platforms.
Packaging and Distribution Decisions: The episode could be bundled only with specific collections or digital releases, so it never appeared as a standalone DVD episode.
Accidental Omission or Oversight: It’s possible it just got overlooked in the DVD production lineup or delayed indefinitely due to scheduling errors.
Regional or Market Differences: It might be available on DVD in some countries but not others, depending on regional licensing deals.
Legal Disputes Behind the Scenes: Sometimes contracts or disputes between creators, studios, or distributors can stall physical releases.
Preservation or Archival Issues: If original masters or files had issues, releasing it on DVD could be tricky without proper restoration.
