Vivid Imaginations Toy Story Talking Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger, Pixar Toy Story Collection

To infinity...and beyond!

Just to clarify, seeing as there are absolutely loads of variations on the Buzz Lightyear toy, the product I am about to review is the Buzz Lightyear 12" figure that is currently available for £20 from the Disney Store. Surprisingly, this is the cheapest place to get the Toy Story characters from at the moment, with most other retailers selling similar products for £40 and up.

My young son, who is 5 (and by a weird coincidence has the same name as the boy in the film), was desperate for the Buzz Lightyear figure, as he already has a Woody toy, who is is favourite (I know, the coincidences are coming thick and fast now!). I saw these figures in the Disney store, and the biggest obstacle I had initially was getting the toy out of the box, seeing as it was fastened in REALLY well! Incidentally, my kids spend lots of time playing with the box itself (isn't it always the way?), as it is quite similar to the one in the film, so they like to imagine it is Buzz's spaceship!

Once out of the box, you can see that this is a very well made toy, which is what I have come to expect from Disney Store products. The toy looks exactly like the character from the film, and has many of the same features. He can stand alone on a flat surface quite well without tipping over, so is a great display item for collectors, as well as a great toy. He is manufactured by Thinkway Toys, which is the official manufacturer for Toy Story merchandise. My son suddenly had a new favourite toy, and poor Woody got sidelined for a while (so true to the movie!).

What do you get for the money?

So let's talk about some of the features that makes Buzz such a cool toy! Firstly, you can pop open his helmet, just like in the film. Once open, you can turn Buzz's head 360 degrees. I had some issues with the front of the helmet coming off when my son dropped the toy, but It snapped back in place relatively easily with no damage. What I really like about the clear plastic visor on the helmet is the fact that it does not scratch or mark easily, as I was initially worried that the plastic would scratch up and his face would not be visible. Happily, this has not been the case, and I'm really satisfied with the quality.

Buzz has a red button on the front of his chest which makes his wings pop out. The wings are folded and concealed in the back of the toy. My son really likes popping the wings out and flying Buzz around the room. A bit of a word of caution about the concelaed wings though. With too much rough treatment, the back panel can pop off, leaving the wings dangling on their strings. The panel pops back simply enough, but a young child would have trouble doing it, as it requires quite a lot of pressure to pop the fasteners into their holes. If you drop the toy hard, the back panel usually falls off, and sometimes when you press the red button, one or both of the wings fails to pop out, which can be a bit irritating at times.

The toy has 3 buttons on the front that control speech, but in reality there are only 2, as the blue and green buttons are joined together. These buttons, when pressed, cause Buzz to go into "Spanish Mode", this is a nod to Toy Story 3, where the toys cause Buzz to reset to his factory settings and when they try to fix him, he ends up as Spanish Buzz. Buzz says all of his familiar phrases in Spanish, with accompanying Spanish music! This sounds really funny, as you can still work out what the phrases are supposed to be. I suppose it is a good way to teach kids Spanish too! He says things like "Hola mi amigo, como estas?", and the Spanish voice is a deifferent voice actor to Tim Allen. For the more familiar English phrases in the original Tim Allen movie voice, you press the red button. He says 28 different phrases in all, and all of the movie catchphrases are there, such as "I defend the galaxy from the evil Emporor Zurg" and "To infinity and beyond", along with the odd snippet of movie music too.

Finally, what Buzz toy would be complete without his laser? Ok, we know it is just a "little lightbulb that blinks", but lets not tell him that, shall we? This lights up a little red LED courtesy of a red button on his arm, and has accompanying sound effects.

The plastic that the toy is made from is very shiny, smooth and hard, apart from the face, which is softer and more pliable. You would have to be careful with young children that they did not use this toy to hit other children, as it is quite heavy and hard and would definitely hurt if someone swung it at you!

The toy requires 2 AA batteries, and bateries are included in the Toy, we have had him for about six months now, and the original battteries are still working just fine. He is quite solid and has a limited range of poseability, for example, you can't bend his knees, although you can sit him down, as he bends at the hip. His arms have a better range of motion, bending at the shoulders, elbows, wrists and fingers. Still, I don't really think this is a toy that your kid will want to take to bed with them, he isn't very cuddly at all, unlike Woody!

Any downsides?

I have had a few issues with the toy, but nothing that would cause me to drop a rating star, as many of the issues are to do with my son's rough treatment of the toy. As he has learning difficulties, he can be a bit heavy handed ( if you have read my previous Slinky review and seen the photo, you will get the idea!), and I caught him the other day throwing Buzz off the top of the stairs to see if his arm would fall off like in the first Toy Story movie. Amazingly, the toy didn't break, but the detatchable back panel came off, and one of the wings detatched. This was easily mended by snapping the wing back in place and replacing the panel. The fact that the toy survived the fall shows how well designed it is!

Summary

My son plays with Woody and Buzz every day, and absolutely loves them. I think this really benefits him, as one of his developmental targets from the Child development centre was to have more imaginative play, and since he had these toys he hasn't stopped playing with them. We also have lots of chat and conversations about the toys, so they are helping him develop on many levels. Woody and Buzz are usually kept together. We were playing a really funny story game on the bed a few days ago, when we pretended that Buzz did not know how to fly, and he was asking all of the other toys what he needed to do to fly. My little boy really enjoys making stories like this, and really loves to make Woody and Buzz fight pretend enemies and aliens too, especially an old ELC toy called Doc Tox, who is a crocodile, and the new enemy of Buzz, according to my son!

This toy is exactly the right scale to be compatible with the other Toy story toys in the range. We have Jessie, Buzz, Lotso, Woody, Rex, Hamm and Slinky, and Buzz looks just the right height, as he is a bit little smaller than Woody and Jessie and his head is a lot smaller, just as he appears in the film. The whole collection of toy story toys looks great together, and it is really good when we are playing Toy story games or re-enacting scenes from the movie, to have the other toys in the range.

Buzz is a really popular toy, especially with young boys between the ages of five and seven. There is a little boy at the Speech therapy session that I take my son to, and he always takes his Buzz toy with him wherever he goes. I suppose it is that combination of the fact that he is a well known movie character, as well as an explorer, astronaut and action toy who can fly that make him such a popular character with young children, although i must admit, Woody will always be my favourite Toy story character!

This toy would have wide appeal to kids between the ages of 2 and 9. My daughter who is 8 loves him too. Now we have him we can't throw him out can we? I got SO upset when I saw the film! This is a really well made toy, and I think he was quite good value for the £20 that I paid for him, as some variations of this toy can go for nearly £40. It is great that the makers of the toy have included many of Buzz's features from the movies, such as the laser, phrases, pop out wings, and of course, the new Spanish mode! The only noticeable absence is that this particular model does not have a Karate chop action. Remember the original Toy Story when Woody and Buzz were surrounded by enemies and Woody shouts "You're a toy! Use your Karate chop action"? Well you can't with this one. Sorry. He does everything else though!

If you are a fan of the Toy Story movies, this Buzz Lightyear toy is the perfect addition to your collection, whether you are young or old. He will be just as happy on a display shelf as he is in a toy box, as long as he is the centre of attention! The quality and durability of the toy are very good, and hopefully, this figure will last you to infinity and beyond!

A shorter version of this review previously appeared on Dooyoo under my username.