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Hasbro Toy Story 3 Talking Figure Buzz Lightyear
by cha97mw
When people were asking what my two boys were wanting for Christmas, i said, Buzz Lightyear please, and as many as we can. Obsessed is maybe not even a strong enough word to describe the love my boys have for this character, which is the favourite character of all from the Toy Story movies.
Strangely enough, no-one fancied ... paying £40 for the bigger interactive figures, but one of their presents was this slightly beefier than normal Buzz. He is quite a short and squat figure compared to the usual figures, but i think this is a good thing as it makes him more robust for younger children to play with. I think he would be less popular with older children as they would find him a bit limited in what he says and does, but for a younger child it is a much cheaper option. I would personally be really upset if i paid £40 and then they played too roughly and became broken. This little chaps price tag of £15 was much more sensible.
The figure is 14cm (about 6 inches) tall, and is slightly moveable at the waist and in the shoulder joint to give him a bit of movement. His squatness helps his stability, and he stands up by himself easily. He is identical to every other Buzz model we own in terms of the colours used and his appearance, and although chunkier, this is still fully identifiable as Buzz. The wings at the back are fitted by putting two circular pegs in holes in Buzz's back. The wings cover up the place where the battery is inserted, so they do come off easily, and have a habit of disappearing in our house, although this is not the end of the world.
The red button on the left hand side of his suit activates his voice, and he sounds just like he does in the films, which makes this a good figure to own. If it sounded different even my 2 year old would not be interested. He says:
- I'm Buzz Lightyear, I come in peace.
- I protect the galaxy from the threat of invasion from the evil Emporer Zurg (accompanied by laser firing sounds.)
- beep - There's a secret mission in unchartered space, let's go.
- a clashing noise - not sure what this is meant to represent, maybe the wings opening or his helmet shutting, even though neither of these things happen.
- To infinty, and beyond.
I think the range of sayings are really appropriate and in keeping with what you would expect from Buzz. An added novelty is that the sayings seem to occur randomly so you never know what he will be saying next. I do find the range of his speech is more than i would expect for a toy of this price bracket, so it is a bit of a bargain in my opinion.
This Buzz figure has been played with more by my 2 year old than my 4 year old if i am totally honest, so i would say it is definitely best for smaller kids as they will be able to play without doing it too much damage. Older kids will know they are being short changed a little, but i would still highly recommend this version.
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Hasbro Toy Story 3 Spaceship
by cha97mw
One of the many toy story gifts my sons got for Christmas was this toy story 3 spaceship, which i would definitely classify as a toddler spaceship as it is chunky and there is not a lot to it.
You pretty much get what you see above. The spaceship looks like Buzz's spaceship as seen in all of the Toy Story films. It has ... familiar colouring and logos to any young fan of the film. It is not battery powered in any way, so for once a quite toy powered purely by the child's imagination. (It is nice not to be pestered for batteries or trying to find a volume control when it is bedtime.)
There are very few parts to the spaceship. The front part is a hinged piece of plastic which opens to allow you to seat a figure inside the rocket. As it came without any characters, you need to buy your own, and not all of the Buzz Lightyear figures available in the buddy packs have figures which can be manipulated into a seated position. So you need to take care what you buy to avoid an upset toddler.
The rear of the space ship has a storage compartment which is accessed through two hinged grey panels. This is just a space, ie no seating, so your child can put any figure they want to in this bit. All of the characters in the buddy packs are between one and three inches tall, so they would all fit in here.
Overall, this is a sturdy construction which can handle the rough play of 2 and 4 year olds, and the occasional tug of war over whose turn it is now. The only bit that seems to come lose is the plastic roof of the cockpit, and as this is a hinged section it just clips back in.
It is a lovely little playset, but there is not a lot to it, and it no longer seems to be available in many shops. I couldn't find it at all in Toys R us where i know my mum purchased it. My only complaint is i think it is not good that it didn't come with at least one character to let you play with it as if you didn't have any characters at all you would be really disappointed.
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Hasbro Toy Story 3 Hero's Gang 7 Figure Pack
by cha97mw
The array of Toy Story 3 products on the market is a bit baffling. There are so many items to choose between, of different quality. My sons have been bought various buddy packs containing the characters of the film. They mostly contain 2 figures for about £8, and in a lot of the packs you get a buzz lightyear figure or a woody the ... cowboy. If you want a lot of the figures, then it works out you get duplicates, so a pack like this that contains 7 different characters that retails for £20 at a big toy shop is actually a really good deal. Individually, you would be looking at about £26 for the same number of figures, if you could get these combinations.
For your £20, you get 7 favourite characters, 6 of which are from Toy story one and two, and one that solely appears in Toy story 3. Each figure is made of a tough plastic and is between one and three inches tall. They can be played with as accessories to the Fisher price garbage dump set, dumper truck, flying pig spaceship, and buzz lightyears spaceship as they are the right size to fit.
The leader of the heroes gang is most definitely Woody the cowboy. He has slightly flared jeans and his arms are angled. He is about 3 inches tall. His costume is a cow print waistcoat, yellow checked shirt, denim jeans and cowboy boots and hat. He even wears a gun holster. In terms of handling, his arms are in a fixed unmoveable position, and his limbs are sturdy enough to handle normal play.
Woody's right hand man is the space toy, Buzz Lightyear. He is about 2 inches tall and has wings that are extended out in a flying position. This figure has unfortunately suffered damage in our house as his wings which are only about 1-2mm thick have actually been snapped off, and not from being too rough. Just a weak point on the toy.
Woody has a faithful steed, Bullseye. This figure is not shaped for Woody to sit on like another figure of him we have, but he has an adorable expression on his face and looks like he is shying away. The horse has brown 'fur'.
Jessie the Cowgirl is a lively character in the film. A design flaw here is that her head is large in comparison to her body which is true to the film, but her neck is actually so thin that my nearly 3 year old has managed to decapitate 2 of these figures, and again i don't think from being overly rough with her. Just normal play. Despite our best efforts to superglue her back together i find i cannot recommend this figure as a stand alone toy. Very disappointing.
The scary looking dinosaur is Rex the Tyrannosauras Rex, who is actually very friendly and non threatening in the film. He has a slightly bent pose, and his limbs are non-moveable.
Hamm the money box pig completes the original line up. This is the shortest of the figures at about an inch tall. It looks like a normal pig, but the coin slot on his back gives away he is a money box.
The last figure in this pack is the Barbie toy. This is a new character for Toy Story Three, so it was nice to see her in this pack, although i don't know why this was to the exclusion of Mr Potato head, a very prominent character in all 3 films. She is a very slender character, but in much better proportion to the Jessie figure so she has managed to escape a Henry the 8th style fate of beheading in the hands of my youngest. Her outfit is the gym outfit worn in the film. Her curvy features have been toned down a little notch. (Her bum looks less big to me than it does in the film. Maybe that is just me being weird?) Her arms are in an upright position, which i can't make up my mind about. Is she meant to be upset? Or is she about to do some Kung Fu style moves like she did in the film.
My opinion for this set is pretty much as for the other figures in the series. The design is overall very favourable compared to what the kids have seen in the films. The characters are instantly recognisable to them and they greatly enjoy recreating their favourite bits from the film and making up new stories.
However, some figures have ill thought out designs leading to disappointment when the pain flakes or the limbs/heads/wings fall off.
I do recommend the Toy story pack as it has had such a lot of play in my house, therefore good value for money, but i do knock a star off for the fact 2 figures out of 7 are broken, one so badly it has had to be binned.
Thanks for reading my review. I keep surprising myself that there are still unreviewed products lurking in the toy box.
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