Review – Mattel’s Toy Story Collapsin’ Cowboy Woody

Do you ever have one of those impulse buys when you go into the store to buy something completely unrelated to toys? When you are almost completely caught up on the stuff that you regularly collect but you check that toy aisle just in case they might have one of the very few things you are actually looking for, or maybe there is something that your friends are trying to find? Well, in my constant pursuit of DCUC 10 and Public Enemies figures I have stopped and looked at the new Toy Story figures from Mattel about 10 times. Each time saying “Those look really nice, but I just can’t jump into another line right now.” Well, the other night I threw my own logic out the window and broke the seal.

I am huge Pixar fan. Huge. I don’t have any kids but I still make it a point to go see every Pixar movie in theaters; the movies just seem to have something for everyone. It really started with Toy Story and now, after so many years of waiting, I think we have some great toys at mass market to match a story about toys… a Toy Story if you will.

While they had just about all of the figures currently available at the store, including the little green aliens, Ham the piggy bank and two versions of Buzz Lightyear (Space Ranger!), I decided to start with Woody the cowboy to see what this line is going to bring. I have to say that, for the most part, I am pleasantly surprised by this figure as it is obviously targeted directly to kids (unlike my very grown-up “Adult Collector” figures that I currently collect) at just about every turn.

The sculpt is spot on, they captured all of the little nuances of Woody, not only in overall detail but also in form. In the movie, Woody is really a doll made up primarily of fabric and stitching; here he is, of course, hard plastic but they did a good job of creating the effect of cloth, especially in the “joints” of the knees and elbows. The head sculpt is spot on and the expression is very appropriate to the character. His eyes are wide and bright and he his hair looks great with the little curl on the top of his head, I am glad that they made the hat removable.

He doesn’t have a ton of paint detail in terms of realistic shading and airbrushing; he is, after all, a toy of a character that is a toy. His plaid shirt does look great though, as does his gold sheriff’s star and his face details.

In terms, of articulation, he does not have a ton (as you would probably expect) and the places he does have cuts are pretty much taken over by his action feature. No, he does not talk like in the movie, this little figure has “collapsing” action. Remember in the movies how when a human comes back to where the toys are all of the toys have to make like they haven’t been moving around and doing stuff? Well, that is the effect that they are trying to create here. When you pull the string on Woody’s back it makes his body rigid by tightening the strings that run throughout. This was he can stand up (though it is tricky getting him to balance) and be posed. However, if you push on his head he will collapse and lay all innocent like he has not been plotting some crazy toy scheme. The feature works fine for what it is, but I would rather have skipped it to give him better balance and more posing possibilities. Probably my only real gripe with the figure.

I think I have doomed myself to yet ANOTHER line. I am going to pick up one of the Buzz Lightyear figures the next time I am out and about just to get confirmation of hunch that this will be a fun new line, but I think he might turn out to be an even better figure. Sigh. I know that Toy Story toys probably won’t be everyone’s cup of tea at the Fwoosh, but if you have been thinking about picking them up, you might just give them a try. Thanks for reading.

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