Face-Off: Buzz Lightyear vs. Mr. Incredible

Buzz Lightyear’s name was inspired by real life astronaut Buzz Aldrin, a fact Aldrin himself has embraced when he pulled out a Buzz doll during a speech at NASA. Just the name of Buzz Lightyear is as adventurous as the character himself, just has that all american heroic type feel to it and that’s the character of Buzz in a nutshell. It also provided some slight gags in the first film (I’m looking at you Woody). Lightbeer didn’t get a chuckle from me in 1995, but it never fails watching it today. Adulthood has its perks.

John Lasseter had in mind when he designed this character a toy that he could sell, to say he succeeded is the understatement of the century. I mean, I imagine it going down just like it did in the first Toy Story with the sell of Buzz Lightyear merchandise with the kiddies, with the bedspreads and the whole nine. John pulled from actual suits from Apollo astronauts for the design and used his and his wife’s favorite colors for the color scheme of the character.


NOTE: The way the whole team designed the characters movements is a whole other monster. A human like Mr. Incredible is easier to create then guessing how a toy would come across on screen. That has always impressed me in the Toy Story films.

Buzz Lightyear may not actually be able to fly, but damn if he doesn’t have some skills to ‘make you believe a toy could fly.” In three movies Buzz never hit a road block he couldn’t find his way out of, it was a joy to watch that damn astronaut use everything that was around him to get him and his crew where they needed to be. I mean, he was a damn rock star in Toy Story 2. He mastered the wheel, he mastered the elevator shaft, he mastered a toy stores sliding doors. If that wasn’t enough he also has the intelligence to put two and two together when Woody initially was kidnapped. Buzz is not bad to have on your side in a tight spot.

My favorite aspect of Buzz Lightyear is that in three movies he never got boring. His clueless dynamic with the rest of the grounded toys in the first film was priceless, seeing a glimpse of that same Buzz again in the second meshed with our real Buzz was entertaining (it’s akin to how my parents view themselves thinking back to the 80’s), then the third we had tyrant Buzz and Spanish Buzz. We’ve never had a dull moment with Buzz Lightyear and for me he’s in a trilogy that is highly nostalgic, what an unfair advantage Lightbeer.