Characters appearing in Pixar's Lightyear.
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Buzz
Buzz Lightyear
Voiced by: Chris Evans Other voice actors
The title character, and the original inspiration behind the popular child's plaything. For information of the character as he appears in the Toy Story movies proper, please go here.
- Adapted Out: His initial suit lacks both his wrist laser and jetpack, as he had no flight capabilities and used a deployable laser pistol and handheld energy blade. He does use a similar wrist-mounted laser in his battles with Zurg and gets his jetpack when he does an emergency ejection from his ship, but both are only used temporarily. Subverted at the end, where his new suit has both the laser and jetpack built in.
- Adaptational Jerkass: While still as much of a heroic Large Ham as his counterparts, here Buzz has noticeably more difficulty accepting help from others, preferring to do everything on his own. While he grows past this, an alternate version of him goes to extreme lengths by himself to fix a single mistake and "finish the mission".
- Art Evolution: His suit looks more realistic in contrast to his other designs; it has more details and darker colors to better resemble a realistic space suit. He gets a suit closer to his counterparts, albeit with more human proportions at the end of the film.
- The Atoner: He miscalculated the Turnip's ascent during an emergency takeoff, which resulted in a crash landing that destroyed the ship's crystallic fusion Power Source, causing everyone to be stranded on a Crapsack Death World. His entire motivation throughout most of the movie is to get everyone home, even if it's at great risk to himself. It becomes a Deconstruction when it shows his attitude keeps him from being able to live a full life like Alisha and everyone else did, and that it resulted in a version of him becoming Zurg, who's willing to potentially undo all of existence just to make amends.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: He was going to drop out of the Star Command Academy because of how badly he was doing, but Alisha Hawthorne convinced him to stay. They became friends afterward, as Buzz sought to prove everyday to see in himself what she had seen in him.
- Berserk Button: He can't stand rookies, volunteers and/or autopilots, seeing them as too eager to help when he's perfectly capable of doing the job himself. He gets over this by the end of the film.
- Captain's Log: Buzz continually records and updates his log, something Alisha teases him over. He keeps up the habit even years after anyone stopped listening. According to Buzz, it helps him focus.
- Character Development: At the start of the film, he spends years trying to fix his mistake of stranding everyone on T'Kani Prime by flinging himself further and further into the future, costing him everything he could have had in the meantime. His experiences with the Junior Zap Patrol and battling Zurg help him understand that his devotion to his mission is toxic, and if he truly wants to be the hero, he has to forgive himself.
- Character Tic: When he needs to focus or is in stressful situations, he pops open his wrist communicator and starts a mission log. Alisha makes fun of him for it since nobody ever reads those reports.
- Costume Evolution: He wears a more "realistic" version of his toy counterpart's space suit. However, at the end of the film, he gets his toy version's suit as an upgrade.
- Determinator: Firmly believes that no matter the struggle, no matter the cost, Star Command members must always complete their mission. The film spends quite a bit of time deconstructing such a mindset, since Buzz's stubborn adherence to this philosophy and desire to fix his mistake and get the colony off the planet cost him the years he could've spent with his friend Alisha. As shown with his future self, if he continued that mindset well into his later years, he'd eventually become the exact opposite of the hero he wanted to be.
- Detrimental Determination: He refuses to stop until he finishes his mission, as he's desparate to atone for his mistake of stranding everyone on T'Kani Prime. Instead of settling down and finding a new life like Alisha did, he misses entire decades of seeing his friends and loved ones, who all pass away by the time he finally does have the means to get everyone home. To hammer this point further, him refusing to stop results in another version of him becoming Zurg. Buzz sees he needs to forgive himself and stops, but Zurg doesn't.
- Fatal Flaw:
- Buzz takes his duties to Star Command as Serious Business, and that he must complete the assigned mission no matter what, especially when fueled by guilt. Such devotion, though admirable, only increases the amount of hardships and turmoil he goes though and is holding him back from being able to be the hero he desperately wants to be.
- Adding to the above, he has difficulty being able to cooperate and accept help from others, seeing rookies and such as more of a complication and preferring to do everything on his own.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: When Zurg reveals he is a future version of Buzz and offers his younger self the chance to go back in time and prevent everyone from being stranded in the first place, Buzz is tempted...until he realizes Alisha will have never met her wife Keiko, and thus everyone he just met will have never existed. He decides to forgive himself for his mistake and refuses to help Zurg reset time. The "idol" is physically represented as the stabilized fusion crystal that Buzz has and Zurg covets (as his own is nearly spent), which Buzz symbolically destroys in the course of his final showdown with Zurg.
- Future Me Scares Me: Upon encountering Zurg, Buzz is justifiably terrified of the towering robot. Upon The Reveal, meeting his older self is understandably a strange experience for Buzz, and while the two initially get along, Buzz is quickly put off by the obsession that defines his alternate self (something he is starting to grow beyond), and the two become enemies. Worth noting is that Buzz only ever refers to Old Buzz as "Zurg", both rejecting the notion of turning out like him and making it clear that Zurg has fallen far beyond the hero Buzz has always wanted to be.
- Genius Bruiser: When engine failure sends him off course, Buzz scribbles on his cockpit glass a calculation for ejecting the unstable fuel cell to explode and propel him back on course and he does all of this in under 30 seconds.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: The teaser shows he's blonde underneath the helmet and cowl, and is definitely as heroic as the toy and cartoon suggest.
- His Own Worst Enemy: In the early parts of the movie there's No Antagonist; the problem facing Buzz is his single-minded obsession with getting off the planet and fixing his mistakes, which costs him a lifetime with his only true friend Alisha. This becomes more literal, as Zurg is revealed to be a future version of Buzz who was driven to evil by this inability to let go of the past.
- Ink-Suit Actor: A mild example; while he does bear a slight resemblance to his voice actor, Chris Evans, he is clearly designed to resemble the toy version from the Toy Story films. It's possible that Buzz's resemblance to Evans was unintentional.
- It's All My Fault: The reason the colonists are trapped is because Buzz miscalculated the Turnip's ascent, clipping a cliff ledge and destroying its Power Crystal in the resulting crash; it takes the entire film for him to forgive himself.
- I Work Alone: He believes he's better off trying to handle missions himself, especially the mission to get everyone off of the planet they are marooned on. One of the movie's driving themes is him learning to accept help from others and completing his goals through teamwork rather than destroy himself trying to carry all the burdens and turmoils on his own shoulders.
- Jerkass Has a Point: He correctly points out that Izzy's astrophobia is an instant disqualification for Star Command training, let alone that of a Space Ranger, and she's well aware that she has to get over it if she wants to be one.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's very snarky and takes his duties to Star Command a little too seriously, not to mention he doesn't want rookies and such within a hundred yards of him, but he's devoted to helping others.
- Lantern Jaw of Justice: One element he shares with his counterparts.
- Large Ham: Not nearly to the same extent as his counterparts, but he can't help Chewing the Scenery when he gets passionate.
- Oh, Crap!: He's completely willing to help his alternate self finish his time travel attempt to prevent crashing the Turnip in the first place, up until he realizes that Alisha would've never met her wife Keiko, thus meaning their granddaughter Izzy and everyone else he met never existed.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: He is a high-ranking Star Command operative who made multiple attempts at jumping to hyperspeed and went directly up against Zurg.
- Serious Business: Being a Space Ranger is something he takes with a bit too much pride, as his devotion ultimately prevents him from being able to live his life like Alisha does.
- Spock Speak: Occasionally uses overly sophisticated language, such as saying "negative" when "no" would suffice.
- Tragic Time Traveler: After getting his crew stranded on an alien planet, he decides to try send them back using a hyperspeed crystal. However, since the formula is imperfect and his test runs end in failure, it takes him four years before he can go back home, by which point not only has his friend Alisha Hawthorne died of old age, but the test runs are being retired. Then, when he perfects the formula and tries one last test run, it sends him 22 years into the future, which is currently ruled by Zurg which, to add insult to injury, turns out to be an alternate version of Buzz who wants to take his crystal to fix his time machine and use it to erase the timeline where he failed.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He intends to fix his mistake and get everyone off planet no matter the cost. This includes being absent for most of his friends' lifetimes and disobeying direct orders from his superiors all so he can finally perfect the fuel crystal and the hyperspace launch needed to get everyone home. This mentality would have led Buzz becoming Zurg, his well-intentioned goals devolving into a selfish desire to heal his wounded pride, a fact that horrifies Buzz.
Alisha
Alisha Hawthorne
Voiced by: Uzo Aduba Other voice actors
A commander in Star Command and a friend of Buzz. Over the years, Alisha lives her life regardless of the planet she is on, advancing her career, falling in love, and building a family.
- Big Sister Mentor: It's heavily implied she filled this role for Buzz back in his early days of training to be a Space Ranger, Buzz even mentioned that she successfully encouraged him to keep at his training when he briefly considered leaving the academy.
- Butch Lesbian: She's implied to be the masculine partner in her marriage with Keiko.
- Foil: To Buzz; after they're stranded, Alisha manages to move on, find love, and raise a family, while Buzz remains obsessed with getting off the planet at the expense of many years he could have lived alongside his friend.
- The Gadfly: Not above teasing Buzz when he gets too serious.
- Good Parents: She was a good mother to the son she and Keiko raised together, and a caring grandmother to Izzy as well.
- Happily Married: Meets and gets engaged to Keiko during Buzz's first jump. One of the events Buzz arrives for between hyperspeed jumps is her fortieth wedding anniversary.
- Life Will Kill You: Dies of old age during one of Buzz's lightspeed jumps.
- A Mother to Her Men: Generally shown to be caring towards her subordinates. She even tries to force Buzz to work with the rookie.
- Platonic Life-Partners: She and Buzz are very good friends, but there was never a romantic connection between them.
- Posthumous Character: She dies from old age near the end of the first act, but her legacy still influences Buzz, Izzy, and several others in the colony.
- Truly Single Parent: Somehow, she is able to get pregnant with a child despite being in a relationship with another woman. Her son even looks just like a male version of her instead of having mixed traits from both of his mothers. It could be possible the colony has the technology for making a person fertile considering they have the technology for space travel.
- Twofer Token Minority: She's a lesbian of African descent.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: She lets Buzz continue doing hyperspeed travel tests in order to get off T'Kani Prime, which not only caused him to miss out on decades he didn't spend with her, but fueled his obsession with undoing his mistake and allowed Zurg to exist.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Alisha's screentime lasted for at least the first 15 minutes of the movie, as she passes away after Buzz's last mission.
Izzy
Izzy Hawthorne
Voiced by: Keke Palmer Other voice actors
The granddaughter of Alisha who's desperate to join the Space Rangers.
- Absurd Phobia: Her fear of the vastness of space is this, given how much she wants to be a Space Ranger like her grandmother.
- Ironic Fear: In spite of wanting to join the Space Rangers, she's terrified of space.
- Legacy Character: For her grandmother; her arc is about trying to live up to that legacy (and Buzz's memories of her).
- New Meat: As she reveals, she'd have to work her way up to being a rookie. When Buzz meets her, she's a volunteer trainee.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Panicking when fleeing from a pack of Zyclops, she presses the wrong button and ejects the Armadillo's power source, allowing one of Zurg's robots to grab it. This results in Buzz having a Heroic BSoD, leaving him vulnerable to being captured by Zurg.
- Strong Family Resemblance: She bears a striking resemblance to her grandmother. Buzz even mistakes her for Alisha when first meeting her.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: She's the sarcastic girl of Buzz's group, making her very similar to Princess Mira Nova. Interestingly, it is an inversion in the Toy Story universe, with Mira being a Suspiciously Similar Substitute for her.
- "Well Done, Daughter!" Gal: She idolizes her late grandmother and wants nothing more than to be a Space Ranger like her and to do her proud.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She's afraid of outer space because its incomprehensible emptiness means that one wrong move could leave you drifting forever. As Buzz points out, this is an Absurd Phobia for someone who wants to be a Space Ranger (to the point a diagnosis of astrophobia will apparently get you immediately kicked out of training).
Sox
Sox
Voiced by: Peter Sohn Other voice actors
A robotic cat working for Star Command. He's assigned to Buzz as a support animal following his first experience with time dilation.
- Badass Adorable: And how. He's equipped with a scanner, flashlight eyes, a dart gun, a blowtorch, a fire extinguisher, and is agile and strong enough to nearly disassemble a Zyclops' arm to help Buzz, only being stopped when the robot finally knocks him away. It doesn't hurt that he's also intelligent enough to solve the crystallic fusion stability issue (albeit after several decades).
- Benevolent A.I.: Sox is utterly loyal to Buzz and does his utmost to please him while helping in the mission. Though this loyalty does have limits, as shown when the future version of Sox willingly tranquilizes his future version of Buzz to aid his past self, admitting that he likes the "new" Space Ranger.
- Big "WHAT?!": After Buzz tells him that Star Command were planning to decommission him.
- Character Catchphrase: When he runs a program, he repeats the words "MEOW MEOW MEOW" or "BEEP BOOP BEEP BOOP BEEP BOOP" as his head rotates. He stops when the program is finished.
- Creepy Good: His alternate self who serves Zurg has half of his head exterior broken off, revealing dark circuitry underneath and speaks in a glitching voice. He's willing to betray Zurg once it becomes clear he's a villain.
- Cute Kitten: He has the shape of an adorable little cat. And he loves belly rubs.
- Cute Machines: He is a little robot that resembles a kitten.
- Cyborg Helmsman: Can plug himself into vehicles. The ship at the end has a socket in the dashboard designed for him to sit in.
- Do-Anything Robot: He's equipped with many useful gadgets, including a USB port that can hack technology, a blowtorch, and a built-in scanner and flashlight.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: He's one in the Toy Story universe, per the director's comments
, as his toy sold out well before Andy's mom was able to get it (and it was very expensive). - Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Gets his very own Space Ranger vest at the end of the film, and he lampshades how he considers it weird that he doesn't wear pants.
- Mechanical Animals: He's a robotic cat.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Sox is initially against Buzz's plan to disobey orders and test out the new fuel crystal, but when told that Star Command intends to have him decommissioned, Sox immediately switches loyalties to Buzz exclusively.
- Not So Above It All: While he has no interest playing with his little mouse toy and tries to keep a professional mindset, he is not above falling victim to stereotypical cat behaviors. For instance, he enjoys belly rubs and chases his own laser pointer.
- Robot Buddy: Sox is issued to Buzz as a social companion and tries to help Buzz cope with the guilt of marooning everyone on a desolate planet and to readjust after the first hyperspeed jump.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Sox is an adorable, helpful and friendly robot kitten.
- Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: Tends to outright say sound effects when doing something computationally intensive.
- Super-Powered Robot Meter Maid: Sox is intended to be a robotic animal companion for therapy, but can solve complex scientific problems, fire tranquilizer darts, scan the environment, interface with computers and ships, act as a flashlight, and cut through thick metal with an internal blowtorch.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He's a Robot Buddy to Buzz which makes him the XR of this universe. Though, in the Toy Story universe, it is the other way around.
- Tranquillizer Dart: He has the ability to shoot these as a surprise attack on anybody which will last for five minutes. Buzz quickly pieces together that their intent is to be used to sedate him if he goes too far out of line. This gets used in the film's climax to buy Buzz some precious moments against Zurg, a Buzz who indeed went too far out of line.
- Undying Loyalty:
- He supports Buzz by any means necessary and never leaves his side. When Buzz offhandedly tells him to solve the fuel crystal stability issue, Sox works for decades to do so. When Buzz defies Star Command, Sox helps him escape, albeit only after Buzz makes it clear that Star Command intends to decommission him regardless.
- Sox's counterpart from an alternate future simultaneously subverts this and plays it straight; presented with a choice between remaining loyal to the Buzz who became Zurg or the one who has grown beyond the obsessions that define Zurg, Sox stuns the former, although he pays the ultimate price for it later on.
Darby
Darby Steel
Voiced by: Dale Soules Other voice actors
A prisoner on T'Kani Prime who joined the Junior Zap Patrol to have time taken off her sentence.- Cool Old Lady: A badass elderly ex-con who knows how to handle devices and weapons such as a grenade launcher.
- Demolitions Expert: Darby is known to be an explosives expert, as she can take any device and turn it into something that will blow up. On Zurg's ship, she is able to jury-rig one of the Zyclops' teleporter tag devices into a contact-fuse mine with just a piece of gum and its metallic wrapper, stating she had "worked with less before".
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Grumpy and stubborn, she's nevertheless a good person.
- Original Generation: While Izzy, Mo and Sox have a real-life basis in the form of Mira, Booster and X-R (with it being the other way around in the Toy Story universe), Darby is the only member of Buzz's crew with no cartoon counterpart to speak of.
- Skewed Priorities: Mixed with Irony. When she joins the Zap Patrol and meets Buzz, Darby is more concerned with following her parole restrictions than anything else — even defeating Zurg's forces. It takes Buzz granting her "emergency authority" to convince her otherwise.
- Token Evil Teammate: Downplayed, she's not evil at all, just grumpy at worst, but she was the only one on the team who spent time in prison. At the end of the movie it's revealed she was sentenced for stealing a spaceship. Buzz admits that who out of other Rangers wouldn't steal a ship in a moment of desperation...
- Took a Level in Kindness: Averted. Mo says how she barely changed at all after cleaning her record, for which Darby says "I got off for good behavior, not good attitude."
- Trading Bars for Stripes: Darby joined the Junior squadron of the Zap Patrol in exchange for having her sentence reduced after being imprisoned for stealing a ship.
Mo
Mo Morrison
Voiced by: Taika Waititi Other voice actors
A more laid-back member of the Junior Zap Patrol who mistakenly joined the group.- Ambiguously Brown: It can be inferred that he is Polynesian like his voice actor, though this is not addressed and he is given a slightly darker complexion.
- Ink-Suit Actor: He's basically Taika Waititi as a cartoon.
- The Klutz: A bit of a ditz, even he acknowledges how mistake-prone he is. Several times in the movie he causes problems for the others by sheer clumsiness.
- Lovable Coward: He did not expect to be put in repeated danger.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Seems to be his role in the film. He mistakenly thought the military training he recruited for was going to be a "fun workout boot camp thing", and is miffed it isn't. He is also extremely excited by a pen he discovers as a feature in his ranger suit, and during a Chase Scene, Buzz's flying stunts in the spaceship they're in threaten to make him barf, leading to the on-board AI system recording their last words as "Do not throw up inside the vehicle!".
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: His Fatal Flaw is this, as he's prone to giving up almost immediately when something doesn't go right for him. Part of his Character Development is overcoming this flaw.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: His role as the Plucky Comic Relief seems to make him the equivalent to Booster, however it's the other way around in-universe.
Zurg (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Zurg / Old Buzz
Click to see the "real" Zurg
Voiced by: James Brolin Other voice actors
The film's primary antagonist who inspired the toy described as the sworn enemy of the Galactic Alliance. For tropes relating to his counterpart in the Toy Story films proper, please go here.
- Adaptational Badass: While Zurg in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command was pretty formidable, here he's larger and more intimidating.
- Adaptation Explanation Extrication: In the movie's novelization, Zurg never reveals his identity as a future version of Buzz Lightyear, as he stays inside his mech-suit the whole time and refuses to reveal his true identity. However, his true identity is still heavily implied by the fact that his autopilot is Ivan.
- Adaptational Personality Change: In the cartoon and toyline, Zurg was generally a Laughably Evil, Large Ham Card-Carrying Villain out to rule the universe. Here Zurg is a (Not So) Well-Intentioned Extremist fixated on changing the past for the better, no matter the cost.
- Adaptational Sympathy: The original Zurg from both Toy Story 2 and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command had no motive beyond ruling the galaxy and destroying Buzz. Zurg's movie counterpart was himself Buzz, desperate to undo the mistake that trapped his crew on a hostile planet, only to have fallen to evil in his attempts to set things right.
- Adaptational Villainy: While Buzz Lightyear of Star Command features an Evil Buzz, the Future Buzz who time travels to the past is a heroic ally to his young self; it can also be considered Adaptational Heroism in-universe of the Toy Story world, since the show is the in-universe adaptation of the film. It also doubles for the original Zurg, as he actually had moral lines he wouldn't cross, whereas this Zurg is willing to possibly undo all of existence for his own selfish ends.
- Adapted Out: His cape and Z emblem are notably absent from his redesign, as the director wanted him to have a more robotic appearance. In the finale, while pursuing Buzz and his team in space, he does wear a flight harness that bears similarities to his cape and shoulder coverings. He's also not titled "Emperor" and lacks the resources he had access to in the cartoon.
- Ambiguous Situation: Since it is shown that he stole his ship, mech suit and Zyclops robots from somewhere in space, it's unknown if there is a "real" Zurg out there in the universe.
- An Arm and a Leg: Buzz uses his new wrist laser to shoot off one of Zurg's extendable hands, only for it to crawl around like an arthropod and allow Zurg to reattach it.
- Arm Cannon: His ion blaster is now integrated into his left arm rather than being a handheld weapon.
- Art Evolution: This version of Zurg is a much more detailed, bipedal robot with an arm cannon built into his left arm. The end result resembles Shockwave.
- Badass Cape: Averted as he never wears his famous cape at any point, unlike his counterparts. He does wear a flight harness that bears similarities to his cape when he travels through space, though.
- BFG: His trademark ion blaster is still present, but the trailer and film show it's built into his left arm this time instead of being held by his right arm.
- Big Bad: It's already been established that Zurg was the main villain of the Buzz Lightyear franchise, and this movie shows how the rivalry started in-universe. Zurg is an alternate version of Buzz who was driven to evil after Burnside tried to arrest him for his betrayal of Star Command as well as his inability to accept his mistakes. He ends up driving the conflict of the latter half of the movie, sending his robot army to raid T'Kani Prime and steal Buzz's Power Crystal, which he needs to power his Time Machine and erase the timeline in which he failed from existence.
- Casting Gag: Like his son Josh, James Brolin voices a big purple character who's also a Big Bad and fights Chris Evans' character. Zurg and Thanos also share the same Japanese voice actor.
- Composite Character: He is an old Buzz Lightyear from the future who wants to change the past similar to the time traveling Buzz from Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, but is also an evil version of Buzz Lightyear himself, similar to one that appears in the same series. However, unlike both of them, this version time travels for more selfish reasons and is a Fallen Hero. He also possesses similarities to Shiv Katall, another mysterious armored character who turns out to be Buzz under the helmet. Coincidentally, the evil Buzz also wore Shiv Katall's armor in one episode of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.
- Conqueror from the Future: It's heavily implied that much of the amazingly advanced technology he has was not just found by him and Sox, but plundered from civilizations of the future (with the same flimsy rationalization that he "borrowed" them like Buzz "borrowed" the XL-15).
- Determinator: "Zurg" is Buzz's refusal to surrender taken to its darkest and most logical extreme; this version of Buzz, never letting go of his desire to fix the mistake that stranded his crew on T'Kani Prime, refuses to allow anyone or anything to stop him, including morality or even sanity. By the time present-day Buzz meets him, the older Buzz is willing to maybe undo decades of history and Cosmic Ret-Gone two entire generations of people, all to fix one mistake that had otherwise been long accepted or forgotten by everyone but him.
- Detrimental Determination: Like with Buzz, he refuses to stop until he finishes his mission, but this very refusal shows what would have happened if Buzz didn't realize what he was doing. Instead of being the hero he wants to be, Zurg has become a villain who would happily reset all of time and space if it meant he could be hailed as a hero again, unwilling to forgive himself for his mistake like Buzz and instead becoming an embittered old man.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: When recounting what happened in his timeline to Buzz, he shows annoyance that he was to be arrested by Burnside instead of being hailed as a hero.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Deconstructed. Zurg has kept Sox and the photo of himself and Alisha, which shows that he still feels for them. However, when Buzz points out that resetting time will means Alisha will never meet her beloved wife, Zurg is unconcerned, saying Alisha won't miss someone she never meets. And when Sox betrays him, Zurg destroys him without a second thought. This proves that, whatever feelings Zurg has left for his old friends, choosing to "finish the mission" is what matters to him most.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He can't wrap his head around Buzz's changed perspective, quickly becoming frustrated with Buzz's "new ideas" and preferring to reset history so they won't exist.
- Evil Counterpart: He's literally this due to being Buzz from the future, a future where he let his obsessions consume him.
- Evil Is Bigger: He absolutely towers over Buzz, at least while he's in his suit, with Lightyear himself even making note of his massive size.
- Evil Old Folks: He's an older, evil version of Buzz Lightyear.
- Evil Sounds Deep: His robotic suit mechanically deepens his voice. In addition, his natural voice, Buzz's own, has clearly deepened with age.
- Expy: Of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader: He is a Fallen Hero of galactic fame who, after a tragic incident, fell to the Dark Side after betraying his superiors, even on account of the fact that they constantly misunderstood or even flat out abused him. After the fall to evil, he is encased in a dark, metallic armor which, among the several enhancements, deepened his voice to unnatural levels.
- Extendable Arms: Zurg can extend his right arm; he uses this to great effect in the film.
- Face Framed in Shadow: Initially, Zurg's face isn't seen until he attacks Buzz directly, combined with Out of the Inferno.
- Fatal Flaw: His complete refusal to give up or to accept his own failures has turned him from a heroic Space Ranger to a monstrous warlord.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: He still has these as part of his redesign.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: Implied; Old Buzz is 50 years older than Young Buzz, and it's all but stated that he spent those fifty years on his ship, with no other company besides Sox and emotionless robots, dwelling on the mistake of stranding the colony on T'Kani Prime, and the bitterness of being greeted with an arrest warrant when he finally found a way to fix that mistake. By the time Old Buzz returns, all that matters to him is "finishing the mission."
- Horns of Villainy: Just like the toy, although they are a bit thicker and less devil-like here.
- I Hate Past Me: Invoked when he rejects his younger self's changed views, just as his younger self rejects his older counterpart's beliefs.
- Implacable Man: Nothing Buzz or any of the other heroes hit him with keeps Zurg down for long. He even manages to survive his own ship exploding around him without a scratch and just keeps coming. It takes Buzz blowing up the fusion crystal while Zurg is holding it to finally put an end to it, and as the final post-credits scene shows, even that didn't kill him.
- It's All About Me: While he frames it as being for the better, it quickly becomes clear that Old Buzz is motivated entirely by his own desire to undo his mistake and become a Space Ranger again. The fact that other people have moved on and had entire lives on T'Kani Prime, even his own former best friend Alisha, ultimately means nothing to him, and when Buzz points this out, Old Buzz callously replies that Alisha can't miss someone she's never met. Even his own former self isn't safe from this; when he refuses to follow Old Buzz's plan, his older self restrains him, expresses disdain for his counterpart's changing mindset and prepares to follow his own plan.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: After spending years trying desperately to fix his mistake, Buzz's desire to complete the mission "no matter the cost" took a dark upgrade from personal to literally EVERYTHING and EVERYONE — namely by trying to travel back to the exact moment he stranded the colony ship on T'Kani Prime at the risk of a temporal paradox that could erase the current timeline and every living being it created.
- Kick the Dog: Or stomp the cat, in this instance. The future Buzz ends up crushing his version of Sox after the robotic feline betrays him.Zurg: TRAITOR!
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Subverted. Toy Story 2 establishes that the toy version of Zurg is the father of the toy version of Buzz, later playing catch with his son after a fight. In this movie, when Zurg reveals his identity to Buzz, the latter asks the former if he is his father. Zurg corrects him stating that he is actually Buzz himself, albeit much older than him.
- Made of Iron: After being blasted with energy weapons, caught in a spaceship's detonation, and even a hyperspace fuel crystal's destruction, Zurg is still unscathed.
- Mini-Mecha: Zurg is actually an older future version of Buzz inside a suit of nigh-indestructible armor.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Downplayed. This Future Buzz's transformation into Zurg was kickstarted by Commander Burnside attempting to arrest him rather than hailing him as a hero for finally finding a way to get the colony back to Earth.
- Motive Decay: Just like Buzz, Zurg's original reason for wanting to fix his mistake of stranding the colony on T'Kani Prime was a genuinely noble desire to help his people get back home to Earth. However, being greeted with an arrest warrant after finally finding a way to do so, and spending years dwelling on that rejection, changed Zurg. By the time he meets his younger self, Zurg's originally well-intentioned goals have devolved into a ruthlessly selfish desire to heal his own wounded pride.
- Named by Democracy: Goes by the name "Zurg" because it's the closest his robotic minions can get to saying "Buzz".
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: His assault on the colony is not only what keeps Burnside from trying to arrest Buzz and driving him to escape as he did in Zurg's timeline, but it causes Buzz and Izzy to cross paths. Buzz finding the value in the life that Alisha made for herself with her family is what ensures he doesn't lose his way like Zurg did.
- Not His Sled: In Toy Story 2, Zurg famously claimed he was Buzz's father. In Lightyear, when he reveals himself, Buzz thinks Zurg is initially his father, until Zurg pulls out his dog tags and reveals he's really Buzz himself.
- Not Quite Dead:
- After his ship's self-destruct is triggered, Zurg seemingly perishes in the explosion, only to suddenly appear alive, attacking Buzz's ship.
- At the film's climax, Buzz destroys the fuel crystal and seemingly takes Zurg with it. In the final post-credits scene, the Zurg mech is seen floating in space. Then its eyes glow.
- Not So Above It All: Zurg has no real silly moments to himself, especially when in the armor (except for having his version of Sox and his younger self around, and that doesn't last long), save for a scene where one of the robots gets their teleportation device (with an arrow stuck in it) sent to his ship, and he sighs in irritation.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: His entire plan involved travelling back in time to prevent his younger self from causing the accident, even if he would risk erasing the timeline to do so. But despite all his claims of finishing the mission, his dialogue in the final battle shows how selfish he is in wanting to change the past, only doing it for his own ego, reputation and personal honor.
- Pet the Dog: Subverted; for decades, the older Buzz kept his companion Sox with him as well as the picture of him and Alisha, clearly still attached to his friends. As soon as Sox acts against his obsessive interests, however, Old Buzz mercilessly smashes him beneath his armor's boot. Even when being told earlier by Buzz that Izzy is Alisha's granddaughter who was born on T'Kani Prime and that she'll be erased from existence if Zurg accomplishes his goal, Zurg doesn't care as he's obsessed in his intent to undoing his mistake, even if it means erasing the existence of the granddaughter of his closest friend.
- Powered Armor: What Zurg is wearing, rather than being a robot like his minions, as he is actually an alternate future Buzz.
- Purple Is Powerful: Zurg's intimidating suit is colored a dull purple.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Zurg's suit possesses sinister glowing red eyes, matching those of his toy and contributing to his evil appearance.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong:
- His ostensible motivation: he's desperate to undo his mistake that caused the crash landing. But when it's pointed out that all the future people will be erased he doesn't care, as he's too far gone in his own guilt and obsession with finishing the mission at this point.
- Ironically, he actually succeeded in doing this in an indirect way, with himself. His flashback of how he returned to T'Kani Prime and was again forced to fly away and activate the hyperdrive to the future makes it clear that the divergence point between him and Buzz was that his assault on the colony with his robot troops forced Burnside and the majority of those stationed on the planet to bunker down inside the laser shield, meaning that Buzz actually met Izzy instead and eventually learned through her to appreciate the legacy of the life Alisha made on the planet, eventually deciding to let go of his obsession with undoing his mistake when Old Buzz offered him the chance to avoid the crash in the first place.
- Shadow Archetype: Zurg is quite literally Buzz if he allowed his "finish the mission no matter the cost" mentality to turn toxic and never let go of his guilt.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Subtly Implied; when they first meet, Buzz initially mistakes his future self for their father.
- That Man Is Dead: Inverted; Zurg still sees himself as Buzz Lightyear, but the present-day Buzz ultimately rejects the Fallen Hero as anything close to being him; after turning against him, Buzz only ever calls his older self "Zurg", effectively disowning any connection to him.
- Tragic Time Traveler: This is a version of Buzz who took his failure with the Turnip crew even harder than they did, eventually becoming so desperate to fix his mistakes he donned a robotic suit to find a Power Crystal to fix his time machine and erase the timeline where he failed.
- Tragic Villain: Played With. Zurg has shades of this; as he was once a noble man who made a terrible mistake, desperately wants to undo that mistake and has spent decades trying to do so.
- Unrobotic Reveal: When Buzz first encounters Zurg, he initially calls him "a massive robot". It is only until they are both teleported onto Zurg's ship that he reveals himself to be not just an old man, but also Buzz from the future.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Though he may be an elderly version of Buzz Lightyear from the future, he is anything but heroic.
- You Will Not Evade Me: He can sling out his right arm and perhaps the other to grab someone or something from far away, such as Young Buzz.
Commander Burnside
Cal Burnside
Voiced by: Isiah Whitlock Jr. Other voice actors
The Commander of Star Command after Alisha, he believes the terillium mining operation is a waste of energy, decides to put an end to it and the hyperspace program, and have the colonists embrace T'Kani Prime as their new home, but when Buzz comes to his timeline, Burnside finds his views challenged by the ever-dedicated Lightyear.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While Buzz may not agree with his decision to cancel the hyperspace program, his idea for a laser shield has merits as T'Kani Prime is filled with dangerous wildlife and the hyperspace program has proven a failure along with Buzz attempting to steal the vessel. In addition, as he points out, by the time he takes command the colonists have lived on T'Kani Prime for over forty years — for two entire generations, T'Kani Prime is home. His point is proven as the newly installed laser shield singlehandedly stops Zurg's forces from breaching the grounds.
- Not So Above It All: Though presenting himself as strict, he's clearly quite a big fan of the base's laser shield. There's even a brief post-credits scene for it.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He's a bit harsh in shutting down the hyperspace program, but he never actually mistreats Buzz. Furthermore, after Buzz saves the planet from Zurg he drops all the charges and allows Buzz to lead the new generation of Space Rangers.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Burnside doesn't show up in that many scenes, but nearly everything bad that happens after his introduction can be traced back to him somehow. His decision to cancel the hyperspace program leads to Buzz rebelling against Star Command, and trying to arrest Buzz for this leads to one version of him becoming the movie's Big Bad. His laser shield stops Buzz and his allies from calling for help or supplies, making them go through dangerous situations in order to get what they need to pull off their plan, and also prevented Buzz from landing in the base in the second timeline due to Zurg’s assault, where having done so led to his attempted arrest and Start of Darkness.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He is the closest we have to Commander Zeb Nebula from Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. Though in the Toy Story universe, it is the other way around.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Subverted. Is seen as this by Zurg in his timeline due to ordering his arrest for stealing the XL-15 instead of rewarding him for finding a way off T'Kani Prime. In all fairness, Burnside in both timelines did tell Buzz the obvious situation of the colony. At the end, he drops all of Buzz's charges and puts him in control of the new Space Rangers program.
Featheringhamstan
Featheringhamstan
Voiced by: Bill Hader Other voice actors
A rookie Space Ranger that accompanies Buzz and Alisha when they first arrive on T'Kani Prime.
- Eager Rookie: All Featheringhamstan wants to do is prove himself as a Space Ranger, especially to Buzz Lightyear, even if he isn't very competent.
- Last-Name Basis: Ambiguously, his first name is never revealed, but it's unknown if his name is actually his last name either.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: He has shiny eyes that Buzz tries to resist every time — and fails.
- The Unpronounceable: Buzz never gets his — rather long — name right. Mo has problems pronouncing his name as well decades later when donning the suit, and even the onboard computers don't bother trying, labeling the Visible Invisibility marker in the suits' HUDs while using their Stealth Mode with half the name trailed off in an ellipsis.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Apart from a nightmare Buzz has, he isn't seen again after the colony becomes stranded on the planet, nor when the years pass. Interestingly, his suit is seen again when Mo puts it on.
Kieko
Kieko
- Bus Crash: Since Alisha passed away during one of Buzz's hyperspace trips, it can be safe to assume Kieko passed away too.
- Satellite Love Interest: Her role is defined best as Alisha's wife.
- The Voiceless: She has no dialogue in any of her scenes.
Airman Diaz
Airman Diaz
Voiced by: Efren Ramirez Other voice actors
- Bus Crash: The last time we see him during the montage with Buzz’s failed hyperspeed trips, he is an elderly man. Once Buzz has traveled to a point in time where Alicia has passed away, Diaz is more than likely deceased too.
- It's Up to You: He tells Buzz everyone is counting on him as he prepares to launch.
- Time-Passage Beard: Buzz noticing the facial hair on Diaz’s face when he lands back on the planet is what makes him realize that spending four minutes in space when attempting to reach hyperspeed amounts to four years on the planet.
Zyclops
Zyclops
Voiced by: Angus McLane Other voice actors
Zurg's robotic minions who aid him in his assault on T'Kani Prime.
- Badass Army: The entirety of the Zyclops are this, as together they forced the colonists of T'Kani Prime to retreat behind a Force Field.
- Cannon Fodder: Played With. While one of them proves difficult to handle at first, once the heroes get going, they end up dropping like flies.
- Creator Cameo: They are all voiced by the film's director.
- Cyber Cyclops: They all have a single red glowing eye.
- Easily Detachable Robot Parts: They each have two teleport beacons, which vaguely resemble nipples due to their positioning. By pulling one off, they can return to their ship. If they somehow lose both, they can’t teleport back.
- Elite Mooks: The Junior Zap Patrol members initially have a hard time taking one of them down, only doing so through sheer luck (as Buzz rightfully points out).
- Grew Beyond Their Programming: A Zyclops who confronts the Junior Zap Patrol and nearly abducts Buzz is shot in the head by Mo, only to get back up later. After securing the fuel crystal, it is shockingly the only one of Zurg's robots to remain operational following his ship's destruction before being taken down by Burnside. The damage dealt to it may have rendered it immune to the intended means of deactivation.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: They are stand-ins for the Hornets and Zurg's other minions, though in the Toy Story universe it is the other way around.
