YMMV / Lightyear

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• Alternative Character Interpretation: Sox carries a knockout blowdart, implied to be for if Buzz got out of control. This throws a new light on two characters, inverting their previous characterization.
  • Was Alisha trying to control Buzz, or protect her friend from himself, recognizing the huge psychological toll the time dilation would put him through?
  • Was Burnside's demand for the immediate return of Sox a heartless act from a General Ripper, or wanting to ensure this potentially dangerous robot was properly contained away from his most valuable officer?
• Aluminum Christmas Trees:
  • In the 1980s and 1990s, it was not uncommon for there to be merchandise or children's cartoons based on more adult geared action films, films that were often very popular among younger viewers (particularly teenagers) despite their ratings.
  • Moreover, there were a few instances of media aimed at families or younger viewers showing or at least alluding to same-sex relationships in the 1990s. Examples include Willow and Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (a series aimed primarily at teenagers), Xena and Gabrielle on Xena: Warrior Princess, and the same-sex kiss in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Rejoined".
• Audience-Alienating Premise: The film's underperformance at the box-office can be partially traced to a general lack of interest in a Toy Story spinoff focusing on Buzz Lightyear that had little to do with his home franchise beyond the appearances of both Buzz and Zurg, as well as the fact that the previous attempt to do this had been all but disowned by Pixar and had no elements from it brought over to this movie. Combined with a confusing premise of it being the In-Universe movie that made Andy want Buzz for his birthday, the fact that neither Tim Allen nor Andrew Stanton return as Buzz and Zurg respectively, the movie not feeling like a Merchandise-Driven 90s action flick like it was advertised, as well as Disney having shunted their last three movies onto Disney+ with little fanfare, the movie opened with a lukewarm reception amidst a crowded theatrical release window and failed to attract enough viewers. Even the head of Pixar — Pete Docter — would acknowledge this in an interview, admitting that the premise was simply too distant from the rest of the Toy Story franchise for anyone to get into it.
• Awesome Music: Both the teaser and the official trailers feature an epic remix of, fittingly enough, David Bowie's "Starman".
• Broken Base:
  • On whether or not the approach was right for the material. Critics argue that by not making it a Genre Throwback to the campy Merchandise-Driven sci-fi of the 1990s, the filmmakers completely missed the point of it being "the movie Andy saw as a kid." Defenders, meanwhile, see this as a blatant case of audience members projecting their own expectations onto the filmmakers, pointing out that within the Toy Story universe per Word of God, the cartoon adaptation served this purpose, similar to The Real Ghostbusters in relation to its source material. They also point out that the film's depiction of the characters is much closer to how John Lasseter originally envisioned them — that is, as a space adventure story played straight, instead of the outright comedy that the TV series dipped into^note Ironically, John Lasseter reportedly hated the film as much as the cartoon.
  • The decision to make Alisha a lesbian. While some argue that this is unrealistic for what is supposed to be a family-friendly nineties film, others counter that there were some works from that time period aimed at families or younger audiences that were fair for their time in their portrayal of same-sex relationships. They also point out that Alisha and Keiko's kiss is realistically downplayed compared to their straight counterparts, as would be the case in a nineties film.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: There's a decent amount of fanart online of Sox, whose comedic relief and being a helpful (and cute) robot cat with a surprising amount of power packed under all that fur endeared him to the audience. Even detractors of the film have a tendency to admit that he's funny and cute. He's also an example In-Universe, as the film's director has stated in this interview that the Sox toys sold out before Andy's mom could get one.
• Fan-Disliked Explanation: The twist of Zurg being an older version of Buzz didn't sit well with audiences, given that the Toy Story series indicated he was Buzz's father, his more sympathetic depiction instead of being an Evil Emperor, along with revealing who he really was behind the suit, made him less menacing than the Card-Carrying Villain he was in the Toy Story or Buzz Lightyear of Star Command series or even how he appeared to be before revealing his identity. However, there is a strong implication that there is a "real" Zurg out there now (with The Stinger of the Zurg Suit's AI reactivating the suit even when old Buzz was seemingly killed in it), and Word of God has confirmed that Toy!Zurg is based on his cartoon depiction.
• Fandom Rivalry:
  • An odd one with that of Pixar's previous three releases, Soul, Luca and Turning Red, which were all released directly to Disney+ while Lightyear released in cinemas. Their frustration isn't directed so much at Lightyear itself as it is with Disney executives, who they blame for seemingly treating Pixar's originals as disposable streaming fare while granting a franchise spinoff theatrical priority. The fact that Lightyear's reception is more lukewarm when compared to the more consistently positive reviews of the previous films has only intensified the rivalry, and the film's disappointing box office performance made it more polarizing due to concerns it would lead Disney to continue sending Pixar films to streaming.
  • Also unsurprisingly has one with fans of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command due to accusations of the cartoon being retconned (which was mitigated by Word of God) and the supporting cast being seen as Replacement Scrappies to Mira, Booster, and XR. The fact that Disney and Pixar have ignored said series for years hasn't helped matters, and when the film did premier to a lukewarm reception, the rivalry only intensified as fans of the cartoon began to view it as the stronger adaptation of Buzz Lightyear.
  • Outside of Disney, the film has developed this with films like The Bad Guys (2022), Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, with fans of those films citing this one and Strange World as examples of how Disney's animated outings in the early-to-mid 2020s weren't on the right path.
• Fanon Discontinuity: While it's not a universally held opinion, even many fans who like the movie prefer not to think of this as being what Andy saw in 1995 to make him want a Buzz Lightyear toy, arguing Lightyear doesn't feel like something (especially something Merchandise-Driven^note Word of God is that the cartoon served this purpose, with the toys being based on their cartoon depictions rather than the original film.) that would be released in the 90s. ^note  For example, many detractors argue that the same-sex kiss would have been unrealistic in the 90s, whether the movie was aimed at kids or not, despite the fact that there were a few works from that time that were fair for their day in their depictions of same-sex relationships and the fact that the kiss is realistically downplayed compared to what we see with the straight characters. To these fans, if Lightyear exists in the Toy Story universe, it is a Darker and Edgier reboot/remake of whatever Andy saw when he was a kid that would be released in his adult years. Some of them even like to jokingly imagine that it's a movie Andy himself directed as an adult.
• Informed Wrongness: Although we're supposed to believe that Buzz Lightyear not trusting rookies is a character flaw, for most of the movie the rookies hinder far more than they help. If Buzz hadn't had to come back to save the rookie who insisted on accompanying them, it can even be argued that they never would have gotten stuck in the first place.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "It's not a Prequel, it's the origin story of the real X that inspired Y."^explanationShortly after the film was announced, the unwieldy definition of its relationship to the rest of the Toy Story series and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command was subjected to a lot of online mockery, particularly the insinuation that there's a "real" Buzz Lightyear. Chris Evans and official Word of God having conflicting explanations haven't helped the situation.
  • The appearance of an un-helmeted Buzz has being making the rounds on Twitter, with some comparing him to Joe Swanson. (Doubly hilarious given Joe's voice actor Patrick Warburton has previously played Buzz, but it also helps that Evans' Buzz voice sounds very similar to Tim Allen's.)
  • Chris Evans can never finish a Catchphrase.^explanationIn the trailer, Alicia begins to say Buzz's iconic catchphrase, "To infinity and beyond", with Buzz beginning to finish it before the trailer ends. Fans noted the similarity to the ending of Avengers: Age of Ultron, in which Captain America (also played by Chris Evans) begins to say, "Avengers Assemble", before getting cut off by the credits. Jokes ensued about Chris Evans being unable to finish a catchphrase.
  • After the jokes came about how Chris Pratt (Peter Quill/Star-Lord) is voicing Mario and Garfield and now Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America) is playing Buzz Lightyear, fans joked that all they needed was Chris Hemsworth (Thor) voicing an animated film character for the MCU Chris Trinity to be complete. Of course, the other Chris, Chris Pine has already voiced an animated character, who is a Marvel character, Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The fans got their wish in 2023 when it was announced Hemsworth would be voicing Optimus Prime himself for Transformers One, an animated prequel film to the series.
  • The semi-realistic look of Buzz Lightyear has led to its own sub-culture of reused memes. This includes:
    • Pixar hired that man!^note A variation of an existing meme of similar name. The meme is a cheeky gesture at fan-made mods of cartoony CG works, including video games like Super Mario Bros., and placing them in ultra-realistic worlds via Unreal Game Engine.
    • This is what Toy Story will look like in 2013.^note A variation of an existing meme. Using very realistic renders of normally cartoony characters, this parody claim hypothetically views advancing 2010s video game technology making everything realistic (almost to Unintentional Uncanny Valley territory). As an added bonus, an unrelated realistic Buzz render by Raoni Nery was making rounds in 2010.
    • Super Smash Bros. Brawl vs. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate^note Buzz's more realistic design and subdued color scheme has drawn comparisons to Brawl's Darker and Edgier art style, sometimes comparing Buzz's Toy Story design to Ultimate (which is closer to the original characters' designs) as well. The meme was also used with other fighting game franchises, Franchise/Street Fighter and Franchise/Tekken and their arstyles.
  • Disney - Pixar presents: DOOM.^note With the trailer's release, a litany of comparisons were made between elements present in the newer Doom games, most notably Buzz's striking resemblance to Doomguy and his space ranger suit sharing aspects with the Praetor suit. The redesigned Zurg with his arm cannon also slightly resembles the original Cyberdemon, the hulking mech design brings more of a resemblance to Davoth. right down to the reveal of being an alternate version of the main character
  • "Captain America and Korg team up to fight Thanos's dad!"^explanation This refers to Chris Evans, Taika Waititi and James Brolin (Josh's father) being in the same movie.
  • Buzz Lightyear is his own father.^{explanation (SPOILERS!)}With the reveal that Zurg is actually an older Buzz, combined with the "Luke, I Am Your Father" moment from Toy Story 2, viewers have put two-and-two together and begun to claim that Buzz is his own dad. Comparisons to characters like Philip J. Fry came shortly after.
  • Both the trailer and the very start of the movie claiming "In 1995, Andy bought a toy from his favorite movie. This is that movie" have been popular with fans substituting other films from 1995 as Andy's favorite film such as Heat and The Usual Suspects, and following the movie's So Okay, It's Average reception, playfully mocking Andy's subpar taste in movies.
• Older Than They Think: This film was met with skepticism for being based upon a Show Within a Show from Toy Story, but it was not the first animated film to do this. Studio Ghibli previously made The Cat Returns, a feature-length adaptation of a story written by a character in Whisper of the Heart.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: In Europe and most of North America, the movie is just another middle-of-the-road Disney flick, while in Latin-America, most of Asia, North-West Africa and many parts of the United States, the same-sex kiss attracted a massive controversy from conservative sectors, leading to its ban in 14 countries, indictments from religious associations, threats to boycott the movie, and multiple parents on social media accusing Disney of injecting "woke" ideologies on content directed towards children. It's pretty much impossible to talk about the movie in these countries without originating a debate on the merits of representation, whether or not these sectors overreacted, and whether or not it was hypocritical from them. Even multiple newspapers chimed in the controversy with editorials of their own, either supporting or making fun of the outrage.
• Questionable Casting: The casting of Chris Evans as Buzz himself raised a few eyebrows in people who were expecting Tim Allen to reprise the role, or simply thought that Chris Evans wasn't the best choice to replace him. Criticism toned down however once the movie came out and most of the audience agreed that Chris Evans did an excellent job (and it played a role that the movie became divisive for entirely different reasons).
• The Scrappy: This film's portrayal of Zurg, he is one of the main reasons why the film was divided among audiences. Even those who didn't absolutely hate the film admitted him to be one of the weakest parts of it.
• Replacement Scrappy: Fans of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command really don't like Buzz's new crew for replacing the highly popular Mira Nova, Booster Munchapper, and XR. That being said, Word of God confirms that in-universe, Mira, Booster, and XR are more-or-less replacements/successors to the crew from this film.
• Sequelitis: While the film has a semi-positive response from critics and audiences alike, it still is unfortunately a case of Sequelitis solely because of the absurdly high standard the rest of the Toy Story films set. Even the largest defenders of the film will admit that it does not live up to the rest of the series, ultimately coming behind on their humor, rich characterization, emotional weight and charm.
• So Okay, It's Average: The general consensus amongst critics and audiences. It looks very good animation wise and it's certainly far from Pixar's worst, but the film's script is too bleak and derivative of other sci-fi films, its connection to the Toy Story or Buzz Lightyear of Star Command series is minimal or otherwise nonexistent, its twist involving Zurg is highly controversial, and the side-characters aren't as interesting or memorable compared to Buzz's crew from the cartoon, or the rest of Andy's toys.
• Spiritual Successor: Some viewers consider it the Pixar version of GunBuster, part of which dealt with the effects of time dilation and the protagonist's dealing with sudden changes from the time they left.
• Tainted by the Preview:
  • Fans weren't happy about the announcement that neither Tim Allen nor Andrew Stanton (or to a similar extent, Patrick Warburton and Wayne Knight) were voicing Buzz and Zurg respectively—instead being voiced by Chris Evans and James Brolin. Their performances were still praised for encompassing Buzz's heroism and Zurg's menace, but the absence of their original actors was still felt, and was seen as one of the factors in the film's failure.
  • The film's announcement, in general, upset fans of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command for seemingly making the series Canon Discontinuity to the greater Toy Story canon, and lacking several fan-favorite characters like Booster Munchapper, XR, and Mira Nova. Disney and Pixar's continued lack of acknowledgment of the series heading into the film's release, including a Disney+ documentary about the history of the character, only increased that frustration. This was rectified somewhat when Word of God confirmed that said series is still canon and is a spin-off from the film, but the film using very little, if any of the material from the cartoon didn't help the film's reception amongst said show's fans.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • A common criticism against the film is how Buzz and Zurg are portrayed more seriously compared to the campy sci-fi parodies from the main Toy Story films, arguing it misses the point of what made them fun characters. Though it is worth mentioning that, per Pixar themselves, the cartoon adaptation served this purpose, with the toys being based on their cartoon depictions rather than the original film.
  • Another criticism regarding the movie was, aside from a few Mythology Gags and its overall premise, otherwise disconnected to the larger Toy Story franchise aside from having Buzz and Zurg involved, which even Pete Docter felt hurt the movie.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!: The plot twist of Zurg being an evil future version of Buzz has been criticized as being way too similar to the twist in The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part where the Big Bad is also an evil future version of the main character. Older viewers alternatively compare the twist to that of the 1998 Lost in Space movie, which adds insult to injury in that of all the '90s movies this film could have imitated...
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: A lot of time is given to Buzz reminiscing about being a Space Ranger with his best friend Alisha, including how she helped him through training. Some feel like this would've made for a more interesting film than the story we do see.
• Uncertain Audience: Part of the reason behind the film's box-office failure stems from its tone. As noted by viewers, it was darker than what was expected from a kid's movie (i.e. Zurg and his minions being played for horror, the depressing first hour, Buzz's character being played more seriously than in the Toy Story series) and made things too scary for young viewers, but the fact that it was aimed at a more family-friendly audience starring one of pop culture's most iconic characters alienated adults.
• Unintentional Uncanny Valley: Some who are more used to the toy from Toy Story feel the human version of Buzz falls into this territory, finding his more realistic appearance and proportions jarring and off-putting.

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