Buzz Lightyear

"Buzz Lightyear! The world's greatest superhero, now the world's greatest toy!"

- Buzz Lightyear commercial

Buzz Lightyear is the deuteragonist of the Disney•Pixar Toy Story series. He is a spaceman action figure originally belonging to Andy Davis. Buzz was based on a fictional character of the same name and created during a time where astronauts were especially popular amongst children. His arrival in the original Toy Story created conflict with Andy's favorite toy, Sherrif Woody, though this rivalry would eventually blossom into a lifelong friendship.

Background
Buzz is a toy from a sci-fi franchise of the same name. In his fictional backstory, Buzz is a universal space ranger from the Intergalactic Alliance and the captain of the Alliance's team. Buzz is trained in several forms of martial arts and is a highly skilled warrior in hand to hand combat. Being in peak physical condition, Buzz makes a perfect space ranger and is an example to many.

Personality
"Woody, we need to figure out what's best for everyone!"

- Buzz

Buzz, like many characters in Toy Story, is a complicated one, who feels genuine emotions such as pride, anger, depression, and sadness, much like a regular human. These are traits which he shares with his best friend, Woody, however, one would say that Buzz is better at keeping his emotions in check than the cowboy. Buzz is known for his bravery and courage with a by the book mindset, believing the way people should live their life by the following rules; though there are rare moments when he will bend the rules or tell a cover story if needed to when he knows it is the right thing to do. Though possessing great leadership qualities, one of Buzz's biggest character flaws at times is that he can rather unemotional.

Like Woody, Buzz also goes through an evolution throughout the series. In Toy Story, he was incredibly deluded and actually believed that he himself was the real Buzz Lightyear and not a toy modeled off from the character. Because of this, Buzz believed he could do everything that a real space ranger was able to do such as fly and that his "laser" was a deadly weapon when it was actually just a light bulb. Since seeing the truth of his delusion, Buzz has a shown a degree of embarassment of it In Toy Story 2, while being attacked by another Buzz Lightyear action figure who also thought he was real, Buzz remarked in a self-conscious tone: "tell me I wasn't this deluded."

Buzz can come off as being charismatic and charming, most of Andy's toys completely adored him just after he was unwrapped. Even, Andy, whose favorite toy was Sheriff Woody and was completely obsessed with cowboys since kindergarten, went head over heals for Buzz who instantly became his other favorite toy. Buzz also possessed something of a vengeful side, such as attacking Woody when he tried to "terminate" him which was justified by saying "revenge is not something we enforce on my planet. But we're not on my planet, are we?" He is a little bit irrational at times such as attempting to save another toy from being blown up by the neighborhood juvenile delinquent Sid, despite not realizing that he would be destroyed as well but it also shows that he is quite brave as he was willing to rescue a defenseless person even if the odds were stacked against him.

However, his personality changed completely, especially after discovering the truth about himself. At first, he went into a state of manic depression, thinking that he himself was nothing more than "a stupid, plain, insignificant toy", and also developed a bit of a suicidal side. Such moments were when Sid's "cannibal" toys were amassing around him he didn't even look fazed by this. Even when being strapped to an explosive rocket, he didn't seem to remotely care that he might die as he was that depressed. But after being given a motivational speech by a captive Woody, he begins to understand his role as a toy; to bring happiness and joy to their owner. After this, Buzz learns a lot more about honor, friendship, bravery, and selflessness.

By Toy Story 2, Buzz has completely accepted himself as a toy. Woody is one of his closest friends and understands him better than anyone other than the latter's girlfriend, Bo Peep.

Buzz is also slightly clueless to human cultures, such as the case while he was trying to calm Woody down about cowboy camp and accidentally pronounces s'mores as "schmoes" which is corrected by the latter. This was also shown during the first one while looking at Sid, he mistaked his pet dog, Scud, for him.

Buzz notoriously has a massive crush on Jessie. While Buzz is normally awkward around her in Play mode whilst in Demo mode, he refers to her as a temptress and immune to her "bewitching good looks", but when turned to Spanish mode he becomes passionate, confident, and romantic, openly expressing his love for the cowgirl with romantic poetry and admiration. He showed something of a jealous and showy side when Woody returned and Jessie was only happy to see him alive, Buzz replied "el vaquero/the cowboy" in a jealous tone. While trying to escape Sunnyside instead of helping Woody up, he athletically opens a hatch by himself as a means of impressing his crush. After the events of Toy Story 3, the two have seemingly started a legitimate relationship.

Physical appearance
Buzz Lightyear is a brawny electronic spaceman action figure. He has fair skin, blue eyes, an outline of a swirl on his chin (which gives Buzz a cleft chin), a purple head cap and collar, a clear plastic space helmet with purple buttons on both sides that open or close it. His green torso consists of a light blue sticker that has the words "SPACE RANGER" and the Star Command symbol, purple straps connected to it, three oval talk buttons - one blue, one green, and one red, a yellow nametag that says "LIGHTYEAR" above a red button that pops out purple plastic glider wings with red and white candy cane lining on the top of each, and green ends with red and green flashing lights. On his back, he has a white jetpack with a purple valve and green triangular accents and two black and yellow stickers - one says, "DANGER", and the other says "JET EXHAUST". His white arms have gray circular elbows and matching spheres on the end of his upper arms with black rings on it. His gloves have purple lines on his knuckles and fingertips and green squares on the back of each. His right arm has a red button on his upper arm with a yellow and black striped sticker that reads "LASER" and a red light on his right wrist. His left arm has a Space Ranger symbol sticker on his upper arm and a communicator sticker in his wrist communicator and "MADE IN TAIWAN" engraved inside on his lid of the wrist communicator. A black bending with a thin green waist. His white spaceman pants have matching collars at the bottom and gray spheres behind his knees and hold his white shoes with green toe accents, purple soles, and black handwriting reading "ANDY" on his right shoe sole.

Toy Story
In the original Toy Story, Buzz is a birthday present to Andy from his mother, Mrs. Davis. As Woody introduces Buzz to Andy's room and the other toys, the cowboy quickly learns that Buzz believes himself to be an actual "space ranger". This doesn't stop Buzz from becoming the most popular toy in the bedroom, as well as with Andy, who ditches his western aesthetics for that of astronauts and space. That, coupled with Buzz's delusions, sparks a bitter rivalry between Buzz and Woody.

One day, as Andy is about to leave for Pizza Planet, Woody sabotages Buzz's chances of going by accidentally knocking him out the window. As planned, regardless, Woody is taken instead of Buzz, who hitches a ride on the back of the family's car anyway. During a gas stop, Buzz confronts Woody for his actions, but their bickering results in the two being left behind. They catch a ride to Pizza Planet but are taken by a cruel child named Sid Phillips before they can reunite with Andy. At Sid's house, Buzz spots a commercial on television advertising the Buzz Lightyear action figure, proving Woody's claim that he's only a toy and not a real space ranger. Buzz tries to prove his legitimacy by trying to fly, but he ends up breaking his arm instead. He falls into a state of depression, which inadvertently foils all of Woody's plans to get home.

Eventually, Sid plots to have Buzz blown up with a new firework he ordered. As Buzz accepts his fate, Woody confesses his insecurities, revealing he felt inadequate compared to a toy as amazing as Buzz. This gives Buzz his confidence back, but Sid takes him before the two can escape. Woody gathers the rest of Sid's toys to foil their owner's scheme, successfully saving Buzz. The two then try to return to Andy, but he and his family have already packed up and began to move to their new home. Woody and Buzz use the rocket to catch up, which eventually blasts the two into the air. Instead of plummeting to their doom, Buzz uses his wing feature to "fall with style" (gliding) safely into Mrs. Davis's car, reuniting the two with Andy.

Toy Story 2
In Toy Story 2, after Woody is stolen by Al McWhiggin, owner of Al's Toy Barn, Buzz plans a rescue mission consisting of himself, Rex, Mr. Potato Head, Slinky, and Hamm. At Al's toy store, Buzz is separated from the group and meets another figure of himself. Unfortunately, he believes he is a real space ranger and seals Buzz away in a box to keep him from "going rogue". Buzz manages to escape and follows his friends (and the fake Lightyear) to Al's apartment. There, they reunite with Woody, but there is still confusion about who the real Buzz Lightyear is. Buzz proves his legitimacy by removing the helmet of the fake Lightyear's Woody to return home before Al can sell him off to Japan.

Woody, however, reveals that he wants to stay, as he has grown fearful that Andy will abandon him upon growing up. Though Buzz and the others start to head home without Woody, the cowboy has a change of heart. Unfortunately, the bitter Stinky Pete stops this, forcing Woody to stay with him and the rest of Al's Woody's Round Up toy set. Buzz and the other toys follow Al to the airport, where Woody is put into the luggage compartments. They manage to find him and fight off Stinky Pete, saving Woody as well as Bullseye and Jessie, who all return home with the rest of Andy's toys. During the epilogue, Buzz shows signs of affection towards Jessie, which she accepts.

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
Buzz Lightyear is the main character of the Toy Story spinoff, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and is brought into the second dimension. This show features Buzz's adventures as a space ranger, fighting the Evil Emperor Zurg. He is shown to command a small team, including Mira Nova, a Tangean princess with phasing powers, Booster, a former janitor from the planet Jo-Ad, and XR, a robot created by the Little Green Men.

The series was preceded by a direct-to-video film, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins, which showed the formation of the team. The film shows that Buzz became isolated after the death of his first partner, Warp Darkmatter. He meets his future teammates while investigating a crime involving missing LGMs.

Toy Story 3
In Toy Story 3, Andy has grown up and is preparing to leave for college. Few toys still remain, and all (expect Woody) come to agree that the best thing for them to do is donate themselves. Under Buzz's leadership, they are taken to Sunnyside Daycare, home to toys that have been outgrown by their owners. The leader of the daycare, Lotso, promises Andy's toys that they'll live a long and happy life with Sunnyside, solidifying their decision to stay. This angers Woody, who believes they should return home. The other toys reluctantly refuse, and a downhearted Buzz bids Woody farewell.

Later on, after an extremely rough and torturous day of playtime, Buzz sets off to request that he and his friends be moved to a room with older children. He is instead kidnapped by Lotso's gang and turned to "demo mode". He is recruited as one of Lotso's minions and is ordered to imprison his friends for trying to escape the daycare. Buzz is then left in charge to guard them every night, though the toys (under Woody's guidance, who returned to save them) intimate a plan to return Buzz back to normal and return to Andy.

Unfortunately, their tampering only switches Buzz to Spanish mode, making him a romantic and charismatic space ranger with no memories or the ability to speak English. Nevertheless, he is told that Woody and the others are his friends and joins them in escaping Sunnyside. While doing so, he develops romantic feelings for Jessie, though she is more baffled by his Spanish mode than taken. After confronting Lotso and his gang, the toys are accidentally dragged into a garbage truck and hauled to the dump. Along the way, a television falls on Buzz and reverts him back to his normal self.

Inside the garbage factory, Buzz and the others narrowly escape termination and return to Andy's home the next morning. They wash themselves off and place themselves in a box meant for the attic, which Andy had always intended for them to go while he takes Woody to college. Instead, however, they are donated to a little girl named Bonnie, who loves and cares for them just as much as Andy did in the past.

Toy Story Toons
Buzz plays a significant role in Small Fry, where he and Rex are taken with Bonnie to Poultry Palace. There, Buzz is replaced by a Fun Meal Buzz Lightyear, leaving Buzz stranded at the restaurant. Unable to get through the front door, Buzz goes through the vents, only to fall into the basement, where he meets a support group for discarded Fun Meal Toys. Buzz is mistaken for an abandoned Fun Meal Toy is encouraged to join the group. Fortunately, he manages to escape and reunites with his friends before they make their attempt at rescue. Afterward, Buzz takes his diminutive counterpart to the restaurant, where the latter joins the support group with the former as his "sponsor".

Toy Story of Terror!
Buzz is seen on a road trip with Bonnie to her grandmother's house, watching a scary movie with the other toys. When they are forced to stop off at the Sleep Well motel for the night after Woody warns Mr. Potato Head not to wander off because he might get lost, he leaves anyway and disappears and Buzz, Woody, and Jessie go to search for him and eventually come across his arm. A monster (later revealed to be Mr. Jones) is seen snatching up all the toys, and takes the arm, Buzz and Woody, leaving Jessie alone by herself. It is later revealed that Buzz, along with all the other toys, were taken to Ron's office, where he sells the toys on Ebay. The toys are all later saved by Jessie when she opens the cabinet, and when they leave to check out, Bonnie and her mother notice the toys in the background and retrieve them. Buzz along with all the other toys continue their road trip.

Toy Story That Time Forgot
Buzz first appears in the special when Bonnie takes some of her toys to Mason's house. He walks around the Battlesaur playsets. Later, when it is revealed that the Battlesaurs are not aware that they're toys, Buzz tries to explain to The Cleric what they are, but he is shrugged off. Later, Buzz along with Woody is seen being thrown into the Battlesaurs arena, where they are forced to fight. When they lose, the Cleric orders them to be destroyed. However, once the Cleric reveals he knows he's a toy, he realizes he can't let them reveal his secret to the other Battlesaurs.

Buzz and Woody are forced to a vent fan, where they would be destroyed by it, but the fan is turned off by Trixie before they can be destroyed. Buzz later returns with Bonnie to her house.

Toy Story 4
Buzz will return in Toy Story 4. He will go with Woody and the gang on a road trip with Bonnie, where the group finds a carnival. In the Super Bowl trailer, he is shown to be strapped to a prize shelf at a carnival game, where he meets Ducky and Bunny. According to Tim Allen, "Buzz has to make a decision on how to move on with his life because Woody's making some different decisions."

Other appearances
In Finding Nemo, a Buzz Lightyear toy can be found in a toy box in the dentist's office

During the 2008 Super Bowl, a commercial played during the 3rd quarter that showed Buzz and Woody watching the Super Bowl as well as a promo for WALL-E, who was playing with a vacuum.

In Ralph Breaks the Internet, Buzz makes an appearance with Baymax meeting their fans at a Tsum Tsum display while saying his catchphrase "to infinity and beyond" in Oh My Disney.

Kinect Disneyland Adventures
Buzz appears in the game as a meet-and-greet character outside his attraction in Tomorrowland. He gives the player a blaster as a gift and assigns many tasks, including helping him foil Zurg. He also serves as the player's guide in the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters mini-game.

Disney INFINITY
Buzz appears in the Disney INFINITY video game as a playable character. He comes with the Toy Story in Space Play Set along with Jessie. There is also a Crystal version and a Glow-in-the-Dark version of Buzz, with the latter, only being available on digital versions of the game.

Kingdom Hearts series
Buzz appears in Kingdom Hearts III and resides in his homeworld, Toy Box, which had been corrupted by Young Xehanort. Left alone with only Woody, Rex, Hamm, Sarge and the Green Army Soldiers and the Squeeze Toy Aliens, Buzz struggles to uncover the mystery of where their friends have disappeared to. They are given a clue by the arrival of Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy, who offer their assistance. Though a desperate and devoted Woody welcomes them, Buzz is skeptical of these new strangers.

Buzz also appears in Kingdom Hearts Union χ as a Super Rare attack medal for the game's avatars as part of the Toy Story Land event.

Disney Parks
Buzz is common in Disney Parks around the world as a meetable character. He is also featured in many parades.

Previously, if anyone in the park shouted "Andy's coming!", he, along with the other toys like Jessie, Woody, and the others, would fall down. This soon stopped as little children got scared when they fell, and the falling did damage to their outfits.

Buzz is also featured in a series of Tomorrowland attractions, each with a different name depending on what park they are in. In the rides, which all have the same plot, an audio-animatronic Buzz assigns the rider a mission to stop Emperor Zurg, by using a blaster to shoot at various targets.

Buzz also appears riding Mark Twain in Fantasmic!.

Buzz also has his own spell card in Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom known as Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blaster.

Trivia

 * Buzz's fictional home planet is the planet of Morph.
 * Buzz Lightyear's name was inspired by Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second person to walk on the Moon after Neil Armstrong.
 * It is interesting to note that in every Toy Story film there is one delusional Buzz Lightyear toy who believes he is a real space ranger.
 * In the first film, it was the current Buzz Lightyear who believed he was a real space ranger until he learned he was actually just a toy.
 * In the second film, when the toys went to Al's Toy Barn, Buzz was attacked by another newer Buzz Lightyear after he tried to take newer Buzz's belt, and was placed in a display box while the other delusional Buzz went with the Woody search group after hearing Rex say he found the secret to beating Zurg (in a video game).
 * In the third film, Lotso kidnapped Buzz and reset him to Demo mode where he lost his memories and reverted to his delusional Buzz state. When his friends attempted to reset him, they found they couldn't reset him by putting him back to normal mode and instead accidentally reset him to delusional Buzz in Spanish mode. He later regained his memories and his current persona when he was hit by a TV set while saving Jessie.
 * Buzz is similar to Bolt from the 2008 film of the same name, as both believed to possess their TV show superpowers' powers, and yet, do not have them. It is not until later that both heroes realize (and admit) that they don't have any powers.
 * Buzz's name is different in some languages:
 * In the French dub, he is named Buzz l'Éclair. He is still named Buzz Lightyear in the French-Canadian dub.
 * The role of Buzz Lightyear was originally offered to Billy Crystal who turned it down, a move he later admitted regretting. Crystal eventually voiced Mike Wazowski, a character in Monsters, Inc. and Monsters University. Also, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, and Jim Carrey were also considered for the role.
 * Buzz quotes Captain James T. Kirk from Star Trek (1966) when he remarks, "There seems to be no sign of intelligent life anywhere..."
 * Buzz does a Vulcan salute from the Star Trek series when saying "Farewell" to Woody at the gas station, when leaving Andy's house to embark on his mission to rescue Woody, and when saying "Farewell" to the other Buzz who is playing catch with Emperor Zurg.
 * Buzz makes a cameo in Finding Nemo as a toy that was in the dentist's waiting room.
 * The Lightyear tire brand in the Cars franchise is a reference to Buzz Lightyear's name and is also a parody of the Goodyear tire brand.
 * Buzz appears during the end credits of Cars as a car, arguing with a car version of Woody. He is a Space Rover, and Woody is a station wagon.
 * All Piston Cup racers' tires in Cars (including Lightning McQueen's) are branded as "Lightyear," both a reference to Buzz Lightyear and a play on the name Goodyear (an actual tire manufacturer).
 * The original script for Toy Story 3 had Buzz and his entire toy line recalled back to Taiwan (where the Buzz Lightyear toys are made) due to a defect. Apparently, that defect could have explained why Buzz and his toy line believed themselves to be real space rangers. While this plot idea was ultimately scrapped, the final script did still include an explanation as to why the entire toyline had at the very least initial delusional beliefs to being the real Buzz Lightyear (as apparently they are pre-set to Demo Mode when first made).
 * In only the North American release of Toy Story 2, Buzz gives out his speech with the US flag in the backdrop and the US national anthem, the "Star-Spangled Banner," playing in the background, similar to the way General Patton did in the film Patton (1970).
 * The colors on Buzz are the favorites of John Lasseter (lime green) and his wife, Nancy (purple).
 * Buzz's facial features are loosely based after John Lasseter himself.
 * Buzz was based on the G.I. Joe toys from the 1960s. However, he more closely resembles the classic Hasbro toy Rom the Space Knight. Like Buzz, Rom is a Space Ranger in a suit of powered armor who fights a race of hostile alien beings with a special laser.
 * In an episode of House of Mouse, Donald Duck dresses up like Buzz.
 * Buzz, along with Woody, were at one point planned to appear as new summons in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, but this idea was scrapped.
 * Buzz was nominated for AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains. One of three animated heroes appear on the list, along with Belle and Peter Pan. Unfortunately, none of them made the list.
 * Buzz Lightyear's catchphrase "To infinity and beyond!" was also said by Flik in one of the outtakes of A Bug's Life, as well as Tim Allen's character, as a dog, in another Disney film The Shaggy Dog (2006).
 * Buzz is 11.43 inches tall, and his helmet adds 0.37 inches.
 * The quality of Buzz's voice box deteriorated within the ten years between Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3, and is now on par with Woody's sound quality (and the original Thinkway Buzz Lightyear action figure).
 * Buzz and Jessie's dance moves during the end credits of Toy Story 3 were choreographed by Tony Dovolani and Cheryl Burke of Dancing with the Stars.
 * Buzz's_close_up_pixar_label.jpg has labels on his rear end. In Toy Story, he had a label that said "Disney," which was shown when he attempted to fly out of the window at Sid's house, and in Toy Story 3, he had a Disney/Pixar label that was shown just before he was picked up by a child at Sunnyside. In Kingdom Hearts III, the label appears to say "Made by Pixar".
 * The characters that Buzz and Zurg are based on from whatever they're from in the Toy Story universe, are spoofs of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. They parody one of the last scenes in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, where Zurg claims he's Buzz's father just like Vader did to Luke, as the Zurg and Utility Belt Buzz in Toy Story 2 think they're the real versions of themselves and fight in a parody of the Luke/Vader fight in Star Wars.
 * When Toy Story was being made, Buzz wasn't going to be in the main plot. Tinny was going to be in his place. But John Lasseter decided a tin toy wouldn't be a good toy for a boy, so Tinny was scrapped and Lasseter decided to put in a military/space character that a boy would want so badly. When names came around, the original two were Lunar Larry and Tempis from Morph.
 * Stinky Pete said that space rangers sold more than the 1950's cowboys, which makes it so Buzz's predecessors have been around since the early or late 1960s.
 * Based on him still functioning after being hit by both water from a water hose in Toy Story 3 and a tidal wave of water when the bathroom door burst out in Partysaurus Rex, Buzz Lightyear is likely waterproof.
 * Buzz tends to mispronounce words. For example, he mispronounces the word "S'mores" as "Schmoes", and mispronounces Hawaii as "Hay-way-I". Woody corrects him both times.
 * In Toy Story 3, Buzz's batteries on his back are branded with "Buy n Large", a company appears in WALL-E.