u/Fanimation2508

I grew up in the early 2010s, where the show was basically gone from Nickelodeon’s scheduling, and I could never catch the movie on tv either, I only got to see SpongeBob and Fairly Oddparents instead.

And when I did learn about JN, it was when I caught The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour crossover special that introduced me to the show, through The Fairly Oddparents albeit.

I liked it, and eventually saw the 2 others afterwards, as well as watching the Nicktoons Unite cutscenes on YouTube, before finally watching the show via Nicktoons reruns and home media.

I wanna know if others actually were introduced to Jimmy Neutron way after the show was finished, or if I’m just talking nonsense lol.

If you really look at Dreamworks’ catalog, it’s so jarring.

In one year (2004), they can make a movie like Shrek 2, and Shark Tale, 2 completely different movies in quality.

In another year (2024), they made Kung Fu Panda 4 and the wild robot in the same year, one disappointing sequel, and one genuinely good film one after the other.

They’ve even released 3 movies in one year (2010), Shrek Forever After, Megamind, and How to Train Your Dragon. All of them are pretty solid, but their differences are apparent, especially with HTTYD.

There are more examples of their odd releases, but I think I made my point. Dreamworks has always been consistently inconsistent in terms of their film quality, releasing trash and treasure in the same breath a lot.

Disney, Pixar, Sony, or Illumination don’t really follow this odd record.

I’m wondering why Dreamworks has this record, besides money, because I really wanna know why they’ve been like this for so long.
I know they get different people to make a lot of different films, it just baffles me Dreamworks doesn’t really have a set in stone formula driving their overall output to be consistent.

I’d never really thought about it as a running franchise gag, but it’s actually pretty interesting that it’s happened in all the films.

Looking back:

Toy Story — Original delusional Buzz.
Toy Story 2 — Utility Belt Buzz.
Toy Story 3 — Demo Mode Buzz / Spanish Buzz.
Toy Story 4 — Inner Voice Buzz.
Toy Story 5 — Buzz army.

Pixar has repeatedly revisited the “Buzz misunderstanding reality” trope a ton in the 5 Toy Story movies we have.

Original delusional Buzz was basically the template for the others that followed: they’re usually intelligent, strategic, and physically capable, often speaking in space lingo and being natural leaders, but also stubborn and ignorant because they think they’re real space rangers and not toys

That’s exactly what Buzz is in the first movie. He’s too ignorant and stubborn because of his delusions and that leads to him going on his existential arc. This is the one Buzz delusion that everyone can agree is handled well, as his arc and character development starts here.

Utility Belt Buzz in the second movie is literally a gag character, just meant to spice up the B-Plot, add more references to the first movie, and to make Original Buzz look better by comparison as UB Buzz is essentially Buzz before his realization.**

He should by all accounts bog down the film and be unfunny, but ironically he’s one of the coolest and funniest parts of the movie. His mini arc of reconciliation with Zurg as his father is kinda heartwarming too. UB Buzz is genuinely one of the best parts of Toy Story 2 to me, working as a great parallel and mirror to original Buzz and someone who has a lot of merit being in the film.

Toy Story 3 has 2 delusional Buzzes. The first is Demo Mode Buzz, who is kinda a plot device for the second act, but works because he’s by far the most corrupt and hostile Buzz variation, as he’s also a showing of how great Lotso is as a fascistic villain.

Then there’s Spanish Buzz, who is kinda sandwiched between the second and third acts of the film. His voice is hilarious, his character animation and expressions are gold, and his main purpose is to let Buzz express his feelings for Jessie without his typical anxiety stopping him. Even then, he still is pretty useful to the plot, helping out with the prison break sequence after Demo Buzz is switched.

Toy Story 4 completely drops the ball by not even giving us a new delusional Buzz variant, and essentially dumbing down original Buzz instead. He constantly can’t think for himself and always pushes his buttons to make decisions. He’s smarter than this, he didn’t need the buttons at all before, or after. I get why some people find it funny, but I don’t.

They really should’ve given him the knockoff toys as companions like the deleted scenes and drafts showed. Not only does it still give Buzz something to do without making him a dim bulb, it can add more context to his brand and popularity in universe and a commentary on bootleg knockoff toys. Shame it never happened.

Toy Story 5 has the high tech Buzz army, or “multi-buzzes.” They’re the newest generation of Buzz toys, that navigate the world as a hive mind of galaxy brains. They’re high tech drones that actually FLY, they have hotspot connections to other toys and WiFi, a glossy metallic green plastic. It also adds to that franchise thing, the idea that the Buzz brand has longevity- either one long continuity like Star Wars, or consistent reboots like transformers/tmnt, which I think is neat.

Original Buzz had karate chop action, wings, he glowed in the dark, he talked. and his helmet did that “whoosh” thing; he really is just the epitome of 90s action figures.
But the one thing he couldn’t do, his Achilles heel, was the fact he couldn’t really fly, the one thing that was clearly stated in advertising, and the one thing he was certain he could do in the first movie.

To his credit, he did fly in the end of the first movie and at the carnival in the fourth movie, but those were brief moments and he was “falling with style,” gliding through the air, rather than straight up flying. I’m so glad the multi Buzzes indeed came with the notion to improve on the most glaring flaw the original Buzz had.

Their thematic reasoning for being here supports the franchise’s themes about toys being there for kids and finding their place in the world, so they do have an actual purpose in the story besides aura farming.
Sometimes they can be a bit dumb, like thinking every star is somehow connected to Star command, and they somehow lack most of the lore the og Buzz was programmed with, but they’re pretty fun, and I’m glad they weren’t completely idiotic.

In conclusion, I’ll say the original Delusional Buzz was the best due to him having a fantastic existential arc.

Utility Belt Buzz is definitely the funniest and most clever use of the trope.

Demo Mode Buzz is the most threatening and plot relevant use of the trope. Spanish Buzz is the most passionate and creative version of Buzz.

Ts4 Buzz and his inner voice arc makes me wanna jump into an incinerator.

And the Buzz army is easily the coolest version of the trope.

It’s odd to think this trope is in the 5 Toy Story movies and has lasted so long. I guess Pixar has lots of fun writing about them, hence why the trope isn’t dead yet.

Or maybe Disney demands Buzz to get more focus in each sequel or something. But I guess the trope is better more often than not, so I’m fine with it being reused. I don’t know if they should still use it, since it’s kinda hard to top the multi Buzzes, but who knows.

These are all just my personal opinions.

The movie, besides being the original sin in the franchise, and bombing critically and financially, also introduced a plethora of things the series NEVER revisited again. The magic gold dust, Mr conductor, Junior, Lilly, Burnett Stone, Shining Time station, lady, and of course magic. The show picked up on season 6 and just ignored everything that movie did, and it continued doing so until it ended. It’s like that film really was a fever dream. A majority of that stuff wasn’t even from the show, it was from the Shining Time show for some reason.

The only thing that really stayed from the movie was Diesel 10. Everyone can agree he was the best part of the movie, being a comical and terrifying villain, having a great vocal performance by Neil crone, and ironically being the best thing the movie introduced. He also has a ton of quotable lines like (pinchy, twinkle toes, old Mac Diesel had a plan, that’s gonna ruin my facial, splodge), those lines live in every fan’s head. I think that’s why he kinda took off.

In comparison to everything else in the movie, a Diesel with a giant claw is the most grounded thing lol. I don’t think many people could tell you who Burnett stone or Junior are, but everyone knows Diesel 10.

He did actually appear in the show more times afterwards, like in the specials like Calling All Engines, Misty Island Rescue, and Day of the Diesels, and got a whole Christmas episode about him in the brenner era. He became a fan favorite, and even Hit and Mattel knew he was popular enough to make tons of merchandise from him.

He has kinda been absent in the show since his final appearance in the brenner era, but his reputation is still strong among fans, even more so as the magic railroad movie is considered a misunderstood cult classic now. I don’t like magic railroad as I think it’s just too weird, but I’m glad it’s at least beloved by people now.

If they ever wanted to get him back into the show, I think they should try to balance him being actually useful and a psychopath comedian. The show obviously has a lot of weird and bizarre characters but they’re usually accompanied by jobs/world reasons why they exist, besides toy money.

Calling All Engines made Diesel 10 into some sort of work Diesel, one who used his claw to help fix tracks and grab scrap at scrapyards. It’s pretty grounded, it’s just too bad his character was just the bully there, without any funny stuff.

I’d make him the maintenance Diesel for the rails and scrapyards still, but I’d give him his unhinged personality from magic railroad, the best of both worlds. Imagine him talking to Splodge about his borderline insane fantasy to overthrow steamies and they’re just unphased because they’re used to his ramblings and nothing really changes since his plans can’t really work.
It keeps some of his trademark insanity while making him fit in with the show more.

I’d also love to see him interact with other characters, especially since there’s so much interaction potential with the cast if they interacted with Diesel 10, I’d love to see Paxton or Sydney with him, or see more of existing dynamics like with Thomas or Diesel.

Overall, I just wanted to gush about Diesel 10 for a moment and point out how he’s the only real thing from magic railroad to catch on afterwards, while everything else it did was never touched again.
It’s all just my opinion, you don’t have to agree.

For years people treated Cars 2 like Pixar’s punching bag, and Pixar themselves has quietly disowned it.

Here’s some evidence and personal observations I’ve made that might show Cars 2 isn’t canon. All of this is just my personal speculation, you don’t have to agree and that’s fine.

Example 1: Mater’s dent. In Cars 2 Mater gets a dent on his side, and refuses to fix it throughout the movie because he thinks it’s important or something.

But in Cars 3, the dent is magically gone, and it’s also not in Cars on the road either. How could it be gone if Mater specifically doesn’t get his dents removed? It’s almost like Cars 2 never happened…

Maybe it’s just an animation error, but do you think animation perfectionist nutcases like Pixar would do that? Woody’s stitches from Toy Story 2 are still present in Toy Story 3, 4, and even 5, and stitches are obviously harder to get right and maintain for over 3 films. So it’s not an animation error.

Example 2: Cars on the road has an episode (salt fever) where Mater wishes he could go fast like McQueen, as he says he’s never gone fast before or done anything cool like McQueen. In Cars 2, Mater literally was fitted with rockets, and used them in the third act WITH McQueen as an eyewitness both in the tow chase through the streets and the flying scene, and the ending where he says “they let me keep them,” while racing McQueen and going really fast. How could Mater just forget he had rockets, and went fast before?

Example 3: Mater gets a knighthood in Cars 2 by the queen of England herself, and he’s revered as “Sir Tow Mater,” and Finn, holly, McQueen, the radiator springs citizens, and people from London were there and saw that happen.
But in Cars on the road, Mater’s annoying sister Mato treats Mater like trash and constantly says she’s better than him. Not once is the knighthood brought up. Mater doesn’t and instead chooses to squabble over petty sibling rivalry instead of explaining why he’s important since he SAVED THE WORLD WITH LITERAL SPIES FROM AN OIL MONOPOLY WITH LITTLE TO NO EXPERIENCE AS AN AGENT, while she’s just sat in her mansion doing nothing!!!
Even then, this obviously make Mater a celebrity, he should be the most famous tow truck in the world. But no one after Cars 2 treats him as such, or acknowledges what he did, unlike McQueen who still is very much a celebrity still.

Example 4: At the end of Cars 2, a new billboard is put up by Radiator Springs, saying “the home of Lightning McQueen, and Sir Tow Mater,” with pictures of them all over the billboard for everyone passing by to see, as the town is a landmark not only for racing legend Lightning McQueen but also super spy Tow Mater. But in Cars 3, the billboard is gone. It’s literally not there anymore, and same thing with Cars on the road. Why would an important billboard about celebrities just vanish despite them still being popular? It’s the smallest thing here but I think it counts. Cars on the road is just a giant middle finger to Cars 2 lol.

And Example 5: Cars 2 is Pixar’s biggest mistake. It’s the one sequel and film they made that only makes a franchise worse, as it’s been ridiculed to death and is the only movie of theirs they quietly disowned and every subsequent Cars project after acts like it doesn’t exist because there’s no point of drawing things from Cars 2 apparently.
Not even Toy Story 4, for as divisive as it is, has gotten disowned by Pixar. Cars 3 was essentially the real Cars 2, it was constantly marketed and talked about like it was, showing even Pixar wanted to forget Cars 2 ever happened. Nothing with the spies, lemons, and events of Cars 2 is carried over in anything after really.

You could say the spy stuff from Cars 2 caused the movie’s events to be under wraps to never talk about then again, but the whole third act of Cars 2 was on national television, everyone saw the spy stuff and the rocket propelled tow truck and the bomb situation, and Finn and holly don’t even bother acting secretive too, even though they’re supposed to be.

As of now, Cars 2 has been getting a lot of love by Cars fans and Gen Z kids who are starting to appreciate the movie more, and are saying it’s overhated, just like Cars 1. That argument will only continue as the years go on, as Cars 2 probably won’t get the same rehabilitation that Cars 1 got, but it might get labeled as a misunderstood cult classic and that’s fine.

I’m only asking about Cars 2’s canon because it’s something I’ve always wondered about it but couldn’t figure out why.
Now I guess it’s just a “soft canon” thing, where despite being an awful installment in a franchise it still exists and it’s your opinion whether it actually counts, kinda like Kingdom of the crystal skull, kung fu panda 4, and Shrek the third, but at least Cars 2 doesn’t assassinate its characters so that’s something.

Again, all of this is just personal speculation. Cars 2 is probably still canon in the end of the day even if Pixar/the cars universe acknowledges it.

One thing I wondered about when I watched Violet Evergarden (the anime), was Violet’s origins.

We know she’s a war maiden of sorts, is capable of being a deadly soldier, and was a child that Deitfried got ahold of for Gilbert.

But the show and the movies never really answer this kinda important question or anything around it.

What was Violet’s life before she was given to Gilbert? How did she learn her military skills? How is she so capable at a young age? Are there more “war maidens” like her? And if there were, then why is she the only one, did they die out or something?

I really thought the movies would answer these questions or at least give us a glimpse at Violet’s origins but it didn’t. I’m not complaining, I still love the show, but it is weird how we never get answers about Violet’s origins. I guess if we did it might make Violet less unique if there’s a ton of children soldiers like her or something.

Maybe she does have origins in other stuff like the light novels or something, since I’ve only seen the anime, OVA, and movies and I might be missing information.

Maybe the flashback material with Gilbert is her origin, or maybe the whole story is just one big origin for her. Maybe the whole point is that she’s a blank state that the horrors of war were written onto, anything else might be less impactful and take away the war trauma.

Overall, Violet’s origins are something the story didn’t really need, but it would make for an interesting movie/return ngl.

Apparently a lot of People think Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story series isn’t that smart, or that important to the series after his completed arc in the first movie.

I however, would like to go over why, in my opinion, I think Buzz is very important to the series, and one of the smartest characters.

In the first movie, he was of course, a delusional toy thinking he was a space ranger. But don’t get it twisted, he still is pretty intelligent throughout the movie despite his initial lunacy.

Examples include- 1: Buzz sits in the front of the pizza planet truck because he’d rather be safe than knocked around like Woody.

2: Buzz is the one who comes up with the idea to enter Pizza Planet being disguised with food containers to not get caught.

3: In Sid’s house, after seeing Sid’s mutant toys, he immediately dives for cover, tries calling for backup, and sets his laser from stun to kill. He’s not doing much, but at least he’s trying more, unlike Woody who just cowered in fear.

4: When Woody thinks he finds an exit, he tries leaving, while Buzz is more reserved and tries telling him they don’t know what’s out there, because Sid’s house is dangerous.
And when they do escape the room, he’s the one to quietly guide Woody out, and tells Woody to split up once Scud goes after them because he knows he couldn’t catch them both.

And 5: In the climax, Buzz is the one to push his buttons, freeing him and Woody from certain death by the big one, and uses the height to get to Andy’s Mom’s car, all because he remembered what his buttons did and all the mockery Woody said about them.

So yes, Buzz may be a bit ignorant and stubborn throughout the first movie, but he’s actually pretty smart and does smart things.

Now for the second movie, which is the greatest showcase of Buzz’s intelligence in my opinion.

After he fails to save Woody, Buzz finds out Al kidnapped Woody with a feather, a license plate number, and wordplay, which then leads him to coming up with the rescue mission. He had very few clues yet figured out what he needed to do.

He comes up with the plan to cross the road using cones, not only because he remembered how he and Woody almost were ran over in the end of the first movie’s climax, and traffic cones are indicative to any driver that they should stop or swerve away.
You could say he’s still endangering the other toys by putting them in roadway traffic, but the plan worked out so whatever.

Once they get to Al’s toy barn, he tells the others to jump at the same time to emulate a human’s presence; and once they get in, he tells everyone to split up to cover more ground.

When he’s replaced by Utility Belt Buzz, he thinks on the fly, using his surroundings and quick thinking to try to catch up to Al, and when that doesn’t work, he remembers to emulate a human’s presence from earlier just using weight.

He crosses the street once again using the cone method, and stealthily gets on the elevator to follow the others.

When he meets the others and Utility Belt Buzz tries proving he’s an imposter, Buzz opens his helmet just like Woody did to him in the first movie, and seals his case by showing his boot with Andy’s name written on it.

Buzz thinks Woody is wrong for trying to ditch Andy, because he remembers how much of a deal being a toy is, so he argues and tells Woody he is a child’s plaything, a toy, similarly to their argument at the gas station in the first movie.

When the clock is ticking, Buzz and the other toys try to save Woody in the elevator, but when that doesn’t work he realizes they have to hit the road to catch up.

He coordinates everyone on how to drive- He gets the wheel, Rex navigates, Slinky gets the pedals, Mr Potato Head and Hamm get the gears. Everyone pulls their weight all because of Buzz’s great job as a leader. Yes, their driving was erratic, but they still caught up to Al so the plan worked. It’s just crazy to think a toy realized a way to drive a car.

Buzz then splits up the other toys again at the airport to find Woody quicker, because at this point their time is almost up.

And finally, he and the others use the cameras to blind The Prospector, allowing them to save Woody once and for all. Oh, he also participated in the airplane chase in the climax on Bullseye.

Now for the third movie, because he’s still pretty capable here too.

When they’re all about to get thrown out, Buzz commands everyone to use Rex’s tail to get out before they’re crushed to their doom.

Buzz stops the other toys from arguing more once they get in the garage, as he understands they don’t have time for bickering.

He comes up with the plan to escape the caterpillar room and tries his best to be stealthy.

He talks respectfully to Lotso for a transfer request, but deals out remembering he’s a part of the family and can’t be selfish to join Lotso.

Even when he’s returned to Space Ranger Demo mode, he still acts pretty authoritative as a prison guard to the toys and another one of Lotso’s minions.

When he’s trapped by Hamm and Rex, he tries using his laser to escape, then uses their idiocy to his advantage to break out.

In Spanish mode, he is a bit flamboyant and ignorant to his situation at first, but he quickly gets adjusted and comes up with a way to getting to the dumpsters with his acrobatics.

When he’s back in normal mode again, during the magnet sequence, he tells everyone to grab something metal on the spot before they’re shredded. The toys would’ve died then and there if Buzz wasn’t a quick thinker.

Even in the Toy Story Toons and Tv Specials he’s still smart!

In Toy Story of Terror, he comes up with the plan to split up in teams to find Mr Potato Head after investigating, uses Mr Potato Head’s hand to construct a makeshift zip line, and tries coming up with a plan to save Woody with the other toys locked up in Ron’s cabinet.

In the Small Fry short, he tricks the happy meal toys to escape and gets Mini Buzz back where he belongs.

And in Toy Story That Time Forgot, Buzz is the one to deduce The Cleric’s plan on his own.

Toy Story 4 is the only real threat to my argument here.
Buzz is a blithering idiot who can’t think for himself and listens to his buttons even if that means doing stupid things like abandoning Woody twice.
He’s overwhelmed by all the other toys asking him what to do. He needs his buttons to tell him to simply look up or defend himself from Ducky and Bunny. He even has to tell himself to go to help Woody. He didn’t need his buttons to tell him how to be smart AT ALL, yet now I guess he has brain damage. He also tells Woody to leave, and I guess they both forgot how they went through this in the second movie but choose radically different paths.

And if you wanna count Lightyear, he’s just a big jerk who doesn’t really think things through and is the one who causes everyone to get stranded on the remote planet, but at least he tries fixing things and saves the day in the end.

Buzz is a smart character who keeps a cool head when situations get tough, and is always loyal to those he values, with Woody and Jessie being the most specific examples.

Without him, I don’t think Woody and the others would’ve survived the series, or everything turns worse. The series literally can’t happen without Buzz arriving in Andy’s room in the first movie, Woody isn’t forced to change his selfish ways and come to terms with his insecurities as the favorite. Buzz is the inciting incident that changed everything. Without him, nothing happens.

I know this was long, but I’m really tired of people saying Buzz is stupid when there’s an astounding amount of evidence from over 30 years proving otherwise.

Remember, all of these are my personal opinions and observations, you don’t have to agree with them and that’s fine, but hopefully you understand why I think Buzz is smart and important to the series.

ok, that sounds dumb but let me explain.

People tend to love Toy Story 2 and 3 more, and even prefer pixar’s other originals over ts1, while saying 1 is fine, or outright bad/insignificant in comparison to the sequels and following Pixar movies.

I disagree, because Toy Story 1 is my favorite film in the series, and my personal favorite pixar movie. Disclaimer: all of this are my personal opinions, they’re not gospel and you don’t need to agree with them if you don’t want to.

1: This is by far the most creepy movie in the series by far. The stuff in sid’s room and that iconic play nice scene is nightmare fuel, and it’s somehow really funny, scary, and serious all at the same time, unlike the sequels which mostly ignore the horror elements for other things. Toy mutilation is legitimately scary, and this movie just doesn’t feel like anything Pixar has ever made; it’s a really raw film in my opinion.

2: This is by far the funniest one. Ts1 somehow has joke after joke and they all consistently land for me, and they still make room for the more serious/emotional moments too. Toy Story 2 is really close in the comedy department, and Toy Story 3 has funny moments, but Toy Story 1 has the best comedy and sense of edgy humor that works for me the most. Sid is also funny as a creatively impulsive kid, who also serves a decent role as the film’s antagonist.

3: Woody and Buzz are together for most of the film. In the sequels they’re usually separated for a while, but here they share the screen together for most of the film and it works because we really get to see their friendship form through their initial dislike for one another. Woody himself is a jerk for most of the film and it’s really funny and interesting seeing how he became the good person he was in the sequels.

4: The presentation largely holds up well. The animation has aged (specifically the humans and some of the backgrounds) but the fluidity of it is really good. Woody constantly makes hyper-expressive looks and it’s just really funny, and most of the other characters including Buzz are really expressive as well. And most of the dated animation is disguised through the Toy’s plasticky/floppy movements since that’s how they’re supposed to move, it’s really smart. The soundtrack by Randy Newman is incredible; the score often sounds perilous and manic, and the individual songs (You’ve got a friend in me both og and the duet in the credits, Strange Things, and I will go sailing no more) are all fantastic as well. I personally think Strange Things is an underrated song in the series.

And 5: The messages are still profoundly important despite not being as deep as the sequels. Buzz’s arc of learning to be a toy, and Woody’s arc of overcoming his insecurities and jealousy of being replaced are very thematically rich and powerful because we can relate and understand them at a basic level, more so than the messages/themes of the sequels if you really think about it. We’ve all been jealous and insecure about our values as people and our purposes in life, and I think this film represents those themes excellently and isn’t insignificant in the slightest.

I personally think Toy Story 1 is genuinely unique and underrated when in comparison to many of Pixar’s other great films and the following Toy Story sequels because it’s the first one and apparently everything that comes after improves on it. But I still love Toy Story 1 and think it’s genuinely great despite its age and the arguably better sequels because of the rawness and revolutionary nature that this film represents to me personally.