Toy Story 4: Buzz Lightyear [Unboxing & Pre-Assembly Review of the Bandai Cinema-Rise Standard model kit]

 After an ambience of doom and gloom permeated by the subject matter that is Evangelion, it's time for something a little more lighthearted in the form of Toy Story character, Buzz Lightyear. For this little Pixar Toy Story project of mine, I'll be working first on Buzz followed by Woody, the other half of this dynamic duo. You really can't have one without the other so it's both of them or the project is a non-starter. Let's begin now with an unboxing of the Bandai Cinema-Rise Standard Toy - Story 4: Buzz Lightyear plastic model kit, and see what to expect inside the box.

Bandai Cinema-Rise Standard - Toy Story 4: Buzz Lightyear plastic model kit

 To the best of my knowledge, I think Bandai only ever produced two plastic model kits for their Cinema-Rise Standard line, namely Buzz Lightyear and Woody. In fact, Bandai has another line of figurine kits called Figure-Rise Standard which comprise characters from anime series such as One Piece, Dragon Ball, Naruto, Demon Slayer, Ultraman, Gundam, etc. It seems strange as I'm not sure why the Toy Story 4 kits were differentiated into their own series.    

Instruction pamphlet: back and front pages are colored ...

... while the pages inside the covers are mostly in black and white ...

... with mainly visual instructions interspersed by a few lines of instructions ...

... but the final two pages of instructions revert back to color.

 Coming in the form of a folded pamphlet, the instructions are mainly visual and self-explanatory interspersed with a few lines of instructions in both English and Japanese. A cursory glance tells me that while on the whole the kit shouldn't present any problems to a scale modeler who doesn't have many projects under his belt, there are certain sections like the 'wing gimmick mechanism' that may pose a significantly tougher challenge than what beginners are used to. It requires the placement of metal springs and plastic parts in a way that allows the wings to fold into the backpack, stay in place, and subsequently flip out at the press of a button. But let's cross that bridge when we come to it.

Sprue A: Parts for the eyebrows (dark brown), faces (flesh), buttons (red), and helmet etc. (clear)

Sprue B1: Glossy white parts for Buzz's body/arms/hand armor i.e. the space suit

Sprue B2: Glossy white parts for the space suit's pelvis, legs, and feet sections as well as the backpack

Sprue C: Glossy green parts for the neck, body, arms, hands, knee, backpack, and belt

Sprue D: Matte off-white parts for Buzz's eyes, teeth

Sprue E: Semi-gloss light gray parts for the space suit's joints, helmet seals, and backpack

Sprue F: Matte purple parts used on the head and neck as part of the space suit's inner-wear

Sprue G: Semi-gloss black parts for the inner frame, for the space suit inner-wear (i.e. shoulders, waist, and lower abdomen) as well as for the pupils

Springs: these metal parts form part of the backpack's mechanism 

 For once stickers aren't a hindrance to a good build because it doesn't matter if Buzz Lightyear looks toy-like. After all he is technically a toy. So rather than hinder how Buzz will look in the final build, the stickers will actually enhance the toy-like quality of the subject matter. Despite Buzz being a toy, Bandai got it right by not compromising on the quality of the parts i.e. the finish of the molded plastic parts is absolutely excellent (check out the glossy white and green parts in the photos above). So even in a straight out-of-the-box build, I expect this Buzz Lightyear kit to look great. They could have gone the other way and made cheap, plasticky looking parts. But I'm glad they didn't.   

Stickers for the space suit armor, its buttons, the wings, and for the irises/pupils 

Sprue ACB-BA: clear base for displaying Buzz plus base connector piece

 Another great thing about this kit is that it comes with its own display base. I always appreciate it when a base is provided, and it's of good quality as well as appropriate to the kit. The base in question is a flat hexagonal clear piece with a connector piece that fixes onto a similar base provided with the other Bandai Cinema-Rise Standard kit i.e. the Toy Story 4:Woody plastic model kit. However, if you want Buzz Lightyear to do a dynamic flying pose with his backpack wings extended, then you are out of luck. If this is the case then you would've to get a third party display base.

Assembly instructions that'll be useful for beginners (included in most of Bandai's newer kits)

 Because the glossy/semi-gloss/matte finish on most of the plastic parts is ... simply put ... excellent, painting is expected to be limited to Buzz Lightyear's face. As such I think this kit should be a pretty quick and simple build. Caveat being 'quick' at my pace might not be as fast as how you're probably imagining this project will pan out. That being said, 'quick' still means I don't expect this Bandai Cinema-Rise Standard - Toy Story 4: Buzz Lightyear project to run for more than a month ... or two. With that I leave you with a Buzz Lightyear quote that seems apt when looking at the mess politicians everywhere are responsible for ... There seems to be no signs of intelligent life anywhere.