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

 Who would Buzz be without Woody? Rhetorical question aside, it was a no-brainer to continue with my Toy Story project and get Woody done up asap so that I can pair him up with the already completed Buzz. And as with all my projects, there is always the rather boring unboxing info to get through first (see below). While not everyone's cup of tea, I have always found unboxing posts and videos to be useful during the pre-purchase stage. It helps me determine whether a kit is one I would want to work on. Sometimes too much work is required - especially for kits with low quality parts - to justify the time and effort regardless of how fantastic the end result of a completed kit may be.

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

 In Woody's case, I'm glad to report it's a plastic model kit that's worth your while. Caveat being unlike the Buzz Lightyear kit, Woody requires painting for it to be color accurate. Not just minor painting too as I'll explain later. Also unlike Buzz and his jet-pack wings, Woody doesn't have any gimmick of his own. (In case you were wondering ... no, the pull-string ring on his back does not work.) And as with Buzz, the instruction pamphlet for Woody comes in a mix of colored plus black-and-white pages, and while largely diagrammatic it also has bilingual instructions in both English and Japanese.

Instruction pamphlet for Woody is similar to Buzz in that the back and front pages are colored ...

... while the pages within the covers are mostly in black and white print ...

... with diagrammatic instructions interspersed by a few lines of bilingual instructions ...

... but as with Buzz's instructions, the final two pages revert back to full color.

 Admittedly after experiencing Buzz Lightyear's excellent straight out-of-the-box plastic parts that had such beautiful glossy finishes which required no painting to look good, I was disappointed with what I got with Woody's parts. For you see, quite a number of parts are not color accurate. Parts to paint include the band around Woody's cowboy hat, the gun holster, the shirt/vest, the plastic gold-injected parts (e.g. spurs, belt buckle, sheriff's badge), the belt, the jeans, the neckerchief, and his face. For some of these parts I can get away with just panel-lining while others need a complete repaint.

Sprue A: Multi-colored sprue with parts for the eyebrows, hair (matte umber); spurs, buckle, badge (glossy gold); and hat, boots, belt, irises. (matte brown)

Sprue B1: Semi-gloss yellow parts for Woody's checkered shirt

Sprue B2: Another multi-colored sprue with parts for the mouth, neckerchief (glossy red); jeans (matte blue); and vest (matte black) 

 So in a nutshell, Woody will require much more work to look as good as his best friend Buzz. To be fair, the work required can still be considered minor compared to fully painting a mecha kit like a Gundam. But it's still significantly more than what was needed in the Buzz Lightyear kit. In other words, everything is relative. I for one believe the work required for Woody is definitely worth it. And while Woody doesn't have a fancy gimmick like Buzz's jet-pack wings, he more than makes up for it with a more vibrant color scheme as well as a host of tiny little details .

Sprue C: Semi-gloss flesh-colored parts for the face, neck, and various hand options

Sprue D: Matte white parts for the eyes, teeth, vest, shirt buttons, pull-string handle, and connector piece for connecting Woody to the base

Sprue ACB-BA: Clear base for displaying Woody plus a rectangle piece that connects two similar bases together

 Not being a fan of stickers in the first place, I wasn't too disappointed with the few pieces available for use. I'm glad Bandai didn't include a host of stickers to make the kit color accurate because that rarely ends well. Also with Woody being a soft toy in 'real-life', he doesn't really have a need for stickers like Buzz did for his space suit. So small sticker set (see below) provided with the kit is a non-issue.

Stickers for the boot sole, and for Woody's irises/pupils

Assembly instructions for beginners (included in some but not all Bandai kits)

 Unlike Buzz, Woody isn't going to be the type of kit that'll be a simple, straightforward build that's a relaxing weekend project. As I've mentioned there's painting to be done on Woody, and quite a lot of it too. So it's going to take me longer than a weekend to get Woody finished. I'll be starting on the project soon and hopefully some painting updates will be uploaded by next week. Until we meet again in the blogosphere dear readers ... stay safe, be well, and most of all be happy.