By ♬ It’s time for Woody’s Roundup. He’s the very best. He’s the rootinest tootinest cowboy in the wild, wild west! ♬
I love and adore every Toy Story out there, but after seeing the release of the Toy Story Collection I knew I had to start my quest in finding the most film accurate version of every toy in each Toy Story movie. Of course, what better place to start than with Sheriff Woody, Andy’s favourite toy. Woody has held a special place in everyone’s heart, young and old, and the Toy Story Signature Collection Woody doll made by Thinkway Toys is by far the most film-accurate Woody you will find and is my personal favourite.
As we learn in Toy Story 2, Woody is an old family toy based on a 50s show called ‘Woody’s Roundup’. The Signature Collection Woody doll is packaged beautifully and although we never see the packaging in the movie, John Lasseter stated in an interview that he is packaged in a box that the creators envisioned would have been the box that Andy’s father would have bought in the 50s. The Signature Collection Woody includes the doll, his removable hat, a display stand, and a certificate of authenticity.
Woody’s face is absolutely gorgeous and the detail is very noticeable when you compare him with previous Woody dolls. The only film accuracy problem for the die-hard fans out there is that his mouth is slightly open while in the movie, when he goes back into toy mode around the humans, his mouth is completely closed. His clothing is stunning as well and incredibly accurate to the movie. His jeans are made of real denim and his hat has real stitching just like Al said when he found Woody in the Yard Sale. What has caused a little bit of controversy is that Andy’s name is not written on the bottom of his boot. This is because he is meant to be the way he would have been when Andy’s father first purchased him. Now instead of being Andy’s Woody doll, he is our very own Woody.
Woody has a number of features including dual Toy Sheriff and Interactive Woody modes. When he is still in his box he will be in demo mode and speak a few classic phrases, but when you switch him into play mode he becomes interactive and responds to your voice! The switch can be found underneath his shirt on his lower back, which can be a bit of a pain to get to, but definitely worth the effort. This Woody has 50 different sayings, which will repeat a lot before you get through them all. Woody’s voice sounds very similar to the voice in the Toy Story movies even though Tom Hanks is not the voice for the doll, it’s actually his brother!
Now for the display stand…oh dear, the display stand. The display stand has a star shaped base (the shape of his
badge) and one of the points folds up and down, I’m assuming this is so that it can be stood directly against the wall. Regardless of the folding point, I have tried setting the stand at various different angles, but Woody and the stand seem to fall over very easily and this can get really frustrating. This can be a real problem if you have set him on a shelf or bookcase because he can get damaged when he falls down. You will have to play around with different angles to find the perfect angle where he won’t topple over. Even though the stand is far from perfect, once you do find the right angle and position, he looks great displayed on the stand and I prefer this to having him sitting down.
The Signature Collection Woody doll is the most film accurate Woody out there right now and I recommend grabbing one while they are still floating around the toy stores. He’s fun, he looks great, and he is a must have for any Toy Story collection!
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