Customer Reviews

Toy Story Pull String Woody 16" Talking Figure - Disney Exclusive

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Let me start off by saying that my 2 1/2 year old son is completely in love with Toy Story and Toy Story 2. He would watch these movies several times per day if I allowed him to do so. His favorite characters are Woody and Buzz and I could not wait to order this item for him. This item was not ordered from AMAZON.com but I did purchase this new in the box from another retailer and wanted to offer my review.

After doing some research on what version of the Woody doll I should purchase I decided on this one. When he arrived at our house I allowed my son to open the packaging. He was absolutely FLOORED that Woody was now in the house! Woody looks almost identical to his Disney Pixar counterpart. He is 16" tall, has all the correct clothing, and is constructed to move and bend in the same places as you would expect after watching the movie. Woody does come with a hard plastic hat that does not stay on his head very well unless we place it on backwards and press it firmly to his dome. Not a big deal.

After getting Woody out of the box my son immediately turned him around to pull his string. Once the string was pulled and Woody spoke for the first time my son looked extremely puzzled. I'm sure he was expecting Tom Hanks to be speaking from this Woody doll and he was suprised to hear a voice that sounds NOTHING like Tom Hanks (I have heard that it is the voice of Tom Hanks brother). I was aware that Tom Hanks' voice was not present in this doll but I was hoping that they could have hired a person to record a voice that would sound somewhat similar. I was also surpirsed that my 2 1/2 year old would be able to identify the difference of the voices with all of his excitement.

Here comes THE BIG WARNING...Woody's pull-string was not very durable on this particular doll. After my son pulled it for the third time the plastic ring separated from the string upon the retraction into the doll. This means that the string was pulled to activate the voice sequence and was then released from his hand so that it could snap back into place flush with Woody's back. When the ring snapped back into place the string separated from the ring after connecting with Woody's back and disapeared into the little black hole of no return! I could not believe it! I would highly recommend finding a method to stabalize the pull-cord to the ring either by cutting it and re-knotting it or by another method before your little one starts playing with it. This will save you much time and disapointment. I even went as far as digging into the back of Woody (days after my son continued to play with Woody) to find the string and reconnect it to the ring. I was successful with the reconnection (not the easiest thing to do by the way) but his voice no longer activates when the string is pulled. So everytime my son pulls this cord I have to do my best Tom Hanks/Woody impression of saying "You're my favorite deputy," "Reach for the sky," or "Someone poisoned the water-hole." I think he enjoys it because I can make myself sound more like Woody than Woody did for the three times his string was pulled and he actually spoke.

I would have rated this toy a 5/5 if it weren't for the flimsy pull-string and ring that broke on the third pull. Although his hat does not stay on and he doesn't speak on his own, Woody is still a great toy for your little one if they are really into the Toy Story movies. My son loves him and his Buzz and continues to play with them every day.

I am disappointed with this Woody Doll! The doll is O.K. Nothing great about it. Quality is O.K. It doesn't have the original voice, TOM HANKS. Sellers should have specified that it is NOT TOM HANK's voice. Oh well, learn my lesson. Won't buy this specific doll again, if I have seen it from a store for sure.
The doll's information (just in case you are interested):
Toy Story & Beyond 16" Pull String Woody Doll by Disney Store (Disney/Pixar); #44196 (B6 486775700114 11).

Exactly as the one on Toy Story. People in other reviews complaint about durability of the string on the back, but my 4 year old cousin plays a lot with his Woody, and is working as it should be 4 months later. As far, is a great toy.

Brace yourself when you buy this, because it doesn't have Tom Hank's voice. I often wonder why? Perhaps Mr. Hanks demanded too much money. If that is the case, well, I hope he's glad he's disappointed a ton of fans. Buzz Lightyear seems to have Tim Allen's voice... and it sounds great. Woody's voice is lame. We didn't have problems with the pull string other people had. One funny thing was that as much as we pulled the string, we never heard the phrase "reach for the sky!" Could it be true? Could the doll makers have been so callous and absent-minded that they not only messed up Woody's voice, but they left out one of the best quotes from the movie? Turns out you have to throw a switch on Woody's back to get him to say all 10 phrases (of which "reach for the sky" is one) instead of the 8 phrases he says out of the box. ???? Strange but true. Actually I haven't counted the exact number of phrases, but it's something around there. Any way, a lot of weird management decisions went into this doll. Thus, it gets a 'B' rather than an 'A'.

I bought this toy for my son and he loved it...the only problem was after 15 days the batteries went dead and they are the watch batteries and i had to pay more for those then i did for the entire doll..All in all my son loved it and even when it didnt talk he still played with it...

I Love This Woody, I Had This When I Was Little And I Still Have It And It Is Still Fun To Play By Kids And Your Little One. Defintally Recommended For Your Little Toy Story Fan.

Now This Is Probably The Cheapest (in price) Talking Woody Doll You Can Get, And I Love It! I Would Recomend This For Any One. And His Boot Actually Says Andy!

I bought Woody to go with a tv and dvd for my grandson- he loved it!This is an exact replica of the character and very high quality.

i really was glad i made this purchase my only complaint was the battery inside died after having it for one day!!! but it was decent quality....and my son loves it...even without the phrases

So, if you're thinking about buying this toy, let me tell you what you will get for your $40.
1. I will reinterate what other reviewers say....The hat does NOT stay on. Not even a little bit. If you try to smash the hat down on Woody's head, you can see the plastic of the hat expand, and consquently, stretch out so that it will never stay on his head again for the rest of eternity. This annoys me, AND MY SON.
2. Not only does the hat not stay on, but neither does his vest. The problem with the hat is something I can live with. But when we opened the box, the vest was hanging off his shoulders and the toy had never been touched. It simply works itself off his little body. This annoys me greatly. AND MY SON. I've made the decision to sew the vest in place.
3. No, the voice is not Tom Hanks. However, this is not a big deal. The voice, to me, sounds similar enough and my son doesn't even notice.
4. The stitching is terrible. Especially on his arms. I think in the near future, we will have a problem similar to Toy Story 2 with his whole arm coming off.

Those are the major problems with the toy. And now I would like to have myself a little vent in general about the toy.....

I was a teenager when the first movie came out, and my nephews adored the films. We had some orginal Woody dolls that accomadated the first movie, and the quality of those dolls was SO much better. My oldest son actually had a hand me down Woody doll until a few years back unitl it met an unfornate end. I am absolutely FLOORED at the lesser degree of quality of the new dolls. The orginal dolls were a bit smaller, but they looked EXACTLY like what you see in the movie. The plastic parts were denser, harder, and seemed to be more scuff resistant.
The new doll is bigger and odder looking. The toy doesn't look quite like the movie character. And the plastic parts are hollow and the paint is clearly something that will fade and rub off over time. And he has a weird expression. I feel like the doll's expression should match the movie character's "frozen" expression, but it doesn't.
Also, the orginal woody doll had the actual pull-string mechanism (just like the movie), whereas the new toy requires batteries. I don't understand the logic in that modification at all.

When I started researching Woody dolls to buy for my son, (yes, I research things like that. if I'm going to spend $40 on a toy, I want to get the best toy I can for my money) I knew that all the new dolls that have been produced are of the same crappy quality. I went so far as to go to ebay to look for an orginal doll that was made when the first movie came out. But in the end, I decided it was just easier and more convinent to get the mass produced toy.

When it arrived, I knew what kind of quality to expect. But it still annoys me that 10 years ago, Disney produced a good quality toy identical to the movie character, but now, it just kinda looks like junk.

All of that being said......my 2 and a half year old son likes it. The hat annoys him, and the vest annoys him, but he still has a Woody doll to play with. He doesn't realize it's a piece of crap. I'm going to sew the vest on, but the hat is kind of a hopless cause. Unless I have my husband rig up some way to keep the hat in place. We'll see.

If you are far less concerned with these (possibly trivial) matters than me (and I hope you are), and you have a kid that loves Woody, just get the doll. :-)