I absolutely love this set. Allow me to show you all why…
Few sets excite me from day one like this truck did. Like I’ve said before, I love Toy Story (and everything by Pixar for that matter), and the running gag to include this pickup in every film of theirs makes me smile. Plus, I used to deliver pizza in a Toyota back in high school, so this set is like a double wave of nostalgic awesomeness for me.
Check this set out: Target Exclusive, $39.99 retail, 225 pieces and 4 “minifigs” – Buzz Lightyear, a Little Green Man, Hamm, and Rex. Kinda steep? OK, granted, that’s 17.8 cents per part. But look at those figures! Also, those panels on the truck? Printed. Oh yes. I happily dropped $40 for this (and subsequently kicked myself when it went on sale for $30).
I seriously love this truck. I don’t care that it’s way out of scale with the figures. I only mildly care that there’s no steering, suspension, or depth to the truck bed.
Oh, by the way, the camper shell comes off too. Makes it easy to stuff Hamm and Rex in the back. That “YO” tile and the license plate are printed too. So about that trailer hitch…
Pull that sucker back, let it go, and it shoots pizzas out ot the engine.
And that’s just fantastic.
OK, so it doesn’t work incredibly well… but to be fair, it’s the farthest I’ve seen a truck shoot a pizza in a loooong time, so I’ll let the performance issues slide a little bit.
The truck is very sturdy, and surprisingly swooshable. And don’t give me any grief about swooshing a pickup, if I’ve learned anything from Rogue Squadron on my N64 it’s that cars can and do fly when they’re cool enough, and this truck is certainly cool enough. Plus, come on, it’s called a “Delivery Shuttle”. Clearly it was designed with swooshing in mind! Buzz would back me up.
I’m dead serious when I say I love this set. By far the best thing to come out of the Toy Story theme. I have no intent whatsoever to disassemble mine, which is exceedingly rare for an official set.
Price/Parts ratio: 7/10
Parts Selection: 8/10
Minifigs: 10/10
Construction: 9/10
Design: 9.5/10
Swoosh Factor: 9/10
Reviewer’s Tilt: 11/10
Final Score: 9.1
Full gallery on Flickr:
