After being stuck on Disney+ for the past two years, Pixar has finally returned to the Big
Screen through its latest film, “Lightyear”. Not only does this film provide a new take on
the space ranger that everyone knows and loves, but it’s also meant to act as the reason why Andy
wanted a Buzz Lightyear toy in the first place. Admittedly, it’s a bit of a confusing concept,
but a unique one nonetheless. Of course, with this new universe, we have some new characters all
ranging in morality, and while it may be a fairly small cast, we’re still going to rank them all.
I’m Kyle with WickedBinge, and this is Pixar’s Lightyear: Good to Evil.
Major - and we do mean MAJOR - spoilers ahead for not only
the film’s characters but its big twist as well.
As always, we’re going to be starting with the most noble
and heroic characters before working our way down. These are the Good.
Earning the Gold Medal of Good, we have Alisha Hawthorne. Alisha is Buzz’s best friend and is
one of two commanding officers that we meet in the film. Though she is a bit more easy-going than
Buzz, often poking fun at him for his narrating, Alisha is also determined and incredibly brave,
having Buzz’s back no matter what. While she also encourages Buzz not to give up after
first failing the mission, once she realizes the sacrifice that comes with continuing the mission,
she’s willing to put a stop to things for Buzz’s sake. Under her command, the Tikana
Prime colony is able to thrive, and while Alisha is forced to give up her life as a space ranger,
she’s still able to do a ton of good in her lifetime. With a heart of gold and a level of
honor that anyone would be proud of, we felt that no one deserved this top rank more than Alisha.
Next, we’re going to be giving the Silver Medal of Good to Alisha’s granddaughter,
Izzy Hawthorne. Next to Buzz, Izzy sort of acts like a co-leader amongst her rag-tag defense team
as they go up against Emperor Zurg. As such, she shares many great traits with her commander
grandmother. She’s brave, tough, encouraging, determined WITHOUT being too stubborn about it,
and cares deeply for her teammates - even when they mess up. When Izzy herself makes a
mistake - such as when she accidentally releases their escape ship’s fuel crystal - she does what
she can to make up for it. Izzy even faces her fear of space in order to save Buzz’s life,
which is very admirable. Though her insecurities and over-eagerness can make
her a less than perfect hero, she easily follows in her grandmother’s footsteps.
For our Bronze Medal of Good, it’s going to always-helpful Sox. Okay, don’t lie. You all
knew that this little robo-kitty was going to be the fan favorite. Being similar to Big Hero Six’s
Baymax, Sox is meant to be both an assistant and companion to Buzz. Seeing him try to help
Buzz sleep or offer to listen to him when he has a nightmare is just incredibly sweet. But
while he can be incredibly helpful as well as more than willing to help, Sox also has
his moments of being pretty blunt - like when he told Buzz that he regretted coming with him once
he realized how terrifying the mission would be. He was also willing to tranq another colony member
in order to help Buzz and save himself from being decommissioned. Occasional cowardice and bluntness
aside, Sox continues to prove himself throughout the film. He’s able to improve the hyperspace fuel
Buzz has, allowing him to travel faster-than-light without being destroyed. He’s also able to assist
in the final battle against Zurg, with his alternate self even being willing to go
against Zurg to help Buzz. Though maybe not as useful or as filled with weapons as another Buzz
Lightyear-related robot, XR, Sox still manages to make for a wonderful addition to the team.
Following him, we have Mo Morrison. Out of all the colony’s Junior Defense Team members,
Mo is by far the most inexperienced due to being a rookie and a fresh recruit. In another
comparison to the animated Lightyear!verse, think somewhere along the lines of Booster,
only as a human instead of a big lovable alien. He’s pretty clumsy, making several notable
mistakes during crucial points throughout the film, and was even willing to surrender himself
to the alien beetles after panicking. So yeah, Mo doesn’t have a ton going for him. Still,
as weak and anxious as he might be, Mo still tries to help when he can. He’s even able to
save the day twice in the film’s climax, helping Darby activate her trap and using his pen to
help the team escape. Despite all his flaws, Mo doesn’t seem to have an actually malicious bone
in his body, and this is what allows him to fall just below the Podium of Good.
Finishing off the Good, we have the titular Buzz Lightyear. First thing you should know about this
Buzz is that he doesn’t really start out as the traditional space ranger hero that we all know
him as. Instead, this version of Buzz starts out as a test pilot, and while not quite as confident
or potentially arrogant as the Toy Story!Buzz - though he does drop the “I’m Buzz Lightyear,
I’m always sure!” line - this Buzz still makes mistakes. He’s not only the reason why
he and the rest of the rangers are trapped on the planet Tikana Prime, but Buzz also takes it upon
himself to test the new ‘faster-than-light’ fuel despite Commander Burnside ordering him not to.
This unintentionally leads to the creation of Emperor Zurg, and while he’s not the villain that
other incarnations were, he’s still not exactly a good thing to have around. His anti-rookie
stance is also not a great look. But while Buzz makes a lot of mistakes throughout the film,
he’s eventually able to accept these mistakes, refusing to erase the lives of those living in
the Tikana colony even if it means living with these mistakes forever. Buzz is also
shown to be a decently good leader and a pretty good friend to each of his teammates. He can
also be incredibly brave as well as responsible, given how willing he is to face off against Zurg
and take him out once and for all. Though he’s not perfect and his good actions don’t erase
his mistakes or negative traits, we still felt that he deserved a fairly high spot on our list.
Now that we’ve made our way through the Good,
we’ve come to the more neutral characters. This is the Grey Area.
Starting off, we have the final member of Team Lightyear, we have Darby Steel. Essentially
being the team’s explosive expert, Darby is an elderly convict who was forced to be part
of the colony’s defenses as part of her parole agreement. Alisha’s line about how Darby can
“make anything explode” pretty much sums up her entire character. Though she tries to follow
the rules of her parole, Darby is more than happy to break them when she gets the chance
and is casually destructive, being more than happy to help kill robots. She also tends to mess with
Mo, being fairly annoyed with him and often being snarky towards him. Still, given that her biggest
crime was stealing a spaceship - something Buzz himself did - it hardly makes her a villain.
Like Mo, Darby is able to share her skills and even has a couple saves-the-day moments.
She also seems to have a bit of a sweet spot for Izzy, which is sweet to see. Honestly,
if it weren’t for her more destructive side, she could have easily made it into the Good.
Next up, we have Commander Burnside. Burnside is the commanding officer who takes over after
Alisha retires. Similar to Commander Nebula from the animated Buzz Lightyear series,
Burnside can be strict and can have a bit of a temper. When Buzz tries to convince Burnside
to continue the escape mission, Burnside was pretty dismissive towards him - and while we can
understand Burnside’s perspective, being someone who literally grew up on the colony,
it was still a bit rude. Then again, you can’t really blame him for getting angry when Buzz
recklessly disobeys a direct order. In terms of being a commander, Burnside does seem to be a good
one, being someone who cares about the safety of the colony and is willing to put his life
on the line for its sake. We also do see a bit of Burnside’s more reasonable and forgiving side. He
does threaten to arrest Buzz at the end of the film, but it doesn’t take much to convince him
into letting them re-create the Galactic Ranger Corps. This allows him to remain in our Grey Area.
Finishing up the Grey Area, we have I.V.A.N. Technically not a huge character in the film,
but since we’re counting Sox - another robotic character - we figured that we would give IVAN
a mention too. Being the main autopilot program of Star Command, IVAN is just as blunt and sometimes
just as frustrating and annoying as any Alexa or GPS program. Even when Buzz is trying to
save himself, IVAN is there to try and convince Buzz to not be so reckless. But hey, IVAN is just
doing his job, and though he doesn’t exactly go through any ‘character development’ persay,
he does prove his usefulness, which allows Buzz to warm up to him. He gets the spot at
the bottom of Grey not necessarily because he’s the closest to Evil, but because he’s about as
true neutral as you can get while not being as good as Darby and Burnside prove to be.
Finally, we’ve arrived at the scourge of the Galaxy.
These characters - or rather, character - are the Bad to Evil.
Unsurprisingly, there’s only one character that manages to make it into this tier,
and that’s Emperor Zurg. So, last chance to turn back if you don’t wanna be spoiled…
Unlike other incarnations that have portrayed Zurg as a simple one-track-minded toy or as a
goofy dictator voiced by Wayne Knight, this Zurg turns out to be another version of Buzz himself.
Confused? Yeah, we don’t blame you. Anyway, Zurg is naturally the commander of his robotic army,
using his bots to attack the colony on Tikana Prime in order to get his hands on more fuel.
Instead of taking over the galaxy, this Zurg’s main goal is to travel back in time and stop
his younger self from crash landing on Tikana in the first place. While yes, doing this may SEEM
heroic in a sense as it would prevent an entire colony’s worth of people from being stranded on
a dangerous alien planet, it’s also incredibly reckless. Even when Buzz points out how changing
the timeline would essentially erase the lives that the people on the colony have already lived,
Zurg just doesn’t care. He’s determined to fix his mistakes and finish the mission by
any means necessary, even if it means destroying his younger self and threatening innocent people.
He even kills Sox - if that doesn’t prove how heartless he’s become, nothing will. He is,
by all accounts, Buzz’s darkest side fueled by obsession, guilt and stubbornness. While
we can’t say for sure whether or not this twist actually works, we can at the very
least give Zurg the title of Most Evil Lightyear character, even if it is technically by default.
But let us know in the comment section if you agree with our ranking,
and tell us what we should cover next! Remember to hit that notification bell
and binge our Good to Evil playlist, where we break down the morality of
the characters in your favorite cartoons, shows and movies. But most importantly, stay wicked!