Review: 43306 Lotso
Posted by CapnRex101,
Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear, commonly known as Lotso, was introduced as the friendly leader of the toys at Sunnyside Daycare in Toy Story 3, though he swiftly revealed himself as a totally tyrannical bear! 43306 Lotso recreates the character at a nice scale and looks surprisingly cuddly for a plastic model.
The rounded shape is certainly effective and the colour scheme looks splendid too, including lots of new or uncommon dark pink elements. Unfortunately, the authentic shaping comes at the cost of articulation, but moving eyebrows and a head tilt alone can convey ample personality, as you will see below.
Summary
43306 Lotso, 570 pieces.
£34.99 / $39.99 / €39.99 | 6.1p, 7.0c, 7.0c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Lotso is a delight in LEGO form, conveying plenty of character through the eyebrows
- Excellent proportions and rounded shaping
- Various options for display
- Lots of personality
- Little articulation, but with good reason
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
The Completed Model
Lotso's proportions are excellent, as everything about his animated appearance is designed to look as cuddly as possible, which this model captures. There are very few straight lines thanks to a generous use of curved slopes and tiles, while dark pink is an ideal colour choice for Lotso, alongside tan for areas of contrasting fur.
Considering its 570 pieces, this figure is slightly smaller than I anticipated, measuring 16cm in height. 75430 Wicket the Ewok provides a good comparison, as a fellow surprisingly ferocious bear! A larger and perhaps even life-sized version of Lotso could have been fun, although I like this scale as well.
Articulation is limited to ball joints situated at the shoulders and wrists, while the face and ears are attached to a turntable, so they can tilt from side to side. Moveable legs and a full range of head motion would have been great, needless to say, but adding more joints would mean more seams and risk spoiling Lotso's overall shape.
Also, this pink bear is not a particularly agile character in the film, as more of a cunning villain than one having to run around, so the head movement was a priority. These printed eyes look quite large in relation to the onscreen character, but 1x1 round tiles would have been too small and exaggerating the eyes a little looks fine to me.
The eyebrows are extremely important too and simply altering their angle completely changes Lotso's personality, going from benevolent bear to tyrannical teddy! The ears look excellent as well, while the shape of the nose reflects the movie, although its colour should really be a dark shade of purple. No such colour exists in the LEGO palette, so magenta is a fair alternative.
The head is shallower than I expected and should perhaps be positioned a bit further forward, relative to the body, giving Lotso a slightly hunched appearance. Nevertheless, the bear looks great from the front and any gaps to accommodate the head motion are well disguised.
Arm articulation is limited to swinging them back and forth, with little inward movement, but you can still achieve some reasonable poses. The wrists are more dynamic and I like the tan plates representing pads on Lotso's palms, with anti-studs to attach accessories, such as the included cane. This is a toy mallet in the movie and its shape looks pretty realistic.
I am impressed with the consistent use of dark pink, as I expected to find a few pieces in other shades of pink used on the rear and sides. However, the only examples of colours out of place are lavender slopes on each shoulder, but even they are tucked away.
75356 Executor Super Star Destroyer contains tiny representations of some familiar Star Wars bounty hunters and similar stacks of 1x1 round plates have appeared several times since. This model includes a few Toy Story characters in stud form, with Woody and Buzz Lightyear hidden on one side and Jessie and Bullseye on the other. Even at this scale, they are identifiable.
Also, a printed strawberry tile is placed in the centre, in reference to Lotso apparently having a strawberry scent. These details are a nice bonus filling an otherwise empty space, though they are not at all accessible once the figure is assembled.
A large canopy works brilliantly on Lotso's back, alongside a pair of 1x4 curved wedge slopes only introduced last year and new in dark pink. The curved slopes underneath are also new in this colour, so Lotso is a real treasure trove of dark pink curved elements! The bulge for his tail looks perfect as well.
The only real leg articulation is their ability to turn slightly, as each leg is mounted on a Technic pin inside the body. However, you can sit Lotso down by removing the legs and attaching them to the front, where angled Technic connectors are located behind two 3x3 curved corner slopes. I find this pose particularly effective with a head tilt, truly giving Lotso the appearance of a toy for whenever people are nearby.
Additionally, there is space to store the removed 3x3 curved corner slopes behind the canopy piece on Lotso's back, which is a clever feature. I always appreciate being able to keep all the parts together like this.
Overall
43306 Lotso is a fantastic model, capturing Lotso's cuddly proportions extremely well and with great personality, thanks to the head tilt and moveable eyebrows. I was a little disappointed by the lack of articulation when I received the set initially, but this figure looks superb and skipping some articulation for better shaping was a worthwhile compromise.
Also, the price of £34.99, $39.99 or €39.99 seems pretty reasonable to me, especially for a set with so many elements produced in a new colour and one where it seems like the designer has thought of everything, so this is definitely a Disney set I can recommend.
114 likes
36 comments on this article
some well timed Easter eggs!
I have no interest in this set other than for parts, but I really want to shout out how the designers are really caring about little things like how the tan curved parts can be stored in Lotso's back. Its details like that and including the mirror wedge pieces in the helicarrier that I love.
I gotta say, this review was confusing because until it wasn't until I got more than halfway down the page did I realize where this character is from, as I don't think I've ever seen TS3.
That's a great rendition of the character. Now all we need is a truck radiator grille diorama to attach him to! (evil chuckle)
@CDM said:
"I gotta say, this review was confusing because until it wasn't until I got more than halfway down the page did I realize where this character is from, as I don't think I've ever seen TS3."
You really should. It's one of the best entries in the series and doesn't shy away from some darker and emotional moments. Especially one particular scene - anyone who's seen the film will know which one. Still brings a tear to the eye...
The three "human" toys being represented by a stack of 1x1 round plates works well, but Bullseye being the exact same shape as the Buzz stack makes my brain keep trying to think of what other character that color scheme could possibly represent.
@CDM said:
"I gotta say, this review was confusing because until it wasn't until I got more than halfway down the page did I realize where this character is from, as I don't think I've ever seen TS3."
Unfortunately this movie worked so well because it felt like a perfect ending...so of course Disney ruined it by making more.
Does it smell of strawberries?
Great review, thanks. Looks like a really interesting build with some innovative moves in there. Kudos to the design team for doing what looks like an excellent job of bringing such a non-LEGO-brick-shaped character to the shelf in such a lifelike way. Sets like this one as well as Bowser, Mario, and Luigi are really pushing boundaries for building techniques, and with great results!
@Goujon said:
"I have no interest in this set other than for parts, but I really want to shout out how the designers are really caring about little things like how the tan curved parts can be stored in Lotso's back."
Which makes one wonder if the team responsible for the Star Wars line is actually working for a different company, going by how they always try their best to offer the fans as little as possible for as much money as possible.
@brickwich said:
" @CDM said:
"I gotta say, this review was confusing because until it wasn't until I got more than halfway down the page did I realize where this character is from, as I don't think I've ever seen TS3."
Unfortunately this movie worked so well because it felt like a perfect ending...so of course Disney ruined it by making more."
TS2 and TS4 are easily my favorite entries in the series. TS1-TS3 did work as a perfect trilogy for Andy's story, but remember that all of the shorts and specials they released take place after TS3. Nobody complained about them "ruining the trilogy", and the shorts in particular were very popular. I think the sticking point is that many fans got hung up on the fact that these were all _Andy's_ toys, and don't like the fact that the fourth movie makes it clear that they are now _Bonnie's_ toys. I'm now starting to wonder if the people who reject TS4 onward were mostly kids when the first movie released. I wasn't, and wasn't at all surprised when they announced they'd come up with a story worth making into a fourth film. I also recognize that the Buzz Lightyear seen in the Lightyear film is a distinctly different character than the toy from the Toy Story films, or the Kid's Meal toy from the Small Fry short.
The second last pic showing how the tan pieces are stored kind of looks like he's mooning us!
@PurpleDave said:
"The three "human" toys being represented by a stack of 1x1 round plates works well, but Bullseye being the exact same shape as the Buzz stack makes my brain keep trying to think of what other character that color scheme could possibly represent."
Mr Potatohead maybe? Or Slinky Dog...
Its funny, but I used to run a forum for a webcomic years ago and between the forum members, we created a giant kodiak bear call Frankie who dyed himself pink and who weilded a hammer as a forum mascot about 2 years before TS3 came out... We used to joke that one of the forum members must have been a Pixar employee who stole him and turned him into Lotso.
He definitely fits the tyrant description with that fourth image.
Second scariest teddy bear Lego has ever made...
WHERE’S YOUR KID NOW, SHERIFF?!?!
@jkb: Yes, yes he does...it TLG's new "Smell Brick" technology, that they forgot to announce a few days ago...:D
I don’t love the character but I definitely love the set. I wish Wicket and Gizmo had been designed with as much TLC and ingenuity.
It's a fine model, but I really don't understand why this was chosen for a brick-built figure considering there has NEVER been a brick-built Woody (not counting BrickHeadz) and the only brick-built Buzz Lightyear was 7592 (again not counting BrickHeadz). I can't even imagine Lotso being most people's favourite Toy Story villain, a brick-built Zurg would be far more interesting than Lotso.
There's easily like ten other Toy Story characters that should've come before Lotso. Such a bizarre choice.
I've got a plush bear that I Iiterally found abandoned in a rain soaked parking lot. (Tried to find the owner, didn't happen. Gave him a bath and he's good as new.)
My wife jokingly calls him Lotso. I usually have to remind her who Lotso is vaguely based on.
@Blockwork_Orange said:
"The second last pic showing how the tan pieces are stored kind of looks like he's mooning us!"
I can not unsee than now, thanks.
@GrizBe said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"The three "human" toys being represented by a stack of 1x1 round plates works well, but Bullseye being the exact same shape as the Buzz stack makes my brain keep trying to think of what other character that color scheme could possibly represent."
Mr Potatohead maybe? Or Slinky Dog..."
I made the five toys that steal the Pizza Planet truck in TS2 and fit them inside the cab of my third minifig-scale PPT (TS1, Cars trilogy, TS2). For Mr. Potatohead, I used a medium-azure round plate for the feet, medium-dark-flesh square and round plates for the body, and a black 1x1 round tile for the hat. I would think that they'd at least represent the feet or the hat, if not both. 21357 only includes references to the two main toys and the Pizza Planet truck, so that's no help.
For Slinky Dog, I used a reddish-brown nipple tile and 1x1 round plate, with three flat-silver round plates sandwiched between (it just fits in the footwell). The color scheme here is all wrong, and Slinky Dog is even more horizontal than Bullseye. Bullseye is the only character with the correct coloration, but not the correct stature. I think the article called it right, but the designer did it wrong.
@Graysmith said:
"It's a fine model, but I really don't understand why this was chosen for a brick-built figure considering there has NEVER been a brick-built Woody (not counting BrickHeadz) and the only brick-built Buzz Lightyear was 7592 (again not counting BrickHeadz). I can't even imagine Lotso being most people's favourite Toy Story villain, a brick-built Zurg would be far more interesting than Lotso."
They already did 7591 and 76831 for Zurg. Woody bears the problem of needing a special sculpted head mold like 7592 (just noticed that the Zurg set number comes right before the Buzz set number, so he really _IS_ Buzz' father!), or looking super creepy.
"There's easily like ten other Toy Story characters that should've come before Lotso. Such a bizarre choice."
We're already getting a Claw Alien, so that covers a third of my list. Now they just need to do a giant minifig of a Green Army Man, and something for Forky. Or...maybe the Shark wearing Woody's hat? Actually, one of the big problems they'd have making many of the toys is licensing issues, since toys like the Potatoheads, Barbie and Ken, Viewmaster, Barrel o' Monkeys, the phone, and probably others, were all based on real toys and licensing those would probably be tricky (note that, of that lot, only Mr. Potatohead has ever appeared in a LEGO set).
@Graysmith said:
"It's a fine model, but I really don't understand why this was chosen for a brick-built figure considering there has NEVER been a brick-built Woody (not counting BrickHeadz) and the only brick-built Buzz Lightyear was 7592 (again not counting BrickHeadz). I can't even imagine Lotso being most people's favourite Toy Story villain, a brick-built Zurg would be far more interesting than Lotso.
There's easily like ten other Toy Story characters that should've come before Lotso. Such a bizarre choice."
I assume that they considered a lot of choices for this wave and went with this character/design to meet the price point. I agree that purposefully choosing Lotso as the best candidate would seem odd. That being said, I could see Buzz and Zurg in the pipeline at this scale!
Y la Pantera Rosa, ¿para cuándo?....
@PurpleDave said:
" @GrizBe said:
" @PurpleDave said:
"The three "human" toys being represented by a stack of 1x1 round plates works well, but Bullseye being the exact same shape as the Buzz stack makes my brain keep trying to think of what other character that color scheme could possibly represent."
Mr Potatohead maybe? Or Slinky Dog..."
I made the five toys that steal the Pizza Planet truck in TS2 and fit them inside the cab of my third minifig-scale PPT (TS1, Cars trilogy, TS2). For Mr. Potatohead, I used a medium-azure round plate for the feet, medium-dark-flesh square and round plates for the body, and a black 1x1 round tile for the hat. I would think that they'd at least represent the feet or the hat, if not both. 21357 only includes references to the two main toys and the Pizza Planet truck, so that's no help.
For Slinky Dog, I used a reddish-brown nipple tile and 1x1 round plate, with three flat-silver round plates sandwiched between (it just fits in the footwell). The color scheme here is all wrong, and Slinky Dog is even more horizontal than Bullseye. Bullseye is the only character with the correct coloration, but not the correct stature. I think the article called it right, but the designer did it wrong.
@Graysmith said:
"It's a fine model, but I really don't understand why this was chosen for a brick-built figure considering there has NEVER been a brick-built Woody (not counting BrickHeadz) and the only brick-built Buzz Lightyear was 7592 (again not counting BrickHeadz). I can't even imagine Lotso being most people's favourite Toy Story villain, a brick-built Zurg would be far more interesting than Lotso."
They already did 7591 and 76831 for Zurg. Woody bears the problem of needing a special sculpted head mold like 7592 (just noticed that the Zurg set number comes right before the Buzz set number, so he really _IS_ Buzz' father!), or looking super creepy.
"There's easily like ten other Toy Story characters that should've come before Lotso. Such a bizarre choice."
We're already getting a Claw Alien, so that covers a third of my list. Now they just need to do a giant minifig of a Green Army Man, and something for Forky. Or...maybe the Shark wearing Woody's hat? Actually, one of the big problems they'd have making many of the toys is licensing issues, since toys like the Potatoheads, Barbie and Ken, Viewmaster, Barrel o' Monkeys, the phone, and probably others, were all based on real toys and licensing those would probably be tricky (note that, of that lot, only Mr. Potatohead has ever appeared in a LEGO set)."
I really want LEGO to do Rex like this.
@PurpleDave said:
"Actually, one of the big problems they'd have making many of the toys is licensing issues, since toys like the Potatoheads, Barbie and Ken, Viewmaster, Barrel o' Monkeys, the phone, and probably others, were all based on real toys and licensing those would probably be tricky (note that, of that lot, only Mr. Potatohead has ever appeared in a LEGO set)."
Mmm, nope. Misremembered. Only Mr. Potatohead’s _hat_ has appeared, in 7597. Actually, it looks like Slinky Dog is about to become the first that requires acknowledging an outside trademark. Technically, the Green Army Men were the first to be based on an existing toy, but nobody owns any protective status over those, because tons of different companies have produced their own variants.
@Modeltrainman said:
"I really want LEGO to do Rex like this."
I could see them doing Rex. Nonhuman, so less likely to invoke creepiness if they don’t get the look _perfect_. Color becomes tricky, though. Green would be easiest, but both of his appearances have been bright-green. And they had different color bellies (white/off-white vs tan).
When can we expect a Ted model? He can have a sound brick that plays a song about thunder for kids to sing along with
@legodachi said:
"When can we expect a Ted model? He can have a sound brick that plays a song about thunder for kids to sing along with"
Who? I know of Todd, from the Cars trilogy, and Andrew Stanton once did a TED talk, but that's as close as the name gets to Toy Story. The only two Pixar characters named Ted that I can identify are the giant dinosaur-like monster who's only seen from the ankles down in Monsters, Inc., and the father of Pearl the octopus in Finding Nemo.
Not Pixar, Seth MacFarlane movie
@PurpleDave said:
" @legodachi said:
"When can we expect a Ted model? He can have a sound brick that plays a song about thunder for kids to sing along with"
Who? I know of Todd, from the Cars trilogy, and Andrew Stanton once did a TED talk, but that's as close as the name gets to Toy Story. The only two Pixar characters named Ted that I can identify are the giant dinosaur-like monster who's only seen from the ankles down in Monsters, Inc., and the father of Pearl the octopus in Finding Nemo."
Either you missed @legodachi's joke, or I missed yours. They were talking about the character from the movie Ted, which, from what I know of it, is not kid-friendly. But as for the Monsters Inc. character, I love the outtake reel they did that has Rex auditioning for that part. "Was I scary?"
@legodachi said:
"Not Pixar, Seth MacFarlane movie"
Who MacNotPixar?
Beautiful looking set with nice round lines all around. I suspect we may see more characters from the Toy Story movies as we near the next installment.
"although its colour should really be a dark shade of purple. No such colour exists in the LEGO palette, so magenta is a fair alternative."
Dark Purple or any older purple. A piece in that color is right there in the torso build.
@Anonym said:
""although its colour should really be a dark shade of purple. No such colour exists in the LEGO palette, so magenta is a fair alternative."
Dark Purple or any older purple. A piece in that color is right there in the torso build."
I am aware that purple exists as a LEGO colour, but the colour of Lotso's nose is a lot darker than that shade.
I see this set will sell out in China. Lotso has experienced a popularity resurgence there in the last few years due to several collaborations with stores like Miniso.
@Pekingduckman said:
"I see this set will sell out in China. Lotso has experienced a popularity resurgence there in the last few years due to several collaborations with stores like Miniso."
They know he’s the main villain of the third film, right?