Toy Story Bucket O Soldiers (Disney Parks Exclusive w/ Injured Soldier)

Hey everyone and welcome—Tonight I'm taking a look at the Disney Parks exclusive Toy Story Bucket O Soldiers set (available in both Disneyland and Disney World, as well as the Downtown Disney/Disney Springs areas)! I had been eyeing this for years now for really one main reason: it comes with an exclusive "injured solider", directly from the moment in the original Toy Story when Andy's mom steps on one of them during the troops' birthday party reconnaissance mission. This is the only time a figure based on that injured soldier has ever been included in a Bucket O Soldiers set.

I had passed on getting this during our last few Disney trips, but when I remembered it recently, I decided to go for it before it's no longer available. Luckily it's still being sold at the parks and I'm grateful that my good (and very helpful) friend Paulina was willing and able to snag it for me! A huge thanks to her.

I've gotten several Bucket O Soldiers sets over the years, but this is certainly my favorite one yet and the most movie accurate out of the ones that I own. I have the the original 1995 version (which I honestly loved at the time as a kid, but looking back, the soldiers are a really dark green and don't resemble the movie's green army men character models much at all—they're almost too real looking in a sense) and the 2009 "Toy Story Collection" version (which leaned too heavily the other way and were a bit too cartoony/stylized, not to mention the big TOY STORY COLLECTION logo slapped on the front of the bucket which I never loved—that set also didn't include a Sarge). 

As an example, below you can see one of my 2009 "Toy Story Collection" army men (left) compared with one from this Disney Parks set (right). See what I mean about the TSC one being too stylized? It looks too chunky, while the Disney Parks version is much thinner and more angular—looking much more like the film version. I also like how this bucket doesn't have any added logos on it, which makes the packaging itself more film accurate as well. 

 

Note: Later versions of the "Toy Story Collection" Bucket O Soldiers, including the re-release just last year, did correct the overall look of the army men and ended up including Sarge and a more film accurate selection of poses/variations.

 

Anyway, enough talk of comparisons for now...let's get back to reviewing this excellent Disney Parks Bucket O Soldiers! Here are all the different army men variations that come with this set (75 soldiers total):

The eight standard poses... 

• Saluting with binoculars (Sarge)— x7 
• Bazooka— x10
• Gun up— x10
• Laying down— x10
• Pistol out— x7 
• Holding gun standing— x7
• Rocket launcher—x10
• Holding gun kneeling— x10
  

One injured soldier...

*Again, the main reason I got this set. It's essentially a perfect replica!

And three paratroopers (notice all three soldiers are slightly different—great touch!).

Literally the only things that this set is missing is more of the metal detector soldiers (there's just one here, which is the injured one) and the medic trooper (who's never been made). If those were included, I would have given this entire set a 10/10 for movie accuracy! Even the paratroopers are exactly how they should look (not the case with the Toy Story Collection version I have). As you can see below in my recreated shot, all the poses seen during the army man sequence in Toy Story are here. I absolutely love that!

If you're a diehard Toy Story collector looking for the most movie accurate Bucket O Soldiers set, I'd say this is it. It includes close to everything I ever wanted in one of these and the army men themselves look incredibly spot on! Retail price for this set is $17.95. 

What are you thoughts? Which Bucket O Soldiers set is your favorite from over the years? Which do you believe is the most screen accurate? I'd love to hear from all you fellow Toy Story fans/collectors and get a conversation going down below!

Follow me on Instagram @danthepixarfan