Just as the ensemble balance has weakened, so has the characterisations. For those of you not familiar with the term, Flanderization is when one minor trait of a character is blown up over time to dominate their personality. Named after Ned Flanders, who over the run of The Simpsons lost anything other than his religious obsession (check some early episodes to see how he's changed), it's already been happened to a fair few of the Toy Story gang and leaves us with some rather basic characters. Mr. Potato Head - grumpy devils advocate or guy whose body parts can be used in funny ways? Bullseye - Woody's sentimental steed or a dog by another name? Hamm - sarky observer or shoe-horned John Ratzenberger cameo? All of them started out as the former, but as time's gone on all but one element of their character has been removed, leaving us with a flat set of supporting players. Heck, even Woody has suffered somehow. In the early films he was the leader, but still very much human; he struggled with the arrival of Buzz and the discovery of his past, going to some pretty dark places. Now, in the shorts at least, he's as affable and confident as Tom Hanks himself.
