10 Reasons Why Lightyear Failed
4. The Hugely Divisive Plot Twist
By far the most divisive aspect of Lightyear's story is its big mid-film plot twist, where it's revealed that Zurg is in fact none other than an older Buzz Lightyear (James Brolin) from an alternate timeline.
This naturally rankled many fans due it directly contradicting the twist in Toy Story 2, where Zurg was revealed to be Buzz's father.
Many felt it was little more than an attempt at shock value, to change things up because everybody of course knows Zurg's identity from the Toy Story movies.
Despite James Brolin's solid performance in the role, fans aren't thrilled at having existing lore rewritten.
Though it's probable that Old Buzz isn't the "real" Zurg and simply appropriated his identity, it was still a poorly executed rug-pull that never fully justified itself beyond "Hey, surprise!"
The vitriolic response to the big reveal helped dampen Lightyear's word-of-mouth on release weekend, no doubt contributing to its poor box office performance in the process.