# why doesn't Woody from Toy Story have a gun? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 17, 2009, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847 "2009-11-17T00:23:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/21 "2009-11-17T07:27:21Z")
> [@Claude\_Remains](#): > > Because that was the way it was written? Well no shit. He’s asking why it was written that way. It’s not like prop master forgot to put one in his holster before each take. ---
**Author:** ![Claude\_Remains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/22 "2009-11-17T07:33:21Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > Well no shit. He’s asking why it was written that way. It’s not like prop master forgot to put one in his holster before each take. Because it was written that way. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/23 "2009-11-17T07:37:07Z")
> [@Claude\_Remains](#): > > Because it was written that way. Then it was a conscious decision that has some sort of relevance. What the hell? Even if it was an unconscious decision it has some sort of relevance. ---
**Author:** ![Claude\_Remains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/24 "2009-11-17T07:40:58Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Then it was a conscious decision that has some sort of relevance. What the hell? Even if it was an unconscious decision it has some sort of relevance. Maybee. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/25 "2009-11-17T07:50:56Z")
Given the way that Pixar analyzes the details in their movies, I think it’s definitely a choice to not give Woody a gun. Somewhere along the line, a designer made the choice that Woody has a holster but not a gun. I do think it’s plausible that a toy that old has lost that accessory, but in a larger sense I agree with **Odesio** that someone along the line chose that, the same way that the costume designer in _The Andy Griffith Show_ decided that Barney but not Andy should wear a gun regularly. ---
**Author:** ![Claude\_Remains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Claude\_Remains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claude_Remains)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/26 "2009-11-17T08:00:43Z")
Didn’t bother to read the linked thread. Toys given to children tend to lose accessories (such as tiny pistols) and I think this is the crux of the biscuit as it were. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/27 "2009-11-17T13:53:13Z")
> [@Claude\_Remains](#): > > Didn’t bother to read the linked thread. Toys given to children tend to lose accessories (such as tiny pistols) and I think this is the crux of the biscuit as it were. 😃 The problem is that it appears that Al was attempting to make Woody look like he was new in box (NIB). Why wouldn’t new Woody have a gun? My solution is that there was a limited run of Woody’s that were slightly different from the others, and mistakenly didn’t come with a gun. This is the only way to make Woody’s rarity make any sense, being a doll from a once popular cartoon show. He was originally was looking for a NIB version, but found it was very difficult. He did get his hands on a box that was in good condition, or at least knew where to get one. So he started looking for any Woody of that rare model (which probably also had a mistake of some sort). He had a plan to restore it so that it appeared to be NIB. The idea was that whoever bought it would not be able to check and see if it was new very quickly, and he’d have already skipped the country with their money before they knew he was a fraud. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/28 "2009-11-17T15:02:38Z")
Naw, the gun was sold separately. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/29 "2009-11-17T15:38:14Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > It wouldn’t make any sense for Woody to have an empty holster if he didn’t originally come with a gun. Maybe the animators just left out the gun because they didn’t want it in a kid’s movie. > [@aceplace57](#): > > Welcome to political correctness gone amuck in the U.S. We can’t distort the minds of kids, can we? Even a harmless cowboy can’t have a six shooter anymore. > > We live in a weird world these days. I grew up watching Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett and Gunsmoke. Now, even the Woody Halloween costume comes with an empty holster. And on this tangent, it appears that [the French\* subscribe to the “empty holster” philosophy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlBdwoxwfWE). Looks kinda silly/stupid to me. \*They also seem to not grasp the difference between a country boy and cowboy, but that’s a whole 'nother subject. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/30 "2009-11-17T16:05:10Z")
They probably would have never have given him a holster, but they needed somewhere for him to put the match, and a holster made the most sense. In TS1, the lack of a gun to put there is immaterial. When TS2 comes out, they suddenly have the problem of “original condition” and what parts are needed to complete the set. A gun complicates matters more than is worth dealing with, so it was simply ignored, completely. It’s not the only thing Pixar chose to ignore because dealing with it would be too complicated. In TS1, when Buzz is showing off his wings, the wings would have hit the car track when he flipped through the loop. To make it through, they just made a few camera cuts and: boom, problem solved. Same with a group hug Buzz gives: his arms weren’t long enough, so they just stretched them and hid it behind the group he’s hugging. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/31 "2009-11-17T16:49:03Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > It was started by **DrDeth** also, interestingly. Short memory? He’s got Woodies and guns on the brain.. sounds Freudian. Did they ever address the hole that Sid burned into Woody’s forehead? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/32 "2009-11-17T17:02:31Z")
No, and they also gloss over the “rules” governing when a toy can animate, and what happens when toys break those rules. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/33 "2009-11-17T17:53:00Z")
As a kid, I had a cowboy puppet. His gun and holster were a single piece of fake leather cut out to form a silhouette of a holstered pistol. Something like that would have made sense on a rag doll like Woody, but that would have left them no place to put the match for the rocket scene. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/34 "2009-11-18T03:50:59Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Did they ever address the hole that Sid burned into Woody’s forehead? I thought they fixed that in TS2, but it’s blurred I’ve seen it so many times. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/35 "2009-11-18T07:13:29Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > In TS1, when Buzz is showing off his wings, the wings would have hit the car track when he flipped through the loop. This has bugged me for _ **AGES** _. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/36 "2009-11-18T23:04:18Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Didn’t Buzz Lightyear have a raygun or something? So it doesn’t seem like it would be PC-ness gone amok if Buzz had a gun but Woody didn’t. It looked like Buzz had a laser pointer, capable of painting a red dot on a target. Not something I’d expect to see incorporated in a toy. Of course, that hazard pales in comparison to the ability to start fires with sunlight focused through Buzz’s clear plastic helmet. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/37 "2009-11-19T04:36:21Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > It looked like Buzz had a laser pointer, capable of painting a red dot on a target. Not something I’d expect to see incorporated in a toy. It’s _not_ a laser! It’s a . . . light bulb that blinks! Laser envy. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/38 "2009-11-19T05:31:14Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > It’s _not_ a laser! It’s a . . . light bulb that blinks! > > Laser envy. When Buzz first meets Woody, doesn’t he “target” Woody’s forehead with a visible red dot (which I guess foreshadows what Sid later did with the magnifying glass)? It’s not a _weaponized_ laser, to be sure, despite Buzz’s early delusion that it was. ---
**Author:** ![akelley43](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@akelley43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akelley43)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/39 "2011-01-22T18:55:19Z")
Because state laws prevent issuing a concealed/unconcealed weapons permit to an inanimate object like a doll. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847/40 "2011-01-22T19:29:01Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Welcome to political correctness gone amuck in the U.S. We can’t distort the minds of kids, can we? Even a harmless cowboy can’t have a six shooter anymore. > > We live in a weird world these days. I grew up watching Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett and Gunsmoke. Now, even the Woody Halloween costume comes with an empty holster. I’m pretty sure kids TV these days includes plenty of violence and associated weaponry. > [@GuanoLad](#): > > I read somewhere what the reasons were behind the lack of gun, but I can’t find it again. > > I think it said that it was a story choice, because if you introduce a gun, even a toy one, it is almost forced to become a plot point, which wasn’t the story they wanted to tell. But if it doesn’t exist, it won’t need to be glaringly overlooked. I remember this explanation as well. I think it was from John Lasseter’s interview on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-woody-from-toy-story-have-a-gun/517847.md?page=3)