Article by Inger Fountain

With Lego acquiring the licence for Pixar’s highly popular characters in 2009, the first films to be adapted into brick form are the endearing cast of the Toy Story movies. One of the sets released to accompany Toy Story 3’s June 2010 release date covers one of the more dramatic scenes from that movie, and quite a spoiler if you haven’t yet seen the film.

In the film Lotso, the huggable pink teddy bear, starts off as a friendly guide for the cast as they are accidentally exiled to the Sunnyside Daycare Center. Somewhere along the way however, he turns against them and Lego set 7596, known as Trash Compactor Escape, shows his not-so-friendly side.

At 370 pieces this set features five minifigures and a conveyer belt/trash compacter playset. Although the five minifigures have all been featured in previous Toy Story sets, and include Woody, Lotso, Hamm and two green aliens, the detailing is slightly different. Like another of the Toy Story 3 Lego sets, Garbage Truck Getaway, all of the figures here are scuffed up and feature dirty patches on their faces/torsos and legs.

The playset itself takes up most of the piece count and includes a fully functioning crane claw, dumpster, and conveyor belt. Unfortunately there are stickers with this set and considering other Toy Story sets have printed pieces it is a strange decision to not include them here. Sticker complaints aside there are a few rare or new pieces in the playset, mainly in the construction of the crane.

The other parts of the playset, the conveyer belt and the compactor are all fully functional and together with the crane and the range of figures, means young kids will get hours of play out of the set but older kids may get bored after a while. Priced at .95 it is again a high price per piece set but that seems to be standard for 2010 Lego sets. Overall, a great set for fans of the series, collectors who are after the rarer figures and pieces and new fans of Lego.