Lightyear's Zurg is a far cry from the Toy Story original, but the design change makes perfect sense for Chris Evans' Space Ranger. The first trailer for Disney's upcoming Lightyear playfully teased Emperor Zurg - the nemesis/absent father Buzz encountered in Toy Story 2. A second Lightyear trailer now reveals Zurg in all his Vader-esque glory. In addition to Zurg's drone henchmen, the Zurg Bots, Evans' Buzz Lightyear battles the big boss himself - a towering robotic enemy armed (quite literally) with a heavy three-barreled cannon. Lightyear's trailer doesn't reference Zurg by name, but there are enough visual cues to make that connection - his bright red eyes, the spiky horns, a glowing green weapon, etc.
Nevertheless, Lightyear's Zurg wouldn't even win second place in an Emperor Zurg lookalike competition. Whereas Chris Evans' Buzz Lightyear is almost identical to his predecessor from Toy Story, considerably more creative liberties have been taken with Lightyear's mechanical menace. There's no chunky yellow-toothed grin, Zurg's tunic is replaced by actual legs, and though you can just about glimpse the purple armor, his palette is way more understated than the monster who plagued Rex's dreams in Toy Story 2. Taking Edna's advice, Zurg has also ditched the cape.
Zurg's redesign is no cosmetic reshuffle - it's a reflection of the direction Lightyear is taking Buzz Lightyear. There remains a touch of confusion over exactly how Lightyear connects to Toy Story, but Angus MacLane (Lightyear director) confirms it's the movie Andy might've seen in cinemas before he became a Buzz fanatic and gave Woody the boot. By that logic, the double-tough android Buzz fires his "little lightbulb that blinks" at in the Lightyear trailer is the in-universe-movie character that could've inspired the action figure we see in Toy Story. Real life merchandisers will sometimes "soften" characters to look more kid-friendly - perhaps that's how Zurg went from Lightyear's colossal behemoth of metal and intimidation to Toy Story's bright purple cartoon baddie.
In truth, Lightyear's relationship with Toy Story canon is even looser than MacLane's description suggests. Pixar fans shouldn't expect a post-credit scene where Andy excitedly leaves the movie theater, begging his mom to buy a Buzz Lightyear action figure for his birthday. Lightyear is simply a movie based on the Buzz Lightyear figure's fictional backstory, as detailed by Toy Story. Consequently, Lightyear can rewrite canon and redesign characters as it sees fit, and the Zurg makeover specifically speaks to Lightyear's darker, more serious tone.
The Toy Story movies are - spoiler alert - all about toys, and making an intimidating toy like Zurg deliberately goofy enriches the character's comedy value. Lightyear, on the other hand, is a sci-fi movie that sprinkles classic Pixar humor onto a more earnest blend of WALL-E and Star Wars - a much more adrenaline-based adventure than Tim Allen's Buzz is used to (even if things got a bit hairy with those traffic cones). Hence, Zurg becomes a gigantic, fearsome cyborg rather than a Darth Vader parody whose ultimate defeat comes courtesy of Rex's clumsiness.
Lightyear's Zurg is less cartoonish in color, his horns are straight instead of comically devil-shaped, and the missing cloak lets him chase Buzz with ease, rather than tripping over flaps of fabric like a metallic moron. Modern Zurg barely talks, whereas Toy Story's barely shut up with that incessant "destroy Buzz Lightyear" mantra. Again, this helps reimagine Zurg as a menacing (in the Pixar sense of the word), worthy opponent for Buzz and his team of Space Rangers to battle in Lightyear.