The Good: Detailing on tattoo/general coloring
The Bad: Animated look, Terrible rendering of Bella, Under-detailed, Seems expensive, Off-balance.
The Basics: "Bella, Edward And Jacob" is a Hallmark ornament plagued by an unambitious sculpt and fleshed out poorly with overly-light color detailing.
Despite what my more casual readers might think, I actually like Twilight merchandise. The NECA figures may be overproduced, but they tend to be pretty awesome sculpts of the main characters from the Twilight Saga films. But I'm not a fan of any fanbase that is exploited. Last year, Hallmark appeared to throw together their Edward And Bella ornament (reviewed here!). The sculpt was lightly detailed and poorly colored and Hallmark can do so much better than that, as is evidenced by ornaments like this year's limited edition Bossk ornament (reviewed here!). Sadly, because Hallmark sold out of their Twilight ornament last year, they were encouraged to continue creating substandard ornaments for the fans. The new Hallmark Bella, Edward And Jacob ornament is that substandard ornament seeking to separate Twilight fans from their money.
For those unfamiliar with the concept, “Bella, Edward And Jacob” is a holiday ornament that features the three main protagonists from the film version of Eclipse (please check out my review by clicking here!). Capturing the conceptual angst of the relationship between the three protagonists, the “Bella, Edward And Jacob” ornament has the two men with their backs to one another with Bella in between with her back to them as well..
Basics
“Bella, Edward And Jacob” features Edward Cullen in his button-down shirt standing with his back to Bella Swan, looking over his left shoulder at her. Bella's right hand is reaching behind her and holding Edward's left hand. Jacob is standing with his back to both of them, not touching either, looking over his right shoulder toward Bella as well. The ornament, released in 2011, is a disappointing ornament that is overly expensive for an ornament of its size. It is weak on sculpted detailing and nuanced coloring for the characters.
Jacob, for example, looks nothing like Taylor Lautner, with a face that is more round and a strangely more prominent forehead than Lautner has. Similarly, Bella looks little like actress Kristen Stewart. Her face lacks the angles and jawline of Stewart. Both characters lack realistic shading and depth to their skin tones. While this might be acceptable for Edward, whatwith him being a vampire, Hallmark has his skin tones more creamy than white.
Bella, Edward And Jacob all have animated looks to them, especially in their eyes which are not painted with the greatest detailing. Instead, Bella, Edward And Jacob stand there with lifeless eyes freaking out those looking at the Christmas tree. To be fair to Hallmark, Edward's spiky hair is difficult to render and they got it looking almost like he was not wearing a strange helmet. Jacob's hair is not so fortunately rendered; it looks like he is wearing a helmet.
On the plus side, the shoelaces on the characters' feet are present in both sculpting and coloring details. Bella's hair has highlights, but strangely this looks less realistic than images of Bella I've seen. The best detailing on the ornament is the tattoo on Jacob's right shoulder. The round tattoo is painted on the character's shoulder and given the ornament's scale, it looks realistic. As well, the jeans and the ground the trio is standing on has decent coloring to it; it is not just monotonal.
Measuring 4" tall, 2" wide and 1 1/2" deep, the “Bella, Edward And Jacob” ornament has not been flying off the shelves locally. This might be because the ornament has a price tag of $19.95, which is more than many of the other character-only ornaments this year.
Features
As a Hallmark Keepsake ornament, “Bella, Edward And Jacob” could have a function like a sound chip or light effect, but does not. This is just an ornament that captures the two three characters from the film without any embellishments.
Balance
As with all ornaments, the intent of the Hallmark Keepsake “Bella, Edward And Jacob” ornament is to be hung on a Christmas Tree. And for those creating the ultimate fantasy Christmas Tree, the “Bella, Edward And Jacob” ornament is a poor addition. The poor rendering is likely to stand out next to other, better characters who were rendered with more details. The ornament has a standard brass hook loop and I tested five different ornaments. Not one hangs properly from that loop. No matter how I tried to hang the ornament, the ground was never fully level.
Collectibility
Hallmark Keepsake began delving into the collectibles market in 1991 with Star Trek when it introduced the exceptionally limited edition original U.S.S. Enterprise ornament (reviewed here!). Since then, they have delved into virtually every other collectible franchise in an attempt to cash in on every major license, like Indiana Jones, Marvel Comics and now Twilight. While Twi-hards might buy this up now, one suspects this will be one of the first pieces of merchandise dumped when a better version is later made; last year's ornament is easily available well-below the original issue price. Similarly, I suspect this ornament has been so overproduced that it will be available enough after the Christmas holiday that resellers and investors will be able to buy them up and offer them for less than the original issue price.
Overview
The "Bella, Edward And Jacob" ornament is a disappointment that Twilight fans will continue to feel exploited, as opposed to celebrated. Hopefully, before the second part of Breaking Dawn is released cinematically, Hallmark realizes the fan base could be nurtured with quality ornaments instead of just relied upon for a fistful of dollars.
For other genre ornaments from Hallmark in 2011, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Fleeing The Fiendfyre Harry Potter ornament
Captain Jack Sparrow ornament
"Mirror, Mirror" Star Trek ornament
2.5/10
For other ornament reviews, please check out my index page!
© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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