Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Above All, Fun! The 2013 Fierce With A Frying Pan Tangled Rapunzel Ornament Is A Hit!


The Good: Great sculpt, Generally good coloring, Comparatively inexpensive, Great balance!
The Bad: Coloring details at bottom of dress
The Basics: The 2013 "Fierce With A Frying Pan" from Tangled ornament is easily the best Disney ornament to hit Hallmark Keepsake stores this year, though it is not quite perfect!


As Christmas rapidly approaches, I find myself considering more Disney Hallmark Keepsake ornaments than usual. This might be because the Barbie ornament line has ended and I’m stretching out in a different direction (and that Hallmark might have one or two additional Disney-themed ornaments this year to compensate for the demise of the Barbie line). Regardless, I noticed that I had tackled reviewing two of the less impressive Disney Hallmark ornaments for the year and thought I would buck that trend by jumping right to the best! This year’s “must have” Disney-based Hallmark ornament is the 2013 Tangled Fierce With A Frying Pan ornament!

For those unfamiliar with Tangled (reviewed here!), it is the musical story of Rapunzel. Kept in a tower by the woman who abducted her as a baby, she has exceptionally long hair that is the source of the magic that keeps her "mother" young. Fierce With A Frying Pan features Rapunzel, ready to swing the frying pan at the face of Flynn Ryder (perhaps for a second or third time?) after he invades her tower sanctuary.

Basics

The "Fierce With A Frying Pan" ornament recreates Rapunzel, as she appeared in Tangled with her long hair swirling around her, standing flatfooted in an obvious battle pose with a frying pan raised in both her hands! The ornament, released in 2013, is a very cool and accurate sculpt of Rapunzel at the ready with her frying pan-turned-weapon, in her lavender and purple dress, wit her trademark hair billowing around her.

Hallmark clearly made quite an effort on Fierce With A Frying Pan as Rapunzel has great detailing on the eyes, which are molded and colored to connote a sense of mischief in them, and with the lacing up the front of her bodice. Measuring three and seven-eighths inches tall, three inches wide and two inches deep, the "Fierce With A Frying Pan" ornament is one of the larger Disney character ornaments this year, though it is generally in scale with prior Tangled ornaments. As well, it is surprisingly affordable at only $14.95.

The Hallmark "Fierce With A Frying Pan" ornament is made of a durable plastic and has Rapunzel looking delightfully defensive with her frying pan ready to smack the unseen Ryder Flynn. The ornament is incredibly detailed in the sculpted details and the colored details are generally good. Fierce With A Frying Pan escapes the usual critique about the lack of realism to the skin tones, because she is an animated character. The ornament's eyes are bright green and wonderfully detailed. The hair is beautifully colored and I was especially impressed by how Rapunzel’s big toe is molded onto the ornament! The ornament has well-hidden hair seams from where the hair meets the character’s head.

In fact, the only real detraction I’ve found is in the detailing at the bottom of the character’s dress. While it has the molded on brocade, it is not colored accurately. As a result, there is a weird raised pattern at the bottom of the dress that does not match the rest of the detail quality of the ornament.

Features

As a Hallmark Keepsake ornament, "Fierce With A Frying Pan" could have a sound effect, but it does not. Instead, this is a less-expensive option that is just the character.

Balance

As with all ornaments, the intent of the Hallmark Keepsake "Fierce With A Frying Pan" ornament is to be hung on a Christmas Tree. And for those creating the ultimate Disney movie Christmas Tree, the "Fierce With A Frying Pan" ornament is an incredibly fun and affordable option that can only enhance the tree of those who love Disney. The ornament has the standard brass hook loop embedded into the top back of Rapunzel’s head. This is fairly obvious, though obscured at some angles by the raised frying pan and necessary for the ornament. Fierce With A Frying Pan hangs perfectly perpendicular to the ground when properly hung from that hook point and it is actually amazing how good the balance is on it!

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 (click here for that review!). Within a few years, every major franchise from Star Wars to A Nightmare Before Christmas to Indiana Jones started making Hallmark ornaments. "Fierce With A Frying Pan" is one of only a few Tangled ornaments on the market and at least the fourth of Rapunzel. Mandy Moore fans and fans of Disney movies are very happy about the "Fierce With A Frying Pan" ornament, with good cause; it’s a fun ornament. This ornament has not sold out at any of the Hallmark stores I have been to yet, but given the quality level of this Tangled ornament, it is an easy “recommend” for the “must buy” list!

Overview

Fans of Tangled, Disney, Rapunzel, Mandy Moore, and Hallmark ornaments have good reason to be thrilled with the Fierce With A Frying Pan ornament; it is one of the few Disney-themed Hallmark ornaments that truly captures the character of the character it represents!

For other Disney-themed Hallmark ornaments, please check out my reviews of:
2013 Ariel's Big Dream The Little Mermaid ornament
2013 Merida The Archer Brave ornament
2012 The Circle Of Life The Lion King ornament
2012 Jack Sneaks A Peek The Nightmare Before Christmas ornament
2012 Monsters, Inc. ornament
2012 Merida Brave ornament
2012 It's All About The Hair Tangled ornament
2011 Rapunzel Tangled ornament
2011 CLU’s Light Cycle from Tron: Legacy ornament
2011 Up ornament
2011 A Snowy Surprise The Nightmare Before Christmas ornament
2011 Captain Jack Sparrow Pirates Of The Caribbean ornament
2010 Tron: Legacy Light Cycle ornament

9/10

For other ornament reviews, please visit my Ornament Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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