Monday, October 6, 2014

Ornament Release Weekend’s Obvious Sellout Is Olaf!


The Good: Decent sculpted details, Good balance, Collectible value, Glitter, Coloring details
The Bad: No sound chip/feature (for the price, none!)
The Basics: The 2014 "Olaf" ornament from Frozen almost instantly sold out and beyond the character’s popularity, Hallmark made a legitimately great ornament!


This year, Hallmark is doing three essential weekend events centered around its Keepsake ornaments. In July, they had the Ornament Preview Weekend and when I went out hunting ornaments that day, I was surprised when the ornament of Olaf from Frozen was not on the shelves. In the fine print, in the Dreambook, there was a notation that the ornament would be released in October. The first weekend in October is Ornament Preview Weekend and given that Olaf was largely available only by getting on a list at the Hallmark Keepsake stores, it was absolutely no surprise to me that most Hallmark shops did not even get enough to put on their shelves on Ornament Preview Weekend. While this led to hundreds of melodramatic, angry comments on Hallmark’s Facebook page and (literally) thousands of people disappointed that they could not find the Olaf ornament, the fact that it was going to sell out was pretty easy to predict. Beyond just the inside baseball of predicting the collectibles market, Olaf was a guaranteed sell out for Hallmark based on the quality of the ornament!

For those unfamiliar with Frozen (reviewed here!), Olaf was the magically-created sentient snowman who accompanied Anna and Kristoff on their quest to find Elsa. Olaf provided comic relief and the snowman on his own is the subject of the first Frozen ornament in 2014.

Kristina Gaughran did an amazing sculpt for the ornament and the ornament was a real steal at the original issue price of $14.95, even if it did not have any sort of sound or light function to augment it.

Basics

The "Olaf" ornament recreates Olaf as he appeared in Frozen, though not from a specific scene or iconic moment. The ornament, released in 2014, is an entirely accurate sculpt of Olaf the snowman with fine detailing on the hands, twig “hair” and lines on the carrot. The subject of the ornament was a computer-generated snowman who sang and danced and the sculptor did an exceptional job of capturing the curved, animated look of Olaf!

Measuring three and one-eighths inches tall from the bottom of the right foot to the top of the twig hair, the "Olaf" ornament is on-scale with most of the other Disney character ornaments. As well, it is one of the more affordable ones at only $14.95.

The Hallmark "Olaf" ornament is made of a durable plastic and has Olaf, twig arms raised, dancing with a goofy, but accurate, open smile on his mouth. The ornament is sculpted accurately and gets the look of Olaf perfectly right! This ornament is augmented by glitter that some of the other ornaments of Disney characters who appeared in snowy environments possessed! For accuracy, Olaf is made pretty awesome by the fact that non-snow elements, like his coal buttons, eyes, mouth, carrot nose, and twig arms and hair do not have any glitter on them!

On Olaf’s backside is the year the ornament was produced, though because it is glitter, the 2014 does not stand out in an obtrusive way!

Features

As a Hallmark Keepsake ornament, "Olaf" could have a sound or light function, but it does not. The closest it actually possesses is the glitter. Given how all of the most iconic songs in Frozen came from characters other than Olaf, the lack of a sound chip is not actually a defect in this ornament.

Balance

As with all ornaments, the intent of the Hallmark Keepsake "Olaf" ornament is to be hung on a Christmas Tree. And for those creating the ultimate Disney movie Christmas Tree, the "Olaf" ornament is essential! The ornament has the standard brass hook loop embedded into the top center of the back of Olaf’s head. From that position, the Olaf ornament hangs perfectly level. The balance for this ornament is incredible and it looks like Olaf is enthusiastically dancing.

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!). Within a few years, every major franchise from Star Wars to A Nightmare Before Christmas to Indiana Jones started making Hallmark ornaments. "Olaf" is the first Frozen ornament the company has released and one of several Disney ornaments on the market for 2014. This ornament has sold out. Despite the fact that Hallmark will be releasing more Olaf ornaments within the next two weeks, there is no reasonable expectation that it will not continue to sell out and be virtually impossible to find except on the secondary market.

Overview

Fans of Frozen, Disney, Olaf, and Hallmark ornaments will fall in love with the Olaf ornament. The time to buy it is now (or within the next month) because the next time it sells out, it will be gone. For the first time in a long time, Hallmark has created an ornament that deserves to sell out and be sought after by collectors and Disney fans alike!

For other Disney-themed Hallmark ornaments, please check out my reviews of:
2014 All Eyes On Belle Beauty And The Beast ornament
2013 Under The Sea The Little Mermaid
2013 The Nightmare Before Christmas Jack’s Sleigh O’Scares
2013 Tiana's Party Dress The Princess And The Frog ornament
2013 Beautiful Belle Beauty And The Beast
2013 Fierce With A Frying Pan Tangled ornament
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
2009 Welcome To Christmastown The Nightmare Before Christmas ornament

10/10

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

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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