The Good: Good detailing, Great sculpt, Neast sound clip
The Bad: Front-heavy, Only one sound clip
The Basics: Hallmark's "D’oh! Ho! Ho!" ornament is a worthwhile new The Simpsons ornament, despite its few faults.
It seems like it has been a long time since Hallmark Keepsake produced an ornament from The Simpsons. In fact, in my years of reviewing ornaments, the only The Simpsons ornament I’ve tracked down and reviewed so far is the Mr. Plow ornament (reviewed here!). For 2014 and in time to be my 200th ornament review, I managed to track down a new ornament from The Simpsons! This year, the ornament is the "D’oh! Ho! Ho!" ornament.
For those unfamiliar with "D’oh! Ho! Ho!," early on in The Simpsons, Homer takes a job as a mall Santa. At that time, Bart encountered him and unbearded Santa. It is Bart, sitting on Santa Homer’s lap, pulling off his beard, that is the subject of the “D’oh! Ho! Ho!” ornament. To add extra value to this ornament, Hallmark provided the "D’oh! Ho! Ho!" ornament with an impressive sound chip.
Basics
The "D’oh! Ho! Ho!" ornament recreates Homer Simpson on his stuffed chair, dressed as Santa Claus. Bart sits on his right knee, looking at him and pulling off Homer’s fake Santa beard. The ornament includes Homer, Bart and the chair as one solid piece. The ornament, released in 2014, is as authentic-looking as it can be considering it is based upon an animated work for the source material. Because everything in The Simpsons is colored in simple solid colors (without human shading or details), the ornament appropriately does not have any coloring depth or shading to it.
Still, Hallmark clearly made an effort on the "D’oh! Ho! Ho!" ornament and almost everything about the ornament looks good and functions well. Homer Simpson has adequate detailing in his eyes and on his beard. While the chair is incredibly simple, Bart is detailed in his jacket, with its hood and zipper front. Santa Homer has buckles on his shoes and a wonderfully-detailed grimace. I was impressed by the jagged look to the Santa beard; it looked just like the style of the animation of the early The Simpsons. Measuring four inches tall, two and three-quarter inches wide and two and three-eighths inches deep, the "D’oh! Ho! Ho!" ornament is one of the larger Hallmark ornaments this year. Given that it has a sound feature, it has a fairly competitively-priced release price of $19.95, though that still seemed near being “expensive” to me.
The Hallmark "D’oh! Ho! Ho!" ornament is made of a durable plastic, but because it is colored in simple bright colors, it looks a little cheaper, though it is just as strong as other Hallmark ornaments. This ornament remains fairly easy to find at Hallmark stores, so there is no reason (yet) to look for it in the secondary market, despite the fact that The Simpsons and sound chip are pretty popular. This ornament features a battery to power the sound effects. I was impressed by how the ornament is put together without any major exposed seams!
Features
As a Hallmark Keepsake ornament, "D’oh! Ho! Ho!" has a sound effect, but no light effect. On the chair, there is a fairly-concealed button. The button, when pressed, activates the sound chip. The sound chip actually contains a single sound clip from The Simpsons. This sound clip is not just an exchange of dialog between Homer and Bart. After slipping and calling Bart by his name, the boy presses Homer and bugs him into getting angry. That’s pretty cute, but it is a clip with low replayability; it is hardly one of the more interesting exchanges of dialog between Homer and Bart, though it fits the theme of the ornament well.
Balance
As with all ornaments, the intent of the Hallmark Keepsake "D’oh! Ho! Ho!" ornament is to be hung on a Christmas Tree. And for those creating the ultimate Christmas Tree for The Simpsons, the "D’oh! Ho! Ho!" ornament is a worthwhile addition. The ornament has the standard steel hook loop embedded into the top center of the back of the chair. This is fairly obvious and necessary for the ornament.
From the steel hook loop, the D’oh! Ho! Ho! ornament hangs as best it can, but it is very front-heavy. The ornament leans forward in a pretty dramatic way that is very noticeable, especially considering the fact that the chair should look like it is sitting flat on the ground, but it is tipped.
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, Fox jumped on the bandwagon and began merchandising The Simpsons in the Christmas ornaments. "D’oh! Ho! Ho!" was the only The Simpsons ornament released for 2014 and fans seem to like it, though it is quite common. Even so, this ornament appears to be more than adequately produced and is not likely to be a great investment piece.
Overview
Fans of the The Simpsons franchise, Homer Simpson, Bart Simpson, and Hallmark ornaments are likely to find this to be a cute and well-made ornament that is worth picking up, even if it is not quite perfect!
For other Hallmark ornaments from different genre works, please check out my reviews of:
2014 Alien Alien30th Anniversary ornament
2014 Bane (Limited Edition!) The Dark Knight Rises ornament
2014 Queen Elsa Frozen ornament
9/10
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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