The Good: Amazing and accurate sculpt, Generally good and accurate coloring, Great balance, Initial pricing
The Bad: Tiny paint detailing issue
The Basics: The 2015 Limited Edition Hallmark Batman television series ornament of The Joker started out the new line incredibly well and is enough for anyone who is a fan of DC Comics to want to hunt down!
Last year, I was overwhelmed with Hallmark ornaments and this year is turning out to be no different. But I'm still catching up on reviews of ornaments from 2015 and this morning, I am finally getting around to reviewing the Batman television show version of The Joker. The Joker was a limited edition ornament that was produced by Hallmark Keepsake and began a whole new line of DC Comics (or DC Television!) themed ornaments.
For the first ornament out of the gate in this new limited edition line, Hallmark got almost everything completely right. The 2015 The Joker ornament is one of the ornaments that remains hunting down even now, especially now that Hallmark is continuing the line!
Basics
The Joker ornament faithfully presents The Joker in his purple suit, which was the television show character’s costume. This is The Joker in his suit, which is layered enough to include the green shirt below the purple vest and a bolo style tie underneath the bright purple suit coat and pants. The sculpt is truly accurate and includes tails on the suit coat and a facial sculpt that is reminiscent of Cesar Romero. The ornament, released in 2015, is almost perfect for an ornament based upon the costume used in the 1960’s Batman television show. Measuring four and one-quarter inches tall, 2 5/8" wide and one inch thick, the Joker ornament is one of four DC super hero-based ornaments released by Hallmark in stores in 2015 and does not have any serious issues with it. The limited edition The Joker ornament came with an original retail price of $14.95 and it sold out everywhere I know of in, long before the season came to an end.
The Hallmark The Joker ornament is made of durable plastic. The Joker’s suit costume is colored in right purple and crisp white for The Joker's head. As one might guess, The Joker ornament features very bright green hair and the skin tones are appropriately monolithically white and only visible on the character's face; this version of The Joker has gloves on. The coloring is the only portion of the ornament that has any minuscule flaw to it. The hair for The Joker is accented with brown highlights, but the highlights are absent from the character's temples. Also, the pinstripes for The Joker's pants are molded in, but not colored the way they were on the show!
The Joker ornament features a version of The Joker who looks virtually identical to Cesar Romero as The Joker. The detailing for the facial sculpt is matched by incredible detailing on the cuffs of the sleeves and the buttons on the jacket and vest! This is an immaculately sculpted and near-flawlessly colored ornament.
Features
As a Hallmark Keepsake ornament, The Joker could have a sound feature, but this does not. Instead, it trades on the realistic sculpt and coloring and limited quantity for its production more than any gimmick. Instead, this version of The Joker is simply the ornament without any additional features or gimmicks.
Balance
As with all ornaments, the intent of the Hallmark Keepsake The Joker ornament is to be hung on a Christmas Tree. And for those creating the ultimate superhero Christmas Tree, the Joker ornament is one of the indispensable villains in ornament form. The ornament has the standard steel hook loop embedded into the top of The Joker’s head at a pretty obvious position. From there, the ornament, when affixed to a tree with a hook is perfectly balanced. The feet look like they are in a stable position and the shoulders are nicely level, so The Joker looks perfectly appropriate for the position in which he is cast.
Collectibility
Hallmark Keepsake began delving into the collectibles market in 1991 with Star Trek when it introduced the exceptionally limited edition U.S.S. Enterprise ornament (reviewed here!). Since then, they have made ornament replicas of almost all major franchises like DC comics, The Wizard Of Oz and Harry Potter. The The Joker ornament was a limited edition ornament that started the collection of Batman (1960's television show) villain ornaments and given that it was a limited edition ornament, it was unsurprising that it appreciated in value. For as long as Hallmark continues to produce limited edition ornaments based on Batman villains, one suspects The Joker will continue to appreciate, though the increments are likely to be much smaller than it already has.
Overview
Fans of The Joker, the 1960s version of Batman, Cesar Romero, and DC comics characters are likely to find the limited edition The Joker ornament to be one of the essential comic book-themed ornaments to hunt down and add to one's collection!
For other DC Universe Hallmark ornaments, please check out my reviews of:
2016 Supergirl DC SuperHero Girls ornament
2016 Wonder Woman Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice ornament
2016 Batmobile Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice ornament
2015 Lynda Carter As Wonder Woman
2014 Bane The Dark Knight Rises (Limited Edition)
2014 1989 Batmobile
2014 Defender Of Mankind Superman
2013 Man Of Steel
2013 Descending Upon Gotham City Batman ornament
2012 The Bat The Dark Knight Rises Limited Edition Ornament
2012 Catwoman ornament
2012 "Beware My Power" Green Lantern ornament
2012 The Dark Knight Rises
2011 Batman Takes Flight
2011 Green Lantern
2010 Limited Edition Harley Quinn
2009 Wonder Woman ornament
9.5/10
For other ornament reviews, please visit my Ornament Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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