Saturday, November 8, 2014

More An Advertising Tool Than A Quality Ornament, The 2014 Tris Divergent Ornament Leaves Me Unimpressed!


The Good: Decent sculpt, Detailing on the base, Inexpensive, Good balance
The Bad: Ridiculously simplistic coloring, No sound chip/feature
The Basics: The 2014 "Beatris “Tris” Prior" ornament seems to be designed to remind people that Insurgent is coming to theaters soon, as opposed to truly celebrate Divergent!


Hallmark Keepsake makes a decent number of ornaments for several different reasons. With the Twilight Saga being spent cinematically, Hallmark has stopped producing ornaments based on that franchise. Rather than following The Hunger Games, it seems like this year Hallmark is betting on Divergent. This year, they used the October ornament release for the Beatris “Tris” Prior Divergent ornament! My local Hallmark sold out of the Tris ornament initially, but they have since restocked and I had a chance to check the ornament out. Unfortunately, the “Tris” ornament is one of the less-remarkable Hallmark ornaments this year, at least based on a live-action subject like the Divergent film.

For those unfamiliar with Divergent (reviewed here!), Beatris “Tris” Prior was part of an ordered society, where she did not fit. Falling in with a rebel group of Divergent people, Tris befriends other outcasts and gets trained by them. This is a fairly faithful rendition of Tris as she appeared in Divergent (she cuts her hair for Insurgent ).

The Tris ornament was one of the October release ornaments and had it an original release price of $14.95, though for November’s Open House event, it seems to be pretty well-stocked all over!

Basics

The "Beatris “Tris” Prior" ornament recreates Beatris “Tris” Prior as she appeared in Divergent, in a generic pose – as if from the promotional materials. The ornament, released in 2014, is a fair sculpt of Beatris “Tris” Prior, attached to a base with the Divergent group’s symbol. Beatris “Tris” Prior is so generic – wearing a pretty generic black outfit and tanktop – with sandy blonde hair that she could easily be mistaken for any number of other characters (breast tattoo notwithstanding). Measuring four and one-half inches tall from the bottom of the base to the top of her head, the "Beatris “Tris” Prior" ornament is on-scale with similar character ornaments. The base is 2” in diameter and can easily be found in Hallmark Keepsake stores for only $14.95.

The Hallmark "Beatris “Tris” Prior" ornament is made of durable plastic and has Beatris “Tris” Prior, arms by her side on her thighs, looking like she could leap into action, or movement at least, at any moment. The ornament is sculpted poorly and does not look very much like actress Shailene Woodley, who played Beatris “Tris” Prior in Divergent. To be fair to the ornament’s sculptor, Woodley has a pretty generic face (she does not have any real distinguishing features). She has her blonde hair down on her shoulders and is molded without distinctive details like fingernails. Tris’s clothing does not have any distinctive sculpted components, either; she is a fairly smooth sculpt. Tris’s hair has some texture to it which at least makes it look like actual hair instead of a weird helmet.

The paint job on Beatris “Tris” Prior is exceptionally bland and somewhat sloppy – though the tattoo on Tris’s chest seems to be pretty consistently rendered. Tris’s skin tones are rendered in monotones and her hair is similarly solid-colored. Even Tris’s eyes were little more than black dots on the white field of her eyes and Hallmark could certainly have done better. Conversely, the base seems to have been silkscreened and was much more consistent for the Divergent Group’s symbol.

Features

As a Hallmark Keepsake ornament, "Beatris “Tris” Prior" could have a sound or light function, but it does not. Given that there were no truly distinctive quotes from Divergent, it is unsurprising that Hallmark went for simple with the character ornament of Tris.

Balance

As with all ornaments, the intent of the Hallmark Keepsake "Beatris “Tris” Prior" ornament is to be hung on a Christmas Tree. And for those creating the ultimate science fiction movie Christmas Tree, the "Beatris “Tris” Prior" ornament is very much an unnecessary, trendy, addition! The ornament has the standard brass hook loop embedded into the top center of the back of Beatris “Tris” Prior’s head. From that position, the Beatris “Tris” Prior ornament hangs perfectly level. This ornament is well-balanced and because of the flat base, its good balance is made pretty obvious.

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 Barbie to all things Disney started making Hallmark ornaments. "Beatris “Tris” Prior" is the first Divergent ornament that Hallmark released and one of many movie-themed ornaments on the market for 2014. This ornament seems pretty well-stocked, so there seems to be no reason to go to the secondary market for them.

Overview

Fans of Divergent, Shailene Woodley, Beatris “Tris” Prior, and Hallmark ornaments are likely to be disappointed by the Tris ornament. Any ornament where the base is more detailed than the character and the live-action character looks more like an animated one is going to leave fans unimpressed.

For other science fiction and fantasy themed Hallmark ornaments, please check out my reviews of:
2014 Queen Elsa Frozen ornament
2014 Thorin Oakenshield The Hobbit ornament
2014 U.S.S. Vengeance Star Trek Into Darkness ornament

4/10

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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