Monday, September 26, 2016

Sloppy And Unworthy: The 2016 Team Captain America Hallmark Ornament Is A Mess!


The Good: Not overly expensive, Generally good sculpt, Good balance
The Bad: Terrible paint job, Overproduced
The Basics: The 2016 Team Captain America ornament features Captain America from Captain America: Civil War, but it appears seriously rushed to market by its messy paint job.


When it comes to Marvel Comics collectibles, there are a number of real disparities between the collectibles modeled after the comic books and those off of the cinematic and television works. While the comic book-based collectibles have a tendency to be simpler, based on the source material and its simplicity. By contrast, the collectibles based upon the cinematic and television works have a tendency to be more complicated, which is appropriate given they come from live-action works. They are also, alas, subject to more obvious flaws by how they fail to recreate those real-world subjects. That is where the Team Captain America ornament from Captain America: Civil War falls. Like many Marvel movie-based collectibles, to try to make the release of the ornament relevant to the cinematic and DVD releases of Captain America: Civil War, the Team Captain America ornament appears like it was rushed to market.

For my review of the Team Captain America, I inspected three copies of the ornament, bought at three different Hallmark shops. All three were defective and had sloppy paint jobs that made even the sixteen dollar ornament feel cheap.

The Team Captain America ornament is a common-release, mass-produced Hallmark ornament that is one of two Captain America: Civil War ornaments and one of four Marvel comics ornaments produced by Hallmark this year. The Team Captain America ornament is one of two ornaments from Captain America: Civil War (reviewed here!). Anyone who loved the film is likely to be sadly disappointed by the Team Captain America ornament.

Basics

The Team Captain America ornament recreates the American war hero and Avenger leader in solid plastic. The ornament, released in 2016, is a mediocre recreation of the heroic character as he appears in the cinematic rendition of Captain America from Captain America: Civil War. The Team Captain America ornament cheats most of the sculpted details of Captain America that would define the character as the Chris Evans version of Captain America. The Team Captain America ornament features Captain America with his cowl up, so most of his facial details and skin are obscured.

Team Captain America is the hooded hero in a leaping pose, with his iconic shield raised before him, shoved forth by both of his arms. The sculpted detailing on the ornament is all right and includes aspects like the belt buckle, costume segments and objects on Captain America's belt.

Sadly, the coloring is enough to gut the value of the Team Captain America ornament. All three of the Team Captain America ornaments I found featured some of the sloppiest paint jobs of any Hallmark ornaments ever released. In addition to poor paint jobs (the sculpted lines for the costume delineate seams between panels that are painted and the painted colors do not, sadly, remain within the lines), the paints appear poorer than on other Hallmark ornaments, specifically the white paint. The white on Captain America's costume and shield are semi-translucent. As a result, the darker colors of the plastic beneath the segments that are painted white bleed through and the ornament just looks horrendous as a result. Those painted defects are not enough to make it worth the $15.95 original issue price, at least for fans of the cinematic Captain America.

The Hallmark Team Captain America ornament is made of a durable plastic and has Captain America in an action pose, painted in monotones without any depth and shading to the few bits of skin that are evident on the character's face. The Team Captain America ornament measures out at 3 1/4" tall, 3" long and 1 1/2" deep.

Features

As a Hallmark Keepsake ornament, the Team Captain America could have a function like a sound chip or light effect, but does not. This is just an ornament, a low-cost (comparatively) option for those who might not want to shell out for the more expensive ornaments. This Captain America simply hangs on a tree.

Balance

As with all ornaments, the intent of the Hallmark Keepsake Captain America ornament is to be hung on a Christmas Tree. And for those creating the ultimate Marvel Universe Christmas Tree, Captain America is essential, but not this version. The ornament has a steel hook loop embedded in the top center of the character's back. From that hook, the Team Captain America ornament hangs fairly well-balanced. Captain America in this iteration looks like he is bracing for a significant attack, which is pretty wonderful!

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!). Since then, Hallmark has gotten into every major franchise from Disney to Twilight to the Marvel Comics universe. The Team Captain America ornament was not at all limited. I would not bet, given how the other Marvel ornaments have met demand without leaving a lot of people wanting, and how poor the paint job is on this ornament, that the Team Captain America ornament will not be a good investment piece at all.

Overview

No sophisticated debate is needed on the Team Captain America ornament; it is one Captain America: Civil War ornament that all Marvel Comics fans can live without!

For other Marvel Hallmark ornaments, please check out my reviews of:
2015 Potted Groot Guardians Of The Galaxy ornament
2015 Iron Man The Avengers: Age Of Ultron
2015 The Hulk Vs. Ultron The Avengers: Age Of Ultron
2014 War Machine Iron Man 3 ornament
2014 Hulk Smash! ornament
2014 Captain America from Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2014 Web-Slinging Wonder The Amazing Spider-Man 2
2013 Iron Patriot Iron Man 3 ornament
2012 Captain America The Avengers ornament
2012 Iron Man The Avengers ornament
2012 Thor The Avengers ornament
2012 The Amazing Spider-Man ornament
2011 Spider-Man ornament
2011 Thor ornament
2010 Defender Of Justice Iron Man 2 ornament

4/10

For other ornament reviews, please check out my Ornament Review Index Page!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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