The Good: Amazing sculpt, Great coloring, Fun glitter effect
The Bad: No sound chip, Disappointing light function, Balance issue - backheavy
The Basics: The 2017 "He's Mr. Snow Miser!" ornament from The Year Without A Santa Claus is a neat idea with a middling execution.
For those who celebrate it, Merry Christmas! My wife is a big fan of Christmas and while I am a fan of genre-themed ornaments, my wife enjoys actual Christmas ornaments. So, for today, I picked her up the 2017 He's Mr. Snow Miser! Hallmark ornament to augment her tree. And, it's a fun ornament, though it is a little more mediocre than I hoped for her.
For those unfamiliar with The Year Without A Santa Claus, Snow Miser was one of two weather-controlling brothers who struck bargains with Mrs. Claus to get Vixen out of the pound to save Christmas. An impassioned plea from Mrs. Claus gets Snow Miser to happily open up the floodgates of snow to a southern town under the control of Heat Miser. It is Snow Miser, seated on his throne of ice that is the subject of this year’s The Year Without A Santa Claus ornament!
Ken Crow did an impressive and accurate sculpt of the Snow Miser, though Hallmark cheaped out on the light function, which made the $17.95 original issue price a little harder to swallow.
Basics
The "He's Mr. Snow Miser!" ornament recreates Snow Miser as he appeared in The Year Without A Santa Claus, when Mrs. Claus visits to try to strike a bargain with him. The ornament, released in 2017, is an entirely accurate sculpt of Snow Miser as he leans forward on his ice throne. This version of Snow Miser features fine detailing on the hands, nose with icicles hanging from it and pointed fingers and shows. The subject of the ornament was an animated (or Claymation-style stop animation) one and Ken Crow captured the enthusiasm and energy of the character’s design. Measuring three and seven-eighths inches tall by 2 1/16” wide by 2 1/8" deep, the "He's Mr. Snow Miser!" ornament is on-scale with most of the other character ornaments Hallmark offers.
The Hallmark "He's Mr. Snow Miser!" ornament is made of durable, mostly translucent, plastic and has the character Snow Miser sitting on a clear plastic throne intended to look like ice. The Snow Miser is sculpted to look just like the character from the Christmas special. The sleeves on the Snow Miser's jacket are cut to look like icicles and the character's "hair" is a clear plastic dome made to look like ice. The character's nose is made to look like an icicle as well and the sculpt nails that perfectly. The character's scarf and throne are well-textured to match the character from the show.
The He's Mr. Snow Miser! ornament is colored in simplistic, but solid colors, which is entirely accurate for the character. The character's jacket is augmented by sparkles, which is very cool (and, turns out to be, accurate from the source material!). The throne is clear for the back and arms and translucent for the actual chair. The coloring around the character's eyes actually has subtle gradations of blue, which is impressive and cute.
Features
As a Hallmark Keepsake ornament, "He's Mr. Snow Miser!" could have a sound or light function, but it only has an option for a light function. The back features a hole with a rubber clamp which allows the consumer to stick a light from a light strand into the ornament. This vaguely lights the clear throne, but the effect is inconsistent and entirely underwhelming. For those who are fans of The Year Without A Santa Claus, it might be disappointing that He's Mr. Snow Miser! does not feature an electronic function that would allow him to play a sound clip from one of his distinctive songs or a more consistent and well-rendered light effect.
Balance
As with all ornaments, the intent of the Hallmark Keepsake "He's Mr. Snow Miser!" ornament is to be hung on a Christmas Tree. And for those creating the ultimate Christmas Tree, the "He's Mr. Snow Miser!" ornament is a nice addition. The ornament has the standard steel hook loop embedded into the top, back, of Snow Miser's head. From that position, the He's Mr. Snow Miser! ornament hangs with a noticeable back bias. Because the throne is supposed to be level, the fact that it is heavier and leans with the feet, then, up a little, it is an unfortunately obvious flaw in the ornament.
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. "He's Mr. Snow Miser!" is part of the The Year Without Santa Claus ornament line and the only one from that franchise in 2017. This ornament has sold out at about half of the Hallmark Keepsake stores I have been to since their release in October. As a result, I suspect that the He's Mr. Snow Miser! ornament is likely to at least retain its value for the foreseeable future!
Overview
Fans of The Year Without A Santa Claus, Snow Miser, Hallmark ornaments and Christmas in general will discover a lot to like about the Hallmark He's Mr. Snow Miser! ornament, though it is not the flawless one I would have hoped it could have been.
For other non-genre Hallmark ornaments, please check out my reviews of:
2017 Celebration Barbie ornament
2017 O Play-Doh Tree
2017 Sweet Snowman ornament
5/10
For other ornament reviews, please visit my Ornament Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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