Monday, August 28, 2017

I Finally Get Around To The Delightful 2016 A Girl's Best Friend Tangled Ornament!


The Good: Excellent sculpt, Good balance, Good detailing
The Bad: Comparatively expensive for its size, No function
The Basics: The 2016 "A Girl's Best Friend" from Tangled ornament is a fun Disney ornament, even if it does not quite fit the scale of other Disney ornaments.


2016 was a huge year for me with Hallmark ornament reviews. In fact, it was such a big year that I ended up with a number of reviews that took a while to get around to actually processing. Finally, though, I have ended up at the end of my reviews of Hallmark ornaments from the 2016 season. The last ornament I had to review was the 2016 A Girl's Best Friend Tangled ornament and it is definitely going out on a high note.

For those unfamiliar with Tangled (reviewed here!), it is the musical story of Rapunzel and on her journey out into the larger world, Maximus is one of the guard's horses that is hunting Flynn Rider. Maximus, more diligent and competent than the human guards, is vigilant but ultimately comes to the aid of Rapunzel.

It is Rapunzel, hugging Maximus, that is the subject of the 2016 A Girl's Best Friend Tangled ornament.

Basics

The "A Girl's Best Friend" ornament recreates Rapunzel, as she appeared in Tangled with her long hair cascading all around her as and into a coil under her feet as she hugs a seated Maximus, who is nuzzling her back. The ornament, released in 2016, is a well-executed and accurate sculpt of Maximus with his saddle and Rapunzel in her iconic purple dress, with the character and hair looking instantly recognizable. Both characters look recognizable and accurate for the sculpt, which allowed Hallmark to not make it incredibly detailed. Despite that, Hallmark paid attention to such details as the rivets on Maximus's saddle and the buckle on his saddle bag.

Hallmark made a significant effort on A Girl's Best Friend as Rapunzel's hair is sculpted with texture to make it look more realistic - despite its supernatural length. Measuring two and a half inches tall and wide and one and one-quarter inches deep, the "A Girl's Best Friend" ornament is one of the smaller-scale Disney character ornaments from 2016 and it was comparatively expensive at its initial release price of $17.95.

The Hallmark "A Girl's Best Friend" ornament is made of a durable plastic and has Rapunzel hugging the seated horse. A Girl's Best Friend escapes the usual critique about the lack of realism to the skin tones, because Maximus and Rapunzel are both animated characters. Rapunzel's eyes are bright green and wonderfully detailed; she looks truly joyful as she smiles while looking away from Maximus. The paint job on things like the stirrups are incredibly well-executed. Despite the smaller scale, the A Girl's Best Friend was immaculately painted!

Features

As a Hallmark Keepsake ornament, "A Girl's Best Friend" could have a sound or light effect, but it does not. Instead, this is a less-expensive option that is just the two characters in a smaller scale.

Balance

As with all ornaments, the intent of the Hallmark Keepsake "A Girl's Best Friend" ornament is to be hung on a Christmas Tree. And for those creating the ultimate Disney movie Christmas Tree, the "A Girl's Best Friend" ornament is a decent Tangled option that can enhance the tree of those who love Disney. The ornament has the standard brass hook loop embedded into the top center of Maximus's arched back. The placement of the hook loop is fairly obvious and necessary for the ornament. A Girl's Best Friend hangs perpendicular to the ground when properly hung from that hook point and while the ornament has a very minor bias in favor of Rapunzel, the ornament has generally good balance. For the scale, the balance is actually quite good.

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, every major franchise from Star Wars to A Nightmare Before Christmas to Indiana Jones started making Hallmark ornaments. "A Girl's Best Friend" is one of only a few Tangled ornaments on the market and at least the sixth to feature Rapunzel. This ornament is long sold out at every Hallmark, but it has not really appreciated in the secondary market, which suggests that the initial release price was exactly right - or a little high - for the ornament.

Overview

Fans of Tangled, Disney, Rapunzel, horses, Mandy Moore, and Hallmark ornaments are likely to be thrilled with the “A Girl's Best Friend” ornament, despite its size; the quality of the sculpt and coloring more than make up for its initial price!

For other Tangled Hallmark ornaments, please check out my reviews of:
2015 Rapunzel And Pascal ornament
2014 Rapunzel's Long Locks ornament
2013 Fierce With A Frying Pan ornament
2012 It's All About The Hair ornament
2011 Rapunzel ornament

8.5/10

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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