Hallmark Keepsake Ornament for 2022

[Zobovor]

This year they're doing Optimus Prime, who was the inaugural Keepsake ornament in 2014. However, this time it's a cartoon-based version of the character instead of one based on the Hasbro toy:

https://www.hallmark.com/ornaments/keepsake-ornaments/transformers-optimus-prime-ornament-1799QXI7463.html

As you can see, it goes on sale on July 9, 2022 and will sell for $17.99.

This is kind of a divergence from what we've gotten in the past, since every Keepsake ornament up to this point has been styled to look like one of the Hasbro toys from 1984. I'm not sure why they chose to mix it up, but I wonder if they were getting requests for a reissue of the Optimus Prime ornament, but they didn't want to devalue the original release, so this was their workaround.

The ornament itself seems to be mostly based on the G1 cartoon model, though some details like the hinges on his knees and the shape of his head remind me a lot of the 20th anniversary Prime toy (aka Masterpiece MP-01).

I'm normally okay with cartoon-based stuff, but the Hallmark ornaments were, like, the only celebration of the G1 toys in existence, and so I'm left wondering if this is a one-off or whether they've scrapped the G1 toy tributes in favor of this cartoonish nonsense. I've been steadily building up a respectable collection of these things since 2015 (I missed the first one), and it bugs me that they've shifted direction now.


Zob (sigh)

[Codigo Postal]

The toy design was great precisely because it evoked nostalgia - we used to find the toy under the tree, and now we can decorate the tree with the toy.

But this guy? He's nearly the same price as RED Optimus, except without weapons and articulation. Other than scale...what's the point?

[Evil King Macrocranios]

On Monday, June 20, 2022 at 7:04:07 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:

> The ornament itself seems to be mostly based on the G1 cartoon model, though some details like the hinges on his knees and the shape of his head remind me a lot of the 20th anniversary Prime toy (aka Masterpiece MP-01).

I like ATT because it's theater of the mind sometimes. Having not heard of this ornament before, I tried imagining what it would look like. I thought of a couple iconic poses and sculpts and just when my anticipation was at its height I clicked the link. And that pose and sculpt is definitely nowhere near anything I imagined. The top half is kinda cartoon and the bottom half looks like the G2 intro animation with how blocky it is. And those colors are really cartoony. I just don't know what they were thinking with the pose. It's very sporty and athletic like he's caught in mid-sprint. It almost looks like he's gonna dunk a basketball with his right hand, but there's no basketball.

[Zobovor]

On Saturday, June 25, 2022 at 1:14:47 AM UTC-6, evil.king.m...@gmail.com wrote:

> The top half is kinda cartoon and the bottom half looks like the G2 intro animation with how blocky it is.

"Driving to save the Universe from the evil holiday commercial consumerism, the heroic Optimus Prime is... MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE!"

> I just don't know what they were thinking with the pose.

I think what bugs me about it the most is the fact that his torso rotates at the rib cage instead of at the waist.

I really hope they go back to ornaments that look like toys next year.


Zob (we still need Devastator and Prowl and Rumble and Jetfire and Reflector and...)

[Evil King Macrocranios]

On Saturday, June 25, 2022 at 8:26:22 AM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> I really hope they go back to ornaments that look like toys next year.

It's a really lazy move on their part. They already do a line of low rent G1 cartoon based ornament designs. I find those at non-Hallmark retail stores every year. They've done multiple yearly reissues of their cheapy Optimus Prime ornament already. The toy focused molding was what kind of set the Hallmark stores' ornaments apart from everyone else's G1.