Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments (White's Guide to Collecting Figures - July 1997)

I've posted about ornaments on the blog more than I ever thought I would. However, Hallmark does make detailed ornaments based on numerous fandoms and other subjects, from comic books and toys to sports and Coca-Cola so I think they're worth taking a look at. Previous ornament posts include Star Wars original trilogy and prequel trilogy, Star Trek, and then a few ornaments appear in Superman and Batman articles. For this post I've scanned a 4-page article titled "It's Christmas in July" from the July 1997 issue of White's Guide to Collecting Figures which obviously covered more than just action figures. Below that I'll highlight some of Hallmark's 2023  Keepsake ornaments as they're still going strong and they've got some very nice video game selections this year. 

Although the magazine is about collecting and I do mention the value of things from time to time, the article rightly states, "It doesn't matter if they go up in value or not because they will bring you pleasure every year when you put them on your Christmas tree." That being said, it does often pay to wait as the cost can drop below the MSRP when the store discounts the unsold stock or they show up on the secondary market a few years down the road. I've found when selling some of my 25-year-old ornaments that they commonly go for less than what was originally paid, especially the athletes. There are too many 2023 ornaments that are based on Star Wars, video games, toys, Disney, Star Trek, and other things that relate to the blog to list here so check out this link if you want to see more: Hallmark Keepsake. Hallmark is even selling a Star Wars tree skirt that lights up (it's $119.99!). 

Nothing says Christmas like Han being frozen in carbonite! Of course, most of these licensed ornaments have very little to nothing to do with Christmas but that's okay and you really don't need to use them as ornaments. Many also look great sitting on a shelf and being displayed year round. My personal favorites are these light-and-sound Sega and Nintendo game consoles. Unfortunately, they are only sold online and three of them are currently out of stock so these might actually end up being difficult to get.

 

Barbie (White's Guide to Collecting Figures 1996/97)

I wrote in the July update yesterday that I was going to check if I had anything related to Barbie that I could post and so I scanned some pages from three issues of White's Guide to Collecting Figures. Although the magazine's title may give the impression that it was only about action figures, it actually covered a wide range of topics with monthly columns about things like Disney, Coca-Cola, Hallmark, and Barbie. The scans include each issue's monthly Barbie column as well as a couple of other articles. While I didn't take the time to re-read what I'm posting and am not too interested in the subject matter, I'm somewhat familiar with Barbie toys since my sister had them, my mother collected them, and I worked in a couple toy stores during the '90s.

November 1996 (#23)

February 1997 (#26)

July 1997 (#31)

Kenner's Starting Lineup (White's Guide to Collecting Figures - November 1996)

This is a rather late post that sort of ties into the Super Bowl that airs in a few hours. I couldn't come up with anything else and I didn't have time to play a football video game for the YouTube channel so I scanned a couple magazine articles from White's Guide to Collecting Figures about Kenner's Starting Lineup toys. I'm not sure if I'd call Starting Lineup toys action figures since they aren't very poseable; they are simply mini plastic statues with moveable arms and heads. They launched in 1988 and I collected them for a while, maybe even a decade, though I did open them for a couple years. As the second article below mentions, they were a hot collectible back then, selling for double or more than the MSRP on the secondary market initially, but I don't think they do today. I've not looked too deeply into the current market so perhaps there are still some standout pieces, however, I believe most sell in the $5-10 range which is what they would have been priced at 30 years ago. Trading cards were included with the toys and at least one year they came with coins too. Previously I mentioned the figures and have a photo of a few baseball athletes in the Starting Lineup Talking Baseball post.

The first article is about the 1996 football series that focuses on the players appearing for the first time in "action figure" form. Some of those first-timers didn't succeed in the NFL, some had decent careers, and Isaac Bruce was the most successful of the bunch.

That was my weak tie-in to the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, there aren't any Chiefs or Eagles mentioned and it's not the most interesting of articles so I also scanned "Starting Lineup's Greatest Moments" in the same issue where the magazine details the top ten most significant happenings for the toy line up to that point. Joe Montana in his Kansas City Chiefs uniform does make an appearance. That was a convention piece which I don't have as I never attended conventions. The 9th entry is about the collector's club that I did join for a few years. I also remember the Grant Fuhr figure being a big deal but cannot recall if I have one or not. 

I'm planning on watching the Super Bowl and have made a few predictions on the blog in the past in other toy and video game Super Bowl-related posts. I'm usually wrong though and I'm not a fan of either team but here is a guess: Chiefs 38-34.