Ornament Review: Tie Fighter - 2018 Hallmark Star Wars Storyteller Ornament

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Looks great

Cons: Too loud, sound effects only sound

The Bottom Line:

This great looking piece

Adds little to total show

But does it loudly

This Tie Fighter Adds Little to the Star Wars Storyteller Set, but It Does So Loudly

In 2017, Hallmark introduced the first three of seven planned ornaments in a Hallmark Star Wars Storytellers series that feature sounds clips from the original movie.  2018 saw the release of the next two ornaments (with the final two coming later this year).  Sadly, the Tie Fighter ornament is the weakest of this series so far.

The ornament itself looks good.  It perfectly captures a tie fighter from the Star Wars movies.  They’ve even included grooves and patterns in the sides just like the real ships have.  It is larger than a typical Hallmark ornament, but not so bad that it takes up too much real estate.

This and other Storytellers ornaments plug into Hallmark’s Power Cord, also introduced in 2017.  That allows it to put on a show, and the more ornaments you buy in the Star Wars set, the longer the show lasts as the ornaments build on each other and unlock new moments.

Here’s where this ornament disappoints.  It doesn’t add much to the overall show.  Instead, it contributes sound effects when the other ornaments are doing the fight scenes from the movie.  On its own, it just contributes a moment where a commander is telling troops to head into battle.  It lasts all of 15 seconds.  Okay, so there aren’t really any scenes that take place on a tie fighter that should have been included, so it doesn’t surprise me in one way.  But it is still a bit disappointing.

Worse yet, it is the loudest ornaments, so the sound effects drown out the others when they are actually trying to say something.  That means you need to keep this one away from the others.  Fortunately, you can do this easily since you don’t have to have all the ornaments on the same cord for them to work.  You could plug this one in across the room and get the effects without them overwhelming everything thing else.

These ornaments do include light, too, that flash when the ornament is contributing to the show.  There is a light in the cockpit of this ornament.  It doesn’t add too much, but it is something.

You could set this ornament out, although I wouldn’t want to trust the wings to hold it up long term.  However, when you go to hang this ornament on your tree, you’ll find that it hangs straight.

I really am disappointed with the Tie Fighter ornament.  While I looks great, I wish it contributed something meaningful to the Star Wars Storytellers set.

Original Price: $39.99