REVIEW: Zuru A Lot A Axolotls

What's that you said? Zuru is doing an axolotl line for $5 each?

TAKE MY MONEY. 

I absolutely wiped my work Walmart out of these. I figured my best chance of getting a full set was getting them from the same place all at once. 

I'm not going to post their official names. Like I think this is Dance-a-lotl. Just imagine cutesy stuff like that. 

So for $5, you get a poseable axolotl, a sticker, some play sand, and two accessories. 

I actually really love the dancer. She was like my third most wanted after the two spooky ones. Not my usual type, but I've got a love for purple and gold together. 

Okay, I said I wasn't going to do names, but this is Undertake-a-lotl and that's just hilarious. 

My second most wanted after the rare Scare-a-lotl. 

I love everything about him. 

Their little arms are on a ball joint, so they can swing out to help hold the accessories. However, they pop off REALLY EASILY. Be mindful of where you're opening these guys, because the arms and small accessories are easy to lose. 

The artist!

If you shove the edge of the hat under the gill, it will sometimes stay on. Most of the headgear is not stable. 

I had to work to get him to hold the brush. I'm displaying a lot of these without their accessories. Like they're cute, but I really just wanted the figures. 

The gamer. 

Definitely not one I was interested in accessory-wise but look at this face.

 

More like Sass-a-lotl. 

Those two are more coral. These two are much lighter, but still a peachy tone more than a straight up pink.  

On the left is the snack guy and the right is the rapper. The cap actually comes with the rapper, but I didn't want to hide his lightning bolt. I think it looks cute on the snacky guy with his little donut. 

The singer is more a true pink. I like her earrings. They come loose, so you can put them wherever on her gills you want. 

Jem-a-lotl!

Moving on to the aqua. 

This one is a chef. 

And this one just wants a nap. I relate to him very much. 

Normally, I don't like anything that hides their faces, but this snorkel is precious. 

So cute!

I think this little traveler has one of the best color schemes. Absolutely adore the gill colors and white belly.  

Tiny suitcaaaaaaase.

I was so lucky this morning, because I got the rare astronaut! He wasn't on my radar, because a) rare and b) Scare-a-lotl is more my style. 

But his colors. His colorrrrrrrrrrs. 

I meant to take a picture of him with his helmet on, because it's very cute, but I got distracted by these colors. 

Yeah, I can't get over how gorgeous he is. 

So from the commons, I'm missing the nurse and the reader (fourth most wanted!). And then Scare-a-lotl, who's rare like the astronaut here. 

My store seemed to have two cases. From pictures I've seen online, I'm pretty sure a case is 12. All the balls were unloaded into a Zuru display setup, so I didn't see the case itself. I bought 15 of them and ended up with 12 different. I'd love to know if there was a rare in each case, but even if there isn't, you're not going to get a full set in one case. 

I have doubles of the traveler, the sleepy one, and the snack one. I'd happily trade for the nurse or reader. (No one's going to give up Scare-a-lotl!) Or if anyone wants them, I'd gladly sell for $5 plus shipping. 

I love these. They're the cutest little things. 

PHOTO CREDIT: Mine.

5 Surprise Fairies

Do you guys have anything you search for on sites like ebay, Mercari, etc. that is really impossible to find? 

For me, it's the 5 Surprise fairies. I found the orange-haired one in my local toy store and fell in love with her. She's the cutest small fairy figure I have! (The wings are nice colors. They're just reflecting the flash.) 

I managed to find the middle one on ebay not long after. I had recognized that my fairy had to be from a 5 Surprise ball. I bought some of the pink ones when they first came out and had the mermaids and princesses. She reminded me of those. Thankfully, someone was selling an opened purple ball (second series of the original style 5 Surprise) with the middle fairy, as well as an unopened ball or two. I got a little checklist from that lot and saw that there were four fairies total. 

That was quite a while ago. I posted about these last July and only just now have found a third fairy. I paid $26 for a small lot of 5 Surprise items all to get her. (Although I did get a mushroom and daisy in new colors, too, as well as another ice cream animal and some unicorn keychains.)  

I'm really thrilled to have three of the four! The fourth has pink hair and a bright green dress reminiscent of Tinker Bell. If anyone ever sees her for sale, please let me know!

5 Surprise

Before Zuru came up with Mini Brands, they had two series of "5 Surprise" balls that had 5 compartments with a toy or some kind. 

The figural toys for these balls were extremely cute. I bought several of them when I was still in FL. 

Here are some mermaids.

Then we've got the plants. 

Both plants and mermaids are color change. 

Princesses. I'm missing the brunette in the yellow dress. 

These pets are all Series 1. There should still be pets for Series 2, but they look like they're all in unnatural colors. 

Series 1 had ponies that I sadly have none of, and Series 2 has plush hamsters that I'd love to find. 

This bizarre monkey-head ice cream cone has a tiny suction cup on the back, so it's on my bathroom mirror. 

And my fave: the fairies. 

I started buying these again on ebay because I found the orange fairy in my local toy store and thought she looked like she belonged with 5 Surprise, but I didn't remember any fairies being available. That's because they're Series 2 only and I never got any of those. I found the blue fairy on ebay, along with the mushroom from the plant set, and two unopened balls, so I had to buy the lot for $6. 

I'm currently trying to find some more at reasonable prices. Series 2 seems harder to find. Both series have pink balls, but the plastic wrapper on Series 1 is pink and has cartoony images of the toys inside, while Series 2 is purple with no toy art. I'd love to get the other two fairies in the set! 

PHOTO CREDIT: Mine.