MOLA MOLA

HALFTOYS OCEAN SERIES (HALFTOYS)

Mola mola, otherwise known as ocean sunfish, are the heaviest bony fish in the ocean, but are ten times smaller than whale sharks, the largest cartilaginous fish. One Mola mola was recorded to weigh 2.5 tons, which is comparable to an SUV! And do you know what they eat? Planktonic organisms and jellyfish!

Wait, why am I talking about ocean sunfish? This is an outrage! This is a blog about action figures, not fish and the ocean.

You’re right; this is outrageous because this goofy looking fish head with modified fins got an action figure! Well, technically it’s more toy than action figure because it doesn’t have any moving joints…

Ethan said I could review him, and so review him I shall!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mola is the second figure in the HALFTOYS Ocean Series. If you remember, they were the company that launched with their Half-Dinos, the cute little dinosaur toys made of hard plastic and magnets.

Mola mola measure at about 14 feet from head to end and 10 feet from the tip to tip of its modified fins. The Mola figure measures at about 2.5 inches long and 3.25 inches tall—significantly smaller than its real world counterpart!

This figure has no points of articulation. Mola is comprised of five pieces, three bone pieces and then the two that make up the skin. The skeleton is very easy to put together, the pieces just slide into place and fit rather snuggly. The skeleton isn’t quite accurate, but it’s a simplistic representation of what someone can find in a Mola mola. Then the outer covering snaps over the skeleton and is held together by magnets that line the edge of the skin.

Fun fact: Mola mola don’t have scales like other fish do.

There’s no paint job for the Mola, the hard plastic is all one color. The skeleton is all white, obviously, and the skin is a nice shade of sky blue.

Now, let’s talk accessories.

Mola comes with a build-it-yourself diorama with 31 cardboard pieces, including the stage and the stand for Mola. Luckily, this guy also comes with a manual that shows you how to put it together using pictures and numbers. The diorama was honestly really fun to construct, and it’s really easy to pop the pieces out of their cardboard holders. The diorama includes sea rocks, three brightly colored sea anemones, what I believe is some kind of coral, and three schools of smaller fish. The schools of fish can be positioned wherever you want them to go, to make your diorama slightly different from everyone else!

I will warn you that while the cardboard is pretty sturdy, it can still bend or tear if you’re not careful with it. I recommend someone with steady fingers to construct the diorama and to not take it apart once you put it together.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really enjoy the Mola and its diorama! It’s a clever way to get kids into ocean life and science. The color job on the diorama is great. The sea anemones are brightly colored as they should be. Mola mola don’t really hang out around coral reefs where you would find the flashier fish, so the simple blue and yellow fish in this diorama make perfect sense and match beautifully. The platform, or stage, is colored in blues and greens, giving the suggestion of seagrass. And the coral-like structure is a nice shade of orange that is striking while also going along perfectly with the rest of the set up.

My super awesome husband, Ethan, got the Mola and the rest of the ocean series for me as a surprise. I had wanted to get them, but couldn’t justify the cost at the time. So one day, a package came in the mail addressed to him and he told me I could open it. The amount of squealing that followed I swear alarmed the neighbor’s dog! This is a great gift for children and ocean fans alike. I highly recommend it for everyone.

And if you’d like to read more about the goofy fish that is the Mola mola you can read all about them on my blog, A Siren’s Call to Sea! It’s a daily blog about marine science and all things related to the ocean!