Hold the head. The tail does the swimming.

Flexi Axolotl, dressed as Mintfin is a print-in-place flexi toy in Mintfin's colours: an ice-blue body in 6 linked segments, coral leaf gills and a fan tail, 3 black horns in the crown, and a face you can change.

Scroll, and it wiggles.

The printed axolotl on a pale pink table: ice-blue head with big white-and-black eyes, coral leaf gills, three black horns, a happy open mouth, and the spare face lying beside it.

Off the bed in one straight line

The 6 body segments are printed already linked, so the body needs no assembly. The spare face prints beside it.

The motor is your hand

Nothing inside drives it. Hold the head, rock your wrist, and the first joint behind the chest has 8° of play each way.

The wave travels

Each joint picks up the swing a beat after the one ahead of it: through the hips, then the first tail segment.

Out to the fan

By the last joint the swings have added up. The fan tail sweeps about 1.0 in from side to side while the head stays in your fingers.

All 5 joints at once

That small lag from joint to joint is what makes it swim instead of flap. The clearances are printed in, so it moves the day it comes off the bed.

Change the mood

The face is its own print. It presses onto a key under the eyes: pull the happy one off, press the sad one on.

Two faces, one key

Both faces fit the same key under the eyes, so the swap takes a second and needs no glue. Keep the other one in a pocket.

Close-up of the axolotl's happy face: an open black mouth with a coral tongue, below two big eyes and between coral gills.
Happy: open mouth, coral tongue.
The same axolotl wearing its sad face: a smaller ice-blue snout with a black frown under the eyes.
Sad: a small snout and a frown, on the same key.
The axolotl from above, its segmented body curved mid-wiggle and the coral fan tail swung to one side, with the spare face lying beside its head.

5 prints make one axolotl

Each is printed in its own colours, with the colour changes made on the printer rather than painted on.

  • Body ice blue, with coral back fins and the fan tail; 6 segments linked in place 7.3 g
  • Head ice blue, coral gills, white eyes with black pupils 3.6 g
  • Horns 3, black, set into the crown 0.27 g
  • Happy face with a coral tongue 0.26 g
  • Sad face with a black frown 0.28 g

Mintfin's colours, on an axolotl that wiggles

Size
3.2 x 1.9 x 1.2 in
long, wide across the gills, tall to the horns
Weight
11.7 g
all 5 prints together
Body joints
5
printed in place, 7° to 22° of play each way
Faces
2
happy and sad, on one key
Layer height
0.2 mm
from a 0.4 mm nozzle
Colours
4
ice blue, coral, white, black

Body and head surfaces are Printyboy's Flexi Axolotl, carried from the designer's meshes.