Blobfish (Sealife by CollectA)

Review and images by Suspsy; edited by bmathison1972

The blobfish (Psychrolutes microporos) is a most bizarre sea creature that features loose skin with no scales, gelatinous flesh, a frail skeleton, and no swim bladder. All these adaptations enable it to survive extremely high pressures in very deep waters around Australia and New Zealand. When brought up to the surface, a blobfish’s body will inevitably collapse into a shapeless and slimy mass due to the loss of pressure.

Here we have the 2025 CollectA blobfish. And if you read the article linked above, you can tell right off the bat that this one is dead. It’s bitten the big one, bought the farm, cashed in its chips, checked out, given up its ghost, gone belly up, kicked the bucket, met its maker, pushing up daisies, shuffled off its mortal coil, and under the sod. Or, to cop a famous line from Monty Python’s Flying Circus, this is an ex-blobfish.

So why would CollectA choose to make a toy of a deceased animal? Well, I’d say it’s because the blobfish has become part of pop culture due to its outlandish appearance when deceased. Indeed, it was voted the unofficial “World’s Ugliest Animal” and mascot of the Ugly Animal Preservation Society back in 2013. It has many toys to its name in addition to the one here, it has appeared in the children’s cartoon Octonauts, and in the adult cartoon Bojack Horseman. In short, the blobfish is probably more recognisable and more popular dead than alive. Take that as you will.

Our blobfish measures 7.5 cm long and 3.7 cm wide. It is sculpted resting flat on its belly with its pectoral fins folded back and its tail turned to the left. The main colour is a very pale shade of pink with darker pink wash. The fins and the lips are bright pink and the eyes are very dark grey. Exactly the same colouration that dead blobfish are known to have.

In terms of accuracy and sculpting, this toy rates fairly high. The fins are grooved and the body has a slightly pitted texture, but is for the most part smooth. The gills can easily be discerned on either side and the face has the familiar swollen lips around a downturned mouth and a large fold of flesh between the eyes that resembles a bulbous nose. Looking at it, one can easily understand why so many people consider it to be an ugly animal, especially if they have never laid eyes on an image of a living one.

Which brings us back to the fact that this is a toy of a deceased blobfish, and thus its play value is somewhat limited. About the only way you could incorporate it into a nature diorama would be to have it washed up on shore. CollectA may want to consider making a second blobfish toy based on a living individual, which would probably make for a nifty display alongside this one.

As long as you can get past the dead factor, the CollectA blobfish is a well made and certainly unique toy. It is available at online stores right now. With CollectA’s common cuttlefish and goblin shark: