Is there a simple way to download an iPhone X Amoji direct to photos without sending it as a message?

I posted this question before but I didn't make an important aspect of it clear enough and that's this part in bold:

....Is there a simple way to download an iPhone X Amoji direct to photos without sending it as a message?

I initially marked this question as "solved" as the answer I got was for an animoji message that was already sent [by me to myself] which does allow you to save it to photos or use Airdrop by pressing hard on it and using the pop window. No, the thing I actually wanted to do was to save an animoji video without having to send it as a message and that doesn't seem possible.

In fact I visited an Apple store and this stumped every employee too, including the "genius's". They were surprised they couldn't do it. Unless they and I are missing something here I feel this has to be addressed in an iOs update.

Why is this such a big deal you ask? Well if you show this trick to friends etc they want to have a copy and the only way you can do that is to send it to them - no problem if you're on Wifi but a chunk of your MMS budget if you're not. I've already surpassed my limit and am paying to demonstrate this cool trick. Next month I'm going to Prague to meet up with a whole bunch of uni buddies and can imagine a small fortune in drunken amojis being sent.

This seems such a glaring oversight by Apple [all the store employees agreed as well]... unless there's someone here who can figure it out.