2013 Figures

[postsaurischian]

Here is an animation I did of some proposed improvements:



If mojo is reading this, and if they have time, I think their bronto would look a lot better if the shoulder area was made taller

You're right - it would be much better. Well done!

[Takama]

Here is an animation I did of some proposed improvements:



If mojo is reading this, and if they have time, I think their bronto would look a lot better if the shoulder area was made taller

You're right - it would be much better. Well done!

Heads UP MOJO you have some revising to do

[CM]

Buzzkill.   Now I'll be disappointed if it doesn't change.

[John]

Here is an animation I did of some proposed improvements:



If mojo is reading this, and if they have time, I think their bronto would look a lot better if the shoulder area was made taller

You're right - it would be much better. Well done!

Heads UP MOJO you have some revising to do

I wouldn't get my hopes up too much that Mojo Fun will give this forum that much input to their design processes.At most I would expect that they will take some suggestions for future subjects which they may take provided there's the potential for good sales.

[SBell]

Here is an animation I did of some proposed improvements:



If mojo is reading this, and if they have time, I think their bronto would look a lot better if the shoulder area was made taller

You're right - it would be much better. Well done!

Heads UP MOJO you have some revising to do

As someone who spent 4+ years with a full Megacerops skeleton--despite what some reconstructions show, the hump is not that pronounced. Held with the jaw horizontal to the ground, the top of the skull is roughly in-line with the top of the anterior dorsal vertebrae. There may be variations, but overall Mojo did a good job of representing the animal.

[Seijun]

Thank you for the input SBell. Do you know if there are any skeletal images on the internet that show the more correct anatomy? Every skeleton, fleshed-out sculpture, and painting I have seen of this animal shows him with very tall neural spines that rise above the level of the skull.

[SBell]

Thank you for the input SBell. Do you know if there are any skeletal images on the internet that show the more correct anatomy? Every skeleton, fleshed-out sculpture, and painting I have seen of this animal shows him with very tall neural spines that rise above the level of the skull.

It was surprisingly hard to find one--you'd think I have one of my own!

But here is the T.rex one--


As you can see, there is not that much exaggeration of the neural spines. I have seen others that are, indeed, more pronounced, however they don't have to be--and the reconstruction as developed by Mojo is perfectly representative. On the other hand, if they had been bold enough to use the double-Y skull (two of the 3 known which have been found in Saskatchewan) that would be cool.

Of course, there's also what may be the worst bronothere depicted on a mural in the same gallery:
Which is...off. The head, for one, is way too big (check out the ear location).

[paleoferroequine]

Well, I like the mojo brontotherium more than the collecta one, but I am still a little dissapointed. The gait is incorrect unless the animal is trying to tap dance. Why do companies keep positioning the legs of their quadrupeds like this? Animals dont walk/run that way!

Never say never! Somebody forgot to tell these rhinos.




I really don't have a problem with the shoulder hump either.  Hey Sean, notice on the skull of the one you posted that the nasal process is really prominent and high up on the horn. Must have had quite a big schnoz on it.   And look, the legs are posed the same as the Mojo figure.

[Seijun]

SBell:

What is a "double-Y" skull?

I still think shoulder area needs to be taller. In your example the head is indeed level with the top of the neural spines, which are shorter than other reconstructions, however the neck on the specimen is being held way up. If the animal lowered its head, as in the mojo model, wouldn't the "hump" over the shoulders be more pronounced? Modern rhinos have very similar sleletons, and their shoulder region is much taller and more muscular looking than the mojo brontotherium.

White Rhino:


White Rhino skeleton:

[Seijun]

Well, I like the mojo brontotherium more than the collecta one, but I am still a little dissapointed. The gait is incorrect unless the animal is trying to tap dance. Why do companies keep positioning the legs of their quadrupeds like this? Animals dont walk/run that way!

Never say never! Somebody forgot to tell these rhinos.




I really don't have a problem with the shoulder hump either.  Hey Sean, notice on the skull of the one you posted that the nasal process is really prominent and high up on the horn. Must have had quite a big schnoz on it.   And look, the legs are posed the same as the Mojo figure.

I should have been more specific. Its not just the position of the legs, but a combination of that and which feet are lifted or lifting off the ground. The back foot on the mojo figure is just lifting off the ground, but the others are planted firmly on the ground. Additionally, all four legs are angled either far forward or far back (not perpendicular to the body). This combination of details is just impossible if the animal is supposed to be walking, running, or trotting. None of the pictures you posted match the mojo figure.

-Your 1st pic is hard to analyze because the feet cannot be seen, but on the larger rhino it looks like at least the front right foot is lifted off the ground. Most likely, the right back foot is about to lift off the ground. The right front foot should be flat on the ground again, moving perpendicular to the body, once the right back foot leaves the ground, and the left front foot will begin to left off the ground. This animal could be about to go into a full run.
-In the 2nd pic the animal appears to be standing still (definitely not running or trotting), in which case the position of the legs is fine. -In the 3rd pic the animal is in mid trot and all 4 feet are lifting off the ground. When trotting, the sequence of the leg positions can change to the sequence the mojo figure shows, but the feet will not be planted flat on the ground in the same way.
-4th pic is the same situation as the 2nd pic.
-5th pic, this animal may have been at a standstill and has just lifted its front foot off the ground in order to begin walking. Again, unlike the mojo figure, all 4 legs are more or less perpendicular to the body. It doesn't look like it is in the middle of walking, and is certainly not running or trotting.

These pictures illustrate very well a quadruped that is walking, trotting, and cantering, what positions the legs take and which feet are off the ground at which point.



Here is the walk cycle of a rhino:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BquiWvSQH0E

Trotting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqRHNgoQ_2k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOYFggCwH3U (first 4 seconds)

and running:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F8gpSV6QHU

combination:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvC5lO7a4c0

A lot of figures and even museum specimens use the incorrect gait of "left front ->, left back <-, right front <-, right back ->" or vice versa, with all 4 feet on the ground or 3 of 4 feet on the ground (and the one foot that is off the ground being the wrong one). It didn't used to bother me until someone doing a review of the old carnegie brachi pointed out that this is just wrong, and doesn't match up with the walking, running, or trotting gaits of any quadruped. I started studying quadruped gaits after reading the review and found out that the sequence of leg and foot positions (the "formula" if you will) is surprisingly uniform across most species and individuals. A GREAT book to look at if you are interested in animal gaits, is a book called "animals in motion" by Eadweard Muybridge. It shows different gait sequences of a ton of different animals, and they all follow basically the same formula that the horse and rhino show in my examples. Sorry to write a story about all this, lol. I just really love the subject of animal gaits, so now it's like a pet peeve when I see a figure butcher an animal's gait.

I still like the mojo brontotherium, its just not as good as I personally imagined, and feels like the weakest of the three mammals posted so far. Even if the hump area is correct, I'm  convinced the torso is just too "stretched".

[SBell]

It's hard to tell, but the spines aren't really that high (there are other specimens with very tall spines though). And this particular one has a fairly short, high skull (there are others with much longer skulls--apparently all the same genus? When someone at the AMNH did a complete review of all know brontothere material, he completely skipped Saskatchewan, which is odd since there are dozens of specimens, recorded since the late 1800s). The skeleton depicted wouldn't have a hump like the rhinos pictured.

And the double-Y horns are a rare one where the forked bone horn grows longer, and each of the two forks branches into a shallow V-shape again, giving the appearance of two Y's for horns. They are quite fragile (as most long, thin bone would be) so they probably didn't survive the fossilization process very often.

[Seijun]

The double-Y horns sound very interesting, are there any pictures? I have never heard of it before. Any theories behind it? A different species, or maybe an older individual?

Also, if SBell says it is possible for brontotherium to have a smaller hump like the mojo model, then I shall begrudgingly "be ok" with it as well, even if I am still much more fond of the taller-humped specimens 

[Bokisaurus]

I Can present you the New and 3th MOJO FUNN

prehistoric mammal

it's a great model and well done made

congrats MOJO FUNN with this master piece

and here are the Photo's of the

BRONTOTHERIUM



MOJO FUNN
you did it again,,great model,,anf thanks to let me show it in this Forum

Martien

Another beautiful figures from Mojo! Wow, next year will be a great year for prehistoric mammals! 
So, when do we find out the last of the mammals? There is one more, right?

[STORMnlNIJMEGEN]

Here is a front shoot of the prototype

[postsaurischian]

I'm still loving it !

But beyond, what I'm loving above all is the decision to produce a whole Prehistoric Mammal Line!
Thinking about the fact that this line could include 20 - 30 different species in this quality, all in 1:30 excites me !!!

[CM]

I'm still loving it !

But beyond, what I'm loving above all is the decision to produce a whole Prehistoric Mammal Line!
Thinking about the fact that this line could include 20 - 30 different species in this quality, all in 1:30 excites me !!!

Me too, so much.   And thanks SBell for the discussion of shoulder humps.  Just the possibility that it wouldn't have such a pronounced one easily swings me back into the excited camp for this figure.

[sauroid]

maybe the Mojo Brontotherium could pass for a female (a good companion for the collectA figure if theyre the same scale).

[Ikessauro]

I'm still loving it !

But beyond, what I'm loving above all is the decision to produce a whole Prehistoric Mammal Line!
Thinking about the fact that this line could include 20 - 30 different species in this quality, all in 1:30 excites me !!!

Ditto here! I'm so excited that Mojo might actually produce a big prehistoric mammal collection. I don't know why, but in recent months I've come to like the mammals way more than dinosaurs. I guess they are just too popular and common, I love weird and obscure...

[SBell]

The double-Y horns sound very interesting, are there any pictures? I have never heard of it before. Any theories behind it? A different species, or maybe an older individual?

Also, if SBell says it is possible for brontotherium to have a smaller hump like the mojo model, then I shall begrudgingly "be ok" with it as well, even if I am still much more fond of the taller-humped specimens 

I don't have a photo handy, sorry. If I can get one I'll show you (as I said, there are only a few of them).

[Ikessauro]

Would the double-Y horns be like this?