Mojo Fun: New for 2022

[Thialfi]

Sure, @Thialfi , more mammoth shots would be welcome!

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[SidB]

Well, now that the dust has settled on CollectA's reveals for 2023, Mojo remains my main hope for at least one new Cenozoic mammal for the coming year. Since the last two years have seen the release of the old standards, a smilodon and wooly mammoth respectively (albeit quite well done), I'm looking back to their "golden age" of 2013, when they delivered four terrific figures. Would that something similar could happen again! Probably wishful thinking, I suppose.

[suspsy]

I still can't get past the mammoth's tusks; they're just not curly enough for me.

I'm really hoping now that there's a Megatherium in store for 2023. As long as we get that one, I don't care if it's just one new prehistoric toy again.

[Flaffy]

Funny how even after all these years, Carnegie's Mammoth still reigns supreme.

Such a shame about the incorrect tusks on Mojo's version... as the rest of the figure looks great. I guess it could pass off as an immature individual? But I certainly don't see the Mojo dethroning Carnegie's any time soon.

[SidB]

I still can't get past the mammoth's tusks; they're just not curly enough for me.

I'm really hoping now that there's a Megatherium in store for 2023. As long as we get that one, I don't care if it's just one new prehistoric toy again.

My old Bullyland (1/24)still reigns, despite getting quite long in the tooth. The Safari at 1/40 or so is better detailed, but I'd like a Mojo in the 1/20 range, certainly nothing smaller than the Bully. The relative disinterest among dino collectors towards Cenozoic extincts shouldn't surprise me, but it is disappointing and probably accounts for their glacial (no pun intended, honest) rate of release. Maybe a Mojo rep will read this thread and consider a Megatherium for the future, if a 2023 one is not forthcoming.

[SidB]

Funny how even after all these years, Carnegie's Mammoth still reigns supreme.

Such a shame about the incorrect tusks on Mojo's version... as the rest of the figure looks great. I guess it could pass off as an immature individual? But I certainly don't see the Mojo dethroning Carnegie's any time soon.

I display my Mojo right next to the Safari, no surprise there. But you're right, Roger's Mammoth is still the best. I had three at one point - keeping one, sold another, gave the third away. It proved impossible to get any interest in it on my sales thread over the year past, a bit unexpected. I figured that the few members who collect Cenozoic mammals probably had this one.
I'll use the same approach to the tusks on my Mojo mammoth that you use, @Flaffy . Good idea.

[suspsy]

Twas nearly a year ago that Mojo Fun began their 2022 reveals. Hopefully they will do so again beginning either tomorrow or on Xmas Day. And hopefully they'll have more than just one new prehistoric figure this time.

[suspsy]

Well, no 2023 reveals yet. Hopefully it won't be too much longer.

[SidB]

Well, no 2023 reveals yet. Hopefully it won't be too much longer.

Yes, let's remain optimistic!

[SidB]

Such a shame about the incorrect tusks on Mojo's version... as the rest of the figure looks great. I guess it could pass off as an immature individual?

That's exactly the approach that I'm taking - treating the new 2022 Mojo as an immature specimen. Here's the old Mojo (and calf) for comparison. Note its possession of the curled tusks and considerably greater bulk than the 2022. So it serves as the full adult.

On a different note, observe the far more pronounced texturing of the fur on the 2022, similar to what we are seeing on the new Wooly Rhino. Seems to be the new standard, a dramatically improved one.

[Moldovan0731]

I'm so glad I found out about this figure. I was looking for a figure that is smaller than the discounted Schleich one but bigger than the Safari Ltd. one for ages.

[Flaffy]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but how does the Mojo 2022 Coelacanth compare to the Safari version in terms of accuracy? @Halichoeres any thoughts?

[Halichoeres]

@Flaffy it's a very nice figure, although I personally prefer the Safari version. Gombessas have a tiny opercular bone, but a big fleshy flap behind it, and I really like how the Safari sculpt leans into the flexibility of that structure. The fin positions on the Safari also accurately reflect the odd offset rowing that coelacanths use when station holding. The Mojo prototype photo has this weird circle of spots on the hyoid, which I don't really care for. The markings on the real animal are more haphazard than that. I'm not sure whether the actual production figures have the same feature. Generally, for paint work I like the Favorite Co version best, but of the three I think Safari's is still the nicest sculpt.

[CARN0TAURUS]

I do have a back up plan Idea if the hot water doesn't work but I don't plan on using a donor because that still leaves me with a mammoth with straight tusks.

Don't worry, boiling water usually works very well for such thin amount of plastic. But if you want to leave them absolutely perfect, after softening the plastic in hot water, just wrap the tusks in thick wire, preferably aluminum based (like when fixing bonsai's branches), position them as wanted and leave it to cold. It works perfectly.

@Duna

I'm finally going to get my hands on this 2022 Mojo Mammoth release and I was wondering if any of you guys modified the tusks by adding more curvature to them.  I liked Duna's suggestion about using the wire...if anyone has some photos of this modification on their figure I would love to see how they came out, TIA...

[SidB]

I do have a back up plan Idea if the hot water doesn't work but I don't plan on using a donor because that still leaves me with a mammoth with straight tusks.

Don't worry, boiling water usually works very well for such thin amount of plastic. But if you want to leave them absolutely perfect, after softening the plastic in hot water, just wrap the tusks in thick wire, preferably aluminum based (like when fixing bonsai's branches), position them as wanted and leave it to cold. It works perfectly.

@Duna

I'm finally going to get my hands on this 2022 Mojo Mammoth release and I was wondering if any of you guys modified the tusks by adding more curvature to them.  I liked Duna's suggestion about using the wire...if anyone has some photos of this modification on their figure I would love to see how they came out, TIA...

It's a fine figure and well worth taking the time to make this modification of the tusks. As for myself, after perusing dozens of mammoth tusk images online, and seeing a few that correspond to Mojo's interpretation, certainly a minority report, I decided to leave mine the way they are, as all of my other pretty extensive collection of mammoths have the standard heavily curved tusks. Chalking it up to individual diversity in nature.

[CARN0TAURUS]

I do have a back up plan Idea if the hot water doesn't work but I don't plan on using a donor because that still leaves me with a mammoth with straight tusks.

Don't worry, boiling water usually works very well for such thin amount of plastic. But if you want to leave them absolutely perfect, after softening the plastic in hot water, just wrap the tusks in thick wire, preferably aluminum based (like when fixing bonsai's branches), position them as wanted and leave it to cold. It works perfectly.

@Duna

I'm finally going to get my hands on this 2022 Mojo Mammoth release and I was wondering if any of you guys modified the tusks by adding more curvature to them.  I liked Duna's suggestion about using the wire...if anyone has some photos of this modification on their figure I would love to see how they came out, TIA...

It's a fine figure and well worth taking the time to make this modification of the tusks. As for myself, after perusing dozens of mammoth tusk images online, and seeing a few that correspond to Mojo's interpretation, certainly a minority report, I decided to leave mine the way they are, as all of my other pretty extensive collection of mammoths have the standard heavily curved tusks. Chalking it up to individual diversity in nature.

So there were specimens with the straighter tusks?  Someone posted about that they might have been a feature on female Mammoths?

I plan to do couple of things to mine that don't involve messing with the tusks.  I want to detail the nails, the lips and the inside tip of the trunk will get some paint too.  Also I've noticed that on some pictures online the figures look really dark and without many highlights so I plan to do some dry brushing on the whole figure to bring out more of the details.  Also the tusk need some weathering to make them look more convincing as they simply appear to have been painted an off white color.  I might also decide to give the eyes a lighter amber color as well.  It sounds like a lot of stuff but it's really not, these things I can do all in one painting session rather quickly.  I also plan to give the model a flat clear coat as this will make it look more realistic and less like a toy.  The last thing will be a small amount of paint brushed clear gloss on the eyes, lips/mouth, and the end of the trunk.

I think these changes even without the bending of the tusks will make it pop a lot more than it already does... 

[SidB]

I'm looking forward to the finished result, @CARN0TAURUS .

[CARN0TAURUS]

I'm looking forward to the finished result, @CARN0TAURUS .

I'll post the image here once I get it done, one thing I haven't decided yet is whether or not to give it a light dusting of snow, like the images we see of bison at Yellow Stone National Park during the winter.  Seems like the snow really sticks onto their coats.

[CARN0TAURUS]

@Duna
S @SidB
Okay, I tested the internal metal rod theory on my Carnegie Mammoth.

Unfortunately I forgot to take before pictures of mine before I got started but my it's tusks were completely parallel to each other and they met past the trunk so the last 3 to 4  centimeters were almost like stuck together as one single big tusk, it looked awful.  I'm using the overhead image of Thialfi's Carnegie which actually has space between the tusks to illustrate how close together the tusks on mine were.  Both tusks were like the tusk on the top basically positioned straight up and down but on mine they were actually touched together forming one tusk/horn looking thing.  I went from something that looked much much worse than this...

and I ended up with this.

It took about 15 minutes to do both tusks.  All I did was warm up the plastic with warm water, then I inserted a 1.5 inch clothes pin at the base of the tusks as towards the sleeve they fit in, I cut the end of the pin and finished pushing it in with a flat piece of metal in this case a metal spoon.  Then I put a tiny droplet of grey putty to seal the small hole.  Then I bent the tusks carefully with my fingers and shaped them from the base.  You can't even see the scars.

You need to make sure than when you shape the tusk that one set of fingers clasps the base of the trunk while the other set molds the tusk gently to avoid having the metal wire poke out on the back end.  So easy smooth pressure does the trick.

[CARN0TAURUS]

@Duna
S @SidB
@Thialfi

What I learned from this is that I will be able to mold the tusks on the Mojo Mammoth a bit, but within reason, you can't push the metal too much because it could poke out ripping the material of the pin could even break which would accomplish nothing.  Or you could also cause wrinkles to form on the inside of the bends.  This is permanent tho as the metal gives the rubber sleeve a skeleton to keep the desired shape.

Also notice that my tusks are not symmetrical, that's by design, a lot of the images I've seen of fossils show the animals had asymmetrical patterns on their tusks quite often.