The Mojo Prehistoric Life Smilodon is in stock at Everything Dinosaur. This new sabre-toothed cat model is the only prehistoric animal figure being added to the Mojo Fun prehistoric animal model range for 2021.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
A New Model of “Knife Tooth”
Mojo has had a long history of producing sabre-toothed cat figures. Almost ever since a prehistoric animal range was conceived, a Smilodon figure has been part of the range. In 2017, Mojo added an updated version to their product portfolio and now there is a new sculpt depicting this iconic cat.
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur confirmed that at this stage, no information about the continued production of the 2017 Smilodon model had been released, although it had been speculated that the addition of a 2021 figure might lead to the retirement of the 2017 Smilodon model.
The Smilodon genus was first established by the Danish palaeontologist and naturalist Peter Wilhelm Lund in 1842 following the study of fossil material from Brazil. The genus name means “knife tooth” a reference to the animal’s oversized and exceptionally long upper canine teeth, that in some specimens of Smilodon populator reach 28 cm in length.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Everything Dinosaur Supplies Photography
The original images of this new model supplied by Mojo did not reflect the actual colour scheme of the figure. Team members at Everything Dinosaur took their own images of the new for 2021 Smilodon figure as they did not want the official images to mislead model collectors.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
The Everything Dinosaur website: Prehistoric Animal Toys and Models.
Mojo Prehistoric Life Smilodon – Original Images
The original studio image for the new Mojo Prehistoric Life Smilodon showed a figure with a much lighter, paler colouration and more muted spotting. The side of each ear was also painted white. The sclera of the eye in the studio images is a pale yellow, whilst the production model has an amber-coloured sclera. The actual colour scheme on the model is much bolder with the spotted patterning of the figure much more pronounced. The sides of the ears are painted black.
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:
“We had been alerted by Mojo that the actual model had a different colour scheme to their studio images. We decided that it would be best to show the model rather than to rely on the studio shots as we did not want to confuse customers. It is our understanding that Mojo will commission new model photography in the near future and replace their original images with more accurate photographs of the Mojo Prehistoric Life Smilodon.”
To view the new Mojo Smilodon model and to see the rest of the figures available from Everything Dinosaur in this model range: Mojo Prehistoric Life Models and Figures.
This new Mojo Smilodon is just another example of how companies refuse to make a Smilodon figure with scientific accuracy. The front limbs on this figure are MUCH to long as well as to slender. It’s head seems oversized in comparison to it’s body also. I don’t understand why this animal is always sculpted this way.
Any paleontologist will tell you that Smilodon Fatalis had exceptionally robust thoracic limbs that were shorter than extant cats of today. They have all noted quite clearly that Smilodon was not built anything like a modern day cats, yet toy companies continue to make their figures of this cat scrawny with longer limbs. This Smilodon looks like it is on stilts. It is much to high off the ground. It has its good points, but to me fails on the above noted areas.