A boxful of Mojo Fun

I've ticked some more Mojo Fun models off my wishlist this week, look in this exciting box!



They came from Mojo themselves via ebay, this is the cheapest and best way to buy them for UK collectors, and the customer service is perfection so I'd really recommend buying direct if you're wondering where you can get these from over here!



I've wanted the fjord for ages, yeeeears, but never managed to get round to ordering it for various reasons (no-one selling them in this country, then infuriating stockist who ignored me for months over various orders til I refuse to buy from them again, then sold out elsewhere every time I looked, then forgot when doing an order from Germany and couldn't afford a second postage fee for one item    )

So it was about time I added one to my herd, and it was really worth the wait!



I think my favourite thing about the whole sculpt is the little 'break' in the mane where the spiky upright hair follows the bend in the neck. The colour's really subtle, a lot of model fjords are either very bright yellow or don't have much shading, but I love the paler dun here



The Dutch warmblood, another crisp and accurate sculpt with good slim legs and nice conformation. The colour's a bit plain (especially compared to my recent WIA warmblood, but maybe it's not fair to make him stand next to that one ), but I like how the white socks have crooked tops, when so many models are painted with less attention to marking shapes; or worse, airbrushed ones!



The suffolk mare, a rare breed we don't really have that many representations of in model form, and this one's really nice, with her kind expression and good chunky build. Nicely toned chestnut, rather than overly orange or too brown!



And she HAD to bring her foal along too, a really sweet little sculpt



Here's how they look together, the scale is just right together



The thoroughbred, like the dutch warmblood, is another model which really showcases how Mojo get long-legged athletic breeds right - so many TB or sport horse moulds in the toy-type brands like Schleich or Bullyland have such squat chunky legs they look like heavy warmbloods or draft crosses, even the previously wonderful CollectA are giving everything thick legs now. So even though the Mojo TB is a bit on the sturdy side (I'd imagine him as a chaser or eventer, rather than a flat-bred horse), it's just nice to see slim legs at all



The Hanoverian came in two colour options, black with white socks, or this bay, which I decided to go for cos colours show mould detail and countours better than black in photos, and because they used dark shading over a soft brown plastic, it looks plenty different enough to the other two bays in the parcel, which use a redder plastic



Another angle, doesn't she have a kind face. I think she's quite a petite-looking horse, maybe because her plaits are quite big giving her the look of a pony rather than a huge dressage warmblood, I might not keep her breed allocated as Hanoverian in my herd but really do like her

And finally, a new zebra for the collection!



Another adorable mould, which seems the ideal mix of realism and cuteness - the CollectA zebra looks very serious, this one's somehow happier and more relaxed? I picture her as a tame zebra in a safari park who comes to the gate for snacks and likes a good scratch from a keeper

And look!





I just couldn't resist adding the foal to my order too, they needed to arrive together

Wonderful, I really love all of them!
Let me start with this iconic Fjord and tell you how much STS blood you got.
This Fjord horse, was sculpted by Anna Dobrowolska-Oczko, one of hte starting members on forum @Ana, that cooperates with Mojö Fun for a long time and which connection was worked through STS once Mojö«'s manager was also a member here. The figure is modeled after a Fjord mare called Izzy that belonged to Kristie, a STS member. By the way, I think all these models you presented were sculpted by the same Artist, Anna. As a collector of wildlife, obviously my focus go to the zebra pair, Mojö's 3rd generation of zebras and their best. That foal is unbelievable with these delicate and long legs! All horses are really wonderful but I think my favorite is the Suffolk Punch, what a piece of art!
i also love all your pictures and I want to congratulate you for giving atention to this brand, I think despite the short life, the legacy is already precious.

Oh, that's fascinating the way the connections come round in circles like that. Very nice work, Anna - thank you for giving us these lovely horses to own!

I've got the donkey pair as well, the shire & foal, the piebald cob mare, and the shetland ponies. Oh, and in my post a few days ago, the palomino welsh pony was my first Mojo repaint.

When I've got a bit more time tomorrow I'll get a post written up on my blog, I always like to promote the brands which deserve it, and Mojo is a lot less well known among the UK horse collectors than Schleich, which are crazily widespread and the one name most people know over here.
Even Breyer aren't so well known cos there's not many places selling them, they're more a hobbyist thing. And Mojo are even less visible to the general public - it's only people who go looking for them who'd happen to discover what a great little range they are.
Schleich have great big displays in every department store, toyshop, and model shop, and on stalls at every horse show, where Mojo are online only, not many stockists and often an overpriced limited choice aside from the direct ebay shop. They really deserve the attention as a replacement for Schleich, which had a rapid downhill slide out of favour with the adult model collectors once the anatomical accuracy went out the window.

I'm just glad us collectors HAVE got such nice alternatives to turn to, with CollectA and Mojo and WIA giving us good accurate and artistic sculpts for the same price!

Ana does splendid work for Mojo as she does everything! Supremely excellent choices, and I suffer from the same affliction as you, strangely putting off buying specific models until later despite wanting them so badly. I love the thoroughbred most but they are all just excellent!

Okay, so, I'm an absolute stranger to this brand (along with most everything else in the hobby haha) until I looked at these pictures and what a shame because they're lovely! That fjord! What a beauty. That mane break is such a cool detail. Fjords are one creature I've tried to look for specifically even when not collecting, but I certainly have never seen this one.

It is interesting to hear you talk about the width of legs because even as a very casual shopper/admirer of plastic animals, I've always felt put-off by the chunky legs on a lot of the horses (among other things), which is one reason I've stuck with Breyer so long probably. These really have a lot of the same attention to detail, in what I imagine is perhaps a more affordable package.  

That zebra mare's face from the front looks so lively. :) And I LOVE that they included the baby fuzz on the foal's back!!

I think the chunky leg issue is partly a side effect of them being made and marketed mainly as toys - they have to stand up to being bounced round the carpet or back yard by rough children, more likely for any individual toy figure than ending up in the hands of teenagers and adults who want to collect and display them.

There's also a materials aspect to it - Schleich, Mojo, CollectA, Papo and Bullyland horses are softer more pliable plastic than the brittle, non-flexible plastic of Breyer or Stone. Their legs can bend or warp much more easily, so they're designed chunkier for strength in supporting their weight, where Breyer can afford slim legs cos they know their lighter harder plastic can take it.

For pricing, just to compare to a brand you know the prices of over there, a regular run Breyer Trad costs us about £45 to £50 in the UK now, a Classic around £20, where a Mojo horse is between £7 and £9 depending on the breed size. So they're much more affordable!

George wrote:

I think the chunky leg issue is partly a side effect of them being made and marketed mainly as toys - they have to stand up to being bounced round the carpet or back yard by rough children, more likely for any individual toy figure than ending up in the hands of teenagers and adults who want to collect and display them.

There's also a materials aspect to it - Schleich, Mojo, CollectA, Papo and Bullyland horses are softer more pliable plastic than the brittle, non-flexible plastic of Breyer or Stone. Their legs can bend or warp much more easily, so they're designed chunkier for strength in supporting their weight, where Breyer can afford slim legs cos they know their lighter harder plastic can take it.

That's fair, I broke off more than my fair share of thick, sturdy legs as a child.

Quote :

For pricing, just to compare to a brand you know the prices of over there, a regular run Breyer Trad costs us about £45 to £50 in the UK now, a Classic around £20, where a Mojo horse is between £7 and £9 depending on the breed size. So they're much more affordable!

Oh, much easier on the wallet for sure!!

These additions are wonderful, Mojo horses are always beautifully sculpted and I loved reading about al the STS connections- wow, that really is amazing! A big thank you to Anna for these beauties, sculpted to perfection! I love your photos as usual, the zebras are gorgeous, and so sweet as a pair!

It makes me happy seeing the Mojo horses out there
And even happier to see that you enjoy them
Great photos too, so you use a computer screen for the background? I've recently tried this technique too and I like the effects

No, not a computer screen - the inside photo from a Breyer box They're printed on nice strong card so I just cut up the boxes and keep all the scenery for photo backgrounds.

Congratulations

George wrote:

No, not a computer screen - the inside photo from a Breyer box They're printed on nice strong card so I just cut up the boxes and keep all the scenery for photo backgrounds.

Oh, I see! That's a great use for those boxes! Awesome

By the way, about the Hanoverian model, I've heard that some collectors consider it a good representation of German Riding Pony, so maybe that's a good new breed assignment?

It also means I have a lot of pictures to suit different types of horse. Native pony, rough countryside. Posh horse, smart field and fencing. I can even match them by country, like my Icelandics all pose in front of bits of Iceland landscape, and the Iberian horses can have an olive tree backdrop

Ooh, yes, that would be a good breed for her! I was thinking some form of show pony or riding pony, German makes it a proper breed allocation rather than a rough idea or partbred. Thanks!

Wonderful new figures George, I have yet to get some of these beauties

My first must-buy of Mojo's horses this year was the rearing cob, a really good addition to the range - even though they already had a mare and youngster, the new rearing pose means he's plenty different to the others, and that he's fun for photography as well as play.



He reminds me a lot of a young colt who came to the yard where my ponies live, as he grew into adulthood he kept his playfulness and would still rear and bomb round the field in energetic solo games, showing off to all the mares. He could even do a perfectly balanced rear on command, with his owner holding her hand in front of his nose. This looks like that kind of controlled, playful motion of a colt or stallion in good spirits, rather than the vicious fighting pose we see more often in models - a happy boy who likes to rear, rather than one being aggressive or defending himself from attack.



He's a nice example of a small compact cob, I see him as the 14hh-ish type used primarily for driving and as family pets. There's a certain pony cuteness to his face, rather than the massive draft-type seen in other models of this breed - but then they're a massively varied type of horse, I've known a lot and they really do range from cute ponyish things to imposing barrel-shaped cart-horse types.



I like his face marking a lot, the pink nose is sweet, and all his 'edges' are crisply done with no blurring or airbrushy overspray.



His mane has some softer spray colour to show the blending of black and white hairs, the tail is a more uniform grey but when a horse has a two-tone tail the hair does mix up so much it can be hard to see any stripes or patches of either colour, so that's fine rather than a mistake.



One more picture of this handsome boy!

The next addition wasn't a new model, just one I hadn't got round to getting yet, but decided I needed now...



The matching yearling for the original cob mare, because I couldn't buy the stallion without adding the baby to the family too!



This one's a real sweetie, with an expressive alert face and dynamic pose. The mum is sculpted trotting, so the little one is cantering to keep up!



This is a 2015 model, so you've probably seen plenty of them before, but my little herd of Mojo cobs wasn't complete without it!



With the mare - I've got two versions with different markings and paint styles, but decided the best match for the yearling was this one, as her feet are painted the same way



My full set of cobs (so far - there's one other paint design for the mare and knowing me I'd be too tempted to resist if I ever see one for sale!)

Next from the box comes another of the 2022 releases, the Lusitano



Produced in a choice of two colours, this nearly-white grey or a bay, I decided to go for the grey just because I already have two bay Mojo horses (the Thoroughbred and the Dutch Warmblood), and this would bring more variety to the shelf!



It's very handsome, but quite a bit smaller than I was expecting - I always imagine Lusitanos as fairly large and leggy horses but this one does feel quite small when handling it, somewhere between a pony breed and the larger riding-horse types.

I still think it would be ideal for a Sorraia repaint, but I'll have to get a duplicate to customise at some point, I like my grey too much to go over it



A photography failure here, I took some shots of the other side and somehow never managed to get a single one lined up with the background (in my defence, I had a scratchy rose bush hindering me from one side, and the cat 'helping' from the other, which if you know cats you'll realise was little more help than the rose bush )

The final addition, another older model I hadn't got round to in the past, but we've talked about it on the forum a couple of times and I thought it was about time I did just get on and order one...



The Orlov Trotter - quite a rare breed in model form, with only CollectA's release this year and a couple of customs in my collection. I chose the dappled version in the end, mainly because I was ordering direct from Mojo on Ebay (the cheapest way to buy the brand in the UK, as they give 20% off if you buy more than one model, and free shipping) and that's the version they have. The solid darker grey one is also rather nice, though, and I certainly wouldn't complain if I end up finding one of those as well.
I like his simple pose; for all I enjoy action sculpts with flying manes or delicate toe-tip balance, there's something appealing about a placid horse standing there with his head turned to look.



A second photo, because I realised dry stone walls aren't really a thing in their native country, so I lifted the base up a bit to obscure that incorrect bit of scenery and just leave some generic field'n'tree which could be anywhere

And finally, I checked which were missing from TAW and took some plain background pics, for whenever you want to update with some 2022 models

Wonderful horses George

I considered a rearing Tinker twice, first I tried to find the Papo model locally and I was unlucky and then I considered this beautiful Mojö model but wildlife often  prevails.
What I will get for sure is the Lusitano. I always wanted one sculpted by our friend Anna.
I don't know the size of the horse but Lusitanos are not very tall horse but, as they look magnificent and they have that kind of gait with the legs moving lgantly under the body, they look larger than they really are. For example, the first Lusitano Schleich released is too big when compared with other Schleich horses.
Edit: Thanks also for providing pictures for TAW, I will try to upload them tomorrow or later today.

Superb new additions, and nearly all I am missing! I only have the Cob mare. Now I look forward to these all! I love reading your annotations too.

I kind of forgot Mojo even had horses. These are actually quite nice. Congrats on the lovely additions!

LukaLeon085 wrote:

Wonderful horses George

Thanks! I'm really pleased with them all, old releases and new

Roger wrote:

I considered a rearing Tinker twice, first I tried to find the Papo model locally and I was unlucky and then I considered this beautiful Mojö model but wildlife often  prevails.
What I will get for sure is the Lusitano. I always wanted one sculpted by our friend Anna.
I don't know the size of the horse but Lusitanos are not very tall horse but, as they look magnificent and they have that kind of gait with the legs moving lgantly under the body, they look larger than they really are. For example, the first Lusitano Schleich released is too big when compared with other Schleich horses.
Edit: Thanks also for providing pictures for TAW, I will try to upload them tomorrow or later today.

I don't have the Papo rearing cob either, I've got some of theirs (two paint versions of the stallion, one mare, and one foal), but the rearing one passed me by. I think the Mojo is a nicer sculpt though, if you do ever decide to go for one then this is what I'd recommend.
Yes, you definitely do need the Lusitano, which colour do you prefer? Grey doesn't always photograph so well as dark colours so I was considering going for the bay originally, but the grey won in the end, and I found he was fine in his photoshoot cos the coat has enough texture to not glare in the light.

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

Superb new additions, and nearly all I am missing! I only have the Cob mare. Now I look forward to these all! I love reading your annotations too.

Oh, I'm sure your cob mare would like to have the rest of her family to run with on the shelf! I think 'real' photos of the models in someone else's home are always really helpful in deciding what we want to order, or reminding us how nice something is, more so than just seeing the catalogue pictures. I've often made up my mind to buy just cos I see someone else's model and want one for myself

Joliezac wrote:

I kind of forgot Mojo even had horses. These are actually quite nice. Congrats on the lovely additions!

I limit myself to only collecting horses to control how much space and money my collecting takes up, so they're always my main focus each time the new releases come out - the others are nice for looking at but the horse section's where I make a mental wishlist when each brand does it's reveals I decided not to get the Mojo Brumbies because I have their Southlands versions already, but apart from that I was keen to get this year's new ones. And then couldn't resist adding in a couple of older ones just to round the order out a bit There's still several older models I'd like to get at some point, my Mojo herd is fairly small.

George wrote:

Roger wrote:

I considered a rearing Tinker twice, first I tried to find the Papo model locally and I was unlucky and then I considered this beautiful Mojö model but wildlife often  prevails.
What I will get for sure is the Lusitano. I always wanted one sculpted by our friend Anna.
I don't know the size of the horse but Lusitanos are not very tall horse but, as they look magnificent and they have that kind of gait with the legs moving lgantly under the body, they look larger than they really are. For example, the first Lusitano Schleich released is too big when compared with other Schleich horses.
Edit: Thanks also for providing pictures for TAW, I will try to upload them tomorrow or later today.

I don't have the Papo rearing cob either, I've got some of theirs (two paint versions of the stallion, one mare, and one foal), but the rearing one passed me by. I think the Mojo is a nicer sculpt though, if you do ever decide to go for one then this is what I'd recommend.
Yes, you definitely do need the Lusitano, which colour do you prefer? Grey doesn't always photograph so well as dark colours so I was considering going for the bay originally, but the grey won in the end, and I found he was fine in his photoshoot cos the coat has enough texture to not glare in the light.

I surely will take in consideration your suggestion for the Mojo Fun Tinker, it is good to have the opinion about someone so knowledgeable about horses as you are.
About the Lusitano, I'd probably go for the bay version. My Schleich is the special edition in palomino color and I intend to join the Safari which is a different grey but grey anyway.