The Story:
Goliath is a gift to Hercules (the figure riding him) from Zeus, after the hero proves himself worthy. Hercules’ courage and strength are unquestionable but it takes more to be a true hero. Goliath is sent to Hercules disguised as “Goli”, a baby black rhino. With little explanation, Zeus asks Hercules to safeguard the rhino calf through the Forest of Woe and to the top of the Mountain of Despair. At first Hercules finds the task beneath him and is embarrassed that Zeus has reduced the world’s greatest hero to a baby sitter.

During the journey, Hercules faces ridicule from friend and foe and fights several battles to keep Goli safe from beasts and bandits. In the end, the hero has forged a bond with the calf and acquired a new sense of humility and empathy – which is exactly what Zeus wanted. Zeus rewards Hercules by revealing Goliath’s true form, that of a mighty, mystically enhanced rhino, trained as a warmount by the finest Olympian stable masters.

The Inspiration:
I recently found out about a great new retro inspired line of fantasy figures called Realm of the Underworld (ROTU). They look like the Remco figures made back in the 80's that were marketed as a supplemental line to Mattel's Masters of the Universe.

What I love about Zoloword’s ROTU is it takes me back to the days where the characters are fresh and open to individual interpretation. There is a loose storyline and connective tissue binding the characters but imagination is king. Proof of that is the aspect of interchangeable parts – for customizers like us, this is a dream scenario: a brilliant figure buck with easy to swap parts. I’m slowly building up a little army of supplemental characters of my own design to fill out my ROTU roster. The Zoloworld team is really on to something special here and they’ll have my support for every wave of this line. Check them out at: underworldfigures(dot)com.

The Build:
Hercules needed a steed befitting his legendary power. Horses are kinda bland and tigers were taken, so I decided to modify a vintage Rhino Avenger figure from the 80's. This was a knock off figure that your Remco or MOTU figures could ride. The figure is made of hard vinyl, so I used vinyl dye instead of paint to re-color him from brown to gray. The dye is absorbed into the figure so paint rub is non existent. I used a base coat of deep gray dye with oversprays of black dye. I painted his eyes the same blue as the Hercules figure since they are both drawing on power from Zeus.