The Inspiration:
Zoloworld's awesome Realm of the Underworld action figures (underworldfigures[dot]com) have me back in the custom game, working in the 80's fantasy style of my youth. They are riffing off the old Remco lines that kids could play with alongside their MOTU figures but have developed their own characters and story combining Greek myth and general fantasy. Best of all the figures have interchangeable heads and limbs for customizing!

The Story:
Gronn was once a barbarian warlord who led his horde in vicious lightning raids on villages across the land. His terrible legend grew to the point that even Olympus took notice and Zeus dispatched Hercules to end Gronn’s raids for good. Gronn managed to escape Hercules, but not before his barbarian horde was decimated and Gronn himself was mortally wounded. Near death, Gronn strikes a bargain with Hades – in exchange for service to the underworld, the dark lord suspends collection of Gronn's soul and grants him “half-life”. Neither alive or dead, Gronn is now able to pass freely between the underworld and mortal plane, acting as a general in the Acromancer’s war on the over world (Acromancer is the big bad in ROTU).

The Build:
Totally 80s. I wanted this figure to blend in with both the vintage Remco figures and the new ROTU stuff, so I employed the same vinyl, cloth and cord materials they used back in the day to create his tunic and silver wraps. His head is a chopped and repainted head from a zombie finger puppet. The hood was taken from another 80s line (supernaturals). His axe is a modified axe from one of the many ML Thor figures. The bull skull chest emblem was molded from a ROTU accessory that the Archfiend Skeleton Minions wear.