Getting the last few Transformers in a series are nearly always tricky. In this case, there were three released at the end of the Titans Returns series if figures: Overlord, Slugslinger, and Ramhorn. One Leader Class, one Deluxe Class, and one Titan Master. I had good luck with the first two, but I am still having trouble getting my hands on Ramhorn. And that little guy will continue to evade me for a while I am sure.

Overlord is free with a little help from Sky Shadow. Generally as we move through waves of Transformers, we start to see redecos (paint) and retools (body work). These two share some similar components, so let’s take a look at them side by side.

Well, the lower body is the same. The legs up to the torso are just repainted. The torsos are not the same. They both have the wheel, but even that is not in the same place. It is clear moving up the body that there are some very big changes that took place to make Overlord.
The entire top part of the body is all new. I think they share hands, and the internal workings of the elbow section of the arms.

From the back, the differences are even more apparent. They do share a few similarities back there, like the folding out of the jets at the bottom of the back, but the entire nose section of the jet has been redone. Where Sky Shadow’s jet folded back, Overlord can wear nearly all of the cockpit on his shoulder. That is very much how he worked as his G1 Transformer as well.

Overlord still has the great articulation that we have seen in the Titans Returns line. Even more so with these two, since their feet roll at the ankles, to keep their feet planted firmly on the ground.

The directions did not mention that there are two doors in Overlord’s chest. These open to reveal two slots for Titan Masters or Prime Masters (can you imagine this guy running around with the power of two Prime Masters? Yikes!!). The fit of the heads is SUPER tight, and the doors don’t close.

Overlord is teamed up with Dreadnaut. He is a retool of Sky Shadow’s Titan Master, Ominus. He has a new head, arms and legs, based on the G1 box art.

Transforming these Leaders into vehicle mode is a lot of fun. We get a 2-for-1 deal with a jet and a tank. Unlike Sky Shadow that is red and black with a touch of other colors, Overlord does not match both vehicles very well. There is a lot of black on the jet, but almost none on the tank, instead going for the blue, teal, white and purple of the jet’s engines.

Comparing Sky Shadow and Overlord, you can really see where the similarities (tanks) and differences (jets) lie.

Back in the G1 cartoon, Overlord had a super long jet mode. This was apparently designed when the production staff was playing around with the toy and figured out the tank can transform and stay on the jet. Well, it has happened again. There are no directions for the long jet mode, but it is possible. There are some big gaps in the leg areas toward the back.

You might think that if Overlord can have a long jet mode, than Sky Shadow can too. Well, I wondered about that and found that it cannot work. Sky Shadow actually has longer arms that do not allow the hips to fold the thighs into a horizontal position.

Then there is the connection between the jet and the tank. Sky Shadow had a door that opened in the bottom of the jet (his chest) that revealed a clip to allow the jet to pick up the tank and fly around as a pair. There is no such port on Overlord. Instead the two chest doors of Overlord open and the two door latches act as hooks on either side of the tank’s turret to lift the tank off the ground.

The problem is that they do not lock into place. So, it does not really work as well as it does with Sky Shadow, where you can zoom the pait around without the tank falling off.

But since the two tanks are the same, the two jets can switch places and pick up either tank. They both have the clip for Sky Shadow, as well as the two indents for Overlord’s doors.

On to the base mode. All Leader Class figures can turn into a base. And as we have seen with the rest of Overlord, the transformations look a little similar, but there are some big differences. Overlord folds at the hips, so his torso is sticking up in the air. With Sky Shadow, the fold for the tower is the nose section of the jet, so he is pretty much laying down with a tower over his head. Overlord’s arms are a part of the tower, while Sky Shadow’s arms are an extension of the ground portion of the base.

I knew Overlord was a retool of Sky Shadow, but I am hugely impressed by how much of a retool he really was. These are two very different robots with a couple of similarities. It seems that Hasbro really did release these figures in the order of how good they are. We got one that was great, like Sky Shadow. Then they release one in a later wave that is just a little bit better. These are a couple of really great figures. A few more to go in the Titans Returns line. I have Slugslinger, and then it is the hunt for Ramhorn. And of course we are knee deep in the first Wave of Power of the Primes. I have some Voyager Class figures to look at while I am hunting down the first of the Leader Class figures. Lots more to come.