Overlord (G1)
| The name or term "Overlord" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Overlord (disambiguation). |
This article is a featured article, and considered to be one of the most informative on this wiki.
- Overlord is a Decepticon Godmaster from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Autobots quake in fear when Overlord (オーバーロード Ōbārōdo) thunders on to the battlefield. This towering warrior is an amalgamation of the deadliest Decepticon weaponry known, armed with laser blasters and grenade launchers in his stomach, and the terrifying ability to prevent the wounds he inflicts upon his opponents from healing. He is even equipped with an internal arms factory. Overlord is formed from two individual vehicles, a tank and a jet, which combine together to form his colossal robot mode, a heavily-armed advance base, or a larger jet capable of space flight.
He is sometimes known as Gigatron.
Fiction
Japanese Generation 1 continuity
The story of the Overlord begins with the mysterious alien energy-being and self-styled Decepticon god, Devil Z, who schemed to create the ultimate lifeform by merging Transformers and humans into one. Devil Z stole a collection of Transformer Transtectors from the G Nebula and brought them to Earth, where he recruited two human beings, husband and wife Giga and Mega, and charged them with creating an army for him. Mega and Giga were both bonded to the largest Transtector, and together, they became the terrifying Overlord, serving as Devil Z's "Ambassador of Destruction" on Earth.
In this continuity, each of Overlord's two components are piloted by Giga and Mega, and are hence known as the Gigatank and the Megajet. As deadly as his "Chōkon Daemon Blast" lasers and "Chōkon Bolt Masher" grenade launcher are, Overlord has little need for projectile weapons: as a Godmaster, he is capable of manipulating Chōkon Power, and can even employ it to inhibit the regenerative abilities of other Godmasters.
Cartoon continuity
Super God Masterforce cartoon
- Voice actor: Keiichi Noda (Japanese)
Lord Giga: *groan*
Giga and Mega took their Transtectors into battle for the first time after a string of failures that resulted in several of the Godmaster Transtectors falling into the hands of the Autobots. The couple had Hydra and Buster lure Autobot commander Ginrai into the desert, and then confronted him as Overlord, immediately proving their superiority by beating him to near-death. Super Ginrai Gets Blown Away in the Desert!? Believing Ginrai dealt with, Overlord subsequently departed into space, taking control of a weather-monitoring base on the moon in order to rendezvous with the approaching BlackZarak there. Ginrai, however, proved entirely too stubborn to die, and, powered-up through his combination with the freshly-constructed Godbomber drone, soon pursued Overlord and engaged him in battle above the moon's surface. God Ginrai - Into the Sky!! During the fight, Ginrai was blindsided by BlackZarak and sent crashing down to the moon, where he found himself hunted by the two powerful Decepticons. Luckily, the Autobot battleship Grand Maximus arrived to help, and the two Decepticon tried to break off the fight an return to Earth. Ginrai and Grand vowed to stop them, and a shot from Ginrai's God Cannon sent Overlord plummeting back to the moon, forcing Giga and Mega to split into their individual Transtectors to soften their impact and save their lives. The Autobot pair managed to drive BlackZarak back to the moon as well, and the dark Decepticon insisted that Overlord return to Earth alone and inform Devil Z of the situation. Overlord refused, furious that anyone other than Devil Z would presume to give him orders, but when Ginrai and Grand returned to press their attack, he realised the damage he had sustained prevented him from carrying on the fight, and he relented. After Overlord departed for Earth, however, the outnumbered BlackZarak was then beaten by Ginrai and sent fleeing back into the depths of space. God Ginrai - Showdown on the Surface of the Moon
Incensed by this failure, Giga decided to reduce Ginrai's power level by destroying Godbomber. A desert again served as Ginrai and Overlord's battleground, as Overlord used his Chōkon Power to create a massive whirling tornado out of the shifting sands, but when he was thrown off balance by a sneaky God Punch attack, Overlord's "Chōkon Tornado" quickly backfired on him and sent him spinning off wildly through the sky. Overlord - Terror of the Chōkon Tornado Despite this setback, Overlord made another attempt to eliminate Godbomber, this time by separating him from Ginrai with an ambush in the American heartland. In their separate Transtectors, Giga and Mega wore down Ginrai until he no longer had enough Chōkon Power to animate Godbomber, but the plan was foiled when the Autobot Headmaster Juniors discovered they could combine their own energy to control Godbomber themselves. With Ginrai and Godbomber reunited, Overlord was sent packing by a blast of Chōkon Power. Destroy Godbomber!!
Overlord later adopted his base mode for the first time to act as a staging ground for the search for the final Godmaster. The search came to an abruptly end, however, when the Godmaster himself, Clouder, sought out the Decepticons, and the villains decided to use his ability to adopt two robot forms to install him as a double agent within the Autobot ranks. Appearance!! The Final Godmaster Using information fed to them by Clouder, the Decepticons initiated a full-scale attack on the Autobots' headquarters, again using Overlord's base mode as a mobile headquarters from which the assault was masterminded. Secret Orders! Destroy the Autobot Base!! When Ginrai (who had been lured away from the base so the attack to begin) returned to aid his fellow Autobots, Overlord transformed to robot mode and again engaged him in battle, intending to keep him occupied until a Seacon force could destroy the Autobot base from within. Although defeated in combat, Overlord was still able to gloat, as Ginrai failed to realise that he was being stalled until it was too late. Furious at his own short-sightedness, Ginrai hurled Overlord and embedded him, head-first, in the side of the mountain housing the Autobot base. At that moment, the base's magma converter power core finally exploded, and Overlord was sent flying over the horizon by a jet of lava. Disaster! The Autobot Base Explodes
Soon thereafter, BlackZarak returned to Earth, and the Decepticons began "Operation M-1" to cut a swathe of devastation across the Earth. While BlackZarak tore through New York, Overlord landed in the heart of Paris, decimating military resistance and destroying the Arc de Triomphe. With these cities in ruins, the two Decepticons began to converge on Tokyo; while passing over China, Overlord landed on the Great Wall and broadcasted a message to the leaders of the world, warning them to surrender or witness Tokyo's destruction. Overlord then carried on his way, easily defeating Metalhawk, Phoenix and Diver when they attempted to block his path. Overlord and BlackZarak soon arrived in Tokyo, and with no surrender forthcoming, began razing the city. In the midst of the chaos, however, Ginrai and Grand Maximus—who had been trapped in a black hole by BlackZarak, and only just managed to escape—arrived to stop their evil deeds. During the ensuing battle, Ginrai manoeuvred himself between the two Decepticons, and dodged at the last second, causing them to blast each other. With his two most powerful warriors damaged, Devil Z called off Operation M-1, and initiated Operation M-2 BlackZarak - Destroyer from Space which involved destroying the Earth's atmosphere from orbit with the unholy Death Para-Machine. Overlord transformed to his "space jet" mode to carry the Decepticon Headmaster Juniors into space for the operation, but naturally, the Autobots pursued their enemies, and Ginrai was able to destroy the Death Para-Machine before it caused irreparable damage to Earth. Crisis! The Day of Human Extinction
"You do NOT! 'God' outranks 'Overlord'!"
After a battle with Lightfoot in southern Europe, God Ginrai - Save Cancer!? Overlord tried a more underhanded tactic, capturing Autobot Headmaster Junior Shūta Gō, and using him as a bargaining chip to bring Ginrai to the Decepticon base. The battle that followed was distinctly one-sided, as Ginrai was unable to fight back due to Shūta being in danger, but this suddenly took an unexpected turn when Decepticon Junior Cancer turned on his teammates and freed Shūta. Even as the shocked Overlord commanded him to stop, Ginrai got back in the fight, and flattened Overlord before escaping with Shūta and Cancer. God Ginrai: Showdown at the Decepticon Base With the information Cancer provided them, the Autobots were able to stage an all-out attack on the Decepticon base, during which Overlord again battled Ginrai. The fight came to a sudden end when Devil Z merged together with BlackZarak and collapsed the Decepticon base in a failed attempt to destroy the Autobots. The Ultimate Combination!! BlackZarak, the New Lifeform
For a time, Devil Z's hatred of humankind had been steadily growing, and rankled with Giga and Mega, reaching a head when the alien abandoned Wilder and Bullhorn in the ruins of the Decepticon base, and transformed Hydra and Buster into true robots. Battle to the Death!! God Ginrai VS Darkwings Reborn Confronting God Ginrai for one final time in the heart of the Grand Canyon, Overlord vowed to fight him without weapons, battling him only through the use of his physical strength and the power of his human flesh. He didn't explain his motives to Ginrai, but Ginrai observed Overlord's refusal to draw his weapons, and fought honourably. When Grand Maximus arrived on the scene, however, he was not so concerned, and simply shot Overlord out of the sky. Autobots! Desperate Attack!!
After the battle in the Grand Canyon, the Decepticons relocated to the Alps, and the Autobots again gave chase. Overlord was willing to engage the Autobot Godmasters, but the merged Devil Z/BlackZarak entity held him back and instead buried them under an avalanche. Meanwhile, Ginrai again defeated Hydra and Buster, and the two brothers limped back to the peak of the Matterhorn, where Devil Z turned on them for their failure. As their punishment continued, Overlord at last stood up to his emperor and attempted to stop him, only to be on the receiving end of the emperor's wrath. Malevolent and Inhuman! The True Form of Devil Z Unexpectedly, Overlord was rescued by Ginrai, and as the Autobot leader began his final battle with BlackZarak, Giga and Mega realized that they owed him a debt of honor for saving them and finally made the decision to turn against their former master. When Overlord attempted to aid God Ginrai in his battle with BlackZarak, however, they were struck down and enveloped in a sphere of Devil Z's Devil Power. Devil Z separated Mega and Giga from their Transtectors, bringing Overlord to live as a true super-robot lifeform. As their Master-Braces vanished from their wrists, Giga and Mega died, regretting that they could not settle their rivalry with Ginrai honourably. Alas, there was not even time to mourn, as the new, robotic Overlord lunged for Ginrai, but was tackled by Grand Maximus. Ginrai subsequently united his powers with the Headmasters Juniors to finally destroy Devil Z and BlackZarak, and at the sight of his leader being vaporized, Overlord immediately called for the Decepticons to retreat. As they fled into space, the Autobots' Transtectors were also brought to life, as Overlord's had been, by the death of Devil Z, and they took headed into space in pursuit of Overlord's Decepticons. A Battle... and Then...
Victory cartoon
The now-living Overlord Transtector and his followers rejoined the Decepticon forces in space, and Overlord briefly led the Decepticon army before the rise to power of Deathsaurus. Deathsaurus's toy bio Following this, Overlord commanded the Sector Two Decepticon force, based in the G Nebula, where they battled the Autobots under the command of his old foe, God Ginrai. Planet Micro - The Mysterious Warrior
Zone cartoon
- Voice actor: Keiichi Noda (Japanese)
Years later, when the supernatural creature known as Violen Jiger seized command of the Decepticons, his first act was to recruit nine "Demon Generals" from Decepticon history. Overlord was selected to be one of those Generals and was given new power and weaponry to make him an even greater threat than before. At Violen Jiger's instruction, Overlord was sent to the planet Feminia to wreak havoc along with Abominus and Menasor. Together, the three Decepticon Demon Generals destroyed the entire planet and nearly killed Autobot Supreme Commander Victory Saber in the process.
Two-and-a-half months later, Overlord led Menasor, Abominus and Bruticus in an attack on the planet of Zone, gleefully blasting Micromasters and using his trident to slice into Zone Base to retrieve a sample of Energon Z for Decepticon use. With the Micromasters completely unable to harm the Decepticon generals, Overlord left the planet in triumph, handing the Energon Z off to the second group of Generals, who went on to attack Earth, but were stopped by Autobot Powered Master Dai Atlas. Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!
Comic continuity
Super-God Masterforce comic
Giga and Mega debuted their Transtectors in an attack on a city, during which they combined into Overlord and devastated the Autobot Godmasters with their Daemon Blast and Bolt Masher weapons. Blindsided and badly damaged by the newly-created God Ginrai, Overlord was goaded into pursuing the Autobot out into space, where BlackZarak was battling the Autobot Headmasters. As BlackZarak turned to face the approaching Ginrai, the cunning Autobot swiftly ducked out of the way, causing Overlord and BlackZarak to attack each other. Gravely wounded, Overlord returned to Earth, while BlackZarak fled back into space. God Ginrai's Amazing Super-God Combination!
Overlord's base mode was employed by the Decepticon to hold Shūta Gō and Cab prisoner, when they attempted to torture the two boys into becoming members of the Decepticons. Their fellow Autobot Junior, Minerva, came to their rescue when she crashed Godbomber through Overlord's walls and freed them, after which Overlord transformed to robot mode to face the approaching Ginrai and Grand Maximus. It wasn't his best showing: after Ginrai combined with Godbomber, Grand crashed his battleship directly into Overlord's face, and God Ginrai used the Headmaster's "Master Blade" to slice off Overlord's legs. Their Transtectors forcibly separated, the battered Giga and Mega escaped. The Earth Family of Good and Evil
From the top of Qomolangma, Overlord rained destruction down on the world using the Decepticons' newest weapon, the A.O. Laser. When Ginrai and Godbomber arrived to stop him, Overlord turned the laser on them; they dodged, but they had failed to observe the presence of the Decepticons' newest member, the Godmaster Clouder, who reflected the laser beam back at them and knocked them out of the sky. Unfortunately for Overlord, a chance comment from Cancer insulting Clouder's falcon mode plunged the Godmaster into such a rage that he turned on his Decepticon allies and blew up the A.O. Laser in Overlord's hands. Although Ginrai had been temporarily blinded by the A.O. Laser, the Headmaster Juniors were able to serve as his eyes and point him in the right direction to unleash his "God Punch" attack, which clobbered Overlord so hard that Giga and Mega actually popped out of his chest. Decepticons' Great Counterattack!
Soon thereafter, when the Autobots were off-Earth visiting their space-based allies, BlackZarak was able to return to Earth, and he and Overlord took the opportunity to attack a city. The Autobots soon returned with, and Ginrai and Godbomber grappled with Overlord, forcing him to separate back into the Megajet and Gigatank. The two Autobots clung onto the separate Transtectors, however, refusing to let them escape, as they waited for the new weapon they had brought back from space, the VX Bomb to detonate. The explosion came seconds later, knocking Mega and Giga's Transtectors offline, but Ginrai and Godbomber survived by combining into God Ginrai. Live? Die?! The Desperate Super-God Combination
When BlackZarak attacked a city, Cancer happened to be here, and BlackZarak showed his disdain for humans by using the boy as a bargaining chip to prevent the Autobots from interfering with his deviltry. Horrified at this treatment of Cancer, Overlord viciously attacked BlackZarak, rescuing Cancer from his grip, but while they were fighting, it allowed the Autobots to take down both of them. Great Turn-Around! Autobots
In light of this act of treachery by Overlord, it was perhaps not surprising that in the midst of his next battle with Ginrai, Overlord himself was the subject of a betrayal. In an attempt to transform himself into the ultimate lifeform, Devil Z fused with BlackZarak, and then turned on Overlord and the Decepticon Headmaster Juniors, attempting to drain theirs and Ginrai's Jinchōkon and take it for his own. They were saved by the Autobot Pretenders, who blocked the Jinchōkon-absorbing beam, and Overlord decided to join with the Autobots in defeating Devil Z. Overlord joined with all the other Transformers in combining their energies into the "Perfect Transform Attack", which finally destroyed BlackZarak and Devil Z once and for all. With the alien's death, the Transformers' Transtectors were brought to life as true super-robot lifeforms, Overlord's included. Alas, Devil Z's energies had also been sustaining the lives of Giga and Mega, and his death also resulted in theirs. The now-living Overlord and Ginrai Transtectors decided to take their troops back into space, where Overlord vowed to defeat Ginrai in memory of Mega and Giga, and for the honor of the Decepticons. The Birth of the Super Lifeforms
Zone comic and story pages
Years after the end of the Masterforce War, Overlord was among the Decepticons recruited by the new Decepticon emperor Violen Jiger to become the strongest of his Nine Great Demon Generals. In addition to his new title of "Super-God General", Overlord was outfitted with new armor and weapons that made him even more dangerous than before. Zone Part 1
One month after the Demon Generals destroyed the planet Feminia, apparently taking the life of the Autobot Supreme Commander Victory Saber in the process, Overlord led Menasor, Bruticus and Abominus in an attack on the planet Zone, where they successfully stole a sample of the super-energy, Energon Z. When the Zone Base transformed into battle mode and opened fire on the Decepticons, Overlord called retreat, seeing no need to stay and fight when the prize was already theirs. Overlord then handed the Energon Z off to the second platoon of generals, who subsequently headed for Earth, but were defeated in battle there by the Decepticon Powered Master Dai Atlas. Transformers: Zone
It wasn't long before Overlord got his own chance to go up against Dai Atlas, but the Powered Master didn't think much of this so-called "Strongest of the Generals," aiming to finish their battle in under eight seconds. Whether or not he achieved this lofty goal is unknown, but he did lay out Overlord with his powerful "Galactic Dash" attack. Zone Part 6
The Generals later schooled Metrotitan and the Metrosquad in the ways of evil, making them formidable foes for the Powered Masters. Zone Part 7
Transformers PD Type
During a battle between Overlord and Super Ginrai, the Autobot Godmaster prepared to attack with Chokon Power. When he raised his hands to summon Tenchokon, however, he was struck by a bolt of lightning, causing Overlord to smirk that the weather wasn't looking too good. Fight! Super Ginrai!!
Sitting in a field, watching the clouds float by, Overlord started to wonder what he was doing with his life and decided he needed a day off to reflect on his lot. Unfortunately, he had chosen to sit down and have this epiphany in the middle of a huge battle, and Megatron began shouting at him to get back up and join the fight. Oh, Overlord
European toy bio continuity
A legend by virtue of his very existence, Overlord is the ultimate Decepticon anti-hero. Emerging to join the Transformers' war at some undetermined point in space and time, Overlord fights alone on the battlefield despite his Decepticon allegiance, a monolithic horror born of "advanced robotic engineering" whose special abilities—including the power to travel across dimensions—come from the "Energon figures" that operate his multiple functions.
To counter the monstrous threat posed by this powerful new breed of Decepticon, the Autobots developed their own new team of warriors, the Motorvators, emulating Overlord's Energon figure technology to make the trio a match for his awesome power.[1][2]
Dreamwave Generation 1 comics
Gigatron was an ancient Cybertronian, who developed an idea to allow Decepticons to survive on alien planets by biologically integrating local inhabitants into their systems. In modern times, Gigatron's records were uncovered and used to develop the Powermaster process. More than Meets the Eye #8
IDW Generation 1 comics
| “ | A good strategist is half psychologist and half sadist. And I was the best. | ” |
—Overlord, Last Stand of the Wreckers #3 | ||
In the days before the Cybertronian civil war, Overlord was an avid spectator of Megatron's gladiatorial matches. Like many, this led him to join the charismatic pit fighter's army and bear the badge of the Decepticons. Megatron Origin #2 However, Overlord was enthralled not with the loftiness of the Decepticon cause that Megatron espoused, but with the glorious excess of the gladiator battles and the freedom of making entire worlds his arena. To Overlord, the ends didn't matter overly much when the means themselves were this pleasurable. As a result his tactics developed a reputation as unsound, and his schemes as nothing more than flights of brutal whimsy. Unlike many other powerful Decepticons, he had no interest in command, only in taking his slaughter to the next stage. Megatron was not convinced, however, believing the image of Overlord as simply interested in killing to be a façade, and began searching for a way to exert greater control over him.
During the early years of the war, Overlord was embroiled in battle on Caldoon 4 when he was called to a teleconference with Megatron, who announced that Overlord would join Sixshot and Black Shadow as the "phase sixers" in his new infiltration protocol. Dissatisfied with being declared a weapon that operated at someone else's whim, Overlord contested his appointment, and Megatron gave him two options: do as he was told, or refuse and have Megatron hunt him down. Overlord made his choice quickly, returning to the battle outside and dispatching every Autobot save one—Kup—who he allowed to survive so a message could be sent to Megatron: Overlord had chosen option two. He proceeded to leave Caldoon 4 to plan for Megatron's inevitable coming, Last Stand of the Wreckers #2 but soon discovered that at some point, Shockwave had infected him with an Achilles virus on Megatron's command, giving Overlord a "tactical blindspot" that prevented him from figuring out how to harm Megatron. Last Stand of the Wreckers #3
Some time later, Overlord engaged in battle with an emperor of a star system that had developed interstellar travel and weapons of similar technology level. Finding himself in over his head, he recruited the aid of Gorelock's Decepticon battalion from Spensifax B, and the resulting battle was estimated by science officer Vivisector to have put the technological development of the empire back an estimated 250,000 years. Gorelock's prisoner clemency request
At the height of the cross-galactic Decepticon uprising, Overlord arrived at Garrus-9 in the midst of the Decepticon siege of the prison, and casually murdered garrison leader Skyquake when he refused to turn command over to him. Intending to turn Garrus-9 into his home away from home, Overlord personally defeated warden Fortress Maximus and threw him to the crowd of Decepticon prisoners he had freed as a show of good faith. Last Stand of the Wreckers #1 Overlord was not done with Maximus, though, later imprisoning him and personally torturing him for information on the Aequitas computer hidden in the bowls of Garrus-9, and the mysterious secret of the prison that the computer had been created to hide. Maximus refused to give up the passcodes to the device's chamber even after Overlord threatened to kill an Autobot for every second that he withheld them. Interiors
"No, I expect you to die and be a cheap funeral".
During his time in command of Garrus-9, Overlord turn the prison into a huge gladiatorial arena, and had the prisoners fight for their lives with the promise that victory meant freedom. This was, of course, a lie; those who won in twelve bouts were offered the choice of facing Overlord himself or committing suicide. Overlord forced the imprisoned Grimlock to watch footage of both these matches and the sacking of the prison, possibly driving him insane. Last Stand of the Wreckers #4 After a year of this, some of the Decepticons began to have doubts about their sadistic leader; Fearswoop was lucky to survive when he questioned Overlord's lack of sportsmanship, but Wingblazer and his partner were not so fortunate when they let an Autobot prisoner get the better of them during a hunt, and Overlord killed them for their carelessness. Last Stand of the Wreckers #1 Around this time, Overlord also released Shockwave from confinement and let him leave in return for the Achilles Virus being removed. Shockwave could tell that all Overlord was doing with Garrus-9 was trying to get Megatron's attention, though Overlord denied it. Last Stand of the Wreckers #3
Two years later, Overlord and his Decepticons watched the captive Autobot Kick-Off battle the Decepticon Borehole for his amusement. Kick-Off triumphed and was taken to Overlord's quarters Last Stand of the Wreckers #1 where he was offered the customary choice; Last stand of the Wreckers #4 he evidently opted to fight Overlord, give the brutalized state of his body when it was later found. Last Stand of the Wreckers #3
Not long thereafter, the Autobot strike team known as the Wreckers arrived to liberate Garrus-9, breaking through the planetary defenses inside escape pods, one of which crashed into the gladiatorial arena chamber right in front of Overlord's feet. Last Stand of the Wreckers #2 Although disappointed to discover that the new arrivals were Autobots, rather than Decepticons sent by Megatron, Overlord was amused by the joke made by Rotorstorm about Wreckers combining... right before he put a gun between Rotorstorm's optics and shot him through the head. The Wreckers turned down Overlord's proposal of surrender but were unable to injure him, and escaped into the prison by detonating a fuel tank to cover their withdrawal. Last Stand of the Wreckers #3
With help from the Decepticon Snare, who had come to believe that the Decepticons on Garrus-9 were as trapped by Overlord as the Autobots were, the Wreckers regrouped with the rest of their team and established a new mission objective: kill Overlord. They did not have to hunt him down, however, as he soon arrived to take them on. Last Stand of the Wreckers #4 The fight quickly made its way to the rooftop of Garrus-9, where Guzzle was torn in half and used to dispatch Kup. A harpoon through the eye courtesy of Impactor barely fazed Overlord, who delivered a defeat more crushing than any beating: the Autobot prisoners the Wreckers had come to liberate had all been executed on his orders already. Perceptor, Ironfist, and human ally Verity Carlo soon arrived to join the fight, bringing with them a huge chaingun-like weapon that Springer emptied into Overlord. The Decepticon shrugged off even its massive payload and slapped Springer to the ground, removing most of his face, before quickly dispatching Perceptor. Rounding on Ironfist, Overlord was amused by the small Autobot's warning not to get any closer, but Ironfist was quick to explain: Springer had shot Overlord with thousands of deterrence chips, which Ironfist then remotely detonated, reducing Overlord to a flaming, yet still-functional skeleton.
Ironfist fell unconscious, leaving only Verity to hear Overlord's wrathful ranting, as he demanded to know how he could meet a challenge from Megatron in this sorry state. Realizing this what what Overlord had longed for all along, Verity dropped the bomb: Megatron was dead. Overlord was stunned by the realization that while he had dedicated every waking hour of his existence to his supposedly inevitable fight with Megatron, the Decepticon leader had never cared, and would never come. He put up no resistance when Impactor recovered, but Impactor refused to kill Overlord, for Springer's sake, and promised to take him in to face justice. Last Stand of the Wreckers #5
Several years later, Rung claimed Overlord had been completely disassembled and his spark placed in a whiteout vacuum on Cybertron. Unfortunately this was not the whole truth. Red Alert started hearing voices in the depths of the Lost Light. Stealing a drill, he tunneled into the base of the ship, revealing a huge chamber, in which a trapped, reconstructed but disarmed Overlord continually begged for someone to kill him. Interiors
Classics
Long ago, Gigatron, the Overlord, grew restless in his duties at Darkmount, and forfeited his throne to Straxus. His psychotic craving for power led him to scour the universe, ultimately leading him to Earth.
Gigatron crashlanded in Japan, where he adopted a robot form resembling a shogun and an M1 Abrams tank altmode. With most of Earth's Decepticons offplanet with Megatron, he was able to gather a small army of ten warriors, and he would infrequently clash with Metalhawk and his fellow Earthbound Autobots. Once, Gigatron searched in Kitakyushu for Musashi's sword, but legends of the sword's strength were exaggerated.
Soon, Gigatron had set his sights on another potential source of power, Rarified Energon. The Autobots had been guarding it for a period of time, and had been moving it frequently to keep it out of the hands of the Decepticons. But Gigatron discovered that the Rarified Energon had been moved to Ironworks, and effortlessly battled through an army of RUNTs to reach the Autobot station. There, he fought Metalhawk, and he and his Decepticons were forced to retreat. Invasion Prologue
Gigatron continued to keep vigil over Ironworks, however, and when Spinister brought him news of a skirmish involving heroic Decepticons and evil Autobots, Gigatron knew it was time to strike! With this distraction, they could easily take the Rarified Energon hidden in the vaults for themselves.
Once it was discovered that the evil Autobots were also after the Rarified Energon, Gigatron refused to be out-conquered. He and the majority of his troops came to the rescue of Sir Soundwave, who was about to get assimilated by Junkions. Aiming to show these heroic Decepticons how it's done, he set Soundwave loose and continued battling the Junkions.
What Gigatron did not know was that the evil Autobots, led by Ultra Magnus, intended to warp this iteration of Earth to their own universe's Cybertron, destroying it in the process. Though Sir Soundwave was able to expand the force field surrounding the evil Autobots' machinery large enough to protect the entire planet, saving Gigatron and his troops, no one foresaw the true scale of Magnus's intentions. And so as Earth neared the alternate universe Cybertron, its entire dimension was destroyed behind them, leaving Gigatron and the rest of his Earth's citizens the last remnants of their universe.
Gigatron and the others were unsurprisingly distraught, so the Bard of Darkmount recited for them a hopeful poem. Invasion
Toys
Super-God Masterforce
- Overlord (Godmaster, 1988)
- Japanese ID number: D-307
Not to be confused with Blackstar's nemesis. - Accessories: Giga and Mega Godmaster engines, "Transtector Destroyer Cannon", three missiles, tank barrel, two ramps/shin guards, central ramp, two radar arrays, double-barreled laser, rocket launcher, car
- Japanese ID number: D-307
- Overlord consists of two vehicles, the Gigatank and the Megajet, which are able to combine together to form a robot mode or a base mode. Like any Godmaster (or Powermaster), Overlord is only able to transform when the Giga and Mega Godmaster figures are transformed into engine mode and snapped into place in the sockets on top of the vehicles. Inserting Giga into the tank splits it in half to form legs for robot mode, or alternately, the left and right emplacements of the base (the left containing a fold-out twin cannon, the right a poseable claw arm). Fitting Mega into the jet, meanwhile, unlocks the toy's shoulder articulation for robot mode and its fold-out launchpad for base mode. Once the toy is in robot mode, the figures can be removed from their sockets and fitted into two further ports hidden beneath doors on his chest, which unlock the multi-barreled "Chōkon Daemon Blast" and spring-loaded "Chōkon Bolt Masher" weapons that pop out of his stomach. One figure can also fit into the Roller-style car that comes with the set.
- There is, unfortunately, not one mode that uses all of Overlord's many accessories. Standing approximately 15" in robot mode, Overlord is taller than most Transformer toys, though certainly not all.
- Overlord's instructions do not feature the additional large jet mode seen in the animated series and manga, as it (like Sixshot's "Wingwolf" mode or BlackZarak's "Dakatsu" mode) was created by the production staff after fiddling around with the toy itself. As such, it's entirely possible to put the toy in this form, although it doesn't rest evenly on a flat surface.
Generation 1
- Overlord (1991)
- Initially exclusive to Japan, Overlord's toy was later released in Europe and Australasia with a different shade of purple plastic.
Timelines
- Invasion (BotCon 2012 box set)
- Timelines Gigatron is a redeco/retool of Revenge of the Fallen Voyager Class Bludgeon, sporting a new head. Gigatron transforms from a Japanese Type 90 tank into a samurai-esque robot mode. He features a flexible plastic sword which is made out of a portion of the barrel of the tank's main gun as well as a smaller dagger. The dagger can be stored in a sheath which is revealed from inside the tank turret, and both blades can be slotted in holes provided on the robot mode's left hip guard. Additionally, the dagger's handle can fit in the base of the sword's handle, forming a double-bladed weapon. He has Mech Alive gimmicks in his thighs and turret: Sculpted cylinders in his thighs rotate whenever his lower legs are rotated, and that pulling his turret open makes a sculpted "disc" at the center rotate while a scabbard for the tantō hinges over to the side and props itself up for use.
- The vehicle mode is one of the very few Transformer tank toys with rubber components to its treads. Portions of the tread links can unlock, allowing them to hang from the robot mode, while the wheels of the treads are integrated separately into the robot mode form itself. The treads still do not function realistically; small plastic wheels on the underside of the treads help the tank mode roll, as is standard with nearly all Transformer tank toys.
- The original version of this mold was redecoed into Transformers Banzaitron, and it was differently retooled to make Generations Megatron.
- Gigatron was released in a box set with Ultra Magnus, Tracks, Treadshot, Soundwave, and Metalhawk.
Merchandise
Parody Deformed
- Overlord (1990)
- A small blue and white, non-transforming super deformed model kit of Overlord was available as part of Kabaya's "Parody Deformed" line of candy toys. The eighth figure in the series, he came with a "Transformers PD Type" comic about himself, "Oh, Overlord", and something that could charitably be described as "chocolate".
Super Collection Figure
- Overlord (2001)
- A PVC figure of Overlord was part of the Super-God Masterforce-centric fifth act of Takara's Super Collection Figure series, available in both full colour and metallic silver "pewter" in an equal ratio of one each per case of twelve figures. In eight out of every ten cases, the pewter version of Overlord came packaged with the right leg of the wave's "build-a-figure", BlackZarak, itself also available in full color and pewter versions.
- The colour version of his figure was later released in the fourth wave of Hasbro's Heroes of Cybertron, under the new name of Gigatron.
Heroes of Cybertron
- Powermaster Gigatron (2003)
- Gigatron is a slightly-altered version of the Super Collection Figure Overlord PVC, featuring rounded-off shoulder-cones for safety reasons, plus he used the standard "all clear-red-plastic painted over" coloring process to give him light-piped eyes. He came with the left arm of Fortress Maximus build-a-figurine.
Notes
- Overlord was a new character created for the 1988 Japanese Super God Masterforce series. While all his fellow Godmasters had American Powermaster counterpart characters (Ginrai had Optimus Prime, Lightfoot had Getaway, and so forth), Overlord's counterpart came later in the form of a 1991 European and Australasian exclusive. The bio of this figure stated that he was a dimension-hopper, which leaves the door open for him being the Masterforce character who jumped dimensions into the European toy bio continuity. Overlord did not have an American counterpart until 2003, when the Heroes of Cybertron line introduced "Gigatron". However, the little-known nature of this character (existing as he did only as an obscure PVC figurine), coupled with the fact that Overlord had been around for fifteen years already, meant that the idea of a Powermaster named Gigatron who existed as a separate character from the Godmaster Overlord didn't really catch on. Surprisingly, Dreamwave stuck with the formula in their More Than Meets The Eye series, briefly mentioning the character as the originator of the Powermaster process, but when the non-Godmaster version of the character appeared again a few years later in IDW Publishing's Last Stand of the Wreckers series, he was "Overlord" once more. With this, there seems little point in distinguishing between the two characters (different as they are), and as such they are included in this article together.
- Early during pre-production for Masterforce, Overlord was named Leviathan. This was almost certainly a name based in series creator Masumi Kaneda's desire to sprinkle the series with assorted Biblical allegories; the name-change is fairly symptomatic of how these references wound up being downplayed to the point of near-total obfuscation in the finished show.
References
External links
- Powermaster Gigatron's tech-specs at TFW2005.com
