Thank again to artist Emiliano Santalucia, via his Facebook account, for sharing his Titans Return Overlord Early Sketches.
It is always nice to see this early concept art which let us see part of the creative process of such a great figure. As we can see, the original idea for Overlord was more stylized and with extra details. 2 Titan Masters (Power Masters?) partners were also originally planned.
We are sure you will enjoy the shared images we have mirrored on this news post after the jump. Then, you can let us know your impressions at the 2005 Boards!
Hockeymask
Isn't that what he just said?
Hobbyph
yup I know, but Hasbro released Sky Shadow (Wave 4) before they released Overlord (Wave 5) so it appeared that the latter was a redeco of the former — a pretool indeed
YoungPrime
I didn't even play those games with retail. I pre-ordered my Overlord at BBTS day one.
As for this sketch…..
The only thing I feel my Overlord is missing is that gun and the Ab lasers that fold out. The rest of the sketch in bot mode is a bulky mess IMO.
Omegax80
Ditto. He looks beefed up and intimidating.
MyTea Boc
Beefcake Overlord. I love the version we got for it's G1'ishness but this looks rather spiffy.
Hasbro, release this version and sell me another Overlord, I've room for two!
Starscream Gaga
No, Sky Shadow was a pretool of Overlord. The mold was clearly always intended to be Overlord considering the lower half of both figures are both blatantly Overlord's tank (and, you know, Overlord's the one who has always been a combining jet and tank, not Black Shadow).
Murasame
I like that better
Raiju
The world may never know.
Hobbyph
the TR Overlord toy obviously fell victim to cost cutting thus becoming a Sky Shadow retool mostly focused on the top half of the body. there's a 3P upgrade i think for the lower half to make the legs look bulkier
AutobotAvalanche
Wonder where MMC got that design.
Raiju
Looks almost like MMC's Carnifex with the stylized proportions and detailed greebles.
The Madness
Primarily the inexplicable red pylons within Metro's left shoulder being at a site identified in concept drawings as a city-mode medical bay. They don't serve a clear purpose, but seem to be a heavily eroded leftover of some intended focus. Motifs and stylized elements on the toy also call back to features that were apparently dropped, but that's probably more related to design consistency.
There has to be some tragic backstory with Broadside, where the design team foolheartedly felt they could right past wrongs… Only to be thwarted by a last minute budget cut/supply issue/safety breach. I hope we hear it one day.
Chaotic91
I’m disappointed that the final product didn’t go by this design. It reminds me of all the badass robot designs we got from the Unicron Trilogy days. We need so much more of that.
shamanking282
Wish we had gotten the beefier looking legs on this guy, but otherwise, I'm very happy with what we got.
Mercutio
WOW. …Yeah, can I have this figure instead of the final design? Thanks.
Treadshot 2.0
Off the top, what vestigial elements of Metroplex are you referring to?
Agree wholeheartedly about Broadside. It flat out seems like something went WRONG there. That's THE worst "jet" mode EVER. It's worse than G1 "It's a jet because I say it is"
ZachimusPrime
Hmmm. Definitely better than the actual toy, but it’s weird because the one we got is also fantastic. But screw wether we got this or not, this art is fantastic! I’d love to see this specific one in a comic or new show.
Magneon Sentinel
Very beefy and very stylized! I feel like we’d need a class in between titan and leader for this guy! Maybe supreme class like cybertron and Unicron!
The Madness
I do find this aspect particularly interesting as I agree there are figures that appear to be more forcefully adapted to the line, such as Galvatron. However, without knowing the development process, it's really hard to judge how far into the planning stage this concept was made and for what specific purpose (character selection, proof of concept, first pass, etc). It may have been quite preliminary, though 2015 fits the standard estimate of 2 years development rather well. It's not like the case of Metroplex where vestigial elements on the toy suggest late alterations.
I'm most curious as to Broadside's development, particularly in regards to the 'jet' mode. Something substantial must have happened as there is no way the final result was initially intended. I'm hoping we'll see something similar there.
Kotori Sonoda
This looks badass, but I'm okay with the version we got.