One & Done - OVERLORD (COBRA CONVERGENCE 8)

THE MYSTERY OF OVERLORD!

    "Cobra's new recruits will have the Joes shaking in their boots!" - Overlord, 1990.

COBRA

Dictator Driver - OVERLORD

File Name - Unknown

Birthplace - Unknown

Specialties - Espionage, Accounting, Manipulation, Dictator Driver.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION...

    In 1990, the Cobra agent known as "Overlord"  surfaced out of nowhere, seemingly taking full command of the evil organization.  Shrouded in mystery, little is known about this strange Cobra usurper, and the small amounts of information that DO exist - may not even be true!  Who is he?  Where does he come from?  Where does he really fall in the Cobra hierarchy?  All unclear...

    One popular consideration is that the Overlord was at one point a  high-ranking Crimson Guardsman with an eye towards taking the position of supreme ruler of Cobra for himself.  When Cobra's leadership was at it's most unstable point with Cobra Commander missing or dead, Destro with the Iron Grenadiers, and Serpentor gone... that's when the Overlord struck.

    He is clever and manipulative, yet charismatic.  In fact, it is believed that he alone has the ability to pull together all the "sinister personalities" of Cobra's command back under the same umbrella in order to forge a new, more vicious and deadlier organization than ever before!

    Overlord has his own personal vehicle - the Dictator.  From this vehicle he can oversee battles or issue commands to his troops.  It is a small, one-man vehicle armed with machines guns and 2 surface-to-air missiles.  It can fold in and raise itself above those on foot.  This way he may elevate himself over those below him and give orders.  The Dictator also has a detachable jet pod so he can enter battle from the air or to escape situations that have gotten too far out of control.  

    Eventually, Cobra Commander returned and took back his evil army.  The Overlord's brief reign over Cobra would become buried and largely ignored.  A minor footnote in the history of Cobra.  To this day, still very little is known about him.  Will we ever find out?

THE MYSTERY OF OVERLORD!

    By 1990, I was no longer collecting G.I. Joe.  I was now in high school and it was time to let it go.  Yet in 1993, after I graduated, many of my friends and I returned to collecting.  I had began hunting Joe items from the years I had missed as some could STILL be found on toy shelves  (something that would never happen in this day and age).

    One day, cruising through a little town with not much in it, I noticed a Pamida store.  I went in to check it out and on the top shelf they had the Overlord and the Dictator!!  It was the only Joe item there and I bought it immediately.  But the thought in my head the whole way home was - "who the heck is this guy?"

    The file card inside the box didn't reveal much.  I wasn't buying the "Crimson Guard backstory".  It sounded too similar to the Fred 7 story in the comics.  Unfortunately, Overlord made no media appearances in exception for 2 commercials where he argued with Sgt. Slaughter and introduced some new Cobras!  That was it!

    In the years since, more information has surfaced, but not much.  Apparently, many of the prototype names for this character could all be reorganized into spelling "Cobra Commander".  So it's possible that Overlord was supposed to be a new Cobra Commander.  So why was it changed?

    My personal theory, is that this was intended to be the return of Cobra Commander.  That he basically snuck in the back door and took over his own army.  At this point in the G.I. Joe comic, Cobra was pretty fractured - Serpentor was dead, Destro and Baroness were with the Iron Grenadiers, Cobra Commander was presumed dead and was being impersonated by an imposter, and who knows where Zartan or Major Bludd were...  The part on the file card about "reuniting all the sinister personalities in Cobra" leads me to believe that it would be the TRUE leader of Cobra that would be able to bring the displaced Cobra hierarchy back together!  It's important to note that 1990 was the last year of the Iron Grenadiers and soon Destro and the Baroness would rejoin Cobra.

    If Overlord was intended to be a brand new character taking over the evil terrorist organization, why was there no storyline to go with him?  Think of all the hype when they introduced Destro, or Zartan, or Serpentor!  It was like Hasbro just said "here, have a new Cobra guy", and that was it.

    Whatever the case, it seems Overlord was meant for so much more.  Yet, he got a whole lot of nothing.  I'm curious why they would even bother putting the figure out!  With no fanfare, no nothing.  That's the real question!  What was the point?  They had a great position to launch a great story arc and they just let it fall flat.  Very bizarre!

    I still recall that mysterious feeling when I found this figure.  What was this all about?  The question marks surrounding this figure made the character really intriguing, but the lack of any follow-up was such a lost opportunity.  

    The vehicle is okay.  It would have looked better in another color.  The figure though... that's a tough one.  I think the helmet is cool and I like the claws.  The colors are good, but you have to consider the Iron Grenadiers were still around and he kind of looks like he would hang with them instead.  The figure needed something else though.  First of all, a COBRA SYMBOL in the middle of that blank, orange chest would have been a great place to start!!!  Next, he needed something a little more intimidating then just those claws... some wacky, freaky weapon - like Interrogator's gun.  I don't know... something to make him more intimidating!  All things considered, I'm giving Overlord here a rating of 3 out of 5 Extendable Back-Scratchers!!  Not bad, but Hasbro, if you would have just tried a bit more with this guy, you could have had a real winner on your hands.

    What do you think of the Overlord?  Do you have any theories on his background or ideas on what they could have done with this guy?  Or any behind-the-scenes info?  Let me know what you thought of this bizarre Cobra Leader.

More random thoughts on the mysterious Overlord...

---  When you look at Serpentor and his snake-adorned outfit and vehicle, it was very clear who he was in command of.  Overlord is more vague as he doesn't even have a Cobra symbol anywhere on him...  and his vehicle isn't in Cobra colors either.

---  On the packaging for Overlord, his claws look as if they are mounted on the end of a pole that is attached to his hand.  It looks like a back-scratcher.  Maybe that's how he got command of Cobra???

---  The Crimson Guard backstory on the file card was dull and uninspired.  It was like they weren't even trying.  He clearly wasn't Fred 7 from the comics.  We knew what he looked like.

---  Overlord DID make an appearance as a boss in a 1991 G.I. Joe video game by Nintendo.

---  Will Hasbro get around to making a Classified Overlord figure?  It would be interesting to see what direction they would take with this character...?

---  This has been my contribution  to COBRA CONVERGENCE 8!!!  Check out www.hcc788.com for a full schedule of events!

    (Information on the character's lore was taken from the Sunbow and DIC cartoon series, including the Movie and the figure's original File Card.)