>>6667584Overlord was a G1 character that was only released in Japan; most US fans know him only from the IDW comics.
G1 Overlord was a double powermaster that served as a front man for the Masterforce era Decepticons, taking orders from the disembodied energy being known as Devil Z. Masterforce treated Powermasters as mech suit beings with the humans that turn into engines being the brains. Overlord's two Powermasters were a husband and wife pair; Japanese yuppies who Devil Z saved when their ship sunk in the Pacific Ocean.
The husband was your typical Japanese corporation executive and his wife was a child-obsessed barren 40-something who dabbled in magic/fortune telling.
They were bad guys but had their good side, in that they adopted orphans to be the Decepticon Headmasters (Squeezeplay, Fangry, and Horribull) and treated them quite well, even when they ultimately turned on them to help the Autobots beat Devil Z.
In the IDW comics, Overlord is the complete opposite. He's a violent edgelord sadist who was one of several Decepticons (dubbed Phase Sixers; due to the fact that they only got deployed at the very end of conquest of a planet, to kill any remaining resistance to Decepticon invasion forces).
IDW Overlord thought that the creation of the Phase Six squad was done explicitly to punish Overlord for being a threat to Megatron's rule and refused to be part of the group. He went AWOL and ultimately took over an Autobot prison planet that was under Decepticon siege, with the Decepticons becoming his army after he killed their commander and maimed/tortured Fortress Maximus in hopes to draw Megatron to the planet for a final showdown.
As such, Overlord is like the boogyman. When he shows up, people die and die violently.
