Ah, the Overlord...
You know how, sometimes, you see something that should be awesome – everything about it is cool, and then you put it all together and you just think... No.
Not to date myself, but I’m a child of the ‘80s, back in a time when everyone had a favourite supercar. You either went for...
...a Porche 911...
...a Ferrari F40...
...or a Lamborghini Countach.
Teenage boys in particular would invariably have a poster of one of the three on the wall – usually next to
that picture of the tennis girl.
I was a Countach guy (pronounced koon-tash, incidentally; I was saying cown-tack for years) but I didn’t mind the 911, and indeed I briefly flirted with the idea of getting a Porsche recently, before realising that I’m not
that deep into middle age. Yet.
The F40, though, left me cold – worse than cold, really. The ludicrous spoiler, the long, bulging bonnet, the low ground clearance... Even as a child, I thought it looked childish.
There are many other examples of design that don’t work for me, of course, but the F40 has held on. I just don’t get it, at all. You can, if you wish, buy an F40 for as little as £800,000 nowadays, but even if I won the lottery I’d buy almost any other car first. My opinion of it is now every bit as negative as when I was a child, trying to work out how anyone could favour it over the Countach.
Which, obviously, is a model of restraint and mature, sensible design Fast forward a quarter century and, as I have done so many times over the last few years, I found myself browsing through the Ultrasabers website, looking at all the different hilts. It can take more than one viewing of a hilt to form an opinion on it. The Bane didn’t leap off the screen at me at first, after all, and nowadays I rhapsodise over it.
Still, the Overlord?
I’m sure everyone has their favourites when it comes to the US lineup. Whether it be the Bellicose, the Raven, the Renegade, the Bellicose, the Manticore, the Sentinel, the Bellicose... Everyone likes one or two hilts more than others (Bellicose).
You may, if you spend as much time browsing the site as I have, even form a gut reaction against certain hilts. I mean, I know when I saw the Catalysts with their weedy horned emitter and skinny choke grips, that I was never going to buy one. What possible use could I have for them, right?
And also into that category fell the Overlord. It was less easy to place my finger on what it was that I disliked about the hilt then it was with the Catalysts or, indeed, the F40. Ultimately, I think, I didn’t care for the fluted emitter, or the low-profile pommel.
And then I bought a Dark Catalyst, with the intent of cannibalising it and turning it into a different hilt all together. I bought a Dark Shock emitter and pommel and a Dark Arbiter choke to go with it, all to create the Marauder hilt.
And then I realised how nice Catalysts are, and I bought a second one because... Well, because they’re really nice to wield... and with that purchase, I didn’t get the extra light-sided pieces to make the Watchman counterpart to the Marauder hilt. I’d abandoned the idea because, ultimately, I preferred the Catalysts as they’re made by US.
But then, one day, while browsing the Ultrasabers website again I looked at the Overlord.
I still don’t like the emitter, I thought.
And that pommel... Really?And then an inner voice piped up...
Ah, but you have a spare emitter, and a spare pommel.
Yes, but-Spare. Just... sitting around. Doing nothing. Wasted money.
Well, okay, but using the Dark Shock emitter and pommel on the Overlord? Why not just buy a Dark Shock and be done with it? (And spending even more money to justify buying those spare parts doesn’t make sense).Well then, buy an Archon pommel. Think how nice that’ll look. (And shush).
Yes, but-Think about. Just... think about it...
Listening to your inner voices can be healthy. Just... not to your bank balance.
One thing that surprised me slightly about the Overlord was the length of the hilt. It’s not Bane long, but longer than I was expecting nonetheless. Adding the extra length of the Archon pommel (the Overlord and Dark Shock emitters being much of a muchness) makes it that little bit longer. I don’t have a problem with longer hilts, of course, but I think I understand now why the Overlord has a low profile pommel; For most people, it’d probably be too long otherwise.
13 inches shall be the length. 17 shall be right out... I find the Overlord to be a reasonably well-balanced hilt, not outstanding in its handling, but not so large or heavy that it throws movements off. The ridging of the hilt gives it a decent grip, particularly where the ridging is more intensive. I may never consider it to be a go-to hilt for duelling or spinning, but that’s not what I bought it for.
The Marauder hilt was based on the brutal, clubbing character I used to play on The Old Republic. He was a dual-wielder, but that was fine – I was going to make the Marauder hilt and then the light-side Watchman hilt to go with it (the Watchman being the Marauder’s light side counterpoint in TOR).
When that didn’t happen, I shifted gears. An Overlord with different pieces could still be a watchman’s hilt... with a yellow blade to suit the Sentinel class.
Like so. The Overlord can have quick disconnects fitted, you can put the Emerald driver in it, or even get it in RGB. All good options, but I’m pretty well committed to the quick disconnects option now – I have LED and MLS units for every colour in the US rainbow, after all, and most of them have QDs fitted.
Still, I don’t swap the colours around that often. My Manticore has mainly stayed in silver, my Shock either purple or orange... My Bellicose gets changed around a fair bit, but there are no bad colours on that hilt. Even red looks good on it.
This modified Overlord, though, is likely to stay in yellow. It’s a sentinel’s blade – a watchman’s blade – and sets the wielder out as a seeker of truth and justice.
This isn’t the Watchman hilt I intended to build out of the Catalyst and other parts, but it’s not the Marauder, either. It’s still a light side hilt, even with the black finish (and the anodising matches thoughout, which was a slight concern).
It’s not even the final stage of this hilt. At some point in the next few months, it’s going to be sent off to Drahcir for some fairly thorough wear and weathering, with the intent that it end up looking like a relic, an Old Republic ‘sabre retrieved from an archaeological dig, but still functioning, still the weapon of a Jedi.
So, if not the Marauder, and not the Watchman, then what name to give this once it’s complete? Ultimately, I decided there could only be one choice:
Overwatch.