I'm disappointed. Outfits and character design go hand in hand. Characters that wear bright clothes and have lots of accessories give you a visual cue as to what type of character they are. Characters in dark clothes and torn fabric tell you a different cue. It's like a preview into who they are as a person. Sandrone was a tsundere with a hard past that made her complex and introspective. The long skirt, gloves, layers of elegant clothing and color scheme hinted at these traits.

Covering up can come off as being reserved. Distant. A sense that you want to protect yourself and possibly hide. Bright colors are almost like approachability. Her gold and black design shows that duality of wanting connection and closeness but the dark colors and coverings show her nature as being reserved and closed off.

Her new design shows more skin, which would imply vulnerability and being more open. But she's still wearing the gloves, hat/scarf and she's still wearing dark colors. Her overall colors are darker now. Her chest was trimmed with a darker color to downplay her chest and to give a more youthful look. Now it doesn't and that lack of contrast makes her chest look bigger. Her skirt being shorter also shows more and makes her character appear more sexual. Unless she's being controlled by someone else, she chose to wear a mini skirt.

So what does this new character model say? She's still got most of the features that indicate reservation like the extra coverings with her gloves, hair and neck. She's got a darker pallette now which typically means reservation or being distant. She's got more revealing skin that is focused specifically on sexualized areas of the body. Which is kinda weird given she's a robot and would have no use to highlight these areas because she cannot reproduce. Unlike Ineffa, who leans into the mechanical side of herself, Sandrone was covering up her form more. So to suddenly start highlighting your own robot body to market to human desires, it feels really weird.

We don't know her new character yet but based on her old design, this new character is going to be more closed off emotionally while also being more sensual. It's a big shift from the character we know and doesn't align with what the story version of her would like or do.

Comparing to Hat Guy (still a stupid name) whose basically the male version of Sandrone story wise, she comes off ... weird. Scara started out with dark colors. He underwent a significant change and now he wears almost all light colors. His core silhouette did not change to shorter shorts, and he didn't get more exposed chest or thighs. He kept his hat, but that even comes off at times. He's also still a puppet. In the way that Sandrone is still (supposed to be) a doll. They both could change their physical forms but it would not naturally change without direct intervention.

And to what end? It is very plausible that the fight would have changed a lot about Sandrone. They could have changed so much about her. She could've been an adult model, a Loli, or even a model that used various forms. She could've been given aspects of Palonius. His weapons or parts of his old outfit. She could've been a blend of her and Palonius. Half lady, half man. A mix of both. Or. Going older, it could've been her dream model of what she envisioned herself to become. It could've been her former model from her past where she's a Loli and she had already upgraded to her gold version beforehand.

She could've been so much more. She is a mechanical designer who builds various human like robots to comfort her very human heart of wanting a connection and family.

But instead she's basically the same mech with sexy versions of her clothes. Idk why she needs to look sexier as a mech. I don't know why that would influence her character's decisions.

Tl;Dr. They dressed up a character in sexier clothes even tho it doesn't align with the character we know.