Yuichiro Hira

Yuichiro Hira (平 雄一郎 Hira Yūichirō) was a Transformers designer at Takara from the start of Beast Wars to the beginning of Energon. He eventually moved into upper-level TakaraTomy management.^[1]

Known Transformers work

Toy design

Beast Wars

Basic Class Airazor Rattrap Insecticon Powerpinch / Scissor Boy Razorclaw / Rockbuster Snarl / Tasmania Kid Spittor / Diver

Deluxe Class Bonecrusher / Bighorn Manterror / Mantis Wolfang

Mega Class B'Boom / Apache Inferno (with Takio Ejima)[2] Polar Claw (w/ robotic bat)

Ultra Class Optimus Primal Tripredacus / Tripledacus (Cicadacon / DJ, Ram Horn / Motorarm, Sea Clamp / Gimlet)

Basic Airazor

Transmetals 2

Basic Class Sonar Spittor Stinkbomb

Deluxe Class Cheetor Iguanus Jawbreaker Prowl Ramulus

Mega Class Blackarachnia Cybershark

Ultra Class Megatron Tigerhawk

Mega Blackarachnia

Beast Machines

Basic Class Buzzsaw Quickstrike

Deluxe Class Beast Changer Blackarachnia Blastcharge Optimus Primal Strika Thrust

Mega Class Cheetor Blast Punch Optimus Primal

Ultra Class Nightscream

Supreme Class Cheetor

Deluxe Strika

Mutant Beast Wars

Car Robots/Robots in Disguise (2001)

Team Bullet Train Rail Racer (Midnight Express, Railspike, and Rapid Run)

Supreme Class Air Attack Optimus Primal

The combined Rail Racer

1-2-3 Transformers

Ultra Rescue Roy / Roy

Ultra Rescue Roy

Armada

Mini-Con Class Destruction Mini-Con Team (Buzzsaw, Drill Bit, Dualor)

Super-Con Class Hot Shot with Jolt Cyclonus with Crumplezone Thrust with Inferno

Roleplay Triple Changer Laserbeak

Super-Con Hot Shot

Playskool Big Adventures

Transformers Go-Bots

Deluxe Speed-Bot II / Mirage-Bot

Deluxe Speed-Bot II

Energon

Energon Class Battle Ravage

Battle Ravage

Cartoon production

• Beast Wars Returns (Executive Producer)
• Galaxy Force (planning)
• Transformers Animated

Notes

• Hira's earliest sign of working for Takara is a 1993 patent for a game that seemed to be a cross between tiddlywinks and pogs.^[3]
• He may have been the lead on Takara's Webdiver series. He designed the main robot Gladion, worked on other toys in the line, and appears on 3 patents relating to Gladion's internal video game system.
• His transition to management occurred around 2004, as he was given an Executive Producer credit on Beast Wars Returns and an executive-level "planning" credit in the Japanese version of the Cybertron anime. He would receive similar high-level credits on the Japanese version of Transformers Animated, as well as Takara's home-grown shows Ryukendo, Metal Fight Beyblade, Rescue Fire, and most recently Cap Kakumei Bottleman.

References