Hirofumi Ichikawa

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Every hair in his beard is a Binaltech spin-off.

Hirofumi Ichikawa (市川 裕文 Ichikawa Hirofumi) is a Japanese author, illustrator and toy designer perhaps best known as the architect of the high-concept Binaltech and Alternity franchises. He's a noted old-school Transformers fan who made the jump to working on the brand in an official capacity for TakaraTomy at the turn of the twenty first century. A furiously prolific renaissance man, he somehow found time while crafting his licensed car magnum opus to work as a mecha designer (broadly, concept artist) on the Unicron Trilogy toylines, create the decoes and bios for boutique TakaraTomy affiliate e-HOBBY's series of retro toylines and, notably, participate as one of a very select group of Japanese creators to coordinate their own collector-oriented fiction with the crew behind the western BotCon. Nowadays, he continues to contribute design work to the Generations mega-brand as well as being tapped by TakaraTomy to compose prose stories and bios for the Masterpiece and Missing Link toylines, amongst others.

In his fandom days, he wrote numerous fan-comics and magazines (called dōjinshi in Japan), mainly focusing on introducing Japanese fans to the Hasbro/American version of Transformers and the concepts and characters within. Among them was a very indignant magazine decrying the "funny" dub of Beast Wars that was presented in Japan, as it had removed much of the "serious sci-fi" edge that had made the show immensely popular with the English-speaking fanbase. But perhaps his most well known pre-official work is Transformers Chronicles, a sort of "bridge" story for his take on the lead-up to Generation 2. Though this book was translated to English, it has unfortunately long since sold through its short run. Its influence can be seen to live on, however, in his heavily Marvel-inspired Masterpiece storylines.

Ichikawa's art style is toy-based; his Transformers almost always have the toy's proportions and detailing down exactly, not approximations or "influenced" altered cartoon models. The only changes made are there to make them more "realistic" by adding in joints for motion that the toys may lack. These joints are always very realistic in terms of mechanical detailing of the pistons and rotating joints necessary for real-life machines, similar to the mechanical detailing artist E. J. Su employs. In terms of story, Ichikawa has a definite preference for the Western take of Transformers, enjoying its more sci-fi-oriented and older-aimed feel, though he eschews the more metaphysical/mystical aspects of the fiction, especially Primus.

Outside of the Transformers brand, some of Ichikawa's other noteworthy licensed work has included working as a translator for various western comics, writing, illustrating, and coloring the X-Men '92 adaptation X-Men: The Manga, and creating promotional art for the Capcom title Marvel Super Heroes in the 90s arcade magazine Gamest. In the creator-owned sphere, he is best known as the author of the original series Boldor The Invisible Neighbour in the Bandai-sponsored sci-fi magazine Cyber Comix (now Dengeki Daioh). As he has stepped back from working on the Transformers brand full time in recent years, he has shifted his focus to his independent projects like Boldor and Rainfall.

Writing

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Prose stories

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Beast Wars Reborn

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Binaltech

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Alternity

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Masterpiece

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G-Shock × Transformers

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Canon/Transformers

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MPG

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Toy bios

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Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers

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The Transformers

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Micron Legend

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Collector's Edition

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G-2

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Encore[1]

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Binaltech

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Alternity

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Masterpiece[1]

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Movie The Best

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The Last Knight

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MPG[7]

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Other prose

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Ask Vector Prime

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Under supervision from Jim Sorenson, Hirofumi Ichikawa contributed to several entries of Ask Vector Prime on Facebook. In addition to providing information on Logos Prime and the Hytherion, he wrote drafts for the following answers:[8][9]

Comics

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Armada

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Binaltech

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Alternity

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Masterpiece

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Known packaging art

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Beast Wars

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Transformers Collection

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Commemorative Series

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(reused from Transformers Collection)

Binaltech

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Other illustration work

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Known toy design work

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Deco

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Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers

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Collector's Edition

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Detailing

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With the beginning of Energon, Ichikawa was given the job of "mech design", taking the engineering designs of many toys and finalizing the aesthetic details, sculpts, etc. The toys he is known to have worked on include:

Energon

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Energon Class
Mega Class
Command Class
Leader Class
Supreme Class


Cybertron

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Scout Class
Deluxe Class
Voyager Class
Ultra Class
Leader Class
Supreme Class



What's all this about?

This article on a real person associated with the Transformers brand is a stub and is missing information.
You can help MediaWiki by expanding it.

What's needed: Everything between 2006 and 2014


Revenge of the Fallen

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Generations

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Combiner Wars
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Titans Return
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Power of the Primes
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Generations Selects
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War for Cybertron: Siege
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War for Cybertron: Earthrise
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War for Cybertron: Kingdom
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Studio Series
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Studio Series '86
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Legacy
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Wreck N' Rule Collection
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Legacy: United
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Canon/Transformers

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Adamas Machina

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Concept art

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Alternity[15]

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Masterpiece

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  • MP-3 Starscream
  • MP-5 Megatron
  • MP-6
  • MP-7
  • MP-8 Grimlock
  • MP-9 Rodimus Convoy
  • MP-11 Starscream
  • MP-12 Lambor
  • MP-13 Soundwave
  • MP-14 Alert
  • MP-15
  • MP-16
  • MP-17 Prowl
  • MP-18 Streak
  • MP-19 Smokescreen
  • MP-20 Wheeljack
  • MP-21 Bumble
  • MP-22 Ultra Magnus
  • MP-23 Exhaust
  • MP-25 Tracks
  • MP-26 Road Rage
  • MP-27 Ironhide
  • MP-29 Shockwave
  • MP-30 Ratchet


Unspecified

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Extended Hirofumi Ichikawa gallery

References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Not all, but yes. I wrote most of Diaclone/Microchange repaints bios, except MP Tigertrack/Clamp Down/Bluestreak/Enemy & other cassettes (though I did original e-Hobby and Encore)."—Hirofumi Ichikawa, Twitter, 2022/12/18
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "●コンボイ、ジェットファイヤー、ウルトラマグナス、マグナコンボイの箱絵
    ●スカージ、マグナコンボイのバイオ
    ●SCFコンボイスーパーモードのフィギュアデザイン
    ●MEGA SCF コンボイノーマルモード、ホットロッドの造形用図面
    ●LINKAGE 漫画(全13話)"—Hirofumi Ichikawa, Twitter, 2025/07/03
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "2003 マイクロン(スーパースタント、スピードチェイサー、ソニックアサルト、ダート)※DVD冊子上
    2005 オライオンパックス＆ダイオン(Online Bio)
    2006 レーザーウルトラマグナス、ガルバトロンII
    2017 MB-EXレーザービーク、TLK-15キャリバーオプティマスプライム
    2024 MP-56+リゴラス"—Hirofumi Ichikawa, Twitter, 2026/01/10
  4. ↑ "オライオンパックスで私が書いたバイオは当時 e-HOBBYのウェブサイトで公開されましたが、実際の商品カードは私のではない別の文章に変わっていました。"—Hirofumi Ichikawa, Twitter, 2026/01/10
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "補足すると、マスターピースで私が最初に書いたバイオは MP-11スタースクリームです。次いで MP-11Sサンストーム。その次の MP-23エグゾーストは他と少し違って、私がが書いた「ユニバース書式」の長文テキストを、別のライターさんに取扱説明書用に清書して頂きました（カードは私）。"—Hirofumi Ichikawa, Twitter, 2026/01/09
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "IDW様、表立った関わりはありませんでしたが、コミック発デザインの玩具図面を描いたり、デルタマグナスなどのバイオ設定でアイデアを拝借しました。僕が外観のデザインをした玩具キャラクターも沢山描いてくれましたし、何よりも素晴らしい物語で楽しませて頂きました。本当にありがとうございます！"—Hirofumi Ichikawa, Twitter, 2022/12/15
  7. ↑ "マスターピースから引き続き、MPG・リペイントキャラクターの設定とお話のテキストを書かせて頂いてます。特にDK-2ガード(手前・黒)は、由来になった玩具の独特な背景をプロフィールに活かしていますので、箱裏の解説文と一緒に見て頂けたら嬉しいです。"—Hirofumi Ichikawa, Twitter, 2025/05/23
  8. ↑ Jennifer Alexis Carlo, Going Full Sorenson
  9. ↑ "AVPについては断片的なお手伝いが多く、記憶も少し曖昧なのですが、リバースコンボイ、キロトン、トレインボットについて何かした覚えがありません。その代わり、ブレインマスター、ダイアクロン、ハイセリオン、ロゴスプライムの情報と、RiD 3パック(Nightcruz達)のお話の草案を書いた筈です。"—Hirofumi Ichikawa, Twitter, 2026/01/10
  10. ↑ 10.00 10.01 10.02 10.03 10.04 10.05 10.06 10.07 10.08 10.09 10.10 Personal correspondence between Ichikawa and Doug Dlin on alt.toys.transformers mentioning the Galaxy Force/Cybertron toys he worked on
  11. ↑ "ROTF版スワーブの顔、実はわたくしのデザインなのです。描いた時はもっと横幅広い感じでしたが、スペースに合わせて細面に調整して頂いてます。受けた時は、Tracksになる予定でした。"—Hirofumi Ichikawa, Twitter, 2026/01/15
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 12.8 "SIEGEオメガスプリームでは外観デザイン(ディテールと頭部3面図)をしました。他タイタンクラス商品は：デバステーター, フォートレスマキシマス, トリプティコン, プレダキング(オニキス除く), スコーポノック, アーク(Netflix用先行スケッチ), ブラックザラック,タイダルウェーブ, などを手がけています。"—Hirofumi Ichikawa, Twitter, 2025/04/24
  13. ↑ He did not work on the included Onyx Prime Prime Master.
  14. ↑ "I played a small part in the development of the highly acclaimed "Adamus Machina AMT-01 Rodimus," which is currently on sale. I was involved in the development of the vehicle concept, additional details, design of the communication device and saw arm accessories, and specification of the weapon attachment method when transforming Flame Toys' high-quality figure into a transforming model. Please get your hands on it!"—Hirofumi Ichikawa, Twitter, 2025/3/26
  15. ↑ Feature on the Alternity toyline in Transformers Generations 2009 Volume 2, p 82-93
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Transformers Generations 2019 profile, p88
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Interviews

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