Masaki Maruyama

Masaki Maruyama (丸山正記 Maruyama Masaki) was a designer at Takara from about 1982 to 1985.

Known design projects

Diaclone

Robo & Robot Double Soldier Twin Combat

Sky Base

Road Vulcan (unreleased)

Micro Change

MC-04 Mini Car Robo 01 Porsche Turbo 924 02 Familia 1500 XG 03 Volkswagen 04 4WD Offroad 05 Jeep 06 Transam 07 American Truck

Meteor Robo MC-14 Metal Man MC-15 Metal Leo MC-16 Metal Hawk

Lock Robo MC-17 Dialman MC-18 Magneman

The Transformers

Mini-Vehicles Powerglide

Notes

• For whatever reason, the American patent that credits Kōjin Ōno for the creation of Sunstreaker also includes Bumper, leading to the mistaken impression that Ōno created the Mazda Familia 1500XG Mini Car Robo instead of Maruyama.
• Maruyama designed two preliminary versions of Metal Man before the final design was settled on. He also designed a pair of Meteor Robo beetles that went completely unproduced.
• The three Meteor Robo that Maruyama created were retooled in 1988 for Takara's Mashin Hero Wataru tie-in toyline. These toys were then further retooled with keychains to become the Egg Beasts of Japan's Beast Wars line, who were in turn redecoed into the Sparkbots of Kiss Players. As it is, the original versions of the molds (which all came with accessories) haven't been used since Micro Change.
• Maruyama also designed a battleship robot (that he would further refine) which clearly served as the basis for Broadside. The finalized Broadside toy, however, was the work of Takara designer Kaoru Matsumoto. The fact the design did not start out with a jet mode might help explain why Broadside's jet mode is terrible.