Masakatsu Saito

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A herd of unsuspecting Thunderheads wander under the hangry gaze of Unicron in a retrospective painting by Saito of his final and most famous creations, respectively.

Masakatsu Saito (斎藤まさかつ) was a prolific mechanical designer and illustrator who provided TakaraTomy with concept art for the Transformers brand for nearly twenty years, usually alongside legendary designer Takio Ejima. Coming on to the company in 1982, he started out working on sticker sheets for the pre-Transformer line Micro Change and bounced around the office working on properties such as Dunbine and the Transformers - adjacent Blockman before coming on to the Transformers brand proper around halfway through The Headmasters supplying rough markups for the packaging artist. He was promoted to full-on concept artist for the next year's Super-God Masterforce and just kept going from there, having a hand in the development of wide swathes of TakaraTomy Transformers from the headliners of 1989's Victory all the way through Dark of the Moon. Some of his most noteworthy contributions include Armada Unicron, the Generation 1 Action Master assortment, and, most significantly, pretty much the entire Beast Wars toyline. He retired in late 2011 citing declining health.

Known Transformers work

Toy deco

Micro Change

Packaging illustration

Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers

Toy design

Generation 1

1988 - Pretenders and Masterforce
Pretenders
Pretender Beasts Godmasters Targetmasters
Cassettes


1989 - More Pretenders and Victory
Pretender Monsters[1] / Dinoforce Classic Pretenders Mega Pretenders Ultra Pretenders Brainmasters
Breastforce

Other


1990
Action Masters

Action Master Action Blasters Action Master Autobot Vehicles
Action Master Decepticon Attack Vehicles Action Master Autobot Armored Convoy


1991
Action Masters Exo-Suit Action Masters Motorized Exo-Suit Action Masters Action Master Elites


1992
Turbomasters / Road Corps Predators / Jet Corps


Unreleased
Action Masters Turbomasters


1993

The global 1993 production slate consisted of the same toys existing in a sort of superposition of Generation 1 and Generation 2 depending on the market. Don't think about it too hard. Point is, Saito worked on all of the new molds that year.
Axelerators / Autobot Cars Skyscorchers / Decepticon Jets Aquaspeeders / Color Changers Stormtroopers Lightformers
Trakkons Obliterators Leader


Generation 2

1994
Rotor Force Laser Rods Heroes Others


1995
Go-Bots Cyberjets Laser Cycles Auto Rollers Leaders


Unreleased
Go-Bots Auto Rollers

Beast Wars

1996
Basics
Deluxes
Megas
Ultras


1997
Basics
Deluxes
Megas
Ultra Teams
Micro Playsets
1998 - Beast Wars II
US
Basic Fuzors Basic VHS packs (US assortment) Deluxe Fuzors Deluxe Transmetals Mega Transmetals
Ultra Transmetals Super Transmetals

Japan
Wave 1 (3-??-1998)
  • VS-12 Cannon Showdown:
    Apache VS Megastorm
  • VS-13 2 Against 1 Showdown:
    Bighorn VS Starscream & BB
  • VS-14 Land Horizon Showdown:
    Tasmania Kid VS Dirge
  • VS-15 Sea Horizon Showdown:
    Scuba VS Thrust
 Wave 2 (4-23-1998) Wave 3 (4-30-1998)
Lio Convoy
Galvatron
Tako Tank with Ikard
Hellscream
Wave 4 (5-21-1998)
  • D-16 Galvatron
  • VS-16 History's Greatest Showdown:
    Lio Convoy VS Galvatron
 Wave 5 (5-25-1998)
  • VS-17 Frontier Showdown:
    Bigmos VS Autostinger
  • VS-18 Heavy Armor Showdown:
    Powerhug VS Autocrusher
  • VS-19 Stratospheric Showdown:
    Tonbot VS Autojetter
  • VS-20 Discus Showdown:
    Mantis VS Autolauncher
    		•  Wave 6 (7-??-1998)
    Wave 7 (8-??-1998) Wave 8 (9-??-1998) Wave 9 (10-??-1998) Wave 10 (11-??-1998)


    Early 1999 - Beast Wars Neo
    US
    Japan
    Late 1999 - Beast Wars Metals
    US
    Japan
    • All new items barring Mach Kick, Galvatron, Arcadis
    Specific images verified
    • Optimus Primal (Bat)
    • Optimus Primal (Ape)
    • Optimal Optimus
    • Cheetor
    • Rattrap
    • Rhinox
    • Dinobot
    • Waspinator
    • Terrorsaur
    • Tarantulas/Blackarachnia
    • Megatron (T-rex)
    • B'Boom/Apache
    • Orchanoch
    • Arachnid
    • Megatron (Alligator)
    • Autojetter
    • Tigatron
    • Airazor
    • Scorponok
    • Inferno
    BWII
    • Lio Convoy
    BWNeo
    • Big Convoy
    Transmetals
    • TM1 Optimus Primal
    • TM2 Megatron
    • TM1 Cheetor
    • Rampage
    • TM1 Rattrap
    • TM1 Rhinox
    • TM1 Airazor
    • Depth Charge
    • TM2 Blackarachnia
    • TM2 Cheetor
    • TM1 Megatron
    • TM1 Waspinator
    • TM1 Tarantulas
    • Scavenger
    • TM2 Dinobot
    Fuzors
    • Silverbolt
    • Tigerhawk
    • Quickstrike
    Mutants
    • Icebird
    • Poisonbite
    • Soundwave
    Unreleased
    Abandoned organic triple changer concept
    • Gorilla/Eagle Optimus Primal
    • Cheetah/Shark Cheetor
    • Bull/Crab Rattrap
    • Raptor/Cobra Dinobot

    Machine Wars

    • Hoist/Hubcap
    • Mirage/Prowl

    Car Robots / Robots in Disguise (2001)

    • Build Team
    • Train Team
    • Car Brothers
    • Fire Convoy
    • God Magnus
    • Gigatron
    Specific images verified
    • Rail Racer

    Animorphs

    • Tri-Rex (Cassie, Jake and Marko)
    • Jake (Tiger)
    • Tobias (Hawk)

    Armada

    • Unicron

    Energon

    • Rodimus Prime

    Binaltech

    • All items except Convoy
    Specific images verified
    • Meister (his favorite)

    Cybertron

    • Starscream

    Henkei! Henkei!/Classics

    • Jetfire

    Animated

    • Optimus Prime
    • Lockdown
    • Starscream

    Device Label

    • All items

    Revenge of the Fallen

    • Jetpower Optimus Prime
      (Optimus Prime and Jetfire)

    Dark of the Moon

    • Thunderhead (his final design)

    Extended Masakatsu Saito gallery

    Notes

    • Some of Saito's work outside the Transformers umbrella include the Transformers-adjacent Brave series, the original incarnation of the popular Gridman franchise, and the 90's incarnations of both the pre-GoBot brand Machine Robo and the foundational 1950's scifi franchise Tetsujin 28.
    • Saito was baffled when the order came down to design an Action Master Elite from Blackzarak's character model, arguing Western children would surely connect better with his Scorponok form that actually appeared in Western media. He was proven sort-of-correct when the final toy was sold as a different character entirely.

    References

    While far too numerous to cite individually, this article is sourced from:

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Inner robots only, monster shells by Keita Amemiya.
    2. ↑ The concept art included with the Beast Wars Reborn two-pack is credited to Saito by Hisashi Yuki in Generations 2011 Vol 2, p 94.

    Template:!DEFAULTSORT:Saito, Masakatsu !Category: Alternators designers !Category: Animated designers !Category: Beast Era designers !Category: Classics designers !Category: Dark of the Moon designers !Category: Generation 1 designers !Category: Generations 1 packaging artists !Category: Illustrators !Category: Revenge of the Fallen designers !Category: Robots in Disguise (2001) designers !Category: TakaraTomy designers !Category: TakaraTomy packaging artists !Category: Unicron Trilogy designers

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