Takio Ejima
Takio Ejima is a designer at TakaraTomy. His first product at Takara was Crazybird from the "Flower Rock" series, and after joining the Overseas Transformers Product team in the Boys Enterprise department, he single-handedly created the all European Transformers during the period when the American Transformers line ended, until the advent of Beast Wars. After the Beast Wars Metals (the Japanese release of the Transmetals Beast Wars figures), he moved to the Girls Toy Department, but came back to Transformers during the Energon line. According to fellow designer Takashi Kunihiro, Ejima is "The man who created the most transforming robot toys in the world".
Ejima is credited with coming up with the idea of the extensive use of ball joints seen towards the end of the Generation 2 toyline as a means of making toys more durable, thus complying with more rigorous safety standards. His idea opened up possibilities of robot toys with extensive articulation.
Toys that Takio Ejima is known to have had a hand in designing
Generation 1
1991
Action Master figures
Exo-Suit Action Masters
Motorized Exo-Suit Action Masters
Action Master Elites
1992
Turbomasters
Predators
1993
Obliterators
Axelerators
Skyscorchers
Aquaspeeders
Stormtroopers
Lightformers
Trakkons
Generation 2
- Smokescreen (the design he is most proud of)
Beast Wars
Classics (2006)
- Grimlock (with Eric Siebenaler)
- Optimus Prime (Voyager class) (with Don Figueroa, Eric Siebenaler and Alex Kubalsky)
- Megatron (Voyager class) (with Eric Seibenaler)
Universe (2008)
- Cheetor (with Bill Rawley)
- Powerglide (with Bill Rawley)
Revenge of the Fallen
Notes
- Fellow TakaraTomy designer Shogo Hasui was assigned to do the large Combiner class Constructicon Devastator toy, and had completed some early sketches, but Ejima subsequently took over due to scheduling conflicts.
