Shogo Hasui

Shogo Hasui (蓮井 章悟 Hasui Shōgo) is a designer at TakaraTomy, joining the company in 1999. Since Armada, he has called "dibs" to design every Starscream toy, and is thus referred to as "Mr. Starscream" within Takara's Transformers design team.

Like several Takara designers that have been interviewed, he bemoans Hasbro's restrictive size class plastic weight limits, which can cause headaches during design.

Toys that Shogo Hasui is known to have had a hand in designing

Beast Machines

• Skydive (his first Transformer design)

Armada

• Starscream

Energon

• Starscream
• Wing Saber (with Hirofumi Ichikawa)

Cybertron

• Starscream (Voyager class) (based upon The War Within Starscream by Don Figueroa)
• Starscream (Supreme class) (with Eric Siebenaler)

Classics

• Starscream(Dlx) (with Don Figueroa and Eric Siebenaler)
• Hot Rod(Dlx)

Transformers (2007)

• Arcee (Deluxe)
• Barricade (Deluxe)
• Jazz (Deluxe)
• Ratchet
• Starscream (Voyager) (with Eric Siebenaler)

Animated

• Optimus (Voyager)
• Shockwave (Voyager)
• Optimus (Dlx)
• Lockdown (Dlx)

Henkei! Henkei!

• Starscream (presumably the deco)

• Hot Rod

Revenge of the Fallen

• Bumblebee (Human Alliance)/Sam Witwicky
• Sideswipe
• Starscream (Voyager)

Hunt for Desepticons

• Starscream (Leader)
• Barricade (Human Alliance)/Frenzy
• Jazz (Human Alliance)/Lenox

Convention appearances (United States)

• BotCon 2007

Notes

• During pre-production of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Hasui created a combiner concept model (made from various Japanese robot and superhero toys) and storyboard-style concepts for a movie-styled "Devastator" combiner (involving a MH-53 Pave Low helicopter, such as Blackout and Grindor) for Hasbro to pass onto the movie production staff.
• Hasui was the original TakaraTomy designer assigned to Revenge of the Fallen Combiner class Constructicon Devastator (and had completed some preliminary sketches for it), but due to scheduling conflicts, that project was handed over to fellow TakaraTomy designer Takio Ejima.
• Due to the enormous workload the TakaraTomy designers were under, Hasui was by default the one assigned to present a proof-of-concept prototype for Revenge of the Fallen's Human Alliance subset of Alternators-styled larger vehicles partnered with human drivers. He rapidly created the proof-of-concept model using a Voyager class Ratchet toy with a new shoulder (that turned into a seat for the human passenger in either mode), a new left forearm (which turned into a motorcycle) and a new gigantic weapons array.

External links

• Translated interview from Transformers Generations 2009 Volume 1 on TFW2005.com
• Translated interview from the TakaraTomy website on TFW2005.com
• Translated interview on Revenge of the Fallen work from Transformers Generations 2009 Volume 3 on TFW2005.com
• Translated interview on Animatedon TFW2005.com