Won Tiger: From Statue to Giant Warrior

On the drawing board

The first idea was surprisingly still. The caption for drawings 11–13 describes a combination in which the new warrior takes over the larger robot’s body, continuing an approach used for the previous year’s Goryujin. In that concept, the tiger was fixed to a stone pedestal, with the warrior’s limbs concealed inside the base. The book describes it as a tiger statue, rather than a tiger itself. Early sketches, p. 150.

Drawings 14–16 continue that statue theme. Their caption compares the beast form to a fixed icon or sculpture: it would begin moving only after transforming into a warrior. Compare the squat seated study with the tall armored figures around it. The immobile form and active warrior were being developed as two different expressions of the same subject. Early sketches, p. 150.

The next group, drawings 17–20, begins exploring a tiger form more directly. The caption describes an armored image for drawing 18 and identifies 19 and 20 as its warrior and Kiba Daioh modes. In drawings 21–23, paired spheres on the shoulders already resemble the circular details in the finished artwork. The caption proposes swapping these with the orb inside the tiger’s mouth to reveal characters such as fire and water. That proposal belongs to the development account; it does not establish an interchangeable-orb mechanism in the displayed DX toy. Early sketches, p. 150.

In the story

The artbook identifies Won Tiger as the sixth Kiden Beast and records its debut in episode 21. It transforms into a Kiden Warrior and fights with the Golden Sword (Ogon Ken). The accompanying finished designs show both the four-legged tiger and the upright warrior. These describe the fictional character; the paired product photograph shows its DX toy interpretation. Artbook, p. 083.

Won Tiger also joins Tenku Kiden, the formation made from the four companion beasts featured in the Dairenoh exhibit. Their New-Star Combination creates Kiba Daioh, first combined in episode 22. The blue and yellow lower legs and the creature-shaped shoulders distinguish that combined warrior from Won Tiger alone. The opening design and toy pair show Won Tiger’s individual warrior form; the images below show Kiba Daioh in both artwork and assembled toys. Artbook, p. 082.

From tiger to warrior

The finished four-legged design and the matching DX tiger photograph can be compared with the opening warrior views and the Kiba Daioh images above. Compare the long gold tail, striped armor, and round red details across the beast and warrior forms. These are two configurations of Won Tiger; Kiba Daioh adds the four companion beasts, whose separate designs are also shown below. Artbook, pp. 081–083; DX tiger photograph — RoboToyDays.

On the toy shelf

The artbook labels the photographed product DX Won Tiger (DXウォンタイガー). Its retrospective note describes an EL unit providing light and sound features and a body molded with a distinctive stone-like pattern. The stone-like surface is a feature of the finished toy; the book does not say it was inherited from the statue proposal. Artbook, p. 083.

The Kiba Daioh photograph shows what happens when the central warrior gains the companion beasts. The product note above this lower photograph, headed Mythical Qi Beast Great Combination Set, says this form shares many parts with Dairenoh. It singles out changes in color and shoulder position as ways to make the result look like a different robot, and records that a set box was also sold. The red Star Phoenix on the toy’s arm makes the weapon arrangement visible alongside the shared blue and yellow lower legs. Artbook, p. 082.

Return to the tiger on its pedestal. Across these drawings, the designers move from a creature imagined as a statue to an armored animal, an active warrior, and the center of a larger combination. The final white armor and bold dark bands tie those identities together.