Platinum Tiger

Platinum Tiger is a Beastformer from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Known as the Warrior of Honor, Platinum Tiger (プラチナタイガー Purachina Taigā) has inherited and mastered numerous ancient secret martial arts, making him one of the most formidable combatants on planet Beast. Descended from a wise hermit, he is a deeply mystical being with a set of staggering special skills. Aside from his nigh-unmatched fighting ability, he is capable of telekinesis and can even create a mystical barrier capable of withstanding the blast of a neutron bomb. His MVP Weapon, the Platinum Sword (プラチナスウォード Purachina Suwōdo) is already an impressive blade, but with the proper charge, it can pierce through anything. And on top of all that, he commands the devastating ancient Head Hunter weapon, the Tiger Hunter, the most powerful of the three Hunter vehicles.

He is a teacher as well as a fighter, having taken numerous students, including White Leo, Power Jaguar, and Flying Attacker (the last one much to many others' surprise). He seeks to bring out the greatest in those he chooses to mentor, training them to fight for justice, fight with compassion, and fight with honor.

Naturally, this has made him a target to those with evil intent. Black Jaguar, a fiery feline who may be his equal in martial arts skill, seeks to one day defeat Platinum in combat. Alligatron even attempted to use magic to remove Platinum from the war, but only partially succeeded.

Today, he rules over his homeland of Harriso as its King. It may seem odd that a beast such as him would rule a land that has become an increasingly modern, fashionable, upscale destination thanks to its Emperor Flying Attacker, but the pair get along incredibly.

Fiction

Beastformers catalogs

When Alligatron led a Decepticon-supported rebellion against the ruling Lion clan of Beast, the loyalists were soon at a disadvantage. To bring in the Autobots to counteract the Decepticons, Platinum Tiger snuck into the occupied palace so that he could use the communications room to contact their possible allies. However, Alligatron left a trap for any unaware enemies: the Holography Mirror, which trapped Platinum within it. Series 1 catalog Even with Platinum trapped, Alligatron recognized him as a continuing threat, and sent the vicious Green Chameles into the Mirror to try and end the warrior for good. VS Holography Mirror rare card

The Headmasters cartoon

Look, I neither know nor care who is the fairest of all.

Voice actor: Michihiro Ikemizu (Japanese)

When White Leo led a group of Beastformers to rescue the slaves held inside a Decepticon factory, he contacted Platinum Tiger through the Holography Mirror. However, Platinum Tiger was unable to help them, as the carnivorous piragilons infested the swamp around the factory. Battleship Maximus, however, was able to drain the swamp of its water, leaving the flopping piraglions and allowing the Beastformers safe passage into the caverns in the swamp. White Leo continued to contact Platinum Tiger to lead them through the maze of caverns to the factory. Thanks to Platinum Tiger's help, they were able to rescue the slaves. Rebellion on Planet Beast

Beastformers comic

Platinum Tiger later escaped the Holography Mirror and fought alongside the other Beastformers in their war with the Laser Beasts, but with their side losing more and more territory, he left to search for the Hunters. He found the Tiger Hunter and returned with it just as the Beastformers were losing another battle with the Laser Beasts, allowing them to turn the tide. Beastformers VS Laser Beasts

Legends comic

When the Laser Beasts began winning the war again, Platinum Tiger contacted White Leo and informed him of the existence of the Legends World, an alternate dimension filled with Beast Power that the Beastformers could use to their advantage. LG51 Doublecross Prologue

Platinum Tiger used the Tiger Hunter to rescue Grotusque's head from the Laser Beasts, though at the cost of succumbing to the Hunter's curse, corrupting his heart and turning him evil. Grotusque attempted to mitigate its effects using the Three Wise Ones' gems, merging the both of them into a robotic Headmaster made up of both their psyches, but it was not enough and Platinum Tiger chose to sequester himself in a dimension of emptiness so that he wouldn't harm anyone. Eventually he sensed that Grotusque's body had been liberated from the Laser Beasts and left his prison to return the Monsterbot's consciousness to his body, believing it too dangerous for them to stay together. After lending his power to help end the war, Platinum Tiger used the Holography Mirror on himself, imprisoning himself once more but remaining in contact with Grotusque. The Road to Legends' Revival Chapter 1

Toys

Beastformers

• Platinum Tiger (Beastformer, 1988)

• ID number: 50
• Pack: H
• Accessories: "Platinum Sword" MVP Weapon

Released only in the post-Transformers "RPG"-themed Beastformers sequel series, Platinum Tiger is a yellow anthopomorphic saber-toothed tiger in light blue robotic armor. The Battle Emblem on his chest reveals one of three symbols when warmed up; Fire, Water or Wood.

He was sold in two similar-but-different styles of boxes. The first "H Pack" style of box had the chance for his included bio card to instead be a rare holofoil card of White Leo with a "Burstsun" rubsign in a baggie taped to the back, so you could apply it to the Beastformer of your choice. The second, seemingly more common release has a slightly different box with a peg-hole in the top flap, and a sticker on the bottom with his name and role on it.

Later in the run, the "mood ring" styled rubsigns were replaced with new rubsigns that revealed full-color Fire/Wood/Water images on black backdrops. (These rubsign variants also happened at the same time in the Hasbro Battle Beast version of the line.)

• Tiger Hunter (Head Hunter Vehicle, 1987)

• Accessories: "Platinum Sword" MVP Weapon

Platinum Tiger also came packaged with the Head Hunter "Tiger Hunter" vehicle, seemingly unchanged from his original release.

• Beast Planet's Greatest Confrontation Set (Box set, 1988)

• Accessories: "Platinum Sword" MVP Weapon

Platinum Tiger was also available in the "Beast Planet's Greatest Confrontation Set" (ビースト星最大の対決セット Bīsuto-sei Saidai no Taiketsu Setto), unchanged from his prior releases, once again with the Tiger Hunter vehicle.

This set also came with Golder and Yellow Giraffe (same as their prior releases), and the set-exclusive Skullgrotes, Kingbuster, Salmomancer, and a chromed-gold Battle Drill.

This set is particularly expensive on the secondary market, given the entire Laser Beast half of the set is not available anywhere else.

Legends

• Repug & Grotes (Repugnus & Grotusque) (2-pack, 2019)

• ID number: LG-EX
• Release date: January 26, 2019

Legends Platinum Tiger is a re-release of Titans Return Fengul with the very slight difference of a matte paint finish and a black screw, in contrast to the glossy finish and silver screw of the Hasbro release. Platinum Tiger forms the head of Grotes and is also compatible with any Deluxe, Voyager, or Leader Class Titans Return-style figure.

He and Grotes were available in a multi-pack with Hedgehog and Repug.

Merchandise

Meiji candy toys

• Platinum Tiger (Gashapon/candy-toy Beastformer, 1988)
  • Meiji ID number: 18
  • Accessories: "Hegrinder" weapon

A small, super-deformed, articulation-free version of Platinum Tiger was sold both as a gashapon capsule prize by Takara (three per capsule for 200 yen), and as a candy toy with chocolate-coated cereal-like corn puff "chocoballs" through the candy/snack company Meiji (two toys per box, for 100 yen). This stumpy lil fellow could be found in red, blue or green plastic, representing the Fire, Water and Wood elements (even though he still had a rubsign). All of the Meiji Beastformers come with a different Beastformer's weapon attached to their shoulder by a snippable sprue. Platinum Tiger came with Hedgehog's "Hegrinder" weapon, while Killer Fish came with Tiger's "Platinum Sword".

The interior of each chocoballs box contains super-brief bio data for two of the twenty possible beasts, as well as rules for three different styles of game: the traditional Fire/Wood/Water deal, a "flick the figures and knock your opponent over" deal, and a more involved game that requires character data from Meiji's other candy-based Beastformers merch, the Battle Cards (see below).

• Ramune Beastformers Battle Card (1988)
  • Meiji ID number: 18

A gold-foil "Battle Card" of Platinum Tiger, featuring painted character art of the kind found on early Transformers: Beastformers bio cards (seen at the top of this page), was available in randomly-packed sets of cards that came with ramune-flavored candy tablets. The back of the card features a severely truncated bio, with data for the game from the Meiji chocoball SD figures' packaging.

Notes

• Platinum Tiger's name could be more directly transcribed as "Platina Tiger", but "Platinum Tiger" is the official Romanization provided by Takara via a trading card. "Platina" is the standard word for platinum in Japan, and comes from an older name for the element.
• Despite not being released in the Transformers part of the toyline, Platinum Tiger features on two of the rare cards in that line, the "Holography Mirror" and "VS Holography Mirror". Both show a full 3D hologram of his toy, through the VS card also shows Green Chameles when turned in a different direction.
• He is the only Beastformer who does not have a nickname in the 1988 "RPG" themed line. His bio literally just says "Nickname: none" (通称 なし).
• His bio card notes he was born in Platinum City.
• The head and colors of Fengul from Titans Return are based on Platinum Tiger.

Foreign names

• English: Saber Sword Tiger, Soldier Bear (Omni Productions dub)
• Italian: Super Leon