I was thinking about why the lightning soldier was already a toy at the time of Dofla's revolution.
I'm thinking that as some people have speculated, he is indeed the legendary Kyros in toy shape. I think that being the greatest warrior in Dressrosa, he was in addition to being a gladiator, also some kind of guard for the king.
Dofla marks him as the greatest threat to his attempted coup, and as such targets Kyros first, using a member of the Donquixote family to turn him into a toy. Thus Dofla has the king's greatest champion out of the way, but avoids any outcry from the citizens he is about to attempt to take over, because they now forget that Kyros ever existed.
Also having been a close to the king explains his determination to save Scarlet and Rebecca, as he was sworn to protect the royal family.