Tomopop Review: Kotobukiya's Bishoujo Phoenix, Dark Phoenix and White Phoenix

3:00 PM on 08.26.2010   |   Call Niero

Kotobukiya's Bishoujo line has already taken on some well-known Marvel characters, but it seemed like Phoenix would be the most famous lady given a redesign. Phoenix was chosen by a poll in Japan to get the Bishoujo line, and she was popular enough to get not two but three colorways, all of which mesh with scenes from the comics. Seeing as how I have all the other girls from the line, Phoenix was an instant get for me!

Hit the jump to check out how all three of these ladies compare!

The Phoenixes come in nice compact boxes, great for storage. As you can see, regular and Dark Phoenix have different boxes, but White Phoenix is in the regular box. There's a special sticker on it that says she is an exclusive, but other than that they are identical. 

While the sculpts are identical on all three, they have enough different features to make it worth buying more than one. Even without looking close up, you can see that their bases and faces are all different, as well as the obvious changes to their outfits. 

Since regular Phoenix was the first announced, let's start with her face shot. She has the "standard" look that is changed slightly on the other two girls. From most angles, it appears that she is looking up at something, so a lower shelf might be best for display. Although I do have all three pretty high up and they still look great! 

Dark Phoenix's skin tones were pretty radically altered to make her look "warmer" and almost as if she is ... well, on fire! Her eye color was also changed from green to a pale yellow-orange that matches her hair quite well. Dark Phoenix definitely has a more menacing feel than regular Phoenix. 

White Phoenix, on the other hand, is more coy looking. Her eyes are definitely the best painted of the three, with no overlap whatsoever. Her skin tones are also a shade paler than regular Phoenix, so she looks a bit more "regal." I think of the three, White Phoenix has the best face, both in terms of execution and expression. 

From the back the differences in their hair is very apparent. You also get a better look at their butts. Hey, this is a Shunya Yamashita figure; you have to expect a nice behind! 

Phoenix's hair has a great sculpt, and while I prefer the clear look of Dark Phoenix, the shading on White and regular is really great looking. The tendrils are well defined and much lighter than the rest of her hair, and although I must admit that her hair looks a bit puffy from the back, it fits with the stylized comic/anime hybrid look she has going. 

I think Phoenix's boobage might be a bit much for some, but her torso is actually one of the highlights of this figure. No, not because of her breasts, but because of the phenomenal sculpt! You can see all of the lines and curves of her body, the musculature is well defined and you can even see a bit of her ribs under her suit. This is most apparent on White Phoenix because of her pale outfit, but the details are there on all three.

They even sculpted her windpipe! I don't think I have any other figures with a well-defined windpipe like that, so I was quite surprised when I saw one on Phoenix!

Phoenix's sash has a nice sense of movement that matches the upward flow of her hair. Dark Phoenix's sash has clear red tips that match other parts of her body that are also clear, like she is dissolving into flame. This alone really makes Dark Phoenix worth buying, even if you have one of the other ones on order. She is definitely the most different looking of the three!

Of the three, Dark Phoenix also seems to have the smoothest paint application and quality control. The regular Phoenix does have a few small rough areas where the lines are not as clean, and White's paint fixes almost all of these problems, but Dark just has an extra bit of oomph when it comes to paint. Look at the great shading from clear to gold on her arm! 

The great sculpting on Phoenix extends to her back and of course to her butt. Regular Phoenix's colors are really different from the other two, and next to them her sash looks very yellow. I definitely prefer the gold on Dark and White, but I think if I had not seen them I would like the yellow on this version better better. It does match perfectly with the green, and gold might be a little odd in combination with that. 

The Phoenixes all have differently colored bases. The first, regular Phoenix, is colored and shaded like a standard base. White and Dark have clear bases, though they are also different. Dark, which is featured in the second image, has a totally clear base, and her feet are also made out of clear material. White Phoenix has a clear base with a thin paint overlay so it looks less bright than Dark Phoenix, but still like flickering flames.

The Phoenix trio just might be the best entry into the Bishoujo line so far, so if you are a fan of the series you should definitely pick them up! If you were on the fence about it, you're in luck as Dark Phoenix is on sale at AmiAmi for only 4200 yen! The regular Phoenix is backordered at AmiAmi and at her standard price of 5294 yen, but she is still up at HobbySearch for 5270 yen and they have Dark Phoenix for the same price. A lot of domestic stores got her in, so check your local retailers! White Phoenix was a SDCC exclusive, so you will have to scour eBay for her! 

Thanks to Stephen Donaldson for taking these pictures! We had a hell of a time finding a good place to shoot them, mostly because our only suggestion was "something in space" (thanks Chris!). We ended up going with rocks and steam, although the steam didn't really come out very steam-like. Oh well, it looked cool in the end and that's what matters! So go check out the rest of the pictures in the gallery and let us know which of the three you like the best!

[Thanks to Kotobukiya for providing Tomopop with these review samples]