Available From HobbyLink Japan
This is one of the most complex and impressive figures I own so far. Next Purple comes in a quite big box and a lot of pieces are provided to put together.
The assembly process is not too complicated, but it required some time and a good amount of patience — for me at least. The final result is something quite stunning, though. Totally worth it.
We have two display options with this figure: the first with Next Purple fully equipped, and the second one with her only wearing her tight, sexy black suit.
While it’s true that there potentially are two different ways to display Next Purple, I wouldn’t call the second one a proper “option” because this figure is designed to be displayed with all the gear it is provided with or, otherwise, Next Purple would look quite silly and without meaning, in my opinion.
That’s especially true because of the way she is placed on her base. With that said, let’s see how to set up Next Purple for each option.
Displaying this figure without all the impressive gear is the simpler way to have Next Purple ready for our cabinets or shelves. The figure comes already assembled to be displayed in her “simple” version, so all is needed is to put Next Purple on the base and we are done.
The process is quick and simple, and instructions are provided. The figure comes with some metal bars that serve as support for Next Purple. One of them – the shorter one – goes in the plastic piece on the base and then the figure can be secured on it by one of the feet.
The second option, and my favorite, is more complex — but still not too hard to put together. Instructions clearly illustrate how to get Next Purple ready for display in all her glorious complexity.
The first thing is to prepare the figure with the pieces needed, so remove Next Purple’s smaller hair ornaments to replace them with the bigger ones; on this note, her head comes off and I strongly recommend removing it before working on the assembly of the hair ornaments and all the others, too, because Next Purple’s hair is so intricate and delicate I fear it could accidentally break during the task.
Both of Next Purple’s hands have to be removed to be able to put the light blue, clear plastic circles around her wrists. The process isn’t complex or time-consuming, but I noticed that my copy of this figure has some issues with one of the wrists, where the light blue plastic disk tend to fall off very easily. Nothing too worrying though, unless one plans to move the figure around often.
Then it’s time for the boots to be put on Next Purple’s feet. They easily open on the top, and her foot smoothly fits the space inside the two parts. Once boots, hair ornaments, and wrist rings are on, we can put Next Purple’s head back on her body and place the figure on her base.
This is easily done using the extra plastic support (which goes onto the one already on the base, covering it) and two of the iron bars provided by Vertex; the shorter one and the other medium bar, with each piece inserted in the holes in the extra plastic support. Now we can place Next Purple on the base.
What’s left now before to have the figure ready for display is to put in place the bigger of Next Purple’s gears: the one that goes behind her, completing this little piece of art. Once again, we will need to use the metal bars, this time the two longer ones.
Each goes into one hole of the base behind Next Purple, and then into the big gear. The figure is now ready for display.
The quality and design of this figure are surely above standard. For starters, the figure is very complex and rich in details as it is, but this lovely and pleasing appearance is enhanced by the very good quality of both her sculpt and paintwork.
The former is very well done, basically in every part of the figure, with Next Purple’s body being my very favorite part. Her body is hugged by a sexy, tight suit, and the pose is dynamic and utterly beautiful, almost compelling. If I had to find a small issue, that would be Next Purple’s chest.
The approach Vertex took with the breasts is a little debatable. In reality Next Purple’s breasts surely would swing like that due to the dynamic pose in normal conditions, but definitely not with the kind of suit she wears, which is supposed to hug her very tightly. This part of the figure looks a little unrealistic and not very credible, although the result is nothing I can deem as a bad thing.
The hair is gorgeous, although quite fragile. But this isn’t a figure one would bring in “dangerous” places in the beginning, or at least I wouldn’t, so I don’t see this as a problem. Next Purple’s face also is very well done, and utterly cute. I love her expression, a mix between embarrassment and something else I can’t quite figure out; the final result is a feast for the eyes.
The gear is impressive in terms of sculpt and paintwork. The most beautiful is the bigger one behind Next Purple; so good I wouldn’t mind displaying it alone.
This one, as all the other parts except for the figure, is made of a harder plastic, which supposedly is not full inside; this way the gears are lighter and less prone to fall, at least the bigger one. I like the attention Vertex put in this detail.
Next Purple’s base is lovely for its looks, but the plastic material used isn’t really suited to go with the much harder supports which go in it. The metal bars are perfect for their purpose: safely supporting pieces meant to weigh on them quite a lot, and the base itself is large enough to keep the whole thing well balanced.
But pairing a relatively thin layer of plastic (the base) with steel (or iron, or a material very heavy and hard to break in any case) isn’t a good idea. The bars go into the base scratching it quite noticeably, and are very hard to remove once in place.
The base is very prone to break (as the material doesn’t bend) when the bars are inserted or removed. I would have made the base either thicker or of another, more resistant material.
Overlooking this more technical issue, I can definitely consider this figure quite perfect; and that includes the display presence, the quality of Next Purple as well as the impressive design and complexity of this figure, which I definitely don’t mind to dedicate an entire shelf to.
