Some collectibles are limited in name only. Others carry that limitation as a hard fact, a number, a date, and a specific moment in an artist’s career that nothing can replicate. The Verdy × Rise Above Visty Plush (Pastel Multi) /500 belongs to the second category. Released in 2021 during one of the most significant chapters in Verdy’s artistic life, this oversized pastel plush exists in exactly 500 copies worldwide, each with internal numbered tagging. At Rare Inventory, we carry the last available unit. This is its full story.
The Rise Above era: why 2021 matters
To understand why this plush carries the weight it does, it helps to understand what the Rise Above era meant for Verdy.
In 2021, Verdy entered the contemporary art world by opening his first solo show, Rise Above, at Kaikai Kiki, the Tokyo gallery owned by his mentor Takashi Murakami. That exhibition marked a turning point. Before Rise Above, Verdy operated primarily in streetwear and graphic design. After it, he moved into the gallery world with the full weight of Murakami’s institutional backing behind him.
In the Rise Above exhibition, the Visty sculpture appeared intentionally beat up, representing the feelings of defeat and discouragement Verdy experienced when he moved to Tokyo to pursue graphic design and was told there was no future in it. Consequently, Visty is not a mascot. He’s a self-portrait — an expression of resilience translated into a bear-like form that looks both vulnerable and undefeated at the same time.
The plush released during this era carries that emotional context directly. It’s not merchandise produced alongside a show. It’s a physical object born from the same moment that introduced Visty to the world as a serious art character.
Who is Visty?
Visty is colorful and cheerful. Verdy created him as a direct response to the pandemic, to bring a sense of joy and happiness to people going through tough times. That origin explains the pastel palette immediately. Where Verdy’s first character, Vick, runs in black and white with a punk edge, Visty leans into warmth, softness, and color.
Verdy sees Visty becoming a staple character within his generation, similar in cultural weight to how KAWS’ Companion operates within its own universe. Furthermore, industry observers already draw that direct comparison, Vick and Visty operating in the same cultural space as Companion to KAWS. For collectors who track character-driven art collectibles, that parallel is the most important context for understanding where Visty sits in the market.
The plush: what you’re actually buying
- Artist: Verdy
- Character: Visty
- Release year: 2021
- Edition: /500 worldwide, internally numbered
- Material: Plush / Faux Fur
- Colorway: Pastel Multi
- Condition: New
The Pastel Multi colorway is the most visually complex version of the Visty plush. Multiple pastel tones cover the surface, soft pinks, blues, and greens, giving the piece a playful, almost dreamlike quality that reflects Visty’s origin as a character built to counteract pandemic isolation. Additionally, the exaggerated monster-like silhouette and ultra-soft faux fur finish make this an immediately striking display piece, regardless of the context you place it in.
The internal numbered tagging is a crucial detail. It transforms each unit from a limited-run product into a numbered art edition, the kind of documentation that matters significantly on the secondary market.
500 units: what that number actually means
An edition of 500 is small by any standard. However, it’s especially small when you consider Verdy’s distribution model.
Verdy prefers pop-ups because they allow him to see who buys his pieces and meet his fans directly. He avoids online releases because of bots and resellers. As a result, a significant portion of those 500 units reached buyers at physical events in Japan in 2021. Many of those buyers hold their pieces. Furthermore, the secondary market for Verdy collectibles from this era is thin, not because demand is low, but because owners don’t sell.
Finding this plush in new condition through a verified source in 2025 is genuinely unusual. The last unit at Rare Inventory is not a figure of speech. It’s an accurate description of where this piece sits in the current market.
Why this plush holds collector value
Three factors position the Rise Above Visty Plush above standard designer toy releases.
First, the exhibition context. This plush connects directly to Verdy’s debut solo show at Kaikai Kiki, a dateable, documented moment in his career. Pieces tied to specific exhibitions hold provenance in a way that general merchandise doesn’t. Moreover, Rise Above was the show that introduced Visty to the broader art world, which makes objects from that moment historically significant within Verdy’s catalog.
Second, the edition size and documentation. 500 numbered units, internally tagged. That combination, small run, physical proof of number, is the foundation of secondary market value for any limited edition art object.
Third, Visty’s trajectory. Visty continues to appear in major cultural moments, including a life-size plush at the Dover Street Market London pop-up that drew crowds from the street. Each new Visty appearance increases awareness of the character and, consequently, interest in early editions like this one. The 2021 Rise Above plush sits at the very beginning of that arc.
Visty and the people who get it
Pharrell Williams and Verdy have maintained one of Japanese streetwear’s most documented creative friendships. Verdy is a close collaborator to leading cultural figures such as Pharrell Williams and Nigo. The photo above, taken at the Girls Don’t Cry x Human Made space, with Visty plush figures lined up behind them, documents that relationship at its most direct. Pharrell didn’t show up for a campaign. He showed up because the work earned his presence.
A$AP Rocky tells the same story from a different angle. One of the most influential tastemakers in global fashion and music, Rocky posed in front of a wall of Visty plush figures at the same space — arms crossed, surrounded by pastel fur. Neither visit was a paid endorsement. Both were documentation of a creative circle that Verdy built organically, and that continues to attract the most culturally significant names in the world. For collectors, that proximity matters. Pieces from this era carry those associations permanently.
How it compares to other Visty plush pieces at Rare Inventory
We also carry the Verdy × Dover Street Market Visty Plush (Brown), a 2025 exclusive from Verdy’s first London pop-up. Both pieces feature Visty, but they represent completely different chapters in the character’s history.
The Rise Above Pastel Multi is the earlier and rarer of the two. It comes from the moment Visty was born as an art character. The DSM Brown comes from the moment Visty reached a global retail audience. Collectors who want the full arc of Visty’s story need both.
Available now at Rare Inventory
At Rare Inventory, we carry the Verdy × Rise Above Visty Plush Limited Edition (Pastel Multi) /500 in new condition. Only 1 unit available. When it’s gone, the secondary market is the only option — and the price reflects it.
Browse the full Verdy collection at Rare Inventory for more pieces from his universe.
