Quote - I am so glad for this thread as I have been hesitating  on getting A4. I guess I just keep seeing mixed info on her.  I read she can take the V4.2 morphs ++ and then a few threads down I read she can't. Or I read she can use V4 clothes then I read down more you have to have the magnet set to get the clothes to work. So I really don't know what to do.

A4 can take all of the V4.2 morphs++, as well as all of the V4.x custom morphs (although they will, of course, look a little different.) She will take V4.x textures as well. You do need magnets (or Wardrobe Wizard) to get existing V4 clothes to fit, but the magnets aren't that much of a pain to use. Also, I get the feeling from reading the threads over at DAZ, that many of the DAZ vendors are apparently planning on releasing updates to their more popular V4 clothes to fit A4.
V4.x hair will not fit Aiko out of the box, but, since Aiko is the same height as V4, it shouldn't be that difficult to get it to fit via scaling.

The magnet set is something like $6 for platinum members, $8 for non-members. Currently (through the 26th) Aiko is free to members, but will be $25 or so afterwards. (But I bet she will go on sale pretty regularly.)

Here is basically what the Aiko morphs do:

1. There are a set of body morphs which, essentially, can give V4.2 the same basic body shape as Aiko 3 (thin waist etc.) These are Aiko Base, Petite, Realistic, and Stylized. Since the body morphs are distinct from the head morphs, you can keep the body standard V4.2 to fit existing clothes and just morph the head. 2. There are a set of head morphs. Aiko base, stylized, two varieties of realistic (not quite sure what the difference is -- it seems to me that one is more of a "realistic cartoon", and the other more of a young face), and "American", which is more of an American style cartoon.

2. There are a set of facial morphs, some of which seem to duplicate the V4 morphs, but a lot of which allow for anime/manga/cartoon style facial movements. (For example, the weird anime blink, where the eyelids curve up.)

3. A few helper morphs, such as one which makes the nose a small, pointy triangle sort of thing. (Like a lot of anime.) I would love to see them come up with one to give her the sort of hampster overbite I see a lot of.

You can mix in all the V4.2 morphs as well. I'm not sure how well some of them (the brow and eye morphs especially) will work together, but you can. I've played a little with mixing in things like "amazon" with Aiko realistic and it looks pretty good.

So what does Aiko 4 give you that Aiko 3 didn't?

1. Since she's based on V4, you have a lot more content which is shareable. I imagine that, going forward, a lot of clothing producers will make clothes which fit both A4 and V4. Also, V4 and A4 poses are mostly compatible. (The exception would be on ones where the hands touch the body, but these require tweaking for use with morphed, or clothed, figures anyway.
2. Since she takes V4 expressions, you can use her in "realistic" style without being committed to those gawdaful Aiko facial expressions. i never managed to get non-goofy expressions out of A3. You also get V4s superior (to my mind, anyway) rigging.