I could use some suggestions please
 

Hello, I'm new to this thread and hope to be relatively active.

So I want some suggestions from you guys...and feel free to redirect me to another thread if this has been done to death. I don't want to be an annoyance right from the get-go.

I just ordered some action figures and am pretty stoked. I haven't messed with them since I was a kid but now I'm 24 and have been into collecting comics for a few years. I decided to start collecting action figures because they've always peeked my interest but I don't have funds to just throw around and I already have a comic collection I'm funding. But hell, you only live once, right?

ANYWAY, my problem is I'm not sure if I want to open them or not. I know it's up to the individual's desires but I'd like to hear some reasons from seasoned collectors about why they keep them sealed or why they open them.

it's 100% up to you. Here there's a 50/50 split.

Negatives to opening

1. Value decreases once opened
2. Smaller pieces are easy to lose
3. if anyone smokes near them they are done

Positives to opening

1. If you wish to Display them it is easier
2. If there are BAF's you can put them together
3. open figures are generally easier to get

besides whet CM3 said a few more:
pros of opening:
you get to play with em
less expensive to get missing set figures
takes up less space

cons of opening: lower resale
takes up space
some packaging isn't display friendly
u cant play with em

personally with space I will be opening mine..the guys here post some awesome displays and dioramas

I'm an opener. I have several bookcases to display stuff and it's still not enough. I can't imagine what I would do they are all still MOC. Get some plano boxes and you are golden for sorting out all the small pieces.

I just think it's more fun to have them out and change the pose once in a while. Depending on the toyline and what figures you are buying loose vs MOC isn't always a big difference in price if you are going to sell them in a few years. Even MOC some lines are worthless 10 years later.

i dont know why someone would buy a figure and not play with it, pose it around, change heads, put the accesories on etc., why would someone go buy a figure with 20+ points of articulation, alternate hands, effects, weapons, maybe some gimmick, and not get the pleasure of messing around with it..

that said, i only keep boxes that are easy to repackage, and have a nice visual style, for example figuarts/figma/revoltech, lately the black series,, it would be dumb to throw most of those boxes away, but i display them sans box.

as you said you only live once, you could get hit by a car tomorrow die, and another bastard is going to get the pleasure of opening the toy you bought, heres a simile, its like buying a comic and keeping it wraped without reading it.

Thanks for the replies! I think I'm going to open them when they arrive. That comic analogy hit home haha.

Thanks for the idea of plano boxes, Iceman. At first I thought you said piano boxes..I was thinking, "I have one of those but I'm not sure it's a good idea for small accessories."

Can't wait until they arrive.

OPEN! Play! THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT!

Well said Mattel and Hasbro make them to be opened an played with 90% of the time mine sit in a Cabinet but when my 3 year old cousin comes over she and I play with them shes quickly becoming a DC Fan