In or out of package?
 

Hey guys/gals. New to the forum and anxious to chat toys and collectibles with everyone. As a collector of mostly 80's and 90's toys, it's rare that I will have a piece that is in the package. It's just not financially doable to own all original Joe's and other lines all in the package. So that being said with modern figures and collectibles, do you prefer display your toys in the package or out of the package? I have a few NECA pieces that I think would look so much cooler displayed loose :) But I haven't taken them out yet. I know value can obviously be affected and this is a common question. I'm just curious as to what most enjoy/prefer? Cheers.

Hey there StormShadow. Welcome to Toyark. I am personally a loose collector. Unless I have something ultra-rare that I just cannot bring myself to open up, everything gets unboxed eventually.

You will find both types here. I suggest taking a look at the collections forum if you are interested in seeing great examples of both types of collections.

It is indeed commonly covered ground. Here are some of what people have said before.


http://www.toyark.com/moc-open-help-me-94937/


http://www.toyark.com/open-closed-83072/


http://www.toyark.com/open-closed-di...nternal-82045/


http://www.toyark.com/open-not-open-14964/


http://www.toyark.com/open-not-open-question-99291/

out of package like they're meant to be.

Definitely out of package. Especially with the adult stuff like NECA. You can't truly appreciate all of the fine details on these pieces without freeing them from Magneto prison. It also takes up a lot less space to open 'em up and throw out the packaging. To me if you're in the toy collecting hobby mainly hoping to one day turn a profit on them, get out. Toys are not a good or reliable source for increased value over long periods of time. It has to be something like Star Wars which gains phenomenal levels of popularity and demand in order for any increase of value to happen. So free them from Magneto prison and appreciate them as you were meant to. Some things are extremely rare and worth keeping in box, but for just about everything else go ahead and open it.

Loose and displayed. I'm of the opinion that toys should breathe, be touched, and liberated from their plastic prisons. ALL of them, even the ones I shouldn't open. I'm not a collector with an eye toward resale. However, even if I were focused on value, the drop-off for rare figs loose vs rare figs MOC isn't exponential (at least not for the lines I collect)...enjoy your collection(s)!

Open 'em up to enjoy them fully, but try to protect the packaging. Nice packaging is as much fun and as important to the presentation and collectability of a figure as the toy itself.

Package design is an underappreciated art. I feel a lot of respect for talented package designers. I also resent situations where you can't open the package without ruining it. Grrr. Snarl. Gnash.

Four Horsemen Design provides a great 'best of both worlds' solution for loose vs MOC dilemmas...

Thanks for the feedback :) I've been leaning the way of displaying everything of late, so I'm glad that I'm in good company and not everyone is an in the box nazi. Have fun collecting. See you in the forums.

I'm almost exclusively an out of the box collector.

I keep my Figma boxes because if/when I move I really don't want any harm coming to them or any lost parts. And I've kept my small collection of ReAction figures in packaging because I think they look really great, but apart from those, everything is displayed and the packaging is recycled!

one of each, keep one for posterity, and appreciate the package design, and have one to open up and enjoy.

I played that game for faaaarrrr to long. I have sold off almost all things I had doubles of in package, but there are always exceptions. Special packaging and what not. Anything store bought tends to get opened at some point. Only some Con exclusives and very unique packages get saved or un-opened. Right now I am trying to decide if it is worth the space to keep the SDCC Marvel Legends boxes from the last few years (x-force, Thanos Imperative, and T-Bolts) the boxes are nice but take a lot of space in storage.

Loose collector here. I do appreciate and understand the boxed/packed pieces. While I don't open them all immediately, sooner or later I'll free them up. I do keep some boxes for their art and what not. But yep, they do take up space!

I rip everything open immediately with reckless abandon. I have never carefully opened anything. The box goes immediately in the bin. I even chucked the SDCC taco truck boxes. We did cut the artwork off the SDCC Super Hellicarrier to hang like a poster in my son's room.

Can't really recall even waiting twenty minutes to tear a figure open to be honest!I can have a new figure free in under ten seconds every time, and have NEVER broke any ripping them out. I am sure some would cringe to see me tear them so quickly, but to me it is like a band aid....quick and painless.

Also weird and I have never mentioned it before....but I smell the figure when I open them. A deep proper sniff too.... that is my favourite part. It's a little "put the lotion in the basket" I agree.... but it is such a rush to me!!! Plastic crack....

I think the longest time it's taken me to open a toy was the NECA Bioshock 2 Subject Omega and Splicer mask gift pack. Mainly because it's a fairly large box compared to the usual, but also I had to set up a good deal of extra space for the mask, that and I really took my time getting it all out of box carefully and precisely so I can repack the mask if I ever have to for safe moving. The only toy I keep mint in box is the mail away exclusive vintage re-release Boba Fett with the firing rocket, because I have such better toys of him and it looks so damn good in box. Okay that and the old Toybiz Fantastic Four deluxe edition 10" Silver Surfer and the Marvel Universe 10" Moon Knight, those I keep mint because my dad just gave them to me recently after going through some of his old stuff so they're very nostalgic for me, and again I have better figures of those characters anyway.

I do like to stagger opening stuff sometimes. If am getting a bunchnof figures in a month I will crack open the most wanted and then open a figure here and there as the mood strikes me. Sometimes its just because the figure doesn't have a spot where it fits a display theme so I put it in the closet for a bit..

Definitely an opener of toys, but what I do for nice packaging is:

1) cut off the piece I want to keep (or save the cardback/paper insert/ artwork)
2) put it in a big three ring binder in plastic sleeves so I can appreciate it!

Glad I'm not the only one...that new toy smell is just enticing, they need to make a car freshener out of that.
Back to the topic, I used to keep mine in the package for as long as I could because l liked displaying them like that, but eventually I would open them cause of space and it's only after you open them that you can really appreciate them. Only one I got in the package now is my MOTUC Man at Arms...lately been debating if I should open him or not. Had him for a year now, but I don't think I can repress my urges to open him for much longer.

THIS. Slap those puppies in a binder, or heck, laminate 'em and use 'em as coasters! :D

I do it too!!! Some of the best is if you can get an old McFarlane stuff from the Spawn and Movie Maniacs days. THAT was some of the best sniffing toys I have ever opened. Also some of the old Palisades Muppets ( which I just opened recently) are pretty potent.

Yes! Some of my favorites to smell were the old McFarlane ones. What was the name of the line with the cool looking motorcycles? Something riders. Also those old Kaiyodo Fist of the North Star toys had a very distinctive smell.

Marvel Selects opened and displayed but kept cut off the side art, and im working on a back image for them.

Neca Predators Including Ahab i opened them and saved the inner label for each one. i however saved the NES editon predator box because it looked so cool !!

Dc Collectibles i have yet to open them because i have ALOT now. i plan on opening them in about another week when my room mate moves out and i make my Comic/toy/game/computer room lol

If you can't get yourself to open them, i would suggest buying two of each one you get. i was also considering this when i end up purchasing the new marvel legends Spidey wave soon.

I couldn't keep this guy all jailed up in his package. Just freed him last night and he's going to look awesome on display with my other Bat-swag.

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps12d5ca64.jpg

In the Case of DCUC wave 19 Stargirl. Her Arms are facing the wrong way the stars run down the Outter arms