Unboxing vs keeping boxed
 

Wondering if there are any other collectors out there who don’t actually open their figures.
My reasons were originally that I have nowhere to display the figs (I’m a family man with limited space), so I figured if I’m going to keep them stored away I may as well keep them sorted in their original packaging, but it’s sort of progressed to the point where I kind of prefer the idea of keeping them boxed up, more than anything it’s the box art some figs come in, the Masterverse figs, X-Men animated, Gargoyles, even the Neca TMNT figs look cool boxed up with all the accessories on display. Any other boxed collectors out there?

I'm about 30% boxed, 70% loose. Not only do I buy figs for my YouTube reviews, but I've filled an entire room with collectibles. I would have had to stop collecting once I ran out of MOC space.

If everything had basically the same packaging it would be more of a no brainer to me to keep everything MOC/MIB. That is why I envy Funko Pop collectors... even going way back to the very beginning the packaging has been the same. I also regretted opening up all my 3.75" Marvel Universe figures. No regrets on opening all my 3.75" Joes though... those I play with.

Marvel Legends I don't regret opening since my whole goal since the beginning was to have a whole team display of 90's gold and blue X-men teams. Plus, in a team display the good figures and bad figures sort of blend together and you judge everything as a group.

I dunno. I just like to play with the toys with my kid. And sometimes by myself lol. Used to throw all the boxes away but we've kept a bunch of the Masterverse ones because the art is so nice but we fold them down, stick some of them on the walls as lil posters and throw away the plastic trays because that crap takes up too much space lol

Also if you don't take the figure out how do you know you got a non-faulty one? My best mate got a captain teela from masterverse a couple months ago and looked absolutely fine in the box but he took it out and she had a ton of weird glue crap on her back and he had to get a replacement.

I open EVERYTHING, because they're toys. I enjoy having them all geared up, posed, and displayed. Also, coming to all other toylines as an ARAH GI Joe guy, I'd expand on EternianJerkian's "non-faulty" take- Joes have a rubber o-ring holding the figure together (for those that don't know), and believe me when I say that they will rot regardless of whether or not they're stored properly. I can assure you that I've seen plenty of MOC Joes with legs and torsos floating around independently of one another in the bubble. They're basically a ticking time bomb. Discoloration is another issue, and some of the newer plastic discolors at an accelerated rate, effectively ruining both your investment and your beautiful MOC/MISB display piece. Not to mention, with old-school vehicles, and especially with the advent of plastic free packaging, you really have no idea what's going to be in there until you open it- it could be full of My Little Ponies or rocks. Schrödinger's MOBAT.

Nope, I open them and enjoy them. I personally find a lot of rigid figures peering out from boxes kinda boring and sad. Also, for me, there's no investment here- I'll die with a massive collection of toys and leave whomever cleans my house out to figure out what to do with it all.

I'm not saying that boxed collectors are wrong, but I do think that they might not get the same pleasure out of the hobby that I do.


I'll also add that I can at least understand why people would collect MOC figures, even if it's not for me. What really blows my fucking mind are sealed and graded Super Nintendo games.

I'm amazed when peeps still have mint or near-mint condition boxes for their original old nintendo carts whether it NES, SNES, N64, GB because those things got tatty quick. Aye they're more environmentally friendly than Sega's stuff but you're often more likely to find those plastic Mega Drive (or Genesis to most you folk here? lol) cases in good condition than you are the old Ninty games.

If you only like the look of the package, just print it out and then tape it on a brick, it will have the same effect.

Kidding aside, my collection is 50% boxed & 50% unboxed. If you like them just boxed up, good for you, no one's going to force you to open your toys anyway.

What I don't get is a lot of MOC collectors who say they "don't play with toys" despite buying toys in the first place. Some are meant to be played with in one form or another.

Same here, if ever I die tomorrow - there will be people who can just get the toys from my cabinets and they can do whatever they want with it.

I hear the argument for not realising you have faulty figs, but I guess if I never open them I will never know, I’m still not fully committed to keeping them boxed forever, so maybe one day I will have tonnes of figures to open in one hit

Aye, that reminds me my best mate worked in his local charity shop and some bloke died and his family donated all his 80s ghostbusters and ninja turtle toys to the shop all in near mint condition and whatnot and my mate got to play with them all the afternoon while sorting them out and ebaying them for the charity to make more money than they'd make just being put on the shop shelf since the other volunteers at the shop didn't know what they were and would just sell them as any other tat. But aye that family seemed to not care if those things had actual monetary value and just got rid. Which is kinda sad in some way but aye, good for the charity, at least for having my mate know what they were and getting money's worth for the charity.

I agree that some figs looks sad still boxed up (I’m looking at you ReAction figs), I would say however some are posed quite nicely in box. Like I said, it was more the fact I have nowhere to display them, so I would literally be opening them and then storing them away loose, so I keep them boxed.

As for when I die, I’ve already told my wife to get on EBay and see what they are going for, I’ve made a particular point to tell her about my BTAS boxed collection, people seem to be willing to pay crazy prices for them.

Plastic free packaging is a concern for myself, I just hope they have a way of opening the box without damaging it (NO TAPE), so you can check you got the goods and then reseal it

I agree with the boxed video game sentiment, as least with boxed figs you can see the item and it has display merit in its own way, boxed video games are surely only kept boxed for a resale down the line

Charity is nice, but I have kids, I’ve already warned the wife about which figs are worthless and which aren’t, I don’t think she believed me, but she’ll see when I die and my figure collection pays for my funeral

Sealed retro games actually make more sense to me since you actually need so much extra crap to play those games... you need a working console and a working controller and working cables and sometimes a working memory card... not too mention an older tv with older video and audio connections. Without those stuff you might as well just leave the game sealed since you can't even play with it anyway.

Aye, I'm fine playing all my old faves via emulation but there's a whole ton of retro gamers who enjoy the authentic experience of playing old games on the real machines and quite happily take any of them heavy old CRT televisions off you to play the classics the way they were meant to look. Old consoles can be made to run on modern TV's with the right cables but the real dedicated folk go all in. Some have whole entire rooms jampacked full of old gaming stuff set up and ready to go like it's an old amusement arcade (like the pic below) But yeah all these are the types tend to actually use those old cartridges and CDs and not have them all sealed up never to actually be played.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/20/54...b54fda927d.jpg

I open all my toys. Toys are to be played with Posed and Displayed not kept in boxes or mounted on the wall like hunting trophies. As Fellow Toy Collector/Wrestler Matt Cardona says regarding toys Let Em Breathe.

I would say mine is about 70% MOC and 30% loose. Just because I buy multiples. Normally 2 of each on a regular and sometimes I go up all the way to 5 depending on the character or if its on sale.

https://live.staticflickr.com/8217/8...9ae6e1cf_z.jpg

That's a pic i took almost 10 years ago, and whatever I have in there, I have em also loose for either playing nor displaying.

I open everything except for the few I've gotten as gifts and a few that I got doubles of because I liked them so much and wanted a backup.
And while i can understand have boxed figures on display, I don't understand the appeal of having shelves of boxes where you have them stacked like books, so that you're only seeing the sides of the box. That seems very weird to me but to each their own.

Do you keep your toys in your garage? Or your car in your toy room?

Ha ha.

If that's 10 years ago, then it's time to see an updated photo of the glory of ALL your toys!

@cyclopswc: at the garage. Wish i was one of those people who has a freakin car in their mancave just because they can. Had to let go majority of my TF collection except for Bumblebee, Starcream and OP.

And the wife just kicked me out of the house, said i can just spend my entire adult life with the real love of my life, them action figures. Lol

@deecee4: totally get what you’re saying. And plus it takes too much space, and that’s why a lot of my items ended up in the garage. When I started collecting, i just bought one fig, but then after so many years, I wanted to see that fig in its box, and thats when I started buying doubles.