Action figure collection inquiry

[pr0wl]

Originally Posted by dinga

I have not made money on my collection. It is the hunt. Not the sale afterwards.

Enjoy the hobbie. Enjoy the hunt. Enjoy the figure. Life is short.

Set them free if space is tight and you enjoy displaying them that way. Keeping them MOC doesn't guarantee any financial return in the future anyway.

[dbao123]

the only thing good about keeping them moc is it makes them easier to sell...i would always prefer to buy moc over loose...but they all get opened anyways

[joshimus]

If you buy simply for investment for the future, keep in packaging. As for myself, it's for me so I open them and have the occasional in package stored away.

[cobralegion]

Yeah if you are in it to one day sell them its best to keep them in the package. They will always be worth more mint on card or in box. About 90% of my collection is open and I find it hard to not open the rest. There's just some items that look cool in the package. After seeing the vintage Star Wars toy store pictures on Rebel scum I really want to do a section that looks like a toy store. Another New Year project! Happy New Year to all!

[Morg]

This is my favourite discussion thread in these forums for a long time and I seldom feel moved to post anything that isn't an action figure sighting.

Seriously, seeing the points of view of other collectors elucidated here helps me understand how I can end up scouring multiple Wal-Marts, Targets, TRUs and even LCBS's for select figures and always come up woefully short.

This is just my considered opinion and I'm not looking to speak for anyone else or to denigrate anybody in a mean-spirited way, but I really believe that if you're buying TRIPLES or more of figures in the direct market (with possible exception of army building, I suppose), then quite frankly, you are acting to the overall detriment of the hobby.

I know that you could easily say that a lot of the 3.75 / 6 inch toylines that most of us collect are actually arguably aimed at adult collectors, but I'm not sure... regardless of the prevalence of videogames etc. with today's kids, I for one am really glad that there wasn't an entire generation of adult collectors around back in the day when we were kids, running around cherry-picking all the chase figs off of the pegs back then.

I mean, how much fun would you childhood toy collection have been if all you had access to was dozens of multi-coloured Iron Man figs with limited articulation and you couldn't find the other characters you wanted.

I'm not above taking a special glee in finding something rare at a Winners and flipping it for a profit, but everything in moderation.

Anyway, in terms of storage... I'm an opener, but I'm an opener whose stuff often spends years in bins before I get around to ripping stuff off of the card. I've moved around a lot for work and there is no point in setting up shelving when you're only spending 12 months at a time in a place.

That being said, I know it sounds obvious and trite , but it never fails to amaze me how much more room figures take up when they're still MOC. I've got literally thousands of 3.75 inch figs and whenever I go through a huge rubbermaid bin and open up a buch of stuff, I'm amazed at how many big plastic containers get freed up for other purposes (or even sale).

Open your toys, pose them up, display them in a fun way... it is way more interesting and fulfilling than taking up lots of room with carded stuff - or even rotating stuff in and out of storage to display other aspects of your collection.

My two cents,

Thanks.

[Xtreme987]

Originally Posted by dinga

I open the ones I like. Set them free. Trying not to buy multiples and trying to be pickier. Trying.

I have not made money on my collection. It is the hunt. Not the sale afterwards.

Enjoy the hobbie. Enjoy the hunt. Enjoy the figure. Life is short.

I totally agree with you there, Dinga

[wedge1021]

One problem I have is keeping the packaging once I finally get around to opening stuff. I have a hard time throwing out the packaging, thinking maybe one day I might need it for something? Like what, I have no idea. I have finally gotten into slicing the bubbles off and just keeping the basic cardbacks, but for larger boxed toys I still keep the packaging. I think it is partly that I think, "hey I paid for the packaging too, why throw it away?" as well as "what if I go to sell these one day and someone wants the open packaging? (but why would anyone want that?!)"

Does anyone see value in keeping open packaging? Definitely for premium items like Masterpiece and 3rd Party Transformers I would think, as well as Lego sets I imagine. But what about regular mass-market boxed Transformers? Star Wars vehicles? And does anyone keep their opened Marvel Legends packaging, like those ToyBiz clamshells? I was looking at all the wasted storage I have because of this stuff and wondering if I should just chuck it all.

[Hantei]

Originally Posted by wedge1021

One problem I have is keeping the packaging once I finally get around to opening stuff. I have a hard time throwing out the packaging, thinking maybe one day I might need it for something? Like what, I have no idea. I have finally gotten into slicing the bubbles off and just keeping the basic cardbacks, but for larger boxed toys I still keep the packaging. I think it is partly that I think, "hey I paid for the packaging too, why throw it away?" as well as "what if I go to sell these one day and someone wants the open packaging? (but why would anyone want that?!)"

Does anyone see value in keeping open packaging? Definitely for premium items like Masterpiece and 3rd Party Transformers I would think, as well as Lego sets I imagine. But what about regular mass-market boxed Transformers? Star Wars vehicles? And does anyone keep their opened Marvel Legends packaging, like those ToyBiz clamshells? I was looking at all the wasted storage I have because of this stuff and wondering if I should just chuck it all.

I have the exact same problem with keeping the packaging! It's what killing space for me! I started to do what you did though, cutting out the bubbles and keeping the cardbacks. But mostly for the ones that are movie related (3.75", TF), I'm still hesitant to do it for MU for some reason. I really should do it for Marvel Select, the packaging is so huge...

Figures that come with boxes I like to keep for their ease of repackaging (eg. Play Arts, 6" Black Series, and Marvel Infinite Series). I've actually done that for a lot of my older Play Arts figures (FF7AC, FF8...), as I was running out of display space. Heh, I have them hung on a wall, well at least the ones that have tabs for being pegged.

The clamshells I found myself keeping as well. I've been a little more deliberate with the way I open them, cutting a door like opening on the back so I have the option repackage to them. I just wish I did that a lot earlier in my collecting, would be nice to repackage all my SOTA Street Fighter stuff.

Haha, it's like a case of OCD or mild hoarding on my behalf... I'm also curious if there's actually any value in keeping packaging.

[iammingy]

I open >=95% of my toys. I don't play with them like when I was a little kid, but I enjoy posing them quite a bit. I keep the package mostly for storage of collection not on my display shelf.

- Medium sized Lego boxes (over ~300 pieces) are kept because I want the pieces from different sets to be separate.
- Tuck-in flap boxes are kept (ie. 6-inch Star Wars Black, 6-inch Infinite Legends).
- Bubble clamshells are disposed without hesitation (ie. Toybiz Marvel Legends, NECA, etc.)
- Plastic shell on cardboard ... I kept the cardboard and dispose the shell (ie. Hasbro Return of Marvel Legends, Mattel DC, DC Direct, etc.)
- Statue and bust boxes and packaging are always kept.

My action figures without package, when not on display, are wrapped like a mummy with toilet paper and stored in a plastic storage bin. The toilet paper are for absorbing moisture.

You may consider this guy's idea of storing his 3.75 inch figures:
http://www.onepercase.net/2013/10/ar...n-figures.html

How do you guys store your recent Hasbro Transformers? The plastics are so thin and brittle. I don't dare to put them all in a bin because I am afraid that they will break. So, they are almost always displayed... to collect dust...