Figures - Open or leave in packaging?

[nesguy]

I've just picked up some really cool DBZ gashapons, and I had a really good time opening them all up and putting them together. I'm looking forward to displaying them all on my anime shelves, filling the nooks and crannies. It got me thinking about possibly picking up some other Dragon Ball figures, but then I started to think about the very little bit of figure collecting that I'd done in the past. Coming into anime from other "collectible" hobbies, it was always considered best to leave an item in its package for its "value". When it comes to anime figures, it seems that a lot of companies go to quite a bit of trouble to make the packaging for figures almost a display box, in and of itself; no need to take the figure out because it already looks good as-is. To me, it ended up taking some of the fun of the figure collecting away, know that I wasn't "supposed" to open them, and I ended up worrying every time I moved them that the damn package was going to get damaged in some way. I ended up stopping my figure collection at that point.

I started looking through the collection thread, and I noticed that people here, for the most part, display their Dragon Ball figures opened. I had a bunch of questions, and after doing a bit of searching through the figure threads here, I didn't really see many answers. Hope you all don't mind me asking:

- If you open your figures for display, what do you do with the extra accessories, especially if you have a lot of figures?
- Do you throw the packaging away?
- I noticed some people kept some in boxes yet opened others. What made you pick those, personal preference or something else?
- Anime figures, unlike say, action figures, don't seem to really be "collectible". Why is that, or is that just a misconception on my part? Have you ever had to sell you figures, and did you get a good price for them? Did you get a better price for a complete/boxed figure?

Thanks for any help you can offer. I know a lot of this will boil down to personal taste, but I'm really curious about what other people's motivations (or lack of) might be.

[TheLegendary117]

When it comes to the American toys, Ill keep them in the packaging. When it comes to the imported toys, I usually open them. The Banpresto, Megahouse, Ichiban, and gashapon figures are AMAZING for display. The American toys don't look nearly as good but some fetch hundreds of dollars. It all depends on what kind of collector you are

[SHINOBI-03]

If I wanted to buy a figure, I buy to display it on my shelf or for anything else that works for them. I don't keep anything in their package. I don't pay money just to keep something inside the package and not doing anything with it other than remain inside the box. If I buy something just to leave it sealed inside the box, I might as well print a picture of the package and hang it on my wall .

- If you open your figures for display, what do you do with the extra accessories, especially if you have a lot of figures?

I leave them in the box, or out for whenever I like to change the pose of my figures.

- Do you throw the packaging away?

Nope. I keep the boxes, unless it's a disposable package that once opened you can't store your toys in it again.

- I noticed some people kept some in boxes yet opened others. What made you pick those, personal preference or something else?

I don't always keep them out or in the boxes. Only when I feel like it.

- Anime figures, unlike say, action figures, don't seem to really be "collectible". Why is that, or is that just a misconception on my part?

I'm not sure about it. Maybe because they are usually expensive?

Have you ever had to sell you figures, and did you get a good price for them? Did you get a better price for a complete/boxed figure?

I've never sold anything from my collection yet.

[Metalwario64]

If I wanted to buy a figure, I buy to display it on my shelf or for anything else that works for them. I don't keep anything in their package. I don't pay money just to keep something inside the package and not doing anything with it other than remain inside the box. If I buy something just to leave it sealed inside the box, I might as well print a picture of the package and hang it on my wall .

Man, I feel exactly the same way as you. In fact, I've said the same thing about printing a picture and hanging it on a wall before as well.

[Scarz]

I don't see a point in buying a figure and not releasing them from their package. It's like buying furniture and leaving the tacky plastic wrappings on them. Maybe if you were a hardcore collector and you plan to sell your figures in the future, I can understand why you would want to keep them in its package. Or maybe you simply don't have the space yet to display them. As for me I like displaying my figures, they give me inspiration and for those I don't have the shelf space for I keep them in their boxes and every now and then I'll switch them with another figure.

Have you ever had to sell you figures, and did you get a good price for them? Did you get a better price for a complete/boxed figure?

I haven't yet but I do plan to. I'm waiting for this certain figure to be rare before I sell it.

[StarRot]

- If you open your figures for display, what do you do with the extra accessories, especially if you have a lot of figures?

I have a lot of little stationary boxes, I put larger accessories and Re-Ment items in them. For smaller accessories I put them inside sealable sandwich bags and store them in shoe boxes. Fishing tackle boxes, the kinds with lots of compartments are pretty useful for storage also.

- Do you throw the packaging away?

Yes. I have no room to keep them.

- I noticed some people kept some in boxes yet opened others. What made you pick those, personal preference or something else?

I open mine, it seems pointless to me to keep them in their boxes. I want to show them off and put them in cool little poses.

- Anime figures, unlike say, action figures, don't seem to really be "collectible". Why is that, or is that just a misconception on my part?

I’d say that’s a misconception. From my experience, they’re just as collectable as Western action figures. Maybe even more so, depending on the line.

- Have you ever had to sell you figures, and did you get a good price for them? Did you get a better price for a complete/boxed figure?

The only figures I sell/trade occasionally are Busou Shinki. I source them cheap and sell them at the higher, correct prices. Because I usually only sell the rarer figures, I get just as much money as I would if they were boxed. Though, because I buy these purely to re-sell, I typically have the original boxes anyway.

[Drabaz]

I noticed some people kept some in boxes yet opened others. What made you pick those, personal preference or something else?

I don't keep any of my figures in their boxes. I always open them and try to find a spot for them. But when I open them, I'm really careful as to how I open it. I carefully take the tape off the boxes so that there's as little rips as possible. I keep all the bubble wrap and whatever else came inside the box, just in case I have to end up selling them someday. That way, besides me opening it and the missing tape, it's as good as new! I'm such a packrat that I even keep all the shipping boxes that the figures came in. I have a bunch of UPS, USPS, FedEx, ect. boxes in my closet. And I have no idea why I keep them.

[Sshadow5001]

I gotta release them from there packaging. I keep the boxes in various cupboard aswell as the garage.

[Kuwabara]

I like having multiples of everything. Having used but otherwise completely undamaged loose figures is enjoyable for stuff like taking pics or doing stop motion videos. But on the other hand, I love having mint packaged ones too. I have three S.H. FiguArts Gohan figures for example, two in package and one loose. It's awesome when I can pose Gohan around and say, "Phew, got you before I would have been guilty about opening you..."

[nesguy]

Thanks for all the great responses to my questions!! It's given me a lot of help so far.

I've been giving it some real thought over the last couple of days, and I think for now I'm going the "open them" route. I put all of the capsule figures I'd bought up on my DBZ shelf, and they look great displayed up there. Bigger figures will enhance the whole thing, I think. The only exceptions I'm probably going to make are figures that are unique to certain packagings, i.e. the S.H.Figurarts Goku from SDCC. That one kind of makes to sense to me to display it in its box. I'm keeping some of the packaging for now. I put the big boxes my two sets of capsule figures came in down on the bottom shelf for now, but they kind of make cool little display pieces themselves.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

I don't think anyone will tell you to throw away the boxes. It's just senseless, unless they've really begun to encroach on your space, I suppose. I know I'm a bit late to the discussion, but I always take my figurines out of the boxes. I just don't see the point in spending a considerable amount of money on things that you're not even going to be able to completely look at. Furthermore, if you're fearful that opening them will diminish their monetary value, then may I suggest a more profitable venture.

[Raithos]

I've just picked up some really cool DBZ gashapons, and I had a really good time opening them all up and putting them together. I'm looking forward to displaying them all on my anime shelves, filling the nooks and crannies. It got me thinking about possibly picking up some other Dragon Ball figures, but then I started to think about the very little bit of figure collecting that I'd done in the past. Coming into anime from other "collectible" hobbies, it was always considered best to leave an item in its package for its "value". When it comes to anime figures, it seems that a lot of companies go to quite a bit of trouble to make the packaging for figures almost a display box, in and of itself; no need to take the figure out because it already looks good as-is. To me, it ended up taking some of the fun of the figure collecting away, know that I wasn't "supposed" to open them, and I ended up worrying every time I moved them that the damn package was going to get damaged in some way. I ended up stopping my figure collection at that point.

I started looking through the collection thread, and I noticed that people here, for the most part, display their Dragon Ball figures opened. I had a bunch of questions, and after doing a bit of searching through the figure threads here, I didn't really see many answers. Hope you all don't mind me asking:

- If you open your figures for display, what do you do with the extra accessories, especially if you have a lot of figures?
- Do you throw the packaging away?
- I noticed some people kept some in boxes yet opened others. What made you pick those, personal preference or something else?
- Anime figures, unlike say, action figures, don't seem to really be "collectible". Why is that, or is that just a misconception on my part? Have you ever had to sell you figures, and did you get a good price for them? Did you get a better price for a complete/boxed figure?

Thanks for any help you can offer. I know a lot of this will boil down to personal taste, but I'm really curious about what other people's motivations (or lack of) might be.

Ah! a fellow collector! Yes let us guide you into the wonderful ways of collecting.

If you open your figures for display, what do you do with the extra accessories, especially if you have a lot of figures?

Usually I open the packages of figures I really want to display, if they come with extra accessories but no box (say they came in a capsule or in plastic wrap), then I store the accessories in Ziploc bags or Ziploc containers or the plastic wrap/capsule (or whatever containment device they came in). When I have a lot of figures I usually will keep the accessories for them with their boxes in their packaging or create a containment unit for the accessories that I can store in a place allotted for that specific figure.

Do you throw the packaging away?

I only throw the packaging away in specific cases. For example if I buy gashapon, they usually come in sealed plastic wrapping, which I tend to throw away becuase... well, I don't need it. I then go to the grocery store and buy either seal-able containers or zipper lock Ziploc bags and store my gashas in those. For figures that come with boxes I tend to keep the box since the box functions as a storage unit, display unit and adds protection to the figure as well as creating it's own space and place within my room. What I mean by this is the box creates a space for itself by allowing me to use it for its storage function and it has a place within my room designated specifically for it. (Whether this be in storage dressers or on top of my closet.) Also keeping the boxes and initial wrapping for the figures not only kicks up their value during resale (even if they are opened), but also lets you know which figure is which and where it belongs. This way I find I'm not tearing apart my storage trying to find figures during a sale or what have you becuase I can just scan the box to see what it is. Case in point, I'd advise you that if you can... keep the packaging, it adds to resale value (when you do eventually sell some stuff down the road) and also can have several functions within itself that are beneficial.

Here's an example of my storage method for gashapon:


This would be the main container I use.


Inside each container I then have separate Ziploc bags to add an extra little bit of protection to the figures (which also doubles as storage) since I wouldn't want all the figures rubbing up against each other and scuffing/scratching etc.

And this would be examples of my storage methods for boxed figures:


This is one of the few storage dressers I have in my room and they are really handy for conserving space and allowing me to store away figures on my person. For my beloved HSCF (high spec coloring figure) line I also break down the boxes themselves so that they can be stored more easily, in a sort of card catalog style.


And this is what the top of my closet looks like, it's all figure boxes. I like this becuase it also adds a sort of substance to my collection, and I begin to feel proud of what I've collected.

I noticed some people kept some in boxes yet opened others. What made you pick those, personal preference or something else?

What I do is I buy doubles and even triples of figures that I REALLY like or that I can think can fetch a high resale value or appeal to me the most. In some cases where I really like the figure I buy lots of them. I don't buy figures just for resale value- but I do have resale value in mind when collecting figures. I go for figures that are rare, limited, or exclusive and that I can enjoy and yet sell for a high price when I am ready to let them go. (For example the Medicos Goku statue). Now I'm not as avid as some collectors that "hunt down rares from Paris" that were "imported directly from Japan's 34th Tokyo anime convention, and limited to 100 pieces" yadda yadda. If I see an affordable rare piece then I'll pick it up. For example the HSCF SSJ3 Vegeta or Broly, or some of the HQDX Figures (Like SSJ4 Vegeta or Majin Vegeta) for example will fetch you a nice price in resale. Reselling (for me anyways) becomes a sort of natural branch of collecting. Unless you have the room for it then you're going to need to let some stuff go at some point or if unforeseen events come up and you need some money quickly in a pinch. For this reason I sometimes buy doubles and triples of figures I like when I can, so that when I need to let them go I'm not losing the original figure I wanted but at the same time I'm making a profit, not losing money, and freeing up space. In essence it becomes a concern of spatial reasons for me in this sense. For figures I really like, I'll always keep two of said figure, one for display and one for storage. I feel a sense of reassurance when I have more than one of the figure, so if anything happened to the display piece or I wanted to make a sale, I'd have a backup for the display piece or I could sell the MISB piece and keep the display piece. Which ones I choose to open depends on their level of rarity and whether or not I want to resell it in the near future. For figures I anticipate in selling I'll usually keep them in their boxes. For figures I anticipate personally- I display them. Also when displaying them, unless you have a windowed showcase or something to that effect, then your enemy (dust) can accumulate on the figures to the extent where they need heavy cleaning or have their paint jobs damaged etc. In this sense I routinely swap out my figures that are on display and re box them or clean them routinely to avoid damage to them. Also worries like falling off the shelf hitting the floor, siblings getting at them etc are all concerns. But for the most part I do love displaying my figures as much as I love keeping them in the box and collecting the boxes themselves as some boxes are made wonderfully.

For example, you can see my affinity for buying multiples in this next set of pictures:


I really like the HSCF line, so I tend to buy doubles and triples of ones I really like. The boxes are small and easy to store, and have nice graphics on every side. The figures themselves are a really nice size and wonderful for display.



BOXES BOXES BOXES!


For my One Piece world collectables I keep the box, mainly because of the storage and protection function. But also they are worth my MISB (Mint in sealed box), and they can fetch a pretty penny. That red devil "Oars" piece can fetch 100$, the blue Nightmare Luffy Piece can go from anywhere from 30-70$.

Anime figures, unlike say, action figures, don't seem to really be "collectible". Why is that, or is that just a misconception on my part? Have you ever had to sell you figures, and did you get a good price for them? Did you get a better price for a complete/boxed figure?

You're mistaken anime figures are highly and incredibly collectible. That's a huge misconception on your part, they are just as collectible if not more-so than action figures that are articulated. They can fetch a pretty penny MISB, just like an action figure would. I have had to sell a couple figures and I made a good deal on them. I sold a few for a bit more than what I bought, and one for 2x what I bought it. It's best to advertise what you're selling in hopes that someone may want it or need it, if that doesn't work then move to a marketplace such as Amazon or Ebay. Rarity, box condition, figure condition and all that come into play.

I noticed some people kept some in boxes yet opened others. What made you pick those, personal preference or something else?

I don't keep any of my figures in their boxes. I always open them and try to find a spot for them. But when I open them, I'm really careful as to how I open it. I carefully take the tape off the boxes so that there's as little rips as possible. I keep all the bubble wrap and whatever else came inside the box, just in case I have to end up selling them someday. That way, besides me opening it and the missing tape, it's as good as new! I'm such a packrat that I even keep all the shipping boxes that the figures came in. I have a bunch of UPS, USPS, FedEx, ect. boxes in my closet. And I have no idea why I keep them.

Lol it's ok Drab, I also keep my Shipment boxes, but that's so I can either use them to pack the figures in when I eventually move out or so I can re-use them to ship figures out, so I don't have to go out and buy boxes

[nathantheguitarist]

Some figures look better in the packaging than out. Like the Super Battle Collection figures, or the American figures that come on card boxes. Whether or not you resell them, they're probably neater looking in the box than out. Example:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2471/391 ... fbaf_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3509/391 ... 9cff_b.jpg

Unless you really need to satisfy the urge to ...move their arms!! >_>


But then I'm so used to not opening them and hanging them on the wall, when I get one of these newer figures that are basically meant to be taken out, I can't decide whether I should open it or not. So I hide it my closet with the other figures so I don't have to think about it.

So this still looks like this.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6198/614 ... fb1f_z.jpg