Let's begin by realizing:

 

To Each His Own. -  If you want to do it. Do it. Nothing wrong with keeping MSIB.

                            Nothing Wrong with opening. Just a way of life. What ever

                                makes us happy, do it for yourself, not for others, nor don't listen to others.

 

I am the worst Dr. Phill ever!....  :wtf

 

Okay...let's just discuss our opinions on this issue.  :clap

 

Why keep things in MISB/MSIB ( mint sealed in box...or mint in sealed box..whatever)? Is it really worth it?

 

CON:  no true appreciation (hands on)...just stare at it.

PRO: Appreciation (financial) to resell for money later

 

But is the financial appreciation in value really worth it? spending money on something to see it appreciate...maybe 2 twice or 3 times (if you are lucky)...when your PAYCHECK will give you much more of a return.

 

Are MSIB collectors being robbed years of joy since the money they make can easily be made muliple times by there jobs?

 

BUT THEN are non-MSIB missing out on a valuable source of income?

And is playing with transformers over-rated?

(play for a bit..then leave on shelf/box anyways....so why not sell it MSIB)

 

Just trying to understand the nature of collecting through personal opinions.

 

  :thumb

Funny, I just posted some thoughts on this in another thread.

 

I don't think that most modern "collector toy" releases will ever increase too much in value.  Too many people keep things MISB these days.  Nobody kept G1 Jetfire unopened in his box because they thought he would be worth $1000 some day, which is exactly why he's worth that much now.  Today's equivalent of G1 TFs will be something kids play with now, throw away and then become nostaligic about in the future.

 

Things like BT/Alts will never have any nostalgia value, they're really not a "hot" item in mainstream pop-culture like the G1 toys were in their day.  Today's kids, when they have too much disposable income in the future, won't be spending $1000 for a toy they never had any interest in as a child.

For me, I don't have time to play with the toys. But I still want to collect them, so I keep them in the box. I do still buy loose (used) toys, so I am not MISB only, or even that. I will re-package a toy in a box if I can. I used to open the toys and play with them. Now I (like many) have the crazy dream of making a TF museum... so MIB is my first choice. Eventually try to get it loose too but it is not a priority. I try to get ones I don't have, loose or boxed.

 

Loose pros: you can display the toys, play with them, recreate scenes, easy to find second-hand, even older items. Can get originals easier and cheaper than boxed.

 

Loose cons: toys get damaged by the environment, prone to breaking and can chip or flake their paint, also some really rare things (Lucky Draw, mail aways) come to be displayed in the box/bag, and they become VERY RARE still in that container.

 

Boxed pros: toy will be minty fresh forever as long as you keep them out of the basement, some toys you can open and play around with and still put back in the box (ie Alternators), over time minty collections are more revered (think of that dude with all the Diaclones in box or early JTF), can't lose the accessories

 

Boxed cons: gets expensive, really cool toys you WANT to open but aren't sure and you get locked in a battle in your mind about how you'd rather have them (happened to me, aka I WISH I KEPT IT IN THE BOX syndrome), takes up 10x as much room, if not more, than collecting loose, mostiure damage if stored improperly (like my Brax Max box which got moldy), hard get replacement parts (G1 inserts) or entire peices for rarer or larger toys, such as you damage the box or store it in a bad place. Some Lucky Draw have the same box as regular release, Harder to complete even new sets because of more variations (toy variations + box and international variations)

 

Some of these pros/cons are aimed at completists (like me) so they may not apply to you.

 

Definately one thing I can recommend: DON'T START COLLECTING MISB, THEN CHANGE YOUR MIND, THEN CHANGE YOUR MIND AGAIN. YOU WILL REGRET IT!  :tfsad  :redface

I agree with trench 100%. If you just want to keep stuff MISB, more power to you, but why the heck would you buy toys if you don't want to play with them? Isn't that what they're for? Only a handful of toys ever increase significantly in value over time, and it's usually due to multiple factors that nobody is going to be able to predict.

Funny, I just posted some thoughts on this in another thread.

 

I don't think that most modern "collector toy" releases will ever increase too much in value.  Too many people keep things MISB these days.  Nobody kept G1 Jetfire unopened in his box because they thought he would be worth $1000 some day, which is exactly why he's worth that much now.  Today's equivalent of G1 TFs will be something kids play with now, throw away and then become nostaligic about in the future.

 

Things like BT/Alts will never have any nostalgia value, they're really not a "hot" item in mainstream pop-culture like the G1 toys were in their day.  Today's kids, when they have too much disposable income in the future, won't be spending $1000 for a toy they never had any interest in as a child.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I,  like Lord Madhammer, agree with Trench.

Logic dictates that G1 value will:

        1) decrease because all of us who grew up with it are going die (blunt) or be too 

          old to not bother ebaying it. :tdown

        2) Today's kids...when they have money will buy Today's stuff in the future

 

AND

        "today's toys of the future" - will have decreased value since there are so

      manyMSIB

 

BUT ...the value WILL  increase...and the amount out there in the future will only be known when we get there  (when the 10 year olds have jobs at 20-30 years old...that means we will be that much older when we get a good return)

 

AND MSIB is the optimum way in this collecting field to get quick money on a rainy day.

 

:thumb

So what if the toy value increases? So will your cost of living. In most cases you'll be lucky to break even, if you adjust for inflation. :thumb

I keep my toys MISB because I believe they will one day be valuable.  I will never tell my toys.  Strange, isn't it?  I really enjoy just looking at them on my shelves.  They look so pristine, and it just makes me smile.  When I actually play with them, I grow tired of them after a short while.  Then, I usually regret ever having opened them.  Today, I finally bought Hot Shot.  He remains in his plastic prison.  I plan to buy another one soon, though, so that I may play with it.

 

Whenever the temptation becomes too great, I simply buy two.  Because of this, and the fact that I buy MISB 90% of the time, my collection is rather small.  I don't mind, though.

 

"I feel like I just walked into a toy store."- I love hearing that when people enter my room. 

Hmm... my 2 cents:

 

I keep some things sealed, and open some... but don't have a problem keeping items either way.

 

I've made about $850 profit from buying and re-selling TFs over the past year... ALL opened... so the financial aspect of it should be thrown out the window.... just like madhammer said.

 

I keep all my G1s in a box to keep dust off of them (but open most of them)... the boxes look cool too. and I'm making G1 reissue boxes for all my old g1s (trypticon, constructicons, jetfire, omega etc...)...

 

keeping it sealed is ok in my opinion aas long as you can look at it... but if the box is like the takara boxes where there is no window, then keeping it sealed it no better than having a box with a pretty picture on it.

I collect mostly G1, mostly reissues.  I have doubles of all of my TRU reissues, and I plan to keep one set MISB - but I can't explain why.  I just like the idea of it.  It's definitely not to sell later.  I open all of my Takara's, mainly because I don't want to pay for two of each, since they are more expensive.

 

There is very little chance that the TF's of today that we collect will be worth much in the future.  If you want an investment, you are *much better off* taking $50 and buying some cheap stock instead of a Cybertron Supreme SS.  I open all of the Cybertron toys I buy...

 

True story - a coworker of mine sent two daughters through 4 years of private college exclusively with the windfall from investing a few grand in cheap Hershey stock she bought in the early 80's (bought it for 2 dollars a share, and watched it soar to 40 dollars a share with two splits in between) ...

I collect mostly G1, mostly reissues.  I have doubles of all of my TRU reissues, and I plan to keep one set MISB - but I can't explain why.  I just like the idea of it.  It's definitely not to sell later.  I open all of my Takara's, mainly because I don't want to pay for two of each, since they are more expensive.

 

There is very little chance that the TF's of today that we collect will be worth much in the future.  If you want an investment, you are *much better off* taking $50 and buying some cheap stock instead of a Cybertron Supreme SS.  I open all of the Cybertron toys I buy...

 

True story - a coworker of mine sent two daughters through 4 years of private college exclusively with the windfall from investing a few grand in cheap Hershey stock she bought in the early 80's (bought it for 2 dollars a share, and watched it soar to 40 dollars a share with two splits in between) ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Stock is stock and toys are toys.

Never the two shall meet.

 

Tell me about your friend who bought transformers, waited 20 years for them to be come valuable, then sold them and put her kids throught collage?

 

No?

 

I'm sorry but toys are for playing with. They're not investments. If you get lucky and make money on them. Cool. But don't count on it and don't compare them with real world trade goods.

 

- H