To Open or Not to Open / MOC (mint on card) Versus Loose

**Darkwolf** · January 13, 2009, 06:51pm

Damn Sir Bushnell,

That was a disertation (SP?). If I needed more validation to open my figures that would have done it. But I don't - I open them and Sharpie my initials on the bottom. MINE!

**He-Mun** · January 14, 2009, 12:50pm

Just open them, its better for your mental health. If Kevin Smith can rip comics in half after reading them, then you can open your MOTUC figs

**LionO** · January 14, 2009, 01:39pm

Sealed in their plastic prisons!!! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! Take that touchy feely open and play collectors!

**Kinghsss456** · January 14, 2009, 02:31pm

I know i am going to open mine once i get them. I think its better to display them. I know i am not going to collect them all. One reason is money and the other reason is i didnt have them all when i was a kid anyway. I can't wait to see what is going to be coming out the rest of the year. I really hope they get to the snake men soon.

**Multibot** · January 14, 2009, 03:32pm

open them.

they are toys, they're meant to be opened & enjoyed. otherwise why buy them? Just to look at? then save the $$ & look at a picture of the toy on the website then.

If they were immoble like the stactions, then i'd say leave them sealed as they don't move or do anything anyway; but these are meant to be taken out & posed. keeping them sealed will not make them last forever anyway.

Only if you have duplicates, would i say to leave them sealed. I'm not sure why people leave them sealed anyway; they think they're going to sell them in 40 yrs (when they might be worth something) & maybe retire? I don't think so.... by then the packaging will be deteriorated & the figure inside will be equally bad. look at some of the vintage motu figures that are never opened, the plastic deteriorates leaving a sticky feel. i ran into that when i bought some moc vintage figures and opened them (oh the horror!!).

Unless you keep them in an airtight moisture proof case where no light can get to them, they will deteriorate over time. I would never leave my figures anyplace where the sun hits them on a daily basis either, or it'll bleach out their color rendering them worthless to any one who might buy them in the future.

I myself have alot of unopened figures, but they are duplicates or 'rare' items i think ''might'' be worth something down the line. Even some of my rare expensive figures i still end up opening anyway, since i bought them for my enjoyment, & not for someone else many decades from now who will most likely only see them as 'garage sale' old junk. leave the moc toys for the museums. If everybody who bought toys never opened them, there'd be no toy market.

I sometimes keep the boxes though (not sure why) for larger figures like Transformers, but any bubble carded figure I open & enjoy. If i'm spending $20 on a figure, you better believe i'm gonna open it. but hey, it's your money, enjoy them however you wish. I only have one of each & opened them.

anyway, a toy (or anything) is only worth something if you can find the right buyer who's willing to pay whatever price you want for the item. otherwise it isn't worth anything more that its original listed price. Quite frankly i can't see spending money on something never to be used.
The only way i'd leave toys moc/mib would be if i was a seller & ran a business selling them or really knew they'd be worth something in future years. As a collector, i open them, because by the time these become worth anything, they'll have something better out, & these won't be worth all that much to anyone but another fan who most likely would already have them as well.

Open them & enjoy them for what they are- toys!

**Donimo** · January 14, 2009, 03:54pm

Originally Posted by Multibot

open them.

they are toys, they're meant to be opened & enjoyed. otherwise why buy them? Just to look at? then save the $$ & look at a picture of the toy on the website then.

If they were immoble like the stactions, then i'd say leave them sealed as they don't move or do anything anyway; but these are meant to be taken out & posed. keeping them sealed will not make them last forever anyway.

Only if you have duplicates, would i say to leave them sealed. I'm not sure why people leave them sealed anyway; they think they're going to sell them in 40 yrs (when they might be worth something) & maybe retire? I don't think so.... by then the packaging will be deteriorated & the figure inside will be equally bad. look at some of the vintage motu figures that are never opened, the plastic deteriorates leaving a sticky feel. i ran into that when i bought some moc vintage figures and opened them (oh the horror!!).

Unless you keep them in an airtight moisture proof case where no light can get to them, they will deteriorate over time. I would never leave my figures anyplace where the sun hits them on a daily basis either, or it'll bleach out their color rendering them worthless to any one who might buy them in the future.

I myself have alot of unopened figures, but they are duplicates or 'rare' items i think ''might'' be worth something down the line. Even some of my rare expensive figures i still end up opening anyway, since i bought them for my enjoyment, & not for someone else many decades from now who will most likely only see them as 'garage sale' old junk. leave the moc toys for the museums. If everybody who bought toys never opened them, there'd be no toy market.

I sometimes keep the boxes though (not sure why) for larger figures like Transformers, but any bubble carded figure I open & enjoy. If i'm spending $20 on a figure, you better believe i'm gonna open it. but hey, it's your money, enjoy them however you wish. I only have one of each & opened them.

anyway, a toy (or anything) is only worth something if you can find the right buyer who's willing to pay whatever price you want for the item. otherwise it isn't worth anything more that its original listed price. Quite frankly i can't see spending money on something never to be used.
The only way i'd leave toys moc/mib would be if i was a seller & ran a business selling them or really knew they'd be worth something in future years. As a collector, i open them, because by the time these become worth anything, they'll have something better out, & these won't be worth all that much to anyone but another fan who most likely would already have them as well.

Open them & enjoy them for what they are- toys!

I don't think the majority of MOC collectors are keeping them in the package to make a profit or resell them later. I buy 2 copies of each figure because I like to have 1 figure to open and pose, but I also like the way they look in the package. I think they look great displayed in the package and I get enjoyment out of that as well. So, the notion that MOC collectors are holding onto them in the packages due to greed is a misconception.

**tmc1984** · January 19, 2009, 02:12pm

...open my MOTUC Skeletor when he arrives?? ...

I opened a MOC Battle Armour Skeletor a few years back and boy I wish I hadn't ...

**Sir Reilly** · January 19, 2009, 02:26pm

*looking at the packaging*

Hellyeah, rip that thing apart and enjoy the figure!

**Motorthing** · January 19, 2009, 02:37pm

open - you need the joy in your life, you'll be miserable looking at it all imprisonned and untouchable.

**Orko's Hat** · January 19, 2009, 02:47pm

Are you more into the box than th figure itself? The box is just a shell. The figure has articulation, detail, and is all kinds of fun to actually hold. I guess that is why I don't own any fish. I hate only being able to look, but not touch something I own. But it's all up to you to decide.

**Tiggerbeast** · January 19, 2009, 02:58pm

I'd open it. You could order another one boxed and not open it.

**Vintage** · January 19, 2009, 03:13pm

Open it!

I opened both my He-Man & Beastman carefully! I used a X-acto knife and you can't barely see the box was open! If I ever decide to put them back, it's easy!

**adam03** · January 19, 2009, 03:34pm

Originally Posted by Motorthing

open - you need the joy in your life, you'll be miserable looking at it all imprisonned and untouchable.

Unless you have the best of both worlds!!!

**jmb410s** · January 19, 2009, 03:35pm

I am a MOC and loose collector, but I always open first and track down a MOC later

**EuroCoin** · January 20, 2009, 10:10am

My MotUC figures are still in their plastic prisons, because right now I can only buy one of each figure and it is easier to open unopened box than unopen already opened box.

**Jawbridge** · January 20, 2009, 11:23pm

I've totally already said my side, but might elaborate a bit.

If you owned a nice painting, would you never frame it? If you had a garage, would you still park your car in the street where it was made to be, or would you utilize the garage for what it was made to do?

These are silly questions when compared to a 20 dollar figure no doubt, and lets face it, I suck at metaphors. But is the only market for "adult collectables" people who are going to play with them? When I think back to all the stuff I've opened, or just simply look around at all the junk I have sitting around collecting dust, I realize that I no longer "play" with toys the way I used to. I pose them when I get them, take some photos and that is a joy that is highly recommended for sure. When it's done they get put in a drawer. But I also collect motu for some other reason, many reasons, and they rise and fall in importance all the time.

It's so not to make a buck. I'm not a dealer, and it's hard to make a living turning over toys; not exactly a get rich quick scheme. If somebody is using that argument, I'm not hearing it, or maybe they just can't pinpoint why the keep cards and use that as fall back justification. It is partly to preserve the items history, sure. It's maybe partly to have that snapshot in time, where the figure is new, and will be new forever.. stuff like that.

But back to the lame car/painting thingy I shamelessly said before: It's about dignity. The toys dignity yes. As silly as that sounds, it's even more silly to write it. But in a way it makes sense. I now have a KG, He-Man, and Beastman sitting on a desk in my back room, soon to be graced with a Skele. They can't stand up, but that's not the point. I've lost some accessories (doesn't happen w/ moc) but that's not the point either. They aren't inspiring. They don't give me any sense of wonder, and they surely don't make me feel like my purchase of 20 bucks each was worth it. The 4H god bless 'em did a great job on the figures and I can't see them being any better. But when I see the MOCs lined up I see a collection. I like it that way and it is a nice sight when I walk by, and yes it makes me smile. When I'm heating figures with a blow dryer to help them stand I feel gipped.

Now I'm not saying I stopped opening figures, ha, I like to use an awesome lens a friend let me borrow, or pose something funny to share with others, or just see and feel what the toy is about. But to me all that's fleeting. What I don't see is a plastic prison. I see a gold leafed frame with ten inch mat all the way around and UV proof glass. I see an air conditioned garage, a shiny wax job, and Armor All all over the wheels. I see something I collect and maybe take a bit to seriously, but something I bought with purpose i don't even understand.

I know collectors that have more expensive items than I'll ever have and they see crappy toys. But it's something I can afford, and I like 'em.

I've been both on and off again. I might very well change my mind once more as I make a better argument for loose stuff than I do moc, as I'm sure you can tell, but it's mainly just easy to downplay the toy aspect, and I'm quilty of it. Open them for fun, or keep them carded for whatever reason. You'll eventually find out what kind of collector you are and be happy with your decision. More importantly, don't let anybody else tell you what you like or how to collect, it's all opinion and worrying about what other people think will hurt your idea of a perfect collection I think. When I first started collecting, all I wanted was the figures I once owned loose and complete, it was like 20 figs maybe. I wonder if I would still feel that way if I never talked with another collector.

**Mattlor** · January 21, 2009, 02:35am

I open mine.. I like to display them better that way as well!

**issarged** · February 9, 2009, 07:14pm

Originally Posted by TE-MAN

Yes,
what i did was cut the bottom (three sides ) and pulled the insert out, take the figure out and display loose or return to insert and back in package. The only catch i found was you can only display it standing on a shelf (figure in package) the other thing is the insert takes a bit of effort to remove because of its shape (under the MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS logo )
I don't know if that is what you want but it worked for me.

thank you. this sounds really good. this is what i will do then...

unless anyone else has any other methods???

anyone?

Vintage: where did you make the cuts?

**kenobi96** · February 9, 2009, 07:22pm

I bought He-Man and Beast Man with the intent of opening them. When they arrived, I thought the packaging was so great, I had a hard time opening them. But I did!! Then I went and ordered another set to keep in the package. Now, starting with Skeletor, I will be ordering two of each figure. One to open and one to keep in the package.
Thankfully, I started the line with two King Grayskull figures too!!

**Kobra Khan** · February 10, 2009, 04:07am

I open them and keep the cards: the 6-back image and the Bio vintage art are so cool!
This way I can enjoy the figures, keep part of the package and save a lot of space when I store them (I'm not displaying them, not yet).

**kk2** · February 10, 2009, 07:57am

I'm still waiting for my He-Man, Beatman and Skeletor to arrive. I bought 2 of each so I can open one and keep one sealed.
I want a boxed one for the memory of getting 'em and cause I always like the MOTU packiging.
That's the same reason I buy carded classic MOTU toys. When you're holding a carded figure it's like the old day's when ya where a kid an finaly got hold of your beloved toy. It's just for the memory of it not a value reason. But the best feeling was and still is to rip of the package and play with your toy

.
If I would have a time-machine I would go back and buy me tons of MOTU, so I could open one every day

**PuffyVinze** · February 10, 2009, 08:24am

Originally Posted by SirBushnell

It's strange, but people don't seem to realize that MOC collecting is no longer a potential financial windfall. The idea was started because kids in the 80s didn't think to keep figures in their packaging... they tore them open and played with them!
Obviously, that led to a lack of supply of carded figures in later years. The supply and demand rule meant that when these came back into some sort of fashion, demand outstripped supply and carded figures rose in value to extreme levels.
Thus, collectors started collecting figures MOC in the hopes that someday they'll be worth the same. But they won't. They can't, it's not possible. Too many collectors have now done this to ever make the supply so limited as to push up the price. Also, most popular toys nowadays go on for quite a while with numerous different lines. That means more choice for the collector years into the future (when you're planning to sell). Why should he/she buy your toy when it's almost definitely inferior in every way (sculpt, articulation, features, packaging) to more recent toys? Just because yours is still MOC? Only if it has nostalgic value (as in, it was the first line of that particular brand) can that possibly be the deciding factor. But are these MOTUC figures the first line of the brand??

If you don't believe me, research toy price trends over the past 5-8 years. Barring vintage figures (for reasons I've already explained), almost every single toy without exception from any major line (Star Wars/MOTU/Mainstream Transformers) has massively devalued - MOC or not. There's just too many of them available for people to pay over the odds.

You can get some sort of financial benefit if either:
1) You get the figures faster than everybody else and sell them immediately. Again, due to the supply and demand rule. People are impatient.
or,
2) The particular figure was short-packed or otherwise rare in the line. This only happens on occasion. You can plan for it sometimes with exclusive figures, but not usually with others (popular female characters, perhaps). This means that if you keep the whole toy line MOC, you might have a small few that have risen in value. But the others will have devalued, so overall you are still very likely to lose money (unless you hit the jackpot with one particular figure).
On top of that, you need to take into account the value of money over time. Your $30 now is worth much more than $30 in ten years. Even if you manage to sell at a slight profit, you'll still have lost out.

Again, this is looking at it long-term. In the short run, you might be able to make some money if you're quick. But most MOC collectors are looking at it to fund their retirement or something.

Long-term, you really don't have much chance at all.

------------------------------------

So, all it really comes down to is whether you ENJOY seeing the figure still immaculately presented in its packaging. This is totally possible and if that's what you like, fine. Do it. But under no circumstances should you - these days - keep figures MOC purely because you want to make money on them in the future. Trust me, if it's a mass-produced figure, you are making a TERRIBLE investment! You should enjoy it in whatever condition makes you happiest... and if that means displaying the figure or playing with it, that's what you should do.

Just my advice based on what I've seen. Experts in the industry seem to agree, but take it for whatever it's worth and do what you like.

(When - in twenty years, perhaps - it comes time to sell your entire collection because you have no money left, don't cry when you're getting pennies on the dollar for each figure that you so "lovingly" kept MOC... you were warned! LOL)

Very good point, I know some people who collect MOC only because of their future value. I mean, if you don't enjoy them (wether MOC or not) and the value sinks, what r u buying them for in the first place.

Originally Posted by EuroCoin

My MotUC figures are still in their plastic prisons, because right now I can only buy one of each figure and it is easier to open unopened box than unopen already opened box.

Good point! Also did that at the beginning of my MOTUC collection. Since there is "only" one figure released a month, I try to get 2 of each figure. One for display and one I keep MOC.

I guess it might be hard to decide MOC or not if u collecting e. g. HALO 3 figures (20 or so figures a month). There you really have to decide MOC or not, or a mixture of both. But with the MOTUC line we somehow lucky (on the finincial side) to have 1 figure a month.

For me personally the value is not that important, I enjoyed MOTU when I was a kid and opened the packaging as well. Like I said, I'm happy to have the possibility to get 2 a month, and I think most of us MOTUC collectors, which grew up with MOTU figures do get 2 a month. I wouldn't do this with every line....

But if I would still collect the Halo 3 line with 20+ figures a month I would keep them MOC and in boxes if there's no place for display. But no matter what u collect, the ultimate enjoyment only comes by unpacking. Ever bought a limited edition DVD or video game without ever watching the movie or playing the game?

**the.overlord** · February 10, 2009, 09:36am

Just buy 2-3 of each and you at least one to open. That's not too hard to figure out (no disrepect intended). I has the same question as well to deal with. Normally I buy 2 of each...one to open (and still keep it's card) and one to keep MOSC (in a display case).

Take care!

**SirBushnell** · February 10, 2009, 10:56am

I myself have gone through long phases of being a MOC collector, so I know the awful dilemma and frustration that this can cause. You don't want to spoil the packaged item under any circumstances. I get it. This means that if you truly love toys, you have no choice other than to spend twice the amount by buying 2 of each item.

But when I look back over the years, I ask myself these questions.

1) Have I ever regretted not opening an item, wishing that I could actually feel the toy and change poses? YES, on many occasions.

2) Have I ever regretted going ahead and opening a figure, wishing that I hadn't touched it and that it could be back inside the package? NEVER, unless I didn't really want it and was later trying to sell it.

So, opening a MOC figure has never been a bad thing. I haven't ever regretted opening such a figure that I wanted to keep. Never. Yet I have most certainly regretted keeping figures sealed, when I really wanted to see them up close and personal.

It's just me, but something to consider.

**Raining Light** · February 10, 2009, 11:14am

I have to buy 2. 1 for MOC and 1 for play.
For me the MOC is about the packaging and about hanging on the wall.
Why? I dont really know but I like to do that. I like the look of figures displayed across a wall.

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