Should I open my Retro MOTU figures?

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Originally Posted by Megalodon

Hey Jack with mine I just want them to fit in with my vintage figures so they won't be lonely :hmlol:

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Cool. I get that. I saw Toy Story. :hmwink:

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Originally Posted by Dane-Man

I open everything. I have never been a sealed or boxed collector. My passion is with being able to touch/use the item(s) as they were intended. I am not saying people who do otherwise have no passion towards one or more elements of any collectable item(s), though. I used to collect old video games and always got unsealed as I had no interest in having a dust collection and playing them via ROMs only to have the original usable article a couple of feet away. However, I do not play with my vintage figures out in the yard like a kid because not only would I look weird in the neighbour's eyes being 39 years old but I would not want to wreck them. So, I still care about the condition, and I understand the preservation side of collecting. I would lastly like to add, to provide a different perspective/attitude/opinion, that I do not collect as an investment. Money is not a consideration for me. I collect because I solely love what I collect. Personally, if I wanted an investment or money-making endeavour, I would dabble in the stock market or similar. Just the way I do things and my two cents, for whatever it is worth.

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Fascinating to see the different ways of enjoying the toys, yet how all of you are linked by your love for collecting. :hmgrin:

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Come on, Dice. Surely in the mansion where you live you can find a spare room for your collection. :hmwink:

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Originally Posted by Dice

So normally, this is exactly how I am. I open everything and only buy what's meaningful to me, with no intent to ever sell.


However, I've recently been purchasing the Re-issues of the Transformer G1 figures and now the G.I. Joe vintage re-issues and can't decide yet if I want to open them. So far, just owning the piece in the box with the artwork is making me happy. I don't really have a good place to display it all right now but still don't know if I'll open them in the future.

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Originally Posted by Heeeere's Olesker!

Come on, Dice. Surely in the mansion where you live you can find a spare room for your collection. :hmwink:

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I'm am extremely blessed and happy with my current home. That being said the vast majority of square footage belongs to my wife and kids :hmlol:

We keep a room for my oldest even though he's nearly done at college and doesn't get to visit often. In the future that will become my study and display room.

Long term though this home will not be our final home. We're in this one mostly for location for our kids. VERY lucky to have found something that both worked and that we absolutely loved. But we'll eventually transition into a home more suited for entertaining and that has a large man-cave. That is the deal my wife made with me :hmgrin:


To answer you're early question, I enjoy looking at mine rather than playing with it. But that's because each piece invokes memories of some of my favorite times and some of my favorite friends.

Well said, my friend. :hmgrin:

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Originally Posted by Dice

I'm am extremely blessed and happy with my current home. That being said the vast majority of square footage belongs to my wife and kids :hmlol:

We keep a room for my oldest even though he's nearly done at college and doesn't get to visit often. In the future that will become my study and display room.

Long term though this home will not be our final home. We're in this one mostly for location for our kids. VERY lucky to have found something that both worked and that we absolutely loved. But we'll eventually transition into a home more suited for entertaining and that has a large man-cave. That is the deal my wife made with me :hmgrin:


To answer you're early question, I enjoy looking at mine rather than playing with it. But that's because each piece invokes memories of some of my favorite times and some of my favorite friends.

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I always enjoy the share on how some of us collect MOTU, the options of opening, vs keeping on mint on card.

It can now sometimes be a bit nerve wracking now in a modern age of "collector oriented hyper value" where a PowerCon MOTU Classics Zombie Horde He-Man, released literally last year in 2019, is now on ebay for $500!
There is some magic to seeing something with all its care, thought, artwork developed in the package nicely set on a wall. I still believe there is a magic of holding the thing in your hand though, the way it really was designed, with weapons and accessories that may have actually been hidden in the package, never to be seen if left in it's original store readied state. I tend to open everything I purchase, like Dice I am in the mindset of if I bought it, I plan to keep it - unless I gift it to friends, family, nieces, nephews, etc.

Though I tend to keep a secondary set of the primary hero, villain in package so that I can look at my "wall of the MOC" and feel like I am at a toy's r us, or similar. That wall instantly takes me back to when that figure was at retail, I know the design theme, the artistic vibe of that figure line. I collect essentially samples of any figure line and set it on that wall.

The other exception is that any time something has a unique, artistically impressive or outside the norm of the line packaging (Horde Zombie He-Man, Anti-Eternia He-Man, the SDCC Origins 2 pack as examples), I will leave those in package if it is MOTU. The vast majority of my collection is open, but I have a (now running out of space quickly) fun wall to gaze at to take me back to the time, artistic sensibilities of when that figure, character was created - that simple practice of a few carded samples, then hands on everything else had kept me pretty happy over the years, getting some highlight benefits of both options!

However, I am aligned with Megalodon on this Super 7 retro line, its like the reverse situation. I have kept what I have all carded, and have duplicates of the primary He-Man/Skeletor to open just to understand their design, and may be leaving the entire remainder all on card. I think in this short lived hybrid line's unique case, they bring more joy in the retro themed package - especially the really great He-Ro and Eldor card backs, above and beyond on Brian/Super 7's part there in terms of presentation.

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Originally Posted by ToxicShlock

I always enjoy the share on how some of us collect MOTU, the options of opening, vs keeping on mint on card.

It can now sometimes be a bit nerve wracking now in a modern age of "collector oriented hyper value" where a PowerCon MOTU Classics Zombie Horde He-Man, released literally last year in 2019, is now on ebay for $500!
There is some magic to seeing something with all its care, thought, artwork developed in the package nicely set on a wall. I still believe there is a magic of holding the thing in your hand though, the way it really was designed, with weapons and accessories that may have actually been hidden in the package, never to be seen if left in it's original store readied state. I tend to open everything I purchase, like Dice I am in the mindset of if I bought it, I plan to keep it - unless I gift it to friends, family, nieces, nephews, etc.

Though I tend to keep a secondary set of the primary hero, villain in package so that I can look at my "wall of the MOC" and feel like I am at a toy's r us, or similar. That wall instantly takes me back to when that figure was at retail, I know the design theme, the artistic vibe of that figure line. I collect essentially samples of any figure line and set it on that wall.

The other exception is that any time something has a unique, artistically impressive or outside the norm of the line packaging (Horde Zombie He-Man, Anti-Eternia He-Man, the SDCC Origins 2 pack as examples), I will leave those in package if it is MOTU. The vast majority of my collection is open, but I have a (now running out of space quickly) fun wall to gaze at to take me back to the time, artistic sensibilities of when that figure, character was created - that simple practice of a few carded samples, then hands on everything else had kept me pretty happy over the years, getting some highlight benefits of both options!

However, I am aligned with Megalodon on this Super 7 retro line, its like the reverse situation. I have kept what I have all carded, and have duplicates of the primary He-Man/Skeletor to open just to understand their design, and may be leaving the entire remainder all on card. I think in this short lived hybrid line's unique case, they bring more joy in the retro themed package - especially the really great He-Ro and Eldor card backs, above and beyond on Brian/Super 7's part there in terms of presentation.

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That's a fascinating take, Toxic. Thank you for sharing it. :hmgrin:

A belated thanks to you as well, Viceroy. :hmgrin:

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Originally Posted by ToxicShlock

It can now sometimes be a bit nerve wracking now in a modern age of "collector oriented hyper value" where a PowerCon MOTU Classics Zombie Horde He-Man, released literally last year in 2019, is now on ebay for $500!
There is some magic to seeing something with all its care, thought, artwork developed in the package nicely set on a wall. I still believe there is a magic of holding the thing in your hand though, the way it really was designed, with weapons and accessories that may have actually been hidden in the package, never to be seen if left in it's original store readied state. I tend to open everything I purchase, like Dice I am in the mindset of if I bought it, I plan to keep it - unless I gift it to friends, family, nieces, nephews, etc.

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I really wish I had gotten 2 Horde Zombie He-Man figures when he was available specifically because of how cool he looks in the unique packaging. I have not yet opened the one I have, but I'm generally a loose collector, only selectively keeping some items in package (usually buying a 2nd to keep in package). If he had just come on the standard MOTUC card with noting particularly special or unique about it compared to most other releases, I wouldn't card about having him MOC. But with the unique package art they gave him, he looks really cool. But there's no way I'm buying a second one now at the current going-rate, so I'll have to decide what I'm going to do.

If I can find a way to loosen the glue without tearing the card, I may open him, and just keep the box and get one of those clear clamshell cases for MOTUC figures. That way I could always put him back inside the package and get the look of him being MOC again, even if he isn't truly MOC.

I always felt things should be used . I never classified unopened items as being used . Even if you just open it to put it in a display case it serves a purpose .

Value is in the eye of the beholder . a displayed toy in a action scene behind glass is much more alive to me than something in its package .

The answer to your actual topic header is...NO. :hmlol:

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Originally Posted by depp76

The answer to your actual topic header is...NO. :hmlol:

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Already answered YES! :hmroll::hmgrin:

Sometimes I buy the extras to keep one on card and one open, but try to limit that to my favorite figures.

Overall though, for me it usually comes down to the card style of a given figure line. When the card style is retro, I kind of like leaving them in there because it reminds me of seeing them on the peg at a store or unwrapping them as a present when I was a kid. Huge beaming nostalgia.

If it's more modern packaging, I almost prefer to take them out. For instance, I like some of the characters they've released with the current Marvel Legends line, but the packaging does nothing for me, plus they are often sharing space with an unrelated leg or torso of a "build a character" which further takes away from the aesthetic for me.

So at this point, my retro MOTU figures are staying on card, but I really would love to grab say an extra Mer-Man and a few others to open and have some fun with. Staging them in scenes with figures from unrelated figure lines is also a good time :hmgrin:

When I got my He-Man and Skeletor at FYE a couple years ago, I couldn't wait to get 'em open. I hardly thought twice about it. I couldn't believe there were NEW MOTU figures in 5.5 scale; just looking at them wouldn't be enough. I absolutely had to play with and pose them.

What's funny is, since then I've picked up almost the entire line (minus variants) and those two are the only ones I've opened yet. Not on purpose - they're definitely coming out eventually! - but because I've since then started doing occasional toy videos on my YouTube channel and I plan to do a whole bunch of MOTU episodes in the near future, so I've been "saving" them for that. But man, the suspense is killing me.

I collect far too many action figures to keep stuff in the package. I'd have to live on the roof. I do try to at least hang onto the card backs, though, whenever possible. Plus all the stuff we've gotten over the last decade-plus is just way too cool to keep trapped in plastic; these things just beg to be played with.

I also agree that staging them with stuff like the Savage World and Primal Age figures is a blast. We haven't finished it yet, but I did a video for the Primal Age Batcave a while back and I grabbed a mix of all those 5.5 figures to help show it off. All of those toys look so great together; makes me wish I'd collected any Galaxy Warriors as a kid. One day, when we have more room to mess with, my 5.5 display is gonna be Epic.

I want to preface this by saying that I hate that I'm about to say that 15 bucks a figure is cheap, but that's the world we live in now. And so with that said? At 15 a figure they are cheap enough to do the "holy nerd" thing and buy two if you really wanted to. I mean, let's face it, friggin' Marvel Legends are nearing twice the price and that's ridiculous.

There's actually a point where it's so far gone that the market just collapses on itself as it bleeds the hangers-on dry. So I give Mattel credit for giving a mass produced line with many interchangeable parts a try again. The only thing Mattel could've done better maybe is releasing the line as two-packs for 19.99 so that collector's and kids could average 11 or 12 bucks a figure after tax.