*Mic Drop*
*Mic Drop*
I think it's time we all calm down. I think most people seem to miss the point of the question. It's not as much as an open or not thing, it's about the value and what you'd do with something of that much, sell it off for a higher price or keep it.
Agree, let's just all take a step back
Put them back in your pants cause quite frankly we don't care who has a bigger one
It was just a hypothetical question !
No need for the discussion to get personal, or be disrespectful of others.
And if you are the recipient, do not respond, or else you will be treated the same as the person starting it, for causing the situation to degenerate further.
This topic should just be people voting, and/or a simple statement of what you'd do in that circumstance. It is best to avoid advocating what others should do, as someone somewhere will take offence to it.
This. ^ Whole point. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by griffin
I'm sorry but any conversation which has a poll "Keep/display MISB" or "Open and keep for play" was going to head down this path, hypothetical or not. It always has so why would anyone think it wouldn't :confused: It always seems to bring out the worst in our community :( I choose to respect the opinions of my fellow collectors.
This was an interesting point Cat, (here I'd like to point out that I quoted this before I read the firestorm that followed.)Quote:
Originally Posted by Cat
Quit altruistic. I can see the consideration of MISB transformers as a "dwindling resource".
At the same time not opening a toy and playing with it feels like a bit of a waste.
The day there are no longer and MISB G1 Jazz toys will be a sad day.
For me personally, it would depend on the wishes of the person who bought the MISB toy for me in the first place. If they didn't care what i did with it, I'd probably keep it MISB, at least for a while. I really enjoy opening up a toy, cutting the tape/bubble/ties for the first time, knowing that since leaving the factory it has not been in anyone elses hands. opening up a 30 year old MISB G1 toy would be a pretty special moment.
If the person who bought it for me intended for me to open it and add it to my display, that's most likely what would happen.
I agree with Gok about selling a gift, I'd probably not be able to do that, even if I knew I could buy two loose ones instead of the sealed one.
The only time I've ever done it was when a friend of my wife bought me one of those repainted Movie Ravages from Hobbyco. not only did I have a more movie accurate version, it's a shithouse toy and they paid something like $34 for it!!!:eek: I did return that and bought a couple others with the cash I got from the refund. I made sure I showed them the transformers I had purchased instead of the Ravage.
Expanding on UM's point, the other problem comes with determining what we consider as MISB, ie what is worth saving?
For instance, a few months ago I ended up buying a MOC AM Rad on an absolutely trashed card. It was actually cheaper than getting a loose one. This thing is completely undesirable, so I thought I may well open it.
Can't do it. So it goes into my little collection of misfit toys. I also have another nice example of that: A vintage Star Wars ROTJ Luke Jedi. Beautiful card, the bubble is really yellowed (common for ROTJ figures, but even by that standard, this is BAD). The beautiful card is considered ugly because....it was lunch for a moth at some stage in its life. One corner has bite-marks in it. Totally unloved, totally unlovable to a lot of collectors, but to me, it's a favourite piece. Because it has a good story to it. It has history that's easily viewable, and easily enjoyable by anyone. It makes for a nice little giggle, and also helps serve as a visual reminder that sometimes, don't take things too seriously, as you never know what will happen, even in the best of conditions.
I'm going to keep talking vintage Star Wars here, but only because it is relevant to my entire point.
MISB varies. I think it's probably fair to say that when we envisioned the scenario posed in the OP, we all thought of a nice, minty-fresh example of whatever figure it was, right?
But not all boxes are equal. We go all over the scale, whether you want to use AFA standards, or the good old C-scale.
Now, we also forget that a very important inroad for new collectors is the availability of low-mid grade MISB examples, that serve as lower-cost alternatives to expensive pieces, and allow newbies to enter the game.
This was something very prevalent in the vintage SW collecting world. Newbies would buy lesser MOC examples (say for instance, my Moth-Attack Luke), as their introduction to the hobby, and then go from there, eventually tending to trade up to better examples, with the lesser-condition ones going back into the community, for the next new person to enjoy.
What's happened the last few years though, is that the introduction of the dreaded AFA 'U' grade has seen thousands and thousands (literally, I'm not exaggerating. I know of cases of single collectors sending in over 800 MOC figures a month to be opened, just for a stupid 'U' in front of the loose figure grade).
At first, this wasn't much of a problem. It did raise the price of these lower condition examples, but it was manageable.
We're now a few years into it, and it's really devastated the market. Lesser condition MOC figures have become a bit scarce, so the net result is that newer collectors are getting turned away, as they're facing too much of an initial investment just to enter the hobby.
This is bad. It's already meant a slow-down on collector forums by actual new collectors. And any hobby that isn't attracting new blood, is going to die. It'll just be a long and slow death, as the current generation ages, and either moves on due to growing responsibilities, and/or dies.
We don't want that to happen with TF. Whether or not you collect MISB (and to be clear, I don't either. I'm a loose collector 99% of the time) at some point we need to start looking at the bigger picture, and at what we're leaving for the next gen.
It benefits them, AND it benefits us. Luckily TF wasn't hit by the AFA U-grade fad, and it's a very different collector base to vintage Star Wars, but hopefully you can see the parallels, and maybe you might even consider them a look into our future, being that their line has a jump-start on us, and an older overall fanbase.
So that Rad is staying in my collection, and if I ever decide I want him loose (barring him falling off the cardback or a catastrophic accident, of course) then I'll trade him with someone else for a loose one, with the understanding it's to stay as is. While I can never guarantee that person will honour my wish, at least I tried.
i voted that i'd keep it misb. i think 1 of the main selling points of the G1 range was the box/card art and to have them both together unopened makes for a better display piece. if you don't already own the figure there's always the option of getting 1 that is already loose on the open market instead of open something that soon maybe we'll never see again cause we don't know if there are 1 or 1million misb figures out there.
Keep it sealed as i don't really play with toys;)
Wow, I'm glad I misinterpreted the point of this thread! When you asked...
What would you do if you recieved a valuable MISB G1 Transformer
...I thought you were asking if I would commit murder for you or compromise myself sexually or somthing. And that question made me feel uncomfortable because I am a happily married and faithful man, but I don't wanna think about how far I could be corrupted if someone offered me a MISB Overlord :eek: But I suppose that question would be phrased 'What would you do for a valuable MISB G1 Transformer" :p
For the record, I'd keep it because it was a gift, but open and display it :)
In other news, I'm starting a collection to raise money to buy a MISB Overlord to taunt Trev with.
Donate today, and vote on what horrible and debauched thing we can make him do for it.
This to me is why I love sealed stuff. It really shows the story of an item, and it amazes me that in all it's lifetime no one has opened it. With all the vintage G1 stuff I bought in Japan I was constantly amazed that most of the items were in unplayed with no stickers applied condition. This sort of thing boggles the mind as to why kids in the 80's even bought these toys!! But to me thats part of the story, mystery.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cat
Its an age old battle with the collecting community and it does bring out an ugly side at times. But however we collect we are passionate and thats why we love to do it.
Yeah i always wondered how does one keep a toy fully sealed and Mint ! from the 70's and 80's .... collecting figure wasn't a big thing like it is now was it?..Quote:
Originally Posted by Jetfire in the sky
I think part of the reason why Transformers can be often among the harder toys to find sealed is that it's primary appeal is its ability to transform. One cannot really marvel at the engineering and design of the toy without physically transforming it; simply looking at the photos of the robot and alt mode(s) just shows you the toy at point A and point B, but doesn't really show you how it got there. That's something that's more appreciated by actually experiencing it first hand by transforming the toy yourself.
I don't mean to say this as a criticism to sealed collectors, but I'm just saying that I think this may be a significant contributing factor as to why sealed Transformers (especially G1 TFs) are harder to find on the secondary market than some other toys, like say sealed Star Wars figure. You're not missing out on as much from keeping a 70s/80s Star Wars figure sealed compared to keeping a Transformer sealed. The main play pattern of Transformers is the transformation, or as Hasbro calls it "puzzle play" that so captures the imagination and fascination of children. So some kids who might be inclined to keep their Star Wars toys sealed, may be less likely to make the same decision for Transformers.
So I reckon that's what makes sealed Transformers a far greater rarity in the aftermarket compared to some other toy lines. Among the sealed collectors here, how many of you started sealed collecting right from the beginning as children, or is it something you decided to do later as adults? I personally never knew any kids who kept their toys sealed when I was a kid in the 80s. At most, I knew a few rare individuals who kept the boxes of a few select favourite toys. Like a mate of mine who loves Trypticon; got this toy as a kid and has kept it in box ... until last year when his mother tried to throw it out (that's right, she threw out a complete loose in box Trypticon! And the box got damaged by rain and weather by time he got home and salvaged it out of the bin! Needless to say he was NOT happy! :p)
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev
I'd treat it less like a gift and more like it just popped up out of nowhere. :p
Also, is there a way we could merge Keep MISB with Keep open into one keep thing?
I agree with all these points and would have had a stroke if my Mum ever touched one of my Transformers boxes, luckily she lives 3000kms away :)Quote:
Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
When i was a kid...the figure couldn't get out of the box fast enough !!..was already in my hands by the time i get home and the box pieces in car :D Even now every single one of my figure i transform at least once before it goes to storage , as i don't have enough room to display them all :(
Still like this now. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by lancalot
If I was a kid, it would already be open.
Now I enjoy them whether they are in a box or not (not that I have any in a box), but because there are so many open specimens available, I would definetly keep it misb.
Back in the day I would have ripped it open and played with it. Now with the phenomenon that is transformers I would sell it right now and put the money towards some other transformers I were after. Unless say its one I wanted then I would case it up ASAP. :cool:
Some of my childhood early 80s Japanese toys are still in their original boxes even though I played with them. It is convenient to keep Japanese toys in their boxes since many came with foam trays. My Hasbro G1s are all loose since I discarded the non-reusable clamshell trays that even the boxed toys were packaged in. Ceased buying toys with the end of Masterforce.Quote:
Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
When I started collecting again with Classics and Animated, it wasn't so much the toys' transformation that appealed, but the aesthetics of the toy (especially the alt mode), the artwork on the packaging, and the nostalgia of simpler times which a sealed toy evokes. (How can a kid forget walking into a new TRU store, and seeing rows upon rows of new TFs.) In rare instances where I'm curious about a toy's engineering, I'd buy doubles, one to keep sealed, another loose.
http://i1219.photobucket.com/albums/...pse045b60b.jpg
This is how fast i'd open it....:):)
as a misb collector... i voted to keep it sealed.
if i want to marvel at a toys engineering, yada yada.... i buy a loose example too! :P
my wife threatens that if i ever piss her off, she'll let our son loose in my toy room with a box cutter.... g1 stuff first! just the thought makes me cringe. lol :)
:D :DQuote:
Originally Posted by janda the red
I know what you mean. I get the "behave, or i'll let the boys loose" ( her 3 cousins, aged 6 & under) comment along with a raised eyebrow
Haha.... Glad it's not just me! :)
For me, it really depends on which G1 toy exactly it is. Most of the early series figures have now been replaced with updated toys that look better and have more play value, so if it was something that appeared in the early US cartoon, I'd probably move it on and spend the money on more recent toys. On the other hand, if we're talking something very rare and unusual, such as Fortress Maximus, Scorpinok, Star Saber, Overlord, Deathsaurus, or even Omega Supreme, I'd keep it, and in all likelihood open it up. It's really the wow factor that makes the difference for me. That said, if it was that rare and that valuable, and in that good a state, I would definitely keep the box for if or another decided to sell it down the line. And by another, I mean kids or grandkids when I have no use for the toys anymore...
I have a MISB G1 Ultra Magnus that I got for not much more than a newspaper.
Normally I would have graded him a long time ago but I just hate the Ultra Magnus character so much that whenever I think I should get him graded I also have the urge to put him in the driveway and run him over several times.
So he just sits in the collection waiting for the day I need him for a trade - anyone have a MOSC wheelie? :D
I can't remember how I voted, most likely open. However, a very good friend of mine obtained a MISB Grandus & a MIB Dug Base for me on one of his toy hunting trips to Japan. Seeing as how they are both the same base mold & I already had a loose incomplete Grandus, I managed to stop myself from opening him up & currently have him as the centre of my collection
Don't forget the Vintage Liberation thread ;)
What dark form of heresy is this!:eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
I would keep it and not open it. It's been MISB for 30 years - Who em I to open it and deny people of future years the sight of an MISB G1 Transformer?
However if its a ridiculously common toy or the box is so messed up that it may as well be opened, I wouldn't really care and just open it.
I opened a MISB Encore Convoy the other day, thats kinda like opening a MISB G1 toy. And you know what, it was fun!!!
Open them! Unless it's a MISB Black Zarak, it's worth more MISB than it will be when you break it.:D:p
I think the spirit of the thread is the opening of vintage toys not reissues which are technically modernly produced and easily available toys.Quote:
Originally Posted by DELTAprime
I open reissues all the time.
Yeeeeeeah.... no ;) What Kup said :)Quote:
Originally Posted by DELTAprime
To steal an over-used current line: That's like saying that you've kinda been skydiving because you zoomed in really fast on Google Earth.Quote:
Originally Posted by DELTAprime
Obviously I've been under a rock because I haven't heard that before and it's bloody hilarious :D:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Cat
I don't keep any MISB transformer toys but if I were to find myself in a situation which is the subject of this thread, I will definitely keep it MISB.