Transformers Boxes, keep or throw out?

[Seraphim Prime]

Since then, I've held on to this, keeping my Masterpiece (which includes the new Movie Masterpiece figures) and Takara boxes. I was throwing away my retail-bought boxes from Generations lines, but over the past few years I've found myself keeping more boxes than I thought I would. I now have a fair few from Studio Series, War for Cybertron, and Legacy, and now I'm wondering which ones to keep. The only ones I'm seriously inclined to keep are the Studio Series Wreckers, my commander class figures, and the Legacy Stunticons, but for some reason I can't seem to let go of boxes for figures like Studio Series Dino, Hot Rod, and Crosshairs, the Studio Series '86 Dinobots, and Kingdom Galvatron and Cyclonus (I bought Cyclonus second-hand and the previous owner had collapsed that box).

Are other people keeping their boxes or throwing them away? Any ideas or recommendations?

I suppose it goes down to why are you keeping the boxes.

I ran into this same issue when I got married last year and moved houses. I had all the MP boxes, Takara Legends boxes, Studio Series boxes and cutouts of the Generations box art because
1 - I like the art
2 - Takara releases felt like a more premium item
3 - The Studio Series box had a certain collectable appeal


Given I would have less space and my wife is a bit more cutthroat on keeping things than I am, I limited my box keeping to the Masterpieces and Alterntors - which I still use to keep the figures stored away in. (Although I'm taking an eye to getting rid of my Alternator boxes even.)

With Studio Series, fortunately by last year the changes in packaging meant that the Studio Series boxes were no longer uniform, so there was less impact of having them all together.

With the Takara Legends boxes, I was keeping them partly because it felt more collectable than the Habro stuff, but also because I had the idea that it would be easier to sell off with the box if I wanted to sell down the track. However, having decided I would be keeping pretty much all of what I had (and having bought a couple of Legends figures second hand without their box, I was again less attached to needing the box.

With the art that I enjoyed, I took the time to scan/photograph all the art and ultimately threw out the boxes. I'm feeling a lot happier without all the clutter, and any new figures have been easier to deal with by just photographing the art and throwing the box away. The other factor with the Studio Series was the "display stand" which I ultimately decided was not part of what I collected for and happily threw out.


Long story short where I am now is:

1 - Only Masterpiece & Alternators (and their equivalents) have the boxes remaining
2 - All other toys have the art photographed/scanned and then the packaging is thrown out / recycled.

[Magnus]

Thanks for the input, everyone!

I must admit I'm keeping the boxes to try and add to their figures' resale value. As much as I like to think I'm buying figures to keep for a long time, I know that some will have to go to make room or money, or even just because I don't feel the same way about them anymore, and I'm thinking that boxes will not only add to resale value, but will help to protect a figure on its journey to its new owner. Still, people buy loose figures all the time, and I have personally bought loose Masterpieces, so...

[JJJ]

I've bought a lot of transformers second-hand. Having the box isn't an asset. Knowing that the toy is complete and in good condition is what matters (and you can't even guarantee that in a sealed box).

Sometimes I think there's a group of mint-in-sealed-box people endlessely circulating stuff amongst themselves...

[GoktimusPrime]

I try to keep samples of packaging styles rather than collecting every box. Because individual box art aside, they're pretty much the same. Keeping card/box art was more essential when I was collecting G1 because the internet didn't exist, but now it does and you can always look up clear scans of packaging artwork online.

So for example, I've kept my Legacy Cosmos' box as an example of a Legacy Deluxe Class box, but chucked out the rest etc.

[DELTAprime]

How do you guys feel about throwing the backgrounds from the SS line in the recycling?

I got rid of a bunch a couple of years back, now I'm looking at the ones I have accumulated since and I'm thinking I need to do the same again. As someone who normally never keeps boxes they would go straight into the bin, but TFWiki says those cardboard backgrounds are an accessory for the SS figures.

[Seraphim Prime]

I kept them for the longest time, but decided that they aren't an accessory that is integral to the figure itself or takes away from the functionality of the figure beyond being a display backdrop.