What would you do if you recieved a valuable MISB G1 Transformer

[Cat]

*Mic Drop*

[Bidoofdude]

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.

[Starscream77]

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 !

[griffin]

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.

[Bidoofdude]

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.

[5FDP]

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 It always seems to bring out the worst in our community I choose to respect the opinions of my fellow collectors.

[UltraMarginal]

I'd ask to trade someone for a comparable loose specimen.

They only exist in limited numbers, and those numbers are decreasing every day.

For vintage and rare items, it's not just about us today. It's about the next generation of collectors.

At some point, we become stewards of the hobby, and our duty is to ensure the future of the items as best as possible, in the state in which we receive them (if not enhanced, eg missing accessories etc replaced).

Loose will always exist.
MISB won't, and it's numbers lessen each day.

If I couldn't keep it MISB, then I'd simply trade for one already loose. No harm to me, no harm to the other party, and I help ensure the legacy of the item continues, for the next generation of collector to be able to enjoy how they want, and not just be confined to loose examples.

This was an interesting point Cat, (here I'd like to point out that I quoted this before I read the firestorm that followed.)
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!!! 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.

[Cat]

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.

[iamirondude]

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.

[The_Damned]

Keep it sealed as i don't really play with toys