Boxes - An important part of collecting?

[Stompy]

Like many above I too used to keep all boxes including the plastic on cards, but eventually became useless as I'm not really gonna sell any of it. Even if I did there's tonnes out there (modern figures that is) that are MISB anyway.

I've pretty much just kept the cardbacks and card plastic inserts. For boxes I throw away the interior cardboard and just keep the actual box folded flat.

I do keep a select few packaging. Special Editions, great looking and hard to come-by packaging. All my TFA packaging will stay though.

[gdmetro]

I am assuming keeping G1 boxes are a given. As for non-g1/reissue toys:

This is why I try to buy the Takara version, since there is usually no debate there for me, I will keep the box. Their boxes are designed to re-house the toy, highly displayable and have a more collector appeal over the Hasbro toys and usually take less space. (United deluxes have kind of dropped the ball here). Personally, the box is just as important for my collection and having the figure loose is not enough.

As for the carded Hasbro stuff, I have carefully sliced opened the bottom of the blister and removed the toy, then slid back the bubble inside- they can be re-displayed MIB. But I will probably throw them out eventually.

Usually, MIB commands more than a loose toy- this is a moot point if one does not intend to sell- I do not intend to sell most of my collection... but I still love the MIB aspect. (This is for Takara stuff)

Ultimately, space is more valuable than keeping the box- space is money, so it follows if you have limited space, it is better to throw them out/give them away.

[SkyWarp91]

So i've just begun to unpack my collection and put it on display. For many years as I was building the collection I was getting a lot of boxed figures. The boxes also made things much easier to store and there was the whole resale aspect ... something which was probably moot as I don't have any intentions (at this stage) of selling.

But anyway ... unpacking ... i've been doing it, and now I seem to have a few empty boxes. I've seen some of you guys offer boxes up for others before and i'll probably end up doing that, but is having the box an important part of collecting?

I know the whole free range -vs- MIB/MISB debate, and that's really what this is, but realistically, i'm putting my collection on display, if I need to pack it up (let's say in the event of ... oh I dunno, another bloody cyclone) the boxes will be time consuming, so there's no real point in me keeping the boxes.

But how many are out there are actually interested in boxes, either for figures you need boxes for, or because you just like empty boxes?

And will there be enough interest on here for me to offload them or should I just simply toss 'em in the bin?

I've got a few loose figures that need some boxes, list what you got - and if you can take a photo cos I'm interested in buying!

[GoktimusPrime]

United cards are still smaller than RtS/Generations cards. Though overall cards aren't much of an issue. I used to collect boxes between 1996-2005 then it just took up too much space and I went on a huge purge chucking most of it out. But it took me months to dispose of all my TF boxes, even flattened and stuffed in the recycling bin!!

All of my G1 boxes were cut up and most of them eventually lost. I still have the package art of some of my old G1 boxes... and I do have a handful of G1 boxes, but none of them are from my childhood.

[Hursticon]

For me, as I really only focus on collecting 3 main lines with a couple of notable exceptions:

G1 - I'll keep them if I get them but I'm not exactly seeking them - Unless of course we're talking about Scorponok or a MIB/MISB Soundwave.
Beast Wars - I want the Box/Backing-card, the Techspecs and the Instructions so if anyone wants to offload any of these, please let me know.
Classicsverse - Backing Cards and/or boxes and instructions.
Masterpiece - Everything.
Soundwave - Everything.

Packaging does take up a considerable amount of space, especially boxes, so unless they're really special to you or you've got the space to store them - I don't think they're totally necessary.

[5FDP]

And here comes the expected response from me - I love 'em Just to clarify, I'm talking about G1 boxes.

To me, they're just as important as the toy it had inside it because it tells completes a story. From the artwork, to the foam trays, to the robot points and tech specs, this is how Transformers used to be and IMHO, it was a golden era.

One of my fav boxes (courtesy of one awesome board member) is my G1 Megatron box. If the house burnt down *touch wood*, I would save this before saving my Megatron toy. Yeah, I'm sick

[Vector Prime]

And here comes the expected response from me - I love 'em Just to clarify, I'm talking about G1 boxes.

To me, they're just as important as the toy it had inside it because it tells completes a story. From the artwork, to the foam trays, to the robot points and tech specs, this is how Transformers used to be and IMHO, it was a golden era.

One of my fav boxes (courtesy of one awesome board member) is my G1 Megatron box. If the house burnt down *touch wood*, I would save this before saving my Megatron toy. Yeah, I'm sick

I think this thread's referring to everything else except G1 boxes... and yes, we know you love your Megatron box - who else would put an empty one inside an AFA case?

[Paulbot]

I was cleaning up my spare room / junk room / collection room over the long weekend, and I realised I have at least four tubs worth of Transformers packaging taking up space.

Like others in this thread, I have a certain soft spot for my G1 packaging that I would struggle to part with, the same as my G1 toys, but everything since? I'm getting to the point where I think I could throw it out and move on. Particularly when I find boxes for TFs I have sold on.

Box art and tech specs are found aplenty on website archives. Barely any of the boxes are "complete", no bubbles, trays etc, so they aren't boxes I can use to repackage TFs and probably aren't of much interest to others.

It took me a while to get started on a cull of toys and now I'm pretty good at getting rid of toys from the collection. The next step is get to the point where I don't mind throwing away the packaging once I open the toy.

[GoktimusPrime]

Yeah, I've stopped keeping most boxes -- not even flattening as I'm just running out of space. I just chuck it all in the recycling bin. I still do keep TakaraTOMY boxes though; and my MP boxes are all unflattened, and now I'm running out of space to keep those... so I may start flattening future MP boxen too.

[prjkt]

I rarely keep packaging, only so far the United Seeker trios and the Generations Asia 3 packs