Boxes - An important part of collecting?

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

I keep the boxes etc. for MP and larger Encore stuff, mostly because they make good, safe storage, and flatten and keep the rest. Plastic bubbles etc. get put into recycling.
That said, I mostly buy loose anyway, and so far I haven't bought anything 'vintage'.

I'm not planning on selling off my own collection if I can avoid it, and for me it's very much about the toys rather than the packaging.

@Burn - I'd try and offload them, either for payment or even for free with the cost of postage and mail packaging covered. If someone else wants them and you don't then it seems better to me to not put them to waste.

[GoktimusPrime]

I've decided to chuck out my TF Prime and RiD2015 cards for Legion Class, Commander Class and One-Step Changers where I have a larger version of that character. e.g. I've thrown out all my RiD2015 Legion and One Step Changer Autobot cards, because I have the Warrior Class versions of those characters; I've kept One Step Changer Sideswipe's and Underbite's cards because I don't have Warriors of them (yet? ever?).

[kup]

Boxes are a huge problem. I tend to keep them intact but now they seem to be taking more space than the toys themselves. Very difficult as it would be good to preserve the boxes to show people in the future how the toys were once - That's my rationale as I don't think I would ever sell.

[GoktimusPrime]

I think you only really need to keep one packaging from each line as a "sample" of the packaging style. e.g. I have my MOSC Optimus Primal vs Megatron BW vs set on display, which shows you what the early BW packaging style was like. I've never felt the urge to go and dig up say Powerpinch or Snarl's cards to compare. I still do have those cards, but yeah... can't say it makes much difference. And recently the packaging style has just become so generic and plain looking, that I feel even less compelled to keep it. Eh.

[Zommael]

I only keep the boxes for "special" releases, e.g. store exclusives, Masterpiece, Platinum Edition, or if the box is particularly pretty. For some reason I am a bit more prejudiced against windowed boxes without a flap and tend to get rid of them more quickly. I never keep blister cards.

I also keep packaging for any Play Arts Kai figures I pick up, and for DC boxed sets.

[UltraMarginal]

Realistically, the only purposes of a box is to protect the toy from factory to home and to make the item more appealing on the shelf at the store more appealing than the competing item sitting right next to it.

For me there is an unfortunate side effect that there is nice artwork on the box, maybe a bit of a bio or tech specs. these latter two elements aren't half as well done these days as they used to be and the globalisation of box art sometimes makes it a lot less nice than it used to be. but some modern boxes are stunning, well built, and border on being their own form of art.

I tend to keep the card from retail transformers removing all the internal packing and flattening them. if packaging in a line is identical, some legends lines for example, then I'll only keep one. I don't display them though, they are packed away in boxes and stored. Last year though, my hoarding of boxes meant I was able to do some high density scans of some box art for submission to the guys making the Legacy art book, I don't think any of it was used but it was cool to be involved at the time.

I keep all MP boxes and a lot of Special edition or more rare boxes in their 'as is' form and it takes up a lot of space. I do keep not on display MP's in their boxes, and some other figures as well. I need to go through the few 3rd party boxes I have and get rid of their boxes because they aren't often actually that nice and they are massive for the size of toy they contain in a lot of cases.

I don't have to cull yet but I can see myself getting to that point in the future. I'm currently re-jigging my instruction storage solution as it's becoming unwieldy, especially with all the differing sizes of instruction sheets.

I tend to keep not on display main line toys in plastic zip locks in plastic bins.

<edit> And then there is the 'box' from the 2014 SDCC dinobots set.

[GoktimusPrime]

I'm just clipping any packaging art that interests me. Profile bios these days aren't very well written, so they're easily disposable.

[UltimateGalvatron]

I just went through my boxes and cut out the bios and tech specs of all my boxes, except for my Voyager Silverbolts (I don't know why, but I couldn't bring my blade to that box! :P)

[ampoldj]

Unless the necessity of moving arises I will keep my collection MIB or LIB...It is sometimes difficult to explain at a toy store why I need a perfect box as much as possible

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

it would be good to preserve the boxes to show people in the future how the toys were once - That's my rationale as I don't think I would ever sell.

I was thinking that as well. Some of the boxes looks super nice

I think you only really need to keep one packaging from each line as a "sample" of the packaging style.

This as well. I actually ended up getting my hands on Armada Sideswipe boxed, just to have a sample of Armada packaging. The toy just looks so awful, I don't think I would ever want to play with it (or do I, to find out HOW bad it is for myself....)

My general rule for keeping boxes, is Can it be put back in the box like it was in the shop? If yes, then I'll keep the box, if no, stats/art is cut and in the bin it goes.
Then stage two, does the box look nice/how big is it? I am thinking of ditching MP Soundwaves box as it's so frikking huge and I have other sample of MP boxes.

I will take a few photos of it before I chuck it though.