I know plastic windows matter a lot to MIB/MOSC collectors.

I also understand the push to eliminate disposable plastic from packaging for environmental/pollution reasons.

Soooooo... What IF the window was plastic but WASN’T disposable?

Imagine a slim box window that has ramp connectors for bases or that acts as a view screen?

Or what if we moved towards clamshell packaging that can be used as base building?

The obvious answer is that it might raise prices but by how much? DVD clamshells are plastic and contribute little cost. The PARTS COUNT, DURABILITY, and COMPLEXITY are a lot of what contribute to cost. Blind bag figures are moving to plastic clamshells.

So let’s imagine TFs come in a cheap, flexible DVD case style plastic. It could have pegs and peg holes for stacking horizontally and vertically and ramp attachments. And a window that detaches to act as a ramp. Unpainted.

And Hasbro could do GIANT runs in orange and purple with sticker or cardboard overlays for UPC and product identification. We’re talking shampoo bottle plastic. But it forms playsets.

 

The entire point of them getting rid of plastic in packaging is to lower environmental impact, making the whole thing out of plastic makes no sense, even if it’s meant to be kept, using more plastic goes directly counter to their stated intention

it’s not like a reusable bag that can be used for multiple purchases, what you are talking about would come with every new release, sure less people might throw them away, but more plastic is still being used

 

If you’re not going to take it out of the box does it matter if you can see it? Sealed up it might as well be rocks in the box.

 

That’s definitely my thought with cardboard without a window.

I’m just thinking if the window could be kept by making it a permanent item you keep as a ramp or platform.

 

Not everyone would want to keep that piece though. Not to mention that would be a lot of ramps in a single person’s collection over time. And eventually, much of that non-figure plastic would likely end up in a landfill.

As @Sponge said, this would go in the opposite direction of the goal of producing less plastic. In the big picture, sacrificing display windows on toy packaging is minor compared to the issues we’re facing globally from excessive plastic waste.

Now, if the package windows were made from a transparent biodegradable material, that would solve the problem.

 

I wonder if a window more like Saran Wrap would work. The ability to look at a figure before buying is pretty key. Returns or junked figures over picky collectors also increases waste.

 

Speaking from personal experience, being able to look at a figure before buying used to be extremely important to me. I would compare multiple figures in the store and pick the one with the least flawed paint job. That was back when stores still had a large selection to choose from and when I engaged in “the hunt” as part of my collecting.

At some point, I grew tired of driving to all the stores in my area, hoping to find the figure I was looking for only to be disappointed upon finding nothing. If I did find what I was looking for, there often wasn’t very many of that figure to choose from, so there wasn’t much option for picking the “best one”. I was wasting gas and my time and soon I realized I could save money and frustration by ordering online.

Once my collecting interests moved to strictly collecting the Masterpiece line, seeing the product before buying was a moot point. No only because I was ordering online, but because the packaging doesn’t have windows.

I know this is just my experience, but I’m someone who obsessed over comparing figures in the store. Once that wasn’t an option, I found it wasn’t as much of a “need” as it once was. If I need to return a figure because it’s defective (which has been rare for me, fortunately), that’s still less frustrating and more fruitful than buying in a store was.

As for waste generated by picky collectors returning or junking figures, that will likely be less waste than what is generated by continuing to include unnecessary plastic in the packaging.

Bottom line is things change and people will get over not having windows in packaging once it’s been phased out.

 

I’ve purchased figures online, so I guess the need to see the figure they the clear plastic went out the window

 

I buy all my TFs online and the whole "see before you buy" aspect is long gone from that... Personally I don't think MISB collectors need windows, they're probably going to be closed anyway. MOSC at least makes sense because you can hang those or something.

 

Everyone of my MP boxes lacks a plastic window. I think the only plastic windows in my collection are with a couple Ocular Max figures.

 

Takara MPs, like Binaltech before them, have a classy presentation. They're going to need to do more for art than the thousand yard stare of Titans Return.

 

...MMC reformatted used to have those cool magnetic window boxes, but they seem to have eliminated them and moved to cheaper packaging materials across the board lately...

 

Seems currently the option might be to have two kinds of boxes. Window boxes for toys released to brick and mortar retail and windowless boxes for toys intended to be stocked online. Of course sometimes store stock gets sold online and also people buy store figures to sell online, but that just is what it is. I'm mainly thinking though if you're a big online-only retailer it might be useful to be able to order a load of windowless boxes, especially if the price is slightly lower because everything is all one material. There's also the added environmental bragging. At least consumers would have an option.

I personally don't buy online if I can avoid it. So I'd like to keep the windows as I do compare between figures for the best example when browsing in store.

How do we feel about the plastic trays figures are held in? Those could easily be replaced with something cardboard, yes?

 

I think that it's a good idea should the demand be there. Done right, it could be very nice to have the "casing" be a base component or a stand, but the chances are unbelievably tiny to consider getting more for your money as it's all about moving away from "extras" that once upon a time would have been a selling point.

I really wish there was sets of base building panels that made sense, as what's out there is way overpriced. But I really don't get with no one ever did such, the closest I've seen are the really old set like this:

 

The Fext system stuff is probably the closest to what I’d want. Pricey still but looks sturdy and has floor and ceiling flight stand capability.

Not THAT impossibly pricey for one but you need 3 for a 3 foot shelf and 4 if you want 2 story. So we’re into stuff that’s cheaper as building sets go but still more expensive per square foot than unfurnished dollhouses.

 

...we used construx (the classic fisher-price beam-and-panel system, not the modern lego knockoff) to build countless bases and outposts for our transformers...

 

What if they do boxes just like the selects ones

 

if the box had ramps or stands or whatever then you got problems when they start getting damaged (even slightly) on shelves. even the cardboard "scenes" in the ss packaging is often in bad shape even if the toy itself is okay.

the toys themselves are plastic so this is all just silly virtue signalling on hasbro's part anyway. watch them forget about it after earthrise (which still has same packaging as seige it seems). only way they'll really do any of this is if it saves them $$$ with cheaper packaging. making them into stands etc wont do that.