I wanted to get an opinion on how many people in the threads either keep their 3rd party figures MISB or open them upon arrival. I'm currently going for my bachelors in biology and my thought was I'd be getting the "not broadside" next week and thought... "what if i got all the warbots and opened them on my graduation day?" Being my own gift to myself. I'm debating it and wanted to know what you all think.
Open upon arrival, never open and keep as a display, or open it on a special occasion?

 

Open, collect and keep.
I don't play with them, but they all get out of the boxes. I collect toys, not cardboard.

 

I was hoping for a fourth option: open one, enjoy for a couple days, open the next, enjoy, etc.

These figs are way too awesome to keep MISB IMHO...the sculpts must be seen from all angles to be fully enjoyed!!!

 

i wish i could afford one after another, after another...

 

I open them but keep most of the boxes.

 

I get that some people like to keep everything pristine and in their box. I don't have the space and find it more fun to transform, pose, and play with them every once in a while. Plus I got a little boy who is really into rescue bots and some of the TFs double as his rescue bots. So its fun for both of the kids in the house  

 

open and play, no point in keeping them sealed

 

Personally, I've also been on the side of opening things up, what I enjoy most about collecting toys is appreciating the engineering, and I don't really see that unless I'm transforming them.

That being said, I'm also a fan of pacing, if I get a few things all at once, I liked to spread out opening them in order to better appreciate each one.

 

Open the instant I get it. IMO its pointless to get a transforming toy and not enjoy the engineering that went into it. I typically keep the boxes in storage though.

 

Pretty much open it as soon as I get it, leave it on my desk for a week or two and get used t the transformation. Then it goes in the cabinet!

 

Any toy I have gets opened once I want to play with it, but some are nice display pieces. Example: I played with most of the Seacons when I was a kid, and the BBTS Piranacon makes a great spaceholder on one of the bookshelves, and SDCC Bruticus goes next to a leaning stack of paintings in the library.

It's common enough for me to not open up a general retail toy right away, but they all get opened eventually. Most retail packaging gets tossed and if they're durable enough, figures get stored in stackable tupperware bins. Most third-party stuff I've started saving the packaging, especially for stuff like Fansproject's Munitioner and Explorer, with all their lovely accessories.

I don't have nearly enough shelf-space for all my figures, but I do play with them. Not so much actively acting stuff out, but I'll get out the Throttlebots or roll something around to play with the cats pretty frequently. I change up the selection of figures I have on display a couple times a week, depending on what strikes my mood to pose or play with.

Someday, when remodeling of the extension is done... Detolfs. Many Detolfs.



TL;DR - Plastic is prison.

 

I rip the boxes open while the mailman is still holding them.  

 

This. Open and display but not play.

 

If you want to spend loads of money on a toy not to play with it, don't buy a toy that transforms? Keeping it in the box means you are getting about 1/4 of the value, that fourth being the visual appearance of whichever mode it is packaged in. The other three fourths are the other mode, the transformation, and posing the figure in robot (or potentially alt) mode.

 

plus what's the point in not transforming them? if you want something like that, buy a statue

 

I think opening nearly any and all figures is a must. I think a majority of collectors don't necessarily play with figures, but we still marvel and enjoy the engineering, articulation, etc., etc.

Now, I really like your idea of waiting till you graduate to open up these suckers. That'd be hard as hell, but what a graduation present!

 

QFT

 

Free them from their plastic prisons!

 

My thoughts exactly!

I say wait till you Graduate, that would be an awesome gift for yourself, and more time to enjoy and display them, with all the homework out of the way!

 

I open most of mine, but keep the boxes.