Current feelings about opening a carded figure?

[Captain_Dan]

He should ask the polar bear. A polar bear will stalk, hunt and kill a man in the wild. He shouldnt post responses like that when he is ignorant about certain things. Especially when your comparing it to a toy, really lol. Just my 2 cents.

[boynightwing]

I'm reading the RS thread now...almost typed threat instead of thread but thats what they're doing to this guy. I can't believe they have the nerve to tell him what to do with his collection! I love how one person thinks its unethical to open it LOL!

[English Paul]

I actually have a few basic, simple Star Wars questions but I'm afraid to even ask over at RS.

Try here... The Imperial Gunnery Forum ...it's a little less 'formal'.

[EMCE Hammer]

Thank you!

[Brown Bear]

I actually knew a polar bear. He's dead now, some mego collector shot him.

- Brown Bear

[boynightwing]

So if I understand this correctly...the plastic bubble is the most important part of the product? It's not the figure, accessories, or the artwork, or the photography on the back. Its the plastic bubble.

I'm not a member of RS. I don't want to be now. But if I was, that would be what I'd post.

I saw a carded R2D2 at Silver Snail in Toronto over Christmas. I wanted it but the bubble had turned yellow so bad you couldn't actually see the figure inside very well. I thought to myself that maybe I'd cut off the bubble with an exacto knife and keep the figure and card together. Then I thought that maybe it would ruin the value but the yellow bubble uglied it up so bad it could't be worth much as it was.

[z3zep]

Personally, I have a hard time opening vintage figures, even if I bought a beater specifically to open the card. I have a Mego spider-man with a crack in the bubble and I have yet to release him (over a year). But that is just me. I will probably sell him before I open it.

I have no problem with people opening figures, it is their property.

[Werewolf]

Star Wars nerds are great. They make Trek nerds seem totally sane in comparison.

[UnderdogDJLSW]

They make Trek nerds seem totally sane in comparison

That's because Playmates will actually pay you to open one of their Trek toys.

[RG]

man shane locked it up ... he's a good guy I've chatted with him off and on. but to feel so highly about preserving "history" of a toy line that will turn into goo long before all the MOCs have been opened comes off a bit on the ego side. Vintage star wars figures that have been hoarded up by collectors isn't anywhere the same as being artifacts found in Egypt or polar bears.

[English Paul]

It's been locked down with a very well thought through closing statement though......

I'm going to lock this one down and put it out of it's misery but not before making a couple points.

Sure, in this case, it was just a MOC GG but if Mike's point above didn't illustrate just how dangerous the thinking of it's "just a 'fill in the blanks' ROTJ figure" can be. In addition to the ones he listed about a 77 back Cdn Logray is also a VERY hard to find piece but beater cards of any of the aforementioned characters would fall under the category of this GG. Where do you draw the line over it's *just* a such 'n such? If you don't know the hobby enough to be able to confirm what you're considering opening is actually dead common, then err on the side of caution and leave it well enough alone.

Whether some people still think of these things purely as toys and not as collectibles means nothing to the fact that they ARE collectibles and they ARE worth money. The supply of MOCs is FINITE. They are like an endangered species as each one that's opened is one less in the population.

The way i see it, as this hobby grows in scope and to include more people our role becomes less and less about our immediate needs as individuals and about changing our roles from that of collectors to that of stewards. We need to protect the items we wish to collect, whether it's a MOC Gammorean Guard or a MOC set of DT Sabers. We're hear to preserve the hobby, not take parts of it away, regardless of how insignificant a piece MIGHT seem to the overall populace.

[Brown Bear]

I think the bottom line here is "whatever makes you happy".

As long as we collect these toys, the decision on whether we should leave MIB or rip them open to play with really boils down to what makes the collector happy.

If you collect these because they are worth money and wish to display them as collectables then keep them new.

If you collect them because you want to play with them or even just bend Hulks arms or look under Batman's mask, then rip them open.

Neither is right. Neither is wrong. It's all about preference.

Amen.

[RG]

It's been locked down with a very well thought through closing statement though......

I'm going to lock this one down and put it out of it's misery but not before making a couple points.

Sure, in this case, it was just a MOC GG but if Mike's point above didn't illustrate just how dangerous the thinking of it's "just a 'fill in the blanks' ROTJ figure" can be. In addition to the ones he listed about a 77 back Cdn Logray is also a VERY hard to find piece but beater cards of any of the aforementioned characters would fall under the category of this GG. Where do you draw the line over it's *just* a such 'n such? If you don't know the hobby enough to be able to confirm what you're considering opening is actually dead common, then err on the side of caution and leave it well enough alone.

Whether some people still think of these things purely as toys and not as collectibles means nothing to the fact that they ARE collectibles and they ARE worth money. The supply of MOCs is FINITE. They are like an endangered species as each one that's opened is one less in the population.

The way i see it, as this hobby grows in scope and to include more people our role becomes less and less about our immediate needs as individuals and about changing our roles from that of collectors to that of stewards. We need to protect the items we wish to collect, whether it's a MOC Gammorean Guard or a MOC set of DT Sabers. We're hear to preserve the hobby, not take parts of it away, regardless of how insignificant a piece MIGHT seem to the overall populace.

yeah shane's a good guy even if he is IMO not realizing all points. those of us that do open MOC figures aren't stupid and we look at all point before we open them ... value, how rare etc. He makes it sound like Vintage Star wars figures and rare variations are going to be key in future cultures to understand all of life. Star Wars given is a pretty cool batch of movies and they toys were awesome to play with ... but in the grand scale of life and how people live ... they mean squat. in 1000 years they won't care if they're moc or loose ... they'll prob all turn to goo by then anyway. the only people that think so highly of star wars toys are collectors ... and most don't even care about the culture and the trend they set in motion, but that's only relevent in today and maybe 50 to 100 years from now. Star Wars has already lost some of it's pow in culture (thanks to the ep 1,2,3 and george always "fixing" them) Harry Potter, Twilight and other stuff has already started to stake thier own claim ... Harry Potter has had as much effect on things as star wars has when you look at how long each have been around ... so to get the ideal of saving history etc. is a bit ego driven. Do they think that a MOC toy is worthy of being in the same ideal as native american burrial grounds ??

Sure everyone wants to be important on some level in history ... but I don't think collecting toys star wars or any other toy is going to be looked at as an amazing window look into the past or how we lived. At tops it might be a paragraph in some guy's histroy data base in 200 years LOL LOL.

[English Paul]

I know from my own experiences of opening figures, i've only done it when i've been lucky enough to find a carded example near enough to the price of a loose one. IMO there's nothing to be gained from opening £25 carded example to free a £5 figure apart from throwing away £20 (and it's hardly a gain).

My attitude has changed - i've opened Mego figures, but I don't think I would now. I've bought vintage SW figures to open and couldn't do it in the end.

Still, each to their own

[Gorn Captain]

I think it's interesting that some fans believe that MOC figures are like mountain gorillas, endangered and in need of protection. I truly love toys, and I've been in the game for over 30 years now, but they're still toys to me.
I wish people wouldn't get upset with each other over whether or not they open cards, or whatever they want to do with their stuff.
The world is not going to be a better (or worse) place if some toy packaging gets destroyed.
Whenever I see people get worked up (and they start throwing "AFA" "MIMB" "C10" around), I have to smile and shake my head, but I guess I'm missing some sort of point...

Pretty soon, we'll see people hiding in basement, trying to open up a figure, and the Toy Police will bust in and arrest them for destroying "World Heritage" antiques....