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I totally agree that a person has to answer to no one when it comes to his own property. That should be common sense. It MUST be asked however, why would someone open a Gammorean Guard when there's HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS of loose ones out there? That's the part I can't get my head around. Sure he has a "right" to do it but the question really is, does it make any sense to do it? Not to me. I can't find one single reason, beater card or not, as to what would inspire someone to rip open a 30+ year-old toy when there's a plethora of loose ones to be had, probably at a fraction of the price of the packaged one. No matter what anyone says, that makes zero sense, especially since you likely paid more for it because it's in it's package. Very, very rarely can a packaged figure be had for the same price as a loose one and if you're lucky enough to find a deal like that, it's clearly the exception and not the rule.
Then again I don't physically "play" with my figures. Even when I do open them they stand there on the shelf anyway. So I am not tortured in the least looking at, say, my Retro Heroes lined up on the wall in their cards because I have no desire to play with them. I personally don't buy toys to "play", I buy them to collect them and thusly I try not to handle them much. Besides, they look just as cool on their cards lined up hanging on the wall as they do loose and on display, in my opinion. But even the Retro Heroes are too new to frown upon people opening them as I'm sure there's hundreds of people keeping them carded too. So my remarks here are specifically in regard to pre-1985 vintage toys...say from Kenner's Super Powers backwards. Anything after that, especially post-Burton's Batman in 1989, is fair game to be tore open in my opinion.
Well that's not really an accurate analogy. First off, most car collectors in fact don't drive their collectible vehicles hardly at all other than to keep the engine healthy. Yes, in a very generalized sense you are correct in that cars are bought to drive just as figures are bought to open; but collectibility most definitely plays a role in both instances. Ripping open a vintage Mego is more akin to taking that fancy collectible car out for a cruise in a blizzard. You're permanently hurting it's value. Now if John Smith, the antique car collector, has all kinds of cash to throw around and he decides to pay top dollar for a mint '57 Chevy to take it for a spin in the mud; that's still his business. It doesn't mean it makes any sense however...anymore than some rich person paying $10,000.00 for a carded Mego Green Goblin just to rip it open to ensure acquiring a mint, loose specimen when he could've got an equivalent mint loose one for $150 or so.
So I appreciate your philosophy in general here, but you are only hurting yourself, more specifically your bankroll, when you open vintage stuff. As I said above, you likely paid more for it because it was boxed (and if you didn't, that's clearly a lucky exception and not the rule) only to then open it when you could've just bought a loose, complete one cheaper if you were patient enough. So to me, people obviously can do what they want with their property but I certainly don't see the sense in paying for a packaged figure only to rip it open, especially vintage Mego stuff. New stuff from say 1985-on, that's a different story, by then everyone was keeping stuff packaged but as a rule, I personally do not agree with ripping open 30 year-old toys. The only reason I like the idea is because it makes those of us that do collect packaged Megos happy because you've wiped another MIB Mego or two out of existence, which only makes our packaged ones a little more scarce. In that respect, open away! I can't condone it enough in that case!
Regardless, it's not really mine, or anyone else's business what an individual wants to do with his own property, he needs approval from no one and certainly should not be publicly tarred and feathered over it. I guess it's like seeing a parent discipline their kid in a store in a manner that you think is wrong, sure you can grumble to yourself, but at the end of the day it's really none of your business and not much you can do about it.
As far as the poster here in the thread who said that in 30 years no one would want a Luke Skywalker...Star Wars isn't a passing fad, it is part of human pop culture now, it's not just a movie that people are going to forget in a few decades. If the Star Wars figures are collectible today, they will be collectible tomorrow, just as antiques from the 1800's are collectible to people out there. So I don't believe that for one minute. Mego, Star Wars, Super Heroes will always be collectibles in my opinion. So you just go ahead and send me all your vintage Star Wars figures in 30 years when we're all old geezers, I'll find plenty of buyers for you I'm sure my friend!
Then again I don't physically "play" with my figures. Even when I do open them they stand there on the shelf anyway. So I am not tortured in the least looking at, say, my Retro Heroes lined up on the wall in their cards because I have no desire to play with them. I personally don't buy toys to "play", I buy them to collect them and thusly I try not to handle them much. Besides, they look just as cool on their cards lined up hanging on the wall as they do loose and on display, in my opinion. But even the Retro Heroes are too new to frown upon people opening them as I'm sure there's hundreds of people keeping them carded too. So my remarks here are specifically in regard to pre-1985 vintage toys...say from Kenner's Super Powers backwards. Anything after that, especially post-Burton's Batman in 1989, is fair game to be tore open in my opinion.
Well that's not really an accurate analogy. First off, most car collectors in fact don't drive their collectible vehicles hardly at all other than to keep the engine healthy. Yes, in a very generalized sense you are correct in that cars are bought to drive just as figures are bought to open; but collectibility most definitely plays a role in both instances. Ripping open a vintage Mego is more akin to taking that fancy collectible car out for a cruise in a blizzard. You're permanently hurting it's value. Now if John Smith, the antique car collector, has all kinds of cash to throw around and he decides to pay top dollar for a mint '57 Chevy to take it for a spin in the mud; that's still his business. It doesn't mean it makes any sense however...anymore than some rich person paying $10,000.00 for a carded Mego Green Goblin just to rip it open to ensure acquiring a mint, loose specimen when he could've got an equivalent mint loose one for $150 or so.
So I appreciate your philosophy in general here, but you are only hurting yourself, more specifically your bankroll, when you open vintage stuff. As I said above, you likely paid more for it because it was boxed (and if you didn't, that's clearly a lucky exception and not the rule) only to then open it when you could've just bought a loose, complete one cheaper if you were patient enough. So to me, people obviously can do what they want with their property but I certainly don't see the sense in paying for a packaged figure only to rip it open, especially vintage Mego stuff. New stuff from say 1985-on, that's a different story, by then everyone was keeping stuff packaged but as a rule, I personally do not agree with ripping open 30 year-old toys. The only reason I like the idea is because it makes those of us that do collect packaged Megos happy because you've wiped another MIB Mego or two out of existence, which only makes our packaged ones a little more scarce. In that respect, open away! I can't condone it enough in that case!
Regardless, it's not really mine, or anyone else's business what an individual wants to do with his own property, he needs approval from no one and certainly should not be publicly tarred and feathered over it. I guess it's like seeing a parent discipline their kid in a store in a manner that you think is wrong, sure you can grumble to yourself, but at the end of the day it's really none of your business and not much you can do about it.
As far as the poster here in the thread who said that in 30 years no one would want a Luke Skywalker...Star Wars isn't a passing fad, it is part of human pop culture now, it's not just a movie that people are going to forget in a few decades. If the Star Wars figures are collectible today, they will be collectible tomorrow, just as antiques from the 1800's are collectible to people out there. So I don't believe that for one minute. Mego, Star Wars, Super Heroes will always be collectibles in my opinion. So you just go ahead and send me all your vintage Star Wars figures in 30 years when we're all old geezers, I'll find plenty of buyers for you I'm sure my friend!
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