To Unbox or Not To Unbox?

As a toy collector I am very familiar with that feeling of ‘should I take this out of the box?’ whenever I add something new to my collection. Anyone who knows me probably knows that I collect toys. All sorts of toys, from plushies to action figures to dolls.

The majority of the time my response is yes, I should unbox it - this reaction is probably due to how many times I’ve seen Toy Story 2 over the years! I usually unbox, remove tags and recycle the packaging (unless the packaging could be reused in a project) as soon as I can after buying something.

I know there’s a mentality that toys must always be kept in their box because that way they’re guaranteed to be worth more. That is a valid point however the reason toys from the 60s are worth so much in their packaging is because the packaging was destroyed in most cases. Toys from today are unlikely to gain as much value if they’re kept in their packaging as so many collectors leave them in their packaging that the market will probably become over-saturated. Plus it just seems sad that someone’s whole reason for buying a toy is to resell it later on.

Every so often I’ll come across something that stumps me. I have an unmasked 2015 SDCC Flash figure who I know I should be keeping packaged and I kept him in his packaging for a few months until I just had to remove him! And on the other end of the spectrum I bought an Elsa and Anna twin pack intending to unbox them but more or less as soon as I’d unboxed them I regretted taking the Frozen sisters out of the box.

Dolls I have found to be a particularly confusing group when it comes to if I should keep them boxed or not. Sometimes in the box a doll will be posed in a certain way or have their hair or clothes in a certain way that looks great but the second you take them out of the box that look is ruined. Other times a doll will need to be ripped out of the box as soon as possible because they look a mess in their box and urgently need a little TLC.

Generally I’ve figured out that I collect toys because they make me happy and I enjoy the experience of collecting. Therefore as it’s something that makes me happy I know it also makes me happy to not leave toys boxed up.