TO OPEN OR STAY SEALED - THAT IS THE QUESTION -TAKE POLL

In defence of the 40 year old virgin. He did have a rather nice collection (including an Oscar Goldman) and, as I recall he ended up with a rather tasty looking female. Some nice looking figure in that link above, there must be a huge amount of GI Joes. Is it possible to have a complete collection?

lol. Thats good stuff right there!

I rip roar and tear all my figs out their packages. Half the fun of a toy is the playing with it!! It was made to be messed with no to be used as a dust collector. I always open my toys except in 2 cases
#1) I bought the toy with the intent of resale
#2) I use it for wall decoration for example:

http://www.figurerealm.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1598

The crisp lines of the backer card...$7.99
The smell of pungent plastic when opened...er...well that costs nothing.
Slicing and dicing the figure of " WWE's Edge" and makinig him into Dog The Bounty Hunter...Priceless Open your toys boys...or you'll end up the 40 year old virgin.

This is my first time to post here, so Hello All.

In answer to the thread question, as a collector I would never dream of opening the packaging on a figure. I consider the packaging to be part of the figure, almost like an accessory. To me, opening the package would be like cutting the Mona Lisa out of its frame with a razor blade. Having said that, I do understand that there primary function is to be played with.

I don't see any real point to keeping them in the box unless its an investment issue. I get most of my enjoyment from posing and playing( my daughter and I have a blast playing). Im in this for enjoyment not investment.

It's funny when I'm looking for custom fodder-toys on ebay and they happen to be MIB. I ask the seller to tear them out of the box and they always respond with some email schooling me about value and rarity. I just want to get cheaper shipping.

my feelings exactly!!!

I open everything, I don't collect them to have them grow in value, I just like having them everywhere. If something is rare though then yeah I'll keep it in the package.

I went to -toys r us- when the ML Thor came out and it was on sale for 7.99 so I bought one and left the other 10 alone. I'm not greedy, let some kids have them, you know? Then I find out months later that people are paying up to 50 dollars for a MIP Thor...and I opened mine already...

I mostly collect vintage toy lines and it has never crossed my mind to even open the package...you get soo much more by leaving it in its original packaging like the art on the card...and in a sense you can actually display more. The only downfall is that you can't do action poses or play with your toys, other than that I think leaving it in the package is the way to go

I'm mainly a MIP collector, if I buy it sealed 9.9 times out of 10 it will stay that way. Actually the last 3 lines that I opened were Xevoz, McFarlanes Dragons and Skeleton Warriors. Aside from that if I really want a newer figure loose I'll just wait and let someone else open it and put it on eBay. No sense in paying full retail price for it if I'm going to open it anyway