Why do you collect MISB?

[Zuel]

Genuine question: if you collect toys and keep them MISB - especially if you just store them out of sight - I'm curious as to why?

What do you enjoy about keeping them MISB? Do you display them or not? Do you keep them to increase the value for later sale? Do you buy multiples so you can have at least one in MISB? Do you only collect MISB?

As someone who gets a thrill out of *opening* the box and interacting with the toy, I'd like to understand others' motivations for keeping them locked away in the box.

[davidwhangchoi]

oh man i know i guy like that... so tragic

[VF-Zer0S]

14 minutes ago, davidwhangchoi said:

oh man i know i guy like that... so tragic

Haha

[spacemanoeuvres]

I’ve broken a figure or two so I like to have a spare jic. 

[ArchieNov]

I think the TC is referring to those who collect purely MISB or majority of their collection is MISB. 

I also don’t understand the motivation for MISB collectors other than them seeing toys as an investment to sell for profit later on. Which ironically is kinda like a scalper IMO.

[Alex GS]

For me I like to turn my head to my side and see my shelf full of boxes and knowing that inside those boxes is something very special, very stunning looking, well protected and pricey hehe, kinda treasure boxes.   

[Convectuoso]

I've always wondered the same. What is the point of having transformable toys if you are never going to transform them? 

[Pulltoeject]

I think it's a psychological thing, within the neighborhood of COD. as we say back in Chile, in tastes there is nothing written. Even though I only have 19 valks, all of them are unboxed, and I meticulously clean them every 2 weeks with a makeup brush and swoosh them around. Knowing that simply taking them from the cabinet to enjoy them is far more enjoyable (for me at least) than having them boxed up. I only keep them in fighter mode, never transformed, so chances of anything breaking are zero. Unless we get an atomic quake, of course.

[jvmacross]

 

[Sandman]

That skit is a classic and so true.

for me, my spares use to be MISB. Until I opened one up one day and noticed a piece was missing, years after I bought it. Now my spares are all MIB. I open each up in case I need to do a return on a defective model.

Why do I have spares? Because I'm paranoid the first one will break or get paint scratches. This way I'm not hooped when they go out of print.

 

 

[Zuel]

3 hours ago, jvmacross said:

 

Ha! That's precisely what I'm talking about. Please explain!

[fenrir72]

If possible I'd want spares but MISB? Is a big No no no for me!

[Sanity is Optional]

I collect gundam kits MIB.

 

It's called my backlog.

[Slave IV]

Several reasons for me. I don't buy any one thing just to keep misb but I may buy several of one item because I've had things stolen before and in case of breakage. I also sometimes don't have to have every version of the same mold open so even though I plan to open everything at some point, I'm not in a hurry to open a VF-31J if I already have an open VF-31J Kai, 31F, and 31C. There is also the issue that I buy so much stuff that I don't have the time to open it all and some things get stacked away and forgotten until I go back through things. Another reason is having extra for my kids when they are ready is not a bad thing. Also, even though not everything is open, just to know I own them and they are still in pristine condition to enjoy anytime in the future is a satisfying feeling within itself. 

[HardlyNever]

40 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

Several reasons for me. I don't buy any one thing just to keep misb but I may buy several of one item because I've had things stolen before and in case of breakage. I also sometimes don't have to have every version of the same mold open so even though I plan to open everything at some point, I'm not in a hurry to open a VF-31J if I already have an open VF-31J Kai, 31F, and 31C. There is also the issue that I buy so much stuff that I don't have the time to open it all and some things get stacked away and forgotten until I go back through things. Another reason is having extra for my kids when they are ready is not a bad thing. Also, even though not everything is open, just to know I own them and they are still in pristine condition to enjoy anytime in the future is a satisfying feeling within itself. 

This sounds like one of those "good problems."  But at the same time, I'm glad this isn't me.

[HardlyNever]

I don't collect MISB, or ever intend to.  I've also wondered what the motivation is for people (particularly in this specific permutation of toy collecting)to do so, but ultimately, however someone enjoys the hobby is how they enjoy it; they don't have to justify it to anyone.  At the end of the day, we're all adults(mostly?) collecting toys, so trying to pretend why one version of collecting is better than another just seems silly.  We're all collecting plastic, and just have different ways of enjoying it.

All that said, if some of the MISB collectors ever want to send me their stuff, and I may or may not replace it with like a book or something inside the box and send it back, and you can keep pretending the actual toy is in there, then you'll help make the world an even happier place.  We can call it the schrodingers cat of Macross. 

Edited January 7, 2018 by HardlyNever

[Slave IV]

13 minutes ago, HardlyNever said:

This sounds like one of those "good problems."  But at the same time, I'm glad this isn't me.

Haha thanks! Basically, I'm not a misb collector but I have a lot of misb toys because reasons. 

7 minutes ago, HardlyNever said:

I don't collect MISB, or ever intend to.  I've also wondered what the motivation is for people (particularly in this specific permutation of toy collecting)to do so, but ultimately, however someone enjoys the hobby is how they enjoy it; they don't have to justify it to anyone.  At the end of the day, we're all adults(mostly?) collecting toys, so trying to pretend why one version of collecting is better than another just seems silly.  We're all collecting plastic, and just have different ways of enjoying it.

All that said, if some of the MISB collectors ever want to send me their stuff, and I may or may not replace it with like a book or something inside the box and send it back, and you can keep pretending the actual toy is in there, then you'll help make the world an even happier place.  We can call it the schrodingers cat of Macross. 

Well said! And sorry, it would be pretty disappointing if I handed a "new" toy to my kid and it ended up being an empty box. 

Edited January 7, 2018 by Slave IV

[Zuel]

16 minutes ago, HardlyNever said:

I don't collect MISB, or ever intend to.  I've also wondered what the motivation is for people (particularly in this specific permutation of toy collecting)to do so, but ultimately, however someone enjoys the hobby is how they enjoy it; they don't have to justify it to anyone.  At the end of the day, we're all adults(mostly?) collecting toys, so trying to pretend why one version of collecting is better than another just seems silly.  We're all collecting plastic, and just have different ways of enjoying it.

Well said, and I'm certainly not criticising or demanding justification. Just seeking personal explanations!

I suspect there are a variety of reasons why someone might keep toys MISB. I'm particularly interested in those who do deliberately rather than due to logistics issues. I'd like to understand their thinking when it comes to toys, particularly as it's so different from my own thinking.

[Slave IV]

Some toys have cool packaging...I might buy extras to keep misb because of that. Usually, smaller, less expensive figures. As for things stored in boxes that I never see...again, knowing I have something in pristine condition ready to open if I ever want is nice, another great thing is forgetting what I have and then rediscovering things every time I open a box. It's better than Christmas when I can go through any random box and find gems in every one of them. 

One Macross related example, I don't remember buying any 1/48 VF-1s back in the day and always longed to have one but they are so expensive now. One day, going through old receipts, I found one for a 1/48 V-1J Max with Super Parts, a grail to me. So now I know I own one and that is fantastic. 

[ArchieNov]

If you have intentions of opening your items, regardless if it's now or in the future, I don't think that classifies you as a MISB collector. For them, the "S" in MISB is the most important thing. Take it away and it'll nullify most of the value of the toy in their eyes. At least that's how I understand it (I may be wrong about it, since I'm not a MISB collector). 

Keeping spares, having backlog, or storing items in their boxes to keep them clean and pristine is different from keeping a MISB collection. After all, if your intention is just to keep spares, etc, you wouldn't mind it if someone went ahead and cut the tape/seal or whatever from all of your spares and stuff without ever actually pulling the item out of the box. But I think that would be a big deal for MISB collectors since now the item would be MIB instead, which I think is no longer good enough for them.

[Lolicon]

I like to keep spares, just in case. Especially when you're a super amateur "modeler" like me and there's a high risk of completely botching up an expensive toy when trying to detail them up. 

I just recently discovered I had not two but three Hikaru 1As. 

[spacemanoeuvres]

 

[eXis10z]

Most of my stuff are MISB. Lack of display space.

[tekering]

7 hours ago, Slave IV said:

One day, going through old receipts, I found one for a 1/48 V-1J Max with Super Parts, a grail to me. So now I know I own one and that is fantastic. 

If you didn't know that you own it, do you really own it?  

[Slave IV]

11 hours ago, tekering said:

If you didn't know that you own it, do you really own it?  

I sure hope so! My goal is to find it sometime this year. Either way, NBD...like I said, every mystery storage box I open is better than Christmas to me.

[Chronocidal]

The only reason some of my Macross goods are still MISB is because of laziness.  Well, also because of a lack of display space, but that's a separate issue.  A lot of them just don't get opened for a while after they arrive.

I didn't tend to buy duplicates of Yamato releases, and I don't for Arcadia ones either, because they're both easier to get a hold of, and easier to fix when they break. 

Bandai stuff?  I deeply regret not buying spares of some of them when I had the chance.  Between missing pieces (VF-25G crotch plate), bass-ackwards assembly (my VF-27 v1.5 had the limbs swapped), lousy paint applications (assorted issues across most releases), or the toys outright exploding into piles of scrap (ALL of the 171s), I don't trust Bandai to produce something that won't explode.  I buy two of almost everything in the hopes that I'll at least get one complete working product out of the pair.

Fortunately, most of the time that hasn't been necessary, and I've kept the spares MISB in case I decide to sell them later.

Edited January 8, 2018 by Chronocidal

[Graham]

I don't collect MISB. My view is that toys are for display and handling and play and enjoying.

However, back when  Macross toys were more affordable, before prices went crazy, I'd often buy  2 or 3 of each toy, one or two for play and display and a third as a spare to keep in the box, just as a back-up, in case the main play toy broke or got damaged,then I'd have a spare.

I don't do that anymore, can't afford to  anymore.

But even with my spares in the box, I never cared about mint sealed boxes. It never bothered me if the box was a bit beat up or if the tape was cut.

 

 

[fenrir72]

5 hours ago, Graham said:

I don't collect MISB. My view is that toys are for display and handling and play and enjoying.

However, back when  Macross toys were more affordable, before prices went crazy, I'd often buy  2 or 3 of each toy, one or two for play and display and a third as a spare to keep in the box, just as a back-up, in case the main play toy broke or got damaged,then I'd have a spare.

I don't do that anymore, can't afford to  anymore.

But even with my spares in the box, I never cared about mint sealed boxes. It never bothered me if the box was a bit beat up or if the tape was cut.

 

 

Yup! Like Toy Story 2. Meant to be played responsibly! 

[Ignacio Ocamica]

I free all off my toys, but I keep the boxes. 

 

[Toonz]

i only keep misb if that toy has a special place in my heart while having one more on display

[MacrossMania]

Ok so I'll respond for all those MISB collectors out there who are too sheepish to stand up for their true OCD habits.  I admit - cue the AA theme song if it exists - I'm an MISB collector and proud of it.  I could make excuses and say that the true spirit of MISB collecting is in the old vintage toys with proper windows and great box art, and the truth of it is that's where it comes from.  To me as a vintage collector, half the value comes in the display of the box art along with the toy themselves.  Back in the day they took their time with box art, and the box art for lines like Transformers, Robotech, GI Joe, Gobots, M.A.S.K. was an extension of the Saturday morning cartoons that I used to adore and would sit in my parent's living room starting at 5 o'clock in the morning when television still had a curfew and didn't start until 5:30 or 6 o'clock in the morning, and you would face nothing but a small cramped room and the backlighting of the blue-lit screen to fill your consciousness and the slow building of anticipation as you waited for the first of the cartoons to come on - in my day, the superheroes.  The box art was, in a sense, an extension of the mythology that was deliberately built up by the likes of Hasbro around the toys.  And boy did they deliver.  The characterization, the plot lines (though thin), and the excitement of all the cartoons was enough to drive you mad as a kid and inspire to the greatest heights of your imagination.  So now, as an adult collector looking to collect vintage toys, and looking for a piece of that nostalgia that I've just described (hopefully with the same flair as that box art), it's only natural to seek out MISB examples that still carry a whiff of that old nostalgia with them.  And that means perfect examples with impeccable, bright shiny colors.  Because the fact of the matter is that vintage collectors collect for one thing, nostalgia.  For a piece of their childhoods.  Yes, it's true, the pieces are admirable in their own right, if a bit clunky at this age, but line them up in dutiful armies, and I have to say that I am impressed by the breadth of their characterization and the sheer stunning array of their creativity.  It seems to know no bounds.  And yet at the same time, I understand that sitting there as they do, they look like awkward stick figures by today's standards.  All of this to the side, the box art was really something that they put a lot of time and effort into creating.  Indeed, the mythology was as important to the marketing of the toy as the toy itself.  In fact, it's obvious to me that the box art was even more important.  A friend of mine once said that transformers didn't look like that once you took them out of the box.  And for the most part that's true.  With the exception of a few stunning examples, the most obvious of which is the chunky monkey aka Jetfire, most of the Transformers were indeed slow and clunky out of the box, and barely seem to resemble the dynamic poses of today's figures, let alone an identifiable anthropomorphic robot that graced the cardboard of the box it was encapsulated in.  Fast forward thirty years and the opposite is true.  The box art pales in comparison to the actual figures that are housed in there.  One wonders indeed what people are doing not taking those beauties out of the box and displaying them.  

For me though, it is the mythology of the box art that goes hand in hand with the imagination they created, and thereby filled the gap between the horrid pieces of plastic that oftentimes came out of those boxes, the imagination that those pieces in such high esteem.   The boxes were critical to this interplay between the mythos, encouraged by a young boy's imagination, and the actual toy, oftentimes a pale reflection of the imagined beast inside.

Of course with that said, I am still an MISB collector with modern toys, and especially when it comes to Bandai, there is no window, and the box art is a mere photographic replica of the toy inside.  A rather perfunctory, sorry looking thing that sits limply in the imagination and does nothing to inspire the otherworldly presence that the toys of yore occupied in my imagination.  So the question becomes, why? And there I have to admit that I do in fact love the idea of a perfectly pristine, untouched example of a toy that everybody (even today!  As adults!) loves to take out of its hiding place and play with.  It's a combination of the pure and untouched with the inherent value (aside from money) of preserving a piece of toy history in impeccable condition when some many have sullied it with their hands - in short, it's rarity in that condition.  

Of course, I long for those days when the box art created such a crucial role in my imagination, and sustained the mythology of the toys of old.  Alas, those days are gone, and I am left with the functional equivalent of the toy lurking inside, as if all the artists of the world had grown tired of this orgy of the imagination, gave up their paint brushes, and left.  And I am also left scratching my own head at why I continue to take part in this orgy of the imagination that only I have such untouched, pristine examples, when the truth of the matter is that there are legions of us out there.  But I still do, still cling to the idea that only I have this untouched example.  In a word, there is a bit of the hunt in an MISB.

[Slave IV]

35 minutes ago, MacrossMania said:

Ok so I'll respond for all those MISB collectors out there who are too sheepish to stand up for their true OCD habits.  I admit - cue the AA theme song if it exists - I'm an MISB collector and proud of it.  I could make excuses and say that the true spirit of MISB collecting is in the old vintage toys with proper windows and great box art, and the truth of it is that's where it comes from.  To me as a vintage collector, half the value comes in the display of the box art along with the toy themselves.  Back in the day they took their time with box art, and the box art for lines like Transformers, Robotech, GI Joe, Gobots, M.A.S.K. was an extension of the Saturday morning cartoons that I used to adore and would sit in my parent's living room starting at 5 o'clock in the morning when television still had a curfew and didn't start until 5:30 or 6 o'clock in the morning, and you would face nothing but a small cramped room and the backlighting of the blue-lit screen to fill your consciousness and the slow building of anticipation as you waited for the first of the cartoons to come on - in my day, the superheroes.  The box art was, in a sense, an extension of the mythology that was deliberately built up by the likes of Hasbro around the toys.  And boy did they deliver.  The characterization, the plot lines (though thin), and the excitement of all the cartoons was enough to drive you mad as a kid and inspire to the greatest heights of your imagination.  So now, as an adult collector looking to collect vintage toys, and looking for a piece of that nostalgia that I've just described (hopefully with the same flair as that box art), it's only natural to seek out MISB examples that still carry a whiff of that old nostalgia with them.  And that means perfect examples with impeccable, bright shiny colors.  Because the fact of the matter is that vintage collectors collect for one thing, nostalgia.  For a piece of their childhoods.  Yes, it's true, the pieces are admirable in their own right, if a bit clunky at this age, but line them up in dutiful armies, and I have to say that I am impressed by the breadth of their characterization and the sheer stunning array of their creativity.  It seems to know no bounds.  And yet at the same time, I understand that sitting there as they do, they look like awkward stick figures by today's standards.  All of this to the side, the box art was really something that they put a lot of time and effort into creating.  Indeed, the mythology was as important to the marketing of the toy as the toy itself.  In fact, it's obvious to me that the box art was even more important.  A friend of mine once said that transformers didn't look like that once you took them out of the box.  And for the most part that's true.  With the exception of a few stunning examples, the most obvious of which is the chunky monkey aka Jetfire, most of the Transformers were indeed slow and clunky out of the box, and barely seem to resemble the dynamic poses of today's figures, let alone an identifiable anthropomorphic robot that graced the cardboard of the box it was encapsulated in.  Fast forward thirty years and the opposite is true.  The box art pales in comparison to the actual figures that are housed in there.  One wonders indeed what people are doing not taking those beauties out of the box and displaying them.  

For me though, it is the mythology of the box art that goes hand in hand with the imagination they created, and thereby filled the gap between the horrid pieces of plastic that oftentimes came out of those boxes, the imagination that those pieces in such high esteem.   The boxes were critical to this interplay between the mythos, encouraged by a young boy's imagination, and the actual toy, oftentimes a pale reflection of the imagined beast inside.

Of course with that said, I am still an MISB collector with modern toys, and especially when it comes to Bandai, there is no window, and the box art is a mere photographic replica of the toy inside.  A rather perfunctory, sorry looking thing that sits limply in the imagination and does nothing to inspire the otherworldly presence that the toys of yore occupied in my imagination.  So the question becomes, why? And there I have to admit that I do in fact love the idea of a perfectly pristine, untouched example of a toy that everybody (even today!  As adults!) loves to take out of its hiding place and play with.  It's a combination of the pure and untouched with the inherent value (aside from money) of preserving a piece of toy history in impeccable condition when some many have sullied it with their hands - in short, it's rarity in that condition.  

Of course, I long for those days when the box art created such a crucial role in my imagination, and sustained the mythology of the toys of old.  Alas, those days are gone, and I am left with the functional equivalent of the toy lurking inside, as if all the artists of the world had grown tired of this orgy of the imagination, gave up their paint brushes, and left.  And I am also left scratching my own head at why I continue to take part in this orgy of the imagination that only I have such untouched, pristine examples, when the truth of the matter is that there are legions of us out there.  But I still do, still cling to the idea that only I have this untouched example.  In a word, there is a bit of the hunt in an MISB.

Well said! Masters of the Universe toys was the first time I encountered someone keeping thir toy MISB and whenever I think about in later years, I totally understand why.

These days, most box art is as you say, just photos of the toy but the Hi-Metal R line is doing a great job of giving us incerdible box art again.

[MacrossMania]

3 minutes ago, Slave IV said:

Well said! Masters of the Universe toys was the first time I encountered someone keeping thir toy MISB and whenever I think about in later years, I totally understand why.

These days, most box art is as you say, just photos of the toy but the Hi-Metal R line is doing a great job of giving us incerdible box art again.

And did you notice that people absolutely love the HMR line?  People are going crazy over them and I don't think that's any coincidence.  Of course they're great examples of modern toy engineering, but the box art is great and contributes to the fun of it all.  It seems to me that the box art is half of the fun all rolled into the toys themselves.  It is that grand unboxing - that moment when you can't wait to get your hands on the physical equivalent of the magnificent picture on the box.  Bandai is having a lot of fun with them, and the box art is part of that.  The same was true of the old vintage toys.

 

[Slave IV]

17 minutes ago, MacrossMania said:

And did you notice that people absolutely love the HMR line?  People are going crazy over them and I don't think that's any coincidence.  Of course they're great examples of modern toy engineering, but the box art is great and contributes to the fun of it all.  It seems to me that the box art is half of the fun all rolled into the toys themselves.  It is that grand unboxing - that moment when you can't wait to get your hands on the physical equivalent of the magnificent picture on the box.  Bandai is having a lot of fun with them, and the box art is part of that.  The same was true of the old vintage toys.

 

Yep, HMR is pretty much my favorite toy line right now.

[seti88]

if HMR gets into non-SDFM/DYRL valks...wow cant even dare to thk of that for my wallet...