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Balancing Collection Value vs. Play


Iruini Nuva

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Hey all, as the G1 sets continue to get rarer (especially sealed), what's your approach to striking a balance between preserving a collection and enjoying it (building and displaying models, MOCing, etc.).

 

For instance, I've long had a policy of opening my first copy of a set, and generally keeping the second sealed. As a result, I have some neat items like sealed Toa Mata, Bohrok, etc.

 

On the flip side, I recently cracked open a sealed Jaller Mahri (my first). It was one of the most fun builds I've seen in a long time, but I felt awful doing it.

 

How do you approach this issue?

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well i'm of the mind that, as nice as a fresh-sealed canister with the parts rattling inside is nostalgic and neat, the container looks just as neat (excluding mahri/phantoka canisters, and pardoning the split in the seal.) without the set in it too.

 

with that in mind, i see no other reason to leave a set sealed, since it is statistically more useful outside the can. the only thing i'd be upset about is, well, some of the sets have fragile parts, and continued use will wear them down. :t

 

(i still feel super guilty about the number of super-old sets i have with broken parts from ;lack of care, even though i know they're mass-produced and there's still loads of them out there. :0 )

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My philosophy has always been that the sets are meant to be built with. The only sealed set I have is a Bitil that was thrown at me by Black Six at BrickFair 2011, and the only reason I've not yet opened it is that I've not had any need for a single one of its parts.

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I had this same problem when collecting Transformers figures. I would buy one, put it on the shelf and tell myself it would be worth a lot later on. I ended up opening them all, and it was well worth it.

 

With BIONICLE specifically though, I haven't gotten that many sets, but I tend to buy older LEGO sets used, so it's not really a problem for me.

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I've never looked at BIONICLE from a collector's perspective, so most of my sets were opened and assembled almost immediately, often before I'd even gotten home.

 

If you're really concerned about tanking a set's value by opening it, you should probably look for used/opened copies and buy those to play with.  You won't have the fun of opening a fresh canister, but I guess you also wouldn't have the shame of opening a fresh canister either. :P

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I took a break from Bionicle for a few years around 2011-this year. I still have almost all my canisters in a closet, and have a sealed Gali on my shelf. I like to keep my sets built most of the time since I don't do much MOCing.

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I open every set as quickly as I possibly can, and everything usually ends up in parts for MOCing eventually. The only times that I've regretted opening sets was when they were old, rare things, like a complete set of sealed Bohrok Va, or that sealed Sidorak.

 

Building is just the most appealing thing about Bionicle to me, so it's hard to see it as a collectible.

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I haven't bought sealed G1 sets in quite some time, mostly due to pricing and how it's easier to find opened sets, but that's a dilemma I've faced with other sets I've bought. To me it really depends on whether or not I could find another sealed one, or if I'm interested in the build. For instance, if I picked up an Inika I would feel bad about opening it since I have all the Inika, and so I wouldn't have reason to.

 

I never thought twice about opening sets when I bought them, and that's not something I'll ever really regret. The majority of my collection was bought during their release anyway. With G1 sets I'm buying nowadays, they're too expensive to buy MISB (like rahi) so I tend to go for used copies. I think I might crack one open if I got one for nostalgia's sake.

 

I faced this issue with Galidor sets, and luckily they are cheap and plentiful. Depending on where you buy them from, it's actually cheaper to buy new ones. I amassed a NISB collection and I just recently got one to open. A very fun experience, I may add.

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I always open them unless they're a duplicate of a Unique character and I don't need the parts for a moc.  I think the only set I still have sealed is Sidorak and that is because it is a duplicate. I don't understand keeping lego sets sealed for "collection" purposes.  They're legos, they're supposed to be assembled.  Things like transformers or action figures that come in transparent plastic can understandably be kept sealed, mostly because you can see the toy for exactly what it is without opening them, but legos make no sense to leave boxed up.  I always try to buy sealed sets when I'm going back and buying stuff from G1 and I always open it and build it right away.   

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Maybe this is because I was only one when Bionicle started, but I just love to play with my sets, pose them, and most of all, build them. They're toys, not collector's items. Like, when I bought a huge haul of Gali, Lewa, Pohatu, Nilkuu, Kivoda, and Vizuna on New Year's Day, the thought never crossed my mind to keep them in their boxes. I was yearning for the thrill of finally having new (and, in my opinion, better) sets to build and enjoy. Though, it could also be because I was there with my little cousin, buying him his first Bionicles ever. He loves LEGO toys; he takes them apart to build in new ways not 30 minutes after they're built the first time. I didn't want to be a stick in the mud that was his 6 years old pure bliss.

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My collection of G1 sets will likely get disassembled and bagged up individually to for storage at some point. Whenever I get the urge to build one, I'll hit up an online manual, bust out the parts and have at it. The only ones with containers are my four Roboriders. At the moment though, they sit together on a shelf, with Maxilos and Spinax watching them from the other side of the room, atop my cabinet of Technic parts.

I don't really play with my sets or MOCs as such, more just pick them up and fiddle with them - maybe run the mechanism a couple of times, swap the mask over, move them about a bit. Most of my interaction with them is posing though, as it's nice to have them positioned differently every now and then.

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I've got loads of sealed ones, I like to see them in a box nowadays and have the feelings that I had back in the day when looking at them in the store but got many doubles. Also got many used sets complete with their cannister and instructions that I used to play with but I rather see them sealed!

I've got sealed rahi, toa mata, bohrok, turaga, toa nuva, toa metru and lots more. For me they are just worth much more sealed!

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