February 20, 200916 yr I'd suggest you sell yours and buy a new (not misb) one with the money. You took the words right out of my mouth, that would be what I would do myself.
February 21, 200916 yr BTW, the most painfull thing is when you have put on clean socks in the morning and then step into something wet in the bathroom, that's painfull. Try stepping into something of the kind of material this forum is all about.....
February 21, 200916 yr Keeping a set in MISB condition is really an impossible issue for me cause I am from the ideal that LEGO is meant to be played with . I don´t think keeping a set in MISB condition could bring some one that much of a profit. Buying a used set could be the solution but I agree with CP5670 that used sets parts are commonly in worse conditions than the new ones something that is sometimes annoying. I open and build all my sets and I think they still worth some big cash because I take many precautions to keep them like new (I keep them at a good temperature, don´t play with them (At least not much ), I constantly clean the dust, I don´t grab them if I have my hands dirty or greasy). Also if you are a collector and you like to display your collection I think is good open it cause you have a really great display item there. In my opinion... open it!!!!
February 21, 200916 yr Good topic. I personally want my LEGO to be untouched before I use them, like I would like to have my car out of dealership and girlfriend to be a virgin. In real life I ended up buying my BMW 4 months old and my future wife .... I tried to buy only NEW Lego off from bricklink but anyway these sellers ended up sending me used parts (OK after the order they told that sorry the part is used - I ll give you discount etc). As I had already made other orders and the things I needed were not anymore available new I ended up having these used parts. I did wash the cigarette smoking things with Fairy for a long time and now am happy to have them but still would have preferred new ones for the four times price. Now to the MISB sets. I believe that opening a box is one important part of the LEGO experience. My son is very determined to be the person to open the box and pour it out and leaves the building thing for me as lesser interesting part. I recently purchased 30 years old road plates that got a bit damaged (tiny corner was chipped off) in transit, still opening the cellophane and touching factory sealed plastic with knowledge that I am the first one to do it is comparable to the time I did have a chance to do it with a ... GO OPEN UP these MISB sets and FEEL GOOD!!! I plan to buy soon more old (20+) MISB sets for my birthday and open them just up, build and leave for my children to salvage.
February 21, 200916 yr Since this is becoming more of a "What do you do with your lego sets--Open or MISB?" topic, I'll voice my opinions. Firstly, your best bet is to sell it, and buy a NIB one, there fore you make a profit, and get to build it. As for me, I always open sets when I get them. But now that I am more of a Transformers completist, I will not buy nearly as much lego for the time being. But I will indeed pick up a few sets, but keep them MISB. That way, in the future, we will have some antiques to sell. :)
February 26, 200916 yr The real decision is do you want to look at a box for the rest of your life, do you want to make a slight profit on this item, or do you want to play with the toy you bought years ago? Perfectly put! Personally I think #1 makes not sense. Collecting things just for the sake of it is something I really don't understand. I guess the collecting process itself is the fun part... but then why collecting something expensive when you can just have the same "fun" by collecting cheaper stuff? I believe that if you really like LEGO you should either go #3 which is the real purpose, or otherwise you may choose #2 if you decide that making a profit to buy more LEGO is worth losing this particular set. But don't be too attached to the "collecting value" of the old set! If you treat it like an investment, you should early or late convert into money to spend on something you actually use. Otherwise it's a bit like being like Uncle Scrooge, who collects collects collects the money and never turns them into something that concretely improves his life (except that of course, collecting itself might bring more happiness than anything else to some individuals). And remember that when you die, all that you didn't enjoy is wasted. Ok... the last one was a bit of an off-road sentence... With that in mind, I see no special value in an old set being MISB and actually hate the way prices inflate so senselessly.The only possible benefit of a MISB box is the convenience of not having to bricklink for that 1 last missing brick... Well the special value is of course that the pieces inside are still new and clean. If a MISB set costed only a reasonable extra compared to a complete used set, I'd probably prefer the MISB. Really, how silly is it? People trading MISB boxes back and forth for higher and higher values; but if it never gets opened and played with you may as well be owning just a cardboard box, its worthless as LEGO in such a state. It is indeed silly. How can the trade circle end? a. the box ends up in a museum, no one ever played with it, could have just been an empty box b. the box is lost and destroyed, the trade chain turns into a "last one with the flaming matchstick" game c. someone finally opens it and the LEGO meets the reason why it was created in the first place
February 26, 200916 yr Author I think that if I could *guarantee* that a set described as "100% complete in box" was indeed 100% complete I would probably buy these every time - they are generally cheaper than the MISB sets AND I don't have to agonise about breaking the seal ! In reality, however, life is not that simple. I have bought a number of boxed sets from eBay, all of which were described by sellers with 100% positive feedback as being complete, but less than half of them have in fact contained all the pieces. These sets have ranged from big sets such as the UCS-like snowspeeder and Y-wing which have around 1500 pieces each, to smaller sets such as the X-wing on Dagobah and B-wing at Rebel control. I am willing to give the sellers the benefit of the doubt - they probably believed themselves that the sets were complete - but it was still irritating. It's got to the point where I now check off the pieces against the Peeron inventory before building, as there's nothing worse than searching for ages for a piece when you're halfway through construction, only to eventually realise that it was never supplied and have to put the build on hold until it's possible to source the part, and then find another part missing etc. etc.. I buy the missing parts from Bricklink (thankfully all the sellers I've used there have been outstanding). You can of course buy complete sets from Bricklink, and I'd have more faith that complete sets on Bricklink are truly complete,, BUT the prices are generally ridiculously high and I won't pay what I consider to be over the odds on principle. So to return to my original post, the one which started this thread, once I've built the other sets I have I will probably break the seals on my valuable 7191 X-wing and build it. After all - you can't take it with you when you die, so you might as well enjoy it while you can ! Best wishes to all, Dr. D.
February 26, 200916 yr I would open it. But thatis maybe because I don't trade LEGO, I just buy it for the model (and somethimes for the pieces) and not to get more money. Some months ago I buyed a 6271 MISB cheap. I could have let it in the box and sell it so I got some money, but I didn't, because I buyed it for the model. But of course the choice is yours.
February 26, 200916 yr It is indeed silly. How can the trade circle end?a. the box ends up in a museum, no one ever played with it, could have just been an empty box b. the box is lost and destroyed, the trade chain turns into a "last one with the flaming matchstick" game c. someone finally opens it and the LEGO meets the reason why it was created in the first place What really gets me though, is that option C becomes less and less likely as the price inflates. No one can afford to open it anymore. Putting a ridiculous price tag on a sealed box effectively destroys the bricks inside...
February 26, 200916 yr What really gets me though, is that option C becomes less and less likely as the price inflates. No one can afford to open it anymore. Putting a ridiculous price tag on a sealed box effectively destroys the bricks inside... Regarding: c. someone finally opens it and the LEGO meets the reason why it was created in the first place I don't think so. Kids will always open a box to get at the sweetness inside...
February 27, 200916 yr With the commonly available sets yes, but I think most kids don't buy sealed antique sets.
February 27, 200916 yr I am a collector of many types of toys. I love the action figures as well as Legos. If you don't open this stuff, you are not a toy collector, you are a box collector. It is made even worse with LEGOs. They are made to be played with. If you don't open the box, you will only be doing yourself a disservice. I open all of my boxes as quickly as I can.
February 27, 200916 yr I open my sets when I get them. And if I would get my hands on an old set, I would open it, if it's a nice set. Sets are been bought by me for the model or for their pieces, not for the box to be put away in a dark corner and dust it off a couple of years later to sell it. No, it sounds ridiculous in my ears. LEGO is a toy. A toy. You build it and play with, and that is what I do. And yes, it's awesome to get your hands on a sealed box ,from someone who did put away and sold it a few years later, but I would still open it. It would be impossible for me to let a set unopened for a long time, but it's great to get a MISB. And I don't sell LEGO at all, I've never done that. But if I would get my hands on a few boxes of the same set or parts I really don't need and I already have a few duplicates of it, I would.
June 16, 201212 yr Hi everyone, I've been thinking about posting this for a few days so here goes - I've got a good few new sets now to build although I'm enjoying knowing they are MISB, *rest assured* - I'm not 'hoarding to sell later', I certainly won't be selling them, its just that I like knowing the magic is yet to be enjoyed. One side of me is saying 'just go for it' and the other is saying 'enjoy knowing its to come'... Has anyone else experienced/managed to overcome this dilema??! Appreciate any advice...
June 16, 201212 yr Hi everyone, I've been thinking about posting this for a few days so here goes - I've got a good few new sets now to build although I'm enjoying knowing they are MISB, *rest assured* - I'm not 'hoarding to sell later', I certainly won't be selling them, its just that I like knowing the magic is yet to be enjoyed. One side of me is saying 'just go for it' and the other is saying 'enjoy knowing its to come'... Has anyone else experienced/managed to overcome this dilema??! Appreciate any advice... Well to me this is simple to answer. You already stated that you are not going to sell them even though that may change depending on the sets that you are talking about. If you have no intention on selling them, then to me, open them and enjoy them. That's what they are there for. I love my boxes. I think LEGO has the greatest marketing team in the world. I buy sets sometimes because I love the box design. I know you are trying to keep that feeling of Christmas morning, but to me, just open them and enjoy them. You will never regret it. There are plenty of new sets out to buy and get that feeling all over again.
June 16, 201212 yr Exactly what legotrader said. If you aren't gonna sell them, why keep them boxed? The poor pieces are yearning to see the light!
June 16, 201212 yr Hi everyone, I've been thinking about posting this for a few days so here goes - I've got a good few new sets now to build although I'm enjoying knowing they are MISB, *rest assured* - I'm not 'hoarding to sell later', I certainly won't be selling them, its just that I like knowing the magic is yet to be enjoyed. One side of me is saying 'just go for it' and the other is saying 'enjoy knowing its to come'... Has anyone else experienced/managed to overcome this dilema??! Appreciate any advice... If you CAN'T afford doubles of each set, then go for what legotrader said. If you CAN afford doubles, then go buy some more Lego! :thumbup:
June 16, 201212 yr Collectors of all types of items tend to buy two of everything just to be safe. I collect Hot Toys 1:6 scale figures and have been trying to get two of each one - not to flip, just as a back-up. I hate the idea of one of the display figures falling off a shelf or something and breaking years from now, so having one in reserve means that I have some spare parts if need be. With Legos, it's the same concept - I have back-up sets unopened in case something happens. These sets tend to go up in price as they get retired and having a reserve now means I won't have to worry about mark-up prices in the future. Plus, with sets like LOTR, I army-build. I don't have the space for displaying all of them now, but eventually I will. Till then, they stay boxed.
June 17, 201212 yr I keep EVERYTHING, even the little baggies the pieces came in. I stick them in the box when I'm done. Usually with the spare parts it came with. I do, however, open and build my sets. It wouldn't be worth the money to me to leave them boxed up and unused. Some of the boxes are pretty nice though and make decent display pieces themselves.
June 17, 201212 yr I also struggle with this choice myself. I have all the modular buildings plus an extra emporium all still boxed up and wrapped in bubble wrap. I have the grand carousel, 2 death stars, 2 black pearls, 2 queen annes revenge, imperial flagship, 10027 train shed and the emerald night just to name a few and i can't seem to bring myslef to cut the little seals open! Damn, i've got a real problem here!!
June 17, 201212 yr I also struggle with this choice myself. I have all the modular buildings plus an extra emporium all still boxed up and wrapped in bubble wrap. I have the grand carousel, 2 death stars, 2 black pearls, 2 queen annes revenge, imperial flagship, 10027 train shed and the emerald night just to name a few and i can't seem to bring myslef to cut the little seals open! Damn, i've got a real problem here!! You go right now and grab 10210, cut that sumbitch open and build! You have quite the stash there. I would definitely build 10219, it's a great model to display, people didn't even know it was LEGO till I told them. Then, build the Modulars. I see no reason to not open any set if you're not selling. What's the point? If you don't have room to display them due to size, I can understand. But for smaller sets especially, you could build, enjoy for a while, then take apart and sort them as you do. I have a few sets I haven't built in months, that's because were trying to sell the house and the less stuff, the better. I'm dying to build 10223 Joust, but since I plan on building that and not taking it apart, it'll have to wait. In the end, build them, that's what they're for. Edit...wrong set number. Edited June 17, 201212 yr by Legocrazy81
June 17, 201212 yr You go right now and grab 10219, cut that sumbitch open and build! You have quite the stash there. I would definitely build 10219, it's a great model to display, people didn't even know it was LEGO till I told them. Then, build the Modulars. I see no reason to not open any set if you're not selling. What's the point? If you don't have room to display them due to size, I can understand. But for smaller sets especially, you could build, enjoy for a while, then take apart and sort them as you do. I have a few sets I haven't built in months, that's because were trying to sell the house and the less stuff, the better. I'm dying to build 10223 Joust, but since I plan on building that and not taking it apart, it'll have to wait. In the end, build them, that's what they're for. I'm the same mate, i also have a issue with room but i'll be definately making room in the next house i build! I have room for probably one to display at the moment, and i'm leaning toward the carousel because of its awesomeness! Plus i believe it appeals to most people regardless of whether they're lego fans or not. I probably won't build the modulars until i have the room to display them properly, along with my train layout. So it's pretty much between the ships, carousel and the death star, which my sons are hounding me to build! :p
June 17, 201212 yr I too have a bunch of sets waiting to be opened. The reason why I have not done so yet is two-fold: 1) Like the OP, I enjoy knowing that "the best is yet to come". Opening and building a set for the first time has the most magic, and I like saving special sets for a special occation. For instance, I have still to open and build Medieval Market Village and Mill Village Raid. 2) I see no point in opening *all* my sets untill I have room to build the layout I dream about, which requires a new table. As it is now, I build a model - and then tear it down shortly after because I have no room for it. Takes away some of the joy.
June 17, 201212 yr I've got a few sets still waiting to be unboxed, namely the UCS SSD, the R2D2 and the VW Van. I'm keeping them aside as a present to myself for doing a bunch of tasks around the house that I need to do, but don't really want to. Nothing quite as motivating as seeing the stash of boxes and knowing I'll have fun building with them once I've finished the boring chores.
June 17, 201212 yr I've got a few sets still waiting to be unboxed, namely the UCS SSD, the R2D2 and the VW Van. I'm keeping them aside as a present to myself for doing a bunch of tasks around the house that I need to do, but don't really want to. Nothing quite as motivating as seeing the stash of boxes and knowing I'll have fun building with them once I've finished the boring chores. I'm doing the same thing with Mace Windu's Jedi Starfighter. The chore: sort my Lego collection!
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