While taking the X'mas decors out of the garage, I've stumbled upon boxes of old Lego SW sets some of which are shown in the pic.

I'm sure that I'm not the only one who's got these stored away, so what's your reason for keeping them unopened?

AC

Well, I don't own any SW Lego sets that are unopened, because I buy them to BUILD! I would think the main reason to keep a set sealed would be to resell it. You can get a pretty penny for sealed sets. And, by the look of it, you could get a few pretty pennies yourself!

I've had unopened sets stored away once, I believe. I got eight of the '07 Droid BPs when they were on sale for $2.50 each during a one-day sale at the Brand Stores right before they were retired. Opened six, stored away two since I really didn't need all those droids at the time. Then, last year, I was having one of those days where I just wanted to build a new set, so I grabbed them and built them. Honestly, I don't think I have the willpower to keep LEGO stored away when I could be playing with it. My only current unopened sets (if you can call them sets) are a Chrome Vader, Chrome Stormie, White Fett, and Shadow ARF, which are still in polybags because I have multiples of them and they make nice display items, except for the Shadow ARF of which I have one but see no use for it if it were opened.

I've had unopened sets stored away once, I believe. I got eight of the '07 Droid BPs when they were on sale for $2.50 each during a one-day sale at the Brand Stores right before they were retired. Opened six, stored away two since I really didn't need all those droids at the time. Then, last year, I was having one of those days where I just wanted to build a new set, so I grabbed them and built them. Honestly, I don't think I have the willpower to keep LEGO stored away when I could be playing with it. My only current unopened sets (if you can call them sets) are a Chrome Vader, Chrome Stormie, White Fett, and Shadow ARF, which are still in polybags because I have multiples of them and they make nice display items, except for the Shadow ARF of which I have one but see no use for it if it were opened.

You could send all of those to me since I don't own any of them!

ACPin....you're not allowed to compare your Star Wars collection to any of ours, opened or not. It's just not fair.

I buy to build. Or scrounge for parts. But not letting it sit in its packaging. The only things I would even consider doing so are the ones Doc mentioned, the rare polybags. But seeing as how I always miss out on those, I don't need to worry about it.

The few times I've left a LEGO unopened are for

a - takes too long to build in one go at the moment, so I'll wait for a good time.

b - it's my birthday and I've got a dozen other sets to build.

c - for me to stare at for 10 minutes before opening and building.

Another choice, time. I have purchased set and left them for months before having the time to rip them open.

Overall its the costmer's choice.

After my first set I refused to open the other one's I got but after 2 months I had like three sets and I just started building them, so my personal belife now is that what ever I get I will build.

I scored a deal on a block of sets on ebay, and I had them in my closet for a few months. I honestly did it to save just a little bit of dough in the process. Some days, you just have a bad day and want to build a set.

I don´t own any unopened Starwars-sets. I buy them to build them....

But I´m rather new to collect LEGO, so maybe I would buy extras in the future?

For me it is alot of the factors listed. Time to build the stuff I buy is in short supply and I really don't have the space these days to display my full collection let alone the extra sets I buy! I also buy extra's (2-3) of some sets as I don't want to be paying huge prices If I want a mutiple or two at a later date. Battle Packs I nearly always buy 10 of (only 2 for the Assassin Droid one) 40 of the Clone Walker being the most.

I have not built a UCS set since the Y-wing I have them all except the SSD (waiting for a deal ). I did build the 10188 Death Star (not really UCS) though, as I was no going to leave that baby unopened.

I buy nearly all my lego at discounted prices, RRP these days is just silly prices, so I try to buy everything at 20% off or more. 3 for 2 deals is where I really go mad, probably why I have 9 Battle of Nabboo's and 8 Ewok Attack sets.

I've received a lego large order a while ago, including two larger sets and a couple of smaller ones, including battlepacks, and even though it took me almost the whole day to build it, I still couldn't refuse to build it all in once. The only break was dinner.

If I would have a couple of SW sets from '99 or 2000, I probably would not open them, but keep it as collector items. Neither I would sell them though, I buy lego because I like LOVE it, and not to make money out of unopened sets.

I don’t have any unopened sets, it just seems a waste not to build them! I try not to accumulate too much Lego and often buy a new set, build it & keep it for a couple of months, then sell it. I’ve found that you can usually get 90% of the initial cost (and sometimes a lot more if you’re lucky), so any losses are tolerable because to me most of the fun is from the building.

However, I can see why some people buy Lego as an investment as there’s clearly a booming market for discontinued sets and it does seem a safer bet than the stock market at the moment!

Does anyone have access to the total volumes of older sets sold by Lego (such as 4501 & 10123?). I assume that the current sales are far higher now than 10 years ago, so I can’t see that most newer sets will ever create the ‘return’ that some of the older sets have (apart from UCS), simply because of the laws of supply & demand.

I open everything, I'm not a collector at all I need bits to build with.

when you have enough SW sets to build a tree is when it becomes ridiculous, joking actually it's pretty cool

3 for 2 deals is the only time i end up with surplus unopened sets, 33% discount is about as good as it's going to get

Well, I don't own any SW Lego sets that are unopened, because I buy them to BUILD! I would think the main reason to keep a set sealed would be to resell it. You can get a pretty penny for sealed sets. And, by the look of it, you could get a few pretty pennies yourself!

I'm with you on this. I'm unemployed, so I can't afford to 'collect' sets. I buy them merely for building.

Maybe this factors more Into the issue of buying a set just because it's SW LEGO vs buying a set you really want. I do not have a lot of SW LEGO because I don't really want a lot of it. I tell my family which ones I would like if they want to get me some for Christmas/birthday. My LEGO are display pieces, so I have absolutely no use for a battle pack or a tiny set that does not match my others. Maybe this will change one day, but as of right now I'm just too picky.

I have alot of unopen sets only because i take my time building them, i'm not in a hurry... I also have a family of 5 and that takes alot of time away.. The only positive thing is i will alway have stuff to work on, and i keep buying new sets too...lol

I do buy them to build, if unopen the more money in the future...

I used to collect unopened sets. Then suddenly one day I decided I was running out of room, and the reason I was collecting them, was just that, to collect them, not to re-sell them. So I made the decision to open them all, and store them in individual ZipLoc bags. I folded down the boxes nicely and I save those too. By doing this it opened up the opportunity to build them and review them, which proved to be successful for me. I from time to time go dig out a set and build it, but it only stays built for a few weeks, then it goes back into storage. I am very particular about my LEGO, and this has worked for me so far.

Here is the last picture I have of my sealed sets, I have probably more than tripled this amount by now, plus a grand worth of collectible mini figs

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I have never bought a set with the intention of keeping it sealed. I buy sets to build them and thus make my collection grow. The longest I have left a set unbuilt was about seven or eight months. It was the minifig scale ISD, and at the time it was the largest set I'd bought. When I finally built it, it took me a while, and was rather frustrating, but it one of my favorite sets in my display (not because it is great to play with, but it just looks really cool. Also, I never take my sets apart. Ever since about 2006, I have kept almost all my SW sets built, besides really little things that are kinda lame. I see no reason to keep sets in boxes unless you intend to sell them, or you just have a weird love for unopened toys.

I open everything, I'm not a collector at all I need bits to build with.

Very interesting question indeed.

I oftenly see here a lot of people saying that they cannot wait anymore to get their hands on some new set and review it.

If all those people would open their boxes, we would have dozens of review around for new stuff... Still a lot of reviews happen here, but almost always from the same guys.

There is no shame in collecting sealed boxes, even in reselling them, people doing this way should come here and say it...

Mostly, my unopened sets are just those that I haven't built yet. I don't have the room or the time, or I don't want to take something apart that's built now so I can put up something else.

I have sold sealed sets in the past, either because my interest in a theme cooled off, or I needed the money. I had a few Batman sets, opened the Batwing (which is one of my favorites) and eventually sold the others, because of the reasons above. I had several of the first clone and droid battlepacks. I sold them later for just over MSRP, because I wanted the newer BPs.

I generally build eveything I buy for the acception for a few sets. I do keep a few sets unbuilt so if its a rainny day I have somthing new to build and I keep sets for Birthday presents and christmas. Impuse sets are great as they are cheap. Its great to buy a few sets on sale even if you dont like them as you can always give them away as presents. Kids always love getting Lego. I did buy two City Farms one to build and one to sell as I got them on clearance and 1/2 price and IMO its a great set and I'm sure I will get a good price for it in a few years.

Collecting Lego is getting expensive and I like to sell a few sets to fund buying larger sets. I try to keep a look out for bulk items to part out into sets and sell them if I dont already own them to fund my collection.

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And, by the look of it, you could get a few pretty pennies yourself!

Only if there are buyers for them!

ACPin....you're not allowed to compare your Star Wars collection to any of ours, opened or not. It's just not fair.

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I'm just showing them as I haven't seen them in awhile and actually even forgot about some of them. Still need to find my copies of the sail barge.

when you have enough SW sets to build a tree is when it becomes ridiculous, joking actually it's pretty cool

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I did say that it's only some of it!

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Here is the last picture I have of my sealed sets, I have probably more than tripled this amount by now, plus a grand worth of collectible mini figs

.

Nice collection too!

-snip-

There is no shame in collecting sealed boxes, even in reselling them, people doing this way should come here and say it...

Not really my intent to keep them sealed to resell them but as I think more about it, I won't be opening anytime soon most of these sets. The curse of being an MOCer is that I really just need the minifigs for the dioramas that I build and sometimes the ships when the scene calls for it. I don't buy the sets anymore when they come out as I just wait until a good sale comes along. Display space for me is at a premium so I can't even keep my dioramas built for so long even if I wanted to, much less to have the regular sets built for display only.

AC

I was torn with this one. The only time I would keep a set long term (a few years) would be if I had bought two sets and was holding on to one to gift or resell. At the moment I am saving the larger sets I have until I move into our new home, there will be dedicated shelves in the theater room to hold all of my bigger Lego sets.