The Energon Pub

Here's a fun and light article that I came across today on the Rochester Democrat & Chronical regarding the cartons that toys come in. Appraisers from the FX Toy Roadshow suggest that you save the boxes if you want your toys to be worth more.

This is probably common knowledge for most TF fans but it's nice to read it from an appraiser's point of view.

Collectors: It pays to save the carton


Diana Louise Carter
Staff writer



(May 28, 2007) — Note to obsessive recyclers: Keep the box. Don't flatten it and throw it in the blue bin.

That lesson was gleaned from the FX Toy Roadshow, a traveling business from Florida that appraises and buys old toys and other collectibles. Late Sunday morning, two FX appraisers held court in a conference room at the Holiday Inn Airport, the last day of a three-day visit.

People who kept the boxes their toys came in and kept them in reasonable shape found they could command a higher price for their old toys.

"It's important to maintain the toys in the original box," he said.

Leinberger suggested holding onto the Transformers a bit longer, as their worth is increasing.

"If it was on a cartoon show Saturday morning, 40 years later that's going to be great," he said.


You can read the rest of the article here: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070528/NEWS01/705280325

I keep my original boxes - if I have them.

I can't justify keeping them MISB.

I don't. I just don't have the room. If I buy older figures then I might keep the box, but usually I sell it on eBay. I even have a bunch of current auctions for boxes.

shameless plug: My current
Ebay auctions.

Lapse Of Reason wrote:I don't. I just don't have the room. If I buy older figures then I might keep the box, but usually I sell it on eBay. I even have a bunch of current auctions for boxes.

shameless plug: My current
Ebay auctions.

that is a way to do it. I put mine in a storage bin... I need to get a bigger bin... My reasoning for keeping boxes are that I can pack some of the figs into it for moving.

If I think it is going to be rare, I usually keep the box, otherwise I toss it out. Just don't have the room for it. If I think it will be really valuable/hard to find, I'll buy an extra one to keep MIB.

Stormrider, are you from the Rochester, NY area?

Hahaha... I used to subscribe to this way of thinking!
X D

I'd get the "rare" action figures,
keep them in boxes,
buy them in multiples,
all that good stuff.

Well, you know where all those thousands of dollars of toys I bought are now?
A landfill. One day my landlady had her younger relatives crowbar their way into her home, get her declared senile, and as punishment for me sticking up for her as she was crying that HER last piece of furniture she owned was being dragged onto the lawn for a yard sale... she called the fire department on me.

Oh, Everything was all nice and neat in these big, blue sterilite cases... DUMPSTER.
I had to rent a dumpster to quickly unload them and not get evicted.

It all comes down to room, nothing more.
If you have the room to save all the boxes and whatnot, more power to you.
But please, I'm begging you, if you, with all intellectual honesty KNOW inside that you don't have the room, DON'T DO IT.

Just buy a toy when it catches your eye and play with it.
Be happy, not burdened.

SnapTrap wrote:If I think it is going to be rare, I usually keep the box, otherwise I toss it out. Just don't have the room for it. If I think it will be really valuable/hard to find, I'll buy an extra one to keep MIB.

Stormrider, are you from the Rochester, NY area?

No, Japan.

Are you from Rochester?

See the problem with this is it harkens back to the whole buying a toy as an investment thing. I don't buy toys as investments, if I want to invest my money I buy stocks or bonds or put it in a savings account. That being said i do have a few boxes I have held on to. Basically all the blue and red boxes for the Alternators and a few figures I picked up at Botcon.

There are some boxes that I really enjoy the artwork; such as the KISS Players and THS-02B. The Binaltech boxes are great for storing the figures because they are compact and squarish.

well my train of thought is like this.

I keep everything...but seriously for the carded figures i just take them off the plastic as neat as i can and then throw the plastic away. far as the other boxes go, I keep them all and even store opened transformers in them. I even wrap them in bubble wrap and put them back in the box when it is time for storage.

Yeah, my collection is not an investment. it's a pleasureable hobby. I enjoy them.

My investment is 7.77 acres of land in bancroft area. I own it, its paid for, no mortgage.

I have most of my Transformers in MISB, with the exception of loose Armada Figures, which i wish I hadn't bought.. but I digress..

Most of My collection consists of Japanese versions, or Korean Boxed Japanese Versions, which are without Twistie ties, and can easily be removed for display and replaced without any type of difficulty..

those then are placed in my Giant Plastic containers with sealable lids, i bought at the Home Depot for like 10.00 each, they are sweet, and can house and protect your figures from almost anything!!! even moisture!! One of these days I'll have a nice storage room with A/c to store my stuff like that SciFi writer.. I forget his name, but he had huge shelves of which had comics lined up in a back storage room.. and he had a huge movie and comic memorabilia display..

I recently got the BW reissue 10th anniversary figures, and Apparently Takara Tomy has adopted Twistie ties!! Arrrghh!! those things make it hard to open a figure and replace so I'm now realizing that maybe the corporate merger of Takara to Tomy was a bad thing, considering the packaging for the Transformers Movie is the same, and has those blasted bubble packaging and twistie ties!!! no open and displaying/ reboxing for me.. what a jip!!!

If I kept all my boxes, I could have built a house out of half of them to store the other half in.

Counterpunch wrote:If I kept all my boxes, I could have built a house out of half of them to store the other half in.

yeah but your collection is probably huge, Mine is very little.. its mainly all the g-1 reissues from Takara, All the current MPs except Mp-04 Complete convoy..little pricey he is.., Lio Convoy, Big Convoy, Magmatron, Galvatron-BW 2, 3 Alts, Car Robots Magnus, Car Robots Fire Convoy, 1-9 BW reissue 10th anniversary..4 Hasbro G-1 Reissues, some Mega SCF.., Revoltechs.. I Think thats pretty much it..

I only buy what I think is the best figures, and what I like, its way to pricey to be a completest these days..but I doo shop around ebay and the net alot looking for deals..and also thats why i prefer the foreign stuff, ease of storage and display versus ruined packaging..but it also explains why i have a small collection.. its pricey to get ease of storage and display foreign releases vs US releases..

My collection consists of Mostly Starscream figures. The busts and statues I would keep most definately because it would protect them really good when I move.

Sunstar wrote:My collection consists of Mostly Starscream figures. The busts and statues I would keep most definately because it would protect them really good when I move.

yeah but in the last 4 years I've moved 4 times..its a pain to relocate, so i have them in storage in my parents house, in their attic, so That i can access them when ever I want, in those giant plastic containers, and so they keep nice in their boxes.. Plus one day, when i get my dream house complete with a room that will be turned into a comic art studio and shelves galore, I'll be able to remove them for display.. one day that is..

skywarp-2 wrote:
yeah but in the last 4 years I've moved 4 times..its a pain to relocate, so i have them in storage in my parents house, in their attic, so That i can access them when ever I want, in those giant plastic containers, and so they keep nice in their boxes.. Plus one day, when i get my dream house complete with a room that will be turned into a comic art studio and shelves galore, I'll be able to remove them for display.. one day that is.. :PRAY:

Ugh, I used to think that way, too. :lol:

But you're in a better position though, you're not going through the trouble of dragging them all over with you, losing some in the process.
>__<

I have only one Transformer and I kept his box..
I didn't buy him as an investment, more so that I just really wanted him. He is currently sitting atop my dresser, and sometimes he holds a pencil for me or acts as an artist's model. I even might have him hold a piece of jewelery. He's not on his stand, so he's standing up. He's a fun guy to have around

Zombie Starscream wrote:I have only one Transformer and I kept his box..
I didn't buy him as an investment, more so that I just really wanted him. He is currently sitting atop my dresser, and sometimes he holds a pencil for me or acts as an artist's model. I even might have him hold a piece of jewelery. He's not on his stand, so he's standing up. He's a fun guy to have around

450+ posts in a Transformers forum and you only have one Transformer! What willpower....