Moc builders vs Collectors, Lego civil war!

[PaddyBricksplitter]

I lost an ExoForce set eBay auction to a last minute bidder. You win some you lose some.

It was boxed so I guess it was a collector. Then I got thinking whilst sucking on some sour grapes.

The poor mini fig may never see the light of day :( Those bricks remain untouched. Forever un-used, sniff...sniff, choke, blub..

Ain't you never seen Toy Story 2 you monsters!

I declare a Lego civil war. MOC builders vs Collectors.

We want the freedom to build with as many parts as possible. Release the bricks and mini figs you are holding hostage in your bubble wrapped prisons you tyrants!

[Graham Gidman]

I'm curious, what set was it and how much were you bidding for it?

[OldVagrant]

Sets can be fun for a while.

But building/creating and following instructions are two entire worlds.

And if you're talented, those sorry set models never ever reach the level of amazing of a well done and sharp MOC. Not even those expensive UCS. By all means, tear em' open.

Oh, hello forums~

Edited June 24, 2015 by OldVagrant

[talos]

I started out as a collector, but most everything has fallen to the moc if it has some parts I need. I just took apart my Arkham Asylum. Its mostly in my new moc and my parts drawers now. I do keep my modulars as original sets, only exception is the Detective's Office, I rebuilt that one as I want it, a lot bigger, but essentially looks like it is on the box.

[PaddyBricksplitter]

I'm curious, what set was it and how much were you bidding for it?

I don't know the name but it was the one with the guy with the blue hair. It was at around £17 which I think is just over $20. It's not like I can't just get another one. It's thinking the set will never get opened.

I started out as a collector, but most everything has fallen to the moc if it has some parts I need. I just took apart my Arkham Asylum. Its mostly in my new moc and my parts drawers now. I do keep my modulars as original sets, only exception is the Detective's Office, I rebuilt that one as I want it, a lot bigger, but essentially looks like it is on the box.

I was thinking about the collectors who don't open the sets. They must exist, like that TV show Toy Hunter. Like some guy with 6 new identical sets just sitting there in storage for years. Like a set of paints that have never been used.

I'm just pissed that I missed great stuff during my dark age and now it can be pretty expensive to get hold of some sets from the last few years.

[alanyuppie]

I was thinking of a collector that wanted nothing but precision , this means every single part must be in its place as suggested by the official model/box art. "Fooling around" by improving it slightly (eg. placing the antenna elsewhere) is deemed as blasphemous/unnecessary and NOT recommended as whatever finalised by LEGO in their set is the best version there is.

Edited June 24, 2015 by alanyuppie

[samlr]

How to choose sides when you are 1) a collector for sealed boxes, 2) a collector wanting precision, 3) a collector liking to mod, 3) a MOC collector 4) a MOC modder and 5) a MOC designer ????

[jodawill]

I think collecting sets just for the sake of having them is polar opposite of the spirit of Lego. Lego is all about building and being creative.

[Deathleech]

What about if you collect Lego sets and leave them in the box, but also have all the same sets that you open and play with? Kind of a gray area huh?

Just for the record, I don't keep them in their boxes for sale later on necessarily. I keep them more as a pristine back up in case I lose or damage any rare parts or minifigures. There is also the option to display them or sell them if I ever get bored with a theme though.

[allhenyia]

Lego is all about building and being creative.

[PaddyBricksplitter]

I think collecting sets just for the sake of having them is polar opposite of the spirit of Lego. Lego is all about building and being creative.

Yup. This is what was bothering me. A sealed set collection seems anti-Lego.

What about if you collect Lego sets and leave them in the box, but also have all the same sets that you open and play with? Kind of a gray area huh?

Just for the record, I don't keep them in their boxes for sale later on necessarily. I keep them more as a pristine back up in case I lose or damage any rare parts or minifigures. There is also the option to display them or sell them if I ever get bored with a theme though.

Man you are in deep. Keeping a backup parts collection. That's pretty hardcore.

Hmmmm, maybe collecting and building are two different hobbies.

It's the sealed set collectors I don't get.

I myself have a sealed original Star Wars Kenner figure for display. However one isn't really a collection. That's more about a emotional connection to an object. I'm not after more.

The fact that sealed set collectors exist is going to inflate prices of old sets. You guys seen the prices of Monster Fighters sets, the Zombie one is crazy expensive.

[BrickBuilder7622]

See, I agree, and then... I kinda disagree. I mean I know someone who has a USC Millennium Falcon new in the box, and that's one of those sets that you just never want to open (it's worth too much to do that with). Then again, it is sad to think that those bricks will never see the light of day, and that they will always be in darkness, just hoping to be played with. *sigh* I myself have several sets that were autographed by LEGO designers, and I just can't bring myself to un-package them... In contrast to that though, LEGO fans usually would purchase/get/receive a set that they themselves really like, and so it seems somewhat ridiculous not to open the set... I don't know. I guess I'm neutral in this debate.

While I myself am 95% an open the box as soon as I get it kinda guy, the other 5% I'd have to reserve for collecting the beloved brick. I've got minifigures (original Kit Fisto, 1989 Classic Pirate, CMS Animal minifigs, etc...) that I kind of keep to the side to preserve them, but they are not sealed. I believe part of collecting with LEGO is being to actually see and touch the collected item. It makes it more real. So, in theory, if I had a Mr. Gold minifigure or Cloud City Boba Fett (I wish), I think I'd purchase a little case to put them in, so that I could both see it and have it preserved.

But I am a MOCer at heart. Tear open the set, sort the pieces, and let my imagination run wild and build from there. MOCing is definitely the correct way to go with LEGO, in my opinion.

You've seen me go back 'n forth on this... So I guess my final thought would be that one would have to see what set is being questioned before deciding to keep it new in the box or open it up... But this is indeed a very good point that you bring up here, my friend.

Edited June 24, 2015 by BrickBuilder7622

[MAB]

Lego is all about building and being creative.

Yeah, building a sealed box collection and displaying it creatively. :-)

It really comes down to what you are willing to pay. The OP didn't want this set as much as the other person, or at least wasn't willing to pay as much as the other person. Whether he keeps it sealed or rips it open, throws away the box and MOCs, or builds it exactly as lego specified, or gets all the parts and spray paints them is neither here nor there. If it isn't going to get sold on, then it doesn't matter what the new owner does with it. It is one less set in the pool.

If you don't want to complete with set collectors, then buy unboxed sets. There will be less competition (in terms of money).

[PaddyBricksplitter]

Yeah, building a sealed box collection and displaying it creatively. :-)

It really comes down to what you are willing to pay. The OP didn't want this set as much as the other person, or at least wasn't willing to pay as much as the other person. Whether he keeps it sealed or rips it open, throws away the box and MOCs, or builds it exactly as lego specified, or gets all the parts and spray paints them is neither here nor there. If it isn't going to get sold on, then it doesn't matter what the new owner does with it. It is one less set in the pool.

If you don't want to complete with set collectors, then buy unboxed sets. There will be less competition (in terms of money).

But the last 2 times I got totally un boxed 2nd hand Lego they came with hairs attached. One of which I'm sure was human.

Have you seen the guys who buy the new sets and sell the set and mini figs separate? I've bought plenty of those sets. But who are these mysterious people?

[nerdsforprez]

Devil's advocate here.....isn't there beauty in rarity? The argument above is akin to saying that baseball cards were made to be traded, touched, etc., coins made to be spent, stamps made to ship letters and materials. However, I don't think there are many who would say that just because they were created for those certain intentions, they HAVE to be used that way. Isn't the mere fact that they AREN'T being used for what they were created for a form of creativeness in and of itself? Isn't the fact that others are clamoring "You can't or shouldn't be doing that ! " a form of restriction? If your argument is built on stating that LEGO is for creating and should not be restricted by staying in a box by stating that that is a form of restriction.....

[HawkLord]

I used to collect a ton of sealed action figures and 1/6 scale figures knowing I had a collection worth money. It sat in plastic totes pretty much all the time I owned them except maybe a couple times a year where I would take them out and look at them. It got kinda sad. I was collecting and hording ideas and concepts and not actual items. I was more worried about card and blister condition than what it was.

Lego changed that for me because I had to open them to make sure stuff was there. I had heard horror stories of people buying lego sets only to find that someone had taken the Lego and replaced it with knock off material or the like. So, then sets I had wanted to keep sealed were pointless. Now I open everything and in opening everything I get to enjoy it more because I actually interact with the product and not cardboard.

[Deathleech]

Then again, it is sad to think that those bricks will never see the light of day, and that they will always be in darkness, just hoping to be played with. *sigh*

But what if those bricks want to be kept sealed away... safe from UV rays discoloring them, children's teeth chewing them, and other such harmful aspects of the world?

Have you seen the guys who buy the new sets and sell the set and mini figs separate? I've bought plenty of those sets. But who are these mysterious people?

Me. I bought The Lonely Mountain set and took out Smaug and all the minifigures. I don't want a second set worth of bricks, just the figs and Smaug. To buy them all individually would cost nearly $100 after you figure in buying from a few different sellers and paying shipping. Instead of that I figured I would just get all the pieces I want in one fell swoop and sell the unwanted bricks so I am not paying as much for the figs.

Lego changed that for me because I had to open them to make sure stuff was there. I had heard horror stories of people buying lego sets only to find that someone had taken the Lego and replaced it with knock off material or the like. So, then sets I had wanted to keep sealed were pointless. Now I open everything and in opening everything I get to enjoy it more because I actually interact with the product and not cardboard.

This is kind of a fear I have. I imagine myself opening all my sealed sets in several years only to find out a number of them have misprints on the minifigures or deformed and/or missing pieces.

[ShaydDeGrai]

I think it's important to differentiate the "collector" from the "speculator" As, has been pointed out, collectors come in various flavors: those who build the sets and keep them as display peices, never "playing" with those parts after the initial build; the hoarder, who keeps multiple copies of a set for personal consumption; and (among others) the "mint-in-box" collector who sees the seal on the box as scared and treats the kit in its entirety as an historic artifact. As collectors, they act differently, but they share a common motivation, a love for the subject matter of their collection.

The speculator, on the other hand, is motivated more by value than by love for the item. These are the people who don't want to open the box because it won't be worth as much without the factory seals. In my mind speculators really aren't AFOLs, they're more like day-traders who don't really care whose stock they're buying so long as they can sell it for a profit at some point in the future.

I know someone who is a speculator/collector. He always buys high end kits in threes and stores them for years. One for his personal collection, one he sells to cover the cost of the three kits, and one he sells for pure profit. He never opens any of them. He gets no joy from the Lego itself, he just gets a thrill out of selling a Green Grocer on ebay for three times what he paid for it. He does the same thing with Beanie Babies and Star Wars action figures. For him, it's all about the thrill of the auction and turning a profit. As an aside, he likes the fact that _I_ open _my_ sets; he says it makes his pristine copies more valuable every time some "foolish builder" breaks the seals "destroys" the value of their kit.

[PaddyBricksplitter]

Well ya can take it with ya. I just don't see the point stacking loads of boxes and just looking at them. I guess I will never be a collector.

I see my parts collection as valuable because of the possibilities for creation the parts afford. Not because of some idea that this or that piece is "rare" and I alone have it.

I also see Lego as temporary. No matter how long it's took me to build something I do it in the knowledge that it is only a temporary state. It's gonna come part and be reconfigured as something new.

In the end when I finally do croak some lucky kid is gonna have one hell of a lot of fun with the collection.

[HawkLord]

If you think collecting sealed sets is bad, just think of all the people that get sealed sets graded by AFA. Grading cardboard boxes... sheesh...

[PaddyBricksplitter]

If you think collecting sealed sets is bad, just think of all the people that get sealed sets graded by AFA. Grading cardboard boxes... sheesh...

No way. Ok so I didn't really get how much of a serious thing collecting sealed sets was when I started this thread.

I guess Lego has more types of fans and reasons for getting it as there are ways to combine the bricks. That's pretty cool. I like that idea.

So are there well know holy grail sets that collectors want?

[Werlu Ulcur]

I've kept only one box so far, the one from the Ghostbusters set. All other sets are promptly opened (without absolutely no concerns for the box) and gets built basically as soon as it arrives in my hands.

I collect/build Lego. I don't give a rat's @ss about boxes or packages.

Edited June 25, 2015 by Werlu Ulcur

[MAB]

That's the nice thing about Ideas set boxes. You can open them without damage and easily close them. If all lego sets came in boxes like those, I'd probably save more of them. Especially if they were just big enough to store the set, not huge with loads of air space.

[PaddyBricksplitter]

Yeah I actually kept the Ghostbusters box and booklet too.

It seemed like that's what Lego intended you to do with it when they designed it.

I guess ideas sets are designed to be more precious objects than say Chima which is targeted at kids.

[Werlu Ulcur]

Yeah I actually kept the Ghostbusters box and booklet too.

I do keep ALL instruction booklets, even though they're a PITA to store because of the different sizes and formats.