Opening MISB old sets

[The Overlord]

I have a question to level at you all. Is it bad for the community to open old sets? 

See, I'm personally interested in getting some Exo-Force that I missed at the time/can't rebuild and can't shake the feeling that I'd like them new if possible. The promo art for that line was so unique for Lego and a huge part of the experience. However(especially when it comes to Exo-Force) there's a very limited number of these still in their original packaging and beyond just the innate devaluing, I'd feel a bit bad to effectively "ruin" such an artifact by opening it. My current solution is that I'm considering buying a cheaper copy of the sets I want in used condition to display along with the sealed packages. Although perhaps that's a redundancy? And I'd be lying to say that I want to miss out on the nostalgia of opening the set(s) new.

So, what are your takes on this? 

Edited December 26, 2018 by The Overlord

[Pdaitabird]

Go for it! Toys are meant to be played with. Additionally, you'll be doing a favor to others who own MISB sets, as their copies will become that much more valuable.

[allanp]

If you're not buying these sets as in investment to sell on later then why not? I've done it many times because as @Pdaitabird said, toys are to be played with. At the same time there's a certain novelty to owning a MISB set. So some of my most prized sets (like 8868 in my avatar) are opened and played with many times but right now are MIB, with the parts in their original carefully opened bags, just not sealed. 

[ks6349]

If you intend to make money, then don't open it. Opened set decrease its value.

If you 're not going to make just that small money , there is no reason to just keep it unopened. It's just too stupid not to enjoy it

Another personal comment is

If you love the set, just open it and play it.

If you don't like it, sell it to make some money and buy other new sets you like and play it.

 

[Blondie-Wan]

I have perhaps a couple hundred unopened sets, from the early 2000s to this year, and I fully intend to open and assemble them all.

[ShaydDeGrai]

48 minutes ago, Blondie-Wan said:

I have perhaps a couple hundred unopened sets, from the early 2000s to this year, and I fully intend to open and assemble them all.

I'm in the same boat as Blondie-Wan, I've got a backlog of about 25 years worth of purchases I just haven't had time to get to but fully intend to crack 'em open and build them eventually.  It's a construction toy, it was _designed_ assembled, not to sit in a closet in pieces in a sealed box.

(That said, I must also confess that I do keep all my instruction books and most of my boxes after I've built things).

As for the question of being "bad for the community" and the impact of opening a rare/hard to find MISB item in the eyes of collectors/investors, allow me to share a story from a different world of collectables.  My dad was a stamp collector and told me about one auction he'd attended with a friend of his who was a professional buyer/dealer.  The centerpiece of the auction was some stamp that was worth more than my dad's entire collection, but his friend was there bidding for it on behalf of one of his clients.  The friend won the bidding (to the tune of several tens of thousands of dollars) and, upon taking possession, made a show out of taking out a lighter and incinerating the stamp.  My dad, like half the bidders and reporters in the hall, was shocked.

On the ride home, my dad asked him why he paid so much for the stamp only to publicly destroy it.  The friend told him he was just following this client's orders, his client already owned five copies of that same stamp and figured that the public destruction of one of the few known remaining samples would make his others even more valuable (above and beyond the money he'd just spent for the privilege of incinerating what some might term an historical artifact).   So, when it comes to collector and investors, I'd say don't worry about it; do what feels right for you (though I would discourage incinerating any Exo-force set (MISB or otherwise) that just seems like a waste and would likely smell really bad...)

 

[ks6349]

I feel hard to understand why the above guys keep their sets unopened for that many years while they are not going to sell them. What is the reason of

keeping the unopened sets for so man years

[Blondie-Wan]

5 minutes ago, ks6349 said:

I feel hard to understand why the above guys keep their sets unopened for that many years while they are not going to sell them. What is the reason of

keeping the unopened sets for so man years

In my case, I lived in a tiny apartment for many years and didn’t have enough room to open, assemble, and properly display everything, or organize my bricks, etc. At the same time, I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss out on sets I knew I’d want later, so I just acquired sets whenever I could and stored them away. Eventually I built up a backlog. I did open and build some sets, just not as many as I bought.

I’m now married, and my wife and I just bought a new home that has a room we’ve designated as the LEGO room, so once it’s set up, I’ll finally be able to open up all these sets at last. I’m looking forward to clearing out the backlog over the next year or so. Perhaps I’ll do some reviews of older sets for EB.

[ks6349]

Just now, Blondie-Wan said:

In my case, I lived in a tiny apartment for many years and didn’t have enough room to open, assemble, and properly display everything, or organize my bricks, etc. At the same time, I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss out on sets I knew I’d want later, so I just acquired sets whenever I could and stored them away. Eventually I built up a backlog. I did open and build some sets, just not as many as I bought.

I’m now married, and my wife and I just bought a new home that has a room we’ve designated as the LEGO room, so once it’s set up, I’ll finally be able to open up all these sets at last. I’m looking forward to clearing out the backlog over the next year or so. Perhaps I’ll do some reviews of older sets for EB.

 

I believe I am living in a much smaller apartment than most of the people here ,because I am not in the United states. However, I still keep buying sets and opening sets. I don't have enough place to display my sets too, but I don't put

all sets together, then I have enough place to keep them, but not to display them all. I also have lots of storage box to keep them in place.

 

I enjoy the time of building more than displaying them. Sometimes I sell them as used

by the way, what is the definition of MISB ?

[Peppermint_M]

Mint In Sealed Box.

A set or object never opened, never unsealed. 

I do not go for it, I had a backlog during my major collection sorting project (I am a builder first and foremost) so I didn't want to open any sets that I would need to sort out. I then worked through those when I was able to. 

Personally, a toy is to be played with. By all means keep the box in nice condition, keep the instructions safe and keep the stickers packed. That way you preserve the set but still get to enjoy it. 

[ShaydDeGrai]

1 hour ago, ks6349 said:

I feel hard to understand why the above guys keep their sets unopened for that many years while they are not going to sell them. What is the reason of

keeping the unopened sets for so man years

You confuse volition with circumstance.  If there is any volition involved at all, it's not that I choose not to open a set, it's that I choose to keep buying them even though I could be building a set I already own.

In my case, it really boils down to money and time (and maybe a wee bit of emotional scarring+++).  The shorter answer is, it only takes a few minutes to buy Lego, but, if done properly, can take hours to assemble it.  I like building and try not to rush, but I also don't have a lot of spare time.  When you buy a couple hundred kits a year but are lucky to find time to build one a week on average, after a couple decades you have quite a backlog.  Perhaps when my daughter goes off to college (a while from now, she's still in Duplos), I'll retire and have more time to build.

There are some sets, however, that I've deliberately set aside to build _with_ my daughter when she's old enough.  According to various sources, many of these sets have appreciated considerably on the secondary market since I moved them to my "reserved" pile, but I have no intention of selling them, I just want to share the experience of building them with my little one.

---------------------

+++ I grew up with Lego envy in a family where, if you were lucky enough to earn some extra dollars, you contributed most of it to the household for food and clothing or saved for college.  Lego was a treat bordering on a luxury.  When I got Lego as gifts, they were little stocking stuffers and when I tried saving up for specific larger sets, it usually took so long to save up the money that the kits I wanted would be discontinued before I could afford them (eBay, Amazon and even Bricklink wouldn't be invented for several decades so when the shelves were bare, you were pretty much out of luck).  Years later, when I was finally in a financial position to make up for childhood sacrifices, I resolved that if I wanted a particular Lego set, I would buy it before it got discontinued out from under me.  And so, today, I have a significant cache of discontinued sets that I simply haven't gotten to yet.  Space is becoming an issue, but buying a larger house would cut into my Lego budget 

 

[Megamech]

My kink in lego is Exo_Force too. I had faced the same dilemma as you a few years back then when I was in Germany. Bought Iron Condor MISB for 10 euros or so and opened it immediately. Definitely one of the greatest pleasures I have had with lego, coming right after 50 Euro lot containing second hand Fire Vulture, Sentai Fortress, Uplink and Stealth Hunter along with a few other sets that I was unable to figure out even today. 

If I could get my hands on a MISB Supernova, Golden Guardian, Mobile Defense Tank or Sky Guardian I wouldn't ever consider opening it but the same promise I can not make for other sets unfortunately. Follow your heart. If you have the money to buy one and want to build one, why should you even hesitate ?

Edited December 26, 2018 by Megamech

[ElectroDiva]

On 12/26/2018 at 3:36 AM, The Overlord said:

I have a question to level at you all. Is it bad for the community to open old sets? 

It’s only bad if your goal is investment...

 

Personally speaking, the rarest MISB retired set I’ve bought is the Green Grocer modular - finally picked this up for about £750 about a year ago.

 

I didn’t even consider not building it. I had coveted that set for a long time and very much enjoyed the experience of opening up a pristine new set and building it up for my modular street :)

[Hive]

I echo the "LEGO is meant to be played with" sentiment by others in the thread. To each his own, of course - but I personally think it would be a shame *not* to enjoy the sets in their full, designated glory.

I too have plenty of old sets still MISB on my shelves, purely due to not having had time to build them yet. But they will all be opened. Some day.

[The Overlord]

Seems like there's a pretty clear consensus, and I'm feeling better about opening the sets I'm after. Thanks for the input everyone. 

[hagridshut]

This is a fascinating topic.  

I once passed up the opportunity to buy a MISB set, because I already owned a copy of the model.  I hope whoever ended up buying that MISB LEGO set was able to appreciate it!

I've read some other threads on MISB sets that compare them to wines.  Once opened and built, the experience is gone, much like uncorking an old bottle of wine and drinking it.  

There is something unique to opening old sets.  The packaging materials used today are noticeably different than what LEGO Group used in the 80's and 90's: cardboard with the perforated punch-out section, round adhesive seals, internal trays, large set boxes with flaps and windows, and plastic bags with the grid of holes.  Even the scent is different.  The catalogs and promo materials are a view into an era before e-Commerce was common. 

I've also wondered about the risks of buying MISB.  Could someone have opened the box decades ago, taken some rare pieces or minifigures, and then re-sealed the box?  How can one be sure that the original contents are actually still within the packaging?  With the exception of some large sets that have windows under the front flap, it can be difficult to know for sure.  

I am not a LEGO seller, so I personally would have no issue opening a MISB set in my possession.  The timing might be important though.  I think the experience might be one to share with family or friends who are LEGO enthusiasts.  Sort of like sharing a good wine.  

[Grover]

I am in the same boat as several others here.  I don't have a lot of time anymore, so I buy more sets than I can build, keeping them to build until later.  Most of these sets I wind up opening and dumping into bags, breaking down the boxes and saving the instructions and stickers, all just to save space.  A few I keep unopened to build with my child when he gets old enough, and a very few I have bought exclusively as investments to sell later and keep them MISB on a shelf.  For the most part I find that I can store more when they are broken down in Ziploc bags.  I also tend to look up the boxes and see what they are worth.  If they're not worth much I recycle them due to lack of space.  I would love to keep them all but I'm so limited on space I would have to stack the boxes floor to ceiling.  I do keep a few that have value or because I really like the box art though, such as all of the modulars.