If you’re reading this, you’re probably the type of collector who opens your action figures. This being the case, you have likely accumulated a number of boxes over the years and now you’re wondering what you should do with them.

Even if you open your action figures, throwing away the packaging may still be difficult for you. After all, the packaging is part of the figure in a way. Plus, the artwork on the box might be really cool, and the box design could be aesthetically pleasing. So, sometimes it hurts to just trash the boxes. So, the question is: why not just save the packaging?

Let’s break down the pros of saving the boxes vs the pros of getting rid of them. Afterwards, we’ll cover some middle ground.

Pros of Getting Rid of Your Action Figure Boxes

Let’s talk about the pros to just trashing or recycling all those boxes you have in your closet.

1. You Save Space

This is probably the biggest benefit to getting rid of action figure boxes. Boxes can start to take up space very quickly, and if your living space is small, saving all those boxes becomes infeasible very quickly. Not to mention, if you share a living space with someone else (or multiple other people), they probably won’t appreciate the boxes full of other boxes taking up space in the corner of the room.

Storing your action figures alone is going to take up space, storing the boxes as well is just going to cause more of headache.

2. If They Are Gone, You Don’t Have to Think about Them

In my experience, if I am on the fence about keeping the packaging for a figure, it usually means that eventually I’m going to get rid of that packaging and not shed any tears over it. By just biting the bullet the throwing out the packaging right away, I save myself from problems down the road. The more boxes you hesitate to get rid of now, the more you may eventually have to get rid of later.

Pros of Keeping Your Action Figure Boxes

There may be more pros for keeping your action figure boxes, however, you will need to decide if any of them are worth the extra space you will need to store them.

1. You Can Use Them to Store Your Figures

Some people like to put their action figures back in the box when those figures are not on display. Doing this can give the appearance that the figure was never opened. Also, you may really like the way the figure looks inside the packaging even though you choose to open your figures. The phrase “having your cake and eating it too” sort of sums this up.

For this to work, you will need to be careful not to damage the packaging too much when you open your figure for the first time.

2. The Potential Resell Value

There is a possibility that if you keep the figure’s original packaging in good condition, that you can sell this along with the figure in the future. You might even be able to make a little more of a profit on your used action figure than you would have had you not included the box. Generally, this is the case for more expensive figures. For your run-of-the-mill Marvel Legends, Transformers, or Star Wars Black Series, saving the packaging is probably not worth it.

Sometimes, finding a certain figure in new condition is extremely difficult and people who would usually only buy new, may settle for one that has been opened, but is 100% complete with packaging and any addition documentation (like instructions) included. In these cases you may be able to get significantly more if you have the packaging.

There are some cases where you can sell the action figure box alone. There may be someone out there who has the figure loose, but also wants the have the packaging. This occasionally happens when the figure in question is very valuable. You will need to decide on a case-by-case basis which boxes, if any, are worth saving for a potential resell.

Proving Authenticity

There are certain types of figures, that you may want to keep the box for proving its authenticity, even if it’s been opened. Chinese knockoffs are a major problem when it comes to Figuarts figures, for example. In cases where this is a problem, a buyer may be more inclined to buy the figure off you, if you have the packaging to prove it is genuine.

3. Display Purposes

You may want to incorporate the packaging into your action figure display somehow. If the shelves you are displaying figure on are deep enough, you could possibly use the figure boxes as a backdrop. There are certainly other creative and fun ways you could display that packaging other than this.

Another way you can choose to display your figures is by putting some of them back in their packaging and hanging them on the walls, much like you would do with figures that have never been opened.

4. The Novelty

There is a certain novelty that comes with keeping the packaging, even if you choose to open your figures. You can say that you have everything that came with that figure, including the packaging. This may be seen as excessive by some, but others might see it as really cool that you have the packaging intact.

Other Options for Your Action Figure Packaging

There is a middle ground here. If you really like the art on the packaging, you can cut that out and save it, or choose to break down the boxes to make them more manageable and take up less space. The plastic molding that houses the figure will need to go, but the “cool” parts of the box can remain.

Maybe there are other things on the packaging that you want to save. For example, for many different Transformers lines, stats about the character are included on the back of the box. This may be worth saving.

So, in this case, you throw out the problematic part of the packaging but keep what is important from an aesthetic standpoint. This way you also save far more space.

You Can Choose to Only Keep Certain Boxes

There is nothing saying its either all or nothing. You may want to only keep certain boxes for figures that are your favorites, you think may be valuable one day, or hold some other place of importance.

Conclusion

In the end, it’s up to you. There is some novelty in keeping the packaging; however, once your collection grows to a certain size, the novelty likely wears off and space becomes an issue. For those of us with smaller collections, keeping the packaging is probably much more feasible.

Like I mentioned there are happy mediums in all of this, you can choose to be selective about the boxes you keep, since keeping certain boxes may pay off later should you choose to sell certain figures.

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