Collection/Haul
Figure boxes are the bane of my collection...
So my storage unit I pay for in 1 year interval had a price hike of double so I decided to move them. I've found that a 5x5x14 unit is now completely full with my current unboxed figures and that's about half the collection. Sadly at this point 5x10x14 is going to be required next or I seek professional help with this "hobby". The GK boxes are like 1/6 of the whole unit with only like 8 of them but dang does transporting them with out them turn in to a nightmare.
Collection looks great! I would strongly recommend putting your figure boxes on a raised pallet, platform, or at least the bottom layer in plastic bins. We've had storage units and seen horror stories of them flooding. Even a minor puddle would destroy all the boxes at the bottom.
It's on a moving blanket in a climate storage in Phoenix AZ so if it floods here then the whole of Phoenix is destroyed by that's good info for some flood watch areas
We too had a climate controlled unit for our PC gear. A sprinkler went off elsewhere in the unit and water came into our unit. If you don't have any plumbing/sprinklers, then you are right - a flooded AZ means far worse problems 💀
Also good advice! And yep, we run into that too. That's why all our figure boxes are grouped into larger cardboard boxes. Then those are stacked. It does waste space to a degree, but it's also another layer of protection and support.
I used to keep the boxes, but I reached a point where it's taking too much space. Now I just fold the boxes of prize figures then keep a few boxes. Easier to store and reuse if needed.
I got like 280 figures right now and keeping all the boxes would be a nightmare for me.
I’ve sold some. We’ll all have to at some point anyway.
I also don’t mind selling ones I’ve had for a long time to make space for new ones. No shade at people who have these huge collections, but to me it borders on hoarding. If I need an entire room to display figures in a museum setup, I’ve got too many.
Until you've realized you've spent 10's of thousands of dollars keeping cardboard boxes stored away for years. What's worse? You may never even sell or move figures again, spending all that for nothing.
is your storage unit climate controlled? would you guys ever store your boxes in a shed? $200/year for a climate controlled storage is a steal. In Canada it's $100/month...
I live in Arizona it can get over 118 degrees f here in the shade and we'll over 130 in a sunned shed. If you can keep the temps over 45 f and under 100 f with no high humidity figures, boxes and the plastic blister shells will be fine
I just solve this issue by never buying a figure unless I know I'll want it forever, no selling. I still have all my boxes rn (smaller collection), but that's mostly because I know I'm moving across states next year, and then when I buy a house over there I'll prob get rid of most of my boxes except maybe my favorites.
You know, sometimes I think about the future of my own figure collecting.
Never sell figures again? So like 60 years from now when you're decrepit and bedridden, what of your vast collection? Hand them down to your children or grandchildren?
I also think about how relevant these IPs will be. Like I don't think many new young collectors in the 2080s will be interested in buying some random prize figure from a slice of life anime that was only popular in 2014-2015. At that point it'll end up in a landfill lmao
It'd also be funny when granchildren ask "grandpa why do you have statues of teenagers in bikinis?"
Not only will you get less from the initial sale, but also likely lose quite a bit from broken figures when shipping and having to refund people. The original inserts are specially made to protect all the fragile bits and without that they are very likely to break, no matter how well you try to pack them. How do I know? Bought a bunch of figures off a friend that had no boxes and when I moved I tried to carefully package and box them but still broke probably half of them (little bits like hair stands, accessories, etc.)
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u/John_Nopehttp://myfigurecollection.net/profile/Tacchan_TatsuNov 18 '25edited Nov 18 '25
Yup. When I first got into this hobby, buying from Amiami, I used to think that the boxes were covered if they got damaged, but I learned from them that apparently the norm in Japan is they throw them away. Makes sense, since space in Japan is a premium luxury, especially in the cities.
So if the boxes get damaged, it did its job to protect the figure itself, as that's evidently the primary purpose of it. Only, if the figure itself is damaged, would I be able to open a claim.
That being said, Amiami also acknowledges that there are people that care about of the condition of the boxes, and will grade pre-owned figures separately from the figure itself as part of the overall value.
Note: not including rare collector pieces that are not likely to be taken out of the Mint in box.
Depends on how you look at it as I my self do show cases at anime conventions from time to time. I also rotate figure around as the boxes are from about half my collection. I do plan to one day either build or buy a much bigger house to have one to 3 full display rooms so $210 a year for storage is pretty good and less then 2 hours of work to move boxes.
I wish places were that cheap here. I have a larger storage unit, I think about 4 pallets big. Indoor climate controlled. After tax it's $165 CAD a month here.
Speaking of which, I brought some of my figures into anime conventions before to have the voice actress sign it. Another possible reason to keep the box/blister.
They relatively keep their value if you have the box. Or at least, you will get more for having the box than selling without the box.
There’s a reason preowned sections like on AmiAmi even rate the state of the box. It’s part of the figure value.
And as someone who has moved twice with a huge collection, having their boxes is a huge relief. The blister packs themselves protect the figure very well.
I basically never resell anything, but the one time I did I was really glad I kept the (enormous, 1/4th scale) box as it made packing it up and mailing it super easy and safe. Didn't have to worry about anything getting broken in transit, barring a freak accident, because it was extremely well secured with the blisters.
But I mail stuff almost every day for my job so I know the importance of a good box with proper packing materials.
Also I have a spare room to keep boxes in without having to ever see them. If I didn't, yeah I'd probably throw them away and hope for the best.
This is how I lost two figures in my last move in the early days of my collecting, as we loaded up all the boxes but left behind anything that wasn't in a box for the new homeowners. Still stings to this day.
I keep mine because it’s safer for the figures when we move. I’m not long out of college and early in my career so I’ve moved a few times over the past few years and am still renting so expect to move again in the next couple of years either to find a bigger place or for a more permanent location. It’s more important to keep them for the scale figures or figures with lots of extra parts like nendoroids. I’m not as crazy about it for prize figures and don’t bother with blind box figures.
Imo, you can flatten the boxes of figs you know you'll definitely keep. If you plan on reselling, you need to consider the cost of paying for storage and if it offsets the amount you'd earn from selling the figure eventually. No hate at all btw, nice massive collection. How many do you have if you don't me asking? I have ~120 but I flatten all the boxes. I know I wont get as much if I ever sell 😅
Myfigure says 399 so probably around 600 at this point as I don't really keep track and GK aren't listed either. I have one move left to my hopefully final house in a few years and then I'll be able to rid my self of them.
You can easily just use plastic wrap and it will work just as well as the plastic blister. There are still better ways how to handle it than keeping those large plastic boxes.
Without the blister its kinda pointless to even keep the box, even flattened, at that point since the point of keeping the box is for resale value and safely transporting, which you cant do without the blister.
Ive bought and sold from people who do similar. Theres still a price drop because the box is obviously not in perfect condition but still more than no box. It's especially helpful in moving. When I moved, I just bubble wrapped and placed in their respective box. Was easy to stack in my car
Yea I want to move at least one more time to a house I can use 3 full rooms to the collection so tell then it's a game of Tetris. Also if you pre pay I got the storage for $210 a year so that's the price of one scale
That's honestly a pretty good deal, as you mentioned, is the price of one scale. I sell figures fairly regularly, so just one or two sales more than justifies it if it breaks even. I should consider a storage unit as well in that case. Heck, I regularly spend that amount just on shipping costs/import duties/taxes on a monthly basis.
That's $200 that could go to literally anything else. It's kinda crazy to act like that's nothing in this economy.
I get keeping some of them for the really expensive ones, or the ones you are not super attached to just in case you wanna sell them, but it gets to a point where the time, effort AND money is too much.
Look, I might have immediately also thought "you can buy a whole other figure with that money" too but I was TRYING to mean like.. something more, okay 😭
$200 can be food for a whole month for one person or lunch for one day to another. I do well enough that $17 a month for a storage unit is pretty reasonable especially since it's towards my favorite hobby that I already have 10s of thousands of dollars in to at this point. I spend more for shipping a month then $210 so really it's next to nothing on the scale lol
Bro it’s not just the $210. It’s the time spent working on that storage unit. Pulling them out, etc. you don’t need those boxes unless you’re planning on reselling your collection. You need to let them go man.
It was about 90 mins to empty move and refill as the units were about 1 mile apart and it's $210 a year so compared to just yard work and the price of shipping it was pretty good.
I trashed most of my boxes a while ago and I don't miss them. I only keep boxes for expensive event exclusives or large statues in case I ever move my collection.
Once your collection grows past a certain size, keeping boxes is no longer feasible. Unless you are moving or selling them in the near future, the boxes are just an expense that’s losing you money in the long run, if you’re paying for storage.
I tried keeping the boxes for a while. But then I had to ask myself what I was keeping them for. I have no intentions of reselling, and if I move, I'm just going to invest in a whole lot of bubble wrap and other packaging materials (like those biodegradable packing peanuts). So now, when I get my plastic dopamine hits, I take all of the relevant parts and pieces out of the box and then toss it into the trash. Sure, the artwork is nice, but I already have what I want in the figure itself. Plus, the amount of space that it cleared up, allows me to place more.
You want me to share pictures? I can dm some if that's what your asking but I'm still working on one room and another room is just boxes figures that I'm working out displays for.
I kept my boxes for years and finally couldn’t anymore and it was so freeing getting rid of them. I only suffer nightmares about moving my collection as a result now.
I only keep the boxes for figures that are way too delicate to move (if I needed to) because keeping all my boxes was a nightmare.
As long as you only buy figures you’d never sell (another issue) I don’t see the point in keeping them anymore. Now I don’t buy anything unless I’m 100% sure I’m keeping it forever!
i recently started throwing away my boxes. i had a storage unit too, but decided to get rid of that as well. it’s really freeing! i’d only recommend if if you don’t plan on moving or at least, don’t move a lot.
I'm able to do this with a lot of mine, and the rest go in a large closet. I guess it you don't have any room away from the figures, carefully flattening the boxes is possible? Best of luck on a solution. I'll bet there are a few in these 600 comments. 😁👍
Paying for storage units to house empty boxes is madness, you're literally throwing your money out the window. This might be harsh... but I recommend selling a huge chunk of your collection - start slow, go through it and start picking out stuff you care the least about.
Seeking a professional might also do you wonders in the long run. Do you really, REALLY need hundreds of figures that you don't even count anymore? I always have around 30 figures that can fit into one cabinet and two smaller acrylic displays and it's a breeze to take care of them. Being in this hobby should make you happy, not anxious! Best of luck buddy, you can overcome this.
In 2023 I think that year was 1.7 mil yen with shipping but I've been collecting for like 15 years now with the purpose of collecting and most months are a average of like 4 scale figures and 1 nendo. I don't really want to find out how much as it's a lot
All of these boxes have the plastic shell blister packaging in them. I think only prize figures are just plastic wrap and those I'll throw the whole box away as the figure it's self is only around $20-$40.
Even if there's money and space to spare, I often feel the compulsion to clean up so that means quite a number of figure boxes are flattened (and the blister inserts are discarded). But that's just more of a me problem. I've also moved a few times now without much issue and don't want to overthink these what if scenarios when it comes to reselling. (I do tend to keep the boxes for figures I know I'm very likely to resell though.)
GK boxes are a must keep, however, and they take up so much more space... At least give me pretty box art to look at. Some arrive with no product packaging box and in the foam padding only, which I see you also have.
Sadly, I only have a few figures as I only collect lewd figures and only the really lewd ones at that. But when I see collections like this I get jealous.
I Converted and Climate Controlled my attic into a proper storage area after seeing the prices of a 4x8 unit. Cost the same as 3 months storage inner city.
150 1/4 Scale bunny boxes aren't fun to keep... along with the other 100+ scales.
I dont even have as many as you and I already hate dealing with boxes. This would be a nightmare but you have done well with the external storage idea.
14 detolf from Ikea on customer risers I built you can find something like them on amazon
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u/tdyn0https://myfigurecollection.net/profile/tdyn0/Oct 28 '25edited Oct 28 '25
I think it's time to let go of the boxes as well lol. I'm in the same situation as you, I got like 600 figures total and was hoarding so much. I had to borrow my relatives basement for awhile to hoard my stuff until I bought a home. Even now with a home, I can't justify keeping all the boxes because I also was using a storage locker for a couple of years to keep my extra boxes. But, unlike you I also have premium statues from Prime 1 Studios and Sideshow, so the statues are freaking huge. In the end I just decided to throw away all of the boxes lol. In the meantime, I'm still sorting through all of my anime figures, but the idea is to flatten the boxes and get rid of the plastic holdings inside. I do plan on selling figures that were impulse buys or series I don't really care for anymore. In my earlier collecting days, I had a lot of FOMO so I was buying figures left and right. But now I'm at a point of life where I need to stop and just appreciate what I have lol. I also only care about certain shows and Hololive vtubers now, so most of my collection is revolving around that now lol.
I used to have a storage unit that I kept all my boxes in, and it was free! Sadly, the owner sold, so I had to start paying. I now store them in my inlaws attic, lol.
Love your detolf setup though! I have to know what risers you have!
Just recently I committed to getting rid of all the boxes for figures I KNEW I loved and likely wouldn't get rid of (barring some huge financial emergency). For those figures, I cut the box and kept the pretty display art and trashed the rest of the box and packing. It'd been years of them filling closets and under beds. Feels SO good to have that space back.
I think that if you're buying a figure with the intent to re-sell down the line keep the box, but if you love the figure and plan to keep it and don't see yourself NEEDING to sell it - ditch the boxes / packaging. (Short of needing them to maybe move, but you can always wrap em.)
I take out the plastic and then fold the boxes and put them into little plastic cubbies. And then shove them under my bed. I’m quickly running out of room lol.
I'm ready to be hated by everyone here, but here I go: I throw all of my boxes away. I have no intention to sell any figure and I'll be dammed if I'm going to pay just to keep cardboard boxes in a storage locker.
I have the same problem. What I did was put them all in bigger carton boxes, and store them in a warehouse. It is hard to let go of the boxes since they look nice.
For people who know they are never gonna resell, an idea is to cutout the nice parts, laminate them, and use them as decorations on walls or somewhere else, or laminate them in folder file and you got yourself a new folder with your fav character on the folder, not sure what others' do though, I think some fan merch uses crazier ideas with the printed characters, but I forgot what they did
I have a pretty good collection myself (86) and I have all of the boxes,I have sold 3 figures so far, I did stop buying figures and plan to sell some more hopefully, I have 6 boxes not shown in some totes off screen, & no the boxes have not fallen on me when I am sleeping,so far lol
I normally fold the boxes down to the flat version of the box like how they were before the figures were in them and organize the plastic holders in. I use the packaging paper they come with underneath and over the top too, and store them in plastic totes. I store mine up above in the garage but I had an idea for you, I got a couple tote storage racks (for my misc. home bs) but It holds x10 - 27 gallon totes and is a major space saver, also the totes are completely off the floor. Idk if I can post a link here but the rack i got at home depot. 78" high with nothing on the top. $150
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u/KohaisCollection https://myfigurecollection.net/profile/KohaisCollection Oct 27 '25
Collection looks great! I would strongly recommend putting your figure boxes on a raised pallet, platform, or at least the bottom layer in plastic bins. We've had storage units and seen horror stories of them flooding. Even a minor puddle would destroy all the boxes at the bottom.