The
intent is to eventually open everything, as I do love to get my hands on the stuff and I also have no room to have in-package toys stacked to the ceiling. I do try and be careful in opening stuff, though, since I like to hang onto the cardbacks just to look at them occasionally (it can also be a helpful reminder of which line various figures came from).
At the moment, though, most of what I've bought recently is still in the packages, in totes. I'm still doing the toy review videos (slowly) and I like to show off the in-package figure first before I take it out and mess with it. So I'm saving them for that. I'm drowning in the meantime, though.
We can only shoot when my wife is feeling okay, and we still have four episodes worth of footage to cut from over a year ago before we move on to anything too dramatic.
Once we get back on track with that, though, I'll be popping stuff pretty quick.
I could never afford to buy two of everything so as to keep one "mint", nor would I even have the space. I prefer to buy in-package whenever possible (especially if the figure comes with accessories), because opening a new figure is a joy that never gets old, but some stuff like Jakks WWE figures or anything at all by Mattel is usually sturdy enough to buy loose if all I want is the figure in good shape without paying a fortune. Other stuff like DC Direct I don't like to take a chance buying loose because while they got a lot better over time SOME of those figures are rather brittle, especially the ones made pre-2006, so buying them in-package is the only way to ensure it won't be broken when you get it... most of the time.
So yeah, while I'm presently drowning in in-package figures they'll all be free one day, and when I have the room they'll be epically displayed. As mentioned, I save a few bucks here and there by buying toys with "damaged" packaging. That can really add up; on a few "Masters of the Universe Classics" figures I saved $20 or more because of a tiny dent or whatever in the plastic that I can barely even see but was enough to where the seller couldn't sell them as "mint" at full price. Things like that add up.