Boxes and plastic bags
July 19th, 2007
Over at Culture Kills… MC was talking about the things he misses from his childhood and one of them was when action figures were toys to be taken out of their boxes and played with.
This is something very close to my heart because if there is one thing I hate the most, it is comic books and figurines in their boxes.
I’ve got a story that generally drives the type of person who likes to keep things pristine in a box to wake up in cold sweats in the middle of the night.
Through eBay I bought a T-Rex and Triceratops from Jurassic Park, mint condition in their boxes - unopened for seven or eight years. The first thing I did was rip those packages open and get those dinosaurs out into the open air and let them breathe! Straight onto the shelf for everyone to see (not touch of course).
You see, these things to me are not commodities to be bought and left unloved. I need the tactile sensation of getting them out and holding them. I mean what’s the point if you’re just going to leave them in those plastic cocoons.
I remember one of those claymation Christmas movies that had some elf build a machine that covered every toy with hard resin so they wouldn’t ever wear out. It wasn’t considered a good thing in that movie.
That brings me to people who buy comic books to keep unread in acid free bags. ARRRRGGGG. It’s these people who let the comic book companies bring out 15 different holographic covers for the one bloody issue. Companies who begin to rely on gimmicks rather than good story telling to flog comics. Artists and writers make these comics to be read not be kept like shares! I’ve got a pretty good comic book collection, no scratch that I have a great comic book collection and every single one of those comics have been opened and read and enjoyed.”Oh but you can make a lot of money if you don’t open them… blah blah blah”
Shut up suit.
Do me a favour if you have a comic book that you haven’t read or a boxed up toy that sitting on your shelf - go and open it, read it, feel it, ENJOY IT!
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I do have a weird thing though… I hate it when people write in books. Books are meant to be read, not written in.
Of course, that is just my neuroses talking.
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And re: comic books. While not a medium I am entirely familiar with, I do understand economics and the thought occurs to me that if so many people are keeping comic issues in mint condition, well, the price of those issues will go down significantly. Rarity in that condition is what makes something valuable, and if everyone is doing that, well, it is sort of counter productive.
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For me it depends on what was written in the book - Tracey bought a really old book (I’m talking 18something) and there was an inscription written in it from one sister to the other written in very Victorian english style and it really added to the charm of the book.
I got the Michael Crichton book The Andromeda Strain and someone had written in pencil all through that like it was a real case study and it confirmed the person’s mad ravings. It was quite entertaining but fortunately written in pencil and I have left it in there with the option to erase it later. Had it been in pen I would have been most annoyed.
But I’m with you when thinking about writing in a book myself, I can’t do it. Nor do I really want to LOL.
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Once again that’s a very good point - the reason why comics become valuable is primarily to do with their scarcity first and condition second. If you think of it in terms of imagine there was only one Batman 96 comic left in the world and it was in pretty shabby condition, and then there were a thousand copies of Batman 95. Which one do you think would be worth more a good copy 95 or a shabby copy 96?
I’ve got a Superman 75 where he dies and you can’t give those things away! All because they’re not rare. I say everyone needs to unclench and enjoy the medium!
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I’ve never really kept books as sacred. I bend corners, write phone numbers in the margins, the whole works.
When I read comics i used to do a lot of my reading in the bath. Sure I lost any resale value for them - but it was worth it for those lovely hot soaks with Justice League International
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LOL yeah I’ve got some comics that have been treated rather poorly and left all over the house because that’s just where I read them.
I have the issue that Scott and Jean get married in X-Men which now has a loose cover because it kicked around the kitchen for so long after I was reading it in there one night whilst making coffee.
I am not however a lowly corner bender LOL.
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It has struck me how often someone has said that such-and-such a toy is really valuable, and I have thought: “Geez, I had one of them for ages”…
Then someone says: “But did you have it in the original box? THAT’S what makes it valuable”
(Here in the UK, toys based on Gerry Anderson TV series were particularly popular in this regard).
When working on thesis-y dissertation-y-type stuff, I have occasionally written notes in the margins of books - but only when they were textbooks to start with (if I pass them on to anyone, I expect they’ll have a good laugh at what I made of the text)
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I should note that I worked at 3 bookstores in my day, so that may be affecting my judgment.
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John - I’m guilty of that! I had a whole bunch of toys that are now apparently worth quite a bit and had I not played with them they would be worth something. But you know what I wouldn’t trade the time I had with them for anything!
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I adore that Teddy Bear picture! Sometimes I feel like the few figures I still have in boxes are planning to break out and revolt against me!
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Set them free Becca!!! viva la revolution!
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