What are your thoughts on opening MIP G1's?

[hathorcat]

It's a matter of patience. Sooner, or later you will find an unboxed one in good condition, and then you can sell the boxed, buy unboxed and buy yourself a bucket of ice cream for the difference in price (or even something more, than ice cream, if the difference is $500...). So, just wait, till you find an unboxed one IMO.

See this is the argument I can assure you is not true for some ponies.

As mentioned before, I wont debox or decard but I can promise you there are a couple of ponies I have in years and years and years of searching I have never been able to find loose and complete and minty. So sometimes MOC is actually easier to track down and for a loose & complete collector I cant tell you how frustrating that is.

Do you mind me asking what that pony is?

Of course Good Weather and Sweet Clover. *sighs wistfully and glares at MIBs*

I should add that I found all of my MIB Prom Queens quicker (and in 2 cases cheaper) than I did getting them loose and complete...there are a few ponies I experienced that case with.

I find this with Greek ponies too. For some reason I'm able to find some Greeks MOC and cheaper than mint loose. Especially the rainbow ponies. Drives me insane sometimes.

Post Merge: October 27, 2014, 07:04:56 PM

I'm not crazy about the ones in bag.  It's more rare, I know, but there's no artwork, just plastic to obstruct your view.  Get your fakies out, because I un-bagged TAF baby Dancing Butterflies.  It was more than a decade ago, and the seller had loads of them, so I didn't feel bad about it, and I've never regretted it.  As a rule, though, I tend to avoid bagged ponies unless I also have a loose one..  too much temptation.

I'd love to have done that. ^_^ Baby Dancing Butterflies is gorgeous.

Unfortunately thats a long running saga with Greeks, especially Rainbows. They flooded ebay a few years ago and the MOCs seemed to out number the loose ponies at the time; there is still a residual of that within collections which makes loose ponies of some of them seem harder to track down than MOCs. I feel your pain!

[AlmostApplejack]

If the packaging is still in nice enough condition, I'd leave it. However if the pony inside is sustaining damage from the packaging, or the packaging is damaged, torn, warped, or yellowed, I would probably remove the pony and maybe keep the backcard. I really do prefer seeing my ponies in a full 360 degree view.

Yeah, I agree! Some MIP/MOC/MIB ponies that I've seen looked like their packaging had seen better days, and just looked absolutely abysmal. If the package around my pony was utterly destroyed, then I would probably remove her or him from their prison.

Another thing. I've deboxed rare G4 ponies and kept their packaging. I know it's a little different, because the older style packaging was easier to debox, just peel off the tape. I know it still devalues them, but if you really wanted to take the pony out, if you took them out with as minimal damage to the package as possible, that's also another viable option  At least the package could be resold with the pony, should the need arise.

But yeah! If she's not that rare, then I'd say go for it!