The Doll Unboxing Curve

[FangedPisces]

I was anticipating the arrival of my Thronecoming Blondie, but hesitated to open her. I told myself I was going to "save unboxing her for a day when I really need a happiness boost", but as the days go by, I'm more reluctant to debox her. She's in good company though- I put off deboxing Black Carpet Operetta, BYBY Cleo, Clawdia, Viperine, Jane Boolittle... probably others.  Here's a visual representation:



What about you? Do you put off deboxing dolls? Do you find that this chart applies to you? How do you bring yourself to debox a doll that's gorgeous and possibly rare? Tell me everything. I love hearing your thoughts.

[modernmonsterhigh]

definitely applies to rare dolls for me. Just purchased LE amanita and.. I want to OPEN her!! not so much with non rare dolls. I’d say. It’s always high for me since they aren’t that rare and I could use them I do, however, rebox some of my dolls. I don’t know why.  I guess I get bored or just wanted to look at them. Definitely keeping London ghouls in box.

[neon_jellyfish]

I'm a panic deboxer. When I bring home a new doll, I debox her before even taking off my coat... I don't think I could wait a whole day... I don't really care if the doll is rare or valuable, I need to 'set her free', although I think I do understand the 'keeping her in her pristine little world' allure (I have it with fancy notebooks/journals, I'm always hesitant to write in them). I feel like I can't fully enjoy the doll while she's in the box, so I need to debox all of them, be it MH budgets or super fancy, collector ones (like Pullips). I need to touch and pose my beauties.

[dragonlady]

I de-boxed everything even SDCC dolls as I like to pose them and stuff. I do keep the special ones' boxes though, I recycle regular ones.

[eahseamstress]

I definitely put off deboxing dolls, particularly if they look exceptionally pretty in the box. As it happens, my Thronecoming Blondie stayed in the box even though I really wanted to get her out. My solution was to buy a loose double. That's what I've done if I really want to keep the doll in the box. The chart does apply to me somewhat, but I've also noticed that after a longer time has passed, there can suddenly come a moment when I just get the feeling that now it's the time to debox this or this doll.

Something I've noticed is I'm more able to keep a doll in the box the longer I've collected. When everything was new, I had no patience whatsoever. A curious exception was my very first EAH, who looked so pretty in the box it took me 3 months to debox her.

[roseprincess1]

it depends on several things really.. mainly how busy i am.. sometimes i will have a day off and i will debox as many as i can
(which coincendentally im about to do).
It also depends on if i have a surfit of stands at the time.. ( im keeping bloody eting in buisness lately.. thank you mattel bleh) in amounts enough to get all the ladies and or ocassionally gents on to stands.

Then sometimes the whole "you are now deboss" thing catches up with me at work and im so busy i dont have time to get them out..
I just finished deboxing and restyling a g1 briar beauty.. her hair turned out fantastic.. im really pleased.
Sometimes it takes effort to not only get them out but get them in shape to be seen!!

[respositob]

I debox my dolls. Always have, always will. I usually take them out as soon as I get home or they arrive on my doorstep. I've always felt the need to be hands on with my dolls, and I also love posing and setting up rooms for them.

The only doll I ever hesitated to unbox was my SDCC EAH Raven Queen. I kept her in the box for a few weeks, until I finally broke down and set her free. She was such a beauty, I wanted to appreciate her details outside of the box, feel what type of fabric they used on her dress, pose her, etc. I do still have her empty box, though.

I used to keep all of my empty doll boxes, since I loved the artwork, but they took up way too much space. So what I did was cut out the artwork from the box and put it in a scrapbook. It was a fun craft, I was able to use the bins full of doll boxes in my family's garage for something else, and I could still admire the artwork. Pretty much a win all around. 

[Ted]

I can relate to the OP's logic. Nice chart :-) Nuff said.

Actually, since I don't like to make one-line posts: I took several weeks before I unboxed my first MH. Since I did, I've been somewhat disappointed with how fragile and/ or loose MH dolls feel. But I should have realized that before, simply by looking at the diameters of the joints and plugs and thinking for a minute how these compare to the action figures I'm used to.

As a result, since they're not as playable/ posable as I thought, I'm considering to keep my future MH purchases boxed and just enjoy the posing photos that others have posted online (in ROUGH quantities). Would be one of the spoils of the internet age.

[ActionFigureGhoul]

I'm so glad to know that it's not just me who finds that the longer you leave them in the box, the harder it becomes to take them out of the box! 

I've always been primarily an unboxer, I like to pose and have fun with my action figures and dolls, but the couple of times that I haven't taken something immediately out of the box, I find that I grow more reluctant to do it, like I start feeling like I'm bringing the value down or something, I guess. Considering I buy things because I love them and not as an investment, it's a weird feeling! 

So far, all of my MH dolls are out of the box but I've had the 2017 Holiday Barbie in her box for a while now and am feeling reluctant to take her out. In part, though, she makes for a really beautiful presentation in-box so that's influencing me a little in this case, I suppose. 

[Morieris]

I deboxed dolls because I didn't have space otherwise.

The only boxed doll I have is SDCC Cedar because I can put her back.

[Pawsome]

I've unboxed all my dolls so far but I definitely felt this with Heartstruck Cupid. I had a bit of a delay in opening her because I went out of town. And when I got home, she just looked so elegant in her box...    I did remove her eventually though, and even restyled her. I don't regret it.

[Talia AlGhul]

That's a very interesting question, I love to read all your answers.

For me it's not really a matter of time but a matter of beauty of the boxes. None of my first dolls are deboxed since the boxes and the dolls in them look so beautiful (and I don't care how rare a doll is). Fortunately most of the newer boxes aren't that pretty anymore so that makes it much easier for me to debox my dolls, which I usually do the same day I buy them (sometimes a day or two later, depends on the time I have).

I'm quite sure that all my dolls that are still in their boxes will stay there for the rest of their lives, at least as long as they are with me!

[Lazycat]

I'm much more of a customizer than a collector, haha. So on the rare case the doll DIDN'T come from the thrift store, I immediately debox and usually strip as well. If it's a new type/size of doll I hurry off to see what clothes they'll fit, and if it's not then I take them over to my desk to decide what I'm going to turn them into.

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

Pretty new to collecting these dolls, so we'll see in the future what I do when it comes to boxes, but at the moment, I've unboxed dolls I've bought new from the store, as well as Gooliope, who I ordered boxed off Amazon. I don't have the space for boxed dolls (or at least not many). If I were to get a much older doll (like first couple years or so), I wouldn't buy it boxed, I'd just buy a deboxed one.

With dolls with more special looking boxes (Collector's Edition Draculaura for example, who I really want!), I would either keep them unboxed or take them out and put them back in (however I'm able to) to display and take them out occasionally to photograph and just be able to touch. If anyone here does have Collector's Edition Draculaura and her box, how practical is it to put her back in?

[DogMom]

I have some in boxes cause I haven't gotten to deboxing yet. Most of my FdC are boxed because I'm planning a Cirque display someday. Might keep a Gooliope in-box since her box is unusual and very clever.

One that I think I WILL keep boxed is the Werecat twins scooter set, even though the box has some damage. SO CUTE! And I recently had the opportunity to buy the two complete dolls loose that I can pose with other scooters I have, so the itch to debox and play with them has been scratched.

I also have started saving artwork from the boxes and then recycling the rest.

[Konzern]

I'm not really an out of box person.  Once they're out of box, they lose a spark to me.  Granted, I don't customize, dress up, pose, and take pictures, so I think it's with them in box, they're looking a lot better than anything I could ever do for them. 

[brightberry]

Most of mine come out of the box.  I do have a Sweet Screams Draculaura still in her box.  That's because my niece also got one and I played with hers.   


I do keep my "Little Dals" in their boxes unless there is a duplicate.  I just really love their boxes.  Very pretty.

[nassib]

I debox everything!
From budget to SDCC, because I love posing and taking pictures.
This year I again ran out of space and had to buy more shelves. I have them for around 6 months already but the place where I want to set them needs to be cleared and rearrange.
Since I haven't done it I felt a bit guilty about still be buy dolls without cleaning and rearranging, so I keep putting off the deboxing of the last dolls I bought for myself, and a mh school I got for Christmas last year haha
I deboxed the ones I got for this Christmas.
But I still need to work on the space. I hope I can during this week I have off work. I really don't want to let these dollies box for more months

[DogMom]

Lol, nassib...glad I'm not the only one. I've been driving our van around with a great display case in the back that I got at a thrift store for $15. But I bought it when I was still in tshirts, and currently it's 4 degrees Fahrenheit - so at least 3-4 months. Been too busy with work to create a space for it and unload it.

The silver lining is that it's now extra weight in the back, to help me avoid getting stuck in the snow.

[snowblossum]

I'm a panic deboxer. When I bring home a new doll, I debox her before even taking off my coat... I don't think I could wait a whole day... I don't really care if the doll is rare or valuable, I need to 'set her free', although I think I do understand the 'keeping her in her pristine little world' allure (I have it with fancy notebooks/journals, I'm always hesitant to write in them). I feel like I can't fully enjoy the doll while she's in the box, so I need to debox all of them, be it MH budgets or super fancy, collector ones (like Pullips). I need to touch and pose my beauties.

Well said, open to enjoy. And I don’t buy to resell I buy to enjoy, so I please myself. I always tell my hubby I can’t really “see” the dolls in the boxes. They must be freed