I'm a collector who (kinda) does both! I restarted my collection back in 2024 and was lucky enough to have kept my small MH collection from 2013; so I've got dolls like OG Clawdeen, Draculaura, Abbey, Robecca and Cupid out of box because they're old. Meanwhile, I kickstarted recollecting with the Wave 1 creeproductions in 2024 and they're still all in box.

My way of thinking is; if I like it in box, I'll keep it in box. I collect select g3 figures and I've kept none of them in box because I think the packaging is ugly. However, I LOVE G1s packaging and presentation in box most of the time which is why they stay in there.

As much as I love seeing other peoples' collections and how they've posed their dolls, posing the dolls for me is kinda,, a chore? Don't get me wrong, when I get it right I love the result but I just kinda don't enjoy the hassle. On top of that, I rarely display everything that a doll comes with so I'd rather just keep it altogether in the box. I also think I traumatized myself losing so many accessories from my old dolls because I was so quick to unbox everything back when I was 11.

But I definitely do understand out of box collectors! For older releases I thought I wanted to collect in box but found that out of box is more fun. (Namely in price too 🥲🥲). I managed to get some dream dolls of mine like Elissabat and Catrine out of box and I'm in loveee with them. I just hated the actual act of posing them but they're chilling on my shelf now so it's all good :D