@nicblue I think it's wonderful that you get to enjoy your steel this way and take very great care of them. I personally am Extremely OCD but since The Frozen copies being Mostly not OCD, i've come to tell myself to be less OCD when it is the release itself that is this way. I did open my UE there were micro scratches on the lenti Elsa Side but inside was Flawless... I have notice that Blufans do struggle with the final product being shrink wrapped OCD with some exception. I really enjoyed opening my UP box set and showing pictures, enjoying the movie, next I will open my KFP 1 and 2 ... I didn't open my GOTG only bought Taiwan Version that was enough for me didn't feel that since it was WWA that the price warranted me dipping in the Nova Choice just for different Slips(Only the Full Slip looks awesome IMO but not paying for just a slip)... I told myself this year I will first be more picky in my purchase choices and not buy as much, as this is such an expensive hobby. But I will indeed start opening more steels but when I open them I put them with my Blurays but I am just careful if I slip them in and out not to scratch them, I don't put them in polybags, I don't take in and out my copies that often, although one that I am in awe of and do as nic does is The Frozen Kimchi 1/4 slip this is one of my favorite steel last year the matte finish is lovely and the slip it just is a nice little piece of art. Next I need to Open one Thor 2 as I didn't yet and just re-watched the movie tonight (for the third time). I can't get myself to open a Kimchi one, those I want to keep sealed so I don't know which copy I'll open. True though That I worry about removing a steel from a Lenti and scratching it, I think it might only be Blufans that shrink wrap their steel in their Slipbox. But I think I will definitely open a Thor Blufans and Thor 2 Blufans...with GOTG blufans...so basically the point is, the copies that I will open, I will have sealed spare copy of it. And for the opened ones I will take extra care as I do right now. I've not scratched one and I am not using the polybags, just strategically putting them so they are not against other lentis that can scratch them but a smooth Slipcover ...But I have to say that I get a rush of having sealed copies, I don't know what it is, but they just are so nice side by side all sealed up...some I can't bare to open even if I have multiple copies. I don't know what I'll do with The Maze Runner, which one I'll open... probably a Film Arena one to see their exquisite package as they look on pictures.
so
@nicblue I think it's really great you get to enjoy all your steels, I wish I could do that but I am not there yet, but I will start opening more copies this year, although it seems that for me the year is starting slow in terms of releases...lost of pre-release so far but have not received them yet...just a few
no matter what I keep sealed, it is for me ! for my pleasure of having them sealed as I do not intend on reselling them! I enjoy them in different ways depending on the title (sealed or opened) and not to mention that it has been only a year since I started collecting. But I still am in a phase that I collect blu-rays Amary as well so I tend to open those to watch and keep my steel sealed. But at the end of the day, it can bring up complex emotions on what to do, it can be confusing what decisions to make as some I can never bring myself to open even if I have multiple copies. I don't know if what I just said makes sense to others.
When I think of the 'monetary' angle for some, I can't help but think about this:
For decades Disney has had limited 'windows' for buying their movies before they 'Go Back in The Vault'.
I always found that a disgusting practice that is tantamount to threatening people (mostly parents) into buying their movies before they are 'gone'. I was so angry about it, that back in the mid-eighties when I worked at a video store, I told people how to buy and dub their Disney rentals (with a $20 box to defeat macrovision).
But most people bought their copies every time the threat was put out over the airwaves "Only 60 days left to get your copy before it goes back in the vault for 20 years." Little did I know the evil empire that is Disney would be what is now- almost a monopoly in the movie industry gobbling up every brand in sight....
But I digress.
There have to be people out there who bought all the Disney VHS Special Editions in their Clamshell cases, and never opened them (to be mint condition) thinking about how much they would be worth one day.
Hell, my early 90's Special Edition Laserdiscs where the sh*t back in the day! My ABYSS: DIRECTORS CUT box was something people drooled over (you could not get this stuff in any other format).
Now my LD's of ALIEN
C, ALIENS
C, CRITERION PULP FICTION, CRITERION FISHER KING....
All these are worth nothing now. They mean something to
me. But the world of media formats will keep changing and that is just a stone cold fact of life.
I just do my best to not think about how I have had to change each movie from VHS to Laser, Laser to DVD, then DVD to Blu, and Blu to Steelbook Blu! The final stage for me is not 4k discs but Solid State. (Streaming is not a format- so I don't consider it. Also the fact that it is faux ownership).
I think we, as consumers, want the tactile and tangibleness of ownership (the record cover, the steelbook) and not just ones and zeros in a box. One thing that I have started doing, that works really great and satisfies the collector in me: I will transfer my discs of a series (like, say,Ren and Stimpy) and put them on one or two USBs. Then I make a Blu ray custom cover(like a real blu ray cover) and use the title The Complete Ren & Stimpy with great art and all the specs on the back. Then I glue the USB caps inside the blu ray amaray (so the USB itself is removeable), and Viola! I have an entire series in one blu ray case!
Of course, this probably is not what the studios would want because they want to move many sets of discs.
I don't think any of us have a crystal ball that can tell us where things go next, but I do know that even though maybe sometimes it
feels like I'm getting punked everytime I have to adopt a new format- I know I'm not because most often it brings great pleasure. As long as I'm only in it for that, that's all I care about.
And I will take out my giant Collector's edition laserdiscs from time to time to look at them. They are/were awesome even if they aren't worth a dime now.
**Oh- I almost forgot! - Disney guy, with his mint, unsealed Clamshell VHS Disney Collector's Edition. They are worth nothing. (Investing in media
as an investment- bad idea
)