I collect Matchbox cars (I started around 1960). Among Matchbox collectors, there is a group called the DLM: The Diecast Liberation Movement. We believe toys should be freed from their packaging so we can roll them around and watch their wheels spin.

The reason "mint in box" is so valuable is precisely because we loved those toys as kids and played with them until the paint wore off. My favorite nuance in Toy Story 2 was the fact that Stinky Pete (the old prospector) was an unpopular character and thus was the only one who had been in his box all those years.