Don’t Mess Around When Opening A Funko Pop Box

Imagine you have a mint funko pop you decided to resell with great value. You see a bit of dust inside the box and want to clean it. You cleaned it properly and sealed the box again as it was, but you saw a crease on the lid that wasn’t there before.

So now you have a pop that may be considered damaged, which may lead to loss of value. Pretty disappointing, right? So what went wrong, and how should you handle it?

Take two butter knives and insert them from both sides of the lid. Now, slowly try to lift the lid. If the front tab gets stuck inside the side tabs, push gently on both sides of the box. This will loosen the edge of the side tabs, and you should be able to open the lid without any damage.

Let me help you with more details on how you should open your funko pop boxes without any damage.

Why Is It Even Important?

You might be thinking, why is opening a funko pop even a thing to worry about right? Let me tell you my story. I had a Miles Morales 402 pop and listed it as a mint on my eBay store.

It was mint all the way, but I missed a little crease on the bottom tab on the opening lid. It happened when I was trying to open the pop using my hand. I didn’t give it much importance.

So, the buyer wasn’t happy and left me an intense review. It was very upsetting for me as I always try my best to keep my fellow collectors happy while trading or reselling.

However, I made the mistake and paid for it. Now, I take my time and do it correctly every time I have to take my pops out of their boxes.

Which Side of The Lid Should You Open?

You may see collectors using the bottom lid of the box when taking their pops out. But I think otherwise, and I will tell you why.

I think you should open the top lid instead of the bottom one because of the extra white space at the front.

You know that the boxes are covered with design, colour and art, where the left side holds a picture of the character. If you notice, you’ll see that it goes all the way down, leaving no white space like the top part of the box.

So, opening the bottom lid potentially breaks the colour line, as you can see in the picture. Whereas even if it breaks the white coating, it will be less noticeable.

So, How Do You Open Funko Pop Box Without Any Damage?

As I mentioned in my short answer above, you can do it with butter knives or a credit card. The process is the same and straightforward.

I do it with butter knives, which are easier to hold, but you can also use a card. Let’s see the simple steps below.

1. Place your pop on a flat surface like a table or desktop.
2. Insert the knives from both sides of the opening lid (see above picture).
3. Carefully start to push the knives upward. Make sure you use the flat end, not the sharp end.
4. If the front tab is attached firmly to the corner of the side tab, give gentle pressure with your hand from both sides of the box.
5. When the back part opens wide with the pressure, as shown in the picture below, you should try lifting the lid again.

That should be it. There is no ninja technique you need to master while opening the lid. It’s all about doing it carefully with patience.

Should You Take Your Funko Pops Out?

Keeping funko pops in their best condition is crucial to many collectors. However, it totally depends on you. Whether you are an oob collector or in-box. Many collectors like to keep their boxes even if they display them oob.

There is nothing that should stop you from doing so as long as you don’t hurt them. It’s your collection, and you are in control.

So, if you are concerned about that, you should take extra care when dealing with them. That goes for opening them, cleaning the boxes, and storing them as well. Here is my article on storing funko pops that may help you.

And if you are an out-of-box collector who is not very worried about boxes or intends to resell them in the future, go nuts on them. (I feel horrified saying that, btw, lol).

But before you do that, check out my post about throwing funko boxes, where I have talked about removing pops from their boxes. I hope that helps.

Things To Expect & Care When Opening A Funko Pop Box

You need to be aware of a couple of things while taking your pops out of their boxes. Things like the potential damages depending on the condition of the box.

Inspect your pop and take a closer look at the box. Does it still have a shiny coating? That happens mostly when the box is as new as the first arrival on the market. The older the pop becomes, the more coating it loses.

So, if your answer is yes, chances are low that you will damage the colour coating when opening them.

If not, expect some colour or coating break like the pictures above.

How to prevent: Although you can’t completely prevent it from happening, you can keep it to a minimum. It depends on how good the condition of the box is. Here is my advice on it.

Don’t pull the lid all the way down after opening them. Keep it as minimal as possible; you can still take the pop out. Try to open it from the top side, like I mentioned before. Try not to open boxes that are not in great shape.

Maintain this, and you should be fine.

Happy Collecting!