Toy Shack - Las Vegas, NV

From July 1 - July 8, my girlfriend and I took a beautiful vacation to Las Vegas.  It was filled with sunny days by the pool, chest-pounding clubs, a few celebrities, shows and lots and lots of alcohol.  After all, it IS Sin City and although they claim what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, I couldn't leave it all in the desert.  For as wild and crazy as Las Vegas is supposed to be, I couldn't help but let the nerd in me come out.

On July 4th, after spending our morning at Encore Beach Club for the Macklemore concert, we took a taxi to Fremont St for a free Papa Roach and P.O.D concert.  That was the selling point that enticed us to go on the 4th of July, but the venture to Fremont was going down at some point that week for this store right here... Toy Shack!  If you're unfamiliar with this establishment, it's a store that houses and sells toys for all ages from just about every decade since the 50s.  I first heard about it on Pawn Stars where the Las Vegas pawn shop uses the owner of Toy Shack as their toy expert.  Whenever they need information or prices on a certain toy, this is where they go.  So, after hearing that and doing a few Google searches, I knew this would make for an interesting break from our "Hangover' vacation.  While I didn't intend on purchasing anything, I just had to see what they had available.  Of course, I took as many pictures as I could for all of you before a few associates started to give me the old stink eye.

As you can see, Toy Shack offers just about everything you can imagine and, for me, this was a trip down memory lane.  When I was a kid, I had every Power Rangers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy you could imagine.  My parents went all out in making sure that I had the entire collection or, at least, the ones that I wanted.  The same can be said for WWF/WWE action figures which, surprisingly, I didn't see any of at Toy Shack.  That was my only disappointment, but it's hard to be upset at all when walking through a store like this.  Personally, I've never been in a more complete toy store.  Sure, I've see vendors at shows that specialize in certain aspects or offer rarer items, but Toy Shack is open year-round and has one hell of an inventory.  I was very impressed and thought it was much better than expected.  The worst part is that Toy Shack made me wish I still had all my childhood toys!

To round things off and really enhance the nostalgic experience, Toy Shack plays classic episodes of your favorite 80s and 90s television shows to truly bring back those memories.  Played clearly over the speakers was an episode of "Dinosaurs."  I remember pretending to be sick to trick my Parents into a day absent from elementary school.  While I don't think they were ever really fooled, the days off were usually granted and I'd stay home watching Dinosaurs, Maury and Jerry Springer.  Thankfully I didn't grow up to be a wife beater with 18 children.  I am not the mama, or the father..

To complete our trip, we took a few photos outside because, really, where else in Las Vegas can you pose with the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man and pretend to be scared as he reaches to pick you up and throw you over the Stratosphere?  On this 4th of July, Toy Shack was certainly one of the highlights and I recommend stopping in whenever you're in Las Vegas!

Darkwing Duck - The Unreleased Series Two

Like any young boy growing up, I absolutely loved action figures.  It all started with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but it spiraled out of control from there.  I had everything you could imagine.  While wrestling figures grew to be my largest of collections, there were countless brands and loves of mine that came and went throughout my life.  Where they went, I have no idea.  As I got older, I sold a lot of the WWE figures that occupied so much of my time as a young teen and, yes, well into my high school years.  But what happened to the Turtles? Batman? Power Rangers? I wish I knew.  They may be around somewhere, but in the meantime, the Internet is an awesome place to rediscover what I once loved so much.

Photo Credit : ToysTable.Com

One of my favorite cartoons of all-time is "Darkwing Duck."  Man, I spent hours and hours watching "DW" and Launchpad McQuack fight crime and get dangerous.  I took my action figures, created scenarios, and had them save the world.  The best part was having toys from different brands come together to do battle.  I'd have Darkwing Duck join forces with the Ninja Turtles to defeat Shredder and Bushroot.  I was obsessed and, as I reached adulthood and could appreciate the memories more, I looked into the series further.  I purchased the series on DVD and looked on IMDB to discover voice over artists.  One day, about two-years ago,  I even contacted (among others) the voice of Launchpad, Terence McGovern.  The next day, I received an awesome e-mail from the man himself.

That was pretty awesome.  Hearing a voice actor, one who gives life to your favorite characters, say your name and talk to you as that character is just an awesome experience.  There's a reason why these guys get such a huge ovation when they do their voices at Comic Conventions.  The crowd loves it!  But the coolest part is that nobody calls me "Cliffy" unless you knew me as a kid.  My family still calls me Cliffy, but if anybody new says it, it just sounds weird.  But being that I watched Launchpad as a kid, it was only right that he surprised me with that mention at the end.  In my head, Launchpad is forever a real-life, walking, talking, duck who flies (and crashes) airplanes.  Nostalgia at its finest!

Photo Credit : NewGrounds.Com

Series 1 of the "Darkwing Duck Collection" was awesome.  I have especially fond memories of Mega Volt who was given to me by my Father on Valentines Day when I was about 4 or 5 years-old.  It surprised me because, even at that young age, I thought Valentines Day was for couples and, if nothing else, girls.  But my Dad was always spoiling me and, really, it was just another reason to make me happy.  That's definitely a trait I've carried over into my adult life.

Now, lately, so many companies are cashing in on nostalgia by bringing back classics in modern and retro form.  If you've been following my Instagram account, you know that Playmates has not only reissued their 80s TMNT line, but they've also remodeled the Turtles for their "Classic Collection."  For somebody like me, who, as an adult, has only looked at toys as an admirer, it's enticed me into purchasing them and keeping them on display.  It's also reignited my love for action figures and the ones I used to have.  On top of that, the "retro resurgence" has given me hope for a "Darkwing Duck - Series 2" release.  I know it'll never happen.  But I said that about Fruity Yummy Mummy and Frute Brute, too.

Photo Credit : PoeGhostal.Com

As I mentioned, Series 1 was awesome, but Series 2 would have blown that out of the water.  Speaking of water, we were supposed to have Liquidator on our shelves.  For those unfamiliar, Liquidator was a super villain dog who turned into a being made entirely out of water.  This gave him the ability to change form and liquify into various shapes. You could imagine how much he annoyed me as DW did battle, but he was actually one of my favorite characters.  I loved his voice, I loved his color, and I love that his figure would have been see-through.  As if I've never seen plastic, before.

We also would have gotten Morgana and Darkwing's arch nemesis, Nega Duck!  There have been a few customs floating around the internet using a repainted Darkwing Duck, but that's not the same.  Having an actual Nega Duck figure, on a card designed like only Playmates can, would have been so cool.  I actually want one now more than I did as a kid.  I could, at some point, see Nega Duck being a Comic-Con exclusive, but wouldn't hold my breath.  Good idea, though!

But no figure would have been more highly sought after than the one and only Gizmoduck.  This is probably one of the most popular characters from the series.  He first debuted in DuckTales and later appeared in Darkwing Duck as Launchpad's old buddy.  If Duckburg had an Iron Man, he'd be Gizmoduck.  The only thing I can't tell is if he'd actually roll on that wheel or be a stand-alone figure.  Either way, Gizmoduck not only makes this ad, he would have made series 2!

It's a shame these never saw the light of day, but that's the way things went for every toon featured on The Disney Afternoon.  It was a different time and no show really reached the popularity of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  I know that I was hooked.  I loved every show The Disney Afternoon had to offer and still put all but "Gargoyles" and "Bonkers" in my top 10.  In recent years, we've seen a few t-shirts at Hot Topic, Vinylmation figures, and DuckTales: Remastered (which I'll review when it comes to Xbox,) but nothing would compare to a surprise re-issue (and first-time release) of Darkwing Duck action figures.