BLUE ASH, Ohio (WKRC) - What happens to our childhood toys?

Some end up in landfills. A few are probably still in your mom’s attic. Maybe you even held on to a handful that are now faded, tattered, and broken.

But there’s a place in Blue Ash where those toys and the memories that they conjure are like brand new, still fresh in the box.

"It sparks that memory, you see that piece and immediately it transports you there," said Ryan Lehmkuhl.

Ryan Lehmkuhl and his brother, Sean, are the purveyors of playthings behind the Cincy Toy Museum.

"It's the passion that just grew," Lehmkuhl said. "And it didn't stop. It's like the force was with us for all these years."

And apparently, the force is strong with this one. From pre-production sketches and molds to products that were never even released, there are things here that simply don't exist anywhere else. And there's a reason for that. This museum is more than just a tribute to superheroes and space warriors. It's not just a toy story, it's a Cincinnati story.

"The thing that comes up for all those 40 plus people out there is 'Oh, yeah, I had one of those little action figures' and right away my response is, 'That came from my city, Cincinnati, Ohio,'" said Lehmkuhl.

There was a company in Cincinnati that was already in the toy game before those action figures. In fact, the museum has the first toy that company ever produced.

"That was the Bubbl Matic up there on the shelf," Lehmkuhl said. "Beautiful piece there."

But it was in the late 1970s when everything changed.

"Little ol' Kenner in Cincinnati, Ohio with a few hundred employees decided you know what, we can try for this," Kehmkuhl said.

And, of course, it was winning the opportunity to make toys for "Star Wars."

"Contracts were signed, Kenner got the licensing and the next thing you know, they released the figures in 1978," Kehmkuhl said. "And the minute they hit those shelves, they were gone."

And now some of them, a lot of them are here along with their origin stories.

"How the toy was made, how it got to your hands as a kid and that's that's the cool part of this whole museum," said Lehmkuhl.

The Lehmkuhl brothers are always looking to add new pieces if you are looking to sell. But ask them why they started a museum instead of just making deals on eBay and they'll tell you it's to see grown-ups become children again.

"I had that feeling with you today," Lehmkuhl told Bob Herzog. "You saw the lunchbox and you flipped out because immediately I could see it, it took you right back to 40 years ago at whatever age you were at that time probably taking that lunchbox to school and that's what we live for.

Bob still has that lunch box at his house.