Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Still cooking, still collecting

Oh wow, long time no see. It's been nearly five years since I last updated Toys and Bacon, but people still click in to read old articles and see old pictures. So here's an update - and a promise to share stuff occasionally. At one point I updated the blog three times a week. I can't promise that. I can't promise more than a handful of articles and entries a year, but I will at the very least keep this blog alive - because in my honest and humble opinion: Some of the stuff here is worth reading.

But yeah, let's see. Still collecting.

Right now, I have a rather diverse collection. Still lots of G.I. Joe, Transformers, MOTU, StarCom, LEGO. Since the heyday of this blog I have gotten heavily into Battle Beasts, Bionic Six, Silverhawks, Thundercats. Dipped my toes into Tigersharks, Photon. Nearly completed rather obscure toy lines such as Golden Girl, COPS, and.. hmm Combat Commandos. Comment if there's something you want to see featured.

And still cooking.

Making spice blends, and trying new techniques, without really taking big risks. For me, cooking the last five years has been mostly about keeping the fun with making food, while also managing a rather busy life as a father, husband, house owner, and by appearance: an adult with regular boring adult responsibilities.

Here's a small selection of good stuff that's been going on recently. The figures are among my favorite additions from 2019.

Noodle soup/Ramen. Home made broth, flour coated meat, and my personal favorite: Brussels sprouts. 
Taco is our national dish here in Norway, I'm not even remotely joking. I make my own seasoning. Tastes infinitely better than the store bought seasoning. Healthier too. I think. 
Brainstorm, Transformers G1. Lovely colors. A favorite from back in the day. 

I have gotten heavily into MOC Joes, specifically the sub groups of the 90s. I love the oversized cards and the variations on the "explosion". The EVIL HEADHUNTERS consisted of exactly two figures. Both with lovely 90s pink lazers in the background. 

In the years since I blogged, prices on G.I. Joes and pretty much every vintage action figure has sky rocketed. I remember you could pick up a WORMS for like $20 tops. Now, the antenna alone is like $50-60. I lucked out on this example at $40. 

Photon from LJN is as obscure as toy line gets. Leon here is a rather rare piece. My example is not complete, but I really like this guy. Anyone seen the show? 

This Scare Glow was literally a wedding gift to me from the collector community in Norway. 

My son is at this moment 8 months old. When he stops putting chewing on everything, he has lots of cool figures waiting for him. Like this Star Convoy. 

Duke Nukem from Captain Planet,. A lovable radiation glowing, hawaii-shirt wearing, mohawk rocking, yellow scaled weirdo.  

A strange toy line that I have started collecting: Supernaturals from Tonka. Impossible to appreciate from pictures alone, the magic here comes from the holograms, the feel of the figures and the glow-in-the-dark weapons. 

Snakebite from Supernaturals, possibly my dark horse favorite figure of 2019. 

Paid top dollar for Doc Walro of the Tigersharks. I'm consuming almost every LJN toy line, but collecting the Tigersharks is extremely expensive. 

A cute little one, Mainframe from Transformers Action Masters. Still unsure about the Action Masters, there's something very un-transformersy about these figures. 

Finally:
This here is a screen dump of my instagram account. It's definitely more updated than the blog, so head on over to https://www.instagram.com/retrotoybox/ and follow.


All right! See you around in 2020!