Retro 3-3/4" O-Ring Action Figures embattled in the 80s Cold War!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
CALLSIGN: LONGBOW Update - February 2026
23 days ago
– Sun, Mar 01, 2026 at 06:25:51 AM
Hello CALLSIGN: LONGBOW® Backers!
This weekend we are at ZOLOCON at the Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia, PA., with our friends from SKELETRON and MARAUDER.
If you are at the show, don't forget to keep your eyes out for LONGBOW® Reinforcement Coins on the show floor and around the convention! Find them and bring them to the booth to exchange for a free figure!
Production Update
With the factory being shut down for most of the month of February, this month's update will be a little light. We expect the team to start back today (March 1st, 2026).
Adding Tiny Details
Something we have not shown before is how extra-small texture details can be added to tools. In this case, the woodgrain on the rifle for Henchmen (Tracksuit). These details are too small to be 3D printed as part of the master for tooling, so they need to be added to the tool directly. The factory uses these pattern plates, in this case with a 0.080 mm depth.
Note: These patterns are the inverse of the final detail (all low parts are high and high parts low). So the final product will actually be the opposite texture of these mock-ups.
Tool pattern mock-up courtesy of Dave Proctor.
Proof Card
This month in our ongoing series of cardbacks, we have the proof card for LANCER to share. As we covered in previous months, these proof cards are used to make sure the cards are the correct size, colors, and layouts.
LANCER proof card sample courtesy of Dave Proctor.
Upcoming Shows
DFW G.I. JOE AND ACTION FIGURE SHOW
We'll also be in attendance at the DFW G.I. Joe and Action Figures Show, May 29th - 31st at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Marriott in Irving, TX.
JOEFEST
Come see us at JoeFest Toy and Comic Convention, June 26-28, at the Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center in Augusta, GA.
ASSEMBLY REQUIRED
And we'll round out the year at our home show, Assembly Required presented by CODENAME: IOWA, November 13-14, at the EMC Expo Center at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, IA.
We hope to see as many of you as possible at these conventions around the country!
Thank you again for making this project a reality!
-GRINDSTONE TOYS
CALLSIGN: LONGBOW Update - January 2026
about 2 months ago
– Sat, Jan 31, 2026 at 12:24:01 PM
Hello CALLSIGN: LONGBOW® Backers!
2026 is upon us, and we are quickly approaching Chinese New Year. As a reminder, during this time, most of the overseas factories used in toy manufacturing shut down for a month-long break. This includes most of the month of February.
New Production Timeline
We met with our factory project manager this week, and he shared an updated estimated timeline for production on the latest round of figures. Note that these dates are estimates provided to us from the the factory, and further delays are still possible.
Lancer & Krasny-Ninja
Final samples should be available around the end of March.
If those are approved with no major issues, production would likely commence in April on these two figures.
Uptown, Volk, Outlaw, & GRU Spetsnaz
Additional modifications are being worked on at the model shop.
If things proceed smoothly, production is expected sometime in June-July for these four.
Remaining Items: Henchmen, ADAPT Trooper, Steel Web Shock-Trooper, MTF: Retro-Ops, and Resupply Pack.
Our project manager has already communicated the corrections for these figures to the model shop, so that they match the modifications made to the others.
If all goes as planned, tooling on these figures would begin in late summer/early fall.
Proof Card:
This month, we have the proof card for GRU SPETSNAZ to share. As we covered in previous months, these proof cards are used to make sure the cards are the correct size, colors, and layouts.
GRU SPETSNAZ proof card sample courtesy of Dave Proctor.
Upcoming Shows
ZOLOCON
Troy will be joining the SKELETRON and MARAUDER crew at ZOLOCON 2026, February 27 – March 1, at the Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia, PA.
On the O-ring side of things, these figures will be available at ZOLOCON:
CALLSIGN: LONGBOW®GHOST
NEW SKELETRON YETI (Masked Cardback)
NEW SKELETRON YETI (Unmasked Cardback as seen at Assembly Required)
NEW SKELETRON ZARGONAUT (2-in-1 transforms into ZARLORD!)
A very limited supply of previously sold-out items.
DFW G.I. JOE AND ACTION FIGURE SHOW
We'll also be in attendance at the DFW G.I. Joe and Action Figures Show, May 29th - 31st at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Marriott in Irving, TX.
JOEFEST
Come see us at JoeFest Toy and Comic Convention, June 26-28, at the Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center in Augusta, GA.
ASSEMBLY REQUIRED
And we'll round out the year at our home show, Assembly Required presented by CODENAME: IOWA, November 13-14, at the EMC Expo Center at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, IA.
We hope to see as many of you as possible at these conventions around the country!
Thank you again for making this project a reality!
-GRINDSTONE TOYS
2025 CALLSIGN: LONGBOW Year-End Update
3 months ago
– Wed, Dec 31, 2025 at 05:20:58 PM
Hello CALLSIGN: LONGBOW® Backers!
We hope you all had a very merry Christmas! And let us also wish you a happy New Year!
Development Update
Packaging Bubbles:
This month, our factory partners have shared with us some new images of bubbles they are testing for the figure packaging. The accessories that some figures come with will necessitate unique bubbles, like KRASNY-NINJA, while others, like VOLK & GRU SPETSNAZ, can use the same design.
*Note: the figure in this image is an older sample figure; it is not a production figure.
VOLK bubble sample and proof card courtesy of Dave Procto
The team worked from a "standard" bubble and has made recommendations on modifications for each figure. We've approved the new recommendations, and they will begin tailoring these bubbles to each accessory as needed.
LANCER bubble modification recomndations from the factory courtesy of Dave Procto
Proof Card:
This month, we have the proof card for UPTOWN to share. As we covered in previous months, these proof cards are used to make sure the cards are the correct size, colors, and layouts.
UPTOWN proof card sample courtesy of Dave Proctor.
Comic Update:
Our partners at Broken Icon Comics have completed coloring and lettering on CALLSIGN: LONGBOW Issue #2!
We expect to have more details about how the comic will be available in the coming months.
One Advertisement Space Left:
On that note, we still have a single half-page ad space available. If you are interested in running an advertisement in Longbow Issue #2, please reach out to [email protected] for more information.
As we look forward to 2026, we want to assure all of our backers that we are committed to seeing this project through to completion as soon as possible. We have also continued development on future offerings, slotted for release after our initial Kickstarter items.
Thank you again for making this project a reality!
-GRINDSTONE TOYS
CALLSIGN: LONGBOW Update - November 2025 - New Samples!
4 months ago
– Sun, Nov 30, 2025 at 08:08:42 AM
Hello CALLSIGN: LONGBOW® Backers!
We hope everyone here in the States had a great Thanksgiving weekend! It's the time when we stop to give thanks and reflect on all we have to be thankful for.
First and foremost, we are thankful for all of our Crowdfunding backers, both on Kickstarter and those who pre-ordered on BackerKit. You made this project possible.
We'd like to give thanks to Brian Sauer and the crew at Codename: Iowa for putting on a great show earlier this month, and for everyone who attended the show. ASSEMBLY REQUIRED is one of our favorite shows. One part toy show and one part class reunion, it's a fantastic way to round out the year.
We want to thank the team at SKELETRON® for all their efforts in bringing YETI into reality. It's not a LONGBOW figure, but it was really important to us. It is a wonderful homage to our friend Arron, who we lost earlier this year.
We are also thankful, because we have new samples to share with all of you!
Production Update - New Samples
We had a meeting with our factory project manager, Dave Proctor, last week. He shared with us updates on the current batch of figures.
LANCER
Lancer has seen some good progress. This image shows a new sample on the left and an old sample on the right. This new figure can now close its legs and sit properly. You can also see that some of the gap issues in the torsos and legs have been corrected.
New (left) and previous (right) LANCER sample images courtesy of Dave Proctor
In addition to the updated articulation corrections, some of the colors on Lancer have also been corrected. In this image, you can see a more traditional "vintage" green in the newest sample (front). His skin tone has also been corrected from the "sunburnt" samples we got earlier this year.
New (front) and previous (middle & back) LANCER sample images courtesy of Dave Proctor
KRASNY-NINJA
We also got to see similar updates to the Krasny-Ninja. This figure has improved movement, and can close his legs and sit better a well.
New (left) and previous (right) KRASNY-NINJA sample images courtesy of Dave Proctor
There are still some deco corrections for these two (for example, the eyes are too thin now).
We have approved the updated waist and leg joints on these two. So all of their mold functions are set, and they can continue to move forward towards production.
Other Figures
Some improvements have been made on the Uptown / Volk / Spetsnaz / Outlaw waist and legs. They can now close their legs. They will need a little more time with the model shop before moving forward to fix gaps and make the figure sit up properly.
UPTOWN engineering sample images courtesy of Dave Proctor
Packaging Update:
Last month, we shared a packaging proof card for Outlaw. These proofcards are produced for approval before full production begins. We will share these for all of the figures, over the coming months.
VOLK proof card sample courtesy of Dave Proctor.
Upcoming Shows
Now that Assembly Required has wrapped, our show schedule for 2025 is complete. We want to thank everyone who came to see us this year at Zolocon, Joefest, the DFW Joe Show, and AR. It's great to get to meet so many of you in person. We will have more information on our 2026 show schedule soon.
Thank you again for making this project a reality!
-GRINDSTONE TOYS
CALLSIGN: LONGBOW Update - October 2025
5 months ago
– Fri, Oct 31, 2025 at 07:45:53 AM
Hello CALLSIGN: LONGBOW® Backers!
The end of October has arrived, and it's time for Halloween. We hope you all have fun and a safe evening!
Production Update
Last week, we met with the factory team to review the updates on the figures. We impressed upon the team the importance of promptly correcting any issues with these figures. We want to get them into production as soon as we can, but only once all lingering issues have been addressed.
In last month's update, we shared that the model shop had made some changes to the Lancer and Krasny-Ninja waist parts. The images below show these changes on Lancer (and are much clearer images than last month's screen caps).
Updated function sample courtesy of Dave Proctor.
You can see that the figure has a much better range of motion in the legs, and the legs are not forced apart anymore. The factory team has advised that we will need to retool the waist parts to achieve this. We've approved this plan once the model shop has verified the correct modifications. This revision also corrected the issue of the torso not closing completely above the arm.
Updated function sample courtesy of Dave Proctor.
In addition to the articulation and fit, we reviewed our revision notes on all the deco colors (note the green colors on the Lancer above are still too dark and will be lighter in production).
We also discussed the four remaining figures and what needed to be done to those to make sure these same issues did not affect them.
OUTLAW proof card sample courtesy of Dave Proctor.
While the team works through these corrections, progress continues on figure packaging so that part of the project will be ready to go as soon as production commences. The team has proof cards for this round of figures and is currently working on the blister trays. We'll have more proof cards to show next month.
Upcoming Shows
We will see you in Iowa in two weeks!
Once again, the LONGBOW® team will be in attendance at the 14th Annual ASSEMBLY REQUIRED presented by Code Name: Iowa. Please join us on November 14th and 15th in Des Moines at the HyVee Hall!
