Retro 3-3/4" O-Ring Action Figures embattled in the 80s Cold War!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
CALLSIGN: LONGBOW Update - February 2024
9 months ago
– Thu, Feb 29, 2024 at 07:18:50 AM
Hello CALLSIGN: LONGBOW® Backers!
Happy LEAP DAY!
It's time for our end-of-the-month update for February of 2024. This month marked the Chinese New Year celebration overseas. As a result, our production facility has been shut down during the holiday season.
But that celebration has drawn to a close and now the factory is geared back up. We are working with our production manager to keep pushing forward on your CALLSIGN: LONGBOW® figures!
Art Update
Last month we shared the sculpt renders for the MTF: Retro-Ops. This month we are back with the character art for that figure. Like all LONGBOW® figures the Retro-Ops figure will have character art on his file card by painter extraordinaire Douglas Hart (G.I. Joe, Visionaries, Conan).
Marauder Task Force: Retro-Ops character art by Douglas Hart
ROBOSKULL MKII Retro O-ring Wolf Trooper - SOLD OUT
Our friends at SKELETRON® offered our Retro O-ring Wolf Trooper for sale last month. And low and behold it sold out!
They shared an update a few days ago about future availability:
"Fueled solely by your support and shares, we very unexpectedly ran out of stock on the Retro Trooper in mere days, and our Wolf Trooper & Gyre Wolf stock is barely holding. But have no fear! We have a second (albeit much smaller) inventory of Retro Troopers on the way, that will arrive in early March"
If you are interested in picking up this figure, keep an eye on SKELETRON's website at: https://skeletron.com/
Come see us this Summer!
The weekend of Jun 21st-23rd, 2024 GRINDSTONE TOYS will be at both JoeFest Toy and Comic Convention in Augusta, GA, and the DFW GI Joe and Action Figure Show in Grapevine, TX. If you are in the area for either of these shows, please swing by the booth and say hello!
John will be at the DFW GI Joe and Action Figure Show, June 21-23 2024 in Grapevine, TX. We are also proud to announce that we are co-sponsoring a special show guest Kirk Bozigian (Product Manager on G.I. Joe).
Thank you again to all of our backers for making this project a reality!
-GRINDSTONE TOYS!
CALLSIGN: LONGBOW Update - MTF: RETRO-OPS
10 months ago
– Wed, Jan 31, 2024 at 08:15:27 AM
Hello CALLSIGN: LONGBOW® Backers!
Ghost Sample Notes and Paint Masters
This month we returned our first round of notes on the Ghost sample we first saw at the end of November bringing us closer to production. We also sent the paint masters for the other figures to our partners at Spartan Toys. these will be used to create samples for the rest of the line.
MTF: RETRO-OPS
Our last two figures, the MTF: RETRO-OP and ADAPT TROOPER are working their way through the final sculpting phase. For these two figures, we opted to work with the same team that does all the sculpting on MARAUDER TASKFOCE figures. It was important for us that this Marauder O-ring be a true "Gun Runner" figure through and through. We'll continue to share more about these two figures in the months ahead. Please enjoy these in-progress sculpt images of the MTF: RETRO-OPS figure.
MTF: RETRO-OPS WIP Sculpt
ROBOSKULL MKII Retro O-ring Wolf Trooper Shipping
Our friends at SKELETRON have begun shipping their PHASE B action figures. This phase includes 4" Marauder WOLF TROOPER, 4" Marauder GYRE WOLF, and 3.75" Grindstone Retro O-ring SKELETRON/WOLF TROOPER. Although the 3.75" Retro figure is not a CALLSIGN: LONGBOW® figure, it does share tooling with our Deluxe GHOST figure and is a great example of the quality of what we are pursuing with LONGBOW® production.
These figures are temporarily unavailable while initial crowdfunding orders are filled. If you missed out on these great figures, keep your eyes peeled on https://skeletron.com/ for more info on when these figures will be available again.
We are happy to announce that we will pull double duty this summer to meet as many of you as possible. Grindstone Toys will attend both JOEFEST and the DFW G.I. JOE SHOW in June 2024.
John will be at the DFW GI Joe and Action Figure Show, June 21-23 2024 in Grapevine, TX. We are also proud to announce that we are co-sponsoring a special show guest Kirk Bozigian (Product Manager on G.I. Joe).
Thank you again to all of our backers for making this project a reality!
-GRINDSTONE TOYS!
2023 CALLSIGN: LONGBOW Year-End Update
11 months ago
– Sun, Dec 31, 2023 at 08:31:33 AM
Hello CALLSIGN: LONGBOW® Backers!
We hope you all had a great Christmas.
December is a busy month for us at Grindstone with lots of family obligations, so the year's final month always seems to fly by.
Bro, Bro... Art Update
This month we're showing off the packaging art for the HENCHMEN (TRACKSUIT) figure, by legendary illustrator & painter Douglas Hart (G.I. Joe, Mortal Kombat, Transformers). This figure is wearing his finest knock-off tracksuit and a tactical ski mask.
The bottle is LIT! (Literally)
This army builder is also our #1 selling item in the crowdfunding campaign. You can never have enough Henchmen!
HENCHMEN (TRACKSUIT) by Douglas Hart
We wish each of you a happy and prosperous 2024 (with some AWSOME action figures)!
Remember to be safe tonight when you celebrate!
-GRINDSTONE TOYS!
CALLSIGN: LONGBOW Update - Updated Delivery Timeframe and GHOST Sample
12 months ago
– Thu, Nov 30, 2023 at 09:14:08 AM
Hello CALLSIGN: LONGBOW® Backers!
Thank you to everyone who came and hung out at ASSEMBLY REQUIRED, and thanks to everyone from Codename: Iowa who made the event possible. It was a great show with great people, and if you couldn't make it to this show, we hope to see you at another show!
Update on Estimated Fulfillment
After the team returned from Iowa, we reviewed our current status with our production partners from the factory. After evaluating the entirety of our progress, we believe that our early 2024 target is no longer realistic. Our current projection places us into a mid-to-late year 2024 delivery for the LONGBOW® Kickstarter items.
This delay is not based on the performance of our factory, but rather the front-end sculpting and engineering phase of this project. The overall sculpt phase of the project has taken longer than we had planned, especially after we some adjustments to the underlying engineering buck. We'd like to extend our sincere apologies for the delay. We are absolutely committed to producing the best product possible, and we appreciate your patience as we work to perfect the nostalgic look, feel, and quality of our O-ring action figures.
We will continue to keep you updated on our progress and estimated delivery at every step of this project.
Update on Development
With that said, where are we at on things?
One figure is completely tooled and the factory has sent painted samples for approval (GHOST).
All sculpting is complete except for some shared parts on the final two figures.
The Factory has begun prepping the other figures and accessories for the tooling process!
All packaging art is complete.
You are also probably aware that Grindstone's very first O-ring figure to enter production was part of the ROBOSKULL MKII Kickstarter. We partnered with our good friends at SKELETRON to release a figure ahead of our own Callsign: Longbow Kickstarter Campaign. This Retro SKELETRON/WOLF TROOPER combination figure (Yes, Wolf Trooper transforms into Skeletron!) is leading the way for our GO-RING System and is in production with an anticipated delivery of January, 2024. TODAY, November 30th, also happens to be the last day to pre-order this figure for $25 plus shipping! You can pre-order now by clicking HERE!
This week our production partners at Spartan Toys sent us images of painted samples of GHOST for us to provide notes on. This figure looks great and is currently in transit for us to inspect. This is a major milestone for the project overall, and it looks so freaking awesome!
Note: This figure will have a few minor changes once we go through the approval process, but it is very close to what the final product will be.
Photos courtesy of Dave Proctor @ Spartan Toys
We hope you love this first look at our GHOST painted samples as much as we do! We'll be back next month with another update. Thank you again to all of our backers for making this project a reality!
-GRINDSTONE TOYS
CALLSIGN: LONGBOW Update - October 2023
about 1 year ago
– Tue, Oct 31, 2023 at 01:02:23 PM
Hello CALLSIGN: LONGBOW® Backers! And Happy Halloween!
Pressing "Publish" on this update is the last thing we're doing before we hit the road for ASSEMBLY REQUIRED 2023 in Des Moines, Iowa (more info below). We've spent the last couple of weeks preparing everything for the show. If you are in the area we hope to see you this weekend. If not, we hope to see you someday soon at another show!
Packaging Layouts
Keith "OUTLAW" Overby Packaging Layout WIP
Something we've been working on lately is packing layouts. As you've seen with the "INVISIBLE" BATTLE STANDS, we are going for a very vintage look. Our LONGBOW® cardbacks will feature traditional character bios (Service Records & Threat Assessments) and figure checklists on the back. The front will feature beautiful character paintings by Douglas Hart (G.I. Joe, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter) with blast effects by Brian Sauer (more on him below).
Alexy "VOLK" Reznikov and STEEL WEB Shock-Trooper Packaging Layout WIP
The CALLSIGN: LONGBOW® team will once again be in attendance at ASSEMBLY REQUIRED 2023 presented by Code Name: Iowa. November 3rd & 4th in Des Moines, Iowa. This is a fun and intimate show that grows stronger every year. If you're planning to come to the show, please drop by the LONGBOW™ booth and say hello!
Our friends at ASSEMBLYREQUIRED will have an exclusive cover for LONGBOW™ #1. This cover is limited to 150 copies and features a cover by Brian Sauer (Codename: Iowa, Assembly Required). These covers will be available first at ASSEMBLY REQUIRED 2023, and we understand that any remaining stock will be offered online after the show.
Our friend Ken of Toy Kennections put together this great video covering all of the upcoming O-ring figure lines, and which figures from each line he is looking most forward to. It's a great time to be an O-ring collector, with so many offerings there is something for everyone!
Thank you again to all of our backers for making this project a reality!
