News

This week, MGM and Warner Bros. are bringing »Creed III« to the cinema. Unfortunately, this time Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa is not on board. Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed, the son of the deceased Apollo Creed, has taken over directing.

About the plot: After dominating the boxing world, Adonis Creed thrives in both his career and family life. But then his childhood friend and former boxing prodigy Damian Anderson (Jonathan Majors) reappears. After his long prison sentence, he wants to prove that he deserves a chance in the ring. Due to their past, the clash between the former friends turns into more than just a fight. And so Adonis must put his future on the line to face off against Damian - a fighter who has nothing to lose.

In the opinion of most critics, the result is a pretty solid boxing film, but it doesn't quite come close to the two predecessors. As with »Ant-Man«, Jonathan Majors is receiving special recognition for his role as the antagonist. The man plays his part just great and refines this film as well.

Check out the trailer:
https://youtu.be/xTaIZo8OJYE

Straight through - never was this phrase more appropriate than in the short but impressive fight between Future Trunks and Mecha Frieza in Dragon Ball Z.

When Frieza landed on earth with his father to kill Son Goku and wipe out humanity, he was confronted by a young man with a sword. This young man was Trunks (son of Vegeta and Bulma), who cut through the self proclaimed Emperor of the Universe with one swipe before slicing him into small "bite-sized" pieces.

The manufacturer Tamashii Nations took this scene as a model and created the incredibly detailed and lovingly painted FiguartsZERO statue. Very high-quality and a great addition to any Dragon Ball Collection. Therefore - and because Tobi vehemently insisted - we made this statue our PRODUCT OF THE MONTH in March. At this point we would like to emphasize again: deservedly so (and no, there's no sword being held in front of us right now 😉)!

Of course we are mre than READY for the next adventure - as two years of waiting on the new season of »The Mandalorian« surely is enough 😅.

From today, Din Djarin and Grogu are taking us along their journey throughout the galaxy. Kicking off with the first episode »The Apostate«, of course on Disney+. So get on your armor, fire the converters and take off 🌌!

What? You really didn‘t know that our Tobi was a child star in Hollywood long before his stellar career at S.P.A.C.E?!? In this 🚀 ABGESPACED 🚀 episode we will enlighten you 😀!

https://youtu.be/0g-Tw01UQgs

Join him and Sven on their journey into the collectibles Labyrinth. Not only will you encounter Jareth the Goblin King, but you'll also come across Ant-Man, Super Mario, Eric Draven, David Hasselhoff and even Clint Eastwood, among others. Sounds exciting? Then have fun with your monthly dose of NEWS FROM THE FIGURE UNIVERSE!

From February 16th to 26th 2023, a wide audience gathered in Berlin for the 73rd International Film Festival - the BERLINALE 2023! For the first time in three years, the festival could take place again in attendance. In addition to all kinds of prominent guests from the film industry, there were also then thousands viewers.

During the eleven-day festival, visitors could choose between hundreds of films. As always, the program is quite varied. In addition to some political contributions, as well as a lot of art house and independent films, there was also something for horror fans: »Infinity Pool« and the Norwegian horror thriller »Talk to Me« were shown, among others. Animated film lovers also got their money's worth. To mark its 100th anniversary, Walt Disney Animation Studios is celebrating its beginnings with a collection of short films. Also, »Suzume« might be interesting for fans of anime.

And while many classics in this year's retrospective program on the theme YOUNG AT HEART – COMING OF AGE AT THE MOVIES were shown at the festival - from »Ferris Bueller's Day Off" to »Rebel Without a Cause«, »Rumble Fish« and »Muriel's Wedding« - one man was the main spot light: Steven Spielberg. The legendary director was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award ahead of the main awards ceremony on Saturday. And of course, to celebrate, some of his biggest films were played, including »E.T.«, »Jaws«, »Raiders of the Lost Ark« and his most recent film, »The Fabelmans«.

This year, rather surprisingly, the Golden Bear went to the French documentary »Sur l'Adamant«. The German film »Roter Himmel« by Christian Petzold received the Grand Jury Prize. The script prize also went to Germany. Angela Schanelec was honored for her Oedipus adaptation »Music«. The Silver Bear for Best Leading Role went to nine-year-old Sofía Otero in the film »20,000 Species of Bees«.

We remember: there was a real TikTok hype around M3GAN, the first horror film of our young year. And because the producers also wanted to sell tickets to the generation of braces, the film was shortened for an appropriate age rating. The much bloodier unrated version is now available digital and on Blu-ray / DVD - and there's a mega(n) funny trailer out:
https://youtu.be/gdl_vE7nW-E

The mean doll M3GAN in a Barbie styled commercial - just great, isn't it 😉? By the way, M3GAN would really make an excellent collectible, preferably a 1/6 figure 😆 ...

Today we would like to draw your attention to a video that Sideshow Collectibles have published on their YouTube channel. In it they give us a little inside look at the CLINT EASTWOOD LEGACY COLLECTION:
https://youtu.be/sNgUD02IcaA

In the video, not only do many of the involved Sideshow artists have their say and talk about their work and philosophy, but Clint Eastwood himself is also a guest at the Sideshow headquarters in Los Angeles! The grand old man of American cinema is visibly touched and impressed by his film-accurate 1:6 scale depictions.

So far, The Man With No Name from »The Good, The Bad and The Ugly«, Harry Callahan from »Dirty Harry« and The Preacher from »Pale Rider« have been released or announced in the Clint Eastwood Legacy Collection:
space-figuren.de/clint

But the line still continues! In the video we can already catch a first glimpse of »The Outlaw Josey Wales«. And that's not all, because the Sideshow team is already working on the first Premium Format figures in 1:4 scale!

Clint Eastwood's long career still provides material for numerous iconic screen legends from Bill Munny in »Unforgiven« to Walt Kowalski in »Gran Torino«. Or maybe something completely different, perhaps as astronaut Frank Corvin in »Space Cowboys« ...? All figures that we would be very happy about.

In which role would you like to see Clint Eastwood in his Legacy Collection or have him standing in your showcase?

"I played for five minutes. I still see falling blocks in my dreams. It's poetry, art and math all working in magical synchronicity, it's ... it's the perfect game."

This is how Henk Rogers (played by Taron Egerton) describes one of the most famous computer games in the world in the trailer for the film of the same name: TETRIS! The trailer, which was released by Apple TV a few days ago, gives us a first taste of the biopic: It's about the whimsical origins of the game.

American video game salesman Rogers is thrilled after discovering the game. And he has one goal: to secure the rights from Pajitnov (portrayed by Nikita Efremov), the game's Soviet developer, to bring it to the masses via the newly developed Gameboy. Not an easy task during the Cold War! And so Rogers has to deal with the KGB, among other things.
The trailer promises a suspenseful and entertaining thriller full of spies and intrigue, based on the true story of Henk Rogers. And of course a big portion of nostalgia comes with the subject: the beginnings of Tetris and the Gameboy, accompanied by the iconic Tetris theme.

The film will premiere on March 15 at the »South by Southwest Film Festival« in the US. It will be released exclusively on Apple TV+ on March 31st. Here's the trailer:
https://youtu.be/-BLM1naCfME

The British Academy Film Awards, or BAFTA Awards for short, were presented yesterday in London's Royal Festival Hall. The awards are considered the British counterpart to the Oscars and, alongside the Golden Globes, are an important mood barometer for the Oscars.

The big winner that night was the Netflix film ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT which was nominated 14 times and won a whopping 7 BAFTAs: Best Picture, Best Film not in the english language, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Score, Best Cinematography, and Best Sound. What a great result, which actually gives us hope that the German production is going to receive one or the other golden boy on March 12th.

Another of our Oscar favorites, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, was nominated 10 times but only took home the Best Editing award. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN also entered the race with 10 nominations and picked up 4 awards, including Best British Film. Cate Blanchett won Best Actress for TÁR. The Best Actor award went to Austin Butler for ELVIS. As with the Golden Globes, GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO was awarded Best Animated Film. And not surprisingly, AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER took home the award for Best Visual Effects.

You can find all winners and nominations here: 
https://www.bafta.org/film/awards/2023-nominations-winners

The manufacturer threezero has a knack for collecting licenses for popular TV series. They have THE WALKING DEAD, GAME OF THRONES and BREAKING BAD in their program. They could certainly have done more with the latter, but they have generated quite a decent output for both TWD and GoT. The newest license in their catalogue is the Netflix series STRANGER THINGS. After the Demogorgon and Dustin, Eleven from Season 1 is out too. Lucas will follow shortly and yesterday a first preview picture of Will Byers was shown on Facebook.

Mick, our series junkie on duty, took a closer look at Eleven for the ACTION FIGURE DISTRICT and finds both words of praise and annoyance in his review.

With what collectors are paying for a figure these days, we think they can expect something from licensees like threezero. So they also deserve a slap from time to time for their occasional ignorance and negligence. But read for yourselves:
https://action-figure-district.de/threezero-eleven-stranger-things-2/

CHILDREN OF THE CORN is one of those horror titles that have made it into the cultural memory because of its evocative naming. Almost everyone has heard of it, but very few have seen anything from the franchise. Most genre fans should at least know the first release from 1984, since it is part of the general horror knowledge. The countless sequels, the series adaptation or the prequel is something even most horror fans won't have touched.

That could change this year, because director Kurt Wimmer ("Equilibrium") delivers us a new edition of the material based on a short story by Stephen King. Two days ago, the first trailer was finally released. And it offers everything the film became known for: Cornfields, sectarian kids with knives and axes, angst-ridden adults, and more cornfields!

About the story: Twelve-year-old Eden becomes possessed by the dying spirit of a cornfield and begins recruiting the children of the local town for a bloody cult. Especially the adults become the preferred victims of this dark community.

If you too want to pay tribute to "him who walks behind the rows", your first order is to watch the following trailer:
https://youtu.be/PWCGoGdkM7I

The movie will hit cinemas in the US on March 3rd. Already on March 21st, the evaluation on Shudder follows directly. Let's hope for a theatrical release or at least the availability on Blu-ray or VOD in Europe anytime soon as well.

A little fun fact at the end: The film was already finished in 2020, but was then slightly postponed due to Corn-oa 😉.

Today »Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania« opens in cinemas and heralds phase 5 in the MCU!

So far there have hardly been any euphoric critiques. At best, the reviewers can agree that the film is fine. Bad green screen optics, few funny gags and a predictable and therefore rather boring plot are often criticized. Are the great times for Marvel over after phase 4 was already significantly weaker?

But despite all of these shortcomings, there seem to be a few bright spots that all critics agree on. One is Jonathan Majors as Kang The Conqueror. With him, a worthy Marvel villain finally enters the stage again, here to stay and with a lot of potential for future Marvel films and as a significant antagonist of phase 5. On top of that, the creative ideas are praised when it comes to populating the quantum dimension.

To us, it looks like the movie can entertain if you don't set expectations too high. And we're excited to see Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer again. We're also curious about Bill Murray's appearance.

So let's see for ourselves. We'll know more after going to the movies.

As a perfect match for the current mega blockbuster »Avatar: The Way of Water«, our friend Steffen (@sgink_labs) let Neytiri and Jake fly through the forests of Pandora for the February issue of our POSTCARD COLLECTION! The motif was realized with the wonderful figures from McFarlane Toys.

If you want to find out more about the making of the cover and the figures and get to know Steffen a little better, then you should definitely take a look at our current ABGESPACED episode no. 27:
https://youtu.be/JxAbu6IrpYw

As always, you will receive a free copy of the current postcard in every package from us until the end of the month!

Yesterday the 57th SUPER BOWL, the final of the 2022 National Football League American football season, was played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. At the beginning of the event, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Babyface already delivered very emotional performances with "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and "America the Beautiful". The highlight of the opening, however, was country star Chris Stapleton, who moved many spectators and players to tears with his performance of the national anthem.

After the kickoff, the two opponents fought a duel at eye level. The Eagles led 24-14 at halftime.

As every year, the halftime show was anticipated to be one of the highlights of the event. In her first appearance in several years, superstar Rihanna performed the biggest hits of her career in a thirteen-minute show. With a comparatively simple setting and a group of dancers, the focus was on the singer, who presented her baby bump during the performance, revealing her second pregnancy.

The second half of the game remained exciting until the last minute and in the end the Kansas City Chiefs won the game with 38:35. So congratulations to the Chiefs!

The Super Bowl is considered the biggest sports and media event of the year. The broadcast of the mega event reaches 800 million viewers worldwide. Fans had to shell out an average ticket price of US$9,927 for a seat in the stadium. With such dizzying numbers, the cost of running a commercial or trailer is astronomically high. Advertisers try to deliver a real talking piece, often with prominent support.

Among them this year were Will Ferrell, who traveled through the worlds of various Netflix series such as Squid Game and Stranger Things for General Motors, as well as Steve Martin and Ben Stiller, who tried to convince us of the taste of Pepsi with the help of their acting skills. Also worth mentioning is Jack Harlow, who started a worldwide triangle hype in the Doritos commercial. But the highlight among the spots was very clear: Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul returned to their Breaking Bad roles as Walter White and Jesse Pinkman once again to get back into business. But this time with a different drug: PopCorners! Walt and Jesse sell the corn chips to their well-known dealer Tuco, played by Raymond Cruz. You can find a top 10 of this year's commercials in this video:
https://youtu.be/CcHhJE6KoZs

Traditionally, the Super Bowl is also a date for trailer premieres. However, this year most of the films were advertised with shorter teasers of 30 to 45 seconds. Among them, the teaser for SCREAM 6 excited us and the John Williams title melody alone got us hooked for INDIANA JONES 5: THE DIAL OF DESTINY.

In contrast to the first long, very charming trailer, the montage clip for DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES is almost daunting. Other films teased were TRANSFORMERS 7: RISE OF THE BEASTS, 65, CREED 3 AND AIR: COURTING A LEGEND, a film about Michael Jordan and the legendary Nike Air Jordan that also brings us the reunion of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Especially funny is the commercial for Super Mario Bros. Plumbing promoting THE SUPER MARIO BROS MOVIE.

There were three really big trailers: FAST X, the 10th part of the »Fast and Furious« saga, as usual with over the top action and Jason Momoa as a bad ass antagonist, the trailer shows everything that fans love about the franchise.

THE FLASH entered the race for DC and presents us with a preview of an exciting time travel theme that already promises many eastereggs and brings us both Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton as Batman. Although we're not huge fans of The Flash, we have to admit that the trailer really got us hooked.

The preview of Marvel's GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 also grabbed us. Especially the backstory of Rocket made us extremely curious. For the third and last time, James Gunn manages to create the right mix of action, comedy and tragedy and a great soundtrack. After this trailer we are even more excited for this movie. You can find a compilation of all trailers here:
https://youtu.be/PPYjsKLnLzg

Who of you guys stayed up all night and joined live?

As of today, »Knock at the Cabin«, the new film by M. Night Shyamalan, is showing in German cinemas.

While vacationing in a remote cabin, a girl and her two fathers are taken hostage by armed strangers who demand that the family makes a decision to avert the apocalypse. Are these strangers just nuts, or is there really something to the imminent end of the world?

The premise of this story, which begins as a home invasion thriller, has its appeal and has made us quite curious. The first reviews don't celebrate the film as a masterpiece, but they are largely benevolent. Dave Bautista especially is receiving great critiques for his role as one of the unexpected invaders.

M. Night Shyamalan seems to have overcome his recent slump with the film - based on the novel »The Cabin at the End of the World« by Paul Tremblay - although the movie is certainly a long way from his acclaimed early works like »The Sixth Sense« and »Unbreakable«.

We're not sure yet whether »Knock at the Cabin« will draw us into the cinema or whether we'll just wait for the streaming release.

After a few long and stressful days with the toy fair, new shipments etc. we finally have time to present our latest human addition:
Since the beginning of February, Eva is a new team member at S.P.A.C.E 🚀!

After a week, she's already in the middle of the introductory phase and we are diligently teaching her. In the future, she will support us not only in the area of ​​logistics but also on social media. So you will hear from her mostly on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Eva can now also be reached via email at eva@space-figuren.de. Welcome to the S.P.A.C.E Crew 😃!

We went on the road ... to Nuernberg! Because there last week, the Spielwarenmesse - the biggest international trade fair of the toy industry - finally took place after a long forced break 🥳!

A little round up with all our impressions and highlights from booths with brands like Iron Studios, NECA, Pure Arts, Noble Collection, Beast Kingdom, Sideshow, Hot Toys, Blizzard, Weta, Archon Studio and many more is now up on our YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/3OQlcM6h4gs

Tune in and stray with us across the Spielwarenmesse 2023 😆!

Was your post owl already there today? Did you get the new role-playing game of the Harry Potter universe? Although Hogwarts Legacy will not officially be released for the current-gen consoles until February 10th 2023, the sorcerer's apprentices who have ordered the Deluxe or Collector's Edition can already dive into the world of Hogwarts from today (thanks to early access).

If you would like to play the game on the last-gen consoles, you will unfortunately have to wait a little longer 🙁. Because the game will not be released for the PS4 and Xbox One until April 4th 2023 - the version for the switch will not be released until July.

Who is already busy leveling and looting?

Most recently, the horror film »Infinity Pool«, directed by Brandon Cronenberg (yes, that's the son of the great Cronenberg!), premiered at the 39th Sundance Film Festival. After »Antiviral« and »Possessor« we are already dealing with the third feature film by Brandon Cronenberg. It is no exaggeration to say that he has long since established himself as a director. This can be easily seen from the actors involved: Alexander Skarsgård and Mia Goth were recruited for his new work.

»Infinity Pool« is set on the fictional vacation island of La Tolqa. The author James Foster and his wife Em are there to treat themselves to a true luxury vacation. Gorgeous beaches, first-class delicacies and other amenities make the island heaven on earth. At least when you stay within the areas designated for tourists. Stupidly, the couple is tempted to leave the "safe-space". A tragic accident occurs and the two have to learn that La Tolqa has its own ideas of law and order...

»Infinity Pool« will be shown at the Berlinale in February. The film is scheduled for theatrical release in Germany on April 20th. Here's a little appetizer:
https://youtu.be/PVnIMvVEkrA

Since it's so damn cold outside, we will 🔥 fire up 🔥 y'all 1/6 collectors:
We just launched our ⚡ HOT TOYS SALE ⚡, but only this February and of course only while supply lasts 🤑!