News

It's time again: just like every month, we were out and about in the FIGURE UNIVERSE for you and discovered a lot! On their journey, Sven and his guest Stefan (@lesgrohl) came across all sorts of new collectibles, exciting news and cool guys. Not only will there be high-ranking visitors from Middle-earth, Cybertron and Melmac, but also a very special goodie for you.

So get your popcorn ready because the new episode of 🚀 ABGESPACED 🚀 is online:
https://youtu.be/pt2d8H2z43U
Have fun watching!

 

Ever since »Stranger Things«, the pen & paper classic »Dungeons & Dragons« has been on everyone's lips again. So after the rather inglorious film adaptation from 2000, it seemed about time to make another attempt at a live-action adaptation. »Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves« is currently hitting cinemas everywhere!

The trailers that were shown already rocked and that was not only due to Led Zeppelin's »Whole Lotta Love«, which accompanied the trailers perfectly. The wit and chemistry between the heroes, including Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez and Sophia Lillis, is right and Hugh Grant is a wonderful villain.

Critics agree: the film is just plain fun, whether you've played D&D and enjoy all the references, or just want to watch a fast-paced fantasy adventure in the best of traditions. This could be the fantasy highlight of the year!

Incidentally, the sympathetic heroes would also make great action-figures. If the film does well, a manufacturer might snap up the license ...

Did you know that the Power Rangers will be 30 years old this year? The first episode aired in 1993. In keeping with the anniversary, the superheroes are returning for a reunion special: »Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always«!

A few days ago, Netflix released the trailer for the special. It comes in the usual cult trash look and with a decent amount of action. But there are also some familiar faces to be seen for fans of the franchise. Among others, David Yost, Walter Jones and Catherine Sutherland are back as Rangers.

The special starts April 19 on Netflix. You can watch the trailer here:
https://youtu.be/ZKE2DC7Xzog

2023 is undoubtedly the year of THE LAST OF US. Only at the beginning of the year, HBO gave us the series adaptation of the first part of the game and thus ended the curse of the poor cinematic realization of video games. And now the big party continues: After PS5 players already enjoyed the remake last year, it's finally the PC faction's turn! :)

This is sensational, as THE LAST OF US celebrates its (official) premiere on the PC (of course, if you leave out the skillful emulation scene, who conjured up the PS3 version of the game on the PC years ago^^). The groundbreaking classic was considered a Playstation-exclusive title for years before developer Naughty Dog relented.

THE LAST OF US tells the story of the traumatized Joel and his rebellious foster daughter Ellie, who move together through a hostile post-apocalyptic landscape and have to deal with zombified enemies as well as all kinds of human monsters. No less than the fate of the world rests on their shoulders. But is this world really worth saving? Maybe you can answer these and other questions yourself by playing the game ;)

THE LAST OF US is scheduled to be unlocked on Steam today at 16:00.

By the way: We are expecting the arrival of the Ultimate Joel & Ellie 2-Pack from NECA this week:

https://www.space-figuren.de/Games/The-Last-of-Us/Ultimate-Joel-Ellie-2-Pack-The-Last-of-Us-2::22402.html?language=en

The dream team Terence Hill & Bud Spencer is cult. In fan circles, the movies »They Call Me Trinity« (in the original: »Lo chiamavano Trinità«) and »Trinity Is Still My Name « (in the original: »...continuavano a chiamarlo Trinità«) are considered their best films. 

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, 83-year-old Terence Hill revealed that he is working on a sequel to his Trinity films. Hill stars and directs the film, titled »Trinità, la suora e la Pistola« (in English: »Trinity, the Nun and the Gun«). Behind "La Pistola" hides Billy the Kid. The film is loosely based on the true story of an Italian nun who emigrated to America at the end of the 19th century and met the legendary outlaw in the Wild West.

Filming will start in the summer of 2023 in Abruzzo, Italy. The film’s release can then be expected in the course of the next year.

We took this message as an opportunity to ask Fabio Varesi from Kaustic Plastik how things are going with the eagerly awaited "Old & Rare" statue and the no less coveted 1/6th scale action figure. According to Fabio, the statue is almost complete and will be on its way around April. That means we can probably expect the shipment of the statue in May. The release of the 1/6 action figure is planned for autumn. All Terence Hill and Bud Spencer collectibles in our shop can be found here: 
space-figuren.de/spencerhill

The first trailer for »Renfield« starring Nicholas Hoult (»The Menu«) in the titular role wasn't quite able to win us over completely, as it seemed like its humor was borrowing too much from »What We Do in the Shadows«. Trailer No. 2 is now more action focused and there's a lot more blood splattering. The lustful overacting of Nicolas Cage as Dracula leaves you wanting more, and from a certain angle in a certain light he even reminds us of Bela Lugosi as Universal's original Dracula. In short, the trailer, beautifully edited and accompanied by Radiohead's »Creep«, captivated us this time. We will be in the cinema for its release eating some garlic flavoured popcorn, just to be safe ;).

See for yourselves:
https://youtu.be/ICydLkeXq3w

Horror fans and Resident Evil fanatics have certainly marked today's date in their calendars. Everyone else now has the chance to catch up with one of the best survival horror titles of all time: The Resident Evil 4 remake is available now!

Resident Evil 4 was first released in 2005 and made a name for itself by breaking out of the then already established Resident Evil formula for the first time. For example, the fixed camera angles were replaced by a dynamic third-person perspective. That was also necessary because the game relied on very intense shooter passages in places. The horror works accordingly: Not without reason was the title often labeled with the term "terror game".

In RE4, you take on the role of Leon S. Kennedy. After the events in Racoon City, he now has to search for the kidnapped daughter of the US-american president in Spain. In the process, he soon encounters the machinations of the mysterious Los Illuminados sect ...

Let's keep it short: You can do little wrong here! Even the 2005 version still plays great today. Now, the fun from back then has been given another huge visual makeover and also expanded by various sections and dialogs. The trade press has already praised the game effusively, so it's safe to say that Capcom has been able to match the quality of the remake of RE2.

To honor and praise the game, Capcom has released several episodes of a specially created Resident Evil anime this week. Special feature here: The episodes are in the style of the anime version of Heidi - yes, you read correctly 😉!
https://www.youtube.com/@capcomasia/videos

You can play the Resident Evil 4 remake on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S. If you want to treat yourself to the overdose of Resident Evil, you should also check out our store:
space-figuren.de/revil

Shaky cam and chopped up fight scenes - we’ve been so tired of the so-called western action cinema. Of course, there were occasional bright spots like »Mad Max: Fury Road« and the »Mission Impossible« series, but there was also so much badly done action that our eyes watered.

But then »John Wick« came along and turned out to be a real game changer. Part 3 fell a bit short, but according to first reviews, part 4 is nothing short of an action movie masterpiece. Director Chad Stahelski takes it one step further and presents never-before-seen images and stunt choreographies. The fact that Keanu Reeves’ dialogue in his role as the main character fits on a single page doesn't bother us. Anyone who likes action cinema will love »John Wick: Chapter 4«, which is currently hitting theaters. Off to the cinema!

Tomorrow, the second season of the mystery survival horror series »Yellowjackets«, which has received way too little attention so far, will start on Paramount+.

In 1996, a plane en route from New Jersey to Seattle crashes in the deep wilderness of the Canadian Rockies. On board is the high school girls' soccer team, the »Yellowjackets«. The living players must survive together for 19 months. But not everyone will escape the wilds. 25 years later, the survivors (including Christina Ricci and Juliette Lewis) are still trying to process their trauma and keep their dark secrets.

Equal parts »Lord of the Flies« survival epic, psychological horror tale, and coming-of-age drama, »Yellowjackets« is intensely suspenseful. After the heart-pounding finale of Season 1, we're excited to learn what really happened back in the Rockies and what other survivors the series may introduce to us. By the way, Elijah Wood also has an appearance in the second season.

You can find the Season 2 trailer here: 
https://youtu.be/krFohHX8WeU

Paramount+ is included with Sky and can also be booked as an additional channel on Amazon Prime Video.

The ActionFigurado is held twice a year in Duiven, just across the Dutch border. The self-proclaimed “El Dorado” for 1/6 scale collectors is a small fair where figures, dioramas and kitbashes are displayed and sold. Both new and vintage figures can be found, with the focus being on WW II.

Our Mick visits the event regularly and was there again this time on March 11. He captured a few of his impressions of the ActionFigurado for our YouTube format "On the Road". Particularly exciting and impressive are the detailed and varied accessories, be they animals, clothing or a wide variety of weapons, some of which are made possible by 3D printing and allow collectors to let their creativity run free. There is also something for anyone who is more interested in culinary highlights: The Frittenbude, a joint project of the Action Figure District forum. The 1/6th scale diner has One Six Action Fries for District members' mini-mes to eat.

So, hungry for more? Then be sure to check out our YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/ZIh4qBkVYwo

For the cover of our March postcard, Ant-Man out of the quantum realm came by the garden of Guido (@gZamicl) 😅. His surprising encounter with an oversized Playmobil figure (which yes, actually was standing in Guido's garden) was luckily caught on camera instantly 📸!

Sometimes the most spontanous things work best, especially when it's such a perfect match! Thanks so much, dear Guido, for this cool motif 🤩.

As always, you will get a free copy of our current postcard of the month in every package which leaves the S.P.A.C.E Headquarters 📦.

The horror movie »Evil Dead Rise« celebrated a hugely successful premiere at the South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas last week, where it was celebrated frenetically. There was only one minor incident involving an audience member who felt the need to insult the film. You can find clips of the embarrassing situation on Twitter, but let's not give such morons a stage. More worthwhile is an interview with writer & director Lee Cronin, horror icon Sam Raimi, cult legend "Ash" Bruce Campbell and »Evil Dead Rise« stars Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland, which you can check out here:
https://youtu.be/jx7dhCqRfHw

The Rotten Tomatoes score is currently at a fresh 95% and the IMDb rating is at a whopping 9 out of 10 points. Surely the values will go down a bit over time, but for us they are increasing our anticipation very quickly. We will definitely be in the cinema on April 27th - you, too?

The drama anthology series »Extrapolations« starts today on the streaming platform Apple TV+.

Over 8 episodes, the show tells several interconnected stories from three decades of the 21st century. The characters fight for survival on an earth plagued by man-made climate change. The series explores the personal and global impact of this struggle on work, family and faith. It may sound pretty dark and dystopian at first, but according to the cast, »Extrapolations« also has light and hopeful moments. If you want to know more about the background, you can watch the "Inside Look" of the series here:
https://youtu.be/z8fuDu0rPv4

The cast is definitely promising: Marion Cotillard, Tobey Maguire, Forest Whitaker, Kit Harington, Edward Norton and Meryl Streep and many more are on board.

Here's the trailer:
https://youtu.be/2QP-xrG0kZk

Are you going to put »Extrapolations« on your watchlist?

Captain Sparklefingers and his super siblings are back in cinemas! »Shazam! Fury of the Gods«, the second part of the series, is starting on the big screen.

After Billy Batson and his foster family have fought Dr Sivana and the Seven Deadly Sins in the first film, in the sequel they must now take on the daughters of the god Atlas in order to save the world from destruction. In addition to plenty of action and humor, we can also look forward to a few new faces: Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu, among others, appear as antagonists. In case you need a little appetizer:
https://youtu.be/AIc671o9yCI

So, are you excited for the film?

A TV series about the coach of a second tier English football club? No thank you, that's just not really our thing. That's what we thought when we first heard about the Apple TV+ original »Ted Lasso« in 2020. When we started hearing more and more euphoric reviews of the series and it brought home a lot of Emmys, Golden Globes and other awards, we got curious and decided to take a look. It actually took us less than five minutes to fall in love with the show.

Today the feel-good series from the creators of Scrubs finally enters its third season and we already have a permanent grin on our faces. If you don't know »Ted Lasso« yet, be sure to watch it! The Apple TV+ subscription is worth it for that alone.

A few years ago, it was announced that Disney would remake its animated classic »The Little Mermaid« as a live-action adaptation. And now the time has come: The film is scheduled to hit cinemas in late May. After a teaser several months ago, the studio recently released the first official trailer. And while the premise is pretty much based on the 1989 original, one thing is also apparent: like many previous remakes of Disney's animated hits, the picture lacks the charm and magic of its predecessor and the realistically animated animals seem strangely out of place. You can see for yourself here:
https://youtu.be/kpGo2_d3oYE

If any of the S.P.A.C.E crew had small square eyes this morning, it was because they watched the 95th Academy Awards live on TV last night and didn't get to bed until around 5am.

The evening was hosted well by Jimmy Kimmel (even if not every gag landed). The event was less political than in the years before and there was a strong emphasis on honoring Oscar traditions, although this time the red carpet was champagne colored. And once again, all award winners were honored during the event, after the technical Oscars had previously been divested to streamline the program.

The big winner of the evening was EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, which had been nominated eleven times and won seven Oscars, including »Best film« and »Best director«, as well as »Best original screenplay« and »Best editing«. There were also supporting actor awards for Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis. Michelle Yeoh won »Best Actress«. »Best Actor« went to Brendan Fraser for his role in THE WHALE.

The German contribution ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT didn’t disappoint either. The Netflix film was nominated a whopping nine times and brought four of the golden boys to Germany, including »Best international film«. It is only the fourth time that a German production has been awarded this prize. The film also received Oscars for »Best cinematography«, »Best production design« and »Best original score«.

The »Best Animated Film« was GUILLERMO DEL TOROS PINOCCHIO. As expected, AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER was awarded for the »Best visual effects«. For the »Best Original Song«, the Oscar went to India for the first time. The song “Naatu Naatu” from RRR was performed with an energetic, rousing dance number. Somewhat surprising was the award for WOMEN TALKING for the »Best adapted screenplay«. The Oscar for »Best costume design« went to BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER. And THE WHALE received its second award of the night in the »Best makeup and hairstyling« category. The »Best sound« Oscar went to TOP GUN: MAVERICK.

Some films that were nominated several times went away completely empty-handed. Neither THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN, ELVIS, THE FABELMANS, TÁR, BABYLON, THE BATMAN nor TRIANGLE OF SADNESS received one of the precious awards. Of course we would have given many a prize, whether it's acting awards for Cate Blanchett, Austin Butler or Colin Farrell or the director's Oscar for Steven Spielberg, who has been nominated again and again for six decades.

But in the end, as always, there can only be one! And so we are happy about the landslide victory of EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE and of course about the four German Oscars for ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT.

Here you can find an overview of all winners and nominees:
https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2023
 

Every year on March 10th, the entire franchise of the Italian plumber is celebrated with the MAR10 DAY! Originally brought to life by fans, it was then also adopted by Nintendo a few years ago, who have since come up with many Mario-related specials every year for the holiday.

To ring in the day properly, Illumination has now also released the final trailer for »The Super Mario Bros. Movie«, which again promises lots of action and humor. Both this and the first trailer, which was released at the end of last year, and the charming Mario and Luigi plumbing commercial get us in the mood for the film that the animation studio has created in cooperation with Nintendo.

Fans of the franchise will have to wait a little longer before they can experience the adventures of Mario and his allies Princess Peach and Toad as they battle the villain Bowser and his henchmen on screen. The film starts in cinemas in April. Here you can watch the final trailer:
https://youtu.be/RjNcTBXTk4I 

For today we wish you a nice MARIO DAY!

Thursday is cinema day! At the moment there are three exciting new releases.

In »65« Adam Driver plays an astronaut who is stranded on a prehistoric Earth and has to contend with dinosaurs. Let's see what this film can do. In any case, it will be better than »Jurassic World Dominion«. But well, that doesn't take much.

Scream VI takes the action to the Big Apple and sees Jenna Ortega, Melissa Barrera and Courteney Cox encounter a Ghostface that promises to be very different. We're missing Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott a bit, but the trailers definitely make us want to see part VI. Looking at the rating, the film seems to be pretty bloody. Our visit to the cinema will show whether the creators have come up with something new or whether they are just re-heating their own franchise soup.

Probably the most important new start of the week is the strongly autobiographical »The Fabelmans« by the legendary director Steven Spielberg. Spielberg takes us with him on his journey back to his own childhood and of course it's also about his love for cinema. The film is being considered an Oscar candidate and we’re looking forward to this very personal look back and are curious to see what light the film will shed on other Spielberg works. The film is also the last collaboration with John Williams, who provided the soundtrack to many Spielberg films. Like the films themselves, his tracks for »Jaws« and »Indiana Jones« have become classics. The 91-year-old has announced that he will be putting down the batons after the Fabelmans. Thank you for the music, John!

The still young streaming provider Paramount+ already has a couple of hits in its program that increase its attractiveness. In addition to the »Star Trek« series, productions such as the mystery series »From«, the mystery horror drama »Yellowjackets« and of course the western drama »Yellowstone« and its prequels »1923« and »1883« deserve attention. Another highlight penned by show creator Taylor Sheridan will start on March 19 and is about to conquer the hearts of series fans. We're talking about »Tulsa King« with Sylvester Stallone in his first leading role in a TV show!

After serving 25 years in prison, Mafioso Dwight 'The General' Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone) is exiled to Tulsa, Oklahoma to expand his employer's criminal operations. However, the General quickly discovers that his mob family has other interests and slowly builds a crew of unlikely characters to create a new criminal empire.

You can watch the trailer here:
https://youtu.be/aaQSScwZPbA

With pithy one-liners as the out-of-time mobster, Stallone is as charismatic as he is intriguing, dressing his fish-out-of-water role with incredible presence and a great sense of self-mockery. A clear case for our watch list!