See Felicia Day’s The Guild The Musical Live!

2007 Cult smash web series The Guild has been adapted into a musical by the show’s creator, Felicia Day.  A live staged reading of this new show will be streamed online via the LA-based online comedy club Dynasty Typewriter. The stream starts on the 23rd of February, 4pm LA time (that’s midnight in the UK).

The brand new original musical is about a group of online gamers and the “challenges they face when they try to meet up in… *gulp*… REAL LIFE.” The staged reading will feature songs as well; ironically, it’s sold out in person, so the only way you’ll be able to experience this historical moment is by going online.

Staged Readings are stripped-down versions of theatre productions with no sets or costumes. This is a rare chance to see the show before it is developed into something more elaborate. The show has been produced by Buffy The Vampire Slayer alumni Felicia Day and Tom Lenk, from the book by Allison Frasca, music by Mark Schenfisch, and lyrics by Sam Balzac.

The seven-person comedy show features Felicia Day reprising her role as Codex, Phil LaMarr as Vork, Kirsten Vangsness as Clara, Anjali Bhimani as Avinashi, Rama Vallury as Zaboo, Lauren Lopez as Tink and Joey Richter as Bladezz.

The musical is designed to be its own work, so don’t worry if you’ve never heard of The Guild or any of the cast; if you’re a STARBURST reader who’s ever played an online video game, then you’ll love this.

Online tickets can be found via Dynasty Typewriter here.

Critical Role Campaign 3 Concludes

Critical Role Matt Mercer

Critical Role’s third campaign, Bells Hells, will conclude on Thursday, February 6, 2025, at 7 PM PT.  (That means it starts at 3:00 AM in the UK, though there’s a pre-show an hour before, so grab some coffee.).

The hit D&D actual play show celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, and this crew of D&D playing voice actors has spawned everything from their own animated TV series to action figures, plushies and novels. The Bells Hells campaign has seen a plucky band of heroes race against time to both defy and save the gods of Exandria, the world in which Critical Role is set.

This final episode will debut on Thursday, February 6th, 2025, at 7 PM PT, streaming on Critical Role’s membership service Beacon (Beacon.tv), as well as Critical Role’s Twitch (twitch.tv/criticalrole) and YouTube (youtube.com/criticalrole) channels. The finale will also be available after the launch date for those of us who can’t stay up that late. This final episode is also the longest ever; at over 8 hours long.

“This finale for Campaign 3 marks the end of one very epic chapter of Exandrian history,” said Marisha Ray, Creative Director, cast member and co-founder of Critical Role. “But while we celebrate the end of this chapter, I think it’s important to know that the story continues with a simple turn of the page. I’m very excited to see what happens next in this story that remains to be written by the incredible emergent storytellers who are picking up the pen.”

The following week will see the world of Exandria continue with Exandria Unlimited: Divergence. This four-part saga delves into one of Exandria’s most pivotal moments – the departure of the Prime Deities in the wake of the Calamity. Helmed by acclaimed award-winning creator, Game Master and storyteller Brennan Lee Mulligan, the series features a stellar cast including Matthew Mercer, Liam O’Brien, Jasmine Don, Alex Ward and Celia Rose Gooding.

You can find out more about all of this over on Beacon.TV

Cult Theatre Team Gigglemug Returns For 2025

Gigglemug, the theatre group behind cult musicals such as Timpsons! and RuneSical – The RuneScape Musical (which we really liked), have announced their tour plans for 2025.

The tour will consist of two of their shows: Scouts! The Musical and A Jaffa Cake Musical.  Scouts! The Musical, created in partnership with the Scouts, centres around the fictional Scout Games, whereas A Jaffa Cake Musical is inspired by the 1991 tribunal, which determined the true identity of a Jaffa Cake.

Scouts! is a woggle-tastic journey into doing your best and has been well received critically. The tour will during June 2025, to The Crescent Theatre in Birmingham, The Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester, Upstairs At The Gatehouse in London, and The Egg Theatre in Bath.

A Jaffa Cake Musical will return to the Edinburgh Fringe in August, with previews in Bath before then.

You can get a taste of what they’re like by watching their production of Runesical online. Find it below.

JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH Trailer Promises Exciting Return To Roots

jonathan bailey and scarlett johansson in trailer for jurassic world rebirth

Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey face off against dinosaurs in the promising first trailer for Jurassic World Rebirth.

This action-packed new chapter sees an extraction team race to the most dangerous place on Earth, an island research facility for the original Jurassic Park, inhabited by the worst of the worst that were left behind. Also starring Rupert Friend and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, the film is directed by Gareth Edwards (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) from a script by original Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp.

Five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, the planet’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived. The three most colossal creatures across land, sea and air within that tropical biosphere hold, in their DNA, the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind.

Johansson plays skilled covert operations expert Zora Bennett, contracted to lead a skilled team on a top-secret mission to secure the genetic material. When Zora’s operation intersects with a civilian family whose boating expedition was capsized by marauding aquatic dinos, they all find themselves stranded on a forbidden island that had once housed an undisclosed research facility for Jurassic Park. There, in a terrain populated by dinosaurs of vastly different species, they come face-to-face with a sinister, shocking discovery that has been hidden from the world for decades.

Ali is Duncan Kincaid, Zora’s most trusted team member; Bailey plays palaeontologist Dr. Henry Loomis; Rupert Friend appears as Big Pharma representative Martin Krebs and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo plays Reuben Delgado, the father of the shipwrecked civilian family. The cast also includes Luna Blaise, David Iacono and Audrina Miranda as Reuben’s family.

Jurassic World Rebirth releases in cinemas from July 2nd, 2025. Watch the trailer below:

THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS Drops First Teaser Trailer

still from teaser trailer for the fantastic four: first steps

The first trailer for the Fantastic Four’s highly-anticipated MCU debut, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, teases a 60s-inspired retro-futuristic world in which Marvel’s First Family must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus and his herald, the Silver Surfer.

Fantastic Four stars Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm, aka The Thing. Julia Garner is playing the Silver Surfer, British actor Ralph Ineson is the big bad villain Galactus, and Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, and Natasha Lyonne also star in as-yet undisclosed roles.

This first teaser doesn’t yet give us any glimpse of the Silver Surfer or Galactus, but we’d expect a fuller look at the film’s narrative landscape once the official trailer drops.

The film hails from WandaVision helmer Matt Shakman, directing from a script by Eric Pearson, Josh Friedman, Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer. Eric Pearson penned the current draft of the script.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be released in cinemas on July 25th, 2025. Watch the teaser below, and stay tuned for the full, fofficial trailer:

Bruce Campbell Heaps Praise on FAILURE!

The iconic Bruce Campbell has come out with praise for Failure!, a one-shot film that wowed FrightFest fans in 2023.

Starring Ted Raimi, brother and frequent collaborator of The Evil Dead director Sam Raimi, the film debuted on North American digital platforms. Campbell said of the actor’s performance in the movie: “Ted Raimi is one of the few actors I would – or could – watch for 87 minutes without a break. Over the years, Ted has spun his character actor threads into leading man gold. You can’t take your eyes off of him!”

We loved the film when it screened over here, and we can’t wait to see writer/director Alex Kahuam’s next film, The Remedy. Stay tuned for more info on this one!

Marc Gascoigne Returns to Fighting Fantasy

Fighting Fantasy Logo

Table Top Gaming legend Marc Gascoigne, the author, editor and publishing professional who created book brands such as Black Library,  Angry Robot and Aconyte Books, is now the Brand Manager of the bestselling gamebook series Fighting Fantasy.

Fighting Fantasy creator Sir Ian Livingstone told the press: “We are delighted to have Marc join us to further promote and build Fighting Fantasy worldwide. A respected expert in the genre, he will be an invaluable member of the Fighting Fantasy team. May his STAMINA never fail!”

Marc’s early career was as an editor for the original Fighting Fantasy books back in the ’80s. He returns to the world-famous multi-path adventure book series that is responsible for the thriving brand. New Fighting Fantasy books continue to be published by Scholastic UK.  Fans can also pick up digital and audio editions, role-playing and board games, miniatures, and a growing range of licensed merchandise. There’s even a regular Fighting Fantasy Fest.

Gascoigne’s work will be familiar to many STARBURST readers;  his credits include Judge Dredd,  Shadowrun, Earthdawn and even Sonic The Hedgehog.

Heresy Ends As Space Marine Movie Sequel Announced

Five Space Marine Helmets in a line. Astartes Two Teaser Image Astartes Helmets

Warhammer 40,000’s fictional-historical series, The Horus Heresy, will finally come to an end with the sixty-fifth book in the series, Era of Ruin.

This eight-story anthology will serve as a coda to both The Horus Heresy and The Siege of Terra – two series of books that detail the ‘origin’ of the Warhammer 40,000. The series began in 2006 with Dan Abnett’s Horus Rising.  The details of this galactic civil war between power-armoured trans-human killing machines, half of whom have fallen under the influence of hell-like supernatural force, has taken 18 years to tell, and in addition to the books, they have been board game, miniatures, video games, audio dramas and more produced.

Era of Ruin will feature the stories Angels of Another Age by John French, Fulgurite by Nick Kyme, Fragments (All We Have Left) by Dan Abnett, Ex Libris by John French, System Purge by Gav Thorpe, After the Dawn, the Darkness by Guy Haley, Homebound by Chris Wraight and The Carrion Lord of the Imperium by Aaron Dembski-Bowden.

In related news, a trailer for Astartes Two has been released. Astartes was a ground-breaking short film by Syama Pedersen. The first movie was an unofficial fan project that used stunning animation techniques to bring the grim, dark future of Warhammer 40,000 to internet denizens everywhere. Games Workshop (the owners of all things Warhammer)  now host the completed project on their Warhammer TV service.

The sequel, now an official Games Workshop product, looks amazing. Check it out below.

MANTIC LAUNCHES NEW CALENDAR GAMES

Those of us who have just about recovered from 2024’s Christmas may be delighted to hear that Nottingham-based Mantic Games are already planning their list for Santa. They’re launching a new list of Advent Games for 2025, including one themed around the classic video game WORMS. You can check out a Kickstarter here.

Mantic Games has amazing board game calendars and advent-style treats. These full miniature-based board games build up day by day until you have something ready to go on the big day itself, or more realistically, something to play on Boxing Day whilst nursing a hangover. 

Mantic Games are known for their solidly designed fantasy and wargaming models, as well as their tie-in games such as Worms, Halo, Hellboy and The Walking Dead. Last year’s advent included sci-fi action in a cramped spaceship and a fantasy ballroom brawl.

“It was one of those lightning-bolt ideas”, said Ronnie Renton, CEO and founder of Mantic. “We all love playing a new tabletop game together at Christmas, and there’s a real joy in opening doors and collecting things out of an advent calendar in December. So we’ve brought those two things together and created a new winter tradition for tabletop fans everywhere!”

The first new calendar to be revealed is Worms, which follows the very successful collaboration between Mantic and Team 17 on Worms: The Board Game – which launched in the second half of 2024 at retail and almost immediately sold through the first print run. In this gift calendar game, players can expect hilarious weapons, destructible landscapes, and a game packed with turn-based comic mayhem!

UKGE LAUNCHES SIR COATES PAINTING CHALLENGE

Britain’s largest tabletop gaming event, UK Games Expo (UKGE), has announced its own miniature painting contest, the pun-tastic Sir Coates Painting Masters, which will be in partnership with the Duncan Rhodes Painting Academy.

The UK leads the world when it comes to painting fantasy and science fiction miniatures in terms of fun if nothing else. The world-famous mini-painting contest,  Golden Demon, has been around since 1987 but is restricted to Games Workshop products only.  UKGE’s new contest opens the playing field to a much broader array of models and ways to paint them.

The competition will be part of UKGE, which is happening at the NEC Birmingham from 30th May to 1st June 2025. It’s open to everyone, regardless of skill and experience. Entries need to be delivered in person at the event.  Every entrant will get a pin badge, with brass badges for finalists and a trophy for the winner. The categories include:

  • Single Miniature: Your usual single figure.
  • Squad/Unit: Three or more models that look like a squad
  • Vehicle: Tanks, spaceships, things that go clank
  • Monster: Dragons, Krakens, huge alien horrors
  • Board Games: Models that come with a board game and are intended for that game.

Squires: This category is for entrants 15 years of age and under. Any single miniature can be entered into this category from Monsters, single miniature, or vehicle.

A handy FAQ can be found here. Good luck to any and all entrants.